In Senegal, journalist Tamsir Ndiaye Jupiter is to face a trial for a gay-sex scandal, according to JollofNews.com . Jupiter, a celebrated columnist and employee of UNESCO, had sex with male merchant Matar Diop Diagne in his office in UNESCO's headquarters in Dakar. Diagne then allegedly demanded large sums of cash, and Jupiter declined; eventually, a fight ensued and Jupiter reportedly stabbed Diagne. Jupiter is on trial for "unnatural sexual acts" as well as illegal possession of weapons and causing grievous bodily harm.
In Greece, neo-Nazis protested against Corpus Christi, a religious play that features a gay Jesus, according to Gay Star News. Police detained 30 people during the violent Athens protest by extreme right-wing group Golden Dawn. In addition to blocking entry to the venue, the group also reportedly beat their opposition while the police weren't looking. Written by U.S. playwright Terrence McNally in 1998, Corpus Christi has always been controversial because it depicts Jesus Christ and the apostles as gay men in Texas.
In Canada, a plan to create an all-gay high school in Toronto was been at least temporarily shelved, according to CTV News. The idea, which 20-year-old university student Fan Wu proposed, was considered by about 25 people at a community meeting on Church Street, the heart of Toronto's LGBT community. Wu said the proposal would be shelved for a year after mixed support from the forum.
In Russia, several people were reportedly injured when masked men stormed the Moscow gay nightspot known as the 7 Freedays club, according to Pink News. Viktoriya Soto said that a dozen attackers broke in late Oct. 11 to coincide with international Coming Out Day. As a result of the attack in the bar in central Moscow, four people were injured and three were hospitalized; one victim was a young woman being treated for broken glass in her eye.
In the UK, Labor's Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities Yvette Cooper said Prime Minister David Cameron needs to "show a bit of backbone" over the issue of same-sex marriage, Pink News reported. Writing for the Independent, Cooper said, "With all three main party leaders and the majority of MPs backing same-sex marriage, changing the law should be straightforward. But reactionary voices have been noisy and Number 10 [the term for Cameron's residence, 10 Downing St.] has started to wobble."
In Brazil, the state of Sao Paulo recently organized a collective "gay partnership day" in which 46 couples had their relationships registered as civil unions, according to Gay Star News. The event was a partnership between the government of the state of Sao Paulo, its department of justice and the leisure center of northeastern traditions (CTN) in the city of Sao Paulo.
In Canada, transgender individuals in Ontario can now change their sex on their birth certificates without first undergoing gender-reassignment surgery, Canada.com reported. New rules now allow trans people to apply to have the document amended by submitting a letter from a practicing physician or psychologist. Susan Gapka, chair of the Trans Lobby Group, said, "We're going to celebrate this victory—because it is a victory; it's a giant leap forward."
More than $20,000 was raised at the first AIDS walk in China, Gay Star News noted. The event took place along the Great Wall near Beijing and raised funds for the Chinese Foundation for the Prevention of STD and AIDS. More than 100 people took part, walking in teams or individually along the wall at Jinshanling. China's AIDS Walk will be annual from now on and continue to progress further along the Great Wall to inland rural China.
In France, mayors and elected officials are demanding a "right of withdrawal" when marriage-equality laws come into effect, according to Gay Star News. Deputy mayor Jacques Bompard, of the far-right National Front party, launched a petition that has more than 1,200 signatures. However, Junior Minister for Families Dominique Bertinotti said there was no reason for legal exceptions: "We can't both ask our citizens to be very respectful of the law and, once elected to serve the Republic, be exempt."
Australian HIV-infection rates increased by more than 8 percent in 2011, ABC News reported. The annual surveillance study into sexually transmitted diseases in Australia shows the latest rise contributes to a 50-percent growth in infection rates over the past 10 years. The director of the National Centre in HIV Social Research, Professor John de Wit, said that some of the increase is due to gay men practicing unsafe sex, as they no longer see HIV/AIDS as fatal.
Norodum Sihanouk, a pro-gay former king of Cambodia, recently died at age 89 in Beijing, Gay Star News reported. He became king in 1941 at age 18, and helped bring about Cambodian independence in 1953. In 2004, Sihanouk—who was married to at least five women—spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage in Cambodia after seeing gay marriages in San Francisco on TV. "I am not gay, but I respect the rights of gays and lesbians," he said.
