Dominican Republican LGBT-rights advocates remain hopeful that gay U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James "Wally" Brewster will continue to generate more visibility around their nascent movement in the Caribbean country, according to The Washington Blade. "In reality the Dominican LGBT community is not a rather large community," Cristian King of Trans Siempre Amigas told the Blade during a meeting with nearly a dozen Dominican LGBT-rights advocates. "[Brewster] is a person from our community. It is a big impact."
Local authorities in Tokyo banned an HIV-awareness billboard that featured cartoon gay men because one of the men's underpants could be seen, Gay Star News reported. The billboard was erected in Toyko's Ni-chome gay district in Shinjuku by ViiV Healthcare and designed by manga artist Poko Murata. The billboard shows a group of men lying down in a circle head-to-head resting against one another—and one of them, a bodybuilder, is wearing just underpants; the others are fully clothed.
A same-sex couple from Russia's Olympic city of Sochi has married in Buenos Aires and plan to seek asylum in Argentina, LGBTQ Nation reported. Alexander Eremeev and Dmitry Zaytsev married at the civil registry in Argentina's capital, accompanied by gay-rights activists who say Argentina should provide refuge to people who are being persecuted for their sexual orientation in other countries.
A Russian lawmaker who introduced a bill that bans gay propaganda to minors is among those who face sanctions over the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine, according to The Washington Blade. President Obama issued an executive order that authorizes fficials to freeze the U.S. assets of Yelena Mizulina, a state Duma deputy, and six other Russian officials over escalating tensions between Moscow and Kiev.
In India, a political party that wants gay sex to stay illegal has found an interesting place to advertise for supporters: Grindr, according to Gay Star News. Indians have been checking the gay hookup app to see the Bharatiya Janata Party's advertisements. It shows prime-ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's picture, together with the party's lotus symbol, calling on gay people to vote BJP.
The chairman of one of Europe's largest mosques has compared gay people to serial killers, gamblers and pedophiles, according to Gay Star News. On BBC3's panel show Free Speech, which aired live from Birmingham Central Mosque, a Muslim drag queen asked when it would be accepted to be both Muslim and gay. Later, mosque chairman Mohammed Naseem wrote the Huff Post UK, stating, "A compulsive murderer, gambler, paedophile etc. could present the same logic and ask for accommodation by the society. Are we going to accept on the basis of freedom of action?"
In Wales, two Christians accused of discriminating against gay couples at their guesthouse are taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights, the BBC News reported. Sue and Jeff Green changed their policy of allowing double rooms at the Llandrindod Wells B&B only to married couples after a complaint from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Greens now want to establish whether Christian beliefs and human rights are superseded by equality laws.
A coalition of lesbian, bisexual women, trans* ( LBT ) and allied activists and organizations said that governments at the United Nations ( UN ) Commission on the Status of Women ( CSW ) ignored evidence of and regional support for key elements of sustainable development in a declaration the commission recently adopted, according to a release from the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Among other things, the coalition asserted in a letter that "we have been told that sexual orientation and gender identity are 'too controversial' or that they have nothing to do with this year's focus for the Commission's debate: development."
British Olympic diver Tom Daley has said he's been showered with male attention since coming out about his relationship with another man in an emotional YouTube video last December, according to The Huffington Post. The 19-year-old medalist/TV host, who is reportedly dating Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, told The Sun that men have come up to him to "offer it there and then." Daley also said a woman told him that his video inspired her son to come out—although he had a wife and three children.
An ex-gay ministry purported to be the largest in Australia has recently announced that it will cease operations, The Christian Post reported. In a letter sent to supporters, Living Waters Australia Director Ron Brookman wrote that "it is time to wind up the ministry."
Delivery service Canada Post is apologizing after an anti-gay flyer was distributed to residents of a small Labrador community, according to Yahoo! News. The eight-page manifesto was delivered to residents of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, stating in some detail that homosexuality was a sin. A Canada Post spokesperson said the fliers never should have been accepted for mailing.
A bullied gay teenager in a small Italian town was put into care because of his sexuality, Pink News reported. the foster parents of the bullied 14-year-old were not sympathetic, and eventually put the teen back into care because of his sexuality. The parents allegedly said, "It created too many problems. We can't handle it, at school his classmates don't accept it. Everyone says to us, 'Why do you bother?'"
Attacks on her gay cousin in Jamaica reportedly forced a woman to shoplife to raise cash and help him move to another island, The Gloucester Citizen noted. A court was told violent victimization of Novelette Williams' cousin meant her family was pooling its resources to get him away from a culture that did not accept homosexuality. Sexual acts between two men in Jamaica can be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
A U.S. anti-gay group has been forced to suspend its plans to hold a conference in Russia this summer, due to tensions over Crimea, according to Pink News. The World Congress of Families, based in Illinois, was initially due to hold its next conference in Moscow in September. The group, which has loudly supported the introduction of anti-gay laws in Russia and Uganda, claims to have enjoyed close ties with the Kremlin since 1995.
