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This Is Pakistan’s First Anti-Homophobia Children’s Book, And It Is Beautiful

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Earlier this year, Toronto-based Pakistani blogger and artist Eiynah ‘Nicemangos’ wrote a blog post titled “My Chacha Is Gay”. 

The post was shared over 10,000 times in two days and hundreds of readers suggested that Eiynah start a crowdfunding campaign to publish it as a book. She met her crowdfunding goal quickly, and “My Chacha Is Gay” has since been released in print.


“My Chacha Is Gay” is about a little boy named Ahmed, his gay uncle, their family, and Pakistani and Muslim society as a whole. Read more

Russian political party slams ad depicting Russian poet kissing Kazakh composer

The Almaty-based advertising agency that produced a scandalous poster depicting Kazakh composer Kurmangazy and Russian poet Pushkin kissing has drawn a wave of discontent upon itself. The wave started in Kazakhstan and reached Russia. Now, a branch of Rodina (Motherland) political party has officially slammed the poster.

The St. Petersburg branch of the Russian party voiced its indignation with the smooch print of two cultural heavyweights and expressed solidarity with Kazakhstanis who intend to demand legal repercussions for the heads of the ads agency. Read More

Benedict Cumberbatch on 'The Imitation Game,' Homophobia, and How to Combat ISIS

Cumberbatch is getting rave reviews as Alan Turing, the math prodigy responsible for cracking the German Enigma code, thereby granting the Allied Forces access to once-indecipherable Nazi dispatches detailing the location and activities of the German navy. Turing was chemically castrated for "gross indecency"--being gay. Two years later, at the age of 41, the war hero ended his own life with cyanide. Read the interview here.

First gay couple in Italy allowed to adopt child

A woman whose partner gave birth has been allowed to adopt the child in the first case of stepchild adoption involving a same-sex couple. It's been described by a rights group as an historic step for Italy.

The five-year-old is the daughter of one of the two partners, who were married abroad. It is the first case of a “step-child” adoption involving a gay couple in Italy. Read more

Swiss gays recognized as parents of child

In a historic decision for Switzerland, a court in the canton of Saint Gallen has recognized a gay couple as the legal parents of a child born in the United States to a surrogate mother. Surrogacy is illegal in Switzerland but according to the administrative court ruling the wellfare of the child took precedence in this case. Read More

Egypt orders the arrest of nine men over gay wedding video

Egyptian prosecutor general ordered the arrest of 9 men, after a YouTube video depicting a gay marriage surfaced. The video, filmed in April but has only gone viral recently, entitled ‘Egypt’s First Gay Marriage’ shows two men appearing to have a ceremony on a Nile boat.

The two men hug and exchange rings, surrounded by male guests. Several charges have been levelled against the men including ‘inciting debauchery and violating public decency’. Read More

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A multitude of celebrations

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Two American 90-year-old women married after 7 decades together in a church of the town they moved to in 1947. Meanwhile a mass wedding in London saw 15 same-sex couples and 55 mixed-sex couples tie the knot across 6 ceremonies this weekend, part of Southbank’s Festival of Love programme, which celebrates the introduction of equal marriage earlier this year.

Gay marriage and the courts: Too far, too fast?

THE cascade of rulings invalidating state-level same-sex marriage prohibitions now includes decisions from three federal appellate courts. Last Thursday the seventh circuit court of appeals thwarted gay marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana, joining the fourth and tenth circuit courts that have issued recent rulings nullifying one man-one woman marriage laws in Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma. The ninth circuit heard arguments in three gay marriage cases on September 8th and the fifth and sixth circuits are also taking up the question. The Supreme Court is widely expected to review decisions from one or more of these jurisdictions in the coming year.

As speculation turns to how the US Supreme Court justices will handle the tidal wave of state judicial support for same-sex marriage, it might be natural to assume that we’re gearing up for another 4-4 right-left split, with Justice Anthony Kennedy in the middle. Read More 

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US: Gay Marriage Bans In Idaho, Nevada And Hawaii Head To Court

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"Until all 50 states get on board, it's a legal battle from state to state," said Tara Newberry, one of the plaintiffs in the Nevada case, who wants to marry her longtime partner. "The map is changing. But until the Supreme Court of the United States makes the determination, it's state-by-state."  Read More