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March 31, 2008
Coming out in Arabic
When Rauda Morcos heard there was an emailing list for lesbian Palestinians, she couldn't believe it at first.
"I thought it was a joke," she said. "Until then, I thought I was the only lesbian who speaks Arabic."
The list was certainly not a joke but, in a society where same-sex relations are still taboo, its members guarded their privacy. The only way a newcomer could join was by personal recommendation.
"Eventually I got in," Ms Morcos recalled, "and I found a lot of other [lesbian] women who couldn't be out."
After corresponding by email for a few months, she thought it would be good to talk with some of the invisible women face to face, so, in January 2003, Ms Morcos and her flatmate called a meeting.
"We had no expectations," she said, "but eight women turned up. The meeting lasted eight hours and I don't think anybody wanted to go home."
That, it later turned out, marked the birth of A
Coming out in Arabic
The Guardian UK
Gay retirement community lures potential buyers
Marigold Creek, a resort-style retirement community marketed toward gays and lesbians might face more trouble developing the property in Surprise because of the economic climate than from opposition because of the community's clientele.
On Saturday, representatives from Out Properties Development hosted a buyer's event at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park. About 46 potential purchasers had registered for the sales event.
Deborah Purvis of Out Properties said she has heard more people say the company is crazy for moving forward in the current economic climate than for building a community for gays and lesbians in Arizona.
"We're hopeful that when all is said and done that the economy will have (righted itself)," she said. "My partner asked me if I was crazy doing this."
Purvis said the community has received support not only from the city but from potential buyers.
She said Surprise officials seemed pleased that anyone is building and that initial reaction from buyers also has been uplifting.
The project still has to wend its way through the Surprise planning and zoning process and, should it remain on schedule, Marigold Creek should open the first units late next year.
Many of the 46 people who registered for the event traveled to Arizona from out of state.
Lords gay rights foe dies
A member of the House of Lords who used his Roman Catholic faith to frustrate his own party's gay rights legislation has died.
Lord Stallard of St Pancras was 86. He was known throughout his career as Jock, a reference to his upbringing in Lanarkshire, Scotland. More.
Plano council candidate: Being gay put county job on line
An openly gay Plano City Council candidate says his job with Collin County is in jeopardy because of his sexual orientation. The county Commissioners Court has tentatively scheduled an April 15 public hearing to discuss Justin Nichols' status as coordinator of the county's teen court program, commissioners said.
County officials refused to provide details about the hearing or which commissioner brought the item forward. But Mr. Nichols, 23, fears that some commissioners want him fired following a news article that mentioned his sexual orientation.
Commissioners were initially slated to discuss the issue privately, but Mr. Nichols requested the proceeding take place in public. "It's my fundamental belief that your public life and your private life are separate," Mr. Nichols said. "It's amazing that we're having this debate in 2008." ee Plano council candidate: Being gay put county job on line
Dallas Morning News, TX
Gay couple attends Scottsboro High's prom The Huntsville Times - al.com
SCOTTSBORO - Chelsea Overstreet and Lauren Martin were like many other Scottsboro High School girls Saturday afternoon, both nervous and excited about going to their first prom in a only a few hours. But unlike the others, they went to the dance as a gay couple, something the Scottsboro City Board of Education tried unsuccessfully to stop. See Gay couple attends Scottsboro High's prom The Huntsville Times
Gay Hip Hop star on homophobia
S soulful house star Quentin Harris chatted to Skrufff recently about his new album ‘No Politics’, and spoke candidly about the difficulties of growing up gay around Detroit’s notoriously homophobic hip hop scene. “It wasn’t easy to come out but when you come out you tend to know how to be smart about those things. I was fortunate in that I was always quiet as a kid,” he mused. “I’ve met people from school years later and found out they were gay and they found out I was and they’d be like ‘we had no idea, we had no clues’. I’ve never worn my sexuality on my arm,” he added.
The deep house producer grew up hanging out with Eminem and his D12 Crew going on to play trumpet with Aretha Franklin aged 20, though stressed that throughout his career he’s never wanted to be categorised as just a gay artist (‘it’s very limiting’). He also revealed an understanding of hip hop’s homophobia declaring ‘I think it’s because of the street elements within in, (it’s caused by) that whole concept or not being seen as a weak individual.”
“I was always the wise kid, I’d always question things until I found the answer,” Quentin continued. “So I’d say to people ‘OK, you’re into hip hop and you have issues with gay people but a lot of early hip hop was spawned from disco records which were mostly played in gay clubs’. Some people get really frustrated when I say things like that but sometimes the truth hurts.”
Defected star on homophobia
inthemix, Australia -
Ybor businesses bank on lesbian basketball fans
TAMPA — Starting Friday, Tampa will become a national epicenter for gay women, thousands of whom are coming to town for the Final Four of the women's NCAA Tournament.
Most of the activities will center on Ybor City, where clubs are hosting all-girl bands and an event called Bounce, promoted as the largest women's party in the Tampa Bay area. The National Center for Lesbian Rights is holding a mega party at club Underground. Restaurants are offering free specials to attract gay patrons.
No one knows how many of the 21,655 fans expected to pack the St. Pete Times Forum on April 6 and 8 will be gay. Last year, national leaders in the lesbian community who attended the women's Final Four in Cleveland estimated at least half of the fans in attendance were lesbians.
Some consider that low.
"I would say 75 percent," said Darlene Herrick, a former University of South Florida basketball player. "Of course, the other 25 percent would be in the closet."
Ybor businesses bank on lesbian basketball fans
Tampabay.com, FL
Thai Red Cross bans gay donors
The Thai Red Cross Society has resolved to reject blood donations from homosexual men in a move which has met with strong opposition from human rights organisations.
The decision came after a study found that men who had sex with other men were at risk of contracting HIV/Aids and transmitting the blood-borne virus.
The Thai Red Cross said it had large amounts of unused blood that had tested HIV-positive. Most of the infected blood was from men who were having unprotected sex with other men, according to in-depth interviews and preliminary tests, said the director of the National Blood Centre, Soisaang Pikulsod.
Red Cross bans gay donors
Bangkok Post, Thailand
Parliament Gay Rights Group Calls on Barroso to Come Clean on Non-Discrimination Directive
Michael Cashman, Labour MEP and president of European Parliament’s Inter Group on Gay and Lesbian rights, has today called on the President of the Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, to explain his comments to members of the Women’s Committee that despite promises to the contrary, the Commission’s Non-Discrimination Directive will not deal with discrimination on the grounds of age, religion and sexual orientation.
“At the beginning of this Commission’s mandate, Barroso gave the Parliament assurances that it would bring forward a Directive to combat discrimination on the remaining grounds of Article 13,” Mr. Cashman said.
“Indeed it was announced in the Commission’s work programme for 2008.
“Now there seems to be a lack of commitment. The European Parliament must be informed,” he insisted.
“If this issue is not properly resolved it could well become a European election platform and one on which any new Parliament would judge a new Commission and any new candidate for President of the Commission.”
Mr. Cashman went on to say that the issue is extremely serious, especially as intolerance and discrimination is on the rise in the European Union.
“If further evidence is needed, I refer to a recent poll conducted by Stonewall (lesbian and gay) Group, that have found 1 in 5 gay people are being bullied at work, and the majority of lesbian and gay people still believe they face discrimination when accessing public services,” Mr. Cashman concluded.
Media Frenzy at Warsaw Airport for Arrival of Gay American Couple
Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton at yesterday’s solidarity for Belarus concert in Warsaw.
photo courtesy KPH, Warsaw.
WARSAW, March 31, 2008 – Gay Americans Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton found a media frenzy when they arrived at Warsaw airport yesterday for a three-day visit.
The couple, who were married in Canada, hit the international headlines when their wedding image was used in Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s televised prime-time address to scare the Polish people against supporting the Lisbon Treaty, arrived to Warsaw for a three-day visit.
The trip is sponsored by TVN Television.
Their first day in Poland was an opportunity to meet with Polish gay rights leaders Tomasz Szypula and Greg Czarnecki from the Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – KPH) as well as other members of the LGBT community.
Fay and Moulton were eager to get to know about the situation and issues of LGBT people in the East European nation.
The Polish activists showed the couple from New York some major sites in the city such as the former Jewish Ghetto and the Old Town and attended a Catholic Mass in the afternoon.
They were also able to see a rock concert in solidarity of Belarus.
Later they had dinner together with one of Poland’s most prominent gay couples Tomasz Raczek, film critic, and Marcin Szczygielski, writer.
“For us this is a journey of friendship and solidarity. It’s a most unexpected opportunity to share our story and hear the stories of the courageous lesbian and gay community in Poland”, say Fay and Moulton.
In a statement, KPH said: “We are very honoured to have Fay and Moulton here in order to start a public dialog on domestic partnerships.
“We are happy that in fact the couple has received a lot of expressions of support from Poles both within the country and abroad.”
SEE ALSO
Report (in Polish), with video, of the arrival of Fay and Moulton in Warsaw. (TVN-24, March 30, 2008)
Polish Gay Group Slams President Over Unauthorised Use of Same-Sex Wedding Images on TV. The Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – KPH) has expressed disappointment following the televised ‘prime time’ address by Polish President Lech Kaczynski at the beginning of the week on TVP. (UK Gay News, March 22, 2008)
Homophobia rife in British society, landmark equality survey finds Guardian
Britain's 3.6 million lesbian, gay and bisexual people see themselves confronted by huge barriers of prejudice at every level of society, according to the first authoritative poll of their views.
The poll, commissioned by the equality charity Stonewall, which said some public bodies were too "smug" about their record on discrimination, indicates that the schoolyard is the most entrenched bastion of prejudice.
The YouGov poll of 1,658 gay adults found homophobic bullying in schools is more prevalent now than in previous decades. Around 30% of lesbian and gay people expect to encounter discrimination if they were to try to enrol a child at primary or secondary school, and 80% believe they would have difficulty if they were to apply to become a school governor.
The NHS, police and courts are doing better than the education system in combating discrimination. However, a significant minority of gay people expect to be treated less well at a GP surgery or during an emergency admission to hospital.
One in four think they will be treated less fairly by police if they become a victim of hate crime, while one in five expect to find it harder than a heterosexual person to get social housing, and nine in 10 expect barriers to becoming a foster parent.
The poll also suggested prejudice is endemic in political life, with most lesbian and gay people expecting discrimination if they seek selection by a party to run for parliament. Nearly nine in 10 think they would face such barriers from the Conservative party, 61% from the Labour party and 47% from the Liberal Democrats.
Homophobia rife in British society, landmark equality survey finds Guardian
Gay couple from NY featured in Polish president's anti-gay speech are now in Poland
A gay New York couple whose wedding images were used by the Polish president in a national speech to warn against same-sex marriage said Monday they came to Warsaw hoping to start a dialogue on tolerance.
A brief video clip of Brendan Fay's wedding with his partner, Tom Moulton, was woven into President Lech Kaczynski's March 19 televised address.
The video, along with a photo of the couple's marriage certificate, was shown as the president warned against the dangers of adopting the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Kaczynski says could open the door to same-sex marriage in Poland.
"We come here in the hopes of opening a dialogue between a community which may not have had much voice, and that this dialogue will make Poland an even better place," Moulton said after meeting with a left-wing opposition lawmaker in Poland's parliament.
Fay, a documentary filmmaker and gay rights activist who was born in Ireland but now lives in New York, and Moulton, a pediatric oncologist, said they prepared a letter for Kaczynski with a request for a meeting.
Gay couple from NY featured in Polish president's anti-gay speech ...
The Canadian Press, Poland -
Elections could bring hope for gay Zimbabweans
This weekend's elections in Zimbabwe bring the prospect of an end to the 28-year rule of one of the world's most homophobic heads of state.
Robert Mugabe, now 81, has terrorised many groups in his country, not least gays and lesbians.
He has previously described gay people as worse than "dogs and pigs", has warned against the dangers of homosexuality and threatened pro-gay clergy with prison sentences. Elections could bring hope for gay Zimbabweans
PinkNews.co.uk, UK
Curlers get their rocks off at gay bonspiel
Translation: Ottawa hosts national gay curling competition
While the snow and ice melted outside, gay curlers were heating up the Ottawa Curling Club Mar 28-30. Athletes from Canada's biggest cities descended on Ottawa for the third year in a row to participate in the Over the Rainbow Bonspiel. Hosted by Rainbow Rockers, the competition attracted stone-throwing gays from Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and hometown teams from Ottawa. After three days of play, a team from Montreal picked up the top prize. Sylain Bellavance, Stéphane Laforge and Alain Lessard — with the help of Don Bourgeois — bested 31 other teams to take home bragging rights. See Curlers get their rocks off at gay bonspiel
Xtra.ca, Canada
Clark Gable: Gay for Pay?
Dead Hollywood legends are a curious subject. Admiration and reverence have to go hand in hand with conjecture and idle gossip. There's a book out by David Bret called Clark Gable: Tormented Star that is very heavy on the latter. One of the most respected of all early Hollywood stars, he earned the moniker "King of Hollywood" in the late 1930's. Gable won an Academy Award for the classic It Happened One Night (and the urban legend still persists that after he was seen shirtless in the film, sales of men's t-shirts plummeted). He was nominated again for Mutiny on the Bounty, but of course, he is best known for one of the most iconic roles in history, Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind. See Clark Gable: Gay for Pay?
AfterElton.com and CLARK GABLE: A Tormented Star Wh Slept WIth Men.
Oh! So That's An Orgasm
Stanford docs help alleviate female sexual dysfunction in women, and some are greatly appreciative.
Pregnant Man: New Photos Revealed
Pregnant Man: New Photos Revealed
Read more about the photos here and here.
It is rumored that Oprah has landed an interview with Thomas Beatie, to air on Thursday's show. People magazine will also be featuring an interview with Thomas Beatie in next week's issue.
For previous HuffPost coverage of Thomas Beattie, including video, click here.
Some people seem to think that the "world's first pregnant man" is an April Fool's Day hoax. What do you think?
See Pregnant Man: New Photos Revealed
Pregnant Man: New Photos Revealed
Read more about the photos here and here.
It is rumored that Oprah has landed an interview with Thomas Beatie, to air on Thursday's show. People magazine will also be featuring an interview with Thomas Beatie in next week's issue.
For previous HuffPost coverage of Thomas Beattie, including video, click here.
Some people seem to think that the "world's first pregnant man" is an April Fool's Day hoax. What do you think?
See Pregnant Man: New Photos Revealed
New poll shows high support for same-sex unions in Ireland
A poll commissioned by an Irish gay rights group has revealed that 84 percent of Irish citizens support either gay marriage or civil partnerships. Furthermore, the number of respondents who only favored civil partnerships dropped from 33 percent to 26 percent.
The poll arrives as LGBT advocates wait for the government to submit proposals on the legal recognition of same-sex partners. Justice minister Brian Lenihan is expected to bring forth proposals soon, according to Pink News.
New poll shows high support for same-sex unions in Ireland
Gay Politics
Camp Lickalotta causes uproar in rural N.C.
A lesbian couple attempting to create a gay-friendly camping space named “Camp Lickalotta” in rural North Carolina claim they were booted from the campground where they lived because of anti-gay discrimination.
Nancy Leedy and Joan Beasley were evicted from Golden Valley Campgrounds in Rutherford County, about 200 miles from Atlanta, on March 12. The owners of the campground, Joe and Lynn Hoyle, said the couple inappropriately used the Golden Valley Campgrounds name on Camp Lickalotta materials to promote the camp’s Bushstock ’08 music festival, slated for May 16-18. The fesival will now be held at a private campground in Lincolnton, N.C., Leedy said last week.
Camp Lickalotta stands for “Lickalotta prejudice, lickalotta pollutants and lickalotta pessissm,” Leedy said.
Phila.'s gay Democrats emerge as a voting force
You don't see many women at Woody's, but Chelsea Clinton popped in last week.
To a packed house of screaming supporters, the 28-year-old former first child led a presidential pep rally for her mother at one of the oldest gay bars in Philadelphia.
"We love your highlights!" a man yelled from the crowd, referring to Chelsea's tresses. "Wow," she said, temporarily bumped off message, "that's something I never heard before."
At the end of an exhausting day of nonstop events, Chelsea was supposed to leave after 10 minutes. She ended up staying 25.
A few years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable. But with an eye on the April 22 Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are fervently courting the gay vote.
In Philadelphia, gays constitute an estimated 5 percent of voters, according to Malcolm Lazin, president of Equality Forum. That is not an inconsequential percentage in a race as tight as this one.
Obviously, the candidates know that, too.
Phila.'s gay Democrats emerge as a voting force
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 30, 2008
A big gay crackdown in Beijing?
The following update from Beijing-based AIDS activist Wan Yanhai (万延海) is currently being circulated among gay and other AIDS-related online groups (proxy/VPN required) on the mainland:
First instance: in the second half of January 2008, the police in Chaoyang District visited the residence of a LGBT activist. They enquired about her ex-roommate residence permit, asked for her picture, and enquired about the nature of her job. The police made an appointment with the landlord and acted as if they were investigating the residence. They enquired about issues not exclusively related to her residence permit. At the same time, another LGBT activist received a phone call regarding a matter related to his residence permit. In the afternoon of 21 March 2008, the day after releasing the news about the signature exhibition of supporting homosexual marriage , the police paid another visit to this residence and enquired about the nature of her job, a LGBT website etc.
Second instance: on 9 March 2008, a popular LGBT night club in Beijing, called Destination, was visited by the police. The police said the club was too crowded. As a result, people's access to the club was restricted and the music stopped. The club was shut down and resumed business only a few days after.
Third instance: in the afternoon of 17 March 2008, a number of police officers visited Dongdan Park, in the East District of Beijing. Public security officers and armed police carried out the interrogation at the park, taking away the gay people in park to the police station inside
the park£¬where more than 40 people were waiting to be enquired. The people taken away by the police were all requested to show their ID, and their details were checked on the computer. They were all requested to write their name on a white paper, and hold the paper with their
names before their chest to be photographed. Some people refused to be photographed and released without being photographed. Some others, as a result of refusing to be photographed, and because their details were not found in the computer records, were taken to the police station for further interrogation. A gay volunteer of Aizhixing Institute was taken to the police station because police said that his name was not found in the computer records, and released after the lawyer of Aizhixing showed up at the police station. When the individuals were taken away, the police reported that a person was killed inside the park a day before, and everyone had to cooperate in the investigation. But after being walked to the police station, the individuals were not asked any question related to a criminal case.
In the following days, many people in the park were asked to show their ID. Every evening after 7, a police car drove into the park to inspect the surroundings. For a small imprudence, people would be taken away by the police. Later in the evening, the police would clear out the park.
In the afternoon of 22 March, 2 young people were taken away by police officers as soon as they walked into the park.
Fourth instance: in the afternoon of 20 March 2008, more than 10 police cars visited "Oasis" club, the most popular gay bath house in Beijing. More than 70 people, including all the members of staff and clients were taken away. After more than 30 hours, in the early morning of 22 March, the clients of the house were released. But the members of staff were kept detained. In the early morning of 21 March, the police visited another Oasis bath house near Dongsishitiao Bridge, and took away all members of staff, but not the clients. At present, these two bath houses have been shut down. It was reported that at the same time, in another part of the city, another gay bath house was also shut down.
Fifth instance: one evening around mid March 2008, in one of the alleys of a gay park in Haidian District, the police conducted an interrogation among people strolling in the area.
Sixth instance: according to information from Beijing Tongzhi (LGBT) chat rooms, the police have detained over 80 male sex workers via those chat rooms in Beijing. A chat room announcement reads as follows: "these days, Beijjing is clearing out the city and carrying out a
crackdown on sex work, the police has currently detained more than 80 sex workers, this website does not welcome people with illegal intentions, and hopes everyone works together to fight illegal behavior, thanks for your cooperation!"
Finally, in recent days, a gay bath house in Shanghai has been shut down. Evidence shows that this time, crackdowns are being carried out at national level.
More of A big gay crackdown in Beijing?
Shanghaiist, China
Graying Gays Give Back
Aging philanthropists who were part of the first generation to come out of the closet make huge financial contributions to gay causes.
Black & Boo
GMHC’s new “I love my Boo”campaign targets young men of color who have sex with men. The ads hit streets just as the CDC reports an 80% jump in HIV among that population. See Black & Boo
Syphilis Rates up 62%
Syphilis cases in New York City spiked 62 percent last year, rising from 560 cases in 2006 to 927. The cases are almost exclusively among men. “This is another piece of evidence that men are having sex with men in an unsafe manner,” said Dr. Susan Blank, assistant commissioner for Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention and Control at the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which tabulated the preliminary data. Syphilis Creeps Up & Up
FILM FEATURE: Soldiering On
FILM FEATURE: Soldiering On
Director Kimberly Peirce follows up 1999’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ with ‘Stop-Loss,’ another study of gender and masculinity.
OPINION: The Truth About Bathhouses & Unsafe Sex
A San Francisco study finds that sex venues facilitate more responsible behavior, not less. Read: OPINION: The Truth About Bathhouses & Unsafe Sex
Domestic Violence Bill Would Help N.Y.C. Gay Couples
Speaker Quinn introduced a bill to cover same-sex domestic partners. But some advocates claim the bill’s not enough and it competes with a broader statewide proposal. See Domestic Violence Bill Would Help N.Y.C. Gay Couples
Gay rumours put Daniel Johns through hell: Paul Mac
Daniel Johns confidant Paul Mac has revealed the Silverchair frontman went through hell after recent magazine reports claimed the two were gay lovers. The claims were made in January this year when Johns’s four-year marriage to Australian singer and model Natalie Imbruglia broke down. Describing the gay rumours as “bullshit” the Dissociatives member also lashed out at gossip magazines and their disregard for people’s feelings. Gay rumours put Daniel Johns through hell: Paul Mac
LIVENEWS.com.au, Australia
Bringing Slutty Back
Photo: Luke (Jesse Archer) and Stephen (Charlie David) star as the main couple in ‘A Four Letter Word,’ which was filmed in New York City and opened this weekend at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas on 23rd Street.
The sexy and flamboyant men of ‘A Four Letter Word’ explain why it’s okay to embrace and flaunt gay clichés.
“A Four Letter Word” can best be described as “Sex and the City” meets “Queer as Folk.” In 87 minutes you get warm and fuzzy advice on relationships—how to grow together, work through differences and ultimately accept each other. Then you get raunchy, sweaty and uninhibited sex.
What more could you ask for in a spin-off of the 2004 gay romantic comedy “Slutty Summer”? See Bringing Slutty Back
Pansy Division Release Documentary, Write Book And Record Album
Queercore group Pansy Division are working on a variety of projects — some that'll be ready this year, and some that'll be out in 2009.
The Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band documentary will make its world premiere on April 7 at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. The film, directed by Michael Carmona, chronicles the group's formation and various career highs and lows.
Pansy Division founder Jon Ginoli is penning a memoir of his time in the group. The still-untitled book will be published by San Francisco's Cleis Press sometime in early 2009.
The group are working on a new studio album, according to their website.
Pansy Division Release Documentary, Write Book And Record Album
ChartAttack, Canada
Jonah Markowitz: "It's a good time to be a gay filmmaker"
"It's a good time to be a gay filmmaker," said Jonah Markowitz, whose debut movie, "Shelter," opened at the Kendall Square Cinema Friday.
The first-time writer-director and 1999 Emerson College graduate said he's thankful for movies like "Brokeback Mountain," which proved that films with homosexual content can appeal to the mainstream - and clean up at the box office, too. He cited "Milk," Gus Van Sant's forthcoming biopic about Harvey Milk, starring Sean Penn, as further evidence that America has widely accepted gay-themed cinema.
"Shelter" is the first feature film to be financed by here! Networks, whose new Independent Film Initiative is charged with producing one "meaningful gay-themed" film a year for under $1 million dollars.
Noting that people today are less concerned with gay or straight labels than in the past, Markowitz said there's been a "generation shift" on what it means for 20- and 30-somethings to be gay and to come out. "I think gay people are looking for stories that reflect that," he said in a phone call from Los Angeles.
To position his film to appeal to a wider audience. Markowitz ensured that a personal identity crisis alone would not drive the plot; the story also deals with unrelated troubles among family members, making a living, and finding one's place in the world.
Launching a new generation
Boston Globe, United States
Reluctant gay rights hero seeks serenity abroad
Delwin Vriend looks out the window of his apartment in the heart of old Paris.
Across the street, a 17th-century mansion houses the Musee Picasso, the world's largest collection of Pablo Picasso's paintings. From there, it's a short walk to historic Notre Dame cathedral.
In Europe's most beautiful city, Vriend seeks an unobtrusive life, the daily commute on a crowded train to his computer job in the suburbs, home at night in time for vegan dinner with his partner and perhaps a walk through the neighbourhood shops.
t's a long way, deliberately so, from Edmonton and King's University College, the private Christian college that fired the chemistry instructor in 1991 for being gay.
After the heated seven-year battle that followed -- it wasn't until 1998 that the Supreme Court finally ruled that gays must be included in provincial human rights laws -- Vriend moved away, seeking the balm of anonymity, first in San Francisco and later Paris.
In his first interview in recent years, Vriend now says he has a very different view of those tumultuous days.
"When I look back, it was one of the best things that happened to me, though it didn't seem so at the time," Vriend says on the phone from Paris.
Without the force of those historic events of the 1990s, he says, he might not have found a way out of the strict version of Christianity of his upbringing that condemned homosexuality as contrary to its religious doctrine.
Reluctant gay rights hero seeks serenity abroad
Edmonton Journal, Canada - also Bold ruling set the stage for a social revolution Edmonton Journal
State College mayor holds commitment ceremony for 4 gay couples
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Mayor Bill Welch presided over a commitment ceremony for four gay couples, even though the state does not legally recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions.
More than 500 people cheered after the ceremony, which looked very much like a wedding, at Penn State University's Alumni Hall on Saturday. Two groups protested the event, which was organized by a group of Penn State graduate students to start the annual Pride Week for gay, bisexual and transgender students.
The couples , Frank Vasquez and Paul Datti, James Collins and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kat Sinclair and Delia Guzman, and Amanda Applegate and Donna Coffman , exchanged vows and rings, and sealed their pledges with a kiss.
"We were really nervous, all of us, until we came out of Boucke (Building) and everyone cheered," Guzman said. "From that point, it was like we were walking on air."
Steve Glassman, the state Human Relations Commission chairman, contributed readings to the ceremony and called the day "historic."
State College mayor holds commitment ceremony for 4 gay couples
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA –
Also:
· Pride takes on prejudice with same-sex ceremony Centre Daily Times
· 4 couples take vows, promptingprotest The Patriot-News - PennLive.com
· Events in State College to push legal status of gays into spotlight
A Very Difffernt "Book of Revelation" on Film
The Book of Revelation (118 mins, 18) Directed by Ana Kokkinos; starring Tom Long, Greta Scacchi
Ana Kokkinos's 1998 Head On was the depressing story of a gay Greek-Australian drug addict in Melbourne who refuses to study or get a job and devotes his life to random sex with strangers between hefty intakes of heroin, coke, hash and booze. Her next big film, The Book of Revelation, a rather more interesting work, is also set in Melbourne, but higher up the social scale. Its handsome hero, Daniel, a gifted dancer for a fashionable modern ballet company, goes out one afternoon to buy a packet of cigarettes for his girlfriend and comes back two weeks later, incapable of telling anyone what happened. It transpires that he was abducted by three beautiful masked women, who chained him up in a deserted warehouse, sexually humiliated him then dumped him on waste ground.
See The Book of Revelation
The Observer, UK
A tragic love story transcendent beyond sexuality
MATT Zemeres lovingly calls his mum "one of those over-enthusiastic mothers". She has flown down from her Brisbane home to see him five times in the play Holding the Man since its Sydney premiere in 2006. And she saw it four times in its recent Brisbane season.
"Each time she came she brought a stack of friends and family," says Zemeres. "She drags her poor partner along too, Dennis. He's this stereotypical Aussie male, a really straight-up-and-down bloke, but he loves the play, and cries in it. So I think that's a good sign, when someone like Den can sit through the show nine times."
First and foremost, Holding the Man is a love story. Playwright Tommy Murphy, who wrote the play from the book of the same name by Timothy Conigrave, calls it "one of our greatest love stories in literature, full stop".
Holding the Man began as a memoir by the Melbourne-born Conigrave about falling in love as a teenager with Xavier College schoolmate — and captain of the school football team — John Caleo, and their subsequent 15-year relationship. The union ended tragically at the height of the AIDS epidemic, with both men succumbing to the disease. Caleo died first and Conigrave less than two years later in 1994, just months before Holding the Man was published.
A tragic love story transcendent beyond sexuality
The Age, Australia
Sex and the New Zealanders
How dare a pompous pommy poofter visit our fair and perfect isles and publish a few criticisms of us and our way of life? The bloody nerve of the man! Didn't he understand that the only acceptable answer from a visiting writer or celebrity or politician or sportsperson to the spoken or unspoken question "What do you think of New Zealand?" is: "Very nice." Jay Bennie chats with Duncan Fallowell...
Duncan Fallowell managed to get through customs and immigration, settle into Devonport for a few weeks, and then tiki tour the country looking for a refreshed perspective on his life back in England, without learning the manners expected of any guest in our world class little country. Shame on him. A Sunday Star Times story, headlined Welcome to Hellhole and infused with outrage that Fallowell had found some of us less than attractive, caused a bit of a backlash. Maybe the devious sod had peppered his just-released book Going As Far As I Can with a few criticisms to provoke knee-jerk publicity from the easily outraged, but Fallowell puts the blame for the brief backlash on the media 'beat up.' See Sex and the New Zealanders
Gay NZ, New Zealand
Gay marine opts for path 'out' - Jeff Key, now of Salt Lake City, stars in play recounting his decision to leave service
The salad hasn't even arrived on our table, but already Jeff Key knows more about me than any of his fellow Marines were allowed to know about him.
"We've been talking for five minutes and I know that you've got a wife and a daughter," Key says in a smooth Alabama drawl. "Those are just the kind of things that men talk about."
Key's observation belies a fundamental flaw with the military's so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for homosexual soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines. The men with whom he went to war were supposed to trust him with their lives - but he wasn't supposed to trust them with his secret.
Key, an Iraq war veteran, anti-war activist and now-discharged Marine, tells his story in a one-man play, "The Eyes of Babylon," which opens at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, in his adopted town of Salt Lake City, on Thursday. A documentary based on the play, called "Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey" will play at the Tower Theater on Monday.
It didn't take long for the Marines who served with Key at Camp Pendleton, in southern California, to realize he was keeping something from them. "I certainly didn't endeavor to come out to people," Key says. "But, you know, I got pushed a lot. One guy was always asking me, 'Why don't you have a girlfriend?' and 'Why don't you tell us what you're doing this weekend?'" ee Gay marine opts for path 'out'
Salt Lake Tribune
Polish TV flying U.S. gay couple to Warsaw
Michael Petrelis reports he has received word from Tomasz Szypula, spokesman for the Campaign Against Homophobia, one of Poland's gay political organizations, that Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton, the US gay couple whose wedding is being used by Poland's president to spread hate and fear of same-sex loving people, are traveling to Warsaw this weekend. See Polish TV flying U.S. gay couple to Warsaw
The Petrelis Files