The International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association ( IGLTA ) will host its 33rd Annual Global Convention in Cape Town, South Africa in 2016, according to a press release. This marks the first time IGLTA will hold its premier educational and networking conference in an African country in its 30-year history. South Africa, which became the world's first country to enact a constitutional ban against discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996, is considered the most progressive country on the continent for LGBT issues. Convention bids were evaluated during the association's Oct. 4-5 board meeting in Madrid, host city of IGLTA's 2014 convention next May 8-10.
After seven weeks in brutal conditions, a gay filmmaker who was imprisoned in Egypt was finally released, according to an Advocate.com item. Canadian filmmaker John Greyson, along with Dr. Tarek Loubani, were arrested in August after coming to the aide of citizens wounded in protests. While in prison, Greyson said he was beaten so badly it left "a precisely etched bootprint bruise on his back" and went on a hunger strike. No explanation for their release or imprisonment has yet to be given.
In Bangladesh, a lesbian couple from the Jhalakati District were jailed because of their relationship, according to Gay Star News. Lucky and Mishti "married" and have reportedly been living together for eight months. However, authorities were recently tipped off about the couple and detained them at their home. A case was filed against them under Section 290 for unsocial activities; that section relates to "offenses affecting the public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals" and states "Whoever commits a public nuisance in any case not otherwise punishable by this code, shall be punished with fine which may extend to two hundred taka [$2.59]."
A 6-year-old boy has asked former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard why she opposed same-sex marriage, Gay Star News reported. She replied, "I do understand that the position I took on gay marriage perplexed many people, given who I am and so many of my beliefs. I think marriage in our society could play its traditional role, and we could come up with other institutions which value partnerships, value love, value lifetime commitment." The question was part of Gillard's first extended interview since losing her office to Kevin Rudd, and then to current Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
It's not a joke: Russian President Vladamir Putin has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to the Washington Times. The Russian advocacy group International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation of Peoples of the World nominated Putin, saying his forged agreement with Syrian President Bashar Assad—to turn over admitted chemical weapons cache to international authorities—is a an example of diplomacy worthy of the prize. The group also said that Putin deserved the Peace Prize much more than President Obama, who won the recognition in 2009.
Lebanon banned the gay-themed film Stranger by the Lake, which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival in May, according to Deadline.com . The movie was slated to screen at the Beirut Film Festival; however, a security official said the interior ministry's censorship board deemed it did "not meet its criteria." Lebanon bans artistic works believed to incite sectarian strife, or undermine morals or state authority; Lebanese law bans homosexuality.
A conservative Muslim imam in the Russian republic of Tatarstan has called for a boycott of a December concert by Sir Elton John, whom he labeled the "devil's work in the shape of a pederast," according to an Advocate.com item. Imam Seidzhagfar Lutfullin, of Kazan's Thousandth Anniversary of Islam Mosque, urged believers to stay away from John's show in Kazan and recommended they warn others to do the same. A group of Russian parents has also called for a boycott of John's concerts. John is due to perform in Kazan Dec. 8 following a show in Moscow.
In Belgium, a 44-year-old man ended his own life via euthanasia after a series of failed gender-reassignment surgeries, according to the Huffington Post. "I was the girl no one wanted," Nathan Verhelst told the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws hours before his death. Verhelst's euthanasia request was approved based on a 2002 law that makes Belgium one of only three countries in the world ( along with Luxembourg and the Netherlands ) to legalize the practice the practice.
After a government ban, the underground LGBT website Queer Pakistan saw its traffic increase by 2,000 percent in 48 hours, according to Gay Star News. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has shut down Queer Pakistan's Facebook page just two months after it had started offering support and counseling to the Islamic nation's LGBT community. ( Homosexuality is punishable by death or imprisonment in Pakistan. ) However, the group came up with a new URL, www humjins.com, and has seen its viewership skyrocket.
Two ministers from the Church of Scotland resigned in an argument over gay clergy, Gay Star News reported. Reverends David Court and David Randall defected to the Free Church of Scotland, a separatist evangelical conservative denomination. Randall said, "I'm excited to be coming into a denomination that takes the Bible seriously and seeks to engage that biblical message with 21st-century Scotland." Openly gay minister Scott Rennie, who had a controversial civil partnership in June, is suggested to have contributed to the defection.
Brian Brown, president of the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage ( NOM ), traveled to Russia to testify in favor of a law that bans foreign same-sex couples living in countries where gay marriage is legal from adopting Russian-born children, according to On Top Magazine. "We have actually seen that in some schools, they are talking to children about homosexuality," Brown told a legislative committee about the United States, "but, in fact, they don't have the right to learn about a lot of things like that until a certain age." He added in a TV interview that laws aimed at discriminating against LGBT people would help ward off "negative developments."
A peaceful protest took place as the Olympic flame was handed to organizers of the Sochi Winter Olympics in a ceremony in Athens, Greece—the site of the first modern summer games, according to the Huffington Post. A few dozen activists at the Acropolis staged a peaceful protest against Russia's law banning gay propaganda. After a seven-day run through Greece, the flame will cover 40,000 miles on Russian soil, culminating Feb. 7 in Sochi, Russia.
Paris was awarded the rights to host Gay Games X in 2018, according to Windy City Times. The announcement was made live by Cleveland mayor Frank G. Jackson during ceremonies held Monday, Oct. 7, at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland, host city of Gay Games 9 next August. Paris won over bids from Limerick, Ireland, and London; there also had been 2018 bids from Amsterdam and Orlando, Fla., though neither of those cities advanced to the finals.
Spencer Livermore, who has been called "the most powerful gay man in British politics," has been appointed Labour Party's general election campaign director, according to Pink News. He was director of strategy to former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown until 2008 and played a critical role in Labour's successful general election campaigns of 1997, 2001 and 2005. Livermore, 38, also set up his own PR firm, Thirty Six Strategy, in 2012.
In London, Romy Maynard is on trial for allegedly stabbing transgender woman Chrissie Azzopardi, Pink News reported. Opening the prosecution's case, Mark Heywood QC said the victim had been stabbed in the chest, pushed down and then stabbed again with force which had pierced her heart. Officers discovered the body of Azzopardi, who was due to undergo gender-confirmation surgery, more than a month after the alleged killing.
Gay couple John Davis and Jason Scorer have said they went to England to adopt because of confusion over the law in their home country of Northern Ireland, the BBC reported. The Court of Appeal ruled that legislation that prevented same-sex and unmarried couples from adopting children in Northern Ireland was unlawful. ( It was the only part of the United Kingdom where the policy existed. ) However, Health Minister Edwin Poots has now applied to the Supreme Court to have the ban reinstated. The couple adopted two boys at the start of the summer and they started primary school last month.
The kingdom of Kuwait is planning to identify LGBT people through "medical screening tests" and bar them from setting foot inside the country and its neighbors, according to an Advocate.com item. According to the Kuwaiti health ministry's director of public health, Yousouf Mindkar, routine clinical screenings of those entering the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC ) countries will soon include tests to detect LGBT people and keep them from entering. Same-sex acts are illegal in all GCC member states including Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with those found guilty facing a possible jail sentence of up to 10 years if they are under 21.
