Trans man recreates Adam Levine photoshoot
In FTM magazine, trans man Aydian Dowling has recreated a photoshoot by Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine in Cosmopolitan UK. Dowling is not a professional model, but runs a clothing company for trans men.
Russell Tovey apologizes for “prance around” comment
Gay British actor Russell Tovey has apologized for an interview in the Observer that some readers say insulted effeminate gay men. He said “I feel like I could have been really effeminate, if I hadn’t gone to the school I went to. Where I felt like I had to toughen up. If I’d have been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a different person now. I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down that path. Because it’s probably given me the unique quality that people think I have.” The quote led many on Twitter to label Tovey with the hashtag #worstgayever.
Russia blocks same-sex marriage benefits for UN workers
Russia says it will block a plan by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to extend marital benefits to UN employees in same-sex marriages. Ban made the administrative ruling last year, but Russia has threatened to take the issue to a vote in the UN budget committee, where it would likely lose. Russia says individual states should decide on marital recognition for their own staff.
Gay rights activist charged with abduction hoax
A well-known Cincinnati gay rights activist has been arrested for making false claims to police after he allegedly faked his own abduction. Adam Hoover tweeted out that he was trapped in the trunk of his car and that “they said they are going to kill my family.” The message was retweeted over a thousand times and prompted a desperate search, but police now say Hoover invented the story.
Alabama Supreme Court defies federal ruling, halts same-sex marriages
The Alabama Supreme Court has issued a ruling halting same-sex marriages, in defiance of a federal circuit court. The decision results in an unusual legal stand-off that could remain unresolved until the US Supreme Court rules on the issue this summer. “Throughout the entirety of its history, Alabama has chosen the traditional definition of marriage,” the Alabama court ruled. “That fact does not change simply because the new definition of marriage has gained ascendancy in certain quarters of the country, even if one of those quarters is the federal judiciary.”
Read more at the Washington Post.
British Home Office: refugee with children can’t be lesbian
A Nigerian woman fleeing imprisonment for her LGBT activism at home is facing resistance to her UK refugee claim because she has children. A lawyer for the Home Secretary said Aderonke Apata was “not part of the social group known as lesbians” but had simply “indulged in same-sex activity.” He also said, “You can’t be a heterosexual one day and a lesbian the next day. Just as you can’t change your race.”
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