British TV doctor Christian Jessen will tackle controversial reparative therapy methods on the new series Cure Me, I'm Gay, The Huffington Post reported. In an effort to test the methods' medical legitimacy, Jessen—who is openly gay and in a long-term relationship—will apparently be filmed undergoing a number of the treatments himself before taking a "sexuality test" with a device measuring sexual arousal. Jessen will also talk with LGBT patients who reportedly want to be straight, as well as "ex-gay" patients who say the therapy was successful.
India's Supreme Court has refused to review its controversial decision to reinstate a 153-year-old law that criminalizes homosexuality, the BBC reported. Judges dismissed petitions from the government and rights activists who say the order was wrong. The recent Supreme Court judgement overturned a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court ruling decriminalizing gay sex.
In a coup for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot, the Montreal-conceived-and-produced exhibition on fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier will be shown at the Grand Palais in Paris, according to the Montreal Gazette. It will mark the first time the grand, historic Beaux Arts exhibition space will be devoted to a fashion exhibition. On tour since its 2011 premiere at the Montreal museum, "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" has travelled to Dallas, San Francisco, Madrid, Rotterdam and New York. It will run in Paris from April to August 2015.
A 20-year-old gay man committed suicide in Azerbaijan by hanging himself with a rainbow flag, according to Gay Star News. Isa Shakhmarli was the chairman of Azerbaijan's Free LGBT group, a Baku-based campaigning charity aiming to improve the lives of the community in the capital. On his Facebook page, Shakhmarli wrote, "I am leaving you. God bless you. This country and this world are not for me."
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin talked with HuffPo Live about actress Goldie Hawn and global LGBT rights. Discussing a pic Hawn posted that shows her with Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan, Griffin said that he spoke with Hawn after she posted the photo, and said she didn't know the severity of Jonathan's anti-gay views. ( She has since deleted the photo. ) Griffin added that countries with severe anti-gay laws have "severe instability," and that anti-gay groups like the National Organization for Marriage have a hand in spreading "hate" to other countries and to leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Global faith leaders and advocates have announced a Twitter campaign urging Pope Francis to speak out against the recent passage of anti-gay laws around the world, according to a New Ways Ministry/Fellowship Global press release. "The #PopeSpeakOut campaign will urge the Pope to make a simple and heartfelt statement to stop the persecution," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, the Catholic organization spearheading the campaign. Pastor Joseph Tolton, executive director of The Fellowship Global, said that the #PopeSpeakOut campaign is the first step of a movement called "No More Triangle Nations," a reference to the pink triangle assigned to gay men in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
A Hong Kong property tycoon has doubled the dowry for any man who marries his lesbian daughter, with the amount now standing at $120 million, according to Time.com . Cecil Chao Sze-tsung told Malaysian newspaper Nanyang Siang Pau that he has not finished trying to arrange a straight match for openly lesbian Gigi Chao, 33. Gigi Chao, an LGBT-rights activist, has spoken of the couple's anguish at her father's behavior and told the South China Morning Post that she has repeatedly asked him to stop offering the bounty.
Two transgender women from Brazil were detained and their passports confiscated while on vacation in Dubai, and have been charged with the crime of "imitating" women, according to LGBTQ Nation. Karen Mke, 38, and Kamilla Satto, 33, were detained in December while attending a local nightclub and are now awaiting trial with the possibility of further imprisonment, fines and/or deportation back to Brazil. The pair cannot leave Dubai, as their passports have been confiscated by the authorities.
International gay-rights campaigners are using branded clothing inspired by the Olympic movement's own values to show their opposition to Russian laws on homosexuality ahead of the Sochi Games, Reuters reported. For example, American Apparel—partnering with Athlete Ally and the LGBT-rights group All Out—is selling a line of bright red T-shirts, hoodies and hats based on Principle 6 from the Olympic charter, which spells out the movement's opposition to any form of discrimination.
Hayley Wickenheiser—Canada's most decorated female ice-hockey player and an outspoken critic of Russia's anti-gay laws—was named as her country's flag-bearer for next month's Sochi Winter Games, Reuters reported. A triple gold medallist and pioneer of her sport who has played professionaly in men's leagues, Wickenheiser said she was honored to be chosen to represent her country. Once named one of Sports Illustrated's Top 25 Toughest Athletes in the World, Wickenheiser will be making her sixth Olympic appearance.
Global Action for Trans* Equality ( GATE ) and American Jewish World Service ( AJWS ) released the results of the first-ever survey of transgender and intersex groups around the world in a new report, "The State of Trans* and Intersex Organizing," according to a press release. The survey of 340 organizations documents the deep discrimination and multiple challenges facing trans* and intersex people and the organizing that they are leading worldwide to win their human rights. The report was presented Jan. 28 during the International Human Rights Funders Group's 2014 conference in San Francisco.
The mayor of Sochi, Russia, feels that there are no gay people in his city, according to NYMag.com . Following Russia President Vladimir Putin's defense of the country's new "propaganda and pedophilia" law, Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov has insisted, "We do not have [gay people] in our city," but then admitted, "I am not sure, but I don't bloody know them." However, an opposition leader said that there are several gay clubs in Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
In England, a court of appeal ordered an investigation into whether London Mayor Boris Johnson acted "for an improper purpose" following a transport ban on a Christian charity's posters that tout ex-gay therapy, The Guardian reported. The Core Issues Trust had claimed that the mayor unlawfully used his position as chairman of Transport for London to prohibit the advertisement on buses to secure support from the gay community before his 2012 re-election campaign.
Cowboys removed their hats and embraced in their underwear in the premiere of an opera adaptation of Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain in Spain, The Global Post noted. The tragic love story opened at Madrid's top opera house, the Teatro Real, whose director compared it to Wagner and billed it is a gesture in favor of gay rights. Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger played the cowboy lovers in the 2005 U.S. film that won three Academy Awards. On stage in the Spanish capital, the Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch plays Ennis, with U.S. tenor Tom Randle as Jack.
Salvation Army ( L'Armee du salut ), a gay drama from Moroccan director Abdellah Taia, won top honors at France's Premiers Plans Angers Festival, which is devoted to first films from emerging directors, according to NewNowNext.com . Based on Taia's autobiographical novel of the same name, the film examines the life of a young gay man ( also named Abdellah ), from clandestine hookups with older men in 1980s Casablanca to his adult life in Geneva. He eventually finds solace in The Salvation Army.
Coca-Cola has apologized for a South Africa social-media campaign that banned the word "gay," according to Gay Star News. The Sochi Olympics sponsor set up a new marketing campaign in South Africa encouraging fans to share a virtual can of Coke personalized with a friend's name or message. However, when it was discovered they had banned the word "gay," by itself, it caused an outrage.
