Church cancels funeral over same-sex kissing
A Denver church cancelled a funeral for a lesbian because the pastor did not want to show a video of the deceased kissing her partner. After the family refused to edit the video, the funeral was moved to a funeral home across the street, because the pastors did not want “overt, open homosexuality in their sanctuary.”
Indian minister backtracks on plan to make LGBT youth “normal”
The youth affairs minister for the Indian state of Goa has backtracked on comments he made about plans to make LGBT youth “normal,” saying he was misquoted. Several Indian news agencies quoted him as saying he planned to set up Alcoholics Anonymous-like programs for homosexuality. “I was misunderstood and misquoted. I was not talking about the LGBT, but about drug addicted and sexually abused youths,” he said, according to DNA India. Goa’s chief minister also weighed in, condemning his minister’s original statement and saying, “homosexuality is a natural gift.”
Couple challenges Northern Ireland marriage laws
A couple married in England is challenging Northern Ireland’s marriage laws in court to try to force the region to accept their marriage. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that does not recognize same-sex marriage, after the first gay couples were married in Scotland this month. In 2013, a bill to legalize gay marriage failed in Northern Ireland’s regional assembly.
Russian music teacher fired for being gay
A music teacher at a school for autistic children in St Petersburg, Russia, is suing for reinstatement after she was fired for being gay. The school dismissed her for “amoral action” after an anti-gay activist discovered she is gay and contacted her employer to have her fired. The woman says officials told her she would never work as a teacher again, even though she never disclosed her sexuality to children.
Read more at The Moscow Times.
Study: Bisexual women suffer more mental health problems than lesbians
According to a study by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, bisexual women are more likely than lesbians to suffer from mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and eating disorders. The authors say the results may be caused by the “double discrimination” of homophobia and biphobia. The results held true even after controlling for bisexual women being younger and poorer, on average, than lesbians.
Male actor to play witch in Into the Woods
Playwright Stephen Sondheim has given permission to a Florida theatre company to cast a male actor, Tituss Burgess, as the witch in his musical Into the Woods. The role was played originally on Broadway by Bernadette Peters and in film by Meryl Streep. Burgess played a flamboyant hairdresser on 30 Rock and had roles in Guys and Dolls and The Little Mermaid on Broadway.
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