Big Gay News
BigGayNews from New Mexico:
Gay Couple ‘Forced To Sit At Back Of Bus After Driver Saw Them Holding Hands’
The New York Daily News reports that a gay couple was forced to sit at the back of a bus after its driver saw them holding hands, they claim.
Ron McCoy and Christopher Bowers, both from Portland Oregon, were in Albuquerque for the city’s Pride festival, and boarded the airport shuttle bus when they allege that the driver noticed their clasped hands and told them that they were to go to the back of the bus if they were going to do that.
The couple complied with the request, but has filed a complaint with the ACLU over the incident.
BigGayNews from Seattle:
Jason Jacobs, Seattle Gay Man, Beaten In Alleged Hate Crime
The Huffington Post reports that the Seattle Police Department is reportedly investigating the August 5th beating of a local gay man as a hate crime.
Jacobs told the media that he was walking through the Capitol Hill area of Seattle around midnight when he was confronted by three men and two women who began taunting him with anti-gay slurs.
Jacobs attempted to get away, but the group chased him and allegedly attacked him, causing him to suffer a broken nose, cuts to the face and abrasions to his knees.
BigGayNews from Washington DC:
Only One Republican Signs Letter Calling For End To Ban On Gay Men Donating Blood
The Huffington Post reports that Senator Mike Enzi (Republican – Wyoming) stood out last week as the only Republican to support a call on President Barack Obama’s administration to end a longstanding ban on gay men donating blood.
Gay men have been prohibited from donating blood since the policy was enacted in 1992 due to fear of HIV/AIDS contamination, but Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has since been asked to reevaluate this ban due to changes in the scientific community’s understanding of the transmission of the virus.
The letter, drafted by Senator Elizabeth Warren, was signed by 18 senators and 64 House members and was in response to one of Warren’s constituents who was banned from donating blood after the Boston Marathon bombings.
BigGayNews from Uruguay:
Gay Couples Rush To Be First To Wed In Uruguay
USA Today reports that same-sex couples rushed to the altar Monday in Uruguay as the country became the first in the Americas to legalize gay marriage.
TV producer Sergio Miranda and his partner, artist Rodrigo Borda, showed up before dawn to register under Uruguay’s “marriage equality law”.
Another unidentified couple, however, was the first same-sex couple to actually be married, after gaining special permission to waive the ten days of bureaucracy from the Civil Registry in order for a rushed ceremony to be performed in a hospital where one of the men is dying from advanced cancer.
BigGayNews from Great Britain:
“Skyfall” Actor Ben Whishaw Officially Comes Out As Gay, Reveals He Is Married
The Huffington Post reports that “Skyfall” actor Ben Whishaw has officially come out as gay, and has been married to his partner, Australian composer Mark Bradshaw, for a year now.
The 32-year-old British actor’s sexuality has long been speculated about, but never confirmed by either him or his representatives, even when some questioned it in March of 2011 when Whishaw was starring in roles in two homoerotic stage plays.
When questioned previously, he stated that he was a private person and did not feel comfortable revealing certain topics regarding his life.
BigGayNews from Russia:
Russia Will Enforce Anti-Gay Law During Olympics
USA Today reports that Russia will enforce a new law cracking down on gay rights activism when it hosts international athletes and fans during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the country’s sports minister said Thursday, appearing to contradict assurances to the contrary from the International Olympic Committee.
Initially, the IOC had been told that it had received assurance from the Russian government that there would be no discrimination or actions taken against athletes, officials, spectators or the media attending the Sochi games.
However, according to Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, “An athlete of nontraditional sexual orientation isn’t banned from coming to Sochi. But if he goes out into the streets and starts to propagandize, then of course he will be held accountable.”
BigGayNews from Haiti:
Mob Attacks Gay Couple’s Engagement Ceremony In Haiti
The Raw Story reports that a British man and his Haitian partner were attacked by dozens of locals who threw molotov cocktails and rocks at the couple’s private engagement ceremony, police said.
The attack, which occurred in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, resulted in a number of injuries, windows being broken at the home, and two cars set on fire before police arrived to break up the mob gathered outside the private residence.
The British man, a worker with the Red Cross, asked to not be identified for both his safety and his partner’s.
BigGayNews from Amsterdam:
Amsterdam Celebrates 2013 Gay Pride Festival
The Huffington Post reports that rainbow flags are flying from scores of Amsterdam buildings as tens of thousands of festival-goers, many dressed in pink or wearing studded leather, party it up at one of the city’s biggest events: the annual Gay Pride celebration.
The most notable part of the festivities will be the colorful flotilla of boats crowding the city’s canals, each decorated in a particular theme.
One of the year’s more notable participants will be a boat entered by the soccer association of the Netherlands and carrying a number of former soccer stars in a bid to send the message that homosexuality is accepted in the world of soccer.
