Anti-gay sentiment growing in Kenya
By Ruth Schneider, 365gay.com
The wave of anti-gay sentiment in Kenya continues to grow. The mob violence on Feb. 12 over the alleged wedding of two gay men has lead to house-to-house searches for gays, attacks on gays in the street and the sacking of an AIDS clinic.
Denis Nzioka, a gay activist in Kenya told Gay City News, “Ever since the outburst of violence in Mtwapa, gay people have had to fear for their lives. Vigilante groups are hunting down gay men, going door to door, and anyone who is overly flamboyant is attacked in the street.”
In late January, rumors of a gay wedding began circulating in Mtwapa. Radio stations reported the unconfirmed story. In early February, religious leaders told their congregations to expose the gays in Mtwapa.
“We shall stand firm to flush out gays who throng this town every weekend from all corners of this country,” the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and the National Council of Churches of Kenya said in a joint statement last week, The Daily nation reported.
New York-based Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Kenyan officials telling the government to protect the nations LGBT citizens.
“The government is sitting silent while mobs try to kill human rights defenders and assault people they suspect are gay,” said Dipika Nath, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch. “Inaction is complicity, and silence can be lethal.”
Technically, it is not illegal to be gay in Kenya. Kenyan law dictates that certain types of sex are “crimes against natural law.”
“They criminalize anal sex,” for gays and straights, Nath said. “However, in practice these laws are intended to target gays.”
Nath said many gays are in hiding and living in fear for their safety.
“A few people can’t go back to their homes. They are going to have to be in hiding for a little bit longer,” she said.
Ugandan anti-gay pastor airs gay porn in church
By The Associated Press
(Kampala, Uganda) A Ugandan pastor is showing gay pornography at church to try to garner support for a proposed law that would impose the death penalty for some gays.
Martin Ssempa showed the videos to some 100 adults during a church service Wednesday in Uganda’s capital.
He says he plans to show the films regularly to educate churchgoers on gay sex and also plans to show the videos to parliamentarians. He says some churchgoers cried after watching the videos, which he said he downloaded from the Internet.
Ugandan gay rights activist Julian Peppe condemned Ssempa’s decision to show pornography in church, saying he should be arrested and needs mental rehabilitation.
The proposed bill has sparked protests in London, New York and Washington.
Johnny Weir Criticized For Not Being Out
By Ramon Johnson, About.com Guide to Gay Life
Everybody (still) wants Johnny Weir to be gay! The 3-time U.S. National Figure Skating Champion has become the evil step kid of the figure skating world. Some claim it's his vocal nature and eccentric style that critics just can't ignore, but most hone in on his flamboyant speech and mannerisms. During a recent episode of Nancy Kerrigan's World of Skating "Countdown to Nationals," Mark Lund, founder of International Figure Skating magazine, was supposed to be analyzing the competition for the upcoming 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championship, but instead spent the entire segment bashing Johnny Weir at every turn. Ironically, none of his comments focused on Weir's skating. He said,
"I cannot wrap my head around how overly out [Weir] is without saying he's out... I just don't think he's representative of the community I want to be a part of... And who designs his outfits?"
Whether Weir is in fact gay or not is entirely his business. And at the very least, his skill should be the highlight of his successful skating career, not how out he is.
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Johnny Weir struts again Alexander McQueen hanged himself in London home
By Will Pulos, 365gay.com
The Olympic Majesty is well under way over in Vancouver, and when Meredith Viera isn’t calling Christina Yamaguchi a ”Hoochie,” there are apparently some athletic competitions going on. In the high pressure world of ice skating, Johnny Weir placed 6th yesterday in the men’s short program. His rival, Evan Lysacek came in 2nd. Johnny Weir can be seen strutting his fabulous strut in the Sundance documentary series, “Be Good Johnny Weir.”
By The Associated Press
(London) Alexander McQueen hanged himself in his apartment on the eve of his mother’s funeral after leaving behind a note, a coroner’s inquest said Wednesday in the first confirmation of details of the fashion designer’s death.
The inquest – which has yet to formally rule McQueen’s death a suicide – opened as London Fashion Week prepared to mark the passing of one of British fashion’s brightest stars.
Coroner’s official Lynda Martindill told the inquest at Westminster Coroners Court that 40-year-old McQueen died from asphyxiation and hanging.
Days before his body was found on Thursday, McQueen had left several messages on the social networking site Twitter revealing his grief at the death of his mother days earlier.
The designer’s body was found in the armoire at his London apartment and was formally identified by his sister, Janet.
Police detective inspector Paul Armstrong told the inquest there were no suspicious circumstances.
After a five-minute hearing, coroner Paul Knapman adjourned the inquest until April 28. McQueen’s family, who are now free to hold the designer’s funeral, issued a statement through their lawyers appealing to the media to respect their privacy.
In Britain, inquests are held whenever someone dies violently or in unexplained circumstances.
McQueen’s death has cast a shadow over London Fashion Week, which opens on Friday. A spokeswoman said the event would feature a tribute to the designer, whose attention-grabbing designs helped re-energize British fashion after a fallow period following the punk explosion in the 1970s.
“There will be something simple and tasteful,” she said. “The time for memorials will be later in the year.”
She spoke on condition of anonymity because organizers are waiting for McQueen’s family to approve the tribute.
Known for his dramatic statement pieces and impeccable tailoring, McQueen dressed celebrities from Cameron Diaz to Lady Gaga and influenced a generation of designers.
The son of a cab driver, McQueen grew up on a public housing estate in London’s East End, left school at 16 and entered the fashion world the old-fashioned way, as a teenage apprentice to a Saville Row tailor. He later studied at Central St. Martin’s art college in London and was discovered by fashion guru Isabella Blow, who bought his entire graduation collection. She became a friend and mentor; her suicide three years ago shook the designer, who wept openly at her funeral.
McQueen was a private man who avoided the limelight, but his Twitter postings show emotional turmoil after his mother’s death on Feb. 2. McQueen had posted messages four days before his death about his “awful week,” and said he had to “somehow pull myself together and finish.”
His mother’s funeral was held the day after McQueen died.
Friends also said he might have felt under pressure to outdo himself at the unveiling of his spring collection in Paris next month.
“I don’t think success was easy for him,” friend Plum Sykes wrote in the Sunday Telegraph this week. “He told me he was driven by his insecurities, and he believed that all successful people were.”
McQueen became chief designer at the Givenchy house in 1996, but was best known for his own label, in which Gucci bought a majority stake in 2001. McQueen retained creative control, and became famous for his dramatic and often uncategorizable creations: sculptural cocktail dresses in psychedelic patterns; headwear made of trash; 10-inch (25 centimeter) heels shaped like lobster claws.
His shows were highly theatrical events, incorporating film and historical references and innovative technology – including, at one memorable 2006 show, an appearance by Kate Moss in hologram form.
His outrageous pieces never sold in great numbers, but he became one of fashion’s best-known brands. He designed the outfit Janet Jackson was wearing when she had her breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl.
Outrageous chanteuse Lady Gaga – dressed in a lacy white ensemble and towering Marie Antoinette-esque wig – paid tribute to McQueen at the Brit music awards on Tuesday. “Thank you to Lee McQueen,” she said after winning one of three prizes, using the designer’s given name.
Onstage she performed a somber tribute song beside a mannequin wearing those signature lobster-claw shoes.
La Press en Rose ©, 2009, The Wizard of 'OZ'
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