(EU) - ILGA-Europe and TransGender Europe published the first comprehensive report on the experiences of health care by Transgender people in European Union. This report is a result of the largest and most comprehensive data collection on transgender people's lived experienced to date. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(EU) - On 4-6 March 2008, ILGA-Europe, in partnership with Informational centre LEGEBITRA, a Slovene LGBT organisation, organises a conference on LGBT families in Europe. This conference is a contribution to the current Slovene Presidency of the European Union and aims at drawing attention to the lack of recognition and existing discrimination against LGBT families at European level. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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) - 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
(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
(EU) - Today the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgement in a case of E.B. v France and said that exclusion of individuals from the application process for adoption of children simply because of their sexual orientation is discriminatory and is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. ILGA-Europe, FIDH (Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme), APGL (Association des Parents et futurs Parents Gays et Lesbiens) and the BAAF (British Association for Adoption and Fostering) were granted permission to take part in the proceedings as third parties. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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) - 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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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) - 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) - 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
(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
(Iran) - The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has learned today that despite an order by the Iranian Chief Justice to nullify his death sentence, Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Kermanshah Central Prison at 5 a.m. this morning, Iranian time. Neither Mr. Mouloodzadeh's family or his lawyer were told about the execution until after it occurred. IGLHRC is still investigating the facts in this case. Read more...
(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
(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
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 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
(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
(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
(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
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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
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
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
(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) - 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
(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
(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
(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
(UK) - Is Jamaica is the most homophobic country in the world? Does Jamaican reggae/dancehall murder music contribute to anti-Gay violence? Should concerts by murder music singers be cancelled? Stop Murder Music campaigners, Dennis Carney of the Black Gay Men’s Advisory Group, and Brett Lock of the Gay human rights group OutRage!, discuss with Peter Tatchell on doughty.gdbtv.com. Read more...
(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) - 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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(Belgium) - Trevor Cook joins the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) as new Executive Director made possible through the financial contribution of development agency HIVOS. ILGA is also supported by Oxfam Novib, SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and IBM, whose support has enabled the organization to grow. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
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
(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) - 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
(Lithuania) - On 25-28 October 2007, almost 200 delegates from all over Europe gather in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for the 11th ILGA-Europe's Annual Conference. While the Conference goes ahead, the Rainbow Flag public event planned by the Lithuanian hosts during the conference was banned by the Mayor of Vilnius. A legal challenge of the ban has been already initiated. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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) - 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) - 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
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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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 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
(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
(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
(Nepal) - Supreme Court of Nepal yesterday has heard the writ petition filed against the government of Nepal by Blue Diamond Society and three other organizations on 5th September 2007 , demanding to protect and defend LGBTIQ rights . The writ petition was heard by Honorable Judge Balaram K.C.and Honorable Judge Pawan Kumar Ojha. Advocates Bhuwan Prasad Nirula, Hari Phuyal, Prem Rai, Sharmila Dhakal and Rupe Narayan Srestha pleaded the case on behalf of the petitioners. Advocate Bhuwan Prasad Nirula highlighted on the institutional structure of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), its role on protecting rights of Gays, Lesbians and Metis and the problems faced by them. He effectively dealt on the queries of the bench about BDS and the concerned people. Read more...
(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
(Hungary) - The topic of gay marriage in recent years, and particularly since the Gay Pride march in the summer, has become a recurrent topic in Hungarian politics. The issue has been the subject of a campaign by the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), which sees an opportunity to distinguish itself from senior governing coalition partner, the MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party). The liberal party may be hoping that if it manages to create a debate around the topic, it can again strengthen its own ideological position. As a result, however, of the Socialist MSZP and main opposition party Fidesz making efforts to distance themselves from the topic it is not likely that legal amendments going beyond recognition of civil partnerships will be passed in the near-future.
Note: Read more on Budapest Times
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(USA) - With the start of the 2007-2008 television season, the number of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender characters on scripted network television in USA continues to decline, according to the research of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The analysis shows that, inspite improved quality, with only 7 characters, the LGBT representations will equate only 1.1% of all series regular characters in the 2007-08 broadcast television schedule, a drop in numbers from 9 characters (1.3%) in 2006, respectively 10 (1.4%) in 2005. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(USA) - The American Civil Liberties Union urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss a county judge's contempt order and jail sentence against a Lesbian mother. Earlier this year, Wilkinson County Judge John Lee Parrott ordered that the child Elizabeth Hadaway hopes to adopt be taken away for three months because Hadaway is a Lesbian, and now Hadaway is battling an order from the same judge that she spend as many as ten days in jail. Read more...
(Sweden) - By tradition EPOA, European Pride Organisers Association, holds its annual meeting in the city that is hosting the next Europride. Pride festival organisers from the whole of Europe come to Stockholm for the weekend in order to, among other things, choose who will arrange Europride 2010. Delegates come from Spain, Germany, Iceland, Switzerland, Poland and several other european countries. Read more...
(USA) - Truth Wins Out expressed gratitude to the Arcus Foundation for rewarding the organization with a $40,000 grant that will greatly help in the efforts to counter the ex-Gay industry. The gift was from The Arcus Gay & Lesbian Fund, which seeks to advance social justice by supporting efforts to promote human rights and policy change for equal rights for members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community. Read more...
(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
(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) - 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
(USA) - The Chicago Commission on Human Relations' Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues has named the 2007 list of individuals and organizations for inclusion in the only known government-sponsored hall of fame that honors members of the LGBT communities, announced Commission Chairperson Clarence N. Wood. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of his death, former Mayor Harold Washington will be honored as a "Friend of the Community." Read more...
(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
(EU) - The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued a Transgender-friendly judgment in the case against Lithuania. The Court said that while Lithuanian law had recognised the right of a transsexual person to change their gender and their civil status, the gap in the law regulating full gender reassignment surgery created an impediment for the transsexual person to complete this process. Therefore Lithuania violated Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, where the right to respect of family and private life is guaranteed. Read more...
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
(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
(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) - Truth Wins Out expressed relief that Christopher Austin, an 'ex-Gay' counselor in Irving, Texas, was convicted of sexually assaulting a client. Austin was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but received seven years probation, had to register as a sex offender and was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. After years of reported abuse - including several alleged victims who testified at the trial - it is welcome news that Austin has finally been put out of business, says TWO. Read more...
(Russia) - A series of letters, leaked to the Russian daily newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets and published today, show that the Moscow Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov dismissed a request from the Russian government to reach a compromise over Moscow Gay Pride, and how he requested - and got - from the GUVD department of the Moscow Police what amounts to a justification for the banning of this year’s Pride weeks before the application was made. The letters show that, on January 31, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, wrote to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggesting a "reasonable compromise" over the Moscow Gay Pride this year. Read more...
(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
(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
(USA) - Some 50 marchers participated in a parade and rally at Atlanta Black Gay Pride celebration. The parade started at the King Center and moved on to the state Capitol as a display of unity and urging for attention to the issues and concerns of African-American Gays, Lesbians and Transgenders. The parade, which was a part of a larger five-day program, was organized by the local Gay organization In the Life Atlanta. Read more...
(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
(UK) - Brian Paddick, Britains most known former Gay senior Metropolitan Police officer has announced he is thinking about running for mayor of London. Brian Paddick is an ex-deputy Assistant Commissioner who left his job in May 2007, said he is considering standing for the Liberal Democrats in the upcoming elections. Mr Paddick retired from his office after differences with Commissioner Sir Ian Blair over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes in July, 2005. The Brazilian immigrant was mistaken for a terrorist and shot dead by police officers in an underground train in Stockwell, south London. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(USA) - Patricia M. Logue will receive NLGLA's Dan Bradley Award on 6 September. The Dan Bradley Award recognizes efforts by a member of the LGBT legal community who has led the way for equality under the law. "Pat's contributions to upholding the civil rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV-positive people are immense," said Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal. "We are extremely proud of Pat and all she has done for LGBT civil rights and excited that she has been honored with this award." Read more...
(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
(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
(Russia) - The principal organiser of Moscow Gay Pride was yesterday quizzed by Moscow Police Central Investigations Department about the alleged slander under Article 129.2 of Russia’s Criminal Code of a Russian politician. On June 21, Gay activist Nikolai Alekseev took part in the NTV talk show “K baryeru!” during which he called deputy of the State Duma Alexander Chuev, member of pro-Kremlin party Fair Russia, “Gay, a coward and a hypocrite” who is only using orthodoxy and fight against homosexuality to reach his political goals. Six days later, Mr. Chuev lodged a complaint with the General Prosecution department asking to check whether the statements of Nikolai Alekseev breached articles 129, 130 and 282 of Russia’s Criminal Code. Read more...
(USA) - A memorial to celebrate the life of pioneer Latina lesbian activist Yolanda Retter Vargas will be held at MCC in West Hollywood on September 29th. Retter passed away from cancer at her home in Los Angeles on August 18, 2007, after a short illness which stunned family and friends. An activist and scholar, Yolanda was a major force in the early L.A. lesbian movement as a fierce advocate for lesbians of color. In her last two decades Yolanda became a highly-educated and much sought after librarian, archivist and editor. Read more...
(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
(USA) - The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today urged Clear Channel to withdraw the sponsorship of its Power 105.1 station from the upcoming Reggae Carifest, featuring anti-gay performers Buju Banton and Bounty Killer. The event is slated for August 25 at Randall's Island in New York. GLAAD is also encouraging the media to spotlight these performers' violent, disturbing lyrics and to question Clear Channel's support of messages that promote violence against the LGBT community. "Buju Banton and Bounty Killer continue to perform songs with virulently homophobic lyrics that in some cases support the murder of gay people," said GLAAD Senior Director of Media Programs Rashad Robinson. Read more...
(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
(UK) - Gary Frisch, aged 38, left an estate worth £6.5 million, most of which is left in his will to Mr Badenhorst, his business partner and former boyfriend. They had split up a few months before Mr Frisch’s death, but probate records reveal that he drew up his will a year before he died. Henry Badenhorst, also South African and a trustee of the estate, has had to pay an inheritance tax bill of £2.5 million because he and Mr Frisch were not civil partners. Had they been, he would have been treated in law as Mr Frisch’s spouse and would have inherited his estate without paying 40 per cent of his inheritance in tax.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(Chile) - A court in Antofagasta in the northern Chile found a 47-year-old man guilty of "abusing" a 17-year-old youth, convicting the man to 41 days in prison. Although the young man was just 12 days away from his 18th birthday at the time of the “crime” and testified that the sex was consensual, prosecutors pursued the case, claiming that the man “corrupted the child’s sexual morality.” Chile’s Criminal Code is highly biased against Gays, and the legal age of consent is 18 for homosexuals while 12 for heterosexuals. Read more...
(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
(Iran) - A court in Tehran has spared two teenagers found guilty of sexually abusing another boy from hanging. The judges in a Tehran general criminal court ruled that the teenagers, now aged 16 and 17, had not reached mental maturity at the time of the crime and thus could not be subjected to the death penalty. They were sentenced instead to ten years in prison. The case indicates a possible change of policy on execution of minors in Iran. Read more...
(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
(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
(Netherlands) - The court in Amsterdam sentenced 19-year-old Hazim A. to six months in prison on Monday, three months suspended, for an attack on a gay couple. The thug was also sentenced to 180 hours of community service. On the night of 28 June, A. assaulted two Gay men in the Reguliersdwarsstraat, an area home to many Gay bars and clubs. A. punched the men in the face, spit on them and swore at them repeatedly. The sentence coincided with the demands of the public prosecutor, who said A.'s offences were aggravated because he targeted the men specifically because of their sexual preference. "All you have to do is look a bit different and walk hand in hand in public and you could be a victim."
Note: Read full article on Expatica
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(Philadelphia, USA) - A federal judge issued an opinion today allowing a long-term gay couple to resume contact with each other while completing the period of supervision imposed on them as part of a drug sentence. The ACLU, which represented the couple, cheers the court's historic decision recognizing that same-sex couples are equally protected by the Constitution and must be treated the same as other families. Read more...
(Burlington, USA) - The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association announced today at the Women in Medicine Conference in Burlington, Vermont that its Lesbian Health Fund (LHF) program has given $500,000 to support lesbian health research. Lesbian and bisexual women are prone to discrimination in health care and, as a group, experience higher rates of smoking, obesity, and risk factors for breast cancer. Read more...
(Sweden) - Stockholm starts celebrating the biggest Scandinavian Pride-festival. This years theme is sports and the theme runs through the entire festival. At the seminar centre Pride House, the leisure movements responsibility concerning LGBT-phobia is discussed with the Swedish Sports Confederation, among others. You can also join in on the dildo-kubb tournement. In Pride Park the focus is on spontaneous sports. Visitors can challange each other in croquet, on a climbing wall, with giant pick up sticks or by shooting Amor's arrows. Also, a ice skating rink will be rigged! Around Stockholm there are several tournaments and sports activities. Read more...
(Vancouver, Canada) - The Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) is pleased to announce that Tomasz Baczkowski, one of the international Parade grand marshalls, has arrived safely in Vancouver. Baczkowski is a gay human rights campaigner in Poland and was the lead organizer of the first legal Warsaw Pride held this past May. "There was some concern that Tomasz would perhaps be detained or otherwise as he is one of only a few "out" prominent gay figures in Poland. The government systematically persecutes gays in Poland so we were holding our breath until he landed," stated Ken Coolen, Vancouver Pride Parade organizer. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(Iran) - Within the past two weeks, following the rightful objection of the Iranian people in regard to ever-increasing government pressures, a new wave of repression and suppression has begun inside Iran. As part of an interview with the TV program Kooleh Poshty on July 24th, in an emphasized and detailed account Mr. Saeed Mortazavi names every group and individual targeted by the new wave of government violence and murder in Iran. In these comments, he clearly outlines groups allegedly violating official Islamic laws and speaks in detail about various forms of dress, makeup, and hairstyle deemed unacceptable and unforgivable. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
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
(Cologne, Germany) - Around 40 people participated in a vigil to remember Gays and Lesbians murdered by the hands of religious fundamentalists in Iran. The vigil started on 19 July 2007 at 17:30 at Cologne's Memorial for Gay and Lesbian Victims of Nazism near the Hohenzollern Bridge. The event, organised by baraka, an international self-organization group of Gay, Lesbian und bisexual immigrants in Cologne, and by the Gay Homeland Foundation aimed to draw attention to the terrible conditions under which many homosexual people live in Iran and many other countries. Jacek Marjanski (baraka), Viktor Zimmermann (GHF) and a Lesbian woman from Iran (whose name is withhold for safety reasons) spoke at the vigil. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(London, UK) - GaydarRadio was yesterday (July 2) crowned Commercial Radio Digital Station of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards 2007. The digital radio station which is also streamed on the internet, beat off stiff competition from other finalists PlanetRock, last year’s recipient, and The Jazz, to take the accolade at a ceremony at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel. The 'gong' follows right on the heels of a prestigious Gold Sony for GaydarRadio which was crowned UK Digital Terrestrial Station of the Year in April. And last October, the network was voted Best Radio Station by its listeners in the BT Digital Music Awards. Read more...
(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
(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) - 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
(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
(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
(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
(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) - 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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(Moscow, Russia) - A group of unknown men has beaten up several Orthodox Christian youth on Saturday as they "patrolled" a Moscow park searching for gays to expell. The park is a popular meeting place for gay men and now is targeted by homophobes who have vowed to purge the city from "sexual deviants". It is unclear whether the young homophobes were beaten up by members of the local Gay community.
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(Catar) - A gay man from Nepal has been released from prison after he was found guilty of “engaging in homosexual activities”. The court suspended his year’s prison sentence and ordered a subsequent deportation. The decision revised an early sentence, taken in absentia, to jail the man for one year. Local newspapers write that the decision was revised because the court found it "useless" to keep the man in custody for one year with no prospects for “rectification”. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(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
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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(New York, USA) - Advertisement spending in the gay and lesbian press has grown at almost three times the rate of consumer magazines over the past ten years, according to a major annual survey released today. Ad spending in gay and lesbian publications in 2006 reached a record $223.3 million, an increase of 5.2% over 2005 and an increase of 205% since 1996, according to the 2006 edition of the Gay Press Report, the annual survey produced by advertising agency Prime Access Inc. and gay media representative firm Rivendell Media. Read more...
(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) - 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
(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
(Miami Beach, USA) - Truth Wins Out announced its strong and committed opposition today to President George W. Bush's nomination for U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. James W. Holsinger, after it was revealed that he started a church in Lexington, Kentucky that has a ministry to "cure" gay people. "Holsinger is an ideologue whose medical views on gay and lesbian people resemble sorcery more than sound science," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "The last thing America needed was another deplorable nominee who isn't up to the job, but this is exactly what Bush delivered." Read more...
"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 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
(London, UK) - Moscow police confirm that they have opened a criminal investigation into the assault on British gay human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, at last Sunday's Moscow Gay Pride event. But official police claims that they have arrested the right-wing extremist who punched Mr Tatchell in the face are untrue, according to the investigating officer. In another development, there are allegations that Moscow police are trying to pin the assault on three right-wingers who may be innocent of any involvement. Read more...
(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
(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
(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
(Cambridge, UK) - A violent electrician head-butted and punched a man dressed in drag in a homophobic attack in Cambridge. Kelvin Stevens, 23, lashed out after hurling abuse at a group of raunchily-dressed revellers in Regent Street, who were on their way to cross-dressing stage show The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Corn Exchange. As he passed the group of men and women, dressed in the fishnet tights, suspenders and high heels traditionally worn by audience members at the popular musical, he called them "a load of fags" prompting a heated argument. Then, as pushes were exchanged, Stevens launched a ferocious attack, head-butting and punching Barry Giles, 23.
Note: Read full article on Cambridge Evening News
(Stockholm, Sweden) - A woman thought to be in her forties was struck in the head with an axe in central Stockholm on Monday afternoon. The attack took place at the offices of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) on Sveavägen just after 3.30pm. Police arrested a man around fifteen minutes later in connection with the incident. He was still carrying the axe when he was apprehended. RFSL chairman Sören Andersson has confirmed that woman was an employee of the organization. He is in no doubt that the crime was motivated by hatred.
Note: Read full article on The Local
(Canada) - Advances in reproductive technology and the growing number of same-sex parents are creating a long list of new family forms: two lesbian moms and two gay dads; two dads and a part-time mom, even men and women who met through personal ads for the sole purpose of having a baby. Non-traditional families have created what many lawyers and human-rights experts say is the next frontier of family law: the legal recognition of families with multiple parents.
Note: Read full article on The Globe and Mail
(UK) - A care worker at an old folk's home claimed yesterday that he was forced out of his job because he was gay. Kevin Reid told an employment tribunal how workmates accused him of performing an indecent act in front of patients and touching patients inappropriately. Reid, 43, was suspended over the allegations, then cleared by bosses and offered his job back. But he quit, saying he could not work alongside his accusers, then sued his employers for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.
Note: Read full article on Daily Record
(Moscow, Russia) - Within hours of being released by a Moscow Court after being arrested at yesterday’s “gay Pride” and kept in police custody overnight, Nikolai Alekseev had met with others on the Moscow Gay Pride Committee to discuss the future. “The Moscow Pride Committee has decided tonight that next Moscow Pride will take place Saturday May 31,” Mr. Alekseev said this evening. And that was not all. “I am planning to run next December in the Douma election. This could really change the course of next year’s Pride,” he added.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Warsaw, Poland) - A Polish official has asked psychologists to evaluate a character in the popular British Teletubbies children's television programme for homosexual tendencies. Poland's Children's Ombudswoman Ewa Sowinska told the Monday edition of Poland's Wprost news magazine: 'At first I thought that a purse may bother the Teletubby...later I found out there may be some kind of hidden homosexual subtext.' Sowinska's move comes as Poland's right-wing Education Minister Roman Giertych has launched a controversial legislative initiative to ban homosexual rights groups from Polish schools.
Note: Read full article on Monsters and Critics
(Melbourne, Australia) - The owner of the Peel Hotel in Melbourne says there has already been a backlash after the pub won the right to turn away heterosexual patrons. Hotel management applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for an exemption to the Equal Opportunity Act. It is concerned about the growing number of heterosexual men and women directing insults and abuse at its mainly gay patrons. Owner Tom McFeely says there has been an increase in abusive homophobic phone calls to the Collingwood hotel since the decision became public.
Note: Read full article on www.abc.net.au
(UK) - British concert pianist Stephen Hugh will not perform in Vietnam because officials there were concerned about his writings on religion and homosexuality. Alcoholic beverage company Hennessy withdrew its invitation for to the award-winning musician to play in Hanoi after Vietnamese authorities refused to grant the event a license because they thought it would be a security risk, The Telegraph reported Saturday. It is believed an official from Vietnam's Ministry of Culture looked at Hough's Web site and saw an article he wrote for a religious magazine, The Tablet, in which he criticized the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on www.postchronicle.com
(Miami Beach, USA) – Truth Wins Out launched its ‘Talking Truth’ internet video campaign today, so Americans can finally learn from the victims of ex-gay ministries how these misleading groups are ineffective and ruin lives. The video testimonies paint an accurate portrait of ‘ex-gay’ groups that teach client’s denial, while offering false promises about changing from gay-to-straight. The Talking Truth campaign also gives hope to those who are still ensnared in the ‘ex-gay’ trap and lets them know that they can remain both spiritual and openly gay. Read more...
(UK) - The UK's best-known expert on transsexualism was today found guilty of serious professional misconduct for rushing five patients into sex-changing treatments, but avoided being struck off. The disciplinary panel ruled that Dr Reid must no longer prescribe patients with sex-changing hormones at the first appointment, nor without a firm diagnosis that they are transsexual or a proper psychiatric assessment. The panel determined that the consultant psychiatrist was too quick to provide patients with hormones and to refer them for genital surgery.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Moscow, Russia) – With Gay Pride about to start, Moscow is surprisingly quiet. Not a single official statement has been released by Mayor of Moscow, unlike at the same time last year. Even the weather is different – last year rain was the order of the day. Right now a sunny and hat weekend awaits the 200 or so participants attending today’s LGBT conference and who knows how many who will take part in tomorrow’s Pride March. And journalists are starting to “smell” a story later in the day. Read more...
(Moscow, Russia) - Russian nationalists, communists and religious believers gathered in Moscow on Saturday to denounce plans for a Gay Pride march, as gay activists prepared to lobby the mayor to lift a ban on the event. About 200 protesters, including flag-waving communists or old women carrying religious icons, held a "Russia March" in the centre of the capital at which some denounced the gay parade as a "satanic act" -- a phrase used by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov himself. In another part of the city, about 200 right-wing activists, many with shaved heads and tattoos, protested against the planned parade. Last year, a gay march went ahead despite the ban. Activists were detained by police, abused by militant Christians and attacked by neo-Nazis.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
Across much of the former Soviet empire, gay rights are one of the main battlegrounds of the struggle between liberty and authoritarianism. Hungary and the Czech Republic are two rare examples of ex-communist states that have made the transition from tyranny to democracy and, in large measure, embraced gay human rights. In Russia, Latvia, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova, however, the situation is very different. Freedom of expression and the rights of sexual minorities are still hedged with restrictions.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(USA) - Part of the gay rights movement has been a proliferation of pride events, including commemorative marches, parades and festivals, across the country and around the world. “The original idea,” said Russell Murphy, co-president of InterPride, the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Coordinators, “was to commemorate the Stonewall riots — to remind people that this is a struggle for queer rights and that this is our day. But now, a lot of them have expanded to become tourist attractions.” That’s because it’s both fun to experience an explosion of gay culture in various cities and, as Mr. Murphy explained, “some people cannot be out in their own community, so they will travel.”
Note: Read full article on NY Times
(Pristina, Kosovo) – The leader of a gay and lesbian youth advocacy group and his staff have today received death threats which the police initially refused to take seriously. The threat email was sent to the leader of Centre for Social Emancipation (QESh), Mr. ‘K.Z’. Starting “In the name of Allah”, the email condemns ‘Mr. Z’ for his activities with the youth group and says he will end up in hell. The email continues, in translation: “We will fu** you mother, burn you with all your belongings, amd will make you carry your intestines in your own hands, you lewd man”. Read more...
(Japan) - Japan’s second largest political party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), has announced that Kanako Otsuji, the first openly lesbian politician in Japan, will be one of the party’s official candidates for this summer’s National Diet (parliament) election. If she wins, she’ll be the first openly LGBT national politician ever in Japan. Otsuji, 32, was elected as an Osaka Assembly Member in April 2003. She left the closet in August 2005 in her book Coming Out and marched in the Tokyo Pride Parade (formerly known as Tokyo Lesbian & Gay Parade) along with about 2,500 people.
Note: Read full article on GayNZ.com
(Missoula, USA) - Two men are charged with aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping in an attack on a man who said his two assailants uttered anti-gay epithets while severely beating him earlier this month. Michael D. Lemay and Christopher L. Newrider, both 20, remain jailed on $100,000 bail. Court records said Lemay and Newrider met the 50-year-old victim, Stevenpaul Richey, at a downtown bar, and went to Richey’s apartment. Richey said once in the apartment, one of the men said that he “didn’t like faggots,” and that he was attacked from behind. A friend discovered Richey kneeling on his living room floor with both hands tied behind his back, having been badly beaten. He was hospitalized with facial fractures, broken ribs and a punctured lung. Staff at St. Patrick Hospital told police that Richey could have died if he hadn’t been found so quickly.
Note: Read full article on Great Falls Tribune
(Iran) - Terrifying new photos showing the effects of police lashings last month on an Iranian gay couple have been released by the Iranian Queer Organization. Iranian authorities staged a brutal and violent May 10 raid on a birthday party in Esfahan which they suspected was a gay party, beating the guests and arresting 87 people. Police and members of the Basiji -- the thuggish parapolice attached to the Revolutionary Guards, who are used to enforce morality -- severely beat the Esfahan party guests, both inside the house where the party was held and in the street outside it, resulting in broken bones for some of the partyers, according to these accounts by eyewitnesses and guests at the party.
Note: Read full article on Direland
(USA) - Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, an openly gay Democrat, father of two boys, and passionate supporter of marriage equality, announced Tuesday that he will be leaving his post in the state legislature to accept a private sector position as president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. The Boston Globe reported today that Barrios, a 38-year-old lawyer with the firm DLA Piper, as well as representing a Cambridge district on Beacon Hill, would replace departing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts president Nancy Turnbull, who has accepted a post as dean at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Note: Read full article on Edge Boston
(Islamabad, Pakistan) - Facing an almost certain separation and a possible prison term, Pakistan's first known lesbian couple has threatened to commit suicide and appealed to President Pervez Musharraf as well as the international community for help. Shumail Raj, 31, who underwent a sex change operation 16 years ago, and 26-year-old Shahzina Tariq, were sent to separate jails on Tuesday by the Lahore High Court which termed their marriage as an "unnatural act" not allowed by Islam or Pakistani law after a medical examination showed that Shumail was a woman. The couple wept throughout their journey in a police van and discussed the possibility of killing themselves if they were separated, a report in the Daily Times .
Note: Read full article on Times of India
(Lincoln, USA) - State lawmakers killed a bill Tuesday that would have afforded homosexuals the same workplace protections granted to minorities and other groups. The state now bans workplace discrimination on the basis of race, religious affiliation, national origin, physical disabilities, age, and other factors. Under the measure voted down, employers would have been barred from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, providing a shield for homosexuals and bisexuals.
Note: Read full article on Beatrice Daily Sun
(New Zealand) - Among the speakers in Auckland for this week’s Writers and Readers Festival are openly-gay writers Peter Wells and Stevan Eldred-Grigg. This year’s festival also includes talks by visiting UK actor and writer Richard E. Grant, Kiwi favourites Penny Ashton and Jennifer Ward-Lealand, and a ‘Poetry Idol’ event, where poets battle it out for cash and bar tabs. The festival takes place in Auckland’s Aotea Centre from 24th to 27th May. Further information and full programme visit the festival website on the link below.
Note: Read full article on GayNZ.com
(USA) - The staffer for the homeless shelter didn't seem to understand Michelle Wang's explanation why she needed a place to stay. Finally, Wang blurted out that she was a lesbian. The staffer immediately put her on hold. After a long wait, Wang got the word she feared: There were no beds available. She would have to fend for herself for another night in the unseasonably cold fall weather.In complaints with city and state officials and in an expected lawsuit, the 27-year-old Wang alleges New Life Interim Housing, a homeless shelter in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, discriminated against her on the basis of sexual orientation.
Note: Read full article on Chicago Tribune
(Concord, USA) - Protests by an anti-gay group near the funeral of Army Capt. Jonathan Grassbaugh in Hampstead last month have inspired a last-minute effort to ban demonstrations near funerals. The ban was added as an amendment to an unrelated bill, establishing a New Hampshire Medal of Honor, that is working its way through the Legislature. It’s similar to a [US]-national law passed last year that requires demonstrators to remain at least 500 feet away from mourners in national cemeteries.
Note: Read full article on Edge Boston
(USA) - By the time of his death last week, Jerry Falwell had become a caricature, a victim of his egomania and verbal excesses. The organization he founded in 1979, the Moral Majority, had long since disbanded and his name had become associated with right-wing dogma. He will be remembered as much for his ridiculous pronouncements - such as blaming gays and feminists, among others, for the 9/11 attacks - as for anything else. Nevertheless, his influence on American politics has, sadly, been profound. He and his fellow theocrats have created a climate of intolerance for diversity, distrust of science and disrespect for the wall of separation between church and state.
Note: Read full article on www.ajc.com
(UK) - More than five million people - almost one in six adult Britons - have seen gay or lesbian colleagues being physically or verbally bullied at work as a direct result of their sexuality. The findings, based on research commissioned by Stonewall, the gay rights group, reveal workplace homophobia to be widespread. Published this week, the YouGov survey of more than 2,000 people provides a snapshot of attitudes towards lesbians and gay men in Britain and the extent of prejudice against them. The research also showed significant geographical differences in attitudes, with 83 per cent of Londoners in favour of tackling anti-gay prejudice, compared with 65 per cent in the east of England.
Note: Read full article on Independent
(Canada) - Montreal will have a gay pride parade this year, despite behind-the-scenes organizational problems that nearly canned it, the head of the Quebec Gay Chamber of Commerce promised yesterday. A daytime parade is being planned for the last weekend in July, probably Sunday, July 29, said Pierre Paquette, the chamber's managing director. A new coalition of groups representing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities is now in charge of the parade, Paquette said.
Note: Read full article on canada.com
(USA) - When will the gay community’s indulgence of Jim McGreevey end? The disgraced former governor of New Jersey, in case anyone needs a reminder, was forced to announce his resignation in the summer of 2004 for, among other alleged offenses, putting his lover on the state payroll in a six-figure job for which he had few qualifications. The world is unfair to gay people and the higher rates of suicide, depression and personally destructive behavior amongst gays, especially gay men, has a great deal to do with external homophobia. But let there be no mistake: McGreevey was forced to resign because he was a corrupt politician.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
Why do we read? Why do we care? In a world with so many entertainment options, why do so many of us turn to the old-fashioned ink on a page? Andrew Holleran addressed that question in his address to the audience at the 19th Annual Triangle Awards. Holleran was speaking to the faithful at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium in Greenwich Village. The May 7 event was a coming together of literary lions to celebrate the best in gay literature.
Note: Read full article on Edge Boston
(UK) - Hate crime victim Jody Dobrowski's family have helped plant a memorial garden near where he was murdered in Clapham Common as part of International Day against Homophobia. Jody, 24, was beaten to death in a homophobic attack in October 2005. His mum, Sheri Dobrowski, called for an end to the ignorance that led to her son's death. "We have all come here to plant new life together and to remember those who have suffered and died simply for being who they are, in the hope that they will not be forgotten and their suffering will be acknowled and universally condemned," she said.
Note: Read full article on Wimbledon Guardian
(USA) - The national gay magazine the Advocate found itself in the awkward position this week of having to publish a correction saying it falsely reported that famed U.S. and Washington, D.C. gay rights leader Frank Kameny had died of AIDS. Kameny, 82, laughed about the report of his demise Monday night at a meeting of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kameny has been credited with helping to found the modern gay civil rights movement. Earlier this year, the Library of Congress accepted a donation of more than 70,000 of Kameny’s letters, papers and various documents that chronicle his pioneering work on gay rights beginning in the 1950s. “Frank is knocking on all eight cylinders and fully engaged in activism, speaking and just enjoying himself,” said Charles Francis, the gay public relations executive who organized the Kameny Papers Project.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(Montreal, Canada) - In 1993, 5,000 people came to the Montreal Pride parade. By 2003, the number had exceeded one million. But there will be no 2007 Pride parade in Montreal, evidently because of issues of cost and political infighting. The shop owners reportedly wanted more input, and more profit-sharing, in the parade. Rather than continue to deal with their demands and shell out the money needed for parade logistics when so many festival attendees did not even watch, Divers/Cité decided against a parade this year.
Note: Read full article on Edge Boston
(London, UK) – The openly gay Liberal Democrat MP Steven Williams will be welcoming organisers of International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) events and their supporters at a meeting in the House of Commons this evening. The MP for Bristol West, who has already tabled a House of Commons Early Day Motion in support of IDAHO, will speak, along with Jason Pollock, executive director of Pride London who will explain the links with Riga Pride.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Johannesburg, South Africa) - Hatred for gay, lesbian and transgender people was often hidden in the guise of religion and culture, but homophobia is "fundamentally un-African", an organisation said on Thursday. "As the fifth country to legalise same-sex marriage, we urge our leadership to take the lead - on the African continent and internationally - in the struggle against all forms of prejudice against lesbian and gay people," said Nonhlanhla Mkhize, director of the Durban Gay and Lesbian Community and Health Centre. Mkhize urged religious and traditional leaders to demonstrate respect for diversity and human rights and "ensure that sexual minorities are treated with equality and dignity".
Note: Read full article on news24.com
(Ireland) - Three men who admitted being involved in a gay-bashing incident, have been remanded in custody for ten days while a judge decides their fate. Garda John Lavery said he believed the assault had nothing to do with robbery of the money but was a gay-bashing incident. “This was done in cold blood. It’s perfectly clear this was an exercise in homophobic activity. Yet, they deny that was the case in their probation reports. This was a cowardly attack and they ambushed their victim before pinning him down and kicking and beating him,” the judge noted.
Note: Read full article on www.galwayadvertiser.ie
(Moscow, Russia) – The REGNUM news agency is reporting this afternoon that the committee on law, order and security of St. Petersburg government denied permission to hold first ever gay pride parade on the central street of the city – Nevski Prospect – on 26 May. According to the report, a detailed answer with the official notification of the ban will be given to the organiers of the St. Petersburg Gay Pride after it is studied by the lawyers. However, that the ban is due to the fact that there are many other festive events planned for City Day on May 27. Read more...
(Moscow, Russia) – German Green Party MP Volker Beck has praised the cooperation between the organisers of Moscow Gay Pride and Russian State Duma deputy Alexey Mitrofanov. The openly gay German politician, ‘chief whip’ of the Greens in the Bundestag, suffered cuts to the face after an attack on him during last year’s Moscow Pride. And in today’s Kommersant newspaper is a report that representatives from Orthodox Christian organisations had said that they would “spill gay blood” if the Pride parade was permitted. Read more...
(UK) - Scotland Yard's reaction to killings and attacks on gay, lesbian and transsexual people has historically been blighted by "institutional" homophobia, according to a report. A review of how detectives handled 10 murders of gay men or transsexuals says that in some cases inquiries were hampered by lack of knowledge, reliance on unfounded stereotypes and personal prejudices. Of the cases examined in a process sanctioned by the Met, four remain unsolved. The report, written by the independent Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advisory Group, says the problems were mirrored and in many cases exacerbated by coverage in the mainstream media.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(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 and Ms Smith, from Kelly Bray, Cornwall, were sacked in 2005 from Kernow House in Launceston, following an internal inquiry by Barchester Healthcare.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Belgrade, Serbia) - It’s been a long time since Serbia won a popularity contest, and the country is going wild. Some 25,000 people gathered in downtown Belgrade to welcome back Marija Serifovic, winner of the 2007 Eurovision song contest, waving flags and singing her passionate ballad “Molitva” (Prayer) again and again. Serifovic, representing the country in Helsinki on Saturday night in its Eurovision debut as an independent state, said “a new chapter opened for Serbia, and not only in music.” The victory also gave hope to Serbia’s tiny and harassed gay community, who celebrated the lesbian chic-tinged performance as a rare sight in the conservative Christian Orthodox country. “A big win for Serbia, a small step for gay rights!” said one partygoer, leaving Belgrade’s only gay-friendly club.
Note: Read full article on St. PEtersburg Times
(Iran) - More than eighty members of the Iranian gay community are reported to have been arrested by security personnel in Isfahan, the Toronto-based Iranian Queer Organization revealed this morning. The arrests are said to have been made at 10pm on May 10 when police raided the birthday party of ‘Farhad’. They are said to have brutally assaulted the host, his parents and their guests. Reports received by IRQO in Toronto/Canada say that everyone at the party was arrested on the spot. Read more...
(Lithuania) - Concerns about gay rights in the Baltics flared again when Lithuanian trolleybus drivers refused to drive vehicles carrying advertisements encouraging sexual tolerance. The Leituyos Rytas daily newspaper on May 12 reported that the advertisements, placed by the Lithuanian Gay League, were removed from the sides of trolleybuses. Drivers were offended by the advertisements, which carried slogans such as “A gay (person) can serve in the police,” “A lesbian can work at school,” and “Homosexual employees can be frank.”
Note: Read full article on Baltic Times
(Jamaica) - Reports in the press last week about rousing worship in a gay church here, a rise in divorce, AIDS and teenage sexual activity, as well as 12-year-old children in Portland having oral sex with grown men, all relate to a broader phenomenon.The press tends to discuss hot-button issues like homosexuality, abortion, divorce and sex scandals in isolation from a wider philosophical context. But they cannot be so divorced, if we really want to understand what is really going on in Western society.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Gleaner
(Jamaica) - Dr. Taylor failed to recognise was that the beauty of developed societies is that people have the right (and freedom) to express and have an opinion whether it's for or against, they even have the right to hate. If a person wants to consume his or her life in hate, and live accordingly, he or she has the right to do so. What he or she doesn't have the right to do is to translate that hate into violence against anyone; the laws will certainly not tolerate it.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Gleaner
(UK) - A landlord is being investigated by the police after a pub sign saying "faggots and mince not on the menu" was taken as a slur against gay people. The message was written on the blackboard menu outside the pub in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, to mark the grand reopening. The pub's previous tenants John Williams, 37, and his wedded partner Lee Williams, 26, said the sign was offensive and "disgusting". John said: "I couldn't believe it. I was driving past and when I read it I knew they were talking about us."
Note: Read full article on www.westpress.co.uk
(USA) - After becoming the dominant media company for the gay community, PlanetOut Inc. is now just trying to survive. The San Francisco owner of Gay.com, along with the Advocate and Out magazines, disclosed this week that it will run out of money before the end of the year without an infusion of cash. In the report, PlanetOut said it lost $6.9 million in its fiscal first quarter, compared with a $132,000 loss a year earlier. Revenue totaled $16.8 million, down from $17.6 million during the same period a year ago.
Note: Read full article on SF Gate
(Iran) - How Iran's official discourse on the transgendered conceals a multitude of evils and ills can be seen in the following, eye-opening interview with Atrian, a 26-year-old male-to-female transsexual activist also known as Sayeh, who fled Iran last year to Turkey. Atrian says that there are many people who accept sex-change surgery to escape persecution as homosexuals. "There are only a small percentage of people who get a sex-change operation who are actually transgendered. Out of some 100 transsexuals whom I've encountered," she reported, "only 20 of them were genuinely transgendered, and the rest are gay." Unable to endure the barrage of government persecution, scathing religious opprobrium, and often the hatred of their own families, said Atrian, "Many gays, for many different reasons, become emotional and get the operation. But soon after getting the operation, they'll cry for days at the mistake they have made."
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Largo City, USA) - Charges have been dropped against Nadine Smith, the executive director of Equality Florida, who was brutally arrested after distributing "Don't Discriminate" flyers at a hearing for fired Largo City Manager Steve Stanton. Stanton was fired in February after disclosing that he was to undergo a sex change operation. Smith was charged with a felony for resisting arrest with violence and a misdemeanor of disturbing other assemblies.
Note: Read full article on Towleroad
(USA) - A Colorado Springs teenager faces possible criminal charges after throwing a cream pie at the pastor of an anti-gay breakaway Episcopal parish as the cleric was leading Sunday worship. The pastor of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish, the Rev. Donald Armstrong, was reading a Church of England sermon called "Of Christian Love and Charity" at the time. He ducked and the pie missed him. The man, Marcus Hyde, 18, tried to escape, but parishioners chased and caught him. According to a police report, the suspect said he was passing judgment on Armstrong.
Note: Read full article on www.gaynz.com
(Southhampton, UK) - A teenage boy was punched in the face during a homophobic attack in Southampton. The 16-year-old had been sat with friends in Houndwell Park in the city centre when three boys and two girls approached the circle. After seeing that the teenager was holding hands with another boy, the youths asked him whether he was gay. When he replied that he was, he was punched in the face by one of the youths. The other teenage boy had his mobile phone stolen by the attackers, who then walked off in different directions.
Note: Read full article on Daily Echo
(Dauphin County, USA) - A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple conceive two children is liable for child support under a Pennsylvania state appeals-court ruling. The state Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case, in which a sperm donor wants to enforce a promise made by the mother that he would not have to be involved in the child's life. That biological father was ordered to pay $1,520 in monthly support. About two-thirds of states have adopted versions of the Uniform Parentage Act that can shield sperm donors from being forced to assume parenting responsibilities. Pennsylvania has no such law.
Note: Read full article on www.wtkr.com
(USA) - A gay teenager who was murdered in part over his sexuality pleaded with his roommate to stop killing him, a prosecutor told jurors in the capital murder case. As Christopher Gaines attacked, Scotty Joe Weaver struggled and begged for his life, Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb told the court Monday. Newcomb said Weaver and Porter never got along because Porter had problems with Weaver's homosexuality. Porter once called Weaver a derogatory name, Newcomb said. After the killing, Gaines and Porter placed Weaver's body into the trunk of Gaines' car, then stopped at a service station and filled a 3-liter bottle with gasoline.
Note: Read full article on Times Daily
(Washington, USA) - Legislation was introduced in Congress Tuesday that would allow Americans in a same-sex relationship to sponsor their "permanent partners" for legal residency in the United States, a right currently afforded only to opposite-sex couples under immigration law. The Uniting American Families Act was introduced in the House by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (pictured) and in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Nadler and Leahy are each chairs of the Judiciary Committee in their respective house. Because the U.S. does not legally recognize same-sex couples and their children as families, many same-sex bi-national couples are torn apart when one partner lives in the United States.
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com
(Fort Lauderdale, USA) - Airport officials have fired a luggage attendant who admitted playing a Bible verse that offended a gay couple over an public speaker system. Jethro Monestime, 23, who had worked for Superior Aircraft Services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, acknowledged that he played the message twice early May 1, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Monestime said he used his cell phone to play a recording that said, "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they should be put to death." The announcement came from Leviticus 20:13.
Note: Read full article on www.myfoxmemphis.com
(Canada) - Transgender Canadians are coming out at younger ages than ever before. Support groups for transgender teens report growing memberships, and are sprouting up beyond the major cities in areas such as Kitchener, Ont., and the Niagara region. One by one, school boards are amending their human rights policies to include gender identity. For the doctors who treat transgender youth, the younger patients present a new set of challenges. The best-known guide for professionals, Harry Benjamin's Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, recommends that trans patients don't start hormones before the age of 18.
Note: Read full article on www.knoxnews.com
(Quebec, Canada) — Andre Boisclair, whose leadership of the Parti Quebecois was steeped in controversy from Day 1, is stepping down after a crushing electoral defeat and a bitter squabble with Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe. "I gave the best of myself in this position but the current conditions don't allow me to do this anymore," Boisclair told a news conference. "I'm 41. I am still young and I still have a lot of things to accomplish in my life." Boisclair, who was elected leader in November 2005, will stay on as a member of the legislature.
Note: Read full article on Winnipeg Free Press
JOHANNESBURG, May 8 (Reuters) - African gay activists protested against "state-sponsored" homophobia, saying authorities tacitly condoned their persecution across the continent. The International Gay and Lesbian Association's (ILGA) first pan-African conference in Johannesburg, which ends on Tuesday, drew about 60 activists who say they have seen first-hand the consequences of laws that breed homophobia. In some cases, possible sentences against gays include death by stoning. Thirty-eight of 85 U.N. members who outlaw homosexuality are in Africa, according to an April 2007 ILGA report which notes: "Although many of the countries ... do not systematically implement those laws, their mere existence reinforces a culture where a significant portion of the citizens need to hide from the rest of the population in fear.
Note: Read full article on www.alertnet.org
(Kathmandu, Nepal) - Less than a month after the controversial staging of the Miss Nepal pageant, the country’s gay community has held a Miss Transgender contest - in a double defiance of the Maoist opposition to beauty pageants as well as homosexuality. Though initially over a dozen people signed up to take part in the contest organised by NGO Sunaulo Bihani, many of them backed out at the last minute due to family pressure and the social stigma surrounding homosexuality in Nepal, a local daily said. This year, after the Maoist guerrillas joined the government it was alleged that rebel cadres were cracking down on homosexuals.
Note: Read full article on Times of India
(Singapore) - What is clear from the rejuvenated debate on whether homosexual acts under Section 377A of the Penal Code should be decriminalised is that passions run high over this issue. And where passions run high, reason often runs dry. Section 377A is a rare mutant in the laws of Singapore. When the Home Affairs Ministry announced the proposed changes to the Penal Code which will soon be debated in Parliament, it said that although Section 377A would not be deleted, it would not be "proactive" in enforcing this law against consensual acts that take place in private.
Note: Read full article on Today Online
(USA) - Infertility clinics in areas of the country with large gay populations are actively promoting biological parenthood for gay men and lesbians, hoping to expand the market for reproductive technologies once aimed almost exclusively at infertile heterosexuals. Options range from simple intrauterine insemination for women, which may cost a few hundred dollars, to use of paid egg donors and gestational surrogates for gay men, who may have to pay $150,000 in medical and legal services to have a child.
Note: Read full article on Scripps News
(UK) - From the choice of canapés to the guest speakers, BP made a special effort to ensure that their guests felt welcome. The event earlier this year was laid on to reassure gay and lesbian recruits they had nothing to fear from being "out" at work. The firm, a giant in an industry notorious for its macho attitudes and executives, was anxious that the evening be a success. Notably absent, however, was Lord Browne, then BP's chief executive. His absence from the gathering could, with hindsight, be interpreted as an illustration of his desire to keep his private life private. In the end, he failed and his dramatic outing and resignation this week reinforced concerns that gay employees are prevented from reaching the highest levels of management.
Note: Read full article on Independent
(UK) - So let's have another double standard. If you are straight, in my opinion, you have no right to comment on the choices made by gay men. Regarding the closet, they make their own decisions. It is worth recording, nevertheless, that many advocates of gay rights long ago grew exasperated by the likes of Lord Browne. The fact remains that when a belief in privacy becomes entangled with a strategy of dishonesty, a powerful man conspires to make life harder for those less privileged than himself. If Browne, of all people, chooses to live in fear of the Mail mindset, what should other gay men conclude?
Note: Read full article on Sunday Herald
(Hanover, USA)- Several parents in the Licking Valley Local School District expressed concerns Friday morning after hearing a girl was allowed to invite another girl to tonight's prom. The parents told Superintendent Susan Hatcher they are concerned a perceived change in school policy will allow openly gay and lesbian behavior in the district. Hanover Mayor Duane Flowers expressed his concerns about what this decision could lead to in the future. "This opened a can of worms, and we need to close the lid before this tears this community apart," Flowers said.
Note: Read full article on www.newarkadvocate.com
(Seatle, USA) - Seattle's annual gay pride celebration this year will feature both a political march along Broadway, the historical route for the procession, and a major parade downtown, the location of last year's promenade, under an agreement announced Friday. The announcement followed a meeting by City Council members Sally Clark and Tom Rasmussen with two groups hoping to sponsor gay pride celebrations this summer: Seattle Out and Proud, and the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community of Seattle.
Note: Read full article on seattlepi.nwsource.com
(Totonto, Canada) - Last Saturday night, a colourless, odourless gas was released into the ventilation systems of two Church Street bars. Scores of people were removed, and the gas reportedly burned people's mouths and lungs for hours afterward. Yet the two attacks, in the heart of the city's gay village, have elicited little response from either the community or the police. Despite the possibility of a hate crime, staff at the Black Eagle did not call police, nor have police decided independently to investigate.
Note: Read full article on The Globe and Mail
(Denver, USA) - Rudy Giuliani emerged as a favorite among many members of the GOP's largest gay organization, who cited his record on social issues, taxes and defense. David Keeton, a small-business owner in Dallas, and his partner, Rob Schlein, said they supported Giuliani because of his record as New York mayor and his response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. "I'm an American first, then a Republican second, and gay falls in third or fourth,"' said Keeton, who wore a Ronald Reagan pin on his lapel.
Note: Read full story on Guardian
(Cleveland, USA) - A gay lawyer and community leader is coming under fire for advancing an argument in a Juvenile Court case that would typically be made by anti-gay attorneys trying to deny LGBT rights. Tim Downing, an openly gay partner at the Cleveland law firm of Ulmer and Berne, is also on the board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign and a statewide LGBT community leader and organizer. He is representing a biological mother whose case has raised the ire of attorneys trying to advance the rights of LGBT families.
Note: Read full article on Gay People's Chronicle
(Baghdad, Iraq) - A key Iraqi gay activist was arrested and tortured in Baghdad on April 29, according to Ali Hili, the London-based coordinator of the all-volunteer Iraqi LGBT group, which has a network of members and supporters throughout Iraq. Hani was handcuffed, blindfolded, and taken to a police interrogation center. While he was in custody, Hani was beaten and tortured for several hours.
Note: Read full article on Gay City News
(UK) - Research findings from gay market research show that up to half of UK lesbians and gay men do not feel able to reveal their sexuality to all those they work with. The research also discovered that as many as one in ten gay men, and one in eight lesbians are harassed at work because of their sexuality. These workplace research findings are uncovered in the UK in the Out Now Consulting Diva and GT Research Report. Read more...
(Washington, USA) - The US Congress is going to pass a legislation called "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act". The Bill, also known as the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" would enable the Department of Justice to help local authorities in investigating and prosecuting hate-motivated crimes. FBI statistics show that one in six hate crimes is motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation. Religious Fundamentalists, among them the "American Family Association" have launched a campaign to pressure President Bush to veto the legislation, if passed. Read more...
(Strasbourg, EU) - The then Mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski, who is now President of Poland, violated three Articles of the European Convention of Human Rights when he banned Warsaw Gay Pride in 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled this morning. The seven judges, including Judge Lech Garlicki from Poland, ruled unanimously that there had been: a violation of Article 11 (freedom of association and assembly) of the European Convention on Human Rights; a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention; and a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination). Read more...
(Australia) - Joseph Chetcuti, prominent Maltese gay lawyer and president of the Maltese Literature Group (MLG), was to give a lecture on May 29 at the Maltese Community Centre, entitled Ten Years on: The Pink Book, A Sin, Disorder or Crime and the birth of the gay movement in Malta. The Maltese Community Council of Victoria (MCCV), which runs the Centre, decided on April 27 to ban the lecture because it would “offend the religious sentiments and beliefs of the Maltese”, and because they felt that the lecture had “no connection to literature” and was “all about the promotion of the Maltese gay movement”. Chetcuti was informed the objections originated with the priests of the Missionary Society of St Paul, who share MCCV’s premises. He says the Society doesn’t want homosexuality discussed.
Note: Read full article on www.bnews.net.au
(UK) - Staying forever in the closet is not a morally clean decision. It disguises the real size and significance of the gay community, suggesting that we are a tiny, insignificant minority. The moral imperative to be honest is strong. I am not aware of any compelling reasons why it was difficult for Lord Browne to be fully open about his sexuality. On the contrary, his immense wealth, powerful friends and privileged social status make it much easier for him to be open, compared with most gays and lesbians. Having said all this, there was no demonstrable public interest grounds for the Mail on Sunday - or any other media - outing Lord Browne. He wasn't being hypocritical or homophobic.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(UK) - A recent survey of the country's top 100 most influential gay and lesbian people named only three chief executives willing to have their names published, led by Sir Michael Bishop, head of the airline BMI. Mission statements embracing equality appear to apply to employees, not directors. Even among the top gay-friendly employers celebrated in Stonewall's annual Workplace Equality Index, only seven had an openly gay member on their board of directors or in senior management.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(UK) - The chief executive of BP resigned yesterday after a judge found that he had lied to a court about his gay relationship with a 27-year-old student. Lord Browne of Madingley, who was ennobled by Tony Blair, quit after the House of Lords rejected his attempt to keep secret their relationship and allegations that he had misused company resources. The businessman will lose up to £15.5 million in cash and shares by stepping down three months earlier than planned.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(Lima, Peru) - Last week, one of the most established gay nightclubs in the Peruvian capital city, Downtown, was shutdown by Miraflores municipal authorities who cited resident complaints of noise and 'immoral' conduct for the closure. Meanwhile Lima's gay community has expressed its outrage over Miraflores Mayor Manuel Masias's decision to target the homosexual nightclub and accused authorities of discrimination. Despite the protests, the mayor insists that the well being of his constituents is driving force behind the closure.
Note: Read full article on www.livinginperu.com
(USA) - Thursday night, openly gay Minnesota State University-Moorhead student Paul Marquardt was attacked by a group of men after leaving the school library at around 11:30 pm leaving him unconscious. Marquardt regained consciousness several minutes later, but remembered very little of the attack. He was treated for a concussion, a separated shoulder, a broken wrist, and possible spleen damage. Paul's doctor told him that if "Paul been smaller and less well built, the assault could have been fatal."
Note: Read full article on www.eleventh-avenue-south.com
(UK) - The man expected to become Britain's next Prime Minister was verbally assaulted in Soho last week. A gang of hoodies taunted Gordon Brown with anti-gay jibes as he left a restaurant in Greek St. thelondonpaper reports that on Thursday evening the Chancellor was outside the Gay Hussar, a favourite with Westminster politicians, when the gang started to shout abuse. "They were all screaming abuse at him, calling him gay and a poof," an onlooker told the paper.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Vauxhall, UK) - The Fire gay nightclub has been temporarily closed following a raid by Lambeth police in the early hours of Saturday morning. Witnesses claim hundreds of police were involved in the raid. Nine people were arrested in the raid that followed a three month long intelligence led operation into Class A drugs- codenamed Pivot. Officers armed with a search warrant raided the club in Vauxhall at 2:15 am on Saturday. On a video of the raids, here in stills from the mobile phone captured film, police can be seen selecting groups of visitors to the gay club to be searched and photographed.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Nigeria) - A Nigerian woman reported to have married four women last weekend in Kano State has denied the allegations. Aunty Maiduguri told the BBC the reports of her wedding were false, and that she was not a lesbian. She said the elaborate wedding celebration held on Sunday was actually a ceremony to raise money for the women's weddings to men. The theatre where the ceremony took place has since been demolished by Kano city's authorities. Aunty Maiduguri and the four other women went into hiding after religious police issued warrants against them.
Note: Read full article on BBC
From the moment we're born, our gender identity is no secret. We're either a boy or a girl. Gender organizes our world into pink or blue. As we grow up, most of us naturally fit into our gender roles. Girls wear dresses and play with dolls. For boys, it's pants and trucks. But for some children, what's between their legs doesn't match what's between their ears -- they insist they were born into the wrong body. They are transgender children, diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and their parents insist this is not a phase.
Note: Read full article on ABC News
(Nairoby, Kenya) - In Kenya, homosexuality between men is legally prohibited as well. Homosexual relationships between women are not mentioned. Statutes dating from the colonial period provide for prison sentences of up to 14 years. "Despite that, nobody gets imprisoned in Kenya just because he is homosexual," says Angus Parkinson of Liverpool VCT, a support centre in Nairobi. "Kenya is heading in a different direction from its neighbours."
Note: Read full article on Mail & Guardian
(Warsaw, Poland) - Poland's prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, rejected EU criticism of a ban on "homosexual propaganda" in schools yesterday, saying that it was not in society's interests to increase the number of gay people. "... if we're talking about not having homosexual propaganda in Polish schools, I fully agree with those who feel this way. Such propaganda should not be in schools; it definitely doesn't serve youth well. It's not in the interests of any society to increase the number of homosexuals, that's obvious."
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Falmouth, Jamaica) - Yet another alleged homosexual has been beaten by a mob. In the latest incident which took place in Falmouth, Trelawny Friday morning the police were forced to rescue the man who is now hospitalized. The man, who also had a traveling bag in his hand, was approached by a group of residents who accused him of being a homosexual and began beating him. Within minutes, the crowd grew and residents took turns beating the man whose wig and newspaper stuffing which he had in his chest fell out during the melee.
Note: Read full article on www.rjr94fm.com
(New York, USA) - The videotaped confessions of three men accused of killing a gay Brooklyn man last year were played in court Tuesday for a judge who must determine if the tapes can be used at trial. Anthony Fortunato, 20, John Fox, 19, and Ilya Shurov, 20, are charged with murder and robbery as hate crimes in the death of Michael Sandy last October. After their arrests, under questioning by NYPD, each of the three pointed the finger at the others.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Moscow, Russia) - President Putin and Luzhkov are stifling basic rights of ordinary people and their social groups which are highly non-political, confirming authoritarian regime in the country. Russia's christian, judaism and muslim leaders are united in demanding the suppression of "Moscow Gay Pride." Their encouragement of homophobic prejudice makes a mockery of their pious claims that their faith is about love and compassion. The Moscow Pride marchers were the victims of state repression on May 27 last year. They were not the first victims of Russia's reemerging authoritarian state, and who will be next?
Note: Read full article on Gay Russia
(UK) - Brian Paddick, one of Britain's most controversial police officers, is to leave his job next month, the Guardian has learned. Mr Paddick, a deputy assistant commissioner with the Metropolitan police, was sidelined last year by his bosses. Mr Paddick came to public prominence as the borough commander in Lambeth, south London, where he oversaw a pioneering scheme launched on the back of community demands that police concentrate on more serious crime. This, plus the fact he is openly gay, made him a hate figure for certain rightwing tabloid newspapers, but a hero for those who believe the police should become more liberal.
Note: Read full article on Guardian
(Seattle, USA) - It looks like there may be a gay pride parade in downtown Seattle this June after all. Organizers announced Wednesday morning that Seattle Out and Proud, the group that coordinated last year's Seattle Center celebration, doesn't plan to file for bankruptcy. "The Seattle Pride Parade will be produced as planned by Seattle Out and Proud," a statement on the group's Web site read. "Due to overwhelming support in light of a recent press release, we will move forward with our plans to produce the parade down 4th Avenue on Sunday, June 24, 2007."
Note: Read full article on Seattlepi
(Seatle, USA) - After 32 years, Seattle Pride Parade and Festival organizers may scrap the entire event. "We don't know" whether there will be a parade this year, said Weston Sprigg, vice president of Seattle Out and Proud. The group's dozen or so volunteers are tired, he said. The group owes $102,000 to the city after moving the parade and festival from its longtime home in Capitol Hill to Seattle Center in 2006.
Note: Read full article on Seatle Times
(Ottawa, Canada) - The City of Ottawa has quietly created a new policy that prevents the local gay and lesbian community newspaper from being removed from city buildings despite a complaint about suggestive ads inside. Gareth Kirkby, managing editor and associate publisher of the Capital Xtra, told CBC News on Tuesday that the city did not announce the new policy, but he learned of it through a report sent to the paper's lawyer from the city's legal department.
Note: Read full article on www.cbc.ca
Remaining in the closet reinforces the idea that there is something shameful about being gay and that we are a tiny, insignificant minority who can be ignored and marginalised. But when and how people reveal their sexuality is up to them. It should be personal decision. The only exception is closeted gay public figures who abuse their power to condemn and harm other gay people, such as MPs voting for homophobic laws or bishops denouncing queers from their pulpits. In these limited circumstances, outing is ethically justifiable. But queer homophobes in positions of authority do cause pain and suffering. They are hypocrites and their hypocrisy deserves to be exposed. Why should anyone feel sympathy for those who publicly preach homophobia while privately practising homosexuality?
Note: Read full article on New Statesman
(USA) - "Ex-gay" ministries, which attempt to turn homosexual people into heterosexuals, say they've changed thousands of lives, but one program graduate says that gay people are fine just the way they are. Growing up, Christine Bakke struggled to make sense of her homosexual impulses, confused by what she now calls a sheltered Christian perspective.
Note: Read full article on ABC News
(Singapore) - Former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has questioned the city-state's ban on sex between men. "If in fact it is true, and I have asked doctors this, that you are genetically born a homosexual -- because that's the nature of the genetic random transmission of genes -- you can't help it. So why should we criminalise it?" Mr Lee was quoted as saying in the pro-government Straits Times. Mr Lee's comments come at a time when many groups, such as Singapore's Law Society, are calling for laws against homosexual sex to be reconsidered, saying they are outdated.
Note: Read full article on Radio Australia
(Philadelphia, USA) - When gay and lesbian tourists next visit Philadelphia they’ll find something even more welcoming in the gay-friendly city. In what represents a historic moment for the LGBT community and the City of Philadelphia, Mayor John F. Street has dedicated 36 new street signs that are permanently affixed with the rainbow flag to designate the 'Gaybourhood.'
Note: The details are at PinkNews
(Jerusalem) - A bomb planted near a section of the security fence near Beit Shemesh Friday morning, in the area of the village of Beit Jimal, was the work of [anti-] Gay Pride Parade protesters, police suspect. Several fliers condemning the parade, which is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem in June, were found in a vineyard near a monastery, close to where the medium-sized bomb went off.
Note: The story is in the Jerusalem Post
(UK) - Gary Frisch, the co-founder of Gaydar, the world's most popular gay online dating site jumped to his death from an eighth-floor balcony after taking ketamine, an inquest in London heard yesterday. Ketamine users report being less connected to both a sense of self and the reality around them. A high dose can induce a "K-hole", a state of almost inexplicable strangeness and a window onto dimensions that can be both terrifying and euphoric.
Note: Read full article on uk.gay.com
(USA) - Dan Mathews, the openly gay vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has a message for the leather community: fake leather is just as sexy. The 42-year-old has now chronicled his escapades and PETA career in Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir. At times he has an uneasy relationship with the gay community, from protesting at leather events to his off-color joke that he considered spree killer Andrew Cunanan influential "because he got Gianni Versace to stop using fur."
Note: Read full article on Bay Area Reporter
(USA) - A handful of students were suspended from a high school here for refusing to take off anti-gay T-shirts that administrators said were inappropriate. The shirts, which the students wore in protest of the Day of Silence, said "Sodomy is sin" and quoted a Bible passage about homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on www.kansascity.com
(Kathmandu, Nepal) - A gay beauty salon has opened for the first time in Nepal and has been hailed as an 'opportunity' to support sexual minorities and empower the poor and marginalised. The Cutey Beauty Salon, run by gays and trans-genders, opened in Kathmandu's upmarket Lazimpat area Wednesday, close to a thriving department store and a gallery. The novel project is funded by the Oslo-based Norwegian National Association of Lesbian and Gay Liberation and Sigrid Rausing Trust in London.
Note: Read full article on India News
(Australia) - Almost one in four Australians don't want homosexuals as neighbours, an international survey has found. Australians are less bigoted on the subject than people in Northern Ireland, said John Mangan, professor of economics at the University of Queensland. Prof. Mangan is co-author of a paper interpreting statistics from the Human Beliefs and Values Survey, conducted in 24 Western countries between 1999 and 2002. He said the results showed anti-gay prejudice was by no means confined to Australia.
Note: Read full article on www.news.com.au
(USA) - A U.S. District Court Judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of Neuqua Valley High School's attempts to ban a student from wearing a "Be Happy, Not Gay" T-shirt. The senior wanted to wear the shirt as part of a national effort this week by Christian students to publicly oppose homosexual behavior. The student, Naperville resident Heidi Zamecnik, is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a national group based in Arizona that has filed several lawsuits across the country to defend Christian students' rights to present similar views.
Note: Read full article on www.chicagotribune.com
(USA) - Almost any bisexual will tell you they feel misunderstood. Called fence-sitters, confused, curious and sex-obsessed, the Bs of LGBT, face scrutiny from outside and within, often accused of using bisexuality as a transition from heterosexuality to homosexuality — or ‘bi now, gay later.’ Some wonder if bisexuality exists at all.
Note: Read full article on The Post Online
(USA) - A bill to protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination won the Colorado Senate's initial backing Monday after a bruising partisan battle. Senate Bill 25, by Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, would make it illegal for employers to hire, fire, promote and compensate workers based on sexual orientation. Republicans charged that gays and transgendered residents do not qualify for a protected-class status, based on criteria in state and federal civil rights laws.
Note: Read full article on Rocky Mountain News
(San Juan, Puerto Rico) - A summer cruise for gay and lesbian families organized by Rosie O'Donnell has cut Bermuda from its planned itinerary because of possible protests by church groups in the British island territory. The charter company, R Family Vacations, said on its Web site that it wanted to avoid the type of protests that greeted passengers when one of its cruises stopped in Nassau, Bahamas, in 2004.
Note: Read full article on www.news1130.com
(Baghdad, Iraq) - The Iraqi lesbian and gay community and NGOs dealing with gay issues have called for urgent action to protect gays and lesbians in the country. The groups say that the number of victims of “sexual cleansing” is growing on a daily basis. “In the past three months, more than 30 gays have been executed in Baghdad. The bodies have been found tortured, mutilated - sometimes with signs of rape,” said Mustafa Salim, spokesman for the Rainbow for Life Organisation (RLO), a Baghdad-based gay rights NGO. Read more...
(Los Angeles, USA) - Receiving a prolonged standing ovation, Grey's Anatomy's T.R. Knight was nearly brought to tears on the Kodak Theatre stage as he opened Saturday's 18th annual GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Awards (airing on LOGO Saturday at 9 p.m. ET). "I am angry …very angry at the inequality that we face every day," said Knight, who acknowledged his homosexuality in October after being called a slur by castmate Isaiah Washington. Grey's Kate Walsh said that having Washington attend a future GLAAD Awards would be "amazing. … I would love that. It would be a wonderful thing."
Note: Read full article on USA Today
(Tampa, USA) - Vigils denouncing hate crimes were being held all across Florida and in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. The goal was to bring attention to Ryan Skipper’s brutal murder. He’s the man who was stabbed to death last month in Polk County, his body dumped on the side of the road in what authorities said was a brutal anti-gay hate crime. In Tampa, about sixty people attended a vigil at the University of South Florida.
Note: Read full article on www.myfoxtampabay.com
(USA) - The mother of an 18-year-old Edgewood [New Mexico] man who was pummeled for hours last summer because he is gay wasn't prepared for what she saw when she arrived to take him to the hospital that morning. Today, while her son's physical injuries have healed, the deep emotional scars inflicted by the brutal incident -- in which he was kidnapped, tied up and beaten by three men and a woman, allegedly in an effort to make him straight -- have not, the mother said. In fact, the period after the beating has been worse, she said. Teasing and bullying that had already begun in high school became worse after the beating.
Note: Read full article on FreeNewMexican
It is hard to tell how many active homosexuals there are in Africa: the International Lesbian and Gay Association, a Brussels-based lobby, guesses there are more than 24m in a continent-wide populace of 900m-plus. Some are beginning to speak up, challenging a widespread notion that homosexuality was brought in by foreigners. Africa's Anglican clergymen get little education in sexuality. Some preach abstinence yet turn a blind eye to polygamous marriages, adultery and genital mutilation.
Note: Read full article on The Economist
(Kingstown, Jamaica) - The Bureau Of Special Investigations of the Jamaican Constabulary Force says it's investigating the Feb 14 attack on human-rights activist Gareth Williams. Williams, 29, filed a complaint, but says he doesn't have a lot of faith in the police. Williams says government contributes to the problem, including politicians who use homophobic music in their campaigns. Many churches and church leaders preach violence and hate against gay and lesbians, too.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Riga, Latvia) - The Regional Administrative Court ruled this afternoon that the decision by the Riga City Council to ban last year's Gay Pride March was illegal - and overturned a lower court decision - leaving Mozaika, the alliance of LGBT and their friends, "gratified". Mozaika, the march coordinators, had notified the City of the planned march, but were told by the authorities that it could not go ahead "on safety reasons". The District Administrative Court subsequently upheld the city council's decision. Read more...
(Jamaica) - The attack on a group of allegedly homosexual cross-dressers at a funeral service in Mandeville has earned harsh condemnation from local gay rights activists. The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays (JFLAG) is expressing outrage about this latest demonstration of anti-gay violence, which reportedly occurred on Sunday at the funeral of businessman Kirk Wayne Lester. JFLAG has called for speedy police investigations into the attack, during which an angry mob reportedly armed with machetes, knives, bottles and stones attacked persons attending the service who they claimed were gay.
Note: Read full story on RJR 94 FM radio, also a comment on Jamaica Gleaner
(Brighton, UK) - Gays in Brighton will be marking International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) next month with an event, including a 'minute's noise' on the seafront. And the local town hall will be flying the 'rainbow flag' all day after councillors voted to officially recognise IDAHO day - May 17. "It's terrible in this day and age to know that 77 governments still persecute people because of their sexuality or gender identity," said Simon Burgess, leader of the Brighton & Hove City Council.
Note: Read full articles on UK Gay News
(Salem, USA) Hundreds of activists from both sides of the gay rights debate crowded into the Capitol Monday night to give lawmakers an earful on measures to allow civil unions for same-sex couples and to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. On the one side, gays and lesbians offered emotional testimony about the discrimination they've faced in employment and other areas and in their committed relationships to each other that are not recognized by the state. Religious conservatives, on the other hand, worried that the anti-discrimination bill, in some cases, could erode religious freedom.
Note: Read full article on OregonLive.com
(China) - For singer and bar-owner, Qiao Qiao, talking about her sexuality live on an Internet broadcast accessible to millions of people was easier than telling her parents that she was a lesbian. Qiao Qiao was the first guest on "Tongxing Xianglian," China's first gay chat show, an interactive online forum hosted by gay presenters. With the title a loose play on words of a Chinese idiom "people with the same afflictions sympathize with each other," the weekly 12-episode show, produced by PhoenixTV.com, aims to open minds in a country where homosexuality was listed as a mental illness until 2001.
Note: Read full article on Shanghai Daily
See previous story: First Gay TV in China Will Be Online
(Kathmandu, Nepal) - Two young women were "jailed" by Maoist guerrillas in southern Nepal for being lesbians, Nepal's sole gay rights group has said. Dukhani Choudhary, 16, and Sarita Choudhury, 20, were "arrested" in Pakali village in Sunsari district on March 2 after the Maoists, who do not condone same sex relationships, came to know the two were lesbians. The two were going to the office of an NGO working in the HIV/AIDS sector in Itahari to take part in Holi when they were detained by the Maoists and forced to go to the rebel camp in Singiya village for questioning.
Note: Read full article on Times of India
(North Carolina) - Police say a drunken man broke into a local Baptist church Saturday night and ran amok, breaking windows and spouting the all-too-familiar 'anti-gay slurs.' Michael Andrew Lee, 19, faces a pile of charges in the incident. So far, no word on what---besides booze-- motivated his tirade.
Note: Some more details on Mr. Lee's busy night are in the News & Observer
(Miami, USA) - A south-central Florida high school accused of discrimination must officially recognize a student club that works to promote tolerance of gay men and lesbians, and grant it the same privileges as other school clubs, while a lawsuit takes its course in federal court, a judge ordered Friday. The lawsuit, filed in November by the American Civil Liberties Union, said officials at Okeechobee High School refused to recognize the club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, and banned its members from holding meetings on school grounds.
Note: Read full article on NY Times
(NYC) - The first of four men who admitted to assaulting gay drag performer Kevin Aviance has been sentenced to 8 years in prison. The 21yo basher, Akino George, also got 5 years probation. Aviance was attacked in New York city last year and suffered a broken jaw, among other injuries. The three remaining thugs still await their own sentences.
Note: The story is in the NY Post
See previous story: Four Thugs Admit to Aviance Gay Bashing
(USA) - The posh lifestyle mag has ranked the 50 Most Powerful Gay Men & Lesbian Women, and a couple of their choices (the ones featured on the cover) are not fully 'out': Anderson Cooper (#2) and Jodie Foster (#43). Obviously, that was on purpose, as the Most-Powerful list's companion story rails against a celeb phenomenon once left only to the Liberaces and Paul Lyndes of the world-- high-profile GLBTs who have an open secret.
Note: To read the diatribe, you have to buy the magazine, but list has been released by The New Yorker.
(USA) - The Pink Pistols is a group of people that goes against any number of grains. Their motto says it all: 'Armed gays don't get bashed.' The group is a posse of GLBT folks who-- with all the proper permits, mind-- carry concealed guns. Much of the gay community is hostile to the Pistols' ideals, or are at least puzzled by them. But that confusion is mild compared to the utter confusion that the Pistols inspire in the traditionally conservative NRA.
Note: The story is at Alternet.org
Last week I posted the first in what is to be a series of serious examinations of the plight of gay elders in America. Among the emails I received in response to the first post, a reader asked "how can I tell if I'm an elder?" A damned good question, don't you think? After all, between nips and tucks, botox, enough moisturizers to back up the entire sewer system of California, free-flowing cocktails and the occasional hit of this or that, it's difficult enough for a gay man to remember which side is up.
Note: The Top Ten list is at Queersighted.com
(Naples, FL) - Just a few miles up the road from the Florida town where a city manager was fired for being transgender, a gay couple has been forced from their home by burglary and arson. At first, Sammy Freeze and Matthew Grist thought it was a random thing... until an investigator told them the fire might be an anti-gay hate crime.
Note: More info is in the Naples News
(USA) - You're lucky enough to live in a state that recognizes your relationship with your partner. Great. But, of course, the Feds aren't so accomodating. So what does that mean when it comes to filling out your tax forms? For a start, it means you fill out a lot more of them-- and you defintiely end up paying more than str8 couples do.
Note: A few tips on untangling the IRS mess are at MSN Money
(Detroit) - The cops and coroner say Anthony Anthos just fell down and died outside his Detroit apartment building last month. Anthos's family knows better: before he slipped into a coma, the 72yo told them he'd been attacked by a man who asked if Anthos was gay before swinging at him with a pipe. Now the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is offering $5000 for a line on Anthos' murderer.
Note: Details are on WLNS TV
See previous story: Coroner: Anthos Hate Crime Was No Crime
(Detroit) - As 72yo Andrew Anthos was dying last month he told his cousin that he'd been attacked by a man who followed him off the bus, and that he was attacked because he was gay. Anthos told the man that he'd been hit over the head with a pipe. Now the local medical examiner is saying there was no attack and no crime was committed. Gay rights groups are stunned.
Note: Get the details in the Detroit News
See also: Anthos Dies
(Belgium) - An apparent slip of the editor's mouse is to blame for Turkish hero/legend/diety Kemal Atatürk's winding up listed as 'a famous gay or bisexual person' in a new Belgian textbook. The Turks are unamused. The Belgian government didn't print the book, but that's not stopping a mad diplomatic scramble to assuage Turkish hurt feelings. So far, no one has dared wonder whether the dust-up is of the protesteth-too-much variety... well, not aloud anyway.
Note: The odd story is in Today's Zamam
A gay cop cleared of criminal charges stemming from an internal NYPD probe has filed notice in court he plans to sue the city for $15 million. ...Jai Aiken, 40, ...filed his intent to sue for civil rights violations, wrongful arrest and imprisonment and malicious prosecution in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Aiken said he was humiliated in February when a jury saw hours of raunchy videotapes and heard audiotapes featuring him trying to seduce an undercover cop sent to get him to commit a crime. A nine-month probe found the charges unsubstantiated. A jury took 10 hours to acquit him of criminal charges. Since then, Aiken said, his supervisors have constantly harassed him.
Note: The details are in the NY Daily News
(St. Paul, MN) - The [state] Senate on Saturday voted to allow same-sex partners of state workers to buy into the state's health insurance program, even as opponents charged it was a stealth attempt to clear a path for legalized gay marriage. Supporters said they only want to provide equal treatment to all people who work for the state, regardless of sexual orientation.
Note: The details are at Minnesota Public Radio
(Largo, FL) - One of five commissioners who voted to fire a transsexual city manager said his management style, not his lifestyle, led to the dismissal. Largo City Commissioner Gay Gentry said City Manager Steve Stanton was a "hard-nosed, my-way-or-the-highway" boss who expected more understanding of his personal situation than he showed to some of his roughly 1,200 employees in 14 years as the city's top official.
See also: Florida City Fires Transgender, Once and For All
Note: The full article is in the Tampa Tribune
Hell’s Kitchen has been increasingly rebranded, with names spawned in equal measure by real estate agents and gay tastemakers: Mid West, NoChe (North of Chelsea), Hell’s Kitchenette, Hell’s Kitty and, most ubiquitous, Hellsea. ...Whatever people call it, the message is unmistakable: Hell’s Kitchen is getting gayer and gayer. ...By 2000, when the most recent census was taken, the 10036 ZIP code in Hell’s Kitchen already had the third-highest number of gay couples, indicating that the gay settlement of Hell’s Kitchen was already well under way.
Note: Read the full article in NY Times
Last Saturday we published a syndicated cartoon depicting two men dressed in leather, criticizing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace for publicly saying that homosexuality is immoral. ...One could figure out that the characters were supposed to be gay men — an observation noticed by people who called or wrote me to criticize our decision to run it. ...Conversations this past week with members of the public, however, have persuaded me to re-examine this decision.
Note: Read the rest in the News-Press
(Largo, FL) - City commissioners early Saturday finalized the firing of a city manager who is seeking a sex-change operation, despite pleas from dozens of impassioned supporters to save his job. After a six-hour hearing, the commissioners decided to fire 48-year-old Steve Stanton after his announcement that he planned a new life as a woman. The move came after the commission voted 5-2 last month to suspend him with pay.
See also: Largo officials vote to dismiss Stanton
Note: More details in the Orlando Sentinel
Let me defend HRC, an organization that from time to time has outraged me by its lack of courage and by its short-term strategic thinking. First, it’s not that rich. In fact, the far right has mega-millions more than all our gay rights groups put together. We need cash pouring into all of our institutions, from wherever we can get it. No one is forced to give money to HRC. The guys at the black tie dinners are not gullible. They are contributing to our community. Read more...
(Denton, TX) – Fire officials say a blaze early Wednesday that destroyed a gay nightclub was arson. ...Mable Peabody's Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair, 1215 E. University Drive in Denton, was vandalized before it was torched, said owner Kelly Sanders. ..."They broke in and took liquor and threw chairs all over the place," said Ms. Sanders, who has owned the club for 13 years. "They destroyed the whole bar before they burned it. I wonder if it could have been a gay-bashing deal. I have no idea."
Note: Get the full story from the Denton Record-Chronicle
(NYC) - Four men who were accused of brutally beating a popular drag-queen entertainer in the East Village last year pleaded guilty yesterday to assault charges. ...They admitted to their roles in the June 10, 2006 attack on Kevin Aviance, in exchange for reduced sentences. ...The men followed Aviance, 39, out of a gay bar on 14th Street and First Avenue, then called him derogatory names, police said. ...Then they punched and kicked him, breaking his jaw and causing other injuries, police said.
Note: More details in the NY Post
(Minneapolis, MN) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked the deportation of a lesbian back to Uganda, sending her case back to the Board of Immigration Appeals [BIA] for further proceedings. ...A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said the BIA misapplied the law and overstepped its authority in the case of Olivia Nabulwala, who sought asylum after the U.S. government tried to deport her for overstaying her visitor’s visa.
Note: Read the full story in the Winona Daily News
Matthew Shepard's brutal murder did it in the 90s, and now the recent murder of a gay, 72-year-old Detroit man may prompt a new, national campaign to stop anti-gay violence. Andrew Anthos was beaten to death on February 13th. Since then, a foundation has been set up in his name, and what happened to him has been mentioned on the floor of the US House of Representatives. But what happens next?
Note: Read about one possible answer in the International Herald Tribune
(USA) - Two Elmira [CA] men who were charged with hate crime assault for an October attack on a gay man have been cleared of the most serious charges against them. Joseph Loudenslager III and Justin Edwards were found guilty today of third degree assault and Loudenslager was found guilty of attempted third degree assault in connection with the Oct. 18 attack on Jaimie Briggs.
Note: Read the full story in the Star-Gazette
(Denver, CO) - A Denver police officer is under investigation after a gay law student accused him of failing to arrest a man for an alleged hate crime. Nima Daivari, 24, of New York, filed a complaint against officer Richard Boehnlein, saying the officer told him to "go home" after he was attacked by a stranger on the 16th Street Mall. Daivari, who was visiting a cousin in Denver, said Sunday's incident began shortly after midnight when a man walked past him and made a derogatory, anti-gay statement. Daivari turned around and asked the man what he had said. That confrontation turned into a fight, with both men throwing punches.
(USA) - Lesbians’ brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women. An earlier study of gay men also showed their brain response was different from straight men — an even stronger difference than has now been found in lesbians.
(USA) - On Wednesday, [Larry] Gierer will take on a new role, becoming [Oakland Park's] first openly gay mayor and the first openly HIV-positive mayor in Broward County. He'll serve in the city's top seat for one year while Layne Walls serves as vice mayor. The position rotates annually among commissioners. Gierer's new title will be a highly anticipated moment for Oakland Park's budding gay population. Oakland Park residents elected the city's first openly gay candidate, Chris Wilson, in 1993, but he did not gather enough votes to rotate into the mayor's position before his term expired.
Note: Read the full article at South Florida Sun-Sentinel
DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,
Why do you hate gay people so much? Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Read more...
(Phillipines) - Ang Ladlad, a party-list group representing gays and lesbians, on Tueday made a final appeal to the Commission on Elections to allow it to take part in the May 14 elections. Ang Ladlad president Danton Remoto, a noted gay writer, said in an interview that he personally spoke with Comelec commissioners in a bid to persuade them to accredit the party-list group. "I felt that some of the commissioners could be sympathetic to our cause so I made a last minute verbal appeal, because we already filed our motion for reconsideration," Remoto said.
Note: Read full article on: www.gmanews.tv
(USA) - Evans, 71, who ran a family practice on Route 6 in Newtown for more than 40 years before his retirement last week, regards his work in fighting AIDS as the most important aspect of his medical career. In 1987, because of his concern for people with HIV/AIDS and the impact of the epidemic on the Danbury area, Evans founded AIDS Project Greater Danbury, a nonprofit organization designed to support patients and their loved ones. Taking care of people is still on Evans' mind, even in retirement. "I don't see myself not working," said Evans, who is thinking of volunteering for Doctors Without Borders, an independent international humanitarian organization that delivers emergency disaster aid in more than 70 countries.
Note: Read full article on www.newstimeslive.com
(India) - "Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code calls for life imprisonment or sentence of ten years for all sexual acts against human nature (primarily interpreted to be homosexuality, especially sodomy). Though the law has rarely been executed, it does put them at the risk of being blackmailed by the police and anyone with vested interest," says Aditya Thadishetty, a lawyer. But there are others like Hoshang Merchant, a vocal gay poet, who are not scared about their sexuality. He asserts, "I was beaten up once for my sexual indulgence and the experience made me assert myself. Many homosexuals still believe that their sexuality is a punishment."
Note: Read full article on Times of India
(Dallas, USA) - A teacher uses class time to talk about how specific LGBT students are going to hell. A security guard calls an LGBT student a “faggot” within earshot of school administrators, who do nothing about it. The student subsequently drops out. An LGBT teacher is reprimanded for using his school’s video system to disseminate information about the Gay-Straight Alliance. These are just a few examples of a big problem within the Dallas Independent School District, according to LGBT district employees and members of a citizens committee. The committee is demanding that the district enforce its 16-year-old policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation by conducting staff training and hiring a director of LGBT initiatives.
Note: Read full article on Dallas Voice
(Jamaica) - Like their counterparts in many other parts of the world, Jamaican cops are learning to live with a large and growing number of gay and lesbian colleagues, in a profession known to be typically hard on homosexuals. But the increase in the number of homosexuals has apparently caught the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) off guard. There is no official policy on gays in the constabulary, and while it has been acknowledged that they are many - one cop used the term "rampant" - actual figures have not been compiled.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Observer
(UK) - The Scottish National Party was condemned by equality and human rights campaigners last night after it emerged that its election campaign would be bankrolled by the controversial businessman Brian Souter. Souter, head of the Stagecoach bus company, and a member of the evangelical Nazarene Church which claims to be able to 'cure' homosexuality, announced he had donated £500,000 to the party. Previously, Souter donated up to £1m to the Keep the Clause campaign, which unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the abolition of Section 28, a law claimed to have legitimised intolerance and prejudice.
Note: Read full article on Guadian Unlimited
(Warsaww, Poland) - Some 10,000 teachers marched in Warsaw on Saturday, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Roman Giertych, whom they accuse of failing to keep promises of raises and of harming the education system. The minister is preparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak with pupils. The 36-year-old Giertych recently also caused controversy at a meeting of EU education ministers when he openly criticised abortion rights and what he termed “homosexual propaganda.” Read more...
(Bartow, USA) - Two men have been arrested in the killing of a central Florida man police say may have been stabbed because he was gay. Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Keith Skipper of Wahneta was found dead along a rural roadway early Wednesday morning. William David Brown Junior (20) and Joseph Bearden (21) were arrested as suspects. Police say they have a witness reporting Skipper was killed because he was gay. According to the Sheriff's Office, the arrested men stole the car and computer of the victim, and then drove him to a road where he was stabbed more than 20 times.
Note: Update: Read more on Orlando Sentinel
(Banda Aceh, Indonesia) – A 32-years-old NGO worker and his same-sex partner were allegedly brutally tortured and sexually abused by the Banda Aceh police while in custody in January, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has revealed. AHRC has named the NGO official as Mr. Hartayo and his partner as “Bobby”. The alleged underlying motive behind the detention, torture and sexual abuse of the victims is because they are homosexuals, AHRC says in an ‘urgent action’ appeal. Read more...
(Dublin, Ireland) - Dublin's freewheeling parade drew a half-million spectators and included Christine Quinn, the first openly gay leader of the New York City Council. Quinn is boycotting the more conservative New York parade because the organizers refuse to let gay and lesbian groups march. This year, she accepted an Irish government invitation to be part of the Dublin City Council contingent. "The fact I'm here in Dublin and able to march and participate in inclusive events should send a message of how backwards the New York parade is," said Quinn.
Note: Read ful article on Guardian Unlimited
(Jamaica) - I am a Jamaican and proud of it. That is most of the time. Unfortunately, there are days when I am ashamed to claim my Jamaican nationality. The most recent time I have had to hang my head in shame because of being a Jamaican, started on February 15, 2007, when I read the articles in our national newspapers about the three men alleged to be homosexuals whom the police had to save from an angry crowd, and all the anti-gay follow-up articles and letters to the editor since.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Observer
Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin is among the world's greatest campaigner's for gay rights. Not in a tub-thumping, high-on-his-horse sort of way, though - just by writing and saying what he feels. He was a friend of Rock Hudson and convinced his now good buddy Sir Ian McKellen to come out. The upbeat 62-year-old does not fail to deliver during our interview about the screen adaptation of his novella, The Night Listener, which stars San Franciscan Robin Williams as a character based on the writer himself. Maupin was the "night listener" at the other end of the phone.
Note: Read full article on www.smh.com.au
(USA) - Kansas City does have an ordinance protecting gays, as do St. Louis, Columbia and University City. But if you’re anywhere else in Missouri and you’re gay, you can legally be denied service in restaurant. Landlords can refuse to rent you a place to live. You can even be canned from your job on the suspicion that you’re romantically inclined toward members of your own sex. “Many people are shocked to hear that people can be fired from their jobs for being gay or being perceived to be gay,” says Julie Brueggemann, executive director of the Missouri gay rights group Promo.
Note: Read full article on Kansas City Star
(Trinidad and Tobago) - Sir Elton John's appearance at a jazz festival on Tobago next month is expected to attract tourists from across the Caribbean, the US and Europe to the island. But one man not looking forward to the performance is the Archdeacon of Trinidad and Tobago, the Venerable Philip Isaac.The Archdeacon has suggested the singer and anti-Aids activist should be banned from the Plymouth Jazz Festival, because his presence may tempt islanders into homosexuality. Promoters of the Plymouth Jazz Festival said that Sir Elton would headline the event, despite the Archdeadon's comments.
Note: Read full article on independent.co.uk
(Shawnee, USA) - Six members of a group protesting Oklahoma Baptist University's policy toward gays were arrested on campus today.
Soulforce Equality Riders spokesman Kyle DeVries says six group members were taken into custody as they tried to take a tapestry with biblical references and song lyrics to the student union.Five group members were arrested yesterday when they tried to enter O-B-U's Raley Chapel to attend services.
Note: Read full article on www.kten.com
(Washington, USA) - The Human Rights Campaign disclosed for the first time this week that the total cost for buying and renovating its headquarters building in Washington came to $26.4 million. HRC also paid a former executive director who left the organization in 2004 nearly $160,000 last year. HRC also released new details about the cost of its headquarters building and the financing arrangement at the request of the Washington Blade following criticism by gay commentator and blogger Andrew Sullivan that the building was too expensive and detracted from resources that should have been used to advance gay rights causes.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(New York, USA) - About 250 people picketed the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Manhattan March 15 in a demo that is being seen as the likely resurrection of ACT UP. The picket was organized two nights earlier at New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center after legendary activist and writer Larry Kramer gave a rousing 59-minute speech on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of ACT UP's formation. UPDATE: Video.
Note: Read full article on WOCKNER
(New York, USA) - Author and activist Larry Kramer, 71, spoke to the Gay audience at the LGBT Center in New York City’s Greenwich Village on Tuesday evening, March 13. Watch the complete, 59 min Video of his speech.
(Warsaw, Poland) - Teachers who promote gay rights in schools risk losing their jobs under draft regulations currently being drawn up by Poland's Ministry of Education, Polish Radio reported Thursday. Poland's Deputy Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski told Polish Radio the proposed regulations do not sanction the firing of homosexual teachers. Only teachers who present homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle to students could lose their jobs. The controversial news comes on the heels of news that the Polish Ministry of Education is also preparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak with pupils.
Note: Read full article on www.eux.tv
(USA) - You’d have to be living under a rock in Fiji without electricity to not have heard by now how the odious ultra-conservative pitbull Ann Coulter called Sen. John Edwards a “faggot” during her remarks last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). But what you may not have heard is what an organization calling itself the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) did in response to Coulter’s bigoted slur.
Note: Read full article on Direland
(Trinidad and Tobago) - Despite calls by members of the Christian community in Tobago to ban self-confessed homosexual Elton John from appearing on the Plymouth Jazz Festival, the British singer will perform. Three days ago the gay singer faced the possibility of being barred from entering Trinidad and Tobago as a result of a clause that exists in the island's immigration law that bars self-confessed homosexuals from entering the country.
Note: Read full article on Jamaica Gleaner
It's a day in the not-too-distant future. A woman, three months pregnant, sits anxiously in her obstetrician's office pondering the possibility of giving birth to a gay kid. Perhaps, she thinks, she shouldn't have agreed to the test in the first place. Maybe it would've been better not to know, to have left everything to fate. And what difference did it make, really? Like most of her friends, the woman, though moderately religious, considers herself an open-minded cosmopolitan with a Seinfeld-ian attitude toward homosexuality: "not that there's anything wrong with that!"
Note: Read full article on Radar
(USA) - Activist and author Larry Kramer gave a 60-minute speech last night at New York's Gay & Lesbian Center to mark the 20th anniversary of the activist group ACT UP, born of the AIDS crisis two decades ago. Kramer relives that troubled time and the birth of ACT UP in his remarks, calling it "the most successful grass roots organization that ever lived. Period." He speaks about the current state of gay culture, Presidential politics, the recent remarks by General Peter Pace, and the need for a new activism, a "gay army" to take on our enemies.
Note: Read full article on www.towleroad.com
(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. The 21-year-old Ghanaian had known he was gay since he was 13, but had hesitated to tell anyone. When a schoolmate told his mother of rumours that the 18-year-old Patrick was having sex with another boy, he admitted he was gay. "She said because of what I chose to be, I was no longer her son. Was the whole world against me? This was the biggest question in my mind. My own mother sometimes says she wishes I was dead," he said. 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.
Note: BBC
(Warsawa, Poland) - Poland is debating a bill that would make all material dealing with homosexuality, including educational information, illegal as way of protecting school children from "homosexual propaganda." Roman Giertych, Poland's deputy prime minister and education minister, is preparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gay rights organizations to speak with pupils, a Polish education ministry spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Deputy Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski said the bill is intended to protect Polish families and could come before parliament by the end of March.
Note: Read full article on www.dw-world.de
(UK) - Brighton's LGBT Jobfairs have made history over the past three years by being the first of their kind in the UK and Europe. Now London is set to follow suit with a fair of its own. The London LGBT Jobfair, which will be taking place on April 4th, is hoping to replicate the success of the Brighton events.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(UK) - Adults should intervene if they see children being bullied, according to Hugh Henry, the education minister. Mr Henry said it was vital that parents, neighbours and other grown-ups did not "turn a blind eye" if they witnessed one child attacking another. He made his comments at the launch of an anti-bullying service backed by the Scottish Executive.
Note: Read full article on news.scotsman.com
(Warsaw, Poland) - Roman Giertych, Poland's controversial Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, is preparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak with pupils, a Polish education ministry spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Poland's mass-circulation Dziennik daily reported Tuesday, Minister Giertych was overseeing the preparation of the draft legislation banning gay rights groups from schools, a move which appears to be unconstitutional.
Note: Read full article on www.eux.tv
(USA) - Oregon gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people would get the same legal protection from discrimination that is granted to racial and other minorities, under a bill passed Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. After hearing more than five hours of emotional testimony from gay-rights supporters, conservative Christians and others, the committee voted 3 to 1 to send Senate Bill 2 to the Senate floor.
Note: Read full article on www.statesmanjournal.com
(Hong Kong) - A Legislative Council panel has unanimously passed a motion calling on the Broadcasting Authority to withdraw its controversial ruling on a TVB show An Autumn's Tale and RTHK's Hong Kong Connection - Gay Lovers program. The controversy began January 20 when the authority said RTHK's interview with homosexual couples was one-sided and had breached the Codes of Practice on Television Program Standards. It also ordered TVB to remove what it called offensive language should there be a repeat showing of An Autumn's Tale.
Note: read full article on www.thestandard.com.hk
(Boulder, USA) - Police arrested two CU students after they reportedly made anti-gay comments toward two men, sparking a fight near the Pearl Street Mall on Sunday. Boulder Police say the incident started when a 23-year-old man was walking near 10th and Pearl Streets with his arm around his friend, who was a 19-year-old man, and two men behind them reportedly made derogatory comments. After a short verbal exchange, one of the men pushed the victim and a fight broke out, according to police.
Note: Read full article on www.9news.com
(Jerusalem) - A rare gathering of openly gay Arab activists is slated to be held in Israel this month, drawing the ire of religious conservatives. Headlined "Home and Exile," the March 28 meeting is meant to spark discussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, said Roula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist and one of the scheduled speakers. The conference is being organized by Aswat, an Arab lesbian group based in Haifa, a coastal city home to both Jews and Arabs. Around 100 to 150 people are expected to show up, Deeb said. With homosexuality a taboo topic in much of the Arab world, the meeting is important simply because it is taking place.
Note: Read full article on www.iht.com
(New York, USA) - An NYPD undercover probe that targeted a gay cop produced hours of raunchy audio and videotapes - but not enough evidence to prove the officer did anything wrong. Now the officer plans to slap the city with a discrimination lawsuit that will seek millions in damages. Police Officer Jai Aiken, a 13-year veteran with serious health and psychiatric issues, had been accused of buying stolen goods. But the most salacious moments in the two-week trial came from recordings spiced with sexual banter between Aiken and an undercover cop. "This was humiliating," said Aiken, 39, after being acquitted of attempted grand larceny and other crimes. "That [the NYPD] went to these lengths was a waste of taxpayer dollars."
Note: Read full article on www.nydailynews.com
(Little Rock, USA) - A Senate committee has advanced a bill to reinstate Arkansas' ban on gay foster parents. The proposal would also ban gays and lesbians from adopting children. The legislation was forwarded Monday by the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor. The bill would also prohibit cohabiting couples from either fostering or adopting children. Arkansas had a ban on gay foster parents, but that prohibition was thrown out by the state Supreme Court in June. Four people sued after the policy was put in effect in 1999 and the state Child Welfare Board dropped the policy after losing a court fight in 2004.
Note: Read full article on www.todaysthv.com
(New York, USA) - The Roxy, on 18th Street near the West Side Highway, was about to open for its last night. Since 1991, this warhorse of a club, which operates during the week as a roller-skating rink, has made its name as a gay dance hall on Saturday nights. But last month, the word went out that the Roxy would be shutting its doors for good after a final bash on March 10. The building’s owner has plans to sell it to developers.
Note: Read full article on New York Times
(Jerusalem, Israel) - The Jerusalem Open House gay and lesbian organization asked the police yesterday to approve holding the annual gay pride parade in the capital on June 21. Last year's gay pride parade in Jerusalem was delayed by the second Lebanon war. Plans to reschedule the event faced tough opposition from ultra-Orthodox leaders, as well as outbreaks of rioting in the capital. Eventually, organizers and ultra-Orthodox leaders agreed to cancel the parade and replace it with a rally in Givat Ram.
Note: Read full article on www.haaretz.com
(Israel/Palestine) - A conference of Palestinian lesbians, scheduled to be held in Haifa at the end of the month, has raised the ire of Israel's Islamic Movement leaders. Last week, the movement's heads, MKs Ibrahim Sarsur and Abas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta'al) published a statement calling on "all respectable people from all communities and streams to stand up against preaching sexual deviance among our women and girls." The Haifa-based Asawat, a Palestinian gay women's organization, most of whose 85 members hail from Israel and the territories, has called the March 28 conference to mark its five-year anniversary. The Islamic Movement statement also said, "We must not let this fatal cancer spread in our community."
Note: Read full article on Haaretz
(USA) - Utah Governeur Jon Huntsman Jr. signed a bill Friday that would require parental consent for students to join non-curricular clubs such as gay-straight alliances and allow schools to deny a club application if leaders thought it necessary to "protect the physical, emotional and moral well-being of students." In a letter to Huntsman, the American Civil Liberties Union stated its opposition to the bill because it fears schools will use the law as a way to violate the Federal Equal Access Act, which prohibits schools from discriminating against clubs based on "political, philosophical or other content of the speech" at student meetings.
Note: Read full article on deseretnews.com
(USA) - Danny Carroll, the Republican speaker pro tempore of Iowa’s House of Representatives, was among the dozens of targets of a group of rich gay philanthropists who quietly joined forces last year, under the leadership of a reclusive Colorado technology mogul, to counter the tide of antigay politics in America that has generated, among other things, a succession of state ballot initiatives banning gay marriage.
Note: Read full article on www.theatlantic.com
(UK) - The results of the elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly show big gains for Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party. The DUP tried to overturn the Sexual Orientation Regulations, which outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation when accessing goods and services. The regulations came into force in the province in January. Sinn Fein, who support gay rights, has also gained seats in the elections, which should see a return to devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Note: Read full article on Pink News
(Rome, Italy) - Tens of thousands of gay activists plan to gather in a Roman square on Saturday to campaign in favour of a bill granting new rights to same-sex unions that has split Romano Prodi's centre- left government and Catholic Italy, reports said Friday. The so-called Dico bill would allow de facto couples of any sex to officialize their relationships and access a series of rights and obligations, including inheritance and mutual assistance in case of need.
Note: Read full article on www.playfuls.com
(Oakland, USA) - A new urban residential community for gay seniors, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, was announced last week in Oakland, Calif., the Contra Costa Times reported.
Titled Barbary Lane, which is inspired by the Armistead Maupin series “Tales of the City,” the residential home will be a 46-unit building slated to open this fall. The project is seen as a natural outgrowth of the Bay Area’s growing gay senior population.
Note: Read full article on www.newyorkblade.com
(San Francisco, USA) - Even on a weekday in winter, the Castro district vibrates with energy, most of it male. Men holding hands, walking dogs and lounging at cafes have long been the main attraction in a neighborhood known as a gay mecca the world over. Yet where visitors see a living monument to gay pride, longtime community leader Brian Basinger sees a cultural enclave at risk of becoming a faded museum piece -- or worse, a place where men who love men may one day feel like they don't belong.
Note: Read full article on 1010wins.com
(San Francisco, USA) - A bronze bust of the first openly gay man to hold a prominent elected office in the United States is going up in City Hall, more than 28 years after he was assassinated. Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and shot to death a year later, along with Mayor George Moscone, by fellow supervisor Dan White. The bronze sculpture will sit atop a stone base inscribed with a quote from one of his most famous speeches.
Note: Read full article on www.examiner.com
(San Francisco, USA - It is the type of event that cities usually salivate over: more than 20,000 teenagers, all with a keen interest in pop culture, plenty of chaperones, and, of course, pockets full of disposable income. But when the group in question is a Christian ministry from Texas that condemns homosexuality, and the place is San Francisco, often referred to as "the gayest city in America," the civic welcome wagon collapses pretty quickly.
Note: Read full article on www.timesargus.com
(Salt Lake City, USA) - Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. postponed a decision on a bill that attempts to give principals the ability to block gay support groups in high schools even though he promised to either veto or sign the bill Thursday. Huntsman's delay came after a one-hour meeting with the bill sponsors, Sen. Chris Buttars and Rep. Aaron Tilton, both Republicans. "We decided it would be worthwhile to have more discussion on it," said Huntsman's spokesman Mike Mower.
Note: Read full article on www.sltrib.com
(USA) - On the opening day of Equality Ride 2007, the 50 young Riders faced grim reminders of why they are on 2 buses, headed for 32 Christian colleges with policies that silence or exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. Last night the eastbound bus made its first stop in Sioux Center, IA, where Riders were harassed at their hotel. This morning they awoke to find their bus defaced by graphic anti-gay graffiti. Read more...
A poisonous piece of legislation is quickly making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly. Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, it is a far-reaching assault on basic rights of association, assembly and expression. Chillingly, the legislation — proposed last year by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo — has the full and enthusiastic support of the leader of Nigeria’s powerful Anglican church. Unless the international community speaks out quickly and forcefully against the bill, it is almost certain to become law.
Note: Read full article on www.nytimes.com
(London, UK) - Scotland Yard is investigating claims that an aide to the mayor of Moscow assaulted a protester during a civic reception at London's City Hall, it emerged yesterday. Detectives are examining footage of a confrontation between Sergi Tsoi, press secretary of Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, and gay activist and journalist Nikolai Alekseev, who unfurled a protest banner after Mr Luzhkov joined Ken Livingstone and counterparts from Paris, Berlin and Beijing, on the podium. The fracas, which was broken up by a security guard, occurred as Mr Luzhkov answered questions. It was broadcast to millions of viewers on Russian television.
Note: Read full article on www.guardian.co.uk
(Deerfield, USA) - Some parents have accused Deerfield High School (Illinois) of promoting a homosexual agenda by allowing gay students to speak before freshman classes about their personal experiences, cite research and invite questions. "The school makes heterosexuality and homosexuality equivalent, and our country is deeply divided on that," said speaker of the parents, who said dozens of parents belong to the advocacy group but fear they will be labeled as haters or religious fanatics if they speak out.
Note: Read full article on www.chicagotribune.com
(Indianapolis, USA) - Indiana is one of only five states in the U.S. that does not have hate crimes legislation. The latest effort failed last month in the House, but one mother on a mission hopes that will change someday. Judy Shepard learned about hate firsthand when her son, Matt was killed. Shepard brought her message to the University of Indianapolis on Tuesday. This year's hate crime legislation failed to get out of committee after Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski attached a pro-life amendment to the bill.
Note: Read full article on www.theindychannel.com
(USA) - Dan Zwonitzer is both Republican and straight, but the 27-year-old state representative suddenly has found himself praised by gay rights activists. Mr. Zwonitzer spoke out in a legislative committee against a measure that would have allowed Wyoming to deny recognition of gay marriages granted by other states or countries. Zwonitzer told the House Rules Committee on Feb. 22 that he needed to publicly oppose the measure - even if it cost him his seat - because he believed that was the right thing to do. He told the committee that gay rights were the civil rights struggle of his generation.
Note: Read full article on www.edgeboston.com
(UK) - A lesbian shop assistant is in line for more than £120,000 after leaving her job because of a colleague's taunts about her sexuality.
Marlene Bielak, 34, suffered months of bullying from Katrina Davies, 27, who would constantly play a Morrissey song called All The Lazy Dykes at the store where they worked. Mrs Davies also was swearing at Miss Bielak, calling her 'only a ******* dyke.' The tribunal concluded Miss Bielak had been victimised and sexually discriminated against by Mrs Davies and ruled that Next's delay in dealing with the complaint meant that she had been unfairly dismissed.
Note: Read full article on www.thisislondon.co.uk
(Bristol, UK) - Police are appealing for witnesses and information after a man was left with permanent eye damage following a homophobic assault in Stockwood, south Bristol. Following surgery, the victim has now lost permanent use of the eye and remains in the Bristol Eye Hospital awaiting further treatment for his injuries. Read more...
(Montreal, Canada) - A report done for the Quebec Human Rights Commission says gays and lesbians still encounter discrimination at school, in the workplace and at home. It’s particularly worried about young gay or bisexual males who are many times more likely to have suicidal tendencies than young male heterosexuals.
Note: Read full article on www.canada.com
(Indianapolis, USA) - Legislation to provide stiffer sentences in hate crime cases has been shelved after a Republican lawmaker moved to amend the bill in what is being described as a ploy to emasculate it. Indiana is one of only five states with no hate crimes law. The bill by submitted by Rep. Gregory W. Porter ( D) would have allowed lawsuits to be filed against criminals if the victim had been singled out because of "color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or sex."
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Manila, Phillipines) - The first openly gay candidate for the Philippines Senate is centring his campaign on equal opportunities and wooing not just sexual minorities but the young, the old, the disadvantaged, women, and overseas voters whose issues receive little real attention in the political race. Danton Remoto, a published author and respected academic, is running as an independent for one of the 12 out of 24 seats in the Senate on 14 May, when Filipinos will also elect 250 members of the lower chamber as well as many regional governors and mayors. In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) Remoto explained his strategy.
Note: Read full article on www.adnki.com
(Salt Lake City, USA) - In Utah, state law says only married couples can engage in sodomy. And that’s the way legislators want things to remain, even though a Supreme Court ruling says states can’t tell consenting adults what’s allowed in the privacy of their homes. A bill that would repeal Utah’s sodomy statute, which prohibits oral and anal sex, never received a public hearing and is unlikely to be brought up for debate in the three remaining days of the legislative session.
Note: Read full article on kutv.com
(USA) - The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to suspend a dress code at a suburban San Diego high school that was challenged by a student who wore a T-shirt with anti-gay language. Tyler Chase Harper sued the Poway Unified School District in 2004 to overturn a policy calling for schools to reduce or prevent "hate behavior," including threats and attacks based on sexual orientation. Harper had been pulled from class for wearing a T-shirt that read, "Homosexuality is shameful" on the front and, "Be ashamed. Our school has embraced what God has condemned," on the back. His lawsuit claimed the policy violated his rights to freedom of speech and religion.
Note: Read full article on www.kpbs.org
In ninth grade I was not sure who or what I was, but I was sure about one thing: Out of everyone, there was one single and special guy who made something inside me move, and not in the sordid sense. In those days I could not name this weird, pleasant pestering feeling I had whenever I thought of that beautiful tenth grader. I could not understand why I stutter near him, and why on earth I thought he was so beautiful. Today I laugh when thinking back to those sensations, and know exactly how to call them. Maybe it was a crush, maybe love, maybe plain old sexual attraction.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(New Zealand) - Kiwifroot, a new support and social network for gay, lesbian, takatapui, bisexual, and transgender youth aged up to 25 and living in Te Tai Tokerau is to be launched on 21 March. Supported by QT, a collaborative initiative between the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Northland District Health Board, Agender Northland and the New Zealand Police, Kiwifroot is designed to better support the needs of non-heterosexual youth throughout the Northland region.
Note: Read full article on www.gaynz.com
(Lagos, Nigeria) - Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, has been the subject of further intimidation last week. He was visited, when absent from his place of work, by two men who were identified as Nigerians. They wanted to speak with Davis and withdrew when told he wasn’t there. The same morning he was telephoned on his private mobile number by a Nigerian who said: ‘So you are back from your trip to Tanzania’ and then terminated the call. To protect himself, Mr Mac-Iyalla has withdrawn to a safe location.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Saltillo, Mexico) - Legislators in the dusty northern border state of Coahuila have stunned Mexico by giving same-sex couples property and inheritance rights long reserved for married heterosexuals. It is a first for this predominantly Roman Catholic country, a measure so swift and so bold that it surprised even the gay community. All of a sudden, gay rights are on the national agenda
Note: Read full article on www.signonsandiego.com
(Manila, Philippines) - Party-list hopeful Ang Ladlad has filed an appeal on the denial by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of its application for party-list accreditation. The gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender group had planned to run in the May party-list elections and filed its petition to do so on September 15 last year. But on February 27, the party's application for accreditation was denied by the Comelec, which had said that Ang Ladlad's membership was not nationwide in scope and thus, had failed to meet the requirements set under election laws. But the group's co-founder and president Danton Remoto said in its appeal on Monday that the party-list group had submitted a list of its provincial coordinators in 11 out of 13 provinces to show that it had a national constituency.
Note: Read full article on Asian Journal
(USA) - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton told the nation's leading gay rights group in an unpublicized speech that she wants a partnership with gays if elected president. Clinton also said she opposes the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military that was instituted during her husband's presidency. Her chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, John Edwards and Barack Obama, also favor repealing the policy. Human Rights Campaign vice president David Smith said Clinton's comments were "very well received," though he added the group is not endorsing any candidate and does not anticipate making an endorsement "anytime soon."
Note: Read full article on www.forbes.com
(London, UK) - Six films, three features and three documentaries, are to be screened in four sessions at the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association’s film festival in London this month. The carefully selected programme has been chosen to appeal to a lesbian and gay audience, with a mix of the intriguing, fantastic, disturbing, thought-provoking, and downright funny. “GALHA is proud to be arranging this film festival, and offering a great selection of films including a UK premiere that has only just previewed at the Berlin LGBT film festival,” said festival organiser Keith Angus.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Sacramento, USA) - Bob Hattoy, who in 1992 became the first openly gay man to address a political convention in prime time when Bill Clinton asked him to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention in New York City, died over the weekend in Sacramento. Hattoy was a tireless activist for gay and HIV-related causes as well as the ACLU and Sierra Club. Here's a great piece that was written for the L.A. Times less than two weeks before his speech at the Democratic Convention, and about one month after he learned he had AIDS.
Note: Read full article on www.towleroad.com
(London, UK) - The Metropolitan Police are investigating a complaint of an alleged assault on Russian gay activist and journalist Nikolai Alekseev in London last week following the press conference given by the mayors of London, Berlin, Paris, Moscow and Beijing at City Hall. The press secretary of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Sergi Tsoi is said to have approached Mr. Alekseev, who was displaying a Moscow Pride flag, and, allegedly using physical force and alleged threats, grabbed the flag. Read more...
(NEW YORK, USA) - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn plans to march in Dublin, Ireland's St. Patrick's Day parade this year, again snubbing the New York City parade because of its organizers' refusal to allow gay and lesbian groups to march. Quinn, an Irish-American who is the city's first openly gay council speaker, is heading to the Dublin parade at the personal invitation of officials there. She's expected to be joined by other members of the New York City Council, as well as the lord mayor of Dublin, the speaker of the Lower House of the Irish Parliament, and Dublin City Council members.
Note: Read full article on www.iht.com
(Washington, USA) - Two US LGBT rights organizations - the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - on March 3 condemned the February 27 arrest and detention of Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida. Smith was arrested during a heated hearing before the Largo City Commission in Florida, during which the commission voted 5-2 to begin the process of firing its 14-year city manager, Steve Stanton, because he announced his plans to transition from male to female. Read more...
(Washington, USA) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is turning conservative commentator Ann Coulter's description of him as a "faggot" into a fundraising tool. Following a prepared speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference Coulter was asked about Edwards. But John Edwards has turned the issue into what his campaign hopes is a positive. On his campaign website Edwards is calling on supporters to "help us raise $100,000 in 'Coulter Cash' this week to keep this campaign charging ahead and fight back against the politics of bigotry."
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com
It was no secret. Sydney Mardi Gras was going to be 'taken over' by a few hundred 'Kylies', or dancin' queens! Here are a collection of 10 photos taken at yesterday's Mardi Gras by Annette Petersen, the "Kylie’s Impossible Princesses" official photographer.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Sydney, Australia) - There were giant butterflies, 250 dancing Kylie Minogues, baby-pushing Vicky Pollards and a patrol of gay surf lifesavers to help Sydney celebrate the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade last night. The parade featured the traditional Dykes on Bikes and colourful floats and costumes. This year's Chief of Parade was British actor Rupert Everett, who was joined by gay cowboy and author Adam Sutton. Chief of Parade is the honorary title given each year to a high-profile member of the gay and lesbian community to promote the values of Mardi Gras.
Note: Read full article on www.smh.com.au
(UK) - A top aide to Cabinet Minister Ruth Kelly has quit amid claims of conflict over the devout Catholic's hardline views on homosexuality. Policy expert Rachel O'Brien left her job last week as special adviser to the Communities Secretary, who has responsibility for the Government's equal rights policy. Whitehall sources have told The Mail on Sunday that Ms O'Brien became increasingly frustrated with her boss's foot-dragging on granting homosexuals equal rights.
Note: Read full article on www.dailymail.co.uk
According to Toronto police, children are not the only prey for on-line predators; gay seniors are also at risk. In the case of Harley Walker, a gay Cabbagetown man who disappeared last fall, police suspect that Internet criminality cost him his life. "Particularly vulnerable are elder gay men who go on-line and give away more information than they intended, sometimes without even realizing it," says Det Pauline Gray, who is investigating the Walker case.
Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
(Mexico City) - Christian Chavez, a singer for the Mexican pop group RBD, has announced that he is gay after photographs suggesting him marrying' another man were released on the Web site www.latingossip.com. The pictures, taken in Canada in 2005 according to a message on the site, show the two young men signing documents, exchanging rings and giving each other a kiss. Read more...
(UK) - The mother of a Suffolk man killed in a horrific hate attack on a London pub said last night the man responsible for his death deserves to die in jail. Nik, 31, was killed along with Andrea Dykes, 27, who was pregnant, and John Light, 32, both of Colchester, and many others were injured. Nik, who was openly gay, was born in Snape, where his parents ran the Golden Key pub for 18 years, before they moved to Felixstowe. He attended Farlingaye High School in Woodridge before enjoying a rich and varied working life, serving in the Merchant Navy and the RAF and working for British Aerospace and later with furniture company MJF in London.
Note: Read full article on www.eadt.co.uk
(Sydney, Australia) - Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, one of the biggest of its kind in the world, is going green this year with a message to Australians that they must take action to protect a threatened environment. Centerpiece of the parade on Saturday night will be a giant replica of planet Earth, split into two with one half barren and decaying, and the other bright and colorful to symbolize hope. There will also be all the usual razzmatazz, with a 250-strong posse of Kylie Minogues, a band of gay Sydney lifesavers and a six-story high Trojan Horse all helping to pave the city's streets with glitter.
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(Poland) - The Council of Europe's "All different, All equal" Campaign for Diversity, Human Rights and Participation got underway in the Polish capital Warsaw Saturday under the roof of a large white tent pitched in the city centre. The campaign is designed to fight racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and intolerance. In Warsaw Saturday there was particular emphasis on equal rights for homosexuals following anti-gay comments made by Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Roman Giertych.
Note: Read full article on jurnalo.com
(Warsaw, Poland) - Roman Giertych, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Friday in Warsaw upheld his controversial proposal to include a ban on abortion and rights for homosexuals in any possible future European constitution. Giertych stirred controversy in Heidelberg, Germany, on Thursday during a meeting of EU education ministers when he openly criticized what he termed "homosexual propaganda" in a public speech. "The propaganda of homosexuality is reaching ever younger children." Giertych said in the speech released to the Polish media Friday.
Note: Read full article on www.eux.tv
(Boston, USA) - A Boston man is accusing a member of the family that runs the well-known J.J. Foley’s pubs in Boston of assaulting him and throwing him out of the chain’s bar in the Leather District because he was kissing another man. Martin T. Keenan filed a five-page civil lawsuit this week that says Jeremiah Foley grabbed and forcibly removed him from the bar in September 2005, breaking one of Keenan’s fingers in the process.
Note: Read full article on www.edgeboston.com
(Ireland) - Students and gay activists yesterday [March 01] marched outside the Department of Health protesting the continued ban on gay men donating blood in Ireland. The ban on 'gay blood' has been in force since the mid-1980s and is imposed by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS). The rally was addressed by gay rights campaigner Senator David Norris. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI), co-organiser of the protest, said the Minister, Mary Harney, would be guilty of 'institutional discrimination' unless she immediately set up a working group to investigate the ban.
Note: Read full article on www.gcn.ie
(Turkey) - In the second and final trial, the judge rejected to sentence Umut Guner, the editor and publisher of a Turkish LBGT magazine from the charges of peddling "pornography" in his publication, Kaos GL Magazine. The first obscenity trial of Umut Guner, editor of Turkey's only LGBT magazine, Kaos GL, took place on December 28, 2006. The next and the final trial took place on February 28, 2007 where he has been acquitted. Read more...
(Riga, Latvia) - Jānis Birks, the newly elected Mayor of Riga, appears to have no issues with the Gay Pride parade in the Latvian capital. He was interviewed by the internet-based Latvia news portal V-Diena, which is run by the biggest Latvian daily newspaper Diena. In the wider-ranging interview, the question of Riga Gay Pride was raised. In the interview, published in Latvia, he said he was “ashamed of what happened last year” when excrement was thrown at participants of Gay Pride.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Cameroon) - On February 17, 2007, the High Court in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde ordered the immediate release of Alexandre D., detained for more than two years without charge or trial on allegations of homosexuality. The ruling was received with relief by the Cameroonian gay and lesbian community, represented by Alternatives-Cameroun, Inter-LGBT in Paris and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) in New York. The three organizations hired human rights attorney Michel Togue to represent Alexandre in a habeas corpus hearing in which the judge ruled that the state had presented no relevant evidence. Read more...
(Montreal, Canada) - A controversial radio host has dragged homosexuality into the open in the Quebec election campaign after declaring Andre Boisclair’s Parti Quebecois looks like a "club of fags." Boisclair, the openly gay PQ leader, angrily declared Thursday that Quebecers will decide whether homosexuality is an issue worthy of consideration. In an interview two weeks ago with a PQ candidate, radio host Louis Champagne of CKRS in the isolated region of Saguenay mused that local factory workers might not like gay candidates and declared the PQ resembles "un club de tapettes." "Tapette" is the French equivalent in Quebec of "fag."
Note: Read full article on thechronicleherald.ca
(UK) - A Christian magistrate who says he was forced to quit the bench because he does not agree with adoption by gay couples has lost a discrimination case. Andrew McClintock, of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said civil partnership laws clashed with his religious beliefs.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Bayonne, New Jersey) - A 21-year-old man from Bayonne, New Jersey was followed off the PATH train in Hoboken and attacked by two men who had been harassing him on the train for, among other things, wearing pink pants. Police are calling the attack an anti-gay hate crime.
Note: Read full article on www.towleroad.com
(Madrid, Spain) - Spain's parliament on Thursday passed a law allowing transsexuals to change their name and gender on official documents without needing to undergo surgery first. The law, which had progressed through the country's lower legislative chamber earlier in the week, was opposed by the conservative opposition Popular Party. The new legislation requires transsexuals to present an official medical diagnosis stating a clinically proven case of gender dysfunction and to have undergone appropriate treatment for two years before changes in identity documents can be performed.
Note: Read full article on www.iht.com
(USA) - Throughout March and April, 52 activists will travel to 32 universities to promote acceptance of their cause. The activists are from Soulforce, a civil rights organization that fights to eliminate oppression of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Their tour is called the Equality Ride. The universities are Christian ones from around the U.S. that forbid GLBT students to attend.
Note: Read full article on www.ocolly.com
(London, UK) - Homosexuality is not a disease you catch, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, himself openly gay, told a press conference in London yesterday. He was speaking at the end of the annual M4 “summit” of the mayors of Berlin, London, Moscow and Paris, who were joined this year at City Hall by the mayor of Beijing. Equal rights and discrimination were part of the talks.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Havana, Cuba) - Cuba is not the Netherlands, no gay mecca, but the attitudes of people in and out of government are undergoing dramatic change, maybe because a leading advocate of gay rights is Mariela Castro, niece of Fidel Castro, daughter of his brother, acting President Raul Castro, and head of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education. The public persecution of homosexuals has declined sharply. Two years ago, Cuba had its first gay film festival. Last year, the highest-rated show on Cuba's state-run television was a soap opera in which a married man fell in love with another man. And now this country is on the verge of enacting a law that gives same-sex couples some form of legal status.
Note: Read full article on www.usatoday.com
(Nigeria) - Coming out of the closet in Nigerian society, is not for the faint-hearted; it's not even for the publicity-seeking. But in October 2004, Bisi Alimi - in a first - calmly revealed his homosexuality on live television. He did so on New Dawn, a popular talk show on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in an atmosphere of transparent hostility. I had to understand what drove his need to come out. And the day after the television appearance, I sat the young graduate down and asked all the hard questions agitating the minds of millions. And remarkably, Bisi Alimi didn't flinch.
Note: Read ful article on www.mask.org.za
(Largo, USA) - City commissioners ended one of the most tumultuous weeks in Largo history Tuesday night by moving to fire City Manager Steve Stanton following his disclosure that he will have a sex-change operation. Commissioners voted 5-2, with Mayor Pat Gerard and Commissioner Rodney Woods in dissent, to place Stanton on paid leave while his departure is made final. During the meeting, Stanton described the dismay of watching his professional reputation disintegrate in just seven days. Until last week, he had served 14 years as the city manager, generally to good reviews.
Note: Read full article on www.sptimes.com
(Cairo, Egypt) - An Egyptian with Canadian citizenship on trial for spying for Israel shouted from his courtroom cage Wednesday that his earlier confession had been extracted under torture. According to a Canadian newspaper, Attar told Egyptian interrogators that he recruited several gay or financially strapped Arabs for Mossad while he was living in Canada. A transcript of his interrogation in Egypt, viewed by The Globe and Mail newspaper, alleged that he was a gay Zionist who turned his back on Islam and worked with the Israeli spy agency to undermine Egypt's security. He cited his new religion and homosexuality in applying for UN refugee status, which eventually landed him in Canada.
Note: Read full article on www.metimes.com
(Oackland, USA) - Elder members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities say they often feel more isolated than other senior citizens. Many don't have a strong family network for support, and some have encountered homophobia in traditional senior residences, according to activists for gay seniors. In response to this need, a gay and lesbian development and management team is transforming the historic Lake Merritt Hotel on Madison Street in downtown Oakland into one of the country's first urban independent-living residences to actively welcome the LBGT community.
Note: Read full article on www.insidebayarea.com
(Seatle, USA) - Moving Seattle's gay pride parade and festival downtown from Capitol Hill last year was supposed to make it bigger and better. But debt stemming from the 2006 festival has raised questions about this year's event. The Seattle Center says organizers of the annual parade and festival still haven't paid the $96,000 owed to the Center for last year's three-day fest, and Center officials told organizers Seattle Out and Proud in February that they won't work on this year's festival until the bill is paid.
Note: Read full article on seattlepi.nwsource.com
(Australia) - Tasmanian politicians have roundly condemned a gay hate letter targeting two developers based in the town of Penguin.
The anonymous public notice appeared in letterboxes in the northwest town at the weekend, with developers Stephen Roche and Keith Westerby referring it to police. It suggested a planned apartment development by the pair would see an "influx" of "cashed up" Sydney gays.
Note: Read full article on www.news.com.au
(Sydney, Australia) - It has been announced that Rupert Everett will be the Chief of Parade at this year's festival ending Parade this Saturday. The role of the Chief of Parade is often given to someone who is a "high-profile member of the gay and lesbian community to promote the values of Mardi Gras." Read more...
I have finally developed a grudging respect for Focus on the Family. The ease in which they lie is so remarkably breathtaking, all one can do is applaud in wondrous awe. Not even Condi Rice or Dick Cheney can compete with this motley crew when it comes to fibbing with a straight face. What amazes me is that Focus on the Family raises approximately $200 million a year but produces virtually nothing. It's the empire built on bunk and a monstrous Machiavellian monstrosity that manipulates and vituperates but doesn't generate. Indeed, the organization's "scientific" apparatus consists of a few fundamentalist flunkies who couldn't tell a research trial from the Anna Nicole Smith trial.
Note: Read full article on www.waynebesen.com
(Rome, Italy) - A spokesperson for beleaguered Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi confirmed Monday that legislation creating civil partnerships has been dropped - one of several concessions Prodi made to shore up his crumbling left-of-center coalition government. Prodi stepped down last Wednesday after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat over foreign policy. Following two days of meetings with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and scrambling by Prodi to expand his coalition, he agreed to remain on until a confidence vote is held in Parliament.
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com
(New York, USA) Financial guru and best-selling author Suze Orman says she wishes she could marry her partner Kathy Travis, partly because it would save them both a lot of money. In a wide-ranging interview, the host of CNBC's "The Suze Orman Show" talked about her seven-year relationship with Travis and her personal finances.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
A year and a half ago, on a Tuesday night in October, an ambitious young lawyer named Aaron Charney was working late on the 28th floor of 125 Broad Street the pin-striped skyscraper near the southern tip of Manhattan that houses the world headquarters of the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. Eric Krautheimer, a partner at the firm, was there, too, along with an associate named Gera Grinberg. They were all hustling to meet a deadline on the same project - part of a deal that no one will name because, even now, it’s still pending. No matter, that project would turn out to be the least interesting thing about what happened that night.
Note: Read full article on nymag.com
(Bahamas) - It appears as if members of the gay and lesbian community have decided to teach The Bahamas a lesson as a result of the anti-gay protest they encountered three years ago when a cruise ship chartered for what was billed as a "Gay Family Values Cruise" docked in Nassau harbour. Openly-gay television personality Rosie O'Donnell has once again chartered a cruise ship, the Norwegian Dawn, for a gay cruise scheduled for this July. This time around, however, Nassau is not included in its scheduled ports of call, although it does plan to make a stop in The Bahamas at Great Stirrup Cay, a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines in the Berry Islands chain.
Note: Read full article on Nassau Guardian
(Australia) - This year if you want to see the Mardi Gras parade, you have a few options. You can wait at the barriers all day, you can scratch around for a milk crate or you can log onto Mardi Gras' website and watch it from the comfort of your swivel chair. The parade will be broadcast all its splendour and glamour over the internet via a live webcast (for a USD $7.50 fee) direct from Oxford St, making this world famous event accessible to an international audience for the very first time.
Note: Read full article on www.samesame.com.au
(USA) The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled on February 21 that public school students suffering from harassment by their peers based on actual or perceived sexual orientation have a right to sue the school district under the state's Law Against Discrimination, which bans sexual orientation discrimination in places of public accommodation. According to the opinion for the court by Chief Justice James R. Zazzali, the same standards that apply to workplace harassment.
Note: Read full article on Gay City News
(Minsk, Belarus) - Representatives of most gay and lesbian groups have agreed to work together where possible in joint projects. Unpublicised, the meeting was said to have been a “great success”. The agreement was reached at a meeting this month in Minsk at the suggestion of Amnesty International Belarus LGBT Network. Other groups attending the meeting were Belarusian Initiative of Young Gays, Lambda Belarus, Volunteers without Borders, HIV/Aids groups, and administrators of Belarusian LGBT websites gayby.net, britva.gay.ru. The Polish gay activist Lukasz Palucki also attended. Read more...
(Los Angeles, USA) - Thanks to a more than $1-million donation from a gay male couple who hope one day to marry in California, UCLA's law school is planning to establish what is described as the nation's first endowed academic chair in sexual orientation law. The cash gift from John McDonald and Rob Wright will help fund the research of a still-to-be-named professor at UCLA Law School's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. That 5-year-old think tank investigates such topics as anti-homosexual discrimination, the impact of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policies and the demographics of same-sex couples who have adopted children.
Note: Read full article on www.latimes.com
(Moscow, Russia) – Organisers of the first ever gay pride festival in Moscow Nikolai Baev and Nikolai Alekseev are to sue Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in Tverskoi district court of Russian capital. The move, announced this morning, is to “protect the dignity” of the organisers following the statement by Mr. Luzhkov last month that gay parades are nothing else but “satanic happenings”.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Prague, Chech Republic) - Czech Minister without Portfolio Dzamila Stehlikova (Green Party) said today she is convinced that it is right time to start an all-society debate on child adoptions by homosexual couples in the Czech Republic. She said in an on-line interview with Novinky.cz server that the debate should be started also because many children in the country grow up in institutions. "Every child has the right to parental love and care," Stehlikova said. Same-sex couples have been able to legally enter into registered partnership since last July.
Note: Read full article on www.ceskenoviny.cz
(Miami Beach, USA) - Truth Wins Out unveiled a new campaign today encouraging scientists to report right wing distortions of their research on the website www.RespectMyResearch.org. Truth Wins Out will also join the gay right's group SoulForce today in a media conference call featuring a panel of experts who will discuss how groups, such as Focus on the Family, manipulate social science to help justify discrimination. Read more...
(Detroit, USA) - Andrew Anthos died Friday of injuries sustained during an attack last week outside his downtown Detroit apartment building. Family members said he was a victim of an anti-gay hate crime. Anthos was on a city bus Feb. 13 when a man asked him if he was gay. The man followed Anthos off the bus at the stop in front of his building and beat him with a metal pipe. Anthos, whose family said he was gay, was taken to a hospital and later fell into a coma. Police have no witnesses and only a vague description of the attacker from Anthos.
Note: Read full article on www.lsj.com
(UK) - A deal that would allow Catholic adoption agencies in Scotland to refuse to place children with gay couples is being secretly negotiated between the Scottish Executive and Westminster. Education minister Hugh Henry is in talks with his UK counterparts to allow Catholic adoption agencies north of the Border an 'opt out' of new legislation which would make it illegal to discriminate against homosexual couples.
Note: Read full article on scotsman.com
(Nigeria) - A call had been made to Nigerians especially the Muslims to urge their elected representatives in the National House of Assembly to support the Bill banning gay marriages in Nigeria. Making the call recently, a group MPAC, in a press release made available to Sunday Tribune recalled the Federal Executive Council’s approval of a bill that prohibits same-sex marriages and relationships adding that the practice in whatever form must be discouraged.
Note: Read full article on www.tribune.com.ng
(Atlanta, USA) - A consortium of community groups will ask their clients to help predict what will improve the lives of gay men and lesbians 55 and over at an upcoming community forum. The organizers - which include numerous gay organizations - are capitalizing on a four-year grant administered by the Atlanta Regional Commission to consider the well being of Atlanta’s aging Baby Boomer generation of gay men and lesbians.
Note: Read full article on www.sovo.com
(Beijing, China) - Ten years after China decriminalized homosexuality and six years after officials removed it from a state list of mental disorders, gay men and lesbians say one of their biggest obstacles is parental pressure to get married. Coming out isn't easy anywhere in the world, they say, but in a culture that still emphasizes Confucian family ideals, such as obeying one's parents and bearing children, the pressure to conform is enormous. It is compounded by the fact that parents of younger gay Chinese came of age during the Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976. During those years of social upheaval, failure to conform could mean death.
Note: Read full article on www.washingtonpost.com
(Salt Lake City, USA) - When members of the Utah House arrived at the capitol on Thursday supporters of a measure placing tough restrictions on school clubs were still reveling in Wednesday's passage of the bill. LGBT activists believe the restrictions were aimed at curbing gay-straight alliances, although no specific clubs were named in the legislation. Within minutes of entering the chamber, however, lawmakers learned that because of a procedural error they would have to vote again. Still confident they had enough votes to again carry the bill, they went forward. But when the ayes and nays were counted the measure had been defeated.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Rome, Italy) - Italy's president began a new round of talks on Friday to see whether Romano Prodi can stay on as prime minister and guarantee a stable centre-left government to end the country's political crisis. In a sign that Prodi is seeking to rally moderate opposition politicians behind him, the programme made no mention of a bill granting rights to unwed and gay couples. The bill, approved by Prodi's cabinet this month, is opposed by the centre-right.
Note: Read full article on www.swissinfo.org
(Atlanta, USA) - Crystal methamphetamine continues to cast an ominous shadow over parts of Atlanta’s gay social scene and the lives of many gay men across the country. More than 80 people packed Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on Feb. 15 to hear tales about the damage crystal meth - or “Tina” - can wreak on young lives, and to brainstorm strategies to combat the popular club drug. But any efforts to address crystal meth use among gay men will be frustrated and off-target if they don’t look beyond the latest drug du jour and address the pervasive personal struggles that spur some gay men to cope via different forms of instant gratification, according to some who attended the forum.
Note: Read full article on www.sovo.com
(Jamaica) - A significant change of heart from the editorial pages of the Jamaica Gleaner, once known for publishing ridiculously homophobic stories. The editorial asks for legislators currently reviewing sodomy and rape statutes to do the right thing and end same-sex restrictions. "If adult and consenting males choose to engage in homosexual sex, that ought to be their business - no matter what the rest of us believe about their lifestyle or behaviour."
Note: Read the editorial of Jamaica Gleaner "The state and the rule of law"
(Boulder, USA) - A 21-year-old student at Naropa University was badly beaten early Wednesday near downtown Boulder after telling two men she had just met that she was gay. The Boulder woman, whose name wasn't released, was assaulted around 3 a.m. near 13th Street and Canyon Boulevard, police said. One of the men attacked the woman after she rejected sexual advances from him and his friend, police said.
Note: Read full article on www.rockymountainnews.com
One of the most sweeping anti-gay bills ever introduced in any parliament in the world is in danger of rapid passage in Nigeria in the coming weeks. Although billed as a ban on same-sex marriage, the proposed law includes provisions that would make any expression of homosexuality - not only sexual conduct but any homosexual inclination or reference - in public or in private, a crime.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Dublin, Ireland) - A lack of services for transsexuals has led to botched sex-change operations and the use of backstreet clinics, according to a transgender expert. Dr James Kelly, a Dublin-based psychologist who runs a transgender clinic, said the overwhelming desire to live their lives as members of the opposite sex meant some people took drastic action.
Note: Read full article on www.irishexaminer.com
(South Africa) - The 1st March 2007 sees the start of the Johannesburg leg of the Out In Africa Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, exclusive to Nu Metro. The Deputy Chief Justice, Justice Dikgang Moseneke, will officially open the Festival at the cinemas in Hyde Park.
Note: Read full article on www.screenafrica.com
(Kingston, Jamaica) - A St. Valentine’s Day homophobic lynch mob of more than 200 in the Kingston, Jamaica suburb of St. Andrew’s Parish chased and assaulted three men presumed to be gay and threatened to kill them -- and the leader of the gay rights organization J-FLAG (Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays) was repeatedly and viciously assaulted by police when he went to the aid of the three alleged homosexuals targeted by the angry mob.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Detroit, USA) - A 72-year-old man was left paralyzed after a violent attack and his family is demanding answers Tuesday. The victim's family said it was a hate crime and that he was beaten repeatedly after being asked if he was homosexual. The victim, Andrew Anthos, was riding a city bus back to his residence at Detroit's Windsor Tower apartments on Feb. 13 when another male passenger asked him if he was gay, Anthos's niece, Athena Fedenis said. Anthos was followed by the man from the bus and beaten with a pipe in front of his apartment, Fedenis said.
Note: Read full article on www.clickondetroit.com
(USA) - A student editorial in the Woodlan Junior-Senior High School newspaper calling for more tolerance for gays and lesbians sparked the principal to seek approval of each edition before it goes to print and issue a written warning against the journalism teacher.
Note: Read full article on www.fortwayne.com
(USA) - Much like employees in a workplace, gay students have the right to attend school without being subjected to repeated taunts from other children, the state Supreme Court said today in a ruling that puts the onus for stopping the harassment on school districts. The court ruled unanimously that New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination is intended to protect children from "student-on-student harassment based on an individual's perceived sexual orientation" and allows those children to sue the school district if it fails to stop repeated taunts.
Note: Read full article on blog.nj.com
(USA) - A recent USA Today/Gallup poll updated a question first asked in 1937 about the public's willingness to vote for presidential candidates from a variety of different genders, religions, and other backgrounds. 43% of Americans say they wouldn't vote for a homosexual candidate, 53% say they would not vote for a presidential candidate who was an atheist.
Note: The report is available on The Gallup Poll website
(Dublin, Ireland) - During a debate at Dublin Castle yesterday, the Polish President Lech Kaczynski said that homosexual culture was a threat to the survival of the human race and should not be promoted as an alternative lifestyle. The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) have called on the head of state to withdraw his remarks.
Note: Read full article on www.gcn.ie
(COLORADO SPRINGS, USA) - Two women who are part of a Christian gay and lesbian group were arrested Monday after refusing to leave the lobby at the Focus on the Family's complex until they could speak to founder James Dobson. Dotti Berry and Robynne Stapp, a lesbian couple from Blaine, Wash., were arrested shortly after 1 p.m. on suspicion of trespassing, according to their group, Soulforce.
Note: Read full article on cbs4denver.com
(Nigeria) - A Nigerian Humanist was repeatedly jeered in Abuja last week during his statement opposing the proposed new anti-gay legislation in Nigeria, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association revealed last night. Mr Igwe said that law should not be made to oppress people. It should be made to serve the interests of all the people, he said. Reacting to the outrageous statement made by an Islamic law professor who said that sometimes the minority should be destroyed in order to protect the majority, Mr Igwe said that that was exactly what the bill was meant to achieve and that it was unhealthy for the country and its democracy.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Philadelphia, USA) - Gay rights pioneer Barbara Gittings has died at the age of 75 from a lengthy and brave battle with breast cancer. Gittings death was announced Sunday by fellow activist and Philadelphia Gay News publisher and friend Mark Segal announced today. Gittings first came to the public spotlight in 1965 when she and a handful of gay men and lesbians held demonstrations outside the White House and Independence Hall seeking equal rights for homosexuals.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(UK) - Gary Frisch, who fell to his death last week, founded a dating website that transformed gay men's lives. Esther Addley reports on how Gaydar became a global phenomenon.
Note: Read full story on www.guardian.co.uk
(Cape Town, South Africa) - The streets of Cape Town were a sea of purple and pink as the Cape Town Pride parade made its way from Green Point to the city centre and back yesterday. The procession featured floats ranging from simply decorated flatbed trucks full of people wearing very little but a lot of body paint, to a "chapel" float carrying recently married gay couples - complete with white lace decorations and a "Just Married" sign. The parade and street party were part of the 11-day Cape Town Pride Festival "Carnival of Love" which ends today with the Pride Seminar Series "Queer Talk" and a book fair at the Victoria Junction Hotel. This is the 7th annual Cape Town Pride Festival.
Note: Read full article on www.capeargus.co.za
(San Francisco, USA) - An evangelical Christian minister from Missouri, who came to a San Francisco church to teach gays and lesbians how to become straight, was greeted Saturday by a protest led by a gay theology student who said the preacher's conversion therapy was so psychologically damaging that he twice attempted suicide when he tried it.
Note: Read full article on www.sfgate.com
Ten years after having her bar and her world blown apart by a homegrown anti-gay terrorist, Beverly McMahon has reached a point in her life where she can sigh, smile and say, “It’s all good. It’s all gonna be OK.” Ten years ago next week, on Feb. 21, 1997, a Friday night of partying inside The Otherside Lounge came to an abrupt and horrifying end at about 9:50 p.m., when a nail-loaded pipe bomb detonated at the lesbian bar, reportedly powerful enough to cause dancers at a nearby strip club to lose their balance onstage.
Note: Read full article on www.sovo.com
(Helena, USA) - Legislation that would have made it a crime in Montana to discriminate against gays, lesbians and the transgendered in Montana died in committee Wednesday following objections from the Catholic Church and other groups. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Christine Kaufmann, an openly gay Helena Democrat. It would have added ''sexual orientation'' and ''gender identity or expression'' to existing human rights laws in the state. The laws currently cover race, religion and gender.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Kingston, Jamaika) - Three men branded as homosexuals were yesterday rescued by the police from an angry mob outside a pharmacy in Tropical Plaza, where they had been holed up for almost an hour. But even after the police managed to take the young men from the Monarch Pharmacy, one of the three was hit with a stone, forcing officers to fire tear gas on the crowd which included men, women, teenagers and small children. The approximately 2,000 people gathered outside the Kingston pharmacy hurled insults at the three men, with some calling for them to be killed.
Note: Read full article on www.jamaicaobserver.com
(Moscow, Russia) - A top Moscow official repeated Wednesday that the city will not allow a gay rights parade, echoing the mayor's vocal criticism and saying that homosexuality is bad for your health, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. "There is the hard line of the city authorities and the position of our main faith, the Russian Orthodox Church … of the inadmissibility of such an event in Moscow," RIA-Novosti quoted the head of the city's international relations department, Georgy Muradov, as saying.
Note: Read full article on abcnews.go.com
(Sweden) - In December of last year two lesbian couples were denied the right to adopt their children by Norrköping District Court in eastern Sweden. But now the Court of Appeal has overturned the original verdict. Two of the women, one from each couple, had initially travelled to Denmark for insemination. The district court however pointed out that the sperm donors were anonymous, which is not acceptable according to Swedish law.
Note: Read full article on www.thelocal.se
(Manchester, UK) - A councillor whose partner was attacked in a late-night gay hate attack has vowed it will not prevent them from going out in Manchester. Liberal Democrat Marc Ramsbottom was walking along a canal towpath with his partner Tim Hartley when they were accosted by a man who shouted homophobic abuse. The man then attacked Mr Hartley, a 43-year-old town planner, and threw a bottle in his face.
Note: Read full article on www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
(Nigeria) - Nigeria's House of Representatives has held a public hearing on a new bill seeking to outlaw gay relations. The bill, which could become law before April's elections, proposes a five-year sentence for anyone convicted of being openly gay or practising gay sex. Parliamentary insiders say the bill is likely to be passed by both chambers of the Nigerian National Assembly by the end of March.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Detroit, USA) - Dozens of students have staged a rally and march in support of a Spring Arbor University professor who says she was fired after disclosing she is a transitioning transsexual. "She was a good teacher, she was well-respected, she should be able to work here," protestor Joel Skene told WLNS-television. The Christian school informed Prof. Julie Nemecek that it would not renew her contract, after removing her from the classroom when she informed university president President Gayle Beebe she had been diagnosed with gender identity disorder.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Manila, Philippines) - The founder and chairman of the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender (GLBT) party list Ang Ladlad [The Coming Out] accused the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of deliberately rejecting anti-administration party lists seeking election in May. On Monday, with the deadline for the filing of a “manifestation of intent” for party list groups winding down, Ang Ladlad remained in the dark about its pending accreditation with the Comelec. The deadline passed with the accreditation still pending, effectively preventing the first GLBT party list group in the country from seeking election.
Note: Read full article on Ang Ladlad's blog
(Chisinau, Moldova) - The Supreme Court of the Republic of Moldova ruled today that the refusal of the Chisinau city hall to authorise the gay and lesbian solidarity march in the city last year was unlawful. The court heard arguments last December in the case brought by GenderDoc-M, the Moldovan gay human rights and advocacy group.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Dar Es Salam, Tansania) – A group of gay Christians in Nigeria has written an open letter to the Archbishops of the world-wide Anglican Communion on the eve of the debate in the Nigerian Parliament of a draconian Bill to ban same-sex relationships. Davis Mac-Iyalla, the director of Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN) is in Dar es Salam, Tanzania, to lobby the Archbishops who are meeting this week in the city this week.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Egypt) - Family members of an alleged spy jailed in Cairo are pressing Canada to "do something" for the 31-year-old Egyptian Canadian, who feared for his safety in Egypt years before his arrest. He was arrested Jan. 1, after he flew to Cairo of his own volition. It is not clear why he travelled to Egypt. Ottawa has not commented on the case. Newspapers in Egypt have speculated that Mr. el-Attar fled Egypt for Turkey six years ago because he is gay and fears discrimination.
Note: Read full article on www.theglobeandmail.com
(UK) - One of Britain's leading gay businessmen, the co-founder of the hugely successful dating web site, Gaydar, has been found dead, after apparently falling eight floors from his penthouse. Scotland Yard said the death of Gary Frisch, 38, on Saturday was "unexplained" and were investigating to see whether it was an accident or suicide. There is no immediate suggestion of suspicious circumstances, although a post-mortem examination is due to take place today. Mr Frisch was found by neighbours outside his apartment block, near the Thames in Wandsworth, south London, at lunchtime. He was confirmed as dead on arrival at hospital.
Note: Read full article on independent.co.uk
(LONDON, UK) - The co-founder and chairman of QSoft Consulting, owners of the ‘Gaydar’ portfolio of brands has died suddenly. Gary Frisch died unexpectedly following an apparent accident or suicide at his London home on Saturday, February 10, the company said in a statement issued today. He was 38-years-old. No foul play is suspected.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Chile) - Feminist lesbians from 18 different countries in Latin America took to the streets of Santiago this weekend to protest against the institutionalized homophobia that still exists in many parts of the continent. About 200 lesbian activists had been participating in the Seventh Latin American and Caribbean Lesbian feminist Conference, the first to take place in Chile. The conference culminated with a march on Friday evening, with the initial purpose of protesting against gender discrimination and homophobia. However, after it emerged that Santiago security firm GAMA had thrown a lesbian couple out of a park on the Santa Lucía hill for kissing in public, the march took a political turn, with calls to bring charges against the firm.
Note: Read full article on www.tcgnews.com
(Kiev, Ukraina) - The chair of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) has called homosexual people “evil” and is calling for a fight against them. Communist Deputy (MP) Leonid Grach, who heads the human rights committee of the Supreme Council (parliament), said in an interview last November that “homosexuality is an anomaly, which is caused by the amorality and the depravity of man.” He also expressed confidence that the present Parliament will not vote for a law legalising same-sex unions and permitting them to adopt children – and added that in the next Parliament the question will not be raised at all.
Note: Read full articles on UK Gay News
(Toronto, Canada) - Toronto police were in the heart of the city’s gay village Saturday afternoon hoping to further expand the force’s diversity portfolio through one of many recruiting sessions aimed at members of the gay community. The police service has made efforts to diversify its force by recruiting officers who reflect a variety of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds found across the city.
Note: Read full article on www.edmontonsun.com
(Cape Town, South Africa) - Cape Town has long been the undisputed queen of queer with the historical De Waterkant area its heart - but now concerns have been raised that the area is fast being taken over by upmarket business developments and heterosexuals. Straight businesses are springing up, straight people come to party in the pink village - and they are even snapping up property and moving in, with children in tow, much to the horror of many gay Capetonians.
Note: Read full article on www.int.iol.co.za
(Auckland, New Zealand) - New Zealand's first openly gay MP, Cabinet Minister Chris Carter, yesterday tied the knot with his long term partner Peter Kaiser in a civil union ceremony in Auckland. The wedding was attended by 180 guests, including Prime Minister Helen Clark, the speaker of the house Margaret Wilson and several Cabinet Ministers. Carter and Kaiser have been together for 33 years and first met while working at Cornwall Hospital, when Carter was a university student and Kaiser was at high school.
Note: Read full article on www.stuff.co.nz
(USA) - A self-proclaimed conservative group targeting college liberalism is assailing a University of Colorado course that examines gay and lesbian literature. The Young America's Foundation, based outside Washington, DC, gives the CU course "Introduction to Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay Literature," a "dishonorable mention" in a study titled "The Dirty Dozen: America's Most Bizarre and Politically Correct College Courses." Instructor Jesse Stommel said he's proud of his course's inclusion on the list and says he isn't trying to influence any students to think in any one particular way. Students say there is a wide diversity of philosophies and ideologies in the class of about 35 students.
Note: Read full article on cbs4denver.com
(USA) - In 20-degree weather this past Saturday, more than 300 people gathered at the corner of John and Wall Streets in Kingston as a rainbow ribbon was cut. Unlike other LGBT community centers, where local opposition, planning, and red tape have held up the project for years, the Hudson Valley Center was completed in less than 18 months.
Note: Read full article on www.gaycitynews.com
(San Francisco, USA) - One hundred gay men came together this week to dialogue about the health and social needs of themselves and their peers. They brainstormed on solutions and sought ways to improve the mental and physical needs of gay men. The goal is to help gay men be "healthy homos."
Note: Read full article on Bay Area Reporter
(Fort-De-France, Martinique) - A French man accused of advocating the killing of gay people on a Web log has been charged with incitement of murder in the Caribbean island of Martinique, a prosecutor said. The suspect — identified only as a 38-year-old man from Fort-de-France — surrendered to authorities Friday in Martinique and was held in jail for two days before being released, prosecutor Claude Bellanger said Monday. Bellanger said the man told investigators that he created the blog — which called for "death to (homosexuals) ... death without exception" — while on vacation in the U.S. city of Atlanta. The Web page also called for the killing of certain media personalities and government officials whom it alleged to be gay.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Moscow, Russia) - The deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for Public Associations and Religious Organizations Alexander Chuyev regards homosexuality propaganda dangerous and supports the Moscow Government’s decision to ban the gay parade in Russia’s capital. ‘I think the Moscow Government was totally right to ban the event (the gay parade - IF). I believe there should be a clear distinction between private rights and public rights. The individual’s rights end at the point where rights of the others begin,’ the MP said during the TV show ‘Evening with Vladimir Solovyov’ broadcasted by the NTV.
Note: Read full article on Interfax
(New York, USA) - A lot has changed in the 30 years since Nunzio Pravata began volunteering at SAGE. The acronym stands for Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Elders. As a volunteer, Mr. Pravata, 87, has worked in the office writing thank-you notes to donors, accompanying people to doctor’s appointments, visiting people in their homes and emceeing an annual fund-raiser.
Note: Read full article on www.nytimes.com
(Kathmandu, Nepal) - A transgendered person has been legally recognised in Nepal for the first time in the country’s history. Chanda Rani – now Chanda Musalman – today received a citizenship ID from Khas Karkandho with the “M/F” under “gender” erased and “Both” substituted.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Beijing, China) - For economic, social and cultural reasons, the pressure on gays in China to wed and raise families is high. Attitudes toward homosexuality in China have relaxed in the big cities, where gay bars flourish and Web sites nurture a sense of community. Mentioning homosexuality no longer is taboo on TV newscasts and public service announcements, and government media have stopped lumping gays as deviants along with prostitutes, gamblers and drug addicts. Gay groups have sprung up on university campuses.
Note: Read full article on www.mercurynews.com
(Moscow, Russia) - Russia's president, asked Thursday about the Moscow mayor's controversial branding of gay parades as 'Satanic', avoided a direct answer, but signaled his support for Yury Luzhkov. Vladimir Putin told a Kremlin news conference he respects human freedoms, but joked that issue of sexual minorities is linked to the demographic problem in the country.
Note: Read full article on RIA Novowsti
(Moscow, Russia) - Russian President Vladimir Putin today made his first public statement on gay rights. It is said to be the first-ever such statement in Russian history. Speaking at a Kremlin press conference, President Putin was asked by Agence France Press if he agreed with the view of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov that gay parades were ‘Satanic’. Read more...
(UK) - Hoteliers chasing the pink tourist pound have joined criticism of a law outlawing discrimination against homosexuals. The hotels, which cater for the thriving “exclusively gay” tourism market, say that they should be exempt from the Sexual Orientation Regulations as they will be forced to accept heterosexual guests. The concerns have been dismissed by the gay rights group Stonewall, which says that equality is more important than the right to be exclusive.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
(Indianapolis, USA) - A group of gays and lesbians was ejected from an Indiana Senate committee room Wednesday when they began singing "We Shall Overcome" after the committee voted to advance a proposed amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the state. The group continued to sing the hallway outside the committee room. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 along party lines to send the resolution on the full Senate. All seven Republicans voted for the measure and all four Democrats voted against it.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(London, UK) – Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, Stephen Williams, has called on the government to back a worldwide decriminalisation of homosexuality. Mr. Williams, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson for further and higher education, is himself openly gay. In a Parliamentary motion, Early Day Motion 750, Mr Williams expresses support for a recent petition to the United Nations by the ‘International Day Against Homophobia’ (IDAHO) campaign, which calls for the universal abolition of so called crimes of homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Rome, Italy) - The leftist government of Premier Romano Prodi is reportedly so divided on legislation to legalize civil partnerships of same-sex couples that it is in danger of imploding. A loose coalition of nine small parties, the government has been grappling with civil partnerships for moths. Communists on the the far left of the coalition have been pressing for full marriage. The tiny UDEUR Party is opposed to any legislation.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Londeon, UK) - Downing Street has said there will be no exemption from anti-discrimination laws for Catholic adoption agencies. But Tony Blair said they would get 21 months to prepare for change, calling this a "sensible compromise". The proposed measures are likely to face a vote in Parliament next month before coming into effect on 6 April.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(Sydney, Australia) - The inclusive spirit of the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras has been betrayed by organisers who are excluding groups because of a commercial deal, according to one disgruntled businesswoman. A sponsorship deal involving international dating website Gaydar has locked rival online groups out of the Mardi Gras parade on March 3 and the festival's Fair Day on February 18.
Note: Read full article on www.smh.com.au
(USA) - The Collingswood school board agreed to pay $270,000 to a former high school Spanish teacher who said he was forced out of his job because he was gay. Daniel Curcio filed a federal lawsuit in 2004, saying the school board violated New Jersey antidiscrimination law and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Curcio agreed to the settlement on Jan. 22, a week before the case was scheduled for trial.
Note: Read full article on www.philly.com
(Moscow, Russia) - Nikolay Alexeyev, organizer of the failed gay parade last May, intends to sue Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov for ‘having insulted him and the peaceful and democratic aims the gay parade set itself’. Speaking at the opening of the 15th Christmas Educational Readings on Monday in Moscow, Luzhkov reminded the audience that last year the Moscow authorities brought pressure to bear on supporters of the gay parade ‘which cannot be called anything but satanic action’, and promised to bar another gay parade in the capital.
Note: Read full article on Interfax
(Moscow, Russia) – Organisers of last year’s first-ever Moscow Gay Pride have today formally taken their case of the ban by the authorities in the Russian capital of both a parade and a “picket” to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. This follows the unsuccessful appeals against the bans through the Russian court system, which are now exhausted, as far as requirements of European Court’s jurisprudence are concerned.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Saltillo, Mexico) - San Francisco this isn't. Here on the outskirts of the forbidding Chihuahua desert, where ranches sprawl for miles and cowboy culture rules, life is marked by a conservative streak that dates back to the Spanish friars of the 1500s. So, many residents in the border state of Coahuila were surprised this month when the state legislature approved civil unions for gay couples, instantly placing Texas' neighbor on the vanguard of gay rights in the Americas. Coahuila joins Mexico City, Buenos Aires and a southern state in Brazil as Latin American locales approving gay unions.
Note: Read full article on www.statesman.com
(OTTAWA, CANADA) - It does not violate the Charter of Rights to restrict gay men from donating to sperm banks, says the Ontario Court of Appeal. The ruling rejected the claim of a Toronto lesbian, known as Susan Doe, who argued that it violated her constitutional rights to exclude the semen of gay men, including that of a gay friend who was willing to help her become pregnant. The ban, contained in the federal Processing of Semen for Assisted Contraception Regulations, is "rational and health based," said a three-judge panel.
Note: Read full article on www.canada.com
(Washington, USA) - Bills that would require school boards to establish anti-bullying programs have passed key committees in Florida and Iowa. In Florida the Senate Education Prekindergarten-12 Committee voted 6-1 to approve the bill after hearing emotional testimony from a woman whose son committed suicide after repeated taunting from other students and a father of a boy who nearly died in a beating.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(London, UK) - Tony Blair is under new pressure on gay adoptions as cabinet ministers and Labour MPs called for the Roman Catholic Church to be given only months to come to terms with a new anti-discrimination law. Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, wants a transitional period of six months to allow the church to decide how to respond and possibly transfer the 80 staff employed in its 10 adoption agencies to other agencies.
Note: Read full article on Independent Online
(Salt Lake City, USA) - Utah's only openly gay senator is sponsoring a bill to eliminate the state's anti-sodomy law. The bill, released for the first time on Wednesday, is largely symbolic because the U.S. Supreme Court already struck down anti-sodomy laws more than three years ago. Previous attempts to remove Utah's defunct sodomy law have failed, even after the Supreme Court's 6 to 3 ruling in 2003.
Note: Read full article on www.sltrib.com
(Jackson, USA) - Two Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents, who were forced to resign after pleading guilty to beating two gay men in 2004 have been sentenced to house arrest. Buitt and Mathis [the victims] were stopped by the then officers Aug. 29, 2004 in a parking lot near a gay bar. They were pulled from their truck and called derogatory names and then beaten. Buitt received a broken nose and a spiral fracture to his arm. Mathis got a broken hand in the assault.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(UK) - Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has upped the stakes in the gay adoption row by writing personally to every Cabinet member, warning that the church could close its seven adoption agencies. In the letter, the Cardinal has made it clear that unless the agencies are exempted from the new laws, which take effect in April and would require them to place children with homosexual couples, they will have to end a service which currently places 200 children a year - 4 per cent of the total.
Note: Read full article on comment.independent.co.uk
(Mombasa, Kenia) - Muslim clerics in Mombasa have condemned homosexuality and asked the Government not to legalise gay marriages. Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) Secretary General, Sheikh Mohamed Dor, said homosexuality is illegal. Addressing a press conference in Mombasa on Tuesday, Dor, CIPK organising secretary general, Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa and Chairman, Sheikh Mohamed Idriss were opposed to a group attending the World Social Forum in Nairobi, who demanded for gay marriage rights. The clerics wondered why police did not arrest the group while such a vice is illegal.
Note: Read full article on www.eastandard.net
(WASHINGTON, USA) - Some suburban Washington, DC high schools are being forced to hand out anti-gay literature from a group that aims to "cure homosexuals," PageOneQ has learned. The flyers, produced by Parents and Friend of Ex-Gays (P-FOX), will be the sole information distributed to students on February 1st. Wayne Besen (r.), president of Truth Wins Out an organization that dispels myths of the so-called 'ex-gay' movement, immediately condemned the move.
Note: Read full article on pageoneq.com
(Cape Town, South Africa) - The first same-sex couple to legally marry in South Africa have become the targets of death threats and hate mail. Vernon Gibbs and Tony Halls exchanged vows before a marriage officer in George, in the Southern Cape, shortly after the marriage law went into effect last month. But since then they have received what the couple describes as "countless" threatening phone calls and mail. "One caller told us 'you might have been the first to get married, but you'll be the first to die," said Vernon Gibbs-Halls.
Note: Read full article on 365Gay.com
(New Zealand) - Taupo police are still in touch with two gay brothers who say they were attacked in Taupo on the 27th of December. Matt and Simon Adlam claim they were beaten up by a mob near Finn MacCuhals pub on Taupo’s Tuwharetoa St, simply for being openly gay. The brothers say the police had been ‘inactive and deceitful’ in dealing with the incident, and that the bar’s bouncers stood by while the attack took place.
Note: Read full article on www.gaynz.com
(Vancouver, Canada) - Jim Deva pauses for just a moment before answering how Little Sisters bookstore will fare now that he is abandoning his 20-year legal fight against Canada's border police. "It will depend on how many books they allow us to have," says the 56-year-old, with a slight clench of the jaw.For a man who has spent two decades and a half a million dollars fighting customs officialdom, that is an extraordinarily tough sentence to utter -- and a bitter concession.
Note: Read full article on www.theglobeandmail.com
(Nigeria) - The argument over sexuality within the 77-million strong Anglican Communion has been thrown into sharp perspective this month (January 2007), when it was revealed that the leader of a group of lesbian and gay Christians in Nigeria has received the latest in a series of death threats. Davis Mac-Iyalla, director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, was delivered a hand-written letter to his home on 9 January 2007. The note concludes with the threat to bathe Davis Mac-Iyalla with acid unless he repents and describes itself as “a final warning”. Mr Mac-Iyalla has already received four email threats, apparently from the same source, says Changing Attitude UK.
Note: Read full article on www.speroforum.com
(Iran) - Transsexuals have a tough life in Iran. Although they are acknowledged in religious terms, there is very little tolerance shown towards them by the society, not even by their own families. Young Iranian woman filmmaker Sharareh Attari made the highly controversial issue the main theme of her new documentary, 'It Sometimes Happens', which deals with the life of a young man, Amir, who undergoes the process of turning into a woman, Rima.
Note: Read full article on www.indiaenews.com
(London, UK) - The Roman Catholic Church and other religious bodies cannot be exempted from new laws banning discrimination against gay people, Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, said yesterday. He resisted attempts by Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, to water down the rules to enable Catholic adoption agencies to turn away same-sex couples.The Equality Act 2006, which comes into force in April, bans discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the basis of sexual orientation. Miss Kelly, a Catholic and a member of the Opus Dei sect, is under pressure from the Catholic Church to include an exemption for church-run adoption agencies.
Note: Read full article on www.telegraph.co.uk
(Philadelphia, USA) - A federal judge has ruled that the city of Philadelphia did not violate the rights of an anti-gay group when it arrested them during a protest at the city's gay pride celebration in 2004. The 11 demonstrators from Repent America had sued the city and Philly Pride Presents, the organizer of OutFest, alleging their civil rights had been violated.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(UK) - A fresh constitutional row erupted last night after it emerged that an English Cabinet minister was preparing to force Scotland to abandon its groundbreaking law allowing gay couples to adopt children. Communities and Local Government minister Ruth Kelly is on collision course with Labour colleagues north and south of the Border over her attempts to slap a ban on gay people adopting children from church-based adoption agencies.
Note: Read full article on news.scotsman.com
As the European Parliament-which in the past has played a key role in advancing gay rights on the continent-this week opened its new session in its headquarters at Strasbourg, France, its political complexion has undergone a significant change with the arrival of 53 new, mostly conservative deputies from Bulgaria and Romania, dimming prospects for further progress. "LGBT issues have become infinitely more complicated as the center of gravity of the European Parliament has shifted further to the right than ever before," Professor Louis-Georges Tin, president of the International Committee for the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO)-which was endorsed last year by the Europarliament-told Gay City News by telephone from Paris.
Note: Read full article on www.gaycitynews.com
(Ottawa, Canada) - Little Sisters, a Vancouver bookstore for gays and lesbians, will be at the centre of a Supreme Court ruling Friday on whether the government should pay the legal tab for the shop's epic fight against Canada Customs for blocking publications at the border. Little Sisters has been in and out of court for the last two decades challenging book censorship by customs officials, who say much of the material bound for the well-known shop is obscene and therefore banned from entry into Canada. The bookshop won a partial battle in the Supreme Court in 2000, when the bench chastised the ''oppressive and dismissive'' actions of customs officers, but left their censorship powers intact.
Note: Read full article on www.canada.com
(Chicago, USA) – Truth Wins Out filed a complaint today with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan against the Naperville, Illinois-based non-profit organization Americans For Truth and its president Peter LaBarbera for selling a misleading video on its web-site titled, “It’s Not Gay.” In a letter to Madigan, Truth Wins Out urged her to expeditiously pull this fraudulent video from the marketplace, require a written apology from LaBarbera and that refunds be offered to dissatisfied consumers. Read more...
(USA) - The term for Two-Spirit people is different in each tribal language, but the practices and traditional social position of Two-Spirits is fairly consistent, said Brian Joseph Gilley, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont and the author of Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country. In tribal tradition, when children exhibited interest in activities not associated with their gender - for boys, typically cooking or sewing; for girls, hunting or combat - they were singled out as inhabited by dual spirits, Gilley said. In some tribes they were considered spiritually gifted, and might have been sought sexually for their powers.
Note: Read full article on www.journalnow.com
(Baghdad, Iraq) - Iraq's government on Thursday criticized a report on human rights issued by the United Nations. The report estimates the loss of civilian lives in 2006 at 34,452, and discusses subjects that are ignored by the Iraqi government, in particular human rights of gay people. The U.N. report is also very critical about the Iraqi government's performance on human rights violations on other vulnerable groups. Read more...
(Taipei, Taiwan) - Taywanese gays have intensified efforts in their struggle for equal rights. On January 12, members of Taiwan's LGBT community and women's rights groups rallied at the entrance of the Legislative Yuan's Chun-hsian Building against job discrimination based on sexual orientation. Read more...
(Sheffield, UK) - Kevin Faulkner (25) is nursing a black eye, chipped tooth and bruising to his head after being beaten up in a homophobic attack in Sheffield city centre. Kevin says his chin and tongue were also split open by a gang of youths who punched and kicked him to the ground on Wellington Street.
Note: Read full article on www.sheffieldtoday.net
(New York, USA) - A gay lawyer at one of America’s most prestigious law firms has created a stir within New York’s legal community after suing his firm for discrimination. Aaron Charney, 28, a corporate associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan yesterday accusing the firm of systematically discriminating against him because of his sexual orientation. The lawsuit, which demands unspecified damages, claims Mr Charney was subject to "lewd and illegal conduct" at work.
Note: Read full article on Times Online
RIGA, January 18, 2006 – Latvian partnership law, Riga Gay Pride and strengthening of the LGBT community are the three main – and challenging – priorities that were set at the first General Assembly of Mozaika, the Latvian alliance of LGBT people and their friends, which was held last week. The meeting also set-up five working groups: legal, cultural, IT, sport & youth issues, and organising Riga Pride/Friendship Days 2007 which will be one of the main events by and for LGBT community in Latvia. Read more...
(LONDON, UK) - Sir Ian McKellen is to be a guest speaker at the launch of LGBT History Month in London next month, it was announced last night. “Sir Ian is already a major figure in LGBT history and we’re honoured that he can join us at the launch of History Month,” said Paul Patrick, co-chair of Schools Out. LGBT History Month, which runs through February, was launched three years ago by Schools Out. And this year’s launch will form part of the group’s annual conference.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(WARSAW, Poland) - Gays in Poland revealed last night a plan to erect a monument in the centre of Warsaw that will be a permanent reminder of the “Pink Triangle” gays who were slaughtered in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. And the plan has already won the support of some city councillors in the Polish capital. Read more...
(Atlanta, USA) - Observances of Martin Luther King Day across the country will include for the first time memorials for King's widow, Coretta Scott King, who died last January 31. "Her commitment and her accomplishments were equal to his," said William Jelani Cobb a history professor at Spelman College. "To view her as an equal in helping to establish racial democracy in America would be fitting." Until she was disabled by a stroke last August King frequently spoke out, often to the anger of some Black pastors, in favor of LGBT civil rights. King called her critics "misinformed" and said that Martin Luther King's message to the world was one of equality and inclusion.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Turkey) - The obscenity trial of Umut Guner, editor of Turkey's only gay magazine, Kaos GL, was postponed on December 28, 2006. The next trial will take place on February 28, 2007. Read more...
(Northern Ireland) - The number of homophobic attacks reported to the PSNI has steadily increased over the past three years, according to new figures. However, the police and other criminal justice agencies have been praised for their efforts to tackle hate crime in Northern Ireland.
Note: Read full article on www.gcn.ie
(Richmond Hill, Canada) - For 17-year-old Richmond Hill High School student Sean Kaw, there's a simple solution to his problem. His school should allow a Gay Straight Alliance to be a club just like the debating team. "A lot of other groups at school celebrate their identity, why can't we?," the Grade 12 student asked while sitting with several students who are part of the school's unofficial Gay Straight Alliance. The group hasn't been able to act as a club because the school is not allowing it, according to Mr. Kaw.
Note: Read full article on www.yorkregion.com
(SAN FRANCISCO, USA) - Meet the new players in the great American debate about values: Ryan, a 25-year-old newlywed, who is helping other men find husbands; Doug, 50, who is helping gay men in San Francisco create their ideal community; and Chris, 36, whose pursuit of happiness has switched from chasing hotties to seeking down-home enlightenment. They and others across the country are engaging gay men in conversations about their goals and values and challenging the sense of who gay men are and what makes their community.
Note: Read full article on www.knoxnews.com
(UK) - The religious right was trounced last night. An attempt to neuter new laws protecting gay people against discrimination was defeated, 199 votes to 68. It was mostly a sad, embittered posse of elderly, die-hard, anti-Cameron Tories and Ulster Unionists who voted to allow religious organisations the right to discriminate against gays and lesbians. They wanted to permit religious doctors, schools, hoteliers and charities to turn away gay people - all in the name of "freedom of religion".
Note: Read full article on commentisfree.guardian.co.uk
(Prague, Czech Republic) - Six months after the country adopted historic legislation legalizing registered partnerships for same-sex couples, the Czech Republic is scrambling to adapt to a new era in the gay rights movement. Some members of the gay rights movement say there is nothing more to accomplish. Others say there is. Some are hanging up their hats. Others urge the movement to fight on. "Easily visible goals have been achieved, but the reality is that the [partnership] law is not ideal," said Martin Strachoň, a rights activist and spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian League (GLL).
Note: Read full article on www.praguepost.com
Portugal is among the most conservative and intolerant countries in the European Union when it comes to issues such as gay marriages and adoption by gay couples. According to the latest research by Eurobarometer in 25 European Union countries, the vast majority of Portuguese are against adoption by gay couples. Read more...
(San Francisco, USA) - Members of an all-male singing group from Yale University say they were taunted with anti-gay slurs, attacked and beaten after singing "The Star Stangled Banner" at a New Year's Eve party in San Francisco. At least three members of the Baker's Dozen a cappella group were hurt. One suffered a broken jaw. Read more...
Tel Aviv resident Justin Rudzki was strolling across the city’s busy Dizengoff Square one day when he spotted an Arab man. Their eyes met and the two men approached one another. But this wasn’t to be yet another moment of conflict between Jew and Arab in the Middle East. The pair instead swapped phone numbers and arranged a date. You might not expect such an encounter to be able to occur in Israel. But then the more you look into gay life in this country, the more surprises you uncover.
Note: Read full article on www.ynetnews.com
(Lima, Peru) - A gay rights group in Peru has accused police officers of carrying out systematic attacks on gay people in the country. The Lima Homosexual Movement claims that figures they have compiled show over 600 homophobic assaults in the country over the last year.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
(Berlin, Germany) - Within weeks of Hitler's 1933 rise to power, the iron gates slammed shut on inmates of the first Nazi concentration camps. It was the start of an unparalleled experiment in persecution and genocide that expanded over the next 12 years into a pyramid of ghettos, Gestapo prisons, slave labor camps and, ultimately, extermination factories.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(UK) - Gay council workers have been criticised for banning their straight colleagues and friends from their Christmas party. Leading gay activists questioned the decision, which emerged last night, by the Brighton and Hove City Council LGBT Workers Forum. Experts warned it may even have been illegal.
Note: Read full article on www.theargus.co.uk
(Prague, Czech Rep.) - The Gay Initiative in the Czech Republic ended its activities as of the end of 2006 since parliament had passed a law on homosexual partnership and society´s approach to homosexuals has changed, Gay Initiative chairman Jiri Hromada has told. He said he resigned as the organisation´s head on December 31 and has passed "the baton" to the younger generation of activists.
Note: Read full article on www.praguemonitor.com
(NEPAL) - After being persecuted by King Gyanendra's regime and the new multi-party government, Nepal's homosexual community is now at the receiving end of a society clean up drive launched by Maoist rebels. The communists, who now freely roam in the capital after they signed a peace accord with the new government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and had the terrorist tag lifted, have now turned their attention to cleaning "social pollutants", ranging from pornographic films to homosexuality.
Note: Read full story on www.hindustantimes.com
(Chicago, USA) - Chicago police are investigating the shooting of six men at a party in a house on Chicago's South Side in what may have been a homophobic hate crime. Police say two masked men burst into an apartment in the house early Sunday morning, spraying semi-automatic gunfire throughout the living room hitting six men. Residents in the area say the apartment was rented by two gay men and was the scene of frequent loud parties. One neighbor told the Chicago Sun-Times that the building was known as the "Gay House".
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(BERLIN, GERMANY) - He never meant it to be anything more than a throwaway line at an economic forum, but as soon as it passed Klaus Wowereit's lips, it became a much-repeated slogan for Berlin, and possibly for the future of Europe: "We are poor but sexy." Wowi, as Berlin's mayor is known to almost all of the city's four million citizens, is none of that. Mr. Wowereit, 53, is youthful, elegant, flippant and gay in every sense of the word; he is also gaining enormous attention within Germany's powerful Social Democratic Party, which sees him as a strong contender to become the country's next leader.
Note: Read full article on www.theglobeandmail.com
(Toronto, Ontario) A gay man beaten by Toronto police in what a jury described as a "gay bashing" has been awarded more than a half million dollars. It is considered the largest amount awarded against a police service in Canadian history. An appeal of the finding against several Toronto officers has been dismissed by the Ontario's highest court, the Court of Appeal.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Portsmouth, UK) - A man killed in a suspected gay-hate attack is to be laid to rest amid a celebration of his life. Malcolm Bryan's funeral is to take place next week. His family and friends have said it is to be a brightly-coloured tribute to the much loved man – know as Papa among the city's gay community because he was always ready with a fatherly piece of advice. Read more...
(LONDON, UK) – A Liberal Democrat spokesperson has described the government’s scrapping of funding of , Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month as “despicable”. Last night, Lorely Burt, the Lib Dem Women and Equality spokesperson said: “It is despicable that the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) no longer deems LGBT History Month worthy of funding.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Iran) - Municipal elections in Iran last Friday gave a black eye to hard-line fundamentalist, ultra-homophobic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as his supporters suffered a string of defeats. The lack of confidence in Ahmadinejad was particularly strong in Tehran, Iran's capital, where his "Sweet Scent of Service" ticket won only five out of 15 City Council seats, and where his sister came in ninth, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday, with 80 percent of the vote tabulated.
Note: Read full article on Gay City News
(Minneapolis, USA) - A housing project to fill the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered seniors at a variety of income levels is taking reservations. If enough spots are reserved, construction will start next fall.
Note: Read full article on www.startribune.com
(USA) - Students in southern Florida can freely access “gay-supportive” websites, thanks to pressure from the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council. The Palm Beach County School District previously blocked student and teacher access to several gay-friendly sites such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network - with “Sexuality/Alternative Lifestyles” popping up on screens when users attempted to visit them.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
(MINSK, BELARUS) - The Belarus Ambassador to Belgium, Vladimir Senko, has denied that any gay activists were detained last month in the run-up to the International Conference on LGBT Culture and Human Rights in Minsk. He was replying to a letter send at the end of last month by German MEP Lissy Gröner requesting more information. Read more...
(CHARLOTTE, USA) - Superintendent Peter Gorman and his top lieutenants have ordered a picture book about presumably gay penguins removed from school libraries, the first time Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has banned a book in more than a decade. But Gorman said Tuesday he'll let a committee review the decision after Charlotte Observer questions revealed he and his staff sidestepped CMS policy.
Note: Read full article on www.charlotte.com
(USA) - Scottsdale police are investigating an alleged hate crime reported by a gay couple who said they were jumped by as many as seven men outside a Scottsdale restaurant near McDowell and Scottsdale roads. As they held hands and began to leave Frasher's Steakhouse late Sunday, Jean Rolland and Andrew Frost said they were humiliated and beaten in the restaurant's entryway. Frost, 19, was taken to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, where he was treated and released. Frost received several staples to treat a wound on his scalp, and several stitches to seal other wounds to his face.
Note: Read full article on www.azcentral.com
(Worcester, USA) A same-sex marriage advocate is nursing cuts and bruises after being attacked by a leading advocate of a constitutional amendment to end gay marriage in the only state where it is legal. Sarah Loy, 27, went to a rally organized by VoteOnMarriage in front of Worcester City Hall, west of Boston, on the weekend. The demonstration was one of several behind held on weekends throughout Massachusetts aimed at pressuring the Legislature to vote on the proposed amendment.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Palm Beach, USA) Palm Beach County's school board has begun allowing students to view some LGBT advocacy sites, but others remain blocked despite months of negotiations to end the practice. The board first came under fire in May for blocking access to the Web sites of LGBT rights groups while allowing sites advocating the so-called ex-gay movement to go unfiltered.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Turkey) - The editor of Turkey’s only magazine for LGBT people, who is also a leading gay activist, was indicted last week under a vague statute banning "obscene" material, and could face up to three years in prison. The criminal case was brought against Umut Güner, 29, who is editor of Kaos GL - the magazine published by the Ankara-based LGBT association of the same name, of which he is also a vice-president - because it had dedicated its issue published in July to a symposium discussion of the subject of pornography, with articles by various gay writers.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(COPENHAGEN, DENMARK) - The Faeroe Islands on Friday voted to ban discrimination against homosexuals on the Danish semi-autonomous territory between Scotland and Iceland. In a 17-15 vote, Faeroese legislators included the words "sexual orientation" in the islands' anti-discrimination law. The issue had been under heated debate on the islands after the 32-member Lagtinget last year turned down a similar proposal.
Note: Read full article on cnews.canoe.ca
(El Salvador) - A vicious and violent police attack a week ago Monday on four transgendered youth in El Salvador, which hospitalized one of them with serious injuries, is only the latest in an unending wave of violent attacks that continues to inundate the Central American nation's LGBT community.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Chicago, USA) - Today, Lambda Legal filed a complaint with the Cook County Human Rights Commission charging the Bremen Community High School District No. 228, Bremen Community Board of Education, and Bremen School Board president, Evelyn Gleason, with sexual orientation discrimination. "Ms. Gleason and other members of the school board tried to keep Rich Mitchell from being hired because he is gay, and when they failed to do that, they stopped him from doing his job -- all at the expense of the students of Bremen," said James P. Madigan, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Office. "When Ms. Gleason tried to terminate Dr. Mitchell's employment, she responded to a parent who questioned her 'Did you know he's gay?'"
Note: Read full article on www.gayalliance.org
(Salt Lake City, USA) - Two Republican state lawmakers who proposed bills aimed at curtailing gay-straight alliances in Utah schools in the last session only to seek them rejected say they will reintroduce the measures in the new session of the Legislature. But Chris Buttars and Rep. Aaron Tilton said their bills will be much the same as the previous ones. Buttars' last bill would have imposed an outright ban on GSAs. On the Senate floor he said GSAs are a recruiting tool for gays and are "tearing down the moral pillars of society." The measure died in the legislature.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Kingston, Jamaica) - A gay man identified as Wayne Pinnock was found brutally murdered in an appartment in Kingston. The naked body of Mr. Pinnock was discovered in a bedroom with eight stab wounds and his throat cut. Police said that they believe the victim was killed last Thursday. Read more...
(SPRINGFIELD, USA) - Supporters and opponents of gay marriage, some carrying signs that read "Let the People Vote" and others shouting "Bigots go home," squared off on the steps of City Hall yesterday. The confrontation occurred about 1 p.m. yesterday as members of the Pioneer Valley Faith Action Committee, Vote on Marriage group and others were set to rally at City Hall to urge legislators to vote to place a referendum question on the 2008 ballot asking voters if they want a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. As their rally was getting under way, they were met by a counter demonstration led by MassEquality, an organization that had also planned a rally at City Hall yesterday and had permits for their event.
Note: Read full article on www.masslive.com
Boston, USA) - The Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in Massachusetts, has told gay and lesbian couples who have children that if a partner wants visitation rights with the child once the relationship has ended that person must have adopted the child. The case involved a lesbian who sought visitation rights with the five-year old biological child of her former partner. The legal battle between the two women began before the same court ruled that same-sex couples must have the right to marry.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
This week came the news that Christian conservatives across the US must secretly have been dreading. Long in love with the dastardly vice-president Dick Cheney (a key player in one of the most conservative administrations in living memory), they have always struggled to reconcile this with the fact that his daughter Mary is an out lesbian. And finally, it appears, their tolerance has reached tipping point. Mary Cheney is pregnant and plans to bring up the child with her long-term partner, Heather Poe.
Note: Read full article on www.guardian.co.uk
(Scotland, UK) - Legislation giving unmarried and same-sex partners the legal right to adopt has been approved at Holyrood. MSPs overwhelmingly rejected an amendment to the new adoption bill by SNP MSP Roseanna Cunningham to prevent gay couples adopting together. The law, which aims to reverse the decline in numbers offering to adopt, was opposed by the Catholic Church. The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill was approved by 101 votes to six, with six abstentions.
Note: Read full article on news.bbc.co.uk
(JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA) – Black homosexual men and women are increasingly encountering a variety of hate crimes in South Africa, despite legislation protecting the rights of sexual minorities. In 1996 South Africa became the first country on the continent to adopt a constitution protecting people from discrimination based on sexual orientation, and legally recognised same-sex marriage on December 1, 2006. However, Prof Vasu Reddy, chief research specialist at the Gender and Development Unit of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), said although the constitution worked on paper, it did little to guarantee acceptance or tolerance, especially for gays and lesbians living in townships.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(UK) - Northern Ireland politicians are calling on the UK government to repeal the Sexual Orientation Regulations to be introduced in the province in the New Year, until the Assembly is fully restored. DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson has tabled an Early Day motion to Parliament asking for the law to be delayed by the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, as in the rest of the UK, for further consultation. His appeal has led to criticism from Sinn Fein members.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
(Italy) - Blaring sirens and flashing police lights brought Swedish artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin’s photo shoot to a hasty end in Rome last Saturday. The artist was in the city to complete part of her new exhibition, ‘In hate we trust’, due to premiere in January 2007. “It was the rape of a lesbian girl outside a gay nightclub and how the cardinals at the Vatican responded to it." "They said that if you are so open about your sexuality then this is what happens,” Ohlson Wallin told The Local.
Note: Read full article on The Local
(TALLINN, ESTONIA) - Andi Ravalepik, a well-known gay activist, has joined the Social Democratic ticket for the March 2007 general elections, campaigning for gay and lesbian rights. This marks the first time that a candidate is running on such a platform, the daily Eesti Paevaleht reported. The 27-year-old, who manages the gay and lesbian information center, said he would stand in Parliament for human values and against hate. “A seat in Parliament gives a person the status of a public figure, which permits the person to be seen, have a say and through this to make Estonia better and more tolerant,” Ravalepik told the newspaper. “I’m not going to stand narrowly for gays, lesbians and transsexuals. Instead, I wish to dedicate myself to social issues in the broader sense,” he said.
Note: This was reported by The Baltic Times
(Vermont, USA) - Out in the Mountains, the state’s only gay newspaper, has ceased publication after 21 years. The board of directors of the monthly paper, which served a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender audience, decided last month that the publication was no longer financially viable. The last edition was published last week. At its peak, Out in the Mountains had statewide distribution of 7,000.
Note: Read full article on www.burlingtonfreepress.com
(WASHINGTON, USA) - The gay-rights movement suffered a setback in last month's midterm election when seven states passed initiatives banning same-sex marriage or domestic partnerships. But with Democrats about to take control of Congress, some of its other legislative goals appear within reach — including making violence against gays a hate crime and outlawing workplace discrimination. For the last 12 years of Republican control of Congress, gay-rights organizations set aside their push for legal protections in order to defend against conservative measures such as same-sex marriage bans.
Note: Read full article on www.latimes.com
(SAN FRANCISCO, USA) - The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society will host two events delving into our queer past as it relates to our present and future. On Wednesday, December 6th, a roundtable discussion entitled “Do We Need the GLBT Press?” will be held. The following night, December 7, historian Marcia Gallo will discuss her long-awaited book, Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement. Read more...
(CHICAGO, USA) - Two years ago, when Bonnie Bleskachek was named fire chief in Minneapolis, it made news far beyond Minnesota because she was the first openly lesbian firefighter to achieve that rank in the professional fire service of a major city. Hailed as a pioneer, Chief Bleskachek was showered with praise for her years of hard work. Perhaps no one was more pleased with the appointment than Mayor R. T. Rybak, a supporter of gay rights who made the promotion a media event. But last Wednesday, it became clear that everything had changed. Citing a lack of confidence in Chief Bleskachek’s management style, Mr. Rybak asked the City Council to fire her.
Note: Read full article on NY Times
(Latvia) - The appointment of Latvia’s new human rights committee head, priest Janis Smits, has again been called into question after the fundamentalist Christian called on gay people to keep their sexuality behind closed doors. In an interview with the Latvian press, Smits said homosexuality was a consequence of human lewdness and a sin that might cost people eternal life.
Note: Read full article on www.baltictimes.com
(United Kingdom) - Wales has two gays for every village, according to government figures released today (Mon). They show that more than 30,000 Brits have tied the knot in a gay wedding since the civil partnership law came into force last year. Wales has witnessed 537 ceremonies, more than enough for a couple in each of the 528 villages in the country.
Note: Read full article on www.lse.co.uk
Speaking at a tourism fair in London last month before the scheduled Jerusalem gay pride march was set to take place, Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog told the British LGBT news Web site Pinknews.co.uk: "Gays and lesbians are welcome in Israel." But the tourism minister prides himself on being a champion of gay rights in London only, far from the Israeli media. Back home, the Labor minister did not publicly support the right of assembly for LGBT people. Pinknews reported: "Tourism minister shamed over Jerusalem Gay Pride."
Note: Read full article on www.jpost.com
(Baghdad, Iraq) - Five young activists from Iraqi LGBT, Amjad 27, Rafid 29, Hassan 24, Ayman 19 and Ali 21 were seized at gunpoint by Iraqi police while holding a secret meeting in the al-Shaab district of Baghdad on 9 November. They were communicating with Ali Hili, a British-based gay Iraqi Muslim who heads Iraqi LGBT and is Middle East spokesman for UK queer rights group Outrage.
Note: Read full article on www.pinkpaper.com
(USA) - Gay advocacy groups have criticized President Bush for his decision to nominate U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) to replace Ken Mehlman as general chairman of the Republican National Committee. Martinez expressed strong opposition to gay rights in his campaign for the Senate in 2004. He has since voted for a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and has come out against legislation to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Note: Read full article on www.newyorkblade.com
(United Kingdom) - One of Baroness Thatcher's closest political allies is behind a push to derail new laws designed to end discrimination against homosexuals. Lord Mackay of Clashfern, a former lord chancellor during the Thatcher era, is the patron of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF), part of a coalition of religious groups opposed to the new rules which they say will ride roughshod over their beliefs. The new rules, which ban those offering goods and services from discriminating against gays and lesbians, will force them to act against their consciences, they say.
Note: Read full article on independent.co.uk
(BOSTON, USA) - Friends of the nation's first openly gay congressman remembered him Saturday as a man who went to Washington to end the Vietnam War and protect the environment, then became a champion of gay rights.Studds became the first openly gay congressman in 1983 after a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old page 10 years earlier became public. Studds called the relationship "a serious error in judgment" and was censured by Congress, but defended his action as a consensual connection with a young adult.
Note: Read full article on www.bradenton.com
(New York, USA) - Priscilla Pimentel, 24, was found murdered in her Richmond Hill apartment by relatives from Pennsylvania on November 24 who went there after days of being unable to reach her and her failure to show up for Thanksgiving. She was bound in her bathtub, stabbed repeatedly, and her body "was smeared with mint green paint," the New York Times reported. She lived alone and there was no sign of forced entry. Also killed was her pet Jack Russell terrier. Pimentel, known as "Peaches," who worked as a bartender in Queens, "had been involved with a woman" who had met her family twice, but they were said to have broken up several months ago. According to the newspaper, "A gay pride flag was spread across the bedroom floor, below the blood-streaked walls."
Note: Read full article on www.gaycitynews.com, also blabbeando.blogspot.com
(London) In what is regarded as the biggest study undertaken in the UK involving domestic abuse by same-sex partners researchers have found violence in gay and lesbian relationships is far greater than previously believed but few victims go to police. The study, by the Universities of Bristol and Sunderland, found that many victims do not realize they are are covered by domestic abuse lass and of those who do they don't believe their are cases would be investigated because they are gay. The report concludes that major public awareness campaigns law to be mounted, both within the LGBT community and among law enforcement, including prosecutors and domestic violence survivor support groups.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Poland) - Twenty-five years ago, two identical twins, once childhood stars in Poland during the Sixties, were on the run from the Communist regime's secret police. Today, they are the President and Prime Minister of their country, and fiercely proud of Poland's feisty role in Europe and its close friendship with the United States. One of the brothers, President Lech Kaczynski, flew to Britain this month to meet the Queen and Tony Blair, part of an official visit during which the two countries celebrated their close alliance, built on a mild mutual Euroscepticism and a firm belief in pursuing the "war on terror". Lech's brother, Jaroslaw, remained in Warsaw running the country as Prime Minister.
Note: Read full article on independent.co.uk
Last June the gay rights movement quietly achieved a milestone: For the first time, more than half of Fortune 500 companies - 263, to be precise - offered health benefits for domestic partners, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Ten years ago only 28 did. Along with health benefits for their families, many workers also get bereavement leave when their same-sex partner dies, adoption assistance or paid leave if they have children and relocation assistance for their partners if they are transferred. Put another way, gay marriage - an idea that has been banned by all but one of 27 states that have voted on it - has become a fact of life inside many big companies.
Note: Read full article on CNN.com
(NEW DELHI, INDIA) - India is violating the human rights of its gay minority and undermining a battle against HIV/AIDS by holding on to a "puritan" colonial-era law that bans homosexuality, the UNAIDS country chief said on Thursday. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which carries a jail term of 10 years for men having sex with men (MSM), is part of India's "head in the sand" approach to gays, said Denis Broun. "These people are discriminated against just because of their sexual preference, for no other reason," Broun told Reuters on the eve of World AIDS day. "It violates their human rights."
Note: Read full article on Reuters
(SANTIAGO, CHILE) - Emma de Ramon recently bought a condo here. But even before she moved in, she said, everyone in the building knew one fact about her: She's gay. De Ramon and her partner, Karen Atala, a judge, have become unintentional celebrities since waging a battle against Chile's Supreme Court, which forced Atala to surrender custody of her three daughters because of her relationship with de Ramon. Now the couple has become emblematic of a segment of the population growing noticeably bolder recently: those eager to shed Chile's questionable label as the most culturally conservative country in Latin America.
Note: Read full article on www.washingtonpost.com
(Pretoria, South Africa) - The owners of the gay club Camp David, which was raided by the police earlier this month, have obtained an urgent court order against a weekly newspaper in terms of which it may not publish any of the pictures taken by its reporter of naked people arrested during the raid. Pretoria High Court Judge Francis Legodi ruled that the rest of the application by owners Gerhard Rissik and Daniel Hamman - to set aside the search and seizure warrants by the police - was not urgent. The application was launched against the police commissioner and against several individual police officers.
Note: Read full article on www.int.iol.co.za
(San Francisco, USA) - Moses "Mo" Latno and Bill Phelan were so inspired by the city's Project Homeless Connect, the couple now serves as leaders of the daylong event that helps bring together people living on the streets or in shelters with social service and medical providers. Longtime San Francisco residents, the men say their involvement in the mayoral initiative not only bolsters their civic pride but also is a way to give back to their hometown.
Note: Read full article on BayAreaReporter
(USA) - If Peter LaBarbera had his way, there would be a caution sign next to all of Franklin Edward Kameny's 70,000 artifacts documenting the gay rights movement for the past 50 years, recently archived at the Library of Congress. LaBarbera, founder of the anti-gay organization Americans for Truth (AFT), even suggests some language for such a sign: ''Frank Kameny is a radical who uses hateful rhetoric against his foes.'' Then again, a more general caution may be needed, warning of the ongoing battle over gay rights in America. Frank Kameny says it's about civil rights; LaBarbera says it's about homosexuality being a choice, not a civil right.
Note: Read full article on www.metroweekly.com
(Edinburgh, UK) - Scottish LGBT rights groups are expressing shock and indignation at a decision by the government not to amend the hate crimes law to include gays and lesbians. The government also has decided not to include the disabled in the law that provides longer sentences for people convicted of hate crimes. The decision will leave Scotland as the only area in Great Britain not to provide protections for the two groups, and comes despite promises by the government the law would be amended to include them.
Note: Read full story on 365gay.com
(LONDON, UK) - A “truly poisonous” campaign is being waged by Christians to render unusable legislation that would protect gay people from discrimination in the provision of goods and services, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA). And the British Humanist Association (BHA) condemned the sermon on Sunday by Vincent Nichols, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham in which he accused Government and non-religious people of a lack of morality.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Granada) - Grenada will not consider a recommendation from a regional U.N. office to decriminalize homosexuality and prostitution, the island's top health official says. Health minister Ann David-Antoine said religious and cultural factors would prevent the government from taking up legal reforms advised in a report by the United Nations Development Program in Barbados. The report came after a September conference on combating HIV/AIDS.
Note: Read full article on www.advocate.com
(SANTA ANA, USA) - A former student who took pictures of couples hugging at his Garden Grove high school to bolster claims that gay but not straight students were punished for the display of affection testified Tuesday that he had no proof administrators saw but ignored the acts among heterosexuals.
Note: Read full article on www.nctimes.com
Moscow, Russia) - A Moscow appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that said the city government had not acted illegally when it banned a gay parade in May. The Moscow Central Prefecture court agreed with the lower court that the city had the right to bar events out of concerns for security. Dmitry Bartenev, the attorney for two LGBT groups which held the march despite the city's ban, said he will take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(UK) - A senior Church of England bishop have warned that Anglican youth clubs, welfare projects and charities may close because of new gay rights laws. The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, said that the Church of England's charities would be "affected" by the rules, which will force them to give equal treatment to homosexuals.
Note: Read full story on www.dailymail.co.uk
(New Zealand) - A two-day hui will provide educational and networking opportunities for those involved in queer youth groups nationwide. ‘Kaha: A Queer Youth Leadership Hui’ will be held at Wellington’s Tapu Te Ranga Marae on the weekend of January 26-28, 2007. The word ‘kaha’ (meaning ‘strong’) was chosen to set the tone for the young people attending. “You don’t have to be running a queer group to attend the hui,” says organiser Nathan Brown. “One of the main aims of Kaha is for our young people to have fun and make new friends but we also want them to feel that they can make a difference.”
Note: Read full article on www.gaynz.com
(SAN FRANCISCO, USA) - On Tuesday, November 28, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society will host “Are Gay Neighborhoods Worth Saving?” This roundtable with community leaders kicks off a new series, “Queer in the City: GLBT Neighborhoods and Urban Planning,” that the GLBT Historical Society will run through next spring. Read more...
(BEIJING, CHINA) Wan Yanhai, a prominent Chinese AIDS activist who was organizing a symposium to help people with the disease fight for their legal rights was released Monday after being held by police for three days, a colleague said. Wan Yanhai was taken in for questioning by four police officers on Friday and returned to work late Monday morning, said Wang Lixuan, a colleague at the Beijing-based Aizhixing Institute founded by Wan.
Note: Read full story on 365gay.com
(Birmingham, UK) - Ministers have been accused of overturning the nation's morality in a searing attack on new gay rights laws by a leading Roman Catholic churchman. Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols threatened to withdraw Catholic co-operation with the Government over schools, charity programmes and adoption agencies if the new sexual orientation regulations go ahead.
Note: Read full article on www.thisislondon.co.uk
(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) - The documentary “Moscow Pride ‘06” had its world premiere at the National Film Center. It was screened to more than 60 guests. The movie looks at the Nordic festival, the Russian gay cultural contest, Merlin Holland’s lecture on his grandfather Oscar Wilde and the IDAHO Conference (International Day Against Homophobia). The 84-minute documentary also focuses on the trouble around The Kremlin and Moscow city Hall when participants gathered to protest the ban on the Pride march – and the Tverskoy Court decision to uphold the Mayor’s decision.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(United Kingdom) - Disabled and gay groups are furious that ministers have reneged on a promise to protect them from hate crime. The refusal to abide by a promise made two years ago to add gay and disabled people to those already protected in law against racist or sectarian attacks has shocked and angered campaigners. It leaves Scotland as the only part of the UK where these two groups are not afforded specific protection.
Note: Read full article on www.theherald.co.uk
(LONDON, UK) - There is a serious absence of resources and information to support individuals living with blood borne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis, a survey by the Gay & Lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists (GLADD) reveals. Surveyed were 35 national organisations, including the Royal Medical Colleges, unions representing healthcare professionals and regulatory bodies.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(USA) - A transgender character who is making the transition from a man to a woman is to be seen on a US daytime soap opera, in what is believed to be a TV first. Flamboyant rock star Zarf, played by Jeffrey Carlson, will appear on ABC's long-running series All My Children.
Note: Read full story on BBC
(USA) - Sen. George Allen of Virginia was desperate. His re-election campaign was in a nosedive because of reports that he has a long history of using racial slurs. In the campaign's final days, Allen resorted more and more often to anti-gay scare tactics.
Note: Read full article on www.detnews.com
(Montreal, Canada) - Gravel, 53, is most often described as a "colourful priest," which is something of an understatement given his career path: from college student who left small-town Quebec for Montreal at 16, to male prostitute, to serving drinks in a leather bar in Montreal's Gay Village, to the seminary, to the pulpit. In a provocative 2005 interview with Fugues, a magazine that caters to Montreal's gay and lesbian community, Gravel said most priests don't respect their vows of celibacy, and added "50 per cent of priests in Quebec are gay. But if I became a priest it's because I have faith and I believe in the message of Christ."
Note: Read full article on www.hamiltonspectator.com
(Australia) - A series of groundbreaking Tasmanian radio advertisements highlighting the cost of homophobia has won broad backing from politicians, activists and a leading commercial radio network. The four-part ‘Homophobia stops with you’ series, believed to be the largest anti-homophobia advertising campaign yet on Australian commercial radio, went to air across Tasmania last week. The advertisements detail the negative effect of homophobia on families, businesses and the gay and lesbian community, using taglines such as “Names will always haunt us”.
Note: Read full article on www.gaynz.com
(KATHMANDU, NEPAL) - After the recent peace deal between the Nepal Government and the Maoists, metis (cross dressing effeminate males), like every other Nepalese, were hoping that their rights would be ensured and they would also enjoy freedom and safety.
But the situation and hate crimes they face from many directions each day makes them believe that their situation has become far worse than before.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(United Kingdom) - A Christian magistrate is taking legal action against the Government, claiming that he was forced to resign from his role of placing children in care because of his religious belief that homosexuality is immoral. Andrew McClintock says that he was told he must preside over cases that involved gay parents despite his appeal that it would contravene his deeply held conviction that children should be brought up by heterosexual couples.
Note: Read full article on www.telegraph.co.uk
(RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL) - Brazil's lower house of Congress has passed a bill making discrimination against homosexuals a crime punishable by at least a year in jail, the bill's sponsor said Friday. The bill, passed Thursday, makes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation a crime equal to discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender and national origin — which have carried prison sentences since 1989, said Congresswoman Iara Bernardi. The bill now goes before the Senate, which has not yet set a date to vote.
Note: Read full article on www.iht.com
(Beijing, CHINA) - A prominent Chinese AIDS activist has gone missing after meeting with police, the activist's organization said Saturday, amid a suspected clampdown ahead of World AIDS Day. Four police officers showed up at the Beijing offices of Aizhi, an AIDS advocacy group, on Friday morning and questioned Wan Yanhai for much of the day, the group said in a statement on its Web site.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(China) - Homosexuality has gained some acceptance in metropolitan cities like Shanghai and Beijing. But in rural China, as one young man explains, being gay is still a secret he must keep from his family.
Note: Read full article on www.sfgate.com
(AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND) - A conference looking at research into LGBT issues will be held at AUT University this week. ‘Researching Queers and Qu(e)erying Research’ is the theme for the third annual Queers in Tertiary Education and Research (QuTER) conference. Conference organisers say one of the QuTER network's primary aims is to support rigorously designed queer research and to act as a vehicle to promote reliable queer research to the general population.
Note: Read full article on www.gaynz.com
Prime minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, is to meet with evangelical leaders in the tiny Caribbean island to seek their advice about allowing gay cruises to dock there. There are no restrictions on the gay tours but religious leaders have expressed concerns. “I will make a statement on the issue after my meeting with the members of the Evangelical Association,” said Skerrit. Bill Daniel, the group’s president, said Skerrit had not contacted him to schedule a meeting — which the association had demanded. “We want the government to ensure that gay tourists do not come to the island and conduct themselves in any immoral way,” he said, adding that he did not want Dominica portrayed “as a gay tourist destination”.
Note: Read full article on voice-online.co.uk
Because his political views are perceived as inimical to those of the contemporary GLBT movement, Adolf Brand—who, at the turn of the 20th Century, started the first-ever homophile journal and the second homosexual/bisexual organi-zation—remains less-well-known than his contemporary, Magnus Hirschfeld.
Note: Read full article on www.lavendermagazine.com
(RIGA, LATVIA) - The Constitutional Court of Latvia today declared unconstitutional a number of provisions of a Latvian law regulating public demonstrations and pickets. All these provisions were declared incompatible with the Latvian Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. In effect, the Court is instructing the legislature to amend existing law on pubic demonstrations and pickets.
Note: Read full story on UK Gay News
(UK) - A record number of gay men were diagnosed with HIV last year, fuelling concerns that a dangerous complacency has set in about the virus that causes Aids. Figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show there were 2,356 new diagnoses among the gay community in 2005, bringing the number of gay men in the UK who know they have the virus up to 19,000.
Note: Read full article on news.independent.co.uk
(South Africa) - Gay life partners are entitled to inherit from the intestate estates of their partners just as spouses do, the Constitutional Court (Concourt) ruled on Thursday. The Concourt upheld the March ruling by the Pretoria high court that section 1(1) of the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 was unconstitutional because it excluded gay life partners.
Note: Read full article on www.int.iol.co.za
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) - Helem has undergone a subtle transformation in recent months. Lebanon's pioneering gay and lesbian rights organization has scaled back its advocacy efforts in quiet acknowledgment of politicians' preoccupation with other issues - and its own potential for igniting backlash. Helem's full-time coordinator, Georges Azzi, says the shift is in part a reflection of the political turmoil in Lebanon in the aftermath of this past summer's war with Israel. "Every organization in Lebanon working on advocacy now is stopping because nothing is happening," he explains.
Note: Read full article on www.dailystar.com.lb
(MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA) - Labour Ministers have made a number of promises to the Victorian gay and lesbian community if they are returned to power in Saturday’s election. Arts Minister Mary Delahunty, who’s retiring, announced $160k for the Midsumma Festival – the local equivalent to Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, payable over three years. Then on Sunday, Health Minister Bronwyn Pike pledged a quarter of a million dollars towards the relocation and re-equipment of Australia’s only full time gay and lesbian radio station Joy Melbourne.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Brazil) - A judge in Brazil has ruled in favour of allowing two gay men to adopt a five-year-old girl in a landmark case in the state of Sao Paulo. One man, Vasco Pedro da Gama, had already adopted the girl. The name of his partner, Junior de Carvalho, was then added to the birth certificate. Gay women have been granted adoption rights twice before, but this is the first time they have been given to men.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(COPENHAGEN, DENMARK) - It might be almost three years away, but the World Outgames 2009 is already taking shape in Copenhagen. The Danish capital was chosen to host the games last year, but now the major international culture and sports event for gays and lesbians has the money to realise its plans. Copenhagen Council has committed DKK20m (£1.8m; €2.7m: $US3.5m) to the project, and Wonderful Copenhagen and UNIK HR have commenced the search for partners to spearhead the preparations.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(GUATEMALA) - Two transvestites have been shot dead in broad daylight, their bodies riddled with bullets in the latest in a wave of suspected hate crimes in Guatemala. The transvestites, in their 20s, were gunned down together outside a bar in the crime-ridden Villanueva neighborhood of the capital. They were shot in the face and body. "They both had long hair and long nails, men dressed as if they were women," emergency worker Oscar Sanchez said. At least 15 bullet casings lay on the ground at the murder scene.
Note: Read full article on www.news.com.au
AIDS awareness groups have called for better prevention programmes after a report revealed that many schemes are not reaching the people most at risk from infection in some countries such as gay men. The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow and there is concerning evidence that some countries are seeing a resurgence in new HIV infection rates which were previously stable or declining, the UNAIDS/WHO 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update states.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
(San Diego, USA) Lawyers for two students at a San Diego area school have asked a California appeals court to uphold a ruling that found the Poway Unified School District responsible for not protecting LGBT students. Joey Ramelli and Megan Donovan were students at Poway High School, a school in the Poway Unified School District in northern San Diego County. Over the course of their junior year other students relentlessly taunted them with antigay slurs and Joey was even physically assaulted and his car was vandalized. The two students found the harassment so brutal that they both had to drop out of Poway High School and completed studies toward their high school diploma at home.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(USA) - Is Mitt Romney a homophobe? I have no idea. It’s hard to say that he isn’t when he appears on a stage, as he did this past Sunday, with Roberto Miranda, who once compared the marriages of same-sex couples with the terrorist attacks of September 11. With Romney just several feet away from him, Miranda angrily warned the crowd that gay activists were “aggressive, invasive, politically sophisticated and powerful” and that they sought to impose the “homosexual agenda in our schools, our workplaces, the social service sector and eventually our homes and even our churches.”
Note: Read full article on baywindows.com
(RIGA, LATVIA) - Janis Smits has said that “the gay issue” is not an urgent matter for the Latvian Parliamentary Human Rights Committee. The outspoken and homophobic MP was chosen on Monday by committee members to be its chairperson.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Salt Lake City, USA) - They are, on average, 19 to 20 years old. They all have reasons why they are here. Many have something in common. They say they were thrown out of their families, in disgrace, because they are gay. Nicole Campolucci/ Volunteers of America: "Our stat is 30 percent of homeless youth cite gay as being their primary reason for being homeless."
Note: Read full article on www.ksl.com
South Africa has legalised same-sex marriage - but despite this pioneering measure, the rest of the continent remains one of the most homophobic places in the world.
Note: Read full article on news.independent.co.uk
(BEIJING, CHINA) - Lesbians in Shanghai can get psychological help and support from a new hotline that opened this week, the first on the Chinese mainland dedicated to their concerns. Sponsored by a Hong Kong foundation, the free hotline is staffed by trained counselors who are also lesbian or "lala" as they known in Chinese. Many lesbians in China are pressured into marrying men and end up living miserable lives, said sociologist Li Yinhe.
Note: Read full article on news.xinhuanet.com
(UK) - The regulations state that ''a person subjects another to harassment... where, on the ground of sexual orientation, he engages in unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating his dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment". Faith groups have so far unsuccessfully pressed ministers to grant an exemption for Churches and religious organisations. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders have all voiced concerns that their priests may be obliged to bless same-sex unions.
Note: Read full article on www.telegraph.co.uk
(BRUSSELS, EU) - Sexual orientation is excluded from the new equality and diversity "Statement of Principles" of the European Parliament’s secretariat. And the omission is no accident. At a meeting of the European Parliament’s "Bureau" - comprised of the president and seven vice-presidents, Gérard Onesta (Green-EFA – France) proposed an amendment to the draft that would include sexual orientation. But this was defeated by four votes to two, with two abstentions.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
The theories for why people are coming out earlier vary. Some point to more gay teen characters in the movies or on television -- think "Desperate Housewives" or "As the World Turns" -- that have made it easier. Others say society in general has become more accepting. And some say all young adults, regardless of their orientation, are expressing their sexuality earlier.
Note: Read full article on www.delawareonline.com
(NY, USA) - Last night’s International Emmy Awards were dominated by British and gay orientated talent. Gay comedian Matt Lucas picked up an award along with co-star David Walliams for Little Britain, and lesbian drama Sugar Rush picked up an accolade.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
(EU) - The secretary general of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, added his voice to a growing wave of disquiet on Tuesday over Latvia's appointment of a leading anti-gay activist as head of the country's parliamentary human rights committee. "I am very concerned ... the parliamentarians who made this decision should realise that what is at stake is the international reputation of Latvia," Davis said in a statement.
Latvian MPs appointed Janis Smits, a Lutheran pastor best known for his opposition to gay rights, as head of their human rights committee on Monday despite protests from human rights groups.
Note: Read full article on www.playfuls.com
(USA) - A US court has rejected a case which would have taken away domestic partner benefits for employees of Miami University. In response to papers filed by gay law group, Lambda Legal, the Butler County Court of Common Pleas dismissed a lawsuit brought by a legislator seeking to take away the domestic partner benefits of employees of Miami University.
Note: Read full article on pinknews.co.uk
(Washington, USA) Vigils, services and a variety of other events are being held in 250 cities around the world today to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance - the day set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The first Transgender Day of Remembrance was organized by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999 in San Francisco to honor the memory of Rita Hester who was murdered on November 28th, 1998.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(RIGA, LATVIA) - The Lativan Saeima (Parliament) has confirmed this afternoon the nomination of Jānis Šmits as the chairperson of the Saeima’s Human Rights and Social Affairs Committee. And Europe is outraged. The politician from the LLP (First Party of Latvia) was elected by a 5-3 vote of the committee. Mr. Šmits has a history of hate speech and incitement to hatred an violence towards gay men an women - he was most vocal against the first two Riga Prides - in 2005 and earlier this year - and initiated the deletion of "sexual orientation" from the labour law, having no regard for a European Union directive. Additionally, he has actively expressed opposition to any advance of LGBT rights.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(MANCHESTER, UK) - A new Manchester initiative aimed at ending homophobia through education called ‘Exceeding Expectations’ has launched a newsletter to be distributed to all adults working at secondary schools across the city. The three year initiative to support schools will reach more than 12,000 education professionals with appropriate interventions, resources, training and advice on homophobia and sexuality.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(UK) - Earlier this year, Digital Spy reported on the launch of two gay channels, The Queer Channel and Pride TV, both hoping to launch this autumn. With Pride TV now looking like it's not coming out of the closet any time soon, The Queer Channel remains the only prospect still on the horizon, albeit it with a delayed launch date. So why is it so hard to get a gay channel off the ground, and is the demand really there? [..] Well, while things have changed for the better in the mainstream, the gay audience is lacking in the non-entertainment department. Where are the documentaries about gay issues, the lifestyle shows, the gay indie films that BBC2 and Channel 4 could once be relied upon to deliver?
Note: Read full article on www.digitalspy.co.uk
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday September 5th 1946 on the small spice island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were both Persian. His father, Bomi, was a civil servant, working as a High Court cashier for the British Government. Freddie's sister, Kashmira, was born in 1952. In 1954, at the age of eight, Freddie was shipped to St Peter's English boarding school in Panchgani, about fifty miles outside Bombay. It was there his friends began to call him Freddie, a name the family also adopted.
By now, most of us know the story of Ted Haggard. It turns out that Pastor Haggard is gay -- or, at least, engages in gay sex. The prostitute he hired on a regular basis told us so. Haggard also seems to be a meth user. [..] It's not like he's actor Neil Patrick Harris (the lady-killer on TV's "How I Met Your Mother"), who can casually tell People magazine that he's "a very content gay man," or even Lance Bass, who also recently outed himself and let the world know he's in a stable relationship. Yep, most gay people lead relatively scandal-free lives, never picking up a prostitute or smoking meth. Alas, everyone has a reason for paying attention to the Haggard story, and most of it had to do with his gayness. The Baptist Press ran an editorial saying Haggard should be embraced and forgiven for his hypocrisy, the lesser sin, it seems, when compared to homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on Seatle Post Intelligencer
(USA) - After 25 years of social activism, 59-year-old Brenda Crawford relishes the prospect of handing over the torch to a youthful crusader. When she and her partner sell their Vallejo home within the next five years, they expect to move to a planned posh retirement community for lesbians and gays. The $85 million Fountaingrove Lodge in Santa Rosa is expected to open in the winter of 2008 or 2009. Crawford prefers living in a place where neighbors won't arch an eyebrow when they discover her partner is a woman 16 years her junior. "I don't think I would consider going into a center that was not (gay-focused) simply because I need to leave that fight to somebody who's younger," she said. "I don't want, at 60, to be worried about walking out of my door and not having people say hello to me." At Fountaingrove, the people next door would be more likely to invite them over to watch "The L Word."
Note: Read full article on www.contracostatimes.com
(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) - A top Russian Orthodox cleric said on Sunday that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church were allies in the face of hostile secularism. Kirill, one of the most senior clerics from the Russian Orthodox Church to meet Benedict since his 2005 election, slammed homosexuality. "When the declaration of human rights was made no-one in their worst nightmare could imagine a gay parade in Jerusalem," Kirill said.
Note: Read full article on The Star
(D.C., USA) - Two gay officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia in separate lawsuits have accused leaders of subjecting them to discrimination and retaliation after a police investigator allegedly disclosed their sexual orientation to fellow officers.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(USA) - Maryland’s gay rights activists, buoyed by several key election wins, plan to seek new benefits during the next session of the General Assembly. Equality Maryland Executive Director Dan Furmansky and others said they intend to lobby lawmakers to extend benefits to the partners of state employees and to enact new discrimination protections for transgendered people.
Note: Read full article on Washington Blade
(San Francisco, USA) - High schools across San Francisco soon will no longer have Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs after officials decided to eliminate them because of the Pentagon’s ’’don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy regarding gay service members. The Board of Education voted 4-2 late Tuesday to phase out the JROTC from schools over the next two years, despite protest from hundreds of students who rallied outside the meeting.
Note: Read full article on www.edgeboston.com
(SWEDEN) - Nonagenarian former top Swedish diplomat Sverker Åström has quit as presenter of a television programme about gay life in Sweden, after complaining that parts of the show were "vulgar and tasteless". The former Swedish Ambassador to the UN and chief civil servant at the Sweden's foreign ministry came out as gay in 2003, at the age of 88. He was named Gay of the Year in 2004 and published a new Swedish translation of Michelanglo's sonnets in 2005.
(MADISON, Wisconsin, USA) -- Gay and lesbian faculty and staff members told University of Wisconsin-Madison leaders Wednesday evening that they were considering leaving the UW over the state's passage of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.
(Louisville, USA) Dr. Emery Lane, the former president of Community Health Trust, which focused on Louisville's LGBT community and People with AIDS has been found beaten to death in his home. Lane, 75, was found by his housekeeper. He had been beaten with a blunt instrument police said. Cash, other items and his Jaguar were stolen.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
Read update on www.courier-journal.com
(LONDON, UK) - Gay activist Peter Tatchell has accused the Prime Minister of "cosying up to Tehran" for his own political aims while ignoring "gross human rights abuses" against gay people, women, students, trade unionists and ethnic minorities.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
(Warsaw, Poland) - Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s comments to the BBC’s Newsnight programme while visiting London that gay culture could make “heterosexual culture disappear” is dangerous, paranoic homophobia, says the ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network). “Have Sappho’s poetry, Oscar Wilde’s plays, Tchaikovski’s music, Nijinski’s dancing, Michelangelo’s sculptures or Caravaggio’s painting devoured the world’s culture – or enriched it," asks Bill Schiller, secretary general of the ILGCN Information Secretariat in Stockholm, and Łukasz Pałucki, ILGCN cultural ambassador of Poland, in a joint statement.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(LONDON, UK) The UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group’s fight to put the human rights abuses of LGBT people from around the world onto the agenda, has taken a big step forward with the group’s appointment as an observer to the Advisory Panel on Country Information (APCI). The APCI was set up to consider and make recommendations to the Secretary of State about the content of country information, which is produced by the Country of Origin Information Service, (COIS), at the Home Office.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
DOUG IRELAND: It is not clear why the Iranian government chose to make public the charge of "sodomy" against Darvishi. Since the world-wide protests over the hanging of two gay teenagers in the city of Mashad on July 19 2005, the Iranian government has refrained from announcing executions for homosexual acts, which are a capital crime under Iranian law. Reporting on events inside Iran, in which the media and the press are tightly controlled and censored by the government, is always difficult -- and this is even more true in any case involving homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(OKEECHOBEE, USA) - Students at Okeechobee High School have been banned from holding meetings of the Gay-Straight Alliance on high school grounds, a lawsuit filed Wednesday claims. The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal district court in Miami, alleges school officials refuse to recognize the club - even though other extracurricular clubs like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Key Club meet regularly on school grounds.
Note: Read full story on www.bradenton.com
JOINT WORKING GROUP RESPONSE TO PASSING OF CIVIL UNION ACT
14/11/2006
(ILGA) - The Joint Working Group, a national network of 17 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organisations, welcomes the historic step taken by Parliament to allow lesbian and gay people the choice to get married. Unlike earlier versions of the Civil Union Bill, the statute that has been passed no longer creates a separate category for lesbian and gay people exclusively but rather broadens the institution of marriage to include same-sex couples. In keeping with the transformation of our society from one based on unfair discrimination and exclusion to one based on equality and dignity for all, our elected representatives have signaled their strong commitment to ensuring that the values of our Constitution are made real for all people irrespective of their sexual orientation.
Note: This material is a press release issued by ILGA.ORGRead more...
(KERMANSHAH, IRAN) - An Iranian man convicted of sodomy was publicly hanged in the western town of Kermanshah, the official news agency IRNA reported. The public hanging drew hundreds of cheering people. The execution brings to at least 117 the number of people executed in Iran this year. Amnesty International has said there were 94 executions in Iran in 2005.
Note: Read full article on Courier Mail
(LONDON, UK) - An astonishing - and discriminatory - line appeared in an article on the BBC website about a fundraiser for the annual Children in Need appeal, involving the popular BBC television programme Strictly Come Dancing. The line that raised eyebrows enough to produce a number of emails from concerned readers of UK Gay News read: “Note: To enjoy this prize to the full, the two participants should be a male and a female”.
Note: Read full story on UK Gay News
COMMENTARY: The many outings, scandals and rumors about the sexual orientation of many Republican staffers and politicians over these past few weeks could easily leave the casual observer with the unfair impression that the Republican party is dominated by psychopathic closeted gay men. And while that is certainly not true, it may very well be that the GOP's abominable homophobic campaign and party rhetoric is primarily fueled by a long-standing core and tradition of pathologically self-hating closeted gay men in key positions.
Note: Read the commentary on Proceed at your own risk
(Canada) - The student union at McGill University is refusing to allow blood donation drives in its buildings until Quebec's blood collection agency agrees to accept donations from homosexual men. Héma-Québec screens donors by means of a questionnaire. Among other questions, it asks whether male would-be donors have had sex with another man at any time since 1977. If they answer yes, they are not allowed to give blood.
Note: Read full article on www.mytelus.com
(TRENTON, USA) - A New Jersey boy who contends that for years he was the victim of homophobic harassment by classmates brought his case to the state Supreme Court on Monday, seeking to place the blame for the torment on school administrators. The case was brought against the Toms River Regional School Board by a student who said he was harassed - sometimes daily and for many years - because of the perception he was gay. He claims the district was responsible for failing to fix the environment and, because of that, violated state anti-discrimination laws. The harassment started when the boy, identified in court filings only as L.W., was in fourth grade. The name calling and other taunts continued through his freshman year of high school, according to court records.
Note: Read full article on abclocal.go.com
For details, see the brief on this case
(Londonderry, UK) - The Rainbow Project in Londonderry is set to launch a gay youth scheme in the city. The LADZ Out Youth Project will run every Wednesday from November 29, from 5pm to 8pm at the Rainbow Project's local office at 12A Queen Street. Read more...
(Montreal, Canada) - The Montreal Outgames remained unapologetic Monday, despite ringing up a $5.3-million deficit. “There are no regrets about the Games,” Marielle Dupré, co-chair with former Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury, said Monday. “Montreal needs this kind of international event to position itself in the market.” Dupré said the Outgames owes only $2.2 million to its suppliers – the rest of the debt is largely government loans – and blamed Quebec for botching organizers’ efforts to pay their bills.
Note: Read full article on www.canada.com
(United Kingdom) - A young lesbian who fled Uganda after her Muslim father threatened to kill her is being deported back home tonight, despite facing persecution and a jail sentence of up to seven years because of her sexuality. Ms Garanette said that she was "petrified" at the prospect of travelling to Uganda but that she would do anything to remain with her partner, Sarah Garanette, 25, a security officer and British citizen.
Note: Read full article on www.guardian.co.uk
(Rome, Italia) - Arcigay has denounced that a campaign of discrimination against male and female homosexuals in underway in several secondary schools in Rome. "This morning, the students of the Aristofane secondary school in Rome found the slogan 'we want lesbians out of our school' on the school's external walls. Unfortunately, similar slogans have been heard and seen in several Italian schools for quite a long time" said the president of Arcigay in Rome, Fabrizio Marrazzo. "this proves that schools in Rome are often unprepared to address these issues and train students adequately, which ends up damaging lots of male and female homosexual students whose number is estimated to reach over 30,000 in Rome and the whole province".
Note: Arcigay's website: www.arcigay.it
(Mason, USA) - Teri Yale, owner of Davey’s Basement, the alternative record shop in downtown Mason, said many residents of the small city have attempted to push her shop out of town. The store has been hit with a number of labels and accusations, has been subjected to police visits, and now is being boycotted, Yale said. All for sponsoring a gay-straight alliance student group’s float at Mason High School’s Sept. 29 homecoming parade, she said.
Note: Read full article on www.lansingcitypulse.com
Shop's Website: www.daveysbasement.com
(MINSK, Belarus) - The planned international conference on LGBT culture and human rights in the Belarus capital was cancelled hours before it was due to start last weekend. Organisers were forced to cancel the event following the arrest of seven members of the organising committee and the resulting withdrawal from a partner organisation that was to have provided conference space.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) - While Nikolai Alekseev, the organiser of the first Moscow Pride last May, was in London to receive an award for his courage in challenging homophobia in Russia and beyond from the British Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, the British newspaper, The Observer choose to reveal yesterday morning that Elton John and Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears plan to take part in a gay pride concert next year in Moscow.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(LONDON, UK) - Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev has vowed to fight on after Moscow Pride 2006 was officially banned by Moscow’s mayor and the resulting protest was disrupted.The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) flew Mr. Alekseev in from Moscow to speak at its public meeting concerning homophobia in Eastern Europe on Friday and for its annual lunch as guest-of-honour and keynote speaker on the following day.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(KANSAS CITY, USA) - The congressional elections showed solid gains not only for Democrats but for gay rights as well, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said.
Note: Read full article on International Herald Tribune
(United Kingdom) - Sir Elton John has said he would like to see all organised religion banned and accused it of trying to "turn hatred towards gay people". He also said that the problems experienced by many gays in former nations of the Soviet bloc, such as Poland, Latvia and Russia were caused by the church supporting anti-gay movements.
Note: Read full article on BBC
(East Jerusalem) - A group of gay Palestinian Americans canceled a planned pride march in East Jerusalem on Friday after one of them was beaten unconscious by a local man who said he was from the Waqf Muslim religious authority. In the East Jerusalem beating, two men -- one wielding a knife -- came looking for the group of gay Palestinian Americans who were staying at the Faisal Hostel near the Damascus Gate of the Old City. One of the assailants identified himself as being from the Waqf, the clerical trust that administers Muslim religious sites in the city.
Note: Read full article on San Francisco Chronicle
(USA) Keith Boykin told on his blog that he decided to retire from political activism and to turn his energy to literature. In his statement, Mr. Boykin encouraged the gay community to support its institutions properly:
"We also have to do a better job of supporting our own institutions. We give lots of money to our churches every week, but we rarely give money to the community organizations that try to support us. And although we sometimes complain about our community organizations, most of us do not contribute the resources those organizations need to do a better job. I sincerely hope we can start to change that mentality in the years to come."
Note: Read Mr. Boykins statement on his blog
(CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA) - In a major about turn, the African National Congress (ANC) in Parliament’s home affairs committee yesterday swept aside opposition objections to the same-sex marriages bill and used its 70% majority to force the use of the terms “civil union” and “marriage” equally. The approved version of the bill makes the term “civil union” the same as a “marriage” and wherever the one appears, so too does the other. This approval is a direct rejection of the masses of submissions from religious groups objecting to giving homosexual couples the choice of using the term marriage. It is also a direct rejection of traditional leaders who wanted the constitution to be changed rather than the bill approved.
Note: Read full article on www.businessday.co.za
(Jerusalem) - Following weeks of tension and threats of violence that left Israel's capital city at the precipice of full-blown riots and bloodshed, Jerusalem's Gay Pride event came to a relatively quiet end Friday afternoon.
Note: Read full article on Jerusalem Post
(Gomel, Belarus) - Three gay activists were released yesterday evening, 22 hours after being arrested in an apartment where they were attending a meeting of the organising committee of an International LGBT conference to be held in Belarus this weekend. The three are Vyacheslav Andreev, Svyatoslav Sementsov and Viachaslau Bortnik, a spokesperson for human rights group TEMA said..
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Toronto, Canada) - The first Human Rights Symposium organized by Iranian Queer Organization (formerly PGLO) will take place in Toronto, Canada, on January 27, as organizers have announced. Read more...
(JERUSALEM) - Israeli police said Thursday they were scaling down a planned massive deployment in Jerusalem after gay pride activists agreed to drop a march, instead holding a rally in a closed university stadium on the edge of town. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 3,000 officers would secure the event itself on Friday, but more could be deployed if there were major protests by opponents.
Note: Read full article on www.iht.com
(Singapore) Singapore plans to decriminalize oral and anal sex for adult heterosexuals under legislation unveiled Thursday, but the government said sex between homosexuals will remain banned. The government posted proposed amendments to the city-state's Penal Code -- the result of a three-year review -- on a Web site, and Singaporeans have a month to offer feedback. The Ministry of Home Affairs will consider the input before presenting the proposals to Parliament early next year. The amendments that have generated the most water-cooler buzz in strait-laced Singapore are those that would legalize oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexuals over age 16 -- and the retention of the law against acts between homosexuals.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(USA) - Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban same-sex marriage Tuesday, bucking a strong national trend by refusing to change its constitution to define marriage as a one-man, one-woman institution. The measure also would have forbidden civil unions and domestic partnerships.
Note: Read full article on www.advocate.com
(MEXICO CITY) - Mexico's northern border state of Coahuila is considering a law to allow homosexual civil unions, just days before Mexico City could legalize gay partnerships for the first time in the world's second-biggest Catholic nation. The bill was introduced on Tuesday by a member of the majority Institutional Revolutionary Party and has the support of the governor.
Note: Read full article on reuters
(Herzliya, Israel) - Following a decision by Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz on Monday that the Gay Pride Parade would be held in Jerusalem, Herzliya mayor Yael Gelman called on her colleagues to hold pride parades in their cities, as well.
Note: Read full article on www.jpost.com
Mainland China has approved its first gay and lesbian organisation, according to reports. Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou has backed a group called Happy Together, which arranges lectures, excursions and events of interest to the gay community. Read more...
At an informal, unlicensed bar at a house in a remote corner of Soweto, men and women sip lukewarm beer, mingle, flirt and sometimes dance to driving and monotonous kwaito rhythms. They share a secret. The bar, called a shebeen in the townships, is one of the places where young, black gay people don't have to hide who they are, where they can talk openly and find companionship and a safe haven in an often hostile township.
Note: Read full article on www.mg.co.za/
That got me thinking about how often I hear someone gay use the expression "straight-acting" to describe another gay man. The more I thought about it, the more offensive it became. I'm sure I've been guilty of using it in the past, but more recently, I've come to realize just how damaging the term can be -- both within and outside the LGBT community.
Note: Read full article on www.gaysports.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Police had to form a cordon around Jerusalem's mayor and lead him to safety Tuesday night as dozens of Haredi sect members pelted him with stones. The ultra Orthodox sect has been rioting nightly to protest this Friday's gay pride parade in the city. Mayor Uri Lupolianski had gone to an Orthodox neighborhood for a blessing service at a community hall. Haredi protestors gathered in front of the building and began throwing stones. The mayor, a local rabbi and others were trapped inside until police came to their rescue.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
Whilst on a visit to Britain, The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński has spoken out against "gay culture," warning that it may cause the death of heterosexuality within Europe. Mr Kaczyński who had talks with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair spoke to the BBC's News Night programme earlier tonight.
Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
A Winnipeg volunteer trying to start Manitoba's first summer camp specifically for gay teens and young adults is aware the concept could draw opposition. The camp's an idea Davis brought to Manitoba after volunteering at a similar camp in Edmonton last summer. Targeted at youth between 14 and 24 years of age that identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered (commonly known by the acronymn GLBT), Davis and other local volunteers want to create a similar four-day program here in August.
Davis said the camp will focus on boosting the self-esteem of often marginalized young GLBT men and women, some of whom hail from remote Canadian communities where they're ostracized for their sexual orientation.
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Following emergency meetings early Monday morning between police and representatives of the Open House, which organizes the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, it was decided that the parade would go ahead as planned. The meeting was held in light of the surprise decision by Mazuz on Sunday evening to deny police requests to suspend the parade. Police Chief Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi said that 12,000 policemen would be deployed to man the parade, which is scheduled for this Friday.
Note: Read full article on The Jerusalem Post
(KATHMANDU,NEPAL) - As human beings we want to live together. That is simple the message from 27-years old Nepalese lesbian Nirmala Lawati who has been forcibly separated from her partner of five years, Nirupa Rai.
(UK) - Russian Gay Activist Nikolay Alexejev will be Honoured by Humanists in London. Homophobia at Moscow Pride last May – and in other Eastern European countries – is the subject of a panel discussion and film presentation organised by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) in London next week.
Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
(Edinburgh, UK) - A local history project about the story of the Capital's gay community has been praised by the Scottish Museum Council. Edinburgh Museums' Remember When project was highlighted by the SMC as a successful scheme in its newly launched Collections Development Strategy.
Note: Read full article on scotsman.com
(Rome, Italy) - The rundown locale south of Rome where controversial cultural great Pier Paolo Pasolini was murdered is to be turned into a "literary park," Rome officials announced on Friday. The grubby site at the coastal town of Ostia has been left neglected since Pasolini's murder on November 2, 1975. A spare stone monument to the great poet, novelist, polemicist and film-maker has been fenced off to protect it from graffiti-sprayers and other vandals. "We think Pasolini deserves more than this," said culture officials from Rome's provincial government.
Note: Read full article on ansa.it
(Jerusalem) A Tel Aviv synagogue was vandalized early Thursday in what police say was a warning by gays to Orthodox Jews following two nights of rioting in Jerusalem by a religious sect opposed to a pride march. Windows at the Geulot Israel synagogue were smashed and the words, "If we can't march in Jerusalem, you won't walk in Tel Aviv," were spray-painted on the outside of the building's walls.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
Homosexuals across the capital are being hunted down and murdered by Islamic militants and even the police. In Iraq, where religious radicals consider homosexuality a sin punishable by death, gays have good reason to worry about being “outed”. Thamir, 35, is wary of the extremist Islamic groups that prowl the streets of the capital - but neither does he trust the police who are supposedly there to protect him. Thamir and other gay men complain about frequent mistreatment by police, accusing them of blackmail, torture, sexual abuse and theft. "Policemen raped me several times at gunpoint and threatened to hand me over to extremist groups if I refuse," said Thamir.
Note: Read full article on Spero News
A massive and violent October 13 police raid on a lesbian bar in Lima, Peru, signaled a stepped-up campaign of repression of gays, lesbians, and the transgendered in advance of coming municipal elections in that nation's capital. Local gay activists attributed this latest police raid to Lima's approaching city elections, in which candidates are "looking for an opportunity create a law and order image for themselves to help their re-election," according to a statement by the LGBT group Raiz Diversidad Sexual (RDS, or Root of Sexual Diversity). The fact that reporters from more than one of Lima's TV stations accompanied the police raid in order to film it lends credence to the thesis of a baldly political motivation for the crackdown.
Note: Read full article on direland.typepad.com
(Jerusalem, Israel) - Members of an ultra Orthodox Jewish sect Wednesday night took to the streets in Jerusalem for a second night, setting small fire and engaging police with stones and bottles, to protest next week's gay pride parade. A number of protesters were arrested for causing a disturbance. The demonstration, organized by the Haredi sect, marched through mainly Orthodox neighborhoods. At one point police had to rescue a taxi driver whose cab had been encircled by protestors. Members of the group, as they did on Tuesday, rolled trash cars into the streets and then set them on fire to impede police.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Chicago, USA) - Short in stature, Judy Shepard walks in and stands at the podium, only to be dwarfed by an unwieldy microphone. "I'm not a professional speaker," she tells her audience. They number in the hundreds, mostly teens and young adults. She is, she tells them, "a mom with a story." She's a social studies teacher, a country girl from Wyoming who reluctantly became a political activist after her 21-year-old son Matthew Shepard was beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead on the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming.
Note: Read full article on www.casperstartribune.net
(SAN FRANCISCO, USA) - Violence marred the annual Halloween celebration in San Francisco's Castro district Tuesday when seven people were shot in the 2200 block of Market Street just as the event was drawing to an end, police said. The shooting occurred near Sullivan's Funeral Chapel about a block away from the main stage of the party that drew thousands of revelers, police said.
Note: Read full article on www.sfgate.com
(Faroe Isles, Denmark) - The government of the autonomous Danish province of the Faroe Isles has decided not to condemn discrimination based on sexual orientation. According to prevailing law, it's perfectly okay to discriminate against gays and lesbians there.
(New York, USA) Lambda Legal is accusing President Bush of "undermining the role of the courts" over campaign speeches by the president attacking last week's ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court on same-sex couples rights. The court said that New Jersey must give same-sex couples the same rights as married couples but left it to the legislature to decide whether that would be through same-sex marriage or civil unions.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) - Nikolai Kuryanovich, one of the main organisers of antigay protests and hysteria against the first ever gay pride march in Moscow earlier this year has been sacked by the Liberal Democratic party (LDPR). Today, Kuryanovich was sacked from the party – the decision was taken almost unanimously, with two abstentions.
Note: Read full article on www.gayrussia.ru
(UNITED KINGDOM) - The former President of the Islamist dictatorship of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, will today be awarded an honorary doctorate of law by St Andrews University in Scotland. Critics say it is the moral equivalent of honouring Chilean ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet. During his eight-year tenure as President of Iran, from 1997 to 2004, thousands of Iranians were detained without trial and subjected to savage tortures by Iran's secret police. Over 200 people were executed. Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Iain Blair, and the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, turned down requests for Khatami's arrest. The police were presented with affidavits by two Iranian refugees who say they were falsely imprisoned and brutally tortured while Khatami was in office. Safa Einollahi, 29, and Ali Ebrahimi, 34, claim that, as President, Khatami was ultimately responsible for their torture. He failed to use his office of state to protect them and thousands of other torture victims.
Note: Read full article on commentisfree.guardian.co.uk
(Washington, USA) - LGBT military personnel are being cautioned about divulging personal information on the Internet following reports the Pentagon is monitoring what enlisted people do online. The Army Web Risk Assessment Cell is monitoring official and unofficial blogs and other websites for anything that may compromise security. The team scans for official documents, personal contact information and pictures of weapons or entrances to camps. But, warns the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the information obtained could also be used under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Beijing, CHINA) - The Chinese government has opened a health clinic for gays - the first of its kind in the Communist country - amid a growing HIV/AIDS crisis. The clinic will have a one year test period, after which its effectiveness will be judged. It will provide free HIV tests and treatment for the virus and for other sexually transmitted diseases. It is estimated there are 48 million gays in China. Gay life is mainly underground and the government has had a mixed relationship with the community. In June it began a "clean-up" of gay Web sites. China's government controlled internet domain-name registration company shut down several popular gay Web sites under what the paper said was pressure from police.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(KATHMANDU, NEPAL) - There is gave concern in Nepal for the safety of two lesbians. Niduka Rai, aged 24 from Panchthar, and Nirmala Lawati, aged 27 from Jhapa, are said to have been separated by their families – with the support of the Nepal Police. Recently a charge of domestic violence had been brought against Nirmala accusing her of victimizing Niduka. Niduka and Nirmala have declared their love for each other, saying that they would spend their lives together. However, their families didn’t like this and so brutally separated the lovers.
Note: Read ful article on ukgaynews.org.uk
The Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, opened the first-ever museum exhibition dedicated to gay animals. Today we know that homosexuality is a common and widespread phenomenon in the animal world. Not only are there short-lived sexual relationships, but even long-lasting partnerships - partnerships that may last a lifetime.
Note: The exhibition will run till 19 August 2007. An additional collection of facts about homosexuality in the animal world can be read at the Museum's homepageRead more...
Sixty postal workers at the Commercial Drive postal station walked off the job temporarily Thursday and refused to handle a 28-page brochure that they say is anti-homosexual hate literature. The booklet was produced by the Fundamental Baptist Mission of Waterford, Ont., and is headlined The plague of this 21st Century: the consequences of the sin of homosexuality (AIDS).
Note: Read full article on www.canada.com
HOW SHOULD GAY PEOPLE, OR ANYone sympathetic to gay rights, regard Alfred "Bosie" Douglas? On the one hand, he was Oscar Wilde's lover, the brilliant young poet who coined the phrase "I am the love that dare not speak its name" and publicly defended the man he loved long after Wilde was jailed for gross indecency. On the other hand, he later renounced homosexuality, become a fervent (and married) Catholic, and denounced Wilde as "the agent of the devil in every possible way".
Note: Read full article on living.scotsman.com
(HONG KONG, CHINA) - A southern Chinese university has approved the country's first legally registered student union for gays and lesbians, a newspaper reported Saturday. The Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, a city in Guangdong province, gave the union its blessing after considering the application for a month, the South China Morning Post said. Read more...
(LIMA, PERU) A massive and violent October 13 police raid on a lesbian bar in Lima, Peru, signaled a stepped-up campaign of repression of gays, lesbians, and the transgendered in advance of coming municipal elections in that nation's capital. Dozens of officers from the National Police and from the Serenazgo-a local auxiliary police paid by the municipality of Lima-arrived in a half-dozen pick-up trucks and numerous police cars, cordoned off Calle Manuel Segura in the Lince district, five minutes from downtown Lima, and engaged in a muscular raid on "Avenida 13," a bar frequented in large part by young lesbians. Anyone who did not have an identity card was arrested, and when many young lesbians-panicked by the violent police conduct-refused to leave the bar, they were dragged out and beaten.
Note: Read full article on www.gaycitynews.com
(SAO PAULO, BRAZIL) - When nearly 2.5 million people converged on Sao Paulo this year for the world's biggest gay pride parade, the celebration emphatically reminded Brazil's presidential candidates of the growing political clout of the gay community. Though the presidential candidates have recognized the importance of the gay vote, they have carefully balanced their support for gays with the demands of the Catholic Church, whose priests can sway voting decisions of parishioners. Both candidates have shied away from backing full-scale gay marriage.
Note: Read full article on www.washingtonpost.com
Foreign ambassadors in Bulgaria will inaugurate the 28th Annual Conference of International Association of Gays and Lesbians for Europe, which will be held from 26 to 29 October 2006 in Sofia, organizers announced.
(Jerusalem, Israel) Thousands of ultra-Orthodox protested at Jerusalem’s Sabbath Square Wednesday against the holding of the 2006 Gay Pride Parade in the city, with most of them linking the parade to the recent war in Lebanon, Ynet News reports. The parade is scheduled for November 10. The parade, originally slotted in July, was canceled due to the war, but gay rights groups acted to set another date for the parade since the fighting has ceased.
Note: Read full article on www.edgeboston.com
Poland’s homophobic Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski—the identical twin brother of Polish President Lech Kaczynski—was outed as a homosexual in major Polish media last week in the midst of a political crisis that threatened to cause his government’s downfall. Poland’s second-most important newspaper, Rzeczpolita, published documents—some only recently declassified, and some that were leaked—from the files of the Polish Secret Service that discussed Prime Minister Kaczynski’s homosexuality. As part of an investigation, begun in 1992, of right-wing political parties that, the documents said, “could threaten democracy,” a Secret Service department then headed by Colonel Jan Lesiak reported, “It is advisable to establish if Jaroslaw Kaczynski remains in a long-term homosexual relationship and, if so, who his partner is.”
Note: Read full article on gaycitynews.com>
(TAIPEI, TAIWAN) - A geisha wearing a cream-colored kimono and hot-pink wig, a samurai robed in black, a gothic Cleopatra with gold-beaded hair, aboriginal tribesmen in traditional garb: These were the people in a downtown Taipei neighborhood Sept. 30. True, it was a month too early for Halloween, even if Halloween were widely celebrated in Taiwan, meaning only one other occasion could collect such an amalgam of eccentric characters, and that is the annual Taiwan Pride Parade.
Note: Read full article on Taiwan Journal
(BAGDAD, IRAQ) - Life for gay and lesbian citizens in war-torn Iraq has become grave and is getting worse every day. While President Bush hails a new, “democratic” society, thousands of civilians are dying in a low-level civil war—and gays are being targeted just for being gay. The Badr Corps—the military arm of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI for short), the country’s most powerful Shiite political group—has launched a campaign of “sexual cleansing,” marshaling death squads to exterminate homosexuality.
Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
(Hong Kong) The government of Hong Kong has decided not to appeal a landmark ruling that struck down the former British colony's sodomy law. The South China Post reports that the government has decided to allow the ruling to stand, a move that officially allows the old law to die. Under the legislation gay men caught engaging in sodomy when either was under 21 faced life imprisonment, heterosexual couples could legally have sex at age 16. The law was challenged in 2005 by William Roy Leung, a then 20-year-old gay man who argued he should be able to have a loving relationship without the fear of imprisonment.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(Joshua Tree, California) Jeff Getty, a prominent AIDS activist who made history in 1995 when he underwent a controversial transplant of baboon bone marrow to treat the disease, died Monday of heart failure at the age of 49.Since being diagnosed with AIDS in the days when the disease still was known as ``the gay cancer,'' Getty was a fierce activist, volunteering to test experimental drugs, getting thrown in jail for protesting against pharmaceutical companies and even throwing a coffin on a hospital lawn to demand organ transplants for patients.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(WARSAW, Poland) – Speculation on the sexuality of the Polish Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński has been rife in Poland for years. And this week, former President Lech Walesa confirmed what he said on television more than 10 years ago.
President Walesa was interviewed live on TVP, the state television channel, in 1993 and was talking about his birthday party. Asked who came, he famously said that that he invited Lech Kaczyński (now President) and his wife and Jarosław Kaczyński and his husband. But neither attended.
Note: Read full article on ukgaynews.org.uk
(Indonesia) Indonesia’s fledgling LGBT group, Arus Pelangi (Rainbow Flag), last Monday launched a national campaign against a welter of ultra-homophobic regional statutes based on Muslim Sharia law.
“Many LGBT people are arrested and detained, often without charges or clear reason, only to be released after a few days,” said Widodo “Dodo” Budi Darmo, the 35-year-old director of campaigning for Arus Pelangi, which was formed in January this year as Indonesia’s first explicitly activist LGBT group on the legal and political fronts.
(BOSTON, USA) Former Rep. Gerry Studds, who became the first openly gay member of Congress when his homosexuality was exposed during a teenage page sex scandal, died early Saturday. He was 69. Studds was first elected to the congressional district that represents Cape Cod and the Islands, New Bedford, and the South Shore in 1972, and quickly became known for his work to protect the marine environment and fishing industry.
Note: Read full article on www.boston.com
The Foley mess reaffirms some things we have long known about the nature and characteristics of anti-gay prejudice. William Eskridge, a Yale law professor, has written that anti-gay prejudice has been marked historically by three characteristics. These are: 1) ''hysterical demonization of gay people as dirty sexualized subhumans''; 2) ''obsessional fears of gay people as conspiratorial and sexually predatory''; and 3) ''narcissistic desires to reinforce stable heterosexual identity ... by bashing gay people.'' The primary historical traits of homophobia are thus hysteria, obsession and narcissism.
Note: Read full article on www.metroweekly.com
(Moscow, Russia) The killer of a gay Russian TV journalist has been given an unusually lenient sentence of only three years in prison, according to reports by Lenta.ru. The victim was found dead in his flat on 27 May 2006 with his head smashed in by dumbbells. It is estimated that he probably had been dead for about five days when his body was found. During the investigation, the victim was determined to be Vladimir Akatov, 37, a reporter for the Moscow-based TVC television network. His colleagues there described Akatov as a mild-mannered, reliable individual whose assignments had usually included only non-controversial local industry and science stories. Read more...
(Maputo, Mozambique) The chairperson of the Mozambican Human Rights League (LDH), Alice Mabota, on Thursday urged the country's gay and lesbian citizen to organise and fight for their rights. She was speaking at the first ever seminar on gay rights in the country, organised by the LDH, with the sponsorship of the Dutch NGO Hivos. "Citizens win their rights, they're not a gift from the state", said Mabota. "If gays and lesbians struggle for their rights, the LDH will support them". She added that the LDH is not campaigning on such specific issues as the legalisation of gay marriage: it would be gay people themselves who should raise such a demand, if they wanted to marry.
Note: Read full article on allafrica.com
(Washington, USA) As schools, colleges and community groups across the country prepare to observe National Coming Out Day on Wednesday two new reports show encouraging signs of LGBT acceptance. The first report is a national survey that found that seven out of ten heterosexual adults in the United States say that they know someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The online poll, conducted by Harris Interactive in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, was taken from September 7 to 14 and involved 2,932 adults.
Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
(VILNIUS, Lithuania, EU) The Lithuanian Gay League was angered by the initiative put forward in the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) to treat information related to the propagation of homosexual relations as having a negative impact on the physical, mental and moral development of minors. The leaders of this organization maintain that such a provision would be equivalent to discrimination and contradict the laws currently in force. It would also prevent this organization from disseminating information about homosexuality and about its activities.
Note: Read full article on www.atviri.lt
Washington , D.C. October 6, 2006 – In a ceremony today held at the U.S. Library of Congress, long-time civil rights activist Franklin Edward Kameny officially presented more than 70,000 letters, documents and memorabilia to the nation. The gift represents a lifetime of Kameny's personal papers destined for the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress along with several rare protest and picket signs to be made part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
(San Francisco, California, USA) An international competition to select an artist to create a bust of slain gay Supervisor Harvey Milk has been whittled down to three candidates. The city's Arts Commission called for submissions to be made by August 1. The three artists who made the cut are Bruce Wolfe of Piedmont, Cedric Wentworth of San Francisco and the Daub, Firmin and Hendrickson Sculpture Group of Berkeley. They will each create preliminary sculptures to be judged by a community panel following public input. The final statue will be about six feet tall and be placed in City Hall. It will cost some $60,000 with the money coming from a grant from the Bob Ross Foundation, named for the founder and former publisher of San Francisco's Bay Area Reporter, and from people around the world.
Note: Read the article on 365gay.com
(YAOUNDE, Cameroon) – Ten days after completing a one-year prison sentence for homosexuality during which he was raped and abused, Alim died from an AIDS-related illness at the Central Hospital in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Homosexuality is a crime under Cameroonian law, punishable by up to five years in prison. Alim was one of 30 people arrested at a bar in Yaoundé in May 2005. Most of the men were released, but Alim was one of nine transferred to Yaoundé Central Prison.
Note: Read the full article on UKGayNews.com
"Jamaica is not a safe environment for gay people to survive in, either physically, emotionally, or psychologically, " says Gareth Williams, the 29-year-old leader of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG), the country's LGBT group. In this exclusive interview, Williams recounts to me the horrors that befall same-sexers on this island of hate.
Note: Read the article on Direland
A secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church is examined by Panorama. "Crimen Sollicitationis" was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Reporting for Panorama, Colm O'Gorman finds seven priests with child abuse allegations made against them living in and around the Vatican City.
Note: Read the article and watch the video (40 min).
(Sacramento, California, USA) California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Thursday night making it more difficult for defendants to us the so-called 'gay panic' defense. Schwarzenegger also signed the Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006 which will standardize various California housing laws to specifically state that discrimination is prohibited based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, sex - including gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, familial status and source of income.
Note: Read full article at 365gay.com
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- South Africa's former Deputy President Jacob Zuma apologized on Thursday for offending the gay community and said his comments describing homosexual marriage as "a disgrace" were misinterpreted. Zuma, who is fighting for his political life after being fired over a corruption scandal last year, angered activists after a local newspaper quoted him calling plans to legalize same-sex marriages a "disgrace to the nation and to God".
The ANC Youth League - a staunch ally of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma - has reacted to his Heritage Day gay-bashing statement, saying it was his personal view and not that of the ANC. Youth League President Fikile Mbalula said Zuma was speaking for himself when he said same-sex marriages were a taboo and should not be tolerated in any normal
society. Read more...
Few actors can boast successful careers spanning five years, much less five decades. And even fewer can claim success playing everything from long dead monarchs (Richard III in Richard III) to superheroes (Magneto in the X-Men series) to fantasy figures (Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) to a gay man in a concentration camp (Uncle Freddie in Bent). And only one can claim to have done all that as an openly gay man. That man is Sir Ian McKellen, arguably the most famous gay actor in the world.
(LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, USA) -- A federal judge has temporarily suspended Kentucky's law forbidding protests within 300 feet of military funerals and memorial services. U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell said Tuesday that the law goes too far in limiting free speech. The law aimed at Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., which is known for its anti-gay protests, is too broad to serve its intended purpose, the judge said.
(Basel, Switzerland) Pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Friday it will help three African companies produce one of its anti-HIV drugs. Roche will provide the companies - Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, Cosmos Ltd. and Universal Corp. in Kenya - with the technical assistance necessary to produce saquinavir, the active ingredient in the Swiss-based pharmaceutical's Invirase treatment. Read more...
(Johannesburg, South Africa) The Zimbabwean government has banned gays and lesbians from a United Nations workshop on the creation of a commission to monitor human rights there, ZimOnline reported on Friday. Read more...
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou officiated at a ceremony yesterday marking the opening of Taipei's 2006 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) festival as well as the beginning of the city's LGBT civil rights movement. Addressing the opening, Ma said it is hoped that by holding the festival, alternately titled the "LGBT Civil Rights Movement," Taipei will become a society that has peace, compassion and respect for all voices and cultures. Read more...
(Katmandu) Members of Nepal's LGBT community say they were misled into supporting the democracy movement by assurances mass arrests and other civil rights abuses would end. Blue Diamond Society had participated in the demonstrations against the regime of King Gyanendra that helped usher in an elected government but the group says the new government is no better than the old one.
(Uruguay) Uruguay's Congress will pass a law to legalise gay and heterosexual civil unions, granting those couples the same rights as married ones, a ruling party Senator said today. The Senate already passed the Bill, and Senator Margarita Percovich told Reuters the lower house is expected to approve it easily given the governing leftist coalition's majority. Read more...
(Costa Rica) The Diversity Movement, a gay rights group, held a press conference yesterday to announce that the bill is in the hands of legislators who support it, including Ana Helena Chacón, of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), José Merino del Río, of the Broad Front Party and Alberto Salom, of the Citizen Action Party (PAC). Read more...
(Washington, USA) Tyrone Garner who challenged Texas' sodomy law to the US Supreme Court and won a landmark decision has died. In 1998 Garner and John Lawrence were charged under the sodomy law after police burst into Lawrence's Houston home in search of an armed intruder and discovered the two men engaged in sex. Read more...
www.stuff.co.nz reports that a slur campaign warning that "gays are a cancer" in the Presbyterian Church has sickened members as they prepare to vote on a ruling banning homosexual ministers. Bumper stickers have been sent to the Presbyterian Assembly's 500 members nationwide, inflaming an issue that already threatens to split the Church. Read more...
(Shreveport, Louisiana) According to 365gay.com, three people protesting against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the law preventing gays from serving openly in the military were arrested Tuesday in Shreveport, Louisiana. Read more...
(Huddersfield, UK) An exhibition about gay weddings opens in Huddersfield tomorrow. The exhibition, Getting Hitched, will be at Huddersfield Art Gallery until November 4. Read more...
(LONDON) A threat to out gay Catholic priests and bishops in Scotland has today been condemned as a 21st century witch-hunt by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA). The threat comes from a group of Catholics called Catholic Truth, which is based in Edinburgh. Catholic Truth says it will “name and shame” homosexual clergy as part of its “heavenly witness protection programme”. Read more...
(BEIJING) - Xinhua News Agency on Sunday promulgated a set of measures to regulate the release of news and information in China by foreign news agencies and the subscription of such news and information by users in China and to promote the dissemination of news and information in a sound and orderly manner.
(New York City) A month shy of her 50th birthday, Martina Navratilova closed out her competitive career Saturday night in fitting fashion: a mixed doubles championship at the U.S. Open for her 59th Grand Slam title. Read more...
Thirteen alleged lesbians were outed by the Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper on Friday (September 8), weeks after outing 45 alleged gay men last month. Read more...
(La Paz, Bolivia) NoticiasGLBT.com reports that Bolivia's President Morales considers to give legal rank to indigenous justice system, which punishes unfaithful women and homosexuals. Read more...
A HONG Kong-based non-governmental organization will launch China's first financial awards for research on homosexuality next year as part of its efforts to eliminate discrimination against gay people, the Shanghai Daily reports.
Note: Discuss in forum hereRead more...
Lawmakers in Latvia on Thursday rejected a bill that sought to ban "homosexual propaganda" in the mass media, Agence France-Presse reports. The populist Latvia First Party had prepared draft amendments to laws that govern what the media can and cannot do. The measures would have made it illegal to publish articles about or interviews with gays and lesbians in which they talk about their lives or gay rights.
Note: Discuss in forum hereRead more...
(Vatican City) Pope Benedict XVI hit out Friday at Canada's laws allowing same sex marriage and abortion, saying they result from Catholic politicians ignoring the values of their religion.
"In the name of 'tolerance' your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse, and in the name of 'freedom of choice' it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children," the pope told a group of bishops from Ontario.
Note: Discuss in forum hereRead more...
(Sacramento, USA) California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit any negative portrayal of gays in textbooks and other instructional material. The bill was an amended version of an earlier one that would have mandated the teaching of LGBT history in state schools that Schwarzenegger warned he would veto. The weakened version passed the Senate last week. Read more...
(Ekaterinburg, Russia) Two drunk young men have organized a funfair in the city of Ekaterinburg by perfoming a public sex act with eachother. The incident, which caused resonance in the local and national press, occurred on September 5 in the very center of the Ural capital on a frequented street. Read more...
(Montreal, Quebec) Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair said Tuesday that he is ready to become Canada's first openly gay premier. The 40-year old also wants to be the first Prime Minister of an independent Quebec nation.
Accra- The Ghanaian government on Thursday slammed the door to an international gay and lesbian conference scheduled for the third week of September in Accra, saying that allowing the conference to be held would offend most Ghanaians. Read more...
The Democratic primary victory of Alabama lesbian Patricia Todd for a seat in the statehouse was overturned by a party committee tonight. The committee vote was 5-0. Had the committee not reversed the election, which Todd won by 59 votes, she would have become the first openly gay elected official in the state's history. No Republican has entered the race in the overwhelmingly Democratic district. Todd's race was to determine who would represent District 54 in Birmingham in the statehouse. Read more...
(Quebec City, Quebec) Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair was sworn in as a member of Quebec legislature, declaring that his sovereigntist party wants to build a new Quebec.
When the Maoist guerrillas and the government begin discussions Friday with the committee framing a new constitution for the country, Nepal's gay community wants a voice in the new charter of rights. Read more...
South Africa's Cabinet has given the green light for a bill allowing gay marriage, which would make it the first country in Africa to accord homosexual couples the same rights as their straight counterparts. Read more...
