2007

DECEMBER

Dec 30:  USA:  Television Preview: “Words and Music by Jerry Herman”.  At around the time that La Cage aux Folles opened on Broadway, cast members of a number of Broadway shows began dying of a mysterious illness.  Aids had entered the world, and it swept through the theatre community.  And half of the original La Cage chorus didn’t live to finish the run.
Dec 30:  UK:  GALHA Mourns the Death of Gay Rights Defender.  The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) is mourning the death of gay rights activist and one of its Vice Presidents, Dr. James Hemming who died peacefully at the age of 98 on Christmas Day in Kingston Hospital.
Dec 30:  Feature on Transgender Person Gets Top Spot in UK Gay News ‘Article of 2007’.  Selecting what we consider the best article in the English language published by a newspaper anywhere in the world – and “listed” on the UK Gay News ‘front page’ – was a relatively easy task this year.
Dec 26:  Russia:  Moscow Prosecutor Officially Accuses Gay Pride Organiser in Slander Case.  Nikolai Alekseev, the organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, will be in court soon facing charges of slander and insult following his “outing” of a former State Duma (Parliament) deputy on live national television.
Dec 26:  USA:  One Famous Man Who Rarely Makes a ‘Gay’ List – But Should.  Commentary.  Oh, those ‘lists’… You know, the lists of the good and the great (and often, sadly, the not so great) that we are all subjected to.  One person who rarely makes any list of famous living openly gay men who has given the world so much, not to mention advancing the ‘gay cause’, is, perhaps, the best know of them all.
Dec 24:  Netherlands/UK/Iran:  Christmas Gift from Netherlands for Gay Iranian – One Way Ticket to UK.  It was not the Christmas present that a young gay Iranian wanted.  A court in the Netherlands has ruled that Mehdi, the gay Iranian teenager, has to be returned to the United Kingdom, where he faces deportation back to Iran.
Dec 21:  Netherlands/UK/Iran:  Gay Iranian Teen Awaits Decision of Dutch Court Over Return to UK.  A young gay Iranian, who fled the United Kingdom in fear after his asylum application with the Home Office’s Border and Immigration Agency failed earlier this year, will be spending the festive season hoping that a Dutch court will allow him to stay in the Netherlands.
Dec 19:  UK:  Pogues and ‘Faggot Lyric’ – BBC Hypocrisy Over Gay Slur.  Commentary by Peter Tatchell.  Radio 1 caved in to mass pressure.  I doubt the BBC would have done this u-turn if the song’s lyrics had included the word ‘n*gger’.
Dec 17:  UK:  THT Launches New Campaign Aimed at Gays on Poppers and Unsafe Sex.  A new awareness campaign is launch this week to alert gay men about the additional risks of using poppers (nitrite inhalants) when having unprotected sex.
Dec 17:  UK:  Tutu Apologises for Persecution of Gays on BBC Radio Tonight.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu has apologised to gay people all around the world for the way they have been treated by the Church.
Dec 17:  UK:  UK Gays, Lesbians Urged to Rally Against International Homophobia.  A university student last night called for UK gay men and women – and transgendered people – to show solidarity with the LGBT community throughout the world  by backing the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) next year.
Dec 12:  Europe/UK:  Cashman Denounces Bully Boy Tactics of Extremist UK Tories in Euro Parliament.  A leading UK Labour MEP has today called on Conservative leader David Cameron to denounce his party’s MEPs who today “heckled and shouted like hooligans” during ceremonies to proclaim the European Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Parliament.
Dec 7:  Iran:  Makwan Moloudzadeh Execution: United Nations HR Chief Has ‘Grave Concern’.  United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, yesterday expressed her “grave concern” over the execution of Makwan Moloudzadeh on Wednesday in a prison in Kermanshah Province in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Dec 7:  USA:  Judy and Dennis Shepard Speak on Withdrawal of Gay Hate Crimes Legislation.  Judy and Dennis Shepard, parents of Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was brutally murdered in 1998 because of his sexuality, expressed their “sadness” that the proposed federal legislation “The Matthew Shepard Act” had been withdrawn.
Dec 6:  Russia:  Moscow City Court Confirms 2007 Gay Pride March Ban Lawful.  The Moscow City Court today dismissed the appeal of Moscow Pride organisers against the decision of Tverskoi district court which earlier this year held that the May 2007 ban of the march in support for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of gay people in Russia was lawful.
Dec 5:  Iran:  Young Man Executed for Alleged Sex Crime Eight Years Ago.  The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has learned today that, despite an order by the Iranian Chief Justice to nullify his death sentence, Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Kermanshah Central Prison at 5 a.m. this morning, Iranian time.
Dec 3:  Russia:  Court Postpones Hearing of Gays Arrested While Voting in Moscow.  The hearing today in a Moscow court against the gays arrested yesterday at a polling station as they were voting in the Russian general election has been postponed.
Dec 3:  South Africa/Global:  Gay Muslim Outs Himself to Muslim Scholars at Conference.  Suhail AbualSameed looked calm, yet he was shaking inside. He was seated before a row of ulama, distinguished Islamic scholars, from Afghanistan to Yemen at the International Consultation on Islam and HIV/AIDS, organised by the charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week.  The previous day, several of them had denounced homosexuality as un-Islamic and evil.  Today, AbualSameed had something to tell them...
Dec 3:  Australia:  Relationships Register for Victorian Gays, Lesbians a Step Forward.  The announcement today by the Victorian state government that it will introduce new legislation in Parliament this week for a relationships register has been welcomed by human rights group Civil Union Action.
Dec 2:  Russia:  Gays, Lesbians Arrested in Moscow While Voting in Russian Election.  More than a dozen gays and lesbians were arrested today as they voted in the Russian general election in which President Vladimir Putin, leader of the ruling United Russia party, urged the electorate to “vote for people you trust”.
Dec 1:  UK:  Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Labour Welcomes PM’s Recognition of World Aids Day.  LGBT Labour today welcomed the World Aids Day video by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the National AIDS Trust and posted on YouTube.
Dec 1:  USA:  HIV/AIDS: No End in Sight.  By Matt Foreman.  On World AIDS Day, we mourn all the people we have lost to this dreadful disease – our lovers, our friends, our family members, our leaders.