China bans parts of gay festival
The organisers of China’s first Gay Pride Festival have been told to cancel two of their sessions.
The news came on the very day a state-run newspaper described the Shanghai festival as of “profound significance”.
Officials have warned the owners of two venues planning to hold a play and a film screening they would face “severe consequences” if they went ahead.
Homosexuality was illegal in China until 1997, and officials described it as a mental illness until 2001. See China bans parts of gay festival
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Singapore gays in first public rally
Halfway across the world, as police moved in to break up a gay rights protest in Russia, another country known for being equally as restrictive on liberal ideals was holding its first gay rally undisturbed.
Some 2,500 pink-attired supporters of gay rights gathered in a park in Singapore on Saturday, to form a pink dot, which was photographed from a nearby building.
The organisers of the event, pinkdot.sg, say the event was held to commemorate love in all forms and between people of every orientation.
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Gay protest broken up in Moscow
Police in Russia have broken up a protest by gay rights activists in Moscow, staged to coincide with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Some 30 campaigners had gathered near a university in defiance of a ban on their march and many were dragged away by police when they shouted slogans.
British gay rights activist, Peter Tatchell, was among those detained.
A counter-demonstration by nationalist and religious groups was allowed to go ahead elsewhere in the Russian capital.
Equal rights
The gay rights group had been waving flags and chanting slogans demanding equal rights and condemning the treatment of gays and lesbians in Russia.
At least 20 were arrested as police moved in to disperse the protest.
As he was being taken away by police, Mr Tatchell shouted: “This shows the Russian people are not free.”
Speaking from a police station, he later told the BBC: “The way the police violently broke up our peaceful protest is an indication of a drift toward authoritarianism that is affecting all Russians.”
‘Satanic’
The organiser of the gathering and leading campaigner, Nikolai Alexeyev, was also detained at the event, which took place in the south-west of the city.
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Violence feared over Moscow gay march
Gay rights activists have warned there could be violence on the streets of the Russian capital Moscow on Saturday as the city stages the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Irina Shipitko (l) and Irina Fedotova’s marriage attempt was rejected
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The competition traditionally has a large gay following and Russian activists are trying to hold the country’s first ever gay pride march while thousands of Eurovision fans are in Moscow.
But the city council has refused to give official permission for the march, while allowing hardcore nationalists and religious groups to stage a counter-demonstration on the same day.
Gay activists have come under attack from such groups in the past.
“We will still go ahead”, says Nikolai Alekseev, leader of Russia’s gay rights movement.
“There will be outrage around the world… if on the 16 May people are being arrested and beaten on the streets of Moscow hours before the Eurovision Song Contest final.
“It will be a disgrace for Russia.”
See Violence feared over Moscow gay march BBC News
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Cathedral city ‘not gay-friendly’
The cathedral city of Canterbury is being investigated over claims it is not welcoming to gay people.
Andrew Brettell of Canterbury Pride has complained the Kent city is a “cultural wilderness” and one of few in England without any gay bars.
He said the city fails to welcome its “closeted” lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The Local Government Ombudsman is investigating the claims, which have been denied by the council.
Mr Brettell criticised Canterbury City Council for “ticking the boxes” but failing to do anything to attract gay people to the area.
“What we need is for the council to send signals that it’s OK to be gay and that they are welcoming gays to the city,” he said.
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‘Gay man’ disinterred in Senegal BBC News
he body of a man believed to be homosexual has twice been dug up from a Muslim cemetery in Senegal.
The man, in his 30s, was first buried on Saturday before residents of the western town of Thies dug up his body and left it near his grave, police say.
His family then reburied him, but he was once more exhumed by people who did not want him buried there. His body was dumped outside the family house.
Senegal outlaws homosexual acts but there is a tradition of effeminate men.
A police officer told the AFP news agency that the body was eventually buried away from the cemetery.
The state-owned Le Soleil newspaper reports that it was buried within the grounds of the family home.
“Goor-jiggen” (men-women) dress up as women, socialise with females and have long been tolerated in Senegal, a majority Muslim country. However, attitudes seem to be changing.
The AFP news agency reports that local imams, as well as some newspapers and radio stations, have denounced homosexuals after an appeals court last month overturned the conviction of nine people for homosexual acts.
‘Gay man’ disinterred in Senegal
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UK’s MSPs back new gay hate crime law
A new law to widen the definition of hate crimes to protect gay communities and disabled people has moved closer.
Holyrood’s justice committee has backed the bill being put forward by Green MSP Patrick Harvie.
The Scottish Government has already said it will support the bill, meaning it is now almost certain to become law.
Crimes motivated by hatred of gay or disabled people would be considered aggravated offences, meriting tougher sentences.
The Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Bill would bring Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.
The committee’s convener, Conservative MSP Bill Aitken, acknowledged concerns that it would create a two-tier justice system, with some victims having more rights than others.
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Compound may block HIV infection
Researchers have identified a cheap, commonly-used compound that, applied vaginally, can stop monkeys being infected with a primate version of HIV.
The discovery, by the University of Minnesota, raises hopes of a similar microbicidal treatment to block HIV transmission in humans.
Several microbicides have been tested, but results have been disappointing.
The study – focusing on a compound called glycerol monolaurate (GML) – is published online by the journal Nature.
GML is a naturally occurring compound widely used as an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agent in food and cosmetics.
Crucially, it is also cheap, and is likely to protect against other sexually transmitted infections too.
Compound may block HIV infection
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Planned anti-gay demo falls flat
A threatened mass protest by an anti-gay US church failed to materialise when only one demonstrator turned up.
Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the Westboro Baptist Church were banned from entering the UK to protest against a play in Hampshire.
They had urged a picket of Queen Mary’s College in Basingstoke over the staging of The Laramie Project, a play about a man killed for being gay.
But only one protester arrived and was heckled away by counter-demonstrators.
Play supporter Blake West was among about 50 students who protested against Westboro church outside the college on Friday.
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School ‘unsafe to be openly gay’
Many pupils in Wales feel their school is not a safe place to be openly gay, a survey suggests.
The survey of 600 pupils was carried out during Safe Space, a workshop aimed at tackling homophobic bullying.
Some 79% thought their school was not safe for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to be open about their sexuality.
The release of the report coincides with the launch of a charity, the LGBT Excellence Centre Wales.
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