6 injured when float in La Paz Pride parade targeted with dynamite
A float was dynamited at gay pride in La Paz, Bolivia, on June 30, according to reports. Six marchers were injured in the blast that took place during the pre-parade lineup.
Pride events in three other Bolivian cities Cochabamba, Tarija and Santa Cruz took place without incident.
There have been problems in previous years in Santa Cruz and La Paz, with protesters throwing tomatoes and rotten eggs at the marchers.
This year’s events in Cochabamba and Tarija were the first for those cities.
A Cochabamba daily newspaper reported “an overflow of glamour, joy, luxury, color and respect” as thousands of Cochabambinos danced their way from the Plaza of the Flags to Columbus Plaza.
New British PM says he supports LGBT equal rights, is proud of country’s record
New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed his support for gays July 17, answering a series of questions from readers of PinkNews.co.uk.
“I am proud of this government’s record on gay rights,” Brown wrote.
“I think this government has made a huge amount of progress: for example, we’ve equalized the age of consent, repealed [the anti-gay law] Section 28, and made it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation. I can promise this government will continue to do all it can to make Britain a fairer and more tolerant place.”
Brown said he was “very pleased … to put on record” his support for the UK’s civil partnership law, which grants registered gay couples all the rights of marriage.
And he said the government has “announced an international strategy to promote rights overseas, which includes Britain’s commitment to the universal decriminalization of homosexuality.”
Further, the prime minister promised to do more “to tackle homophobic bullying in schools [and] discrimination in the workplace.”
Sperm donor in Ireland wins lawsuit to stop lesbian couple from emigrating
A sperm donor in Dublin, Ireland, has stopped the mother of his son and her lesbian partner from moving to Australia.
The Supreme Court ruled 2-1 that the women could not relocate the man’s 14-month-old son overseas without the man’s consent.
The man and the boy’s mother had signed a contract agreeing the child would be told who his father is and granting the father visitation rights.
But the relationship between the man and the lesbians later soured (the parties have not been named) and the couple began restricting the man’s access to the boy and announced they were going to Australia for a year.
The man sued to stop the trip, and also is now suing for joint custody.
U.N. grants gay groups from Sweden, Canada official status on council
Sweden’s leading national gay group, RFSL, and Canada’s Coalition gaie et lesbienne du Qu?bec are the latest GLBT organizations to achieve consultative status at the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The council welcomed the Canadian group July 20 in a 22-13 vote with 13 abstentions and six countries not present. The vote for the Swedish group was 22-12 with 12 abstentions and eight nations missing.
The United States voted in favor of both groups.
Consultative status allows organizations to access U.N. meetings, deliver oral and written reports, contact country representatives and organize events.
Last year, three gay groups received the status: the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians, the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany, and the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Other queer groups with the status include the U.S.-based International Wages Due Lesbians and Australia’s Coalition of Activist Lesbians.
Nearly 2,900 organizations have ECOSOC consultative status.
Banton signs agreement on anti-gay lyrics, Beenie Man says he never signed
Buju Banton has joined fellow Jamaican reggae-dancehall singers Sizzla and Capleton in signing an agreement to stop bashing gays in their music.
Banton’s huge hit “Boom Bye Bye” advocates shooting gay men, dumping acid on them and setting them on fire.
Under the Reggae Compassionate Act, written by reggae promoters working with activists from the international Stop Murder Music campaign, the four performers will not release new anti-gay songs, perform their earlier gay-bashing material or make homophobic public statements.
The Stop Murder Music campaign, headed by Tatchell, has provoked cancellations in several countries of concerts by the four singers and fellow gay-bashing dancehall singers Elephant Man, TOK, Bounty Killa and Vybz Kartel, who have not signed the agreement. Some of the singers also have lost sponsorship deals because of the campaign’s initiatives.
Meanwhile, The Jamaica Observer newspaper reported July 22 that Beenie Man is denying he signed the agreement.
But Tatchell provided a copy of a signed document, which can be seen on the Web at tinyurl.com/yo63db.
Beenie Man’s real name is Moses Davis.
Editorial assistance by Bill Kelley
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 3, 2007
