Seventh Gay Man In South Africa Found Murdered In Similar Manner, Government Of India Now Says It Supports Decriminalization Of Gay Sex, Opponents Of Same Sex Marriage, Montgomery School Board To Reconsider Its Flyer Policy Following Complaints That Several Are Anti-Gay, UFC Fighter Dakota Cochrane Now Regards His Past Work In Gay Porn As An “Mistake,” Zac Efron Lands In Brazil And Almost Causes Riot, Ryan Murphy To Direct One Hit Wonders

In Africa, a man was murdered in his apartment in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, possibly because he was gay, police said on Tuesday. Sergeant Jenny Pillay said 67-year-old Johannesburg Theatre manager Rulov Senekal was found by a neighbour on Sunday afternoon. He was bound and had been strangled. Pillay said it was too soon to say with certainty that Senekal was murdered because he was gay. “We are busy with the investigation, but we obviously can't rule out any possibility.” Pillay said Senekal let the two alleged murderers into his flat on Saturday night after he confirmed to security guards that they were legitimate visitors. The men allegedly stole Senekal's laptop, and fled with a black plastic bag 30 minutes later. Police were on Tuesday afternoon still searching for the two men, and looking at closed-circuit television footage from around the building. Senekal's murder follows similar deaths in Johannesburg and Pretoria the past two years. Seven gay men were found murdered in their homes with no signs of forced entry and little taken from each crime scene. Gay rights, health and well-being organization OUT's director Dawie Nel told The Star newspaper that the group was in discussion with pro bono lawyers in a bid to pressure authorities to act against gay murders. “There is a perception that there is a lack of interest in the cases, in part due to the sexual orientation of the victims,” said Nel. “Added to this, the investigating officers may have limited knowledge or awareness of the LGBT community and online dating. We fear that someone is preying on gay men, and the authorities appear unwilling to acknowledge this.”

In New Delhi, contradicting its earlier stand, the government of India Tuesday came out in support of decriminalisation of gay sex, drawing the ire of the Supreme Court which asked it not to make a "mockery" of the system, according to The Times of India. As the proceedings began in the controversial case, additional solicitor general Mohan Jain told the bench that there is "no legal error" in the Delhi high court verdict which had decriminalised gay sex in 2009. The stand taken by Jain, appearing for the Union health ministry, was contrary to the argument by additional solicitor general PP Malhotra, who had appeared for the Home Ministry and opposed decriminalization of gay sex. The home ministry had, however, quickly distanced itself from Malhotra's submission. Taking a strong exception to the change in government's stand, the bench of justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya pulled up the Centre and asked it to file affidavit within three days explaining the decision taken by the cabinet on the issue. "Don't make (a) mockery of the system. ASG Malhotra has already argued the case for more than three hours. Don't waste the court's time," the bench said. "You do not have to argue fresh ... You are appearing for health ministry. Tomorrow someone may say that Jain was not authorised to argue the case. We do not want to embarrass you," the bench said. The bench, however, allowed Jain to put forward his views on behalf of health ministry in support of decriminalization of gay sex. "We noted down the arguments on behalf of home ministry so you say what is the stand of the health ministry. Can you change your stand from court to court?" the bench observed.

Though Governor Martin O'Malley has not even inked his freshly passed law legalizing same sex marriage in Maryland, a group of faith leaders has already filed paperwork to start a petition drive aimed at repealing it. The Baltimore Sun reports The Maryland Marriage Alliance, made up of mostly African-American church leaders, said in a news release they will take the lead role in gathering signatures to put the law on the November 2012 ballot. They will be joined by the Maryland Catholic Conference, and, they said, the National Organization for Marriage, a national group that supports traditional unions. Derek McCoy, the executive director of the MD Marriage Alliance said supporters of same-sex marriage "have been seeking influence from an elite group of politicians and supporters" but "the average citizens of Maryland continue to believe in the time-tested, unalterable definition of marriage." O'Malley is scheduled to sign the bill at 5:00 pm Thursday, though it would not go into effect until January 2013. Opponents must gather nearly 56,000 valid signatures by June 30 in order to trigger the referendum. Maryland's referendum process was rarely used until recently. Last year opponents of the Maryland Dream Act (legislation allowing in-state tuition discounts for illegal immigrants) was easily petitioned to the November 2012 ballot.

The Montgomery County Board of Education is reconsidering its policy on distributing community flyers, following protests over an announcement sent home with students last month that many found potentially harmful to gay people. According to The Washington Post, the flyer, which was distributed along with report cards to students at five high schools, came from Parents and Friends of Ex-gays and Gays, a Virginia-based organization that advocates that gay people can change their sexual orientation — a view that several national medical organizations contest. The existing school system policy permits any non-profit to send flyers home with high school students four times a year, unless the message is considered hate speech. The right was upheld in a court case several years ago. To remain viewpoint neutral, the school system has to allow any non-profit — or forbid all nonprofits — from sending home messages. The school board voted Monday night to refer the matter to its policy subcommittee to review and recommend any changes to the full school board this spring. David Fishback, an advocacy chair for the Metro D.C. chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, applauded superintendent Joshua Starr for speaking out against the flyers. Starr called the actions of the group “reprehensible and deplorable” at a town hall meeting with students. Peter Sprigg, a member of the board of directors of PFOX, told the board members that it would be “reprehensible, deplorable, and disgusting” if they ultimately decided to “punish” all nonprofits in the county because they disagreed with the messages of some. Reverend Grace Harley, another representative of PFOX, testified, saying that she lived for 18 years as a transgender man named Joe, and was now a member of the ex-gay community. “I have suffered more intolerance as an ex-gay person than I ever did as a gay person,” she said. She argued that restricting PFOX’s message would be another form of intolerance. School board member Pat O’Neill said the policy committee will review the volume and appropriateness of the flyers that are going home with students, and also whether it still makes sense to be sending home paper messages in the age of the Internet. She hopes that any updates to the policy would be in place by next school year.

A cast member of The Ultimate Fighter now views his work in gay pornography videos as an error. Lightweight fighter Dakota Cochrane will be among the 32 competitors appearing next month on Season 15 premiere of TUF, the reality show of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But before he went on to win 11 of 13 professional bouts, Cochrane performed as "Danny" in gay porn films. USA Today reports Cochrane spoke about it Tuesday on The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo: "Yeah, it's true. It's something I did a long time ago. Definitely made a mistake and want to put it in the past. Just trying to move on to bigger and better things now. I've kind of dealt with this stuff ever since I did it. I am straight, but I obviously did something. I did those movies, and it was for the money. People are going to opinionated. There's going to be haters and people don't really care about. Those people who don't really care and actually know me, that's really what I'm focused on. ... Those people that actually care about me as a person know it was a mistake." The video work earned about $80,000 total for Cochrane, he told MMAFighting.com. He stopped doing it at his girlfriend's request after she learned about it, he said. TUF producers already knew about it, because Cochrane mentioned the video work during his audition for the reality show. Although some mixed martial arts websites were buzzing about the information on Tuesday, it is not new — Cochrane was mentioned in September article on the Queerty.com site as an athlete who has performed in gay porn. Although a few fighters have expressed reservations about homosexuals, UFC executives in the last couple of years have taken pains to distance themselves personally from those sentiments. Whether Cochrane makes it past the season premiere remains to be seen because the program is airing its fights live for the first time. The season will open with fights to choose 16 men who will live together in a house for the rest of the season, meaning half of the cast will be eliminated in the first episode. Cochrane's MMA record suggests he could be one of the survivors. His most recent victory came in September against a former champion of World Extreme Cagefighting, Jamie Varner.

Zac Efron arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil Tuesday, there to promote the John John line of denim, a near riot having occurred at the airport amid Efron-hysteria.

Deadline.com reports that in a seven-figure pre-emptive deal, Sony Pictures is collaborating with Ryan Murphy on One Hit Wonders, a musical comedy pitch that will be written as a star vehicle for Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Beyonce and Andy Samberg. Murphy is attached to direct, and he will write the script with his Glee cohorts Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. Murphy will produce with Paltrow, the latter making her debut as a producer on this film. Murphy hopes to direct it after he completes The Normal Heart. Paltrow, Witherspoon and Diaz will play three singers who each scored a top hit song in the 1990s before watching their careers go down the drain. They decide to form a super group. Samberg and his Lonely Island cohorts will be involved in generating music for the film. The project came out of a dinner Murphy had at the Soho House with Paltrow, Diaz and Witherspoon. They wanted to do something fun together and kicked around ideas until they settled on One Hit Wonders. Murphy, who made Eat Pray Love with Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal, took the pitch to her. Pascal bought it 10 minutes in. They are working the deals right now. Murphy previously made a big deal with Sony for a follow-up picture he’ll direct with Julia Roberts starring.