Sometimes when we are navigating the complicated social and legal mine fields in the United States, we forget the freedoms we have. Trudging from one awkward family interaction, all those parties for LGBT people with no family to go home to, long conversations about finding a nice [insert opposite sex gender term here] to settle down with, these kinds of holiday traditions can make a queer person feel pretty crappy about themselves.

But a couple in Malawi are struggling for much more basic rights. They were arrested over the weekend for having a same-sex engagement party. Homosexuality in Malawi is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

There are a group of Malawi LGBT people organizing for gay rights in the country. They hope to use the Bill of Rights, incorporated into the constitution in 1995, to protect their membership from prosecution under the anti-gay criminal law. The government is resisting, citing, among other reasons, the rising rate of HIV in the country.

Education and the kind of high profile protest like this past weekend’s engagement party will eventually lead to increased freedoms for Malawi. With South Africa leading the way, there is hope that semi-democratic nations (Malawi has elections, just a lot of corruption to go with it), will be more tolerant of their LGBT citizens. Still, the struggle is long (as Americans know) and the couple in Malawi are just beginning the journey.

This new years let’s take a moment to be thankful for what we have acheived and to send strength to those LGBT people around the world still fighting for basic freedoms.

By Emma Ruby-Sachs, 365gay blogger

Sometimes when we are navigating the complicated social and legal mine fields in the United States, we forget the freedoms we have. Trudging from one awkward family interaction, all those parties for LGBT people with no family to go home to, long conversations about finding a nice [insert opposite sex gender term here] to settle [...]

There is a welcome update to Monday’s story of Zikkeria Bellamy, the Orlando transgender teen who applied for a job at a local McDonald’s. The manager not only refused to hire Bellamy but left a hateful voicemail message explaining the store does “not hire faggots”. The manager at the Sand Lake Road McDonald’s has been fired, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

A spokeswoman for the local restaurant, Allison Garrett, said in a statement the employee who left the voice mail “acted outside the scope of his authority and was not responsible for hiring.” He no longer works at the restaurant. The statement did not mention did not mention the other manager. McDonald’s “has a zero tolerance policy prohibiting discrimination or harassment in the restaurant,” the statementsaid.

By rodonline.typepad.com

There is a welcome update to Monday’s story of Zikkeria Bellamy, the Orlando transgender teen who applied for a job at a local McDonald’s. The manager not only refused to hire Bellamy but left a hateful voicemail message explaining the store does “not hire faggots”. The manager at the Sand Lake Road McDonald’s has been [...]

Why are the English archbishops silent over Uganda’s grotesque anti-homosexuality bill?
A bill currently before the Ugandan parliament (pdf) proposes seven year prison sentences for discussing homosexuality; life imprisonment for homosexual acts; and death for a second offence. Sober observers believe it will be passed. The Anglican church in Uganda appears to support it, and the Church of England in this country is absolutely silent. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester solemnly denounce violence in the Congo, where they have no influence at all, but on Uganda they maintain a resolute post-colonial silence.

The position of the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is more complicated, and his silence more eloquent. He is himself Ugandan by birth. One of his younger half-brothers, pastor Robert Kayanja, is a highly successful pentecostal preacher in Kampala, running a church called the Rubaga Miracle Centre. Such people are highly rewarded, and the business is extremely competitive. A rival preacher, the gloriously named Solomon Male of the The Arising Church was accused this spring of kidnapping Kayanga’s assistant and torturing him for five days to get him to confess that his boss was gay and partial to young men.

The admission would have been social death. Come to think of it, under the new law, it would be physical death as well.

Sentamu’s office say that he has not spoken to his brother for some months and was unaware of the story. So the suggestion on some websites that this was the cause of his silence can’t be right. On the other hand, his office is quite clear that he has “no plans” to speak out on the proposed bill.

To read more, please click here.

www.guardian.co.uk

Why are the English archbishops silent over Uganda’s grotesque anti-homosexuality bill? A bill currently before the Ugandan parliament (pdf) proposes seven year prison sentences for discussing homosexuality; life imprisonment for homosexual acts; and death for a second offence. Sober observers believe it will be passed. The Anglican church in Uganda appears to support it, and [...]

The state-sanctioned, anti-gay hysteria in the East African nation of Uganda returns with deadly consequences. Ugandan MP David Bahati introduces a bill that creates an offense of “aggravated homosexuality” to be punishable by death, reports New Vision. To protect “traditional families and children”, of course.

Aggravated homosexuality will be punished by death, according to a new bill tabled in Parliament yesterday.

The private member’s bill was tabled by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati (NRM).

A person commits aggravated homosexuality when the victim is a person with disability or below the age of 18, or when the offender is HIV-positive.

The bill thus equates aggravated homosexuality to aggravated defilement among people of different sexes, which also carries the death sentence.

The Bill, entitled the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, also states that anyone who commits the offence of homosexuality will be liable to life imprisonment.

This was already the case under the current Penal Code Act.

However, it gives a broader definition of the offence of homosexuality.

A person charged with the offence will have to undergo a mandatory medical examination to ascertain his or her HIV status.

To read more, please click here. (www.newvision.co.ug)

By Mary Karugaba and Catherine Bekunda

The state-sanctioned, anti-gay hysteria in the East African nation of Uganda returns with deadly consequences. Ugandan MP David Bahati introduces a bill that creates an offense of “aggravated homosexuality” to be punishable by death, reports New Vision. To protect “traditional families and children”, of course. Aggravated homosexuality will be punished by death, according to a [...]

Daniel Rodriguez, the second suspect in the brutal weekend gay-bashing who was arrested in Virginia on Tuesday, was returned to New York City overnight and arraigned in a Queens courtroom this morning. Rodriguez faces assault as hate crime charges in connection with the beating of Jack Price.

To read more, please click here. (rodonline.typepad.com)

Daniel Rodriguez, the second suspect in the brutal weekend gay-bashing who was arrested in Virginia on Tuesday, was returned to New York City overnight and arraigned in a Queens courtroom this morning. Rodriguez faces assault as hate crime charges in connection with the beating of Jack Price. To read more, please click here. (rodonline.typepad.com)

By James Withers, contributing editor, 365Gay Blog

Some organization called the Black Coalition Against Gay Marriage (anyone heard of these clowns?) sent a letter to the White House, stating that any support from President Barack Obama for same sex marriage would negatively impact his black backers.

“Changing the definition of marriage will have many unintended consequences which will hurt generations to come,” the coalition noted in its missive.

Maybe I would take the BCAGM seriously if it was filled with mainstream organizations. Outside of a few religious group’s (no one should be surprised by that), the only big name in the coalition is CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality. However, CORE is a shell of its former self and its credibility was shot when Roy Innis picked brawling as a political tactic.

BCAGM needs to get its news from an other source. Obama taking on DOMA? Really? The members of the coalition need to spend more time reading gay news site (instead of trolling the net looking for gay porn) because they might learn a thing or two. By the way: nothing wrong with using the net for porn viewing.

We’ve talked about the combination of race, sexuality, and marriage ever since the Proposition 8 vote in November so there is not anything new to add. The coalition has a point. If Obama pushes for the dismantling of DOMA, he will lose a few religious black votes; however, those votes will be quickly replaced. Subtraction by addition.

If we want to learn how to navigate the race, sexuality, and marriage waters we should study what happened in Washington, DC. A predominantly black city that came out for marriage rights despite the yammering of a few.

By James Withers, contributing editor, 365Gay Blog Some organization called the Black Coalition Against Gay Marriage (anyone heard of these clowns?) sent a letter to the White House, stating that any support from President Barack Obama for same sex marriage would negatively impact his black backers. “Changing the definition of marriage will have many unintended [...]