Uganda Determined To Pass Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Battling The Brethren, Argentina Gay Marriage, Liverpool Bashing, Transgender Police, Gay Bookstore

Despite condemnation by both Britain and Canada, Uganda appears defiant and determined to proceed with the passing of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, that bill’s sponsor, Member of Parliament David Bahati, saying that Uganda will not retreat from enacting the bill that proposes the death penalty for acts of “aggravated homosexuality,” insisting that Ugandans “believe that homosexuality is not a common value for the commonwealth. There is no amount of pressure or intimidation that can deter us from defending our traditional family ser up.”

The rather remarkable tale of Craig Hoyle, a 20 year old gay man who defied the instructions of the Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect, often deemed a extremist cult, that forbids homosexuality, and who was finally ex-communicated after resisting attempts to cure him of being gay by a forced round of hormonal suppressant drugs.

This Tuesday, Alex Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello, together for three years, will make history, becoming the first the gay couple in Argentina to legally marry. And it would be folly to suggest that the formal ceremony to take place in the country’s capital city of Buenos Aires is not bigger than both men, generating a conversation of social change in a county whose Catholicism and tradition creates a climate less than welcoming to change of any kind.

Police in Liverpool, England have released a videotape that shows some of the teenage boys wanted in connection to vicious attack on a 19 year old gay man Wednesday November 18, that I previously posted about. The young man, a Liverpool community college student who suffered substantial injuries in the attack, has just arrived in the city in the early evening when he was set upon by the group, who punched him from behind, and continued to assault him while yelling anti-gay slurs.

The story, so far, of 42 year old Kerry Bell, a police officer with the Bountiful, Utah force for fourteen years, born female, who began transitioning to male a year and a half ago.

Out Word Bound, the only gay and lesbian bookstore in Indianapolis, Indiana, is closing, the two owners, Mary Byrne and Tammara Tracy writing an email to customers Wednesday, relaying the news, saying “it has been a good run." The store, which has been a focal point of the city’s homosexual community, opened in 1998, and according to Byrne and Tracy continues to be successful, but they say they each lack the time needed to own and operate a small business.

Grady Sizemore Semi-Nude Pictures Leaked

Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore, an All Star whose 2009 season was marred by injuries, found success off the field, posing in various states of undress – though, not sadly, fully undressed – for his former girlfriend, who leaked them today, which is all so classy and thoroughly thoughtful, no? Although no concrete proof is yet available, Mr. Sizemore appears to live up to his name, and then some. The pictures, as a warning, are vaguely NSFW, the site itself seriously NSFW.

Brilliant Veteran Los Angeles Times Transsexual Sports Columnist Dies

A sad story, with news breaking that veteran Los Angeles Times sports columnist Mike Penner, who in 2007 announced via his column that he was a transsexual, and began to write under the byline Christine Daniels, has died. According to the Times’ his body was found at his Los Angeles home, and authorities suspected suicide was the cause of death. He was 52. The paper also reports that in 2008 Penner requested in 2008 that his Christine Daniels bylines be changed. Penner was an excellent sports journalist, whose insight and intelligence in covering the NFL was a joy to read, and that he appears to have died in moment of great confusion is a true tragedy. I will have more details once they become available.

Brendan Burke On The Response To Coming Out, Harvey Milk Hall Of Fame Induction, Continual Commonwealth Condemnation Of Uganda Anti-Gay Hate

Brendan Burke says that the response to his coming out has been “100 percent supportive,” the twenty year old thrust into the role of hero, announcing publically that he is gay, the former goaltender now a manger for the men’s hockey team at the University of Miami, at Ohio, adding that he realizes “for some people it’s going to be an issue. I mean, there are some people who aren’t going to get over this and will still hold this against me.” Burke, whose father Brian is currently the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, contends the day will soon come that a high profile active professional player will come out, Burke saying “Canada is a great place that has always been very accepting and as a country in general it’s pretty gay-friendly … So that’s a good base to start from. As far as the NHL goes, what we’d need is for a former player to come out and talk about what his experiences were and what challenges he faced, and having that discussion and that player talk about it would be a good place for a current place to come out.”

Yesterday, November 27th, marked the 31st anniversary of Harvey Milk’s assassination, the gay rights leader and politician’s life ended far too soon, taken in a moment of great hate. However, this Tuesday, December 1st, in a moment of great importance, Mr. Milk will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, presented posthumously with the Spirit of California medal by Governor Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver. Tennis legend Billie Jean King will also be inducted.

At a meeting of Commonwealth countries in Trinidad, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reported to have told Uganda President Yowen Museveni that he is opposed to the proposed legislation that would carry a penalty of death for acts of aggravated homosexuality. Brown’s stance is similar to the one shared by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who, through a spokesperson, said that “if adopted, a bill further criminalizing homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights.” Some gay rights activists, however, accuse the Commonwealth leaders like Britain and Canada of failing to condemn the continued climate of homophobic discrimination and violence, underlining that of the 53 Commonwealth member states, over 40 still hold laws that criminalize homosexuality, those laws in some cases dating back to the 19th century when there were imposed by the British government under colonial rule.

The Swedish development minister said that the country was prepared to cut back assistance to Uganda if that country approves an Anti-Homosexual Bill. Gunilla Carlsson said she is “doubly disappointed, party because Uganda is a country with which we have had long-term relations and where I thought and hoped we had started to share common values and understanding,” adding that “the law itself is wretched, but it’s also offensive to see how the Ugandans choose to look at how we see things, and the kind of reception we get when we bring up these issues.

British Study Reveals HIV Late Diagnosis Rise, Defending Adam Lambert, Prosecuting Adam Lambert, Male Model Hotness, Cristiano Ronaldo Shirtless

A report released today in the United Kingdom by the Health Protection Agency says that the number of HIV cases rose by some 8 percent between 2007 and 2008, but more alarming is the study concludes that 22,000 of the 83,000 people with HIV remains unaware that they are infected. The Agency also suggests that late diagnosis is increasingly becoming more and more of a problem, with 32 percent of adults in 2008 tested positive for HIV past the point at which treatments should have already been initiated.

The Adam Lambert American Music Award man on man action – forever to be known as “The Kiss” - continues to cultivate controversary, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation stating that CBS’ decision to blur an image of Lambert kissing his male keyboard player, while showing an un-blurred image of Madonna kissing Britney Spears creates an obvious double standard. “I would have hope CBS would provide the same treatment for images of gay and lesbian people,” said president Jarrett Barrios, “and not create an unfair double standard that treats our community differently. CBS regular shows kisses throughout its daytime programming. The kiss was not blurred on ABC nor in news coverage on other networks.”

An opinion, meanwhile, that suggests Adam Lambert’s carefully calculated award show shock and awe caused a good deal of harm to the movement for complete and equal rights for gays and lesbian, arguing that mainstream America is worried about extending equality to homosexuals “because they think gay life is exactly what [Lambert] portrayed on the American Music Awards: focused on the kind of sex turns people into animals (almost literally, in this case, with crawling dancer leading you on leashes), geared towards enticing children (ABC is a network owned by Disney, for heaven’s sake), degrading, rapacious, empty.”

Meet male model Romulo Arantes.

Say hello to Cristiano Ronaldo, who returned to form Wednesday after an extended absence owing to an ankle injury, the stunningly sexy star playing for nearly twenty-one minutes in a game won by Real Madrid 2-1 over Zurich.

Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado Murderer’s Confession Called Into Question, Why Are New Jersey Democrats Doing Nothing About Gay Marriage Legislation?

There is mounting concern that the confession made by the suspect held in custody for the murder of 19 year old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado is meant to deliberately disguise the truth. 26 year old Juan Martinez Matos, who was arrested three days after the badly dismembered body of Mercado had been discovered along an isolated road, said that he met Mercado in an area known for prostitution, that Mercado was dressed like a woman, and that he killed Mercado only after discovering that he was in fact a man, and after Mercado had demanded money.

However, according to Pedro Julio Serrano, who spoke to Gay City News, and who is Puerto Rico’s most visible gay activist and the current communications manager for the New York City based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the details distort the true Mercado. “None of Jorge Steven’s friends,” said Serrano, “and I’ve spoke to many of them, knew anything about his ever having engaged in sex work, not his family, not his friends, and not the police.” Serrano added that Jorge Steven was not “known as a cross-dresser. He identified and lived as a proud gay man, he was very genuine and authentic. He was just very fashion-orientated and what you could call a gender-bender, but not in a transgendered way.” Perhaps most confusing and of concern are the claims that Mercado was wearing a dress, since, again according to Serrano, “we do not know if the murder’s claim that Jorge Steven was wearing a dress is true or not, because the body had been so dismembered, its legs and torso strewn in different locations, and it had been also been burned along with the clothes he was wearing.”

The New York Times editorial of Thursday that lambasts that feeble political gait of the New Jersey Democrats, who hold a majority, and who keep delaying any and all action enacting legislation that would afford gay and lesbian the right to marry, the Times’ expressing frustration, suggesting that “inaction is not an acceptable option,” and wondering “if the Democratic majorities in New Jersey’s Legislature are unwilling to stand up for a fundamental civil right that a majority of voters would accept, when exactly would they stand up?”

Australia Gay Civil Unions Allowed, San Juan Vigil For Jorge Mercado, Turkish Gay Honor Killings, Vallejo Mayor Under Attack For Anti-Gay Remarks

There are reports Thursday that the Australian commonwealth government has now conceded and will allow the country’s Central Territory to continue permitting same sex couples to hold legally binding civil ceremonies, the two governments having attained a compromise that will likely led to a to national reform on gay marriage.

Thousands of people marched Wednesday in San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico, a vigil for Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, murdered, his burned, mutilated body found along a deserted road on November 13th. According to the Associated Press, the crowd moved towards the Department of Justice building, demanding that the killing be investigated as a hate crime.

The New York Times reports on the murder of 26 year old Ahmet Yildiz, shot five times outside the door of his Istanbul apartment building in July of 2008 by his father, who is wanted and is believed to be hiding in Iraq. His trial, begun in absentia, is the first gay honor killing in Turkey to be publically tried, and reveals a country whose contradictions between the traditional and the modern fuels a brutal and grotesque form of homophobia.

Vallejo, California Mayor Osby Davis is under attack for comments he made regarding his religious beliefs and homosexuality. The mayor told a newspaper “they’re committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven,” adding that “you don’t hate the person. You hate the sin that they commit.” The remarks were made in a New York Times article that appeared Friday on the city and the divide between the city’s evangelical population and the homosexual population, the piece titled "Faith and Tolerance Collide in Vallejo," and the mayor has since apologized, saying his comments were taken out of context. A demonstration is being planned, led by Lou Bordisso, an openly gay priest, who says that Mayor Obsy’s homophobic remarks give “a sense of legitimacy to hate crimes.”