November 2005

November 30: UK:  Kerrang Radio Faces Rap for Gay Sex Prank.  Birmingham-based Kerrang Radio has been reported to airwaves regulator, OfCom, on charges that it tricked a gay man into revealing intimate details about his private life and later broadcast them without his knowledge or consent.
November 30: Latvia:  Gays in Latvia Have an Official Watchdog.  A new independent department that will keep an eye on discrimination has been set-up by the government in Latvia.  And the National Human Rights Office will be embracing the gay and lesbian community as well as other sections of society as well as racism and other forms of discrimination.
November 28: UK:  Over 58,000 Living With HIV in UK.  The number of people living with HIV in the UK is now around 58,300, according to a report released last week by the Health Protection Agency.  The 2,185 new diagnoses in 2004 among gay and bisexual men is the highest in the UK since 1990 .
November 27: Poland:  Thousands Back Gays in Peaceful Polish Demonstrations.  More than 1,000 protestors assembled in the centre of Warsaw today demanding tolerance, freedom of speech and the right of assembly, especially for gays.  Similar demonstrations were held over the weekend in other Polish cities – and outside the Polish Embassies in Berlin and London.
November 26: USA:  Laurel’s Legacy: A Quest for Gay Justice in New Jersey, by Dane Wells.  For nearly half a century now, I have been proud to call myself an Ocean County native.  Among the many highlights of my life have been the years I spent in law enforcement with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, where I worked alongside Lt. Laurel Hester.
November 26: USA:  Straight Man Appeals for Justice for Dying Lesbian Cop.  Commentary.  Dane Wells, who describes himself as a “run-of-the-mill, middle-aged straight guy”, is not very happy with the movers and shakers of his local community, Ocean County in New Jersey.  The retired policeman is angry because Ocean County will not extend “domestic partner benefits” to a former colleague, Lt. Laurel Hester, who is terminally ill with lung cancer - and is gay.
November 25: UK/Poland:  London Joins Warsaw in ‘Solidarity Protest’ for Gay Rights in Poland.  As gays in Warsaw – and their allies – start their demonstration for equality in the Polish capital’s Plac Konstytucji (Constitution Place), The UK Green Party will protest, described by the party as a “boutique protest”, in solidarity outside the Polish embassy in London.
November 25: UK:  Derry Gays To Celebrate Introduction of Civil Partnerships.  The Gay Community in Derry, Northern Ireland, will celebrate the introduction of the new Civil Partnership legislation with a major party for all.
November 25: UK:  MEP Slams EU For “Gutless Hypocrisy” Over Plight of Polish Gays.  A British Member of the European Parliament has hit out at the homophobic attitudes being fostered in Poland under the new right-wing government – has has charged that the European Commission (EC) is “gutless”, while Amnesty International call for the Polish government to fulfil its obligations to sexual minorities under international human rights laws.
November 24: UK:  Polish PM Slinks in Back Door to Avoid London Gay Protest.  Poland’s homophobic Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, made an undignified entrance via a side street to avoid gay rights protesters picketing his lecture at Chatham House in London this afternoon (November 24).
November 24: Poland:  Marches of Solidarity with Gays Planned Throughout Poland This Weekend.  Peaceful demonstrations are to be staged in a number of Polish cities this weekend, it was announced today.  Demonstrations, in solidarity with Poznań where police in full riot gear were brought in to break up a peaceful “March for Equality” last weekend, are to be staged in Elblag, Gdańsk , Krakow, Lodz and the capital, Warsaw.
November 23: Poland:  Euro MP: Homophobic Polish Prime Minister Is Not Welcome in UK.  As the Polish Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, makes his first official visit to the UK since his election tomorrow (Thursday  November 24), London’s Green MEP, Jean Lambert, has spoken out in anger against Marcinkiewicz’s homophobic policies and the treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in Poland.
November 23: Poland:  Gay Lobby Should Undergo Medical Treatment, Says Polish MP.  An ultra-conservative MP of Poland's ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party has said the “the state should statutorily ban making any positive remarks about homosexuality or promoting it.”
November 22: Poland:  Poznan Update: Dramatic Video Footage Shows Extent of Police Violence During Gay Demo.  London Protest Set for Thursday.  ILGA-Europe Protests to Barroso. Dramatic – and unedited – video footage of the problems in Poznan has been released by Indymedia.pl.
November 22: UK:  Galloway’s Party in Gay Rights Row.  Grassroots members of George Galloway’s left-wing Respect party have condemned as “unacceptable” the decision of the party leadership to exclude lesbian and gay rights from their manifesto for the general election earlier this year.
November 22: Iran:  Latest Executions in Iran for Gay Conduct an Outrage – HRW.  Iran’s execution of two men last week for homosexual conduct highlights a pattern of persecution of gay men that stands in stark violation of the rights to life and privacy, Human Rights Watch said today.
November 21: USA:  Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference Calls for Worldwide End to HR Abuses.  LGBT elected and appointed leaders from across the United States and around the world passed an historic resolution in Seattle this weekend at the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference calling upon “all nations and governments to adopt a vocal, clear and consistent policy on international human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people that includes a call on other countries to abolish sodomy laws.”
November 21: Poland:  The Battle of Poznan:  A Gay Suspect’s View of the Poznan Events.  By Tomasz Szypula.  I am 25.  I was born four months before the Solidarity began its revolution in August 1980.  The only Poland I can remember is time after 1989.  The time of democracy – at least until last Saturday.
November 21: Poland:  Please Help Us – Polish Gays Call to Europe.  An impassioned plea has come from many gays in Poland today in the wake of the heavy-handed action of the riot police in Poznań on Saturday when more than 60 people were arrested during a peaceful demonstration.  The message was simple:  “Please help us”.
November 19: Poland:  Riot Police Detain, Interrogate 65 at Gay Demo in Poznań.  “They were dragging us around on the street” - Demonstrator.  The police in Poznań today briefly detained and interrogated 65 demonstrators during the March of Equality organized by organizations of leftist and gay activists in Poznań, western Poland.
November 19: Poland:  Today’s Gay March in Poznań Now Legally Banned.  The March of Equality and Tolerance, dubbed ‘Gay Pride’, due to be staged in Poznan, western Poland, this afternoon (Saturday) has been officially banned.
November 18:  UK:  Gay Murder Team in London To Be Disbanded.  A top police murder investigation team, involved in work on high profile gay-bashing murders, looks set to be scrapped, Outrage! has learned.
November 18:  UK:  Gay Group Demands Clarification on Homophobia from DUP.  The remarks of Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Councillor, Maurice Mills, in which he described Hurricane Katrina as being sent by God to punish lesbian and gay people and to prevent the gay Southern Decadence weekend in New Orleans from going ahead, are “stupid, irresponsible and rooted in deep-seated homophobia”, the Rainbow Project in Northern Ireland said today.
November 18:  UK:  Trade Union Conference for Gay Members Breaks New Ground.  When UNISON open their Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender National Conference here this afternoon, a little bit of trade union history will be made.
November 17:  UK:  Gay Algerian on Brink of Deportation Gets ‘Reprive.  The gay Algerian known as “Izmer” is back tonight with his partner in Gloucestershire after spending almost a week at the Harmondsworth Immigration Service Removal Centre, near London’s Heathrow Airport.
November 17:  Australia:  Oz Dykes In Trouble for Using “I” Word.  Dykes on Mikes, said to be the biggest lesbian event in Australia, is in a spot of bother.  And it is all over their full name, Dykes on Mikes – Lesbian Idol.
November 17:  France/International:  IDAHO Group Officially Created in Paris as a Gay NGO.  It started, as things often do, as the dream of one person.  In this instance, a gay man in Paris.  Last May, the dream became a reality as more than 35 countries marked the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) with a variety of projects, many of which captured the imagination.
November 17:  Latvia:  Latvian Theologian Excommunicated For Support of Riga Gay Pride.  A leading Latvian theologian has been excommunicated by the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church (LELC) for his involvement in a church service for gay men and women during Riga Gay Pride in July.
November 17:  Bosnia and Herzegovina:  Bosnia and Herzegovina Gay Group Officially Recognised.  After long negotiations with the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the necessary preparatory activities, the International Initiative for Visibility of Queer Muslims (IIVQM).
November 17:  USA/Iran:  IGLHRC Calls for Investigation After More Reports of Gays Hanged in Iran.  With new reports from Iran that two young men who were hung in public this week may have been executed by the government because of their sexual orientation, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLRHC) renewed its call today for UN human rights experts to investigate such cases and demanded that Iran’s government be held accountable for any violation of human rights laws.
November 16: Russia: Russian General Prosecution Dept Weighs Anti-Gay Demo in Krasnodar.  The Russian General Prosecution Department is to start criminal investigations into the anti-gay demonstration last month in Krasnodar, about 1,000 km to the South of Moscow and near the Black Sea.
November 16: Bulgaria: Gay Group Demands Probe of Homophobia in Sofia Police Force.  The Bulgarian gay organisation BGO Gemini has lodged an official complaint concerning homophobia within the Sofia police.  The move comes following the LGBT group learning of police harassment against a young gay man of Albanian origin.
November 16: Poland:  Polish City Bans Gay March for Security Reasons, by Marcin Sobczyk in Warsaw.  The mayor of Poznań, a metropolitan city in western Poland, banned a gay parade on Tuesday, Nov. 15.  The Poznań march, expected to gather some 500 demonstrators, was supposed to take place on Nov. 19 as part of the Days of Equality and Tolerance in Poznań, organized by leftist, ecological, and feminist groupings.
November 15: USA/Iran:  Al-Fatiha Calls on Europe, Canada to Seek Further Details on Newly Reported ‘Gay’ Execution in Iran.  The Human Rights Committee of Al-Fatiha, a US-based organization dedicated to Muslim sexual and gender minorities,  has called on European governments who have political contact with Iran to seek further details from the Iranian government on reports of the recent execution of three young men who may have been killed because of their sexual orientation and consensual sexual acts.
November 14:  UK:  MP Voices Gay Fears About New Equality Bill.  Liberal Democrat MP Dr. Evan Harris has said that he fears the new Equality Bill will contain large-scale religious exemptions that could severely undermine the rights of lesbian and gay people.
November 13:  USA/Germany:  Köln Awarded 2010 Gay Games.  Köln (Cologne) has been awarded the 2010 Gay Games, it was announced in Chicago by the Federation of Gay Games (FGG).  The German city’s bid beat shortlisted Johannesburg and Paris.  Earlier this year, Paris failed to be awarded the 2012 Olympic Games – losing out to London.  Johannesburg, however, is staging the 2010 Football World Cup, the second largest world sporting event.
November 13:  UK:    “I’m Ashamed To Be British” – Gay Man Fights Deportation of his Algerian Partner.  In this sleepy market town in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, a gay Englishman is desperately fighting to save his partner from being deported by British Home Office officials to Algeria where he could face death, if tried by a religious court.
November 10:  UK:    Medway Council Drops Ban on Civil Partnerships Ceremonies.  Faced with angry protesters from OutRage! Kent, Tory-controlled Medway Council voted at its executive cabinet meeting on Tuesday to allow civil partnership registration ceremonies which comes into effect on December 5, with actual registrations from December 19 in Northern Ireland and December 21 in the rest of the UK.
November 9:  Russia:    Controversy Over New Gay Shop Opposite Moscow Duma.  A Russian politician has publicly criticised the opening of a gay and lesbian shop in Moscow.  Not because it is a shop catering to the gay community, but because it is situated opposite the Duma (Parliament) building.
November 8:  USA:    Elton John Becomes Gay Games Ambassador.  Pop legend and former top club football chairman  Sir Elton John has become an “Ambassodor” for the Gay Games, the Federation of Gay Games announced yesterday.
November 7:  USA:  SLDN Launches Week-Long Salute to Gay, Lesbian Veterans.  Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has today launched a week-long salute to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans, including an online forum of heterosexual veterans supporting their LGBT colleagues; web profiles of LGBT veterans; a San Francisco event honouring the service of LGBT Americans; and a Veterans Day rally in Oakland, Calif.
November 4:  Turkey:  Conscientious Objector Ends Hunger Strike.  Mehmet Tarahn, the gay Turkish conscientious objector, has stopped his hunger strike after winning most of his demands.
November 4:  Venezuela:  Centre-Right Party Backs Gay Candidate in Venezuela Election.  The Venezuelan Partido Federal Republicano (Republican Federal Party) – the centre-right wing party just two years ago – is supporting the well-known activist José Ramon Merentes as a openly gay candidate for the National Assembly in the December election. 
November 3:  Russia:  Russian Gays Celebrate Rejection by Duma of Restrictive Bill.   Russian gays are celebrating today after a proposed legislation that would limit the right to freedom of public events was emphatically rejected by the Duma this morning in its ‘first reading’.
November 2:  Uganda:  The Horror of Gay Life in Uganda...  By Louis-Georges Tin.  It’s Wednesday October 26.  The time is around seven in the evening in Kampala, capital of Uganda.  The pastor praying with the faithful when the police arrive and breaks up prayers.  The Church is closed and the pastor is taken to the police station.  His shoes are removed … What is the crime?  It is because he is homosexual; worse still, is it because he is a homosexual activist?