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Come As You Are
ANTI-GAY IN UGANDA
Lawmaker Wants Gays Dead
David Bahati is a prominent legislator in Uganda who has been very outspoken regarding his ant-gay viewpoints. He has even stated that gays should be killed. "Don’t blame me for wanting gays dead," he says, "It’s in the Bible. Homosexuality is an abomination punishable by death.” The infamous lawmaker, known for sponsoring Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, is presented as a humble family man who just wants to give back to the community. As for his proposed law, he argues it is based in his profound worries about the future for Ugandan children. Bahati says he has a passion for service and trying to make a difference in people’s lives and also, fighting for what he believes is right. In his words, “One of the things I do is fight for the future of our children. And that is why I fight homosexuality.” “It is in Leviticus," he explains, "Go and read it for yourself. The penalty for homosexuality is death.” That bill would have imposed the death penalty on gay people under certain circumstances, and it would have criminalized virtually anyone else who rented to or provided services for gay people. It also would have imposed a three year prison sentence on teachers, family members or other “persons of authority” who failed to report gay people to police. That bill is now stalled in Parliament. LINKS: David Bahati: World's Biggest Homophobe 
Box Turtle Bulletin: Interview with David Bahati
Huffington Post: Bahati Refuses to Withdraw Ant-Gay Bill
Daily Monitor: David Bahati, Dedicated Family Man
ANTI-GAY UGANDAN PASTOR
Martin Ssempa, Crusader of Hate
Martin Ssempa, who pastors the evangelical Makerere Community Church in Kampala, has become the face of Uganda's anti-homosexuality movement. He has organized anti-gay rallies. He preaches that many homosexuals are pedophiles who deserve severe punishment, and he wants to ensure that "sodomy and homosexuality never sees the light of legality in this land of the people of Africa." "This is sick, and it is therefore deviant," he told a large church crowd. "We do not want it." He even shows hard-core gay pornography in churches and conferences — images that, critics say, whip up sentiment against gay men and lesbians. LINKS: GAY FRIENDLY COUNTRIES Leigh Hopkins / 2008 On April 1, 2001, Netherlands was the first country in the world to grant full marriage and registered partnership rights for same-sex couples. At least one partner must have Dutch nationality in order to be legally married in Netherlands. Unfortunately, if you and your liefhebben decide to move, your marriage may not be considered legal unless you move to one of the countries listed below. Belgium In 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legalize gay marriage. In 2006, couples were granted the rights to adopt and co-parent their children. Spain In June 2005, Spain gave full marriage rights to gay and lesbian people. The country kept it simple, adding just one short sentence to existing marriage law: “Marriage will have the same requirements and results when the two people entering into the contract are of the same sex or of different sexes.” Canada In June 2005 the House of Commons extended marriage rights to gays and lesbians throughout the entire country, followed by Senate approval the following month, effectively legalizing gay marriage in all of Canada in July 2005. If the Canadian climate seems daunting, consider the city of Vancouver, which has an active gay community and boasts mild winters. South Africa Gay marriage was legalized on November 30th, 2006, making South Africa the first and only country in Africa to offer equal rights for gays and lesbians. The South African constitution is one of the most inclusive in the world. Interestingly, “marriage officers” who object to gay marriage for personal or religious reasons may request in writing to be exempt for performing services. Norway On January 1st, 2009, Norway will become the sixth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Norway currently permits registered partnerships and grants the all the protections and benefits as marriage. United States In 2004, the state of Massachusetts legalized gay marriage. While the US constitution has not yet recognized gay marriage as a federal policy, the states of Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Hampshire recognize civil unions and offer the same rights as state marriage policies. The states of Maine, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Oregon and Washington have granted legal unions that offer some of the same rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law. Denmark Denmark permits registered partnerships (synonymous with “civil unions”) for same sex couples. Gays and lesbians are granted all the same rights as marriage. Sweden Sweden has granted civil unions and adoption rights since 1995, making it the third country to grant this right. The Church of Sweden was recently allowed to bless the unions of same-sex couples. Iceland Iceland legalized civil unions in 1996. In 2006, gay couples were given the same adoption and co-parenting rights as heterosexual couples. The vote was unopposed in Icelandic Parliament. INTERNATIONAL LGBT NEWS LINKS: Gay-Friendly McDonalds Ad in France Anti-Homophobia Education in Tel Aviv Israel NEWS FROM INDIA Encouraging news from the country of India, home to rich culture, stunning scenery and an emerging economy: Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code has been repealed. This 150-year-old statute left over from the British colonization period criminalized sexual activity “against the natural order.” While there has not been much active enforcement of this law in several decades, its place on the books was a tacit approval for homophobia and mistreatment of the Indian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population of the country. The High Court has taken the bold steps to repeal the law, and the LGBT citizens are flocking to the streets in celebration. Westerwelle has an eight-year political history as a strong leader of the pro-business Democrats in Germany. He has been out since 2004 and states, “I’ve never been hiding my life. I just lived it” (AP). In an interview with Berlin’s gay magazine, Siegessaeule, Westerwelle states, “I can only tell all young gays and lesbians to not be disheartened, if not everything goes their way.” He continues, “This society is changing for the good in the direction of tolerance and respect ... though slower than I would wish” (AP) Throughout his career, Westerwelle has been an outspoken advocate for civil rights in Germany, and openly critical of German law that does not extend full rights to gay couples in the area of adoption. LGBT rights groups in Germany, such as The Lesbian and Gay Association, are hopeful that he will continue his advocacy within the country, while utilizing his new position as Foreign Minister to speak out for the rights of all LGBT citizens around the world. On the life list of anyone who loves the thrill and adventure of traveling is the African Safari! This amazing continent is rich with culture, history, nature and exotic destinations just waiting to be experienced. Now the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has the opportunity to join a group of travelers that are exclusively LGBT. Singles, couples and families are booking their trip across the Atlantic for Memorial Day 2010 with Gay2Afrika Inc., a company with 14 years of experience in LGBT travel. The 16-day African safari will depart on May 18, 2010 and is fully escorted through the beautiful lands of Kenya and Tanzania. The trip cost includes all transfers, all accommodations, 36 meals and a full 17 drives for safari game viewing. There are even optionals available for London and Zanzibar for those who wish to extend their vacation. Unlike some travel companies, Gay2Afrika does not have a single supplement upcharge for those traveling alone. The safari experience will include time in Nairobi, Amboseli National Park, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, and Ngorongoro Crate among other amazing destinations. What better way to enjoy the trip of a lifetime than in the company of LGBT family! ”Gay2Afrika Inc. is the only African-gay-owned and operated Safari Specialist Company in the United States. Gay2Afrika is the pioneer of LGBT travel to Africa and has been ‘out’ there for 14 years” (Company site). LINK: GAY PARIS One of the most visited cities in the world is Paris, which is also one of the gayest destinations on the planet. Paris is the first world capital to elect an openly gay mayor in 2001 who was then re-elected in 2008! Right in the heart of the city in the richly historic district is the area known as le Marais. This fashionable and upscale area is the place to stay if you are a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender traveler. With 20 centuries of history, le Marias, home to Mozart and Victor Hugo, is sure to have all the entertainment and points of interest to inspire even the most seasoned traveler. This area of Paris is home to one of the largest gay pride parades in the world with some 700,000 attendees annually. There are over 300 gay places of interest ranging from restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels, cafés, bookstores and sex clubs. The nightlife starts about midnight and continues into the morning. You can expect to stay out all night until the Métro re-opens at 5:30 am. The le Marais area of Paris is the destination for the LGBT community from around the world. It has become one of the most culturally diverse areas of the city as visitors from all nationalities, races, countries and ages find themselves drawn to the welcoming atmosphere. There is a range of accommodations from which to choose including five star hotels and rooms to let. There are also flats and apartments for those who plan for an extended stay. Le Marais in Paris is one destination that should be on every LGBT travel list! LINK: It is estimated that nearly half a million people proudly participated in the Gay Pride Festival in Amsterdam, The Netherlands this year, making it the largest celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender folks in the history of this international event. The Netherlands has always been a destination for tolerance and diversity. The city and the country proudly hosted the weddings of five American-Dutch couples during the festivities. Each couple was comprised of one partner from New York and one partner from the Netherlands thereby exhibiting the connection across the Atlantic between the two countries. Same sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 2001 and is supported by a large majority of citizens within the country. It is even considered “unremarkable” as the Dutch express the view that it is a human right that should be honored in America and elsewhere. There is currently legislation in New York that may recognize these latest unions. One New York partner newlywed is quoted as saying, "We're the most liberal, advanced state in the United States; it should be happening there now." New York and Amsterdam have a 400-year relationship history, and the festivities celebrated this aspect as well. There was music, dancing and beautifully colored boat floats along the ancient canals of the city. The mayor of Amsterdam presided over the marriage ceremonies that included lesbian, gay and transgender couples. Despite a few protests, the celebration for the LGBT community was a rainbow festival like no other in the world. Tel-Aviv, the cosmopolitan city in Israel that welcomes differences and embraces diversity, has been the latest place on the globe to feel the terror of hate. The victims in this internationally televised incident were the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens and adults at a center for gay youth in the city. Set up as a safe place for teens and counselors in the LGBT community, the meeting place became a target for a gunman who killed two and critically injured or wounded others. In a country where gays serve openly in the military and rainbow flags are proudly flown at citizen’s homes, this atrocity is drawing sharp responses from the governmental and civic leaders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a special statement at the Israeli Cabinet's weekly meeting stating, “I want to condemn utterly the horrific killing that took place in Tel-Aviv. I spoke with the Minister of Interior Security, and I strengthen the hands of the police forces in looking for and finding the murderer.” The LGBT community of Tel-Aviv held vigils and protests on the streets and where supported by local authorities. One citizen is quoted as saying, “I don’t care who the victims were (that they were gay)...it’s a terror attack…it’s a terror attack.” Although other areas of the country are more conservative, Tel-Aviv is a safe place for living openly as a member of the LGBT community. The reaction among the local citizens, gay and straight, is that of shock in this city of “live and let live.” AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL EDITS LYRICS By KRISTEN GELINEAU / Sydney / Sept 2010 An Australian school principal has asked students to stop using the word "gay" when singing a classic children's song, but said Thursday no offense was intended — he was simply trying to keep the kids from laughing. Principal Garry Martin of Le Page Primary School in Melbourne said he instructed students to substitute the line "Fun your life must be" for the original "Gay your life must be" when singing "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree." The song about a native Australian bird is a favorite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada. Martin said he was playing a recording of the song for the students about a month ago when the line "gay your life must be" produced a flurry of giggles throughout the classroom. Some of the students use the word "gay" as a schoolyard taunt, he said, but don't understand its true meaning. And so, to calm them down, he told them to swap in the word "fun" for "gay." "It wasn't misplaced political correctness, it wasn't homophobia, there was nothing really calculated in doing it," he told The Associated Press. "I could've stopped the whole class and gone into a very caring, supportive explanation of gay being quite a reasonable choice in lifestyle that some people make, but I was only talking with 7- and 8-year-olds and I think that sort of thing is better explained more fully with parents." His decision erupted into a controversy, he said, after one of the students told his parents about Martin's change to the song. Word then spread from the parents to friends to the local newspaper, which ran a story — and Martin found himself being bombarded with angry e-mails. Crusader Hillis, CEO of the gay and lesbian advocacy group The Also Foundation, didn't go that far — but he did call the lyrical swap an overreaction. "It sends a signal to people that just because a word has two meanings, that one of those meanings is unacceptable and that's really putting us backwards," Hillis said. "Even if it's done for good intentions because 'gay' is being used in schoolyards as a slur, I think they need to use the word as a conversation rather than banning it." Martin said his decision was a mistake made with the best of intentions, and he plans to speak to the students about how different words hold different meanings across generations. The rush hour crush had just subsided on a stifling recent summer evening, when I stepped into the subway car on the circular line that serves the central city as part of the brilliant public transportation system Shanghai has built in what seems like no time at all. Hot and bothered from hours of photographing on the street, I was relieved to find an empty seat by the door and promptly collapsed into it, savoring the refreshing gusts of air-conditioning. A moment passed before I looked up and paid any attention to the other passengers. As the lone foreigner usually in situations like these, I had become accustomed during my summer stay in the city to finding all eyes focused on me. This time, though, commuters had something further out of the bounds of their daily commute to focus on. Seated directly opposite me, two teenage girls were kissing in an unmistakably romantic way. They appeared to be no older than 17. One of them, strong of build and with short hair, was dressed and coiffed in a masculine style. Her longhaired companion, who was dressed in a pretty pastel skirt, was the picture of classic, old-school sweet 16. I tried to do what I immediately noted few of my fellow passengers could accomplish: not stare. But as I looked up from time to time, it struck me that among other things, amid all of the sustained touching, billing and cooing, there was willful, if mild, provocation taking place before my eyes. The statement that was being made seemed to say: “This is a new age, and people of our generation are free to do as we wish in our love lives, so get over it.” It has become a truism to observe that contemporary China is the scene of the most rapid, transformative change of any large country in the world today. Usually, discussion focuses on industry and trade, or on China’s conquest of new markets in faraway regions, or perhaps most common of all, on the breathtaking roll-out of infrastructure, like the subway I was riding on, which puts its ancient forerunner in New York, where I live, to shame. The scene unfolding before me was a jolting reminder that the nuts and bolts transformation of China is the least of it. As this society rapidly grows richer, its social fabric and mores have been changing in ways far more dramatic than even the physical landscape, and sexual choice and expression are arguably in the leading edge of this upheaval. Places like Shanghai, an island of particular affluence, provide a privileged bird’s-eye view of the changes under way. When I lived here between 2003 and 2008, the public emergence of gay men became an increasingly evident fact of daily life. For the most part, at least as far as an anecdotal sense of things could confirm, though, open same-sex relationships among females here lagged far behind. Returning to Shanghai each summer since then has sharpened my awareness of incremental social change. Last year, I noticed apparently lesbian couples for the first time, in any substantial number. I have vivid memories, in particular, of dinner one night in a favorite restaurant, where two nearby women in their late 20s and dressed as professionals engaged in ever more passionate embraces. There were other scenes observed like this that I tucked away and made little of until I returned in June and immediately began encountering examples of public intimacy between women. I also began noticing the far greater prevalence of what I’ve thought of as masculine styling by women, which Chinese friends say parallels the emergence of what they call a unisex style that has become very popular among young men. Had something big changed here in such a short period of time? “During the recent 10 years we have seen the opening up of many previously forbidden or repressed voices around sexuality, and homosexuality is one of them,” said Lucetta Kam, an associate professor at Shantou University, who specializes in gender studies. As causes she cited the influence of the Internet, which “has given rise to social networking of people with similar experiences, aspirations and thinking.” Ms. Kam also cited the easing of “ideological restrictions,” which tracks the rapid decline of ideology in most every aspect of Chinese life. Most interestingly for me, though, she mentioned the “sudden media exposure of lesbian and gay people” in prime-time television in China. According to Feng Hui, an 18-year-old student and self-described lesbian whom I met at a shopping mall, a critical breakthrough occurred in 2005 with the victory of Li Yuchun, the 21-year-old winner of China’s “Super Girl” contest, a discontinued “American Idol”-like talent show. Throughout Ms. Li, who has sidestepped questions about her sexuality, wore her hair short and dressed in boyish fashions. Moreover, she won singing love songs written for men about women. “Super Girl” had more than 400 million viewers, and its balloting has been called the largest voting exercise ever conducted in China. After Ms. Li’s victory, the authorities denounced the show as vulgar, but she has gone on to prominent roles in advertising and cinema here, and has stuck to her style. “Li Yuchun is the mother of unisex in China, and her comfort with herself inspired a whole generation of women like me,” said Ms. Feng. Another researcher on sexuality here, Zhu Jianfeng, of Fudan University, was more reserved about the role of Li Yuchun but agreed that things were changing fast. “The society has become much more accepting than in the past, and fewer people will challenge you and ask, ‘How could you live that way?”’ The last barrier remains the family, she said. “People can be open about their sexuality with their friends, but within the family, it is still uncommon.” 
NPR: US Church Lends Help to Anti-Gay Ugandan Pastor
Daily Monitor: Anti Gay Meeting Flops
Warren Throckmorton: View Inside Martin Ssempa's Anti Gay Campaign
Queerty: Canyon Ridge Christian Church Backs Ssempa
Gay Rights: Canyon Ridge Christian Church Defends Ssempa
Current TV Vanguard: Missionaries of Hate
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Slouching Towards Kampala: Uganda's Deadly Embrace of Hate
Countries Where LGBT Persons Have Equal Rights
While the legalization of gay marriage is hardly universal, there are a growing number of countries offering same-sex rights.
Netherlands (Holland)
Worldwide Gay Reports
YouTube: Ten Gay Friendly European Countries
Gay Kiss Demonstration in Paris
Gay Kiss Demonstration at Eiffel Tower
In Defense of Modern Britain
Malaysa's Gay Community
Visibility of LGBT Community in China
Toronto Hosts Conference on Gay Tourism
Mr. Gay World Contest in China
Gay Beauty Pageant in Manila
Costa Rica Battling for Gay Rights
Mexico City Woos Same-Sex Honeymooners
First LGBT Magazine in Turkey
Churches in Italy Bless Same Sex Couples
Year of Gay China
LGBT Tolerance Growing
This year’s Mumbai Queer Azadi (Freedom) March drew twice the turnout it had last year. Even though there was a relatively small number, 3000 or so, it was a big step for the LGBT community in expressing themselves in public. One prominent journalist comments, “India is approximately where the U.S. was in the '70s.”
The commercial sector has taken notice of this new development as companies are broadening their advertising efforts to garner LGBT consumers. An LGBT magazine has returned to the newsstands, a new gay travel company has opened, and the country’s largest food brand is playing a commercial for butter that states, “Out of the closet, out of the fridge!”
It takes the tentative first steps in order to form the strength necessary to fight effectively for justice and equality. As the journalist states, “it’s still going to take time before things change.” But change it will!
NEWS FROM GERMANY
New Power Couple is Gay
Guido Westerwelle and his partner Michael Mronz have been dubbed Germany’s new “power couple” by the country’s leading daily newspaper Bild (AP). In a country that is tolerant of openly gay politicians and other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens in general, Westerwelle is likely to be chosen as the next Foreign Minister. The newspaper highlighted the couple in the coveted front-page above the fold position in a recent edition, while speculating that Westerwelle will receive the high-power position in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.
AFRICAN SAFARI
LGBT Style on Memorial Day 2010
Le Marais
AMSTERDAM GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL
New York & Netherlands Rainbow Connection
LGBT NEWS FROM ISRAEL
Gay Terror in Tel Aviv
Drops Gay From Classic Song
"Some think I'm the devil incarnate," he said.
He also plans to ask students to sing the original version of the song.
But, he added, "We might not sing it that often now."
CHANGES IN CHINA
More Visibility of LGBT People
HOWARD W. FRENCH /
