In London, authorities arrested gay human-rights activist Peter Tatchell when he unfurled a West Papuan flag as the Indonesian president's limousine left Westminster Abbey, according to Gay Star News. The president's bodyguards wrestled Tatchell to the ground, with Metropolitan Police officers arresting the advocate. Tatchell had been planning to attempt a citizen's arrest of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his state visit to the UK; Tatchell issued a statement saying that Yudhoyono "stands accused of war crimes in East Timor and West Papua."
Spain's Constitutional Court upheld the legality of the country's same-sex marriage law Nov. 6, according to the Washington Post. In doing so, the court rejected an appeal contending that marriage in the Spanish constitution means only a heterosexual union. The county's top court voted 8-3 to dismiss the conservative Popular Party's appeal that was filed shortly after Spain became the world's third country to approve marriage equality. Since Spain's Parliament passed the marriage law in 2005, more than 22,000 gay marriages have taken place in the country.
U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodcock has ruled that a man who claims a member of the United Arab Emirates' ruling family beat him after he rejected a sheik's sexual advances cannot sue for defamation in Massachusetts, Courthouse News Service reported. In 2003, Italian-American businessman Silvano Orsi met Sheik Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the half-brother of the President of the United Arab Emirates, in a hotel in Geneva, Switzerland—and claimed the sheik smashed his glasses and whipped him with a belt when he rejected overtures. Woodcock said that "none of the events from Aug. 19, 2003—the day of the incident—can establish contacts with Massachusetts," adding that the only tie to Massachusetts was Orsi's interaction with Al-Nahyan's purported agents while Orsi was a law student in the state.
In France, primary-school children will receive lessons about LGBT issues under new government plans, Gay Star News reported. The country's minister for women's rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkace, unveiled the proposals, confirming that the education ministry was looking at ways to combat the rise of teen suicides resulting from homophobic bullying in schools. Daniel Labaquere, national secretary for the SNUiip teachers' union, told France 24 that the government was 'finally acting, not just making promises."
In the United Kingdom, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey said at an anti-marriage-equality rally that Britain could become a totalitarian state as a result of same-sex marriage and go the way of Nazi Germany, the Huffington Post (UK) reported. Addressing the rally that was on the fringes of the recent Tory Party conference, Carey said, "Remember that the Jews in Nazi Germany, what started it against them was when they were called names, that was the first stage towards that totalitarian state. It's part of a slippery slope where the unintended consequences could be shocking."
Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe hopes his new autobiography, This Is Me, will finally set the record straight about his sexuality as well as other personal details, the Huffington Post reported. Promoting the book, Thorpe told Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Leigh Sales that his frustration with persistent gay rumors has noting to do with his thoughts on homosexuality in general. In the interview, the 30-year-old athlete also talked about his battles with depression and alcohol.
In South Africa, the University of the Western Cape has been accused of homophobia after a transgender student was beaten up at the entrance of a student residence, according to News24.com . A crowd gathered to watch the violent assault on Sunday while a security guard allegedly stood by, watching the incident but not doing anything. Gay-rights activist Glenton Matthyse and two other transgender students who all belonged to support group Gayla-UWC were hurt when they tried to fight off three attackers.
Brazil held its first transgender beauty pageant Oct. 30 in Rio de Janeiro, the Huffington Post reported. The event is particularly historic in the South American country, where transgender citizens have been targets of violence in recent months. One contestant said, "This contest is key for the visibility of us. We transgender woman suffer a lot from prejudice and discrimination, whether we are pretty or not, rich or poor."
In Jamaica, The University of Technology's (UTech) administration is in damage control following an incident where a security guard beat a male student who was allegedly caught in a same-sex encounter, according to the Jamaica Observer. After the student was reportedly caught with a male peer, a mob set upon him, a UTECH senior staff member confirmed. Security officers then brought the student to a small room, where one guard punched and slapped him several times. Two of the guards were subsequently fired, Gay Star News reported.
In Chile, Jaime Parada made history by becoming the first openly gay man elected to municipal government in the country, according to Gay Star News. Parada was elected as councilman to Providencia, a commune in Chile's capital city of Santiago, with nearly 6 percent of the total votes. Parada told Gay Star News, "This election was symbolic. Chile's focus was on Providencia, one of the country's most conservative municipalities."
A gay man from the sheikhdom of Qatar is on trial in Australia for murdering his Texas boyfriend's partner, according to a Dallas Voice item. William Benjamin Campbell—who lived with his partner, Kenneth Horack, in Texas—meet Mohammed Ahmed Almansouri in Qatar in 2009. When Campbell returned to Houston in 2011, Almansouri came to Texas with him, but lived in a separate bedroom; later that year, the trio moved to Australia because of Campbell's new job. Almansouri called Campbell and told him to come home because he had killed Horack; the victim had 14 stab wounds to various parts of his body.
In France, the country's Socialist government adopted a draft bill to authorize marriage equality and same-sex adoption, Gay Star News reported. French president Francois Hollande, made the issue a key part of his electoral platform, stating it was an advance "for all of society." This development occurred despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and others.
