Saturday, January 24, 2009

Gay British Music Teacher Brutally Murdered in Northern Thailand

Post found on Towleroad

David Lyall Crisp, a 56-year-old gay British music teacher was found dead in his apartment in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai today.

The Daily Mail reports:

"'He had beaten about the head with a teak mug. His throat had also been cut with a six inch knife and the murderer tried to finish the act off by smothering him in a cloth which covered his piano,' said Police Colonel Pattipol Serichainchana David Crisp was a prominent member of the Chiang Mai expatriate community. He drove a BMW 5 series, and owned a classic Citroen and was a member of the Classic Cars of Lanna (the old northern kingdom of Thailand) Club. He was also director of a choral society known as the 'Spirit House' singers and earned a living from writing and directing music and teaching the piano. But he was also reportedly frequented gay bars for which the northern capital is famous and according to his housekeeper Prinjai Saedin, 73: 'He often brought young men home, so I knew he was gay. But I don't think he would ever harm anyone'. Two young men whom he had brought from a gay bay to live at the back of his house have since disappeared, possibly fearing they would be blamed. But on January 20th he had brought home a young man who has not been seen since."

Read more at The Daily Mail

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Same-sex marriage supporters to petition Scottish Parliament

Post found on Gay News Blog

A group of gay rights advocates has launched a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for a change in the law to allow two people of the same sex to get married.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network says there is a "ban" on same-sex marriage and that the High Court and the UK Government "have both denied gay couples full equality."

Read more at PinkNews.co.uk

UK Police Charge 11 for Homophobic Abuse at Football Game

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After police released 16 photographs of Tottenham Hotspur fans from a match against Portsmouth last month, eleven were arrested, five are still being sought, and those arrested were charged today, according to the Guardian:

"The group, which includes two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old, are alleged to have subjected the former England player to abuse during the club's 2-0 home win against Spurs at Fratton Park in September...A police spokeswoman said of the accused: 'They were charged with indecent chanting at a football match using words which were essentially swearwords. They weren't appropriate to be used at all, especially where there were children and we received a number of complaints.'"

Read more at Towleroad

KPH-Campaign Against Homophibia A Polish NGO attacks Polish gays

Post found on Topix

The Polish gay community suffrage against homophobia within the ultraconservative Roman Catholic country is well documented in worldwide media. The battles the gay activist endured made headlines among fellow European Union member states unleashing condemnation of Polish government and citizens public visceral displays of intolerance. Those type headlines have dissipated since 2007 under the new socially conservative but tolerant and pragmatic PO (Civil Platform) government of Prime Minster Donald Tusk.

Read more at Topix

Harsh Sentences for Homosexuality in Senegal

Post found in Gay News Blog

DAKAR, Senegal — Nine men were handed unusually harsh sentences of eight years in prison after being tried on charges of conspiracy and "unnatural acts," a term used to criminalize homosexuality, according to their lawyers and gay rights groups here.

The men were arrested on December 19 at the home of Diadji Diouf, a prominent gay activist who works with AIDS organizations to prevent the spread of the disease in the largely clandestine gay community in Senegal, according to Joel Nana, a program associate for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Read more at NYTimes.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Laws against gay sex are "like apartheid" says UN human rights chief

Post found on PinkNews.co.uk

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned the continued criminalisation of homosexual sex across the world.

Mrs Navanethem Pillay, a South African, was addressing at a high level meeting on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity at the UN in New York last month.

She was the first woman to start a law practice in her home province of Natal in 1967 and acted as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists.

Read more at PinkNews.co.uk