38 US cities get perfect score on LGBT-friendly index
Thinking of moving south? Why not consider Tucson, Austin, Missoula or St Louis? All four cities received perfect scores on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual report on LGBT-friendly cities. A total of 38 cities made the cut by offering same-sex partner benefits, funding school anti-bullying programs and banning workplace discrimination.
See the city-by-city list from the Human Rights Campaign.
Colin Farrell stands up for gay brother (Ireland)
In a letter in the Sunday World this week, actor Colin Farrell writes about his gay brother and urges Irish citizens to vote in favour of an upcoming referendum on gay marriage. Farrell’s brother left Ireland to get married in Canada. “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. INSANE,” he writes. “I can jump into my car now, drive four hours to Vegas from Los Angeles, get drunk and meet a woman and have Elvis marry us for $200. And yet in many states in America, if I were gay, I couldn’t marry.”
Read more at the Sunday World.
Mexico City allows gender changes without the hassle
Trans people in Mexico City will now be able to change their legal gender without a medical examination, court order or reassignment surgery. The city passed a law last week cutting complicated legal requirements for gender changes. Mexico City is the first place in Latin America to allow legal gender change without a medical examination.
Read more at the Washington Blade.
Russian gay group struggles to survive in the Arctic
In the Russian Arctic seaport of Murmansk, there is one place gay people can go for refuge from the violence and homophobia they face outside: the House of Equality. Run by an eccentric activist who calls himself “Maximum,” the house protects against the daily discrimination from police, doctors, city officials and citizens that gay people face in Russia.
Read more at the Barents Observer.
Sarkozy: Repeal gay marriage (France)
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy told supporters this weekend that France’s 2013 law legalizing gay marriage should be repealed. Sarkozy is working on a political comeback and made the comment to appease supporters at a rally who were chanting “Appeal! Appeal!” Fortunately, a large majority of French people now support gay marriage, and France’s current president is too busy trying to win back the woman for whom he left his wife and on whom he then cheated with an actress to worry too much about what gay people are doing.
Read more from Agence France-Presse.
Study narrows in on gay genes
A study of 800 gay brothers suggest a genetic link to homosexuality somewhere on the X chromosome and the eighth chromosome. The study’s author told the Associated Press that the result “is not proof, but it’s a pretty good indication” that those genes are connected to being gay. Earlier studies have determined that genetic factors determine about 30 percent of the likelihood of being gay, but which genes do the trick are still unknown.
Read more at the Star Tribune.
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