May 23, 2008   | COMMENTS     

Russian gay rights activists ask president to allow Pride parade

MOSCOW (AP) — A leading Russian gay rights activist urged President Dmitry Medvedev last week to sanction a Gay Pride parade in Moscow scheduled for later this month. Nikolai Alexeyev’s appeal came after repeated refusals from Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has called homosexuality “satanic.” Alexeyev said activists want to hold the parade on May 31 to symbolize resistance to intolerance and xenophobia. He said the Moscow park where the parade is planned falls under federal rather than municipal jurisdiction, and vowed that activists would rally even if the request is denied. Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but opposition to gay rights remains strong and frequently turns violent.

Gay Iranian granted asylum in U.K. after boyfriend’s execution

LONDON — An Iranian who claimed he would be killed if returned to his homeland because of his sexual orientation has been granted asylum in the U.K., several media outlets reported this week. Mehdi Kazemi, 20, left Iran in 2004 to travel to England on a student visa and continue his education. Two years later while still in the U.K. he learned that Iranian authorities had arrested his boyfriend Parham back in Iran, and that his boyfriend had been forced to name Kazemi as someone with whom he had had a relationship, Pink News, a British gay news agency, reported. Kazemi’s father then received a visit from the Tehran police, with an arrest warrant for his son. In late April 2006, Medhi’s uncle told him Parham had been put to death. Kazemi’s request for asylum was turned down by the United Kingdom. After fearing for his life he fled to the Netherlands and sought asylum there. He returned to the U.K. after hearing that government officials there would review his case. British gay activists rallied for support. Kazemi received a letter from the Border and Immigration Agency informing him that his asylum request had been granted, Pink News said. Since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979, human rights groups claim that between 3,000 and 4,000 people have been executed under Sharia law for the crime of homosexuality.

Anti-gay sentiments expressed in opposition to ‘Sound of Music’ hotel

SALZBURG, Austria — Anti-gay sentiments are a factor in some Austrian residents’ opposition to turning the home of the von Trapp family into a tourist attraction hotel named after the movie that made them famous — “The Sound of Music,” the Age, an Australian news agency, reported. Some fear an unstoppable tide of gay men for whom Julie Andrews is an icon, others are concerned with parking and traffic. “A tourist attraction like this will make a parking nightmare for all other residents around here,” Andreas Braunbruck told the Age. “Nobody talked to us about it — we were the last to be consulted. We will fight this with all means at our disposal.” Juergen Greiner, a local gay man, disagreed. “Forget this nonsense about parking,” he said. “They are a conservative lot here and they think gay men are obsessed with ‘The Sound of Music’ and will bear down on them and bring loose morals to the area. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing, if you ask me.” Authorities plan to open the hotel on July 25, the Age said.

Gibraltar lesbians sue government over tenant law

LONDON — A lesbian couple is taking the Gibraltar Housing Department to court after it refused to place them as joint tenants, Pink News reported this week. Authorities in the British territory said the couple should apply for separate housing units. Nadine Rodriguez has applied for a judicial review to reconsider the non-inclusion of her partner in the tenancy agreement. If Rodriguez dies, her partner has no legal recourse and would be evicted. The Gibraltar government argues that it doesn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation as the laws also apply to heterosexual unmarried couples, though straight couples can marry. Gibraltar’s Equality Rights Group has welcomed the start of the court hearing.

Gay online hookup in Scotland leads to homophobic abuse

EDINBURGH, Scotland — A spurned gay man in Scotland who sent explicit notes to an online crush after their date went wrong was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, the Edinburgh Evening News, a Scottish newspaper, reported this week. Alan Wiseman, 59, sent the notes, which included graphic homophobic and racist material, to Abdulrahman Almoayed after meeting up with him through a dating site, the paper said. This continued each time Almoayed logged onto the site, until he reported it to police. Wiseman admitted to the online taunts, police said. He pleaded guilty to breaching the peace, the report said.