NewsWrap for the week ending January 3, 2015

SUMMARY

Bells & Flowers - Same-gender couples begin legally marrying in Scotland and Luxembourg …

Courtships & Weddings - the U.S. Supreme Court will consider one or more marriage equality cases at its first conference of 2015 on January 9th, and a federal judge clears the way for the civil marriages of lesbian and gay couples in Florida to begin on January 6th …

"My Death Needs to Mean Something" - the gruesome suicide of 17-year-old Ohio transgender teen Leelah Alcorn sparks sadness, outrage, and resolve …

Shockingly Bad Medicine - a court in China issues a landmark ruling against a counseling center that claimed to "cure" homosexuality

Not Just Thugs - thirty-five members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe are injured as thugs invade a private holiday party …

Push Back - security forces in Gambia arrest three men on charges of homosexuality, even as the European Union and the U.S. sharply reduce financial aid because of the draconian anti-gay law signed by homophobic President Yahya Jammeh in October that prompted the arrests …

Pyramid Crackdown - more than two dozen men arrested for "perversion" and "debauchery" at an early December raid on a Cairo bathhouse purportedly orchestrated by a much-maligned TV journalist go on trial, but three-year sentences are reduced to one year for each of the eight men convicted in November of the same charges for appearing in a widely-viewed YouTube video that authorities called Egypt's first gay wedding ceremony …

Shaking the Dust Off Their Feet - Alexandria, Indiana's First United Methodist Church closes after some 80% of the congregation quits in protest of the firing of an openly gay choir director ….

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