The Finnish Postal Service, Itella, is preparing to release new sets of stamps in September 2014, including male drawings by Tom of Finland—a deceased Finnish artist notable for his homoerotic fetish art on late 20th-century gay culture, according to an LGBTQ Nation item. Finland's Postal Museum will also debut an exhibition titled "Sealed with a Secret: Correspondence of Tom of Finland" to coincide with the stamps' release. The show runs from Sept. 6 through March 29, 2015, at the Museum Centre Vapriikki, and will feature letters and exchanges from the artist throughout the course of his career.
In England, a jury has cleared former deputy speaker of the House of Commons Nigel Evans of the charge of sex abuse, according to BBC News. Evans, 56, denied rape, two indecent assaults, five sexual assaults and an attempted sexual assault against seven young men from 2003 through 2013. Evans, a conservative member of Parliament, resigned as deputy speaker after he was charged in September 2013.
India's top court recognized the country's transgender community as a third gender in a landmark judgment and human-rights groups, praising the development, have called on the government to ensure their equal treatment, according to Reuters. There are hundreds of thousands of transgenders in India, say activists, but because they are not legally recognized, they are ostracized, discriminated against, abused and often forced into prostitution. The court ruling—which came after hearing a petition filed by a group of transgender individuals demanding equal rights—recognized the community as a marginalized group and directed authorities to implement policies to improve their socioeconomic status.
British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has begun a legal appeal after a judge ruled it was up to him to decide if gay men could donate blood in Northern Ireland, according to the BBC. The ban was lifted in Britain in 2011. The judge said Northern Ireland Health Minister Edwin Poots' ban was "irrational." Poots has also begun a legal challenge to the ruling.
Conservative politician Maria Miller, who saw through same-same sex marriage in England and Wales, has resigned as culture secretary, Gay Star News reported. Following an incident over her expenses, Downing Street said it had recieved a resignation letter from the member of parliament. A huge outrage followed after Miller was cleared of funding a home for her parents at taxpayers' expense.
An Italian court has recognized the marriage of an Italian same-sex couple in a legal first, finding that there is no reference to the genders of who can marry in that country's civil code, Gay Star News reported. The couple took the municipality of Grosseto to court after its registrar refused to register their overseas marriage in New York in December 2012. Giuseppe Chigiotti told Republic TV that he and husband Stefano Bucci took the matter to court because they had no faith that Italian lawmakers would act on the issue.
While in New Zealand, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge—better known as William and Kate—took their son on a playdate that included the daughter of a gay couple, according to Gay Star News. Jared Mullen and Ryan Tunstall brought their daughter, Isabella, to play with Prince George. The 8-month-old royal baby, third in line to the British throne behind grandfather Prince Charles and William, was among the 10 babies who were invited to play together at The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society.
A former Royal Bank of Scotland employee has been sentenced to life for murdering his wife and incinerating her body to stop her from revealing his sexuality, Pink News reported. Jasvir Ram Ginday, 32, had originally claimed that he had accidentally killed Varka Rani, 24, last September by holding a metal vacuum pipe against her throat after she threatened to expose him as gay. Ginday was frequenting gay bars and having relationships with men around the time of his 2012 engagement to Varka who was from India.
In Canada, the Law Society of British Columbia is set to make its decision on a Fraser Valley university's application to open the first faith-based law school in Canada, The Globe and Mail reported. However, controversy around Trinity Western University's ( TWU's ) application has centered on a clause in the school's community covenant that prohibits "sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman." Arguments concerning the proposal have boiled down to sexual-orientation discrimination vs. religious freedom. Ontario's Law Society of Upper Canada is expected to vote on the matter after a meeting April 24.
Following a hearing with the Canadian Border Service Agency, controversial anti-gay speaker Peter LaBarbera—who heads the Illinois-based group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality—was cleared to enter the country and speak at a pro-life convention in Weyburn, Sask., recently, The Montreal Gazette reported. After flying from Chicago to Regina, Sask., LaBarbera was not initially allowed past customs. However, CBC News reported that LaBarbera was arrested again, along with Saskatchewan resident Bill Whatcott, on the University of Regina campus; they were slated to be charged with mischief for distributing anti-gay literature.
The Malta Parliament has passed a law allowing civil unions that gives same-sex couples the same rights as married people, including the possibility to adopt children, LGBTQ Nation reported. All ruling Socialist Party lawmakers voted for approval; Nationalist opposition lawmakers abstained, declaring they back civil unions but have reservations on gay adoptions. Maltese gays already could adopt children as individuals, but the new law now enables them to also adopt as couples.
Human-rights activists have expressed alarm at the announcement of plans to build separate prisons for gay prisoners in Turkey, according to Pink News. The "protecting convicts" measure was introduced by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, who said it was intended to protect LGBT inmates from attacks or harassment while in jail. Many argued that the segregation of LGBT inmates legitimizes anti-LGBT views.
More than 115,000 members of global LGBT-rights organization All Out sent a message to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, demanding an end to anti-gay Games, according to a press release. Public submissions closed April 15 for reforms being considered for the Olympic Agenda 2020 in Monaco later this year. In addition, 52 Olympians came together to condemn Russia's discriminatory laws and support respect for the Olympic principle of non-discrimination.
Spain is opening its first gay retirement home, in Madrid, Gay Star News reported. The 26 December Foundation, a Spanish organization for the LGBT society, started the retirement home project because, it stated, "as far as society is concerned, elderly LGBT don't exist." The home would be open for everyone, but would specialise in elderly LGBTs. ( Incidentally, the 26 December Foundation adopted its name from when Spain's gay legislation was reformed in 1978. )
