NewsWrap for the week ending December 15, 2014

SUMMARY

Un-Pride March - Up to 40 frightened and naked allegedly gay men are paraded out of a Cairo bathhouse with news cameras rolling as they're being arrested for “perversion” and “debauchery” …

Biting the Hand - thousands march in Gambia’s capitol of Banjul to protest the EU’s withdrawal of financial aid because of the enactment of draconian new anti-gay laws …

No, It's Not Free Speech - a U.S. federal appeals court in Boston advances an unusual “crimes against humanity” lawsuit by Ugandan activists against professional homophobe Scott Lively …

Movin' On Up - same-gender couples in English and Welsh civil partnerships begin converting them to civil marriages …

Decent Proposal - a civil marriage bill is introduced in the Chilean House of Delegates …

Sorry for Dehumanizing You - after a five-day sit-in by equality advocates at City Hall, Seoul’s mayor apologizes for dumping an LGBT-inclusive municipal Human Rights Charter because Christian conservatives had objected …

Game Changer … Almost - the International Olympic Committee adds sexual orientation to the named characteristics in the Charter’s anti-bias Principle 6, but as activist (and Harvey Milk nephew) Stuart Milk notes, transgenders are still without specific mention …

What's the Problem? - U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James tells the “USA Today’s” Susan Page that she has no objection to military service by qualified transgender people …

Empire Progress - transgender rights advance in New York City and New York state …

When the Unexpected Happens - Roman Catholic Pope Francis tells an Argentinian newspaper that parents finding themselves in the “somewhat unusual situation” of having a gay or lesbian child should support them …

Lavender Lotuses - Kyodo’s 500-year-old Shunkoin Zen Buddhist Temple becomes Japan’s first to host the wedding ceremonies of same-gender couples ….

Read the complete NewsWrap text … download the podcast … or listen on Stitcher!