The LGBT-equality T-shirt company FCKH8.com plans to send 10,000 pro-gay children's coloring books to Russian children, according to a press release. Copies of the book Misha & His Moms Go to the Olympics will be mailed directly to homes with children in Sochi ( the site of the upcoming Winter Olympics ) and Moscow during the games. The release stated that "activists are taking the action of breaking the law and directly mailing the books to children to confront the anti-gay hysteria that is sweeping the country." Russia recently passed a controversial law banning "gay propaganda" from being presented to children.
Barilla—the Italian company behind the chairman who said they would have never gay people in its adverisements—has now promised to be more diverse and inclusive, Gay Star News reported. CEO Claudio Colzani said, "Diversity, inclusion and equality have long been grounded in Barilla's culture, values and code of conduct. They are reflected in our policies and the benefits we provide to all employees, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation." Among other things, the company plans to establish a new Diversity & Inclusion Board.
Anastasia Smirnova, the general project manager of the Interregional Social Movement Russian LGBT Network, reported on Russian queer newsgroups that two masked men with guns and baseball bats attacked a "rainbow social" at the offices of LaSky, an HIV organization for gay men, according to Advocate.com . The police reportedly arrived at the LaSky office but left, immediately saying they saw no evidence of a crime.
Portuguese soccer player/hunk Cristiano Ronaldo launched his new underwear line, CR7, with a large photo of himself in one of the items—and with the image covering the Cibeles Palace in Madrid, Out.com noted. The huge billboard is similar to the one H&M hoisted above Manhattan last year for retired soccer player David Beckham, and Ronaldo also has a sexy commercial to go along with the huge display.
British authorities claimed that David Miranda, the partner of reporter Glenn Greenwald, was involved in "terrorism" when he tried to carry documents from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden through a London airport in August, according to a Huffington Post item. Miranda was detained and questioned for nine hours by British authorities at Heathrow Aug. 18, when he landed there from Berlin to change planes for a flight to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. After his release and return to Rio, Miranda filed a legal action against the British government, seeking the return of materials authorities seized from him; a key hearing on Miranda's challenge is slated for the week of Nov. 3.
The Paul E. Singer Foundation is teaming with the Daniel S. Loeb Family Foundation to award the Human Rights Campaign Foundation ( HRC ) major grants over three years, according to an HRC press release. Among other things, the grants will help fund efforts to educate U.S. residents on the human rights of LGBT people around the world; provide fellowships at HRC for foreign LGBT advocates; and expose the work of prominent anti-gay U.S. organizations that have pushed anti-gay laws and legislation overseas.
With the Sochi Olympic Games in February 2014, the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) launched its "Love Conquers Hate" campaign to support the members of Russia's LGBT community, according to a press release. Participants for the Love Conquers Hate campaign include Jonah Hill, Kristen Bell, Fergie, Kelly Osbourne, Kevin Bacon, Jamie Lee Curtis, America Ferrera, Ricky Martin and Perez Hilton, among others. Participants will share photos of themselves wearing the Russian-language version of HRC's Love Conquers Hate T-shirt on their social-media platforms with the hashtag #LoveConquersHate.
A Russian man blinded in one eye after an anti-gay shooting has spoken out on his ordeal, Gay Star News reported. One of the two gun-wielding masked men shot Dmitry Chizhevsky, 27, in the eye during a terror attack on a social event for young LGBTs in St. Petersburg on Nov. 3. Posting on the social network VK, Chizhevsky wrote, "Thank you all for your support. Doctors said the bullet was left inside but can be removed with surgery." About a month ago several anti-gay pages on VK called for action against the LaSky HIV charity center, where the attack took place.
In Italy, hundreds of gay-rights activists held a candlelight vigil at Rome's Colosseum to call for an anti-homophobia law after a youth threw himself off the 11th story of a building in the Italian capital, The Huffington Post reported. The death of the 21-year-old known publicly as Simone D. followed two other youth gay suicides this year in Rome. In his suicide note Simone reportedly wrote, "Italy is a free country, but there are homophobes and those like that must search their consciences."
Ireland will hold a referendum in mid-2015 on whether to allow same-sex marriage, according to an item in The Guardian. The decision, announced Nov. 5, is a victory for the deputy prime minister, Eamon Gilmore, who has been lobbying for a national vote. The vote will be held as part of a special "constitution day," in which a wide-ranging referendum could result in other changes to the republic's constitution, such as the abolishing of blasphemy laws.
A Norwegian news team has claimed it was detained, harassed and threatened while reporting in Sochi, Russia, according to Gay Star News. Oystein Bogen, a reporter for TV2, and cameraman Aage Aunes, had arrived in Adygea ( south of Sochi ) on Oct. 31. Traffic police stopped the news team six times, and on one occasion alleged the anchor had been using narcotic drugs. The first tourists to be officially arrested under Russia's gay propaganda laws were four Dutch people who were making a documentary.
