Stories about LGBTQ+ from May, 2008
Brazil: Rio carnival will have LGBT samba school
Arco-Íris de Amor [Love Raimbow], the first LGBT samba school, will parade Rio de Janeiro Carnival next year, according to Thiago Velloso [pt].
Iran: “The Internet is a gift to us”
Arsham Parsi is the founder and director of the Iranian Queer Organization based in Toronto, Canada. He talked to us about the presence of Iranian homosexuals in cyberspace, their challenges and projects. Homosexuality is banned in Iran, and punishable by prison or death.
Jamaica, Barbados: Human Rights
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp is joining in Bloggers Unite‘s awareness campaign for human rights, “especially in Jamaica where the rights of our gay men and women are denied almost daily”…while Barbados Underground chooses to “highlight the plight of many women in our own backyard.”
Kuwait: Gay Encounter
Cat, from Kuwait, describes her encounter with a gay person at a workshop in this post.
Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Lyrical Content
ttgapers.com reports that Jamaican dancehall artist Buju Banton “is pleading with fellow…entertainers to clean up their lyrics in order to stem the social decay that is not only present in Jamaica but most of the Caribbean countries where the music is very popular.”
Hong Kong: Woman's Webmagazine
A new woman webmagzine called Softcopy has been launched in Hong Kong.
Armenia: Mr Gay Europe
Unzipped Gay Armenia is excited by news that Armenia might be represented in this year's Mr. Gay Europe. The blog notes that the country's involvement will be a significant event and follows the region's first ever entrant last year from neighboring Azerbaijan.
Armenia: Surveillance of Gays & Swingers
Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the English translation of an article written by a fugitive opposition newspaper editor and activist on surveillance of prominent gays and swingers by the successor to the KGB, the National Security Service. It is alleged that compromising dossiers are collected which can later be used...
Azerbaijan: Homophobic Politics
After laying the blame for the stabbing of a pro-opposition journalist by his gay lover, Queerty comments on news that the authorities are once again playing the homophobic card in the run-up to the presidential election in Azerbaijan. State TV claims that a leading opposition leader and possible candidate in...
Russia: Moscow Conversations
“Moscow conversations” on Putin, women, Poland and Russia – at Polandian.