The United Nations ( UN ) is reopening the case of a plane crash that killed former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in 1961, TIME.com reported. Hammarskjold was on his way to what is now a part of Zambia to help broker peace between secessionist fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo and UN troops who were trying to stabilize the newly independent country. A panel—consisting of a jurist from Tanzania, a ballistics expert from Denmark and an aviation expert from Australia—is expected to submit a report to the secretary-general no later than June 30. Multiple sources ( see www.uic.edu/depts/quic/history/dag_hammerskjold.html ) have stated that Hammarskjold was gay, although he was not open.
Singer Mans Zelmerlow first became famous on Swedish Idol in 2005, and was recently chosen to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, according to NewNowNext.com, not everyone is thrilled because of an anti-gay tirade Zelmerlow went on last year. He said that homosexuality is "abnormal" and that gay couples shouldn't raise children. He eventually went on a damage-control tour and headlined Sweden's biggest LGBT event, the QX Gaygala.
In Costa Rica, Casa Presidencial announced that it would prioritize a bill legalizing common-law marriage, and another providing other legal protections for same-sex couples, TicoTimes.net reported. The announcement followed a meeting with LGBT activists who requested action from the presidency ministry on the long-delayed bills. Despite the announcement, the current administration has said it does not support same-sex marriage.
A Caribbean court heard a challenge from a gay-rights activist who argued that immigration laws ostensibly barring homosexuals from entering two countries in the region are discriminatory and must be repealed, the Associated Press noted. Maurice Tomlinson, a Jamaican gay-rights activist who is a legal adviser with New York-based AIDS-Free World, argued that obscure immigration rules that bar entry to gay people in Trinidad & Tobago and Belize actually violate freedom-of-movement rights under a key Caribbean Community treaty. He took his challenge to the Caribbean Court of Justice, the final appeals court for some members of the 15-member Caricom.
A Russian man who was jailed after torturing gay teens and driving them to suicide is facing new charges, according to Gay Star News. Maxim Martsinkevich, the leader of the anti-LGBTI group Occupy Pedophilia, is being charged with robbery, hooliganism and causing property damage. He was already carrying out a previous sentence in a labor camp, but will now be transported to a detention center until further notice.
In London, two teen boys were reportedly forced to have sex with each other, fight and steal in an attack, according to Gay Star News. The suspect approached the boys, claiming he had a knife; he then forced them to leave a bus they were riding and commit the acts. Trainee Detective Constable Amy Beautridge said, "This was a most unusual crime and distressing crime, during which the two young victims were terrified by threats made by the suspect, who intimated he was in possession of a knife."
Disgraced Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien has officially resigned, Gay Star News reported. Pope Francis accepted the cleric's resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal after he admitted to "inappropriate sexual misconduct" with four priests. Prior to the revelation, O'Brien had launched a "war" on same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, comparing it to slavery, child abuse and moral degradation.
In Canada, NDP member of the Ontario Legislature Cheri DiNovo wants the province to ban so-called "conversion therapy" for minors—a practice aimed at changing the sexual orientation of youth who identify as part of the LGBT community, according to CBC.ca. DiNovo, the NDP's critic for LBGT issues, introduced a bill this week at Queen's Park seeking a ban on the therapy for people under 18. She also wants the treatment to be de-listed from the province's health-care plan so that taxpayers aren't supporting it.
Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana tried to distance themselves from the controversial comments Dolce made about in vitro fertilization and gay marriage, TheWrap noted. "Maybe we chose the wrong words," Gabbana told CNN in reference to a quote from an Italian magazine in which Dolce referred to children conceived artificially as "synthetic." When asked point blank if they support in vitro, Gabbana said, "I believe in in vitro. I don't have anything [to say] about this." Dolce said, "I think we don't need to support or don't support. You think what you think."
In a related development, about 100 London gay-rights activists protested March 19 outside the flagship store on Old Bond Street, according to Gay Star News. Protestors held signs saying, "Created With Love, Not Fashion," "Hate Is Never In Style" and "Love Is What Makes A Family." The Peter Tatchell Foundation and LGBT Out and Proud Diamond Group organized the rally.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni faced members of parliament who were angry that the country had spent 600,000 Ugandan shillings ( $205,000 ) on a public-relations campaign aimed at cleaning up damage the country's now-defunct Anti-Homosexuality Act did to Uganda's image, according to Advocate.com . The act, called the Ugandan "Jail-the-Gays" law by LGBT and human-rights advocates as well as pro-equality media outlets, left Museveni's government scrambling to respond to relatively swift and increasingly punitive sanctions in 2014.
In Ireland, Fine Gael Senator Eamonn Coghlan has spoken about the difficulties faced by his son as a gay teenager, and of his own challenge in coming to terms with his son being gay, according to the Irish Independent. "When I discovered my son Michael was gay I was devastated," he said. "I cried for weeks. The hopes and dreams I had for my son were shattered. I felt guilty, almost as if I was to blame for him being gay." Coghlan—a former world-champion athlete—said his son experienced bullying at school but didn't know why it was happening at the time.
The Philippines church has stated its support for an anti-gay discrimination bill, as long as it does not infringe on its 'exclusive right' to choose priests—"even on the basis of sexual orientation," Gay Star News noted. Earlier in March, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines ( CBCP ) clarified its stance on LGBTI issues as Congress is set to approve the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Bill.
The West Bengal state cabinet approved the formation of a transgender development board—the first of its kind in India, Gay Star News noted. The 12-member board will issue ID cards to transgender citizens as well as provide employment and educational opportunities and health care. The board will also take a census of the community.
Japanese politicians have formed a multiparty group to look at LGBT rights before the 2020 Olympic Games, Pink News reported. Almost 40 lawmakers from multiple parties have come together to discuss the issue of discrimination against LGBT people in the wake of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The group intends to look at discrimination against sexual minorities in Japan and the rest of the world, and speak to LGBT people about the issues they face.
A Scottish National Party ( SNP ) member has been suspended after tweeting homophobic abuse to the Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, according to the UK Independent. The news of the suspension—announced by the SNP first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in the Scottish Parliament—came after Sturgeon and other political leaders north of the border united in a rare cross-party call for an end to anti-gay abuse. Davidson originally spoke out after receiving a tweet making grossly offensive references to her sexuality from an SNP member with the profile name Laird O'Callaghan. The tweeter later publicly apologized.
The women's dating app Dattch, launched by London entrepreneur Robyn Exton, has announced that it has rebranded itself under a new name, Her, and secured $1 million in seed funding, Gay Star News reported. It's believed that the branding change came about after both users and potential investors expressed confusion over the meaning of the previous name. Exton, who formerly worked for a brand strategy agency in London, taught herself coding in her spare time before launching Dattch in September 2013.
The IGLTA Foundation recently selected five recipients for its third annual Building Bridges Scholarships, a group that represents China, Colombia, Jamaica and Japan, a press release stated. Each will receive an all-expenses-paid trip and conference registration for the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association's Annual Global Convention in Los Angeles on April 8-11. The recipients are Kan Kikumoto, Wang Hao ( Charlie ), Ena Yanagi, Olubode Shawn Brown and Fabio Rugeles.
