Bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst recently made her modeling debut, walking at the Jean Paul Gaultier couture show in Paris, according to the UK Independent. Wurst—who famously won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest—was given the prestigious closing spot, a fashion honor usually bestowed upon the designer's favorite or most famous model. Gaultier said of Wurst, "I always say that beauty is difference, and Conchita has shown us all that she is unstoppable."
After years of denial, Australian swimming champion Ian Thorpe, 31, has revealed he is gay in an exclusive interview with Sir Michael Parkinson, according to The Guardian. The five-time Olympic gold medallist and Australia's most successful Olympic athlete to date revealed his sexuality in an interview that aired on Australian television July 13. In his own autobiography This Is Me, published in 2012, the swimmer said that he found questions about his sexuality hurtful, writing: "For the record, I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight."
Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that "about 2 percent" of clergy in the Catholic Church are pedophiles, the BBC reported. The Pope said that abuse of children was like "leprosy" infecting the Church, and that he vowed to "confront it with the severity it demands." However, a Vatican spokesman said the quotes, originally in the Italian La Repubblica newspaper, did not correspond to the pontiff's exact words. The 2 percent would represent around 8,000 priests out of a global number of about 414,000.
A Moroccan appeals court has upheld the convictions of several men accused of same-sex acts, according to LGBTQ Nation. At least four of the six defendants in the case in central Morocco were convicted July 2 on charges that included "lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex." The appeals court in the city of Beni Mellal upheld the conviction of the men solely on the basis of statements that they made while in police custody. Same-sex sexual activity in Morocco and can be punished by up to three years imprisonment and a fine of 1200 dirhams ( about $150 U.S. ).
Borgosesia, Italy, Mayor Gianluca Buonanno said he would impose fines of up to 500 Euros for public kisses between individuals of the same sex, according to On Top Magazine. Buonanno, a politician with the right wing Northern League Party, said he was offended at seeing gay kisses in public and announced he would hang photos in his offices of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has led an anti-gay crackdown in Russia.
GLAAD, along with more than 25 U.S. and international LGBT- and human-rights organizations, sent a letter to soccer's governing body, FIFA, "demanding concrete action to address homophobia in the game and anti-gay chants yelled in the stands," according to a press release. After investigating a complaint filed by Football Against Racism in Europe ( FARE ), FIFA said the use of the anti-gay slur "puto" was not offensive in the context of a soccer game. The letter is at http://www.glaad.org/open-letter-fifa.
Singapore is so threatened by a children's book about gay penguins that not only is it going to remove said book from library shelves, but it is also going to destroy every copy, according to GlobalPost.com . The book in question is And Tango Makes Three, which is based on the real-life story of two male penguins at New York's Central Park zoo who adopted a penguin chick and raised him up together. Singapore authorities have also censored and aim to pull two other children's titles: White Swan Express, about Chinese orphans being adopted by all kinds of parents, including lesbians; and Who's In My Family, which also mentions gay families.
LGBT Confex—promoted as "Latin America's leading LGBT business network"—has developed and produced an LGBT business forum for Bogota's Equality Week, to be held Oct. 2-4, a press release stated. The forum will focus on the needs of LGBT business market and will be the first of its kind in the country. The new event will include presentations from government, business and community leaders.
Ricky Martin's One World Tour will swing into Australian arenas in 2015, Billboard noted. Martin—a coach on the show The Voice: Australia—will kick-off his trek in north Queensland with an April 25 show at Townsville's 1300 Smiles Stadium. The tour then visits Brisbane ( April 28 ), Sydney ( April 30 ), Melbourne ( May 2 ), Adelaide ( May 5 ) and Perth ( May 8 ).
Lawmakers in Lithuania have put off voting on a Russia-style ban on so-called gay propaganda, shelving the proposal until the parliament sits again in summer, Gay Star News reported. The bill would establish fines for so-called "public defilement of traditional families," and is aimed at suppressing public advocacy for the rights of LGBTI people and displays of gay pride. Thirty-nine MPs voted to remove the bill from the parliamentary agenda, while 34 voted to keep it.
