World news: Adoption rights dropped; Chinese regulators; naval kiss
COMPILED BY ANDREW DAVIS
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will drop adoption rights from a civil-unions bill in order to push the controversial legislation through parliament, Gay Star News reported. Renzi, who is starting his third year in office, had promised to pass the bill by the end of last year; however, his plans were frustrated by repeated challenges from within parliament and the Catholic Church. LGBTI group Rainbow Families said the decision to remove the adoption rights amounted to the "emptying out" of a bill that was already a modest compromise.
China's regulators have pulled a popular gay-themed Web drama offline, The Wall Street Journal reported. Heroin ( also known as Addiction in Chinese )—a 15-episode Web drama about romance among teenage boys—was taken down from major Chinese video streaming sites just weeks after several other offending online shows were banned. The show's Beijing-based production house said that the drama was viewed more than 10 million times in the day after it premiered. The company said on its official Weibo account that the last three episodes, which have yet to be streamed in China, can be watched on YouTube.
A crowd gathered at CFB Esquimalt in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, cheered after Master Seaman Francis Legare walked off HMCS Winnipeg and toward his waiting partner, Corey Vautour, The Huffington Post noted. The "first kiss" is a time-honored rite that bears emotional significance for navy couples separated by long deployments. Data isn't kept about the ceremonial kisses, but the one between Legare and Vautour is the first between two men, the navy confirmed.
Israel's health ministry has approved the use of PrEP as means to prevent HIV infection, NewNowNext.com reported. Both the CDC and the World Health Organization have recommended pre-exposure prophylaxis for men who have sex with men, but many countries are still holding off on giving approval. In another Israel-related development, Israel's Knesset held its first LGBT Rights Day, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support.
The Taiwanese city of Chiayi will start registering same-sex couples, Gay Star News reported. Mayor Twu Shiing-jer said household-registration offices in the east and west districts would accept applications from March 1. Chiayi joins six other cities, including Taipei and Kaohsiung, that already have such measures.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to posthumously pardon Everett George Klippert, a former City of Calgary bus driver who was labeled a dangerous sex offender and locked up in prison 50 years ago after telling police he was gay, LGBTQ Nation reported. In 1965, Klippert was questioned about an arson attack. Although it was ultimately determined that he was not involved, during questioning he did admit to having consensual sexual relations with four men. Because of this, he was charged with four counts of gross indecency. Klippert was sent to prison until 1971, two years after homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada.
South Africa's Anglican bishops have taken an initial step toward including LGBT people as full members of their congregations with the passage of a resolution at a meeting in the Grahamstown Diocese, Religion News Service reported. The resolution now goes to the Provincial Synod, the church's top decision-making body, which meets later this year. If the synod adopts the resolution, the South African church will be the first African province of the Anglican Communion to welcome gays and lesbians as full members.
The Kenya Film and Classification Board ( KFCB ) blocked "Same Love ( remix )," a gay music video that was uploaded on YouTube by Kenyan musical band Art Attack, News24.com reported. In a statement, the KFCB said the video promoted same sex marriage, a practice it claimed was contrary to the Kenyan constitution, as homosexuality is not legal in the country.
The Swiss electorate has voted against an initiative that would have effectively prevented same-sex couples from marrying, ILGA-Europe.org reported. The initiative, backed by the Christian Democratic People's Party ( PDC ), was narrowly rejected Feb. 28: 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. "This initiative was anti-LGBTI sentiment masquerading as tax reform. The Swiss public saw through the proposal and said they didn't want to be part of it." commented Joyce Hamilton, co-chair of ILGA-Europe's executive board.
Sydney recently hosted GX Australia, the country/continent's first-ever gaming and geek convention catered specifically to the LGBTI community, the Star Observer reported. Adapted for a local audience, GX Australia was based on Gaymer X in the United States, which was the country's first queer gaming convention and has been running for three years. The inaugural local event was also part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival.
Based on the true story of a 64-year-old professor who was suspended after a TV crew reportedly from a local station forced its way into his house and filmed him having sex with another man, the movie Aligarh opened in theaters in India to rave reviews by local critics, Gay Star News reported. Professor Ramachandra Siras—who was head of the Department of Modern Indian Languages at Aligarh Muslim University, a prestigious arts institute in Uttar Pradesh—was expelled from the school for "gross misconduct" in 2010.
WeTheBrave, a South African sexual-health campaign for gay men, released an ad focusing on gay love and coming out, according to an item from the organization. However, several ad networks deemed it too risque for placement and blocked it. The video is at youtu.be/2H8LxrrYoH4. For more on the initiative, see wethebrave.co.za/ .
London's biggest gay-sauna chain has announced the closure of its second branch within a month, after the building was bought for development, The Evening Standard reported. Chariots in Streatham High Road closed its doors for the final time on Valentine's Day, ending a run of almost 20 years in that part of south London. The closure follows news in February that the company's largest venue in Shoreditch is also shutting to make way for a 200-room hotel; the development leaves the chain with just two remaining branches, in Waterloo and Vauxhall.
Vienna took the top spot at Mercer's 2016 Quality of Living Ranking while London, Paris and New York City failed to reach the top 25, Gay Star News noted. Switzerland's largest city, Zurich, came second, followed by Auckland, New Zealand. Baghdad came in last at 230, with the Central African Republic's Bangui at 229 and Sana'a in Yemen placing 228th. The highest-ranked U.S. city was San Francisco ( 28 ).
The mayor of the Indonesian city of Tangerang, Arief R. Wismansyah, has said milk formula and instant noodles could make babies gay, Gay Star News noted. Wismansyah said nowadays parents were so busy that they often only fed their children formula and instant foods, which could have a permanent negative effect on their child's development. "So, it's no wonder that recently there are more LGBT," he said.
