Popular Nigerian brand expert Kehinde Bademosi ( also known as Kenny Badmus ), who took to his Facebook page to reveal he was HIV-positive on Dec. 1, has taken to his wall again to reveal that he is gay, Naij.com reported. On World AIDS Days last month, the Orange Academy founder took a bold step by revealing that he was diagnosed with HIV in 1999. More recently, he wrote about how he got married after telling his ex-wife before they got married that he's gay and how she didn't care, hoping he would change with time. Bademosi said he decided to share his experience to mark the one-year anniversary of the anti-gay law that was passed Jan. 7, 2014.
Paris police cornered and killed Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his older brother Said, 34—the gunmen responsible for killing 12 people inside the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Jan. 7. Advocate.com reported that, in 2011, Charlie Hebdo published cover art that depicted Muhammad as a gay man kissing a character that appeared to represent Charlie Hebdo's editorial director, Stephane Charbonnier. The following year, after publishing cartoon illustrations of the prophet in the nude and in highly sexual poses, Charbonnier again dismissed threats from terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. Charlie Hebdo featured the prophet Muhammad on the cover of its issue following the killings, and planned an unprecedented print run of up to 3 million copies.
Russia has banned people with gender-identity disorders from driving, The Business Insider reported. A new decree signed on Dec. 29 by Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev delineates the conditions that disqualify people from driving, which implicitly includes people with "gender identity disorders"—a category that includes trans people. But there is also a section on "Mental and Behavioral disorders," which explicitly includes disorders such as schizophrenia, and implicitly bans people with "gender identity disorders" from driving.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "staunchly opposes" India's anti-gay law, which he said breeds intolerance in the world's largest democracy, Gay Star News reported. He made the comments Jan. 12 while addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi. "We are all different from one another, but we all have the same human rights," he added.
In the United Kingdom, Labour MP Chris Bryant said he's "surprised" by claims that a number of gay Welsh Assembly Members are too afraid to come out over fears about what it could mean for their careers, according to Pink News. A source said the members "didn't want to because of perhaps fears of changing their image, or the way they will be perceived by their constituents." Bryant told Wales Online, "My perception is that the Assembly has been a rock-solid supporter of LGBT equality. I can't think of a single Labour member [who] would raise an eyebrow."
Father Martin Dolan came out as gay during a sermon in which he supported marriage equality for same-sex couples in the Republic of Ireland, where a vote on the issue is slated for May, according to an Advocate.com item that cited the Irish Sun. The Dublin archdiocese declined comment on the matter pending discussion with Dolan, who is away on a previously scheduled vacation.
In Israel, while Bayit Yehudi dealt with accusations of homophobia, the Likud hopes to have a gay MK in the next Knesset, according to The Jerusalem Post. Gay attorney and reserve IDF major Amir Ohana, 38, won a slot on the Likud list reserved for a candidate from the Tel Aviv district. Ohana said it is important to contrast the voting record of Bayit Yehudi ministers with their Likud counterparts on gay-rights measures in the ministerial committee on legislation.
An Egyptian court acquitted 26 men who were accused of "debauchery" after a highly publicized December raid on a Cairo public bathhouse, IBTimes.com . The ruling was greeted with cheers and jubilation in the courtroom, with some defendants crying in relief. The defendants faced multiple charges, including "debauchery" and performing indecent acts, and could have faced one to nine years in prison if convicted. Homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, but gay men are frequently targeted by police and accused of debauchery, immorality or blasphemy.
A same-sex couple claims they were kicked out of an Uber taxi in London on News Year's for kissing and cuddling each other, according to LGBTQ Nation. Corey Watts and Jordan Sloan say they were left shocked by the driver's reaction, and the cab company has launched an investigation into the incident, saying it does not tolerate any form of discrimination. An Uber spokesperson said the company does not tolerate any form of discrimination and that the driver "has been suspended from the Uber platform."
In Australia, former councillor Ron Owen issued the apology he was ordered to make last month for comments he made about homosexuality in 2005, The Gympie Times noted. Owen was given until Jan. 9 to apologize to two former constituents, a lesbian and a transgender bisexual woman, who brought the complaint, The Guardian reported. Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Ann Fitzpatrick found that in a 2005 council report, a community newsletter and another letter reproduced on Owen's website, he crossed the line from expressing his own contempt of gay people to inciting others to feel likewise.
In Austria, a lesbian couple—Eva Prewein, 26, and Anastasia Lopez, 19—were forced to leave Vienna's Café PrÃĽckel for kissing, after their waiter refused to serve them, according to Pink News. On complaining to the manager, the couple were told kissing belongs "in a brothel and not in a traditional coffeehouse." He then asked them to leave. A kiss-in protest is slated for Jan. 16, and approximately 2,000 people RSVP'd on Facebook to say they will attend.
What would have been the first legal same-sex wedding in Baja California—a city-hall ceremony that Mexico's Supreme Court mandated—was thwarted again, according to Advocate.com . The couple, Fernando Urias, 37, and Victor Manuel Aguirre, 43, have been trying to get married legally in Mexicaly since 2013. However, when the men arrived at Mexicali City Hall, the doors were shut and the Jan. 10 wedding was cancelled because, Angelica Guadalupe Gonzalez Sanchez, president of the Coalition of Baja California Families, reportedly complained that the two men "suffer from madness."
