In Canada's Prince Edward Island, the Liberals won their third consecutive election in Prince Edward Island on May 4, Straight.com reported. Wade MacLauchlan, who became Liberal leader on February 21, is the province's 32nd premier, taking over from Robert Ghiz. MacLauchlan will also make history as the province's first elected openly gay premier. MacLauchlan will also serve as the minister of finance and energy, aboriginal affairs and intergovernmental affairs.
Australia's most prominent Muslim lawmaker went public with his support for same-sex marriage, Gay Star News reported. Born to a Bosnian Muslim family in 1970, Ed Husic became the first member of his faith community to be elected to the Australian Parliament. Husic had previously opposed same-sex marriage but now says privately he didn't really have an issue with it as a moderate Muslim and that he was just waiting for the mood in his electorate to catch up.
Also in Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he "doesn't concern himself with trivia" and was unaware at the time that the French ambassador Stephen Brady's partner of 32 years, Peter Stephens, was asked to wait in the car rather than greet him at a Paris airport, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Abbott confirmed Stephens was asked to stay in the car, but blamed the incident on a junior official.
NewNowNext.com has reported that hookup apps have led to a proliferation of sexually transmitted infections, according to the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV ( BASHH ). The statement comes after a spike was reported in the number of STIs in Great Britain was reported—gonorrhea cases in England jumped 15 percent between 2012 and 2013, from 25,577 to 29,291, and syphilis cases went up 9 percent. Hookup apps enable "hyper-efficient transmission of infections," according to Dr. Ian Simms of Public Health England. Outbreaks that would once have been confined to one area were spreading to other towns and cities, he said.
In another historic first for Metropolitan Community Churches ( MCC ), the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of MCC, was one of the presiding clergy at the first blessing of same-gender unions in Cuba, according to an MCC press release. About a dozen couples pledged their love to each other as part of Cuba Pride on May 9. MCC leaders traveled to Cuba on April 28 at the invitation of leaders of the Baptist LGBTQ group, Abriendo Brechas de Colores, from the FederaciÃ"n de Iglesias Bastistas de Cuba.
A Canadian trans woman has talked about repeatedly experiencing discrimination from health professionals, Gay Star News noted. Jessica Dempsey, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, told CBC of several instances where she faced anti-trans discrimination in the hospital system throughout that city—including threats from a doctor at a mental-health unit. Between November 2014 and January 2015, Dempsey attempted to take her own life on several occasions; she told CBC these suicide attempts were a consequence of the abuse she had received since her transition in 2012.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is reportedly wedding partner Gauthier Destenay the week of May 11—just a few months after the tiny country legalized same-sex marriage, The Jamaican Observer reported. Bettel, who became prime minister in 2013 at the age of just 40, has said little about his plans in a bid to minimize press coverage. Last August, Bettel said he would marry Destenay, an architect, with whom he has been in a civil union since 2010.
Reuters reported that a baby girl conceived through surrogacy will be removed from her biological mother and live with her father and his gay partner instead, a High Court judge in Britain has ruled. The father, who donated sperm, said the mother had agreed to be the gay couple's surrogate; however, she said they had agreed that she should be the baby's main parent. Ms. Justice Alison Russell ruled that the mother had misled the two men when making the informal arrangement over the child, now 15 months old, and had always intended to keep it.
Ireland's oldest gay bar has been forced to permanently close its doors just weeks before Ireland's referendum on marriage equality, Gay Star News reported. Loafers opened on Cork's Douglas Street in 1983—a decade before the Irish government decriminalized homosexuality. Owner Ted O'Connell said the premises were being sold and that the bank wanted vacant possession.
A London bar has denied its staff are homophobic after a woman claimed her gay friends were ejected for kissing and a bouncer called her a "fat dyke" who should "get raped," the UK Independent reported. The group had been drinking at Balans in Soho, an area famed for its LGBT-friendly nightlife, when the male couple was asked to leave. The alleged incident has sparked a Facebook campaign called "Do the right thing, Balans" and calls for an apology on Twitter. Bouncers at Balans have previously been complained about by gay playwright Jonathan Harvey, who said he found them "menacing" during a visit in January.
London's longest running and biggest gay gym, Paris Gym, is closing down, Gay Star News reported. The training center, which has been running for 20 years in the heart of Vauxhall, will be closing down June 27. This is just the latest in a long run of closures in London's LGBTI scene; the Black Cap in Camden closed suddenly and the threats to shut down the Royal Vauxhall Tavern are growing.
An Egyptian court has upheld the deportation of a Libyan man accused of homosexuality in a move that could lay the legal groundwork for other expulsions, The Guardian reported. The administrative court rejected an appeal by the man, who was arrested in 2008 and deported after a legal complaint was filed alleging that he was gay. Egyptian authorities have accelerated arrests of LGBT people and those engaging in perceived "dissident" forms of sexuality and gender since the military overthrew the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
A transgender woman has been charged with physical assault in Thailand for hammering a tourist with her stiletto heel, according to Gay Star News. Wichai Sripalang, 24, left a deep gash in the head of 55-year-old Irishman Michael Merry. Moments before the attack, Merry pushed the kathoey—a catch-all term for trans and intersex people—to the ground for trying to solicit him. Sripalang now faces a fine.
The Catholic Church in Germany has decided to relax its requirement that its employees live publicly in line with the church's teachings on all issues, Gay Star News reported. Previously, if someone working for a Catholic organization in Germany was discovered to have divorced or remarried or begun a relationship with a person of the same sex, that person would be fired. Under the new rules, only the most serious breeches will lead to termination.
Dozens of traffic lights in Vienna, Austria, are being equipped with symbols representing loving gay couples holding hands, NBC News noted. A total of 49 intersections have received the temporary overhaul ahead of the flamboyant Eurovision Song Contest, which is due to be hosted in the Austrian capital on May 23. Eurovision is enormously popular among gay communities across Europe, in part because of bearded Austrian transgender artist Conchita Wurst's triumph at last year's event.
Ingenius Studio has produced the role-playing game The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Groves, which features LGBTQIA content, according to a press release. The game's story revolves around Ruan Ji and Xi Kang, members of The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Groves, who lived in 3rd-century China. Creative director Travis Jones said he hopes that all players, LGBTQIA and heterosexual people alike, might be inspired to contemplate their own views and feelings. The game is currently in development, and will soon be available for PCs and Macs.
