Groups lobby Obama to attend UN AIDS meeting
Fifty global health, human rights and religious organizations have called on President Barack Obama to attend a United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS in June in New York City.
At the gathering, member countries are expected to commit to new actions to combat AIDS on a global scale.
"Your attendance will send a bold message that the United States commitment to the global AIDS response remains steadfast and will help to leverage high-level representation from other governments to develop a real plan for the next phase of the response," the groups said in a letter to Obama.
Signers included AIDS Foundation of Chicago, AIDS Project Los Angeles, American Jewish World Service, American Social Health Association, Catholics for Choice, Center for Reproductive Rights, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Global Forum on MSM and HIV, HealthGAP, HIV Law Project, National Association of People with AIDS, National Minority AIDS Council, SisterLove in South Africa, Treatment Action Group, and many other groups.
Montenegro government supports pride parade
Montenegro's government is supporting the nation's first gay pride parade, scheduled for May 31.
Deputy Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said in a meeting with activists that the march has "full institutional support."
In a statement posted at gov.me, the government said, "By supporting what is to be the first LGBT rally ever staged in Montenegro ... the Government demonstrates its commitment to European values of tolerance, equality and social inclusion."
The Podgorica police chief also attended the meeting and, according to the statement, "said that the law enforcement authorities will make every effort to ensure full safety of participants and maintain public order during the rally."
Two government officials have joined the parade's steering committee "to help with the logistics for the event," the statement said.
Montenegro was part of the former Yugoslavia.
LGBT people stage Day of Silence 'flash mob' in St. Petersburg
Around 50 people from the Russian LGBT group Coming Out took part in a public Day of Silence action April 16 in St. Petersburg.
Organizers said they were protesting "against the silencing of discrimination, humiliation and violence faced by LGBT people and their allies."
They put posters on university bulletin boards and faxed information to government officials, university deans and media outlets on April 15.
Then they taped their mouths shut and staged a "flash mob" the next day on the main boulevard Nevsky Prospect, distributing around 1,000 leaflets.
"The reaction of most people during the campaign was positive to the extent that some passersby even joined the flash mob," the group said. "A minor run-in with the police ended on a friendly note, with the police and the participants taking photos of each other."
There are videos at youtube.com/user/ComingOutSPb.
Activists urge Hungarian president to veto new constitution
Hungary's Parliament approved a new constitution April 18 that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and omits sexual orientation from an anti-discrimination provision's list of protected traits.
The Hungarian LGBT Alliance called on President Pál Schmitt "not to sign the new Constitution into law, and to give a new opportunity to the Parliament to adopt a truly modern, European constitution ... instead of a political pamphlet motivated by homophobic prejudices."
The board co-chair of the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, Martin K.I. Christensen, called on European Union institutions "to interfere with what appears to be a conscious move against principles of equality and nondiscrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the EU freedom of movement directive."
Fijian LGBTI student group attains university affiliation
An LGBTI student group in Suva, Fiji, has attained official affiliation with the University of the South Pacific's Students' Association at the Laucala Campus.
The Drodrolagi Movement conducted "a strong and sustained campaign" to achieve the registration, said its president, Kris Prasad.
The group's application was initially rejected by the Laucala Campus Student Council. The group appealed, and the decision was overturned by the Students' Association Federal Council, Prasad said.
He said the University of the South Pacific is the premier regional academic institution serving several Pacific island nations. It has campuses in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Colombian court gives gay couples more rights
Colombia's Constitutional Court on April 13 extended property inheritance rights to unmarried and same-sex couples by revising Civil Code articles that limited such rights to married couples.
The court said its decision was not meant to alter the nation's concept of family as the union of a man and a woman for purposes of procreation.
Indian Supreme Court defers gay-sex case
India's Supreme Court was scheduled April 19 to begin hearing multiple appeals of the Delhi High Court ruling that struck down the nation's ban on gay sex in July 2009, but the court deferred the matter until autumn instead.
The appeals were launched by various groups and individuals. Other groups have intervened to support the decision, including filmmaker Shyam Benegal, parents with gay children, academics and teachers, and mental health professionals. The government did not appeal the decision.
In striking down the ban nationally, the High Court "read down" Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code so that it no longer applies to the activities of consenting adults. The section bans "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" under penalty of 10 years to life in prison.
The court said the statute violated the Constitution's guarantee of equality under the law, ban on discrimination based on sex, and promises of personal liberty and protection of life.
"Section 377 IPC targets the homosexual community as a class and is motivated by an animus towards this vulnerable class of people," the court wrote. "It has no other purpose than to criminalize conduct which fails to conform with the moral or religious views of a section of society."
Given India's large population, the High Court's decision decriminalized around 17 percent of all LGB people on the planet.
Assistance: Bill Kelley
