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Four men were attacked after a Uganda newspaper published a front page article listing the top 100 homosexuals under a banner that read “Hang Them.”
According to the Daily Mail Reporter, the paper also printed the men’s photos and addresses alongside their names.
Since the article was published the four men have had stones thrown at their houses, beaten, and many others have gone into hiding for their own safety.
The article, published on October 9 in a Ugandan newspaper called Rolling Stone – not the American magazine – also claimed that an unknown but deadly disease was attacking homosexuals in Uganda.
In addition, the piece said that homosexuals will recruit one million children in the next two years by raiding schools – a common smear used in Uganda.
The paper’s managing editor, Giles Muhame, justified the article, and said, “(It was) in the public interest.”
‘We felt there was need for society to know that such characters exist amongst them.”
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It’s enough to make Big Brother Host Julien Chen blush after learning that a former contestant has reportedly gone “gay” wild.
According to E Online, Big Brother 10 contestant Steven Daigle is chilling in a jail cell after allegedly roughing up his ex-boyfriend and fellow gay-porn actor, Trent Locke, the L.A. Sheriff’s Department confirms to E! News.
The latest in a string of Big Brother alums with serious legal troubles, the 37-year-old Daigle and his former boyfriend allegedly got physical following an argument in West Hollywood that saw Locke wind up in the hospital and the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Daigle in custody.
He was booked for misdemeanor battery and is being held on $20,000 bail pending an arraignment later today.
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For the first time in American history, gays and lesbians wanting to join the U.S. military are being allowed to sign up!
According to the NY Daily News, The U.S. military put up the welcome sign for gay recruits Wednesday in the most significant move so far by the Pentagon, signaling that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is on its last legs.
“Recruiters have been given guidance, and they will process applications for applicants who admit they are openly gay or lesbian,” said Pentagon a spokeswoman in announcing the new rules.
But the new policy came with a string of cautions and caveats for young gays considering a military career depending on the outcomes of a government lawsuit against DADT and the stalled Congressional effort to repeal the law.
Gay rights groups warned recruits that the rules might change again, and cautioned against open declarations of sexual orientation.
But some activist groups are planning to send members to recruiting stations to test the Pentagon’s new policy.
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New York police arrested two more suspects on Tuesday in the recent series of anti-gay attacks.
According to CNN, Jose Dominguez, 22, who was arrested early Tuesday morning, was charged with sexual abuse, gang assault in the first and second degree, unlawful imprisonment, criminal possession of a weapon, hate crime, and harassment, according to the complaint filed in court.
Ruddy Vargas-Perez, 22, was charged with 10 charges including four counts of robbery, gang assault in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment, criminal possession of a weapon, hate crime, and harassment, according to the complaint. His bail was set at $25,000.
Despite the complaint stating the 10 charges brought against Vargas-Perez, his attorney, Benjamin Heinrich, maintains his client is only charged with robbery.
“He had nothing to do with any of that horrific conduct and he was as mortified as we all are by what happened to that poor man,” Heinrich said. “And we see that he hasn’t been charged with that.”
The courtroom was packed with Vargas-Perez’ family and friends who gathered outside after the arraignment holding signs with his picture and chanting, “Ruddy.”
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Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns is getting worldwide attention for his emotional plea that gay teens not commit suicide as he tearfully expressed his own battle with bullies as a schoolboy.
“Give yourself a chance to see how much life will get better,” Councilman Joel Burns says in his appeal to bullied teens, which he made during a 12-minute speech to the council on Tuesday.
Over the weekend, the video had received more than 1.5 million visits YouTube.
Are you ready for some gay NFL players? Well, they are getting ready for the football season with some impressive fanfare.
According to the Onion Sports Network, as the first round of preseason games drew to a close Monday, NFL sources reported that the league’s 164 closeted gay players were turning in excellent performances across the board as they battled for roster positions on the league’s 32 teams.
“It’s still early, but so far so good,” said one Giants lineman, who told reporters he was pleased with his team’s 31-16 victory over the Jets and who, like every gay player in the NFL, is not out to his teammates and asked not to be named. “I feel good physically and I’m playing well, so I should be able to survive at least the first roster cut if I stay healthy.”
“I’m not going to make any predictions, but I think all of us gay guys did great tonight,” said a Jets skill-position player, dismissing his team’s preseason loss as unimportant. “In fact, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if all nine of our homosexual players made the cut.”
Across the NFL, gay players are shaking off the rust of a long offseason, contending with the rigors of learning the playbook, and competing with their teammates—some of whom are younger, some of whom are stronger, some of whom are also gay—for a spot on a 53-man roster.
For the past several weeks, they have been practicing, showering, watching videotape, eating, and sitting in the trainer’s hot tub alongside straight players. While many have formed close friendships in that time, every closeted gay player realizes as much as every openly straight player that the team doesn’t have enough positions for all of them.
“The first test for any player, gay or not, is how you do in that first full-pads practice, where the speed and power of players at this level surprises some guys who are coming right out of college,” said a gay player for the Kansas City Chiefs, adding that his career would surely be ruined if his sexual orientation were to be revealed. “Our first week, a receiver coming across the middle got hit so hard by a gay member of our secondary he could barely believe it. You see that happen a lot.”
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Hi! I\’m 39 and have known that I was gay when I was about 11-12. I didn\’t really have a lot of crushes on boys my age, they were always for older men. I grew up around a bunch of homophobic,pro-religious people who thought that being gay was wrong and this sent me into depression and serious denial of who I am. I used to go swimming at a rec-center near me and seeing all the naked men walking around the change room and finding a ripped up Plygirl magazine all over the road really made it evident that I liked men. For years I went into hiding and alcoholism. I still really wanted to meet a man for some intimate moments but the self guilt was too much. When I turned 36, I decided that I needed someone else to know about me so I went to my woman doctor and collected enough courage to tell her. It was the most peaceful and supportive converstion that I had in years as she was so supportive of me and now I can feel comfortable talking to her about boyfriend problems or concerns anytime. I\’m still not out to my family yet but she gave me some self-confidence that I was lacking and after talking with her, I finally started dating. I ended-up meeting a wonderful boyfriend for an 8-month relationship. There\’s no wonder why gay men and straight women get along so well, we both have one thing in common——we love men!! Brian
Cuba’s gay pride rally received a big political push over the weekend as the niece of former Cuban President Fidel Castro and the daughter of the current president marched during the celebration.
According to the Associated Press, hundreds of gay and lesbian activists, some dressed in drag and others sporting multicolored flags representing sexual diversity, marched and danced through the streets of Havana on Saturday along with the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro as part of a celebration aimed at eliminating homophobia around the world.
Some of the marchers played drums and others walked on stilts as they made their way down a wide avenue in the capital’s hip Vedado neighborhood, where they have held a series of debates and workshops ahead of the May 17 celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia, which participants say marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization stopped listing homosexuality as a mental illness.
“We have made progress, but we need to make more progress,” said Mariela Castro, a campaigner for gay rights on the island and the leader of Cuba’s National Sexual Education Center. She is also the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro.
Cuba has come a long way in accepting homosexuality. In the 1960s, shortly after the revolution, homosexuals were fired from state jobs and many were imprisoned or sent to work camps. Others fled into exile.
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Michael Jackson’s father is calling stories that his son was gay untrue, despite the fact it’s Michael’s former physician and office manager who say it is so.
According to the Indian Express, popstar Michael Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson has dismissed reports that his son was gay.
The father of the late ‘King of Pop’ slammed his son’s close confidante and physician Arnie Klein, who recently claimed that the singer was a homosexual, TMZ.com reported.
“Michael was not gay. He (Klein) has no respect for Michael… to say things about him when he’s gone is shameful. He’s a doctor and knows better than to break his vows against a patient,” Joe said.
Klein and his office manager, Jason Pfieffer, were featured on the TV show ‘Extra’ a few days ago, where Pfeiffer claimed to have had a romantic relationship with MJ.
Klein said, that Pfeiffer was “the love of his (Jackson’s) life” and also recalled walking in on the two men with their shirts off.
Klein admits he and Pfeiffer have been the target of “horrible death threats” since going public with the claims, which Joe Jackson calls “not true”.
Michael Jackson died on June 25, last year at the age of 50 of a prescription drug overdose.
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If the rumors about a high-profile celebrity coming out in People magazine this month are true, then it looks like it’s going to be a big country music star.
According to the NY Daily News, Country music is about to take part in the
biggest coming out party ever.
Singer Chely Wright will be sticking her boot into the traditionally conservative
community by announcing she is a lesbian in People Magazine next week, TMZ
reports.
The 39-year-old musician, who was named Academy of Country Music’s Top
New Female Vocalist in 1999, will be the first major country artist to come out.
Wright has seven albums under her belt and scored a number one hit in 1999 with
“Single White Female.” She has also written songs for Brad Paisley – with whom she has also been romantically linked – Mindy Smith and Richard Marx.
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Move over Archie, there’s a new man in your comic world and he’s gay!
The decades-old question that has driven more Archie Comics plot turns than a white-walled jalopy just got a new twist.
According to the Washington Post, Archie Comics announced Thursday that Riverdale High will enroll its first openly gay character in September.
The character, a blond newbie named Kevin Keller, will debut in No. 202 of Veronica Comics.
In the initial story line, titled “Isn’t It Bromantic?,” Veronica is stymied when her womanly wiles hold no sway with Kevin, who has more in common with fellow foodie Jughead.
“Everyone seems to know where Kevin is coming from except Veronica,” says Victor Gorelick, editor in chief of Archie Comics. “They don’t tell Veronica — they let her stew in it for a while. But he hangs out with Jughead — they seem to have a connection as far as food goes.”
Judging by Gorelick and Archie artist-writer Dan Parent, there’s nothing more to be read into that last statement. Sometimes a malted is just a malted.
Kevin’s debut is part of Archie Comics’ larger efforts to contemporize the characters’ world.
“The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie’s hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books,” Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater said in announcing the news.
This is just the latest step toward Riverdale showing more diversity. In the new story line of Archie Comics, the redheaded star is dating neither Veronica or Betty — but Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats.
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Not being gay enough is why three bisexual men claim they were pulled out of competing in the Gay World Series.
According to Fox News and the Seattle Times, the trio filed a lawsuit in Seattle Tuesday against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA) claiming they were discriminated against for not being gay enough to participate in the organization’s Gay Softball World Series.
The three men who filed the suit, Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ, claim their softball team, D2, was disqualified from participating in the softball championship because the alliance ruled they were “nongay.”
After D2 qualified for the 2008 championship series, the NAGAAA held a hearing to determine the sexual orientation of D2 players. The plaintiffs allege they were asked “personal and intrusive questions” about their sexual attractions and desires.
At one point during the questioning, D2 players were allegedly told, “This is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series.”
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N’Sync singer Lance Bass and some other famous gays are helping support a gay-friendly prom in Mississippi, where a high school lesbian was denied bringing her partner to the event.
According to the Associated Press, Bass, Green Day and celebrity chef Cat Cora are among those helping to pay for a gay-friendly prom in Mississippi next month.
Organizers say the event is open to everyone but geared toward gay students.
The American Humanist Association also will contribute $20,000 for the May 8 event in Tupelo.
The annual prom is organized by the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition.
This year’s event has drawn attention because of the case of Constance McMillen, a high school senior who challenged her school district’s rule banning same-sex dates at proms.
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Award-winning singer and actor Cyndi Lauper is letting her “True Colors” shine through with development of a gay homeless shelter for teenagers she’s helping to build.
According to the San Diego Gay & Lestbian Times, Lauper says she is planning to open a shelter for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people.
The gay icon said the shelter in Harlem will be called True Colors Residence and will support young people who have been kicked out of their homes by their parents and disowned.
Anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 LGBT youths are homeless in New York City, according to estimates from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
“Kids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they’re still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets,” Lauper said in a statement.
“We need to make sure we’re taking care of them. This is the next generation of the LGBT community.”
The six-story building in Harlem will have 30 studio apartments, a computer room, a library and communal space. Residents, who must be between the ages of 18 and 24, will pay rent based on income, according to Section 8 rules.
Organizers hope the shelter will be operational by winter 2011.
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Gay couples are being urged to fill out their 2010 Census applications and checking off the spaces marked “husband” or ” wife.”
According to the Associated Press, with strong backing from the Census Bureau, gay-rights activists are urging maximum participation by their community in the first U.S. census that will tally same-sex couples who say they are married — even those without a marriage license.
The move has drawn fire from conservatives, who complain that it’s another step toward redefining marriage.
For the first time, the bureau has deployed a team of professional field workers — about two-dozen strong — to reach out to gays and lesbians. On Monday, the bureau unveiled its first public-service videos encouraging gay Americans to mail in their census forms.
“We have to reach out and engage this part of the population. Anything less than that is a failure,” said Tim Olson, a Census Bureau assistant division chief helping to oversee the campaign.
Only the District of Columbia and five states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa — have legalized gay marriages, starting with Massachusetts in 2004. But the Census Bureau says same-sex couples in any state who consider themselves spouses should feel free to check the “husband” or “wife” boxes on the census form, rather than “unmarried partner.”
The bureau’s willingness to count gay marriages — despite a federal law that denies legal recognition to any of them — has been hailed as a historic milestone by gay-rights leaders.
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New York Police are investigating the death of a gay, former professional wrestler after his body is discovered inside his apartment over the weekend.
According to the Associated Press, authorities said that a man who identified himself as one of the first openly gay professional wrestlers was found dead of an apparent suicide in his New York City apartment.
Police said Chris Klucsaritis was found by his brother in the living room of his apartment Friday. A suicide note has been recovered.
The 40-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Medical Examiner’s office is investigating to determine the exact cause of death.
Klucsaritis wrestled under the name Chris Kanyon.
He started his career in the late 1990s and was part of the championship tag team “Men at Work.”
He later joined World Wrestling Entertainment.
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New York Police are trying to figure out who killed a 29-year-old transgender woman after discovering her naked body in her apartment.
According to the NY Daily News, Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar was found dead in her ransacked Queens apartment on Tuesday, her naked body sprawled across the bed, police said.
Gonzalez-Andujar, who was born Edelbuerto, had not been heard from since Friday.
Her friends got her landlord to let them into her Glendale apartment around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“We found her on her bed. She was naked,” said Barbara Vega, 35, of Bushwick, Brooklyn. “Everything in the apartment was destroyed. All her Marilyn Monroe pictures were destroyed.”
Police said the medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Vega, who believes Gonzalez-Andujar was slain, said she had tried in vain to reach her friend since spending time with her on Friday.
“She never had any problems with anybody. She was full of life,” she said. “We need to know who did this to her.”
Gonzalez-Andujar’s friends wailed as her body, covered in a black plastic bag, was taken out of the 62nd St. building yesterday.
Stephanie Lopez, 19, said she was returning home from school when she saw one of the “hysterical” friends lunge for the gurney that carried Gonzalez-Andujar’s body.
Lopez recalled that another woman screamed: “No! Why, Amanda? Why?”
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A former U.S. General is now saying that he’s sorry for his remarks against Dutch gay troops during the Serbian war.
According to Reuters, a retired U.S. general has apologized for comments this month linking the defeat of Dutch troops by Serb forces at Srebrenica in July 1995 to the presence of openly gay soldiers in the Dutch military.
On March 18, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander John Sheehan told a U.S. congressional hearing that European armies had been weakened by efforts to “socialize” them, including allowing gay soldiers to serve.
He specifically cited the example of Srebrenica, where Serb paramilitaries overran lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers before slaughtering over 7,000 Muslim men and boys. It was Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two, and a six-year investigation into the attack led to the fall of the Dutch government in 2002.
Sheehan said he had been told by a Dutch military commander that the Dutch felt the presence of gay soldiers was one of the reasons the peacekeepers were so easily defeated.
But in a letter on Monday to that commander, retired general Henk van den Bremmen, Sheehan acknowledged that Van den Bremmen had said no such thing at the time.
“I am sorry that my recent public recollection of those discussions of 15 years ago inaccurately reflected your thinking on some specific social issues in the military,” Sheehan said in the letter. “To be clear, the failure on the ground in Srebrenica was in no way the fault of the individual soldiers.”
The Dutch Defense Ministry provided Reuters with a copy of the letter, which it said it had “absolutely” confirmed was written and sent by Sheehan to Van den Breemen.
Sheehan’s comments caused a storm of controversy in the Netherlands, which in some ways is still scarred by the memory of events during the Bosnian conflict.
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Latin superstar Ricky Martin is finally “coming out,” saying he’s been living la vida as a gay man for quite awhile.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Martin announced on his blog today that he is “a fortunate gay man,” which probably elicited two reactions: “duh!” and “double duh!”
Duh: Anyone who looks like Ricky is “fortunate.” And double duh: The announcement that he’s gay is about as shocking as when Sean Hayes came out on the cover of The Advocate last month.
After all, Ricky has been living la vida “don’t ask, don’t tell” for a long time—sometimes there was a girlfriend; other times, Ricky was doing stretching exercises on a beach with another guy in a Speedo.
But let’s put the cynicism (and the “He Bangs” jokes) aside for a moment. Coming out — even in this post Ellen/Rosie/Lance Bass/Neil Patrick Harris age — takes courage, especially when you’re a public figure.
You immediately become a spokesperson, whether you like it or not (and for that matter, whether the gay community wants you to be or not.) In fact, the entire gay movement can apparently rest on your shoulders: “[Ricky Martin's] decision to model this kind of openness and honesty can lead to a greater acceptance for countless gay people in the U.S., in Latin America and worldwide,” said Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD, in a statement.
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President Barack Obama appointed a lesbian law professor to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Saturday.
According to the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News, using a constitutional provision known as a recess appointment, Obama put Chai Feldblum and three others to positions on the EEOC.
Feldblum and the others had been approved by a Senate committee in early December but their confirmation vote was put on indefinite hold by a lone Senate Republican.
In making the direct appointments for the EEOC, Obama also made 11 other recess appointments of nominees to “critical administration posts.” In a statement, the White House referred to “months of Republican obstruction” to nominees and noted that while the Senate has yet to approve 217 of Obama’s nominees, President Bush had only five still pending at this point in his first term.
Numerous right-wing groups voiced opposition to Feldblum shortly after she was nominated. The Traditional Values Coalition called Feldblum “yet another radical Obama nominee,” saying she would “use her power to strip nearly all First Amendment rights of freedom of expression/free exercise of religion from businesses.”
Concerned Women for America said Feldblum “represents one of the most serious threats to religious freedom we have seen in a long time.” And The Family Research Council said Feldblum “openly admitted to supporting polygamy.”
Some predicted that opposition would surface during her confirmation hearing in November. But it didn’t, at least in part because Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which handled the nomination, met the controversy head on.
“Something has come to our attention here – a petition … that you signed onto” that expresses support for “committed loving households in which there are more than one conjugal partner,” Harkin said.
“That says polygamy to me,” Harkin said, noting that it is illegal in the United States and that, in the 20-plus years he has worked with her, he never knew she supported polygamy.
“I do not support polygamy,” Feldblum said. “I am sorry I signed that document and I have asked that my name be removed.”
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