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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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Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago. 1 comment
Some gay couples made history Thursday, becoming the first same-sex marriages to take place in Mexico City.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Judith Vazquez and Lol Kin Castaneda on Thursday became the first gay couple to marry in Mexico under a new law that allows same-sex couples to wed and to adopt children.
The law was passed by the Mexico City legislature in December and applies only to the capital. It is the most far-reaching gay-rights law in Latin America and one of several measures that have put the city and its leaders at odds with the more conservative country.
“This is a historic day,” presiding judge Hegel Cortes said shortly after pronouncing Vazquez and Castaneda “legitimately united in matrimony.” Three other same-sex couples also tied the knot.
Actress and feminist activist Jesusa Rodriguez’s flight was delayed and she missed the event; she and her partner of 30 years were wed later in a separate ceremony.
The city put on quite a show, despite harsh criticism from the conservative ruling party that governs the nation and from the influential Roman Catholic Church.
The ceremony took place in the columned courtyard of the 300-year-old Municipal Palace, on a stage festooned with white lilies and a larger-than-life bust of Benito Juarez. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard attended, applauding warmly and hugging all of the newlyweds, as did the heads of the city’s legislature and highest court.
“I am overjoyed to finally be making this real,” said Vazquez, 44. “A different world is possible.”
The couples responded affirmatively when asked by the judge whether they were entering marriage of their free will. Then Vazquez and her bride were the first to step up and sign the registry, each sealing it with a thumbprint. They gave an ink-stained thumbs up and kissed as the audience erupted in cheers.
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Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
The ratings are out and it’s official — Atlanta is voted America’s gayest city!
According to The Advocate, Georgia isn’t the most gay-friendly state, but Atlanta is undoubtedly our gayest city with 29 gay bars, which probably the reason it’s dubbed Hotlanta.
Atlanta’s several queer events include one of the nation’s largest Prides in October (returning to Piedmont Park this year), and MondoHomo, a May event celebrating art, drag, burlesque, film, and BBQ.
Rounding out the top ten cities are Burlington, Vt., Iowa City, Bloomington, Ind., Madison, Wis., New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Portland, Maine, Austin and Seattle.
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Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago. 1 comment
China police ordered the first-ever Mr. Gay Pageant shut down an hour before it was expected to get under way Friday in Beijing.
According to the BBC, the Mr Gay China event was thought to mark a new openness toward the gay community in country.
Organizers said that police informed them it could not go ahead because they had not applied “according to the procedures”.
Homosexuality was illegal in China until 1997, and officials described it as a mental illness until 2001.
The event’s organizer, Ben Zhang, said that he had been hoping the event would mark another step towards greater awareness of gay people in China.
One of the judges, Weng Xiaogang, said, “In my opinion, I believe it [the cancellation] had something to do with the issue of homosexuality.”
The eight contestants were competing for the right to represent China at the Worldwide Mr Gay pageant next month in Norway.
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Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
Another historical first for China, as Beijing gets ready to host the Mr. Gay Pagent.
According to the Associated Press, featuring a fashion show and a host in drag, Mr. Gay China, set for Friday night in the capital city of Beijing, is the country’s first gay pageant, marking another step toward greater awareness of homosexuals in a country where gays are frequently discriminated against and ostracized.
Eight men compete for the title and a spot in the Worldwide Mr. Gay pageant, to be held next month in Oslo, Norway.
Organizer Ben Zhang said the main purpose of the pageant was to help people realize that there is a thriving gay community in China.
“We are trying to make the Chinese public understand that we are not just sissies, we’re not psychos, we’re not HIV-infected diseased patients,” Zhang said at a recent media event. “We are sunny and sexy and trendy and intelligent people, and we’re living among you.”
Gay rights in China have come a long way since the years just after the 1949 communist revolution when homosexuality was considered a disease from the decadent West and feudal societies, and gay people were persecuted. Sodomy was decriminalized in 1997, and homosexuality was finally removed from the official list of mental disorders in 2001.
But tellingly, all the contestants interviewed asked to use their English names instead of Chinese names, to better protect their identities at home. While treatment of gays has improved in recent years, many are still reticent to draw attention to their homosexuality, particularly in the workplace.
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Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
In what is being touted as one of the world’s first ever specialty prisons, Italy is expected to open a facility designed exclusively for transgender inmates.
According to the BBC, the prison, at Pozzale, near the Tuscan city of Florence, is expected to house inmates who mainly have convictions for drug-related offences and prostitution.
Gay rights groups in Italy welcomed the move to convert an almost empty medium security women’s prison into a specially equipped detention centre.
It is thought that Italy has a total of some 60 transgender prisoners.
The facility will house about 30 people, according to reports.
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Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
If you’re thinking of having a same-sex marriage in Europe, then Portugal may be your new destination wedding spot.
According to the Canadian Press, Portugal’s parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.
Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva is thought unlikely to veto the Socialist government’s bill, which won the support of all left-of-centre parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April – a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.
Right-of-centre parties opposed the change and sought a national referendum on the issue, but their proposal was rejected and the government’s bill was passed by 125 votes to 99.
Gay rights campaigners applauded from the galleries, hugged and kissed outside the building and ate wedding cake.
“This law rights a wrong,” Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a speech to lawmakers, adding that it “simply ends pointless suffering.”
Socrates said the measure is part of his effort to modernize Portugal where homosexuality was a crime until 1982.
Two years ago his government lifted Portugal’s ban on abortion, despite church opposition.
Gay marriage is currently permitted in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway. Canada, South Africa and six U.S. states also permit it.
The bill removes a reference in the current law to marriage being between two people of different sexes.
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Posted 7 months, 4 weeks ago. Add a comment
Imagine being sent to life in prison just for being gay? That’s exactly what could happen in Uganda.
According to the Washington Post, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 is an ugly and ignorant piece of legislation being considered in Uganda. If it is approved, the gay people of that nation would be subject to life in prison. This retreat from the death sentence originally proposed should neither be celebrated nor considered a concession by the government in response to pressure from the United States and other nations. The proposal is barbaric. That it is even being considered puts Uganda beyond the pale of civilized nations.
The nine-page bill, which says that “homosexual behavior and related practices” are a “threat to the traditional family,” is an offense from beginning to end. The framers say it is needed to “protect” the country from those “seeking to impose their values of sexual promiscuity on the people of Uganda.” They say the bill is also needed because children and youth “are made vulnerable to sexual abuse and deviation. . . .” Among the corrupting influences are “uncensored technologies” and “increasing attempts by homosexuals to raise children. . . .”
The law would apply to citizens or permanent residents of Uganda, and would cover behavior both in and outside that country. The measure would turn neighbor against neighbor by requiring those with knowledge of a gay person to report them to police within 24 hours or risk three years in prison. A seven-year jail term awaits the Ugandan who “aids, abets, [or] counsels” homosexuals. And anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” which could mean someone who is HIV-positive and is intimate with another person of the same sex, could “suffer death.”
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Still wearing his wedding dress while in prison is how one gay man spent his honeymoon soon after he and his partner were married in the African country of Malawi.
According to the BBC, police arrested the two gay men after getting engaged and are to be charged with gross public indecency.
“We arrested them because they committed an offence; homosexuality in Malawi is illegal,” police spokesman Davie Chingwalu told the BBC.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza held a traditional engagement ceremony over the weekend – believed to be the first gay couple in Malawi to do so.
Homosexuality carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years in Malawi.
The pair are being held in separate cells in Blantyre until their case is heard.
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Posted 8 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
It’s finally happened – the first Latin American gay couple tied the knot Monday in Argentina!
According to the New York Times, gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre were married in Ushauaia, the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego state, in a ceremony witnessed by sate and federal officials.
“My knees didn’t stop shaking,” Di Bello said. “We are the first gay couple in Latin America to marry.”
The couple had previously tried to marry in the Argentine capitol of Buenos Aires, but was thwarted by city officials citing conflicting judicial rulings. Argentina’s Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman, effectively leaving the matter to state and city officials.
Tierra del Fuego Gov. Fabiana Rios said in a statement that gay marriage “is an important advance in human rights and social inclusion and we are very happy that this has happened in our state.”
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Posted 8 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
A Honduran gay activist, who was documenting and publicizing homophobic killings and crimes in his homeland, was assassinated during a drive-by shooting on Dec. 14, authorities said.
According to the Gay & Lesbian Times, Walter Trochez, 27, was an active member of the resistance front against June’s coup d’état and, on Dec. 4, had been kidnapped, beaten, interrogated about the resistance, threatened with death, and told to cease his activism.
The four kidnappers, whose clutches he managed to escape after several hours, wore hoods and drove a truck without license plates. They were probably government agents, multiple sources said.
“Even if you give us the information, we’re going to kill you,” the kidnappers told him. “We have orders to kill you.”
Police officials denied any involvement.
In his role with the Resistencia Nacional Contra el Golpe de Estado, Trochez had been documenting and publicizing homophobic killings and crimes believed to be committed by the forces behind the coup, as well as general human-rights violations committed during anti-coup protest marches.
He had recently published an article titled “Increase in hate crimes and homophobia toward LGTB as a result of the civic-religious-military coup in Honduras.”
The article said, in part: “It is worth stating that the explicit support of the church in Honduras for the military coup of June 28, 2009, prevented holding a referendum organized by the legitimate constitutional government, while it put dictator Roberto Micheletti in power. … Once again we say it is NOT ACCEPTABLE that in these past four months, during such a short period, nine transsexual and gay friends were violently killed, six in San Pedro Sula and three in Tegucigalpa. … As a revolutionary, I will always defend my people, even if it takes my life.”
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Posted 8 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
Mexico City has became the first Latin America country to allow same-sex marriages, prompting many gay organizations around the world to chant, “Viva Mexico!”
According to AFP, Mexico City’s legislature on Monday approved gay marriage, in the first such law passed anywhere in Latin America.
“It was approved overall by 39 votes in favor and 20 against, with five abstentions,” said a spokesman for the bill’s chief sponsor, assemblyman Davi Razu.
Spokesman Oscar Oliver said the city’s majority leftist legislators also defeated an opposition amendment to the gay marriage bill that would have prevented same-sex couples from adopting children.
“For centuries, unjust laws prohibited marriage between whites and blacks or Europeans and (indigenous) Indians,” Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) lawmaker Victor Romo said.
“Today all those barriers have come down.”
The new measure modified a civil union law already on the books in Mexico City, as in other Latin American nations including Uruguay and Colombia.
In Argentina the Supreme Court is to rule on a court-approved gay marriage that was challenged earlier this month.
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Posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
Gay rights activists are up in arms over legislation that is likely to pass in Uganda that would impose the death penalty for gays.
According to the Associated Press, Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continent-wide backlash because Africa’s gay community is becoming more vocal.
Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.
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The first ever gay bar in China opened with a lot of fanfare and media coverage, but there were hardly any patrons at all.
According to the Associated Press, a new bar in southwestern China aimed at educating gay men about AIDS stayed conspicuously empty during its official opening as potential customers shunned the spotlight Wednesday.
The bar, which receives government funding from the health bureau in Yunnan province’s Dali town, was slated to open Tuesday to mark World AIDS Day, the China Daily reported.
But the intense media attention that greeted the announcement of its opening kept customers away, the bar’s owner said.
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Latin America’s first legal gay wedding is jeopardy after a last-minute court ruling Monday cast doubt over whether two Argentine men will be able to be married as planned.
According to Reuters, Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello were granted a marriage license earlier this month by a Buenos Aires judge who overruled a ban on gay marriages in the capital city, arguing that it was unconstitutional.
The couple planned to marry at the city registry office on Tuesday, but the ruling by Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the ceremony’s suspension.
“The decision I have adopted should not be interpreted as … discrimination against the rights of homosexuals,” Gomez Alsina wrote in the ruling, saying the first judge did not have authority to give the couple permission to wed.
The city’s attorney general’s office said the ruling was being reviewed but that no final decision had yet been taken on what the next step might be.
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Posted 9 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
Thailand is looking to limit sex change surgery by changing the rules, making it more difficult.
According to the Associated Press, one of the new rules will include a requirement that potential candidates cross-dress for a year.
The reason for that is that there are fears that some patients are rushing into the operation, a medical association said Thursday.
Transsexuals and transgender men are a common sight in Thailand, appearing on soap operas and working at all levels of Bangkok society, from department store cosmetics counters and popular restaurants to corporate offices and red-light districts.
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Posted 9 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
A competitor at this year’s Miss Gay Brazil 2009 attacked the winner during an on-camera television interview and it’s all caught on tape!
The winner, Ava Simoes, had her wig and tiara torn off by Miss Sao Paulo, who was jealous of the results.
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
A 21-year-old gay man says he’s never going to wash his cheek again, especially after getting a royal kiss from a prince.
According to News of the World, Rocky Bennett received a kiss from Prince Harry in exchange for a beer last week in an English nightclub.
How did Bennett get the prince to do it?
“I went up to him and told him I would love to buy him a drink – if he gave me a kiss, Harry just burst out laughing, threw his arms around me and kissed me on the left cheek,” he said.
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Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
Hello, Buenos Aires! Many more gay couples could soon be shouting those words after an Argentinean judge allowed a gay couple to get married on Friday.
By ruling so, the judge paved the way for gay marriage when she granted a homosexual couple permission to marry in a first for Latin America, the world’s biggest Catholic region, according to AFP.
Buenos Aires, known for its active if low-key gay movement, became the region’s first city to approve civil unions for gay couples in 2002
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Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
How would you like to be one of the first gay couples to get married in one of the oldest government institutions in the world – the House of Commons in England?
It’s a very good possibility, according to the Christian Institute, which reported that the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, agrees with the Prime Minister’s controversial idea that Parliament should host homosexual civil partnership ceremonies.
Currently only Members of Parliment, Lords and their families can get married and hold christenings in the Chapel of St. Mary Undercroft inside the Houses of Parliament.
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Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
