Moldovan authorities block gay demo
City officials in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau refused to authorize a planned May 5 rally by gay activists in front of Parliament.
The demo, planned by the GLBT organization Information Center GenderDoc-M to press for an antidiscrimination law, would have coincided with the Fifth Moldovan LGBT Pride Festival.
Interim Mayor Vasile Ursu said he blocked the rally because religious groups and others threatened to stage counterprotests.
The three days of pride events included movies, plays, concerts, a conference on nondiscrimination and a lesbian soccer match.
England bar torched
A gay bar was torched in Bolton, England, April 26, the Bolton Evening News reported.
Arsonists poured gasoline on the front door of the Star and Garter Public House and set it alight. Firefighters extinguished the blaze before it spread.
Landlady Christine Riley said the incident 'could have been a homophobic attack.' Two men were detained by police for questioning.
Bolton is a suburb of Manchester.
Web sites about
Iran hacked
Web sites reporting on Iran's mistreatment of gays were knocked off the Net this month by Iranian government hackers, journalist and blogger Doug Ireland reported in Gay City News.
'The goal of the hack attack was to bury news of, and stifle protest about, the Islamic Republic of Iran's massive anti-gay pogrom,' Ireland said.
Among the sites taken down were those of the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization and the British gay-rights group OutRage!. The front page of PGLO's site has been replaced by a 'parked' page with links to gay shopping. OutRage!'s site displays only the line: 'No web site is configured at this address.'
OutRage! has doggedly pursued the story of Iran's alleged ongoing executions of men who the group says were found guilty of engaging in gay sex.
The group's latest research is online at petertatchell.net/international/iranstatemurder.htm.
Ireland said Web sites of Iranian exile groups also have been hacked.
