Ugandan gays outed, attacked
Several gays and lesbians in Uganda say they have been attacked after a newspaper published their names, photographs and addresses.
After the Rolling Stone newspaper called for them to be hanged, a gay activist in the country says that one woman was almost killed when her neighbors pelted her house with stones.
Frank Mugisha of Sexual Minorities Uganda said that most of the people who appeared on the list had been harassed and some had been physically attacked.
“We have got people who have been threatened to be thrown out of work, people who have been threatened by their own family members, who want to throw them out of their own houses,” he said.
Some of those on the list are thought to have gone into hiding.
Police said they had not received any reports of homophobic attacks.
Rolling Stone, which is not related to the U.S. magazine, said it would continue to publish information about gay people to protect the “moral fabric of our nation.”
Giles Muhame, the managing editor of the newspaper, defended his story, saying it was his duty as a journalist to “expose the evil in our society.”
“Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda but nobody is taking action against these people,” he said. “They are recruiting new members among our kids, and destroying the moral fabric of our country.”
Last year, Uganda’s attitudes to gays and lesbians came under global scrutiny after a legislator introduced a bill to execute or jail for life people convicted of homosexuality.
The bill is thought to have been shelved for now.
UK school ends antigay bullying
A school in north London says it has virtually eradicated antigay bullying by teaching pupils about gay history.
Stoke Newington secondary school was one of the first schools to adopt LGBT History Month five years ago. It is now also a diversity training center, instructing other teachers how they can educate pupils about homosexuality and different families.
Pupils learn about Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing, while Andy Warhol and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert also feature in lessons.
Elly Barnes, a teacher at the school and the diversity course leader, said that the key was “educating and celebrating.”
“My focus is eradicating homophobia from all schools and educational establishments by giving staff the confidence and resources to do it, along with demonstrating good practices and changing opinions under the banner of ‘educate and celebrate,’” Barnes said. “Many teachers are scared of celebrating LGBT as they are worried pupils will judge them and will assume they are gay. In fact, to them, we are just a blob giving them information. Over the five years, I’ve only had three pupils ask whether I am gay.”
Barnes added that a number of pupils had felt comfortable enough to come out.
“I used to hear the word gay being used all the time, as a derogatory term. Now we hardly hear that.”
Research for U.K. gay charity Stonewall in 2009 found that while the majority of teachers see homophobic bullying among children, only one in 10 said they had received specific guidance on tackling the problem.
Same-sex couple for Israeli ‘Dancing’
Israel’s version of “Dancing with the Stars” will include a same-sex couple for the first time.
TV presenter Gili Shem Tov, who is a lesbian, will be paired with professional female dancer Dorit Milman in the new series, which starts in November.
Milman is straight, while Tov has a female partner and family.
“I have realized that dance is about coordination and energy between two people, whether female or male, Tov said. “The challenge to dance with a woman in a public contest interested me because it’s unique and has never been done before. Because I share my life with a woman and have a family with her, to me this is the most natural thing to do.”
Series producer Asaaf Gil said he was “extremely proud to have a same-sex couple in the new season.”
Pope kiss-in nixed on Facebook
Organizers of a same-sex kiss-in planned for when Pope Benedict XVI visits Spain in November claim that Facebook has closed down the page promoting the event.
The Queer Kissing Flashmob generated interest among 12,000 Facebook users for its plan to hold the kiss-in in Cathedral Square in Barcelona on Nov. 7. Then Facebook shut the group down, organizers claim.
This has added greater fuel to the fire, and one of the organizers, Marylène Carole, expressed her “disbelief” that a couple kissing in public could be considered “outrageous” in this day and age.
Calling for gay marriage vote
An Australian opinion poll shows increased support for gay marriage and for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to allow a conscience vote on the issue.
The Galaxy poll was carried out on behalf of lobby groups Australian Marriage Equality and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
It showed that 62 percent of the 1,005 people surveyed supported allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, up from 60 percent last year. Meanwhile, 79 percent said that Gillard should allow a conscience vote.
The Labor Party does not currently support marriage equality and Gillard has said that policy on the issue will remain the same while she is prime minister. She has also confirmed that this is her personal view.
Australian Marriage Equality spokesperson Alex Greenwich said that both major parties should to listen to the Australian people and allow a conscience vote on the issue.
“Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott cannot ignore the majority of Australians who believe same-sex couples should be able to marry and the even greater majority who want a conscience vote on the issue,” Greenwich said.
Australian federal law prohibits same-sex marriage. Civil partnerships are legal in the Australian Capital Territory, while domestic registers are in place in some states.
More divorces cite gay husbands
In the year since the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgment overturning a 150-year-old law and legalizing consensual homosexual relationships between adults, more and more women stuck in unhappy marriages have filed for divorce on the grounds that their husbands are homosexual.
Most women were once reluctant to speak out against their husbands for such a sexual orientation; many now seem to have overcome that.
“It isn’t that such cases have not been filed with the courts earlier. We have had many women who, after a lot of prodding and investigations, spoke up,” said lawyer Shabnam Kazi, who practices in the family court in Bandra. “A change, even though slight, has been seen in the court when women narrate their case. That is a major mind change.”
One such woman, a 32-year-old who married a man with a flourishing shipping business after an earlier broken marriage, says the first few months of her marriage were happy even though it was not consummated. When the wait continued, she began to probe what the problem might be. The possibility of impotency crossed her mind initially.
“When she discovered her husband was involved sexually with a much younger boy, she confronted him and her parents-in-law. It was a shocking revelation for her when she discovered that his parents were aware of his preference. His marriage was just a counter to the social stigma,” said advocate Audrey D’Mello, who counseled the woman initially.
D’Mello, associated with NGO legal aid center Majlis, said at least a dozen women have approached the organization with similar issues.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].