Chinese filmmaker wins court victory
Earlier this year, Chinese gay filmmaker Fan Popo took official censors to court over their blocking of his documentary Mama Rainbow. According to reports from PFLAG China, a Chinese court has ruled in Fan’s favour, and overturned the censors.
Is the leather scene losing its edge?
At the New York Times, Michael Musto writes about the softening of the New York leather scene, from hard-core fetish community to fancy dress fad. As young people join the scene, he writes, leather is more about fashion choice than sexual deviance.
US State Department defends Africa record
The US State Department is defending its record in Africa, after a New York Times editorial accused US policy in Africa of making things worse for gay people, not better. State Department officials claim conditions for gay people in Africa were even worse before American intervention.
The ambassador and the cardinal
The US ambassador to the Dominican Republic is in a years long verbal battle with a local Catholic cardinal, who accused the gay ambassador of promoting “faggotry.” Now the US government has stepped in, asking the pope to reign in his foul-mouthed cardinal.
Tunisian students convicted of sodomy
Six Tunisian students have been sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of sodomy, after being forced to submit to medical “tests” to prove their homosexuality. Human Rights Watch pointed out the irony of the convictions on the same day a group of Tunisians will accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
Read more at The Washington Blade.
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