A report the Southern Poverty Law Center released criticizes U.S. religious groups for supporting the campaign to defend Belize's anti-sodomy law, according to the Washington Blade. The organization specifically singles out the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom and the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute for sending attorneys to the anti-gay group Belize Action. Belize Action is opposing a lawsuit currently before the Supreme Court of the Judicature of Belize that seeks to overturn the statute that punishes those found guilty of consensual same-sex sexual acts with up to 10 years in prison.
Dolce and Gabbana say they will close their fashion brand if they're forced to cough up the 343 million euros they've been ordered to pay, Glamour.com noted. After losing their recent court battle, where they received a 20-month jail sentence for failing to pay the Italian government 400 million euros in taxes, the duo insisted they do not deserve the sentence. The designers are appealing the sentence.
A Bangladesh lesbian couple is being threatened with life imprisonment for "marrying" in secret, according to Gay Star News. Shibronty Roy Puja, a 16-year-old Hindu, and Sanjida Akter, 21-year-old Muslim, were arrested in Dhaka July 23. Akter had been tutoring Puja, and it was reportedly only recently they realized their feelings for each other and decided to marry. On July 20, Puja's father reported his daughter missing.
Curacao will celebrate its first full-fledged Pride with the launch of Curacao Pride Sept. 25-29, according to the Curacao Chronicle. The organizer is Curacao Gay Pro, an association of professional organizations and individuals working with or for the Curacao and LGBT communities. Curacao Pride will include, among other things, a masked street dance in downtown Willemstad, theme parties, spiritual celebrations and the first Caribbean Conference on Women and Sexual Diversity. More info is on Facebook at "Curacao Pride."
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin has sent a letter to NBCUniversal asking that NBCUniversal use its position as exclusive U.S. Olympic broadcaster and expose the Russian government's anti-gay crusade, Out.com noted. In part, the letter says, "You no doubt agree that it wouldn't be right to air the opening ceremonies, which is an hours-long advertisement for the host country, without acknowledging that a whole segment of the Russian population—not to mention foreign athletes and visitors—can be jailed for an immutable aspect of their identity." The 2014 Winter Games will take place in Sochi, Russia.
Forbes magazine has had to post a formal apology to its readers after it mistakenly published an article which stated that Irish President Michael D. Higgins was an openly gay man, according to Gay Star News. Higgins is a public supporter of LGBT rights but Forbes writer David Monagan may have confused him with Senator David Norris—the openly gay man Higgins beat to win the presidency of Ireland in 2011. Higgins has made no public comment over the mistake.
The United Nations has officially launched a public education campaign designed to increase support for LGBT rights around the world, the Washington Blade reported. The year-long "Free & Equal" campaign—which the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights unveiled during a press conference in Cape Town, South Africa—aims to raise awareness of anti-LGBT violence and discrimination and encourage what it describes as "greater respect for the rights of LGBT people." Archbishop Desmond Tutu and gay South African Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron, who lives with HIV, joined U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at the Cape Town press conference.
Several hundred people shouting "kill the gays" attacked gay activists and clashed with police in an attempt to disrupt the first-ever pride event in conservative Montenegro, which is seeking to improve its human-rights record in a bid to join the European Union, according to a WISTV.com item. Assailants threw rocks, bottles, glasses and various other objects—including chairs from local cafes—at several dozen flag-waving gay activists who shouted back "kiss the gays" at the gathering in Budva. The gay activists left the town by boat for security reasons.
Editors of the Oxford English Dictionary are considering changing the definition of the word "marriage" to include same-sex couples, according to an On Top Magazine item. The announcement came after England approved an equal-marriage law expected to take effect next summer. The dictionary currently defines marriage as being a "formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife."
Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, recently told a group of supporters of the nation's ruling Zanu PF party that gay men should be decapitated if they cannot conceive children, adding that gay people are worse than "pigs, goats and birds," according to Pink News. In that speech, Mugable also criticized President Obama for linking foreign aid to the protection of gay rights. Mugabe has been president of the African country since 1987.
Some Russian LGBT activists have responded to the global call to boycott Russian vodka, saying there is "no point" and will not change anti-gay laws, Gay Star News reported. Nikolai Alekseev, an activist and regular News contributor, has said it will have little effect on the "gay propaganda" law. U.S. gay-rights advocate Dan Savage pioneered the boycott, telling gay bars to "dump Russian vodka."
However, in a move that contradicts what some of those activists have expressed, 23 leading LGBT Russian activists and their supporters sent a statement to U.S. activist group Queer Nation, calling for a broad boycott of Russian products and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, according to a press release. The statement endorses the "Dump Russian Vodka" campaign several global activists have called for and backs actor Harvey Fierstein's op-ed in the New York Times for a boycott of the Winter Olympic Games.
On July 7, 20 plain-clothed police officers forcefully arrested 10 gay men and transgender women outside the Sedona Hotel in Mandalay, Myanmar, according to an International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) report. At the police station, the arrested individuals reportedly were subjected to humiliation and abuse. Mandalay Police deny the allegations, claiming the arrests were in response to complaints of public disturbances. The Myanmar LGBT Rights Network and IGLHRC are calling for "a full and fair investigation into police conduct."
While Pope Francis was in Brazil, thousands gathered for a five-day celebration of World Youth Day, a major Catholic event. However, on July 22, the pope got a very different reception from young LGBT Brazilians, who staged a beijaco, or kiss-in, along the papal motorcade route, USNews.com reported. Video from the protest shows demonstrators passionately kissing their partners—some of them topless—while others waved rainbow flags. Also, the Campaign for Brazilian Women organized a protest at Copacabana beach called the "SlutWalk," which is part of an international protest movement against sexual violence, a growing problem in Brazil.
In Russia, neo-Nazis and ultranationalists are reportedly luring gay teens to "dates" where they are then bullied and tortured while being recorded on video, according to the New York Post. The person behind the nationwide coordinated assaults is allegedly the neo-Nazi Maxim Martsinkevich, who is the leader of an ultraviolent right-wing group based in Moscow called Format18. Martsinkevich's newest campaign claims to stamp out pedophiles by posting same-sex personal ads on VK.com, the Russian equivalent of Facebook.
Could Pope Francis' recent olive branch toward gay people be connected to a development at the Vatican? According to the UK Telegraph, the pontiff has been told that the man he's appointed to be prelate of the Vatican Bank, Monsignor Battista Ricca, has an allegedly "scandalous" gay past. (Twelve years ago, Ricca was accused of cruising gay bars and having a same-sex affair, according to Post-gazette.com .) Ricca is not only Francis' personal representative at the bank but he's also director of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis has chosen to live. The pope has said he followed church law and ordered an investigation that "did not find anything corresponding to the accusations against" Ricca.
Human Rights Watch has recommended that the Italian chamber of deputies should adopt the strongest possible measures against discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill would amend a pillar of Italy's anti-discrimination legislation, the Mancino Law of 1993, to make it an offense to instigate or commit discrimination or acts of violence on the grounds of "homophobia or transphobia."
