According to the BBC, Malawi Minister of Gender and Children, Patricia Kaliati dismissed suggestions that the Malawi president was pressured by the United Nations Secretary General to pardon Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, the couple convicted of unnatural offenses and public indecency, sentenced to 14 years in prison with hard labour, President Mutharika releasing the two Saturday. Kaliati said that despite reports, Malawi is not considering repealing anti-gay laws. “We have our own rules and laws which we are following, and our own constitution. Our constitution is not the same as your constitution.” She also delivered a threat to the two men, offering a warning that their release does not mean they can continue their relationship. “It doesn’t mean that now they are free people, they can keep doing whatever you keep doing,” she said, adding that the couple could be rearrested if they “continue doing that.”
Meanwhile The Guardian reports that the respective families of the two men are fair from welcoming, Kelvin Kaumira, a relative of Monjeza saying that the community was “fuming” over the entire incident. “People here are furious,” he said. “There are so many beautiful women in this village looking for a hand in marriage.” Zione Monjeza, Steven’s aunt, said “Nobody wants to see Tiwonge again in this village. If he dares to come here, he must do so with police for his protection.” An uncle of Steven’s, Khuliwa Dennis Monjeza, said “we are all happy he has been released, but we haven’t sat down with Steve to discuss the sage and determine whether he has learnt a lesson. Prison in Malawi is not a good place to be.”The Guardian added that the paper found Steve and approached him for an interview, but that he replied “I can’t talk to you. I am selling my story,” saying “I need money. Good money. I have just come out of prison. I need to survive.”
The Los Angeles Times profiles Bahaa Saber, a political activist whose fight for human rights and democracy in Egypt, under the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the 82 year old, the president who has had the country in a state of emergency throughout his tenure since 1981, is made more difficult because he is openly gay, a taboo to those Muslims he hopes to inspire and lead. His determination to bring about democracy and change is intensified – legislative elections are to take place this fall, and Mubarak is unlikely to remain in power in 2011, but Saber is routinely arrested, detained, and abused. He tells of an arrest in April of this year, after a march, when security forces drove him to a police station, where he says “an officer ordered street cops to off all my clothes and my underwear” while he was beaten and sexually assaulted, adding that “the officer said he wouldn’t stop until I said, ‘I am a faggot.’ I said it loudly to satisfy him and he stopped.”
Chace Crawford, sexy and shirtless spotted in Mexico where he is vacationing with his sister Candice and her boyfriend, Tony Romo.
Despite continual denials that the two are not – NOT – a couple, cute couple Austin Nichols and Jake Gyllenhaal get going after hitting the gym – each, ironically, wearing a beard, accompanied by gay ally Sophia Bush.
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