Despite objections from the Catholic Church and the threats of anti-gay extremists, tens of thousands participants gathered in Warsaw, Poland Saturday for the Gay EuroPride celebration, the first time that a former communist country has hosted the event. Campaigners called on Poland’s government to confer same sex relationships legal status by passing a civil partnership law, that in a country where according to polls, 80-percent of the largely Catholic country opposes gay marriage and 93-percent oppose the right of gay and lesbian couples to adopt. The parade attracted a large contingent of supporters from outside Poland, including Ken Coolen, the director of Vancouver, British Columbia’s Gay Pride Parade, who said “I don’t think Poland is as homophobic as some people think it is, but for whatever reasons, people are still uncomfortable with the issue of homosexuality. It’s the midst of a change here in Poland, where more people are coming out.” However, one of the parade’s organizers, Krzysztof Kliszczynski, had a slightly different interpretation. “As soon as you outside of Warsaw, homosexuality is still taboo, perceived as a danger. It’s still happening that gays and lesbians are being attacked on the streets.”
In Valletta, Malta, an estimated three hundred participants marched the Gay Pride Parade, organized by the Malta Gay Rights Movement. Representatives from all political parties took part. The MGRM released a statement regarding the 2010 parade’s theme – Rights Now! – which read “this theme clearly indicates the pressing need of awarding LGBT individuals and the family units that they form, rights which are equal to those of other family units. This theme also calls for anti-discrimination measures to be adopted across the board in other matters too, such as in access to goods and services.”
Reports from Aligarh, India that the rickshaw driver who was reportedly having a same sex relationship with S.R. Siras, the AMU modern languages professor who was found dead under mysterious circumstances April 7th has tried to take his own life. He is in hospital in stable condition. The 62 Siras was suspended from the university on charges of homosexuality after an area television station set up a gay sex sting operation. The suspension was appealed and repealed, however Siras was found dead and despite an investigation, the police have yet to solve the case.
In Wisconsin, the Diocese of La Crosses admitted that it knew in the summer of 2009 Reverend Patrick Umberger, a priest at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Onalasks since 2005, had been following young boys into a water park bathroom, but that the reports of his behaviour constituted an “unsubstantiated allegation.” Umberger, 59 years old, was arrested Wednesday, charged with possession of child pornography after an investigation by the state Department of Justice. In 2009, a family and two employees of Noah’s Ark Water Park reported seeing Umberger repeatedly follow boys into a public restroom. The police were called, and at the time Umberger told them he suffered from a prostrate problem that caused frequent urination. The Park revoked his season’s pass and placed him on a watch list. Despite that incident, the diocese did not monitor or restrict Umberger’s contact with children.
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