Serbia Gay Pride march returns after four years

Serbia's first Gay Pride march for four years has been held in the capital Belgrade, amid huge security, including special forces and armoured vehicles. Authorities had cancelled the event every year since marchers were attacked in 2010 - nine years after Gay Pride was first held in Belgrade.

Earlier in September a German LGBT rights speaker was treated in hospital after being beaten in Belgrade. In response to the attack, Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said: "We will not allow this kind of thing to remain unpunished."  Read More

The gay divide

THERE was a teenager in Arizona in the 1970s who “could no more imagine longing to touch a woman than longing to touch a toaster”. But he convinced himself that he was not gay. Longing to be “normal”, he blamed his obsession with muscular men on envy of their good looks. It was not until he was 25 that he admitted the truth to himself—let alone other people. In 1996 he wrote a cover leader for The Economist in favour of same-sex marriage. He never thought it would happen during his lifetime. Yet now he is married to the man he loves and living in a Virginia suburb where few think this odd.

The change in attitudes to homosexuality in many countries—not just the West but also Latin America, China and other places—is one of the wonders of the world (see article). This week America’s Supreme Court gave gay marriage another big boost, by rejecting several challenges to it; most Americans already live in states where gays can wed. But five countries still execute gay people: Iran hangs them; Saudi Arabia stones them. Gay sex is illegal in 78 countries, and a few have recently passed laws that make gay life even grimmer. The gay divide is one of the world’s widest (see article). What caused it? And will tolerance eventually spread?  Read More

The Closeted Continent

38 out of 55 African nations have laws punishing sodomy. And things may get worse before they get better.

The progress for LGBT equality has been powered by an increasingly potent global gay rights movement driven by major international organizations like Human Rights Campaign and the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, as well as smaller grassroots gay groups that have sprouted up (or, in some cases, chosen to work underground for fear of activists' safety) in many dozens of countries worldwide.

Elsewhere in the world, though, signs of momentum in the global gay rights struggle are fueling a determined effort to slam the closet door though legal measures, harassment, and violence. Read More 

After new UNAIDS poll: Way clear for PM to revisit gays issue

The path is now clear for Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to “very easily” go back to Parliament and amend the Equal Opportunity Act to protect people from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation. So said attorney Douglas Mendes following the launch of the results of a UNAIDS poll that showed a majority of T&T citizens are against discrimination.

He said amending the act would send a clear message to the population, the region and the international community that T&T did not discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation.  Read More

Gay activists on front line of Hong Kong protests

Thousands of protesters sit peacefully on the streets of the Causeway Bay shopping district. The chants of 'Leung Chun-ying, ha toi [step down]' quieten down as gay singer Anthony Wong starts to perform.

Tommy Chen, spokesperson for LGBTI rights group Rainbow Action, says there can be no equality for LGBTI people without democracy: ‘The queer community actually understands this quite well, so that’s a reason the queer community in Hong Kong has been involved in the social movement for over 10 years,’ he said. The group is a member of one of the protest organizers Civil Human Rights Front, which Chen said had a 'disproportionately high' number of LGBTI volunteers and organizers. Read More

Smithsonian Preserves LGBTQ History for a Post-Homophobic Future

Earlier this month, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced that it would be adding hundreds of new objects to its existing LGBTQ collection, including a tennis racquet from transgender trailblazer Renée Richards, the diplomatic passport of Ambassador David Huebner (the first openly gay ambassador confirmed by the Senate), and memorabilia from the groundbreaking NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

And now, thanks to a great documentary short produced by MSNBC, those of us not in Washington finally have an opportunity to check out the new materials.  Read More
 

Hockey Canada embraces gender identity inclusion

Jesse Thompson can't wait until hockey season starts again, facing only his on-ice opponents.  Hockey Canada has agreed to make changes to protect young players in Ontario from discrimination and harassment based on a player's transgender status.  These changes resolve a human rights application Jesse filed after facing difficulties at his local arena.  Read More

Japanese "Condom Meals I Want to Make for You" Cookbook Promotes Safe Sex and Questionable Cooking Methods

I never thought I would have cause to use the words “condom” and “cookbook” in conjunction with each other, but, well… I was wrong. A condom cookbook actually exists; it’s called Condom Meals I Want to Make for You, and it’s available on Amazon Japan. For reals. I am not making this up.

Created by manga writer Kyosuke Kagami, who's best known for the title Sentou Hakai Gakuen Dangerous, Condom Meals I Want to Make for You features 11 recipes that use condoms as cooking or serving tools. Condom meat stuffing? It’s got that. Condom escargot cooked with butter? It’s got that, too. There’s some condom sushi in there, too, and condom cookies are on the menu for dessert. Uh… yum? Or something? Read More

Padmini Prakash is India’s first transgender news anchor

The United States isn’t the only place experiencing something of a cultural transgender revolution. It’s happening in India, too, where the country recently witnessed a broadcast by Padmini Prakash.

Prakash, 31, is India’s first transgender news anchor. She works at the Tamil language channel based in Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu.

She’s done all sorts of work — everything from transgender rights activism to teaching dance to acting in a soap opera to competing in transgender beauty pageants. Prakash worked for Lotus News, based in Coimbatore for about a month before she was promoted in August to anchor its 7 p.m. broadcast. Read More 

15 Responses To The Question: “What Does The Word ‘Queer’ Mean To You?”

Fifteen people in their 20s and 30s describe what 'queer' means to them.

“Queer is what you make it.”
“I know many people use ‘queer’ as an umbrella term, and I understand why they do, but I think it’s really reductive to forget that while it may be an umbrella term for some, it’s very specific for others. Queer is what you make of it — and, for me, being queer means that my sexuality is not fixed, that it can evolve over years and that I can be sexually and romantically attracted to various degrees to the spectrum of gender identities that exist. When people ask me what my sexuality is, I say queer, and if they don’t know what that means, I’ll say that I don’t label my sexuality at all — I have a very complicated relationship with the term ‘bisexual’ because of the associations of promiscuity that my LGBT-phobic straight peers attached to it. In that instance, bisexual felt like a word that I could not control in my own social circles. Queer feels like a term that I can make my own.” —Andrea Garcìa-Vargas, 23

Read them all

Jeffrey Tambor: ‘I have never been so scared in my life’

Transparent is being hailed as the TV show of the year. Hadley Freeman talks to its star Jeffrey Tambor about his ‘most transformative role’ yet – and the night he went clubbing as a woman. 

As chance would have it, the week before I interviewed Jeffrey Tambor I spoke to two other actors, both of whom brought up Tambor and promptly went gooey-eyed.

“Jeffrey set the tone for the whole of Arrested Development,” said Tambor’s co-star and on-screen son, Jason Bateman. “We all watched him when we filmed on the first day, and he did it totally straight. He was so bold and completely unconcerned with being likable. He taught me what you can get away with in comedy.” Read More