18 Nigerians reportedly detained for sodomy
Eighteen men were arrested at a hotel in the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi Aug. 5, reportedly on charges of sodomy.
According to the official News Agency of Nigeria, the BBC, the Associated Press and the Agence France-Presse wire service, the men face possible death by stoning under Bauchi state's Islamic Shariah law.
They have been jailed until an Aug. 21 hearing.
Officials said the men were dressed in women's clothing and had gathered for a homosexual wedding.
The LGBTI initiative of the organization Global Rights has challenged some details of the news reports.
The group's Stefano Fabeni said "the 18 men have been arrested not on sodomy charges" but under a law that punishes males who dress as a woman in public or practice sodomy as a profession with up to a year in prison -- or with two years in prison if an individual violates the law in an "incorrigible" manner.
But on Aug. 10, the Associated Press seemingly contradicted Fabeni, reporting: "The men were charged Wednesday in a Bauchi Shariah court, where they pleaded innocent. ... Gay sex is illegal across Nigeria, and defendants convicted under the Muslim code ... may face death by stoning."
Human Rights Watch GLBT-issues director Scott Long has advised against any international activism around the arrests for the time being, saying he's hopeful that Nigerian activists can secure the men's freedom via internal efforts.
Church of Sweden
takes part in
Stockholm pride parade
The Church of Sweden entered its first-ever contingent in Stockholm's gay pride parade Aug. 4.
About 76 percent of Swedes belong to the Lutheran church although only 2 percent regularly attend services.
The 30 marchers, including two senior priests, carried signs stating "Love is stronger than everything."
A church spokesman said officials want to "break the big silence of the masses" on GLBT matters.
Next year, Sweden is expected to become the seventh country to legalize full same-sex marriage, including the right to marry in the church. The nation has had a comprehensive registered-partnership law for same-sex couples since 1995.
On Aug. 2, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt visited Pride Park, the hub of pride-week festivities. It was the first time a Swedish prime minister had attended pride while in office. On Aug. 3, RuPaul and Bananarama performed on the park's main stage.
About 50,000 people marched in the parade and half a million watched it. The Stockholm newspaper The Local said "a large number of members of parliament and [ government ] ministers" joined the procession.
A day later, some half a million people turned out for Amsterdam's gay pride parade, which takes the form of a boat procession in the city's canals.
More than 70 boat-floats joined the official part of the parade, including, for the first time, a "hetero-boat," a youth boat and a Turkish boat.
Key Russian activist charged with slander
Well-known Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev, chief organizer of the nation's two ill-fated pride celebrations, was charged with criminal slander Aug. 1 for outing federal legislator Alexander Chuev on a live TV news-affairs program June 21.
Alekseev made the claim in a joint appearance with Chuev on the NTV network's K baryeru! program.
According to GayRussia.Ru, Chuev has made anti-gay statements and supported anti-gay legislation, including a bill that would have recriminalized gay sex. He reportedly authored a bill that would have banned pro-homosexual propaganda.
"According to Russian Criminal Code, slandering means dissemination of lies which spoils someone's reputation or dignity," Alekseev said. "Russian authorities were caught in their own trap by opening this criminal file. On the one hand they are saying all the time that no one is discriminating [ against ] gays in Russia and that there is no problem being gay and on the other hand they are investigating whether the word 'gay' can be insulting."
Alekseev said he believes the criminal case is political retribution for his many court challenges to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's bans on this and last year's gay pride parades. One of those cases is pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
"It is clearly another example of Russia becoming an authoritarian state where people do not have any right to express themselves and speak freely," Alekseev said. "And Russian authorities particularly do not like those who reveal bitter truth about them."
For details on the two disastrous attempts to hold gay pride parades in Moscow, see tinyurl.com/2nkl7p and tinyurl.com/2lt8pl.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley