Body dug up again from cemetery
The body of a man believed to be gay has twice been dug up from a Muslim cemetery in Senegal.
The man, in his 30s, was first buried on May 2 before residents of the western town of Thies dug up his body and left it near his grave, police said.
His family then reburied him, but people who did not want him buried there once more exhumed him. His body was dumped outside the family house.
Homosexual acts are outlawed in Senegal.
The state-owned Le Soleil newspaper reports that the man was buried within the grounds of the family home.
Lesbian chosen as U.K. poet laureate
On May 1, Britain awarded the role of national poet laureate to Carol Ann Duffy, the first woman to hold a post that has been filled by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes.
Duffy, who once said “no self-respecting poet” should have to write verses about the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son, will be expected to produce poems for royal weddings, funerals and other state occasions.
A witty and popular writer whose work is widely taught in British schools, Duffy is also the first openly gay laureate.
Duffy, 53, said she had thought “long and hard” before accepting the high-profile job, which has a 10-year term. She said she’d given the final decision to her 13-year-old daughter.
“She said, ‘Yes, Mummy, there’s never been a woman,’” Duffy said.
Greece annuls gay marriages
A court on May 5 annulled the only two same-sex marriages performed in Greece.
In June, Mayor Tasos Aliferis, on the island of Rhodes, performed the weddings after LGBT-rights group OLKE said it had found a loophole in a 26-year-old update of the Greek civil-marriage law that refers only to participating “persons,” without specifying gender.
The government disagreed with OLKE’s assessment of the law. It maintains the law limits marriage to opposite-sex couples and immediately asked a court in Rhodes to void the marriages.
In addition to seeking to have the marriages invalidated, the government charged Aliferis with breach of duty.
Gays and lesbians have some legal protections under Greek law, mainly in the areas of employment and housing.
Alberta approves gay rights
Alberta has introduced legislation that critics say will make it the last province in Canada to enshrine gay rights in its human-rights code.
Alberta lost a high-profile court battle over this issue a decade ago and was then ordered by the Supreme Court of Canada to add sexual orientation to the human-rights code.
But there’s a controversial twist to the legislation introduced April 28.
The Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Amendment Act will also give parents the right to exclude their kids from parts of the education curriculum they don’t agree with, including anything to do with same-sex relationships.
Antigay figures barred from U.K.
The British government has published a list of people permanently barred from entering the country for fostering extremism or hatred.
The list includes two well-known American gay opponents: the Rev. Fred Phelps and talk-radio host Michael Savage.
Phelps is the founder of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church, which operates Web sites including GodHatesFags.com and GodHatesAmerica.com.
Church members routinely demonstrate at the funerals of people who die from AIDS and recently at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.
The ban, announced May 5, bars Phelps permanently.
Savage was placed on the list not only for his antigay remarks but also for calling the Muslim holy book, the Quran, a “book of hate” and for saying autism in most cases is “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out.” Savage also said greedy doctors and drug companies were creating a “national panic” by over-diagnosing autism.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].