Andorra recognizes same-sex unions

Andorra, a microstate in the Pyrenees between Spain and France, has recognized same-sex civil unions by law, but the opposition parties voted against because the law uses the word "civil union" instead "marriage", nevertheless recognizes the same rights.

 

The Andorra's LGTB groups think the same and announced they will continue fight to achieve a same-sex marriage law.

 

On 31 March 2014, the Social Democratic Party introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, but the bill was rejected by the parliament. The objection of majority party Democrats for Andorra to using the word "marriage" was the reason for voting down that bill, and now it uses "civil union" instead. Same rights but different name, ridiculous.

 

Besides, this current law does not even replace the old 2005 stable union bill, so rights groups are up in arms saying it is crazy that the tiny country has two union laws and no marriage yet.

 

In any case, a new step for equal marriage in Europe, but waiting the definitive one.

Andorra, the small country of Pyrennes

 

Andorra is famous for its winter sports offering

and celebrates a gay ski week every year

Finland legalizes gay marriage!

In a vote of 105-92, Finland’s Parliament today approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriages.

 

The reform will force wide-ranging changes in other legislation, which will take well over a year to finalise. The law will therefore not take effect until 2016 at the earliest.

 

The Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee had recommended the bill be rejected, arguing that allowing same-sex marriage might make adoption from abroad more difficult, particularly from neighboring Russia. Previously, the Legal Affairs Committee had blocked the law on two occasions

 

But 160,000 people signed a petition in favor of the legislation and a majority of party leaders,including National Coalition Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, signaled their support for same-sex marriage.

 

Finland is the last of the Nordic countries to legalize same-sex marriage.

Great news!

Tom of Finland smiles wherever he may be

Mass Gay Wedding in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro married 160 LGBT couples on Sunday in what the state hailed as "the largest collective same-sex civil wedding ceremony in the world".

The event was the fifth mass gay wedding organized by state program "Rio Without Homophobia" and the state court, which have married a total 500 LGBT couples.

The Brazilian Supreme Court recognized same-sex civil unions in 2011, and gay marriage was legalized in May last year.

Happy Thanksgiving Day 2014

Same-sex Marriage in Arkansas Goes On

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled that the Arkansas's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in 2004 violated the U.S. Constitution, because "precluding same-sex couples from exercising their fundamental right to marry in Arkansas, by not recognizing valid same-sex marriages from other states, and by discriminating on the basis of gender".

The ban is facing a separate challenge, in which Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza invalidated the prohibition on same-sex marriage in May. There was a week-long window of time when 541 same-sex couples in Arkansas got married before a stay was issued by the state Supreme Court. An appeal of Piazza's decision is pending before the high court.

The ruling will likely be appealed to a higher court, but same-sex marriages may resume in Arkansas.

Same love same rights

November 25 International Day Stop Violence Against Women

The United Nations General Assembly has designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Resolution 54/134).

The premise of the day is to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence; furthermore, one of the aims of the day is to highlight that the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden. 

For 2014, the official Theme framed by the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women, is Orange your Neighbourhood.

The UN and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have encouraged governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities to support the day as an international observance.

The date of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women also marks the start of the "16 Days of Activism" that precedes Human Rights Day on December 10 each year.

Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) marries his longtime boyfriend

Sean Hayes married his partner of eight years Scott Icenogle.

The Will & Grace actor used Twitter to announce the news with an old couple´s photo and to confirm the ceremony took place. 

Hayes tweeted: "Here's a #TBT of Scotty and me getting married last week. Took us 8 years but we did it!" 

Congrats to the new married couple!

Hayes tweeted he married

The couple keeps their relationship very private

Will & Grace ran from 1998 to 2006

Colin Farrell suports gay marriage in Ireland

Actor Colin Farrell speaks about his gay brother in emotional plea for marriage equality in Ireland.

In the letter, he reflects on his brother Eamon's journey as a gay man.

Check it below:

I think I found out my brother wasn’t grovelling in heterosexual mud like most boys our age when I was around 12. I remember feeling surprised. Intrigued. Curious. Not bi-curious before you start getting ideas.

I was curious because it was different from anything I’d known or heard of and yet it didn’t seem unnatural to me. I had no reference for the existence of homosexuality. I had seen, by that age, no gay couples together. I just knew my brother liked men and, I repeat, it didn’t seem unnatural to me.

My brother Eamon didn’t choose to be gay. Yes, he chose to wear eyeliner to school and that probably wasn’t the most pragmatic response to the daily torture he experienced at the hands of school bullies.

But he was always proud of who he was. Proud and defiant and, of course, provocative. Even when others were casting him out with fists and ridicule and the laughter of pure loathsome derision, he maintained an integrity and dignity that flew in the face of the cruelty that befell him.

I don’t know where those bullies are now, the ones who beat him regularly. Maybe some of them have found peace and would rather forget their own part of a painful past. Maybe they’re sitting on bar stools and talking about “birds and faggots” and why one’s the cure and the other the disease.

But I do know where my brother is. He’s at home in Dublin living in peace and love with his husband of some years, Steven. They are about the healthiest and happiest couple I know. They had to travel a little farther than down the aisle to make their vows, though, to Canada, where their marriage was celebrated.

That’s why this is personal to me. The fact that my brother had to leave Ireland to have his dream of being married become real is insane. It’s time to right the scales of justice here. To sign up and register to vote next year so that each individual’s voice can be heard

How often do we get to make history in our lives? Not just personal history. Familial. Social. Communal. Global. The world will be watching. We will lead by example. Let’s lead toward light.

Colin Farrell and his brother Eamon

Stewie Griffin (Family Guy) Comes Out

At the end of a typically odd Family Guy episode, the sassy baby with the posh accent seemed to admit what most had assumed over the course of the show's 13 seasons.

 

It all went down as he was filling in as host of the Griffin's Thanksgiving dinner due to Peter's absence. Stewie lifted a glass to give a toast saying: "I wasn’t planning on doing this today, but when I look around at all these open, loving faces of friends and family, I’m comfortable enough to finally say I am a proud, unashamed, active".

 

Stewie's sexuality has always been suspect, so much so that in 2009 his creator Seth McFarlane said in an interview that the character was gay, though he had never directly stated it on the show.

 

Watch some funny gay Stewie moments...

250,000 visitors on my blog

In less than two years, my blog has reached 250,000 visitors, incredible and unexpected, but very grateful for all your suport.

 

250K thanks!!!

 

 

Anti Bullying Week: 17 to 21 November

 

Every year the Anti-Bullying Alliance coordinate national Anti-Bullying Week, a week where children and young people, schools, parents and carers come together with one aim: to stop bullying for all.

 

This year they are calling on the school community to take action to stop the bullying of all children and young people, including disabled children and those with special educational needs, children who are significantly more likely to experience bullying in schools and the wider community.

 

It's necessary to take action this Anti-Bullying Week and help to end bullying once and for all. How often do you hear unkind commends about someone's age, distability or sexuality? All too often this kind of behaviour goes unchallenged and can have a serious impact on people.

 

Do you know that 75,000 young people will be bullied this year because they are gay, and 21,000 will attempt suicide?

 

This is why NoBystanders has been created, a worldwide movement of people who will stand up to bullying and hurtful language. This Anti-Bullying week you can take the NoBystanders pledge and join the moviment.

#nobystanders

Trans Guy Comes Out to His College Classmates

Benton Sorensen filmed the moment he came out as trans to his college classmates.

The video, uploaded to his YouTube channel, shows him bravely giving his presentation to his class and telling them all about his background.

Through a series of stories and old photos, he tells his new classmates he is transgender.

Sorensen, who describes himself as a ‘modified man’, is a prolific YouTuber who posts videos about his experiences of being transgender.

He has previously shared videos about how to be a good trans ally, hormone treatments and voice comparison videos.

Several users congratulated Sorensen on filming such a big step.

I do too!

New Study Confirms that Homosexuality's Acceptance is growing in the World

In a new study, findings suggest acceptance of homosexuality has risen in 90% of countries surveyed over the last 20 years.

 

Social researchers at NORC at the University of Chicago and the LGBT think-tang Williams Institute at UCLA said acceptance has grown by an average of 0.9% annually by nation.

 

Andrew Park, director of International Programs at the Williams Institute, said: "This study shows a clear trend toward increasing acceptance across the globe".

 

Looks like the world has become a far more acceptable to be gay. Why I am not so optimist about that?

Read more here.

Too much red in this map yet

Spanish Doctors say they've found a cure for HIV

Doctors in Barcelona (Spain), announced that they believe they’ve found a cure for HIV. Similar to the report published by Harvard researchers, the Spanish research team hypothesize that a blood transplant from a donor with a genetic mutation could prevent HIV from entering cells and replicating.

 

The announcement is based on results of an experimental treatment given to a 37-year-old man who contracted HIV in 2009. He received chemotherapy and a transplant of blood from an umbilical cord of a donor who had a genetic mutation that gave the donor a heightened resistance to HIV.

 

The treatment seemed to work, as the Barcelona Patient was HIV free after three months.

Safe love is a good Love

Judge strikes down state's ban on same-sex marriage in South Carolina

U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel ruled today that the ban on the recognition of same-sex marriage, aside from marriage between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

 

In his ruling, Judge Gergel wrote that the state’s ban on gay marriage "unconstitutionally infringe on the rights of Plaintiffs under the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and are invalid as a matter of law".

 

He added: "While a party is certainly free to argue against precedent, even very recent precedent, the Fourth Circuit has exhaustively addressed the issues raised by Defendants and firmly and unambiguously recognized a fundamental right of same sex couples to marry and the power of the federal courts to address and vindicate that right".

 

Judge Gergel will stay the decision until next Thursday, November 20, when couples will be able to begin to marry, unless the state takes action to halt the ruling in the meantime.

 

Welcome to South Carolina to the right side of love.

Soon this will be possible in South Carolina

Two women marry in Russia despite ban

Two women have managed to register the Russia's first same-sex marriage.

 

The two brides Irina Shumilova and Alyona Fursova were able to get married because Shumilova is a trans woman currently undergoing hormone therapy and her passport still lists her as male.

 

The Family Code of Russia states that marriage is "a voluntary consent of a man and a woman", but the couple found a loophole in the law.

 

Despite the fact she lives her life as a woman, she and brunette Alyona have been able to register their marriage without violating laws due to the biological discrepency. The registrar either had to recognize her gender or marry the two women.

 

Поздравляю двух невест!

The happy couple achieved their dream

Queens & Cowboys: The Gay Rodeo

The International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA), founded in 1985, is the sanctioning body for gay rodeos held throughout the United States and Canada. It has over 5,000 registered members. 

They are the largest group coordinating rodeo events specifically welcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) as well as heterosexual participants and spectators.

With its help, gay cowboys and cowgirls regularly come together not only to compete in a variety of events like bull riding and calf roping but also to share their lives, struggles, and triumphs, both in and out of the saddle.

IGRA events are intended to allow all competitors, regardless of sexual and gender identity, to compete in rodeo sports without discrimination. 

The organization helps spread appreciation for Western culture and the sport of rodeo, while serving as a fundraising vehicle benefiting many charitable organizations.

However, animal rights organizations such as Mercy for Animals, SHARK and PeTA criticize Gay Rodeo for being cruel to animals. In response, IGRA published a press release stating that their animals are well-treated and handled in accordance with established ethical guidelines.

Aussie giant pink condom to HIV awareness

An 18m (60-foot) pink condom has been erected in Sydney to promote condom use among gay men in the lead up to World AIDS day in December.

The Hyde Park Obelisk was sheathed yesterday night with a giant prophylactic printed with the message: [TEST MORE] + [TREAT EARLY] + [STAY SAFE] = ENDING HIV.

The installation is the climax of safe sex education campaign launched by the AIDS Council of New South Wales, in Australia. Nicolas Parkhill, Council´s CEO, said while new drugs are starting to provide other means of protection against HIV, condoms remain remain one of the most effective ways of preventing HIV transmission.

Remember to use condoms when you're having high-risk sex with casual partners, particularly in situations where a partner's HIV status isn't known.

Safe love is good love