Australia protests foot-dragging on marriage
Australian crocodile farmer, conservative Liberal National backbencher and same-sex marriage warrior Warren Entsch introduced his marriage equality bill Aug 16, even though it will likely never see a vote. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has blocked a national vote on the issue, offering instead a referendum after the next election. At a pro-marriage equality rally in Adelaide, supporters said that the real referendum would be the next federal election.
Adultery and opportunity
US gay couples still all can’t get married, but at least they can commit adultery. Nearly two months after the US Supreme Court ordered same-sex marriages legal across the United States, BuzzFeed reports that over a dozen counties still refuse to offer same-sex marriage licences. Meanwhile, the attorney general of Maryland struck a blow for equality by issuing an opinion that same-sex couples are equally culpable for adultery in divorce cases.
Half of young UK people not completely straight
A UK study that asked people to place themselves on a scale of sexual orientation found that half of young people, and nearly a third of all people, said they were not completely straight. Four percent of the total population said they were gay, while 19 percent were somewhere in between.
Odessa gay forum smoke bombed
Masked men threw smoke bombs at a gay rights forum in the Ukrainian city of Odessa over the weekend, even though gay rights advocates opted for the private forum instead of a gay Pride parade. Right-wing activists, many of the same who toppled Ukraine’s government last year, refused to allow the Pride parade to go ahead.
Read more from Agence France-Presse.
Minor league baseball player comes out
Minor league baseball player David Denson has come out as gay, becoming the first professional baseball player affiliated with MLB to do so. One professional player unaffiliated to MLB, Sean Conroy, has come out, as well as two MLB players who came out after retirement. The Washington Post profiles one, Glenn Burke, who lived an openly gay life as a baseball player over 30 years ago, but never publicly proclaimed his sexuality.
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