McDonald’s Taiwanese gay ad goes viral
A Taiwanese McDonald’s ad about a gay son coming out to his father has racked up two million views this week. Taiwan has become one of the most accepting Asian countries towards gay rights, with one poll showing 70 percent of the population supports marriage equality.
Let the lesbians live
Fans of the sci-fi action show The 100 were outraged after a lesbian character was killed off just minutes after her first screen kiss. Many took to Twitter to object that lesbian characters are seldom given happy endings, and often killed off for cheap emotional impact.
Missouri Democrats filibuster religious protection bill 39 hours
Missouri’s Republican-dominated senate has passed a bill protecting businesses and religious organizations that discriminate against LGBT people, but not before a 39-hour filibuster by senate Democrats. Even after the filibuster was broken, the Democrats managed to block the bill for hours more by debating how to document the bill in the state’s official journal.
Leather kilt case goes to US federal court
The case of a gay man arrested in San Diego for wearing a leather kilt will go to a US federal court for appeal next week. Will Walters was told during the San Diego Pride Festival in 2011 that his kilt violated nudity laws. His lawyers say the arrest displays a disturbing double standard, where gay men are arrested but straight women in g-string bikinis are not.
Read more at the San Diego Reader.
Hungary scuppers European gay rights plan
An initiative by the European Parliament to advance LGBT rights has been shot down by Hungary, which gave a lone veto to the plan. Other conservative Eastern European states, including Lithuania and Poland, were convinced to back the anti-discrimination measures, but Hungary’s right-wing government refused to budge.