Cologne, Germany boasts approximately one LGBT resident for every ten individuals city-wide — and the resultant explosion of gay and lesbian culture, from bars, cafes, restaurants and clubs to the city’s spectacular Pride events, has won Cologne distinction as the gay capitol of the country. Gay pride has become integral to Cologne’s cultural identity, according…
The Wisconsin State Journal reported today that John Hawks, University of Wisconsin at Madison associate professor of anthropology, has expressed his criticism of theories suggesting the discovery of the “first homosexual caveman.” When a male skeleton was found buried in a manner usually reserved for women at a dig site in Prague, some archaeologists speculated…
Joseph Lelyveld, Pulitzer-Prize winner and author of Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India, found his book officially banned last week in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Gujurat state assembly reached a unanimous decision to enact the ban of the book. Additional bans have been suggested throughout India, where until only…
The 5th Annual Gaywise Festival (GFEST), held in London, England, announced the call for new entries this week. Interested participants may submit work in three different categories: short film, visual arts and performance. The 2011 cross-arts event is open to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer artists and will run November 7-20. The festival is…
“Dalam Botol” (“Inside a Bottle”) is the first gay-themed film to hit the big screen in the conservative and anti-LGBT country of Malaysia. The film raked in one million ringgit ($330,000) in its opening week – and despite an anti-homosexual ending, producer Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman has already experienced resistance from officials of the Islamic…
In an unusual display of LGBT advocacy partnership, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus co-authored a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner promoting awareness of a recent amendment supporting a crackdown against LGBT persecution in foreign governments receiving multilateral development financial aid. According to the Washington Blade, the letter, dated March 30,…
The Irish edition of tabloid news magazine The Sun recently covered the story of Penny Lawrence, a 28-year-old woman suffering from Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA) who is now pregnant with her father’s child. Now, Carolyn Castiglia, a blogger for Babble.com, argues that while empathy for such a condition is important, it may also confuse the…
The UK Gay News reports that Friday, April 1 will mark the tenth anniversary of the world’s first legal gay marriage. On the same date in 2001, four couples – one female and three male – tied the knot in Amsterdam in a joint ceremony presided over by the city’s Mayor, Job Cohen. The ceremony…
Anton Hysén, son of Swedish soccer legend and former Liverpool defender Glenn Hysén, has become the second openly gay high-level soccer player in the world. Hysén, who plays left-sided midfield for Sweden’s Utsiktens BK club, claims that he is confident in his decision to come out despite the rampant homophobia present in traditional European soccer…
Close on the heels of this week’s U.S.-led move at the United Nations condemning violence against the LGBT community, a long-standing and infamous bill advocating life imprisonment and possible execution for Ugandan homosexuals appears to be dead. Ugandan officials have made comments to the media indicating that the proposed legislation duplicated other extant laws. “I…
