The Guardian is reporting that, despite reports to the contrary, if the current “anti-homosexual” bill passes in Uganda, it will include the death penalty.

Please read the Guardian’s story in its entirety. It details a frightening backslide of gay rights in Africa, and traces the American origins of the Uganda bill.

Among …

Suspect arrested in horrific PR hate crime; NYC vigil planned

A suspect has been arrested in the Puerto Rico murder and decapitation of gay teenager Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, according to an iReport by Christopher Pagan.:
The main suspect of the cruel murder of a young homosexual found in the area of Guavate Cayey, was arrested this morning and shall be …

Gay professor Simon Karlinsky dies

Simon Karlinsky, an openly gay distinguished professor in the Slavic Languages and Literatures Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert on the history of homosexuality in Russia, died July 5 due to congestive heart failure. He was 84.

Mr. Karlinsky’s death was announced by his husband, Peter Carleton. The couple lived in Kensignton.

For more than 30 years Mr. Karlinsky taught at UC Berkeley. He was an author and editor of books on Gogol, Nabokov and Chekov, and an internationally known expert on the history of homosexuality in Russia.

He was born on September 22, 1924 in the city of Harbin, a Russian cultural outpost in Manchuria (now China).

See Gay professor Simon Karlinsky dies

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Daniel Radcliffe slams ‘stupid’ homophobes

Daniel Radcliffe hates homophobia.

The ‘Harry Potter’ actor – who is dating actress Laura O’Toole – was raised to treat everyone equally and he thinks singling someone out because of their sexuality is wrong.

He said: “I just loathe homophobia. It’s just disgusting and animal and stupid and it’s just thick people who can’t get their heads around it and are just scared.

“I grew up around gay people entirely. I was the only child in my class who had any experience of homosexuality or anything like that.

“I hate any type of prejudice.”

The 20-year-old British star also spoke of his political beliefs and called on people to follow his decision to vote Liberal Democrat in the next election.

He added to Britain’s Attitude magazine: “At the next election I will almost certainly vote Liberal Democrat. See Daniel Radcliffe slams ‘stupid’ homophobes

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Homosexuals dispel myth of “progressive”

Each year in Germany, from the end of June through August, gay and lesbian rights’ activists celebrate the “Stonewall” uprising – named after a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York, where homosexuals fought back against police brutality in 1969.

Participants in the German parades known as “Christopher Street Day” join other activists around the world who take to the streets to demonstrate gay pride and demand greater freedoms.

Some of those freedoms would include expanded civil rights. In Germany, civil unions, for instance, have been permitted among same-sex couples since 2001, but full marriages are not. Homosexual couples therefore do not enjoy the same rights as married heterosexual couples when it comes to taxes, retirement, civil servant benefits, or adoption law.

For more on gay and lesbian rights and the community in Germany, click on the links below, or listen to this week’s “Living in Germany” program to hear a more personal account of a homosexual civil union.

DW-WORLD.DE

Audios and videos on the topic

Audio: Listen to this personal story on DW’s “Living in Germany” from July 13, 2009.

See Homosexuals dispel myth of “progressive” Germany Deutsche Welle

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Gays and lesbians more likely to smoke (by quite a bit), study shows

mong homosexuals: 37% of women smoke; 33% of men smoke.

Among heterosexuals: 18% of women smoke; 24% of men smoke

These figures come from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Published in the August issue of Tobacco Control, they’re based on a review of 42 studies about tobacco use among sexual minorities. (The heterosexual numbers are from the National Health Interview Survey.)

It’s not that the finding that gays and lesbians are more likely to smoke is new. According to the summary of an earlier report from the CDC, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2001:

See Gays and lesbians more likely to smoke (by quite a bit), study shows Los Angeles Times

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SCLC SPLIT OVER GAY MARRIAGE: Los Angeles office at odds with national officials.

*Civil Rights Movement icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a group of Black activists who founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1959.

Even after King’s assassination in 1968, the SCLC remained one of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations. But now the group’s cohesion is under threat. The issue which could potentially split the organization is same-sex marriage.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based leadership of the group has threatened to suspend or remove Rev. Eric P. Lee as head of the Los Angeles SCLC chapter because of his outspoken support for homosexual marriage.

But Lee and supporters in the L.A. chapter are fighting back essentially arguing that the national board does not have the authority to remove him. Lee is also thought to be seeking support from other SCLC chapters around the country.

Officially the national board says it is neutral on the gay marriage issue but in reality, the group dominated by Black Southern ministers is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage. Their view appears to be backed by a large majority of African Americans. An Edison/Mitofsky exit poll found that 70 percent of Black voters supported California’s Proposition 8 last fall. The proposition banned gay-marriage in the state.

A similar national online survey conducted recently by Taylor Media Services found 72 percent of Blacks opposing same-sex marriage which was supported by a slim majority of whites. Hispanics were evenly split on the issue.

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