The world's most popular gay hookup app is now based in China, Advocate.com reported. Blued, a smartphone program and company that Chinese CEO Gene Le founded, has ousted Grindr from the worldwide top spot of same-sex matchmaking apps. Blued has skyrocketed to 15 million users since its launch in 2012, the majority of whom are from the Asian nation. In comparison, 10 million people worldwide have downloaded Grindr since its 2009 inception.
The Finnish Parliament has allowed same-sex marriage by a vote of 105-92, according to YLE News. ( The vote had been expected to be closer. ) The unprecedented outcome marks the first time that a citizens' initiative has received lawmakers' blessing to be written into the law books. It also allows Finland to match its Nordic peers, all of which have already legalized gay marriage. Finland has allowed registered partnerships since 2002.
An Austrian politician gifted Pope Francis with a rainbow scarf—and called on him to speak up for women's rights and same-sex marriage, according to the UK Independent. Ulrike Lunacek, the openly lesbian head of delegation of the Austrian Greens in the European Parliament, addressed the head of the Catholic Church in Strasbourg, Austria, after he had given a speech in front of Europe's leaders. Lunacek, who is also co-president of the European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights, handed the symbolic garment to the Pope in front of a crowd of people.
New South Wales Sen. David Leyonhjelm, who represents the Liberal Democratic Party, introduced a marriage-equality bill in Australia, On Top Magazine reported. Leyonhjelm said in July that he would introduce such a bill when Prime Minister Tony Abbott allows members of Australia's ruling Coalition to vote as they choose on the issue. Australia's Marriage Act defines marriage as the union of "a man and a woman"; Leyonhjelm's bill proposes changing that language to "the union of two people."
In Brazil, Rio de Janeiro saw 160 LGBTI couples marry Nov. 23 in what the state hailed as "the largest collective same-sex civil wedding ceremony in the world," according to Gay Star News. The event was the fifth mass gay wedding organized by state program Rio Without Homophobia and the state court, which have married a total 500 LGBTI couples. The Brazilian Supreme Court first recognized same-sex civil unions in 2011, and gay marriage was legalized in May of last year.
The United Nations will host an event for International Human Rights Day, which is Dec. 10, according to a press release. The event will explore the role family plays in the lives of LGBT people around the world, as well as themes of acceptance and family diversity. Past speakers have included Martina Navratilova, Jason Collins and Ricky Martin.
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth in England have put forth a controversial new theory: Homosexuality evolved in humans and other primates because it helps us form bonds with one another, The Huffington Post reported. Dr. Diana Fleischman, one of the researchers, said, "From an evolutionary perspective, we tend to think of sexual behavior as a means to an end for reproduction. However, because sexual behavior is intimate and pleasurable, it is also used in many species, including non-human primates, to help form and maintain social bonds."
Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive's Health Protection Surveillance Centre ( HPSC ) show that there were 205 newly diagnosed cases of HIV in Ireland in the first six months of 2014 according to Yahoo! News UK. Of these, 94 new diagnoses were gay and bisexual men, up from 82 cases for the same period in 2013. Also, the average age of HIV diagnosis for gay and bisexual men has fallen to 32 years, down from 37 years in 2005.
A South African man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for murdering a lesbian and raping her corpse with a toilet brush, according to NewNowNext. Lekgoa Lesley Motleleng, 22, pled guilty to killing Duduzile Zozo, 26, after she rejected his advances. Despite South Africa's inclusive constitution, so-called "corrective rape" is still a major crisis in the country; a 2013 study reported that one in three South African lesbian/bisexual women reported being the victims of forced sex.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ) group stoned two men to death in Syria after claiming they were gay, a monitor said, in the militant organization's first executions for alleged homosexuality, Al-Arabiya reported. The two victims, stoned in separate incidents, were 18 and 20 years old, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The United Nations said in November that ISIS had stoned women in Syria it accused of adultery.
In Ireland, a store cashier refused to serve a man who called another customer an anti-gay slur, Gay Star News noted. A gay man ( identified only as Colm ) walked into a Spar store, when another customer said to his girlfriend, "Look at the faggot in the shorts"—and the cashier said he won't serve someone who calls another person that word. Spar Ireland has confirmed the incident, and said it stands by its employee.
A Cameroon man has had his life significantly changed after police forcibly outed him as gay to his friends and family, Gay Star News noted. The 22-year-old, identified as "A.H.," was lured on an alleged "date" by a Facebook friend who he had been talking to for around three months online. Once he went to meet the other man, A.H was taken to the police station in the Ekounou district of Yaounde, where he was arrested on accusations of sexual harassment. Recently, Cameroon rejected the United Nations Human Rights Council's recommendation that it decriminalize homosexuality.
In Korea, U.S. singer Jason Mraz spoke up for LGBTI rights while on tour in the conservative country, Gay Star News reported. Mraz said, "We're always evolving, ever-changing, growing, expanding, and to treat lesbians and gays ... as second-class citizens, as non-equals, is following old education, is following old tradition." When news anchor Sohn Suk-hee said, "Sometimes, education is right," Mraz countered, "But in case of the human experience, everyone deserves a fair experience in life regardless of how you were born."
In Denmark, Copenhagen is creating a nursing home with a special focus on serving LGBT pensioners so they're not exposed to discrimination in the last years of their lives, Bloomberg reported. "People have experienced it already and need to jump back into the closet in many care centers," said Vivi Jelstrup, a member of the senior committee for LGBT Denmark. Roughly 5 percent of Denmark's seniors are LGBT, according to Gay & Grey.
A preacher has been banned from a London university after likening being gay to having a "disease," The Evening Standard reported. Imran ibn Mansur, 24—also known as the self-styled Dawah Man, who helps people be spiritual "superheroes"—was banned from appearing at the University of East London. He has blamed "filthy Western culture" for impulses that should be "supressed," and claimed that homosexuality comes "under the category of 'obscene, filthy, shameless.'"
In Mexico, history is in the making in Tijuana, as the city will open its first-ever LGBT center, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News reported. Fondo de Asistencia Para El Sida ( Assistance Fund For AIDS ) has secured space for the LGBT center in a city-owned complex in the Zona Centro ( Central Zone ). Lorenzo Herrera—president of the civic association that dispenses the assistance fund and which stages the annual Tijuana GLBTI Pride Mexico festival and parade—has said the LGBT center will have a soft opening in late December and a formal opening in January 2015.
After causing controversy on social media, UK supermarket chain Tesco has removed a sign advertising a superhero alarm clock under "gifts for boys," Pink News noted. A 7-year-old "superhero-loving" girl complained to Tesco, and a photo of her looking upset next to the sign in the Tower Park branch of the store in Poole, Dorset, went viral online. Tesco apologized, removed the sign and said the Marvel Comics alarm clock would "make a great gift for both girls and boys."
Scottish pro-tennis player Andy Murray has announced he will retain former French Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo, an out lesbian, as head coach, Yahoo! News noted. Murray also announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Kim Sears while saying he will drop Dani Vallverdu and Jez Green, two longtime members of his professional network.
NLS Queer Alliance reported that some 167 members of the transgender community were detained at least two days in Karnataka state in southwest India, according to 76Crimes.com . The community quickly responded and organized a protest in response at the Town Hall against the illegality of police action against transgender persons. A coalition of several organizations—including Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, Alternative Law Forum, People's Union for Civil Liberties and Karnataka Janshakhti—has demanded the state government release the detainees and direct that there be no further detentions.
A Turkish referee who was dropped by the Turkish Football Federation ( TFF ) after coming out as gay has received the Respect Award, given Nov. 24 annually by the Berlin-based LGBT rights nongovernmental organization Alliance Against Homophobia, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News reported. Halil Ibrahim Dincdag, 38, acknowledged that he was gay in 2009 while he was an official in a lower division in the province of Trabzon. The TFF then expelled him, saying he had been exempted from military service due to his sexual orientation.
