So many gay festivals?


How many of these things does London need? Despite our reservations, Soho Pride rocked this weekend. So many gays, so many startled looking tourists. We’re proud. Here’s to next year!

INTERLUDE : Patti Lupone - Being Alive


Would you work for this man?


It seems that not many would. We certainly wouldn’t. The Mayor’s Chief of Staff has quit over what appears to have been confusion about the scope of his responsibilities.

I don’t want to appear insensitive but…


… I’m struggling to care about Jade and her cervix. Classy way to tell the world. Vile. Cancer is bad.The Sun

Argentina extends equality


In a nationwide move, Argentina is to grant rights to pension of dead same sex partners who can prove they have lived together for 5 years. A very interesting article from CNN.

Maria Rachid, president of the Buenos Aires-based Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans, said she has been fighting for this change for a decade. She credited the government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for creating the environment in which such a change could take place.

“Now we have a government that’s more open, that’s disposed to listening to our demands, and that’s beginning to generate some changes,” she said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires.
But Hector Timerman, Argentina’s ambassador to the United States, told CNN in Atlanta that it was not so much the influence of the current president as it is the changes that have occurred since Argentina emerged from the dictatorship years of 1976-1983.

“For a Latin American country, it’s an amazing story,” he said, noting that things have become much more open in the past quarter century.

Whatever, the reason, this is great news. It fits within a context of broader advances for gay rights in Latin America.

Andres Duque, director of New York-based Mano a Mano and a blogger on Latino gay issues, credited Argentina with being “the first one to jump to the gate in Latin America in terms of providing rights to same-sex couples.” He cited the civil unions bill of 2002 in Buenos Aires — the first Latin American city to pass one. But he criticized the effort as incomplete, citing the fact that the law does not allow for gays to adopt.

As a number of Latin American countries have elected socialist leaders, the political landscape has become more favorable on a continent often associated with machismo and Catholicism, Duque said.
For example, Ecuador is considering a change in its constitution that would grant rights to same-sex couples, including pension rights, health benefits and social security, he said. And leftist President Evo Morales is pushing for a prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In some districts of Mexico, including the capital, civil unions are allowed.

cnn.com

Gay Spies? Whatever next?


Apparently MI5 want you! The British Intelligence Service is looking at the LGBT (whatever) community for new recruits. Stonewall is helping, apparently. Spies are hot. Especially this one.

Pink News

Happy Happy


Madonna is fifty… woo hoo. Bless her. Looking Fab-ooo-lous in her gold Mr T. chains. Mr Madonna isn’t looking bad either.

oh no you di-n’t


The next season of America’s Next Top Model has a transgender contestant…. oooh-er.

According to Us Weekly, one of the 11th season’s 14 contestants was born male, and the decision to include her in the program is garnering praise from gay rights organizations including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Pink News