Moscow gays to try
Pride a fourth time,
with a twist
After being banned for three years running, Moscow activists will try a fourth time to stage a gay pride parade next May 16.
But with a twist: They will do so on the same day that the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Moscow.
The campy contest, which is staged in the country of the previous year's winner, is hugely popular among European gays, who travel from far and wide to attend it.
'We hope that the many gays and lesbians who usually attend Eurovision finals from different countries will join our Pride,' said organizer Nikolai Alekseev.
He said an international gay-rights conference also is being planned.
Alekseev suggested it would be impossible for virulently anti-gay Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to again ban the parade amid the glare of the Eurovision spotlight.
Luzhkov has said gay pride parades 'can be described in no other way than as satanic.'
Lesbos residents
lose 'lesbian' lawsuit
Three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos who filed suit to reclaim the word 'lesbian' and stop the group Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece ( OLKE ) from using it lost their case July 22.
The plaintiffs claimed the alleged theft of 'lesbian' from the island's residents amounted to 'psychological and moral rape.'
An Athens court found the claim baseless and ordered the trio to pay $363 in costs.
Plaintiff Dimitris Lambrou vowed to appeal the ruling.
Gay women are believed to have adopted the word in memory of Sappho, a poet who lived on the island in the sixth century B.C. and wrote about love between women.
Religious cop sues
employer over
pink ribbon
A policeman in the English county of Norfolk who resisted an official recommendation that he wear a pink ribbon on his uniform for Gay History Month has taken the Norfolk Police before an employment court, The Sunday Telegraph reported July 20.
Graham Cogman, 49, said homosexuality violates his Christian beliefs.
When Cogman responded to the recommendation by sending an e-mail to fellow officers quoting the Bible, he was disciplined and fined 13 days' pay.
The Norfolk Police force is standing by its policy. A spokesman told the Telegraph that Cogman's behavior 'fell well below the standard which we expect.'
'The force will not tolerate any form of homophobic behavior,' the spokesman said.
Cogman's case follows that of marriage registrar Lillian Ladele in the London borough of Islington. After Ladele, a Christian, refused to perform same-sex civil partnerships, she claimed she was harassed and discriminated against by the borough government.
The Central London Employment Tribunal agreed with her July 10, saying Islington Council violated 'Miss Ladele's dignity and created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.'
An award of damages is pending.
The United Kingdom's civil-partnership law grants all the rights and obligations of marriage, but under a different name.
Iran nabs HIV doctors
Iranian authorities should immediately release or charge two physicians who are internationally recognized for their work on HIV and AIDS, Human Rights Watch said July 21.
Arash and Kamyar Alaei, who are brothers, were detained without charge by Iranian security forces in late June, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
'The authorities have not yet announced why the brothers were detained or whether or not they intend to bring any charges against them,' HRW said. 'Moreover, they have refused to disclose information about where the Alaei brothers are being held and have not provided them access to counsel.'
For more than 20 years, the brothers have addressed problems related to drug use, with a focus on the spread of HIV, and have played a key role in putting the issues on the national health care agenda.
Extremists attack
Sofia pride, 60 arrested
More than 60 skinheads and other extremists were arrested for attacking the 150 marchers in the first gay pride parade in Sofia, Bulgaria, June 28.
They threw bottles, rocks, eggs, firecrackers, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at the marchers. No one was injured, thanks to the presence of as many police officers as there were marchers.
Among those arrested was Bulgarian National Alliance leader Boyan Rassate. The alliance had plastered Sofia with anti-pride posters saying, 'Be Intolerant, Be Normal.'
The parade, organized by the gay group Gemini, began at the Lovers' Bridge behind the National Palace of Culture, proceeded down busy Evlogi Georgiev Boulevard, and ended at the Red House Center for Culture and Debate on Lyuben Karavelov Street.
In Paris, meanwhile, half a million people turned out for the pride parade June 28, including openly gay Mayor Bertrand Delanoë. A big dance party followed at the Place de la Bastille.
It rained on Berlin's parade June 28, but tens of thousands of people showed up anyhow. The parade began, for the first time, in the former East Berlin, then traversed the boulevard Unter den Linden to its destination—the Victory Column in the former West Berlin.
Budapest gay bar
torched
Someone firebombed the Budapest gay bar Action on June 27 after first phoning to be sure there were patrons present and to announce his plan.
The curtains in the bar's front room quickly went up in flames but were doused by a patron with a fire extinguisher. No one was injured.
Several gay and gay-friendly organizations have denounced the police for investigating the incident as one of 'vandalism' rather than 'attempted murder.'
'Vandalism is when you spray paint on a wall,' said Gábor Kuszing of the Association of People Challenging Patriarchy. 'Throwing a petrol bomb into a bar with people in it is attempted murder. We are afraid that the police ( are sending ) a message that serious crimes against LGBT people will be tolerated.'
A few hours before the attack, an anti-gay Web site published the addresses of gay businesses in the city and suggested attacking them.
A second attack occurred July 2 at the gay bathhouse Magnum. Four gas bombs were tossed into the building. The fires were doused with fire extinguishers.
'We are doubtful if the police are really protecting the gay establishments as they promised,' Kuszing said.
Sweden makes it easier
for gay Iranians to stay
Sweden's Migration Board ruled June 28 that Iranian gays who seek asylum in Sweden will get it if they were ever out of the closet while living in Iran.
Such individuals are at risk of persecution if returned to Iran, the board said.
Iran has the death penalty on the books for sodomy and is believed to have used it somewhere between a few and thousands of times since the Islamic revolution.
Western gay activists with an interest in Iran have debated at length for years on how often Iran executes adults for consensual gay sex, if it does at all. Accurate information on the question seems to be impossible to obtain.
At minimum, 'We have documented brutal floggings imposed by courts as punishment, and torture and ill-treatment, including sexual abuse, in police custody,' Human Rights Watch has said.
'The legal machinery of persecution is oiled, ready and operating in Iran,' said Scott Long, head of the group's LGBT Rights Program.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
