Debauchery, Baja déjà vu and Mormons in disguise

Your Daily Package of newsy and naughty bits from around the world


Egyptian court acquits men in “debauchery” case

An Egyptian court has cleared 26 men of charges of debauchery after they were arrested in a raid on a Cairo bathhouse. Police were led to the bathhouse by Egyptian TV journalist Mona Iraqi, who said she was trying to uncover “the dens for spreading AIDS in Egypt.” The judge decided that police testimony of what went on in the bathhouse was unreliable or fabricated, however, and acquitted the men. At least one of the accused says he was raped in prison after he was arrested.

Read more at BuzzFeed.

My Husband’s Not Gay stars are reparative therapy activists

TLC’s new documentary My Husband’s Not Gay purports to be about regular Mormon men who are attracted to other men but have decided to marry women. Media Matters, however, points out that at least one of the men is the chairman of a reparative therapy group and has been promoting programs to turn gay men straight for years. Even at face value, reviewer Wayne Besen at Twocare writes, the show is still “insincere, unconvincing, and gayer than Liberace in spandex.”

Baja California gay couple once again denied marriage licence

A gay couple in Mexicali, Mexico, have been refused a marriage licence for the third time, even with a Supreme Court order in hand. This time, the ceremony was blocked by a woman who gives mandatory pre-wedding talks to couples at Mexicali city hall and who claimed the two men could not marry because they suffered from insanity. In their last attempt, two months ago, city officials turned the two men away because of “paperwork issues.”

Read more at U-T San Diego.

Tiffany & Co features gay couple in ad campaign

Jewellery company Tiffany & Co has released a new wedding-themed ad campaign that includes a gay male couple. A company spokesperson says the campaign is dedicated to the idea that love comes in a “variety of forms.”

 

Read more at CNN.

America’s first great gay legal victory

As gay-marriage lawsuits continue to barrel through US courts, the LA Times takes a look back at one of the first great legal victories for gay people in America. The tiny magazine ONE, represented by a newly minted Los Angeles lawyer, successfully won the right to be distributed through the US Postal Service as a matter of free speech.

Photo credit: Tiffany & Co

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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