President Obama appeared at a town hall during his and First Lady Michelle Obama's visit to the United Kingdom. At the event, he said, in part, "Progress requires the harder path of breaking down barriers, and building bridges, and standing up for the values of tolerance and diversity that our nations have worked and sacrificed to secure and defend. Progress is not inevitable, and it requires struggle and perseverance and discipline and faith. But that's the story of how we won voting rights, and women's rights, and workers' rights, and civil rights, and immigration rights, and gay rights—because those who came before us often risked their lives to give us the chance to know something better."
Also at the town hall, a British university student came out as non-binary to Obama, Fusion reported. "I'm from a Pakistani Muslim background, which inevitably will have cultural and I know that in North Carolina recently with the bathroom bill people are being forced to produce birth certificates to prove their gender in order to go to the toilet," an emotional Maria Munir told Obama at Town Hall for young people in central London. "In the U.K., we don't recognize non-binary people under the Equality Act—so if there was any discrimination, there's nothing we could do." Munir, who does not identify with either gender, prefers to be referred to as "they" or "their."
Obama also said that his daughters helped change his position on marriage equality, The Huffington Post noted. The president said that he initially didn't think the labels for same-sex couples really mattered as long as they had the same rights as heterosexuals. He added, "People I loved who were in monogamous same-sex relationships explained to me what I should have understood earlier, which is it was not simply about legal rights but about a sense of stigma—that if you're calling it something different it means that somehow it means less in the eyes of society."
An Israeli court has convicted an ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremist who fatally stabbed 16-year-old Shira Banki marching at a gay-pride parade in Jerusalem last year of murder, CNN reported. Yishai Shlissel, 40, was also convicted of six counts of attempted murder by the Jerusalem District Court for his attacks on others during the stabbing rampage. Shlissel, who was arrested at the scene, had been released from prison only three weeks before he carried out the attack. He had served 10 years for a similar attack at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem in 2005, in which several people were injured. No date has yet been set for Shlissel's sentencing.
A Taiwanese man who had used date-rape drugs on more than 10 male models in China has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after his latest victim was found dead from drug overdose, according to Gay Star News. Du Bo Wen, 43, met his 21-year-old victim, Xiang Hai, a top male model in China, on the fake online modeling agency he constructed. Xiang, who had traces of Ketamine in his body, suffered a drug overdose and died on the spot. Du then escaped the crime scene, and subsequently went back to Taiwan to elude arrest.
Following news that that UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its travel advice for LGBT individuals traveling to North Carolina and Mississippi, the founder of LGBT-friendly travel company OutOfOffice.com, Darren Burn, released a statement. In it, he said, in part, "It's clear that the decision to issue updated travel advice to LGBT travelers was not taken lightly by the Foreign Office. ... Seeking up-to-date advice is imperative for LGBT travelers no matter where they are visiting on their travels."
Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana—who spoke out against adoption by LGBT families and in vitro fertilization last year—walked out during a speech by amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost that touched on the subject during a gala in Sao Paulo, Brazil, according to Page Six. The design duo caused an uproar last year when Dolce proclaimed in Italian magazine Panorama that IVF children were "synthetic." However, a rep for amfAR insisted, "D&G left later in the evening and not during Mr. Frost's speech. Mr. Frost spoke about how important it was to understand the connection between the fight against AIDS and the fight for gay rights."
A uniformed policeman celebrated his gay civil union in Chile's capital, Santiago—the first time a member of the force has taken advantage of a new law allowing civil partnerships in the conservative South American nation, Reuters reported. Civil unions were approved by Chile's Congress last year after four years of legislative wrangling. Rolando Jimenez, leader of the Chilean gay-rights group Movilh, said the move represents a broader trend of police and military beginning to knock down barriers to inclusion.
In Northern Ireland, Mary Ellen Campbell is set to become Belfast's first ever openly gay deputy lord mayor, PinkNews reported. Campbell, a former political prisoner, has fronted many of the party's campaigns on gender equality, LGBT issues and suicide prevention since she was co-opted on to the Council in 2010.
Uganda's former national football manager Chris Mubiru was cleared of sodomy charges, Gay Star News reported. High Court justice Wilson Musene Masalu has ruled the magistrate's court had acted wrongly when they convicted and sentenced Mubiru to 10 years in prison for the "crime" of having gay sex last year. He was also ordered to pay 50 million Ugandan shillings ( $15,000 ).
In Kuwait, 41 individuals identified as gay men and trans women were arrested for allegedly prostituting themselves in a massage parlor, Gay Star News reported. Police sent an undercover officer to the parlor in the capital of Kuwait City to pay for a "massage," a cost of 10 dinars ( $33 ) and then negotiated for the sexual services. Once a joint governmental committee of the interior ministry, immigration and manpower authority had confirmed what was happening, police raided the parlor and arrested the workers involved. Homosexuality is effectively illegal in Kuwait.
A strain of super-resistant gonorrhea has now been detected in gay men for the first time, NewNowNext.com reported. So far there have been 34 detected cases in the West Midlands, London and Southern England, but doctors fear there are even more cases currently hidden, as the disease can often be symptomless. This highly infectious strain is resistant to azithromycin, a drug that is combined with ceftriaxone to treat the disease.
In Australia, an indigenous college student who says he often experiences racism on dating apps like Grindr decided to share messages he receives in order to prove racism is prevalent in the gay community, NewNowNext.com noted. Dustin Mangatjay McGregor said, just like in society as a whole, there is a hierarchy in the gay community. Mangatjay has been often called racial slurs on Grindr, and has said there's a difference between being attracted to certain races and voicing those preferences using offensive language.
More than 100 people were in attendance for Saskatchewan's first gay-straight alliance summit in Saskatoon, CBC.ca reported. OUT Saskatoon teamed with Camp Fyrefly to bring the two-day conference to teachers and students from around the province. The summit concluded with a queer prom.
The Catholic Church in Norway will ask permission from the Vatican to drop civil weddings to take a stand against same-sex marriage and distance itself from the Lutherans, Christian Daily reported, citing PinkNews. The Norwegian Lutheran Church has recently announced that it will hold gay marriages. In response to this, Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo announced that the Catholic Church's intention is to distinguish its marriages from that of the other denominations. Norway legalized same-sex marriage in 2009.
One of the movies that will be shown at the 2016 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival is The Pearl of Africa web series. According to a press release, The Pearl of Africa follows the story of Cleopatra Kambugu, a transgender woman living in Uganda—a country with some of the harshest anti-LGBTI laws in the world. Kambugu, who must leave Africa for gender-confirmation surgery, faces adversity accompanied by Nelson, a devoted partner who once held the anti-LGBTI views common in his country. See PearlOfAfrica.tv .
America's Got Talent presenter and former Spice Girl Melanie Brown is set to co-host Britain's biggest gay awards show and revealed how "proud" she is to show her support for the LGBT community, according to a DNA India item that cites Female First. Brown even tweeted, "Really excited to be hosting @BritLGBTAwards next month, it's going to be a fab night! #BritishLGBTAwards." Brown and co-host Duncan James will preside over the ceremony at London's Grand Connaught Rooms; among the nominees for the May 13 event are Olly Alexander, Boy George, Cara Delevingne and Sam Smith.
A self-described gay "artivist" from Venezuela is using his art to fight homophobia and other forms of discrimination, The Washington Blade reported. Daniel Arzola is behind the "I'm Not a Joke" campaign, which features a series of 50 posters that contain a sentence and a digital illustration. The campaign—known as "No soy tu chiste" in Spanish—has appeared in the United States, Venezuela, Brazil, Australia, Uganda, Russia and two dozen other countries around the world. Arzola's posters have also been translated into English, Portuguese and 18 other languages. Katy Perry selected several of Arzola's posters for Madonna's Art for Freedom, a project for which she is a guest curator.
