A Namibian opposition leader who openly backs LGBTI rights was sworn in as a member of the country's parliament Feb. 11, according to Gay Star News. McHenry Venaani, president of the opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance ( DTA ) party, came out for gay and trans rights in an interview with Gay Star News. He will enter parliament after veteran politician Katuutire Kaura was expelled both from parliament and his party after a recent verbal war with the 36-year-old Venaani.
Mark Bennett, the openly gay mayor of the London district of Lambeth, has died at age 44 of a suspected heart attack, according to the London Evening Standard. Bennett was an assistant to Alastair Campbell for the first four years of Tony Blair's Labour government from 1997 to 2001, and was first elected as mayor in 2005. Among other things, Bennett took part in the 2013 London Gay Pride Parade wearing his mayoral chains and campaigned against hate crimes.
Queen Elizabeth II, the formal head of the Church of England, will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 3 during a one-day visit to Italy, according to Advocate.com . The queen signed a law establishing marriage equality in the United Kingdom in June 2013, with a provision that allowed the Church of England to opt out of recognizing the unions. The Church of England approved the consecration of openly gay bishops in 2013, provided that gay individuals remain celibate.
Two members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot made their first U.S. appearance recently, saying their two-year jail stint strengthened their resolve to shine a light on human-rights abuses in their native land, according to The New York Daily News. "What makes you want to keep living is the solidarity you can feel even through prison walls," band member Maria Alekhina said alongside Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. They were convicted of "hooliganism" in 2012 after staging a protest against President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow church. While in New York, Pussy Riot joined a concert line-up consisting of Tegan and Sara, Lauryn Hill, Madonna, Imagine Dragons and others; the show aimed to denounce Putin's treatment of dissidents and LGBT activists.
With more than 7 million users worldwide, Grindr surveyed its user base to find out the latest on how Grindr guys feel about Valentine's Day, relationships and sex, according to a press release. Almost 19,000 users responded, with 45 percent saying they're looking for dates and relationships, and 61 percent saying it's "totally acceptable" to be dateless on Valentine's Day.
U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-moon called for an end to anti-LGBT discrimination and violence during a speech in Sochi, Russia, that coincided the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics, The Washington Blade reported. "We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people," said Ban during remarks he gave during an International Olympic Committee meeting. "We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face." Ban did not specifically reference Russia's controversial law banning gay propaganda to minors during his speech.
Spain's newly appointed cardinal to Rome has insisted homosexuality can be cured with treatment and likened it to other "bodily deficiencies" such as high blood pressure, the UK Telegraph reported. The comments by 84-year-old Fernando Sebastian Aguilar—named one of 19 new cardinals by Pope Francis—provoked an immediate backlash in Spain. Pope Francis has struck a more concilatory tone to the traditional Vatican doctrine on homosexuality since taking up the papacy last March.
On the eve of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia—enmeshed in controversy over the country's crackdown on LGBT rights—web giant Google is showed its support for LGBT people with an Olympics rainbow doodle, according to Bilerico.com . The doodle was featured on Google's Russian site as well, and in anti-gay countries such as Uganda, Nigeria, Jamaica, Cameroon and Iran.
At the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, Russian pseudo-lesbian singing duo Tatu performed before the 3,000 athletes marched, according to the Associated Press. The article stated that the act contrasts with the very real anger over Russia's anti-gay law that some people have shown. Tatu performed "Not Gonna Get Us," an upbeat song meant to motivate competitors.
A senior member of the International Olympic Committee criticized the United States for including openly gay athletes in its official delegation to the Winter Olympics, according to KPVI.com . Mario Pescante of Italy accused the United States of sending "four lesbians to Russia" just to show that gay rights are in place in the United States. Pescante said he has nothing against gays, but that politics shouldn't "interfere with the Olympics."
Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust became the first openly LGBT athlete to win a medal at the Sochi Olympic Games, taking gold in the 3,000-meters race, according to UPI.com . This wasn't the first time she won gold at the Olympics, but it was the first time in Russia, which recently adopted an anti-gay propaganda law. The 27-year-old Wust also won gold in Vancouver and Turin, according to Yahoo! Sports.
An openly lesbian women's ski jumper says protests against Russia's law banning gay "propaganda" aimed at minors aren't worth it because "no one cares, the Associated Press noted. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz of Austria, who is a gold medal favorite in the women's normal hill, married partner Isabel Stolz last year. "I don't think it's a good idea to make protests here, no one cares," she said after training Feb. 9. "I know Russia will go and make the right steps in the future and we should give them time."
American Jewish World Service ( AJWS ) joined human-rights activists around the world Feb. 10 for a Global Day of Action, urging Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the country's Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law. AJWS held five events as part of the Global Day of Action in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. "We implore Ugandan President Museveni to reject the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and refuse to sign it into law," said Ruth Messinger, president of AJWS. "LGBT Ugandans are ostracized and assaulted on a daily basis just for living their lives, and, for recent generations of Jews, the threats facing LGBT people in Uganda are all too hauntingly familiar.
The Canada Border Services Agency detained transgender comedian Avery Edison at Toronto Pearson International Airport after agents detemined a student visa she held had lapsed, according to Advocate.com . Edison, who lives in the United Kingdom, was planning to visit friends in Canada for three weeks. Edison tweeted that she wasn't detained as a result of her transgender status, but that her trans status simply made her experience worse than it would have been had she not been transgender.
For the first time, England women's soccer captain Casey Stoney has spoken publicly about being lesbian, according to BBC Sport. Stoney, 31, told BBC Sport she decided to come out after the positive reaction to diver and countryman Tom Daley saying he was in a relationship with a man, and because of the "loving relationship" she is in. Stoney, who has captained Great Britain in the London Olympics, said the decision had taken "a long while to get to" but that "a huge weight" had been lifted from her shoulders.
In a landmark Turkish case, a man who murdered his son because he was gay and "shaming" the family, has been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison, according to LGBTQ Nation. The case that lasted nearly two years ended when a Diyarbakır Criminal Court for Aggravated Crimes convicted Metin Cicek and two uncles, Seyhmus Cicek and Mehmet Alican Cicek, for the murder Rosin Cicek. Rosin, 17, was found wounded on July 2, 2012; he died two days later. The court rejected Metin Cicek's defense that he killed his son "by accident."
The Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, has said if you hate gay people, then you hate God, according to Gay Star News. Diarmuid Martin—in reacting to two stories, including the controversy over drag queen Panti Bliss' comments on television—said, "God never created anybody that he doesn't love. Anybody who doesn't show love towards gay and lesbian people is insulting God."
The suicide of a gay-rights activist in Azerbaijan last month has prompted the city of Baku's first ever LGBT news conference as well as a "Day of Pride" to mark the late campaigner's passing, according to Pink News. Police confirmed last month that 20-year-old Isa Shakhmarli, who was a chairman of Azerbaijan Free LGBT, hanged himself using a rainbow pride flag. His suicide note contained the message, "The world cannot handle my true colours."
