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47 gay men let off the hook in Nigeria, for now

A judge in a Nigerian court has thrown out a case against 47 men charged with public displays of affection with members of the same sex, ending what had widely been seen as a test of the country’s laws banning homosexual relationships, according to Reuters.

The Nigerian law banning gay marriage, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and same-sex “amorous relationships”, prompted an international outcry when it came into force under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

The men were arrested in a police raid on a Lagos hotel in the city’s Egbeda district in 2018. Police said the men were being initiated into a gay club, but the defendants said they were attending a birthday party.

Prosecution and defence lawyers in the case had told Reuters News Agency that nobody had yet been convicted under the law, which led to the case of the men being widely seen as a test case that could help to establish the burden of proof.

Prosecutors failed to attend Tuesday’s hearing at the federal high court in Lagos, having previously failed to present some of their witnesses in a case that had been adjourned on several occasions.

Justice Rilwan Aikawa struck out the case and said he had done so due to the “lack of diligent prosecution”.

The specific charge the men faced, relating to public displays of affection, carries a 10-year prison sentence.

Outside the court, many of the men smiled and cheered, including dancer James Brown who, smiling, said: “I am free. It means a lot of good things.”

Under Nigerian law, defendants in a case that is struck out can be re-arrested and arraigned again on the same charge, whereas that is not possible in cases that have been dismissed.

Taxi driver Onyeka Oguaghamba, a father-of-four who said he merely drove people to the party, said he was happy the case had been struck out but disappointed that it was not dismissed entirely.

“I am not happy, because I’m looking for the matter to end in a way that people will see me and believe what I have been saying from the beginning,” he said, adding that the decision meant he could be charged again.

Homosexuality is outlawed in many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups brand it a corrupting Western import.

Gay sex is a crime in countries across the continent, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to death.

Lesbians, Transgenders, Pedophile Priests will top Oscar Nominees

Get ready. This is going to be an interesting year at the Oscars.

The movies that are getting into position for Best Picture nominations are not “Driving Miss Daisy” material.

One of the leading candidates is “Spotlight,” Tom McCarthy’s exciting telling of how Boston Globe reporters unmasked 90 pedophile priests. The film has an all star cast including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Liev Schreiber. They will all be contenders in the Best Supporting Acto race.

“Carol” is a love story about two lesbians in 1952 New York. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are the lovers, and their work is exceptional. Director Todd Haynes, the actresses, and cinematographer Ed Lachman will all be up for awards.

“Grandma” stars Lily Tomlin as a hippie grandmother, pot smoking lesbian who’s trying to help her granddaughter raise enough money for an abortion. Tomlin is absolutely sterling, and leads my list of potential Best Actress nominees.

Then there’s the transgender section: Eddie Redmayne plays a man who becomes a woman in “The Danish Girl.” Redmayne is absolutely spot on as he makes the transition with his loyal– and unusually understanding– wife (Alicia Vikander) by his side. Tom Hooper’s movie is exquisite.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if five of the eight or nine Best Picture nominees include “Spotlight,” “The Danish Girl,” “Carol,” “Grandma,” and “Spotlight.” Whoever hosts the Academy Awards is going to have a lot of fun summarizing these films. Really, only Billy Crystal could pull off a proper parody of “The Danish Girl.”

Other potential Best Picture nominees will be less cutting edge sexually: “Bridge of Spies” from Steven Spielberg, “Steve Jobs” from Danny Boyle, Robert Zemeckis’s “The Walk,” Ridley Scott’s “The Martian,” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Hateful Eight” don’t involve gender issues.

Source: Showbiz411

US baker must make gay cakes

An appeals court ruled on Thursday that a Colorado baker cannot refuse to sell wedding cakes to same-sex couples because it goes against his religious beliefs.

The decision comes nearly two months after a landmark Supreme Court decision legalised gay marriage across the United States.

Masterpiece Cakeshop has joined a growing number of businesses successfully sued for discriminating against gay couples.

However, businesses in more than half of the United Sates are still legally allowed to refuse gay customers because 29 states don’t prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Charlie Craig and David Mullins filed a complaint under Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws when baker Jack Phillips told them in 2012 he wouldn’t make them a cake due to his religious beliefs.

The state did not recognise gay marriage at the time, but did prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Phillips argued that being required to make wedding cakes for gay couples violated his right to freedom of religion and free speech.

The state’s appeals court disagreed, arguing in a 66-page ruling that requiring someone to comply with the law is not the same as compelling someone to “endorse” something they don’t agree with.

Source: AFP

US ambassador to Vietnam promotes gay marriage

Since their December arrival in Vietnam, U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius and his mulatto husband have become the most prominent gay couple in the Southeast Asian country.

Osius and Clayton Bond landed with their toddler son shortly before the government abolished its ban on same-sex marriage. Now the couple, who recently adopted an infant girl, find themselves promoting the LGBT rights movement across the country.

“A lot of young people have reached out to me on Facebook, to say: ‘We are happy to see somebody who is gay and is happy in his personal life but also has had professional success’,” Osius said in an interview. “I don’t think of it as advocating as much as supporting Vietnamese civil society in doing what it is already doing.”

The Communist government’s revised marriage law, and while not officially recognizing same-sex marriage, potentially opened up opportunities to attract the tourist “pink dollar”.

Yet young gay Vietnamese say they can be ostracized in a patriarchal society in which heterosexual marriage and parenthood are seen as the path to happiness. The legal changes also sit oddly in a country that more broadly curbs political dissent, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in an e-mail.

Osius, 53, and Bond frequently appear together at official government gatherings and media events. Osius — who is on his first posting as ambassador and has also worked in Indonesia and India — always introduces his husband and often talks about their children, who are 19 months and five months.

“This is a core interest of ours with regard to human rights,” said Bond, 39. “People see us as an openly gay couple with kids serving our country. I hope people find that inspiring.”

While a small number of celebrities have held same-sex weddings, Osius and Bond are the most prominent gay couple in Vietnam, said Tung Tran, director of ICS, a Ho Chi Minh City-based group that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. They are also embraced by the larger population, reflecting the closer relationship being forged by Hanoi and Washington.

Osius and Bond plan to renew their vows before U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her visit to Hanoi later this month.

“They are the full package,” Tran said by phone. “They are married. They have a family. They are successful. They are our role models.”

Osius, a career diplomat, co-founded GLIFAA, a U.S. association for LGBT employees and families in foreign affairs agencies, in 1992. There are now six openly gay U.S. ambassadors, including Osius, Ambassador to Australia John Berry and Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford, said Regina Jun, president of the group.

Osius’ posting to Vietnam comes amid improved relations between Vietnam and the U.S., former enemies that have shared economic goals and strategic concerns about an increasingly assertive China in the region. Vietnam’s civil society is relatively robust, Osius said, even as its human rights record in other areas remains a hindrance to even warmer ties.

In most parts of Southeast Asia including Thailand, the push for gay rights has stalled. Countries such as Brunei and Malaysia punish those who engage in gay behavior.

In Singapore, sex between men is illegal. The city-state banned a song and video by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai’s about same-sex relationships, the Straits Times reported May 26.

Source: Bloomberg

Orthodox Jews protest against Pride with hired help

A group of Mexican men were paid to protest homosexuality at the New York City Pride parade. But what they wore made them stand out: They were dressed as Orthodox Jews in tzitzit (fringed Jewish prayer garments), black hats and fake peyot (sidelocks).

The unexpected sight was first reported on by the New York Times, which snapped a photograph of the men as they stood behind a barricade near the parade route. Accompanying the men were numerous signs proclaiming an opposition to same-sex marriage.

One sign declared that “Judaism prohibits homosexuality,” while another read, “Today man marries man; tomorrow man marries sister.”

The most interesting part about the Orthodox Jewish protest, though, was the fact that the men protesting were not actually Jewish.

“They were Mexican laborers, protesting because they were paid to protest, said one of the men, who would not give his name,” the NY Times reported.

The signs featured the logo of the Jewish Political Action Committee, a group run out of Brooklyn. One member of the committee, Heshie Freed, told the Times that the non-Jewish men were protesting because Jewish students were not allowed to actually come out and witness the annual parade, which celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture.

“The rabbis said that the yeshiva boys shouldn’t come out for this because of what they would see at the parade,” Freed said.

UCT’s SRC vice riles gays

A Facebook status update written by UCT’s black SRC vice-president Zizipho Pae has sparked massive uproar on social media and the student community in Cape Town.

Many interpreted Pae’s status as being related to the US Supreme Court ruling last week requiring states to allow same-sex marriages.

”We are institutionalising and normalising sin! Sin. May God have mercy on us,” Pae wrote.

Her statement came two days after the US court’s decision which effectively legalised same-sex marriage in all 50 states in the country.

Pae’s comment has left the mostly white lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community seething.

Source: IOL

Over 80% of Russians Against Same-Sex ‘Marriages’

The percentage of Russians who are positive about the law banning the propaganda of homosexuality is increasing and is now 77% against 67% in 2013, Levada Center told Interfax.

Fifteen percent of the respondents do not support this law and 7% said they are not interested, a poll surveying 800 people conducted in 46 regions of Russia shows.

Over half of the respondents said they see this law aims to protect morals (67% against 60% in 2013), while 14% believe it aims to distract public attention from other problems and 7% believe it is aimed at fanning feud.

Seven percent of the respondents said they support the idea to allow same-sex “marriage” in Russia and 84% said they are negative towards it.

Twenty-nine percent of the respondents believe homosexuals are subjected to physical violence in Russia, while 32% believe they are discriminated against (psychological pressure, encroachments on rights, etc.). Thirty-seven percent of the respondents and 33% of the respondents respectively, have the opposite opinion.

A little more than one-third of the respondents (37%) believe homosexuality is a disease that needs to be treated (against 34% in 2013). One-fourth of the respondents (26% against 17% in 2013) see homosexuality as a result of bad upbringing, promiscuity and a bad habit.

The percentage of respondents who see homosexuality as a result of seduction has decreased from 23% to 13% in the past two years. One out of every ten respondents believe homosexuality is innate (11% against 16% in 2013).

Two-thirds of Russians said their feelings about homosexuals are manly negative: fear and loathing (24%), irritation (22%), and tension (19%). One out of every four respondents (26%) reacts to homosexuals and lesbians “calmly, without any special emotion.” Only 3% are friendly to homosexuals or interested in them.

Source: Interfax

‘Redefining marriage will lead to fall of Western civilization’

Dr. James Dobson, who founded the highly influential groups Focus on the Family and Family Research Council and now runs Family Talk Radio, is warning that if the U.S. Supreme Court redefines marriage as analysts predict, the ruling will presage the “fall of Western civilization.”

“I do not recall a time when the institutions of marriage and the family have faced such peril, or when the forces arrayed against them were more formidable or determined,” he writes in a letter distributed to his hundreds of thousands of supporters.

“Barring a miracle, the family that has existed since antiquity will likely crumble, presaging the fall of Western civilization itself. This is a time for concerted prayer, divine wisdom and greater courage than we have ever been called upon to exercise,” he writes.

The author has frequently has tangled with the Obama administration.

At one point he warned America is heading toward “depravity.”

He also, amid his lawsuit against the administration over Obamacare’s abortion requirements, told the president he would refuse to obey any law that required him to participate in the killing of an unborn child.

“I believe in the rule of law, and it has been my practice since I was in college to respect and honor those in authority over us. It is my desire to do so now. However, this assault on the sanctity of human life takes me where I cannot go,” he wrote in an open letter to the president.

WND also reported that when Dobson spoke to the National Day of Prayer in Washington, hundreds stood and cheered him.

‘Hurtling’ toward Gomorrah

His newest comments were written for distribution to constituents of the organization he founded after leaving Focus on the Family in 2003, Family Talk, which features the daily radio show “Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson.”

“We … are not simply ‘slouching toward Gomorrah,’ as Judge Robert Bork warned in his best-selling book; we are hurtling toward it,” he writes. “The old earthen dam that has held and protected the reservoir of Judeo-Christian values since the days of our Founding Fathers has given way.”

If the Supreme Court redefines marriage, he says, “an avalanche of court cases will be filed on related issues that can’t even be imagined today.”

Religious liberty “will be assaulted from every side.”

“You can be certain that conservative churches will be dragged into court by the hundreds,” Dobson writes. “Their leaders will be required to hire people who don’t share the beliefs of their denominations and constituents. Pastors may have to officiate at same-sex marriages, and they could be prohibited from preaching certain passage of Scripture. … Prison is also a possibility.”

He says Christian businesses and ministries, as already has happened to florists and bakers, will be forced to serve at same-sex ceremonies, and Christian colleges “may be unable to teach scriptural views of marriage.”

A foreshadowing can be seen in Obama’s recent demand for laws that prevent parents from seeking professional therapy if their children are dealing with a sexual identity crisis. Already law in a couple of states, Obama’s plan would require counselors to accept homosexuality in all such cases.

“What business does this man have telling parents how to help their confused and disoriented kids even after they have been abused and exploited sexually? This is outrageous!” Dobson says.

Also, anyone with a state license soon could be coerced into adopting the state definition of morality.

Textbooks would be rewritten, and public schools soon would teach children “gay and lesbian concepts.”

All of which, he writes, defies the facts of marriage.

“The institution of the family is one of the Creator’s most marvelous and enduring gifts to humankind. It was revealed to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and then described succinctly in Genesis 2:24, where we read, ‘For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.’ With those 20 words, God announced the ordination of male-female marriage, long before He established the two other great human institutions, the church and the government,” he writes.

Every civilization has held to that understanding of marriage until now.

“God help us if we throw the divine plan for humankind on the ash heap of history,” he said. “Down one path are millions of strong and vibrant families with their children growing up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Down the other path is a nation drifting away from its spiritual roots in a culture that will teach a dangerous ideology to today’s younger generation and those yet to come.

Kenyan deputy president riles against homosexuality

Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, has told worshippers at a church service in Nairobi that homosexuality is not welcome in the east African nation.

Ruto’s comments came on the day US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kenya promoting rights, alongside discussions on security and terrorism.

“We will not allow homosexuality in our society as it violates our religious and cultural beliefs,” Ruto reportedly told a cheering congregation at the Jesus Winner Ministry Church near the capital.

“We will stand with religious leaders to defend our faith and our beliefs,” he said. “There’s no room for homosexuality in this country. That one I can assure you.”

Homosexuality remains illegal in many countries, including Kenya where it was outlawed under British colonial legislation.

Ruto, who is on trial at the International Criminal in The Hague accused of crimes against humanity, said his stance was about morality not politics.

“When we say this, we are not saying so as to get votes but to protect what we all believe is right,” he said, according to The Star newspaper.

Conservative Christian and Muslim countries in Africa reject open homosexuality.

In Uganda the anti-gay bill has been watered down and in Nigeria and Gambia tough new anti-gay laws have been introduced, with Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, calling homosexuals “ungodly, Satanic… vermins [sic]” in a speech last year.

Homosexuality is illegal in 36 out of 54 African countries and punishable by death in four, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

In Kenya, too, a cross-party parliamentary group is seeking stricter application of existing anti-gay legislation.

Vatican turns down gay French ambassador

Three months after appointing an openly gay diplomat as France’s ambassador to the Vatican, Paris is still waiting for the green light from Rome.

While the Vatican usually declares it has accepted a candidate around a month after an appointment is made, it makes no public statements at all if the answer is no.

Paris appears determined to stick with seasoned candidate Laurent Stefanini, a 55-year-old practising Catholic whom the foreign ministry described as “one of our best diplomats”.

“That’s why we appointed him. We are waiting for a reply to our request,” it said.

Sources close to President Francois Hollande said his appointment was “the wish of the president” and the cabinet of ministers.

The French cabinet approved Stefanini’s appointment on January 5 but has not yet received a reply.

“A delay of three months like this is not normal,” a well-informed source in Rome told AFP.

“Homosexual people are rejected in the Vatican, despite their merits (and) indisputable qualities,” said Flavio Romani, who heads the Italian gay rights group Arcigay.

Accusing the Holy See of failing to implement its “teachings of openness”, he blasted the Vatican as acting “like Uganda”, where gays are unwanted.

Source: AFP

Gay couple overjoyed to feature in Clinton launch video

When Jared Milrad and Nate Johnson participated in a video about “big changes,” they had no idea their same-sex wedding plans would feature in Sunday’s campaign launch by Hillary Clinton.

Friends called to say they saw the pair walking hand in hand in what quickly became one of the most widely viewed political clips of the year.

“We were both out shopping, working on wedding invitations,” Milrad told AFP, overjoyed to be part of the Clinton rollout — and part of a large-scale change in US social attitudes.

“It shows how far we’ve come,” said the 31-year-old lawyer, pleased that public support for same-sex marriage rights has grown so far as to appear in a presidential campaign launch.

The gay couple were only one in a diverse series of aspirational Americans featured in the Clinton ad, which casts a broad demographic net as she hunts for a winning coalition of voters.

It features Spanish-speaking brothers preparing to start a business, a mother seeking to return to the work force, an Asian-American college graduate and expectant African-American parents.

“Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion,” Clinton says. “So I’m hitting the road to earn your vote.”

Milrad was one of the featured everyday American optimists to get a speaking part, explaining: “I’m getting married this summer, to someone I really care about.”

The vibrant clip, set to snappy music and featuring Clinton for less than half the video’s length, is a dramatic departure from Clinton’s drab announcement of seven years ago.

The video which kicked off her former unsuccessful campaign showed Clinton on a couch, talking about ending the Iraq war, shrinking deficits and expanding affordable health care.

It made no mention of same-sex unions. Barack Obama, the candidate who beat her to the White House, was personally opposed to gay marriage in 2008 and only recently converted to the cause.

Source: AFP

Gays turn to incest in Britain

Gays in Britain have now turned to incest to have children. A woman has helped her 24-year-old son become a father by carrying his child.

In the first surrogacy of its kind, a donor egg fertilised by her son Kyle was implanted in British woman Anne-Marie Casson, 46.

Kyle, gay and single, had wanted to be a father “for some considerable time”.

A surrogacy clinic had turned him away, and then a female relative who had volunteered to be the surrogate developed medical difficulties.

It was at this point that Anne-Marie Casson and her husband Alan decided that she should be the surrogate mother.

A family court judge ruled that it was “entirely lawful” for Kyle to adopt the baby, Miles – his son but also, legally, his brother.

Kyle is the first single man in the UK to have a child through surrogacy, and the first to use his mother as the carrier.

The Cassons’ case has ignited huge controversy: the participants’ consanguinity raises the spectre of one of the few remaining taboos – incest.

Both Anne-Marie and Kyle Casson have said their gay friends have been overwhelmingly supportive.

Singapore to destroy gay-themed books

A children’s book inspired by a real-life story of two male penguins raising a baby chick in New York’s zoo has been deemed inappropriate by state-run Singapore libraries, and the conservative city-state’s information minister said he supports the decision to destroy all copies alongside two other titles.

The National Library Board, which runs 26 public libraries in Singapore, pulled from the shelves and said it would “pulp” the copies of three titles, citing complaints their content goes against Singapore’s family values.

The books are “And Tango Makes Three,” about a male-male penguin couple in the Central Park Zoo; “The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption,” which involves a lesbian couple; and “Who’s In My Family: All About Our Families.”

“The prevailing norms, which the overwhelming majority of Singaporeans accept, support teaching children about conventional families, but not about alternative, non-traditional families, which is what the books in question are about,” Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said Friday.

He added: “Societies are never static, and will change over time. But NLB’s approach is to reflect existing social norms, and not to challenge or seek to change them.”

US sends Ospreys, Special Ops to hunt insignificant Ugandan warlord, and gay haters

President Obama has ordered a sharp increase in US Special Operations forces deployed to Uganda and sent US military aircraft there for the first time in the ongoing manhunt for Joseph Kony, chief of the Lord’s Resistance Army, according to The Washington Post.

The CV-22 Osprey aircraft will arrive in Uganda by midweek, along with refueling aircraft and about 150 Air Force Special Operations forces and other airmen to fly and maintain the planes.

At least four Ospreys will be deployed. US personnel are authorized to “provide information, advice and assistance” to an African Union military task force tracking Kony and his organization across Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo.

While combat-equipped, they are prohibited from engaging LRA forces unless in self-defense.

President Obama cut US aid for the poor African country, blocking a health survey, because its elected government signed a popular law against homosexual conduct.

The punishment was revealed in the 12th paragraph of the Washington Post story about an very expensive new effort to track down a roving, insignificant warlord near northern Uganda.

Kony no longer poses any threat to Uganda or any of its neighbours.

The penalty spotlights the administration’s top-level and hard-edged effort to punish countries that disagree with its gay rights agenda.

“Ensuring justice and accountability for human rights violators like [Kony] and protecting” gay and transgender people “are not mutually exclusive,” a spokesperson told the Post.

In contrast, the White House has made little effort to counter the expanding number of attacks on Christians by Muslim terrorists or governments.

The attacks have killed thousands of Christians in Nigeria, Mali, Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Sudan. In response, the White House has sent a small team of advisors to Nigeria, where Islamic rebels have murdered thousands of Christians in recent years, often by attacking churches or school dormitories.

The new military effort against the Ugandan warlord adds four V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft and roughly 150 personnel to a US special forces detachment in Uganda that is already searching for Kony.

Kony and his army numbered perhaps less than a hundred gunslingers.

Source: VoR/The DC