Chief Homophobe welcomed by Australian prime Minister

Prime Minister Rudd greats Chief Homophobe at an air force base

Quote :

“Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. Homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”

These hateful words were written by Joseph Ratzinger, a Vatican Cardinal in 2003. 

Some 30 years before, the same author wrote a damning report called “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics” in which he stated that the inclination toward homosexuality is “tendency toward an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”

In 2008, this man is now known as Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church who arrived on Australian soil this week to spread his message of intolerance to half a million pilgrims in Sydney for World Youth Day.

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Matthew Mitcham our Golden Boy!

In August, diver Matthew Mitcham will become the first openly-gay Australian to compete in an Olympic Games. In many ways, Matthew Mitcham is just your regular 20-year-old gay guy.

He lives in inner Sydney, he has a boyfriend, his favourite club is Arq. He loves to watch The Simpsons, Futurama and Queer As Folk.  His favourite music is by The Presets, Kate Miller-Heidke and Missy Higgins.

But Matthew Mitcham is not your regular 20-year-old gay guy.

Not only is he an elite member of Australia’s Olympic diving team, but last month he became headline news around the world.

The reason? For being gay.

A casual remark to a journalist during an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald led to a flurry of international publicity. The Herald put Mitcham on its front page. In Britain, national daily newspaper The Independent carried an article under the headline ‘Gay diver breaks Australian sporting taboo’.

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Life Ball 2008

Whoever said that AIDS is not on the agenda for the current generation of gays has never experienced Europe’s impressive Life Ball, the world’s biggest AIDS charity fundraiser. Now in its 16th year and with over ¤10 million donated to AIDS-related causes since its inception, the event is held annually to much acclaim in Vienna’s Town Hall, Austria.

This year, Life Ball was space-themed and all about ‘Landing on Planet Life Ball’, a place where ‘Love is infinite’ and ‘Love is universal’. While the slogans obviously suffered in translation, they did not detract from their objective of providing inspiration, be it for costumes or donations.

Sharon Stone was again the headline guest this year, followed by lesser stars but those equally stellar in the celebrity orbit – Linda Evangelista, Kim Cattrall and Debbie Harry were among those more notable; actors like Alan Cumming, male supermodel of yesteryear Markus Schenkenberg and two plane-loads of New York fashion and nightclub elite also added to the rarefied air.

Whatever the guest list, the electricity on this balmy Saturday night was palpable. Tickets are highly sought-after by the masses – some 45,000-odd who cram the Town Hall’s front lawn and temporary grandstands to catch a glimpse of the costumes and chaos.

So popular is the event, in fact, that it’s even televised live nationally. Many of them vie for a chance at the few Willy Wonka passes on offer, but in a peculiarly gay twist, tickets are awarded only to the most fabulously dressed. And you thought Idol judges were fierce.

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Cuban Government Moves To End Homophobia

Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness - and high-ranking political alliances - with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on the weekend.

The meeting at a convention center in Havana's Vedado district may have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro's daughter Mariela, who has promoted the rights of sexual minorities, presided.

"This is a very important moment for us, the men and women of Cuba, because for the first time we can gather in this way and speak profoundly and with scientific basis about these topics," said Castro, director of Cuba's Center for Sexual Education.

Mariela Castro joined government leaders and hundreds of activists at the one-day conference for the International Day Against Homophobia that featured shows, lectures, panel discussions and book presentations. A station also offered blood-tests for sexually transmitted diseases.

Cuban state television gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film "Brokeback Mountain," which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

Prejudice against homosexuals remains deeply rooted in Cuban society, but the government has steadily moved away from the Puritanism of the 1960s and 1970s, when homosexuals hid their sexuality for fear of being ridiculed, fired from work or even imprisoned.

Now Cuba's parliament is studying proposals to legalize same-sex unions and give gay couples the benefits that people in traditional marriages enjoy.

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14 held in raid on suspected gay joint

PENANG: Police detained 14 men at a fitness and sauna centre believed to be a front for gay activities.

In the 6pm. raid on Saturday, police from the state anti - vice department also seized 1,800 condoms.

Six naked men were caught in three toilets (wonder what they were doing) while others were found patronising the establishment.

Used condoms were found littered all over the place - (they might need a cleaner)

Aged between 20 and 30, they were remanded to assist in investigations into immoral activities.

This being the third time the centre has been raided since last November, Police have stated that they would recommend to close it down.

On November 5Th last year, police raided the centre and discovered it was used to host a sex party, they rounded up 34 men aged between 22 and 55.

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School Formal Bans Gay Partners

Anglican Church Grammar School in Brisbane has put its foot down, telling a gay student that he, and eight other gay students, are not allowed to bring their partners to the high school formal. The students are now considering boycotting the formal entirely.

Dr Philip Aspinall, head of the Anglican Church, has told ABC Radio that while the gay students should be treated with the utmost respect, it’s also a decision that the school has to make on its own.

“It’s a great pity… Most people who go to a school formal go with a friend and there is no sexual relationship involved.”

According to the Courier Mail, the student who initially approached the school about the matter felt let down by his school when he was told that the rules only allowed boys to bring female partners.

”[The school] said to me, ‘if you start a political movement this is going to get blown out of proportion. If you go quietly about this and if you don’t cause us too much trouble, we will just quietly change the rules so they’re allowed and no one gets hurt’,” said the student, who wishes to remain anonymous.

“At the start of 2006, there was no one at the school who was openly gay… but now there are dozens.

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World Aids Day December 1st

Today is World Aids Day, my thoughts are with those suffering and to those whom have lost loved ones.

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Today - Remember Those Who Have Fallen

For the last nine years in dozens of cities around the world, November 20 has become a sobering reminder of the violence and danger that still exists in today’s world for transgender people.


The Transgender Day of Remembrance is now in its ninth year, and it’s a day to remember those who have been killed as a result of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.


Australia has had its share of transgender violence over the years as well. In Northern Queensland, Ronald Brown, a sixteen year old cross-dresser was viciously stabbed and left to die.


Gordon Tuckey was murdered in Sydney, Joanne Lillycrapp, who identified as a cross-dresser, was murdered in South Australia by two people she had stopped to help while the death of Adel Bailey remains unsolved.

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First Five Star Gay Hotel Opens

The capital of Argentina, home to cowboy culture and the brutally macho tango dance, has just thrown open the doors to Latin America's glossy first five-star hotel for gays.

With more than 12 million people, cosmopolitan Buenos Aires has gradually become more and more gay-friendly, with bars, restaurants, guest houses and now a five-star hotel meant for us.

Experts estimate that a hefty 20 percent of tourists who visit Buenos Aires are gay. That means 300,000 gay visitors a year who spend 600 million dollars in the city, according to industry figures.

The Axel is looking to cash in on the potentially big and lucrative market niche.

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'Conservative' Singapore Votes Against Legalizing Sex Between Homosexuals

Singapore's conservative parliament decided yesterday to keep a ban on sex between men, with the Prime Minister saying the country should keep its conservative values and not allow special rights for homosexuals.

"Singapore is basically a conservative society ... and we want to keep it so," Lee Hsien Loong said. The amended penal code also legalizes oral and anal sex between heterosexual adults.

Approval came after an impassioned debate in the chamber on whether to legalize sex between homosexuals, with one parliamentarian reading out a petition signed by thousands of people in favour of scrapping the British colonial-era ban.

Under Singapore laws, a man found to have committed an act of "gross indecency" with another man could be jailed for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare.

[Source - Reuters]

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Brazil to pay for sex-change operations

Brazil's public health care system will cover the cost of sex-change operations, the government said after a federal court ruled the procedure was a constitutional right.

The court's chief judge Rober Raupp Rios said the ruling would prevent self mutilation by people with sexual identity problems.

The Ministry of Health estimated the cost of sex-change operations in Porto Alegre at about 1,000 dollars, and that as many as one Brazilian in 10,000 could be seeking one.
During 2000-2007, Brazil carried out 250 sex-change operations, the ministry said.

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The PINK non-picnic

Despite the National Parks Board's official ban on a gay picnic in Singapore, approximately one hundred queer people and allies turn up to relax and share food at the Botanical Gardens.

Scattered in an archipelago of picnic blankets, picnic goer's wore pink T-shirts, pink caps, pink shoes, and carried pink parasols. Some of the chosen foods consumed included; smoked salmon, watermelon, cherries, strawberry-flavoured Pocky and Yan Yan, san char balls, pink agar-agar jelly and beng kueh, ruby grapefruit juice, guava juice, raspberry 7-up and rosé wine.

Originally a gay-themed picnic planned for Singapore's Indig Nation pride season, where participants were invited to dress in pink, and bring pink food to eat.

On Monday 6 August, however activist Alex Au was informed in a government letter that the event (as well as “The Pink Run”, a planned 5-km run in the park) was forbidden, these were “organised gatherings”, and such events would require permission from the National Parks Board (NParks).

[Source]

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Firefighters cry Harassment

Four San Diego firefighters are pressing sexual harassment claims against the city's fire department after they were taunted while driving a fire engine in a gay Pride parade last month.

The men claim their battalion chief ordered them to ride in the July 21 parade through San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood, according to their attorney, Stephen Stirling.

The firefighters followed the order out of concern they would otherwise be suspended or punished.

During the parade, the firefighters said, bystanders taunted them with sexually explicit comments and colleagues called to tease them for participating in the event.

"I was forced into a situation that would compromise what I hold true and what I believe in," engineer Jason Hewitt said in a statement.

The four contend the department failed to protect them from sexual harassment and didn't immediately act to correct the situation, Stirling said.

The four men, who were assigned to a fire station in the parade route area, were called in after another crew that had volunteered to participate canceled at the last minute because one firefighter had a family emergency.

My Thoughts

OMG get over it guys, we work in a profession that is highly regarded and respected by the community, that's the entire community, the gay community is part of the community it represents about 10% of the population.

I attend incidents without prejudice, I don't care where people are from, or what their beliefs are, I attend and help, THAT IS OUR JOB!, it's not up to us to decide what we will and wont attend to.

The fact that you have made a harassment case for attending a community event has put a dark shadow over your service.

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Singapore bans gay picnic

A picnic to be held at the Botanic Gardens on Singapore's National Day and organised as part of Singapore's pride festival has become the latest victim of the country's anti-gay system.

"In the Pink," a picnic listed on Indignation's calendar of events, has been cancelled after "organisers" were informed by the National Parks Board that its use of the Botanic Gardens for the picnic to be held on Aug 9 - Singapore's national day - has been disallowed.

The NPB said in the letter that the picnic is deemed to be an "organised gathering" held by an "interest group to politicise (its) cause" can not be held on the grounds of the gardens.

Singapore is consistently prohibiting gay events, just last week, Au's photographic exhibition featuring same-sex couples kissing was disallowed by the censors.

Two years ago Nation a gay dance party was cancelled by the Singapore authorities resulting in it moving to Phuket in Thailand.

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Gay Street opens in Rome

Gay rights activists welcomed a 325-yard zone in the center of the city — filled with shops and bars — as an area where gays can "feel at ease," after days of heated debate in predominantly Roman Catholic Italy over the kissing incident.

"This will be an area where people can feel at ease, and it is also meant to be a bridge between the citizens and the homosexual community," activist Fabrizio Marrazzo, the Rome leader of Italy's Arcigay gay rights movement, said Friday.

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Singapore bans photo exhibition on gays & lesbians kissing

Singapore's censors have banned an exhibition of photographs depicting gay men and women kissing, so here is a sample of what they're missing.

The city-state's Media Development Authority denied the exhibition's organizers a license on the grounds that the photographs "promote a homosexual lifestyle," Alex Au, founder of a Singapore gay rights group, People Like Us, told The Associated Press.

The exhibition, entitled "Kissing," is a selection of 80 posed shots of same-sex kissing between fully clothed models, said Au, who shot the photographs.
"Kissing" was canceled after organizers received a letter from the media regulator on Monday saying it was rejecting their application for a license to hold the exhibition, Au said.

Under Singapore law, gay sex is deemed "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail. Authorities have banned gay festivals and censored gay films, saying homosexuality should not be advocated as a lifestyle choice.

Despite the official ban on gay sex, there have been few prosecutions.

Would this be classified by the sensors as Kissing?

[Source International Herald Tribune]

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China Hotels Told To Provide Condoms

In a belated response to the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in the general population, China has ordered all hotels, holiday resorts and public showers to provide condoms as part of nationwide efforts to fight the spread of AIDS, according to recent reports.

Elsewhere another new chapter in the slow opening up of China started this month with the opening of a new social support center for the gay community in Hong Kong.

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Gay men detained for kissing outside Colosseum

ROME - Italian police detained two gay men for kissing outside the Colosseum and accused them of "lewd conduct", sparking howls of protest on Friday from rights groups and calls for an apology from a government minister.

The incident took place late on Thursday, when the men, aged 27 and 28, were taken to a police station for several hours before being released, according to gay rights group Arcigay.

Arcigay accused the police of discrimination and called on homosexuals to gather near the Colosseum on August 2 for a protest "kiss".
Police denied they were homophobic. "It's not an issue of homosexuality, but of legality," said Col. Alessandro Casarsa.

"Faced with an obvious violation of the norms that govern a place visited by thousands of people, the two were written up and let go."

Italy's Health Minister Livia Turco expressed embarrassment over the episode, saying "things like this certainly don't happen in a normal country".

"I hope that these boys are given an apology because this was a bit excessive," she said.

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Hong Kong Court Rules Public Gay Sodomy Not Criminal

The highest court in Hong Kong decriminalized gay public sodomy Tuesday in a ruling advocates are calling a victory for China’s gay rights movement.

A panel of five top judges unanimously ruled that two men, who acknowledged engaging in anal sex in a parked car, should not be subject to the country’s maximum penalty of five years in prison.

According to the Associated Press, Chief Justice Andrew Li said in the ruling that the law targets homosexuals and "does not criminalize heterosexuals for the same or comparable conduct."
The case was the first prosecution of the 1991 law.

After the two men challenged the charges, lower courts ruled in their favor, but the government appealed to Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal.

Director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, Law Yuk-kai, called the judgment a "key blow" to the existing law and an "important milestone" for gay rights. He told Hong Kong’s The Standard that the judgment fundamentally questioned the law for being discriminatory against homosexuals, and the appellant could not prove the reason for singling out gays in the ordinance, while the Basic Law guaranteed that everyone shall be equal before the law.

"In future, even though the law remains, the police would find it difficult to apply with the latest ruling," Law said to The Standard.

Society for Truth and Light - a conservative Christian group - called the verdict "regrettable" and "disappointing," saying it has set a "dangerous precedent."

Choi Chi-sum, general secretary of the group, told The Standard, "What the people are worried about is that indecent acts in public places are inappropriate. It's not about whether hetero or homo sex is involved. Whoever is involved in such acts should be punished and it shouldn't become someone's talisman.”

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Singapore should loosen up gay laws - Ian McKellen

British actor Ian McKellen on Tuesday while in Singapore urged tightly-governed Singapore to loosen up and repeal its archaic laws barring homosexual acts.

The openly gay McKellen indicated the laws, which are remnants of British colonial rule, may affect a vibrant business city like Singapore, which is vying with other Asian cities to draw more foreign talent and professionals.

"Just treat us with respect like we treat everybody else and the world will be a better place, I think," McKellen said.

Homosexual acts are still outlawed in Singapore under laws dating back to British colonial days, despite the city-state's being one of Asia's most advanced economies.

Singapore has in recent years eased social restrictions in a bid to shake off its reputation as a culturally sterile and ultra-conservative society.

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