How Christianity brought homophobia to Africa
African leaders, from Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe to Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh have called homosexuality un-African and dismissed gay people as a foreign import. Nigerian scholar Bisi Alimi, however, says true African culture accepted homosexuality; it’s colonial Christianity that brought homophobia to the continent.
Google searches show the normalization of equal marriage
With help from Google, the Washington Post looks at how web searches about gay marriage have changed in the last decade. While in some cases searches have become more positive, mostly they have just become more boring. Instead of looking up arguments against marriage equality, Americans are now just looking up facts about where marriage is legal.
The danger and allure of 1970s New York
At The New York Times, Edmund White returns to New York in the late 1970s, an era when young artists populated the East Village, possibilities seemed endless, and the streets were still dangerous at night. Why, White asks, does New York on the brink of the AIDS crisis still draw so much longing and nostalgia?
Spanish police officers marry
Two Spanish police officers were married this weekend, the first in the force to do so. They say they hope publicity about their wedding will help children being bullied for their sexual orientation, and will help normalize gay relationships among police officers.
The menstrual blood of Instagram
The right to show female nipples on Instagram has already become a flashpoint for debates on censorship and the female body, but now the website is battleground for a new kind of supposedly offensive image. Some women report their accounts were deleted after displaying pictures of menstrual blood, even without nudity. One woman who posted such a picture says she received death threats for the image.
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