Two men have been arrested near Saint Petersburg, Russia, over the murder of a gay man. The body of a 38-year-old man who had been stabbed 26 times was found on Monday night in a town in the Vsevolozhsk region of Russia.
According to Tetu, the two men told police following their arrest that they stabbed the victim because he had attempted to sexually proposition them. Read More
Op-Ed: Why Health Care Is the Next LGBT Battleground
I’m one of those people who thinks of health in broad terms: Health isn’t just about doctors. It’s about mental health. It’s about having a roof over your head. It’s about being able to get an education. It’s about feeling safe. Philosophers Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum talk about true equality being a world where people have the resources they need to live to their fullest potential. True equality is making sure those health service providers—doctors, psychotherapists, social workers, even shelter providers—actually know how to work with members of every community.
I hereby throw down the gauntlet: A major front in the battle for LGBT equality is making sure health service providers are competent and sensitive enough to meet our community’s needs. Read More
U.N. Forum Praises LGBT Rights Advances in Developing Nations
Marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of WWII, the United Nations reflected on some of the “lesser known victims” of the Nazi regime – the LGBT community – and how gay rights may be further advanced into the future.
Charles Radcliffe, Chief of Global Issues with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said global progress toward better protections for the LGBT community has been steady. He also said it was important to continue strengthening protections for LGBT people, citing recent “worrying trends” including criminalization of gay relationships or the silencing of LGBT activists in some nations.
“We need to change attitudes, challenge stereotypes, and get people talking about these issues especially in communities and cultures where it is still taboo,” he said. “It’s not enough to change laws and institutions. We have to change people’s minds.” Read More
Leaving no one behind in the Asia-Pacific HIV response
Government delegates, leading civil society voices, and UN partners gathered in Bangkok to review progress in responding to the HIV epidemic in the Asia Pacific region. The meeting will produce a new regional framework of cooperation.
In his opening remarks, Nicholas Rosellini, Director of UNDP's Bangkok Regional Hub, highlighted that the HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific continues to be concentrated among key populations who face the burden of being marginalized not only socially but also through counter-productive legal frameworks. Read More
Universal Periodic Review recommends changes for sexual and gender rights
Eric Radford and Meagan Duhamel make history
Eric Radford came out in December 2014, the first figure skater to do so while still at the top of his game. Since then, Radford and his pairs partner, Meagan Duhamel, won the Grand Prix event in Barcelona, and their record-breaking score on Jan 24 won them their fourth Canadian championship. In the above video, Radford and Duhamel talk about his decision to come out. The team is a favourite to win the world championships in Shanghai in March. Read More
The Importance of Having Gay Video Game Characters
In a video for PBS Digital’s Game/Show, Jamin Warren discusses the power of having explicitly gay characters in video games. Gaming franchises like Fable and the Sims have long-offered players the ability to create unique characters with customizable sexualities. But, as Warren explains, there's something to be said for queer characters whose sexualities are set in stone.
In particular Warren singles out BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition and Dorian, its resident gay magic user, for crafting a story in which Dorian’s sexuality is integral to the character’s personality, but not burdensome to the game’s plot. Read More
'McTucky Fried High,' LGBT Web Series, Explores Queer Teen Issues
An animated web series launched this week that explores issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens in an unconventional way.
"McTucky Fried High" is the brainchild of filmmaker, illustrator and activist Robert-Carnilius and tackles a range of issues relevant to queer youth. Slated for a five-episode run, the web series will hit topics such as coming out, extreme diets, being genderqueer, bullying and sexting -- all through the use of animated food as characters. Read More
Cartoon Aims To Show Dangers Of Syphilis
With syphilis on the increase amongst gay men, the Victorian AIDS Council (VAC) has joined up with a local Australian animator, Michael Cusack, to release Wayne & Kevin an hilarious animated short that encourages men who have sex with men (MSM) to be informed about STIs and get tested regularly.
With syphilis being an STI that can often be asymptomatic or mistaken for other things, the importance of spreading the message surrounding treatment and testing is imperative.
ANZ New Zealand Bank Unveils 'GAYTMs' Benefiting The LGBT Community In Honor Of Pride Events
In an effort to promote "respect, inclusion, equality and acceptance," a local bank chain has unveiled four "GAYTMs" in connection with local Pride events in New Zealand.
The four festively-dressed ATM machines, which were actually introduced last year by ANZ Australia as part of Sydney Mardi Gras, made their debut in Auckland and Wellington via ANZ New Zealand, The New Zealand Herald first reported. The installations will appear throughout the Auckland Pride Festival, which runs through February, and Wellington's Out in the Park, which is slated for Feb. 14. Read More
Gay wrestler Darren Young slams WWE tour of United Arab Emirates
Darren Young has criticized the WWE for its three-day tour of the United Arab Emirates, where gay sex is illegal. WWE decided not to take the openly gay wrestler to Abu Dhabi for his own safety.
‘Why do we bring the best entertainment into a country [sic] like Abu Dhabi and they look down upon women and gays? I get it! #MillionsofDollars,’ he tweeted on Tuesday (10 February) night.
Within minutes, Young deleted the tweets, seemingly at the behest of WWE, and replaced them with the following posts: ‘My freedom of speech is gone. Gone but not forgotten.
The New Documentary That Shows How Our Obsession With Masculinity Is Destroying Young Men
“We’ve put young boys and men in a straightjacket, forcing them to conform to a construct and disconnect from who they really are,” says The Mask You Live In writer-director Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Early on in the documentary The Mask You Live In, which premiered Jan. 23 at the Sundance Film Festival, the idiom “be a man” is identified as one of the most destructive phrases in the English language. That might be shocking to those who believe in adhering to traditional gender roles and the need for boys to learn about masculinity at a young age, but the documentary uses psychologists, coaches, and men of all ages to demonstrate the damage American culture’s rigid definition of masculinity has had on society.
It’s a subject close to writer-director Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s heart. After making her 2011 documentary Miss Representation, which focused on the negative portrayal of women in the media, Siebel Newsom founded an organization called The Representation Project. In the course of the organization’s research, Siebel Newsom and her team found startling statistics that indicated that the problems young women face start — and could perhaps end — with young men. It’s that notion that prompted The Mask You Live In. Read More