NewsWrap for the week ending November 8, 2014

SUMMARY

Repression Walks Again - A new bill in Uganda seeks to revive the infamous "Anti-Homosexuality Act", and is being called "even more draconian" …

Many Happy Arrests - leading Nigerian LGBT rights and health advocate Ifeanyi Orazulike says he was arrested without charge on his birthday and threatened by police officials …

Hard Time for A Good Time - eight Egyptian men who appeared in a notoriously viral "gay wedding" video each get three year prison terms …

Success for Dress - Malaysian transwomen win the right to cross-dress, and the Irish government settles a 21-year legal battle with trans activist Dr. Lydia Foy …

Breaking the Wedding Ceiling - a contrary marriage equality ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals may finally force the Supreme Court to settle the issue, as state marriage equality battles continue to rage in Missouri, Kansas and Florida …

Not Laughing - Estonia becomes the region's third country to deny entry to Russian sitcom actor Ivan ("burn gays alive in ovens") Okhlobystin …

You're Out, I'm OUT - Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, who banned the aforementioned Okhlobystin from his country last week, announces that he is "proud to be gay" on his official Twitter page …

Dropped Call - Russian officials tear down a six-foot interactive iPhone tribute to late Apple founder Steve Jobs on a St. Petersburg college campus after current CEO Tim Cook comes out, explaining that the memorial has now become "a public call to sodomy" ….

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NewsWrap for the week ending November 1, 2014

SUMMARY

Step Back, Pass Buck - Singapore's highest court upholds the Southeast Asian island city-state's colonial-era sodomy law …

Out of the Frying Pan - cases against three men charged with violating Uganda's sodomy law are dismissed, but a new version of the East African nation's notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill gets fast-tracked in Parliament …

Gross Equality - the Sri Lankan government tells the U.N. Human Rights Committee that LGBT people are protected from bias in the South Asian island nation's constitution, but defends its colonial-era "gross indecency" law by claiming that it doesn't specifically target them …

Trick or Exorcist - Jordan's government bans Hallowe'en to avoid a repeat of riots in Amman by fundamentalist Muslims the past two years who call the holiday "homosexual and Satanic" …

Back in the Pulpit Again - a U.S. United Methodist Church jury reinstates pastor Franklin Schaefer, who was defrocked for officiating at his gay son's wedding …

Dunking the Quacks - the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest protestant denomination, now renounces so-called "reparative therapy" to make gays and lesbians straight, but reaffirms Biblical edicts about homosexuality and marriage …

Computer Virus Hoax - Apple CEO Tim Cook officially comes out to almost universal acclaim – except for Vitaly Milonov, the "father" of Russia's infamous "no promo homo" law, who wants Cook banned from entering the country because he might bring "the Ebola virus, AIDS (or) gonorrhea" with him …

No Tolerance, No Service - Latvia bans homophobic Russian sitcom actor Ivan Okhlobystin from entering the country for a one-man show in Riga because he's called for all LGBT people to be "burned alive" ….

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Mushrooming Marriage Equality

Week of October 13, 2014
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As the United States Supreme Court stays mum on pending appeals, doubling the number of marriage equality states, Rachel Maddow, Bryan Fischer, Stephen Colbert, John Boehner and Whoopi Goldberg have plenty to say!

Producers Marlee Walchuk and Tully Callender, also known as the lesbian musical duo Sugarbeach, get artists and fans activated for the RightOutTV Music & Video Awards (interviewed by Len Rogers).

And in <i><a href="http://bit.ly/1tyAP9r">NewsWrap</a></i>: the U.S. Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit combine to open civil marriage to same-gender couples in almost a dozen new states, Estonia engages gender-free civil unions, Kyrgyzstan considers a Russian-style "no promo homo" law, a Kenyan trans-activist wins her landmark identity fight, opponents torch Cape Town's LGBT-welcoming Open Mosque, D.C.'s Catholic University sours on Milk, and more news reported this week by Michael Allan and Sarah Sweeney (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending October 11, 2014

SUMMARY

Equality Floodgates - The U.S. Supreme Court's October 6th decision opens civil marriage to same-gender couples in almost a dozen new states, and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the following day adds five more to that burgeoning list …

Narrow Opening - a civil unions proposal for same-gender couples squeaks by Estonia's Parliament …

Copy Kyrgyz - a pending law banning "gay propaganda" in Kyrgyzstan is even worse than its Russian counterpart …

No Offense Intended - a Latvian Roman Catholic Archbishop says homosexuality is destroying humanity but claims that he’s not anti-gay …

Wrath of Bigots - Cape Town, South Africa's LGBT-welcoming Open Mosque is firebombed …

Mistaken Identities - transgender activist Audrey Mbugua wins a landmark legal battle in Kenya, but 11 girls in a Kenyan private school are suspended for "lesbianism" …

Trade Out - a Russian high school exchange student studying in the U.S. seeks American asylum because gay people are persecuted in his homeland …

Soured Screening - the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. cancels a previously-approved screening of the Oscar-winning biopic "Milk" because, among other concerns, rainbow flags on flyers promoting the event were too big ….

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NewsWrap for the week ending August 3, 2013

SUMMARY

Gamesmanship - The Russian government ignores global protests and vows no exceptions in enforcement of the recently passed "no promo homo" law at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, but then maybe relents …

Dry Politics - debate among LGBT activists and their allies continues around the world about how to best respond to Russia's escalating war on sexual minorities, but there's a push to "Dump Stoli" (arguably the most popular Russian vodka in the West) that’s growing around the world …

Vodka Veritas - Latvia's leading LGBT rights group Mozaika asks activists to stop their vodka protest actions, claiming that Stoli is made in their country, but the U.S. based Queer Nation disputes that claim with facts …

Judge Not - Pope Francis makes headlines with seemingly positive comments about gay priests, but critics remind LGBT Catholics that the Church still condemns homosexual *acts* as mortal sin …

Truth's Consequences - military court convicts U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, described as either gay or transgendered, of all but the most serious charge – aiding the enemy – for releasing reams of classified documents to Wikileaks in what's been called the largest breach of national security in American history …

Welcome Home - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirms (post-DOMA) that visa applications of the married foreign same-gender spouses of U.S. citizens will be treated the same as those from heterosexual spouses …

Wedding Cake-Bakers' Dozen - joining 11 other U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Minnesota and Rhode Island officially begin marrying lesbian and gay couples ….

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