John Berry—the first openly gay U.S. ambassador to Australia—said he was confident that the "great debate" among Australians on whether to allow same-sex marriages would result in the best outcome for the country, the Associated Press noted. Berry told reporters that Australia had led the United States on providing rights to gays including equal rights in the military, employment, health-care benefits and visitation rights in hospitals. But after the U.S. Supreme Court last week voted to legalize gay marriages in the entire nation, "for a short period of time, we may lap you for a little bit," Berry said at an Independence Day reception at the U.S. embassy.
A CNN report recently went viral when an international reporter mistook a dildo-covered flag for an ISIS banner during coverage of London's Gay Pride Parade. Now the flag's creator has unloaded on the cable news network over the gaffe, TheWrap reported. "But how could a report so hysterical and so clearly false possibly get onto the air, discussed by a terrorism expert?" British artist Paul Coombs, who used sex-toy motifs in his work before, asked in an op-ed in The Guardian. "CNN correspondent Lucy Pawle described my flag as a 'very bad mimicry,' but the only bad mimicry I could see was CNN's impression of a reputable news organization.
A French swimmer has suffered a broken nose in an anti-gay attack that forced her to withdraw from a major competition, Gay Star News reported. Melanie Henique, 23, and two female friends were approached by four men as they left a restaurant in Amiens, France, on June 26. Henique had to postpone training for 10 days after the attack and was forced to withdraw from the French Open over the weekend.
A leading Iranian actor has apologized after coming under pressure over a tweet he posted in support of a historic U.S. supreme court ruling on same-sex marriage, The Guardian reported. Bahram Radan, known as the "Iranian Brad Pitt," created controversy in the country when his tweet praised the fuling. Within a few hours, however, many users bombarded him with homophobic abuse and hardline media criticized him; Radan then deleted the tweet, and he issued an apology in the ultraconservative newspaper Keyhan.
Korea's first gay married couple has filed a suit against the registry office that refused to register their union—the first legal challenge of its kind in the conservative country, according to Gay Star News. Film director Kim Jho Gwang-soo, 50, and producer Dave Kim, 31, wed in Seoul in September 2013 at at public ceremony attended by 2,000 people. They tried to register their marriage at their local registry office in December that year but were told civil law did not recognize same-sex unions. They appealed in May 2014 but their application was rejected again.
In the United Kingdom, a 19-year-old who became influenced by religious extremists to believe gay people should be killed and join Islamic State was jailed for three years, Gay Star News noted. Syed Choudhury, a student from Cardiff, pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism. It is believed he became radicalized by older Muslims when he left his Bradford home to attend college, and while there, became more open about believing in the work that ISIS was doing in Syria.
Germany's main national history museum has launched an exhibition tracing 150 years of gay history in the country, The Huffington Post reported. The exhibition at Berlin's German Historical Museum includes the first uses of the term "homosexual," the Nazi-era repression of gays and gradual moves toward legal equality starting in the 1960s. Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said at the show's presentation that it "puts the current debate about legal equality into a historical context."
A Russian couple have reportedly been granted asylum in Finland after fleeing persecution in their home country, PinkNews reported. Gay couple Vladimir Naumov and Vasily Kolesnikov fled Russia amid rising anti-gay sentiment, following the introduction of Vladimir Putin's "gay propaganda" law in 2013. The couple now live in Rovaniemi, Lapland, and are learning to speak Finnish to communicate with the locals.
Kyrgyzstan's bill to ban "gay propaganda"—described by some as even stricter than Russia's—will become law, Gay Star News reported. Lawmakers in the ex-Soviet state voted overwhelmingly in favor of the law in the most important vote, the second reading of the bill. (A third reading is slated for October.) Unlike Russia, which only fines the "guilty," Kyrgyzstan will punish people who "propagate homosexual relations" by up to one year in jail.
A Spanish soccer team has released a new rainbow strip in order to fight homophobia, Gay Star News noted. In Rayo Vallecano's rainbow sash, red is for cancer, orange is for disability, yellow is for depression, green is for the environment, blue is for child abuse, pink is for domestic violence—and the entire rainbow represents homophobia. When they were announced, thousands supported the new strip. "Soy rayista, soy solidario" ("Support Rayo, support solidarity") went viral on social media.
After keeping the fact that she's lesbian a secret for almost 20 years, Joan Grundy is retiring as vice-principal of St. Mary's Catholic High School in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada—and sharing her secret with the world in a new book, CBC.ca noted. Grundy documented her story in a new book called, A Deepening Life. In part, it describes what she calls "coming out to herself" at age 33, while working in the Catholic school board. Gradually, she began to tell other people about her sexual orientation.
A U.S. woman and her partner, who were the first couple in the United Kingdome to have a civil-partnership ceremony, are challenging Northern Ireland's ban on same-sex marriages, The Guardian reported. Shannon Sickles, a U.S. citizen, and Grainne Close made history a decade ago when they were the first gay couple to have a civil partnership in Britain. Northern Ireland remains the only part of the United Kingdom where there is no marriage equality. The deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, has suggested a regional referendum—similar to the one that passed in the Irish Republic last month—regarding same-sex marriage.
The Chief Minister of the Isle of Man has shown his support for same-sex marriage, according to PinkNews. Allan Bell has signaled his tentative support for a bill on the issue, and is hoping to get legislaion passed soon. The island (which has a population of 85,000 people) is one of the few remaining areas in the region without equality—alongside Northern Ireland as well as the crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey.
Two gay-porn stars claimed they were attacked while at a Berlin club, EDGE Boston noted. In a video, Mickey Taylor says he and Kayden Gray were attacked after attending the club Blonde. "Not only have they attacked Kayden for having a person slap him in the face, but he was just racist to me," Taylor alleges of the club's bartender. Taylor adds his mouth was split open.
