GAY SEX KILLERS SENTENCED
Two men found guilty last week of killing Barney Van Heerden during a group sexual encounter at his Johannesburg home in September 2011 learned their fate on Wednesday. Mthokozisi Ndlovu and Themba Maseko were each ordered to spend twenty years in jail for murder and ten years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, to run concurrently, […]
FRANCE VS SA ON GAY ISSUES
Monday’s meeting between France’s First Lady, Valerie Trierweiler, and South African LGBT groups in Johannesburg highlighted the different issues facing each country’s gay and lesbian communities, says an LGBT activist. Trierweiler was accompanied by French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who played a key role in legalising same-sex marriage in France. The law led to months […]
TRADITIONAL COURTS BILL STILL ALIVE
Despite a majority of South African provinces rejecting the controversial and potentially homophobic Traditional Courts Bill, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) refuses to dump it. SAPA reported on Tuesday that the bill has been rejected by the provincial legislatures of Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, North West, and Limpopo. However, the NCOP’s select committee […]
POPE MUST CONDEMN GAY HATE
While Pope Francis has been praised for his more conciliatory approach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, it is not enough, says a human rights group. In a letter to the Holy See, Human Rights Watch called on the Pope to publicly condemn violence and discrimination against LGBT people. He was also urged […]
UK: LGBTS DON’T REPORT HATE CRIMES
A new study has found that a massive three out of four lesbian, gay and bisexual victims of hate crimes in Britain don’t report the incidents to police. The survey of 2,500 people, conducted by YouGov for LGBT rights groups Stonewall, shows that hate crime remains a serious issue across the country. It revealed that […]
EGYPT: 14 ARRESTED FOR GAY SEX
There are reports that Egyptian police have arrested 14 men on charges of having gay sex at what has been described as a gym or sauna in Cairo. Scott Long’s Paper Bird blog translated an October 12 report by state newspaper Akhbar el-Youm about a raid on the venue. According to the article, police were informed of […]
GAY MAN PARALYSED AFTER ATTACK
A gay Canadian man who survived a horror attack has been left paralysed from the waist down. Scott Jones (27) – a musician and a choir director – was attacked in Trenton, Nova Scotia in the early hours of Saturday morning while he was out celebrating the opening of a friend’s art studio. CBC reported that he was […]
GAY DIVING LEGEND MARRIES
Gay American Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis (53) has married his boyfriend Johnny Chaillot (52). The couple, dressed in white suits, tied the knot in Malibu in front of 160 guests on Saturday. “It was amazing because I have so many people from all facets of my life here tonight and they are all here […]
KUWAITI MPS DEFEND GAY TESTS
Lawmakers in Kuwait have slammed criticism by Amnesty International over the county’s plan to introduce compulsory “medical tests” to bar migrant workers deemed to be “homosexual” from entering Kuwait and other Gulf countries. On Friday, Amnesty described the proposal as “outrageous”. “This proposal will only further stigmatise people who already suffer extremely high levels of […]
DAD’S GAY LUGGAGE EPIPHANY
A straight Australian father who was the target of an anti-gay incident while travelling says he’s come to realise what gay people often have to deal with. The man, known only as Aaron, discovered that his suitcase had the words “I am gay” written across it with stickers when he collected his luggage at Perth […]