Global video mashup for International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia 2009 hits the Internet

359 people from 48 countries take part in massive global web video project to mark the IDAHO 2009

A global project to create a public awareness video for the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHO) on May 17 has attracted the participation of 359 people from 48 countries across six continents around the world. The groundbreaking project is a joint undertaking of the Paris-based IDAHO Committee and the social network Gays.com, attracting 50,000 people to its website within a month.

Said Louis-Georges Tin, founder of the IDAHO committee, “We are overwhelmed and, at the same time, humbled by this torrent of enthusiastic support that has poured in from all four corners of the world since we kickstarted the video project in April. People have made the effort to go to such places as the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, the Sydney Opera House, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Merlion, the Petronas Twin Towers and the Eiffel Tower to shoot their video, contributing to the spectacular visual feast you see in the mashup.”

In April, members of the global LGBT community were invited to step out in front of the camera and in their own language introduce themselves, state where they are from and how proud they are to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The result is a video that sends the powerful message that LGBT individuals are present in every country, every society and every corner of the world. Participants submitted videos in all of the world’s key languages, including Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tamil and even American Sign Language.

In addition to the groundswell of support from local communities from around the globe, renowned celebrities, activists, politicians and web personalities have also participated in the project. These include (in alphabetical order):

Ali Hili: Gay Iraqi activist now living in exile in London and founder of the Iraqi-LGBT group
ANT: Host of VH1 reality series Celebrity Fit Club and U.S. of ANT on MTV’s LOGO channel
Lizzy the Lezzy: Animated lesbian standup comedy character with a cult following on Youtube
Michael Buckley: Celebrity host of the entertainment show What the Buck, the 5th most subscribed comedy channel of all time on Youtube
Michael Kauch: German member of parliament and coordinator of the gay and lesbian policy for the Free Democratic Party
Stephen Williams: British Liberal Democrat member of parliament for Bristol West

Said Kenneth Tan, spokesperson for Gays.com, “Much has been said about Stonewall 2.0 and netroots activism since the Proposition 8 vote against gay marriage in California. This project was made possible only by the Internet, and we believe there are a limitless number of opportunities for the LGBT community to harness the power of the Internet to educate, raise awareness, promote equality, and to debunk myths. We have been honoured to partner with the IDAHO Committee in the execution of such an amazing project.”

Prior to the launch of the video, Gays.com announced that it experienced a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack which began at approximately 3.50am Hong Kong time on May 15, 2009, causing the entire website to be inaccessible.

A distributed denial of service attack occurs when a multitude of systems attempt to flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system with illegitimate website requests. The flood of traffic by these requests cause the Internet bandwidth of the attacked site to be consumed to such an extent that the website is inaccessible to other legitimate users.

Said Kenneth Tan, Gays.com spokesperson, “The timing of this DDoS attack on Gays.com is by no means a coincidence. We have been working for weeks on this high profile video campaign together with the Committee for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. The final product of this campaign, a public awareness video, was going to be launched on the campaign site at http://gays.com/idaho on Sunday. This is a well-timed, well-orchestrated assault by a large botnet with tens of thousands of PCs sending requests to our site. Engineers with our Internet Service Provider remarked they have never seen an attack of this intensity before. We deplore these unscrupulous actions by an organised group to harrass, intimidate and silence us for what we are doing.”

Added Tan, “Our technical staff are now working round the clock to restore services to legitimate users. In the meanwhile, we are going through our access logs, gathering information through various mechanisms and connecting the dots to identify the origin of the attacks. We will be working with law enforcement officials to bring the cyberterrorists to justice.”

The video “IDAHO 2009: One Voice, One Message, Heard Around the World” is now accessible at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Rp8ep_ezE

The Committee for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) is a network of activists, present in over 50 countries, who seek to promote the idea of an international day against homophobia and transphobia. This day has been recognized officially by a number of governments around the world and provides an opportunity for the LGBT movement across the world to unite in a powerful demonstration of collective visibility.

Gays.com was designed for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community as the world’s first LGBT social networking website that designed for real people with real names an real world connections. The site aims to build an authentic social environment that helps people maintain their relationships with people they actually know. Launched in May 2008, Gays.com is headquartered in Hong Kong with a development team spread between Shanghai, China and Bielefeld, Germany.

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New UN plan to boost HIV services targets gay men and transgender people

Two United Nations agencies are launching a plan to provide increased HIV-related information and health services to men who have sex with men and transgender populations, while stressing the need to make universal access to treatment, care and support a reality for all.
The initiative, spearheaded by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), comes ahead of the International Day Against Homophobia, observed on 17 May.
“The case is clear and urgent,” said Jeffery O’Malley, Director of UNDP’s HIV group. “If we are going to make universal access for sexual minorities a meaningful reality, we must work towards ending homophobia and transphobia. We must address the legal and policy barriers.”
In a news release issued today, the agencies noted that in many parts of the world, HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men is more than 20 times higher than in the general population.
In addition, studies show that HIV prevention services reach only one tenth to one third of people who engage in male homosexual activity. At the same time, there is growing evidence that the majority of new infections in many urban areas are among men who have sex with men.
“Yet, these same groups have limited access to HIV-related information and health services due to discrimination, violence, marginalization and other human rights violations,” the agencies stated. “In many countries, they still face criminal sanctions and lack access to justice.”
Paul De Lay, acting Deputy Executive Director at UNAIDS, stressed the need for rigorous monitoring by countries of the evolution of their epidemics, and for tailoring national responses to the needs of those most at risk.
“In many settings this will be men who have sex with men,” he said, adding that responses must be based on local epidemiological and social realities to be effective.
The plan being launched – the UNAIDS Action Framework: Universal Access for Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender People – outlines several factors that impede access to HIV services, such as unwillingness on the part of governments and donors to invest in the sexual health of sexual minorities.
It also sets out how UNAIDS will work towards achieving universal access through three main objectives – improving human rights, strengthening the evidence base through better data, and reinforcing capacity and promoting partnerships to ensure broader and better responses.
In a message to mark the International Day, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé called for greater efforts to end homophobia and ensure the barriers that stop access to HIV services are removed.
“I urge all governments to take steps to eliminate stigma and discrimination faced by men who have sex with men, lesbians and transgender populations. They must also create social and legal environments that ensure respect for human rights and enable universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” he stated.
Mr. Sidibé added that while governments committed in the 2006 UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS to removing legal barriers and passing laws to protect vulnerable populations, more than 80 countries still have legislation that prohibits same sex behaviour.
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Gay Entertainment Report: UK Apprentice Hits Gay Row

Donald Trump’s NBC hit The Apprentice has crossed the pond, where Sir Alan Sugar calls the shots and sacks contestants unfit for duty. The latest to get cut was Mona Lewis, a former Tanzanian beauty queen, amid allegations of homophobia.
Billionaire entrepreneur and media personality Sugar began his Trump impersonation in 2005, when BBC Two aired the first season of The Apprentice UK.
This week’s firing came amid allegations of homophobia.
Twenty-eight-year-old Lewis grumbled along when her team was tasked to revitalize the sagging tourism industry of the seacoast town of Margate. The group lost the task with the idea of attracting gay and lesbian tourists, and Lewis was blamed for her salty demeanor.
After losing the task, fingers were pointed at Lewis, and she returned to the boardroom to face Sugar. See Gay Entertainment Report: UK Apprentice Hits Gay Row
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Gay row goes before Kirk’s ‘court’ as split threat talked down

A COMPLAINT against openly gay Kirk minister Scott Rennie will be heard before the Church of Scotland’s own equivalent of a civil court next week.
However, the moderator designate refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding the appointment of Mr Rennie, 36, as he faced questions over the possibility of a split in the Kirk if it goes ahead.

During what was his first public appearance in the role, the Rev Bill Hewitt, 58, insisted his job would be to oversee a forthcoming Church debate on the issue and he would not be drawn into answering questions about the row.

However, reacting to the suggestions that supporters of controversial preacher Fred Phelps – who has protested against homosexuality in the United States – are planning to demonstrate outside the General Assembly when the issue is being discussed, he said: “People are free to demonstrate if they want. It won’t affect what happens inside.” SeeGay row goes before Kirk’s ‘court’ as split threat talked down Scotsman

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Teen Claims Self Defense In Gay Newsman’s Killing

(New York City) A New York teenager charged with the brutal slaying of veteran radio reporter George Weber claims he was acting in self defense.

John Katehis, 16, was ordered held without bail at an arraignment hearing in Brooklyn.

Weber’s body was found in his apartment in March. His ankles were bound, …

Private dick meets public honors

An age-old Hollywood rule states that if an actor comes out publicly as gay, his career is over. Chad Allen not only broke that rule, he smashed it to pieces. His acting career has thrived since he came out, in roles both gay and straight, and some of his best opportunities came along specifically because he’s gay.
Allen will be honored for his groundbreaking work at the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday night, May 9, at the Hilton San Francisco. The event will be hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler of E! TV’s Chelsea Lately. Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black will receive a Special Honor, and Mayor Gavin Newsom will present a Local Hero Award to San Francisco filmmakers George Callan and Mike Shaw for their film The Pursuit of Equality.
Special guests include finance guru Suze Orman, Sex and the City hunk Jason Lewis, Queer as Folk’s Robert Gant, Milk producer Dan Jinks, Calpernia Addams, Megan Cavanagh, Gabrielle Christian, Michelle Clunie, Laverne Cox, Wilson Cruz, Mandy Musgrave, Simon Rex, Eduardo Xol and TV’s Judge David Young. Musical performances will include violinist Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and out gay singer Matt Alber. See Private dick meets public honors
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‘MASH’ Star David Ogden Stiers Is Gay And “Very Proud To Be So”

‘M*A*S*H*’ Star David Ogden Stiers has just revealed he is gay. Stiers has had a long career with acting in Disney movies and now has found it right to come out of the closet

. According to POPEATER, “When asked by the Gossip Boy blog if he was gay, the actor replied, “Yes, I am. Very proud to be so,” according to WENN. See

‘M*A*S*H*’ Star David Ogden Stiers Is Gay And “Very Proud To Be So” Post Chronicle
David Ogden Stiers is gay? Who knew? Frankly My Dear . . .
David Ogden Stiers is proud to be gay! Newspost Online
MASH Star David Ogden Stiers Comes Out Women on the Web

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Swine flu guidelines for people with HIV released by CDC

The CDC on Thursday issued “interim guidance” for clinicians treating patients with swine flu who are also HIV-positive.

The full publication is available here.

The document notes that people with compromised immune systems, including people with HIV, are more at risk for seasonal flu, and thus are more likely to be at risk for H1N1, or swine-origin, flu as well.

There are insufficient data available at this point to determine who is at higher risk for complications of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. However, adults and adolescents with HIV infection, especially persons with low CD4 cell counts, are known to be at higher risk for viral and bacterial lower respiratory tract infections and for recurrent pneumonias.

Evidence that influenza can be more severe for HIV-infected adults and adolescents comes from studies among HIV-infected persons who had seasonal influenza; these data are limited. However, several studies have reported higher hospitalization rates, prolonged illness and increased mortality, especially among persons with AIDS. Thus, immune compromised persons, including HIV-infected adults and adolescents and especially persons with low CD4 cell counts or AIDS can experience more severe complications of seasonal influenza and it is possible that HIV-infected adults and adolescents are also at higher risk for swine-origin influenza complications.

People with HIV who contract swine flu should be treated with antiviral medications zanamivir or oseltamivir, the two drugs to which the virus is not resistant. “No adverse effects” have been reported in people with HIV who have received the two flu medications and “there are no known absolute contraindications” for people receiving the drugs when they are also taking antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV, according to the CDC.

People with HIV should take the same precautions as the general population to avoid contracting swine flu: Swine flu guidelines for people with HIV released by CDC
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Gay Students at a Kentucky High School Report Not Being Able to Use the Restroom because of their Sexual Orientation

Kentucky Equality Federation received reports that a Franklin County High School official allegedly sent an email to teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to leave class to use the restroom.

Frankfort, KY — Kentucky Equality Federation received reports that a Franklin County High School official allegedly sent an email to teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to leave class to use the restroom.

The email was allegedly sent after two female classmates were caught kissing in the public restroom.

In response, 15 students protested outside the school yesterday.

“My daughter was involved in a protest at Franklin County High School yesterday for their right to use the restroom,” stated Michelle Sexton.

“I have been in contact with one of the parents of the children involved in the protest and we support their constitutional right to assemble peacefully,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. “We call on the media to investigate this issue further and shed light on the discrimination gays and lesbians face throughout the Commonwealth. Kentucky Equality Federation will also be contacting the other parents of the children involved in today’s protest.”

Though Superintendent Harrie Buecker stated steps are being taken to address the students’ concerns, Kentucky Equality Federation is concerned they will not be addressed properly. Though not directly connected, Kentucky Equality Federation has received similar complaints in Casey, Pulaski, and Powell counties about unfair treatment of gay and lesbian students and teachers.

“I’d like to know what level this mentality, that gay and lesbian students should not be treated equally is coming from. An incident in one county could be called an isolated incident, but we now have similar reports in three other Kentucky Counties,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation Managing Director Laura Reed.

Kentucky Equality Federation will continue its own investigation and assist parents or students in filing any necessary complaints with Kentucky officials.

Palmer added that assembling together in a peaceful manner is the most basic right granted by the Kentucky Constitution, and that Kentucky Equality Federation had contacted the Office of Helen W. Mountjoy, Kentucky’s Secretary of Education for assistance in resolving the issues.

Kentucky Equality Federation offers an online complaint system for people around the Commonwealth to report discrimination or harassment. The online complaint system can be located at www.kyLGBT.org, or www.kyequality.org.

—

Kentucky Equality Federation is Kentucky’s largest statewide, grassroots LGBTI civil rights organization.

Kentucky Equality Federation is the sponsor of Marriage Equality Kentucky. For additional information, visit http://www.marriageequalityky.org/.

Kentucky Equality Federation is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (“ILGA”). Composed of over 600 member organizations around the world, ILGA is to this day the only international non-profit and non-governmental community-based federation dedicated to achieving equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people at the United Nations.

Kentucky Equality Federation is a member of Marriage Equality USA.

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Gays under threat in Senegal

DAKAR, Senegal — A mob gathered near a mosque outside Dakar. They were there to hunt down and kill nine men accused of homosexual acts.

Earlier this week the nine Senegalese AIDS activists were freed from eight-year-prison terms for alleged homosexual acts, but they went into hiding because of death threats from Muslim religious leaders and the general population.

“The homosexuals will not escape lynching. They will be fish food,” Dakar newspaper L’Observeur quoted a local youth leader as saying.

“Gay men will never be free in Senegal. They expose us all to danger,” said Imam Mbaye Niang, a prominent religious leader and member of parliament. “The judges should understand that Senegalese people need to protect their children, their families from homosexuality.”

In Senegal — where 95 percent of the population is Muslim — homosexual acts are punishable by fines and up to five years in prison. In January, the nine men received the harshest sentence yet for such an offense in Senegal, getting the maximum of five years and an additional three for criminal conspiracy.

Though widely supported in Senegal, the conviction was condemned by international human rights groups and foreign governments, most notably France.

“They were judged and condemned very severely, surely on the basis of public outcry, therefore the justice was neither objective nor founded in law,” said lead defense attorney Barim Sassoum Sy, who called the initial ruling hasty and emotional.

A Dakar appeals court overturned that decision Monday, citing violations of legal protocol.

Acting on an anonymous tip, police had arrested the men — most of whom do HIV prevention work in the “men having sex with men” community — in December at the home of a prominent gay activist. But the police did not have a search warrant, nor did they catch the men in the act, which is required by the Senegalese law prohibiting “indecent acts against nature.” The judge hearing the appeal therefore declared their convictions null and void, Sy said.

Yet even as smiling attorneys and supporters celebrated in the packed courtroom Monday and exchanged congratulations, plans were already in place to get the freed men into hiding outside Dakar.

“The first judge sentenced them to eight years,” said Imam Niang. “He had the courage to say it. The judge that let them go was much less courageous. He yielded to international pressure.”

See