The Awesome Women of Twitter, better known as ‘AWOT’, has announced the launch of its new community blog, Team AWOT.

In its first fortnight it has published a number of notable stories, including two anonymous posts about rape (following the Unilad debacle), a story about street harassment and an account of one woman’s experiences as a stripper. The blogs have drawn a keen audience already and the site has attracted over 2,000 unique visitors since its launch on 2^nd February.

“The blog is an extended part of the group conversation,” explains Ashley Fryer, who founded the network. “AWOT started because there’s this extraordinary community of women on Twitter, who’ve really become part of each other’s lives. In a way, the awesome women of Twitter have always existed – we’ve just put a name on it and moved it into the real world.

An opportunity to spend the day sea fishing with Dermot O’Leary, before cooking up the catch of the day together in his Brighton restaurant Fishy Fishy, is among the lots on offer at the return of Terrence Higgins Trust’s Lighthouse Gala Auction.

Sponsored by Prudential plc, the annual event will see an exciting range of items and ‘money can’t buy’ experiences - including dinner at The Goring with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and a black cab tour of Fleet Street with queen of the media Janet Street-Porter - go under the hammer to raise funds for the HIV and sexual health charity.

This year, the auction will include stunning artworks by Tracey Emin (who has donated one of her famous neons), Antony Gormley, Alison Jackson, Michael Craig Martin, and Rachel Whiteread. Luxury holidays to Los Angeles and the Maldives, a supporting artist role in the final series of Poirot, and a private screening of the new James Bond movie Skyfall on the same night as its London premiere are just a few of the other lots on offer.

The Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton – Sunday 4^th March 2012 – Europe’s largest and best known gay choir are wrapping their supportive arm around community HIV charity Positive East.

The London Gay Men’s Chorus are teaming up with good friend Champagne Charlie to put on a one-off show called Positive Sounds. The show will combine LGMC’s usual measure of musical excellence, with warmth, humour, and style as they tell stories of love through the ups and downs of every relationship.

LGMC’s chairman, Alisdair Low, said: “We are delighted to be performing in support of Positive East. Our missions align perfectly; we both challenge social preconceptions and contribute to an enriched society.” Funds raised from ticket sales will support Positive East’s HIV testing service.

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To celebrate the opening of the UK's favourite theme park this February half term, the Alton Towers Resort is looking for romantic couples to renew their vows on the intense vertical drop rollercoaster, Oblivion.

Aiming to set a world record for the most couples renewing vows on a theme park ride, the Alton Towers Resort will host the record-breaking attempt to launch the start of half term opening between 11-19th February. The attempt will take place on Thursday 9th February at 1pm and it would be great to see gay couples attending!

To break the record, the Resort needs 25 couples to take part who are willing to hold their special moment at 60 meters high on 9th February! Katherine Duckworth, head of consumer marketing at the Alton Towers Resort, comments, "As Valentine's Day falls within the February Half Term holiday, we wanted to get couples involved and mark our first opening of 2012 in a fun way! Anyone wanting to take part should head over to altontowers.com to register and help get us off to a record-breaking start this February half term!"

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The Wipeout Homophobia On Facebook's own website www.WHOF.net has reached an amazing SIX MILLION hits.

The website which works in tandem with the 'Wipeout Homophobia On Facebook ' facebook group, and has been running for just 17 months, hosts a plethora of support and information pages.

The pages deal with such subjects as Suicide, Bullying, Sexuality, Gender, and Coming out, as well as monthly guest writer pages, a great page on Alan Turing Year and a hilarious page of replies to hate mail received by WHOF founder Kevin O'Neil.

"WHOF, all started on the 9th May 2010. During a search for a gay group I found two hate pages. They only had a few members , but all I could think was what if one of my family found this page and read  the hate speech. I decided to"report" both pages. Hate speech is illegal in most of the free world and is also against Facebook's own terms of use.

I sent links to the pages to some friends so they too could report them, they replied  with links to others  I thought that rather than 30 of us sending each other messages, I would collate the links on one Facebook page. An hour later there were hundreds of members and by the end of the day a thousand had joined, today there are over 310,000 members" says Kevin,from Durham in the North east of England, who later created the website to accompany the facebook page in September of 2010.

Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook (WHOF) hit an amazing 300,000 members this week with a staggering 63 MILLION post views over the past month.

The website www.whof.net alone has 6 million hits also. WHOF started on the 9th May 2010 during a search for a gay groups two hate pages were found.

Kevin O'Neil from WHOF comments, "They only had a few members, but all I could think was what if one of my family found this page and read the hate speech. I decided to"report" both pages. Hate speech is illegal in most of the free world and is also against Facebook's own terms of use. I sent links to the pages to some friends so they too could report them, they replied  with links to others  I thought that rather than 30 of us sending each other messages, I would collate the links on one Facebook page. An hour later there were hundreds of members and by the end of the day a thousand had joined."

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For the first time ever three of Manchester’s most diverse fringe theatre companies come together to create a brand new event showcasing a night of gay theatre by some of the most successful gay fringe writers in the city.

Lloyd Eyre-Morgan of Dream Avenue Productions noted a gap and decided to create this new festival.   He stated; “I wanted to bring together Manchester's best gay fringe company’s, and as a team, create a diverse & unforgettable night of theatre”

Queer as Fringe features new short plays by the Award Nominated Vertigo Theatre Productions (OUT, Rage, M, Die, Mommie, Die!), the critically acclaimed Dream Avenue Productions (Dream On, Celluloid) and the innovative Pink Triangle Theatre (Show One, Dear Alan and countless performances around the UK).

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Over the past three years, Jedward's rise to fame has been phenomenal. With a platinum album, their own reality TV show and a sold out tour under their belts, the crazy and charismatic twins are ready to take on their next challenge.

Jedward's Big Adventure sees twins John and Edward Grimes visit five stunning World Heritage Sites across the UK. But now all Jedward have to do is learn as many fascinating facts about the site before being challenged to act as tour-guides to groups of unsuspecting visitors. And with the clock ticking, the boys have just a few hours to transform themselves from pop stars into Official World Heritage Tour Guides. What could possibly go wrong?

Having been given the official tour of each of the sites, the brothers are spilt into teams and paired with a celebrity guest. Celebrity Assistants include Big Brother presenter, Brian Dowling, actor Joe Swash, Harry Potter star Chris Rankin and girl band Parade.

It's team John against team Edward. Both need to win. Using costumes, home-made props and stunts, mixed with Jedward's unique point of view, the pressure is on. Both teams need to impress, especially as neither of them wants to face what's at sake for the losing team.

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RUSSELL GRANT is to star as The Wizard in ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER's new production of THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Russell made his name as Britain's best-loved astrologer and is now adored by the nation after starring in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing. He takes over the eponymous role from Michael Crawford from Tuesday 14 February for a limited 12-week season. Having captured the public's heart on the BBC hit Saturday night show, Russell will be working with Arlene Phillips, the show's choreographer, to bring the new dance moves he's learned to the stage of the London Palladium!

Russell will star alongside SOPHIE EVANS, runner up in BBC's 'Over the Rainbow', who despite just missing out on the top spot, charmed the millions who tuned in to watch her, ensuring they would never forget the red-headed girl from Wales. Russell began his career as an actor, before gaining national recognition as Britain's favourite TV astrologer, regularly appearing on UK television throughout the 1980's and 90's. But it was as dance partner to Flavia Cacace in last year's BBC smash hit dance show Strictly Come Dancing that catapulted him back to national fame.

Russell said of his new role: "I am thrilled to be back where I'm at my happiest - in showbiz! I want to thank the great British public for their kindness in supporting me in Strictly: without them, I wouldn't be back in the West End again".

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Tasty Dr Christian Jessen's feeding clinic opens its doors once more to take Supersize and Superskinny on the most extreme journeys yet.

The 10 x 60 minute series will feature exciting new strands, highlight the nation's dysfunctional relationship with food plus investigate eating disorders, morbid obesity and extreme eating habits.

For the first time ever, all eight Supersizers and Superskinnies will come together to be paired off by Dr Christian, as well as take part in one giant weigh in session. But before the Supersizers move into the feeding clinic, they'll be flown stateside for a cautionary glimpse into the future as they move in with someone whose life has been wrecked by overeating. They will live and breathe the absolute extremities of morbid obesity and discover just how hard it can get living with a body that has spun totally out of control.

During their stay, the Supersizers will be visited by Dr Jessen to see what they have learned from their American host before he offers them both invaluable advice and life-saving tips to beat the bulge. Returning to the UK, Super-size and Super-skinny will be reunited at the feeding clinic. Here, they will be forced to confront their unhealthy relationship with food in a 2-day meal swap.

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