(Poland) - Gay Americans Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton found a media frenzy when they arrived at Warsaw airport yesterday for a three-day visit. The couple, who were married in Canada, hit the international headlines when their wedding image was used in Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s televised prime-time address to scare the Polish people against supporting the Lisbon Treaty, arrived to Warsaw for a three-day visit. The trip is sponsored by TVN Television. Their first day in Poland was an opportunity to meet with Polish Gay rights leaders Tomasz Szypula and Greg Czarnecki from the Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – KPH) as well as other members of the LGBT community.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - As the head of the LGBT desk at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), Scott Long bears critical responsibilities for investigating human rights abuses and advocating greater freedoms for our community worldwide. That is estimable work, by any measure. One occupational hazard, however, of taking on a highly specialized charge on matters of such delicacy involving repressive and dangerous regimes is undoubtedly a compounding sense of proprietorship, a fatigued feeling that others "shouldn't mess with my turf, they should stay out of my bailiwick." On matters related to anti-Gay repression in Iran, dating back almost three years, Long seems to have fallen into that trap, indeed to have fallen quite far.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Croatia) - Josip Situm, 25, was detained by police for carrying the homemade bombs. He was charged soon after with planning to hurl the cocktails at the crowd. Although he denied the charges, insisting he decided after he arrived at the parade not to throw the bombs, Situm admitted that he disapproves of homosexuality because he is Roman Catholic. On 28 February, Situm became the first person in Croatia found guilty of a hate crime. He was convicted of endangering lives and property at the Pride parade and sentenced to 14 months in prison and psychiatric treatment. Situm’s conviction was a major victory for Croatia’s LGBT community, for whom street violence is nothing new.
(UK) - The British Government is currently failing Gay refugees, Peter Tatchell told a rally in Whitehall, outside the Prime Minister’s official residence 10 Downing Street. Over 120 protesters braved hail and rain on Saturday to demand that Gay Iranian asylum seeker, Mehdi Kazemi, be granted refuge in the UK. They also urged asylum for the Iranian Lesbian refugee, Pegah Emambakhsh, and an estimated 12 other Gay Iranians who are at risk of deportation back to Tehran. There were calls for a “fundamental reform” of the way the Home Office treats LGBTI asylum applicants. “The British government had ordered Mr Kazemi to be deported back to Iran,” said protest speaker Peter Tatchell, spokesperson for the LGBTI human rights group OutRage!.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(EU) - The Mayors of Riga in Latvia and Tallinn in Estonia have declined to take part in a campaign affirming freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people in Europe. The Europe branch of the International Gay and Lesbian Association wanted the leaders of those cities to join 19 others in Europe and declare their support for their initiative. The Mayors of Paris, Nicosia, Amsterdam, Winterthur, London, Stockholm, Cologne, Barcelona, Venice, Vienna, Bologna, Manchester, Copenhagen, Budapest, Ljubljana, Zürich, Berlin, Dublin and Luxembourg have all pledged their support.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(UK) - The British Government is coming under pressure from members of both houses of Parliament, mainly Liberal Democrats, to “come clean” about policies on who are deported to Iran – especially Gay men and women. At lunchtime at Prime Minister’s Question in the House of Commons, Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, raised the matter, complaining about refugees being deported to Iran.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Poland) - A Gay man from the United States on Tuesday voiced outrage against Poland's President Lech Kaczynski for publicly using a video of his marriage to bash the EU's proposed charter of rights. Kaczynski used a prime-time televised address Monday to argue the EU's proposed Charter of Fundamental Rights, linked to the bloc's crucial reforming Lisbon Treaty, could allow homosexual marriage in Poland, a devoutly Catholic country. A video of the couple's marriage in Toronto, Canada was broadcast nationwide to illustrate Kaczynski's presidential address.
Note: Read more on AFP
(Germany) - A fluffy yellow bedspread is severely tucked around the hospital-style bed, there's a wheelchair-accessible shower and a token pot plant. At first glance, the Asta Nielsen Haus in Berlin looks like the average old people's home. But this is a pioneering facility - the first in Europe to cater exclusively for Gays and Lesbians. The idea of a Gay-only project for elderly people was first mooted at a "Gay and Grey" congress in Cologne in 1995. It reflects fears among Germany's first openly Gay generation about what will happen when they are too frail to care for themselves. "At the moment, most Gay and Lesbian residents keep themselves hidden. Imagine one Gay person in a home of 100 people. It can be lonely and isolating," says Christian Hamm, who is on the board of the organisation behind the care-home plan. Hamm and his associates are now drawing up plans for an assisted-care retirement centre for Gay people in another Berlin district.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(UK) - The British government announced Thursday that it was ending efforts to deport Mehdi Kazemi, a 19-year-old Iranian who has been studying in Britain – a move that should be applauded by human rights activists everywhere. Had he been forced to return to Iran, Kazemi would almost certainly have been executed there. Roger Roberts, one of eight members of the House of Lords who petitioned British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to allow Kazemi to stay in Britain, declared: “There is no doubt that he will be persecuted and possibly face state-sanctioned murder if he is forced to return.”
Note: Read more on FrontPageMagazine
(USA) - A traveling exhibit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum uses photographs, documents, and artwork to chronicle the Nazis' arrests and persecution of tens of thousands of Gay men from 1933 to 1945. The exhibit, on display through the end of the month at the University of Rhode Island, gives voice to what its curator describes as "one of the lesser-known stories of the Nazi era." The exhibit begins just before the Nazis rose to power, when an estimated 1.2 million Gay men lived in Germany and a Gay culture flourished in nightclubs and cafes. But after Adolf Hitler took power, the Nazis began closing Gay clubs, and in 1934 the Gestapo asked local police departments to compile lists of men believed to be Gay. A law known as Paragraph 175 that had previously prohibited "unnatural indecency" between men was reworked to dramatically expand the range of illegal behaviors. By 1938, even a perceived wayward glance or touch could be interpreted as criminal by the courts.
Note: Read more on Boston.com
(Canada) - The Canadian Refugee Board needs to establish clearer guidelines on sexual orientation to help adjudicators avoid stereotyping Gay and Lesbian refugees who have little proof they are Gay, say legal experts. Last week MP Thomas Mulcair exploded at hecklers in the Commons and later shed tears at a news conference after Immigration Minister Diane Finley refused to allow Canada's latest Gay refugee claimant Kulenthiran Amirthalingam stay in the country on compassionate grounds. He later told the Montreal Gazette that he had seen a disturbing video depicting the kind of brutal punishment Gay men receive in Malaysia, including strapping a naked man until raw flesh was exposed. Amirthalingam, who is now back in Malaysia where he spent time in jail for being Gay, was declared not credible by the one-adjudicator panel. He joined a growing list of refugee claimants who have been rejected because they can't prove they are Gay.
Note: Read more on Canada.com
(Netherlands) - A Gay Iranian teenager faces deportation from Britain and execution in his home country after a Dutch court refused to hear his asylum claim. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, will be forced to return to Britain, where his asylum application was rejected last year. He is then expected to be removed to Iran where his boyfriend was hanged two years ago for 'sodomy.' The ruling will put the Home Office under renewed pressure to reassess his case - or face the possibility of sending a young man to his death. The department’s own guidance concedes that Iran executes homosexuals but rejects the claim that there is a systematic repression of Gay men and Lesbians.
Note: Read more on Times Online
(UK) - Homophobic abuse is endemic in schools, with "Gay" now the most common put-down by pupils in the classroom, teachers say. A "conspiracy of silence" in schools and colleges means homophobia is now seen as so normal that some teachers believe they risk disrupting classes - and making themselves a target of abuse - if they challenge students' behaviour. More than 70% of teachers have heard put-downs in their school or college that refer to sexuality, according to a survey of 268 teachers by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. In particular, teachers report that pupils routinely use the term "Gay" in a pejorative manner. Nearly two-thirds of teachers and lecturers have heard homophobic language on a regular basis. A quarter encountered it several times a week and about 16% of them daily. Boys are significantly more likely to talk about sexuality in a bullying way, but half of teachers have seen girls do the same and nearly 12% said they had seen similar behaviour in the staffroom.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - Oklahoma House representative Sally Kern is under fire after an audio recording was leaked of her comparing gays to terrorists and telling fellow Republicans the "homosexual agenda is destroying this nation." The recording and accompanying YouTube video have sparked outrage from many, but Kern defends her words, telling the press: "What I'm saying, I believe in." The YouTube video posted this weekend by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund featured Kern speaking out against gays to a group of Republicans who had invited her to express her views about homosexuality. In the speech, given privately to a group of about 50 Republicans, Kern says homosexuality, "according to God's word, that is not the right kind of lifestyle. It has deadly consequences for those people involved in it." Although she claims she is "not Gay-bashing," Kern continues by saying Gays "have more suicides… there's more illness, their life spans are shorter… studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades."
Note: Read more on Gay Wired
(USA) - For teens living in a shelter for abused and neglected children, school can provide a daily dose of normalcy, a place to fit in, a chance to be just another kid. It didn't turn out that way for Lawrence King. The anti-Gay taunts and slurs that Larry endured from his male peers apparently had been constant, as routine for him as math lessons and recess bells. The stinging words were isolating. His friends say the verbal cruelty persisted for months, and grew worse after the slightly built Larry pushed back by "flirting" with some of his mockers.
Note: Read more on LA Times
(Canada) - A Gay man from Malaysia who is to be deported Thursday after being refused refugee status is pleading with the federal government to intervene and let him stay in Canada. Kulenthiran Amirthalingan made a last-ditch appeal to Immigration Minister Diane Finley, asking her to stay the March 6 deportation order to his native Malaysia. He fears persecution because he is Gay. Amirthalingan moved to Montreal in 2003 and applied for refugee status in Canada on humanitarian grounds, arguing his life was in danger because his homosexuality made him a target of Malaysian police who detained him for five days, and abused him, physically and sexually. Amirthalingan lost his refugee status case because the judge was not convinced he was Gay. He filed for a humanitarian appeal and a pre-removal risk assessment, which were both rejected by the Quebec Immigration Board.
Note: Read more on CBC
(Europe) - A Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) hearing on the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships will take place in Paris tomorrow. The 47-member Council of Europe predates the European Union. It promotes and protects democracy, educational and sporting co-operation and created the European Court of Human Rights. The hearing will involve representatives of the International Lesbian and Gay Association ILGA Europe as well as parliamentarians and academics. It will also focus on freedom of assembly and expression for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people in the Council member states.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - Iowa Republicans frustrated with the majority Democrats refusal to hold a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban Gay marriage have failed in their last ditch effort to advance the measure. House Minority Leader Christopher Rants attempted on Tuesday to use a procedural motion to move the amendment out of committee where it has been stonewalled and onto the floor of the House for a full vote. On a 50-to-46 vote along party lines Democrats rejected the motion. That means the issue remains in committee where it will likely die by the end of the week. Republicans have been pushing the proposed amendment since last year when Polk County Judge Robert Hanson struck down a state law limiting marriage to straight couples. To amend the Iowa Constitution simple majorities are needed in both the House and Senate in two consecutive general assemblies and then it must be approved by a simple majority of voters in the following general election.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(USA) - Some 50 activists, including members of the Radical Homosexual Agenda, picketed the Human Rights Campaign's annual Midtown Manhattan dinner Feb. 23, Gay City News reported. They were upset over HRC's support for a version of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that omits protections for transgender people. The bill has passed the House of Representatives and awaits action in the Senate. The dinner also apparently was boycotted by every GLB elected official in New York City and many other prominent Democratic officials, GCN said. Many of the protesters carried pink signs in the shape of a hand flipping off HRC while others banged on drums. They chanted: "What do we want? Liberation. ***** that assimilation."
Note: Read more on Pride Source
(Nepal) - Nepal was recently witness to a victory of sorts for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Inter-sex (LGBTI) communities. It was an undeniably historic day on 21 December 2007, when the Supreme Court of Nepal, in response to a petition filed by a coalition of local LGBTI-rights groups, ordered the government to fulfil its contractual responsibility to LGBTI individuals by amending existing legislation or formulate new laws that would permit this community to better exercise its civil and human rights. This was certainly an atypical victory for Nepal’s LGBTI movement. In the aftermath, questions are now surfacing about how ideas and identities travel across the transnational landscape, and what social contexts make these transmissions more successful in certain places and times. These questions are especially pertinent when compared to neighbouring India, the imagined custodian of Southasian democracy.
Note: Read more on HIMAL
(USA) - The majority of Iowa voters support restricting marriage to heterosexual couples but at the same time are divided on a constitutional amendment to put that in place, and most believe Gay couples should have the right to have civil unions a new poll shows. The survey, by the Des Moines Register, found that 62 percent of prospective voters believe marriage should be available only to heterosexual pairs. But when asked if the state constitution should be amended to block Gay marriage 48 percent said yes while 47 percent said no. Five percent had no opinion. Last year Polk County Judge Robert Hanson struck down a state law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. Hanson ruled that a state law allowing marriage only between a man and woman violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(USA) - Legislation that would create civil unions in Illinois has been introduced in the state Senate. The bill, filed by Sen. David Koehler (D) would include both same and opposite-sex couples. It is similar to legislation filed last year in the House by Rep. Greg Harris (D). That version has been approved by committee but has not been scheduled for a vote by the full House. Koehler acknowledges that the legislation is bound to encounter opposition from 'social conservative' groups and Republicans. The legislation would also recognize same sex marriages and civil unions from other states as civil unions in Illinois. Civil unions currently are legal in New Jersey, Vermont and Connecticut. Same-sex marriage is available only in Massachusetts, although legislation has been filed in Maryland and next week the California Supreme Court will consider Gay marriages.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Australia) - Simply attending last night's Mardi Gras extravaganza was the hardest thing Craig Gee has ever had to do. Then agreeing to march with his partner, Shane Brennen, on the second row of the world-famous parade took his anxiety to another level. But above all was the courage needed just to step back onto Oxford Street for the first time since being savagely bashed at the popular strip in a Gay-hate attack three months ago. The assault left the 27-year-old with a fractured jaw, an eye socket smashed in three places and a broken right leg. He has since suffered nightmares, blurred vision and headaches and has been afraid to go anywhere alone. The animosity then reached fever pitch when Mardi Gras arrived and Gay Sydney endeavoured to show off the best of itself to the outside world, with the number of incidents further doubling. As part of the response, revellers were last night asked to hold hands in symbolic defiance. Partygoers were also advised to travel to and from venues in groups or by taxi if alone, and either to cover their costumes or get changed after they arrived so as not to risk being targeted.
Note: Read more on Sydney Morning Herald
(Australia) - Up to 300,000 people lined Sydney's streets to watch the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Saturday as the largest Gay pride march in the Asia Pacific region marked its 30th anniversary. For the first time, serving military personnel were among the 10,000 costumed participants sashaying through the city's Oxford Street Gay district, showing how much attitudes have changed since the first event in 1978. That march, staged at a time when male homosexuality was still illegal in New South Wales state, was a demand for Gay rights that ended with more than 50 arrests as police and protesters clashed.
Note: Read more on AFP
(USA) - Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama appealed for support Thursday from the LGBT community but maintained his opposition to same-sex marriage, preferring instead civil unions. In what his campaign called an open letter to the Gay community Obama touted his support for passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act and an inclusive ENDA. "In the U.S. Senate, I have co-sponsored bills that would equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees," the letter said. "And as president, I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - The scheduled February 26 extradition of Mehdi Kazemi, a 19-year-old Gay Iranian student, from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, from where he will almost definitely be deported to his homeland, has been put off pending a Dutch court hearing on March 3. Kazemi fears that he could be executed by Tehran's theocracy, which in 2006 executed the lad who had been his lover. Homosexuality remains a capital crime in Iran. Kazemi fled to the Netherlands after the UK government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown ordered his deportation. It was only a last-minute legal appeal that postponed his return to Britain.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Netherlands) - In an announcement described by LGBT activists as "historically significant," a spokesman for the Dutch Royal Family has confirmed that the country's future Queen will attend a Gay rights conference. Argentinean-born Princess Maxima, the wife of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, will meet delegates from Holland's major cities at the event and speak out against the exclusion of Gay people. A royal spokesman said: "The Princess is in favour of equal rights of all groups in the Netherlands."
Note: Read more on Pink News
(UK) - A school governing body yesterday apologised, unreservedly, for the homophobic comments made by a head teacher which forced a young Gay teacher to resign from his job at an inner city school in London. In his first term at the school in 2006, the teacher said that his head teacher had told him to stop “banging on” about Gay issues when he dealt with homophobic issues in the classroom and told him that he wasn't “the only one in the village”. The teacher complained that his head teacher had stated that “there was no homophobia at the school until you came,” that he inflamed older students by the way he walked in the corridors that he “did not walk that way at interview” and referred to him as “Gay Dave”.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Jamaica) - Gay bashing in Jamaica is so prevalent that in 2006 Time Magazine wrote an article about the island headlined, "The Most Homophobic Place On Earth?" The New York Times this week showed that the anti-Gay climate has only worsened, with the island caught in a downward spiral of outright psychosis. It is time to hand an ultimatum to Jamaica's public officials: Stop allowing rampant abuse of Gay people or your economy will be crippled. The Times story is downright chilling. It details how last month five Gay men were having a dinner party when a mob appeared at the front door - kicking it in and attacking the men. While screaming homophobic epithets, between 15-20 thugs beat the victims senseless with sticks and cut them with machetes. One man is still missing, but police found blood at the mouth of a deep hole near the yard. This was not an isolated incident.
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(Brazil) - Grupo Gay da Bahia, the oldest homosexual non-governmental organization in Latin America, demands that the dictator Fidel Castro, before his death, recognizes and asks for forgiveness for the grave errors of the Cuban revolution responsible for the demoralization, persecution, imprisonment in concentration camps, forced labor, torture, deportation, and death of thousands of Gays, Transvestites and Lesbians in Cuba. The unfortunate resolution approved during The First Cuban National Congress on Education and Culture of 1971 decreed that “homosexual deviations represent a anti-social pathology, making it inadmissible in any way their manifestations, or propagation, establishing as preventive measure the shunning of recognizable homosexual artists and intellectuals from interaction with the [Cuban] youth," barring Gays, Lesbians, and Transvestites from representing Cuba artistically in festivals abroad.
Note: Read more on Vidas Alternativa
(Malta) - The Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) this evening presented a petition, backed by 1,084 signatures, to the Nationalist Party asking for formal recognition of the rights of same sex couples; the inclusion of an article in the Criminal Code regarding homophobic and transphobic violence, and a clear strategy addressing homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools. The petition also seeks legal protection against discrimination in the delivery of goods and services expressly referring to the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; the formal extension of the remit of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality to cater for the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; and the inclusion of gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for transgender persons as part of the public health services.
Note: Read more on Times of Malta
(USA) - "Freeheld: The Laurel Hester Story," Cynthia Wade's 38-minute film that chronicled the battle of a 25-year veteran of the Ocean County, New Jersey police, as she was dying of cancer, to transfer her earned pension to her lesbian partner, won the Oscar for Best Short Documentary in Hollywood on February 24. Ocean County freeholders had the legal option to extend those benefits under New Jersey's 2004 domestic partner law, but did not do so until Lieutenant Hester waged her successful struggle on partner Stacie Andree's behalf against their initially adamant refusal. Garden State Equality, the New Jersey LGBT civil rights lobby, celebrated the film's nomination (and victory) at the South Orange Performing Arts Center while the Oscar broadcast was being aired.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Senegal) - Dozens of Senegalese Gays are reported to have fled to the neighbouring countries (The Gambia and Mali) to escape the looming threats on their lives. The Gambia may not be a safe hideout for Gays, considering President Yahya Jammeh's personal hatred of homosexuality. He had earlier threatened to crush any act of homosexuality in the country. Since the publication of a Gay wedding in the outskirts of the capital Dakar in early February, stories on homosexuality have been dominating news in Senegal. The story - backed by photographs - was first published by a local magazine, Icone. Icone's editor has since received several threats for exposing Gays to "social stigma and blackmail." The publication has flared tempers in the predominantly Muslim nation, resulting to arrest and detention of Gay people and all those who graced the wedding, including musicians.
Note: Read more on Afrol News
(Jamaica) - Being gay in Jamaica is not easy. For years, human rights groups have denounced the harassment, beating and even killing of Gays here, to little avail. No official statistic has been compiled on the number of attacks. But a recent string of especially violent, high-profile assaults has brought fresh condemnation to an island otherwise known as an easygoing tourist haven. A couple of weeks back, a local tabloid, The Jamaica Star, ran a screaming headline when a local police officer, disturbed by the attack on the dinner party guests, decided to disclose his sexual orientation to the paper. He said he had been harassed regularly by his colleagues because he is gay. He said the police did not take violence against Gays seriously.
Note: Read more on Canada.com
(USA) - Ric Weiland, one of Microsoft's first five employees, has left tens of millions of dollars of his estate to a fund to benefit eleven LGBT charities. The bequest includes multi-million dollar gifts to Seattle's Pride Foundation, Lambda Legal, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The bequest, the largest ever in support of the LGBT movement, will establish a fund at the Pride Foundation in the amount of $65 million. The largest will support the foundation's grantmaking programs, an amount the Seattle Times has reported as $19 million. An additional $46 million in the fund will be distributed to national LGBT charities. The Pride Foundation provides scholarships and grants to LGBT students and organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Weiland, a Seattle resident, was a former board member and volunteer at the organization.
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(Canada) - Toronto refugee lawyer El-Farouk Khaki recalls an incident in which one of his clients, seeking refugee status in Canada as a Gay man, was told by a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) that if he could be more discreet in his home country of Kenya, he would be just fine. With no appeal division and one-member panels, a great deal of a claimant's chance of being granted refugee status has to do with that single IRB member who hears their case.
Note: Read more on Extra
(Israel) - The recent earthquake that was felt across Israel was the result of the "homosexual activity practiced in the country", Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri said Wednesday. During a special Knesset session on Israel's preparedness for the possibility of another earthquake hitting the region, the Shas member said "the Gemara refers to earthquakes as disasters, but you are searching only for the practical solutions how to prevent and repair. "But I no of another way to prevent earthquakes; the Gemara mentions a number of causes of earthquakes, one of which is homosexuality, which the Knesset legitimizes," Benizri said. Last month fellow Shas member Nissim Ze'ev stirred controversy when he referred to the local Gay movement as a "plague that could destroy Jewish Israel," adding that it should be treated "just as the Health Ministry dealt with the bird flu epidemic."
Note: Read more on Y-Net
(Senegal) - The chairman of the national Council of Amnesty Senegal, Samba Guissé, has called on all affiliate groups of the Senegalese chapter of Amnesty International (AI) to oppose any campaign aimed at legalising homosexuality in the country. In a statement issued here, Guissé urged the various groups to dissociate themselves from the position of the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) calling on the Senegalese authorities to "review the criminal code with a view to to decriminalising homosexual acts". Guissé denies FIDH’s claims that "member organisations (including Amnesty International Senegal) had requested the Senegalese authorities to review the criminal code to abolish the criminalisation of homosexuality".
Note: Read more on AfriK.com
(Nigeria) - The trial of eighteen young men in Nigeria charged with dressing in female clothing and attending a Gay wedding may be part of a campaign to reintroduce legislation targeting Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people. Cary Alan Johnson of the Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) was in Nigeria last week to meet the men and their lawyers. He has expressed serious doubts as to whether the men can get a fair trial. All aged between 18 and 21, they were detained by the Islamic "vice squad" at a hotel in Bauchi city, Nigeria in August 2007. Sharia law is enforced in the state and if found guilty of 'sodomy' the men could be executed.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Bahrain) - A crackdown on homosexuals could be launched in Bahrain, including tougher immigration checks to stop foreign Gays entering the country. It would include a study to determine how widespread homosexuality is in Bahrain. Parliament's foreign affairs, defence and national security committee has already backed the proposal, which would force the government to carry out the study. He said the study was being carried out despite the fact that the Education Ministry claims there are no homosexuals in schools.
Note: Read more on Gulf Daily News
(USA) - About 1,000 people have marched in tribute to an Oxnard teenager who was shot to death in his school computer lab. The peace-and-tolerance march Saturday honored 15-year-old Lawrence King. King was shot in the head on Tuesday at E.O. Green Junior High School and removed from life support two days later. Classmates said King revealed he was Gay this school year and had been teased because he wore makeup, high heels and other 'feminine attire.'
Note: Read more on SF Gate
(UN) - LGBT rights groups from Spain, the Netherlands and Brazil have been refused observer status that allows Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to participate in United Nations business. The UN Committee on NGOs was tied, with Columbia, Dominica, Israel, Peru, Romania, UK and the USA voting yes and Burundi, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Sudan voting no. Angola, Guinea, India and Turkey abstained while Cuba was not present. The UK representative on the committee said they were discriminating against LGBT NGO applicants and that it is the right of the community to have their voice heard at the UN. Romania said the NGO Committee "engaged in a blatant act of discrimination today."
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - Two weeks after one of their church members became the latest victim in a mob attack in Jamaica, leaders of a South Florida church are calling for a public awareness campaign in the Caribbean nation to encourage a more Gay-friendly environment. The latest incident occurred on Jan. 29. According to local press reports and New York-based Human Rights Watch, a mob broke into a house in the central town of Mandeville and slashed the occupants inside, sending two to the hospital. One was severely injured and the other is missing and feared dead, the advocacy group reported. One of the victims was a member of the Jamaican chapter of the Metropolitan Community Churches, local church leaders said. The assault was the latest in a string of attacks in a country where popular reggae lyrics openly encourage the killing of Gays, and citizens show little tolerance for Gays, despite repeated foreign condemnation.
Note: Read more on Miami Herald
(Senegal) - Police in Senegal fired tear gas to disperse anti-homosexual demonstrators outside Dakar's main mosque on Friday after the publication of photos from a Gay wedding in the mostly Muslim nation. "We want homosexuals to be wiped out in this country. We will continue to fight for Senegal to become a Muslim nation," said Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye. Piles of rubbish were set ablaze in several blocks around the mosque and groups of youths shouting "We don't want homosexuals" barricaded roads. The protest was called after police released a group of men held for questioning following the publication of the photos. Local authorities had granted permission for the protest but later changed their minds and ordered police to break it up.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(USA) - Lawrence King, 15, was shot at a junior high school Tuesday. A classmate faces murder charge. Lawrence King, 15, was declared brain dead by two neurosurgeons about 2 p.m. at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, said Craig Stevens, senior deputy Ventura County medical examiner. King's body remains on a ventilator for possible organ donation, he said. He was shot early Tuesday in a classroom at E.O. Green Junior High School. Bullying in schools has long been a problem. But recent studies show that a student who comes "out" as gay or lesbian is far more likely to suffer abuse than others, said Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network based in New York. A student thought to be gay was five times as likely to be threatened or injured by a weapon, a 2002 California Department of Education study said. Jennings said other studies have found similar results.
Note: Read more on LA Times
(Uganda) - The Anglican Church in Uganda is to boycott the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of the world's Anglican bishops held once every 10 years. The move is in protest at invitations being sent to bishops who condone "active homosexuality." The extent of the boycott was unclear but a significant number of bishops would be absent, said BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott. They object to bishops with a liberal approach to homosexuality from the American wing of the communion being invited. The Ugandan Church cited the American Church's ordination of Gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 and continued blessing of same-sex relationships as reasons for the boycott.
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - Getting married has been a goal for long-time partners Robin Tyler and Diane Olson for each of the past six Valentine's Days, and this year will be no different. They'll be turned away, of course, since their home state of California doesn't allow same-sex marriages, but Tyler hardly seems heartbroken by that inevitability. "It's all about raising awareness," says the Los Angeles-based activist, comedienne and producer. Similar demonstrations will be happening all over California tomorrow, from Alameda County to Yolo County, according to Marriage Equality USA, all in the hopes of raising awareness about the six cases challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - An US federal judge ruled – again – that Poway school officials did not violate the free speech rights of a student whom they pulled from class for wearing a T-shirt with an anti-Gay slogan. The decision Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John Houston is the latest win for school officials in a long-running legal battle with students Tyler Chase Harper and his sister, Kelsie. Tyler Harper sued the Poway Unified School District in 2004 alleging his freedom of speech and religion rights were violated when he was pulled out of class earlier that year. The self-described Christian wore a shirt during the school “Day of Silence,” which is intended to promote tolerance of Gays and Lesbians. The shirt said “I Will Not Accept What God Has Condemned” on one side and “Homosexuality is Shameful, Romans 1:27” on the other. Harper was removed from class, but not otherwise disciplined. His suit was aimed at a school district policy aimed at eliminating “hate behavior” that offended students in certain minority groups based on race, gender or sexual preference.
Note: Read more on Sign On SanDiego
(Brazil) - The President of Sao Paulo's Gay Pride Association was hospitalised after he was attacked at their offices yesterday. Alexandre Peixe dos Santos was gagged, hooded and beaten by an unknown number of attackers. The association organises one of the largest Gay rights parades in the world. Last year three million revellers packed the streets of the Brazilian city in what officials have called the largest party in the world. Mr Peixe dos Santos was beaten unconscious in the attack and called police when he regained consciousness. In September LGBT activists in Brazil spoke about the high levels of homophobia in their society in the wake of the brutal sexual assault and murder of a Gay teenager who was attacked in a street near a bar where he had just won the local "Miss Gay" competition.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - Republican lawmakers on Monday proposed asking voters in November to amend the Arizona Constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the state, which was the first to turn down such a measure. The proposal was backed by 16 of 30 state senators, and an identical proposal was introduced in the House. Both chambers would have to approve the measure in a vote for it to be included on the ballot. Under the amendment, "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The proposal comes after Arizona voters narrowly rejected a similar measure in November 2006. The previous measure included the same definition but also contained wording that was interpreted as prohibiting government recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships. Seven other states approved amendments that day.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - East London rugby club Kings Cross Steelers have won the right to host the 2009 European Gay rugby Union Cup. The Steelers are the current champions and will welcome more than 17 teams in May next year. Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, said: "The tournament will provide a platform to introduce Lesbian and Gay sport to new audiences." The first Union Cup was held in 2005 in Montpellier, France and then in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007. The tournament will be held on 22 and 23 May 2009, at the club's West Ham ground.
Note: Read more on BBC
(UK) - Brian Paddick is enjoying running for Mayor of London. The Liberal Democrat candidate may be a distant third in opinion polls, but he has one distinct advantage in this race – lots of people know who he is. The 2008 Mayoral election is already the most exciting contest since the post was established at the turn of the century. Incumbent Ken Livingstone is facing a concerted (some would say co-ordinated) barrage of negative press on everything from cronyism to his alcohol intake.
Note: Pink News
(Spain) - The Spanish People's Party candidate for the presidency, Mariano Rajoy, is promising to eliminate homosexual adoptions if he is elected in March, according to Spanish media reports. "In the area of adoption I'm not in agreement. I would change it, yes, I would take the right away from them (homosexual couples)," said Rajoy in an interview yesterday. Regarding the controversial "Education for Citizenship and Human Rights" program, which teaches "pro-homosexual ideology" to children in Spanish elementary schools, Rajoy said he would eliminate it and substitute language and technology classes. "I think that if we are talking about teaching values or principles, that should be studied in all classes," he said.
Note: Read more on Life Site
(USA) - A freshman at a Minnesota high school had endured shoving, spitting, and name calling. When a hate message was scrawled across her locker, she decided enough was enough. Leah Matz, a 15-year-old student at St. Peter High, got together with some of her peers and organized a lunchtime demonstration to say that hate speech, and hateful acts of anti-Gay violence, would not be accepted. The school’s administration backed Matz up, allowing the public to attend the demonstration, which took place Fri., Feb. 8. Matz had come out as a lesbian in junior high. Since then, she had suffered anti-Gay harassment, including verbal and physical abuse.
Note: Read more on Edge Boston
(Germany) - This year's Berlinale also offered a clutch of films dealing with aspects of sexuality and Islam that have long been considered taboo. Indian director Parvez Sharma's "A Jihad for Love," a documentary about gay and lesbian Muslims, includes interviews with Muslim homosexuals from 12 countries, while Tanaz Eshaghian's "Be Like Others" examines the ramifications of undergoing a sex change in Iran. Another documentary "The Other Side of Istanbul," by Dondu Kilic, explores discrimination in Turkey's capital from the perspective of a gay man whose family has accepted his homosexuality.
Note: Read more on AFP
(Israel) - Israel's attorney general said on Sunday that same sex-couples will be allowed to adopt children that are not biologically linked to either partner. Meni Mazuz decided that Gay adults will be allowed to adopt the biological or adopted child of their partner and, in some cases, even adopt children not connected to them. Courts in the Jewish state in the past have only allowed Gay adults to adopt the child of their partner, the justice ministry said. "It was decided there is no legal hindrance from approving same-sex couples, or one of the partners, to adopt an unrelated child who is not the child of either partner," the justice ministry said in a statement.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(Canada) - Camp Fyrefly, a summer leadership camp for queer youth in Edmonton, Alberta, is riding high on a string of successes. The camp will celebrate its fifth anniversary this July, and it's all thanks to support from the local queer community, says Kris Wells, a driving force behind the program. "Our fundraiser [Feb 2] sold out and snowballed into the 'must have' ticket in Edmonton that weekend," says Wells, a researcher at the University of Alberta. Even Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel crashed the party. "It has been phenomenal how individuals and businesses have rallied behind the camp; they intuitively understand it — send a kid to camp! Our donors often tell us that they wish they could have had the possibility of going to a Camp Fyrefly when they were growing up."
Note: Read more on Extra
(India) - An Indian all-male group is set to stage a Bollywood musical at the Mardi Gras stage show in Sydney. The musical, Butterflies Of The Mughal Garden, based on a Gay theme, will premiere at Petersham's Metropolitan Community Church, Sydney on Feb 15. Group leader Raj Ayappan says that since there's no mention of the Gay undertones in the advertising, many Bollywood fans might get a bit of a shock after seeing the musical. "Some people might get a bit of a shock. Because often in the Indian subcontinent region, being Gay is taboo. You can be arrested and jailed," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ayappan, as saying. The musical travels from the 16th-century Mughal empire to 21st-century Sydney, describing two parallel tales of 'forbidden love.'
Note: Read more on Daily India
(UK) - The number of complaints about homophobia within the police has risen by almost a quarter, according to the Gay Police Association. The association said it received 350 calls to its helpline last year, compared with 260 the year before. It estimated that there were about 7,000 homophobic incidents among police last year, but intimidated officers were reluctant to report them. The police said "any form of homophobia has no place in the police". The Gay Police Association said it was aware of colleagues refusing to serve with Gay officers and quoting sections of the Bible at them on parade grounds.
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - Opponents of three measures that would give varying rights to same-sex couples in Maryland say they will attempt to force a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions directly onto the floor of the House and bypass committees. Longtime Gay foe in the legislature, Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. (R) is circulating a petition that would all a full House vote on the amendment. Dwyer, who attempted to pass measures in the past limiting LGBT civil rights, needs the endorsement of 47 members of the House of Delegates to bypass the committee process and move the issue to a full vote. So far he has 34.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - A bishop has been ordered to undergo equal opportunities training and to pay a Gay youth worker nearly £50,000 for refusing him a job because of his sexuality. John Reaney, 42, had his appointment at the diocese of Hereford blocked by the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, despite being told by his interviewers that he was the outstanding candidate for the post. During a two-hour interview with Bishop Priddis, Mr Reaney claimed he asked intrusive questions about his sexuality which had left him feeling embarrassed, upset and "a total waste of space". He took the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance to an employment tribunal and said today he was "delighted" with the payout. He added: "Lesbian and Gay Christians working within the Church of England are entitled to be treated with humanity."
Note: Read more on Telegraph
(Nepal) - Transgender people in Nepal will now have the opportunity to study to become hairdressers and beauticians under a new scheme funded by the Norwegian government. Transvestites are a particularly marginalised and vulnerable group with little or no access to the job market, and frequent violence directed against them. Sexual minorities experience regular extortion, exclusion from family and society, verbal and physical abuse, sexual abuse and rape, arbitrary detention, blackmail and even murder. Norway says it is committed to fighting sexual discrimination wherever it occurs as part of its development policy. Because of their physical appearance, transgender people are often prohibited from attending school and experience great difficulties in finding jobs. The project seeks to provide income-generating skills training in order to give sexual minorities, who often work in the sex industry, the opportunity to seek alternative jobs.
Note: Read more on Nepal Times
(Cuba) - Taking up Raul Castro's invitation to speak their minds without fear of reprisal, more Cubans have begun publicly complaining and challenging government policies on everything from Gay rights to limits on Internet access and travel restrictions. This week some leading figures called for change: Culture Minister Abel Prieto said that he supports Gay marriage, and famed folk singer Silvio Rodriguez said he believes all Cubans should be free to travel abroad and stay in the hotels reserved for foreign tourists. "I think that marriage between Lesbians, between Homosexuals can be perfectly approved and that in Cuba that wouldn't cause an earthquake or anything like that," Prieto, a member of the party's powerful Politburo, told reporters following a screening of a documentary on Rodriguez's career. Cuban lawmakers are considering a proposal to allow Gay marriages, though its progress in the legislature's closed-door sessions remains unclear.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - The home of a Gay couple in Greggan, Northern Ireland, has been attacked for the second time in a week. The attacks are said to be part of a homophobic hate campaign that has been ongoing for three years. The couple, one of whom is registered disabled, had their window broken last Friday – and then on Monday night their door was kicked in. Now the pair, who live in fear after being verbally abused, are considering leaving the home they have shared of 17 years. The verbal abuse, the Derry Gay support group, Rainbow Project says, include threats to burn them out. Both men have said they have been very happy living in Creggan and have had good neighbours all the time they have lived there. But now they say they have to really consider leaving for their own safety and mental health.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Senegal) - Police in Senegal have released several men arrested over the publication of pictures said to depict a wedding ceremony between two men. No official reason has been given for their release. The pictures were published in Icone magazine, whose editor, Mansour Dieng, has since received death threats. Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal but it is not clear whether the arrests were in connection with the ceremony or the death threats. Mr Dieng has also been questioned by police over the issue. The ceremony is believed to have involved a Senegalese man and another from Ghana or the Ivory Coast, who has not yet been found. Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country and Gay men and women remain socially marginalised.
Note: Read more on BBC
(UK) - Almost 2,000 people in South Yorkshire have signed a petition objecting to Gay couples adopting children. The petition, drawn up by the Christian People's Alliance (CPA), is being presented to Sheffield City Council to lobby against homosexuals adopting. The group is protesting at government plans to allow a child to be placed with a Gay couple regardless of the wishes of birth parents. The decision to campaign against same sex adoptions comes after a city magistrate and CPA member, stood down over the issue. Andrew McClintock, 63, resigned from his position in the family courts after he was refused permission to opt out of cases that resulted in children being placed with same sex parents.
Note: Read more on BBC
(UK) - An advert for a Christian lobbying group has been criticised by the UK's advertising watchdog for showing a family with the slogan "Gay aim: abolish the family". The group claimed that "the campaigners who sought same-sex marriage did not do so simply to achieve the same domestic situation that was available to heterosexuals but also because they aimed to redefine and abolish the traditional family." CCTV referred to the 1971 Gay Liberation Front Manifesto documents which described the traditional family unit (husband, wife and children) as working against homosexuality, and which stated: "We must aim at the abolition of the family."
Note: Read more on In the News
(Romania) - Romanian Senators amended on Tuesday the Family Code applied at national level to specify that "the family" means "the heterosexual family" i.e. is based entirely upon the marriage of a man and a woman and not upon the reunion of the partners, as stipulated before. The initiative pertains to a senator from the far-right Greater Romania Party (PRM) and was accepted by all members of the Judicial Commission in the Senate. The amendment referred to the first article of the Family Code and leaves no room for interpretation. The text added refers that "the union between a man and a woman respects the Biblical requirements."
Note: Read more on Hot News
(Russia) - Most Russians are clearly intolerant to Gays, signaled the poll of Levada-Center. In terms of moral, homosexuality is unacceptable for 84 percent, only 5 percent of respondents don’t view it as an issue of morality and just 3 percent said it’s quite acceptable, signaled the poll that Levada-Center held in December to clarify the nation’s attitude to the Gays. Of interest is that the number of people with negative attitude to homosexuality is growing in Russia, according to official statistics. In 2006, for instance, only 47 percent condemned Gays and Lesbians. One possible reason is the surge in xenophobia, as the growth in negative attitude to some minorities automatically fuels aggression towards others, the analysts said.
Note: Read more on Kommersant
(UK) - Two sixth-formers from every school in England are to visit Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust, under a government-funded initiative to help to ensure that the lessons of the Nazi genocide live on with a new generation. Jim Knight, the UK Schools Minister, wants the teenagers who take part to educate their classmates and communities in turn by giving them their own accounts of the death camp in Poland where more than one million Jews, Roma, Sinti, Gay, disabled and black people were put to death. Teenagers selected for the visit will meet an Auschwitz survivor, be shown around the camp’s barracks and crematoria and see the registration documents of inmates, piles of hair, shoes, clothes and other items seized by the Nazis. They will also hear first-hand accounts of life and death in the camp and end the visit at a memorial service.
Note: Read more on Times Online
(Egypt) - A series of arrests in Cairo, sparked by one man’s admission to police that he was HIV-positive, endangers public health as well as human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on Egyptian authorities to overturn the convictions of four men for the “habitual practice of debauchery,” and to free four others who are held pending trial. The government should end arbitrary arrests based on HIV status and take steps to end prejudice and misinformation about HIV/AIDS. “These shocking arrests and trials embody both ignorance and injustice,” said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Australia) - It was a riot of colour as thousands of Melburnians celebrated the 13th Gay Pride march in St Kilda yesterday. More than 1000 athletes from the Asia Pacific Outgames led the march as hundreds of floats put their Gay pride on display. Rainbow flags were held high as marchers made their way along Fitzroy St to a concert in Catani Gardens. A police band marched for the first time among many other arts, ethnic, religious, and sporting groups. Float participant Max Primmer, in his 50s from Creswick, said the march was important because it brought the community together. "We're Gay, we're proud to be Gay and we're happy to show ourselves off for being Gay," he said.
Note: Read more on News.com.au
(India) - The Thane police on Saturday night raided a party at a farmhouse in the Yeoor Hills following a tip that it had been organised through a website for Gays. A team, led by deputy police commissioner Bhujangrao Shinde, raided the Agrawal bungalow at Yeoor and detained six persons, including the main organiser, Sahil Bhoricha (24). Liquor bottles and condoms were seized from the bungalow. Entry to Yeoor Hills was restricted during the operation. Ashok Row Kavi of Humsafar Trust, a Gay rights group, condemned the action as unfair, given that all the men detained were adults and were not found violating any law. A magistrate denied the police custody of those arrested.
Note: Read more on Times of India
(Russia) - The EAST/WEST - Sex & Politics documentary by German director Jochen Hick will be shown at the Annual International Film Festival Berlinale on February 11. The film is about Russian Gays attempts to hold a Gay Pride parade in Moscow, parade organizer Nikolay Alexeyev told Interfax on Monday. Hick and his colleagues visited Russia for two years. The director filmed the two unauthorized Moscow Gay Pride parades of May 2006 and May 2007, the protest against Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov during his meeting with other mayors in London, and a visit of Russian Gay activists to the European Parliament.
Note: Read more on Interfax
(Senegal) - Police in Senegal have arrested several men following the publication of pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men. The pictures were published in Icone magazine, whose editor, Mansour Dieng, has since received death threats. Mr Dieng has also been questioned by police over the issue. Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal but it is not clear whether the arrests were in connection with the ceremony or the death threats. The BBC's Tidiane Sy in Senegal said that at least five of the men arrested appeared in the photographs. The ceremony is believed to have involved a Senegalese man and another from Ghana or the Ivory Coast, who has not yet been found.
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - After years of emotion on the streets and in the Capitol, the fight for Gay rights boiled down to a quiet ruling in a federal courtroom on Friday. U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman's decision means that starting Monday, same-sex couples can start signing up for domestic partnerships, entitling them to most of the duties and benefits that married residents receive. Friday afternoon, Mosman rejected a lawsuit that sought to block the domestic partnership law passed by the Legislature and force a public vote. Mosman's decision was a major victory for Gay-rights advocates, who have fought for years to gain the rights and protections that married couples enjoy.
Note: Read more on Oregon Live
(USA) - An appeals court has ruled that a Gay couple's marriage in Canada should be recognized in New York. The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court on Friday reversed a judge's ruling in 2006 that Monroe Community College did not have to extend health benefits to an employee's Lesbian partner. The couple formalized their relationship in a civil union ceemony in Vermont in 2001 and were married in Canada in 2004. The college refused to add Golden to the health care benefits because its contract with the Civil Service Employees Association did not address benefits for same-sex partners.
Note: Read more on Winnipeg Free Press
(Jamaica) - The Jamaican government is being urged to tackle mob violence against Gay people in the country after an attack on a group of men alleged to be homosexual. The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays, JFLAG, is urging the Jamaican government to action. "This has become a blot on Jamaica’s human rights record," said a JFLAG spokesperson. "No modern democracy can afford to revert to jungle justice. "We must give real meaning to the rule of law through our constituted authorities and institutions." "We must give real meaning to the rule of law through our constituted authorities and institutions." The attack took place on Tuesday in the town of Mandeville. Two men were hospitalised, one with serious injuries, while another man is still missing.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(UK) - A campaign is underway to create a memorial to Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. Epstein was the man behind acts such as The Beatles, Cilla Black, and Gerry and The Pacemakers, meaning he was at the heart of the British musical invasion of America in the 1960s. Campaigners hope a permanent statue or bust can be created to honour the legacy of the Liverpool-born promoter, who died in 1967 aged just 32. The campaign, which is in its early stages, is being spearheaded by the organisers of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans (LGBT) History Month. Gary Everett, artistic director of Liverpool’s annual LGBT arts festival Homotopia, said: “As Liverpool celebrates Capital of Culture the time is right for Epstein’s vast legacy, to the city and to the world, to be remembered.
Note: Read more on Liverpol Echo
(UK) - Britain's best-known gay activist, Peter Tatchell, confronted Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf this past weekend when the dictator arrived in London on the last leg of his European tour, blocking the general's car with his body repeatedly to protest "the suppression of democracy and human rights" by the military strongman. Tatchell, who this year marks the 40th anniversary of his start as an activist, undertook the protest against Musharraf even though he is still suffering the physical after-effects of the severe beating he received last year in Moscow when a crowd of fascist thugs, egged on by the police, violently broke up an attempted Gay Pride demonstration in front of Moscow's City Hall that Tatchell had gone to Russia to support (see this reporter's May 31-Jun. 5, 2007 article, "The Agony of Moscow Pride," a link to which appears in the web version of this article).
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(USA) - Hundreds of same-sex couples from throughout Oregon braved snowy mountain passes and rainy Portland streets to protest a court ordered delay in implementing the state's domestic partnership law. The law was to have gone into effect on New Year's Day, but on December 28 a federal judge placed on hold on the law (story) until a hearing is held on the constitutionality of the legislation. That hearing will take place on Friday. A conservative group went to court after the Oregon secretary of state's office ruled in October that it had failed to collect enough valid signatures on a referendum to block the law. The Alliance Defense Fund, which opposes the measure, argued that the state's review process was flawed, disenfranchising citizens who had signed petitions.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Turkey) - Efforts by Turkish officials to close one of the country's leading LGBT organisations will resume in court today. A department of the Istanbul Governor's office responsible for non-governmental organisations alleges that the group, Lambda Istanbul, violates Turkish laws on morality. They claim that Lambda violates both the Penal Code, as an association in violation of "law and morals," and Article 41 of the Turkish constitution, which is concerned with "the peace and welfare of the family." At a hearing last October Lambda's lawyers presented the court with a report from a legal expert explaining why the group's work on LGBT rights was not in breach of morality codes.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Germany) - A new Berlin memorial to the Nazis' Gay victims — including a video presentation showing same-sex couples kissing — should be ready within months, officials said Thursday. The $890,000 memorial to Gay victims will be located in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park, across from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said. Construction on another memorial to honor Roma and Sinti, or Gypsy, victims of the Nazis also is to begin this year. Homosexuality was banned under the Nazis. Tens of thousands of people — primarily men — were arrested and many were sent to concentration camps.
Note: Read more on Washington Blade
(India) - Gujarat's Gay prince of Rajpipla, Manavendrasinh Gohil, who was disinherited by the family for going public about being Gay but later taken back into the fold, now wants to carry on the royal bloodline, in a manner of speaking. The prince was in Rajpipla on Wednesday to perform the annual ritual of garlanding his great-grandfather Vijaysinh Gohil's statue on his 119th birth anniversary. Asked who would continue this tradition after him, he said: "I have carried out all my responsibilities as the prince so far and will continue as long as I can. I will also adopt a child soon so that all traditions continue." Although there are no known cases of single Gay men adopting children in India, advocate Sudhir Nanavati says Manavendra should not have legal hassles in adoption.
Note: Read more on Times of India
(USA) - I cannot support any of the candidates thus far running for president because none of them supports me and my people in the ways we need to be supported. This is not just about Gay marriage, which has become a nonspecific red herring for non-specific maybes. (Why do you hate us so that you will not permit us to legally love?) Of course we want Gay marriage, but that is not all we want. We want safety. (We are the only people in America that it is socially and legally acceptable to hate and discriminate against.) We want no more taxation without representation. (When I die, our government gobbles such an unconscionable amount of my estate that my partner will no longer be able to afford the house we both have put so much of our money and energy into.)
Note: Read more on The New Republic
(Israel) - When thousands march and openly declare what society teaches us to hide, they convey a clear message to every Lesbian girl still in the closet and to every homosexual forced to marry a woman: You are not alone; you are part of a community that would support you and safeguard your rights. The demand to prevent the Gay pride parade from taking place in Jerusalem for “religious reasons” is cynical and hypocritical. Who’s next? Will the Ethiopian community be banned from protesting in Jerusalem because the Chief Rabbinate does not recognize them as kosher Jews? Will intermarried couples be banned from protesting in the capital because intermarriage contradicts Jewish law? Will Arab Israelis be banned from marching in Jerusalem to spare the feelings of racists? The Gay pride parade is our way to declare our right to exist and protest in favor of equal rights. Therefore, this year we will hold a Gay pride parade in Haifa as well. This is why the bill to ban the Gay pride parade must be resisted.
Note: Read more on YNetNews.com
(UK) - A survey of 1,145 Gay and Lesbian secondary school pupils last summer by Stonewall found that almost two-thirds had been victims of homophobic bullying. Stonewall's survey found that 41% of respondents reported physical attacks, 17% had received death threats and 12% had been sexually assaulted. Sarah, 14, was physically bullied at her school. "Everyone knows and looks at me and threatens me and no one helps," she told researchers. "They push me in corridors and teachers have seen, but they act as if they haven't seen anything." "I have experienced bullying such as being verbally assaulted frequently, had scissors thrown at me, occasionally punched - sometimes directly in front of teachers," says Kevin, 16. Astonishingly, far from clamping down on homophobic bullying, half the respondents said the teachers themselves had made homophobic remarks.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Uganda) - Uganda’s Gay activists came out loud and proud last year. Their government and countrymen, however, would rather stick them in the closet. Queerty recently chatted with Sexual Minorities Uganda leader Frank Mugisha to learn more about growing up Gay in one of Africa’s most homophobic nations. It’s not as blakc and white as one may think.
Note: Read more on Queerty
(Czech Republic) - The number of registered partnerships between Czech same sex couples reached 487 by the end of last year with homosexual male couples prevailing considerably, according to a poll the results of which were given to CTK by the Sidovsky Management agency today. The law on registered partnership that allows marriages between gay and lesbian couples has been valid in the Czech Republic since July 2006. Since then, legal registered partnerships were concluded by 353 homosexual male and 134 female couples. In 43 cases, one of the partners was a foreigner, especially from Slovakia, but also Azerbaijan, Taiwan, Israel, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Armenia, the Netherlands, the USA and Canada.
Note: Read more on Ceske Noviny
(USA) - It was 15 years ago, Tuesday, that President Clinton rolled out the policy that came to be known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which relaxed the long-standing bar against Gay men and women serving in the U.S. military. While the move was initially hailed as progress for the rights of Gays in the military, today many see it as a liability. Her Navy career had been "relatively stress-free" before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" took effect, says Joan Darrah, a retired captain, and a Lesbian, who served in various intelligence billets from 1972 to 2002. She kept her sexual orientation secret during her career, but that denial took its toll after "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" led to increased focus on homosexuality in the ranks.
Note: Read more on Time
(Israel) - Members of Hadash party's "Red-Pink Patrol" hung placards overnight Tuesday on the homes of Knesset members Eli Gabbay (National Union-NR) and Nissim Zeev (Shas) in protest of a proposal banning Gay pride parades in Jerusalem. "In this house lives an MK who is trying to outlaw the citizens' right to march and protest on the streets of Jerusalem," one of the posters read. "This anti-democratic bill is targeting not only the homosexual, lesbian, transgender and bisexual communities, but also human and civil rights in general."
The proposed amendment to Basic Law: Jerusalem, would enable the Jerusalem Municipal Council to ban Gay parades and rallies for considerations of disturbance to public order, offending the public's sensitivities or for religious considerations.
Note: Read more on Y Net News
(USA) - The impromptu debate, over light beers and dirty martinis, was at once mundane and remarkable. Provoked by a reporter, four middle-aged men at a Greenwich Village Gay bar made fiery pitches for the Democratic presidential front-runners. Two backed Senator Barack Obama, one argued for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the fourth made an emotional plea for the cause of John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina. What was notable about the exchange last week was what was not mentioned: the word 'Gay.'
Note: Read more on NY Times
(Italy) - A member of Italy’s Parliament was spat upon and called a “faggot,” a “fairy” and a “traitor” after he broke ranks with his small Catholic-oriented party and announced he would vote to defend Italian Premier Romano Prodi against a resolution aimed at bringing down his center-left government. The name-calling erupted on the floor of the Italian Senate on Jan. 24 as Sen. Stefano “Nuccio” Cusumano shocked fellow members of the tiny Udeur Party by declaring his support for Prodi. According to reports in the Italian news media, Cusumano fainted on the Senate floor and had to be carried out of the chamber on a stretcher after Sen. Tommaso Barbato shouted the words “squallida checca” and “frocio,” along with other insults, and spat on him.
Note: Read more on Washington Blade
(Zimbabwe) - Ever since the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, compared Gays and Lesbians to dogs and pigs, his country has earned an international reputation for homophobia. But a Canadian professor at Queen's University in Kingston who has spent several years working and doing research in the country says that view is wrong, and he hopes to prove it. Marc Epprecht says that life for Gays and Lesbians in the southern African country is "not really as bad as it's cracked up to be," and he's spreading that message in a new book published in Zimbabwe in late 2007. "Unspoken Facts: A History of Homosexualities in Africa" is the country's first mainstream book on the topic of Gay and Lesbian life.
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
(UK) - More than 1,600 people including survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides are attending a memorial service at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall. The annual event, held as Liverpool acts as European Capital of Culture falls on the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Between 5,000 and 15,000 Gay men were held in concentration camps by the Nazis as members of an "anti-social group." Historians estimate that 60% of them died while incarcerated. After the war Gay men were not recognised as victims of the Holocaust and many were re-imprisoned by the authorities because of the sexuality. They were denied the reparations and state pensions available to other groups.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(UK) - Only one in 100 Britons would describe themselves as Gay, according to the first government research into sexuality. A further one in 100 would call themselves Bisexual - but both groups are outnumbered by those who say they are unwilling to discuss their private life with Whitehall researchers. In the survey, some people failed to understand the question and gave answers including "female", "normal", "not active" and "I am OK with my sexuality". Some interviewers declined to ask the question for fear of giving offence. The Office for National Statistics, which carried out the poll of 4,000 people, admitted that its results were "not a reliable estimate" of the homosexual population.
Note: Read more on Telegraph
(Australia) - Several hundred people have attended a rally in inner Sydney to express their concern about violent attacks on the Gay and Lesbian community. There have recently been a number of attacks along Oxford Street and other parts of Darlinghurst. Rally organiser Ben Veenkamp welcomed the support of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Councillor Shayne Mallard, but says more needs to be done. "We've heard all these proposition already over the last two years. What we need to see is results," he said.
Note: Read more on ABC
(Canada) - In February 2004, HIV-positive Ryan Handy met a man online. The two had unprotected sex. Handy says his mental illness had left him delusional and psychotic, that he believed he was a messiah, that he could cure HIV and that he had healed himself. Soon Handy realized he'd made a mistake. After he told the man he was HIV-positive, the man called police. Handy immediately confessed and was charged with aggravated sexual assault. He was convicted in November, faces up to 25 years in prison and is due to be sentenced on Jan 31. Handy, and other Gay men facing similar charges, are branded as sex criminals and pilloried in the mainstream press.
Note: Read more on Xtra.com
(USA) - Homosexuality was in the closet in King’s day so it’s hard to know for certain. There are, however, a few clues as to what his personal views might have been. Perhaps the most relevant is that his widow, Coretta Scott King, often said that he clearly was supportive of Gay rights. The most famous Gay person among King’s advisors was Bayard Rustin. He was a consummate organizer and the driving force behind the 1963 march on Washington. He was also openly Gay and had once been jailed on a ‘‘morals’’ charge, which meant that he had been accused of having a male lover. Against tremendous pressure, King stood by him to the very end.
Note: Read more on South of Boston
(USA) - Petitions calling for the impeachment of a judge who overturned Iowa's ban on Gay marriages have been delivered to Legislature. The petitions, with over 6,000 signatures, were handed over today by a homophobe called Bill Salier. He says the goal is to "stop a runaway judiciary." Salier says Polk County Judge Robert Hanson overstepped his authority by legalizing Gay marriage last summer. Hanson stayed his ruling while it's under appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. Impeaching a judge takes an act of the Legislature.
Note: Read more on Washington Blade
(Iraq) - Seven Gay and three transgendered Iraqis have disappeared in the past month and a half and are presumed to be the latest victims of the lethal campaign of sexual cleansing by anti-Gay Shiite death squads, according to the London-based group Iraqi LGBT. Ali Hili, the 33-year-old Gay Iraqi exile who is the founder and coordinator of Iraqi LGBT, which has members, supporters, and informants throughout Iraq, told Gay City News this week by telephone from London, "New reports tell us that the seven Gay men were arrested by the police in the cities of Karbala, Najaf, Basra, and Ammara, and no one has been able to obtain any news of them since December 2."
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(New Zealand) - A new social and support group in Auckland for Gay men who are also fathers will begin in February 2008. "There are an increasing number of men coming out of long term marriages or thinking of coming out of marriages that have children and need advice and support" says Glenn Batten, organiser of the new group. "Many men got married just before law reform, as it was the thing to do then, have had children and now the children are grown or growing, are looking at coming out as Gay men for the first time in their lives," he explains.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(USA) - Nikolai Alexeyev, the lead organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, was in Los Angeles to receive the “Hero” award which was presented during the International Mr. Gay competition. “This is not just my award, it is an award of all those who courageously fight for LGBT rights in Russia, risking to loose their jobs, to be dismissed from studies, to be harassed, beaten and even killed,” he said when accepting the award at the Music Box at the Henry Ford Theater. The Moscow Gay activist then promised that there would be a Russian participant next year. Winner of this year’s competition was Mr. Gay Argentina, Carlos Fabian Maelius.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - The executive director of one of the US Gay rights group NGLTF has accepted a new job with a philanthropic foundation in San Francisco. Matt Foreman has been at the helm of the New York-based 'National Gay and Lesbian Task Force' for five years. In April, he plans to start working for the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund as head of the foundation's Gay and Lesbian program. At the task force, Foreman has been a prominent advocate for Gay men, lesbians and transgender people in the U.S. on such issues as marriage and military service.
Note: Read more on Sign On SanDiego
(Poland) - While Gay men and women welcomed this weeks ruling by the European Court of Human Rights on adoption by Gay men and women, Polish politicians have effectively said that they would take no notice of what the Grand Chamber of Europe’s highest court has said. The case was bought by a French Gay woman who claimed that she was not permitted to apply to be an adoptive parent on grounds of sexuality. “It’s a milestone,” said Robert Biedron, president of the Warsaw-based Campaign Against Homophobia, speaking about the Strasbourg court ruling. “This decision prevents administrators of various countries from denying LGB people adoption which has happened in many places.” But Polish politicians have vowed to disregard the court ruling. “If a similar judgment dealt with Poland we would still not agree to adoption by homosexuals”, said deputy speaker of the Polish Parliament, Stefan Niesiolowski, a member of the ruling Citizen’s Platform (PO).
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - Hollywood actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at his home in Manhattan. "He was found unconscious at the apartment and pronounced dead," the New York Police Department said, adding that pills were found near the body. Police are reportedly investigating if the Australian actor - nominated for an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain - died of an overdose of prescription pills. Father Kim Ledger said that the death of his 28-year-old "dearly loved son" had been "tragic" and "accidental". Speaking in the actor's home town of Perth, in Western Australia, Mr Ledger said that his son had been a "down to earth, generous, kind hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual".
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - Daniel Yakovleff, 20, was found early Thursday with a fatal stab wound in a multifamily house in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and now Boston homicide detectives are investigating. In Ashford, Yakovleff's distraught family is struggling to understand what happened, while also planning a memorial service to remember the outgoing, trusting and talented young man they loved. The brother of the victim said his parents have expressed concern to him that police will not take the crime seriously because Daniel was Gay. The family also has heard talk from some of Daniel Yakovleff's friends of predators targeting Gay people in Boston.
Note: Read more on Courant
(USA) - A dying wish of Lt. Laurel Hester was that the documentary film made of her last days as she battled against cancer – and the ‘freeholders’ of Ocean County in New Jersey – would be able to compete for an ‘Oscar’. Today, in Los Angeles, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences granted that wish when FREEHELD made it to the final four titles in the “Best Documentary Short Subject”. The film won the Special Jury Prize at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and awards at 11 other festivals. The 38-minute film, made by Cynthia Wade, tells the story of Lt. Hester, who for almost 25 years served her community as a police officer, and her fight with local officials to be able to leave her police pension to her long-term and committed partner Stacie Andre.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Argentine) - Denied the chance to marry in Argentina, two Gay activists traveled to Spain to tie the knot on Monday. Once home from their honeymoon, they plan to campaign for legal recognition for their marriage in Argentina. “It's not going to be easy. ... But we're already married, Spain recognizes us,” Cesar Cigliutti, president of the Argentine Homosexual Community, told The Associated Press from Madrid. “We want Argentina to recognize us as well.” Cigliutti and Marcelo Suntheim were able to wed because Suntheim has dual citizenship in Argentina and Germany – allowing him to marry within the European Union. Spain began allowing same-sex marriages in 2005, granting Gay couples the same rights as heterosexual ones to marry, adopt children and inherit each other's property.
Note: Read more on Sign On San Diego
(Sweden) - A large majority of Swedes are in favour of allowing Gays to marry, a new poll has shown. Seven out of ten respondents told pollster Sifo they would back moves to change the current legislation. Christian Democrat voters however deviated from the majority. "The proposal enjoys overwhelming support but it runs up against equally strong opposition in the Christian Democrats," Sifo's Toivo Sjörén told Svenska Dagbladet.
Note: Read more on The Lokal
(Cuba) - The Cuban Communist Party is considering granting legal recognition to same-sex unions, as health officials prepare to authorise sex-change operations, the director of the Cenesex sex education centre in Cuba has said. The proposed change to Cuban family law would put members of same-sex unions on a par with heterosexual couples, psychologist Mariela Castro, who is the daughter of acting President Raul Castro and niece of Fidel, told EFE. Cenesex, which was founded in 1989 as a department of the Public Health Ministry, approached Cuba's parliament two years ago with a proposal to overhaul the 1975 Family Code to recognise the rights of Gays, Lesbians and Transsexuals.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Turkey) - A unique play in an Ankara theatre ended with a standing ovation this week as the little-known actors -- Transsexuals and Gays raising their voice against discrimination -- fought back their tears on stage. Their play, "Pink And Grey," put the spotlight on the plight of Transsexuals in mainly Muslim Turkey, in the latest initiative of a fledgling but increasingly vocal movement for rights by a community long ostracized and often harassed. Activists say police abuse declined in recent years as the Gay and Transgender movement became organised and Turkey's bid to join the European Union made human rights a priority issue. "Before, the police used violence -- now they only fine us," said Buse Kilickaya, the head of Pembe Hayat, or Pink Life, a newly-founded association that advocates transgender rights and sponsored "Pink and Grey."
Note: Read more on AFP
(UK) - Peter Tatchell is Britain hardest, smartest Gay rights warrior – the man we set on the homophobes when we’ve had enough. In his time, he has hijacked the Archbishop of Canterbury’s pulpit, performed a citizens’ arrest on homo-cidal Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, and – just this year – been beaten unconscious by the Russian police. It seems that for him, suffering anywhere is an issue. He is the human rights movement made flesh. So to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of his Gay rights campaigning, Attitude trudged down to the Tatch’s tiny council flat, which is buried on a concrete council estate in Lambeth. The sacrifices he has made to fight for us are immediately clear. His front door is marked with a ‘Warning: this property is guarded 24 hours a day by the police sign’ after a string of homophobic hate attacks and death threats. His windows are covered with steel bars.
Note: Read more on Johanhari.com
(South Africa) - Even by South African standards, the Sizzlers massacre on January 20, 2003 was shocking. Nine men were slaughtered in one night. They were bound, their throats slit and then shot in the head before being left in pools of blood in the white Sea Point house with matching picket fence. There was a definite increase in attacks on black lesbians and effeminate men. Marlow Valentine, manager of community engagement and empowerment programmes at the Triangle Project, says: "People are being stalked and harassed and often end up the victims of brutal murders."
Note: Read more on IOL
(Kuwait) - Kuwait "should immediately release more than a dozen persons jailed under Kuwait's new dress-code law" since mid-December, the New York-based rights HRW said. "Kuwaiti authorities should immediately drop all charges against those arrested, and investigate charges of ill-treatment in detention," it said. According to HRW, the Kuwaiti National Assembly approved a law which criminalises people who "imitate the appearance of the opposite sex". Since then 14 people have been arrested. The new law targets namely "transgender people... (and) aims at further restricting their rights and completely eliminating their public presence," it said.
Note: Read more on Adelaide Now
(Canada) - Mere months away from celebrating its 25th anniversary, Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium, described by many as "more than just a bookstore," is up for sale. "I really have never seriously contemplated it before but I think the timing is right for us," reveals Jim Deva, who opened the bookstore with partner Bruce Smyth in its original Thurlow St location on Apr 15, 1983. The idea of selling Little Sister's gradually came to Deva and Smyth as they were planning the program for the store's silver jubilee celebrations in May. But the store and its owners and manager are probably best known for their decades-long battle with Canada Customs (now Canada Border Services Agency) which began seizing their shipments in 1984 on the grounds that their Gay and Lesbian imports were obscene.
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
(USA) - According to the Catholic Church, I'm more dangerous than al-Qaeda. My daughter belongs in a madrasa and I commit acts of social terrorism every time I introduce my husband Gary as my "husband Gary." Pope Benedict XVI believes that Gay people are a greater threat to the family than global violence or nuclear proliferation. In his January 1, 2008 World Peace Day address, the pontiff stated that deviation from the "one man, one woman" family structure was against the moral norm, and prioritized it in his speech as a more dire concern than the conflict in the Middle East or global warming. I guess that makes me a marriage terrorist.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Germany) - Europe's first gay nursing home has opened in Berlin, with out-and-proud Gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit publicly supporting the ground-breaking project, which culminates years of planning and fund-raising. The newly built, four-storey nursing facility in the Pankow district of the German capital can accommodate 28 patients in state- of-the-art rooms with private bathrooms and enough space for some of their own furnishings. Many Gay Germans, who have lived openly as homosexuals well into middle age, are now worried that discrimination will have them retreating into secrecy if they enter retirement communities or nursing homes.
Note: Read more on News Trends
(Spain) - Tenerife's Bishop Bernardo Álvarez also had a lot to say regarding homosexuality in general. “One has to be very careful these days,” he said, “because one cannot infer that homosexuality is an illness. It’s not politically correct to do so or say it is a lack or a deviation from nature … Things which were commonplace in any psychiatrist’s dictionary just ten years ago cannot be said today,” he said.
The Bishop added that he firmly believes homosexuality is harmful to society and that ours will have to pay the consequences, “as other civilizations before us have had to do.” Following the publication of the controversial interview the president of Spain’s Federation of Gays, Lesbians, Transexuals and Bisexuals issued an ultimatum, warning Bishop Álvarez that if he did not retract the federation would bring legal proceedings against him.
Note: Read more on Tenerife News
(USA) - When Massachusetts passed its Gay rights bill in 1989 the issue of transgender rights was not on the radar screen of most Gay and Lesbian advocates. In the last few years a handful of states -- Maine, New Mexico, Illinois, Washington, Iowa, Oregon and Colorado -- have passed non-discrimination laws covering both sexual orientation and gender identity. But most of the states that passed Gay rights bills in the 1980s and early 1990s, like Massachusetts, have not updated their laws to include protections for transgender people. In fact, only four states -- Rhode Island, California, New Jersey and Vermont -- have accomplished that goal. And many of the factors that made victory possible are not present in Massachusetts.
Note: Read more on Bay Windows
(Lithuania) - The Lithuanian Government faces censure over three breaches of the European Convention of Human Rights concerning Gay issues in the past year. Jean Huss, the lawmaker from Luxembourg has tabled a written question to Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) asking them to “engage in dialogue with the Lithuanian authorities”. Mr. Huss, a member of the the CoE’s Parliamentary Assembly, cites the ban by the city authorities of the planned visit last May of the European Union’s “anti-discrimination” truck to Vilnius during its tour of member states as part of the EU Year of Equal Opportunities for All campaign.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Iran) - Amnesty International has issued a highly critical report highlighting the despicable practice of execution by stoning carried out by the Iranian regime. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been in the headlines for its controversial nuclear weapons programme and state sponsorship of international terrorism. While the report focuses on the practice of stoning, Amnesty International has taken the Iranian regime to task for a wide range of human rights abuses including hanging people for being Gay and torturing children.
Note: Read more on News Blaze
(Morocco) - A Moroccan appeal court on Tuesday upheld the convictions of six men jailed for homosexual acts after video images of a man dressed as a woman dancing at a party sparked street protests and a police investigation, lawyers said. The six were arrested in late November after rumours spread that a party they had held in the northern town of Ksar el Kebir was really an illegal Gay wedding. The Moroccan press pounced on the story, and Islamist groups condemned what they saw as an attack on public morals and demanded an official investigation. Hundreds of angry residents marched through Ksar el Kebir to demand "justice" and put pressure on the authorities to hand out harsh sentences. The six men were found guilty and given jail sentences by a lower court last month. They had all pleaded not guilty. The appeal court upheld a 10-month sentence against the party's alleged organiser, identified as F., for homosexuality and the illegal sale of alcohol, defence lawyer Mohamed Sebbar said.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(Latvia) - An assistant to one of the members of the Latvian Saeima (Parliament) was found guilty today in a criminal case of “hooliganism” during the Riga Gay Pride in 2006 when participants had excrement thrown at them. Janis Dzelme, a 32-years old married man with two young children, was sentenced to 100 hours of “compulsory labour” by the Vidzeme District Court of the city of Riga for “gross public disorderliness as manifested in an obvious lack of respect toward the public by ignoring universally accepted norms of behaviour”. He works in the Saeima for Dainis Turlais of the Latvia First Party (LLP) and is a member of the New Generation Church, a homophobic Christian sect based in Riga with branches world-wide.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Sweden) - Sweden's opposition says it plans to force a bill legalizing Gay marriage through parliament, in a move that would seize the initiative from the government and threaten to drive a wedge between the four governing parties. A government inquiry last year proposed that the country allow same-sex couples to get married, instead of offering civil partnerships as at present. Of the seven parties in the current Swedish parliament, all but one are in favour of Gay marriage, but the continued opposition of the Christian Democrats, one of the three smaller governing parties, makes acting on the issue difficult for the goverment.
Note: Read more on The Lokal
(USA) - A new variety of staphilococcus bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among Gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles. The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in Gay men in San Francisco and Boston. The culprit is a form of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bug that was once confined to hospitalized patients but, since the late 1990s, has been circulating outside medical settings, afflicting anyone from injection-drug users to elementary school students. The study estimated that 1 in 588 residents living within the Castro neighborhood 94114 ZIP code area is infected with that variant.
Note: Read more on SF Gate
(Hungary) - Hungarian LGBT people who openly declare their sexual orientation face discrimination, a report by Patent Association concludes. Relying on case studies from the time period 2000-2007 and the analysis of the legal context to describe forms of injustice against LGBT people in Hungary, the study lists typical forms of discrimination, such as the case of a Gay couple who were asked to leave a concert, because they were kissing, or the story of a secondary school student, who was assaulted by one of his teachers because he is transsexual. The case of a bisexual woman who was harassed by a colleague following accusations that she placed a Lesbian personal advertisement and finally quit work, is also seen as typical.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - The chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland has been remanded in custody charged with possession of indecent images of a "child" or "children" under the age of 18 (the factual age of the alleged victims was not reported). Jamie Rennie, 37, is also charged with sending a message that is "grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing", reports The Herald. He was committed for trial on December 24th. He has been suspended from LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation working towards the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(China) - There's never been a better time to be Gay in China, but it still pays to be careful. Beijing's attitude has been described as a Triple No policy: no approval, no disapproval, no promotion. That hands off approach — a sort of commercial don't ask, don't tell policy — is emblematic of the delicacy with which the Communist regime is learning to deal with many of the issues concerning personal liberties that are increasingly being raised by its burgeoning middle class. For their part, homosexuals in China seem perfectly happy to pursue their lives within the broad boundaries allowed by the government, albeit not without the occasional snipe at the authorities.
Note: Read more on CNN
(China) - Three Gay idividuals tell their stories of being Gay in modern-day China. There is Ruo Zhe, who used to think he was a monster, because of his attraction to the same sex. He even tried having a girlfriend at university, even though he knew that he felt nothing for her. "It's like your left hand touching your right hand," Ruo says. Eventually he met more men after being taken by a foreign friend to a local Gay bar. "I was shocked to see so many people there. It seemed like a totally different world, where people all looked so relaxed, chatting and smiling," he says. Ruo then launched the first Chinese website for gay people at the end of 1998, which aims to provide a platform for people to meet each other.
Note: Read more on China Daily
(Brazil) - A government official who successfully fought to take an adopted baby away from a Transsexual mother in Brazil has said that "Gay couples are abnormal." On Monday 70 people gathered in San Jose do Rio Preto, a small town outside of Sao Paulo, to protest against the baby being removed from the care of a 30-year-old Transsexual hairdresser, Roberta Góes Luiz, and her partner. "I've been through three psychological evaluations successfully. I have my own home, I've been with my partner for six years and I have a job," Roberta told O Globo. The baby had been under Roberta's care for 8 months.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Canada) - Before our story begins, a shout-out to Ralph Klein. The former Alberta premier is not exactly what you'd call a Gay icon, but he has inspired the queerest theatrical project to come out of Western Canada ever. Bash'd, a two-person Gay hip-hop opera, written and performed by Edmonton's Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow, grew out of a spike in Gay bashings in the province in 2005 that coincided with Klein's last-ditch battle to stop Gay marriage in Alberta. Klein's reign is one for the history books now, the bashings are mere statistics in the hate-crime folder and same-sex marriages have been legal in Alberta since July, 2005, but ever since it premiered in Edmonton in October, 2006, Bash'd has been unstoppable.
Note: Read more on Globe & Mail
(Russia) - The 13 Gay activists arrested in a Moscow polling station on December 2 during the Russian state Dumas election for “protest voting”, were acquitted today by a judge. The 13, including Moscow Gay Pride organisers Nikolai Alekseev, Nikolai Baev and Alexey Davydov, were among more that two dozen activists who went to vote in polling station 165, where the homophobic mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov votes, to protest against the whole electoral process and homophobic position of all political parties. Court observed that activists did not have any agitation materials with them, they did not demand anything from the authorities by using placards. Court concluded that there was no picketing held in the meaning of Russian law on public meetings which means that persons detained did not conduct an illegal public gathering.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - A 43-year-old man who attacked a Gay man in a park as he was walking his dogs was jailed for two-and-a-half years. Tony Hoare, 49, died after the attack in Charlton Park, Charlton, where he was punched to the ground by Lesley Kingshott. The blow to his face on the evening of September 11 last year tore an artery at the base of Mr Hoare's brain which caused a fatal swelling. On the night of the fatal attack Mr Hoare, a market researcher, had been drinking in the White Swan pub in Charlton village where he had suffered homophobic abuse. He was later found unconscious in the park and died shortly after being taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich.
Note: Read more on Newsshopper
(UK) - The bust is classically Roman, the face imperious. But this is no ordinary emperor. As a major new exhibition at the British Museum makes clear, Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus was not only a peacemaker who pulled his soldiers out of modern-day Iraq. He was also the first leader of Rome to make it clear that he was Gay. Hadrian: Empire and Conflict will see the bust make pilgrimages to both ends of Hadrian's Wall, the first time it has left the British Museum since being found in the Thames 200 years ago. But it is the singular life-story of the Gay emperor that is likely to capture the interest of most visitors.
Note: Read more on Independent
(UK) -Reverend Richard Kirker is about to step down after nearly 30 years as head of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM). For the first half of that time, he fought a lonely battle to get church leaders to discuss sexuality. Now it's hard to get them to talk about anything else, but not in the way he had in mind. Homosexuality is at the centre of a global struggle for the soul of the Anglican Communion, and as Gay people are accused of bestiality and demonic possession, the Church seems to have become a repository for the homophobia unacceptable in the rest of society.
Note: Read more on New Statesman
(USA) - Prominent 'Ex-Gay' organization Exodus International has set up an outreach network for people "struggling with same-sex attractions," Family News in Focus reports. Exodus' Randy Thomas seeks to reach those from religious backgrounds who fear opening up to the church or their families about their "unwanted feelings for someone of the same sex." The plan includes a liaison in each participating branch. "The vision," says Thomas, "is that there would be churches that people struggling with same-sex attraction could go to where they could learn how to be Disciples of Christ.”
Note: Read more on Page OneQ
(USA) - The Transgender president of the San Francisco Police Commission bluntly returned the Equality Award she received from the Human Rights Campaign during what was described as a tense meeting last weekend between members of the Bay Area trans community and HRC President Joe Solmonese. "It no longer symbolized equality to me," Commission President Theresa Sparks told the Bay Area Reporter upon exiting the two-hour meeting, held January 5 at the LGBT Community Center. "It's a matter of their integrity and not following through and my own integrity." Sparks said that she could no longer stand to even look at the etched glass award when it was on her credenza. She received the award in 2004.
Note: Read more on Bay Area Reporter
(Ireland) - A teenager attacked a woman he mistook for a Gay man because of her hairstyle, a court has heard. The State was given more time to complete a book of evidence in the case against the man who launched a serious attack on the woman, and a man. He mistook both for two Gay men. Thinking the couple were men because of the woman's hairstyle, he attacked them on one of Dublin's busiest streets, calling them "f***ing Gay bastards". "He asked 'are you two Gay guys?'. He then hit the man on his face and knocked him to the ground. He attacked the woman, threw her to the ground and kicked her in the back and stomach. He then jumped on the man's back." When the woman, who had been repeatedly kicked, got to her feet, her face was punched.
Note: Read more on Independent
(Gibraltar) - Equality Rights Group GGR has taken the issues of Gibraltar’s unequal age of consent and discriminatory sexual offences legislation to the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe. This is the highest possible level of the European body responsible for overseeing Human Rights. GGR chairman Felix Alvarez said today that the question which has been tabled directs itself to the United Kingdom’s responsibility regarding the Gibraltar Government’s failure to respect human rights standards not only in regard of unequal age of consent but across criminal offences such as ‘buggery’ and ‘gross indecency’ which exclusively criminalise Gay men.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(New Zealand) - The inaugural Asia Pacific Outgames and Midsumma Festival in Melbourne begins next weekend, and organisers say they've signed up a large number New Zealanders to come and "play with their neighbours". Taking place between 19 January and 10 February, the Festival and Outgames aim to embrace the Asia Pacific gay and lesbian community and their friends, with a wide variety of sports, as well as a Human Rights Conference, and cultural festival including shows, parties, film screenings, and a Pride March in St. Kilda.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
(Czech Republic) - Minister in charge of human rights and minorities Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens) opened a touring exhibition mapping some 20 years of Czech homosexual movement in the House of Ethnic Minorities in Prague Monday. "The activists have not only achieved the recognition of their human rights, but they have also won respect of society," Stehlikova told CTK. The display, to be held until January 21, offers photographs, period documents, covers of gay magazines as well as recordings from the discussion on registered partnership of same-sex couples in the Chamber of Deputies. After Prague, the exhibition will continue in other Czech towns.
Note: Read more on Prague Monitor
(UK) - Respect Holidays and Sensations Holidays, the UK's largest tour operators specialising in Gay and Lesbian travel, have merged. Now Europe's largest specialist tour operator, Respect will continue to trade as Respect Holidays, and Sensations will trade as Sensations Holidays. The parent company that both holiday brands will trade under, Lidana Limited, is the current umbrella company of Respect Holidays. Lidana Ltd will take over full operational responsibility for the management of both brands across the world from their offices in Camden, North London.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - US Army Sgt. Darren Manzella a medic who served in Iraq and Kuwait, has acknowledged in interviews and again on Tuesday in a Washington news conference that he is Gay. Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said Manzella's case demonstrates the military is arbitrarily enforcing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy now that the country is at war. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibits active-duty service members from openly acknowledging whether they are Gay or Lesbian. A bill to eliminate the military's sexual orientation policy, filed by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., is pending in Congress. Sarvis said the bill is unlikely to get out of committee during this election year, but hearings could be held.
Note: Read more on AP
(USA) - The U.S. Supreme Court says a Lesbian motorcycle group that leads the annual Gay Pride parade in San Francisco can keep its trademark - 'Dykes on Bikes'®. The high court today refused to hear an appeal from East Bay lawyer Michael McDermott, who claimed the name was "scandalous and immoral" and disparaged Lesbians and men, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He challenged a January 2006 decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that granted the San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent exclusive rights to the name it has used for more than 30 years. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which rules on patent and trademark issues, dismissed McDermott's case in July, saying he could not demonstrate how he would be harmed by the name.
Note: Read more on USA Today
(Egypt) - Religious scholars in Egypt are outraged by a lesbian scene in a new movie, telling audiences to stay away from the sinful flick and calling for the director and actresses to be prosecuted. Preacher and Islamic Studies professor at Cairo University, Dr. Abdel-Sabour Shahin accused the new movie, Hina Maysara (Until Further Notice), of 'spreading homosexuality' and promoting debauchery. Director Khaled Youssef said he was offended by criticism leveled at the movie and asked people to watch it before they passed judgment. "I will not respond to those who criticize without even watching the movie. Lots of people accuse me of apostasy and immorality based on seeing the film poster."
Note: Read more on Al Arabiya
(UK) - A marriage registrar has sparked a major legal challenge to the acceptance of Gay weddings by refusing to carry out the ceremonies. The woman, a Christian fanatic, is taking action against Islington Council, saying the civil partnership ceremonies she has been asked to perform are against her religious beliefs. More than 300 Gay couples a year have been tying the knot in the North London borough since the ceremony became legal in 2005 – but the unnamed registrar has refused to take any part in them. Her stance has escalated into a full-scale dispute with her employers, who she is now taking to an employment tribunal, in the first case of its kind.
Note: Read more on Mail on Sunday
(India) - India's National AIDS Control Programme, initiated by the National AIDS Control Organisation, shifts from phase-II to phase-III. In phase-III the core group includes 'men having sex with men' (MSM), sex workers and injecting drug users (IDU). Some of the NGOs have actually given up their projects simply because it goes against their ideology. "There are some organisations which admitted that they would prefer to back out from such projects. Their argument is that they would not like to directly interact with sex workers or Gays instead of target groups including youths."
Note: Read more on Times of India
(Netherlands) - The Dutch were debating the limits of freedom of expression last week after an artist who photographed Gay men wearing masks of the prophet Muhammad was forced into hiding and her work removed from a museum exhibit. Speaking on the telephone from an unspecified location in the Netherlands last week, the artist, an Iranian exile who goes by the pseudonym of Sooreh Hera, said she had been threatened with “execution”. For her part, Hera, who fled Iran seven years ago, says she has “no regrets”, particularly when she thinks about the young men and women being hanged there for offending the country’s code of sexuality. “I do it for them,” she said, “for the boys and girls with no freedom in Iran.”
Note: Read more on Times Online
(Ireland) - The Government's planned civil partnership scheme for Gay and Lesbian couples is likely to provide for the automatic legal recognition of civil unions or weddings in certain other countries, it has emerged. Already, dozens of Gay and Lesbian couples are travelling to countries such as Canada and the UK to wed or obtain civil partnerships, in the hope their unions will be recognised in Irish law shortly. Senior sources say that civil unions or weddings will have the same legal recognition as new civil partnerships in Ireland, as long as they meet a number of conditions. Such a provision is contained in civil partnership legislation in the UK, which recognises unions in almost 20 countries, including the US, Canada and France.
Note: Read more on Ireland.com
(USA) - Rose Rollins is defensive about her Tasha. "Attitude? There's a lot more to Tasha than her `attitude,'" Rollins says of the smoldering, secretive soldier she plays on "The L Word." Tasha's troubles started last season, when Rollins joined the show's cast of romantically tangled characters. Tasha quickly fell for out-and-proud Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey), who runs a Lesbian Web site, after accidentally injuring Alice in a brawl. As the relationship deepened, Tasha was cautioned by her commanding officer for openly engaging in 'homosexual conduct.' Meanwhile, Alice and Tasha argued bitterly about the war. On the season premiere, Tasha begins the process of being discharged from the military.
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(USA) - Domestic partners in California won the right to the same property tax breaks as husbands and wives under state law Thursday when the state Supreme Court turned down an appeal by county assessors. The justices left intact an October ruling by an appeals court in Sacramento that allowed registered domestic partners - same-sex couples, or unmarried heterosexual couples in which one partner is at least 62 - to accept or inherit real estate from one another without new tax assessments. That's a significant advantage under Proposition 13, the 1978 initiative that rolled back property taxes to 1 percent of value and limited increases to 2 percent a year. Prop. 13 allowed counties to reassess property to full market value when it was sold or changed ownership, often leading to a substantial tax increase.
Note: SF Gates
(Morocco) - Amnesty International called on its 2.2 million members worldwide to write to the Moroccan authorities demanding the release of six men who are facing jail because of their presumed sexuality. The six were convicted on 10 December under Article 489 of the Moroccan Penal Code for “lewd of unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex” – a video posted on the internet website YouTube was used as part of the prosecution. Their appeal hearing begins on Tuesday January 8. Fouad Friret and five other men were arrested following public denunciations that a private party held by the men on 18 and 19 November in Ksar El Kebir, a small city in northern Morocco, was simulating a Gay marriage.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - A hate-crime trial reconvenes Friday in a case that's dividing Sacramento and drawing attention from organizations that monitor extremists. Alex Shevchenko has been arraigned for a hate crime tied to the assault and eventual death of Satender Singh in July. According to prosecutors, Mr. Shevchenko and Andrey Vusik taunted Mr. Singh in a park because they thought he was Gay. Mr. Vusik eventually threw a punch that toppled Singh, dashing his head, they charge. Gay leaders in Sacramento say the incident followed several years of escalating tensions with some Slavic immigrants. "The gut feeling of the [Gay] community is that preaching among the local Russian evangelical community is breeding hate and that something would happen. And Satender was the something that happened," says Ed Bennett, a Gay Democratic activist.
Note: Read more on CSMonitor
(Canada) - Homophobic remarks attributed to Sikh leader Balwant Singh Gill in The Vancouver Sun have unleashed a firestorm within the queer community, spotlighting divisions between those who say homophobia is the primary issue and others more focused on what they consider the racist response to Gill's comments. The Sun's Dec 15 story, "Canada's Changing Moral Landscape," quotes Gill as saying: "I hate homosexuality. Most Sikhs believe homosexuality is unnatural and you can't produce kids through it. And, secondarily, no major religion allows it." In an email circulated on the same day the Sun article ran, queer activist Jamie Lee Hamilton says Gill's comments are "truly offensive and must be rejected." She calls for him to step down as a Sikh temple spokesperson.
Note: Read more on Xtra.com
(USA) - Hundreds crammed into a Portland community center and spilled onto the rainy street Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil to lament a court ruling that blocks Oregon's civil unions law. Among them were Bev Balliett and Ruth Szilagyi, both 58 and of Portland, who have been in a committed relationship for more than 30 years. They had hoped to make their relationship official Wednesday through the law, which gives same-sex couples most of the state benefits of marriage. "After 30 years, it just seems so ludicrous that we can't be acknowledged," Balliett said during the vigil at the Q Center, a Gay community center in Southeast Portland.
Note: Read more on Oregon Live
(South Korea) - An officer assigned to the riot police has openly declared his homosexuality and vowed to fight social prejudice against sexual minorities. On Dec. 30, Private Kim Hyun-jong (not his real name) posted an article about his homosexuality on the online riot police community Web site. He is the second policeman from the squad to have openly come out after YooJeong Min-shik identified himself as being gay and refused to finish his service term for which he was prisoned in 2006. In South Korea, men can serve in the riot police as part of their mandatory military service. In the article, Kim said that coming out was not easy, but what was more important was that he faced discrimination and insults, that should be outlawed at military camps.
Note: Read more on Korea Times
(UK) - The world’s leading mobile telecommunications company considers UK Gay News and at least one other Gay news website to have 'adult' content and is barring access, it has emerged. UK-based Vodaphone, which has interests around the world including a joint venture, Verizon Wireless, in America, puts a block on access to this site – and on the highly-reputable Gay City News in New York – deeming the content to be 'adult' in nature. The suspicion is that Vodaphone is using third party software that blocks websites with the word 'Gay' in a url – this is something that UK Gay News has in common with Gay City News.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - The head of the Anglicans in the United States has accused other churches, including the Church of England, of double standards over sexuality. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katherine Jefferts Schori, told the BBC her church is paying the price for its honesty over sexuality. The threat of schism in the Anglican Communion was prompted by the appointment of a Gay bishop. The US church elected an openly Gay man Gene Robinson as a bishop in 2003. Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori defended her ministry. "He is certainly not alone in being a Gay bishop, he's certainly not alone in being a Gay partnered bishop," she said. "He is alone in being the only Gay partnered bishop who's open about that status."
Note: Read more on BBC
(Vatican) - On World Peace Day, Jan. 1, most of the world's citizens will be too poor, too hungry, too surrounded by violence or too worried by this century's other basic challenges to pay attention. Those who do pay attention likely will think first of war in places like Iraq and Eastern Congo, genocide in Sudan, a looming crisis in nuclear Pakistan and widespread poverty all over. The spiritual leader of more than a billion of the world's people will be thinking about homosexuality. Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI issued his message for World Peace Day. Entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace," the message argues that peace begins with the family. That's a reasonable point. But then the pope writes, "Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and woman ... constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace."
Note: Read more on Post Gazette
(Germany) - Six men whirled faster and faster in the center of the nightclub, arms slung over one another's shoulders, performing a traditional circle dance popular in Turkey and the Middle East. Nothing unusual given the German capital's large Muslim population. But most of the people filling the dance floor on Saturday at the club SO36 in the Kreuzberg neighborhood were Gay, Lesbian or bisexual, and of Turkish or Arab background. They were there for the monthly club night known as Gayhane, an all-too-rare opportunity to merge their immigrant cultures and their sexual identities. European Muslims, so often portrayed one-dimensionally as rioters, honor killers or terrorists, live diverse lives, most of them trying to get by and to have a good time. That is more difficult if one is both Muslim and Gay.
Note: Read more on International Herald Tribune
(USA) - If the rainbow-painted deck chairs, fluttering rainbow flag and purple shutters don't make it clear, the Highlands Inn's toll-free number, 877-LES-B-INN, leaves no doubt as to whom this White Mountains resort in Bethlehem, N.H. caters to. Innkeeper Grace Newman began hosting commitment ceremonies at this self-proclaimed "lesbian paradise" -- in the 1980s. Newman says she has lost track of the number of commitment ceremonies that have happened there; she estimates about 300 couples have honeymooned at the inn after getting civil unions in Vermont or marriages in Quebec, Canada, both short drives away.
Note: Read more on Boston.com
(Nigeria) - All is set for the Nigerian film industry to release the first gay movie titled “Sinful Saints” early next year. Directed by Nigeria’s 2005 Best Film Director, Dickson Iruegbu, the movie seeks to answer such questions as whether homosexuality is an African or borrowed culture. Sinful Saints is the story of a kid whose over-protective mum (Clarion Chukwura) sheltered him so much that at age 19 he had not had any contact with a woman. Meanwhile his hormones are raging but ignorance has set in and he clings onto his fellow man to satisfy his sexual needs. Soon he is enmeshed in homosexuality. For Charles Waran, one of the lead actors, who plays a capricious role under the ‘Fag Lord’ (KOK) as a pimp, “the movie is important to me. It is a tragedy that young men could find themselves gay and be proud of it. I feel challenged playing this role. It’s a love story on the fag side of life.”
Note: Read more on Daily Guide Ghana
(UK) - The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) is mourning the death of gay rights activist and one of its Vice Presidents, Dr. James Hemming who died peacefully at the age of 98 on Christmas Day in Kingston Hospital. James Hemming was a child psychologist, and a strong advocate of sex education in schools. He was a determined campaigner against the infamous Section 28, and in 1987 declared homosexuality to be ‘morally acceptable as a way of life’ in a BBC2 Day To Day programme.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Canada) - The Roost nightclub, which acted as a haven for Gays and Lesbians amid a sea of Alberta social conservatism, is closing its doors after 30 years. Managers plan to throw a final bash on New Year's Eve, allowing regulars to say farewell to the downtown institution that was one of the city's first to serve the "alternative lifestyle" crowd. Established in 1977 in the warehouse district, The Roost's owners resisted several attempts to buy the building. But as the area has become more upscale and trendy in recent years, they finally received an offer they couldn't decline, Achtemichuk said. Following the New Year's Eve party, the nightclub will have about a month to clean up and move out before the building on 104th Street near 104th Avenue is transformed into a law office.
Note: Read more on Canada.com
(Spain) - Hundreds of thousands of people from all over Spain have converged on Madrid for a rally called to "defend traditional family values". On the face of it, it was a religious gathering, complete with an open-air mass but, with a general election approaching, many have seen it in a broader context. Social changes made by the Socialist government, such as legalising Gay marriage, have been a constant source of friction with the Roman Catholic Church. The Archbishop of Madrid denies organising a political demonstration. But Antonio Maria Rouco Varela called for the family, founded on what he said was "real marriage", to be once again seen as the core of society.
Note: Read more on EuroNews
(Bolivia) - A new constitution for Bolivia approved by the national assembly this month includes a ban on Gay marriage that went virtually undiscussed during the legislative process, La Prensa reports. The document, proposed by President Evo Morales, also includes a provision banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Gay groups welcomed the latter provision, calling it a step forward, but they complained that the constitution offers no legal recognition for Gay couples. Opposition groups have promised a massive effort to defeat the proposed constitution, which still must be approved by referendum some time next fall, because it grants Morales indefinite right to re-election and cedes land rights to the country's indigenous majority.
Note: Read more on Gay News Watch
(UK) - Sir Ian McKellen has spoken of his happiness at becoming a Companion of Honour for services to drama and equality.
"I am honoured to join an Order which includes such distinguished practitioners in the arts. "It is particularly pleasing that 'equality' is included in my citation," he said. The Oscar-nominated actor is a founder member of Gay rights organisation Stonewall. He was awarded a knighthood in 1990 and describes himself as "one of the very few openly Gay knights".
Note: Read more on Yorkshire Evening Post
(USA) - A federal judge Friday blocked Oregon's new domestic partnership law for Gays and Lesbians from taking effect next week, allowing opponents to continue their efforts to try to get voters to overturn the law. The surprise ruling comes four days before the law would allow Gay couples to gain most of the same legal benefits of marriage. Couples across Oregon were planning to show up at county offices Wednesday to register as partners. But U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ruled that they will have to wait. He set a Feb. 1 hearing to decide a lawsuit challenging the state's methods for verifying signatures on a November 2008 referendum.
Note: Read more on Oregon Live
(Spain) - A Spanish clergyman is to be investigated after complaints that he is holding seminars which aim to "rehabilitate homosexuals". Protestant minister Marcos Zapata, head of an organisation running youth centres for troubled children in Galicia, prompted the row after reports surfaced of a recent seminar he led entitled "How to Raise Heterosexual Children". Yesterday the Galician regional government said it would investigate Zapata to make sure the youth centres his organisation runs do not employ "any type of proselytising or homophobic attitudes" when dealing with minors. Spain's Gay and Lesbian groups are planning legal action.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Uganda) - The Government should not yield to pressure and legalise homosexuality and lesbianism, the Bishop of Bukedi Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Nicodemus Okille, has appealed. The bishop, who was delivering his Christmas sermon at St. Peter’s Church of Uganda Tororo on Tuesday, said the acts violate both the biblical teachings on marriage and African culture. Okille criticised the advocates of Gay rights, saying they had no place in the Kingdom of God. “These are acts to question the ordinances of God. There’s nothing like ‘intellectualising’ sin; sin is sin. How do you imagine a woman sharing the same bed with a woman or a man with a fellow man?” he asked. According to the Penal Code Act, homosexuality is illegal and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Note: Read more on New Vision
(Russia) - Nikolai Alekseev, the organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, will be in court soon facing charges of slander and insult following his “outing” of a former State Duma (Parliament) deputy on live national television. The Moscow prosecutors department have completed criminal investigation against the Mr. Alekseev. The investigation was started after a complaint by former State Duma deputy Alexander Chuev, who accused the Pride organiser of slander and insults. Prosecutors today confirmed the accusation against Nikolai Alekseev based on Articles 129 (slander) and 130 (insult) of Russian Criminal Code.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - Gay supporters of Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination began voter outreach in the Castro last weekend in an effort to drum up support in advance of the state's February 5 primary. Obama, who trails Senator Hillary Clinton in several recent statewide polls, nonetheless has been closing the gap, and is in a tight race with Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, where voters soon will cast ballots in the caucuses and primary, respectively. Obama came under heavy criticism from many in the LGBT community because McClurkin has proclaimed himself "cured" of homosexuality and now rails against it. In an essay that Obama wrote for members of the National Gay Newspaper Guild, he discussed the McClurkin episode and reiterated his support of the LGBT community.
Note: Read more opn BayAreaReporter
(Netherlands) - It was not the Christmas present that a young Gay Iranian wanted. A court in the Netherlands has ruled that Mehdi, the Gay Iranian teenager, has to be returned to the United Kingdom, where he faces deportation back to Iran. He fled England last spring when a Home Office tribunal dismissed his appeal against deportation. “I was refused the right to appeal of asylum in the Netherlands because of the Dublin Treaty,” he said by telephone this afternoon. The Dublin Treaty, or Convention, is a European Union law that prevents asylum applicants from applying in multiple members states.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(India) - Rose (28), the first trangender in the country to host a television programme and the first one to openly advocate scientific sexual reconstruction surgery (SRS), has taken to the pen. Two leading publishing houses have evinced interest in publishing ‘her’ autobiography, tentatively titled ‘My Sexuality’. “Use the feminine pronoun when you write about me,” Rose tells DNA after sending the manuscript of the first chapter of her book to Penguin and Harper Collins, “because that is what I use for people of my ilk in my book”. Both the publishing houses, she says, have responded positively. The book will be of about 200 pages, in 14 chapters.
Note: Read more on DNA India
(UK) - A young Gay Iranian, who fled the United Kingdom in fear after his asylum application with the Home Office’s Border and Immigration Agency failed earlier this year, will be spending the festive season hoping that a Dutch court will allow him to stay in the Netherlands. UK Gay News highlighted the plight of 19 years-old Mehdi in April following the failure of his appeal against deportation from UK back to Iran.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday demanded that a high school that punished a student for wearing a t-shirt featuring a Lesbian pride symbol apologize to the student and guarantee that it will no longer illegally censor her in the future. School officials at I.C. Norcom High School had threatened the 17-year-old senior with suspension because a teacher was upset by her t-shirt, which had an image of two overlapping female gender symbols. Bethany Laccone, the student, said: “I wear that shirt because I want people to know that I’m proud of being a lesbian and comfortable with who I am. And I have the same Constitutional right to free speech as any other student.”
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Hungary) - While the Hungarian parliament passed new laws this week legalising same-sex civil partnerships, an opinion poll for a national newspaper found little support for the measure among the voters. The Nepszabadsag survey found that only 12 percent of Hungarians think same-sex relationships are completely normal. 60 percent condemn homosexuality and 30 percent disapprove of Gay people. The new law will apply to both heterosexual and Gay and Lesbian couples, and there is widespread support for civil partners having the same rights as married couples - 71 percent of respondents agreed in the poll by research firm Masmi.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Canada) - Half of Canada's same-sex couples live in just three fabulous cities: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, according to Statistics Canada, 2007. Now, using StatsCan's flawed data on a flawed metric can only generate results of a limited use, but it's the best data that's available at the moment. And — what's more frightening — considering that the Gays-against-marriage backlash started in urban centres, it's at least possible that our best guesses actually underestimate the number of Gays that live in the big three. But Canada is big. Very big. And believe it or not, Canadian queer life beyond the major cities is thriving.
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
(Morocco) - Amid media hysteria and large and riotous anti-Gay demonstrations in Morocco, six men whom prosecutors claimed participated in a "Gay marriage" have been convicted of violating that country's law against homosexual conduct and sent to prison. The drama, which attracted huge national media coverage- in large measure of an hysterically anti-Gay character - took place last month in Ksar El Kébir, a largely impoverished city of more than 100,000 halfway between Tangier and the nation's capital of Rabat, and which is dominated politically by the principal Islamist party, the Party of Justice and Development, popular among Morocco's economically deprived majority.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(New Zealand) - Convicted fraudster Martin van der Reit stood expressionless in the Auckland District Court this morning as Judge Josephine Bouchier sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for taking $35,000 from the Auckland Pride Centre in 2003-4. Van der Reit's defence lawyer told the court that her client wanted to work and pay off his debt to the Pride Centre, but was unable to do so as his most recent work permit had expired. "He accepts the Pride Centre has been harmed through his actions, and is keen to make amends," the court heard.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
Imagine waking up every day and feeling like you were in the wrong body. Imagine the frustration and angst it would cause to know that although you felt like a human being, those around you didn't treat you that way. Imagine spending a lifetime trying to excel at a sport only to be told that physically you were unable to compete because an unprecedented gender policy forbids your inclusion. Imagine being the first person ever to challenge that rule and win. For former tennis player Renee Richards, those scenarios were reality. As one of the first recognized professional transgendered athletes, Richards made waves and broke down barriers, creating a legacy that would change the face of sports forever.
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(Italy) - The city council in Rome has blocked plans for a domestic partners register for same-sex and heterosexual couples. The Vatican had vehemently opposed the measure. Rightwing groups on the council rejected the modest proposal, whereby couples could have signed a register at the city clerk's office. They would then have been entitled to rights to visit their partner in hospital, family rates at city-run leisure centres and other benefits in the control of the council. Earlier this month Massimo D'Alema, a former Prime Minister who currently holds the highest post at the Italian Foreign office, said that he was against marriage between Gay people, because "only a marriage between a man and a woman represents the basis of the family according to the Italian Constitution, and is also a sacrament according to the Church." He added that Gay marriage would offend the religious feelings of 'many people'.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Uruguay) - Uruguay's Congress legalized civil unions for Gay couples on Tuesday in the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America. Under the new law, Gay and straight couples will be eligible to form civil unions after living together for five years. They will have rights similar to those granted to married couples on such matters as inheritance, pensions and child custody. Uruguay's Senate passed the bill unanimously after the lower house approved it last month, a congressional spokesman said. The country's center-left president is expected to sign it into law.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(Hungary) - Hungary's parliament passed a law late on Monday that allows same-sex couples to register a civil partnership with many of the rights and obligations of marriage. Registered couples will have the same rights as married heterosexual couples in inheritance, taxation and other financial matters. But they will not be allowed to adopt children, unlike married couples. After decades under communist rule when homosexuality was banned or simply out of sight, it is far less widely accepted in Eastern Europe than in most of Western Europe. The law passed with 185 votes in favor, 154 against and 9 abstentions. It will take effect as of January 2009.
Note: Read mopre on Reuters
(USA) - The University of Michigan Law School is fighting a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by a professor who says he was denied tenure because he is openly Gay. "I am the only male ever denied tenure by a vote of the law school faculty in at least 40 years," said Peter Hammer, who moved to Wayne State University in Detroit, where he is a tenured law professor. At a hearing today, University of Michigan lawyers are asking a Lansing circuit court judge for the third time to throw out Hammer's suit, which has dragged on for almost three years and cost more than $200,000 in legal fees. The fight comes after the school in Ann Arbor successfully defended its affirmative action program before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.
Note: Read more on Bloomberg
(Canada) - Police have arrested two men in connection with two homophobic assaults that happened in Hamilton in the early hours of Dec 9. The victims left separately from the Embassy nightclub, a predominantly Gay venue. One man was knocked to the ground and then punched and kicked in the head by as many as three men in their early 20s around 3 am. The second victim suffered a similar attack about a half hour later. Police say the first victim was hospitalized and released but has returned to hospital several times since the incident for treatment of a head injury. Det Sgt Chris Kiriakopoulos says the victim has undergone X-rays and an MRI. Kiriakopoulos says the attacks were clearly homophobic.
Note: Read more on Extra.ca
(USA) - One of Bill Clinton's first acts as president was to propose that Gay servicemen and women be allowed to serve openly. That was 15 years ago, and it almost derailed his presidency. Instead, the US military adopted a policy called "don't ask, don't tell," where Gays can serve as long as they remain in the closet. The Pentagon says it's been a success. But 12,000 military men and women have been discharged under the policy. Now something curious is happening. As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, discharges of Gay soldiers are dropping, dramatically: from over 1,200 a year in 2001 to barely 600. With the military struggling to fight two wars, there are growing calls to repeal the policy and growing evidence that some commanders could care less about sexual orientation.
Note: Read and watch more on CBS News
(UK) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu has apologised to gay people all around the world for the way they have been treated by the Church. The Archbishop recently criticised the church for being ‘obsessed’ with homosexuality but speaking on the only gay programme on the BBC he goes further and says he’s ‘sorry’. “I want to apologise to you and to all those who we in the church have persecuted,” Archbishop Tutu says in the interview. “I’m sorry that we have been part of the persecution of a particular group. For me that is quite un-Christ like and, for that reason, it is unacceptable. May be, even as a retired Archbishop, I probably have, to some extent, a kind of authority but apart from anything let me say for myself and anyone who might want to align themselves with me, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the hurt, for the rejection, for the anguish that we have caused to such as yourselves.”
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Uganda) - Surprisingly, the gays and lesbians are claiming their sexual orientations as a “human right” and are seeking to coerce Ugandans into stamping the national seal of approval on these weird practices. But for the majority of Ugandans, this demand is uncompromisingly unacceptable. They could suffer the moral and cultural outrage silently, but asking them to applaud the sexual deviations goes against the grain. Perhaps the best that the homosexual and lesbian fraternity could do for themselves and the country is to maroon themselves on some island in Lake Victoria, where their sexual passions would consume them into extinction after about 100 years. This is not homophobia, but sound, social and demographic planning.
Note: The writer is the Chairman Uganda Land Commission. Reas more on New Vision
(Australia) - After being elected into power less than a month ago, The Sunday Telegraph has reported that senior ministers of the Labor party are considering plans to legalize same-sex civil unions after an election promise of state based relationship registers is successfully implemented. Speaking to the Telegraph, Professor Kerryn Phelps said that she had received confirmation from several ministers in the Rudd government, and that civil unions will be introduced “slowly and gradually”. “Their reaction to it was they were committed to eliminating discrimination and ensuring real equality and not a watered-down version. Not proceeding with Gay marriages or civil unions would be a watered-down version of equality.
Note: Read more on GenerationQ
(Cuba) - Cuba considers the official homophobia of the past decades “an error” but this period still needs discussing: ”what happened has to be analysed,” says sexologist Mariela Castro Espín. The director of the National Centre of Sex Education (Cenesex) announced at the start of last year a legal initiative to recognise the rights of the transsexuals to identity and to clinical attention, a proposal that has been reformulated through discussion. The project, which still awaits legislative passage, has incorporated among other points the rights of free sexual orientation… and of adoption for same sex pairs, comparable to heterosexual unions. Mariela is daughter of the stand-in President, Raúl Castro, and Vilma Espín, the late defender of gender rights.
Note: Read more on ZNet
(UK) - Peter Tatchell celebrated his fortieth year of campaigning on 10th December, Human Rights Day. The Australian-born activist began campaigning for human rights, democracy and global justice in 1967, aged 15. Now, at 55, his eyes still have the vividness and energy of a teenager, and he has no intention to retire, because, he says, there is still much work to do. Speaking in his home in South London, surrounded by hundreds of documents on human rights issues, books and magazines about LGBT rights, and satirical posters of religious leaders, he talks about his long career and his many experiences.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - An estimated 3,800 people under age 24 go homeless each night in New York City, but they blend in so well they are hard for social workers to find, according to the city's first-ever census of homeless youth. Three-fourths come from minority groups, with black youths accounting for nearly half the total and Latino youths representing a quarter, said the survey, released Friday. Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual youths were especially vulnerable, accounting for nearly a third of homeless cases.
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(UK) - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, asserted his authority over Anglican leaders yesterday in a document sent to all archbishops that said that those who went against the 'mind' of the Church risked being excluded from its councils. The warning, spelt out in his long-awaited Advent Letter to the Church’s 38 Primates and other leaders, could lead to The Episcopal Church of the US and the Anglican Church of Canada forfeiting their seats at the top tables of the Anglican Church if they do not curtail their 'liberal pro-Gay agenda.' The Rev Giles Fraser, Vicar of St Mary’s, Putney, and founder of the liberal Inclusive Church, criticised Dr Williams for planning yet more meetings and bureaucracy in an attempt to resolve the crisis. “We do not want an Anglican Pope,” he said.
Note: Read more on Times Online
(USA) - Michael Moreno, a 15-year-old 10th grader from Brewster, could not believe what he was seeing as he walked into the big hall at the Westchester County Center, and he grew quiet. There, for as far as the eye could see, were hundreds of boys and girls who belonged to Gay-straight clubs at area middle schools and high schools. "This is a great moment for him," said his stepfather, Hector Ramos. "He’s always felt so isolated."
Note: Read more on NY Times
(UK) - The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he will not reverse his decision to exclude a Gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglican gathering next year. The office of Archbishop Rowan Williams said he also had not changed his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a traditionalist U.S. priest who was consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria to minister to disaffected Episcopalians in the U.S. Anglicans are now on the brink of schism, and attendance at next year's assembly, called the Lambeth Conference, has become a focus of the tension. Theological conservatives and liberals have separately threatened to boycott the meeting because of who was and wasn't invited.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Australia) - The City of Sydney is planning to give Oxford Street back to Gays, artists and older people after endorsing a new cultural strategy for the strip and its surrounding area this week. New branding around Taylor Square to reinforce the Gay and Lesbian cultural heritage and ownership of the area was one recommendation of the report by Urban Cultures Ltd's Dr John Montgomery. He also called for GLBTQ organisations lost to the inner-west to be returned and co-located in a building in the precinct. "As many of the area's distinctive characteristics result from its association with the GLBTQ communities, the report supports reinforcing that connection," Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
Ed Murrow — who would be turning over in his grave at seeing what has become of the CBS news division he’d built into the gold standard for TV broadcast news — once said that TV is “the greatest classroom in the world.” Most of the time, unfortunately, LOGO resembles a kindergarten playground. The stereotype says that Gay people are supposed to be more creative and smarter than those who aren’t. LOGO certainly belies that stereotype. Shouldn’t a Gay network be different, and better, than the infotainment one finds on the “straight” commercial networks, instead of imitating their lowest common denominator?
Note: Read more on Queerty
(USA) - Gay historian Allan Berube, award-winning author of Coming Out Under Fire, died Tuesday of complications from two stomach ulcers. He was 61. Berube was an independent historian and community activist. After coming out in 1969, he joined a gay liberation collective household. He later became a member of a gay commune for craftspeople in San Francisco, where he remained for many years, according to a statement released by a friend, Wayne Hoffman. In 1978, Berube was one of the founders of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project.
Note: Read more on Advocate
(Iran) - The Islamic Republic of Iran murdered Makwan Moloudzadeh, a lad of 21, on the cold morning of December 5. Makwan was dragged at dawn from his jail cell in the Kermanshah Central Prison and hanged in secret within the prison, without the required presence of his lawyer and family, for the so-called "crime" of having had anal sexual relations, which the authorities claimed was rape, with boys of his own age eight years ago, when he was 13. Two international treaties to which Iran is a signatory - the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child - both forbid the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed before the age of 18.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Spain) - A Gay couple who took on the British and Spanish governments over the recognition of their civil partnership have won a major victory. Paul and Martin Ward signed the civil partnership register in Devon on Valentine's Day this year, having been advised that it would be recognised in Spain, where Paul lives. However, when the couple returned to Spain to live, they found out from the British Consul in Malaga that their civil partnership was not recognised in Spain. "We both decided to fight for our partnership to be recognised here in Spain, in the same way that Spain recognises a UK heterosexual marriage and the UK recognises a Spanish Gay marriage," the couple said today.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Vatican) - The annual message from the head of the Roman Catholic Church to the world has been unveiled. It is entitled The Human Family, A Community of Peace, and in it he calls for the dismantling of nuclear weapons and environmental co-operation and describes Gay marriage as "an obstacle on the road to peace." "Whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community, national and international, since he weakens what is in effect the primary agency of peace. This point merits special reflection: everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life, everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children, constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace."
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Brazil) - Three suspects in the beating of a Gay teen in Rio De Janeiro have been identified through phone calls, according to local media reports. Police are also reviewing surveillance video footage from the Niterói neighborhood where the teen was attacked. Student Ferrucio Silvestro was leaving a Gay club in Niterói on Nov. 30 when three youths between 18 and 25 years old chased him shouting, "We do not want 'viados' around here." "Viados" is an anti-Gay slur much like "faggot" in English. Ferrucio ran 400 meters and hid in a gas station bathroom but was found and beaten by the three attackers.
Note: Read more on Gay News Watch
(New Zealand) - Over 1,500 campers are expected at Manawatu's LGBT campsite Vinegar Hill for New Years Eve 2007-8, and a huge number of Gays and Lesbians will head to Uretiti Beach in Northland for some beachside fun in the sun. Since the early 1980's, Vinegar Hill has been a popular camping spot of LGBT people and their families over Christmas and New Years. This year will be no exception, with a full schedule of events planned right through Christmas Eve to New Years Day 2008. As far as Gay camp sites go, Uretiti is second in numbers only to Vinegar Hill, with around 400 people coming to camp out each year by the beach.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
(USA) - Perhaps, if the largest newspaper in Little Rock were called the Arkansas Republican-Gazette instead of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Mike "Huck-a-Bible" might have bothered to read the news. America was shocked to learn that the rising GOP political star was blissfully unaware of the National Intelligence Estimate that found Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003. This debacle was followed by news of an Associated Press questionnaire Huckabee completed in his failed 1992 U.S. Senate bid, where he called for the quarantine of AIDS patients and referred to homosexuality as "an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle" that could "pose a dangerous public health risk."
Note: Read more on Wayne Besen
(UK) - A leading UK Labour MEP has today called on Conservative leader David Cameron to denounce his party’s MEPs who today “heckled and shouted like hooligans” during ceremonies to proclaim the European Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Parliament. The Charter gives rights to citizens of member states of the European Unions – and includes rights for the EU gay, lesbian and transgender communities. Michael Cashman described the actions of those UK Conservative MEPs as “a national scandal”. They joined the far-right UKIP members, fascists and communists in trying to shout-down the presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission during the ceremonies earlier today.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Latvia) - The leader of Latvia's Roman Catholics has called on political parties to ban Gays from seeking public office. As the country prepares to go to the polls to elect a new Parliament Cardinal Janis Pujats issued a letter demanding the three major parties pledge not to endorse the candidacy of anyone who is Gay and not to appoint anyone Gay to non-elected office. The letter tells party leaders they must be "ready to defend the Latvian nation against the invasion of homosexuality in public life," the Baltic News Service reported on Tuesday. Pujats later said that European laws barring discrimination against Gays "irrelevant" if they run counter to the morals of Latvia.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Chech Republic) - A touring exhibition that describes the history of homosexual movement for equality in the Czech Republic was unveiled on the occasion of the day of human rights in the Hrzansky palace Monday, Jiri Hromada, a former head of the Gay Initiative in the Czech Republic, told CTK. The exhibition will be put on display at the Prague House of Ethnic Minorities between January 7 and 25, said Jiri Hromada, an assistant to the minister for minorities and human rights Dzamila Stehlikova. "We want to show to the public that Gays and Lesbians did not fall from the Mars. The older generation used to say there were no homosexuals in its youth," Hromada said. The first of the panels describes the position of homosexuals in the world from antiquity to the 19th century.
Note: Read more on Prague Monitor
(Sweden) - Centre Party member of parliament Fredrick Federley was the victim of a homophobic attack in central Stockholm on Saturday night. The assault took place at the Klara Grillen hot dog stand on Drottninggatan, where Federley went with two acquaintances after leaving the Pigalle nightclub. But as they approached their destination, six or seven men in their twenties began shouting "here come the fags". "Then they screamed that we were disgusting and a threat to Sweden and that they were going to beat us up," said Federley. Just as he tried to convince his assailants that fighting was a bad idea, he was struck with a punch to the left jaw.
Note: The Local
(New Zealand) - A decision by the USA to continue invasive and repressive immigration restrictions on traveling HIV positive New Zealanders is being labeled hypocritical, humiliating and "a broken Presidential promise" by this country’s largest HIV organisations. Body Positive Auckland spokesperson Bruce Kilmister says he has seen HIV positive people merely transiting through the USA publicly humiliated by being placed under armed guard with their travel documents seized at the entry airport. They have later been marched onto a return flight home. The United States is one of only thirteen countries that bar HIV positive people from entering its borders, putting it alongside the likes of Iraq, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(Jamaica) - Janice has been beaten up for being a Lesbian. Sitting in the small windowless room in an anonymous house in uptown Kingston, the 31-year old Jamaican shows a scar above her left eye. She says she never leaves her house without her knife nowadays. She claims she used it “a couple of times for self-defense”. When she speaks about her life as a Lesbian in Jamaica, one can feel the pain in her angry eyes. She left home as a teenager because her family never approved her sexuality. : « I was 14, she says. My sisters had boyfriends, and I didn’t want any. So, I told my mom I was not going to have any boyfriend and any kids because I was different. She did not accept it ».
Note: Read more on TPI News
(Israel) - The Interior Ministry must recognize the overseas adoptions of same-sex couples, the state said yesterday. The state prosecution told the High Court of Justice that it would tell the ministry's Population Registry to recognize such adoptions as long as the couple presents a valid adoption certificate from a foreign country. "This is another step toward equality and the abolition of discrimination toward same-sex couples," said MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz-Yahad). "The time has come for the state to recognize these couples, just as it recognizes the adoptions of heterosexual couples."
Note: Read more on Haaretz
(Canada) - Homos and their newspaper should be welcome in the city, in the suburbs, and everywhere. That's the message a small but proud group of Ottawa Queers and allies brought to Broadway Bar & Grill in Kanata on Friday. They were there to bring Queer visibility to the restaurant, whose owners requested that a Capital Xtra newspaper box be removed from the front of the establishment in October. Broadway's managers said that their request to remove the box was based on a number of complaints from the restaurant's patrons, who were concerned at some one the material in the newspaper.
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
(USA) - Somerville police last week were investigating an alleged hate crime and possible police error after outcry from a Gay-rights group. Don Gorton, chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, said Lisa Daloia of northeastern Massachusetts and two other women were beaten up in the early hours of Nov. 18 while leaving a friend's house. A man started taunting Daloia and her group of six friends earlier in the evening at the On the Hill Tavern in Magoun Square. Daloia was knocked unconscious, Gorton said; her friends, he added, received "bruises all over their faces and parts of their bodies." Daloia has been experiencing post-traumatic stress since the incident.
Note: Read more on Boston.com
Desmond Morris, who became a bestselling author by applying zoology to explain human behaviour, has now utilised the techniques to put forward an explanation for homosexuality. In his latest book, The Naked Man, he concludes that men are "made Gay" because they retain infantile or juvenile characteristics into adulthood – a phenomenon known as neoteny. According to this theory, Gay men also tend to be more inventive and creative than heterosexuals because they are more likely to retain the mental agility and playfulness of childhood. "Gays have in general made a disproportionately greater contribution to life than non-Gays," said Morris, who is also a noted artist. "The creative Gay has very much advanced Planet Earth."
Note: Read more on Times Online
Imagine you’ve been a tennis player. You’re 18, you wear glasses, you stand 5ft 4in, you are at Wimbledon for the second time, the world has never heard of you and you are drawn against the No 1 seed Margaret Court. You win 7-5 in the third. You win the ladies doubles that same year and, charmed by your audacity, journalists call you “Little Miss Moffitt”. It would be the first of many labels. Three years later you marry Larry King and Miss Moffitt becomes Billie Jean King.
Note: Read more on Times Online
(USA) - A Lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts are unable to get divorced in their home state of Rhode Island, the state's Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The three-to-two decision ruled that the state's family court does not have the ability to grant a divorce to Gay couples as the state defines marriage as between a man and a woman. "The role of the judicial branch is not to make policy, but simply to determine the legislative intent," the court said in a written judgement.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 homeless LGBT youth are on the streets in New York on any given night. And the National Alliance to End Homelessness maintains these youth remain more vulnerable to violence. They suffer higher rates of mental illness and are more likely to engage in sex work. The Washington-based advocacy coalition further estimates sexual violence rates are more than seven percent higher among homeless LGBT youth than their straight peers and are more likely to attempt suicide. Siciliano and other activists maintain the broader movement for LGBT rights must do a better job to address the plight of homeless LGBT youth. He pointed to the movement’s focus on coming out in recent years but conceded many young people - especially those whose parents are socially conservative or even homophobic - often do not take into account the possible consequences.
Note: Read more on Edge NY
(USA) - It's hardly a secret in Hollywood that Jodie Foster is Gay. Everybody with an interest in her private life – whether prurient or more personal – has known it for at least as long as she has been an Oscar-winning actress, which is pushing 20 years by now. (She won an Academy Award for her role as a rape victim in 1988's The Accused, and again three years later for her indelible performance as Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs.) An equally open secret is that she is one of the Hollywood few who is actually in a stable long-term relationship. Scour the internet and it doesn't take long to find out that her partner's name is Cydney Bernard, that they have been together since 1993, and that they are bringing up two children conceived and delivered by Foster – Charles, who is nine, and Kit, six.
Note: Read more on Independent
(Brazil) - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced last week that he will convene the first-ever national LGBT conference in South America's largest country. The conference, which will have the theme "Human Rights and Public Politics: The Way to Guarantee Citizenship to Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals," will take place next May 9-11 and include 18 private organizations and 16 government agencies. "There are countries with more advanced legislation and policies, but this will be the first time that a federal government convenes a complete conference," said Brazilian gay rights activist Julian Rodrigues.
Note: Read more on Gay News Watch
(USA) - Judy and Dennis Shepard, parents of Matthew Shepard, the young Gay man who was brutally murdered in 1998 because of his sexuality, expressed their 'sadness' that the proposed federal legislation 'The Matthew Shepard Act' had been withdrawn. "We are truly dismayed to find that Congress now will put aside its leadership on passage of federal hate crimes legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity," they said in a statement. "At this time of year that fills us all with hope for humankind, we are sad to find that a Congressional majority of each House who have already adopted the Matthew Shepard Act cannot yet come together. "
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - “The second I got to Barnard I was like, ‘This is not going to be okay because it’s just so girly,’” Grosz said, a transgender student who identifies as a man. He quickly transferred to the School of General Studies at the beginning of the semester. “I guess I was expecting more of a queer community.” Grosz is one of a small number of students who are challenging gender norms at a younger age than ever before and finding that colleges are not quite ready for them, neither structurally nor socially. While Grosz felt restricted by Barnard’s female environment, the all-female environment felt equally uneasy with him. Orientation had not finished before Grosz was informed by residential life that his roommate was no longer comfortable with the living situation.
Note: Read more on Columbia Spectator
(USA) - Over 100 people gathered in Grand Rapids last Wednesday night to socialize and raise funds for the Network's youth programs. Tony Wolfram, president of Network, said the event was necessary for the group's programs which currently serve about 50 youth from the area. "It was all brought home for me when I overheard a young woman talking one night," Wolfson said. "She said she used to lock herself in her room and cut herself. She had no support for being different. But then she said because of the Network she doesn't feel the need to do that anymore." This is the second year the Network has held this silent auction fundraiser. Last year the group raised about $12,000 and Wolfram said he hoped the group would raise more money this year.
Note: Read more on Pride Source
(Australia) - The decision follows talks today between ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell and federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland, who voiced concerns about the Territory's proposal. The ACT Government had planned to introduce the legislation in February. Mr Corbell described the meeting as very constructive but said the two parties had agreed to further talks at a departmental level about the issue. "This means the ACT won't be able to present its legislation in February,'' he said. "The Commonwealth minister indicated he does have concerns with the proposed arrangements.'' The meeting came after former Attorney-General Philip Ruddock used his power to block ACT laws, saying they contradicted the federal Marriage Act.
Note: Read more on The Australian
(USA) - Bob Kohler, Gay activist, former owner of the Loft on Christopher Street, Stonewall veteran, founder member of the Gay Liberation Front, ACT UP member, and longtime fixture of Charles Street, died on Wednesday at the age of 81. The cause of death was cancer, according to family friends. A Queens native who lost a kidney in World War II, Kolher was remembered as tireless fighter for Gay rights, Transsexual rights, Queer youth, and people with HIV/AIDS who never gave up the struggle even as he battled illness and advancing years. "At at an age when most people were doing nothing much more than using a remote control Bob was out of the street fighting for what he believed in and often committing civil disobedience," said Bill Dobbs, a friend. "He inspired many younger activists and helped shaped the modern Gay rights movement."
Note: Read more on Village Voice
(Botswana) - Attorney Duma Boko, has slapped the Attorney General, Athaliah Molokomme with a notice of intention to sue the department of civil and national registration following its decision not to register the society of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (LEGABIBO). Through a letter two months ago, it was revealed that the registrar of societies dismissed an application seeking to register the organisation. The letter further revealed that the rejected application was made by the Botswana Network On Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) on behalf of LEGABIBO and filed with the registrar of societies on September 27 last year. LEGABIBO stated that the organisation's objective is 'to integrate a legal, ethical and human rights dimension into the sexual, reproductive and health rights without discrimination'.
Note: Read more on AllAfrica
(Australia) - Mardi Gras this morning launched their festival guide for 2008 and not only is the line up absolutely inspiring, but so is the new found leadership and bold ethos emanating from within the organisation. The theme for 2008 is Brave New Worlds and Mardi Gras is certainly entering one indeed. During his speech Marcus Bourget touched on the reality that Mardi Gras is facing right here, right now. Marcus said that Mardi Gras does get some support, but it pales in comparison to what it generates for the economy. It’s time something changed. “As we celebrate the 30th anniverary the question I have for you is a simple one – can we imagine a Mardi Gras where we commemorate 1978 without the Parade?”
Note: Read more on Same Same
(Australia) - Attorney-General Robert McClelland hopes to reach a consensus with the Liberal Opposition on removing discrimination against Gays and Lesbians from all commonwealth legislation. And he will meet his ACT counterpart, Simon Corbell, tomorrow to discuss the Gay civil union laws being promised by the ACT Government, and will ask the territory for co-operation in developing a national standard on civil partnerships. Mr McClelland said he wanted to reach a bipartisan position on removing all discrimination against Gays, after Liberal leader Brendan Nelson indicated he wished to change his party's position on the issue.
Note: Read more on Australian News
(USA) - Michael E. Guest, a tall, soft-spoken man with salt-and-pepper hair, looks every bit the diplomat. At the young age of 43, at the start of the Bush administration, he was named ambassador to Romania, and since he returned in 2004 he has trained new ambassadors before they ship out overseas. But last month, after 26 years in the Foreign Service, he did something uncharacteristically undiplomatic. Guest resigned from the State Department, giving up a career he loved, in order to protest rules and regulations that he believes are unfair to the same-sex partners of Foreign Service officers, giving them fewer benefits than family pets.
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(Rwanda) - Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini has called on churches in the East African region to fight against homosexuality for the 'good of the society.' The leader of the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda insisted that Anglican churches in East Africa will not mingle with the homosexuals in the affairs of the church for the good of the community. "We are reformed Anglicans who want to adhere to the original creeds of the Bible, and that’s why our church has decided to ignore the 2008 Lambeth Conference because it has not done much to fight homosexuality in the communion," he said on Sunday. He was addressing a big congregation gathered for a three-day 'peace crusade' at Remera St. Peter’s Church. The crusade, which was organised by the Anglican Church of Rwanda, brought together Christians from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and hosts Rwanda.
Note: Read more on New Times
(South Africa) - Suhail AbualSameed looked calm, yet he was shaking inside. He was seated before a row of ulama, distinguished Islamic scholars, from Afghanistan to Yemen at the International Consultation on Islam and HIV/AIDS, organised by the charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week. The previous day, several of them had denounced homosexuality as un-Islamic and evil. Today, AbualSameed had something to tell them. “As a Gay Muslim, I feel unsafe, unloved and unrespected in this space,” he said. “Were I to become HIV-positive, the first thing I would lose is my Muslim community. I couldn’t come to you guys for support.”
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(New Zealand) - Hundreds of artefacts and documents chronicling and showcasing New Zealand's Lesbian culture looking back to the early 20th century - how will this collection be preserved for the benefit and understanding of future generations? Dr Miriam Saphira's dream of a Lesbian Museum in Auckland is now a significant step closer to reality with the announcement of new headquarters for the Charlotte Museum Trust's activities. The office at 58 Surrey Crescent will open on Sunday 17 February 2008 - right in the middle of Auckland's HERO Festival. Shelving has been provided by the Gay Auckland Business Association, and volunteers are classifying and taking inventory on all the items in preparation for relocation.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(Canada) - Vancouver will be quite Gay in the summer of 2011 if civic leaders stumping for the North America Continental Outgames and Human Rights Conference have their way. Some 3,500 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered athletes and up to 2,500 delegates to the conference could attend, Vancouver Pride Society president John Boychuk said yesterday. The 10 days of events "would come to a conclusion the week before Pride Week," which is in August, said Boychuk. "It would put the city in a long, Gay spell. We did have the Gay Games here in the '90s. Since then, the Gay and Lesbian sporting world has made leaps and bounds."
Note: Read more on canada.com
(Malta) - The European International Lesbian and Gay Association Annual Conference will be held in Malta in 2009 following a presentation at this year’s conference held in October in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Malta beat the other location, The Hague, that was competing to host the gathering. In a statement, the Malta Gay Rights Movement said that for such a small island the conference will present an ideal opportunity to raise the visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues nationally, as well as in the wider Mediterranean and southern European region.
Note: Read more on Malta Independent
(USA) - The Philadelphia chapter of the Boy Scouts of America ignored today's deadline, set by City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr., to publicly renounce its membership ban against people who are Gay or atheists if the organization wishes to remain in its landmark headquarters on city-owned land. The scouts have been on notice for seven months that they will be evicted on May 31 if they do not drop the policies.
Note: Read more on philly.com
(Peru) - What was a procedural congressional debate yesterday on whether the Peruvian government would adhere to the Iberian-American Convention on the Rights of Youth - an international treaty that establishes a core set of legal standards to protect young people - became a heated debate on whether the treaty would open the door for same-sex marriage in Peru that exposed unexpected legislative support for same-sex partnerships. As a result, a vote on the treaty was shelved and the resolution was sent back to the Peruvian Commission of International Relations for further study. At issue, according to La Razon, were articles 5 and 14 which refer to language prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and the right to one's sexual identity and article 20.1 which speaks of the right to build a family - which some legislators argued clashed with the Peruvian constitution.
Note: Read more on Blabbeando
Joyce and I can recite Gay-couple horror stories about dying or becoming incapacitated without giving one's partner undeniable decision-making authority. But what really hit home was seeing firsthand the power of having the proper document --and, more important, the powerlessness of not having it. We quit stalling and turned our attention to the half-finished set of legal protections gathering dust on our stairs: for each of us, a will, a durable power of attorney, a health care power of attorney and authorization for the release medical information.
Note: Read more on The Detroit News
(USA) - To live in Newark often means grappling with unrelenting poverty, the anesthetizing lure of drugs, murderous gangs, a lack of decent jobs. But for Gay men, Lesbians and Transgender people, there are additional obstacles that are seldom acknowledged: Gay bashings, H.I.V., open hostility from many religious leaders and sometimes callous treatment by the police. The city has no Gay community center, no Gay pride parade, no established Gay organizations; there are no bars devoted exclusively to Gay or Lesbian clientele. “Newark is like one big closet,” said Ron Saleh, a consultant to the John Edwards presidential campaign, who moved here two years ago. “And there’s nothing going on for Gay people. It’s like a desert.”
Note: Read more on NY Times
(Australia) - While Dr Nelson says his stand on Gay rights is a personal view and he'll be consulting his colleagues on any formal policy shift, he told the Sunday Mail in a wide-ranging interview yesterday he thinks it's a change in the law that's overdue. "I don't support Gay marriage, adoption or IVF," Dr Nelson said. "But I believe in addressing the social and economic injustices affecting homosexuals the length and breadth of this country." Dr Nelson is understood to have unsuccessfully argued inside the former Howard Cabinet along with his now shadow treasurer, Malcolm Turnbull, for the legal rights of Gay couples to be recognised.
Note: Read more on news.com
(USA) - The disappearance of places like Buddies and Chaps may sound like a problem limited to Gay men, but it is part of a much larger trend reshaping American cities. As Gay bars vanish, so go bookstores, diners, and all kinds of spaces that once allowed "blissful public congregation." When Gays moved out of the shadows during the '70s, then began settling in certain areas of major cities (like the South End in Boston), Gay bars evolved. Some became respected neighborhood institutions, offering meeting space to social groups, sponsoring softball teams and arts festivals, distributing condoms and health information, and buying ads in local newspapers. By the mid-1980s, they were a major force in turning Gay Pride holidays into citywide celebrations, sponsoring eye-catching parade floats and raucous block parties.
Note: Read more on boston.com
CALGARY - An Alberta man who has pressed for five years to get an anti-gay letter branded as hate literature won a victory Friday with a human rights commission ruling that said it broke provincial law and may even have played a role in the beating of a gay teenager.
The letter, written by Stephen Boissoin and published in the Red Deer Advocate in 2002, carried the headline "Homosexual agenda wicked" and suggested gays were as immoral as pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps.
Darren Lund, a high school teacher in Red Deer at the time, complained to the Alberta Human Rights Commission after the teenager was beaten in the city two weeks after the letter was published.
In Friday's ruling, commission panel chairwoman Lori Andreachuk said both Boissoin and the Concerned Christian Coalition to which he belonged broke provincial human rights law by likely exposing gays to hatred and contempt.
Note: Read more at Canadian Press
Uruguay will legalize civil unions for homosexuals and heterosexuals next month, making it the first Latin American nation to treat gay and straight couples alike, a lawmaker said Thursday.
Deputies in the early hours of Thursday passed legislation allowing gay and straight couples to form civil unions after living together for at least five years.
The Senate has already approved the measure.
Note: Read more at Sign On San Diego
MACUNGIE, Pa. - The Lower Macungie Township Library board has declined to pull a storybook with a homosexual theme off the shelf despite complaints from one couple and 40 signatures from other residents.
Jeff and Eileen Issa demand that the library remove the book "King & King." The library board refused for a second time on Thursday.
Eileen Issa says she was reading the story to her 2 1/2-year-old son when she came to the ending where the prince gets married _ to a man. She says when she saw the illustration of the newlywed men kissing she "was sick."
Note: Read more on The Sentinel
A committee of MPs yesterday approved amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill that will make incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation an offence.
None of the Conservative MPs on the committee voted against the proposals.
The Bill will now proceed to a report stage and third reading in the Commons before being sent to the Lords.
Note: Read more on Pink News
THE incoming attorney-general, Robert McClelland, says Labor is unlikely to block a proposal by the ACT to legally recognise same-sex couples - a plan that was repeatedly stymied by the Howard Government.
The ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, is planning to reintroduce a civil partnerships bill, which will give legal recognition to unions between same-sex couples. The plan was blocked by the Howard Government last year and the outgoing Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, threatened to do so again in February.
Mr McClelland told the Herald yesterday that Labor opposes gay marriages but would support moves to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as de facto heterosexual couples.
Note: Read more at Sydney Morning Herald
New rules passed by the city council in Vilnius will effectively outlaw gay marches and other events, according to Lithuanian gay rights advocates.
Amendments to the public order and cleanliness regulations mean that the police or a special commission will be able to ban any event where they think a riot might occur.
The Lithuanian Gay League is attempting to appeal this decision in court.
Note: Read more at Pink News
Novelist Jane Rule, whose life and work were a combined statement in support of social equality and personal generosity, died last night of liver cancer at her home on Galiano Island, B.C.
She was 76.
Rule was equally known for her fiction and for her status as a lesbian role model.
"She was the first Canadian woman writer to write about being gay as if it was part of the normal life," Toronto novelist Susan Swan said last night from her Toronto home.
"There was no self-consciousness about it. There didn't seem to be any need for her to wave a political flag. This female character as a lesbian – you picked that up by reading the story. You weren't reading the story to find out what it was like to be a lesbian."
Note: Read more at The Star
The Jefferson County Board of Education voted late last night to extend employment, discrimination and harassment protection to gay, lesbian and bisexual workers.
The 4-3 vote came after more than two hours of heated comments from about 50 people who supported or opposed the policy change.
While they spoke, supporters in the crowd held up signs reading, “Fairness for All” and “Protect all Workers,” while opponents raised signs that said, “Protect the Children.”
Note: Read more on Courier-Journal
Hate drove Terry and Ryan Hamilton out of Bothwell.
Not because of what they did, but because of who they are.
"Die fags," was spray painted on the couple's home at 341 Main St., sending a clear message they weren't welcome.
"There was no way we could stay, we were suffering such tremendous hate crimes," Ryan Hamilton said.
"They were doing everything they could to make our lives a living hell."
The couple made more than 30 complaints to the Chatham-Kent Police Service after incidents including mischief, vandalism and threats.
Note: Read more on London Free Press
(USA) - The Trevor Project, the non-profit organization that operates a round-the-clock suicide prevention helpline for Gay and questioning youth in the US, today announced that two-time Academy Award(R)-winning actress Jodie Foster will present The Trevor Founders Award at the organization's annual Cracked Xmas event. Ms. Foster will present the award to two of the organization's founders, director Peggy Rajski and screenwriter James Lecesne. The award will be presented in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the first Cracked Xmas benefit and in memory of the organization's third founder, producer Randy Stone, who passed away unexpectedly in February of this year. The presentation will take place at Cracked Xmas 10, to be held on December 2, 2007 at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
Note: Read more on Melodika
(Morocco) - A wedding for a well-known gay man in Morocco ended with the colorful 'bride' behind bars, along with five other wedding guests, and sparked riots and calls for authorities to clamp down on gays in Moroccan society. The wedding, attended by scores of Gays and Lesbians, lasted two days and had many elements of a traditional Moroccan wedding. More than 600 heterosexuals took to the streets, chanting slogans condemning the city's leniency towards Gays and criticizing the couple's audacity to hold a Gay wedding in the open. According to article 489 of the Moroccan Penal Code, homosexuality is illegal and is punishable by six months to three years in jail and a fine of 120 to 1,200 dirhams (15 to 155 dollars).
Note: Read more on Al Arabia
HIV, or the human immunodeficiency virus, is the cause of AIDS. The number of people infected with HIV is staggering -- more than 33 million worldwide have the disease, according to the latest estimates from the United Nations. And "more than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981," said David Bryden, spokesman for the Global AIDS Alliance Fund, an organization based in Washington, D.C. Established by the World Health Organization in 1988, World AIDS Day serves to focus global attention on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The day provides an opportunity for governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations and individuals to demonstrate the importance of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Note: Read more on Herald Tribune
(UK) - A Lesbian couple were subjected to such an intimidating tirade of homophobic abuse that they dreaded stepping outside their front door, a court heard. Fireworks were hurled at Carol Cashmore and Nina Meffen's house and into their garden and youths regularly gathered outside to shout anti-Gay insults. The catalogue of abuse took place last year, starting with a vicious attack in July in which a 20-year-old man and two teenage girls armed themselves with wooden chair legs and rained blows on the two women until they were barely conscious. Miss Cashmore, 42, told the court the two girls had hung around outside the couple's garden fence and shouted homophobic abuse. On two occasions, fireworks were thrown into their garden, one of which struck a bedroom window.
Note: Read more on Daily Echo
(Israel) - In a ceremony held Sunday in Jerusalem, the film V'ahavta was declared the best feature film produced by a Ma'ale film school graduate. The movie, directed by Chaim album, depicts the struggle endured by an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student forced to sublimate his homosexual tendencies in a largely intolerant society. Ultimately the film's protagonist comes to the realization that his struggle is futile, and comes to accept himself as a religious Gay man. He makes peace with himself and with his creator, in a haunting story line that largely parallels Album's own life story.
Note: Read more on Ynet
(Poland) - Gay activists in Poland have spoken of their dismay that the country's newly-elected government are to continue the policy of opposition to the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. Before coming to power earlier this month Donald Tusk had signalled he would sign up to the charter, which broadly mirrors the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. Former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski of the Law and Justice party had claimed that Poland was "culturally different" from their EU partners, especially when it came to the rights of LGBT people and the use of the death penalty, and refused to sign up.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(UK) - "I have had beer thrown at me and poured all over me, pushed, shoved, verbally abused – every word imaginable, cornered, surrounded and threatened in public … and that’s just me." These are the very words of a Gay pupil writing about his experiences at a top independent school in an email that arrived in the UK Gay News inbox on Friday. The email’s 'Subject': Homophobia at Christian Boarding School. "I am sick of them and their abusive attitudes and behaviour," he wrote of his tormentors. "People liken homosexuality to paedophilia and they get away with it," he continues. "People have said in front of teachers 'I hate gay people' and nothing’s happened."
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - Gay rights campaigners have highlighted the lyrics of some of reggae’s biggest stars in their campaign for a new offence of inciting Gay hatred. Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, gave MPs an example from a record called Hang ‘em High by the popular Jamaican artist, Beenie Man. The song included the lyrics “Hang chi chi gal wid a long piece of rope”. Mr Summerskill explained: “The key lyric in that means, ‘Hang Lesbians with a long piece of rope’.” Mr Summerskill said that Beenie Man had also released a single called Batty Man Fi Dead, which means, essentially, that Gay men should die.
Note: Read more on Times Online
(USA) - Sunday's Hartford Courant tells the compelling tale of John Bernard. When John Bernard was a teenager, his father would drive him to dances. But Bernard never knew quite how to explain that it wasn't the girls he found interesting. He liked the boys. That's tough enough for any young person," reports the Courant, "but Bernard has mental retardation, making his sexual identity a leap from social quicksand into a fully loaded minefield. In the unforgiving eyes of so many, it made Bernard both a "fag" and a "retard" — two of the first epithets young children learn to demonize each other on the playground. For Bernard and others with developmental disabilities, the discovery that they are homosexual can add a layer of secrecy and stigma to an existence that already hovers on society's sidelines."
Note: Read more on PAYOR
(Uganda) - The Uganda Joint Christian Council has condemned the Commonwealth for "attempting to forcefully impose homosexuality on developing nations." During anti-homosexuality inter-faith prayers at the Commonwealth Peoples Open Space on Friday, the council said the act constituted a threat to the unity of the bloc. Rev. Canon Grace Kaiso, the executive secretary of the council, said: “We are ready for CHOGM but we are not ready for homosexuality.”
Note: Read more on New Vision
(Barbados) - The founder of the United Gays And Lesbians Against AIDS In Barbados feels he is being targeted. Darcy Dear was the victim of a recent stone-throwing incident that left two windows in the upper level of his home broken. The Gay rights activist, who is on break from his restaurant in New York, said it would cost $900 to replace the sash windows and pay for labour. Dear, who is in the process of completing his apartment complex and home, said he was in his room on Wednesday night watching television when he had to dodge two large stones thrown through his windows. As he pointed to the shattered glass in the room, he told the SUNDAY SUN team that was the second time in a week his home had been attacked.
Note: Read more on nationnews.com
(UK) - Gay rights campaigners have clashed with Belfast's Rape Crisis Centre over plans to lower the age of sexual consent to 16. The British government has published proposals to bring Northern Ireland's legal process, under which it is illegal for 16-year-olds to have sex, into line with the rest of the UK. The centre has joined a loose alliance with the Catholic church, evangelical Protestant churches and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party to oppose the proposed change from 17 to 16. Ranged against them are organisations representing the Gay community.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Uganda) - People advocating for the rights of homosexuals and those against the practice are using the People's Space at Hotel Africana in Kampala to air out their views. Drama ensued on Thursday when the Catholic and Anglican clergymen, who were condemning Gays, sat next to pro-Gay people who were watching a film on homosexuality. The film, which attracted several youth, showcased the various countries which have embraced Gays, particularly Egypt. As homosexuals and lesbians gave testimonies on how they were attracted to each other in the movie, the clergy were addressing a press conference to express their disappointment at Commonwealth member-states that were advocating for Gay rights.
Note: Read more on New Vision
(UK) - A straight man who set fire to his neighbour’s flat in an allegedly homophobic attack was yesterday locked up indefinitely. A court heard how Alan Pollitt went to the nearby Rhyl flat of a Gay couple who had been together for 18 years, and threatened one of the men with a metal bar. The victim then left the property seeking his partner to tell him what had occurred. The couple went for a drink to discuss the matter and while the flat was empty, Pollitt broke in and started five fires. Karen Mullin, prosecuting, said Pollitt, who had a previous conviction for arson following a similar incident in Preston, later told how he planned to kill one or both of his neighbours. He expressed no remorse for his actions. Miss Mullin said that from the comment he made, it was the Crown case that his motives were based on hostility to their sexual orientation.
Note: Read more on Daily Post
(Australia) - Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal government suffered a crushing defeat to the opposition Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd on Saturday. Howard's ouster ended 11 years leading Australia with most Australian's seeing him as "yesterday's man". The vote ends longstanding disagreements between Howard's Liberals and Australia's Gay community over recognizing same-sex relationships. How much more Gay friendly a Labor government will be has yet to be determined. Rudd is opposed to same-sex marriage, but on the campaign trail said that if Labor formed the next government it would implement most of the recommendations of the federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The Greens, with its openly Gay leader Bob Brown, was the only party to support Gay marriage, but failed to win any seats in Parliament.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - Suggest to Peter Tatchell that, after 40 years of campaigning on a wide range of human rights issues, it might be time to ease-up a little, he has a two-word reply: “No way!” And then he expands his thoughts on any suggestions of “hanging up the placards” and taking things easy. “I am only 55, and only at my halfway mark,” he points out. “After another 40 years – when I'm 95 – perhaps, then, it will be time to retire from active campaigning.” It was in 1967 that Mr. Tatchell, then aged just 15, took part in his first campaign – against the death penalty in his native Australia. This was followed by his support of Aboriginal rights, opposition to military conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Uganda) - The Commonwealth People’s Forum has proposed that the rights of minorities, including Gays and Lesbians, be recognised. In the memorandum issued yesterday at the end of the five-day event held at Hotel Africana in Kampala, the members also advocated for the recognition of rights of persons with disabilities and refugees. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and many African countries. The chairman of the Peoples’ Forum, Warren Nyamugasira, handed the memorandum to Glenda Morean, the High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago to the UK, for submission to the Commonwealth summit (CHOGM). Queen Elizabeth II will open the meeting at the Serena Hotel today. The next CHOGM will take place at the Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
Note: Read more on New Vision
(Uganda) - Anti-Gay activists, under the "Rainbow Coalition against Homosexuality," held a demonstration at Kololo Airstrip yesterday, asking the Government to spearhead the fight against homosexuality in Commonwealth countries. Pastor Martin Sempa, an anti-Gay activist said: “If Uganda is leading in the fight against HIV/AIDS, it should do the same to fight homosexuality.” He accused the organisers of the Commonwealth People’s Space at Hotel Africana, for secretly creating a platform for homosexual groups. Several participants waved placards and chanted slogans condemning homosexuality as an "unnatural sexual practice."
Note: Read more on New Vision
(Iraq) - He had the innocent look of a blond cherub, his hand twisted upright toward me as he lay asleep, his torso thrown over the scratch-graffiti surface of the wood table. His soft white palm was empty now, but I knew that only days before it had tightly grasped a rifle. The scattered voices of the other men who walked past us, the rumble of trucks and the roar of airplanes - none of it disturbed him, as if he were finally catching up on the sleep his time here had denied him.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Thailand) - Gay rights activist Natee Teerarojanapong called on Thursday for the next government to push for the legal sanction of Gay marriage as an urgent agenda following the December 23 election. "The demand of the third sex is meant for sexual equality without any discrimination," Natee said. He said Gay marriage should not be construed as a priviledge but a way of life in a nondiscriminatory manner. He said the next government should also amend the military regulations that label Gay conscripted soldiers as suffering from the psychological disorder before wavering constription duty. The label has no medical justification and stigmatised Gays for the rest of their life, he said.
Note: Read more on The Nation
Cleansed of any real political fire other than mild left-centrist observation, the Gay media of 2007 has lost the ability to shock or push barriers. It is heavily and senselessly aimed at a target market, giving the reader, listener or watcher barely any opportunity for stimulation other than that of the base sexual kind. Take for example the masturbation-fodder pages of toned men – hairless, brainless and smiling like a well-fed and exercised zoo-animal, yet all the same inexorably and eternally caged.
Note: Read more on Nouse
The latest study, “Geographic Trends among Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey,” points to significant increases in the number of Gay couples who report their status on government surveys — from 145,000 in 1990, to just under 600,000 in 2000. Last year’s Williams Institute study noted that the government’s 2002 National Survey of Family Growth asked its sample of more than 12,000 men and women aged 18-44 about their sexual orientation. The survey found that 4.1 percent said they were Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual. What is the actual percentage? Six percent? Seven percent? Eight percent? No one knows.
Note: Read more on Washington Blade
(Canada) - A popular Ajax teen who would have turned 14 tomorrow hanged himself at home after being viciously cyber-bullied by classmates about being Gay, his stepmother Sandria Gillard says. Gillard said the boy, who loved school and was a popular student, wanted to be a movie producer. His problems began after he told a trusted friend he was Gay. The friend told others at school and outed Shaquille in June on websites created by students for bullying. "They began calling him names and sending him ugly e-mails," Gillard said. "He couldn't hide from them and he didn't let others know." She said Shaquille was stuffed into a garbage can by students at his school just days before he committed suicide. "I am confused and looking for some answers," Gillard said. "He was right before me on the computer and next thing he's dead."
Note: Read more on Toronto Sun
(Canada) - Canada's senior Roman Catholic clergyman has issued an extraordinary mea culpa for a host of historical misdeeds. In an open letter to media, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec and Roman Catholic primate for Canada, wrote: "Errors have been committed that tarnished the church's image, and for which we must humbly ask forgiveness. "I recognize that the narrow attitudes of certain Catholics prior to the 1960s favoured anti-Semitism, racism, indifference towards the First Nations and discrimination in regards to women and homosexuals," he wrote. His unusual public sortie raised eyebrows among Catholics. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Quebec Assembly of Catholic Bishops quickly noted Ouellet was speaking for himself.
Note: Read more on The Star
(USA) - To counter that knots-in-your-stomach feeling and to give more students a better sense of community, David Leimsieder started the Imagine Project during his senior year. Formerly called the Association of Allied Gay-Straight Alliances, it helps students around the state set up Gay-straight organizations at their schools. Its goals are to fight homophobia and anti-Gay violence while empowering students to continue in school. "We wanted to create a base for students to create their own support system," said Leimsieder, the nonprofit's volunteer director. "It was important for them to know they don't have to be alone." Leimsieder, who came out to his parents when he was 15, said the Gay-straight alliance group at Catalina helped him feel stronger and more confident.
Note: Read more on azstarnet.com
(USA) - “Today is usually reserved simply as a day to mourn the loss of our everyday heroes--those gender-variant people who chose to stand up for what they felt, rather than hide behind society’s norms,” organizer Jake Nash told the crowd assembled for Cleveland’s fourth commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. His plans for the November 18 event went far beyond mourning, instead becoming a three-part event. The first part, “Remembering Our Dead,” took people on a candle-lit march from the Cleveland LGBT Center to Cleveland Public Theater’s Old Parish Hall venue a block away. A solid wall of marchers carried candles and placard memorializing transgender people who died in the last year.
Note: Read more on Gay Peoples Chronicle
(USA) - HRC is giving Wal-Mart (WMT) a red "do not buy" rating in its new consumer guide, bestowing a lump of coal on the retail giant just in time for the holiday shopping season. Citing Wal-Mart's refusal to offer domestic partner benefits to its Gay and Lesbian workers, the HRC said Tuesday that the USA's biggest private employer has "more work to do in furthering equality." It advised Gays and their supporters to shop elsewhere. Wal-Mart rated a red 40 on a scale of 100, down from a yellow 65 in 2006. It was among 54 companies that scored 45 or lower in HRC's 2008 Corporate Equality index, which assigns ratings to 519 large companies. Also in the red: Toys R Us, RadioShack (RSH) and AutoZone (AZO).
Note: Read more on USA Today
(USA) - A Brooklyn judge handed down stiff prison terms yesterday for three men convicted of causing the hit-and-run death of a Gay man after luring him to a deserted beach to rob him. Anthony Fortunato, 21, the mastermind of the scheme, was sentenced to 7 to 21 years, while John Fox, 20, who lent his AOL screen name to the plan, was slapped with 13 to 21 years. A third defendant, Ilya Shurov, 21, received 17½ years after pleading guilty to chasing the victim, Michael Sandy, onto the Belt Parkway. All were convicted of second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. Fox was also convicted of attempted robbery as a hate crime.
Note: Read more on NY Post
(USA) - The Bush administration is trying to pull a fast one - rushing through draconian proposed new regulations that will restrict even further the entry of HIV-positive people into to the US, just one year after having promised to ease them. On November 6, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued stringent proposed new regulations for HIV-positive travelers coming here which are "pretty regressive" and "extremely troubling," according to Nancy Oldover, assistant director for federal affairs and research at the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). But the 30-day deadline for public comment imposed by DHS means a cut-off date of December 6 for reactions to the new regs, leaving little time for the AIDS advocacy community to mobilize.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(New Zealand) - The Auckland Pride Centre's Board of Trustees says it's had a difficult three years waiting for their fraud case to be resolved - with one senior Pride Centre staffer weathering personal abuse and threats of violence. The Pride Centre's former coordinator Martin van der Reit took $35,000 from the small community organisation between late 2003 and early 2004. The cash crisis meant the Centre was forced to close shortly afterwards, and has not since been able to re-open.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(USA) - Two unsuccessful city council candidates in Riverdale say a fellow candidate committed fraud when she ran as a woman. Georgia Fuller and Stanley Harris - who lost bids for council seats - filed petitions in Clayton County Superior Court last week asking the judge to stop the upcoming runoff election. The lawsuit alleges that incumbent Michelle Bruce - who identifies herself as Transgender and goes by Michelle Mickey Bruce - misled voters by identifying herself as a female during the Nov. 6 election. The suit, which identifies her as "Michael Bruce," asks a judge to rule the November election results invalid and order another general election.
Note: Read more on news4jax.com
(South Africa) - Morne Stickling said his partner, Johan de Klerk, had booked a night at the luxury Villa Vita Nouva guesthouse by email, and sent a final email asking for a king-size bed and confirming the couple's arrival time. "Please note, I hope you are a Gay-friendly guesthouse," De Klerk stated in his email. Villa Vita Nouva owner Marion Botha responded: "We are certainly not Gay-friendly, this is a Christian household. We have never had a Gay couple staying in the house and we prefer to keep it that way. We hereby cancel this order and exercise our right of admission."
Note: Read more on Cape Argus
(USA) - Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported Monday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances. Crimes against Gays and Lesbians were the third larges reported, at 15.5 percent. Of that figure, more than half of the crimes were committed against Gay men. The FBI includes bias crimes against Gays and Lesbians in its report although currently there is no federal hate law that includes the LGBT community. The Matthew Shepard Act, which would add sexuality to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law, passed the House in May and the White House threatened to veto it.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - The broadcasting watchdog has cleared Channel 4 over a documentary broadcast in January exposing homophobic preaching in UK mosques. The Dispatches programme portrayed a Birmingham mosque as a haven for extreme views. Today Ofcom ruled that Undercover Mosque had not misled viewers or offended Muslims. Undercover footage showed preacher Abu Usamah at Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham calling for Gay people to be executed. "If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that's my freedom of speech, isn't it?" he told followers. A scene in the advertising for the documentary also showed a preacher calling for people to “take that homosexual and throw him off a mountain.”
Note: Read more on Pink News
(UK) - Proposals to make it easier for Lesbian and Gay couples to have IVF babies have been heavily criticised in the Lords. A number of peers opposed moves to remove a requirement for IVF clinics to consider "the need of that child for a father" before offering treatment. They said it would be a "huge error" and the Lords should reaffirm the importance of both parents. The Lords debate followed criticism of the proposals by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, who said they would undermine "the place of the father in a child's life".
Note: Read more on BBC
(Chech Republic) - The first Czech publishing house focusing on Lesbian fiction, named LePress, has been founded, publisher Marketa Navratilova told CTK Sunday. It wants to deliver the works by successful foreign female authors to Czech Lesbian readers, but not only to them, Navratilova said. "In our books, Lesbian relationships are considered something absolutely normal. They do not depict two women's relationships as anything strange and they do not try to fight against anything," Navratilova said.
Note: Read more on Prague Monitor
(USA) - This may be the last free Thanksgiving dinner for the Boy Scouts of Philadelphia. Citing a local 1982 "fair practices" law, the city solicitor has given the Scouts until Dec. 3 to renounce its policy of excluding homosexuals or forfeit the grand, Beaux-Arts building it has rented from the city for $1 a year since 1928. "While we respect the right of the Boy Scouts to prohibit participation in its activities by homosexuals," the solicitor, Romulo Diaz, said last week in an interview, "we will not subsidize that discrimination by passing on the costs to the people of Philadelphia." The city has yet to complete an official assessment of the property.
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(South Africa) - Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has slammed the church for being "obsessed" with homosexuality, in a BBC radio programme to be broadcast Tuesday. The South African 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, 76, said he felt ashamed of his church for its attitude towards Gays. He said the Anglican church had appeared "extraordinarily homophobic" during the row over whether the openly Gay priest Gene Robinson should be allowed to become the Bishop of New Hampshire. "If God as they say is homophobic I wouldn't worship that God."
Note: Read more on AFP
(Latvia) - A Latvian government minister and the owner of a widely-circulated newspaper have both praised the work of the New Generation Church and Watchmen on the Walls in the campaign against Gay men and women. They were both speaking at the Watchmen on the Walls conference which concluded today. Praising the conference was the Latvian government’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Einars Shlessers. “We now stand at the precipice,” Mr. Shlessers said tpld delegates. “We must decide what to do and what will determine our future and the future of our countries.” He went on to praise the New Generation Church, saying it was “very good” that the church was holding such a conference.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - The UK Government was accused today of driving the “last nail in the coffin” of the traditional family with moves to grant Gay couples equal parenting rights. Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader, spoke out against plans to allow Lesbian couples to become joint legal parents of children conceived used donated sperm or eggs. His comments, in an article for the Mail on Sunday, came as the proposals are due to come before the House of Lords in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill on Monday. Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of the Gay rights group Stonewall, said the Bill would merely extend a right already available to heterosexuals.
Note: Read more on Times
(China) - "About 90 percent of Chinese people believe that homosexuality will exercise no influence on job selections, which exceeds the number of 86 percent in America. This is a noticeable progress and it may mean more tolerance towards homosexuality in China,"said Professor Li Yinhe, a sociologist focusing on sexology with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. As a researcher on homosexuality, Li Yinhe is leading the call for legalizing Gay marriage with many proposals and she is the interest representative for the minority of homosexuals in China. "There are no extreme moral opponents against homosexuality in China, so it is easier for the same sex lovers in China to claim their rights than in the Western countries, and China is always making progress,”"said professor Li.
Note: Read more on China.org.cn
(Argentina) - Thousands of Argentines waving rainbow flags marched in the annual Gay pride parade Saturday in Buenos Aires, where some said they still face discrimination in one of the most Gay-friendly cities in Latin America. The capital became the first city in the region to pass same-sex civil union laws in 2002, and this year played host to soccer's "Gay world cup" and saw the opening of the first five-star hotel catering to homosexuals. But activists said more needs to be done to correct discrimination against Gay, Lesbian and Transgender people.
Note: Read more on Canoe
(US) - Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has urged the legislature to immediately approve "appropriate legislation" reinstating the state's hate crime protections for Gays after the Commonwealth Court in a split decision ruled the measure illegal on a technicality. In a 4-1 ruling the court said that the law, passed in 2002, was invalid because it had been tacked onto another nonrelated bill.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(UK) - A new website, Somali Gay Community, has been launched to serve the small Gay Somali community in London – and beyond. It is believed to be the first of its kind in Somali history and culture anywhere in the world. “Somalia is an Islamic country and, as they think that homosexuality is a Western illness, we do not exist in their eyes,” said Muraad, one of the Somali Gays in London behind the website.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - Mr Paddick, the former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Britain's most senior openly Gay copper, is undoubtedly the fittest of the three mayoral candidates. Mr Paddick became London's most famous policeman when he pioneered a softly-softly approach to cannabis on the streets of Brixton - people were prosecuted for dealing crack cocaine but not for smoking dope. Mr Paddick is in a long-term relationship now but he said that he struggled for years to come to terms with the idea of being Gay. He was married for five years in the 1980s. "I knew before I was married that I was Gay, but my wife didn't know," he said. "It was a genuine attempt by me to enter honestly into a marriage where I felt that I could overcome my sexuality. Life's a lot easier if you're straight."
Note: Read more on Telegraph
(USA) - The state office that oversees marriage licenses and other vital records says civil union licenses will be available at city and town clerk offices throughout New Hampshire by the first week of December. With civil unions becoming legal Jan. 1, many Gay and Lesbian couples have been eager to start planning their ceremonies but have been worried about whether the licenses would be available in time for New Year's Day. Mo Baxley, director for the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition, said people have been calling her office daily with questions about getting a license.
Note: Read more on Citizen.com
(Nicaragua) - Consensual Gay sex will no longer be a criminal offence in Nicaragua under a new civil code due to come into effect on March 2008. The surprise news was announced earlier this week by the Nicaraguan National Assembly, reports La Prensa. Under old legislation passed in 1992, "anyone who induces, promotes, propagandises or practices sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex commits the crime of sodomy and shall incur one to three years' imprisonment." Nicaragua's new code removes all reference to this, reflecting changing social mores in a country which Amnesty International targeted this year for contradicting numerous provisions in international human rights law.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - A black conservative Christian pastor of an evangelical megachurch has vowed to take over Microsoft by packing it with new shareholders who will vote against the company's policy of championing Gay rights. The Reverend Ken Hutcherson, a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, heads the Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, home of Microsoft. He told Microsoft executives at a shareholders' meeting last week that he would be their "worst nightmare" if they continued to defy him. An advocate of a "biblical stance" against divorce and homosexuality, Mr Hutcherson, 55, is asking millions of evangelical activists, as well as Orthodox Jewish and other allies, to buy up Microsoft shares and demand a return to traditional values.
Note: Read more on Telegraph
(UK) - The Home Office offered some bizarre advice to a Jamaican Lesbian who applied for asylum in Britain. In an asylum system based on institutionalised stonewalling, there's little hope for human rights - regardless of what the law says. Eight years ago, a landmark ruling by the House of Lords in two appeal cases (Regina v Shah and Islam v Secretary of State for the Home Department) signalled an important change in Britain's interpretation of asylum law. But in practice, ignorance of the implications of this ruling amongst asylum seekers (and the solicitors representing them) conspired to deaden the ruling's impact ... with one notable exception. The UK's Gay human rights movement picked up on its potential to help Gay men and Lesbians fleeing persecution in Africa, Jamaica, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Note: Read more on Guardian
In a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, Gregory Rodriguez, a man paid well for his wisdom and insights builds on the growing sense (if the media and market researchers are to be believed) that the Gay identity is disappearing. If this is truly the case, how tragic to consider that after half a century of struggling for visibility, the end result would be disappearance. Fortunately, this view is shortsighted nonsense.
Note: Read more on PAYOR
(New Zealand) - The Auckland Pride Centre was a dream which never quite fulfilled its promise, and the Crown prosecutor's characterising of it in Court today as "stumbling along" could well apply to the Centre's entire existence. And yet it achieved much, often in small ways, and was part of the vital glue that holds Auckland's GLBT communities together. The Pride Centre's aims were lofty and the many people who contributed to its existence over the years were well-meaning, committed and capable, but with the benefit of hindsight it was perhaps the concept that was flawed.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(USA) - A lawsuit over the Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High School could be settled if students agreed to change the name of the club, according to lawyers for the Okeechobee County School Board. But a lawyer for the ACLU, which represents the club, said its members already have rejected the idea of changing the name. "The students have made clear that the name of the club is important to them because it describes their mission," said Robert Rosenwald, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. "From the beginning, the purpose of this club has been to prevent harassment and discrimination against Gay students." Attorneys for the school board have argued that the Gay-Straight Alliance is a "sex-based club" that violates a Florida statute requiring schools to teach abstinence "while teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage."
Note: Read more on Miami Herald
(Latvia) - Watchmen on the Walls is not a hate group, Scott Lively declared during the group’s conference which opened yesterday in the Latvian capital. The anti-Gay American author of the notorious The Pink Swastika was introduced to delegates as “the prominent human rights activist and public figure”. Mr. Lively claimed to be speaking on behalf of the vast majority of people on earth. “We do not want to inflict evil on those who choose for themselves an immoral way of life – we do not feel hatred towards [Gays],” he said. “We want to save them – we are opposed to homosexual advocacy and other sexual perversion.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
My first memory of R. Scott Hitt – the prominent AIDS doctor who passed away from colon cancer on Nov. 8 – was watching him work the room during a fundraiser for San Francisco District Attorney Arlo Smith. Scott Hitt’s house became ANGLE’s meeting place where the politicos from numerous backgrounds strategized about how to push the envelope. In 1991, in the middle of the push for the gay rights bill, ANGLE started interviewing Democratic presidential candidates. David Mixner writes extensively about this time in his book Stranger Among Friends. One of those candidates was the Arkansas governor and Mixner friend from the anti-Vietnam War days, Bill Clinton. After the ANGLE meeting Clinton told the Los Angeles Times that if he had been governor of California, he would have signed AB 101.
Note: Read more on Bilerico
(Latvia) - The Senate of the Supreme Court of Latvia has today upheld the April ruling of a lower court that the ban on Riga Gay Pride in 2006 by the city authorities was unlawful. On April 12 this year, the Regional Administrative Court ruled the ban unlawful, but Riga City Council appealed the decision. A spokesperson for Mozaika, the country’s LGBT group, said that it was fortunate that the City Council appealed the Administrative Court decision and went to the Supreme Court.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
Uganda is drifting towards dictatorship, just like Zimbabwe a decade ago. The Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, is a new Robert Mugabe in the making, a budding tyrant who is subverting democracy and human rights (according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch) through voter intimidation, hounding opposition politicians, detention without trial, torture, extrajudicial killings, media censorship, corruption, suppression of protests, homophobic witch-hunts, and crackdowns on universities and trade unions.
Note: Read more on Times
(USA) - It's a competition set up to establish "future leaders of the Gay community". It's open to anyone who wants to participate (as long as they are able to provide two to four pictures for consideration) and can fill out some basic statistical information. The question of one's past hardly seems relevant in a competition like this, but it does raise the issue: What exactly constitutes a representative of the Gay community, and how well do we as a community accept ourselves?
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(Gibraltar) - In what is being seen as a widening of its campaign, Equality Rights Group Chairman Felix Alvarez has informed the press of the group’s determination to “eradicate outdated, discriminatory and unjustifiable intrusion of Government into citizens’ private lives.” He adds: “Seven years ago, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the existence of criminal offences determined on sexual orientation to be in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights. As Chairman of GGR I have been patiently awaiting Government’s awakening to the fact that the citizens of Gibraltar have just as much right to freedom in their private lives within the law as in any other European State. However, it is clear to us that Government will only move in the direction of progressive change under the threat of legal sanction.”
Note: Read more on Panorama
(USA) - LGBT civil rights have taken a step forward in communities in three states: Ohio, Maryland and Iowa. Toledo, Ohio has become the first major city in that state to create a domestic partner registry. It will be available to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples who cannot or chose not to marry. Couples would have to prove they cohabitate, are financial interdependent and are over the age of 18 to register at city hall. The registry would offer the same municipal benefits as married couples have. Registering would also serve as proof of a relationship for people whose employers offer domestic partner health and insurance plans.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Sweden) - A school in Stockholm with a Christian profile has received a rap on the knuckles from school authorities for teaching children that homosexuality is sinful. The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) directed its criticism at the privately run Andreas Gymnasium School following a news item broadcast by SVT during the summer. Having heard the headmaster say that homosexual activity was sinful, the youth wing of RFSL - the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights - reported the school to the education agency.
Note: Read more on The Lokal
(UAR) - NYU's plans for a campus in the United Arab Emirates call for building a mini-NYU in the gulf state. On the self-contained campus, located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, NYU public safety officers would enforce order, NYU professors would teach classes in English and degrees would be stamped with NYU's name. But students who step off campus would find one sharp difference between NYU in Abu Dhabi and NYU in New York: In Abu Dhabi, homosexual acts are illegal. Now, a month after administrators announced plans for the university's first full-fledged satellite campus, some students have raised questions about the partnership, saying it is at odds with NYU's support for rights for lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender students.
Note: Read more on nyunews.com
(USA) - Ken Baker, a lifelong advocate for Gay rights and one of the founders of the statewide Gay rights organization Equality Alabama, died Sunday morning at age 50. The cause of death is not yet known. Unity United Church of Christ recently awarded Baker the Crystal Cross for his advocacy work. He was recognized specifically for his role in starting Equality Alabama and Communities of Faith for Full Inclusion. "He's sure going to be missed around here," said longtime friend and colleague Lynn Shaw, who is a past president of the Montgomery Chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
Note: Read more on Montgomery Advertiser
(USA) - An HIV activist has gone off on a limb that has alienated him from AIDS researchers, activists and organizations by advocating "self-serosorting" by HIV-positive and--and this is the controversial part--HIV-negative Gay men. Even if his methods are unconventional and his rhetoric off-putting to many, he’s raising points that have been discussed for years. Just not in the open -- until now. Some 25 years into the AIDS epidemic, Gay men are debating serosorting more than ever before. Part of that is due to an "unstoppable protagonist" as he has been called, Robert Brandon Sandor. Bolstered by reports that suggest serosorting brings either psychological relief or danger to Gay men, Sandor has embarked on a crusade to keep "pozzies" and "neggies" out of each other’s bedrooms.
Note: Read more on Edge Boston
(USA) - Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Wednesday approved a conservative Christian group’s second proposed ballot initiative to ban unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents in Arkansas. The proposal, aimed at banning Gays and Lesbians from adopting or fostering children, is nearly identical to the other but includes the sentence: “The people of Arkansas find and declare that it is in the best interest of children in need of adoption or foster care to be reared in homes in which adoptive or foster parents are not co-habiting outside of marriage.”
Note: Read more on SW Times
(Iran) - Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learnt. Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged. The record states: “He said that if homosexual activity is in private there is no problem, but those in overt activity should be executed [he initially said tortured but changed it to executed]. He argued that homosexuality is against human nature and that humans are here to reproduce. Homosexuals do not reproduce.”
Note: Read more on Times Online
(UK) - Leading Gay activist Ben Summerskill has criticised BBC programming for failing to reflect the broad make-up of its licence fee payers. The chief executive of the Gay equality organisation Stonewall said said Gay and Lesbian people contributed around £200 million to the BBC’s annual £3 billion licence fee money but were still “massively underserved” by the Corporation. He referred to a recent survey carried out by Stonewall that showed out of 168 hours of primetime broadcasting there was just six minutes of “realistic portrayal” of Gay and Lesbian people’s lives. He said that half of the references there were to Gay people on the BBC during primetime made them the “object of jokes” and that Lesbians were almost “entirely invisible”.
Note: Read more on The Stage
(UK) - Brian Paddick, the former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, today pledged to bring about a "dramatic" effect on crime and disorder if elected as London mayor. Paddick, 49, was the highest-ranking openly Gay officer in the Metropolitan police before he retired in May. A London-born Oxford graduate who worked his way up through the ranks, he was a sergeant on the front line in the Brixton riots of 1981 and returned to the area when he became the Met's commander in Lambeth in 2000. His critics dubbed him "Commander Crackpot" after he ordered officers in Brixton not to arrest or charge people found in possession of cannabis - three years before the government downgraded the drug from class B to class C.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Thailand) - Panyrat Kirapatpakon, a Thai business student, beat 24 transsexuals and transvestites at the extravagant pageant in the resort town of Pattaya to the "Miss International Queen" title and the $10,000 prize money. The contest, in its fourth year, was held at the Tiffany's nightclub famous for its transvestite and transgender cabaret and aims to highlight the status of transsexuals around the world.
The contestants, shortlisted from more than 100 hopefuls, came from 15 countries, with a record number from Europe.
Note: Read more on Malayan Times
(Hungary) - Governing parties agree on tackling the issue of same-sex relationships, probably by introducing some form of legal partnership, in order to solve a long neglected human rights issue. Theoretically, both governing parties are willing to provide equal rights for same-sex couples, though only two MSZP MPs supported the liberal party's suggestion at a human rights commission meeting. In Hungary, same-sex couples have absolutely no legal background for their relationships.
Note: Read more on Caboodle.hu
(Lithuania) - Amnesty International today called on its 2.2 million members worldwide to address the rising tide of homophobia in Lithuania. In recent months the Gay community in the Baltic state has seen marches repeatedly banned for spurious reasons, a smoke-bomb attack on a Gay-rights conference, and numerous homophobic comments from leading politicians. Earlier this year in May, Vilnius Mayor Juozas Imbrasas banned a one-day visit of the official European Union “Stop Discrimination” truck on its tour of 19 member-states as part of the ‘For Diversity: Against Discrimination’ information campaign. Just days before the ban on the EU truck, the Mayor of Vilnius supported a refusal to display advertisements on Vilnius’ trolleybuses promoting sexual orientation equality in employment developed for an EU-funded project.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - A house in London that provided a backdrop for one of the most passionate affairs in literary history, between the French 19th century poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, is to be saved to honour their legacy. The romantic poets escaped to London in 1872, living in the house in the final days of their time in the city, after it became known in Paris society that they were having an affair. It caused a scandal in Paris not only because Verlaine was married, but also because he was considerably older than his boyfriend. Rimbaud was just 17 when they eloped to London.
Note: Read more on Independent
(Israel) - After four years in operation, the Shushan Pub, the only one for Jerusalem's Gay and Lesbian community, has closed down. The bar was not always allowed to operate unhindered. Two years ago, arsonists torched the pub, and every year, with the approach of the Gay pride parade, extra police patrols guarded Shushan's clientele.
Note: Read more on Haaretz
(Germany) - He was gay, wildly eccentric and built fairytale castles that today rate as Germany's leading tourist attractions – but more than a century ago "Mad King" Ludwig II of Bavaria was declared insane, deposed and three days later his corpse was found floating in a lake south of Munich. The real cause of King Ludwig's death has been a mystery ever since his body, together with that of his psychiatrist, was dragged from Lake Starnberg on 13 June, 1886. But the official version, which holds that he committed suicide by drowning, has never been completely refuted. Now, 111 years after the king's death, new evidence has surfaced which suggests that the builder of Neuschwanstein castle and many other bizarrely romantic architectural follies was murdered.
Note: Read more on Independent
(USA) - A Gay Jamaican man who feared persecution if forced to leave the United States for his home country was granted asylum Thursday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “I am grateful to the United States government for saving my life,” Ven Messam said in a statement released by the Columbia Law School's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic, which assisted him with his case. “My life in Jamaica was constantly in danger, with angry mobs carrying machetes, stones, knives, and guns, threatening to kill me because I am Gay. When I tried to contact the police for help, the police instead threatened to arrest me and told me to leave the country if I wanted to stay safe.”
Note: Read more on Advocate
(UK) - Glasgow will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games - Scotland's largest city beat a bid from the Nigerian city of Abuja by 47 votes to 24 at a meeting of the Games voting nations in Sri Lanka. Gay activists in Nigeria had questioned whether that country should be allowed to host the Games because of its "systematic persecution of Lesbian and Gay Nigerians." In August a delegation led by Davis Mac-Iyalla, founder and leader of the Gay Christian group, Changing Attitude Nigeria, met with the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in London to put their case.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
(USA) - The number of police sex stings seems to have increased in the wake of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's highly publicized arrest in an airport restroom. The Triangle Foundation has long complained that "undercover" police stings in rest areas and other public places unfairly target Gay men and are a waste of police resources. Rather than deter crime, police are "interested in making money, and they are interested in shaming Gays," said Sean Kosofsky, policy director for the organization. "All these operations prove is that if you entice someone to break the law, they will."
Note: Read more on mlive.com
(Canada) - Edmonton's Queer Arts and Culture Festival runs from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1. It will feature music, photography, theatre, literature and films by Gays and Lesbians from across Canada. Organizers were able to secure $60,000 in funding and in-kind donations from a variety of groups, including the city and the University of Alberta. Events will take place at venues throughout the city, including the Art Gallery of Alberta, Latitude 53 Gallery, the University of Alberta and Metro Cinema.
Note: Read more on Edmonton Sun
(US) - A Seattle Lesbian who was antagonized and harassed because of her sexual orientation at the Goodyear store where she worked and then was demoted after she complained about it has been awarded $4.4 million by a King County jury. A representative for Goodyear could not be reached this afternoon, but in court documents the company argued that Sheffield's demotion stemmed from her own misconduct, including billing irregularities and "inappropriate kissing" of her partner in the store. Jurors took two days to determine that Reich and the company had retaliated against her for making the formal complaint and failing to accommodate her disabilities.
Note: Read more on Seattle Times
(USA) - New evidence suggests genetics is a significant factor for whether an individual is homosexual or heterosexual. The findings emanate from a Canadian study of the brains of healthy, right-handed, 18- to 35-year-old homosexual and heterosexual men using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The research, conducted by Dr. Sandra Witelson, a neuroscientist at McMaster University was a follow-up of a ten-year old study that demonstrated there is a higher proportion of left-handers in the homosexual population. The researchers also undertook a correlational analysis which included size of the corpus callosum, and test scores scores on language, visual spatial and finger dexterity tests. “By using all these variables, we were able to predict sexual orientation in 95 per cent of the cases,” she said.
Note: Read more on psychcentral.com
(Ireland) - Over 200 people turned up at a candlit vigil last night outside the Irish Dáil to protest at the lack of equality for same sex couples in this country. The event was organised by the LGBT section of the Labour Party, who re-introduced a Civil Unions Bill in the Dáil last week. The Labour Bill, which sought to introduce a form of civil partnership for same sex couples that provided equal rights and responsibilities to married couples, was voted down by 66 votes to 59 followiing an argument that it was unconstitutional. Instead the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Brian Lenehan set a deadline of March 31st for the heads of the Government’s own Bill to be introduced.
Note: Read more on GCN
(USA) - Pioneering AIDS physician R. Scott Hitt, died Thursday in West Hollywood. He was 49. Hitt practiced medicine in Los Angeles and was tapped by President Clinton to served as Chair of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. A family spokesperson said Hitt passed away from metastatic colon cancer. In addition to his work in the Clinton administration, Hitt co-founded Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality (ANGLE); founded the American Academy of HIV Medicine; and served on the boards of numerous AIDS and LGBT organizations, including AIDS Project Los Angeles, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Equality California
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Russia) - An appeal by the organisers of this year’s Moscow Gay Pride was dismissed today. The Moscow City Court threw out the appeal, ruling that the decision of the lower Taganski district court that the ban by Moscow authorities on pickets as part of May’s Moscow Pride was lawful. Two pickets in support for tolerance and respect of the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia were offered by the organisers of the Gay pride as an alternative to the march on the same day which was banned by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.
Note: Read more on Gay Russia
(UK) - It would be wrong to award the 2014 Commonwealth Games to Abuja because of Nigeria’s bad record on human rights, Outrage! said yesterday. Tomorrow, the Commonwealth Games Federation is due to announce whether the Nigerian city of Abuja or the Scottish city of Glasgow have been chosen to host the 2014 Games. “It would be wrong for the 2014 Commonwealth Games to be held in Nigeria, given the country’s serious human rights abuses, widespread corruption and flawed elections,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. “I would love an African country to host the games, but not Nigeria. “Awarding Abjua the games would reward bad governance, grave social injustices and the denial of civil rights to millions of Nigerians,” added Mr Tatchell.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(South Korea) - Human rights activists criticized the South Korean government Thursday for excluding homosexuals from proposed anti-discrimination legislation. "We'll fight to the end until the government withdraws its legislation," said Han Chae-yoon, a Lesbian activist. The Justice Ministry announced last month it would introduce a law banning discrimination against people in 20 categories and specifying legal action for violations. Key parts of the legislation - particularly the sexual orientation category - quickly prompted reaction from conservative Christian groups who claimed the measures would "foster homosexual relationships."
Note: Read more on IHT
(USA) - The United States House of Representatives, in a 235 -184 vote in the early evening of November 7, passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which provides federal protection barring workplace bias against Gays and Lesbians. The vote marked the first time that either house of Congress has approved a Gay rights measure, and came 32 years after the first Gay civil rights measure, more comprehensive than ENDA, was introduced by the late Bella Abzug, then a congresswoman from Manhattan's West Side. Despite the historic nature of Wednesday's vote, the victory is likely not to calm the deep divisions that emerged within the LGBT community in the preceding six weeks. Many will judge the win Pyrrhic, at best, perhaps even a setback in the longer term.
Note: Read more on GayCityNews
(Canada) - Every year, Grade 9 students anticipate it with a mixture of dread, curiosity and giggles. Teachers sweat over it. Parents have both advocated for it and damned it. It's sexual education and it's lurking in the background of the public education psyche. Sex ed is mandatory, part of a physical education course taken by every Ontario high school student in Grade 9. However, the terms "Gay," "Lesbian," "Trans," "Queer," "same-sex," or "homosexual," are absent from the official documents. In other words, the sexual education curriculum, which sets the standard for what children learn about sex and sexuality in high school, makes no references to the queer community. That gives an out to Ontario schools who want to give out diplomas but don't want to teach about Gays.
Note: Read more on xtra.ca
(Grenada) - Claims that Grenada is on the itinerary for all Gay cruises in December 2007 and early 2008 have caused major stir within the past week. Many have commented on the issue and it has sparked a number of debates across the country. While many have expressed concern and in some instances disgust at the idea that at least four all-Gay cruises are scheduled for Grenada, some believe what’s important is "not their sexual orientation but their behaviour while in the street." The Tourism Minister says her government and the laws of the land do not support Gay activities; and it is a matter of "where the line is drawn" since Gays cannot be stopped from entering the country. “As a government our policy is that we do not support it, but are we going to put a barrier that says in any port of entry that if somebody is Gay they should be debarred from coming to this country.. This is my question, what does the Grenadian community want of us.”
Note: Read more on CBN
(Netherlands) - The Netherlands, a major donor of international aid, will lobby developing countries to legalize homosexuality and fight discrimination, the government said on Wednesday. A government survey showed homosexuality is illegal in 18 out of the 36 countries the Netherlands gives regular aid to, Development Minister Bert Koenders said in a statement, with punishment ranging from prison sentences to the death penalty.
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(UK) - The appointment earlier this week of Rev. Joel Edwards, leader of the Evangelical Alliance, as a commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission will distort the concept of Human Rights and put Gay rights in danger, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association said last night. “Joel Edwards leads one of the most homophobic organisations in Britain,” GHALA chairman Jim Herrick said. “The Evangelical Alliance is an umbrella group that shelters some of the most extreme anti-Gay groups and churches in the country. “How does the Government imagine that this man can participate in decisions about the rights of Gay people in a fair and balanced way when he believes that we are all sinners who should live without sexual expression,” Mr. Herrick asked.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - About 15 people marched alongside the Muslim float in this city’s notoriously fleshy Gay Pride Parade earlier this year, with various men carrying the flags of Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Turkey and even Iran’s old imperial banner. While other floats featured men dancing in leather Speedos or women with scant duct tape over their nipples, many Muslims were disguised behind big sunglasses, fezzes or kaffiyehs wrapped around their heads. Even as they reveled in newfound freedom compared with the Muslim world, they remained closeted, worried about being ostracized at the mosque or at their local falafel stand.
Note: Read more on NY Times
(Malaysia) - Police in Malaysia, where "sodomy" is a crime, have raided a Gay sex party and arrested 37 men, including a Briton. Police chief Azam Abdul Hamid said officers acting on a public tip-off had raided a fitness centre in northern Penang island on Sunday while a sex party was in progress. The men arrested were aged between 20 and 45. The operator of the premises could lose his business licence, while the men - who have now been released - could be charged with committing "unnatural sex acts". Homosexuality is not specified as a crime in Malaysia, but there is a law prohibiting "sodomy", which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and whipping.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - Breaking its month-long posture of nuanced neutrality, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) today endorsed the revised version of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that provides protections for US Gays and Lesbians but does not include language barring bias based on gender identity and expression. The group's new position was announced in tandem with a number of leading civil rights and labor organizations outside of the LGBT community. In a mid-day interview with Gay City News, Joe Solmonese, HRC's executive director, said the group shifted its position in the wake of action Monday evening by the House Rules Committee to move the measure forward for a floor vote, now scheduled for Wednesday.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Lebanon) - In some countries in the Arab world homosexuals can face the death penalty. But in Lebanon an association battles openly for the rights of Gays who may live freely but are still ostracised socially. "Beirut is a bubble of freedom for homosexuals," said Georges Azzi, coordinator for the Helem (Dream) Association, the Arab world's first Gay grouping. "Homosexuals have much more freedom and are more visible than in any other Arab state," he told AFP. Founded in 2004, Helem collaborates with the ministry of health to fight against the spread of the HIV virus that can cause AIDS and openly lobbies for the legal rights of homosexuals. Homosexuality is not specifically illegal in Lebanon, but Gays can be targeted under article 543 of the penal code which provides for prison terms of up to one year for sexual relations "against nature".
Note: Read more on AFP
(Ghana) - A gay tourist has been charged with sexual offences after flying to Ghana to see a partner he met via the internet. Photographer John Ross Macleod, aged 63, was arrested on Saturday at Ghana’s airport after police who were searching him for drugs turned up a compact disc with pictures of him having sex with the other man, said a police spokesman. Homosexual acts are illegal in the West African country, although prosecutions are not common. Macleod and the Ghanaian man in the pictures, 19-year-old Emmanuel Adda, pleaded guilty yesterday to “unnatural carnal knowledge.”
Note: Read more on Evening Echo
(USA) - Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay will co-sponsor the New York event of the Yogyakarta Principles, a global charter for Gay rights, at the United Nations on November 7, 2007, Human Rights Watch said today. The Yogyakarta Principles, a landmark advance in the struggle to ensure basic human rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, were developed in response to well-documented patterns of abuse worldwide. Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will address a side event on the principles, organized in parallel to the UN General Assembly. The forum, co-sponsored by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, brings together nongovernmental organizations, UN representatives and state delegates for a discussion on the Yogyakarta Principles and the challenges of ending discrimination.
Note: Read more on HRW
(UK) - Two Gay teenagers from Scotland are considering legal action after being humiliated on a late-night bus journey. Steven Black, 16, and Mark Craig, 19, were told to get off the bus by the driver and then forced to sit in separate seats, according to the Sunday Mail. "If we had been all over each other, I could understand - because that behaviour in public is not appropriate whatever your sexuality. But Mark just had his arm around my shoulder," Steven told the paper. "I have never been so humiliated in my life. I just can't believe we are still made to feel like second-class citizens."
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Thailand) - Gay activists have launched a protest against American International Assurance for unfair discrimination based on sexual preference. AIA executives said the company had no explicit policies against homosexual clients, but reserved the right to consider applications based on risk factors related to ''personal lifestyle''. Natee Teerarojjanapong, the president of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, said his application to purchase life insurance from AIA, the country's largest insurer, had been rejected solely because of his sexual orientation. He said this was a clear violation of Section 30 of the 2007 constitution, which outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, language, sex or health.
Note: Read more on Bangkokpost
(USA) - With a bit of characterization and Jewish witticism, Rabbi Steven Greenberg made his point clear: You shouldn't use the Bible to pass judgment on others. He wasn't saying that the Bible is not the revealed word of God. But according to Jewish tradition, he said, God gave that word to man and entrusted him to decipher it. He acknowledges that his most thorny opponent is the admonishment of Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is detestable." But, he said, what is expressed today as lying with a man is not what the Bible was talking about. What Leviticus is describing are acts of violence meant to humiliate another man, Greenberg said.
Note: Read more on Columbus Dispatch
(USA) - Not surprisingly, at the Oct. 28 gospel show, a fired-up McClurkin told a cheering audience, "I don't speak against the homosexual. I tell you that God delivered me from homosexuality." Afterward, Obama continued trying to distance himself from McClurkin's views. But the reality is that he gave McClurkin a stage, a microphone, an audience and national media attention. And Obama inadvertently ended up reinforcing two myths unfortunately believed by many religious African-Americans -- that Gays are white and being Gay is sinful. Rod McCullom, a popular black gay writer and longtime Obama fan, said the fiasco makes him wonder how hard Obama would push for gay equality as president. "He folded like a deck of cards. If he is going to fold on the campaign trail, why would we not think he'd fold in the Oval Office?"
Note: Read more on detnews.com
(Pakistan) - Gay rights advocate Asma Jahangir, former United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions and now special rapporteur on religious intolerance, is among the many who have been arrested in Pakistan this afternoon following the suspension of the country’s constitution and the imposition of emergency rule by President Pervez Musharraf. Asma Jahangir “is an incredible activist and together with her sister, Hina Jilani, has been one of the strongest forces pushing LGBT issues in the [United Nations] system,” Scott Long of Human Rights Watch in New York said by email.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Germany) - In Berlin, as in most major cities, boys and young men from as young as 14-years old work the curbs, sex cinemas and gay bars of the German capital. The fact that the rent boys of Berlin barely register on most people's radars led to the creation of an association in 1992 to help those in prostitution. The employees of "Sub/Way" visit the districts of Berlin where the boys work and supply them with condoms and advice on how to be safe on the streets. Once a week, the Sub/Way team loads their van up with condoms, lubricants, sexual health pamphlets, instant soups and hot chocolate before entering the dark underbelly of the German capital. Sub/Way doesn't only work with the boys on the streets. Its drop-in center in Berlin offers the boys washing, sleeping and eating facilities as well as advice and medical help. The workers there also help to put the boys into contact with each other, to share stories and find companions.
Note: Read more on Deutsche Welle
(USA) - A constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages in Florida is closing in on a spot on the 2008 election ballot, triggering a political battle that could sway voters in a key presidential year. Florida4Marriage, the group pushing the amendment, has garnered 597,000 signatures and needs only 13,000 more to put it before voters. Proponents of the ban are heartened by polls showing that the amendment has a good chance of getting the 60 percent of votes necessary for passage. “It’s a little sad,” said Bryan Worthington of Venice, president of the local Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered caucus. “If there were no way to link the effects of this amendment to straight people, then it would pass in a heartbeat. But we have to do what it takes and it will end up effecting the rights of all people, Gay or straight.”
Note: Read more on Herald Tribune
(Ireland) - A Labour Party private members bill, the Civil Unions Bill, was defeated in the Dail last week. The government announced its own plans to give legal protection and recognition to same-sex couples and the ‘‘myriad’’ life relationships with no legal status. Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan and Green Party leader John Gormley pledged to have the legislation drawn up by March, although no timeframe has yet been advanced for its implementation. ‘‘The problem is we’re not sure how much of the equality agenda is going to be implemented in the government’s legislation,” said Ritchie Keane, chairman of Labour’s equality group. ‘‘If they were serious about equality, they should have let the Labour Party bill go to committee stage and it could have been worked on there. We believe our bill was robust enough for any challenges.”
Note: Read more on Irish Business News
(UK) - A nude stage show from the producers of the sell-out New York revue Naked Boys Singing! is shocking audiences in this country ... or at least the posters for the show are. Several English local authorities are asking for the full-frontal images on the billboards advertising the show to be covered up with modesty stickers. Get Naked: The Boys are Back in Town is an all-male, all-singing, all-nude ensemble cabaret piece inspired by the hit off-Broadway show that has become a cult international franchise in the last six years. The posters, which feature the cast covered by nothing but the glow of the spotlight, have already drawn complaints at the start of a UK tour this month.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - According to a recent survey on aging and the LGBT community sponsored by MetLife, 25 percent of respondents said they provided care for an adult friend or family member in the last six months. In the general population, that figure dropped to one in five. The study, conducted by Zogby International, sampled 1,000 LGBT people ages 40 to 61. The survey revealed that 36 percent of LGBT caregivers are looking out for their parents, 18 percent are seeing to their partner's needs, and 14 percent are helping friends. While fewer LGBT people may have children of their own to offer assistance when they are older, 40 percent of the respondents said members of the LGBT community helped them prepare for aging by developing greater resilience and stronger support networks.
Note: Read more on Pride Source
(USA) - New billboards around town are likely to turn heads with their image of an unhappy teen lying on a couch and the question: "Who's sofa surfing tonight?" The ad, also to appear on buses and movie screens, aims to raise awareness about homeless teens who move from sofa to sofa of friends, relatives and strangers. "These are not someone else's kids. They are very much like our own," said Joyce Mazero, chairwoman of the board of directors for Promise House, an Oak Cliff nonprofit agency that helps homeless youth. "However, these teens are invisible." Up to 40 percent of the runaway population are Lesbian or Gay youth who have been kicked out because of their sexual orientation.
Note: Read more on Dallas News
(UK) - The creation of a formal Gay village in Liverpool has moved a step closer after the council agreed to effectively pedestrianise a street in the city’s so-called Pink Triangle. Last night, the Gay community welcomed the move to close Eberle Street after 6pm to create a pedestrian-friendly area by use of bollards to restrict traffic flow. The street has a number of bars and clubs including the famous Garlands club, but because it is so narrow vehicles using it presented a danger to revellers. Liberal councillor Steve Radford, co-chairman of the Gay Business Association, said it was now hoped that similar measures could be introduced in Stanley Street and Cumberland Street, which also have a number of gay venues.
Note: Read more on Liverpool Daily Post
(Pakistan) - Shujaat plies his trade well. As dusk falls on the Pir Wadhai bus station in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, the slender 19-year-old gauges disembarking passengers for that ‘look’ – a responsive glance or wink suggesting a desire for more than just a quick bus ride home. “Here you can find all sorts; mostly truckers, soldiers, day labourers, and of course married men,” he said, leaning against the wall. “I always find someone,” the now veteran male sex worker (MSW) boasted. After three years on the streets, Shujaat’s confidence is dwarfed only by his ambivalence towards contracting HIV – a virus that he and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are increasingly at risk of.
Note: Read more on UKGayNews
(USA) - Winter is coming fast to Wyoming, and it will be as it always is--beautiful and wicked. You could feel it in the air last week as ships of clouds sailed the blue sky above Laramie, snow-capped mountains rose in the distance, and a small herd of deer roamed the rocky ridge where Matthew Shepard, a Gay student who loved Wyoming, was lynched. They hold vigils and teach-ins in Laramie, a town searching its soul, but some people climb the hill as if there is something to confront up there. They go to where a small basket of dry flowers hangs from the fence where Shepard, 21, was tied with rope, pistol-whipped and left in the cold.
Note: Read more on Time.com
(USA) - New Jersey's 8-month-old civil union law has failed to live up to its promise of giving same-sex couples all the protections of marriage by another name, the state's top official for enforcing civil rights said yesterday. Civil Rights Director Frank Vespa-Papaleo, who chairs a commission that recently concluded three hearings on how the new law is working, said, "To me as a commissioner, the testimony revealed overwhelmingly that the civil union law has been a failure." "It is not working as effectively as if the word 'marriage' were used," Vespa-Papaleo said. "That could be controversial. I could lose my job for saying that."
Note: Read more on nj.com
(USA) - The controversy over what Mother Jones magazine called Senator Barack Obama's "pander-to-black-hatred tour" featuring homophobic "ex-Gay" preacher-singer Donnie McClurkin continued this past week. An Obama gospel concert was held on Sunday, October 28, in Columbia, South Carolina as the final stage in what the presidential candidate billed as a "Forty Days of Faith and Family" tour of the Palmetto State. A September poll conducted by Winthrop University and ETV showed that 74 percent of South Carolina African Americans believe homosexuality is "unacceptable."
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Ireland) - The Government has announced plans to give legal recognition to same-sex couples but the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Brian Lenihan, has ruled out Gay marriage as "being in conflict with the Constitution." The Minister said last night that the heads of a Bill to legislate for civil partnerships would be ready by next March and the Government would then proceed as quickly as possible with detailed legislation. Mr Lenihan said the Government opposed a Labour Party Bill on civil unions, originally tabled last March, as the "clear advice of the Attorney General was that it was contrary to the explicit recognition given to the family based on marriage in the Constitution."
Note: Read more on The Irish Times
(USA) - San Francisco got the quiet Halloween night it had hoped for Wednesday as revelers stayed clear of the Castro district's no-party zone. Hundreds of police officers walked the neighborhood streets, making sure there was no trouble. By late in the evening, there had been only five arrests in the Castro, including three for public drunkenness, one for jaywalking and one on an existing warrant. Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who represents the Castro district, was one of the leaders of the effort to kill the party.
Note: Read more on SF Gate
(Uganda) - Members of Ugandan Parliament have asked the government to use the Chogm summit to speak out against homosexuality. In a separate interview, Kawempe South MP, Ssebuliba Mutumba said, "We call for seriousness on the part of the government to check homosexuality because it's illegal and a taboo." He said action was needed urgently because gays were increasingly becoming visible and this may lead to "a morally corrupted society."The Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, told Daily Monitor that a new law would be tabled soon. "As soon as Parliament resumes, we shall table a tough law. The government is doing everything possible to stamp out homosexuality."
Note: Read more on Monitor
(Jamaica) - Jamaica's Minister of Education Andrew Holness said a decisive 'no' to Rita Dyer and Norma Maynard's book, C-SEC Home Economics and Beyond (Management), which reportedly refers to same-sex unions as family. Holness angrily dismissed as "very unfortunate" a lead article in yesterday's Gleaner newspaper which reported that the book was recommended reading by the education ministry, despite the fact that it included a section suggesting that there has been a "broadening of the traditional definitions of a family structure" and that "when two women or two men live together in a relationship as Lesbians or Gays, they may be considered as a family".
Note: Read more on Jamaica Observer
(USA) - The brokenhearted father of a Marine killed in Iraq won a long-shot legal fight today after a federal jury in Baltimore awarded him nearly $11 million in a verdict against members of a Kansas church who hoisted anti-Gay placards at his son's Westminster funeral. The jury's announcement 24 hours after deliberations first began was met with tears and hugs from the family and supporters of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, whose March 2006 funeral was protested by members of the Westboro Baptist Church with signs including "Thank God for dead soldiers." Snyder's father, Albert, won on every count of his complaint, as well as $2.9 million for compensatory damages and $8 million for punitive damages.
Note: Read more on Baltimore Sun
(Argentina) - The Axel Hotel opens for business today in the heart of Argentina's capital, and it claims to be the first of its kind in a country famed more for machismo and Catholicism than overt homosexuality. The £3.5m five-storey complex has been conceived and designed as an out and proud celebration of Gay identity and sexuality, said Nacho Rodriguez, the general manager. "This hotel is not just Gay-friendly. It is Gay." Rates for the 48 rooms range from £90 to £275 a night, pricey by local standards, but most were booked up for the next few months, said Mr Rodriguez.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Ireland) - The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) have called on all parties to support Labour’s Civil Union Bill, which will be re-introduced to the Dáil tonight. If passed, the Civil Union Bill will extend the same benefits and legal obligations of marriage to same-sex couples. The Bill was postponed for six months by the last Government and was supported by all other parties including the Greens, who are now in government. The new Government has committed to enacting civil partnership legislation at the earliest opportunity.
Note: Read more on GCN
(New Zealand) - Hoani Jeremy Lambert certainly didn't see eye to eye with Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia last week when she fired off a much-reported press release criticising the NZAF for neglecting Maori amidst what she believed was a massive surge in HIV infections amidst her constituency. Not for the first time, it was Lambert, not the NZAF's Executive Director, who fronted up to the indignant politician. The criticisms were "pretty easy to deal with," he says, "mainly because they are so unenlightened and I don't see those recent attacks as being all that serious because they are quite easy to fend off... they are basically just demonstrations of poor understandings of our work and also what I call identity politics gone mad."
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(USA) - A council of the United Methodist Church has decided to allow a Transgender minister to retain his job, but it stopped short of addressing whether a change of gender violates the denomination's rules. At a session over the weekend in San Francisco, the United Methodist Judicial Council considered whether to remove the Rev. Drew Phoenix from his post. The council allowed Phoenix to stay on the job, referring to a church policy stating that a clergyperson in good standing can't be terminated unless there has been administrative or judicial action, according to the ruling, posted on the church's Web site. "The adjective placed in front of the noun 'clergyperson' does not matter," the council ruled. "What matters is that clergypersons, once ordained and admitted to membership in full connection, cannot have that standing changed without being accorded fair process."
Note: Read more on Guardian
(UK) - The Queen's nephew, Viscount David Linley, has been named as the victim of an extortion plot as it emerged the bail hearing for one of his accused blackmailers will be held privately in an attempt to prevent more details from leaking out. Viscount Linley, 46, is the son of the late Princess Margaret and is 12th in line to the throne. Two men were arrested during a meeting in September with an undercover detective at the Hilton Hotel in Mayfair. They reportedly showed the officer mobile phone video footage of a royal aide who claimed to have engaged in a sex act with the viscount and said that the royal had supplied him with cocaine, which the aide snorted on camera.
Note: Read more on The Age
(USA) - US President Bush met at the White House on Tuesday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for talks that focused on trade, HIV/AIDS but seemingly ignored alleged human rights abuses of Gays and Lesbians. The two emerged from the meeting to appear for a camera opportunity with Bush praising Museveni for his push to lower the AIDS rate in the African nation by emphasizing abstinence until marriage. "Uganda is the epitome of how one can implement a comprehensive ABC strategy to achieve concrete and specific results for the sake of humanity," said Bush. Money provided to Uganda by the US to fight HIV/AIDS, however is alleged to have to groups that human rights activists say are responsible for attacks on Gays.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(Croatia) - Croatian prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a 25-year-old man on hate crime charges for allegedly attempting to attack a Gay parade in Zagreb earlier this year. The man is the first person in Croatia to face hate crime charges since it was introduced into the Penal Code last year. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in prison. Police spotted the man as he prepared to throw homemade Molotov cocktails - bottles containing gasoline - at the parade participants gathering at Zagreb's main square. He fled the scene, but was tracked down later at his home.
Note: Read more on International Herald Tribune
(USA) - This Halloween, the Glindas, gladiators and harem boys of the Castro - along with untold numbers who plan to dress up as Senator Larry E. Craig, this year’s camp celebrity - will be celebrating behind closed doors. The city’s most popular Halloween party, in America’s largest Gay neighborhood, is canceled. The once-exuberant street party, a symbol of sexual liberation since 1979 has in recent years become a Nightmare on Castro Street, drawing as many as 200,000 people, many of them costumeless outsiders, and there has been talk of moving it outside the district because of increasing violence. For many in the Castro District, the cancellation is a blow that strikes at the heart of neighborhood identity, and it has brought soul-searching that goes beyond concerns about crime.
Note: Read more on NY Times
(Cambodia) - Cambodian's prime minister said Tuesday he was severing ties with his adopted daughter, who is a Lesbian, but appealed to people not to discriminate against Gays. "My adopted daughter now has a wife. I'm quite disappointed," Hun Sen said. Hun Sen said he plans to file a civil court case to disown his adopted daughter so that she cannot claim any inheritance from his family. "We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble ... and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets," he said.
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(UK) - The controversial state visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, which got under way today with a lavish ceremony, has prompted new criticism over his regime's alleged role in distributing hate literature in British mosques. The Policy Exchange thinktank found extremist literature in a quarter of the 100 mosques and Islamic institutions it visited, including London Central Mosque in Regent's Park, which is funded by Saudi Arabia. Some of the literature advocated violent jihad, murdering Gay people and stoning adulterers, its researchers found.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - A study conducted by two researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago claims that 1 out of every 3 men in a same-sex relationship has been abused. That is similar to what studies of battered women have found. "If you project that out to the entire Gay community in the country, that's a lot of guys," said David McKirnan, an associate professor of psychology and co-author of the study. More than 32 percent of the men reported experiencing verbal, physical or sexual abuse in an intimate relationship. Just under 20 percent said they were physically or sexually abused. As with women, poorly educated and low-income men were more likely to be victims.
Note: Read more on Sun-Times
(UK) - Britain's most sensitive and controversial relationship in the Middle East faces protests and boycotts during a state visit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, just weeks after a lucrative new defence contract made clear that it was business as usual between the two countries. Prince Mohammed said: "I am offended when I see us portrayed as a barbaric country. We are not a stagnant nation." But the kingdom's image remains poor. Peter Tatchell, the Gay rights activist, said: "As well as flogging and executing Gay people, Saudi leaders are guilty of detention without trial, torture and the public beheading of women who have sex outside of marriage. Migrant workers are de facto slaves. The media is heavily censored. Trade unions, political parties and non-Muslim religions are banned. The country is a theocratic police state."
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Ireland) - Justice Minister Brian Lenihan was under pressure from the Greens last night to act on civil partnerships for same-sex couples, as Labour moved to expose government tensions on the issue. Senior Green Party figures have been lobbying Mr Lenihan for a number of weeks to prioritise the reform agreed in the programme for Government. They are believed to want a firm commitment announced before Labour brings its Civil Unions Bill back to the Dáil later in the week. The Labour bill, to be debated on Wednesday and Thursday, provides that in most respects the rules of law applying to marriage will also apply to same sex civil unions.
Note: Read more on Examiner
(USA) - MassEquality, the Gay-marriage advocacy coalition, created one of the most effective political campaigns Massachusetts has ever seen, leading a battle that attracted US-wide attention and culminated in a historic victory last June, when the Legislature defeated an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. But four months later, the group is agonizing over a question born of its own success: What, if anything, should it do now? Some involved with the group are raising concerns that the organization has been spending more than $100,000 a month since June without a clear mission.
Note: Read more on Boston.com
(Australia) - The independent candidate for Fisher, Caroline Hutchison, was the lone voice in support of Gay marriage when the Sunshine Coast’s sitting MPs and high-profile challengers were asked for their thoughts on the subject. Issues surrounding same-sex couples made a brief appearance on the election campaign agenda when Labor leader Kevin Rudd was quizzed about whether he believed they should be able to marry and adopt children.
Note: Read more on The Daily
(Japan) - Writing in the monthly subculture magazine Jitsuwa Knuckles, Kureichi Matsuzawa examines how social changes have impacted on the bars, boutiques and other establishments in Shinjuku Ni-chome, believed to number upwards of 400, which cater to the LGBT crowd. With the new trend toward openness, Gay-oriented places have become more dispersed around the metropolitan area and spread to the suburbs, leading some to wonder if this may make the enclave in Ni-chome irrelevant. But so far at least, predictions of the area's demise have proved premature. One of the factors spurring its revival has been a growing influx of Lesbians.
Note: Read more on Japan Times
(USA) - Iowa's Catholic dioceses are calling for a constitutional amendment to ban Gay marriage. The Iowa Catholic Conference Board is the latest group to oppose a Polk County judge's ruling that struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage. Some state lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Chris Rants of Sioux City also say they favor passing an amendment to ban Gay marriage. Judge Robert Hansen has stayed his ruling in August while it's under appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Note: Read more on whotv.com
(UK) - Scotland's top doctor has issued a plea to health staff to offer more patients HIV tests amid concerns that many are still dying from the disease because they were diagnosed too late. While there have been great advances in the treatment of the condition, a recent audit has revealed that late diagnoses account for at least 35% of HIV-related deaths among adults in the UK. The survey, carried out by the British HIV Association, also found that in around a quarter of cases, diagnosis came too late for effective treatment. The findings have prompted chief medical officer Dr Harry Burns to write last week to all doctors and nurses asking for a "special effort" to help combat the condition by offering a test when appropriate.
Note: Read more on Sunday Herald
(Uganda) - A Uganda chapter of International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) has been launched in Uganda following a successful meeting attended by over 100 gay men and women, transgender people, human rights activists and other supporters. “Never before has there been such a far reaching well organised and professional gay public debate in this country,” said Pastor Kiyimba Yususf Brown who is the country coordinator for IDAHO. Among the organisations which were represented were “Open Door Counselling Ministries, Spectrum-Uganda, Queer Youth Uganda, Ice Breakers, Uganda Youth Health, Breaking the Silence and MUSLA”. Among the participants who addressed the conference was East Africa ILGA representative, Sam Ganafa.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Lithuania) - Last weekend, the Latvia-based Russia-speaking New Generation Church staged a conference near Seattle under the guise of its off-shoot Watchmen on the Walls. This weekend, the New Generation Church’s Lithuanian branch took to the streets to protest the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe annual conference in Vilnius. Yesterday, the small band of the church’s supporters gathered outside the ILGA-Europe conference venue to protest what they called “propaganda of homosexuality”. “While the participants were brainstorming and conducting discussions at the morning workshops, nine protesters gathered outside the conference venue,” said Juris Lavrikovs, communications officer at ILGA-Europe
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Sweden) - Sweden's Moderate Party on Saturday gave its backing to gender-neutral marriages. A large majority of the conference delegates were in favour of a change to the law. The party agreed that the decision of whether to conduct same-sex marriages should be up to the local parishes. The party conference also agreed that lesbian couples should be entitled to artificial insemination treatment at state hospitals and that Gays can adopt children. Six of parliament's seven parties have now given their backing to Gay marriage. Only the Christian Democrats are opposed and they have vowed to continue arguing against it.
Note: Read more on The Lokal
Looking for queer company on TV is a frustrating business. You can watch out, Gay celebs (Ellen DeGeneres, Rick Mercer, Gavin Crawford) paddle their canoe through mainstream waters. You can watch out, Gay actors (like that nerdy guy from Grey's Anatomy) play straight characters. What you can't find – at least not on the mainstream part of the cable dial – is a character who stays on screen long enough to give you a sense of Gay life or the way sexuality can shape a life. In short, none of TV's current Gay representatives is worth a trip in and of themselves. If you like the show, fine. But if you're looking for insight into Gay life, forget it. These characters are just there to provide a little second-banana weirdness to balance the unearthly beauty of the numero uno stars.
Note: Read more on The Star
(USA) - Reps. Tim Walz (Minn.) and Ron Klein (Fla.), leaders of the class of freshman Democrats, carried a message to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday that their fellow first-term lawmakers did not want to vote on an amendment extending civil rights to Transgender employees. House Education and Labor panel Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), whose committee passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, said he told the freshman lawmakers at their Wednesday breakfast with Pelosi that the amendment did not have the votes to pass and would not be brought to the House floor. In addition, Miller told the freshmen he recognized that the amendment "exposed the first-term lawmakers to political attacks from conservatives and liberals alike", said two sources who attended the breakfast.
Note: Read more on The Hill
(USA) - Some 57 percent of the population of Maryland support allowing Gay couples to form civil unions, according to a new Washington Post poll. Meanwhile, 51 percent continue to oppose granting full marriage rights to same-sex couples. The findings place Maryland somewhat to the left of the USA as a whole on social issues likely to be heavily debated when the General Assembly reconvenes in January for its annual 90-day session.
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(New Zealand) - New Zealand's Law Commission recommends to remove the 'Gay Panic Defence' from NZ law. The Defence, contained in section 169 of the Crimes Act 1961, allows a murder defendant to claim that he was the object of sexual advances by the victim, and found these advances so offensive that he was driven to murder in a psychotic state. If the defence is accepted, the murder charge is reduced to manslaughter.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(Uganda) - A leading advocate for LGBT rights in Africa has joined the IGLHRC. Victor Juliet Mukasa is well-known internationally for her activism in her home country of Uganda in the face of state opression. She is to become IGLHRC's new Research and Policy Associate for the Horn, East, and Central Africa. Ms Mukasa is a co-founder and the president emeritus of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and a founding member of several Ugandan rights groups, including East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRDN) (2005), Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) (2002), and the Pan African Group African Solidarity (2006).
Note: Read more on Pink News
(USA) - The condom-friendly sex education of the ’90s has been replaced wholesale by the Bush administration’s devotion to abstinence-until-marriage, while, simultaneously, marriage has become a legal impossibility for most US Gay and Lesbians. And as Gay people fight for rights and acceptance from society at-large, many continue to struggle with self acceptance, tensions with their families and creating healthy intimate relationships. “If you have this feeling of yourself as not being worthy, perhaps you don’t really care about yourself, you don’t care about your health, and so you might not use a condom,” said Celia Lescano, a researcher at Brown University who studies condom use among young people.
Note: Read more on Southern Voice
(USA) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, based in New York City, has ruled in an unpublished decision that the current level of anti-Gay persecution in Mexico is not sufficient to justify granting a withholding of removal for a Gay immigrant who claimed to fear persecution if returned to that nation. The ruling, which affirmed a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), reversed what had seemed a trend toward granting the claims of sexual minority refugees from Mexico.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(USA) - Talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey dedicated her show Wednesday to how it's like to be Gay around the world, featuring people like John Amaechi, the first NBA player to go public with his homosexuality, and Manvendra Singh Gohil, the Indian prince who's secret shocked a nation and ripped a royal family apart. Oprah also spoke with Manvendra Singh Gohil, the Indian prince who shocked his family and a whole nation by coming out publicly. Gohil lived a life of royalty, but the prince always felt something was wrong inside. In a 2006 newspaper interview, Prince Manvendra came out to the world. The people in his village were outraged. The prince has no regrets about coming out, "I will not regret that because I am true to myself and I'm true to the community, the Gay community for whom I am working, so I don't really mind," he said.
Note: Read more on GCN.ie
(Lithuania) - An annual Gay rights conference in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, was attacked with smoke bombs, after a rally in the city was banned. Over 200 Gays, Lesbians and Transsexuals attended the meeting. Delegates inside a local bar found it difficult to breathe after the smoke bombs were thrown, but had to stay inside because of safety concerns. The event was to be part of a week of events organised by ILGA Europe, a Gay rights group based in Brussels.
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - University of New Hampshire researchers found that Gay men who live together earn 23 percent less than married men, and 9 percent less than unmarried heterosexual men who live with a woman. Discrimination is most pronounced in management and blue-collar, male-dominated occupations such as building, grounds cleaning and maintenance, construction and production, according to the study by UNH’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics.
Note: Read more on Edge Boston
(USA) - Shortly before 4 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 22, Marcus Wilson called 911, reporting that a man on a Capitol Hill street threatened to kill him because he is Gay. It was the latest of seven incidents in Seattle since June -- five of them in Seattle's traditionally Gay neighborhood -- in which the victims said they were threatened or attacked at least in part because of their sexual orientation. The disturbing attacks, including cases in which victims were asked if they were Gay, then attacked when they responded "yes," are making some Gay people feel that Capitol Hill, a neighborhood that's been a safe enclave, is a little less friendly than before.
Note: Read more on SeaatlePi
(USA) - In response to an uproar from Gay activists, Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign on Thursday added a Gay minister to the lineup for its weekend gospel tour. Gay activists had criticized Obama's "Embrace the Change" tour in South Carolina because the performers included homophobic gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. Obama's campaign invited Rev. Andy Sidden, a South Carolina pastor who is openly Gay, to appear on Sunday in Columbia.
Note: Read more on PagePneQ
(Iran) - Homophobia runs deep into Iranian society. This, of course, partly reflects the influence of the conservative Islamic legal and religious standards promoted by the government. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini notoriously called for homosexuals to be extirpated as "parasites and corruptors of the nation" who "spread the stain of wickedness." It also reflects a patriarchal social system in which sexuality is controlled and feared, except when at the service of reproduction. The death penalty for lavat is not merely a paper punishment in Iran: it is enforced.
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
(USA) - Senator Barack Obama has enrolled a trio of notorious anti-Gay bigots to campaign for him in the South - and when a blogosphere firestorm erupted over the move, Obama compounded his betrayal of the Gay community by refusing to dump the homohaters. This past weekend, the Illinois Democratic senator's presidential campaign announced a three-day, gospel music campaign tour through South Carolina it billed as "Embrace the Courage" featuring four singers - Reverend Donnie McClurkin, Mary Mary (a sister act duo), and Reverend Hezekiah Walker, all prominent in the gospel world. McClurkin, an evangelical minister and a Grammy Award-winner, has told the Washington Post that he's in "a war" against what he calls "the curse of homosexuality." Moreover, McClurkin is the poster boy for the African-American "ex-Gay" movement. He claims that he became homosexual after having been molested by relatives when he was eight and 13, but was "cured" by religion.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Italy) - An ad campaign to counter discrimination against Gays has stirred up passions in Italy, using a poster that shows a newborn with the word "Homosexual" written on his wristband. "Sexual orientation is not a choice," reads the slogan on the poster that was going up all across the central-northern Tuscany region and was published in Italian newspapers Wednesday. Italy's main Gay rights association ArciGay, for its part, praised the initiative, saying homosexuality is an unchangeable fact that should be respected.
Note: Read more on AFP
(USA) - The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance - Washington’s two most influential local Gay political groups - broke ranks with many of their fellow GLBT groups in states throughout the country by declining to ask Congress to vote against an employment non-discrimination bill that does not include protection for transgender persons. Leaders of more than 300 US Gay rights organizations have signed a statement asking Congress not to support any version of ENDA that doesn’t include trans protections. Officials with some of the groups, including Jon Hoadley, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said they have yet to decide whether to specifically ask members of Congress to vote against a non-trans inclusive ENDA if it reaches the House floor next week, as expected.
Note: Read more on Washington Blade
(New Zealand) - The co-president of Melbourne's inaugural Gay and Lesbian multi-sport games is holding meetings in Auckland and Wellington this week so New Zealanders can find out more about the event. The first Asia Pacific Outgames will take place between 30 January to 3 February 2008, staged during the Midsumma Festival, Melbourne's premier Gay and Lesbian cultural and arts event. A two-day Human Rights Conference is also planned - with New Zealand's own Georgina Beyer recently announced as one of the keynote speakers. Badminton, hockey, dancesport, lawn bowls, rowing, running, swimming, ten-pin bowling, tennis and water polo are among the many sport tournaments planned at the Games.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(Australia) - Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has angered members of the Gay community by saying he is opposed to homosexual marriage and refusing to be drawn on the question of Gay couples adopting children. "When it comes to the Marriage Act, that is the responsibility of the Federal Parliament," Mr Rudd said. "And the Marriage Act relates to a union between a man and a woman, and that remains Labor policy as it has been into the past and as it will remain into the future. Australian Coalition for Equality spokesman Rodney Croome said the community was disappointed by Mr Rudd's comments. Mr Croome said that partners in same-sex relationships would continue to be second-class citizens while they were denied the right to marry.
Note: Read more on The Age
(Kyrgyzstan) - The roots of prejudice against the LGBT community run deep in Kyrgyzstan, a predominately Islamic country. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2005 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Kyrgyzstan, “people of nontraditional sexual orientation, particularly homosexual men, were among the most oppressed groups, although the country does not outlaw homosexuality. Those whose sexuality was publicly known risked physical and verbal abuse, possible loss of work, and unwanted attention from police and authorities, particularly lower-ranking police. Incarcerated gay men were often openly victimized in prisons by inmates and officials alike.”
Note: Read more on TOL
(USA) - Former marines Captain Antonio Agnone and Staff Sergeant Eric Alva, both gay men, shared their experiences on Tuesday about serving in Iraq under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The military's controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy "prohibits anyone who demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts from serving in the armed forces." According to Agnone, more than 12,000 service members have been discharged from the military since 1993 as a direct result of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. "'Don't ask, don't tell' is very ambiguous," said Agnone. "The only benefit of 'don't ask, don't tell' is that you are given an honorable discharge when you come out."
Note: Read more on studlife.com
(Singapore) - Singapore's parliament decided on Tuesday to keep a ban on sex between men, with the prime minister saying the city state should keep its conservative values and not allow "special rights" for Gays. The chamber passed a bill on Tuesday for an amended penal code that kept the ban on sex between men, but included other changes such as legalizing oral and anal sex between heterosexual adults, a spokeswoman at the home affairs ministry said. "Homosexuals should not set the tone for Singapore's society. Nor do we consider homosexuals a minority ... with minority rights protected under the law," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(USA) - Gay citizens in the USA have problems to get visa for their foreign partners. So has Tom Knutson, a "fiscal conservative, registered Republican and a widely traveled professor" whose Thai partner will soon have to leave the USA. The couple will inevitably face, they say, the same excruciating choice thousands of other same-sex binational couples in the United States face and are increasingly stepping forward to protest. "I am a U.S. citizen being denied my rights as a U.S. citizen to live with and love who I want," said Knutson. He expresses quiet rage because he loves the United States, he said.
Note: Read more on www.sacbee.com
(Poland) - Poland's incoming pro-business government will adopt the EU charter of fundamental rights, which Warsaw's ousted conservatives bitterly opposed during reform treaty talks, a top party official said Sunday. "It will be a modernising government, and very actively involved in the EU. So it will change Poland's stance on the treaty and thus will adhere to the charter of fundamental rights," Jacek Saryusz-Wolski told AFP. Previously, Poland rejected parts of the charter arguing that deeply Catholic "Poland's point of view culturally is different from the majority of other European countries," notably in its stance on Gay rights.
Note: Read more on EU Business
(USA) - One of the leading US legal advocacy groups for the LGBT community issued a statement Thursday urging the Ithaca City School District to cease a challenge of New York's Human Rights Law. Lambda Legal called the district's challenge of the law “unconscionable” and said a district victory would cripple LGBT students' abilities to find protection in the face of discrimination from a public school district. LGBT students are at particular risk if the district defeats the human rights law because the alternative avenues suggested by the district for discrimination complaints do not explicitly and effectively protect LGBT students, stated a letter Lambda Legal sent to board members Thursday.
Note: Read more on The Ithaca Journal
(UK) - Students and members of OutRage! took to the streets of London last week to protest about the treatment of gays in Saudi Arabia. Fifty people picketed the Saudi embassy after it was reported that two men had been sentenced to 7,000 lashes for "sodomy." The London protest, organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) LGBT campaign and supported by OutRage!, came eleven days ahead of the state visit to the UK of the Saudi head of state King Abdullah bin Abdul Azaz al Saud. Members of LGBT Labour also attended the event. NUS protest organiser Scott Cuthbertson called on others to protest the "continued criminalisation, imprisonment, torture and murder of LGBT people in Saudi Arabia."
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Singapore) - Singapore politicians engaged in a heated debate on homosexuality Monday as the city state's Parliament considered a sweeping revision of the penal code that fails to remove homosexual sodomy as a criminal offense. Siew Kum Hong introduced a petition signed by 2,341 people calling for repeal of the law, that dates back to British colonial times. The names were gathered online in just three days the lawmaker told Parliament. "In times past and in other countries, public morality has been used to justify slavery, discrimination against racial and religious minorities and discrimination against women," Siew said. "Let us not perpetuate or repeat the mistakes of others in the past." But the government showed no sign it was ready to do away with the law.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(USA) - A love song to Hollywood's "it takes one of every kind" platoon flicks and to 1940s Broadway, Yank! tells the story of a war reporter named Stu and an army private named Mitch who fall in love and struggle to survive in a time and place where the odds are stacked against them. Suffused with songs in period style (swing, big band, boogie-woogie) Yank! explores what stories don't get told in wartime, and how WWII became the great catalyst in bringing Gay men and women together. With the hot-button topics of "don't ask, don't tell" military policy and Gay marriage currently poised to be at the forefront of US politics for the November 2008 presidential election, The Gallery Players' mounting of Yank! is timely indeed. The show features book and lyrics by David Zellnik and music by Joseph Zellnik.
Note: Read more on Theater Mania
(Israel) - The constitution currently being drafted by a Knesset committee is not likely to safeguard the rights of homosexuals and other minority groups, the Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Menachem Ben-Sasson told the Israel Bar Association. Ben-Sasson's surprising comments were made in response to a query by the association's chairman, Amos Van-Amden, who is Gay. Ben-Sasson confirmed that in order to reach a political compromise which would allow the ratification of a constitution, it would in fact have to come at the expense of minority rights, such as those of the Gay community.
Note: Read more on Haaretz
(Poland) - After weeks of campaigning that have seen the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice party (PiS) in the lead, the latest polls suggest that the their rivals in the Civic Platform will win the elections today. If the polls are right, the party of Donald Tusk, enjoying an impressive resurgence in recent days, will oust Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leaving Lech, his identical twin, to continue as President in cohabitation with a hostile government. Most young Poles are expected to back the Civic Platform.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - It wasn't all peace, love and understanding, but there were no clashes Saturday between Christian conservatives meeting in Lynnwood and protesters who accused them of promoting hate against Gay people. About 150 protesters gathered outside the Lynnwood Convention Center and waved signs such as "More love, less hate" and "Real men find Jesus sexy."
Note: Read more on Seattle Times
(USA) - Students and staff members at John Burroughs High School have given the clothes off their backs this month for young people at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. The clothing drive, which has garnered hundreds of shoes, socks, shirts, bottoms and tops since the end of September, was started by students in the school's Gay/Straight Alliance club. “To start off the club this year, we were trying to find a way to connect more with our members and just have a way to be more open and friendly to each other,” said Nicole Carothers, 17, president of the Gay/Straight Alliance. The nonprofit Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, the sole beneficiary of the club’s efforts, serves homeless Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and unsure youths as part of their Youth Services program.
Note: Read more on www.burbankleader.com
(USA) - Opponents launched a referendum campaign this week to overturn Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature on legislation touted as an anti-discrimination measure for Gay and Lesbian students. "Citizens are outraged," said Karen England, who launched the drive and directs a conservative public policy group that focuses on "family issues." Geoff Kors, director of a Gay rights group that sponsored the measure, Senate Bill 777, blasted the drive as nonsense. "They claim to want to foster family values and education and what's best for children," he said. "Yet they oppose legislation to make schools safer for children."
Note: Read more on Sacramento Bee
(Singapore) - In an apparent counter move, a group calling itself "the Majority" has set up a website to collect signatures backing a call for the government to keep the law against "gay sex". The group, in an open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, asks the government to "do what is right and retain Section 377A for the future of our children and our nation". Under Section 377A of the Penal Code, it is illegal for men to have sex with one another. While prosecution is rare, those convicted can be jailed up to two years. In the latest Penal Code review, which was finished last month, the government decided to uphold the status quo on this issue. The Ministry of Home Affairs had said that Singapore was generally a conservative society and "we should let the situation evolve".
Note: Read more on Yahoo news
(Chile) - Gay rights leader Rolando Jimenez refused Thursday to rule out legal action against the Santiago police force in connection with allegations, first disclosed last week, that two Gay Carabineros police officers were forced from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Jimenez told The Santiago Times that the Gay right group he leads, MOVILH, has already spoken with police officials about reinstating Rivas and Salgado, and that more talks are on the horizon. Still, he would not discount a possible lawsuit. Jimenez’s statements come one day after two the gay police officers - Victor Rivas and Armando Salgado - testified to the Chamber of Deputies’ Human Rights Commission about the alleged case of discrimination.
Note: Read more on www.tcgnews.com
(Hogwarts) - Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is Gay. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," J.K. Rowling took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." "Dumbledore is Gay," the author responded to gasps and applause. She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(Turkey) - Human Right Watch said that it had a representative at the hearing on Lambda Istambul case. “The hearing lasted only about 15 minutes,” said Scott Long, director of HRW’s LGBT Rights Program, in a brief statement issued in New York. “Lambda Istanbul presented written evidence on why lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues do not contravene morals provisions in Turkish law. “The judge appointed an expert from the Istanbul University Law Faculty to determine whether these interpretations are valid, and postponed the case till January 31. Lambda Istanbul is trying to learn more about the expert and where things go from here,” the statement concluded.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - Around 50 students, some from as far away as Manchester, Salford and Hull, protested outside the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London this afternoon following the sentences passed earlier this month on two young Saudi Gay men. The pair were sentenced on October 2 to 7,000 lashings each in al-Bahah following conviction for ‘sodomy’. Amid chanting and singing, Claire Anderson and Scott Cuthbertson, LGBT officers with the National Union of Students, handed-in a letter of protest to an Embassy official. The protest was supported by LGBT Labour and Gay human rights group Outrage!
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Singapore) - Sir Ian McKellen was so irritated to discover homosexuality is illegal in Singapore during a recent visit to the country, he asked for directions to a gay bar on live TV. He was in Singapore for a pantomime performance when he decided to poke fun at the country's anti-Gay laws during a television interview. He says, "I didn't realise, as a Gay man, that I'd be a criminal once I arrived - because it's illegal for a man to make love to another man in Singapore. At the end of the interview, they asked what was I looking forward to doing while I was in Singapore. And I looked at the man, who was clearly straight, and said, `Can you recommend any decent Gay bars?', which would be illegal in every possible way."
Note: Read more on www.cbs47.tv
(USA) - An international coalition of fiercely homophobic religious leaders, calling themselves Watchmen on the Walls — whose followers are largely Eastern European conservative evangelicals — will converge on the Lynnwood Convention Center on October 19 through 21. While members of Watchmen on the Walls — whose name is a reference to the rebuilding of a ruined Jerusalem in the Old Testament— have not been directly linked to any violent acts against Gays, their repeated rhetoric of a "war" against homosexuality, and their refusal to condemn attacks on homosexuals, has led to concern and confusion over how they're suddenly popping up in Seattle's backyard.
Note: Read more on The Stranger
(USA) - Regardless of whether or not Congress, in the days ahead, passes an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that protects all LGBT people, there are lessons to be drawn from the controversy that has been roiling our community for weeks now. Let's briefly recall the facts. Late this summer, the Human Rights Campaign cut a backroom deal with the Democratic House leadership to strip from the original ENDA bill introduced in April any protection of the transgendered or of those who present their gender identity differently from the heterosexual norm. Disgust and revulsion at this betrayal of the most vulnerable among us swiftly became widespread - and within days, a broad coalition of national, state, and local LGBT organizations, called ENDA United, had sprung up to oppose the version of ENDA that failed to protect gender identity and expression and the transgendered.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(USA) - Many Gay foster teenagers never find a good home. Recognizing the gap in service, foster care agency ChildNet has contracted with the US National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP) to recruit and train foster parents to take in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender foster children. ''A lot of kids go through an awful lot because of gender identity questions and issues and their needs don't get met in the absence of people who have had experience with those issues,'' said Larry Rein, interim president of ChildNet, which serves about 2,500 children, including about 600 in foster homes. Although Florida bans Gay adults from adopting, the state does allow them to take in foster children.
Note: Read more on Miami Herald
(UK) - Two Lesbian nurses have won a six-figure compensation claim after they were sacked because of their sexuality, it has emerged. Margaret Durman and Penny Smith were dismissed from a Cornish care centre because of an unfounded complaint they allowed residents to be abused. They won their case for sexual orientation discrimination at a tribunal last year. Last month care home owner Barchester Healthcare lost its appeal. Ms Durman, 55, who has been a registered nurse for 35 years and Ms Smith, 41, a psychiatric nurse, said as a result of the allegations both of them had needed counselling and had suffered panic attacks. Ms Durman said: "We have had no apology from Barchester Healthcare."
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - From the time he walked into Milk's camera shop in the early '70s, Mr. Rivaldo was in the center of the city's Gay political awakening. With Milk and other young, politically active Gays, he helped found the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club, now known as the Harvey Milk Gay Democratic Club. A talented graphic artist, he designed the posters and brochures for the successful 1978 effort to defeat the Briggs initiative, a ballot measure that would have barred Gays and Lesbians from teaching in California public schools. Mr. Rivaldo and Pabich were instrumental in getting Milk elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him one of the first openly Gay elected officials in USA.
Note: Read more on SF Gayte
(USA) - Philadelphia authorities have decided that the local Boy Scouts chapter must pay fair-market rent of $200,000 a year for its city-owned headquarters because it refuses to permit Gay Scouts. The organization's Cradle of Liberty Council, which currently pays $1 a year in rent, must pay the increased amount to remain in its downtown building past May 31, Fairmount Park Commission president Robert N.C. Nix said Wednesday. City officials say they cannot legally rent taxpayer-owned property for a nominal sum to a private organization that discriminates. The city owns the land on which the council's 1928 Beaux Arts building sits.
Note: Read more on AP
(Turkey) - An attempt by the Governor's Office of Istanbul to close down Lambda Istanbul, an LGBT group, has raised questions about human rights in Turkey. A department responsible for non-governmental organisations alleges that the group violates Turkish laws on morality. The Governor had asked in early 2007 that the group be shut down. In July local prosecutors rejected the complaint but the Governor's Office then took the case to a higher court which heard the case in July 2007 and ordered a second hearing on 18 October.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Canada) - What is it to be Gay? Can our Gayness be measured by how others perceive us? Are we Gay if we never have same-sex nudie relations? Are we Gay because we say we are, or are we Gay because someone else says we are? For asylum seeker Alvaro Orozco and Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finley, these questions have never been more poignant or important to consider. Since his Oct 4, 2007 deportation date, Orozco, a 22-year-old Gay man born in Nicaragua, has been in hiding in the Toronto area. The deportation order is so far the last word from Immigration Canada on his three-year-long journey to achieve refugee status based on sexual orientation, a journey that began at the age of the 13 when Orozco fled his family to escape abuse and fled his country in pursuit of freedom.
Note: Read more on vueweekly.com
In the Middle East, homosexuals don't exist because there is a discernible lack of rainbow flag waving, show tune loving and Mimosa-sipping Gays. This, of course, is because homosexuality is a Western invention and Arab men - without the moral corruption of foreigners - have no capacity to fall in love with others of the same sex. These are the incoherent ramblings of Joseph Massad, a Columbia University professor and the author of, "Desiring Arabs", published this year by University of Chicago Press. In this week's New Republic magazine, James Kirchick discusses how this dangerous ideologue is part of a larger movement to justify the brutal repression and murder of Gay people in the Middle East. The idea is borrowed from the sometime intellectual wasteland of "Queer Theory" which says that homosexuality is a "social construction" and not inborn.
Note: Read more on Wayne Besen
(Gambia) - President Yahya Jammeh has called on the Islamic Ummah to be steadfast, bold and united in the spirit of Islam to condemn any form of attack on the Islamic religion. The Gambian leader, said "if you call yourself a Muslim, and believe in the supremacy of the Almighty Allah, while labelling Sharia as a bad law, then you are bound to go to hell," noting that Sharia law is the law of the Almighty God. According to him, Western kind of democracy will not be accepted in Gambia, noting that being Gay is unacceptable in this country as long as he lives.
Note: Read more on AllAfrica
(Turkey) - An attempt by the Governor's Office of Istanbul to close down Lambda Istanbul, an LGBT group, has raised questions about human rights in Turkey. A department responsible for non-governmental organisations alleges that the group violates Turkish laws on morality. The Governor had asked in early 2007 that the group be shut down. In July local prosecutors rejected the complaint but the Governor's Office then took the case to a higher court which heard the case in July 2007 and ordered a second hearing which begins tomorrow.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Bahamas) - The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation has assured Ebony Pyramid Entertainment, the group whose annual party was "raided" by police two weeks ago, that it does not condone discrimination of any form, following claims that the Gay community was being targeted. In a letter addressed to the executive director of Ebony Pyramid Entertainment DaJuan Xavier, the ministry expressed regret that the group's visit to the Bahamas "included an incident which involved the Royal Bahamas Police Force."
Note: Read more on Nassau Guardian
(Iraq) - Up to 25 Gay men will next month have to 'take their chances' in Iraq where religious militia regularly seek out Gays and execute them. Two 'safe houses' for Gays will be forced to close at the end month – due to lack of cash, it was learned last night. And appeal for funds was made last month by the London-based IraqiLGBT group, which runs the five safe houses. The appeal was promoted on a number of LGBT online sites and blogs in several countries. But just under £1,000 ($US2,000, €1,400) is all has been raised as a result of the appeal. The amount barely covers the cost of running one safe house for a month.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - An anti-Gay religious group planning a three-day meeting at the Lynnwood Convention Center beginning Friday likely will be met by protests. People from churches and Gay and Lesbian groups are speaking out against the proposed meeting of Watchmen on the Walls, an organization identified by national watchdog groups as "virulently anti-Gay." Watchmen on the Walls, a group founded by a Latvian minister that includes mainly Russian-speaking members, is building a reputation for being an "unbelievably virulent anti-Gay organization," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a US organization that fights hate groups.
Note: Read more on Herald Net
(UK) - Three men have admitted killing James Kerr, 51, in the South Inch park in April. All three, who were originally charged with murder, will be sentenced at the High Court in Perth today. The local authority worker had been out in the park late at night in an area known to be frequented by Gays. He entered into a conversation with a teenager, who was unknown to him. A short time afterwards the teenager phoned his two co-accused, who arrived just minutes later. Meehan and Soutar, both of Perth, then hunted down Mr Kerr and subjected him to an attack that left him in a pool of blood. Although he was still alive on arrival at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Mr Kerr, also of Perth, died that day.
Note: Read more on Scotsman
(UK) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to take-up the matter of the unequal age of consent still in place in Gibraltar, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The age of consent for heterosexual sexual relations in Gibraltar is 16 whilst the age of consent for same-sex sexual relations is 18.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Afghanistan) - Wealthy strongmen recruit adolescent boys for entertainment and sex, with the local authorities powerless to stop the practice. Allah Daad explained how the boys are enticed into the arrangement. “First we select boys in the village and later on we try to trick them into coming with us,” he said. “Some of them stay with us for money; they get a monthly allowance, and in return we can have them any time we want. They don’t stay with us all the time - they can do their own jobs and then just come to parties with us.” If a boy refuses to become a bacha bereesh, he said, there is little a man can do to make him. “We can’t force them,” he insisted. “Only the very powerful can have boys with them all the time.”
Note: Read more on e-ariana.com
(Australia) - A young Gay man who vanished after partying at one of Sydney's trendiest inner-city dance clubs is feared murdered, his friends believe. Matt Leveson, 20, has not been seen since walking out of ARQ in Taylor Square, early on Sunday, September 23. The wildlife welfare officer, a regular at the club, was thought to be going home to Cronulla. His family reported him missing when he failed to show for work the following Tuesday. He had also stopped answering his phone. Two days later Mr Leveson's green 1999 Corolla hatchback was found dumped outside a public toilet at Waratah Park Reserve, Sutherland. Police said evidence suggested he did not park it there. They believe he "met with foul play".
Note: Read more on Sydney Morning Herald
(USA) - A Gay man who died after being chased into traffic off a deserted Brooklyn beach was remembered yesterday in New York. Nearly 100 people turned out for the vigil to honor the life of Michael Sandy, 29, who was lured to a parking lot off the Belt Parkway on Oct. 8, 2006, with the promise of sex, then set upon by four men who robbed and chased him into traffic. He was hit by a car and died five days later. The memorial service came three days after a second man was convicted of the bias crime.
Note: Read more on NY Daily News
(USA) - Keith Boykin criticized Colin Powell and other leaders who have insisted the oppression of Gays and Blacks cannot be equated, referring to a statement Powell made in the early 1990s when he spoke against lifting the ban on Gays in the military. Boykin criticized religious leaders, black and white, who refer to Gay rights as "special rights," saying that freedoms such as the right to marry, travel, visit one's partner in the hospital or be free from workplace discrimination are civil rights. He criticized the notion that a group of people should be expected to prove they have suffered more than another group. "We don't have an intelligent enough discourse to be able to separate the stupidity from reality," he said. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which group was most oppressed or which group was first oppressed or whether they're identically oppressed. What matters is that no group should be oppressed."
Note: Read more on Daily Emerald
(Canada) - Former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair will announce his departure from politics on Monday, according to Quebec media reports. A career politician, first getting elected at age 23, Boisclair had been a cabinet minister in the PQ governments of Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry. The openly Gay Boisclair raised questions about his judgment and maturity when he appeared in a parody of "Brokeback Mountain" featuring actors wearing the masks of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President George Bush. Many hardline sovereigntists saw him as being too soft on the Qubeck sovereignty agenda.
Note: Read more on CTV
(Brazil) - More than 800,000 people participated in Sunday’s Gay pride parade in Rio de Jainero along the famous Copacabana Beach. Politicians such as Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral and tens of thousands tourists were among the revelers at the 12th annual parade. Despite the relatively cool temperatures many participants were scantily clad as they danced to samba music and waved the rainbow flag. The celebrations also took on a serious note, with a call to Brazil’s congress for a bill against homophobia, same sex-marriage the right for sexual self-determination. According to human rights groups in Brazil up to 2,582 Gays have been murdered in the past 10 years.
Note: Read more on Edge Boston
(UK) - The British Royal Navy suffered a spate of protest resignations by lower-ranking officers after the ban on Gays in the military was lifted, a restricted document obtained by The Times shows. Some soldiers were so reluctant to undress or be exposed in front of Gay comrades that they suggested the provision of homosexual-only showers and lavatories, and straight couples expressed worries that same-sex partners would be allowed to move into family quarters and "influence their children."
Note: Read more on Times online
(Uganda) - The Mufti, Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje wants Gays marooned on an island in Lake Victoria until they die. Sheikh Mubajje told journalists on Friday at Old Kampala Mosque that he sold his proposal to President Yoweri Museveni when they met last week at Hotel Africana. "I asked President Museveni to get us an island on Lake Victoria and we take these homosexuals and they die out there," Sheikh Mubajje said during a press briefing after Idd el Fitr prayers. "If they [Gays] die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country." The Mufti's statement correlates with recent plans by the Muslim Tabliq youth to form what they called an 'Anti-Gay Squad to fight homosexuality in the country.
Note: Read more on Monitor
(India) - Manvendra Singh Gohil, one of the most prominent Gay personalities in India, is scheduled to sit across the celebrity chat show host on October 26 for an episode to discuss issues regarding Gay rights, the role of his NGO Lakshya trust and the plight of HIV positive people in India. "It is a fantastic feeling to be invited to talk to Oprah Winfrey in her show. I just received a communication on October 6 inviting me to be present in her New York studio", Gohil said at his palace estate in the tribal district of Narmada. The 42-year-old is the only person of royal lineage who has openly proclaimed to being a Gay and, after creating an initial stir in his native town as well as family, is now being looked upon as a champion for Gay rights and an activist for HIV derelicts via his NGO Lakshya Trust.
Note: Read more on Times of India
(Vatican) - The Vatican has confirmed local newspaper reports that a high-ranking Catholic priest has been suspended. The man, who works in the department in charge of clergy around the world, appeared on Italian TV earlier this month admitting that he was gay. The prelate had been suspended pending further investigation, said Vatican spokesman Father Frederico Lombari. He says he was interviewed "fraudulently" with a hidden camera and now denies his earlier statement. In a letter published in an Italian online newspaper, Petrus, he writes: "I said I was homosexual in order to unmask those who really are."
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - At a late afternoon meeting on October 12 in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, representatives of the Democratic leadership informed key LGBT advocates that it planned to move forward with a vote on a revised version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) covering sexual orientation but not gender identity and expression. But in what was intended as a concession to leading LGBT organizations who have waged an uphill struggle for more than two weeks to salvage the fully inclusive version of the bill introduced earlier this year, Pelosi pledged to allow a floor vote on that original formulation once advocates indicate they have the votes to secure passage. It is not at all certain that Pelosi's bargain will be widely accepted.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Taiwan) - Thousands from Taiwan's Gay and Lesbian community marched through the streets of Taipei Saturday demanding more rights for homosexuals. The parade took a carnival-like mood with marchers waving rainbow flags, colourful balloons and signs. "We have to make our voices and demands heard so that the government will do more to promote Gay rights," said Way Chao, a 22-year-old serviceman from southern Kaohsiung. In a symbol of unity, participants will raise coloured placards to form a giant rainbow flag later Saturday in a bustling business district in Taipei, organisers said.
Note: Read more on AFP
(USA) - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed another Gay marriage bill Friday, saying voters and the state Supreme Court, not lawmakers, should decide the issue. The Republican governor turned down a measure by Assemblyman Mark Leno that would have defined marriage as a union between two people, not just a man and a woman. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill from Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, in 2005 and has said he would veto all such bills. The California Supreme Court is likely to rule next year on whether the state's voter-approved ban on Gay marriage violates the constitution.
Note: Read more on AP
(Australia) - Prime Minister John Howard could announce within days a new policy to eliminate discrimination against same-sex couples in legislation. Speculation is mounting that Mr Howard is set to announce changes to give same-sex couples the same rights of access to a partner's superannuation as are enjoyed by married and de facto couples. A broader policy would also include equal rights to pensions, tax and other benefits such as Medicare safety net thresholds. But it is believed Mr Howard has no plans to overturn his legislation, introduced before the 2004 election and supported by Labor, to ban gay marriage.
Note: Read more on The Age
(Latvia) - Never let it be said that the movers and shakers in the Council of Europe (CoE) lack guts. This week, Andreas Gross, rapporteur of the Judicial and Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), was in Latvia and invited the Latvian Parliamentary Social Affairs and Human Rights Committee to lunch. Well, not quite all of the committee. Excluded was chairperson Janis Smits, whose homophobic outbursts are legendary. Parliamentarian Smits closely allies himself with Alexey Ledyaev who heads the worldwide New Generation Church, a particularly homophobic so-called “Christian” church with its world headquarters in Riga.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - A young Tory leader has been suspended from university after a sickening rant against Gays on the Internet. Fergus Bowman, 22, set up a group called "Homos burn in hell" on the Facebook website. Its homepage featured a picture of a hooded Ku Klux Klan member beside a burning cross and the remark: "Everyone knows homosexuality is against God's wishes."
Note: Read more on Mirror
(Russia) - It is an intriguing image. Shot among the birch trees and snow of a Siberian forest, two policemen kiss each other passionately on the lips. They hold and - this is not entirely clear - possibly caress each other's buttocks. But the work by a Russian art collective has proved too much for Russia's culture minister, Alexander Sokolov. On Monday Mr Sokolov announced that he was banning the photo, entitled Kissing Policemen (An Epoch of Clemency), from an exhibition of contemporary Russian art due to be exhibited in Paris next week. Mr Sokolov described the photo as political provocation and said he was pulling it, together with 16 other works, from a show at Paris's Maison Rouge exhibition hall.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Russia) - When Russian gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev looks back on the last few years, he can be brutally honest. “If I knew in 2005, (that) it would have taken so long, I don’t know if I would have started,” he said last week. Alexeyev spoke Oct. 3 about the frustrating struggle GLBTs have been waging for equality in Russia at a talk sponsored by the Gay Liberation Movement at Berger Cultural Center in Edgewater. When homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993, according to Alexeyev, the Russian Gay community was not quite ready for what would come next. “To reach decriminalization was the final goal. No one was thinking about anything else,” he added.
Note: Read more on Chicago Free Press
(USA) - Students at schools and colleges across USA are observing "Coming Out Day" in a variety of ways all aimed at raising LGBT visibility. The US "Coming Out Day" is celebrated every Oct. 11 to mark the anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Equality. Young people in a number of states continue to have problems organizing LGBT student groups. This week the Okeechobee County, Florida, School Board tightened its rules governing clubs in a bid to block a GSA, despite an ongoing federal lawsuit. As well, bullying and harassment of LGBT students continues to be a problem for many students across USA.
Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
(USA) - The Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival turns 12 this year and, after viewing some of the 75 programs and 150 narrative features, documentaries and short films, one feels like the fest has undergone a rite of passage that's pushed it to a higher plateau of sophistication. The low-budget outlaw days of "queer cinema" may seem to have ebbed since AIDS turned 25 and once-radical activists are now middle-age boomers. Many of the great rebel filmmakers who revolutionized gay movies -- Derek Jarman for one -- are gone. At least the spirit of those times still underscores the scene.
Note: Read more on SeattlePi
If Gay people demand laws that protect us from "incitement to hatred", it's hard to object when religious people demand and receive similar group rights for themselves. Yet these parallel protections have been a disaster for Gay people. The major Western religions are all based on pre-modern hallucinatory "Holy Books" which contain calls to kill Gay people. But the legal framework protecting religion makes it increasingly difficult to call these the poisonous, repellent works of fiction that they are. I hate these texts. I call on others to hate these texts. Yes, I "incite" them to do so. Under the existing law, that is a crime. Gay people should be seeking to repeal that law – not extend it to ourselves.
Note: Read more on Independent
(Venezuela) - A Venezuelan legislative committee voted to lower the voting age and protect gay rights in a expansion of President Hugo Chavez's plan to rewrite the country's constitution. Venezuelans would gain the right to vote at age 16 under the proposed changes, down from the current age of 18, and discrimination based on sexual orientation would be formally outlawed in the constitution, according to a statement on the National Assembly's Web site. The legislative committee will send the proposed constitutional changes to the full assembly next week, where it will be discussed for 15 days. Once approved there it will go to a national referendum, possibly as early as December.
Note: Read more on Bloomberg
(Russia) - Moscow City Court has today dismissed the appeal of Moscow Gay Pride organisers Nikolai Alekseev and Nikolai Baev against the decision of Tverskoi district court which considered their claim against Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s statement earlier this year that Gay parades are “satanic gatherings”. In January, the Moscow Mayor said during his speech at the opening of the XV Christmas readings in Kremlin that “last year there was unprecedented pressure on Moscow in order to conduct a Gay parade here, which can only be called a satanic gathering. We did not allow this parade and will not allow in the future”. Moscow’s Tverskoi district court judge Natalya Makarova who considered the case in first instance on April 20 said in her decision that Moscow Mayor did not use the names of Nikolai Alekseev and Nikolai Baev in his speech and did not characterise their actions.
Note: Read more on Gay Russia
(USA) - In the current debate over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA - whether we should or should not move forward with protections for transgendered Americans as well as gays and lesbians - both sides are claiming the moral high ground, and the shrewder political calculus. Both sides are using fighting words, but I will give each the benefit of the doubt and assume they are speaking from conviction. But what has set my teeth on edge during the past few weeks has been the suggestion that being gay and being transgendered have nothing to do with each other, and that the trans community, about as politically marginal as any in US society, has somehow bullied gay and lesbian Americans into misguidedly taking up their cause.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(USA) - At this critical moment in our efforts to pass an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes transgender people under its protections, it is important to recall just why so many of us believe that no one can be left behind. The last five days have been a grueling and defining moment in our movement’s history. When we learned that protections for transgender people would be stripped from ENDA, an unprecedented groundswell of anger, energy and determination rose up to reverse that decision.
Note: Read more on PageOneQ
(EU) - The president of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on gay and lesbian rights has won the title “MEP of the Year” in the justice and human rights category. Michael Cashman, the former actor who portrayed the first gay character in a UK television “soap”, was selected by his parliamentary colleagues from across the political spectrum in the annual awards, organised by The Parliament Magazine.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - Jack Straw has decided to introduce yet another criminal offence, adding to the 3,000 new crimes Labour has introduced since it came to power in 1997. This latest offence will prohibit the incitement of homophobic hatred. It is intended to help tackle anti-queer prejudice, which is a good intention. But will this legislation work? Is it necessary? Might it not lead to infringements of free speech? Are there more effective ways to challenge homophobia and other hateful incitements? A much more important issue is the fact that the government, police and prosecution service are failing to enforce the laws prohibiting the incitement of actual violence and murder against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities. Inciting violence and murder is much worse, in my view, than inciting hate. Yet the relevant laws are often not enforced. Why not?
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - The IGLHRC has revealed that it has uncovered evidence that the U.S. government has funded groups in Uganda that actively promote discrimination against Gay people. The primary instigator of the backlash was Pastor Martin Ssempa, leader of the Makerere University Community Church and spokesman for the Interfaith Family Culture Coalition Against Homosexuality in Uganda. IGLHRC has evidence of grants made by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to the Makerere University Community Church. With support from conservative organizations such as Family Watch International in the United States, Mr. Ssempa has launched attacks on Gay people.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Iran) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when asked if there were gay people in his country, Ahmadinejad said, through an interpreter: "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it." Ahmadinejad's media adviser, Mohammad Kalhor, told Reuters that Ahmadinejad was simply misunderstood by Western media. "What Ahmadinejad said was not a political answer," Kalhor told Reuters. "He said that, compared to American society, we don't have many homosexuals." Kalhor told Reuters that Ahmadinejad did not intend to imply that there are no homosexuals in Iran. Rather, he said, the president wanted to say that homosexuality is not as common as it is in the West because of cultural and religious differences. Homosexuality is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
Note: Read more on FOX News
(USA) - As early as the 1920’s tennis legend Bill Tilden had put his mark on Gay sports history. With three Wimbledon titles, seven US open Championships and leading the US Davis Cup team to 7 victories, Tilden was considered by some to be the greatest player to ever grace the court. It was his personal life and his penchant for underage boys, however, that made him a controversial character in the tennis world. Following his arrests, Tilden was all but shunned from the tennis community and was almost written out of the sport's history. However, his accomplishments and his outspokenness did make a profound difference in the game and to the Gay community by not making any apologies for being Gay.
Note: Read more on GayWired
(USA) - The plight of the Gay elderly has been taken up by a generation of Gay men and Lesbians, concerned about their own futures, who have begun a drive to educate care providers about the social isolation, even outright discrimination, that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender clients face. Several solutions are emerging. In Boston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and other urban centers, so-called L.G.B.T. Aging Projects are springing up, to train long-term care providers. At the same time, there is a move to separate care, with the comfort of the familiar.
Note: Read more on NY Times
(Uganda) - The Minister for Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, has vowed to block the demand for recognition of Gay's rights. "The Government shall do whatever it takes to block the spread of homosexuality." People who are agitating for those rights are selfish individuals with callous intention, Buturo said, adding that: "They are trying to impose a strange, ungodly, unhealthy, unnatural, and immoral way of life on the rest of our society." "I will endeavour to block it. I can assure you on that. Let them go to another country, and not here," the furious Buturo said. His reaction comes a week after the State Minister for Youth and Children's Affairs, James Kinobe, revealed that a Bill on homosexuality was in the offing. Kinobe also vowed to oppose the demand for recognition of the Gay's rights.
Note: Read more on New Vision
(USA) - Opponents of a new domestic partnership law for Gay couples failed to gather enough signatures to put a referendum on the November 2008 ballot. The secretary of state's office said Monday that volunteers who spent the summer collecting signatures to allow voters to weigh in on domestic partnerships fell 116 signatures short of the 55,179 needed to qualify for the ballot. That means that on Jan. 1 Gay couples in Oregon will be able to enter into domestic partnerships allowing them most of the state benefits of marriage, such as inheritance rights. It does not affect federal benefits, such as Social Security.
Note: Read more on Oregon Live
(UK) - Plans to make inciting hatred against Gay people a crime have been announced by Justice Secretary Jack Straw. The law would cover Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual people and may be extended to cover disabled and Transgender people. Mr Straw said it was time for the law to recognise society was "appalled by hatred and invective" directed at people because of their sexuality. He told MPs the changes would be made as amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
Note: Read more on BBC
(South Africa) - An estimated five thousand Gays and Lesbians turned out for the 18th annual Joburg Pride Parade in Rosebank, Johannesburg, despite the inclement weather. While the overall mood of the event was celebratory, the reality that many Gays and Lesbians are not safe in their communities was also highlighted by the organisers. A minute’s silence was held to mark the brutal murders of two Lesbian women, Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa, in Soweto in July, as well as all LGBT victims of hate crime. Speaking on the main stage, Sandilands made an impassioned demand for tolerance: “Here today, in the midst of the partying and fun, we remember Sizakele and Salome and together we say ‘Enough’. No longer will we tolerate double standards and discrimination against our community, and we challenge everyone here to speak out against prejudice wherever they find it.”
Note: Read more on www.mambaonline.com
(Gibraltar) - Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana’s failure to act on the legal age of consent is degrading the constitution and turning the Rock’s highest law into a series of voluntary codes as far as human rights are concerned, Equality Rights GGR claimed last night. And the group revealed that it has made a formal submission to the Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry on the Overseas Territories of the British Parliament. Felix Alvarez, chairman of GGR, said that both the Gibraltar and British governments were “failing in their legal obligations” when it came to human rights on the age of consent issue. In Gibraltar, the age of consent for heterosexuals is 16, and 18 for homosexuals.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - A coming-of-age drama about a Lesbian teenager has won the £25,000 Iris Prize - thought to be the largest ever award for a Gay and Lesbian short film. Its director Dee Rees, from the United States, will now use the money to make another short film in the UK. Her film Pariah was chosen by judges as the best entry of the 30 shortlisted at the end of a three day film festival in Cardiff. It also won the NewFest festival award in New York earlier this year. Ms Rees' 27-minute film follows the teenage girl as she unsuccessful tries to juggle multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family.
Note: Read more on BBC
(China) - While their old school friends are walking up the aisle, China's Gays have been left on the shelf. Despite the nation's rapid development, society remains deeply conservative, and Gay weddings are unimaginable for the majority of citizens. But a new generation of scholars is challenging the idea that marriage can only ever be between a man and a woman. Professor Li Yinhe, a sociologist and Gay rights campaigner, is leading the call for marriage and other rights for the nation's 40 million homosexuals.
Note: Read more on China Daily
(India) - A teenaged tribal boy and his friends wend their way through a chandelier-lit palace hall in this erstwhile princely state where its scion is having a birthday bash. But, its not just another birthday party - the two-day function is organised by prince Manvendra Singh Gohil every year to promote the latent musical and artistic talents of Gays and HIV-infected people. Gohil, who turned 42 today, is India's first royal personality to openly proclaim he is Gay and is a leading rights activist who has been celebrating his birthday in this manner for the past 10 years. Musicians and exponents of the fine and performing arts from from across the country converge here on October 6 and 7 and use the forum to send across the message: "Gays are also talented and creative".
Note: Read more on Press Trust og India
As the singer for Queen, one of the most successful British bands of the '70s and '80s, Freddie Mercury was one of the most distinctive and instantly recognizable personalities rock has ever produced -- a flamboyant icon millions of fans around the world thought they knew, despite his many chameleon-like glam-rock guises. In sharp contrast, very few people knew Farrokh Bulsara, the kind, shy but intensely ambitious child born on the African island of Zanzibar and raised by parents who were Parsis, hailing from the Indian province of Gujarat and practicing the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism. Mercury and Bulsara were nevertheless one and the same, and this is part of the fascinating story told in director Rudi Dolezal's documentary, "Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story."
Note: Read more on Sun Times
(Australia) - A Spate of violent crime targeting the Gay community prompted three prominent politicians and a drag queen to take to the streets in the early hours of yesterday. As partygoers looked on, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Police Minister David Campbell, Labor candidate for Wentworth George Newhouse and local drag queen Maxi Shield wandered the clubs and back alleys of Oxford Street to gauge the impact of homophobic violence. Police said there have been nine reported instances of assault related to "sexual preference prejudice" around Oxford Street this year, while there were only two such instances in the whole of 2006. "This area has changed," Ms Moore said. "As larger venues have sprung up, many people from outside Oxford Street have begun to come in on weekends.
Note: Read more on www.smh.com.au
(Colombia) - Gay couples in Colombia won the same social security rights as their straight counterparts in a court ruling called a major advance for homosexuals in this conservative Roman Catholic country. In a decision embraced by rights groups but opposed by the church, the Constitutional Court said on Friday it extended health benefits long enjoyed by heterosexuals in common law marriages to same-sex couples. The first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America, the measure allows Gay people to include their partners in their health insurance plans.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(South Africa) - As Gay Pride comes of age on Saturday, Gauteng gays and lesbians toast civil unions, adoptions, gender-neutral definitions and a protective constitution.But with hate speech and hate crimes on the increase, these liberties are under threat. Dawie Nel, director of gay and lesbian organisation OUT, says violence towards gay people in South Africa is "way out of line" in terms of international findings. "Yes, we live in a violent society," he says, "but the levels of violence on lesbians and gays seem to be uniquely South African, as are the levels of HIV among black lesbians, which is almost unheard of anywhere else in the world."
Note: Read more on The Star
(Sweden) - The three opposition parties are piling pressure on the government to table a bill establishing gender-neutral marriage. The leaders of the Social Democrat, Left and Green parties submitted a motion to parliament on Friday demanding that gay marriage legislation is passed by 18th March. A clear majority in parliament is in favour of gender-neutral marriage, with only one party - the Christian Democrats, one of the four governing parties - against. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is a strong proponent of gay marriage, but the government cannot put forward a bill as long as the Christian Democrats block the idea. "It is absurd for the Christian Democrats to get a veto," said Mona Sahlin on Friday.
Note: Read more on The Local
(USA) - In recent months, as energetic Russian-speaking "Russian Baptists" and Pentecostals in these states have organized to bring thousands to anti-Gay protests, Gay rights activists in Sacramento have picketed Slavic anti-Gay churches, requested more police patrols in Gay neighborhoods and distributed information cards warning Gays and Lesbians about the hostile Slavic evangelicals who they say have roughed up participants at Gay pride events. Singh's death was the realization of their worst fears. "After a couple years of fundamentalist and Slavic Christian virulent anti-Gay protests at almost every Sacramento Gay event in the region," said local Gay rights activist Michael Gorman, "what the Gay community has feared for some time has finally happened."
Note: Read more on AlterNet
(USA) - Hundreds of "therapists" who view homosexuality as a treatable disease are expected in Dallas-Fort Worth for the [US] National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality conference on Oct. 26-28. "There will be several hundred quacks," said Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, an US organization devoted to exposing practitioners of ex-Gay therapy as charlatans. "The whole flock will fly down south from all over." In response, Truth Wins Out is organizing a protest at the Marriott Dallas-Fort Worth Airport North hotel, where the conference is scheduled to take place. A conference call between leaders of local LGBT groups and Besen was held on Thursday, Oct. 4, to arrange plans for the protest, which will be announced soon.
Note: Read more on Dallas Voice
(USA) - The first generation of openly Gay US citizens chalked up a lot of firsts - a Gay-rights march in Washington, openly Gay politicians in office and out-of-the-closet actors on sitcoms. And now, this generation will be the first to have, just in time for its twilight years, Gay senior condo communities. It's an extension of the Gay ghetto, this time with walkers. But at RainbowVision, a development that opened last year on the edge of this high-desert city, a there-goes-the-neighborhood cloud has appeared. Some residents fear that their community could be overrun by an outside element -- straight people. "It does not matter how friendly they are," said Roger Bergstrom, 77, who shares a condo at RainbowVision with his longtime partner, Barry Baltzley, 57.
Note: Read more on LA Times
(USA) - For the past week, a passionate and emotional debate has been raging in the gay and lesbian blogosphere and on LGBT gay leadership list-servs about the decision by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives to remove protection for the transgendered from ENDA, the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In that debate, sentiment has been overwhelming that an ENDA stripped of its language prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression, part of the version introduced earlier this year, isn't worth having. At last count, 113 national and state LGBT organizations have signed on to a letter pledging to oppose ENDA until protection of the transgendered is restored. Conspicuously missing from this list is the Human Rights Campaign, the richest, most visible, and most Washington-influential of the gay lobbies.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Saudi Arabia) - Prison authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun administering 7,000 lashes to each of two men convicted of committing "homosexual acts", a local newspaper reported yesterday. The Okaz newspaper says that the sentence was being meted out in "phases" and was being conducted in a public square in the southwestern city of Al-Bahah. Neither man has been named. The floggings began on Tuesday. The men were dragged into the square, their shirts removed and they where whipped. They were then returned to prison. The process was repeated on Wednesday and will continue daily until all 7,000 lashes have been administered.
Note: Read more on GayNZ
(USA) - This past week the American Library Association—“celebrated” isn’t quite the right word—observed Banned Books Week. The event is designed to raise public awareness of efforts by some individuals and groups to have certain books removed from library shelves. In 2006 the ALA received reports of 546 challenges to books in school and public libraries, objecting to depictions of violence, drugs, homosexuality, satanic content and offensive language. Usually the challenges are to books for young people, although there are occasional objections to adult books on school reading lists.
Note: Read more on Chicago Free Press
(Singapore) - Leaders of economically vibrant Singapore are sending mixed signals on homosexuality in the competition with other Asian countries for more foreign talent. While allowing a small number of Gay bars, restaurants and saunas to thrive, homosexual acts are still outlawed and carry a prison term of up to two years. Even such frivolities as Gay picnics with participants clad in pink are prohibited. "The government's stand is full of absurdities," said Alex Au, the 54-year-old founder of the Gay rights group People Like Us. "Changes are coming slowly, but the pace is frustrating." "Singapore takes one step forward, one step backwards and one step sideways," Au added.
Note: Read more on Digital Journal
(EU) - Former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and several dozen other European parliamentarians protested Thursday comments by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church assailing Gay people. In an address to the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly earlier this week, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II branded homosexuality an "illness" and attacked what he called "homosexual propaganda" influencing young people. Parliamentarians from all major political groups in the assembly said a dialogue between cultures and religions must be based on mutual respect and tolerance.
Note: Read more on International Herald Tribune
(UK) - A film festival featuring what the organisers claim is largest ever prize for a gay and lesbian short film is opening in Cardiff. The inaugural Iris Prize Festival will screen the 30 films shortlisted for the prize, worth £25,000, and host premieres for feature-length films. Talks, debates, workshops and parties will also be held at Chapter Arts Centre and Cineworld. The prize winner will be announced on the festival's last day, on Saturday. The prize will allow the winner to make their next short film in the UK.
Note: Read more on BBC
(USA) - Nikolai Alexeyev – the main organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, editor in chief of the GayRussia website and general ‘thorn in the side’ of Mayor Luzhkov and the Moscow authorities – is making his first trip to America. He has been invited by the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network as the keynote speaker at their ninth annual Matthew Shepard March on Saturday.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - A piece of outer space named for George Takei is in kind of a rough neighborhood for somebody who steers a starship: an asteroid belt. An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original "Star Trek" series and movies. "I am now a heavenly body," Takei, 70, said Tuesday, laughing. "I found out about it yesterday. ... I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky — just like an asteroid." The celestial rock, discovered by two Japanese astronomers in 1994, was formerly known as 1994 GT9.
Note: Read more on AP
(Taiwan) - Election candidates should do more than speak up for Gay rights so that they can secure votes from members of the Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities, representatives from these communities in Taiwan said. "Taiwan's society has become more aware of Gay rights, and many election candidates want to woo votes from this group. However, they have to back their words with action rather than just offering lip service," said the president of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association. An annual Gay, Bisexual and Transgender parade has been scheduled for next Saturday in downtown Taipei to showcase the "rainbow power" of these communities, whose members are often discriminated against, parade organizers said yesterday.
Note: Read more on Taipei Times
(Canada) - When Metro Vancouver couple Claire Benson-Mandl and Natalie Prichard fell in love with a North Vancouver townhome in April, they did everything they could to land the deal. They had financing in place for the $580,000 property, were the first to view the home, put in a no-subject offer and were even willing negotiate up in price. Their too-good-to-be-true offer was turned down by the seller, Alexander Berry, an Alberta resident. Benson-Mandl and Prichard say Berry refused to sell the home to them because they were Gay. Benson-Mandl said she and Prichard are pursuing the complaint because of their "yearning for justice for everybody. We want to ensure that the public is aware that systematic discrimination of any kind cannot happen here."
Note: Read more on Vancouver Sun
(USA) - A Russian activist who has organized pride parades in Moscow in defiance of city bans will speak this weekend at a Gay rights march this weekend. The ninth annual Matthew Shepard March is scheduled for Saturday at Halsted and Roscoe streets. Nikolai Alexeyev is scheduled to be the keynote speaker. Alexeyev has organized several Gay pride parades in Moscow, facing violent protests and getting arrested for defying a ban on such events by Moscow's mayor. At a Gay pride parade in Moscow last May, police detained Gay rights activists, among them European lawmakers, as they tried to present a letter to Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov in a demonstration that also attracted a hostile crowd of people who punched and threw eggs at the activists.
Note: Read more on cbs2chicago.com
(USA) - A ruling from a US federal judge found that a California school did not violate a student’s rights when the student was disciplined for engaging in publicly affectionate conduct with her girlfriend while on the school’s grounds. District judge James V. Selna ruled that Charlene Nguon was not subjected to measures that heterosexual students would not have faced. Nguon’s lawyers, however, said that they would appeal the ruling. Dan Stormer, attorney for Nguon, said, "There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that their despicable treatment of her was totally caused by their dislike of her sexual orientation."
Note: Read more on Edge Boston
(Russia) - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II said on Tuesday European civilisation was "threatened by a divorce of human rights from Christian ethics that opened the way to immoral behaviour". Talking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the start of a visit to France, he told a questioner after his speech he had compassion for homosexuals, but Gay sex was a sin and Gay parades were "propaganda for homosexuality". Alexiy's speech echoed similar "defences of Christianity" in Europe by Roman Catholicism's Pope Benedict. The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest in Orthodox Christianity, which claims about 220 million followers. The Vatican, representing 1.1 billion Catholics, wants to work more closely with it to impose Christianity on Europe.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(USA) - An editorial in a Kell High inaugural student publication characterizing Gays as victims of reproductive error or an unusual upbringing has caused a storm of controversy among some students and faculty on the north central Cobb campus. The opinion piece appeared in Friday's debut edition of the Inkwell, titled, "Homosexuality: Beyond the Bible." In it, Benjamin slams Gays not on religious or Biblical grounds but, he said, based on science and logic. "I realize biology commits many reproductive errors. Homosexuality can be one of them," he wrote.
Note: Read more on www.ajc.com
(Kenya) - Writer Habel J. Nyamu's article titled "Gays have no business fighting for recognition in Kenya" cannot be allowed to go unanswered. Homophobia of this kind has no place in democracy. Coming in an edition of the paper which reports on the illegal seizure of land in Taveta by Government agents, one wonders whether Kenya is, in fact, turning into Zimbabwe. Mr Nyamu's words have often been echoed by the twisted, but eloquent, Robert Mugabe. Mr Nyamu appears to be unaware that there are plenty of MPs who are gay, but unfortunately for their peers, do not declare it, men who live with men but keep a wife and children on the side for respectability's sake.
Note: Read more on AllAfrica
(USA) - A local gay bartender is in critical condition after being struck by a car in a hit-and-run incident on Sept. 18 in front of Ramrod bar in Fort Lauderdale. It was the second serious incident involving a pedestrian being struck on 4th Avenue near the bar in the past three months. Thomas Davis, 32, was crossing 4th Avenue to go to work at the bar when he was struck at about 10:15 p.m., according to a police statement. Davis suffered a broken leg, head trauma, a lacerated liver and bruised lungs. A witness who was working security outside the bar when the incident occurred said the car sped up and swerved to hit Davis.
Note: Read more on Express Gay News
(Spain) - Following the presentation of the new State Budgets in Congress on September 21, today the left wing green coalition, IU-ICV, has announced appeals on several fronts. Among them they are demanding that Gays who suffered from repression during the Franco era, be financially compensated. Observers contemplate that less than 100 such people could still be alive today, after Gays were jailed, tortured and had their assets seized, among other measures.
Note: Read more on Typically Spanish
(Germany) - Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit's recent memoir has ignited discussion about his future political ambitions. The book has moved many to take a closer look at a politician known as much for his partying as his policies. In 2001, during the campaign, he outed himself publicly in a speech with the words: "I'm gay, and that's OK."Suddenly, Berlin had a mayor who seemed perfectly in synch with the city itself—open, risk-taking and just a step outside of the mainstream. There wasn't much industry to be found in the capital and unemployment was higher than almost anywhere else in Germany, but it certainly knew how to party. Manufacturing sites were rare, but one couldn't throw a rock without hitting a club or bar.
Note: Read more on Deutsche Welle
(UK) - Digital station Gaydar Radio is to launch a podcast production unit and ramp up its live programming as it prepares to become a content provider for Channel 4's new national digital radio multiplex. Gaydar Radio has signed a deal with Channel 4 to be a podcast provider for the new multiplex, which is due to launch at the end of 2008. The podcast unit, which will be overseen by Gaydar Radio programme consultant Jamie Crick, will create gay- and lesbian-orientated content, including interviews with celebrities and lifestyle pieces. The first podcasts will be available from later next month as part of the launch of Gaydar's social networking site GaydarNation.com.
Note: Read more on Gurdian
(USA) - Looking back, Jeffrey Montgomery says he used to be a "mind your own business" kind of Gay guy. But that was before his boyfriend, Michael, was fatally shot outside a Gay bar in Detroit. The murder was horrifying. But what fundamentally changed Montgomery's way of thinking was the attitude of the cops. The police just didn't care. They had no intention of investigating what, to them, was just another Gay homicide, he says. Shocked and appalled, Montgomery began transforming himself into a "mind our own business" kind of Gay guy.
Note: Read more on Detroit News
(South Africa) - Francisco Chimoio, head of the Catholic church in Mozambique, made headlines last week with his claim that European-made condoms are deliberately laced with the HIV virus. This sabotage, he says, was intended to wipe out "the African people". But these aren't just whacky comments that can be filed under "strange things that religious extremists say". Worryingly, some HIV conspiracy theorists are key political figures. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, South Africa's health minister, earned herself the moniker "Dr Beetroot" because of her promotion of garlic and beetroot as Aids remedies - she believes that anti-HIV drugs are toxic. Clearly she is following the party line, because President Thabo Mbeki has famously denied that the HIV virus is the sole cause of Aids.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(South Africa) - Gays and Lesbians in Soweto have had enough of the homophobia in the huge township. On Saturday, they took to the streets in a march aimed at stressing the need for more protection for homosexuals in the township. Several of the 150 participants - mainly women - who joined the third annual Soweto Pride March wore T-shirts with the words "Pissed off woman" and held up placards with slogans such as "Lesbian rights are human rights" and "Dying for justice". The "Dying for justice" slogan was a direct reference to the brutal murder of two Lesbians in July, The two women - Sizakele Sigasa ,34, and Salome Masooa ,23, - were raped, tortured and killed in Meadowlands, Soweto.
Note: Read more on Pretoria News
(Australia) - Frustrated by a lack of official action on homophobic violence, the gay and lesbian community will organise its own security patrols at popular events and party venues. The GenQ Street Angels want volunteers with policing, military, security or medical experience to join. They could be patrolling in Sydney's Oxford Street precinct and the King Street strip in Newtown as early as the first weekend in November. Organiser and GenerationQ.net founder Andrew Stopps said he hoped the patrols would initially focus on Friday and Saturday nights.
Note: Read more on smh.com.au
(UK) - Plans to create an "official" Gay quarter in Liverpool could cost £500,000. City councillors are currently considering banning traffic from part of Stanley Street, which is the focus of the city centre’s scene. Steve Radford, co-chairman of Liverpool’s Gay Business Association, said £500,000 investment could attract huge numbers of customers to the Stanley Street area. He said: "Whether we like it or not, Manchester did the same more than 20 years ago. It is absurd that Liverpool is now quibbling over whether to spend a penny to make a pound."
Note: Read more on Liverpool Echo
(USA) - They’re coming soon, and they’re bringing the idea of a hopeful future for gay men and lesbians with them. Local organizers expect about 500 people to beam into Gaylaxicon 2007 next weekend in Atlanta, the latest event in the 20-year history of the traveling science fiction/fantasy/horror convention for gay fans. "Gay folks have always read science fiction because there's sort of a misfit mentality to a lot of it that Gay folks find very comfortable and familiar," says Jim Grimsley, a literature professor at Emory University, and the author of a series of science fiction novels inhabited by Gay and Lesbian protagonists.
Note: Read more on Southernvoice
(South Africa) - Cary Alan Johnson, the Africa specialist for the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), is respected globally for the dedication and effectiveness of his work on behalf of LGBT people on that continent. On October 15, Johnson is moving to South Africa to direct an expanded Africa team from IGLHRC's office in Johannesburg. Where in the continent has there been the most spectacular progress since Johnson has been on the Africa desk at IGLHRC? "I would have to say Kenya," he responded. "As I mentioned, it was the first African country that I visited, back in 1981, so it's the place where I can most clearly see the progress."
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Kenya) - These deviants have no business pretending that they do not know about the existence of a miraculous intelligence responsible for life and orderliness on earth and in the universe. "Order" or the "purpose" of creation have the same meaning. If these deviants can reproduce but merely defy this responsibility just to be different, then their place, in my view, is not Kenya, or even Africa. They belong where godlessness has been legalised to the extent that gays and lesbians are allowed to convert themselves into husbands and wives of the same sex.
Note: The author is a commissioner with the Electoral Commission of Kenya. Read more of his ranting on AllAfrica
(USA) - A new draft of the bill, reflecting the elimination of language regarding protections based on gender identity, was introduced on Friday, and a separate bill protecting Transgender workers is also now in the mix, though on a longer timetable. Even before the final decision to eliminate the language was announced, a number of prominent LGBT organizations stepped up to denounce the idea. Significantly, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, a Lesbian who represents Madison, Wisconsin, and is the only other out LGBT member of Congress, did not put her name on the new bill.
Note: Read more on Gay City News
(Mozambique) - The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately. Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected "in order to finish quickly the African people". The Catholic Church formally opposes any use of condoms, advising fidelity within marriage or sexual abstinence.
Note: Read more on BBC
(Bahamas) - This week, Gay activists in the Bahamas meet with powerful social conservative groups to resolve the latest wedge issue between Gays and the Church: The proposed inclusion of the Gay-themed LOGO network to the Cable Bahamas channel lineup. Bishop John Humes of the Bahamas Christian Council claims the island's cable provider is being forced to participate in the vast, so-called "Gay-agenda." Erin Greene, the president of the LGBT activist group Rainbow Alliance, says the Council's logic is "ridiculous" and if churches genuinely believed a Gay-themed channel "promoted homosexuality in the country, then we need to cut off every network channel that runs a show about cops and robbers." Cable Bahamas offers at least ten adult channels and their inclusion was never opposed by the Christian Council.
Note: RODONLINE
(Australia) - Ken Holmes is one gay voter in the Sydney seat of Wentworth who knows exactly where his political sympathies lie. "I'm going to live in Spain if John Howard gets in," says the owner of the Aussie Boys swimwear and underwear shop on Oxford Street, in inner-Sydney Darlinghurst. A random sampling of political opinion in Australia's premier gay district yesterday suggested the sitting MP, federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has his work cut out to capture a "pink" vote that ballooned in Wentworth when Darlinghurst and Kings Cross were incorporated in the seat as part of a redistribution last year.
Note: Read more on The Australian
(USA) - For Gay newspaper publishers, the good old days are now. "I think it's a great time to be in Gay publishing. It's so much easier than it was even 10 years ago to pitch to mainstream businesses," says publisher Tracy Baim. "In this market, people did have a dollar and a dream," says Todd Evans, president and CEO of Rivendell Media Inc. "You had a lot of people who were more about the cause than the business, and unfortunately you have to pay attention to business, too." The recent performance of the Gay papers is all the more remarkable because not so long ago, it appeared the stars were aligning against them.
Note: Read more on Editor and Publisher
(USA) - New Jersey's civil unions law has failed to provide all the benefits of marriage to at least one in five same-sex couples, a gay rights group told a panel Wednesday that will report its findings to the governor and state Legislature. More than 300 of the 1,514 same-sex couples who have joined in civil unions have complained to Garden State Equality, the state's leading gay rights group, about employers denying them benefits under the law, said David M. Smith, the group's deputy director. ``Calling our relationship and our legal status a civil union, I believe, gives my company an easy out,'' said one of the affected men. ``Calling it what it is - a marriage - makes denial of those benefits obvious for what it is: discrimination.''
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - House Democratic leaders are strongly considering dropping anti-discrimination protections for Transgenders from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, after an internal Democratic head count on Wednesday found that the bill would likely be defeated if it included the Trans provision, multiple sources familiar with the bill said. The current version of the bill calls for banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, terms that are defined in the measure to include Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders. As of late Wednesday, it appeared likely that the Trans provision would be removed, setting up a potentially divisive fight within Gay activist circles over whether or not to support an ENDA bill that excludes Trans people.
Note: Read more on Washington Blade
(USA) - Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday when he said he believes "homosexual activity is immoral and should not be condoned by the military." Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general's remarks, prompting Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptly adjourn the hearing and seal off the doors.
Note: Read more on SF Gate
(Russia) - The six gay activists who were arrested when they demonstrated against the ban in Russia on gays donating blood have been fined by a Moscow court. They were charged under Article 20.2 of the Code on Administrative Offences for staging an unauthorised public event outside Ministry of Health and Social Development in Moscow on September 14. Alexey Davydov, co-ordinator of the LGBT Right movement and organiser of the demonstration, was fined 1,000 roubles (about £20 or $40) by the Tverskoi district court judge Nalalya Dyatlova. The other five were each fined 500 roubles. The six activists have vowed, if necessary, to take the matter to the European Court.
Note: Read more on GayRussia.Ru, see picture gallery
Now Hollywood has also gone playgay. This week sees the UK release of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry in which two New York firefighters (played by Adam Sandler and Kevin James) pretend to be Gay lovers in a domestic partnership for financial reasons (sound familiar?). So why the current crush of straights on playing Gay? Probably the main reason for the popularity of playgay is that it's reassuringly straight. In a world that is getting gayer by the day the only way to be sure of straightness is by having straight men pretend to be Gay. Because, in the end, despite being made to wear designer
underwear, use moisturiser and treat women with some respect they are still straight and still untouched. Gayness turns out to be sexless.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(Canada) - Gay and Lesbian rights activists are calling for the deportation of two controversial reggae artists scheduled to perform in Toronto in the coming days. Jamaican singer Elephant Man, whose real name is O'Neil Bryan, arrived in Canada last week for a series of dates across the country and is scheduled to perform at Toronto club Kool Haus on Friday. Fellow Jamaican performer Sizzla, whose real name is Miguel Collins, is scheduled to perform at the same club on Oct. 5. Both have been criticized by Gay rights groups in several countries for preaching violence against Gay people in their music. A coalition entitled the Stop the Murder Music campaign has called on Immigration Minister Diane Finley to deport the two performers.
Note: Read more on CBC
(USA) - The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) in the UK has expressed "disappointment" at the compromise on the Anglican gay row agreed by the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church in the United States - saying it will not halt division or stop the ministry of LGBT people. After nearly a full day of deliberations, the Episcopal House of Bishops agreed overwhelmingly by voice vote to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." They also pledged not to authorize public rites for same-gender blessings "until a broader consensus emerges in the Communion, or until General Convention takes further action."
Note: Read more on Ekklesia
(Gibraltar) - Peter Tatchell, human rights spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales, and lesbian and gay activist with Outrage!, arrives on the Rock today on a fact-finding tour, starting Thursday 27 September 2007, as a guest of Equality Rights Group GGR. Having written and campaigned in support of Gibraltar human rights activists for many years, Tatchell says he is keen to get first-hand knowledge and meet local campaigners. “This visit will be a listening and learning exercise,” Mr. Tatchell said.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - An Englewood couple was arrested Monday when they challenged the state ban on same-sex marriage in Denver. Sheila Schroeder, 43, and Kate Burns, 44, were led away in handcuffs by police when they refused to leave the Denver clerk and recorder's office after being refused a marriage certificate. "We're sorry for the disturbance, but we won't leave until we're provided with the same rights as everyone else," Burns told clerk and recorder Stephanie O'Malley. Denver Police Lt. James Henning said Burns and Schroeder would be issued a summons for trespassing and released. Voters in 2006 amended the Colorado Constitution to permit marriage only between heterosexual. A proposal to recognize "domestic partnerships" between same sex couples was rejected in the same election.
Note: Read more on Rocky Mountains
(Singapore) - Heterosexuals should set the social tone in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in remarks published on Sunday defending why his government will not decriminalize Gay sex. "My view is that gayness is something which is mostly inborn. Some people are like that, some people are not. How they live their own lives is really for them to decide," Lee said in remarks carried by the Sunday Times. But he added: "I think the tone of the society should really be set by the heterosexuals, and that's the way many Singaporeans feel." Gay rights activists have slammed the law, which dates back to British colonial days, and argued it should be repealed.
Note: Read more on Taipei Times
(USA) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday challenged a university audience to look into "who was truly involved" in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, defended his right to question established Holocaust history and denied there were Gay Iranians. When pressed about the harsh treatment of women, homosexuals and academics who challenge Iran's government, Ahmadinejad painted a rosy picture, saying, "Women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedom." He elicited laughter and boos from the audience at Columbia University when he said, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country." Ahmadinejad is in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He spoke at the invitation of Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, who in his introduction excoriated the leader by saying he "exhibits all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator."
Note: Read more on CNN
(USA) - After more than a week of calling and emailing Mr. Charles Ssentongo, second in command at the Ugandan embassy in Washington, I finally got him on the phone this morning for a ten-minute conversation. I asked what his government is doing to protect the human rights and safety of gays and he assured me Uganda doesn't discriminate in treating all citizens equally.
Note: Read more on Petrelis Files
(EU) - Europride 2010 has been awarded to Warsaw. The bold – and unanimous – decision was taken at the European Pride Organisers Association at their weekend meeting in Stockholm. Two year ago, Warsaw Gay Pride, known locally as The Equality Parade, was banned by city authorities, led by the homophobic Mayor Lech Kaczynski who later that year became President of Poland. But organisers ignored the ban and around 2,500 marched in the parade and were greeted by some 300 counter demonstrators from Polish far right groups who threw eggs, stones and bottles at the gays in the parade.
Note: UK Gay News
(Argentine) - More than 500 footballers from 28 countries are getting ready to kick off at the Gay World Cup in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. The holders, London's Stonewall FC, are among the favourites, with the US and Argentina providing the closest rivals. It is the first time the cup has been held in Latin America. The annual event, in its 17th year, is about serious football and has a serious message, but players also seem keen to enjoy the city's nightlife. Twenty-eight teams representing cities from the US, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Germany, England, Argentina, Chile and Mexico, among others, are taking part in a week of games.
Note: Read more on BBC
(UK) - The Iraqi refugee crisis is reaching breaking point, says a new Amnesty International report following a research mission to Syria and Jordan which host the bulk of Iraq’s refugees. Help from the international community has been “seriously inadequate,” concludes the report, focusing particularly on countries like the UK which participated in the invasion of Iraq and hence “carry particular responsibilities to Iraqis”. As often reported in the last three years by UK Gay News, the plight of Gay Iraqis is of particular concern – an aspect often forgotten.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - Ivan Massow came to prominence in the Nineties when he set up his own insurance firm which specialised in offering affordable cover to gay men. The company was hugely successful and turned Ivan into a millionaire who mingled with royals, politicians and showbusiness stars. But his career is in ruins after a disastrous business decision.
Note: Read more on Daily Mail
(Uganda) - At first I thought my ears had a problem, but when she repeated the utterance, I wondered what our radio stations were up to allowing such utterances live on air. For the really slow, Victor Mukasa is currently the loudest Gay rights activist in Uganda, her utterances on Capital FM culminated into Gaetano Kaggwa being suspended by the media council for allowing fowl language on air-and NOT for hosting a Gay activist. (By the way Pastor Ssempa had made similar utterances the previous week on WBS).
Note: Read more on The Monitor
(UK) - Sir Elton John urged Gordon Brown to take the lead in ensuring developing nations honoured their pledges to triple funding for the battle against Aids. In a statement through the Elton John Aids Foundation, the star said the Prime Minister's "leadership and vision" was "urgently needed, right now". He talked of the lives saved in Africa thanks to his foundation, set up 14 years ago, and the thousands who died for lack of access to what are affordable antiretroviral drugs. In June the G8 countries promised to make access to HIV/Aids treatment universal by 2010, through tripling the size of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, tuberculosis and Malaria to 6-8 billion dollars (£3-4bn). But Sir Elton claimed that at the present rate the world was barely on track to meet half that target.
(Moldova) - The Gay community in Moldova is encouraged that the Prime Minister, Vasile Tarlev, has welcomed proposals of the Antidiscrimination Coalition to promote an anti-discrimination legislative framework for the country. Earlier this week, he met representative of the Coalition and told them that he supports the suggestions. During the meeting, the Coalition mentioned the need for a legislative framework to prevent and combat discrimination in Moldova – and pledged support for the government as it worked towards the European Union-Moldova Action Plan.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(Uganda) - The daily newspaper Red Pepper in the Ugandan capital of Kampala has published another installment of its hate-filled expose of alleged same-sexers, this time describing in detail 14 supposed Lesbians and eight more Gay men. This latest Red Pepper outing series has come in response to the first-ever press conference on August 17 by Uganda's LGBT coalition, SMUG, or Sexual Minorities Uganda, to launch its "Let Us Live In Peace" campaign for tolerance of Gay people. The climate of terror in Uganda is so great that several of the SMUG activists wore masks at the press conference to protect their identities.
Note: Read more on GayCityNews
(Costa Rica) - Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly is poised to outlaw adoption either by same-sex couples or by mixed-gender couples in which one partner may be Gay or Bisexual. The bill, which was approved unanimously by the Childhood and Adolescence Commission of the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly, will now proceed to the Assembly’s main floor for debate, according to a story posted yesterday by ticotimes.net. The measure seeks to add language to the existing Family Code’s article 107. A new paragraph to the article would stipulate that "adoptions, made by title to an individual or pair, in which one or both people have shown a sexual orientation toward people of the same sex" would be prohibited.
Note: Read more on Edge Boston
(UK) - Whatever you think of Gordon Brown and New Labour, it was in many ways a bold, brave move for the prime minister to declare that he will unilaterally boycott December's EU - African Union summit in Lisbon if President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is allowed to attend. At last, some moral leadership from a government that has been rather short on principles in recent years. Is this the first sign of a welcome revival of the long discarded ethical dimension to Labour's foreign policy? We live in hope, but my advice is: don't hold your breath. But unless Brown is planning a one-leader boycott, which seems unlikely, he has to get other EU and AU leaders to join him in making the same commitment: if Mugabe goes, we don't go.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(UK) - The Green Party has again called for the rapid introduction of specific legislation for homophobic and transphobic hate crime following the murder two weeks ago of Tony Hoare. The 49-years old man was found unconscious in Charlton Park, South East London on September 11 and died in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, that evening. Mr. Hoare, who headed the Stormbreak consultancy which specialises in LGBT research, had recently published a report Homophobic Crime in London which claimed there was wide underreporting of homophobic crime in London.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - A 56-year-old New Bedford man is claiming that Provincetown police were negligent when they tended to him after he was assaulted Sept. 10. Richard Hall, who was vacationing in Provincetown with his partner, was attacked by unknown assailants in the early morning hours of Sept. 10. He said as a result of the physical trauma to his head during the assault he has no recollection of the aftermath of the attack, during which Provincetown police officers and a rescue squad were called to the scene by two men who witnessed him emerging from the beach access next to Bubala’s restaurant on Commercial Street. Hall, who suffered abrasions to his face and welts on the back of his head, said that he should have been taken to the hospital immediately for medical treatment.
Note: Read more on Bay Windows
(New Zealand) - International Lesbian Day will be marked in New Zealand this year with a party in central Wellington, and several activities and shows at Paekakariki Memorial Hall. The weekend begins with a party on Friday 5th October at Blondini's Café and Jazz Bar at The Embassy Theatre in Wellington's Kent Terrace, with drinks from 5.30pm onwards and bar food provided. Organiser Shar Miles says Paekakariki Memorial Hall, 40km north of Wellington off the beachfront off State Highway One, will be the venue for various afternoon and evening events on Saturday 6th October.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
(Hungary) - Hungary's liberal junior coalition party the Alliance of Free Democrats on Thursday said it had submitted an amendment to the law on family rights that would legalize same sex marriage. "We trust that the governing coalition ... will uniformly support this proposal," Peter Gusztos, the deputy leader of the Liberals' parliamentary caucus, said. The party wishes to change the text of the law book to read that marriage is allowed between "two adult persons" instead of an "adult man and woman." Gusztos said it was a paradoxical situation that all parties had signed an anti-discrimination law in the previous parliamentary cycle while discrimination still existed in many areas.
Note: Read more on www.eux.tv
In this era of civil partnerships and openly Gay celebrities, it is easy to forget there was a time when actors remained in the closet for fear of ruining their careers. Speaking in New York, where he is about to star as King Lear, Sir Ian McKellen offered a vivid reminder of those dark days. In a question-and-answer session in the auditorium of TheTimesCenter, the new home of The New York Times, the actor, whose roles have ranged from Shakespearean characters to Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Magneto in The X-Men, told the audience that he had tried to persuade his fellow thespians Sir Alec Guinness and Sir John Gielgud to come out as Gay, but both declined.
Note: Read more on Independent
(Uganda) - Ugandan moralist and pastor, Martin Ssempa, argued while being hosted on KFM’s Hard Talk that it is untrue that Gays and Lesbians face discrimination when seeking HIV/Aids treatment, care and counselling at public and private health clinics. The vulnerability of Gay women and men is not due to any biological predisposition, but is the result of an interlocking set of human rights violations and social inequalities that heighten HIV risk. When HIV positive Gay people go to HIV health care units they are given counselling on the basis that their partners are of the opposite sex. Even when they disclose their sexual orientation, very few doctors either understand Gay or Lesbian sex or are interested in handling patients who practise ‘illegal sex’.
Note: Read more on Monitor
(China) - Gay college students in Beijing are being offered 50 yuan ($6.50) cash bonuses and free medical treatments in exchange for undergoing voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV. So far, more than 100 homosexual university students have registered for the VCT. The students are enrolled at several Beijing universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China, project coordinator Xiao Dong told China Daily. The project was officially launched on Tuesday at a private hospital specialized in treating sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The goal is to raise awareness of such diseases among homosexual students and to obtain more firsthand information about on-campus gay culture.
Note: Read more on China Daily
(USA) - San Diego's City Council agreed Tuesday to signal its support for recognition of marriages of Gay people, only to have Mayor Jerry Sanders pledge to veto the action. Sanders' spokesman, Fred Sainz, said the mayor prefers civil unions, which offer some, but not all of the legal protections found in marriages. Sainz also noted that 62 percent of city voters backed Proposition 22, the statewide measure that bars California from acknowledging same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Note: Read more on Sign On San Diego
(USA) - In increasingly bizarre moves, African archbishops in Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya have been busily appointing American conservatives mainly men who have previously failed to secure election to American dioceses to African bishoprics in recent weeks ostensibly to minister to disaffected Africans and Americans back in US churches. There are now nearly as many American bishops belonging to the Rwandan church as Rwandans. The Anglican communion is nominally headed by Rowan Williams, a theologian who has previously spoken in favour of a more receptive attitude towards Gays. He is distrusted by some conservatives and despised by liberals who feel he has betrayed them.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(USA) - How do Gay employees of the New York Post feel about working at an institution that portrays homosexuals as a bunch of whiny, effeminate sodomites? Is the newsroom as uncomfortable a place for them as the paper's frequent Gay-baiting might suggest? I figured the best way to answer these questions would be to ask some of the Post's prominent Gay writers and editors. Unfortunately, I hit a snag: There aren't any.
Note: Read more on www.portfolio.com
(Singapore) - Oral and anal sex in private between consenting heterosexual adults would be legalised under a Bill introduced in Singapore's parliament. Under the city-state's first major penal code amendments in 22 years, a section criminalising “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” would be repealed. But while the Bill takes a softer line on heterosexual sex, a ban on acts of “gross indecency” between males will remain. Gay rights activists have said authorities have not laid charges under the section in recent years, even though it remains in force.
Note: Read more on News.com
(Brazil) - Gay activists in Brazil were saddened today by the murder of a 19-year-old who was sexually assaulted and murdered only hours after winning the "Miss Gay Arapiraca" contest in the northeastern state of Alagoas. The violence was apparently the result of homophobic violence. Osvan Inácio Dos Santos was killed in the nearby town of Batingas, by strangers who approached the victim in the street near the bar where the competition took place, police said. The teenager had participated in the "Miss Gay Arapiraca pageant and disappeared shortly after winning the competition. Dos Santos' body was found yesterday morning, naked and, according to a legal expert, with indications of sexual assault and the breaking of his skull.
Note: Read more on Gay News Watch
(USA) - A group of Lesbian women were asked to leave a bar in New York and were then assaulted by heterosexual mob. The dykes had "dared" to dance in a Long Island straight bar and were subsequently asked to leave by the bar's manager for their inappropriate behavior because it upsetting the bar's straight customers. About 10 to 12 young men and women, including several under-aged teens, followed the lesbians out of the bar and began screaming anti-gay epithets, spitting on the lesbians and then beating them.
Note: Read more on QueerSighted
(USA) - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that he won't reconsider his decision to veto a bill legalizing Gay marriage and will keep vetoing the measure as long as lawmakers send it to him. The Republican governor said he won't change his position unless voters overturn an anti-Gay marriage initiative that Californians adopted in 2000. Geoff Kors, executive director of the gay rights organization Equality California, said Proposition 22 only bars California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed outside California. The equal marriage bill, by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would amend a different section of law that covers marriages performed in California.
Note: Read more on Mercury News
(Taiwan) - Gay rights activists staged a demonstration outside the Nicaraguan embassy in Taipei yesterday as part of an international campaign against the country's sodomy law. "Love is not a crime!" activists from six non-governmental organizations shouted in Mandarin, English and Spanish outside the embassy. The international campaign was initiated by Amnesty International Mexico and also took place in 10 other countries. "Nicaragua is the only Latin American country with a law that prohibits sex between people of the same sex," said Emily Wu (吳佳珊), an Amnesty International Taiwan member. "That is not only a violation of the Nicaraguan Constitution, but also of international human rights."
Note: Read more on Taipei Times
(Iraq) - Iraqi LGBT is facing a cash crisis in their efforts to assist lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in Iraq. For over a year, Friends of Iraqi LGBT has been trying to help by funding safe houses in Iraq for those who have come to the attention of the death squads and who have consequently had to flee their homes. Since the US-led invasion of Iraq, gay people in Iraq have suffered particularly intense persecution. Violence against all the gay community has intensified sharply since late 2005, when Iraq’s leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, issued a fatwa (religious decree) which declared that gays and lesbians should be “killed in the worst, most severe way”.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(USA) - Guadalupe Benitez, and her partner are suing two San Diego doctors who refused to artificially inseminate her based on religious grounds. In 2001, Doctors Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton denied service to the woman, citing religious objections, although Benitez had been a patient at their fertility clinic for 11 months and was taking fertility drugs prescribed by Dr. Brody. The clinic was the only one covered by her insurance plan. Benitez argued that they violated California's anti-discrimination laws that protect gays and lesbians. "People ask me, 'Why are you doing this? You have your kids,'" she says. "I want to make a difference. These doctors are not God. They cannot manipulate who can have children and who cannot."
Note: Read more on Proud Parenting
(USA) - Suicides among young people ages 10 to 24 increased 8 percent from 2003 to 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported. That jump represented the largest increase in 15 years. In the Gay community, youth suicide continues to be a persistent problem, experts say. Among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender youth, as many as 40 percent are likely to attempt suicide, said Cassie Blume, youth programs coordinator for the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose. The US-wide data is derived from several studies, Blume said. "They are three times more likely to attempt suicide" than straight young people, Blume said. "Our work can be just about keeping them alive."
Note: Read more on Inside Bay Area
(Canada) - Canada's immigration system has once again rejected Alvaro Orozco. The Nicaraguan-born refugee claimant, originally denied status last October because an Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) member didn?t believe that he was gay, was issued a negative decision on Sep 14 in connection with his second pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA). A deportation date has been set for Thu, Oct 4. Orozco, 22, came to Canada in 2005 by way of the US, which means that he would be deported back to the US. "If they send me to the US I would go to a detention centre," says Orozco. "I was in the US for five years and I was illegal so if I go back I maybe can face jail there."
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
(Russia) - Seven protesters have been detained in Moscow for holding a demonstration against a law which prohibits Gay men from giving blood. The leader of Moscow's Gay Pride movement, Nikolai Alexeyev, believes that the law is discriminatory. The same law also prevents prostitutes and drug addicts from giving blood. Mr Alexeyev says its unfair to compare gay men to drug users and sex workers, pointing out that there is no law preventing gay women from giving blood. Ten protesters picketed outside the Russian Health Ministry. Seven were arrested and held in a nearby police department.
Note: Read more on Russia Today
(USA) - Kramer had set a tone for his appearance at the convention, and he continued with it two days later when he attracted a capacity crowd to an auditorium in the hotel. The tone was one of dismay with the Gay rights movement today. The activist — who once roared but now almost whispers into the microphone — accused LGBT people of being “passive” and “apathetic” today. Freedom cannot be won without a fight, he warned. “If you want the freedom, [then] you have to find a way,” Kramer said. “Just don’t be so passive. We are capable of so much more.” He lashed out at society in general and the education system for failing to teach the history of Gay and Lesbian people to students. Kramer called on people to get angry and resume “in their face” activism like he and others employed in the 1980s when Gay men were dying daily from AIDS.
Note: Read more on Dallas Voice
(Bulgaria) - Many of the learning books used in Bulgaria's high schools instil intolerance towards homosexuality into students, representatives of the Bulgarian gay organization Gemini said Friday. Their statement is based on a thorough analysis of the textbooks used in schools. The organization is now preparing a list of recommendations for the Education Ministry, suggesting that homosexual topics should appear on the pages of the philosophy and psychology textbooks. Bulgarian students read with huge interest about the love relationships of the poet Peyo Yavorov with his lover Mina and his wife Laura, but for some reason the books keep silent on the homosexual affairs of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Hans Christian Andersen and Federico Garcia Lorca, the CEO of Gemini Aksinia Gencheva said.
Note: Read more on www.novinite.com
(USA) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice co-owned a home and shared a line of credit with another woman, according to Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler, who reveals the information in his new book. Rice faced attacks from liberals in the Gay community over the State Department's silence to rebuke Iran for the hanging of Gay teenagers. The Gay rights lobby Human Rights Campaign called on Rice in 2005 to condemn Iran's human rights abuses after the hanging of two Gay teenagers, and to express indignation over "other horrific human rights abuses against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people across the globe." Rice did not. The Secretary has remained silent on whether Gays should be allowed to serve in the military and has not commented on the permanent partners immigration act.
Note: Read more PageOneQ
(Poland) - The investigation into 15 fake bombs planted in the center of Warsaw two years ago by someone claiming to be from a 'Gay Power' organization will be discontinued, since a police search for the perpetrator has proved fruitless. The identity of the man who caused panic and commotion in the Polish capital remains unknown. “If there is no breakthrough in the investigation, the case will be discontinued”, informed the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw. The man who paralyzed Warsaw sent out an e-mail claiming the ‘bombs’ were planted by an organization called “GayPower”, which, as it turned out later, never existed. Some 15 mock bombs were planted in October 2005, two days before the run-off to the presidential election.
Note: Read more on The News
(Nepal) - Two Nepalese Gay women, Kalpana Pariyar, a fresh-faced 21-year-old from Karabari village, and Sabi Bishwokorma, 32, from the same region, have married despite the prejudice of the society. Disowned by their families, the defiant women came to Kathmandu this week looking for support from Blue Diamond Society (BDS), Nepal's only gay rights organisation that last year organised the kingdom's first public Gay marriage. On Wednesday, hundreds of Gays, Lesbians and Transgenders marched through the capital, chanting slogans. The rally was the culmination of a two-day seminar on creating a more inclusive and tolerant society that ended with a Kathmandu Declaration.
Note: Read more on New Post India
(Uganda) - The High Court has agreed to hear the case of two women who claim they were tortured by the Police and the LCI chairman of Kireka. Justice Stella Arach-Amoko overruled the Attorney General's objection to the hearing of the case, who had asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the applicants used the wrong procedure. In the case, Yvonne Oyoo, a Kenyan student of Makerere University, and Victor Juliet Mukasa, a Ugandan human rights activist, alleged that the Kireka LC1 chief and the local Police tortured, molested and treated them in a degrading manner after arresting them because they were Lesbians.
Note: Read more on New Vision
(Canada) - Gay refugee Leonardo Zuniga, who fled to Toronto from Mexico three years ago, may be put on a plane in the next weeks and returned to the country he fears. In June of last year, the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) denied Zuniga refugee status because it deemed he wasn't a person in need of protection and "would not face a danger of torture, nor would he face a serious possibility of risk to life, cruel and unusual treatments or punishments." "I'm going to be living in fear or hiding in the closet all my life," says Zuniga. "Mexico has a beautiful image as a progressive country for LGBT people, but it's just an image."
Note: Read more on Now Toronto
(USA) - Closeted Gay congressional staffers can rest easier. Their worst living nightmare, vigilante outer and activist blogger Michael Rogers, has called a truce of sorts: he says he'll stop targeting Capitol Hill aides and will instead limit his campaign solely to publicly elected officials and candidates. "Enough readers expressed concerns that I have decided to now focus on elected officials, those running for office and to high level political appointees in the administration," Rogers tells the Sleuth. Rogers had been either naming or threatening to out scores of Gay staffers who he deemed to be hypocritical because they either pushed anti-Gay rights agendas or worked for members of Congress with anti-Gay rights voting records.
Note: Read more on Washington Post
(USA) - Married Gay partners of state and local government workers across New York now will be eligible for benefits from the state and local government pension system. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Wednesday that a state court judge’s ruling this week tossing out a lawsuit by a conservative group clears the way for him to expand the pension benefits to same-sex marriages performed in any jurisdiction that has legalized the unions. “This is a great day for New Yorkers who believe in fairness and equality,” DiNapoli said.
Note: Read more on Buffalo News
(Lithuania) - A new law currently before the Lithuanian parliament could be amended to ban the "promotion" of Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual relationships to children. The Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information Bill will be debated by MPs later this autumn and its supporters argue that the "propagation" amendment does not contradict anti-discrimination laws. In February a poll of members of the Lithuanian parliament revealed that over half of them agree that "homosexuality is a perversion." The survey reflected a deeply ingrained homophobia in Lithuanian society. A poll last December found that only 17% of Lithuanians support equal marriage legislation for Gay couples.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Uganda) - When a tabloid newspaper in Uganda published a hate-filled exposé last Sunday listing 40 men it accused of being Gay, it was only the latest chapter in a campaign of terror that was unleashed last August. The newspaper’s list includes doctors, businessmen, clerics, broadcasters, lawyers, bankers, actors, musicians, and non-profit group staffers. Many Gay activists went into hiding when the country's Deputy Attorney General last month called for mass arrests of homosexuals -- but the country's LGBT coalition, SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) is fighting back.
Note: Read more on DIRELAND
(Uganda) - Dear Mr. Long, Your August 23 letter to President Museveni and press release complaining about Uganda's laws and policies regarding homosexuals contains flawed logic, numerous errors and misrepresentations. In addition, it shows an unacceptable lack of respect for Uganda's culture and values. First you talked about our church, Makerere Community Church, as a recipient of PEPFAR HIV/Aids funding. The fact is that Makerere Community Church has never received funding. And even if we did in the future, getting donor funding in no way obliges us to change our laws and values as a people. We are a proud African race whose faith, values and cultures have been handed down for many generations.
Note: Read more on New Vision
(Uganda) - When a mother looks into her baby's innocent eyes, she envisions a responsible adult- the next David Beckham or perhaps Priscilla Winans. Never does the possibility of a gay relationship cross her mind. If anything she dreams of the day when she will have grandchildren. Years later if the same child announces that she/he is leading a gay lifestyle, any parent's heart would be broken. The truth is, the gay lifestyle has crept into our society and the latest development is the demand by the gay community to be legally recognised. The genesis of this social vice is elusive but is variously talked about in the Bible. Remember the story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible? Still the cause wasn't mentioned.
Note: Read more on The Monitor
(Nepal) - CPN (United-Marxist) could choose their candidates for Constituent Assembly (CA) poll from among sexual minorities. Sunil Maharjan, central committee member of the party said his party has been discussing the issues of Gays and Transgenders during party meetings being held to finalize the party manifesto for constituent assembly poll. "Though we have not yet reached formal conclusion, there has been a level of understanding that the party will nominate sexual minorities as candidates for the poll if such willing people come forward," he said. He was speaking at a program entitled, "Toward more inclusive and just society" organized by Blue Diamond Society (BDS).
Note: Read more on Kantipur Online
Peter Tatchell can hardly be questioned when he points out how remarkable it is that Fashanu is the only leading footballer to announce his homosexuality. Tatchell admits that Fashanu was a troubled individual, and that he may well have made problems for himself as his days began to unravel. According to Tatchell, Fashanu reckoned that at the top level of English football there were probably a dozen or so gay or bisexual players, none of whom would dream of leaving the closet. His agony was deepened when he turned to born-again Christianity, only to find that he had replaced the sneering and the innuendos of football with threats of hell-fire damnation.
Note: Read more on Independent
I had ventured to Orlando, Florida last summer to attend the National Education Association's annual meeting. Crashing the conference was the so-called "Ex-Gay Educators Caucus," a sham organization run primarily by anti-gay lobbyists, who are attempting to get the viewpoints of "former homosexuals" into public schools. To counter their presence, I staged a press conference outside the huge convention center.
Note: Read more on Wayne Besen
(USA) - In the wake of protests surrounding three major dancehall reggae concerts in New York in recent weeks, promoters, performers and their labels are noting a detrimental effect on bookings and endorsements in the United States and Europe for homophobic dancehall artists. The New York shows drew the ire of Gay-rights groups that continue to protest the murder songs. "We are targeting artists, promoters, recording companies, anyone who promotes hatred," said Donald Powell of the organization Gay Men of African Descent, as he distributed fliers outside the Hammerstein.
Note: Read more on Reuters
Sir Ian McKellen has been a vocal gay-rights advocate since making his own homosexuality public in 1988. The following year he cofounded the gay-rights lobbying group Stonewall UK. Best known for his roles in "X-Men" and "The Lord of the Rings," the Oscar nominee was recently in Singapore with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in the title role of "King Lear." He talked to NEWSWEEK's Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop about his lobbying experience in the United Kingdom and in South Africa.
Note: Read more on Newsweek
(USA) - The GOP seems to find the existence of Gay people, at least Gay Republicans, an especially inconvenient truth. There is the furious swiftness of the GOP's response to Craig. Senate Republican leaders have called for an ethics committee investigation and stripped Craig of his committee assignments; presidential candidate Mitt Romney couldn't boot Craig as his Idaho chairman fast enough. Would the reaction have been nearly so fierce if homosexuality wasn't involved?
Note: Read more on Amarillo
(Zimbabwe) - The Anglican church in Zimbabwe on Saturday said it will not "stand with homosexuals" at a synod of four southern African Anglican churches in Malawi which is set to revive the issue of gay clerics. Referring to a diocesan act, a cleric at Harare diocese told AFP that three of the four dioceses in Zimbabwe had "unanimously agreed" to sever ties with dioceses in the Central African province which were in favour of homosexuals. According to the diocesan act, the Zimbabwe church will "dissociate and sever relationship with any individual, group of people, organisation, institution, diocese, province or people who indulge in or sympathise or compromises with homosexuality".
Note: Read more on News24.com
Cruising is William Friedkin's notorious thriller starring Al Pacino as a NYPD cop deranged - sexually and otherwise - by his contact with the "hardcore Gay underground." Cruising's seedy ambience and dubious sexual politics inflamed the Gay community, leading to protests throughout its filming in the summer of 1979, and continuing outside movie theaters when it opened in February of 1980. Gay folks took to Village rooftops, pointing mirrors at the shoot to interfere with the lighting, and surrounded the set blasting whistles and air horns. The most resourceful found out which apartments Friedkin would be using and set up in adjacent units to blast stereos.
Note: Read more on Village Voice
(USA) - Despite a request from the organization’s executive board, Shannon Bailey is refusing to resign as president of Texas Stonewall Democrats. The board voted 5-4 on Aug. 25 to ask for Bailey’s resignation in the wake of his recent arrest on a charge of public lewdness. But in a letter to TSD Vice President Lisa Thomas dated Sept. 2, Bailey remained defiant. Bailey has served as president of Texas Stonewall Democrats, the state’s largest gay and lesbian political group, since 2004.
Note: Read more on Dallas Voice
(USA) - A group of San Diego Gays, Lesbians and Transgender people joined some 300 Latino protesters Aug. 25 in spoiling a downtown ceremony to unveil a privately funded statue of former mayor, assemblyman, governor and U.S. senator Pete Wilson. The protesters banged on drums, shouted through bullhorns and chanted, "Tear down the statue, tear down the hate" and "Pete Wilson's gotta go: Racist, sexist, homophobe." Some local Gays have unpleasant memories of Wilson, a Republican, because as mayor of San Diego from 1971 to 1983 he refused to meet with them to discuss routine police bar raids in which patrons were arrested on "lewd conduct" charges for kissing or dancing with each other.
Note: Read more on WOCKNER
(Canada) - With 9/11-themed films dominating the Toronto International Film Festival this week, Indian filmmaker Parvez Sharma is grabbing attention with "A Jihad For Love," a documentary six years in the making about Islam and homosexuality. The filmmaker insists his documentary illuminates more of an "inner struggle" on the part of Muslim gays and lesbians for recognition of themselves and their faith, rather than the cultural wars and religious battlegrounds often depicted in contemporary media accounts. Sharma filmed gay Muslims in 12 countries and nine languages, including India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France, and always shot footage in secret to escape the attention of local authorities.
Note: Read full article on Hollywood Reporter
(USA) - William Sleaster, a sophomore at Concord High, doesn't like John McCain. The eighth visit by a presidential candidate this year was explosive, after Sleaster injected fire that some thought disrespectful. On Tuesday, Sleaster inquired about McCain's view on gay issues. When he heard no support for civil unions, much less gay marriage, he went on the attack, asking, "So you would want to take away someone's rights because you think it's wrong?" "It may have been disrespectful, but he discriminates against me and my people," Sleaster said. "If he walked in there to Tide Pride Monday morning and started dropping sexual slurs, we wouldn't shake his hand and say, 'Thanks for coming.' That's why I didn't shake his hand and say, 'Thanks for coming.' I regret nothing."
Note: Read more on Concord Monitor
(UK) - Discrimination and homophobia in the financial services industry persists despite an improvement in attitudes, a senior banker told Stratford employment tribunal on Thursday. Peter Lewis, a former head of equity trading at HSBC, also said he believed that the mindset in the investment banking sector towards equal opportunities generally "lagged [behind] those of other industries". His comments were made as the 46-year-old banker relaunched legal claims that human resources staff at HSBC "rushed to judgment" against him because he was Gay. Mr Lewis believes that alleged bias cost him his job and is pursuing a claim of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation against the bank.
Note: Read more on Financial Times
(USA) - David Kopay, a University of Washington alum who was the first athlete on an American professional team to come out as gay, has pledged $1 million to the UW's Q Center, whose mission is to create an inclusive and celebratory environment for people of all sexual orientations. "The greatest gift we can give one another is the vision and beauty of life," Kopay said. "I continually hear from people all over the world that my act of coming out especially when I did in 1975 has empowered them in their search for self and to see their vision. Hopefully my million-dollar pledge will influence others to support the University and the Q Center continue to help others to do just that."
Note: Read more on Seattle Times
(UK) - In the autumn of 1953, British gays were the victims of what they called "The Great Purge" - a massive police crackdown on homosexuals in which nearly 5,000 same-sexers were arrested in the ensuing months - on charges either of "gross indecency" (the same law under which Oscar Wilde (right) was imprisoned), solicitation, or sodomy. This represented an increase of 850 per cent over the arrest rate for homosexuality in 1938, just before World War II. The Great Purge, which took place at the height of the Cold War, was provoked by the defection of the diplomats Guy Burgess (left), a notorious homosexual, and Donald Maclean to Moscow, and in the climate of the day homosexuality was virtually equated with treason in the minds of the police.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Iraq) - I think we can now safely predict that Iraq's descent into clericalism and barbarism has doomed the great city of Baghdad to the history books. It will never again be what it was, which is why now's as good a time as any to check out the place. "I'd never been there before, so when I flew to Kurdistan in the north where a friend of mine with American Voices was giving a concert, I decided to go," says my friend and colleague, NYC-based travel writer Michael Luongo. "And with gay men being attacked across Iraq [by Shiite militias], I wanted to go there to interview people directly."
Note: Read more on Hour.ca
(Israel) - The ultra-Orthodox parties' success in preventing any attempt to legalize civil marriage shows that their ability to force through discriminatory legislation is not diminishing. Neither is their capacity to bar progressive lawmaking. The cabinet's intention to ratify the current Inheritance Law - which acknowledges only couples made of "a man and a woman" and refuses to recognize the existence of same-sex partners - is wrongful. Ratifying the law would run contrary to the recommendations of a public commission of experts headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel. It would also be ignoring previous court rulings on Gay rights. The Knesset must not assist the cabinet in realizing this intention.
Note: Read more on Haaretz
(Turkey) - Eighteen members of the "Rainbow Association," an association for transvestites, transsexuals, gays, and lesbians in Bursa were taken into custody on Saturday on charges of 'forming a gang to commit crimes, being an associate with a gang, and inciting prostitution.' The Bursa public prosecutor's office is continuing its investigation of the group. The police have been conflicting with the Bursa association for a while, said an activist who has been collaborating with the Rainbow Association in anti-war campaigns on the condition of confidentiality. He added that there have always been speculations about the kind of work the association's president Öykü Erven did, but that they have never heard of members staying in the homes rented by the association being pressured to prostitute.
Note: Read more on Turkish Daily News
(USA) - In an era of softer advocacy, Rogers is decidedly in your face. Yet, he has integrated new media with old school activism to create a stunningly effective hybrid that has brought Capitol Hill to its knees. Now that he has been vindicated (not the first time), he has gone from a pariah, in some circles, to downright prophetic. "When those private lives are in direct conflict with the public policy that these officials espouse, I think it's fair game that their private lives be brought into this," Rogers told The Washington Post. "And I have a blog to do that with. Here's the question: What community is expected to protect its own enemies? Don't beat up the gay community, and then expect us to protect your secrets and your double life. It's just not right."
Note: Read more on Wayne Besen
(UK) - The recent attempted deportation of the Iranian Lesbian refugee, Pegah Emambakhsh, is typical of the inhumanities of Britain's asylum system. Peter Tatchell interviews Dr Frank Arnold, clinical advisor to the Medical Justice Network; Puck de Raadt, an asylum worker with the Churches' Commission on Racial Justice; and 'Maria', a former asylum detainee who fled persecution in an ex-Soviet bloc state.
Note: Watch online on doughty.gdbtv.com
(UK) - A leading Tory MP, Michael Ancram, has launched a withering attack on civil unions, saying treating them in the same way as marriage "insults the intelligence of the British people." In an open attack on Conservative leader David Cameron, the MP for Devizes unveiled an alternative manifesto today calling on the party to adopt more traditional Tory policies. "Giving them that equivalence does not enhance them; instead it diminishes the value of real marriage. In doing so it damages the concept of family and eventually of community." The enexpected attack against civil partnerships reveals deep anti-Gay bias among UK conservatives, however thinly veiled.
Note: Read more on Pink News
(Mexico) - Catholic Church and its various organizations are attempting to lure Gay people into religious trap by telling they "love" the homosexuals and are ready to "assist" them. In Mexica, a homophobic catholic group "Courage" is launching programs for Gay individuals to convert them into celibacy. Heber Sosa Beltran, who leads an organization that combats sexual violence in Leon, recejts the move: "The idea behind these types of retreats is to change a person's sexual orientation through the will of force. We do not suffer because we are homosexuals, we suffer due to rejection from our loved ones, friends, family members." He stated that the practice of one's sexuality was a human right and that it was wrong for anyone to connect homosexuality to a host of social problems.
Note: Read more on Blabbeando
(Malaysia) - The option of sex change surgery was out of the question in this moderate Muslim country where Muslim transsexuals are banned from changing their gender and same sex relationships are a criminal offence. Twenty years later, sex change surgery may be routine in some countries but it's still banned by law in Malaysia -- at least for Muslims. The ruling doesn't apply to non-Muslims who make up about half of the estimated 30,000 transsexuals in Malaysia. Non-Muslims don't have the same problems, although they do sometimes have trouble registering their new gender with the state and like their Muslim counterparts, many have to work as prostitutes as there are few job opportunities for transsexuals.
Note: Read more on Reuters
(UK) - Tomorrow marks the 50-year anniversary of the publication of the Wolfenden report on homosexual offences and prostitution. It emerged at a time of great sexual ignorance. In the 1950s there were no manuals for the young, and we had to do our best with baffling encyclopaedia entries. Our elders wanted to re-establish the imagined values of Britain's lost empire. They were full of warnings about VD and how Rome fell because of its tolerance of homosexuality. So as well as the disastrous Suez campaign of 1956, there was a tripling of prosecutions for homosexual offences after 1945.
Note: Read more on Time
(USA) - A fundamentalist Christian group is regularly interrupting services of a baptist church which deems itself Gay-friendly. Initially the group - whose members wore T-shirts with the words "homosexuality is a sin" - remained on the sidewalk in front of the church, said Pastor Kathy Hurt. But on two occasions, their members attended the service, she said. On one of those occasions in late July, one of their members, who identified himself as a pastor, made remarks condemning homosexuality as anti-Christian during the "joys and concerns" part of the service.
Note: Read more on Granvillesentinel
(Russia) - A respected Russian human rights group has published shocking new data on the extent of racist violence in Russia. It also warns that Russia's skinheads have begun targeting other minorities, including Gays. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of ordinary Russians voice opinions that would be criminally racist in many European countries. But anti-racism campaigners say there are new, ominous developments. Skinheads, they say, with the tacit connivance of the authorities, have started attacking non-conforming young people and Gays. Earlier this year, neo-Nazis violently attacked an attempted Gay pride march in Moscow, while the police stood by.
Note: Read more on BBC
(Canada) - With a provincial election rapidly approaching, Trans activists are working to raise the profile of their issues with both the Gay community and Ontario's political parties. "We're going to do what we need to do to put it on the political agenda," says Susan Gapka of the Trans Health Lobby Group. The lobby group - along with such allies as Egale Canada and the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario - wants to have sex reassignment surgery (SRS) relisted under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Ontario stopped paying for SRS in 1998 under the Mike Harris Conservative government.
Note: Read more on Xtra.ca
While I agree with much of what Larry Kramer has to say, I often find his anger off-putting. He defended it, saying today, “Anger is one of the greatest emotions there is. Anger is as useful as love. Learn to use it.” I will agree that there is often much wisdom in anger. After all, the Greeks had a deity, Nemesis, who represented the quality of righteous indignation. And there is much that is righteous in Larry Kramer’s indignation. Even where I disagree with Larry Kramer, I find some common ground. For like us, he relishes in taking on the Gay establishment. He may not always be right, but he does always speak from the heart. And we Gay men would be wise to listen. Even if we don’t always take his advice.
Note: Read more on gaypatriot.net
(Kenia) - Bernard Nzimbi, head of the Anglican Church in Kenya, entrenched his anti-gay position by consecrating Anglican clerics Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch as bishops last Thursday in Kenya. Atwood and Murdoch, from the United States, oppose gay unions, which have been authorised by certain Anglican dioceses in North America. Trevor Mwamba, the Anglican bishop of Botswana, described the decisions by Nzimba and others to consecrate clergymen from the US as “highly regrettable” as it violated the “ancient principle of provincial autonomy by intervening in dioceses and provinces other than their own”. Mwamba likened such actions to “pouring fuel on a fire” and called for “space to cool down”.
Note: Read more on Mal & Guardian
(Canada) - Manitoba's first camp for Gay youth, called an "absolutely amazing success" by organizers, was launched by a group of Gay adults who remember their own camping experiences as unbearable. Camp Aurora's inaugural four-day program ended Thursday, with 29 youth between the ages of 14 and 21 taking part. "Everyone was talking about how they were already excited for next year," camp director Jonny Sopotiuk said. The camp's goal was to provide some acceptance, support and camaraderie not easily found outside Winnipeg's relatively small Gay community. Modeled after a similar camp in Alberta, Camp Aurora focused on "building and nurturing the leadership capabilities and resiliency of LGBTT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-identified and Two-spirited) and allied youth."
Note: Read more on CTV.ca
(Belarus) - This weekend the board of International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organization met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, for its quarterly board meeting. The mission was to touch base with the live of young LGBT activists in Belarus, the last dictatorship in Europe, one of the very few countries in the region which is not a member of the Council of Europe as it still practices death punishment. The intolerance is experienced in particular coming from older generations. Activists identify themselves as ‘out the closet,’ but when asked whether their families know about their sexual orientation, a fast “No, of course not!” is the reply. On the question how activists can be supported mostly the answer was that this mostly is by knowledge from abroad.
Note: Read more on UK Gay News
(UK) - One of the final vestiges of financial discrimination against Gays in UK was torn down this week following a deal hammered out between the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Gay campaigners. The insurers have agreed to scrap an exemption that allows them to treat Gay couples in a civil partnership, differently to married heterosexuals. "There is no need for the law to provide for different treatment between civil partnerships and marriages." The change of heart by the insurers follows a lengthy campaign by a firm of financial advisers, Compass, that specialises in the Gay community, with the support of lobbying group, Stonewall. Chris Morgan, managing director of Compass, said the victory brings legalised financial discrimination against Gays and Lesbians to an end.
Note: Read more on Guardian
(New Zealand) - Triangle Television Chief Executive Officer Jim Blackman says despite the popularity of YouTube and other easy-access internet forums, filmmakers still see television as an important vehicle for their works. However, Blackman does admit that the YouTube generation may have impacted the length of the films submitted this year. All are less than an hour long, many just minutes in length, and the German security camera offering lasts just 50 seconds. This is the fourth year Triangle Television has organised Sproquets, inviting film and documentary makers from around the world to contribute their works.
Note: Read more on Gay NZ
(Ireland) - Irish President Mary McAleese today called for a change in attitudes to end the bullying of Gay people. Addressing the International Association of Suicide Prevention Conference in Killarney, Irish President said the link between sexual identity and suicide had to be addressed. "Ireland is making considerable progress in developing a culture of genuine equality, recognition and acceptance of Gay men and women," she said. "But there is still an undercurrent of both bias and hostility which young Gay people must find deeply hurtful and inhibiting." Ireland's suicide toll is around 500 every year. Young men make up 40 per cent of these, and elderly men comprise the second-highest at risk group.
Note: Read more on Ireland.com
Pegah Emambakhsh is completely worn out. Till now her life has been characterized by pain, fear and death. She is a nice, reserved, religious and optimistic woman, but the world till now has offered her just discrimination, hatred, persecution, humiliation, injustice and imprisonment. Even now that her drama is known all over the world, even now that in many we pray for her, for her future, she's penned in a cold prison, without privacy, love or human warmth. Dear friends, let's make her to feel our love saying her that we're not all the same persons, that good persons exist, people who believe in brotherhood and solidarity. Send her a flower or a bunch of flowers with any flowers shipment service: Roses, Lilies or Gerberas. Flowers of all the colours, perfumed like the justice. Roses and Asylum for Pegah! Read more...
(Uganda) - Homophobic activists have lashed out at Human Rights Watch for defending gay rights describing the act as lack of respect to Uganda’s culture and values. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) recent letter to President Yoweri Museveni alleged that his government was promoting homophobia in the Ugandan society. Pastor Martin Ssempa the publicist of Interfaith Rainbow Coalition against Homosexuality (Infah) told journalists in Kampala yesterday that "Ugandans will never succumb to foreign pressure" to legalise homosexuality. Infah has also written a protest letter to HRW. In the letter Mr Ssempa said: “Even though gay organisations are pouring dollars into the country’economy, Ugandans are not ready to accept them in the society.”
Note: Read full article on Daily Monitor
The Republican Party is in quite a rush to keelhaul Senator Larry Craig for his run-in with the vice squad in an airport men’s room. Some of the senator’s peers simply demanded that he resign. No similar leadership chorus for judgment has been heard about any number of other scandalous revelations on the party’s plate. But Republican presidential campaigners are urging Mr. Craig to resign fast as a swift boat. Underlying the hurry to disown the senator, of course, is the party’s brutal agenda of trumpeting the gay-marriage issue. To the extent Senator Craig, a stalwart in the family values caucus, might morph into a blatant hypocrite before the voters’ eyes, he reflects on the party’s record in demonizing homosexuality. The rush to cast him out betrays the party’s intolerance, which is on display for the public in all of its ugliness.
Note: Read more on NY Times
(USA) - The man who severely beat a preoperative transsexual woman on Palm Beach was sentenced to four and a half months of probation. Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Blanc rejected recommendations from prosecutors and the Department of Juvenile Justice, who said the assaulter was likely to commit more crimes and should be locked in a high-security residential program. The teenager initially left, then went back and beat the victim so severely that she was covered in blood, lost teeth and was taken to the hospital. The father of the violent teenager was outraged that prosecutors did not charge the woman for sexual contact with a 17-year-old, a second-degree felony in Florida.
Note: Read more on Palm Beach Post
(Germany) - For years Berlin has been an oasis for all those who wanted to express their homosexuality freely without feeling out of place. It was already like this in the Roaring Twenties: Berlin appeared as a dynamic capital, where the sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld was already protesting against discrimination, and where homosexuals were perfectly integrated into society with their own magazines, societies and cabaret. Then came Hitler, and with him a dark period that lasted at least until the seventies. This tortured history is told in the Gay Museum in Berlin, one of the few museums in the world specially dedicated to Gay culture.
Note: Read more on Café Babel
(Israel) - Gay rights activists yesterday fiercely criticized Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann for bowing to pressure by religious parties in his decision to redraft inheritance laws. The revised bill would preclude homosexual couples from inheritance laws that apply to people in common-law marriages. The bill proposed by Friedmann contradicts the recommendations of a public commission (headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel) that was set up in 1999. The minister decided to limit the proposed inheritance law to "a man and a woman who lead a family life in a joint household." The original bill, which the committee approved, proposed to regard all "partners who live together in a common household" as each other's legal inheritors.
Note: Read full article on Haaretz
(USA) - According to the 2000 US Census, some 35,000 same-sex couples who list themselves as "unmarried partners" similarly include one person who is a US citizen and one person who is not. Because Congress passed - and former President Clinton signed - the mean-spirited "Defense of Marriage Act" in 1996, no federal rights extend to the roughly 9,000 married same-sex couples in Massachusetts. There are more than 1,000 different benefits - from filing joint income taxes to receiving Social Security benefits - that are denied to same-sex couples everywhere in the country, whether they live in a state that recognizes their marriage or civil union status or not. The ability of a US citizen to sponsor a husband or wife for immigration to the United States, called a form I-130, is just one of them.
Note: Read full article on Boston.com
(Australia) - The organising entity for the inaugural 1st Asia Pacific Outgames, Melbourne Outgames Inc. (MOI), has announced that it is to stage a regional Gay and Lesbian multi-sport event in Melbourne, Australia that is set to take place between 30 January – 3 February, 2008. It will be staged during Melbourne’s premier Gay and Lesbian cultural and arts event, the Midsumma Festival. A license agreement between the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA), and MOI was signed in February this year and GLISA Asia Pacific has given the go ahead for the inaugural regional Outgames to be staged in Melbourne in 2008.
Note: Read full article on GenerationQ
(UK) - Senior Malawian politicians have vowed to challenge Jack McConnell's appointment as their country's next high commissioner because of his support for Gay rights, it emerged yesterday. Friday Jumbe, presidential candidate for the main opposition party, the United Democratic Front, said Mr McConnell supported the repeal of Section 28, which banned teaching about homosexuality in schools, and oversaw the introduction of same-sex civil partnerships. Malawi is strongly anti-gay, criminalising homosexual acts between consenting adults. Earlier this year, its legal affairs committee rejected pleas from human rights lawyers to repeal the code.
Note: Read full article on Scotsman
(Italy) - Italian politicians said Rome could grant asylum to an Iranian lesbian who faces deportation from Britain and a possible death sentence back home. Meanwhile, gay rights proponents and left-wing politicians rallied for her cause in a protest Monday outside the British embassy here. Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, who fled to Britain from Iran in 2005 after her partner was arrested and tortured, is due to be expelled this week after her bid for residency was rejected, according to a British advocacy group. The main Italian gay rights group, Arcigay, led about 100 people in a protest Monday evening outside the British embassy. Some left-wing politicians from parties in Premier Romano Prodi's center-left coalition joined the demonstration.
Note: Read article on International Herald Tribune, see photos on Petrelis Files
(Sri Lanka) - "I am an un-arrested criminal in Colombo," says Justice Edwin Cameron from South Africa, expressing regret over Section 365 of Sri Lanka’s Criminal Procedure Code, which criminalizes homosexuality. Justice Cameron who sits in the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa and openly calls himself gay and HIV Positive stresses that the law must play a proper role in the HIV epidemic. "But this law (Section 365) is still an instrument of irrationality and prejudice." “It is irrational and odious for the law to be taken into the bedroom of consenting adults,” says Justice Cameron who was diagnosed with HIV in 1986 and disclosed his status in 1999, making an impassioned plea to Sri Lanka’s law makers to change it. Laws which also make commercial sex work illegal, not only in Sri Lanka but also in South Africa, make it more difficult to deal with HIV prevention, he explains.
Note: Read full article on Sunday Times
(Canada) - Ottawa's Capital Pride committee hosted its first queer human rights vigil Aug 20, highlighting the battles yet to be fought internationally and for trans people. "Some countries couldn't dream of having an event like this - the police would come down on them so fast," said Gordon Boissonneault, the chair of Capital Pride. About 50 people showed up at Ottawa's human rights monument to listen to speeches from local activists. The vigil was part of Capital Pride, which runs from Aug 17 to Aug 26. Many in the community felt the event brought some much-needed politics back to Pride.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Indonesia) - Indonesia's gay film festival faced violent opposition in its early years. Members of a hardline Islamic group tried to storm theatres to stop screenings, but as the festival enters its sixth year, organizer John Badalu has no such fears. The opening of the week-long Q! Film Festival (QFF) on Friday drew a flamboyant crowd in Jakarta, with members of the audience dressed in colorful wigs, fish-net stockings and cupid wings. Homosexuality is not banned under Indonesian law, but remains taboo in a country where 85 percent of the 220 million people are Muslim. "The festival has provided some sort of impetus for the gay rights movement in Indonesia, and has enabled many issues to surface," Badalu said.
Note: Read full article on stuff.co.nz
(USA) - An HIV-positive Mexican transgender woman died in US federal custody last month under dubious circumstances. LGBT organizations across the USA expressed outrage over Arellano’s death. Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Executive Director Michael Silverman questioned other aspects of Arellano’s detention. He described ICE’s decision to house her in a male facility in its San Pedro facility as particularly problematic. "Clearly she was someone who was openly transgender and presented herself as a female," Silverman said. "There are a whole host of reasons to suggest abuse and outright refusal to provide care at play."
Note: Read full article on Edge Boston
(UK) - Lord Browne of Madingley is returning to the energy sector three months after he was forced to quit as BP's chief executive for submitting incorrect information under oath about his lover. He will take up a full-time job heading up Riverstone in Europe. Lord Browne, 59, had held onto his chairmanship of Apax after quitting as chief executive of BP in May when he was forced to admit he had lied to the High Court about how he met his former partner, Jeff Chevalier. Lord Browne will help Riverstone expand in Europe and identify opportunities in alternative energy markets. He transformed BP during his 12 years in charge and led the group into Russia. His humiliating departure from BP meant he was forced to surrender a potential £15m leaving package.
Note: Read full article on Telegraph
(Australia) - Five former leaders of "ex-Gay" ministries Down Under have publicly condemned converstion/reparative "therapy", according to the Sydney Star Observer. The Aussie leaders said they were inspired to make their comments by the recent apologies of three former "ex-Gay" leaders at an "ex-Gay" survivors conference in Los Angeles. "There was not one person that I met or worked with who, in any genuine way, achieved the fundamental transformation from homosexual to heterosexual," Paul Martin, former leader of Exodus in Melbourne, told the Observer.
Note: Read full article on Advocate
(USA) - Hip-hop radio station Power 105 withdrew its sponsorship of Saturday's Reggae Carifest because two artists on the bill have used anti-gay language in their songs. The two dancehall reggae artists, Buju Banton and Bounty Killer, have both drawn fire for their lyrics over the years. Banton's song "Boom Bye Bye" advocates burning and shooting gay men; Bounty Killer's song "Another Level" refers to drowning them. Clear Channel, which owns Power 105 (WWPR/105.1 FM), quietly withdrew its support from the festival on Wednesday after receiving a call from The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Glaad). Gay-rights activists are still planning to protest at the festival, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Randalls Island.
Note: Read full article on News Day
For the many genuine refugees who are wrongly branded by the Home Office as "failed" asylum seekers, this get-tough policy is a humanitarian disaster. Some are being sent back to countries where they are at risk of arrest, jail, torture, vigilante attacks, death squads and worse. The truth is that much of the government's "success" in cutting asylum numbers and hiking deportations is because it has shamelessly rigged the asylum system to ensure the failure of as many applicants as possible. This is a cynical, ruthless, immoral policy - devoid of compassion and humanity. Labour's pride in its rigged asylum system is one reason why so many people, like me, have left Labour in droves. We can no longer stomach this heartless, dishonest government, which brags that it deports one asylum seeker "every eight minutes".
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(USA) - Human Rights Watch has accused President Yoweri Museveni’s government of promoting state homophobia in Uganda and urged the repeal of a colonial- era law against sodomy. HRW's letter added to a fierce social debate in the east African nation, where Gays and Lesbians have been increasingly vocal in demanding rights while Christian groups have taken to the streets to denounce them. Homosexuality is proscribed in many African countries, with Gays and Lesbians often living secret lives to avoid prejudice. New York-based HRW sent a letter to Museveni calling for legislative reform and an end to his long record of harassing LGBT people.
Note: Read full article on New Vision
(USA) - The Anglican Communion’s only openly gay bishop, the Rt Revd Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, will use a BBC broadcast next week to undermine the Communion’s carefully crafted compromise that distinguishes between homosexual orientation and practice. The Bishop says that the distinction is dishonest. He will also accuse his African critics of being like old-style US racists in their attack on lesbians and gays. He takes issue with “people who would say its OK to be gay as long as you don’t practise it. First, I would question the honesty of their statement that it is OK to be gay in their eyes, because their other actions do not indicate that to me. Second of all, very few people are called to celibacy, certainly not a whole category of people.”
Note: Read full article on Church Times
(Uganda) - The majority of Ugandans do not support demands by Gay rights activists that homosexuality be decriminalised, according to a new survey. Some 95 per cent of Ugandans said homosexuality should not be legalised, while a paltry 4 per cent said they support its legalisation, a new Steadman poll shows. And at least 1 per cent said they do not have an opinion on the subject. The Penal Code Act criminalises homosexuality, an offence lumped among others that are deemed “unnatural” and “against the order of nature”. A convict could face imprisonment for life. Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo recently has made public anti-Gay comments.
Note: Read full article on Daily Monitor
August has proven to be a perilous months for gays in Nigeria and Cameroon, where large-scale arrests have taken place, and in Uganda, where gay activists have gone into hiding after government ministers this week called for their arrest. In Cameroon, six teenagers have been jailed without trial since July 30 on charges of homosexuality following police use of torture to make other youths "name names" of their gay friends in Douala, the country’s largest city with a population estimated at more than 2 million. In Cameroon, homosexuality is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Netherlands) - Almost half (42%) of Gays in the Netherlands feel less safe on the streets than they did a year ago and of these 38% claim to have been confronted by anti-Gay sentiments, according to a new survey published on Tuesday. Verbal insults account for 64% of anti-Gay incidents, while 12% result in physical abuse, the survey indicates. It also found that Gays in Amsterdam are more fearful than in other parts of the country. Of the total 23,000 people questioned, including 1,980 homosexuals and lesbians, 61% said the Netherlands is a Gay-friendly country and 72% are in favour of equal marriages. Many people feel Amsterdam is no longer the ‘Gay capital of the world’ following a reported increase in attacks against Gays in Amsterdam over the past few years.
Note: Read full article on Dutsch News
(New Zealand) - Concerns that the NZ AIDS Foundation is raiding budgets for other vital work, or even community donations, to fund the high cost of advertising safe sex on the NZ Dating website have been scotched by the Foundation. Replying to community concerns that the high cost of advertising its safe sex messages on NZ Dating is disadvantaging the Foundation's other work, which includes support for people with HIV, testing and counseling services, research and community outreaches, a spokesperson says any such concerns are unfounded.
Note: Read full article on GayNZ
(USA) - Mayor Jim Naugle and several religious leaders held a news conference Tuesday to draw attention to what they described as "the moral and health risks of gay sex". Naugle is at the center of a political war between gays and religious conservatives that started earlier this summer when he said public bathrooms in Fort Lauderdale are plagued by gay men cruising for sex and said he uses the term "homosexual'' because "most of them aren't gay. They're unhappy.'' Though Fort Lauderdale is considered one of the most gay friendly tourist destinations in the country, it has become ground zero for a bitter fight about the morality of homosexuality itself.
Note: Read full article on Sun Sentinel
(USA) - The Bronx is home to a surprising number of LGBT high school students, teens say, but they must remain closeted for fear of harassment. "The Bronx is the gayest place on Earth," said Mimi, an outspoken young man who comes to the Bronx Community Pride Center frequently. He compares his neighborhood of Parkchester to the Gay-friendly West Village. "This is the mini-Village, sweetie. Welcome." "There is a large population of LGBT people living in the Bronx," said Zachariah Hennessey, a program director at the center, one of the few Gay services organization in the Bronx. "It is a hidden demographic here. Homosexuality is very much on the down low."
Note: Read full article on NY Daily News
(USA) - Should the legal ties between parents and their adopted child unravel if the family leaves the state where the adoption decree was handed down? Of course, not. The very idea is outrageous. But that's what Oklahoma lawmakers were striving for in 2004 with their chillingly titled "Adoption Invalidation Law," which targeted adopted children with Gay parents. That wrongheaded statute declared that Oklahoma would refuse to recognize "an adoption by more than one individual of the same sex from any other state or foreign jurisdiction." In other words, if a Gay couple and the child they adopted in, say, California or Maryland moved to Oklahoma or simply drove through Oklahoma on vacation, they would not be treated as a legally recognized family by any Oklahoma official - whether a police officer, public school teacher or judge.
Note: Read full article on DetNews
(UK) - Clifford Chance, the world's biggest law business, has paid out an undisclosed sum in settlement of what is believed to be the first claim against a law firm for discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. The case is the latest brought under the sexual orientation legislation to hit the City and could have cost the firm up to £1m. Last year Peter Lewis, a former head of global equity trading at HSBC, claimed £5m for unfair dismissal from the bank after a colleague alleged he made unwelcome sexual overtures while showering in the gym. Lewis lost the case but has won leave to bring the case again later this year. In this latest case, Michael Bryceland, a former partner in Clifford Chance's competition department, sued the so-called "magic circle" firm in November. It is understood that Mr Bryceland alleged both direct and indirect discrimination.
Note: Read full article on Independent
(Gibraltar) - A Lesbian couple who have been in love for 19 years are bringing a legal case against the government of Gibraltar over its decision to refuse them joint tenancy of their rented apartment. Nadine Rodriguez has applied to the Gibraltar high court for a judicial review of the non-inclusion of her partner in her tenancy agreement. This is a cruel, vindictive policy. Gibraltar is nick-named the Rock. In the Rodriguez case, it is proving to be a rock by name and a rock by nature. Chief minister Peter Caruana has failed to provide any significant progress for Gibraltar's Gay and Lesbian citizens. Same-sex relationships have no legal recognition or rights in Gibraltar. Civil partnerships do not exist, and there are no plans to introduce them.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Nigeria) - Police in northern Nigeria have clashed with Muslim mob angry at a Sharia court's decision to grant bail to 18 men accused of "dressing as women". For about 30 minutes, the protesters held up traffic on Bauchi's main street chanting slogans saying the accused men had been let off lightly. Riot police fired teargas to disperse them, a BBC reporter in the north-eastern city says. Trial judge Tanimu Abubakar freed five of the 18 men who met bail conditions. The other 13 have been sent back to prison. The men all pleaded not guilty to charges of "indecent dressing" and "vagrancy" and were granted bail after they paid 20,000 Naira ($158) each. But some thugs who gathered outside the court premises felt the men did not deserve bail and began hurling stones at the court house.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Uganda) - Christian groups in Uganda held a protest rally on Tuesday against what they called an orchestrated promotion of Gays and Lesbians in the country. Police denied the demonstrators from the "Inter-faith Coalition against Homosexuality" permission to march through the capital Kampala for security reasons. Gathered on a rugby field outside the east African nation's capital Kampala, the roughly 100 anti-Gay activists displayed dozens of placards calling for the arrest of Gays and Lesbians. "We are fighting against the fresh campaign for homosexuality and lesbianism in this country," said organiser and pastor Martin Sempa. "Homosexuality and lesbianism break three laws; the laws in the Bible and the Koran, the laws of nature and the laws of the land, the Ugandan Constitution." Ugandan law punishes homosexuality with life imprisonment.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(USA) - A Gay Baltimore man has won a legal battle to keep his late partner’s remains buried in the Tennessee grave the two men chose. Kevin-Douglas Olive reached a settlement Aug. 10 with the parents of his late partner, Russell Groff, who sought to move the body to a family plot. The settlement ended a legal battle that lasted two years. Olive said Gay Marylanders - unable to acquire the legal protections that marriage or civil unions would afford - must guard themselves through other means. He noted that Equality Maryland, which is seeking marriage equality in the state for same-sex couples, might be the recipient. Olive said he strongly supports that effort. “It’s more than just inheritance,” he said. “It will change things. It will change the disrespect that same-gender couples get all the time when we describe ourselves as same-gender couples.”
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(USA) - This may not seem like news in the first state to adopt same-sex civil unions. But 18-year-old William Holden says for all its progressive stereotypes, Vermont can be a hard place for young people like himself. One-third of the state’s gay and lesbian students say they’ve been bullied — double the percentage reported by straight peers, according to the most recent Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Some 40 percent have found themselves in a fight and 20 percent threatened or injured with a weapon at school. Such treatment has led them to suffer higher rates of school truancy, alcohol and drug use and suicide attempts. A state legislative commission is preparing to meet this week to consider a call for gay marriage. But Holden says that for an estimated 10 percent of Vermont’s youth, simply coming to terms with homosexuality remains the biggest challenge.
Note: Read full article on Times Argus
(USA) - It started innocently enough with a story about late entertainer/talk show host Merv Griffin, who died this week, at The Hollywood Reporter's web site. Its opening line: "Merv Griffin was Gay." Then things got really interesting. The Reporter pulled the story - by regular Ray Richmond, who once worked for Merv - for awhile, then re-posted it under the heading, "Griffin never revealed man behind the curtain." What next? Reuters picked it up in its normal entertainment feed and then, after protests (presumably), it pulled the story, with this explanation: "This was a story from The Hollywood Reporter that ran as part of a Reuters news feed. We have dropped the story from our entertainment news feed as it did not meet our standards for news. GBU Editor."
Note: Read full article on Editor & Publisher
In the correspondence pages of another newspaper, a debate is going on about whether God loves gays and whether homosexuality is ‘allowed’ (apparently, it isn’t). I suppose they are the sort of people who have never recovered from the decriminalisation of sexual acts between people of the same gender. While they might not actually approve of the execution of homosexuals in Iran, they sympathise with the spirit of that thinking. Whip away the moral framework of Catholic teaching, and these people founder. Without clear instructions from their books of doctrine, they don’t know the difference between wrong and right. They have no parameters for decent behaviour. The teaching of morality within an exclusively religious context is one of the main reasons why so many people here are sleazy, untrustworthy, prone to sharp behaviour which they interpret as cleverness, disloyal, corrupt, and generally lacking those qualities which an older generation describes as irgulija. When they drop their religion, or more precisely their religious fear of divine retribution, they are unconfined by any standards of behaviour.
Note: Read full article on The Malta Independent
(USA) - Many Gay New Yorkers think positively of Giuliani's two terms as mayor, when he spoke openly about anti-Gay violence and campaigned for a statewide hate crimes law early in his administration. He drafted and signed the most sweeping municipal domestic partnership law in the country in 1998 and declared, "I believe New York is setting the pace for the rest of the country." He appointed openly Gay officials to high-level positions. However, New York's Gay activists charge that Giuliani has backpedaled in his support over the past few months, especially on the issue of civil unions.
Note: Read full article on Washington Post
(USA) - The Democratic presidential candidates have begun to aggressively court Gay and Lesbian voters, with unprecedented outreach to match a major shift in policy positions among the major 2008 hopefuls. The party's enthusiasm for expanding Gay rights marks a break with the last presidential election cycle, when Democrats and Gay activists were largely playing defense on issues like equal marriage while trying to avoid being boxed in by Republicans. Though only Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and former Ohio Sen. Mike Gravel favor gay marriage, all the Democrats say they support civil unions that would give same-sex couples most of the rights and benefits available to heterosexual couples.
Note: Read full article on ANC News
Despite many beatings in pursuit of equal rights, Peter Tatchell has always abhorred violence. Last year, New Statesman magazine named him as one of the "heroes of our time", and The Independent included him among 50 men and women who had made the world a better place. So it is a shock to hear this lifelong advocate of non-violent protest say, in carefully chosen words, that he believes the problem of Mugabe may now have only one solution: assassination. "The prospects for democratic, peaceful change seem to be closed, in the same way as in Nazi-occupied Europe," he says. "In all normal circumstances, I'm against violence. All violence. But in the extreme situation of a dictatorship where tens of thousands, if not millions, of lives are at stake, there may be a moral and ethical case for the people of Zimbabwe to kill Mugabe."
Note: Read full article on Independent
(Brazil) - Brazil's public health system will begin providing free sex-change operations in compliance with a court order, the Health Ministry said Friday. Ministry spokesman Edmilson Oliveira da Silva said the government would not appeal Wednesday's ruling by a panel of federal judges giving the government 30 days to offer the procedure or face fines of US$5,000 (€3,700) a day. "The health minister was prompted by the judges' decision," Silva said. "But we already had a technical group studying the procedure with the idea of including it among the procedures that are covered." Federal prosecutors from Rio Grande do Sul state had argued that sexual reassignment surgery is covered under a constitutional clause guaranteeing medical care as a basic right.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(South Africa) - South Africa may be the only country in the world to have enshrined lesbian and gay equality in its Constitution, but a rash of brutal murders of lesbians last month has underscored how the country is undergoing an epidemic of hate crimes against LGBT people, triggering protests from Capetown to New York City - including from an openly gay South African Supreme Court of Appeal Justice. The lifeless bodies of a well-known Soweto lesbian and AIDS activist, Sizakele Sigasa, and of her friend Salome Masooa were found in a field in the Meadowlands area on July 8, and are believed to have been killed the previous day.
Note: Read full article on Gay City News
(USA) - A homophobic "Christian" group has been disturbing services at two central Ohio churches to protest their support for Gays. The group started its crusade when First Baptist Church in Granville hosted "Love Makes a Family," a traveling exhibit by the Family Diversity Project showing photos of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families. The night the exhibit opened in July, members of Minutemen United stood outside and protested the exhibit and the church's open attitude toward Gays, said the Rev. Kathy Hurt, senior pastor at the Granville church. Hurt said a man, who introduced himself as a minister from the New Beginnings Church in Warsaw, Ohio, started to give a sermon about how the church was acting against God's word by accepting Gays.
Note: Read full article on Columbus Dispatch
(Uganda) - Uganda will not give equal rights to gays and lesbians nor has it plans to legalise homosexuality, Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo has said. He was responding to a call from the Sexual Minorities Groups in Uganda (Smug) which for the first time held a press conference demanding recognition. They also accused the police of brutality and harassment. The gay community is estimated by activists to number 500,000 in Uganda where they face much discrimination. Activists also hit out at the church, accusing the clergy of demonising them. A Kenyan gay man, who had travelled to Kampala to show solidarity with his Ugandan counterparts, said homosexuals in East Africa are forced to live double lives.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Netherlands) - A growing number of Gay men in the Netherlands feel unsafe on the streets as a result of the increasing violence against Gays. During the yearly Gay Pride weekend in Amsterdam several Gay men were beaten up. In The Hague the blows struck home, too. However, a countermovement is in the making. Instead of being beaten up without doing anything about it, several Gays are following a self-defence course.
Note: Read full article on Radio Netherlands
(Samoa) - Samoa Aids Foundation president Ken Moala says HIV positive athletes can receive on-going treatment in Apia during the South Pacific Games. Samoa's Aids Foundation launched it's 'Safe Games' campaign with the theme, 'In Samoa, Be Safe, Be a Winner'. Youth will be at the airport, venues and athletes village with kits containing condoms. Meanwhile, SPG officials have overruled a ban on the country's Gay competitors at the event having sex. Team Samoa management issued a memo in June to its athletes and officials banning them from engaging in same-sex relationships at the games, which start in Apia on August 25. Homosexuality is illegal in Samoa, with a penalty for indecency between males of up to five years' jail. Five thousand people are expected in Samoa's capital Apia to attend the games.
Note: Read full article on Fiji Times
(USA) - Iowa’s Gay State Senator Matt McCoy, 41, has been surveyed for 15 moth by the FBI suspecting him of extortion of 2.000 $ from a local business. Two FBI agents arrived on McCoy’s doorstep at 6:30 a.m. in April 2006; this was his first notification that he was under federal scrutiny. The Department of Justice had begun its investigation four months prior by reading e-mails, listening to telephone conversations, scouring bank records, and by questioning friends and colleagues. “I’ve served two terms in the house, and this is my third term in the senate,” McCoy said. “In all my years of elected office, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Note: Read full article on Advocate
(Sweden) - Fingers were being pointed at religious extremists on Sunday after a fight outside an exhibition that portrays Jesus as gay. The Ecce Homo photo exhibition, by Swedish artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, has been causing controversy ever since it was first unveiled a decade ago. In Jönköping on Sunday, protests against the exhibition turned violent. A group of young thugs tried to set fire to a poster on the wall of Jönköping Kulturhuset, where the exhibition was being held. When staff tried to stop them a fight broke out. Tony el Zouki, chairman of Kulturhuset, said around 30 people were involved in the fracas. The attempt to vandalize the exhibition appeared to have religious motivations, he said.
Note: Read full article on The Local
(USA) - For the first time in ten years, the American Psychological Association is reviewing its policy on counseling GLBT people and will address the explosive issue of ex-gay therapy. Warren Throckmorton is spearheading the opposition with sophistic arguments about patient self-determination. Although, he has yet to show how his very determined gay clients have changed themselves into heterosexuals. His goal is to pressure the APA into carving out a religious exception to ethical therapy, where ex-gay therapists can torment religious clients without repercussions. What is amazing is how anti-gay groups are so desperate to find doctors to promote ex-gay therapy that they turn to underachievers like Throckmorton, an unlicensed psychologist who has never been a member of the APA.
Note: Read full article on Wayne Besen
(USA) - The 47-year-old Michael Wrenn of Seattle was walking the street with his boyfriend when when a thug approached them and, after asking if they were Gay, punched him in the face. While reportiung the hate crime on a police station, he experienced police officers who were dismissive of his bias concerns even though he and his friend Aaron Hudy of Seattle both told the cops they were targeted for being gay. "I made it clear that the only reason that the guy came after me was for being gay," Wrenn told the Seattle Gay News, which put the story on its front page Friday. Flip, dismissive language by an officer, along with the unchecked bias box, makes this assault a public issue that cannot be brushed aside.
Note: Read full article on SeattlePi
(Poland) - Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski on Monday fired four cabinet minister from his coalition government including Education Minister Roman Giertych, the man behind a bill to make it a criminal offence to "promote homosexual propaganda" in schools. The four fired ministers were from smaller parties within Kaczynski's conservative coalition government. The move leaves the government without a majority in Parliament and clears the way for an early election expected this fall. Kaczynski's government has come under increasing criticism from the European Union for its treatment of gays and lesbians. The anti-gay schools bill had the support of the prime minister but is unlikely to come to a vote before an election.
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com
(Australia) - Thousands of people marched August 12 in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney as part of the National Day of Action, which marked the three year anniversary of gay marriage being outlawed. The largest of the marches was in Melbourne, where more than 5,000 people attended. All the marches were peaceful. Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal government passed federal legislation in 2004 banning same-sex marriage. Earlier this year he proposed that HIV positive immigrants should not be allowed into the country. Howard is due to stand for re-election at the end of this year.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Canada) - A young Nicaraguan man who says he fears he will be killed in his home country because of his sexual orientation has gone into hiding in Toronto after his latest bid to stay in Canada failed. Alvaro Orozco, 22, has been holed up at a friend's place since Thursday, when his refugee claim was denied, but came out briefly over the weekend to speak to CBC News. "Most of the time, I'm hiding because I'm not supposed to be anywhere. I feel like a fugitive. It's really bad," said Orozco. His case made headlines in Canada and Nicaragua in February when the Immigration and Refugee Board denied him asylum saying they didn't believe he was gay.
Note: Read full article on CBC
(UK) - The Archdiocese of Liverpool has been unable to take action against Charles Coyne, the head of St Cecilia's primary school, who has registered a partnership with Richard Jones, who is believed to work at a nearby school. Lawyers advised the Catholic Church that it cannot fire a Catholic headmaster who has entered a civil partnership. Local Catholics and other homophobic campaigners have urged the authorities to take action over the "scandal". One bishop, the Rt Rev John Jukes, said that it was possible for male friends to share a house together without breaching Catholic moral teaching. The UK laws protect Gay employees from firing by homophobic employers.
Note: Read full article on Telegraph
(Brazil) - A man was set on fire by two people late at night in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. Witnesses said Luiz Rocha, 40, was drinking at a gas station when two men on a motorcycle approached. One of the suspects spilled gasoline on the victim, and the other then set the fire. An employee at the station helped put out the fire. Police are investigating whether the attempted murder was provoked by homophobia because the victim is gay. The suspects have not been identified, and no arrests have been made. According to the hospital, Roche is suffering from burns on 18 percent of his body with second degree burns on his arms and right leg. His condition is considered stable.
Note: Read the machine translation on www.pernambuco.com
(USA) - A decision by the Philadelphia school district to nix Gay and Lesbian History Month from its 2007-08 calendar was met with criticism by a national organization working for gender equality in schools. In a world where presidential candidates make appearances on lesbian and gay cable networks, "you're telling me it's too controversial for the School District of Philadelphia? Come on," said Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. In an effort to be balanced, the district also removed calendar designations marking Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and others.
Note: Read full article on Courier Post Online
(USA) - The number of GLBT students is a significant segment of the school population. US studies on the treatment of GLBT students indicate that bullying and harassment of GLBT students by their classmates is common. Mathew Clark, a former student at Bloomington Junior High School, said he was tripped on the soccer field and ridiculed by other students after he disclosed that he was gay. He will be attending a new school this fall where he hopes things are better. “I want the kids to be more open and accepting. Hopefully, if something ever does happen, the staff won’t feed it but stop it,” said the eighth-grader.
Note: Read full article on pantagraph.com
(USA) - There is a growing number of ministries that seek to turn Gays into "ex-Gays." One such ministry is the mission of Bob Stith, the Texas pastor who this summer became the Southern Baptist Convention's first US strategist for gender issues. Rather than condemn those who "struggle with same-sex attraction," Stith wants churches to welcome Gays in and then work with them to change their sexual orientation. For him, ex-gay ministries are a compassionate middle ground between accepting the gay lifestyle wholeheartedly and rejecting Gays entirely.
Note: Read full article on Tennessean
(Australia) - At least three people were attacked near Oxford St last weekend, in a spate of homophobic violence that has rocked the community. One known incident occurred at Taylor Square on Sunday afternoon, in which one man was punched in the face and another was hit over the head with a bottle. The injured men were rushed to St Vincent’s Hospital and have since been released. One of the alleged offenders was arrested by police and charged with assault. ACON Anti-Violence Project (AVP) coordinator Carl Harris said the attack was one of a number of bashings in the Oxford St precinct at the weekend, but the victims were yet to come forward.
Note: Read full article on Sydney Star Observer
(Japan) - Some 3,000 people took pride in being GLBT to the streets of Tokyo today and led the annual Pride Parade. Numerous floats decorated in rainbow-coloured balloons and flags blasted music from speakers while participants wearing pink boas or G-strings danced and waved to the onlookers. Although the number of participants to the Tokyo Pride Parade has been increasing every year, many still choose to remain anonymous in Japan and others refrain from marching in the parade for fear of being recognized as being gay or lesbian, according to the Pride Parade committee. Because people of the sexual minority community still experience difficulties coming out to their coworkers and families, the sixth annual event called for visibility of gays and lesbians in society and promoted their presence in the mainstream society.
Note: Read full article on earthtimes.org
(Russia) - A handful of activists made headlines around the world this past spring when they were viciously beaten by Russian fascists at a Gay rights protest in central Moscow. Riot police on the scene offered no protection. The activists claimed a partial victory, arguing that media coverage allowed the whole world to witness the plight of Gays in Russia. Others express skepticism over an approach that pushes them into the public eye. Firm resistance is needed, said Alexey Davidov, 30, a leader of the march. Gays who disagree "don't realize, if things keep going the way they're going, how many dead bodies there will be all around Russia 50 years from now."
Note: Read full article on Washington Post
(Italy) - Hundreds of Italians protested in the northern Italian city of Treviso on Saturday after the city's deputy mayor called for the "ethnic cleansing" of homosexuals from the area. The protesters gathered outside city hall to demand Giancarlo Gentilini's resignation, some wearing pink triangles like the ones homosexual men had to wear in Nazi concentration camps. A member of the right-wing Northern League party, Gentilini said on Wednesday he was so fed up with gays having sex in a car park that he was going to order police to carry out "ethnic cleansing" of homosexuals. "I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of f," Gentilini told a local television station. "The f must go to other (cities) where they are welcome. Here in Treviso there is no chance for faggots or the like."
Note: Read full article on Reuters and watch the video.
(USA) - In New York, a vigil for LGBT rights took place Friday afternoon at the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. Similar events were organized one week earlier in Caracas, Cologne, Mexico City, San Diego, San Francisco, Stockholm, Vancouver, Warsaw and Washington. Brendan Fay, one of the NY organizers, said: “We refuse to be silent in the face of torture, discrimination and executions in Iran, of beatings on the streets of Moscow, of Lithuanian authorities preventing the rainbow flag from being carried on the streets of Vilnius. We refuse to be silent when many LGBT and HIV positive refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants arrive on the shores of the U.S. only to encounter discrimination and closed doors.”
Note: Read full article on NY Blade
(USA) - A gay group in the United States of America is planning a memorial that will commemorate LGBT people murdered because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The scheme has the support of many public figures, including Democrat US Representative Barney Frank and novelist Chris Rice. The Gay American Heroes foundation aims to inform the public about hate crimes against LGBT people and inspire greater appreciation and acceptance of diversity.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Armenia) - Harut and Misha got married in Echmiadzin last Sunday. In case you don't know, those are both men's names. Harut and Misha are gay. Of course, it was a symbolic ceremony, as the Armenian Apostolic Church does not condone gay marriages. They exchanged rings in the church and staged a small wedding party at a restaurant with Misha's mother and their friends. They came from Paris especially to exchange vows in Echmiadzin. Both grew up in environments - one here and one abroad - where homosexuals are not only disapproved, but despised. They say they were connected by love and wanted to express it in Armenia’s holiest site. Misha Meroujan (35), left Yerevan in 1994, after he could no longer tolerate the intolerance toward homosexuals in Armenia.
Note: Read full article on 168.am
(Malaysia) - A controversy has erupted among the "Christian" community over what they claim is an attempt by a self-confessed gay pastor to set up a church here. For the past week, protest e-mail and SMSes have been sent to Rev Ou Yang Wen Feng, a Malaysian pastor who serves at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in New York. He has been back here for about a week. According to the MCC homepage, the church is part of an international movement of Christian churches reaching out to all, including homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals. Ou Yang, 37, has drawn much flak from Christians for his plan to hold a Sunday service at a hotel this week. He came out of the closet about his homosexuality last year and is said to be the first pastor in Malaysia to do so.
Note: Read full article on The Star
(USA) - After his appearance in the HRC/Logo Presidential Forum, Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama spoke to supporters and members of the media and blogosphere on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, saying that he was “thrilled to participate today” in the forum. The teleconference was organized for Obama supporters who had gathered together to watch his appearance in the HRC/Logo Presidential Forum. Members of the media and blogosphere, including InterstateQ.com, were invited to listen in. Bishop V. Gene Robinson hosted the approximately fifteen minute call.
Note: Read full article on InterstateQ
(Nigeria) - Eighteen men have been remanded in prison following their arrest for alleged sodomy in northern Nigeria, the state-owned news agency, Nan, reports. The men were arrested in a hotel in north-eastern Bauchi State, which is governed by the Islamic Sharia law. The Sharia punishment for sodomy is death by stoning. The men, reportedly wearing women's clothes, are said to have gone to Bauchi town from neighbouring states to celebrate a "gay wedding". Sharia judge Malam Tanimu ordered that the 18 be remanded in prison after they were arraigned before him on Wednesday. The Sharia law, adopted in Bauchi and a dozen other states in Muslim northern Nigeria in 2000, prescribes death penalty for Gays.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Canada) - A Nicaraguan man whose refugee claim failed because he "wasn't gay enough," according to supporters, is facing imminent deportation after a second official assessment deemed it safe for him to go home. Alvaro Antonio Orozco, 21, who has gone into hiding, is now clinging to the hope that Immigration Minister Diane Finley will intervene to let him remain in Canada, at least until a decision is rendered on his application for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds. Orozco, who based his asylum claim on a fear of homophobia and domestic abuse, left Managua in 1998 at age 12. After a year, he landed in a group home in Texas. He left it for Toronto in 2005, after learning that Canada respects gay rights.
Note: Read full article on The Star
(Mexico) - Mexico's top clergyman, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was questioned by US lawyers on Wednesday in a child sex abuse case that is a new blow to the Roman Catholic Church in its second-largest stronghold. The lawyers met Rivera at the capital's archdiocese building to ask about charges in a US civil case that he colluded with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect a Mexican priest wanted for multiple child rapes. Abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church around the world recently and the Los Angeles diocese this year agreed to pay $US660 million ($NZ877.30 million) settlement.
Note: Read story at stuff.co.nz
(Toronto, Ontario) - A generic pharmaceutical company has permission to produce the first HIV-AIDS drugs under Canada's three-year-old Access to Medicines Regime. GlaxoSmithKline has given consent for Apotex to make an antiretroviral medication for the treatment of HIV-AIDS patients in Rwanda. Consent was needed because GSK has patent rights for two molecules contained in the medication. The 2004 Access to Medicines program enables the federal government to authorize production of certain patented medicines for export to countries desperate for drugs to help control the pandemic. But the program has been criticized by AIDS activists because not one pill has been exported since its inception.
Note: Read story at 365gay.com
(USA) - Truth Wins Out today called a lawsuit settlement between Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) and Arlington County (Virginia) schools a capitulation that puts the health and well being of students at risk. The agreement allows PFOX to hand out pseudoscientific fliers at middle schools that will urge students to visit a website that refers them to a troubled counselor who was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association. Read more...
(USA) - A suspect has been identified in the beating death of a Sacramento man five weeks ago that investigators say is a hate crime. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said an arrest warrant has been issued for Andrey Vusik, 29, of West Sacramento. Vusik is alleged to have thrown the punch that felled Satendar Singh, 25 at Lake Natoma State Park. The fight took place on July 1. Singh died of his injuries July 5. Singh, who was Hindu, was picnicking with several others at the park when his group was accosted by a group of men speaking Russian, witnesses told sheriff's investigators. Vusik was identified from witness information.
Note: Read full article on news10.net
(Australia) - Federal Liberal MP Warren Entsch will present Prime Minister John Howard with a petition signed by 25,000 people which calls for an end to discrimination against same-sex couples. Mr Entsch today said he hoped to present a copy of the online petition organised by activist group Get Up! to Mr Howard today or tomorrow. The petition addressed to Mr Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd reads: "Same-sex couples should have the same legal rights as de facto heterosexual couples. "I call upon you to make this first step towards equality by immediately legislating to end discrimination against same-sex couples.''
Note: Read full article on news.com
(Canada) - After more people than ever attended this year's Vancouver Pride Parade, organizer John Boychuk fed the estimated number into a rough formula to get a back-of-envelope figure of almost $66 million in economic impact. A study done in 2001 found that the 140,000 people at the parade that year generated some $24 million in spending. Since then, the same ratio has been used to extrapolate the economic impact every year. But now, with Vancouver's profile growing around the world as a top gay tourism destination, there may be a need for a more accurate assessment; and, next year, the Vancouver Pride Society will launch a six-month study of the city's gay and lesbian consumer and tourism market, said Boychuk.
Note: Read full article on canada.com
(Spain) - A Catholic group has reportedly triggered an investigation by the District Attorney´s office in relation to one of the artistic creations exhibited within the context of the artistic festival TransMarikaBollo (TransFagDyke) in Barcelona in September 2006, on grounds its its supposed offense to religious sentiments. The group Front D´Alliberament Gai de Catalunya considers this accusation to represent an assault against the right of freedom of expression and a threat to artistic and cultural creation and is protesting the investigation.
Note: Read full article on Spartakus
(USA) - Broward's human rights board has recommended adding gender identity to the anti-discrimination ordinance. But some in the gay community are resisting the change, fearing a backlash that could lead to a countywide referendum and the loss of their protections. It led to a heated meeting last week, when transsexuals confronted Robin Bodiford, a gay rights activist who wants to delay the transgender addition. "I understand that you're trying to get gay marriage and gay adoption and I applaud you for that, but how dare you!" said Tiffany Arieagus, of Fort Lauderdale, a transsexual. "Gay, transgender, it doesn't matter. We all deserve the same rights."
Note: Read full article on Sun Sentinel
(Armenia) - Mistreatment and intolerance of Gays, which often then turns into animosity, are typical in Armenian society. A survey we conducted among 100 people of different ages in the center of Yerevan offered further support to this fact. According to the results, 53 percent of the respondents felt animosity towards Gays, 40 percent were tolerant, 4 percent treated them well, and 3 percent were undecided. When asked, “What would you do if your child were a homosexual?” 73 of the respondents said that they would disown the child. Psychologist Davit Amiryan believes that this attitude in Armenian society is actually typical of all former Soviet countries.
Note: Read full article on www.hetq.am
(USA-Florida) State Rep. Bob Allen, a longtime foe of LGBT rights in Florida, has a bizarre excuse for being charged with offering a black male cop $20 for a blowjob in a park toilet... he was scared of all the blacks in the park!
Note: Read full story at 365gay.com
(Iran/France) - Human rights activists alert the Gay community of an Iranian website suspected to be set up for purpose of gain intelligence about Gay groups and individuals. The site diffuses an allegedly false "petition to the UN" in favour of the defense of the rights of Gay, Lesbians and Transgenders in Iran. The website visitors are asked to sign up with their full name and e-mail address, but the website's owners remain unmentioned. The activists therefore call on Gay activists to act cautiously and not sign the petition which is not backed by any verified LGBT organization.
Note: Read the machine translation of Spartakus
(Canada) - A Truro woman is so incensed by her mayor’s stand on homosexuality that she has organized a rally in Truro today in support of gay pride. "I don’t like to see anyone so marginalized and discriminated against," Sharon Farrell said in an interview Sunday night about her rally in Victoria Park. "It’s solidarity with the gay community. To let our mayor know that not all of Truro agrees with his decision." Last week, Truro town council voted 6-1 not to fly the gay rights rainbow flag to honour the community’s inaugural gay pride celebration. In explaining the decision, Mayor Bill Mills told The Chronicle Herald that, as a practising Christian, he personally doesn’t condone homosexuality or support same-sex marriage.
Note: Read full article on The Chronicle Herald
(Netherlands) - A number of Gays were assaulted in two separate incidents during the Gay Pride weekend in Amsterdam. On Saturday night a 34-year-old Irish man was attacked in the vicinity of the Kinkerstraat, police announced on Monday. The Irishman was walking with his Spanish boyfriend when he got in an argument with two aggressive men. After a hand gesture by the Irishman the two struck him with a hard object, after which the man was taken to hospital with serious injuries. He underwent surgery to his jaw and other treatment. Two American men were attacked on the Nassaukade on Friday night. One was beaten and sprayed in the face with pepper spray or tear gas. The police suspect that the violence both cases was also motivated by hate towards Gays.
Note: Read full article on Expatica
(Canada) - Maya Ashmore was one of 55 participants from their mid-teens to late 20s at this year's Camp fYrefly, an acronym for "fostering youth, resiliency, energy, fun, leadership -- yay!" The camp, which had a waiting list, ended Sunday. It aims to help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered young adults explore and own their sexuality and become leaders in their communities, said the camp's co-founder Kristopher Wells. Wells founded the camp in 2004 with Dr. Andre Grace, his PhD supervisor in the University of Alberta's department of educational policy studies. Now in its fourth year, fYrefly has grown from 30 to 55 campers. As fYrefly's popularity grows, Wells said they're looking into making more camps across Canada, with the possibility of a Camp fYrefly East in Halifax. Wells said the camp gives young adults not only an improved sense of self-esteem, but a sense of social esteem because they know they have a peer support network.
Note: Read full article on Canada.com
(USA) - Robin Bodiford, a Gay rights activist finds herself in the most unlikeliest of roles. As a small but strident band of activists lobbies to add legal protections for transgender people to the county ordinance, Bodiford is pulling back. ''We've always proceeded carefully and slowly to make sure that when we fight for our rights, we keep those rights,'' Giorgio said. "It makes little sense to secure transgender protections only to watch them get repealed six months later." At the meeting, about 10 people who favor the transgender amendment filed into the back of the room and tried to take over the microphone. "How dare you deny me my rights?" demanded Tiffany Arieagus, an AIDS counselor well known in the local drag queen circuit. "What about me?" Bodiford was shaken. ''I'm not here to be your enemy,'' she said.
Note: Read full article on Miami Herald
(Edinburgh, UK) - Edinburgh police chiefs have organized a center in which the local LGBT community can anonymously report homophobic attacks on a regular basis. Police chiefs have set up a confidential surgery for Edinburgh's gay community to encourage them to report homophobic attacks. Sergeant Pauline Nairn will attend the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Centre for Health and Wellbeing in Howe Street on Monday. She will offer the police perspective to the LGBT community in respect of any complaints or areas of concern, as well as promoting the availability of remote reporting to the force's services. Sgt Nairn said: "This is a great opportunity to demonstrate Lothian and Borders Police's commitment to our LGBT community."
Note: Read full article on Scotsman
(UK) - A mother of five who entered into a civil partnership with a woman while still married to her husband was given a suspended prison sentence on Monday.Suzanne Mitchell had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching the 2004 Civil Partnerships Act, which allows same-sex unions. She admitted falsely claiming to be single to enter into a civil union with Caroline Beddows in February last year.
The case is believed to be the first of its kind since the civil partnership law was introduced. At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Judge Robin Onions said Mitchell repeatedly lied in pursuit of the partnership, and her offence was one of "cruelty and deception", according to media reports.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(Iraq) - Human rights groups say that Iraqi gays are increasingly targeted by militias and police. The United Nations and State Department have issued reports documenting some of the more recent killings. Iraqi leaders dismiss those allegations, and Middle East experts say it's difficult to tell whether the attacks are state-sanctioned. "Nobody's paying attention to this issue," said Ali Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. "It is not the custom of the people of Iraq. Not only Iraq, but the whole region." In October 2005, Iraq's leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, issued a fatwa, or religious decree, on his website forbidding homosexuality and declaring that gays and lesbians should be "punished, in fact, killed." "The people involved should be killed in the worst, most severe way," the decree said.
Note: Read full article on LA Times
What does it take to organize Global Gay Solidarity Days? First, start with putting out a request to fellow organizers and gauge if they're interested in such an international event. Next step is, engage in a respectful debate about what day (or two) to stage the solidarity vigils. Third, allow local organizers to decide what kind of action to put on, the time to do it, and which global LGBT issues to focus on. Fourth, mix in a handful of beautiful committed people in any city to pull together an action, invite the larger community and our allies to participate, and before you know it, LGBT in several parts of the world unite for a same-day coordinated action. And finally, watch the activists in each city committed to the solidarity days stage their vigils and speak outs, and take photos, make videos, and write up short reports.
Note: Read full article on Petrelis Files
(San Francisco, USA) - Over the course of one hour, more than twenty LGBT activists staged a solidarity vigil and speak out today at the Flood Building on Market Street, where the consulates of Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama are located. Hundreds of shoppers walking by and people entering the Flood Building took our supply of 500 leaflets explaining the problems gay citizens face in those countries. We held a beautiful fabric banner, made by George Duvoisin, using a diverse array of materials and colors, symbolic of the global LGBT community. Each letter was a separate design with its own block, spelling out S-O-L-I-D-A-R-I-T-Y.
Note: Read full article on Petrelis Files
(Amsterdam, Netherlands) - Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and a large contingent of heterosexuals put on their brightest plumage Saturday, and a rainbow fleet sailed through Amsterdam's historic canals, as the city celebrated its annual Gay Pride festival. The flotilla and party afterward is one of the biggest of the year in Amsterdam, and one in which the city upholds its reputation as one of Europe's gayest capitals. DJs pump music from ships packed with dancing partygoers, vying for who can put on the best show or provide the most outrageous theme. News reports estimated a record-breaking 375,000 to 500,000 people lined the canals to watch the boats pass, basking in the first warm weekend since summer started.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(Singapore) - Authorities in Singapore on Friday banned a gay rights forum at which a retired Canadian law professor was to speak, the second time in a week the city-state has forbidden an event that touches on gay issues. The forum was to feature Douglas Sanders, a professor emeritus in law. But because the Aug. 7 forum, titled "Sexual Orientation in International Law: The Case of Asia," was deemed contrary to public interest, police canceled the event's license Friday and immigration authorities rejected Sander's visa application, Singapore's Home Affairs Ministry said. "Our laws are an expression and reflection of the values of our society; the discourse over a domestic issue such as the laws that govern homosexuality in Singapore must be reserved for Singaporeans ... foreigners should refrain from interfering," the statement said.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Moscow, Russia) - The leader of one of Russia's largest LGBT rights groups has been arrested and charged with slander. Nikolay Alexeyev said he was released after being formally charged with slandering a member of the State Duma, Russia's Parliament. During a debate between Alexeyev and Duma Deputy Alexander Chuyev broadcast by Russian television in June Alexeyev alleged that Chuyev, who opposes LGBT civil rights in Russia, is actually a closet gay. Chuev, a member of the conservative Fair Russia Party is closely linked to the Kremlin. "Russian authorities were caught in their own trap by opening this criminal file," said Alexeyev in a statement.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Italy) - Several hundred Gay rights advocates Thursday inaugurated a "Gay Street" in Rome and then headed to the nearby Colosseum for a rally in support of a Gay couple arrested for what police deemed an indecent public kiss. Italy's leading Gay rights group Arcigay "officially" dubbed Via San Giovani in Laterno Rome's new "Gay Street," saying it wanted to give the Eternal City a "point of reference for the Gay and Lesbian community." About 100 mainly Gay couples protested the arrest outside the Colosseum last Sunday. Thursday's rally had the support of several members of Prime Minister Romano Prodi's centre-left government, including Equal Opportunity Minister Barbara Pollastrini, Youth and Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri and Social Solidarity Minister Paolo Ferrero.
Note: Read full article on AFP
(Brazil) - A 25-year-old transsexual was beaten to death by blows to the right side of the chest in the southern Brazlian town of Sapucaia Colonel, on the border with Paraguay. According to the local Military Police, Alberto Gonçales Acosta, 23, an inhabitant of Capitan Bado, Paraguay, had been drinking with friends in a brothel when the victim, Antonio Da Silva Portinho passed by with another person. Acosta told police that Portinho made a pass at him, which was his reason for beating her. But another witness, who was with the victim, told police the aggression happened for no reason and after the accused chased the victim. Portinho died on the way to the hospital.
Note: Read on Gay News Watch
(Netherlands) - Dutch embassy officials in 36 countries where the Netherlands has close aid ties have been asked to draw up an inventory of gay rights legislation. The survey has been commissioned by by aid minister Bert Koenders, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday. The paper says that in 18 countries where the Netherlands is active, homosexuality is illegal. Gay men face punishments ranging from fines and public beatings to, in three cases, a potential death sentence. Dutch embassies in countries where homosexuality is illegal are being told to urge the authorities to scrap anti-gay legislation, the paper says.
Note: Read full article on Dutch News
(Rome, Italy) - The Queer Lion award is finally coming to the Venice Film Festival after four years of negotiations. The prize will be awarded to the best full-length film in competition or in any of the festival's sidebars that features a gay theme or character, even if the character does not play a central role. The name Queer Lion is a take on Venice's main prize, the Golden Lion. With 22 films in competition at the 64th annual event - which runs August 29 to September 8 -- and about three dozen others screening in sidebars, Casagrande said he expects "around 10 or 12" films to be candidates for the prize. The plaudit is a gold plaque with the Venice Lion winged logo in black with the rainbow colors of the gay pride flag on the wings. A small international jury will select the winner.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(Italy) - Italy's Supreme Court has refused to overrule a judge's decision to revoke the deportation order of an illegal Senegalese migrant on the grounds of his sexual orientation. Italy’s highest criminal court stated that “homosexuality is a condition of he human being deserving legal protection.” The court announced that gay people who seek refuge from persecution in Italy would not be sent back to their countries of origin. The judges recognised that "sexual freedom must be intended as freedom to live without interferences and restrictions with references to sexual preferences."
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Singapore) - Singapore's censors have banned an exhibition of photographs depicting gay men and women kissing, a gay rights activist said Wednesday, calling the move "absurd." The city-state's Media Development Authority denied the exhibition's organizers a license on the grounds that the photographs "promote a homosexual lifestyle," Alex Au, founder of a Singapore gay rights group, People Like Us, told The Associated Press. The exhibition, entitled "Kissing," is a selection of 80 posed shots of same-sex kissing between fully clothed models, said Au, who shot the photographs. "Kissing" was canceled after organizers received a letter from the Media Development Authority on Monday saying it was rejecting their application for a license to hold the exhibition, Au said.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(Singapore) - Singapore's gay community began its third annual pride festival Wednesday with renowned British actor Ian McKellen voicing his support for the event. McKellen said the festival was a platform for the community to make its voice heard in tightly-governed Singapore. In a video message, McKellen said: "it's very important that gay people, wherever they are, should identify themselves, stick up for themselves, represent themselves, modestly and positively, so the rest of the world knows that we're here and we're not going to go away." Known as Indignation, the festival is scheduled around Singapore's independence day on August 9 and will run from August 1-15. Despite being one of Asia's most advanced societies, homosexuals acts are still outlawed in Singapore under laws dating back to British colonial days.
Note: Read full article on AFP
(USA) - A candlelight vigil in New York City has been planned to mark the murders of South African lesbian couple Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa, as well as "honouring all LGBT and HIV positive African heroes who have been murdered." The event is set for 14 August, with the exact venue still be to be confirmed. It is being planned by a group called the Committee of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender African Immigrants Residing in the U.S. In a statement, the organisation said that, "This barbaric act was meant to paralyze our community with fear so as to eradicate the wonderful work that is being done to empower us. We condemn this brutal act. Our community is being robbed of brave and courageous women who dedicate their lives to improving the well being of the society."
Note: Read full article on www.mambaonline.com
(USA) - The man who severely beat a preoperative transsexual woman on Palm Beach was sentenced to four and a half months of probation. Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Blanc rejected recommendations from prosecutors and the Department of Juvenile Justice, who said the assaulter was likely to commit more crimes and should be locked in a high-security residential program. The teenager initially left, then went back and beat the victim so severely that she was covered in blood, lost teeth and was taken to the hospital. The father of the violent teenager was outraged that prosecutors did not charge the woman for sexual contact with a 17-year-old, a second-degree felony in Florida.
Note: Read more on Palm Beach Post
(Moscow, Russia) - The Gay community denies the rumors that businessman Boris Berezovsky will give 100 million dollars to gays for pride-parades in the towns of Odintsovo, Pushkino, Korolev and Lobnya near Moscow. Nikolay Alexeyev, an organizer of the gay-parade in Moscow, in his interview with Interfax on Wednesday, said this information was ‘certainly a provocation without any grounds whatsoever’. He also said ‘this attempt to involve Berezovsky and to slander LGBT in all possible ways’ was an ordinary political technology trick used before an election campaign. ‘I think we will hear much of the information of this kind before the elections. Of course, the authorities are trying to play the card of people’s hatred of the gays and lesbians. When the elections are over the situation will calm down in a way’, Alexeyev believes.
Note: Read full article on Interfax
(UK) - Gays and Lesbians are leaving Liverpool in droves because of homophobic attitudes in the city, it was claimed last night. Cllr Steve Radford, leader of the Liberals and co-chairman of the Gay Business Association, spoke out as the most comprehensive study of perceived safety in the gay community was debated at the city council. A report found that the average homosexual adult living or working in Liverpool was likely to experience 15 crimes in their lifetime and 51% of respondents lived in fear of falling a victim of crime. The document by Stormbreak, a specialist research agency, also found 59% of lesbian, gay, bi-sexuals and transgender people had experienced homophobic crime in Liverpool, which is 12% higher than London.
Note: Read full article on Liverpool Daily Post
(UK) - Stonewall, which represents the interests of gay, lesbians and bisexual people in the UK, has come out in support of Law Commission proposals for cohabiting couples to be given similar, but lesser, legal safeguards to married couples. "Stonewall broadly welcomes the Law Commission’s recommendations for cohabitants," a spokesperson said. "It's right that any scheme should apply to both gay and straight couples."
Note: Read full article on www.politics.co.uk
(Chech Republic) - Prague, along with Budapest, has become a destination popular for homosexual tourists, Czech analyst Jaromir Beranek says, adding that more than 600,000 tourists annually visit Prague to use services aimed at their minority sexual orientation. Prague has quickly acquired the reputaion of a friendly town among Gays from all over the world. "Czech society have always been quite tolerant where it comes for sex and sexuality-related issues, compared with the neighbouring countries," Beranek said. Local businesspeople have quickly adapted themselves to the demand.
Note: Read full article on Prague Daily Monitor
(Jamaica) - The UK-based gay rights group Outrage! says DJ Beenie Man's denial that he signed the group's Reggae Compassionate Act denouncing violence against gays is irrelevant and has invited anyone doubting his claim to view the document on the Outrage! website. "The denials are irrelevant," said founder and spokesman Peter Tatchell in an e-mailed response to Observer. "We have the signed documents and anyone can view them on the web." Tatchell said that if needs be the documents, bearing what he insisted were the signatures of Beenie Man, Capleton, Sizzla and Buju Banton - available at www.petertatchell.net - could be authenticated by handwriting experts.
Note: Read full article on The Jamaica Observer
TALLINN, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Estonian police said Monday they have authorized a gay parade in the center of Tallinn August 11 following initial opposition to the event based on security concerns. Police suggested in mid-July that organizers reroute the march away from the city center, saying six participants in the 500-strong Tallinn Pride parade were seriously injured when attacked by Estonian nationalists last year. This year the issue was resolved when organizers agreed to hire security guards to ensure the marchers' safety in line with police recommendations.
Note: Read full article on en.rian.ru
(Canada) - Montreal's Gay Pride parade Sunday afternoon was one of the biggest the city has staged, attracting about 50,000 spectators, organizers say. The sun shone bright for spectators who lined the sidewalks of Sainte Catherine Street, as many as 15 deep on some blocks, to watch the pageantry pass under a canopy of rainbow flags. Parade organizers say they're thrilled to have drawn such a huge crowd despite having had little time to organize the event. Organizers with Celebrations LGBTA Montreal 2007 (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and All) had just seven weeks to plan the parade after Divers/Cité pulled out of it early in the summer, to focus on an arts and culture festival.
Note: Read full article on Yahoo News
(Mexico) - Mexico City's prison system has begun allowing gay conjugal visits, bowing to a recommendation by the country's National Human Rights Commission, the commission announced on Sunday. Mexico City's government has taken a series of stands in recent months on social issues like abortion, gay marriage and prostitution. "The Mexico City department of prisons and rehabilitation has allowed the first conjugal visit to an inmate with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual,'' the government-funded rights commission said in a news release. In many Mexican prisons, inmates are allowed to receive conjugal visits, and most do not require the visitor to be married to the inmate. Special rooms are set aside in many prisons so that inmates and visitors can be alone during such visits.
Note: Read full article on The Star
(Japan) - The first openly gay candidate in Japanese national politics failed to win a seat in upper house elections on Monday, but vowed to continue her fight for minority rights. Kanako Otsuji, 32, backed by the main opposition Democratic Party, had campaigned in front of rainbow-coloured flags, with loudspeakers declaring to passers-by she was a lesbian. "I hope to continue until I see the day that we look back and say, 'This is a historic day in the history of sexual minorities,'" Otsuji told supporters. "We will remember this day because it is the day we grew stronger." She appeared to be holding back tears at her election headquarters in the heart of Tokyo's gay community early on Monday morning. Supporters wept as she walked around thanking them in her cramped headquarters after they had waited until dawn for the final results.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(China) - Hong Kong's first government-aided community service center for homosexuals has begun operation with the aim of curbing the spread of AIDS among the gay community. "No More Denial! AIDS is our Business" is the motto of the center's founder, Rainbow of Hong Kong - a group advocating equal job opportunities and sex education for the grassroots society. With subsidy from the government's AIDS Trust Fund, the center said the coming year would test its effectiveness in guiding and sheltering homosexuals in the fight against discrimination and AIDS. A survey entitled "The Needs of Hong Kong's Gay Community," conducted by Rainbow of Hong Kong last week showed that although more than 90 percent of the 314 respondents felt they had adequate understanding of AIDS and safe sex, 36 percent were not sure if they had contracted HIV.
Note: Read full article on www.thestandard.com.hk
(Saudi Arabia) - There's no gay movement, nor parades nor bars, and chatrooms for hooking up convey a certain reserve. As more Saudis go abroad for school or work and then return, they carry back some alien cultural pollen - in some cases a dusting of gay identity. The kingdom's homosexual life can't so readily, as in Cairo or Beirut, be attributed to a decadent Westernized elite. Traditional sharia - the body of Islamic law - grounds the kingdom's legal code, and the death penalty that it provides for sodomy is periodically imposed - indeed, as recently as last February. That case seems to have involved a man convicted of sex with a youth and other crimes. In January 2002, three men were executed in the city of Abha who, according to the interior ministry, "committed acts of sodomy, married each other, seduced young men, and attacked those who rebuked them."
Note: Read full article on The Guide Magazine
(Netherlands) - The Gay group COC is also sounding the alarm. It says that "old-fashioned queer-bashing" is back. The Amsterdam police have also observed an increase in the number of reports of violence against homosexuals. Elly Lust of the Amsterdam police thinks there is more to it than this alone: "For a long time Amsterdam has been the 'gay capital of the world', but now that seems to be changing. And of course, it's something we don't want to happen." The increase in attacks on Arab homosexuals is easily explained. They represent these Western values. Furthermore, they are defenceless. They keep their sexual orientation hidden from their families, so they are unlikely to report an assault to the police.
Note: Read full article on Radio Netherlands
(USA) - Lucas Goodman, a junior rowing club member, felt so uneasy that he finally told the Green Lake Crew his secret: He is gay. The 18-year-old belongs to an emerging generation of openly gay and lesbian athletes on high school and college campuses across the country. These young men and women are quietly venturing where no pro football or baseball star has gone, challenging the conformist, if not downright homophobic, tradition of the playing fields. Their numbers are difficult to gauge because many confide only in peers.
Note: Read full article on LA Times
(France) - Act Up-Paris and Pink Panthers issued a call to the activists of the human rights, the rights of LGBT people and activists against the death penalty to join street protests in Paris today. The gathering shall be a reaction to the recent hangings in Iran and protest the immanent eviction of an Iranian gay in France. The two organizations invite to join the gathering which will be held Saturday July 28 at 11:00 a.m. on the Square of the Human Rights in Paris (place of Trocadéro, Trocadéro subway). Per same hour, in Strabourg, TaPaGeS invites to hold a similar action in front of the Palate of the human rights.
Note: Read the machine translation of the article posted on Spartakus
(Canada) - The openly gay bishop whose ordination sparked the crisis in the Anglican Communion has claimed the Church of England would be close to shutting down if it was forced to manage without its gay clergy. He said many of the English church's clergy lived openly in their rectories with gay partners, with the full knowledge of their bishops. But he criticised the stance of bishops who threaten the clergy with emnity should their relationships become public. Speaking in an interview in London, Bishop Gene said: "I have met so many gay partnered clergy here and it is so troubling to hear them tell me that their bishop comes to their house for dinner, knows fully about their relationship, is wonderfully supportive but has also said if this ever becomes public then I’m your worst enemy."
Note: Read full article on Times Online
As you perhaps yawn your way through a Pride parade this year — muttering "been there, done that" (and I'm guilty of this) — at least stop and think for a moment about how utterly amazing our parade would be to gays and lesbians from Albania, Nigeria or China. Saudi Arabia, Egypt or India. Or even Moscow. Not to mention North Korea, which claims to have zero AIDS cases, or Iran, which hangs homosexuals. For most gay people on the planet the simple act of thousands of people hitting the streets to celebrate queerness would Completely Blow Their Minds.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Italy) - Italian police detained two gay men for kissing outside the Colosseum and accused them of "lewd conduct", sparking howls of protest on Friday from rights groups and calls for an apology from a government minister. The incident took place late on Thursday, when the men, aged 27 and 28, were taken to a police station for several hours before being released, according to gay rights group Arcigay. Arcigay accused the police of discrimination and called on homosexuals to gather near the Colosseum on Aug. 2 for a protest "kiss".
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(UK) - The president of the Islamic Medical Association is to face a disciplinary hearing after making a ferocious attack on gay people in Pulse, the magazine for GPs. In the letter, Dr Muhammad Siddiq says that gays need “the stick of the law to put them on the right path" and that they deserve neither help nor pity. "There is punishment and fine if you throw rubbish or filth in the streets. The gays are worse than the ordinary careless citizen,” wrote the GP, who is employed by the Walsall Primary Care Trust in the West Midlands, “They are causing the spread of disease with their irresponsible behaviour. They are the root of many sexually transmitted diseases."
Note: Read full article on www.secularism.org.uk
(UK) - Gay men in Wales have recalled their experiences, on the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Leo Abse, who was MP for Pontypool at the time, says he piloted through the 1967 Sexual Offences Act to end the "cruel and savage" laws of the day. The law decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years and in private, but only in England and Wales. Campaigner Howard Llewellyn said that, despite the law, attitudes towards gay people had remained slow to change.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Chile) - A samll group of gay rights activists gathered Thursday morning in front of the Iranian Embassy in Santiago to protest the recent execution in Iran of more than a dozen people accused of homosexuality and/or adultery. The demonstration was organized by the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Freedom (MOVILH), Chile’s leading sexual minorities’ advocacy organization. Joining the delegation from MOVILH were representatives from the youth branches of the Party for Democracy and Radical Party. Several secondary school student leaders also took part in the protest. “Using a loudspeaker, we told the neighbors that their same building houses representatives of a government that in our estimation is committing genocide against an important part of its population,” MOVILH leader Rolando Jiménez told the Santiago Times.
Note: Read full article on The Santiago Times
(Uganda) - Two years ago, a government official broke into a home, seized property and detained one of the occupants without a warrant. The case seems clear, but will the plaintiff's homosexuality affect the verdict? The ruling, due next month in Uganda's Constitutional court, could set a precedent for sub-Saharan Africa's reportedly conservative masses. Two Ugandan lesbians are suing the government for trespassing, theft of property, illegal arrest, and inhuman and degrading treatment. The case has been in court since December 2006 and a verdict is expected when the court session resumes in August.
Note: Read full article on www.monitor.co.ug
(Boston, USA) - Gay couples from New Mexico can now marry in Massachusetts because their home state has not explicitly banned same-sex marriage, according to a decision by a top state records official. New Mexico joins Rhode Island as the only states whose gay residents can marry in Massachusetts because neither specifically bans same-sex marriage. But neither Rhode Island nor New Mexico has said it would recognize the marriages after its residents return home. Gay rights advocates said they had expected the decision on New Mexico, which comes after Massachusetts's highest court ruled last year that gay couples from other states could not marry here if their home state banned gay marriage.
Note: Read full article on The Boston Channel
(Iraq) - A new wave of assassinations of Iraqi gays - part of the organized campaign of "sexual cleansing" of homosexuals that has been one of the saddest byproducts of the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq - has been confirmed by Iraqi LGBT, the all-volunteer, London-based group of gay Iraqi exiles that has been documenting the grim work of the Islamist anti-gay death squads in Iraq. Ali Hili from Iraqi LGBT told me this week of the following new confirmed murders and arrests of gay Iraqis, all of which occurred at the beginning of this month. In the small Southern Iraqi town of al-Simawa two gay friends, aged 29 and 30, received death threats targeting their homosexuality. Within a few days, the two young men were assassinated.
Note: Read more on DIRELAND
(Budapest, Hungary) - "I am Gabor Szetey. A faithful Hungarian-European. Citizen, public official, member of the government. And gay." Of all the arenas in which a senior government politician could come out, Szetey's choice -- two days before a Gay Pride march earlier this month in post-communist eastern Europe -- was one of the most defiant. Hungary's Secretary of State for Human Resources risked hostility because he wanted to highlight persistent intolerance, not just of gay people, but also of other minorities, in eastern Europe. After decades under communist rule when homosexuality was banned or simply out of sight, most east Europeans still find it hard to accept.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
Discrimination and a lack of access to health services have sparked an alarming rise in the rate of new HIV infections among Gay men in developing countries. Studies have found that infection rates are growing among Gay men in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and less than 5 percent of those men have access to HIV-related health care, according to a statistics released by the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR. Statistics show the rate of infection with HIV among Gay men growing exponentially in parts of the developing world. In Kenya, around 40 percent are estimated to be HIV positive, compared to a 6 percent prevalence in the overall population, according to amFAR. In Senegal nearly 22 percent are thought to be infected, compared to 0.9 percent of the general population.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(Australia) - Despite a High Court rebuke and assurances to the Senate, immigration authorities are still finding ways to ignore pleas for protection on the basis of anti-gay persecution. Egyptian-born Mohamed (Mike) Sarhan is the latest in a string of cases where bigoted assumptions by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) and the Immigration Department are putting gay people at risk of torture. Sarhan and his Australian partner Brad Corchorane celebrated their second anniversary last week with rings and a ceremony at Sydney Town Hall, but the RRT accused them of faking homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on www.ssonet.com.au
(Tiflis, Georgia) - An event promoting tolerance and cultural dialogue in Georgia has been cancelled, after rumours spread that it was in fact a Gay parade. The highly influential head of the Georgian Orthodox church spoke out against the event. Organisers told the BBC they feared that the participants could have been attacked if it went ahead. Gays have come under attack in former Soviet republics, with the Orthodox Church one of their main foes. The head of the Georgian Orthodox church had also warned that any rally involving sexual minorities would cause widespread offence and "possibly lead to physical confrontation". Although homosexuality is legal, it is widely regarded as immoral. Gay rights activists in Georgia say Gays are often the targets for abuse and physical violence.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(EU) - The European Commission quietly approved an agreement this Monday which gives the US Department of Homeland Security unprecedented access to the personal information of anyone on a transatlantic flight, including details of their sexual orientation. The agreement adds 19 possible new categories, including information on ethnic origin, political and philosophical opinions, credit card numbers, trade union membership, sex life and details of the passengers' health. In 1987, fear about the spread of AIDS led US officials to require anyone with HIV to declare their status and apply for a special waiver visa. Restrictions were lifted in 2006, allowing HIV+ people a 'categorical waiver' similar to the 60 day visas that business and tourist visitors from wealthy receive automatically.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Tehran, Iran) - Tehran's chief prosecutor Saiid Mortazavi has announced that the execution by hanging of 17 "socially dangerous" people "is imminent". His announcement comes after Sunday's mass hangings of 12 people. The authorities have also published the names of those executed and informed the families of the 17 others on death row. It is not known whether among those hangedwere five people arrested on charges of having homosexual relations. On the list of those due to be punished with the death penalty in the coming days, or maybe hours, are several individuals arrested for political reasons.
Note: Read full article on www.adnkronos.com
(Indonesia) - The Legislative Council of Indonesia’s Papua province is deliberating a regulation that would see microchips implanted in people living with HIV/AIDS so authorities could monitor their actions. The Jakarta Post reports that according to Article 35 of the regulation on healthcare in the province, to supervise and control people with HIV/AIDS a detection device is needed to monitor the movements and sexual activities of people with HIV/AIDS. Dr John Manansang, a member of the working group deliberating the regulation, told reporters in Jayapura that if the regulation was approved by the council in its present form, the article on microchips would be implemented. Dr Manansang said the microchips would be imposed on people with HIV/AIDS "who practice high-risk behaviors."
Note: Read full article on Radio NZ
Iranian Queer Organization reports that a 21 years-old homosexual man from Iran is facing deportation to the Islamic Republic. Hamid fled country because of his sexual orientation and has been staying in France for about one and half year now. He was arrested by the police a few days ago in Paris and since that day, 18 July 2007, he has been kept in a detention room. Unfortunately French authorities are going to deport him back to Iran. They are dealing with Iranian Embassy in Paris about this issue. He MUST not be deported back to Iran, and he needs our support NOW. IRQO has been in touch with Cimad Organization in Paris so you can send your support letters and letters of reproving of his deportation to this organization, or to IRQO.
Note: Read more on irqo.net
(Jamaica) - The management team of dancehall artiste, Mark Myrie, popularly known as Buju Banton, has dismissed a report in Monday's edition of the UK Guardian stating that he has signed an agreement with a gay rights group. A report in the newspaper claims that homophobic figures in reggae and dancehall music have agreed to stop singing violently anti-gay lyrics. But speaking with RJR news, Buju's manager Donovan Germaine dismissed the report out of hand. He added that the management team would not comment further on the issue as it was "being used by the gay rights group to gain mileage for their cause."
Note: Read full article on Radio Jamaica
(Madrid, Spain) - A judge has ordered a lesbian mother to hand over her two daughters to their father because, he said, her homosexuality would harm them and “raised the risk” that the girls would also become lesbians, press reports said on Monday. Judge Fernando Ferrin Calamita, who heard the case at a court in the eastern region of Murcia, also said the woman could keep custody of the children if she found another male partner. According to Ferrin, being raised by homosexual would not allow the children the right to the proper environment to which they were entitled.
Note: Read full article on Expatica
(Malta) - Last Wednesday, MaltaToday Midweek reported that the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) had to intervene to stop the termination of employment of four gay teachers from Church schools over the past five years. John Bencini from MUT claimed the Church schools were subjected to pressures from parents of children attending these schools. In one particular case the teacher involved was also subjected to insults written on the blackboard by his students. In all cases reported to the MUT, the employment of the teachers involved was ultimately safeguarded. In such cases the MUT strictly adheres to guidelines issued by the European Trade Union Committee on Education (ETUCE) which clearly state that as long as the teachers involved perform their professional duties their sexual orientation and private life should not be a factor in their employment. “As long as these teachers do not try to influence students by their beliefs or lifestyles, their sexuality is a private matter,” Bencini said.
Note: Read full article on Malta Today
(USA) - Same-sex couples came Monday to Olympia (Washington) with mixed feelings, lining up to register as domestic partners with the Secretary of State's office. They said the new set of legal rights that when into effect Monday morning - which include hospital visitation, property inheritance and funeral planning - were steps in the right direction but still a far cry from full marriage equality. Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, was the leading force behind the new legislation in Olympia. He and his longtime partner Michael Shiosaki, were among those waiting to register.
Note: Read full article on SeattlePI
(Sweden) - Sweden’s national organisation for gay rights, the RFSL, has been granted observer status by the United Nations. The UN Economic and Social Council approved the RFSL’s application to be a consultative group at the assembly - a status shared by organisations such as Amnesty International. The decision was made despite a UN committee’s recommendation that the Swedes’ application be rejected. Some countries, including Egypt, lobbied against the RFSL’s inclusion.
Note: Read full article on www.sr.se
(Jamaica) - The news that Buju Banton had signed was welcomed by gay rights groups in Jamaica, where attacks on gay people are common and gay sex is illegal. Carl Edmonson, from Jamaican gay rights group J-Flag, said: "I really hope that his actions are genuine and it is not just because international pressure is hurting his pocket. We hope it is a sincere commitment that will end homophobic violence." Others were more pragmatic about Banton's actions. Mark Richards, known as DJ Kemist from reggae label Xtremix records, said: "I can see why he's done it. He doesn't want to jeopardise his whole career over just a few songs. But it doesn't mean it's going to change any of his opinions."
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Jamaica) - Beenie Man, in an about-turn Friday denounced violence against homosexuals, but made it clear that he did not support that lifestyle. The deejay was responding to questions about an alleged deal with international gay rights groups, including the UK-based Outrage, in which he was said to have agreed to renounce violence against gays. He denied signing any such deal, which Outrage last month announced as the Reggae Compassionate Act, but at the same time said that violence against gays was wrong. Beenie Man explained that "It's a ting from the promoters of Europe. They are getting so much fight from the Christian and "g" organisation and everything," said the self-proclaimed 'King of the Dancehall', who apparently could not bring himself to say the word gay.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Observer
(USA) - Because immigration law does not recognize same-sex couples, an American citizen would not be able to sponsor their partner if they are on a temporary visa, and in some cases registering for a domestic partnership could jeopardize a foreign national's status. And in the case of military couples, it could violate the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and jeopardize their careers. The new state law creates a domestic partnership registry with the state, and will provide enhanced rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations and inheritance rights when there is no will.
Note: Read full article on Boston.com
(UN) - Canada came out swinging in favour of a Quebec gay rights group yesterday, successfully lobbying for the United Nations to reverse an earlier rejection of the group by a UN committee dominated by Muslim and developing countries. Canada's Hugh Adsett said the UN should be where "diverse voices" can be heard, and "even if some governments don't agree with some (activists), they should not be excluded," note-takers reported. The campaign led to UN approval for the Coalition gaie et lesbienne du QuEbec to receive observer status at the world body.
Note: Read full article on Canada.com
(USA) - New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine on Friday asked United Parcel Service of America to recognize the state's civil-union law and offer gay employees partner benefits similar to those given married workers. Gay activists are targeting the Atlanta-based shipping company, which has denied health benefits to legal partners of its gay workers despite the New Jersey law enacted in February that endeavored to give civil-union partners all marriage rights. "Surely, as a company with a long-standing commitment to its employees and the community, UPS would not want to make its employees and their families face these difficult choices based on the subtleties of the interaction of federal and state law," Corzine wrote in a letter dated Friday and released to reporters.
Note: Read full article on gay.com
Now, this is no time for a formal dinner party, Kittenz. But if you get the chance, do have the gurlz over for a backyard barbecue extravaganza to prep for Pride! C'mon, Kittenz, show a little proud spirit! Throw a hog on a log, sit on a hay bale and crank up a mix of Bertossi's new album. Serve up a corn on the cob in a buttery condom sleeve. Fill the Mr Turtle pool with a colourful blend of Pilsners, watermelons and inflatable bras; everyone is a winner that way. If we all make the effort to come out again this summer, and I mean come OUT again this summer, as though it were our first time, we may just have the chance to reclaim our Pride.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Ireland) - A sperm donor today won a landmark court battle to stop a lesbian couple moving to Australia with his 14-month-old son. In the first case of its kind in Ireland, the Supreme Court ruled it was in the best interest of the child's welfare to remain in the state with his biological father. Two out of three judges in the state's highest court upheld a temporary order granted by the High Court to prevent the child's mother and her partner moving away for a year. The child's mother's partner - who is Australian - wanted the child to meet her family. A battle over the guardianship of the child is now due to be heard. Mrs Justice Susan Denham, supported by Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, said she was guided by the paramount importance of the welfare of the infant, by the young age of the infant, and by the fact that a year is a long time in the life of a developing infant. But Mr Justice Nial Fennelly argued no expert evidence had been heard that the child's welfare would be jeopardised or compromised by his being taken to Australia.
Note: Read full article on Daily Mail
(Moscow, Russia) - About two dozens of LGBT and political activists demonstrated in front of Iranian embassy in Moscow. They protested against execution and discrimination of gay people in Iran. The rally has been organized and supported by Russian prominent gay rights organizations like GayRussia.Ru project, LGBT Rights movement, “Free Radicals” Libertarian Movement and activists of Transnational Radical Party. Demonstrators held slogans in support of human and gay rights. They also held rainbow flags. Slogans of the rally were: “Iran! Maintain human rights!”, “Iran! Hands off gays!”, “No death penalty!”. Last year few LGBT and political activists had also rallied on July 19 against execution of gay people in Iran. Several nazi extremists had tried to assault demonstrators. One of them had been beaten.
Note: Read full article on Gayrussia.ru
(UK) - An asylum seeker who was deported to Iran in 2004 has been describing how he managed to escape from custody and make his way back to the UK. In this three-part series, the BBC News Website follows Shahin Portofeh's story, from deportation and alleged torture in Iran, to his escape and flight to the UK in an arduous and dangerous journey across Turkey, Greece and Italy. Shahin Portofeh was so scared at the prospect of being deported from Coventry back to Iran that he sewed up his eyes and lips in July 2003 in an effort to draw attention to his case. The UK Home Office decided to deport him, sending him back to Tehran in 2004.
Note: Read full article on BBC News
(Ghana) - When Patrick Williams told his mother he was gay, she packed his bags and threw him out of the house, disowning her son for what she saw as an evil act. His experience is by no means unusual in the West African country, where homosexuality is seen as an unnatural sexual act and, as such, is illegal. But as the country celebrates 50 years of independence, UK gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has called on President John Kufuor, who is visiting London this week, to speak to his country's gay community. "As Ghana celebrates 50 years of independence, it is time to repeal the anti-gay laws," Mr Tatchell said.
Note: Read full article on Statesman online
(USA) - In response to Casper's new historical monument plaza, an anti-gay pastor in Kansas has renewed his request to have his own monument in town. In a letter to the Casper City Council on Monday, the Rev. Fred Phelps restated his intentions to build a monument in Casper, the home of slain gay student Matthew Shepard. Phelps said he would be willing to include a picture of Shepard and the engraving: "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, at age 21, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."
Note: Read full article on Casper Tribune
(Ireland) - Gay couples are to be given the same legal rights as other couples during the course of the current Dail, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern confirmed yesterday. Under a new civil partnership law, gay and co-habiting couples will be entitled to the same tax breaks, social welfare benefits, pension schemes and inheritance rights as married couples have now, he said. But opposition parties poured cold water on Mr Ahern's promises, claiming they have heard it all before. Labour's justice spokesman Brendan Howlin said the Fianna Fail-PD coalition voted down a private member's bill he introduced in the Dail last year that would legalise civil unions amongst gay couples. A spokesperson said: "Fianna Fail has broken every promise they've ever made on civil partnership and I have no reason to believe that this promise will be any different to the one that the Taoiseach made in April 2006."
Note: Read full article on Independent
(Singapur) - British actor Ian McKellen on Tuesday urged tightly-governed Singapore to loosen up and repeal its archaic laws aginst homosexuality. The openly gay McKellen indicated the laws, which are remnants of British colonial rule, may affect a vibrant business city like Singapore, which is vying with other Asian cities to draw more foreign talent and professionals. "Just treat us with respect like we treat everybody else and the world will be a better place, I think," McKellen said in a live interview. "Coming to Singapore where unfortunately you've still got those dreadful laws that we British left behind... it's about time Singapore grew up, I think, and realised that gay people are here to stay," he said.
Note: Read full article on Brisbane Times
(USA) - In the wake of sex scandals involving children, the Roman Catholic Church should either change its mores or close its doors. Since 1950, the United States arm of the church has paid an astounding $2 billion to settle claims of childhood sexual abuse. Yes, that is billions with a capital "B" that could have gone towards raising orphans, housing the homeless and feeding the "foodless." Instead, the church has had to reach deep inside its pockets, because some priests can't keep their hands out of the pants of others. About a quarter of the fortune paid to the unfortunate victims has come from the Los Angeles archdiocese. Its leader, Cardinal Roger Mahony, apologized Sunday to the hundreds of abused who will be compensated, as if you can put a price on the church's vice.
Note: Read full article on Wayne Besen
(Hungary) - Although the topic of homosexuality often meets with incomprehension in Hungary, it is one of the most important symbolic ongoing debates in democratic countries. Its political weight arises firstly from the fact that it attracts a great deal of public attention, and secondly because it concerns fundamental human rights. After the human resources state secretary Gábor Szetey came out recently, the parties now have the opportunity to distinguish themselves from one another on this extremely divisive question. The act of coming out can be a political tool in two respects: firstly, it can be a means of constructing a personal image, and secondly it can draw attention to an important social problem, in this case the discrimination that homosexuals face.
Note: Read full article on Budapest Times
(USA) - According to a press release from Basic Rights Oregon, a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge found that two Oregon state laws violate the state's constitution by discriminating against families headed by same-gender couples. Judge Eric Bloch's decision in Parman v. Oregon et al holds that two Oregon laws granting parental rights to married couples are discriminatory against same-sex couples. Judge Bloch's ruling was based on the1998 Tanner v. OHSU decision, where he found that assigning benefits based on marriage, while not permitting same-sex couples access to these benefits, constitutes illegal discrimination against certain families.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(Dublin, Ireland) - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has today re-opened the refurbished Outhouse community centre for Dublin's gay community. The centre is in a Georgian building at 105 Capel Street and now includes a cafe and office space for groups focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) issues. Speaking shortly after 3pm Mr Ahern said that his Government is intent on offering greater support for same sex couples and that legislation for civil partnerships is imminent. "I am delighted to be here today in Capel Street to officially open the premises of Outhouse," said Mr Ahern.
Note: Read full article on www.ireland.com
(USA) - The American and Australian met in London. They fell madly in love. They got together, got a dog, got a house near Venice Beach. But there is no happy ending in sight for Tim Miller and Alistair McCartney. That's because the couple is gay, and U.S. immigration law does not allow the Whittier-born Miller to sponsor McCartney for a green card as heterosexuals cando for their husbands and wives. Federal law reserves immigration benefits for those with "valid marriages" to U.S. citizens, defining them as unions between a man and woman. It supersedes state laws that recognize civil unions or, in the case of Massachusetts, same-sex marriages.
Note: Read full article on LA Times
(Ankara, Turkey) - In the 1980s and 1990s, Turkish police routinely raided gay bars, detained transvestites and banned homosexual conferences and festivals. In May, in a sign of how the state has loosened up, gay activists held forums on several university campuses to discuss their rights and the discrimination they still face. Gays in Turkey say they lack legal protections and face social stigma in a Muslim nation with a secular tradition of government that has implemented broad reforms in its bid to join the European Union - but remains heavily influenced by conservative and religious values. For the most part, they face less pressure than in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries where Islamic codes are enforced with more rigor. But Turkey's homosexuals are jostling for more rights in a crowded field.
Note: Read full article on Baltimore Sun
(Kathmandu, Nepa) - Police in Kathmandu today stand accused of assault on ‘métis’ (transgender people) in Ratna Park last night after it was discovered that the métis were carrying condoms. The police are said to have beaten, stripped, and in some cases, sexually abused five métis. This incident happened as human rights groups were due to meet MPs to discuss how gay rights could be included in the new constitution. Today, the police officer thought to be responsible for the assaults acknowledged to the Blue Diamond Society that such beatings are regular police practice. The officer added that carrying condoms is evidence of illegal acts.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Montreal, Quebec) - Quebec homosexual-rights groups have stepped up the fight against homophobia after a gay man was severely beaten in the provincial capital. Philippe, who did not release his last name, says four men with shaved heads followed him after he left the Le Drague gay bar in downtown Quebec City on July 1. After calling the 24-year-old man derogatory names, the assailants knocked him to the ground. In a melee lasting less than 60 seconds, the men punched and kicked him repeatedly. The victim spent two days in hospital and doctors needed eight screws to reassemble his jaw. "This man who was attacked is not alone. He has a community with him," said Olivier Poulin, president of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Quebec.
Note: Read full article on www.mytelus.com
(Tallin, Estland) - Organisers of next month’s Tallinn Pride have hit back at local police who have said that a Gay Pride march would threaten the constitutional rights of other citizens. The Tallinn police were quoted earlier in the week by InterFax, the Russian news agency, as saying that the Pride parade should not be held as the streets were narrow. “We do take comments from police very seriously and have every intention to do whatever we are asked to do to secure the constitutional rights of other citizens,” said Lisette Kampus, spokesperson of Tallinn Pride.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Delhi, India) - A lesbian couple in Delhi has gone underground after they declared their wedding on Sunday. Their families of Geeta and Babli have disowned them and efforts are on to resolve them though the police have failed. ''We didn't want them to live here as we have other kids and that would set a bad example for them,'' Babli's mother Lajpat said. The women had been in a relationship for the past year and a half. Many lesbian women hestiate to step out of the closet fearing hostility from society and an insenstive media whose reportage isolates more than integrates such cases.
Note: Read full article on www.ndtv.com
Surveillance is a fast paced sexual and political thriller set in London. It stars Tom Harper as Adam, a gay teacher who lives in Surrey and comes to London on the weekends to go clubbing and pick up men. A casual encounter with a handsome stranger, Jake (Sean Brenden Brosnan) brings Adam to the attention of powerful, unseen forces. They rob him of his job and follow his every move. Suddenly, Adam's life is a mess, and he’s in serious danger. But why him? Then Adam discovers that Jake planted on him the only evidence of an affair with a gay royal.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(UK) - A drunken father-of-three attacked his daughter after she announced she was gay. Ian Lord, 42, told Burnley magistrates gays did not "bother him" - but he did not like his daughter being one. Lord had landed in court after reducing the victim Danielle, 23, to tears, bending back her fingers and twisting her arm. He had branded his middle child a "dirty lesbian," and had told he he would never accept her sexuality, the bench was told.
Note: Read full article on www.burnleycitizen.co.uk
(UK) - A Metropolitan Community Church has been set up in Worcester - the first in the city's history. The church, based at the Friends Meeting House in Sansome Place, Worcester, is for gay people to celebrate both their faith and sexuality, says the minister who will lead the services. The church has been set up by the Birmingham-based Journey Metropolitan Community Church to serve the "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered" Christians of the two counties. Rev Chris Dowd, an Australian who came to the UK 12 years ago and who is leading the services, said: "It's appalling that there simply isn't a place where openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people can come to church and be accepted for who they are. For a substantial number of gay and lesbian people spirituality is very important."
Note: Read full article on www.worcesternews.co.uk
(USA) - Human Rights Campaign just sent a note that after “enthusiastic community response” they’ve changed course and decided to invite Mike Gravel to their forthcoming Logo-sponsored gay debate. We’re sure it had absolutely nothing to Gravel ripping them a new one yesterday. Here’s what HRC has to say for themselves: "The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Logo…today made additional announcements about the presidential candidate forum on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues to take place in Los Angeles on August 9. After enthusiastic community response, former Senator Mike Gravel has been invited to participate."
Note: Read full article on Queerty
(Zagreb, Croatia) - A 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with hate crime for alledegly attempting to throw Molotov cocktails at the Gay Parade in Zagreb last weekend, police said Thursday. The man, identified only as Josip. S., is accused of preparing Molotov cocktails at home, bottles containing gasoline, and planning to throw them at the participants of the Gay Parade, entitled here "Gay Pride", at the Zagreb's main square last Sunday. Several people were lightly injured across the town during the parade, the seventh in a row in Zagreb, as homosexuality remains a taboo subject for some in this predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Note: Read full article on Serbianna
(Angleton, USA) - A man accused of killing a Pearland flight attendant confessed to going to a known gay bar to pick out a target, then going home with him and stabbing him with a knife. Terry Mark Mangum, 26, of Cypress was arrested in June on a murder charge and was indicted Thursday by a Brazoria County grand jury. He is accused of killing Kenneth Cummings Jr. in his Pearland home June 5, then driving to a ranch owned by Mangum’s grandfather outside Poteet to bury his body. When told about his indictment, Mangum told at the county detention center that he would plead guilty to the charges against him. “I did it,” he said. “Bottom line is I stabbed him in the head with a knife.”
Note: Read full article on www.thefacts.com
(UK) - The head of Legal and Compliance at Channel 4 has told a gay audience that they made mistakes in their handling of a contestant on Big Brother who used the word 'poof.' Jan Tomalin was speaking at an event organised by the channel entitled "Homosexuality and the Media: How far have we come?" She frankly admitted when asked about the incident: "we got it wrong." Channel 4 was accused of double standards when a female contestant called one of the men a 'poof,' yet no action was taken against her.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(UK) - Gloria Gaynor, the American singer whose hit I Will Survive is seen as a gay anthem, told Radio 4 this morning that gay people should embrace Christ and that her status as a gay icon allows her to lead them to Him. She repeatedly refused to say whether or not she thinks homosexuality is wrong. When asked by presenter Jane Little how she feels about being a gay icon, she replied: "I feel good about it because I feel it is a platform for my purpose, which is to bring the love of Christ to all of my fans. Because they trust me, I think." JL: "Do you see homosexuality as something sinful?" GG: "I want to lead them to Christ, simply, and whatever he has for them."
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Spain) - The president of Spanish Gay Rights group FELGTB, Antonio Poveda, has made a call to the international community to turn its attention to violation of human rights in Iran. David Montero, person in charge of the FELGTB for international subjects, condemned Iran's “strategy of criminalization of the homosexual love which they carry out all the religious fundamentalisms, that are fomenting hatred towards lesbians, gays, transsexuals and bisexuals." The FELGTB is going to start up protests on 18 July at 12:30 in front of the embassy of Iran to demand the stop of the planned executions.
Note: Read the machine-translated article on www.agmagazine.com.ar
(UK) - Sixty-five per cent of lesbian and gay school pupils have been bullied because of their sexuality, a survey has found. Half of teachers ignore homophobic language when they hear it and the 30 per cent of the kids say adults at their school are responsible for the bullying. Stonewall, which wrote the survey, says this means that of current secondary school pupils, 143,000 children have suffered from anti-gay name-calling, 64,000 have been physically attacked and 26,000 have had death-threats. Ben Summerskill, Stonewall chief executive, said: “This remains one of the few sorts of bullying about which too many schools still take no action. It blights the lives not just of gay children but thousands of pupils perceived to be lesbian or gay too.”
Note: Read full article on Pink Paper
(UK) - Conservative leader David Cameron has pledged to give gay partners the same lucrative tax breaks as married couples. The Tory leader said homosexuals in civil partnerships should be able to claim annual marriage allowances of £3,000. But he risked angering traditionalists just two days after putting families at the centre of the electoral battleground. On Tuesday, he supported a report by a Tory policy group that said an 'anti-marriage' bias had to be eliminated from the tax and benefits system. He told Channel 4 News that married and gay couples should be treated the same way over tax breaks.
Note: Read full article on This Is London
(South Africa) - Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa were killed because they were lesbians. This is according to the Positive Women's Network, an organisation advocating for the rights of South African lesbians, which said on Thursday that their murders "appear to have been a hate crime, committed by people who are intolerant of women and lesbians". Sigasa was an outreach co-ordinator at the network. The two women were found murdered in Meadowlands, Soweto, on Sunday. On Thursday, more than 200 people crammed into a small hall on the premises of the Ipelegeng Community Centre in Soweto to pay tribute to their friends and colleagues.
Note: www.int.iol.co.za
(Istanbul, Turkey) Lambda Istanbul has been ordered to appear before a judge next week to face charges it is violating Turkish law by stating it represents gays, lesbians, and transsexuals. The group was notified this week by the public prosecutor that the governor of Istanbul had requested the charges be laid under the Turkish Civil Code. The law states that associations against law and morality cannot be established. If found guilty Lambda could be closed and its officers fined.
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com, see also Kaos GL News
(Iraq) - Two gay Iraqi men have survived kidnapping and beating by the violently homophobic Mahdi Army - the militia of firebrand fundamentalist Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is fighting to establish an Islamist dictatorship in Iraq. Two months after their ordeal, traumatised Ahmed, 23, and Zaid, 24, both students in Baghdad University, have come forward to tell how they were lured into a trap by members of the Mahdi Army. Ahmed's and Zaid's story reveals how Muqtada al-Sadr's men have adopted a new tactic, borrowed from the Iranian secret police. They are posing as gays in online chatrooms, in order to lure gay men, arrange dates and kill them.
Note: Read full article on Seattle Gay News
(Iran) - The Iranian government has confirmed that in the coming weeks more than 20 men will be executed on moral violations of rape, sodomy and assault and battery. Police arrested over 1000 men in May in poor neighbourhoods of Tehran and other cities as part of a moral 'crackdown' on indecent behaviour. Those arrested will face trial and possible death at a later date. Judiciary spokesperson Alireza Jamshidi told The Guardian that the death penalty will be applied on the grounds of "rape, insulting religious sanctities and laws, and homosexuality." It is unclear if any of the men have been accused of consensual same-sex acts.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(USA) - 20-year-old Brandon Kneefel already is certain about who he is -- and he's paid a heavy price for it. When he was 16, the tension with his parents came to a head, and they cast him out of the house. He went to school the following day -- still in his pajamas. Now nearly a junior and a gay activist, Kneefel is grateful he'll be able to earn his degree in organizational leadership from Pennsylvania State University. "For me, the scholarship is symbolic of how far the LGBT community has come," he said. "It means that I'm affirmed with all the struggles I've been through growing up gay." Acknowledging his sexuality has exacted a high price, but for Kneefel nothing is more costly than self-denial.
Note: Read full article on www.freep.com
(USA) - The Michael Glatze who devoted his life's work to help the isolated, suicide-threatened gay youth is no more. In a 90-minute telephone interview with Gay City News the evening of July 9, Glatze talked in detail about the crisis he said led to his Christian rebirth, how that experience motivated him to reject his self-identification as a gay man, his feelings of "repulsion" at the thought of sex with another man, and his conclusion that his work at Young Gay America was all about "peddling homosexuality to youth." Most startlingly, Glatze said that America needs to "examine whether homosexuality should be legal" or if gay sex should instead be punished by "imprisonment."
Note: Read full article on Gay City News
(USA) - Yesterday the Human Rights Campaign announced that it will not invite me to the first-ever presidential debate on gay issues because I didn't raise enough money. Fighting for a hated minority is a pretty dumb way to get elected president. And obviously it hasn't helped with my fundraising. So why wasn't I invited to the gay rights forum? According to a HRC spokesperson, I didn't raise enough money and therefore my candidacy did not meet their standard of "viability." Ironically I think the real reason why HRC didn't invite me is that I'm too vocal in my advocacy of gay rights. None of the top tier candidates would have been comfortable facing an opponent who consistently points out their refusal to embrace true equality for gays and lesbians. HRC simply bowed to the star factor. It's just a shame that this travesty was perpetrated in the name of the LGBT community.
Note: Read full article on www.huffingtonpost.com
(Hamburg, Germany) - Thousands of marchers will take part in the Christopher Street Day parade outside a landmark department store in downtown Hamburg in late July -- celebrating the fact that in 2007, Hamburg has a gay mayor and same-sex couples can form legally recognized unions. But few of these marchers will be aware of newly released documents revealing that the Gestapo staged a lightning raid on this very department store 70 years ago this summer, hauling off about 40 store employees on suspicion of being homosexually oriented. Many of those detainees ended up in concentration camps. New documents reveal that almost 55,000 gay men met their deaths in Nazi Germany.
Note: Read full article on Deutsche Welle
(Gibraltar) - A lesbian couple who have been in love for 19 years are seeking a judicial review of the Gibraltar government's decision to refuse them joint tenancy of their rented apartment. "It is shocking that this lesbian couple has to go to court to seek a judicial review of the government's decision to deny them joint tenancy of a government-owned flat. This is clear evidence of state-sanctioned homophobic discrimination. It brings shame to the government of The Rock," said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of the London-based gay rights group OutRage! "The refusal to grant a joint tenancy means that if Nadine dies her partner will have no legal right to remain in the home they share together. She will face eviction and homelessness. This is a cruel, vindictive policy."
Note: Read full article on www.gibfocus.gi
(USA) - Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle took another swipe at gays Tuesday, attacking a request that the Stonewall gay and lesbian book archive be housed on city property. The tiff over the adult book collection brought to City Hall a war that started last week between Naugle and gays in the city. Naugle's comments about gays, published last week in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, touched off a fierce controversy. Naugle was quoted saying he uses the term "homosexual" because gay people are "unhappy." He also said one reason he likes the city's recent proposal for a single-occupancy robotic toilet, which cleans itself and offers security features such as a time limit, is that it would help prevent men having sex with each other there, which he said is a problem in other public restrooms.
Note: Read full article on Sun Sentinel
(Budapest, Hungary) - The 10th annual Budapest Gay Pride March this past Saturday, July 7, was violently attacked by hundreds of counter-demonstrators armed with Molotov cocktails, bottles, eggs, and nylon-stocking coshes filled with sand. Some 2,000 LGBT participants marched with several colorful floats from statue-filled Heroes’ Square to a dance club at the foot of one of the bridges crossing the Danube, where an after-party had been planned, and along more than a mile of that route they were pelted by the anti-gay gangs. A number of Pride marchers were injured, several required hospitalization, and a truck caught fire from one of the Molotov cocktails.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Tallahassee, USA) - A bipartisan group opposing a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage in Florida announced today that it has raised more than $1 million for next year's ballot fight. The organization, known as "Florida Red & Blue," hopes to focus public attention on what it called the "unintended consequences" that the pending marriage definition might have on heterosexual couples. Florida Red & Blue raised $1.01 million in about 60 days, including a $250,000 "challenge grant" from philanthropist John Burns that was matched by hundreds of small donors.
Note: Read full article on Florida Today
(UK) - The Ugandan writer who won the Caine Prize for African Writing with a story about lesbianism, often a taboo topic in Africa, says she is "very excited". Monica Arac de Nyeko beat four other finalists to get the $20,000 (£10,000) prize for her story Jambula Tree. It is about a relationship between young girls in a country where homosexuality is illegal. Jambula Tree was described as "witty and mischievous" by the judges. Her publisher Becky Ayebia Clarke said when she first read the story she thought "how brave" Ms Arac de Nyeko was to take on the subject. "In Africa these are not the kind of stories we're allowed to tell. She's taking on a theme that Africans have been in denial about - a theme about same-sex love."
Note: Read full article on BBC
(USA) - United Parcel Service has denied health benefits to some same-sex couples in New Jersey, a decision gay rights advocates say starkly illustrates the limitations of the state's civil unions legislation. The company provides health benefits to its employees' spouses, including married gay couples in Massachusetts. However, it said the Garden State's decision to recognize same-sex relationships as civil unions, rather than marriages, has tied its hands. In a letter to Gabriael "Nickie" Brazier, a driver for UPS, and her civil union partner, Heather Aurand, the company concluded that "New Jersey law does not treat civil unions the same as marriages." It said if the state had done that, Aurand could have been covered as a spouse.
Note: Read full article on www.nj.com
(USA) - Roi Whaley, 42, stood by his domestic partner, Aurelio Tolentino, 34, a native of the Philippines, for the past two years as Tolentino waged a losing legal battle to fend off a U.S. deportation order brought about because of his HIV-positive status. A U.S. immigration law bans HIV-positive immigrants from staying in the country. On July 11, five days before he would be subject to arrest and deportation, Tolentino is scheduled to fly from Gulfport to Billington, Wash., where he will rent a car and drive 30 miles north to the Canadian border. In a process arranged through his lawyers in the U.S. and Canada, Canadian customs officials will allow Tolentino to enter that country as a refugee from the United States.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(USA) - Harassment and abuse of gay men and lesbians is becoming increasingly accepted as grounds for legal asylum in the United States. Ironically, experts said, it might be harder for homosexuals to win asylum claims on grounds of sexual orientation if they come from countries with dictatorial governments that repress a variety of people. Seeking asylum from a country with a great deal of violence might work against a gay applicant. "We have cases from all over the world, but sometimes people who come from the scariest countries have the hardest time proving their case," said Victoria Neilson, legal director of a private New York agency called Immigration Equality.
Note: Read full article on Washington Post
(Israel) - Many adults in Israel believe gay and lesbian couples should be afforded pension and survivorship rights, according to a poll by The Friedrich Naumann Foundation. 56 per cent of respondents believe this prerogative is either good or necessary. Since the 1990s, Israel has granted spousal and survivor benefits to gay and lesbian partners. In November 2006, Israel’s High Court of Justice ordered the government to acknowledge same-sex marriages performed abroad. In January 2007, Jerusalem officially registered its first homosexual married couple.
Note: Read full article on www.angus-reid.com
(USA) - Gay activists in Florida have launched a campaign to deluge Fort Lauderdale Jim Naugle with toilet paper to mock his comments about gay sex in public bathrooms. ''We are encouraging people to mail either a roll or several sheets of toilet paper to the mayor at City Hall to help him to wipe his dirty mind clean,'' said Brian Winfield, spokesperson for Equality Florida. The bathroom brouhaha started after Naugle's comments in a July 4 article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about the city's plan to buy a $250,000 self-cleaning robotic toilet for beachgoers. The high-tech commode could be programmed with a time limit, after which the door would fly open. In the article, Naugle was quoted as saying the toilet could prevent ''homosexual activity'' that has occurred at other public restrooms.
Note: Read full article on Miami Herald
(USA) - As boycotts go, yesterday's protest at Petco Park flopped – like the hats. Objecting to the confluence of two promotions at last night's Padres game – “Pride Night,” a group event for local gays and lesbians, and a team giveaway of floppy hats to children 14 and younger – several Christian and conservative groups called for a public protest and boycott of the game. Roughly 75 protesters showed up outside Petco Park's front gate dressed in red T-shirts emblazoned with the message “Save Our Kids.”
Note: Read full article on www.signonsandiego.com
(USA) - Many Morris County teachers and students say anti-gay language is rampant in schools, creating the potential for a hostile environment for gay students, as a court ruling prompts educators to take a closer look at the problem. Dozens of interviews with students and teachers indicate that while serious anti-gay harassment is rare in Morris County schools, the use of anti-gay language is common, even when it's not directed at gay students. The use of the phrase "That's so gay" -- used by youths to describe anything they don't like -- is prevalent and often goes unchallenged. "It happens so much I can't stop it all the time," said Debbie Gottsleben, a Morristown High School librarian. "I hear it at least 10 to 25 times a day."
Note: Read full article on Daily Record
(Jamaica) - The anti-homosexual sentiment among Jamaicans and much of the Caribbean runs across all social classes and all sectors. It is deeply ingrained - embedded in our culture and traditions. On occasions in Jamaica, homophobia has caused us to hang our heads in shame following mob houndings, stonings, beatings, even murder of individuals accused of being gay. The aversion to homosexuality has been a major reason for the long delay in consensus on the very important Charter of Rights Bill currently before Parliament.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Observer
(USA) - Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone are dedicated to the goal of marriage equality. But these grannies aren't sitting around in rocking chairs waiting for something to happen. Instead, they mounted their bicycles and rode across the country. TWICE. Along the way, they inspired other activists and won the hearts and minds of many people. They also experienced injury, frustration, exhaustion, and threats. But with every milestone reached along their journey, Carrie and Elisia's dedication grew with each mile traveled. These lesbian grandmothers first bike cross country in 2003. Together, they planned their itinerary, reach out to LGBT organizations, made calls to the press, wrote speeches, and mended flat bicycle tires.
Note: Read full article on Bilerico.com
(UK) - Conservative Leader, David Cameron today defended the appointment to his Shadow Cabinet of a Muslim who previous campaigned against gay rights. As she failed in her attempts to be democratically electesd to the House of Commons, Sayeeda Warsi, will be ennobled as a "working peer" to become David Cameron's Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion. Her views run contrary to the image of the Tory party as gay-friendly that David Cameron is keen to promote. Mrs Warsi's campaign leaflet in 2005 attacked the government's gay rights agenda: "Labour has scrapped section 28 which was introduced by the Conservatives to stop schools promoting alternative sexual lifestyles such as homosexuality to children as young as seven years old."
Note: read full article on Pink News
(Jamaica) - Jamaica's opposition leader Bruce Golding has come out strongly against any change in legislation to sanction homosexuality in Jamaica, even as members of that community are moving for greater acceptance among locals. According to Golding, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) of which he is president, is not prepared to go against the cultural norms of the Jamaican society, which are largely anti-same sex relationships. Golding's statements come at a time when sociologists and at least one academic are predicting an increase in violence against people of the same sex, who openly express affection for each other or engage in cross-dressing.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Observer
(India) - Today, all over India, there are a number of groups that offer support, counselling and also focus on rights issues. But “coming out” is still a sensitive issue which can have far-reaching consequences. For Dr Hoshang Merchant, who teaches at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), it was loss of his inheritance. “But I got my freedom,” he says. His open sexual orientation got him “kicked out of 17 houses in 11 months.” “I was also kicked out of my job as a Reader at Pune University when they realised I am gay; in seven years I changed 11 jobs,” says Hoshang, editor of Yaraana, the first anothology of Gay Indian Literature published by Penguin in 1999.
Note: Read full article on www.newindpress.com
(Malta) - A small but determined group of people gathered in Valletta yesterday for Malta's fourth Gay Pride manifestation. In all there were about 50 people, a few of whom were actually supporting the activity and did not form party of the gay community. Commenting on the attendance, Malta Gay Rights Movement coordinator Gabriella Calleja said many gay people do not believe that their presence at such marches ultimately makes a difference. "What's more, some are afraid of the exposure. At the recent pride party there were about 1,000 people or more but here, given the cameras and journalists and in broad daylight, it's a different story." The first march, back in 2004, was better attended than the past three years but there were never more than 100 people.
Note: Read full article on Times of Malta
(Zagreb, Croatia) - Police said they arrested eight people on Saturday after violence marred a Gay Pride march through the centre of the Croatian capital Zagreb. Organisers said more than 20 marchers had been the target of homophobic attacks. "Around 10 people were hurt, with two needing medical treatment," Marko Jurcic, one of the organisers, told AFP. Italian senator Gianpaolo Silvestri was in one of the groups attacked, but was unhurt, Jurcic said. Police said the eight arrests were for threatening behaviour towards the marchers. "Five of them were carrying what appeared to be Molotov cocktails, but the contents of the bottles they were carrying has yet to be analysed," police spokesman Marina Burazer said. Earlier, around 200 homosexuals braved the jeers of onlookers to take part in the annual Gay Pride march through Zagreb to back demands for gay rights.
Note: Read full article on AFP
Following last month’s news that the Pentagon had devised a ‘gay bomb,’ Gay porn company Dark Alley has jumped at the opportunity to make a film inspired by pseudo science-fiction, inherently homophobic military maneuver. ...Dark Alley described the upcoming “Gay bomb”, to begin filming in November 2007, as follows: ...“Desperate to fend off its attackers, the US launches the experimental ‘gay bomb,’ designed to make the enemy forces drop their guns and turn fag. But the winds of fate blow in a different direction, and soon America is brought to its knees.”
Note: Full article at Gay.com UK
(Boston) - A man said he failed the Massachusetts bar exam because he refused to answer a question about gay marriage, and claims in a federal lawsuit the test violated his rights and targeted his religious beliefs. The suit also challenges the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, which was legalized in Massachusetts in 2003. Stephen Dunne, who is representing himself in the case and seeks $9.75-million, said the bar exam was not the place for a "morally repugnant and patently offensive" question addressing the rights of two married lesbians, their children and their property.
Note: The full article is in the St. Petersburg Times
(Miami) - Telemundo TV personality Luisa Fernanda, the Mexican host of the popular show Cotorreando ("Chattering''), was fired after she made an unintended slur against gays. Fernanda used the Cuban word for grouper, cherna, which for Cubans has another meaning: a pejorative term for a gay man. Other networks also have taken action against on-air personalities recently. But in Fernanda's case, she had no clue the word she was uttering is an insult in Cuban Spanish; several local gay community activists are defending her.
Note: The full article is in the Miami Herald
(India) - A young woman from Batala, India, slit her wrists in a courtroom Thursday when her partner testified that she was coerced into their marriage. Baljit Kaur is now recovering but has been placed under arrest for attempted suicide. Rajwinder Kaur, 20, and Baljit Kaur, 21, ran away from their homes last month and exchanged vows in secret on June 3. They had considered emigrating to Canada. Baljit claims that Rajwinder's family forced her to testify against their relationship. "We are totally in love," she screamed before running from the courtroom. In hysterics she slit her wrists to protest the proceedings. Police in the courtroom caught Baljit and administered first aid.
Note: Read full article on The Advocate
(UK) - In a speech to the gay rights organisation Stonewall, Kevin Brennan, the new Children’s Minister, will say that schools have a clear and urgent obligation to end the widespread use of homophobic language as supposedly “harmless banter”. His comments follow recent research by the Schools Health Education Unit suggesting that half of teachers fail to respond to homophobic language when they hear it. He will make clear that such language should be viewed in the same way as racist abuse and punished accordingly. He particularly wanted schools to get tough on the use of the word “gay” as a synonym for “uncool” or “bad”. This, he said, contributed to a culture that could be threatening or uncomfortable for gay and lesbian pupils.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(India) - The 145-year-old Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) declares homosexuality illegal, and same sex couples are far from being accepted as ‘normal’ in India. But things might just change. And soon. Active lobbying for repealing the “anachronistic and absurd” clause from the IPC is brewing a new storm in the legal and political circuits. In what represents the new thought wave, sixty five per cent participants of an open poll on PHAT Chicks feel homosexuality should be legalized in India.
Note: Read full article on India Times
(New Zealand) - Women interested in setting up a lesbian-only rest home in Wellington will hold meetings in the city next month to gauge support. The idea comes from Arafelle Oné, who founded a lesbian community in the Far North more than 25 years ago. She still lives there. "Many of us . . . have dreamed about . . . living together in an old dykes home later in life," Ms Oné told Gaynz.com. "Well, life is getting later very rapidly now and where are the old dykes homes?" The 62-year-old wants to establish the lesbian-only rest homes as her partner of 15 years enters the final stages of dementia, forcing the couple to live hundreds of kilometres apart.
Note: Read full article on www.stuff.co.nz
(Bangkok, Thailand) - A member of the French Accor hotel chain - on Thursday issued an apology to a Thai transvestite Suttirat Simsri-wong barred from the hotel's nightclub, after the discriminatory act prompted a boycott by gay groups. "On behalf of Novotel Bangkok in Siam Square, I would like to extend my sincere apology to Suttirat Simsri-wong for the unfortunate incident that took place on Friday June 22 between her and the CM2 management and staff," said Novotel Bangkok manager Gerald Hougardy in front of a roomful of journalists and gay-rights advocates. Door staff at the CM2 nightclub at Novotel Bangkok two weeks ago barred Suthirat Simsri-wong, from entering the premises on the grounds that he was a "katoey," the Thai word for a transvestite. The discriminatory act prompted more than 100 gay-rights-advocate organisations worldwide to launch a boycott of the Bangkok hotel and other Accor properties.
Note: Read full article on Bangkok Post
(Croatia) - If the Social Democratic Party obtains office, it will hlisten to expectations of sexual minorities, as it has so far, and advocate for dismissing every discrimination, SDP`s president of the Human rights and civil society council Ivo Josipovic at a round table discussion, induced by manifestations of sex and gender minority members which are being held throughout Europe these days. To the question of removing discrimination and the right to same-sex marriage, Josipovic said that there was no reason for people to be divided according to their sexual preferences and that SDP`s Parliamentary representative Sime Lucin has proven SDP`s position with his actions so far and that the right to marriage was one of civil rights.
Note: Read full article on www.javno.com
(Nigeria) - The head of the Anglican Church in Nigeria says that his 120-plus bishops will boycott next year’s Lambeth Conference unless the US Church halts its liberal agenda. The Archbishop’s stance has been condemned by lesbian and gay activists, who say that he is putting their lives at risk. Davis MacIyalla, director of the Anglican gay lobby group Changing Attitude Nigeria, said: “Archbishop Akinola is exposing gays and lesbians in Nigeria to danger.” Speaking to The Advocate, he said: “He’s constantly saying that homosexuality is evil, thereby making some people take the law into their hands.”
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(The Hague) - Gay rights organisation COC wants criminals convicted for assaulting gays banned from entering areas that are known to be frequented by gays. The Amsterdam police said yesterday that four reports of assault had been received from homosexuals during the past week. Until then, only six reports had been received this year. COC has asked Harm Brouwer, the chief of the Public Prosecutors' Office (OM), to ensure that convicted offenders are given court orders to stay out of certain zones such as the Reguliersdwarsstraat in Amsterdam. This is the capital's 'gay street'.
Note: Read full article on www.nisnews.nl
(Chicago, USA) - After weeks of protest from Chicago-area human rights groups, controversial Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton performed Wednesday at the African-Caribbean International Festival of Life in Washington Park. Banton's song "Boom Bye-Bye" contain lyrics announcing that gays “haffi dead” (“have to die”). “We are not talking about censorship, we are talking about stopping violence,” said Marc Loveless, Coordinator for the Coalition of Justice and Respect. “The song is still inciting violence today.” On Wednesday, DJs played a recording of “Boom Bye-Bye” for about two minutes at the concert before Banton took the stage for the 15th annual festival, Loveless said.
Note: Read full article on news.medill.northwestern.edu
(Trinidad and Tobago) - A 29-year-old Gay man has been awarded $28,400 as compensation for being kept naked at a police station for over three hours while police officers ridiculed him about the size of his penis. Judgment on behalf of the Ste Madeleine man was delivered in the San Fernando High Court yesterday by Justice Shafeyei Shah who ruled that the man's arrest on July 24, 2000 was unlawful. The man said he and his partner were walking past the Princes Town Police Station around 4.30 p.m. on July 24, 2000, when he was arrested by two police officers and led into a prison cell. He was then subjected to degrading treatment.
Note: Read full article on Trinidad Express
(Australia) - Gay couples are increasingly turning their back on Australia because their relationships are not being recognised, it has been claimed. Katherine Eastaughffe and her partner Una Hakin say they regret returning to Australia after taking advantage of Britain’s civil union laws in 2005. And, the couple say, they are not alone, with many of their friends electing to settle in New Zealand, Canada and the UK, where their relationships are recognised. Eastaughffe, a software engineer, and Hakin, a drug and alcohol counsellor, moved to Queensland to be closer to Eastaughffe’s parents. They were shocked at the bureaucratic hurdles they faced – including tax forms with small print that specifically excluded same-sex partners from benefits de facto couples enjoyed.
Note: Read full article on www.ssonet.com.au
(USA) - Charlene Cothran (Venus magazine) and Michael Glatze (Young Gay America magazine editor) were gay niche publishers who discovered that peddling fiction is much juicer (and potentially more profitable) than selling straight news on gay life. The newly minted “ex-gay” stars tell us they have seen the light. Interestingly, both Cothran and Glatze found God and renounced homosexuality shortly after they split up from what they once considered their spouses. Instead of checking out potential new dates, Cothran and Glatze simply checked out, found Jesus, and blamed their personal failures on homosexuality. Unfortunately, the opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality for ex-gays – it is a lifetime of loneliness, despair and celibacy.
Note: Read full article on TruthWinsOut
(London, UK) - People are still alarmingly ignorant about HIV, finds a survey published today by Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) to mark the 25th anniversary of Terry Higgins’ death with what was then Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (now Aids) in St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, in 1982. Knowledge about HIV is not only poor among young people. Across all age groups 28% of people either thought that condoms had holes in which let HIV through or said they didn’t know, 12% thought that sharing cutlery carried a risk of HIV transmission and 10% thought you can be infected through sweat.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(India) - Though his coming out was met with disappointment and outrage, Singh Gohil has adopted a noble cause, educating people about homosexuality and HIV/AIDS prevention. "I came out in the newspapers openly that I'm gay and basically [because] I wanted to show to the world that even a prince can be gay," he said. "I wanted people to discuss homosexuality, which was always considered a taboo and a stigma… it's been existing in India but no one talked about it." Homosexuality is against the law in India, and can be penalized with ten years to life in jail. Singh Gohil has become both the voice and face of those persecuted for their sexual orientation.
Note: Read full article on ABC News
(USA) - An award-winning gay journalist and activist as announced he is now an ex-gay. Michael Glatze founded the Young Gay America magazine and received awards such as the National Role Model Award from leading homosexual rights organisation Equality Forum. He also produced a well-received documentary film on suicides of gay teenagers in the US. Today Mr Glatze used the WorldNetDaily website to announce that he is no longer gay. Mr. Glatze, who came out at the age of 20, claims that he now trusts in Jesus Christ and that it was God who gave him "the strength to free himself of his homosexual desires."
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(London, UK) - Nick Boles, a Conservative seeking his party's nomination to run against Ken Livingstone in next year's election for Mayor of London has withdrawn from the race. The 42-year-old has been diagnosed with cancer and is pulling out to undergo treatment. Mr Boles, who is openly gay, was a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 election. He came within 500 votes of winning Hove. Earlier this year he was ranked 27 in the Independent on Sunday Pink List of the most influential gay people in the UK.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Nashville, USA) - Kroger Co. says it will allow a regional gay and lesbian newspaper to again be distributed on the free publication rack inside some of its Nashville-area grocery stores. The Cincinnati-based company announced the change Monday, about a month after the Out & About monthly newspaper was removed from racks at 34 of its Nashville-area stores. A Kroger spokeswoman last month cited a company policy against displaying publications that promote "political, religious or other specific agendas" as reason for the removal. Last month, members of the city's gay and lesbian community organized a weeklong boycott against Kroger and Harris Teeter, another grocery store chain where the newspapers were removed.
Note: Read full article on Chron.com
(USA) - The bill that grants civil-rights protection to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Iowans was one of many new laws that took effect July 1. The measure, which Gov. Chet Culver signed into law in May, updates the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The original act protects against discrimination based on age, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, and disability. The newest legislation adds statewide protection based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, who has co-sponsored similar measures for more than a decade, feels it's an important issue to many in the Iowa City area. "It's long overdue," she said. "There is no doubt it took too long to pass - it should have passed clear back in the '80s."
Note: Read full article on Daily Iowan
(USA) - Love in Action quietly closed the Refuge program. This was a nearly two-month long intensive ex-gay program for young people under the age of 18. Many of these young people attended against their will, forced by their parents who wanted to straighten out their kids. This program is closed. But Love in Action is still in business. Love in Action charges for their Freedom Family Intensive. According to Love in Action's web site (check while you can, they have had a habit of rewriting their site once folks blog about it), the cost of these four days under the supervision, care and ministry of the untrained Love in Action staff costs $2000 for parents. Should you bring your queer child along it costs $3000!
Note: Read full article on Peter Toscano's Blog
There have been so many trials and tribulations, so many injustices and tyrannies, so many radical life changes and personal reinventions, that it seems natural to regard Martina Navratilova’s life as one of permanent revolution. Each year a new philosophy, each month a new challenge, each day a potential watershed. “It took a while but I got there,” she says. “Now I can say almost anything and get away with it. It’s pretty nice. I feel like I earned it, but it took a long time. I’ve grown as a person and I am definitely more lovable now than 30 years ago - but I was never the ogre they made me out to be.”
Note: Read full article on Times online
(Bermuda) - Human rights activists in Bermuda have launched a campaign to add sexual orientation as a protected grounds of discrimination under the country's Human Rights Act. They want to insert an amendment to the Act, which advocates say amounts to not much more than two words and a comma. A group describing themselves as 'concerned citizens' has now launched Two Words and a Comma, a campaign to include sexual orientation in the legislation. Bermuda’s gay community attended in force and gave testimony to the realities of their daily lives in the country. Homosexuality in Bermuda was decriminalized 1994.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(USA) - The story of Zach, the 16-year-old who was about to be involuntarily committed to Love In Action’s youth live-in program “Refuge” in 2005, caused international outrage along with unprecedented protests in Memphis. At the Ex-Gay Survivor Conference in Irvine, California, the participants learned that Love In Action Director John Smid confirmed that the “Refuge” youth program has been “dissolved.” Hopefully this will finally bring to an end any ideas that holding youth against their will for counseling they neither need nor desire is acceptable.
Note: Read full article on Box Turtle
(USA) - PlanetOut Inc., which runs print and online media outlets including gay.com, said Monday it expects to receive $26.2 million in gross proceeds from the sale of 22.8 million shares of common stock. The company said the private placement of stock was made to a group of accredited and institutional investors, including Special Situation Funds, Cascade Investment and Allen & Company LLC. The deal is expected to close July 6.
Note: Read full article on Forbes
(Portugal) - Portugal has said it is prepared to invite President Robert Mugabe to a summit of European and African leaders in Lisbon this year despite a travel ban and sanctions against the 83-year-old dictator and figures in his regime. The gay and human rights activist Peter Tatchell, who famously tried but failed to arrest the Zimbabwean leader in Belgium, said the least Portugal could do would be to arrest him for human rights violations. Tatchell said: “While Zimbabwe burns, and millions starve, Mugabe will be wined and dined by the Portuguese president, Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, and received by other African and European heads of state. What is the point in having an EU travel ban if it is not enforced? Nearly every time Mugabe wants to come to Europe, the EU caves in and agrees to waive its ban."
Note: Read full article on New Zimbabwe
(UK) - The floods that have devastated swathes of the country are God's judgment on the immorality and greed of modern society, according to senior Church of England bishops. One diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless. While those who have been affected by the storms are innocent victims, the bishops argue controversially that the flooding is a result of Western civilisation's decision to ignore biblical teaching. The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, argued that the floods are not just a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment on society's moral decadence.
Note: Read full article on Telegraph
(USA) - In May 2006, Donald Hitchcock was fired by the Democratic National Committee as director of its Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council - less than a week after his partner, fellow Washington politico Paul Yandura, e-mailed high-level Democratic donors and suggested they withhold financial support from the DNC in protest of the group's apparent neglect of antigay ballot initiatives. Hitchcock, whose role was to raise funds from gay donors, claimed his sudden dismissal was retaliatory, but the DNC denied the charge. Indeed, in an Advocate interview at the time, Dean suggested that Hitchcock's poor job performance was to blame.
Note: Read full article on Advocate
It's hard not to love Owen Pallett. It's the music that gets you first. There is a fiercely compelling quality to the songs penned by the Toronto violinist. And once drawn in, small tastes of Pallett's personality - during live performances or radio broadcasts - has most listeners hooked. Deeply personable and amusingly self-effacing, the young musician is quite willing to spill his guts on all the biggies - whether music, sex, religion, cooking, pop culture and social theories. Pallett's solo project Final Fantasy (a tribute to the Japanese videogame series of which he is a fan) eases in and out of melodramatic baroque pop. Amidst the swells of evocative strings, the lyrics are intimate, sometimes confessional and always part of a bigger concept.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Seattle, Washington) A badly decomposing body found in a Seattle home has been identified as longtime gay activist and former radio talk-show host Mike Webb. Webb was last seen April 13. A cleaner hired by the landlord found Webb's body wrapped in a tarp and stuffed behind boxes and a bookcase. An autopsy confirmed the body was that of Webb late Friday. Webb began his broadcasting career in San Francisco and gained acclaim for his live coverage of the riots that followed the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978. He moved to Seattle in the 1990s, working for KWRM-FM as a talk-show host. In 1997 he was fired and subsequently sued the station accusing it of firing him because he was gay.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(San Juan, Puerto Rico) - Two weeks ago 20,000 Puerto Ricans took to the streets in San Juan to protest legislation seeking to permit Gay civil unions. "Coalicion de la Familia", the island's largest homophobic organization, organized the march and rally and invited US anti-Gay activist David Parker to speak to the crowd. Parker addressed the mob claiming that "elevating homosexual behavior" to a status equivalent to marriage would bring a flood of homosexual books, lessons, and other indoctrination into the schools - as has happened in Massachusetts. "You must have zero tolerance for this," swadronned Parker, "or they will be marketing sodomy to your children."
Note: Read full article on www.lifesite.net
(USA) - When New Jersey became the first state outside liberal New England to approve same-sex civil unions, Craig Ross and Richard Cash hoped the new law would be their financial white knight -- compelling Ross's employer to give his partner the same spousal benefits as heterosexual married couples. But more than four months after New Jersey's civil union law went into effect, Ross, 46 and Cash, 54, are among the many same-sex couples severely disillusioned with their prospects for legal equality. Citing federal regulations that allow many employers to effectively ignore state laws regarding corporate benefits, the Fortune 500 company where Ross has worked as a computer specialist for 21 years denied the couple's request for joint coverage.
Note: Read full article on Washington Post
The top European human rights watchdog criticized Polish leaders for anti-homosexual rhetoric Friday. "I think we should remember that one of the groups that were targeted by the Nazis were homosexuals, and we should really avoid to fall into that trap now," said Council of Europe human rights commissioner Thomas Hammarberg. Hammarberg was in the Polish capital to present a report on Poland's human rights performance to Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and to encourage Warsaw to do more on a number of issues, including overcrowded prisons and slow legal procedures. Poland's Education Minister Roman Giertych and members of his ministry are preparing a new law that would ban what they call "homosexual propaganda" in schools in order to protect traditional family values.
Note: Read full article on www.b92.net
(London, UK) - Neither rain nor the discovery of two car bombs could deter tens of thousands of people from lining the streets Saturday for Gay Pride. The march left Baker Street and made its way through the West End to Trafalgar Square where gays and lesbians and their friends partied and enjoyed music for the remainder of the day. Police met Friday night with Pride organizers with both sides agreeing there was no need to cancel or alter the celebration. Police said they were strengthening patrols in the city, however, to reassure the public. London Mayor Ken Livingstone was joined by members of Parliament from the Labor and New Democrats took part in the pride festivities.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com, Pictures on UK Gay News
(Madrid, Spain) - Tens of thousands of homosexuals from all over Europe gathered for a parade in Madrid Saturday to demonstrate for the rights of gays and lesbians. The parade was the main event of the EuroPride festival, which this year is held in the Spanish capital. According to the organizers, some 200,000 homosexuals from all over Europe had travelled to the festival, which has as its motto 'Europe now - equality is possible.' Spanish Culture Minister Carmen Calvo, the heads of the major trade unions, Candido Mendez and Jose Maria Fidalgo also took part in the parade, as did the leader of the United Left Party (IU), Gaspar Llamazares.
Note: Read full article on Monsters and Critics
After discussions with several activists in many countries and cities about organizing an international same-day coordinated action this summer, activists in five other cities have stepped forward to join with gay Swedes on August 4 in solidarity marches. August 4 is when Stockholm stages its annual gay Pride parade and celebration, and on that Saturday members of Tupilak, a gay and lesbian cultural workers collective, will march on foreign embassies in solidarity with LGBT people everywhere. Each city will decide how it will stand in solidarity on August 4 with LGBT people across the planet, what sort of action will be organized and where it will be held, along with a theme related to protecting the human rights of all gays.
Note: Read full article on Petrelis Files
(Dominican Republic) - The 2nd LGBT rights rally at Duarte Park took place last night in commemoration of the NYC Stonewall riots of 1969. The paper doesn't give a specific number but says that dozens of people participated. It also says that gay men only showed up hours after the event began and that, for most of the afternoon, the reporter only saw female demonstrators. They carried signs and shirts that read "Soy lesbiana por que me gusta y me da la gana" ("I am a lesbian because I like it and that's the way I want it") and "Soy lesbiana y envio remesas" ("I am a lesbian and I send remittances" - an allusion, I assume, to the importance of money sent to the Dominican Republic from Dominicans living in the United States).
Note: Read full article on blabbeando
(USA) - A bill providing federal funding to the District of Columbia has passed the House after a clause stating the money could not be used to fund a domestic partner registry was reinstated. When the bill came to a vote on the House floor late Thursday Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) offered an amendment adding back the anti-gay language. The amendment passed by a vote of 224 to 200. The Republican-led Congress have repeatedly attached anti-gay language to past appropriations bills which stipulate that federal funds cannot be used to operate the program. Since local funds are used, observers have noted that the provision was simply used as a way for Republicans to demonstrate their disapproval for the law and for same-sex families.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(New York) - The Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) - a fellowship of Christian churches with a special ministry to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - will present its triennial Human Rights Award to Human Rights Watch on July 4. The award recognizes Human Rights Watch's groundbreaking work defending LGBT people worldwide from violence, discrimination, and abuse. Founded in 1968, Metropolitan Community Church is the largest and oldest worldwide Christian denomination with a special affirming ministry to LGBT people and communities.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(Sweden) - The Moderate Party, the largest party in Sweden's coalition government, has thrown its support behind same-sex marriage. The party's board voted in favour of a gender-neutral marriage law on Friday. The party also wants to retain religious groups' rights to carry out legally binding marriage ceremonies. Individual priests will be allowed to choose whether to marry same-sex couples. The board's decision will be put to the party's conference in October. If approved, the only party in parliament not to support same sex marriage will be the Christian Democrats.
Note: Read full article on The Lokal
(USA) - PlanetOut Inc.’s first major hurdle in its uphill climb toward fiscal solvency is just days away. After posting a $6.9 million loss the first quarter of this year, the company’s lender set June 30 as the date by which it must raise at least $7 million—with another $8 million to come by August 31. To that end, PlanetOut put SpecPub, its adult-entertainment division, up for sale in early June. It has also retained investment banking firm Allen and Company to review all aspects of the business and assist in a turnaround—a process company executives predict will take about 18-24 months.
Note: Read full article on Advocate
(USA) - Actress Jodie Foster has made a "major gift" (not a major award) of an undisclosed amount to the Trevor Project, the only nationwide, 24-hour suicide prevention helpline for gay and questioning youth. The gift was made following the organization's newly announced plan to raise $1 million in multiyear gifts for two new call centers. The goal of the new fundraising campaign is to raise enough money to fully fund and operate the Los Angeles call center and open and operate a new call center in New York. This would also enable the two call centers to be open twenty-fours a day with a full staff of helpline counselors.
Note: Read full article on AfterEllen
Allow, if you will, a few dissenting notes from gay orthodoxy. If a writer only wrote things you agreed with, what good is he? And why read him? Better just talk to yourself in the mirror. "Politically correct" originated as an orthodoxy-enforcing Communist Party term in the 1930s. The gay left seems terminally afflicted with "mission drift." As if there were not enough work to do to attain gay equality, they want to include other issues as part of our agenda such as environmentalism, global warming, free trade limitations, illegal immigration, government health care, support for unions, etc. To some gays, those issues are more important than gay freedom and equality. Well, fine, there are plenty of organizations working on those issues. Go join those. But don't try to claim that those are gay issues just because they might affect some gays. I may even be on the other side—and I'm gay too.
Note: Read full article on Independent Gay Forum
(Kampala, Uganda) - A government minister has said that gay people from around the world send him hate mail everyday because of his stand against homosexuality. "I receive at least 20 abusive and threatening mails on my life daily,” Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo told reporters yesterday. “As I speak now, I have seen about 11 mails on my email address waiting for me to read." He said most of the e-mails are from the United States and the United Kingdom. The message to him is that he must drop his campaign against gays and lesbians. Dr Buturo said gays have designed websites promoting their rights complete with his name and photograph appearing as one of the persecutors of gay people in the world.
Note: Read full article on www.monitor.co.ug
(Moscow, Russia) – Alexander Chuev from the Fair Russia party and deputy in the Russian State Duma, said last night that he had complained to the General Prosecutor about his ‘outing’ as a gay politician on live television last week. Nikolai Alekseev, an organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, ‘outed’ Mr. Chuev on the K baryeru! Programme – the first-ever ‘outing’ is the history of Russian politics. The Duma deputy gave no details of his complaint to the prosecution, but said in his Internet blog: “Let the investigators now to find out which crime there is in his actions”. According to Mr. Chuev, the motives of disclosing of his homosexual orientation are political.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Bangkok, Thailand) - A Thai gay rights group launched a boycott on Thursday of a Bangkok night club run by European hotel chain Novotel after bouncers refused entry to a male transvestite. Under the slogan "Novotel, No homosexual", Nikorn Arthit of Bangkok Rainbow said he was urging gays, lesbians, transvestites and transsexuals to steer clear of the bar in central Bangkok's trendy Siam Square district. "When they have a policy not to welcome people like us, we are telling our people to go to have fun somewhere else," Nikorn told Reuters. The boycott came after Suttirat Simsiriwong, who works as a brand manager for a French cosmetics firm, was barred from Novotel's Concept CM2 club last week when bar staff checked her ID card and found she was officially a man.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
If sexual orientation is biological, are the traits that make people seem gay innate, too? The new research on everything from voice pitch to hair whorl. Statistically, for instance, gay men and lesbians have about a 50 percent greater chance of being left-handed or ambidextrous than straight men or women. The relative lengths of our fingers offer another hint: The index fingers of most straight men are shorter than their ring fingers, while for most women they are closer in length, or even reversed in ratio. But some researchers have noted that gay men are likely to have finger-length ratios more in line with those of straight women, and a study of self-described “butch” lesbians showed significantly masculinized ratios.
Note: Read full article on nymag.com
(USA) - Three former leaders of Exodus International, often described as the US largest ex-gay ministry, publicly apologized Wednesday for the harm they said their efforts had caused many gays and lesbians who believed the group's message that sexual orientation could be changed through prayer. Speaking at a Hollywood news conference, the former leaders of the interdenominational Christian organization said they had acted sincerely in their years of work with Exodus. But they said they had all, over time, become disillusioned with the group's ideas and concerned about what they described as the wrenching human toll of such gay conversion efforts.
Note: Read full article on LA Times
(UK) - The Ministry of Defence has apologised to all servicemen and servicewomen who suffered persecution and discrimination before the ban on homosexuality was lifted seven years ago. Until 2000, men and women of the Armed Forces were dismissed if it was discovered that they were gay or lesbian. A senior officer responsible for equality training at the MoD has issued an open apology. Wing Commander Phil Sagar, who runs the Armed Forces joint equality and diversity training centre and who advises on government policy, said: “Of course we’re sorry for anyone who has suffered personal trauma.” In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, according to MoD archive documents, the Armed Forces special investigation police targeted suspected gays and lesbians in an official policy to “clean out homosexuals”.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(UK) - Gordon Brown has missed more gay equality votes in parliament than any other MP. In 13 out of 14 votes in the House of Commons, Mr Brown has not bothered to turn up and vote. While I doubt he is homophobic, he has failed to make any serious effort to vote in favour of gay law reform. The out-going Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and other Labour Ministers have a much better track record when it comes to voting for gay equality. Gordon's frequent absences send the wrong signal. They suggest he doesn’t believe gay human rights are important. As the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown inherits the leadership of a Labour government that is currently backing homophobic discrimination in six key policy areas.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Btighton, UK) - A gang of thugs are touring Brighton and Hove by car to attack and rob gay men they can find. The men have claimed two victims in the last week and detectives fear they will continue picking off targets until they are stopped. Police are now warning members of the gay community to be on the look-out for a red saloon which the violent gang have been using to catch their prey. Their latest attack left a 36-year-old Brighton man with such horrific swelling around his face that doctors have not yet been able to establish the full extent of his injuries. Detective Sergeant Mick Richards, of Sussex Police, said: "This was a really vicious, unprovoked attack on two members of the gay community.
Note: Read full article on The Argus
(Montreal, Canada) - What is Pride without a parade? That's the question queer Montrealers asked themselves after learning in May that organizers Divers/Cité cancelled the annual street party. But Montreal's gay community refused to do without the parade, and thanks to a new fired-up community organization, Montreal will have a Pride parade this year. The parade that wasn't supposed to happen is being thrown together at a breakneck pace by a coalition of community leaders, businesses, and activists represented by a seven person team called Célébrations LGBTA Montreal.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Newark, USA) - The city schools superintendent apologized to a gay student Tuesday for having staffers black out a picture of the student kissing his boyfriend from the high school yearbook, calling the incident "a homophobic moment." Superintendent Marion A. Bolden said she spoke with senior Andre Jackson, 18, a day after she issued him a written apology that said she regretted the decision to censor his personal page in the East Side High School yearbook. Bolden said she arrived at the school Tuesday to find Mr. Jackson reluctant to speak with her, but that the two spoke after she made a public apology to the assembled students.
Note: Read full article on www.chron.com
(Moscow, Russia) - Police on Wednesday blocked gay rights activists from holding a demonstration in the capital and detained two of them despite the protest being authorized by city authorities. The approximately two dozen activists aimed to hold the protest outside the European Union's representative office in Moscow to demand that the EU impose a visa ban on Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has banned gay rights parades and called homosexuality "satanic." Although the planned demonstration had been sanctioned, police said they decided to block it because it would interfere with construction taking place nearby.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(Moscow, Russia) - Near 200 members of Orthodox and patriotic groups organized a church procession down the Moskva River on Sunday. 'Our great Orthodox capital is in spiritual vacuum and experiences ideological aggression from the West. So our aim was to demonstrate that the Russian people's spiritual and moral ideals are alive and will be so forever,' Ageschev told Interfax. According to him, one of the action's objectives was 'to purge the Moskva River after a large group of gays, who hired a similar ship to have a party going the same rout last night.'
Note: Read full article on Interfax
(UK/Iraque) - For ordinary Iraqis, everyday life is now worse than under Saddam Hussein. Talking with Tatchell features Ali Hili, Iraqi human rights activist. For ordinary Iraqis, everyday life is now worse than under Saddam Hussein. The country is blighted by sectarian violence. Suicide bombings, assassinations and death squad killings are daily occurrences. Many of the killers are linked to leading parties in the western-backed Iraqi government, and are aided by Iran.
Note: Watch on doughty.gdbtv.com, read on UK Gay News
I am Taraneh, an Iranian lesbian. For this reason I was arrested countless times. I went to prison and ultimately sentenced to death [by hanging]. I remember the first time I was arrested; I was 21 and a student in Esfahan. I was making love with my girlfriend in a car when I was arrested. I was kicked out of university. I spent 3 months in prison. I was whipped. Eventually I went to India to continue my education. But my family did not want me to stay there so I had to return to Iran. From there began the rest of my problems.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Germany) - Straight German politicians have slammed role playing games being taught to school children on how to pick up a gay partner. The Regional Institute for School and Media LISUM in Berlin has introduced the controversial exercises for school kids from 14 upwards as part of a way of reducing prejudice against homosexuals. But the role-playing has outraged politicians. Education spokesman for the liberal FDP party Mieke Senftleben has demanded the teaching materials be replaced and said: "Education about homosexuality, discrimination and intolerance is necessary. But I think having such topics on how to pick up gay men in role playing games for youths is completely wrong."
Note: Read full article on www.ananova.com
(UK) - Homophobic bullying plagues the majority of UK schools and shocking levels of bullying are meted out to school pupils and teachers who either are gay or perceived to be gay. That is the conclusion of a wide-ranging study carried by gay equality organisation Stonewall. Nearly two thirds of LGB students reported instances of such harassment. That figure jumps to 75% of young gay people attending faith schools. 92% of gay, lesbian and bisexual pupils have experienced verbal abuse, 41% physical bullying and 17% have been subject to death threats. 30% of pupils reported that adults have been responsible for incidents of homophobic bullying in their schools.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Newark, USA) – The school district said Monday it regretted ordering a picture of a male student kissing his boyfriend blacked out from all copies of a high school yearbook and said it apologized to the student. Andre Jackson, the student, said he was disappointed that the superintendent had not delivered the apology face-to-face and in public. Because of that, he said he didn't accept it as sincere. “I would accept an apology – a public apology,” said Jackson, 18. Jackson said he learned of the apology through the media. The district issued a statement Monday saying it regretted the decision and that it would issue an unredacted version of the yearbook to any student of East Side High School who wants one.
Note: Read full article on www.signonsandiego.com
(San Francisco, USA) - San Francisco shows its true colors in annual celebration of LGBT people and those who love them -- drag queens, Dykes on Bikes strut their stuff on Market Street. Right on time, at 10:30 a.m., the 400 or so motorcyclists were off and roaring, marking the official start of the 37th annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade. Thousands of spectators lined Market Street. Stoplights were to be ignored. Helmets and clothing were optional. The Harley-Davidsons were deafening. The Dykes on Bikes are always out front. Next in the motorcycle contingent are other registered motorcycle clubs, then independent riders, followed by a few men -- allowed to bring up the tail.
Note: Read full article on SF Gate
(UK) - Recorded crimes against gay and lesbian people in Wales are on the increase but most offences go unreported, a BBC Wales investigation has found. As many as four out of five people from gay communities will be verbally abused at some time in their lives while three out of five will be assaulted. But, it is claimed, most attacks go unreported because of victims' fears. The Home Office estimates around 90% of homophobic hate crime goes unreported. According to the programme the police, Crown Prosecution Service and others in the criminal justice system are aware of the problem and are working with gay rights group Stonewall Cymru to encourage more victims to come forward.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(USA) - After a trip 14 years ago to Thailand, where he met the man he would eventually marry, Bruce MacDonald began searching for a way - any way - for them to be together. A student visa offered no permanent solution for Suratin Rianpracha, then 27, to live in the U.S., and the possibility of sponsorship by a U.S. employer seemed remote, at best, for someone in the shrimping industry. MacDonald, who is in his 50s, briefly considered moving to Thailand but knew he wouldn't earn enough as a medical social worker to live there comfortably. So seven years ago, he relocated to Canada, which granted visas to both men, and they settled in Vancouver's west end.
Note: Read full article on The Seattle Times
(Moscow, Russia) - City authorities have given official blessing to a demonstration by human rights activists outside the European Commission’s office in Moscow on Wednesday. The demonstration will call for an EU-wide travel ban on the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov. Gay activists are joining forces with other human rights groups to make the demand following the banning of Moscow Gay Pride last month by Mayor Luzhkov and the ugly scenes outside City Hall when a small group tried to hand-in a letter signed by almost 50 Euro-MPs protesting the ban.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(New York, USA) - Fired CBS News Senior Broadcast Producer Dick Jefferson - almost murdered in a “barbaric” gay bashing by tire wrench while on vacation last spring - filed a $50 million dollar lawsuit against CBS News alleging executives bashed him even more viciously than he had been in the St. Maarten attack before firing him. “I thought I was in the twilight zone. I was back at work, simply seeking justice in St. Maarten, demanding that island authorities not ignore violent crimes against tourist - gay or straight. But some of my bosses made me feel like I was doing something wrong. I felt like I was attacked again,” Jefferson said.
Note: Read full article on miamiherald.typepad.com
(San Francisco, USA) - Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco's annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with her husband over support for legalized gay marriage. ``I don't know why someone else's marriage has anything to do with me,'' Mrs. Edwards said at a news conference before the parade started. ``I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage.'' ``John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted,'' she said. ``He has a deeply held belief against any form of discrimination, but that's up against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural southern town.'' No serious presidential candidate from either major political party has publicly supported gay marriage.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(UK) - Forty years ago in Britain, loving the wrong person could make you a criminal. Smiling in the park could lead to arrest and being in the wrong address book could cost you a prison sentence. Homosexuality was illegal and hundreds of thousands of men feared being picked up by zealous police wanting easy convictions, often for doing nothing more than looking a bit gay. At 5.50am on 5 July 1967, a bill to legalise homosexuality limped through its final stages in the House of Commons. It was a battered old thing and, in many respects, shabby. It didn't come close to equalising the legal status of heterosexuals and homosexuals (that would take another 38 years). It didn't stop the arrests: between 1967 and 2003, 30,000 gay and bisexual men were convicted for behaviour that would not have been a crime had their partner been a woman.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Berlin, Germany) - The German MEP Lissy Gröner (SPD-PSE) was awarded the “Zivilcouragepreis” (a prize for moral courage against homophobia and discrimination) today in Berlin for her gay-lesbian and feminist commitment. “This award is a fantastic recognition of the European efforts to fight discrimination and I want to thank all the organisers and the thousands and thousands of participants of this gay pride event in Berlin”, said Ms. Gröner, a vice president of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on gay and lesbian rights, at the award ceremony in Berlin - part of the German capital’s Christopher Street Day.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(USA) - A photograph of an East Side High School student kissing his boyfriend was blacked out of every copy of the school's yearbook by Newark school officials who decided it was inappropriate. Andre Jackson said he never thought he would offend anyone when he bought a page in the yearbook and filled it with several photographs, including one of him kissing his boyfriend. Newark Superintendent of Schools Marion Bolden called the photograph "illicit" and ordered it blacked out of the $85 yearbook before it was distributed to stu dents at a banquet for graduating seniors. There are several photos of heterosexual couples kissing in the yearbook, but the superintendent said she didn't review the entire yearbook and was presented only with Jackson's page.
Note: Read full article on www.nj.com
(Berlin, Germany) - Around 400,000 German gays and lesbians marched through Berlin on Saturday to protest against discrimination against homosexuals in the workplace and schools, organisers said. Axel Hochrein of the German gay and lesbian association criticised German legislation which he said discriminated against homosexual couples and called for them to receive the same state benefits hetrosexual couples do. Berlin's Gay mayor Klaus Wowereit was due to address the demonstration later Saturday.
Note: Read full article on Yahoo News
(The Hague, Netherlands) - Dutch embassies in the 36 countries that receive development aid from The Hague are starting an investigation of the position of homosexuals. They are doing so at the request of Labour (PvdA) Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders. The Netherlands maintains a close relationship with the 36 "partner countries". In half of them, homosexuality is formally a criminal offence. Koenders has urged the embassies to press the authorities to abolish homosexuality as a criminal offence. The governments must also be urged to improve the position of sexual minority groups in society.
Note: Read full article on www.nisnews.nl
(New York, USA) - Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has decided to curb its support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations after conservative Christian groups threatened a boycott, and after some of its own employees expressed disapproval. The move comes a year after Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) had put on a gay-friendly smile. The company joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. It sponsored the annual convention of Out & Equal, a group that promotes gay rights in the workplace, and sold gay-themed jewelry in stores. "We are not currently planning corporate-level contributions to GLBT groups," said Mona Williams, the company's senior vice president of corporate communications. Individual stores can still donate to gay groups.
Note: Read full article on CNN
(Havana, Cuba) - Cuba could become the first Caribbean island nation to recognise the civil and inheritance rights of gay and lesbian couples, if a proposed reform of the Family Code is approved. Drawn up by the non-governmental Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) with support from CENESEX, the draft reform of the Family Code has been presented to the Political Bureau, the highest body of the ruling Communist Party. "We are waiting for approval in order to introduce it to parliament as a draft law," said Mariela Castro, director of the governmental National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX).
Note: Read full article on IPS News
(Bogota, Colombia) - A landmark gay rights bill was derailed at the last minute by a bloc of conservative senators, but supporters vowed Wednesday to revive the legislation. The bill, which had been endorsed by conservative President Alvaro Uribe, would have made Colombia the first nation in Latin America to grant gay couples in long-term relationships the same rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security as heterosexual couples. Conservative lawmakers broke ranks with the pro-Uribe faction backing the bill and it was defeated, 34-29, in the 102-member Senate. Many of the bill's supporters were absent.
Note: Read full article on LA Chronicle
(Toronto, Canada) - As Toronto’s Pride Week marks a series of events across the province to celebrate diverse sexual and gender identities, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is calling on nurses and health-care organizations to eliminate discriminatory attitudes and practices which create barriers to inclusive and appropriate health care. Yesterday, RNAO released a position statement entitled Respecting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity to address homophobia and heterosexism in the health-care system which can limit access to health-care services and compromise health.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
Only a day before "ex-gay" leader Alan Chambers admitted that praying away the gay doesn't work, the Southern Baptist Convention was working to expand its ex-gay ministry program. The SBC press release barely cleared the media fax machines when Exodus International's President Alan Chambers told the Los Angeles Times, that he still, at times, (like when he's awake or dreams) has attractions to men and "by no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete." In one sentence he says that he has a "struggle." What exactly does that mean? If Chambers is struggling, then he obviously has the desire to be with a man.
Note: Read full article on Wayne Besen
(Tokyo, Japan) – Kanako Otsuji, Japan’s first openly lesbian politician, who is running in the upcoming Upper House election, has spoken about the motivation to decide to run – and the process of getting an official party endorsement. Speaking at a press conference in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan this week, she outlined the difficult situation faced in Japan by the LGBT community. While the Japanese media has paid attention almost only to Ms. Otsuji’s sexuality, foreign journalists are more interested in her campaign in itself as, if elected, she will be the first openly LGBT politician in parliament, which they think would accelerate Japan’s movement for LGBT equality.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Iran) - The almost daily news of the arrest, humiliation, and torture of Iranian LGBT community members enrages me, and I am concerned by the reaction of our community as it deals with horrifying murders and savage executions committed in the name of “the law”. Generally speaking, the reaction from the Iranian community at large falls into two camps: those who feel that organisational activity and resistance by the Iranian LGBT community would provoke a strong government reaction, which in turn could lead to an international reaction against Iran as a whole, and those who seek a return of their full civil rights.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
It's impossible to know whether certain males and females crawled up out of the primordial sludge and immediately began making it with members of their own gender, but it's more than likely that they did. For despite what the Christian right would have you believe, homosexuality is not some recent phenomenon. And despite what most pop-gay histories suggest, homosexual Homo sapiens did not first appear on this planet in 1969, at a New York watering hole known as the Stonewall. So why all the focus on the events from 1969 onward? Why devote the following pages to an exploration of each year since the Stonewall riots?
Note: Read full article on The Stranger
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Thursday, members of the gay and lesbian community pledged to hold the same parade in the capital next year as well. "This is a great victory for the community," said chairman of the Open House Noa Satat. "We wanted to march at the heart of Jerusalem, and I'm very glad we did it… the community members' turnout and the fact that the parade went through quietly and without any casualties is very impressive and encouraging."
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Under heavy police guard, gay activists marched in a Gay Pride parade in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday. Police said 2,500 took part. Marchers carried posters of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama and signs bearing messages like "Out of the closet and into the street." "I am demanding my civil rights, including the right to get married and have children," said marcher Guy Frishman, 27. "I want to have rights like every other person." Ultra-Orthodox Jews have rioted repeatedly over the past week, burning tires, assaulting policemen and damaging police cars.
Note: Read full article on www.beliefnet.com
(Israel) - Shas Knesset Member Nissim Ze'ev on Thursday proposed establishing "rehabilitation centers" to suppress the sexual tendencies of gay people. “The government should initiate this; these people are dangerous and we must keep an eye on them,” he said as the High Court discussed whether to cancel the Jerusalem gay pride parade due to the firefighters' slow-down strike. “If such a center is built, many of them will flock to it in order to help themselves." Apart from the suggestion to set up the "rehabilitation centers", Ze'ev said he would submit a bill that would ban gay sexual relations if he thought the Knesset would approve it. According to him, those who would break the law would be obligated to a two-year “rehabilitation period”.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Police arrested a 32-year-old ultra-Orthodox man who was planning to set off a homemade explosive devise to scare people away from attending Thursday's scheduled gay pride parade in Jerusalem, said Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby. The man, who was a resident of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea She'arim, was arrested when Jerusalem police caught him with the device. A group of 500 ultra-Orthodox men, settlers and rightwing activists have also begun demonstrating against the parade at the entrance of Jerusalem. Earlier, protesters set fire to trash cans, disturbing traffic.
Note: Read full article on Israel Insider
(Australia) - A motion in the Australian Senate to grant single people and same-sex couples access to fertility treatment has been defeated by a coalition of left and right. The opposition Labour party voted with John Howard’s government to defeat the measure proposed by Green Senator Kerry Nettle by 51 votes to eight. She wanted the federal government to work with the states and territories to give IVF and adoption rights to all people regardless of their sexuality.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Tel Aviv, Israel) - About 400 police officers from Tel Aviv held drills Wednesday in preparation for the gay pride parade in Jerusalem. The officers will assist Jerusalem police Thursday in securing the controversial event, which some fear may spark violence between participants and protesters, Ynetnews reported Wednesday. The Tel Aviv officers practiced drills with clubs and shields Wednesday to prepare for the possibility of violence and rioting. Meanwhile, haredim - members of the most theologically conservative wing of Orthodox Judaism - held violent demonstrations against the parade Tuesday, even though rabbis from the United Torah Judaism pleaded with the faithful not to demonstrate.
Note: Read full article on United Press
(UK) - Polish gay rights groups say thousands of homosexuals have fled the country to the UK to escape increasing persecution. Robert Biedron, a left wing party activist and head of the Polish Foundation Against Homophobia, said "huge numbers" of Polish gays had now fled the country following the rise to power of the current right-wing conservative government. He said: "It is incredible. The Polish gay community has just moved away because of the climate of fear and persecution. "It’s impossible for gays to be themselves in Poland. Around two million Poles have left the country seeking work and thousands of gays are joining them. Many gays are approaching our foundation for help in emigrating to the UK."
Note: Read full article on Daily Mail
(Jerusalem, Israel) - In a serious blow to the anti-gay pride parade campaign, leading haredi rabbis and yeshiva heads, appalled at the property damage and violence perpetrated by religious zealots in recent days, prohibited their followers on Tuesday from holding any more street demonstrations. An announcement on the front page of Yated Ne'eman, a haredi daily and the mouthpiece of Lithuanian haredi rabbinic leadership in Israel, warned yeshiva students not to take part in the demonstrations. "We don't want our yeshiva students to get the wrong idea that the Torah permits the destruction of property" said Rabbi Nahum Eisenstein.
Note: Read full article on Jerusalem Post
(UK) - Alan Touring is widely acknowledged as the father of the computer and artificial intelligence. At Bletchley Park, the British intelligence HQ during the second world war, Turing's proto computer, the Bombe, cracked the Nazi's Enigma Code. This week a new statue of Turing was unveiled at Bletchley Park. Though bizarrely the publicity materials neglect to mention he was gay. His homosexuality may have been incidental to his work, but it was instrumental in his death - alongside Oscar Wilde and Harvey Milk, he is one of the great gay martyrs.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Albany, USA) - New York's state Assembly approved legislation to legalize same-sex marriage after an emotional three-hour debate, but the bill is not expected to be acted on any time soon in the Republican-led state Senate. The legislation, sponsored by Democrat Daniel O'Donnell, the gay brother of entertainer Rosie O'Donnell and backed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, was approved Tuesday 85-61 in the Democratic Assembly. The bill would also need to be approved by the Senate to become law. "We not doing gay marriage by Thursday that's for sure, or this year," Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno declared Tuesday morning as lawmakers wound down their annual legislative session, which is due to wrap up on Thursday.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(UK) - David Le Brocq, 30, was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of conducting a six-month sexual affair with his pupil, Karl Donaldson, which began when the boy was 15. The pair began having full sex in Le Brocq’s flat when Mr Donaldson, who is now 19, reached his 16th birthday, with the full approval of Mr Donaldson’s mother, Donna Stacey. Jurors were told that Le Brocq regularly visited Mr Donaldson’s family home as his boyfriend. Alan Blake, for the prosecution, told jurors: “He loved David Le Brocq and his mother wanted him to be happy. The evidence is that there was a mutual infatuation between them."
Note: Read full article on Times online
(Jamaica) - John Hardy, a minister of the New Testament Church of God in Kingston, writes in the Jamaica Observer about a ridiculous theory explaining why the country is so homophobic — repeated rape by the Brit slaveowners of male slaves on the island has ingrained them to hate gays.
Note: Read full article on Pandagon
(UK) - Patricia McKeever, a 58-year-old former secondary school teacher has co-ordinated a relentless campaign to name and shame gay Roman Catholic priests. Her newsletter , Catholic Truth, has so far confronted up to a dozen priests about their alleged homosexuality and has named at least four as being gay or allegedly associating with gay men. It claims to have privately challenged several more priests after receiving information that they attended a gay bar in Glasgow and has also, it says, confronted a seminarian, a prospective seminarian and a Catholic school teacher.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(Istanbul, Turkey) - On the night of June 17, Saturday, Turkish police has raided a gay bar in Taksim area. Gay men were forced to leave the place with the threat of pepper gas and batons and some of them were harassed physically and maltreated. During the incident that took place on Saturday night around 2:30 am at the gay bar called "Tekyon", the police went into the bar and yelled at the customers in a very rude fashion, used words like "out!", "clear the area!", "leave ulan!" (a Turkish insult word). As the attitude was outrageous, a part of the crowd wanted to show a reaction but the police attacked them with pepper gas and batons.
Note: Read full article on KaosGL
(New York, USA) - A study of diversity in the workplace has found that 28 percent of LGBT employees have suffered harassment in the workplace with nearly half describing it as severe. The survey was taken by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com, an online employment service, and and Kelly Services. It focused on workers in seven groups - African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Females, LGBT workers and people in the workforce over the age of 50.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Australia) - Late last week, a same-sex couple has completed what is thought to be Australia’s first adoption by a gay couple in Western Australia. The adoption was able to take place following changes that were made to the Western Australian Adoption Act in 2002. Under the changes made, same-sex couples are successfully able to adopt children. David Vicary from the Department of Child Protection's Accommodation and Care Services said “This was a local WA adoption and the biological parents were fully involved in the selection process for the adoptive parents”.
Note: Read full article on www.generationq.net
(USA) - The Rev. Keith Mozingo was surprised when he moved to Baton Rouge earlier this year from Los Angeles to take over as pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Baton Rouge, which is part of an international fellowship of churches that cater to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Baton Rouge is not considered a “gay mecca,” he joked on a recent weekday morning in his office at the church on Tom Drive. “And Baton Rouge is indeed a conservative town, but I think it’s a lot more progressive than it realizes,” said Mozingo, a North Carolina native. “There are small groups (of gays and lesbians) who are regularly getting together to socialize, but there’s no unity,” he said. It’s unity he’s hoping to achieve with a Show Your PRIDE Baton Rouge gay-pride celebration on Saturday and Sunday.
Note: Read full article on www.2theadvocate.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox residents thought they were dreaming Monday morning, when they encountered an unlikely sight on the city's public notice board – a "pashkevil" endorsing the gay pride parade, scheduled to take place in the capital on Thursday. The flyer, signed by "Citizens for an equal, sane Israel" called upon all citizens of Jerusalem to take part in the parade, caused an outraged among the ultra-Orthodox community.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnget="_blank"ews.com
(Boston, USA) - A woman who was part of a conservative Christian group rallying Thursday at the Massachusetts Statehouse for a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage is charged with assaulting a gay marriage supporter who was attending a rally across the street opposing the amendment. Diane Steele, 52, was arraigned Friday on charges of assault and battery. Steele, from Richmond in western Massachusetts, was one of about a hundred protestors calling on state lawmakers to approve the amendment and send it to voters in 2008. Steele allegedly crossed the street and slapped the unidentified person. The victim was startled but not hurt.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - A survey conducted last week by Geocartography Knowledge Group found that 64 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose holding the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's name appeared on a press release calling on Jews to protest the parade. "The previous parade brought upon us the Second Lebanon War, with 150 dead and 1 million refugees... We call on all Jews to come to Jerusalem to use lawful means to stop the parade," the statement read. Steinsaltz is the honorary president of a revived version of the Sanhedrin, the ancient 71-man governing body of the Jewish people, which published the press release.
Note: Read full article on Jerusalem Post
(Kolkata, India) - A little boy who wished he was a girl so that he wouldn't need to hide his love for his classmate - also a boy. If this story stirs something in your heart, here is something for you: a weeklong film festival from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. Malobika of Sappho said they hoped the film festival would create awareness and end bashing of gays. Licensed to Kill is a chilling documentary on men who murdered homosexuals with Dong doing seven on-camera interviews with convicted killers of homosexuals. "Why did you do it?", he asks each of them.
Note: Read full article on India Times
(Jerusalem, Israel) - About 10,000 haredim took to Jerusalem’s streets Sunday evening in protest of the gay pride parade scheduled to take place in the city Thursday. At least eight people, seven of them policemen, were injured in clashes between the protestors and the police; 10 people were arrested. Rabbi Yitzhak Weiss warned participants of the rally, “Anyone who helps the evil will be judged.” Another rabbi told the crowd, “If we protest with all our hearts, maybe some of the evil will be dissuaded from doing their evil.” During the demonstration, a few haredim torched a dumpster, and dozens confronted police forces after the rally ended.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(India) - The gay community is far more visible in the city, compared to a decade, or even five years ago. Immediate circles, especially friends, seem to be more tolerant. Amit and Manoj have been open about their relationship with friends and family. Increased visibility has led to new problems. There has been no let-up in the violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities -- some feel it has increased. Two kotis (koti is a term to describe an “effeminate” man; originally derogatory) were murdered in the last two months. There have been several reports of abuse.
Note: Read full article on The Telegraph
(UK) - A man who fled civil war in Haiti to live in East Lancashire has been hounded out of his new home by racist, homophobic yobs. Alex Juin, 27, from Haslingden, was repeatedly targeted and terrorised over his "colour and sexuality" by a gang who wanted him out of town, a court was told. Burnley magistrates heard how Mr Juin, who works in Asda Accrington was abused, taunted and humiliated, his hair was pulled, his car was attacked and he was threatened he would be stabbed by the five.
Note: Read full article on Lancashire Telegraph
The impending division of the worldwide Anglican communion came a step closer yesterday as the rift over the way the church deals with homosexuality descended into acrimony. The US Episcopal church rejected the demands of the rest of the church, headed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that it should fall into line by refusing to conduct blessing services for gay couples or elect more gay bishops and allow disaffected conservative US congregations to have their own leadership.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(USA) - Violence at Gay Pride parades in Russia, Romania and Poland has some U.S. activists questioning the role both domestic and international gay rights groups should play in responding to similar incidents abroad in the future. Moscow Pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev said he thinks IGLHRC will have no effect on Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s decision to ban parades there. He said IGLHRC turned down invitations to observe the last two parades because it did not meet its fundraising goals. “Send us a House representative. Send us a senator,” Alekseev said. “By sending officials you will make a difference. This will prevent the authorities from allowing the police and the fascists to beat us. But it’s not a press release that will change anything, especially when the event has passed.”
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(Washington, USA) - The former director of LGBT outreach at the Democratic National Committee is suing the party and three high level employees for discrimination by sexual orientation, retaliation and defamation. Donald Hitchcock was fired last year after his partner, former Clinton administration official Paul Yandura, criticized the party for not doing enough on LGBT issues, particularly state marriage ban amendments. Yandura claims that the party viewed gays as primarily a source of donations.
Note: Read full article on Gay Peoples Chronicle
(Brighton, UK) - Three quarters of a city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have been verbally or physically assaulted in the last five years. Four in five of those attacked said that sexuality was a factor and many said they remained concerned about reporting incidents to police. While most people spoken to had positive feelings about living in Brighton and Hove, research also found areas of need, discrimination and gaps in services. The survey also revealed that 16 per cent of gay men have HIV, 21 per cent have been homeless, of which 18 per cent of respondents have used sex to gain somewhere to stay and 23 per cent of the sample had serious thoughts of suicide in the past five years.
Note: Read full article on The Argus
(Bogota, Colombia) - Colombia's Congress approved a bill this week granting same-sex couples rights similar to their straight counterparts, a move seen as the biggest advance for homosexuals in the Roman Catholic country. The measure, supported by President Alvaro Uribe but opposed by the church, grants gay couples living together for more than two years the same social security and estate inheritance guarantees as heterosexuals in common law marriages. "This makes Colombia a more democratic, more open place," said activist Virgilio Barco, son of a former president by the same name. "It marks the first time that legislation like this has passed at a national level in Latin America."
Note: Read full article on CNN
(USA) - After a short stay at one city homeless shelter, he moved to another. That stay was cut short once the shelter's director found out he was gay, Garon said. Garon had been staying at the Open Door Mission for about three weeks, paying the $5 per-night fee or helping out with maintenance or other chores when he was told by the Rev. Richard Thebo, the shelter's director, he wasn't welcome to use the shelter anymore, Garon said. "He said 'I don't allow homosexuals to use these facilities,' " Garon said. Gays and lesbians are allowed to eat meals and take showers at the facility, Thebo said, but are not allowed to sleep in the shelter. "I will not let them exert their sexuality here," he said. "Men have to sleep next to other men (in the shelter)."
Note: Read full article on www.coloradoan.com
(New York, USA) - Omar Willock, 17, was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime and other offenses in the May 12 attack on Roberto Duncanson, the Brooklyn district attorney's office said in a release. Duncanson, 20, was walking in the Crown Heights section of the borough when Willock began shouting anti-gay slurs and accusing Duncanson, who was gay, of looking at him, prosecutors said. When Duncanson passed that way again later, Willock again berated him and started a fist fight before stabbing him, they said. It was unclear how Willock knew Duncanson was gay, they said. Willock was being held without bail until his next court appearance. An assistant at his lawyer's office said they had no comment in the case.
Note: Read full article on www.silive.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Following a decision by Jerusalem police to allow a planned gay pride march in the city on June 21, city council member and representative of the city's gay and lesbian community Sa'ar Netanel received dozens of phone calls and text messages threatening his life. According to Israel Radio, Netanel's telephone number had been posted on haredi Web forums. Netanel said in an interview to Israel Radio that the expressions callers used were "not Jewish," and included direct threats to kill him as well as other things he "preferred not to repeat."
Note: Read full article on Jerusalem Post
(Jerusalem, Israel) - It is no coincidence that the amendment to the Basic Law on Jerusalem, which permits the City Council to ban parades and marches in the capital if they are "deemed likely to cause public disorder or offend public sensibilities," or should not be held for religious reasons, passed during the same week as an amendment limiting the movement of Arab MKs. It was also symbolic that these bills passed during the week that marked 40 years since Israel conquered the territories. The combination of all these factors points to the fragile nature of democracy in Israel: The democratic concept, based on majority rule and equal rights for all, has been replaced by the belief that the majority has the right to injure the minority and that the strong have the right to trample the weak.
Note: Read full article on Haaretz
(Australia) - For several years now, we’ve been reading a fair bit in our community press about domestic violence in same-sex relationships. It turns out the report was completed by about 300 people, 189 females compared to 116 males, and while the total number of respondents who reported any physical abuse was 34 percent, among the male respondents, that figure was significantly lower. Of the 116 male respondents, 30 (or just over 25 percent) said they had been in a relationship where their partner had hit them or thrown things at them, and three respondents said this behaviour happened in their current relationship. That doesn’t sound like the “third most severe health problem” facing gay men today. The statistics and statements about gay men here are being used in an apparent attempt to secure government funding.
Note: Read full article on Sydney Star Observer
(Boston, USA) - A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was swiftly defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. The measure needed at least 50 votes to advance. The vote came without debate after House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick conferred this morning and concluded that they have the votes to kill the proposal. "Today's vote was not just a victory for marriage equality, it was a victory for equality itself," Patrick told reporters as cheers echoed in the State House. "Whenever we affirm the equality of anyone, we affirm the equality of everyone."
Note: Read full article on Boston.com
(Maharajaganj, India) - To earn a living, Kiran dresses up in women's clothes, dances at wedding parties in the Indian countryside and tries not to struggle when he is raped at knifepoint by drunken male wedding guests. The pay, he says, is pretty good. He is one of thousands of launda dancers working the wedding scene in the villages of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh states, leading the groom's raucous marching-band procession to the bride's house. They put up with routine violence because, they say, it is the only way they are free to live as "kothis", a South Asian term for effeminate men and transsexuals.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(China) - Nineteen gay venues in Beijing have launched a joint education campaign to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among their clients. The venues, mostly bars, will distribute free condoms, display AIDS awareness posters and even promote the safe sex message in dance performances. Chaoyang Chinese Aids Volunteer Group has been leading a long campaign to promote safe sex among gay men, with mixed results. "When our volunteers promoted the concept of safe sex in entertainment places, people always showed antipathy to us," Xiao Dong, chief executive of Chaoyang Chinese Aids Volunteer Group, said. "The managers disliked us because it affected business. But now we have persuaded the owners to join in this campaign and make a united front."
Note: Read full article on people.com.cn
(USA) - A graduate of the Naval Academy and a nuclear submarine captain, Steve Clark Hall spent his 20-year career fearing he would be found out as gay. Now he is retired and living in San Francisco, and Clark Hall's story is part of an exhibit opening Friday that traces the history of gays and lesbians in the US military -- from World War II to the war in Iraq. Steve Estes, an associate professor of history at Sonoma State University and curator of the exhibition, said he was struck by the power of the veterans' expressions of pride in having served their country despite a ban they found demoralizing. "For the most part, these people were hyper-patriots, even though they had to hide who they were in terms of their sexuality," said Estes.
Note: Read full article on SF Gate
(Sao Paolo, Brazil) - One of the three gay men who was with Gregor Landouar on Sunday night when he was brutally murdered outside the gay bar-restaurant Ritz on Alameda Franca, in Jardins, has given an interview to Diário de São Paulo. He said he noticed the four attackers coming towards them. "I think they attacked the tourist (Landouar) because he was closest to the sidewalk. Of the four of us, he was the one that had the least appearance of being gay," D. said, adding that he wasn't sure if Landouar was gay or not, but that he believes he was killed because he was with the three gay men.
Note: Read full article on clubwhirled
(USA) - Thirty-five-year-old Aaron Hall was brutally beaten on April 12 for hours by two teens who have described the murder in chilling detail to police. Each says Hall precipitated the violence by making a homosexual suggestion. There's a legal theory for their argument. It's called the "gay panic defense," and it suggests that temporary insanity from exposure to homosexuality is a defense against murder.
Note: Read full article on Bloomington Alternative
(Bristol, UK) - The organisers behind this years scheduled pride celebrations have annouced that the 'Pride Summer Festival' will no longer take place. In a press release issued earlier this week, Pride South West Ltd, the commitee formed to plan this years event announed ".. the difficult decision to postpone the Bristol Pride Summer Festival, which was to take place in Castle Park on August 18th 2007, until next year.. " The Bristol Pride Fring Week is still planned to take place, and the committee will now re-focus all of its attention to the planning of events during its week long run, from 11th - 18th August.
Note: Read full article on www.pridewest.co.uk
(Gloucester, USA) - A local group is starting its first public campaign to convince local legislators to stop a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage from coming to a statewide vote. Cape Ann Equality, a local offshoot of the state Mass Equality organization that advocates in favor of keeping gay marriage legal, has gathered hundreds of signatures. The local group ran a full-page ad in yesterday's Times in advance of Thursday's Constitutional Convention, where the House and Senate will take up the proposed amendment that defines marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman. The group, which garnered more than 240 signatures, has an active membership of between 20 and 30, said Astrid afKlinteberg, a former city councilor who signed the statement to legislators. The activists have been meeting since January.
Note: Read full article on www.gloucestertimes.com
(USA) - Gainesville is one step closer to a domestic partner registry for same and opposite sex couples. In a 5-2 vote Monday, city commissioners approved the city attorney to draft an ordinance for the registry. If enacted, the registration fee will be $10 for city residents and $20 for non-city residents. Couples would register by signing a Declaration of Domestic Partnership and a certificate of registration. The main focus would be several types of benefits, which include health care, funeral and burial preparations and emergency notifications. The registry would not extend to federal laws or institutions.
Note: Read full article on www.alligator.org
(India) - Indian law makes same-sex love a crime, which is punishable by 10 years or even life imprisonment. ''It's crazy that society today affords you everything but the right to be yourself. Being gay and demanding equal rights is not about asking for the moon, it's really about the right to be happy,'' said a gay man. ''The gay-lesbian movement has to challenge patriarchy. It has to do a lot of challenges. I call it the cutting edge of new social systems. Because gay men and women are going to evolve new social patterns. Why can't five different generations of men live under one roof?'' said Kavi, a gay rghts activist. In 1860, the British government had declared same sex love to be unnatural but now 60 years after Independence, are we still living in the shadow of that mindset and is it now time to set love free?
Note: Read full article on www.ndtv.com
(China) - According to a recent survey conducted by Zhang, more than half of the 2,500 gay men polled faced discrimination and suffered from serious mental trauma after confessing about their sexual orientation. Leading the people who abhor same-sex are the parents of gay children. Also, the greatest physical threat to gays comes from such parents. Colleagues at work, classmates and neighbors are the other groups who see gays as "unnatural beings". Zhang cites the tragedy of Qilu (name changed), a 20-something young man from East China's Shandong Province to say some non-acceptances end in disasters. He took his boyfriend home, but his farmer father could not accept the "twisted sexuality" of his son. And since he couldn't stop his son from "indulging in unnatural behavior", he killed his lover.
Note: Read full article on China Daily
(Italy) - The head of Italy's influential bishops' conference has received a second envelope containing bullets and a death threat, following comments he made opposing same-sex unions, news agencies said yesterday. An envelope containing three bullets arrived on Saturday at the Genoa archdiocese of Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco. A single bullet was sent on April 27.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(USA) - Proponents say participation is surging in the controversial, often religious-based therapy that many call the "ex-gay movement." Exodus International, an anti-Gay Orlando-based group, says it is the world's largest Christian referral and information network dealing with homosexuality. All the major medical and mental health organizations see such therapy as potentially harmful and recommend against it. The gay and lesbian community denounces it as self-hatred. And even the most thorough studies say just a fraction of the people who enter such treatment truly change their orientation. Activists reject the ex-gay movement. "The therapy is so destructive," said Sue Laurie, outreach coordinator for Reconciling Ministries Network, " ... I just don't know how you can ground a ministry in self-hatred."
Note: Read full article on Chicago Tribune
(USA) - For Eric Affholter, the St. Louis public defender, it was an almost impossible decision: lose the man he loves, leave the country to be with him or commit a federal crime. Affholter picked the crime. "It was an agonizing decision from a personal perspective, from a legal perspective," he said in an interview. But he and Pedro Cerna-Rojas did what they thought best, Affholter said. They asked a good friend - who was an assistant public defender in Affholter's office - to marry Cerna-Rojas to save him from being forced home to Peru for want of a visa. A marriage between a man and a woman is recognized for immigration purposes, but civil unions and gay marriages - even where they are allowed - do not qualify under the Defense of Marriage Act, said Adam Francoeur, policy coordinator of Immigration Equality.
Note: Read full article on STL Today
(Sweden) - Eight MP’s from Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s Conservative Moderate Party, have vowed to rebel if the party does not come out in support of gay marriage. The group has urged their party, which has traditionally been conservative on social issues, to introduce full legal rights to same-sex marriages. The MP’s say that they will take independent action to introduce a gender neutral marriage law, if the government doesn’t act. They argue that a modern society must include all people, regardless of whom they choose as a life partner.
Note: Read full article on Sweriges Radio
(Sao Paulo) - Hundreds of thousands of gay, lesbian and transvestites have taken part in a vast Gay Pride parade in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. Organisers said the number of people taking part exceeded last year's record of 2.5 million marchers. The parade is said to be the largest of its kind in the world. Costumes, floats and music are dominating, but activists say they also have a serious message, calling for a world without discrimination. According to activists, between 1980 and 2006 some 2,680 gay people were murdered in Brazil, the majority thought to have been killed because of their sexuality. Gay Pride is taking place just days after around one million Evangelical Christians held their annual demonstration in Sao Paulo, during which one minister addressing the crowd linked homosexuality with Satanism.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Moscow, Russia) - Orthodox youth organizations intend to launch an indefinite protest action near the monument to the Heroes of Plevna, a traditional hangout of gays and lesbians. "Sex minority groups gatherings on Ilyinsky public garden are insulting the religious and moral feelings of many residents of Moscow and visitors who come to the chapel to pay tribute to the memories of dead heroes," a statement issued by the organizers of the action, the Georgiyevtsy! youth group, reads. The youth group intends to patrol this place daily. "We shall prevent further desecration of the holy place. We shall patrol Ilyinsky public garden daily until gatherings of gays stop," the Georgiyevtsy! youth group says.
Note: Read full article on Interfax
(Moscow, Russia) – The main organiser of Moscow Gay Pride was today found guilty of disobeying police officers while breaching traffic rules on May 27 as he and other activists, including European parliamentarians tried to deliver a petition to Moscow City Hall signed by around 50 Members of the European Parliament. Nikolai Alekseev was fined 1,000 roubles (£20, €29, $39), the same as co-organiser and leader of the “Russian Radicals” movement Nikolai Khramov when he was found guilty yesterday in the same court. After the hearing, Mr. Alekseev vowed that he would not pay the fine and would be launching an appeal to the Moscow Tverskoy District Court.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Los Angeles, California) This year's AIDS/LifeCycle has raised more than $11 million for HIV services on its annual 545-mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles - a record amount organizers said. The money will support HIV/AIDS-related services at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. More than 2,300 riders rolled into West Los Angeles Saturday, ending the weeklong ride. The cyclists rode through eight counties, talking with local residents and media along the way to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and promote HIV prevention. This year saw participants from 10 countries and 43 states - including a contingent of people living with HIV known as the Positive Pedalers.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Israel) - The ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court, Haredi Badatz, placed a "curse" Sunday on the participants in the upcoming Gay Pride parade scheduled to take place next week in Jerusalem. The court also cursed the police officers who will be maintaining order during the parade. Badatz rabbis plastered warning posters on Jerusalem city walls saying "All those involved in the matter, those of impure souls and those helping them and guarding them, they will feel in their souls a curse, a bad spirit will come over them and haunt them, they will never be cleansed of their sins, from the judgment of God, in their bodies, their souls and their finances."
Note: Read full article on Haaretz
(Bucharest, Romania) - Romanian riot police detained dozens of militant protesters on Saturday as hundreds tried to violently break up a gay rights march in the capital, Bucharest. Around 500 gay activists marched through the city to demonstrate against discrimination in this essentially conservative country and to call for the legalisation of same-sex marriages. Police fired tear gas to hold the protesters at bay after hundreds threw stones and attempted to break through protective cordons manned by 700 officers. Gays are viewed with hostility by much of the public as many people in the country of 22 million largely accept the powerful Orthodox church's view of homosexuality as a sin and a disease.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(USA) - Thirty years ago, most people didn't think about gay rights, much less discuss the issue in public. A 1977 battle in Miami-Dade County between two local mothers changed all that, launching both the modern public debate about homosexuality and the emergence of politically powerful Christian conservatives. While voters cast a decisive ''no'' vote for gay rights 30 years ago this week, the discussion triggered by the divisive debate -- which ended the friendship between singing star Anita Bryant and then-Miami-Dade Commissioner Ruth Shack -- has not ceased. ''It was the beginning of two movements, the Christian Coalition and gay rights,'' Shack now says.
Note: Read full article on Miami Herald
(USA) - Damian Pardo vividly remembers spring 1977. ''I was 13 and I knew I was gay,'' said Pardo, now a senior financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and longtime Miami-Dade activist. ``I had never discussed it with anyone, but I certainly was aware of it. Until then, no one had talked about homosexuality in Pardo's Coral Gables home. ''Before Anita Bryant? Never!'' he said. ``I thought I was the only one.'' ''It was all about stereotypes,'' he says. 'I remember it vividly, the `Save Our Children' theme. It was implicit that homosexuals were pedophiles and criminals. They were creating this image, the same way it was done during the Nazi era. They created monsters.''
Note: Read full article on Miami Herald
(UK) - The DUP will oppose any proposal to change the law to allow unmarried and gay couples to adopt children, Jeffrey Donaldson has said. Earlier this week, Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr dismissed a bid to overturn the current law banning adoption by unmarried couples. The Department of Health is considering proposals to change the law to enable unmarried and gay couples to adopt. But speaking on Inside Politics, Mr Donaldson said the DUP would oppose it.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Vancover, Canada) Five corporate sponsors of Vancouver Pride, including long-time supporter Air Canada, have pulled their in-kind and cash contributions for this year's celebrations, leaving the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) claiming a $55,000 shortfall just seven-and-a-half weeks before show time. And while VPS president John Boychuk says this year's 11 VPS-hosted events are covered, the drop in funding means next year's 30th anniversary celebrations "won't have much, if anything, to celebrate with." "We're changing not because we want to, we're changing because we don't have the support," says Boychuk, who notes that Pride is two months away and expenses "don't go away."
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Israel) - Gay Palestinians have long been sneaking into Israel to enjoy a freedom unknown in their own, much more conservative, society. And despite persistent rows such as whether to allow gay-pride marches in Jerusalem Israel likes to promote its reputation for tolerance. Israel does give asylum to Palestinians whose lives are at risk - for collaborating with Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service. And sometimes the Shin Bet blackmails gay Palestinians into working for it by threatening to expose them - as does Palestinian intelligence, for that matter. So Palestinians known to be gay are invariably suspected of being collaborators too - which puts them in even greater danger.
Note: Read full article on Economist
(Moscow, Russia) – One of the three organisers of Moscow Pride has escaped a jail sentence and was fined when found guilty this afternoon in a Moscow court which threw-out evidence, given at a previous hearing by a number of MPs from Europe, as “frivolous”. Nikolai Khramov was charged under the Code on Administrative Offences (h. Art. 19.3 – disobedience of legitimate demands of the police). He was fined 1,000 roubles (£20, €29, $39) by the Tver District Magistrates Court. The maximum sentence is 15 days imprisonment. The same judge will hear the cases against the other two Pride organizers, Mr. Alekseev at 9am (Moscow time) and Sergei Konstantinov, an activist with the “free radicals”) at 4.30pm. Similar verdicts are expected.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Tel Aviv, Israel) - Some 15,000 people arrived at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Friday to participate in the annual gay pride parade. Several dozen right-wing activists, including Baruch Marzel, greeted the marchers at Rabin Square with chants of “anti-Semites” and “you are bringing disaster upon us” and called for the parade’s cancellation. About 500 police officers and volunteers were positioned along the parade’s route to keep order. On Wednesday the Knesset approved in a first reading two bills aimed at preventing the gay pride parade from taking place in Jerusalem, or in any other place in the country.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(Boston, USA) - This weekend, on the eve of what could be a historic and final vote on gay marriage in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick will become the first sitting governor in state history to march in Boston’s gay pride parade, according to organizers. Patrick appeared Thursday night at an event -- sponsored by MassEquality, a gay marriage advocacy group -- featuring prominent lawyers who oppose the amendment. The governor once again defended gay marriage as a matter of basic equality, but he also made a pragmatic argument in favor of defeating the gay marriage ban.
Note: Read full article on Boston.com
(Prague, Czech Republic) - Two-thirds of Czechs believe that homosexual couples should have the right to registered partnership, but not the right to adopt children, according to a poll conducted by the polling agency CVVM and published today. Two years ago, almost one-third of Czechs agreed with homosexuals' adoption of children, while now it is only 22 percent. The right to conclude a regular marriage was approved by 42 percent in 2005, while now it is 36 percent of Czechs. Some 69 percent of Czechs agreed with the homosexuals' right to conclude registered partnership, while 57 percent disagreed with their right to conclude a regular marriage and 67 percent disagreed with the notion that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt children.
Note: Read full article on Prague Monitor
(New York, USA) - New data released by the city's department of health show that the highest rates of new HIV infections are among gay men 35 to 49 years old. These findings are alarming and, to some, perplexing. Mid-life gay men have lived most of their adult lives during the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, experiencing the loss of partners, friends, and people in their community. As witnesses to so much illness, death, and loss, their voices have seldom been heard and their needs largely overlooked. Having once been the activists, caregivers, and volunteers for our community, many mid-life gay men now feel invisible and isolated. Not only lives were lost, during this period, but entire social networks and ways of living disappeared too.
Note: Read full article on Gay City News
(Japan) - With a wedding ring on her finger and a party endorsement on her back, Kanako Otsuji is on a mission to become Japan's first openly gay member of parliament - and change the way the country treats sexual minorities. In a political world whose upper ranks are almost exclusively older men, Otsuji, 32, stands out for more reasons than her sexual orientation. Just weeks ahead of the July 22 elections, Otsuji, who is running on the ticket of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, tied the knot with her partner. But as Japan does not recognize gay marriage, her ceremony Sunday is considered illegitimate in the eyes of the state.
Note: Read full article on www.thestandard.com.hk
(Cleveland, USA) - An anti-gay campaign in Nigeria is part of the national church’s efforts to grab power and oil wealth in the west African nation, says a gay activist who is touring the U.S. Davis Mac-Iyalla, the founder of Changing Attitude Nigeria, visited four Ohio cities in May with a plea for action from the LGBT community in America. Because he refuses to back down, he says the Nigerian church, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola, has threatened his life. “Once gays and lesbians get a voice,” said Mac-Iyalla, “it will be harder for the church to control the population [of Nigeria],” which he says is the real danger his public declarations pose.
Note: Read full article on Gay Peoples Chronicle
(Sao Paulo, Brazil) - An estimated one million evangelical Christians have marched in Sao Paulo, Brazil to protest against homosexuality just days ahead of what is billed to be the world's largest gay pride parade. Pastor Andre Fabiano shouted over truck-mounted loudspeakers: "Vade retro, Satanism! Vade retro, homosexuality!" - Get back, Satanism! Get back, homosexuality! - paraphrasing Medieval Latin exorcism amulets. Seventeen flatbed trucks carried musical bands performing live for the marchers as they snaked through the streets of Brazil's financial capital. Police estimated the number of marchers at one million.
Note: Read full article on www.abc.net.au
AP: How do you explain the life of a gay man in Iran?
Pooya: A gay man has no life in Iran at all to be explained. Life is meaningless for him and he receives no acceptance for himself and his lifestyle. He has lots of problems involving his family, his society, the government, etc. I have a master’s degree, but I was not accepted even as a secretary in Iran as I was different from others. They didn’t say directly that it was because I am gay but they didn’t offer me any job and their reason was clearly implied. My family didn’t understand me. People made fun of me and they tormented me in such a way that I didn’t dare go out of my home. There is no place for a gay person in Iran as the culture does not accept the presence of homosexuality. A homosexual is not allowed to talk about himself and everyone looks at him in a different way. They call him a faggot, or they call him feminine.
Note: Read full article on Persian Mirror
(USA) - For the second year running, bloody violence, police indifference, and official government violations of basic universal human rights treaties were the order of the day on May 27 in Moscow, as gays tried to petition Russian authorities for equality. And like last year, when Russian gays attempted to stage their first Pride March and met a similar fate – both were well-covered by the mainstream and gay press and bloggers – average American queers collectively yawned loudly, after maybe a moment of bemoaning the violence, then kept silent and enjoyed the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Note: Read full article on Bay Area Reporter
(Canada) - A shipment of erotic comic books bound for Priape in Montreal was seized by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) earlier this year because CBSA says the material is obscene, Xtra has learned. All of the seized books are French translations published by H&O Comics in France. They include the titles Dads & Boys volumes one and two and Justin volumes one and two by English artist Josman, and Arena and Gunji by Japanese artist Gengoroh Tagame. H&O spokesperson Olivier Tourtois says that the company is too small to devote resources to opposing the seizures. Without the publisher's support, Priape owner Bernard Rousseau says he won't appeal CBSA's decision.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(USA) - It wasn’t that long ago that Chicago’s gay scene was very different than it is today. “The summer I came to Chicago, you had to keep your hands above the bar, and you couldn’t buy anybody a drink,” Eugene Wright recalls. There was no dancing and there was always the chance a gay bar might get raided. Police in Chicago raided gay bars and even private parties frequently in the 1960s. “In those days your name was put in the newspaper,” Ron Helizon says. “You were ruined.” Lesbians also had to be wary of certain boundaries.
Note: Read full article on Chicago Free Press
(New York, USA) - A new think tank specializing in gay issues wants a say in the U.S. debate over same-sex marriage and other matters, seeking to counter the influence of religious conservatives by beating them at their own game. The Rockway Institute is the brainchild of executive director Robert-Jay Green, a California psychology professor who says the media, courts and politicians often make wrong assumptions about what the latest scientific research shows. Green is building a team of 100 experts who hope to serve as expert witnesses in court cases or testify before state legislatures as they weigh laws affecting gay rights.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(USA) - A sailor who publicly outed himself as a homosexual has once again been discharged by the Navy, but has once again been given a recall status that could allow him to return to active duty. Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Knight had served as an openly gay man during a yearlong Individual Ready Reserve tour in Kuwait. However, in the latest twist, Knight’s new discharge papers - like his previous discharge papers - do not mention homosexual conduct as the reason for his dismissal. Instead, they cite “completion of required active service.” And they list his recall code as RE-1, with a reserve obligation ending in April 2009. “I can’t do anything but laugh,” Knight said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “It’s getting to the point of being ridiculous.”
Note: Read full article on www.estripes.com
(New York, USA) - A new survey of hate crimes in Europe by a leading human rights organization finds a rising level of crimes committed against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, even as governments generally fail to monitor or report those crimes. The report was released today by Human Rights First at a meeting on combating discrimination held in Bucharest, Romania by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. “The growing public presence of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community in many countries has resulted in a violent backlash,” said Maureen Byrnes, executive director of Human Rights First.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Lansing, USA) - The City of Kalamazoo no longer will offer health insurance benefits to the partners of gay workers, becoming Michigan's first public employer to take away existing benefits in the wake of a 2004 ban against gay marriage. Kalamazoo City Manager Kenneth Collard confirmed Monday that the city will eliminate domestic partner benefits for four non-unionized employees effective June 30. He cited a May 23 order from the Michigan Supreme Court. The high court agreed to hear an appeal of a state Court of Appeals decision blocking same-sex benefits, but it also let the earlier decision take immediate effect.
Note: Read full article on www.detnews.com
(Chicago, USA) - Chicago has a new Center for its LGBT community. The Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., is five years in the making, built primarily with the millions raised from 2,000 private donors. With recreational, cultural and support services all under one roof, the facility is the most comprehensive gay community center in the Midwest, its founders say. In the lofty rooms of the three-story community center, people can play basketball in a huge gym, attend a production in the theater and surf the Web in a computer lab. There is also dedicated space for seniors, teens and offices. There will be a charge for some services, but use of facilities such as the gym and computer lab are free. For youth, the center's programs could serve as the first place they feel comfortable with their homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on Chicago Tribune
(Sacramento, USA) - A measure to legalize marriage for gay couples easily passed the California Assembly after a respectful debate Tuesday, in stark contrast to rancorous exchanges on the same issue two years ago. The legislation by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) would make California the only state besides Massachusetts to sanction same-sex couples, but it is likely to be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Leno said he is not dissuaded by the governor's public comments in February that he would veto same-sex marriage legislation. Leno, whose bill, AB 43, must still pass the Senate, said he hopes to introduce the governor to "children and families who suffer on a regular basis due to the current inequity in the law."
Note: Read full article on LA Times
(Jerusalem, Israel) - The Knesset gave approval in principal Wednesday to two bills that would bar LGBT pride parades throughout Israel. One bill would would amend laws governing Jerusalem to permit the city from banning any parade or rally the council believed would disturb public order or offend religious sensitivities. The other would ban all gay marches throughout Israel. Members of the Knesset voted two-to-one to advance the two bills. They now must go to committee and then receive a final vote in the full Knesset.
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com
(Canada) - Alvaro Orozco, the Nicaraguan refugee who was denied status because a refugee board member didn't believe that he was gay, will be allowed to remain in Canada until Aug 9. In February the Department Of Justice granted Orozco, 21, a two-month stay of his deportation order amid widespread media attention about his case. Orozco was denied refugee status last October after refugee board member Deborah Lamont ruled that Orozco "did not pursue same-sex relationships in whatever capacity... because he is not a homosexual." Orozco's refugee claim was based on the grounds that he'd be persecuted on the basis of his sexual orientation if sent back to Nicaragua. Same-sex relationships are illegal in Nicaragua and can result in up to three years in prison.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(London, UK) - One of the highlights of this year’s Pride London festival will be the first-ever Ford Pride London Football tournament to be staged on Saturday June 23 – a week before the Pride Parade through the streets of the West End. The event is organised by London Falcons FC and already some 24 gay, lesbian and bi-friendly six-a-side teams from around the country have signed up to play at the Goals Soccer Centre in Wembley. It will be the first major gay-friendly football event ever seen in the capital and is expected to draw the support from a lot of gay and gay-friendly fans.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
Nobody is suggesting all gay or queer space be men-, or women-, only; it is important in developing community there be times when gay men and lesbians come together socially as well as politically. And while not all gay men have female friends they take out to the bar, many do. Clearly there needs to be space where that interaction can occur and there are many establishments in the Village where it does. Le Stud is not one of them. Do gay men have a right to our own space and to define who can be in that space in some situations? I would argue we should. It is important to our development as healthy, self-accepting gay men to have that space. Le Stud is about having that space.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Tokyo, Japan) - Japan’s first openly lesbian politician, who is running in the upcoming national election, celebrated her same-sex partnership on 3 June in Nagoya, Japan. Kanako Otsuji, 32, the former Osaka Assembly Member and an official candidate of Democratic Party of Japan for the next month’s election for the House of Councilors, Japan’s upper house, tied the knot with her partner of four years, Maki Kimura, 32, who is working for Otsuji’s office. Their wedding took place in IkedaPark in Nagoya, the country’s third largest city, during an HIV/AIDS prevention festival, the Nagoya Lesbian & Gay Revolution, organised by ANGEL LIFE NAGOYA. Some 1,000 people including relatives and friends of both Otsuji’s and Kimura’s attended the wedding.
Note: Gay Japan News
(Israel) - In its quest to resemble the nations of the world, Israel is rushing headlong to join an increasingly humanistic global community in tossing aside this, along with most every other, divine prohibition. And it is going far beyond sanctioning gay “pride” parades and recognizing same-sex marriages, both of which are already old news in Israel. The gay community is now poised to transform Israel into one of the world's premier gay vacation spots, and make its mark on Israeli politics as well.
Note: Read full article on Israel Today
(Lowell, USA) - Three Lowell men are scheduled to be arraigned this morning, charged in an alleged gay-bashing in which a man was taunted and beaten, according to Lowell police and the Middlesex district attorney's office. The alleged assailants saw the man in a residential neighborhood at about 3 a.m. on Friday, and used anti gay slurs before beating him, authorities said. "We don't want you in our neighborhood," one of the accused allegedly called out to the man. The victim, whose identity was withheld by authorities, went to police after the beating to describe his assailants. A short time later, police arrested three men fitting the description.
Note: Read full article on Boston.com
(Poland) - "We have to take a stand against this ... Disgusting pederasts came here from many countries and tried to impose their propaganda on us!" one person publicly declared. "Homosexuality is an addiction. Like pornography, the internet, shopping and contraception," claimed another. The first statement came from the mouth of Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Roman Giertych, speaking in public shortly after the end of the Equality Parade in Warsaw. The second quote is a statement from an adviser to Giertych, expressed in the Polish Parliament at a sitting of the Commission on the Family. Attitudes towards homosexuals, to people of other nationalities and races are usually strong reflectors of the state of democracy in a given country.
Note: Read full article on Warsaw Business Journal
(Berlin, Germany) - A memorial in Berlin to homosexuals persecuted and killed under the Nazis should be completed later this year, the German government said Monday, following an agreement on details of the design. The memorial, to be sited on the edge of the capital's Tiergarten park, will complement the nearby memorial for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. Last year, a jury chose a design by Danish-born Michael Elmgreen and Norwegian native Ingar Dragset for the memorial. It will be shaped as a gray concrete slab, with a window allowing visitors to view a film projection inside. Initially, the plan was for a video of two men kissing - which drew criticism that lesbians were ignored.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(Vilnius, Lithua) - Authorities in Lithuania are probing a Web site that calls for people to kill gays and warns people not to declare in public that they are homosexual, the prosecutor's office said Monday. "Two separate investigations were started. One is related to a Web site directed against homosexual people, another to leaflets distributed in Vilnius, which call for action against the homosexual community," Aurelija Juodyte, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said.
Note: Read full article on www.metimes.com
(USA) - Americans have long viewed June as the month for weddings, but Buffalo’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities know it is also their national pride month. This year’s Buffalo Pride Weekend theme, “Happily Ever After - Legal or Not,” emphasized the intersection of the two: The LGBT community wants equal marriage rights. The Pride festivities Saturday and Sunday came after Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer said in April that he would introduce legislation to legalize samesex marriage in New York.
Note: Read full article on Buffalo News
(USA) - From hate state to great state? Colorado's transformation in the past few weeks is nothing short of amazing. When measured on the civil rights yardstick set by progressive states like Massachusetts, Connecticut or California, the recent breakthroughs in Colorado might seem modest. But Colorado is no ordinary state, and victories there carry special symbolic significance. In 1992, voters in Colorado, which had become headquarters for a number of anti-gay organizations, passed the infamous Amendment 2: It created two classes of citizens -- gays and everybody else -- by prohibiting all state and local officials from doing anything to protect gay people from discrimination.
Note: Read full article on detnews.com
On Sunday 27 May, in Moscow, I witnessed the latest assault on human rights in Russia. A tiny, peaceful Gay Pride march, which threatened no one, was banned on the diktat of Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. At the same time, President Putin effectively banned Gay Pride organisers from holding a rally in a park near the Kremlin, having ignored their request for permission. Russian law guarantees the right to protest.
Note: Read full article on New Statesman
(Seul, South Korea) - Painting the world with rainbows and giving sexual minorities a voice, the 2007 Seoul Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual/gender Film Festival will unfold from June 6 to 10 at Seoul Art Cinema. A total of 15 international and domestic films, including full-length pieces and shorts, will be screened. The festival, newly dubbed SeLFF, provides anyone and everyone a chance to celebrate their respective identities in full color. Through the language of cinema, the most commercial form of mass communication, the event speaks out to the world ``This is Queer,’’ as part of the 8th Korea Queer Culture Festival (www.kqcf.org), also to continue until June 10.
Note: Read full article on Korea Times
(Riga, Latvia) - Around 1,200 people marched around the Vermanes Gardens at lunchtime as Riga staged, after two previous attempts, its Gay Pride. But it was not like most Prides around the world. Today was more of a walk around the park with tight security. The main thing, as everyone agreed, was that it happened and it was peaceful. Gay men and women from across Europe — not to mention dozens of Tinky Winkys - journeyed to the Latvian capital in solidarity with their embattled ‘brothers and sisters’. “We just had to come here,” said one German visitor. “The Latvian gays have had terrible experiences at the last two Prides, so this is my way of telling them that they are not forgotten."
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(USA) - Pride festivals and other events in June have tended to focus on the fun, entertaining side in recent year. But Stonewall Library & Archives has brought a more serious and educational focus to Pride month this year with its exhibit “Days Without Sunshine: Anita Bryant’s Anti-Gay Crusade.” The 20-panel exhibit takes viewers on a journey back to the 1970s, when the Save Our Children campaign repealed a 1977 Miami-Dade ordinance that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodation. The crusade was started by an unlikely source - singer Anita Bryant.
Note: Read full article on Express Gay News
(Riga, Latvia) - The effect of last year’s abandoned Riga Gay Pride, when participants attending private indoor events had animal excrement thrown over them from No Pride protestors, has had a positive effect for all of Latvian society, Anhelita Kamenska of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights said this afternoon. She said that the negative world-wide publicity for Latvia, combined with a court case, had resulted in all demonstrations now being permitted. “Latvian people now have the right of assembly - and the police will now protect demonstrations,” Ms. Kamenska said. She said that the decision by a local court to back the ban on last year’s Pride Parade was overturned on appeal by the regional court.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(USA) - The organizers of what is probably Minnesota's smallest gay pride gathering say all they want is a low-key afternoon picnic in a quiet park on the river in this small town. But the gathering Sunday is not without controversy, prompting a small group of locals to stage what they're calling a pro-family picnic a few blocks away. The gay pride picnic is the third annual being put on by the East Central Minnesota Men's Circle, a group of about 75 gay and bisexual men who live from Isanti to Duluth. One member said they formed to counter the isolation that gay people often feel in rural communities.
Note: Read full article on In-Forum
(Riga, Latvia) - Sexual rights activists from across Europe gathered in Latvia on Saturday, a day before a gay pride parade that is expected to face angry protests from conservative groups. Last year, an informal meeting of gay rights advocates in the Baltic country drew a crowd of irate demonstrators, some of whom threw eggs and excrement at the meeting's participants. Outraged by scenes of unrest last year, lawmakers and gay-rights advocates from across Europe have promised to attend the event Sunday, which will be Riga's second gay pride parade after the inaugural march in 2005. Swedish Migration Minister Tobias Billstrom was also set to take part.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign," I sang to myself, as I splashed around in the wading pool at my local park. "Under 12s only," it says. What fascism! No one is going to tell me I'm too old to frolic. I mean, it's not like I'm peeing in the water like most of these kids. I bet they haven't even heard of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But me, I'm a college student, and I know what I'm entitled to, such as beer. That's why when I got kicked out of a gay bar last week for being a woman, I filed a human rights complaint. It's so unfair. Were they afraid of my beauty? My brains? My breasts? Discrimination, thy name is Bar Le Stud.
Note: Read full article on www.canada.com
(UK) - A charity fundraiser has set up Scotland's first gay football team. Kevin Rowe, 34, says he created Hotscots FC because gay players were not comfortable in "straight" teams and had suffered discrimination. He said: "It's for gay people who like football but who feel a little intimidated playing in straight teams. The social side is very important." Hotscots have a squad of 20 and compete in tournaments in their home city of Edinburgh. "We'd like to play against gay teams in England. There's a fair few down there." Kevin hopes the team can become established like Edinburgh's gay rugby club, the Caledonian Thebans.
Note: Read full article on Daily Record
(India) - In a healthy sign of widening cultural acceptance of the gay experience in India, the 2007 Nigah Queer Festival has made daily news since opening to a diverse crowd of Delhiites last Friday. Part of the ongoing campaign for the legalisation of gay rights, the festival presented the hard politics alongside a series of events exploring varied forms of queer expression in cultures from India, Israel and Canada, to Hong Kong and Bosnia and Herzegovina. For 10 days, queer artists, filmmakers, performers and musicians had an alternative forum to strut their talent and present work in context with other like-minded artists and sympathetic audiences.
Note: Read full article on www.tehelka.com
(St. Louis, USA) - The former head of the city public defender's office is charged with arranging a sham marriage between a female subordinate and his Peruvian boyfriend to keep the boyfriend in the U.S., federal prosecutors said Friday. Eric Affholter, 40, and live-in boyfriend Pedro Cerna-Rojas, 31, "recruited" Affholter's employee, Assistant Public Defender Collette Lewis, to marry Cerna-Rojas in a Las Vegas wedding chapel, a marriage fraud indictment against both men says. Federal immigration law, which lets immigrant spouses remain in the U.S., makes no accommodation for same-sex marriages or civil unions, even in states that permit them. As part of an anti-terrorism initiative, prosecutors and immigration officials have recently started scrutinizing marriage licenses more closely to look for marriage fraud.
Note: Read full article on STL Today
(Israel) - A number of friends plan to set up a party for gay people that would contend for Knesset seats in the next general election. The party will be called Magi, a Hebrew acronym for Gay Party in Israel, the Tel Aviv magazine reported Thursday. Gay groups stepped up their campaign for more civil rights when their plans to hold a gay pride parade in Jerusalem were cancelled by the police for fear of confrontations with the city's strictly religious residents. Journalist and director Hagai Eyad will be appointed the party's secretary-general.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(UK) - A teenage boy who had been teased at school about his sexuality was killed after he lay down in front of a speeding train, an inquest heard yesterday. Jonathan Reynolds was struck by the 85mph train at Pencoed rail station in South Wales, on the evening of January 25 last year. Detective Chief Inspector Sandra England, of the British Transport Police, told the inquest that one of Jonathan's friends, Aimee Murray, said that just weeks before he died he had confided in her that he was gay. He had been teased about his sexuality by some boys in school and it was getting him down, she said.
Note: Read full article on Scotsman.com
(Riga, Latvia) - Support for Riga Friendship Days and Gay Pride has come today from the British Ambassador, the Chief of Staff of the Swedish Navy and an MEP — all hoping for a “celebration’ when the main event, the parade, takes place in Vermanes Park on Sunday. But the anti-gay ‘No Pride’ group became a victim of its own pressure today when demonstrators turned up at the Riga Conference Centre where the conference, Family Models: Diversity and Equality, was scheduled to take place.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
It is Gay Pride season in Europe, with marches in Poland and Russia. In Latvia, the capital, Riga, is hosting four days of lectures, classical concerts, parties and film screenings, but the big draw will be the final parade through the Vermane Garden on June 3. Organisers are hoping for a turnout of around 400, maybe more if the weather is as sunny as last year. It's hard to know. What they can expect with some certainty is that neofascist and ultra-religious counterdemonstrators will outnumber their marchers by at least two to one. The police presence will be greater still. As one activist put it, "It'll be less of a Pride parade than a human rights fight."
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Riga, Latvia) - Gay activists in Latvia, pelted with excrement and eggs last year when trying to meet, said on Wednesday they hoped a Gay Pride march this year would be peaceful. Latvia, like many other countries in eastern Europe, has a generally conservative and often hostile attitude to homosexuality. Several days of events are planned by gays in the capital Riga, culminating in a parade on June 3. "I think things will be different this year because police are being very cooperative and they understand that they need to protect us," said Linda Freimane, a board member of gay rights organisation Mozaika.
Note: Read full article on Javno
(San Francisco, USA) - A gay man was beaten in San Francisco's South of Market District Friday, May 18 around 11:30 p.m. while walking down Harrison Street from the Lone Star Saloon toward the Eagle Tavern. Michael Benda, 45, a freelance graphic designer who lives in the Castro, told the Bay Area Reporter that he was walking alone on Harrison near 10th Street when one man punched him in his left eye while a second man laughed. Benda fell to the ground, where the second man proceeded to kick him in the chest and stomach. Benda said that he learned from the doctors after a CAT scan that the punch caused an orbital fracture, breaking the bone behind his eye. He said that doctors told him the fracture will never heal.
Note: Read full article on Bay Area Reporter
(Ghana) - The rights of gays and lesbians in Africa were left out of the 41st ordinary session of the African commission on human and people's rights due to a constraint in time, the ACHPS chairperson has explained. Salamata Sawadogo told attendees of the closing of the commission"s 41st session that "we did not have the time to discuss the issue," adding that a number of items on the agenda were forfeited because of scheduling limits. Peter Nii, a supporter of the gay and lesbian association of Ghana, said he is not surprised that the commission did not raise the issue in the session. "I think this [topic] is a disaster for the African Commission," he said. "I think they thought this is not an important issue."
Note: Read full article on The Stateseman Online
(Montreal, Canada) - When she wandered past the flowery terrace of Bar Le Stud one afternoon last week, 20-year-old Audrey Vachon thought the sunny spot was the perfect place to enjoy a beer with her father. What she failed to anticipate was that her presence violated the gay bar's male-only rule. Ms. Vachon's case has raised questions about the limits of openness, and whether gays shouldn't be given a place to call their own. Montreal lawyer Julius Grey, a Charter expert and veteran on discrimination and civil rights cases, says "the bar's refusal in no way affected the girl's dignity or devalues her as a person. It doesn't seriously affect her status in society, whereas gays face constant discrimination."
Note: Read full article on The Globe and Mail
(San Francisco) - A strong message is going to be sent to the tens of thousands of Halloween revelers who descend upon San Francisco from throughout the Bay Area - the Castro party is officially busted. This year, fun-seekers will find no party set-up - no barricades, no portable toilets, and no entertainment - in the historically gay neighborhood, said Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who represents the Castro. This is not the first time city officials have tried to move the event out of the Castro. From 1996-2001, the city sponsored a Halloween event at Civic Center, but tens of thousands of people still flooded the Castro, doubling the work of police. “People are still going to go to the Castro,”said Ted Strawser, founder of the San Francisco Party Party, a group that has rallied against recent crackdowns on city events and festivals. “Without services, they’re just going to pee in the street, and without entertainment, mischief will occur.”
Note: Read full article on Examiner
(USA) - The Boy Scouts of America convened its national annual leadership meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday amid protests over the group's ban on gays and atheists and ongoing complaints about its local council's service to poor and disadvantaged youth. Representatives of the gay community, Boy Scouts for Truth and the Atheist Alliance International marched outside the hotel, challenging the Scouts' stand against gay and atheist membership. "We've changed the heart and minds of some Boy Scout members," said Margaret Downey, alliance president. "That's where we find our will to carry on."
Note: Read full article on Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(Riga, Latvia) - As part of Riga Pride and Friendship Days 2007 taking place from May 31 - June 3, two LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Film Nights will be held in Riga, organized by the NGO Mozaika and financed by the Social Integration Fund from an EU grant. As Andrejs Visockis, a Mozaika member and the LGBT Film Nights organizer, puts it, “The purpose is to highlight themes of interest for the local LGBT community and raise awareness about LGBT individuals through international films which would otherwise not be shown in Latvia.”
Note: Read full article on Baltic Times
(Princeton, USA) - Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted each May, finds current public tolerance for gay rights at the high-water mark of attitudes recorded over the past three decades. There is still considerable public opposition to complete equality for gays, particularly with respect to marriage. However, after several years of lower support for gay rights, support is now springing back to the relatively high levels seen in 2003, just before the Supreme Court's June 26, 2003, decision striking down a Texas sodomy law. (According to Gallup trends, that ruling appeared to produce a backlash of public opposition to gay rights.)
Note: Read full article on GallupPoll.com
Watching the gay rights activists get beaten boiled my blood. In essence, an estimated one hundred violent anti-gay punks were intimidating an entire population of gay Russians with the message: Stay in the closet or face violence. I'm traditionally for peaceful protests, but we can't forget that Stonewall included fighting back. A part of me thinks we should show up next year in larger numbers with the idea that we are going to finally put our overpriced gym memberships to good use. Of course, my retributive thoughts are tempered with the realization that after Stonewall, the rebelling drag queens were not iced with polonium-210, like former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Note: Read full article on WayneBesen.com
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