FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, is launching an investigation of homophobia in women's soccer, according to Advocate.com . FIFA's secretary general, Jerome Valcke, announced that the body will investigate charges against Nigerian coach Eucharia Uche. The New York Times quoted Uche saying, "The issue of lesbianism is common. I came to realize it is not a physical battle; we need divine intervention in order to control and curb it. I tell you it worked for us. This is a thing of the past. It is never mentioned." Activist organization All Out; the Federation of Gay Games; and the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association gathered 46,000 signatures on a petition asking FIFA to condemn homophobia in soccer.
In Tasmania, champion wood-chopper David Foster has become an ally of gay-related issues, including marriage equality, according to smh.com .au. His daughter Sally told David and his wife, Jan, that she is a lesbian. Foster recently spoke in support of same-sex marriage at a forum in Hobart—something he admits would not have done before Sally's revelation. David told the website, "My daughter is the same daughter I reared and just because her sexual preferences are different from mine doesn't mean a thing."
A recent study by British gay-rights group Stonewall shows that older gay men and lesbians are more prone to be lonely than their heterosexual counterparts, Advocate.com reported. Stonewall's YouGov survey questioned 1,050 heterosexual and 1,036 lesbian, gay and bisexual people over the age of 55. The study also revealed, among other things, that older LGB individuals are more likely to depend on formal support services instead of family and friends.
The U.K. gay-humanist organization The Pink Triangle Trust ( PTT ) is endorsing a statement from the Peter Tatchell Foundation concerning the March for a Secular Europe, according to a news release. PTT Secretary George Broadhead said, "Humanists and Secularists like ourselves have been campaigning for many years against these special privileges in areas such as education, chaplaincy, the media and parliament, which are totally unacceptable. ... Peter Tatchell is spot on when he describes religious organisations as 'the enemy of democracy and human rights.'" The march takes place in London Sept. 20.
Miss Angola Leila Lopes defeated 88 other contenders to win the Miss Universe pageant Sept. 12 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, ABC News reported. Lopes, 25, has vowed to help her home country overcome its history of poverty and war—and she also plans to focus on HIV advocacy. She said, "I've worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. ... I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more."
Websites for Cuban expatriates have reported that a transgender man arrested during a raid of "homosexuals, transvestites, and transsexuals in Old Havana" died while in police custody, according to an Advocate.com item. Nelson Linares García, 34, apparently died of "respiratory arrest" after repeatedly warning police he had hypertension. One of the expatriate sites reported that no autopsy was conducted.
Australia will now offer three options for its passports—male, female and indeterminate, according to CNN.com . The Australian Passport Office said, "This initiative is in line with the Australian Government's commitment to remove discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or sex and gender identity. The policy removes unnecessary obstacles to recording a person's preferred gender in their passport." Those not identifying as male or female can check "X" instead of "M" or "F."
U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick held a mass shoot featuring 1,000 floating nude Israelis in the Dead Sea, according to Yahoo News. The project, Tunick's first in the Middle East, is part of a campaign to have the sea recognized as one of Earth's seven natural wonders in a November online vote. Orthodox Jewish politicians and rabbis had protested the shoot over what they called its "Sodom and Gomorrah" nature.
In Britain, a coalition is forging ahead with plans for marriage equality to take place before 2015, following Prime Minister David Cameron's intervention, according to On Top Magazine. Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone unveiled plans Sept. 17, saying, Britain must not get complacent," she said. "We are a world leader for gay rights, but there is still more that we must do." Moreover, gay activists in the United States are urging President Obama to follow suit.
Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) is contending that the Dutch Civil Code violates the human rights of transgender people. An 85-page report, "Controlling Bodies, Denying Identities: Human Rights Violations Against Trans People in the Netherlands," documents the impact of a 1985 law, article 28 of the civil code, on the daily life of transgender people. HRW added that the law should be changed to respect the transgender community's rights by separating medical and legal questions regarding them.
At least four extremist groups have been removed from PayPal a week after gay-rights group AllOut.org launched a campaign urging the online payment provider to sever its relationship with them, according to a press release. Six of the 10 targeted organizations continue to raise money through PayPal. The PayPal option has been disabled on the websites of Truth in Action Ministries; Brazilian extremist Julio Severo's sites; Noua Dreapta; and Dove World Outreach Center—organizations whose regular anti-LGBT hate speech puts them starkly at odds with PayPal's own ethics policy, which states that account holders "may not use the PayPal service for activities that [ ... ] promote hate, violence, racial intolerance."
Openly gay Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit has been elected to a third term, according to On Top Magazine. Wowereit, 57, was first elected in 2001. He came out during a convention of the Berlin Social Democratic Party, saying, "I'm gay, and that is good the way it is." Wowereit and neurosurgeon Jorn Kubicki have been together since 1993. Incidentally, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe is also gay and was also first elected in 2001.
