The gay sweater
Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity founder Jeremy Dias has created an outfit that really is “so gay”: a sweater made entirely from the hair of gay people. Dias made the sweater to draw attention to the use of “gay” as a pejorative. He collected the hair from LGBT people across Canada, who donated the gay materials by mail.
Read more at the Toronto Star and here at Daily Xtra.
Gamers threaten to pull convention from Indiana over anti-gay bill
Massive gaming convention Gen Con has threatened to move from Indianapolis in response to an Indiana state bill that would allow business owners to discriminate against gay people based on religious belief. “Legislation that could allow for refusal of service or discrimination against our attendees will have a direct negative impact on the state’s economy, and will factor into our decision-making on hosting the convention in the state of Indiana in future years,” wrote Gen Con’s CEO in a letter to Indiana’s governor. Gen Con brings over 50,000 people to Indianapolis yearly.
Larry Kramer: “We demand a cure”
Gay historian and HIV activist Larry Kramer told attendees at a Gay Men’s Health Crisis gala that governments have failed to produce a cure for HIV because they are willing to let gay men die. “We should have known more about this plague by now. Thirty-four years is a very long time to let people die,” he said. “I no longer hear the word ‘cure’ from anyone. It is time to hear it from everyone. Led by GMHC. We demand a cure!” Kramer has been a divisive figure in HIV activism, and was kicked out of GMHC 30 years ago for his strident politics.
Violence drives gay people from Russia
The Russian government doesn’t have to attack gay people; it can simply stand back and let its citizens do the work. That’s what happened to Dmitry Chizhevsky, a gay russian man who was shot in the eye with an air pistol in an attack that was never properly investigated by police. At Politico, Nora FitzGerald and Vladimir Ruvinski write about the violence driving gay people out of Russia.
Japanese TV drag queens
In Japan, gay people are still seldom accepted in everyday life. On TV, however, fabulous drag queens make for good entertainment. At the Washington Post, Anna Fifield and Yuki Oda write about the strange divide between Japanese gay people and their over-the-top TV icons.
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