President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda plans to sign a bill into law that prescribes life imprisonment for "aggravated" homosexual acts, according to CBS News. Museveni announced his decision to governing party lawmakers, said government spokesman Ofwono Opondo. In Twitter posts Feb. 14, Opondo said the legislators, in a retreat that Museveni chaired, "welcomed the development as a measure to protect Ugandans from social deviants."
President Obama has sharply criticized Uganda's government for its plans to enact legislation that would apply proscribe strict prison sentences for same-sex acts, according to The Washington Post. In a statement, Obama said, "The Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, once law, will be more than an affront and a danger to the gay community in Uganda." Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he would sign the legislation, which imposes a 14-year prison sentence on people convicted of an initial same-sex act and the possibility of life in prison if convicted of further homosexual relations.
Various media outlets reported that Vladimir Luxuria, Italy's first out transgender elected official, was arrested in Sochi, Russia—the site of the Winter Olympics, Gay Star News noted. Luxuria was allegedly arrested after holding a rainbow-colored banner that read "Gay is OK" in Russian. After being released, Luxuria planned on attending a hockey game Feb. 17 while wearing rainbow colors—but was stopped from watching the event and was arrested again, according to Reuters. Luxuria said she had been treated with respect while in detention but was told by police that she could not promote pro-gay slogans in public.
BBC star Graham Norton has offered his support to Rory O'Neill and his drag-queen character Panti Bliss as the RTE "homophobe" situation continues, The Irish Independent reported. ( RTE is the Irish broadcasting network on which O'Neill made a speech about the nature of homophobia following the conclusion of a play at the national theater of Ireland, the Abbey. ) Norton has previously spoken about the difficulties he experienced growing up gay in County Cork, Ireland: "I remember not wanting to be gay and I remember being afraid I was and hoping it was a phase and hanging on to the bisexual tag for a while. It was a long time."
Catholic priest and philosophy lecturer Dr. Fr. Stephen Geofroy has called for the equal rights of LGBTs to be enshrined in the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago in what has been called a "surprising" speech at a government consultation, according to Gay Star News. Geofroy spoke during the consultation at the University of the West Indies Sport and Physical Education Center in St. Augustine, saying the issue of LGBT people's equality should not even be debated further. Geofroy added there has been discrimination on the basis of race, color and class in Trinidad and Tobago, and that discrimination against LGBT people was no different from that.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission ( IGLHRC ) received reports that a mob of approximately 40 persons attacked approximately 10 men who were perceived to be gay in the community of Geshiri in Nigeria's Abuja area, according to a press release. The local police reportedly arrested five of the victims of the attack and later released them. Most of the men suffered injuries from the attack and are now in hiding.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree banning foreign same-sex couples—as well as single people from countries where same-sex marriages are legal—from adopting Russian children, according to CNN.com . Though there was no official ban until now, foreigners' attempts to adopt Russian children before the decree generally would be unsuccessful if a prospective adoptive parent was thought to be gay, international adoption agencies based in Russia have said. The move comes about a year after Russian lawmakers passed a bill banning adoptions to the United States.
A diplomatic situation is possibly simmering over a meeting held by openly gay U.S. ambassador James "Wally" Brewster and his husband, Bob Satawake, with several Dominican LGBT leaders just a month after the new U.S. ambassador took office, according to Blabbeando. Dominican newspapers reported that the Dominican Republic Ambassador to the Vatican Victor Grimaldi sent an open letter to the pope criticizing Brewster for the meeting and well as Brewster's marriage.
More than 100,000 conservative French people marched through Paris and Lyon in early February, accusing the government of "family-phobia" for legalizing gay marriage and other planned policies they say will harm traditional families, The Toronto Sun reported. The marchers—expressing growing frustration with the unpopular left-wing government—denounced new sex-equality lessons in schools and urged the government not to legalize medical procedures to help same-sex couples have children. France's Socialist government has dropped plans to change family law this year after the protests, France24.com noted.
Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian journalist who said gay people's hearts should be burned or buried because they're not fit for transplantation, has been selected by President Vladimir Putin to receive an award—for humanitarianism, according to Advocate.com . Kiselyov, whom Putin appointed in December to head the government-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya, was listed as recipient of the Order of Service to the Fatherland in a decree Putin signed.
Iran's queen of pop, Googoosh, has released a video in support of her country's gay and lesbian community, becoming the first prominent Iranian with such a huge following to speak out against homophobia, according to Raw Story. The video for her latest song, "Behesht ( Heaven )", released on her Facebook page on Valentine's Day, portrays a lesbian couple who are in a relationship banned both by society and their families. Navid Akhavan, who wrote and directed the video, said it had been viewed by thousands of Iranians online or via illegal satellite channels.
Matthew Paul Santos, simply known as Santos on MTV Canada's popular 1 Girl 5 Gays reality-TV show, died Feb. 8 at the age of 27, according to SDGLN.com . A funeral Mass was held on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Toronto. Santos' death is shrouded in mystery, and the cause of death has not been announced. Fans questioned on Facebook why the public was not informed about his death until after his funeral was over. Santos is survived by his boyfriend and his family.
In Britain, diver Tom Daley's show Splash! may get the axe after ratings have sunk, according to Gay Star News. Last December, Daley revealed he was in a relationship with a man who ended up being Oscar-winning scriptwriter and gay-rights advocate Dustin Lance Black.
City leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark—host of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in May—have invited opposite- and same-sex couples to get hitched May 7-10, the last few days leading up to the Eurovision finals, according to NewNowNext.com . The three outdoor locations are near the Copenhagen Opera House, in Hojbro Plads square and on a special zero-emission wedding boat. Unlike this year's Grammys ( which held a mass wedding of its own ), none of the weddings will take place inside the B&W Hallerna, where Eurovision is being held; however, producers may cut to video of the celebrants.
Bulgaria's right-wing party Ataka ( "attack" in Bulgarian ) has proposed a draft bill to bans gay pride marches, according to LGBTQ Nation. The development came in the wake of the country's parliament rejecting an amendment that would have criminalized same-sex acts, on the grounds it would violate European Union ( EU ) law and the European Convention of Human Rights. Ataka's leader, Volen Siderov, said that gay-pride marches are not only "an assault on public morality and values, but also represent public incitement to vandalism and antisocial acts."
The editor-in-chief of a lesbian magazine has publicly come out as gay at Taiwan's legislative building, according to Gay Star News. Wang Ann-jiun, 32—whose LEZS is billed as Asia's only lesbian lifestyle magazine—made her sexual orientation known as she and other gay-rights supporters met with the Legislative Yuan President to seek help in facilitating changes to the Civil Code. Despite a relatively accepting atmosphere, Taiwan, estimated to have around 2 million LGBT individuals, rarely sees openly out public figures.
Two former members of Pussy Riot told ABC News they were "surrounded," and "shoved" during an arrest by Russian police near the Olympic village, according to TheWrap.com . They also said they endured daily harassment from police during the Winter Olympics. Nadya Tolokonnikova said they were in Sochi to perform the song "Putin Will Make You Love Your Motherland," a reference to Russia's president. Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina were imprisoned on a charge of "hooliganism" after they sang an anti-Putin song in a cathedral in 2012; they were released in December 2013.
Gambia President Yahya Jammeh called gay people "vermin" and said his government would tackle them in the same way it fights malaria-causing mosquitoes, Reuters reported. The latest comments from Jammeh, who last year branded gays a threat to humanity, coincide with a renewed crackdown on same-sex relationships in Africa, where homosexuality is taboo and illegal in 37 countries. Jammeh said his country would defend its sovereignty and Islamic beliefs, and not yield to outside pressure on LGBT issues.
