In Uganada, legislator David Bahati said that he is confident that his proposed measure, which would subject gay people to the death penality, will be enacted soon, according to Advocate.com . Bahati said, "Every single day of my life now I am still pushing that it passes." Bahati's statement came after Uganda's Rolling Stone newspaper ( not connected with the U.S. music publication ) published a list of known gay people, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.
In a related development, a judge has ordered Uganda's Rolling Stone publication to stop outing gay people, the Huffington Post reported. The newspaper was criticized for outing people in an article that was accompanied by a banner reading, "Hang Them." The group Sexual Minorities Uganda ( SMUG ) had requested that the publication be stopped.
Brian Burke, the general manager of the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs, acknowledged that throwing himself into work helped him after the death of his son Brendan, who happened to be gay, according to Advocate.com . Burke said in Toronto Life, "When you lose a child, you don't go an hour without thinking about it, but I've got five kids from ages four to 29, and I've got to keep looking after them and looking after my wife." He also said that Brendan's coming-out "took great courage. ... I look forward to the day when coming out is not even a news story."
In Nepal, gay-rights leader Sunil Babu Pant is one of the few people trying to resolve a leadership crisis that has caused the imminent implosion of the country, according to Advocate.com . Pant became the first voice in the country's parliament to protest after no prime minister had been elected after 14 rounds of voting. Pant told a newspaper that he and others are trying to find a way to protest future polls; a 15th round of voting was scheduled for Nov. 1.
In England, the country's Advertising Standards Authority has ordered an Italian ice-cream company to pull a print ad that shows two attractive male priests about to kiss before eating gelato, according to the New York Daily News. In the Antonio Federici gelato ad, a Black man and a white man are dressed in priest garb and are posed seductively while the text in the ad reads, "We Believe in Salvation." Federici has previously featured an ad with a pregnant nun with the tagline, "Immaculately Conceived."
In Canada, a person or persons fire-bombed a gay couple's home in LIttle Pond, Prince Edward Island, according to NationalPost.com . As the flames grew, one of the men dragged the other from the bungalow, which became "a total loss," according to a local bulletin. The Rev. Beth Johnston, who spoke with one-half of the couple, said, "Whether it's the legal definition of hate crime or not, it seems to me to be quite clear that they were targeted because they are a gay couple."
In Britain, transgender woman Mikki Nicholson won the national Scrabble champtionship, according to Advocate.com . Nicholson, 32—who had only started playing the game five years ago on the Internet—edged Mark Nyman, who has won more than 20 major tournaments. Nicholson will now compete in the Causeway Scrabble Challenge in Malaysia in December.
In South Africa, pastor Xola Skosana shocked his congregation by claiming Jesus was HIV-positive—but he did it to illustrate the stigma the disease still has, according to HIVPlusMag.com . Skosana added, "Of course, there's no scientific evidence that Jesus had the HI virus in his bloodstream. The best gift we can give to people who are HIV-positive is to help de-stigmatize AIDS and create an environment where they know God is not against them, he's not ashamed of them."
