actup.org

actup.org will be on hiatus during relocation

bruce — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:06:03 +0000

actup.org will resume its regular operations July 1st. Please be sure to select “Participate” from the menu to learn more about ACT UP communities around the world.

actup.org will be on hiatus during relocation

USA – If being gay is a choice, so what? (Alasdair Denvil)

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:17:05 +0000

One of the biggest areas of debate in the discussion of gay rights is the issue of why people are gay: is it a choice, or is it genetic? Or is it somehow socialized into people? Some opponents of gay rights insist that being gay is a choice, while most gay people take the opposite [...]

USA – If being gay is a choice, so what? (Alasdair Denvil)

USA – New app lets you boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto and more by scanning your shopping cart

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:14:58 +0000

In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch [...]

USA – New app lets you boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto and more by scanning your shopping cart

USA – ‘Geography of Hate’ maps racist, homophobic, ableist tweets

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:02:06 +0000

Twitter has the capacity to ignite revolutions and enable small acts of kindness, but there’s also a darker side to the microblogging network. Floating Sheep, a group of geography academics, created the “Geography of Hate,” which maps racist, homophobic and ableist tweets in the U.S. After searching for all geotagged tweets in North America between June 2012 and April [...]

USA – ‘Geography of Hate’ maps racist, homophobic, ableist tweets

USA – Congresswoman Bachmann threatens to leave Minnesota over marriage equality (humor)

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:50:05 +0000

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (pictured with husband Marcus) threatened to leave Minnesota yesterdy if the state goes ahead with its plans to legalize gay marriage. In an interview with a local television station, the conservative firebrand said she believes God will destroy Minneapolis once the legislation is enacted, and wants to be far away when the [...]

USA – Congresswoman Bachmann threatens to leave Minnesota over marriage equality (humor)

Australia – Gay faithful win church’s blessing in Queenscliff

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:30:12 +0000

A Queenscliff church is standing up for equality with a special project designed to raise awareness of gay rights. Uniting Church ministers Kerry Lingham and Charles Gallacher, parents to twin gay sons, would also like people to know that, whatever their sexual orientation, the doors to their church are open wide. For Grovedale teenager, Fraser [...]

Australia – Gay faithful win church’s blessing in Queenscliff

New Zealand – Lesbian pair file bias complaint after lodge insisted they had separate beds

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:22:34 +0000

The Human Rights Commission is looking into a complaint that a Whangarei lodge discriminated against a lesbian couple by insisting they could not share a bed because the owners did not want “unnatural” sexual acts going on in their premises. The commission confirmed yesterday it had received a complaint from Far North couple Jane Collison [...]

New Zealand – Lesbian pair file bias complaint after lodge insisted they had separate beds

China – Shanghai celebrates Pride, June 14th to 22nd

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:14:14 +0000

This year’s Shanghai Pride Week, titled Pride5 in recognition of its fifth anniversary, will take place from 14th to 22nd June. A week-long string of events has been planned to boost the LGBT’s community position in China and raise awareness around LGBT themes including marriage equality, sexual health and societal acceptance. Run by volunteers from [...]

China – Shanghai celebrates Pride, June 14th to 22nd

USA – Couple sues over adopted son’s early sex-assignment surgery

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:46:36 +0000

A South Carolina couple sued doctors and state social workers on Tuesday for subjecting a 16-month-old child born with both male and female genitalia to what they say was medically unnecessary and irreversible sex-assignment surgery while the toddler was in foster care. The state and federal lawsuits – believed by the couple’s lawyers to be [...]

USA – Couple sues over adopted son’s early sex-assignment surgery

Bolivia – Por año registran 5 asesinatos por homofobia o transfobia

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:36:16 +0000

Durante los últimos diez años se registraron 55 asesinatos de personas TLGB (Trans, Lesbianas, Gais y Bisexuales) en el país, sólo 12 llegaron a un proceso de investigación y ninguno obtuvo sentencia. La mayoría de las denuncias ante la Defensoría del Pueblo es por negligencia de autoridades. “Estamos muy indignados por los crímenes que se cometieron [...]

Bolivia – Por año registran 5 asesinatos por homofobia o transfobia

Uruguay – Un 46% está a favor del matrimonio homosexual

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:21:47 +0000

Un 46% está de acuerdo con el matrimonio homosexual, mientras que un 30% de los encuestados está en desacuerdo, según la última encuesta de Equipos Mori, divulgada este lunes en Subrayado. Un 22% está conforme pero considera que la unión no debería llamarse matrimonio. Y un 3% no sabe, no contesta.La diferencia de opinión por sexo [...]

Uruguay – Un 46% está a favor del matrimonio homosexual

Brasil – Decisão do CNJ obriga cartórios a fazer casamento homossexual

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:14:27 +0000

O Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) aprovou nesta terça-feira (14), por maioria de votos (14 a 1), uma resolução que obriga os cartórios de todo o país a celebrar o casamento civil e converter a união estável homoafetiva em casamento. Os cartórios não poderão rejeitar o pedido, como acontece atualmente em alguns casos. A decisão [...]

Brasil – Decisão do CNJ obriga cartórios a fazer casamento homossexual

Ukraine – Parliament drops gay anti-discrimination bill as hundreds protest against it

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:07:55 +0000

A bill to protect gay Ukrainian workers from discrimination based on their sexual orientation has been dropped by the country’s parliament, as hundreds of anti-gay protesters gathered to demonstrate against it. Ukraine’s Parliament postponed the measure indefinitely. It had been backed by the European Union, and was up for a vote on Tuesday. The law [...]

Ukraine – Parliament drops gay anti-discrimination bill as hundreds protest against it

USA – Novelist Bret Easton Ellis attacks ‘gatekeepers of politically correct gayness’

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:03:20 +0000

Bret Easton Ellis, the novelist who turned being a bad boy into a literary form, has now deployed his considerable powers of invective to attack what he calls the “gatekeepers of politically correct gayness”. In a lengthy diatribe in Out magazine Ellis begins by bemoaning the way that the recent coming out of basketball star Jason Collins [...]

USA – Novelist Bret Easton Ellis attacks ‘gatekeepers of politically correct gayness’

Russia – Homophobic murder: Two detained after man is beaten and tortured to death in anti-gay attack in Volgograd

bruce — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:57:21 +0000

A 23-year-old man has been tortured to death in southern Russia, in what investigators are calling a homophobic attack. The severely beaten, naked body of the as-yet-unnamed victim was found in an apartment building in the southern city of Volgograd (pictured) on Saturday, suffering numerous injuries and mutilations. Two men have been detained in connection [...]

Russia – Homophobic murder: Two detained after man is beaten and tortured to death in anti-gay attack in Volgograd