Berlin Mayor Condemns Attack on Gay Holocaust Monument

Appoximately 100 people participated in a protest yesterday at the site of the memorial to gay Holocaust victims in Berlin, which was vandalized over the weekend. Those assembled included gay Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit.

Said Wowereit: "An attack against this memorial is clearly directed against homosexuals -- that can be said without waiting for further police investigations. We must show our condemnation of this act of intolerance and homophobia.

Germany's Association of Lesbians and Gays released a statement on the attack: "Everything suggests that this attack was motivated by a hatred of homosexuals. The attack shows in a drastic way how necessary this monument is. Hostility to homosexuals remains virulent. The kissing scene shown in the monument evidently hit the mark. Even in a democratic society there are people who can't stand the sight of men kissing in public."

Wowereit speaks (in German), AFTER THE JUMP...

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Major Monument to Gay Holocaust Victims Unveiled Today in Berlin

A monument remembering gays persecuted by the Nazi regime was unveiled in preparation for a ceremony today in Berlin which was presided over by Germany's federal commissioner for culture, Bernd Neumann, and openly gay Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit.

Below, Neumann and Wowereit peer into the monument.

The monument consists of a 3.6 meter-high, 1.9 meter-wide pillar containing a small window through which can be seen a one and a half minute film loop of two men kissing, directed by the Danish director Thomas Vinterberg. Vinterberg directed the 1998 film The Celebration.

A still from the film loop is below.

And here's another shot of the monument, which sits half a block from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin's Tiergarten Park, across from the Jewish Holocaust memorial.

According to Deustche Welle, "Originally it was debated whether homosexuals should be included in the larger memorial before the decision was made to give homosexuals their own monument. But the design corresponds to the Holocaust Memorial's field of steles, a series of concrete blocks of varying sizes. While the Nazi persecution of the Jews is well known, for many years there was little public acknowledgement of Nazi atrocities towards homosexuals. Estimates put the number of homosexuals arrested by Nazis at about 54,000 with 7,000 being killed in concentration camps. 'It is not easy for a gay man to live in this country and this society. It's important to remember that this society punished homosexuality for 20 years after National Socialism ended,' said Günter Dworek of the Federation of Gays and Lesbians in Germany (LSVD), a driving force behind the project."

The monument was designed by Berlin-based Norwegian-Danish artist duo Ingar Dragset and Michael Elmgreen (below).

One more shot AFTER THE JUMP...

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European Mayors Asked to Attend Moscow Gay Pride

Moscow Gay Pride organizer Nikolai Alexeyev has asked London mayor Ken Livingstone (pictured, second from right) and openly gay mayors Bertrand Delanoe of Paris (far left), and Klaus Wowereit (far right) of Berlin to attend Moscow's Gay Pride observance, which has been scheduled for May 30 and 31, UK Gay News reports:

"In a letter to the three Mayors, Nikolai Baev and Nikolai Alekseev point out that in Russia gay men and women face enormous difficulties in publicly expressing themselves. 'You always support the fundamental right of homosexual people to openly manifest and to publicly express themselves,' they say in their letter to the city halls. 'All of you also regularly take part in Gay Pride parades in your own cities.' They go on to say that the constitutional right to freedom of assembly has been violated in the previous two years when Gay Pride Parades have been scheduled, only to be banned by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. 'Taking into account the bans of the public Pride events in the Russian capital in 2006 and 2007, we are not sure that Mayor Luzhkov will permit Gay Pride manifestation this year,' they point out. 'Please take part in our conference and rally,' the organisers ask."

Last year's Gay Pride parade turned bloody and violent. British activist Peter Tatchell and Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass were assaulted on camera. Tatchell and Fairbrass were both then arrested, along with Italian MEP Marco Cappato, German MP Volker Beck, the leader of GayRussia, Nikolai Alexeyev, and dozens of other activists.

The photo of the three mayors above, with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, was taken at a mayoral summit in London in February 2007.

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The owner of Provincetown's gay Boatslip resort, Rich Ferrell, has accused his partners of securities, mail and wire fraud: "Brian DeLaurentis, Ferrell’s attorney, is about to begin the discovery phase of a civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Florida. Charging 12 defendants with racketeering, including the seven other co-owners of the Boatslip, the lawsuit asks for $2.25 million in damages, plus attorney’s fees. Under discovery, depositions are taken from witnesses and evidence gathered for presentation in court."

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Chicago Mayor Daley opens $20 million gay and lesbian center on Halsted Street: "Daley, who has emerged as a champion on gay and lesbian issues, got a hero's welcome at the center, where the rooftop garden bears his name. He engineered $5.4 million in loans and subsidies for the Center on Halsted and pushed through domestic partner benefits for city employees. He appointed Tunney, Chicago's first openly gay alderman, supports gay marriage, welcomed the 2006 Gay Games and has increased city support for AIDS funding."

VIDEO - Man leaps at Popemobile: "The incident, which immediately recalled the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, occurred at the beginning of the Pope's weekly general audience in St Peter's Square in the Vatican. Pope Benedict did not seem to notice the man and continued his audience as usual. A Vatican official said the man, who was wearing a pink t-shirt, black shorts, a cap and sunglasses, managed to reach the back of the Pope's open-topped vehicle before the pontiff's team of eight guards wrestled him to the ground. He is being questioned by Vatican police."

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Senator Mike Gravel slams Hillary Clinton over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell': "'Don't Ask' has not been a benign 'transition policy' as she claims. It was a cowardly political calculation that reaffirmed the military's unjust discharge policies and resulted in the dismissal of 10,870 dedicated service people since 1993. Discharges for homosexuality actually increased under 'Don't Ask' and cost taxpayers more than a quarter of a billion dollars. How can Hillary complain about the recent discharge of 55 Arab language specialists under 'Don't Ask' and not admit that the policy is a terrible mistake?"

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Gay Mayors Take Mild Stand on Anti-gay Moscow Mayor Luzhkov

The mayors of Europe's four largest cities - London, Paris, Moscow, and Berlin, met in London along with the mayor of Beijing to discuss challenges facing their cities, and were met with protest by gay rights activists angry at the anti-gay policies of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has banned a gay pride parade from happening in that city.

Two of the four mayors, Bertrand Delanoe of Paris (far left, above) and Klaus Wowereit of Berlin (far right, above), are openly gay, yet appeared to some news outlets to simply "look on" as Luzhkov branded homosexuality "wrong and unusual".

According to UK Gay News, Maria Tabak of the Russian RIA Novosti news agency asked if the mayors had raised the "controversial issues" of gay parades in Moscow: "How could we have avoided this subject? And why are you interested in this subject, Mayor? There was a lot discussed in the media. First of all what you said about gay parades and also about what Mr. Livingstone said on the same issue."

The translation appears to not be as smooth as I'd like, but here's Luzhkov's response:

“We have a different position as far as gay parades. We have different concerns – different opinions. It’s enough, in terms of our understanding – we understand what is proposed by other mayors. I don’t know what the position is of the Mayor of Beijing. My position is different from the three [other European mayors]. We were talking about sexual minorities and when we discuss it, the states have different attitudes to this issue. Specifically, in Russia, in 1993 – 14 years ago – the law was changed so sexual minorities were not prosecuted. We have a lot of gay clubs – we don’t know many citizens, for example, have this unusual sexual orientation. But the gay clubs are free to carry out their sexual activity. What we say is that we are against propagating – we are against promoting. Like any other society, we want to protect ourselves from the promotion of alcohol and tobacco. When we promote smoking, it’s bad – it’s wrong. But through the gay parade you promote some uncertainty, of course. It becomes an invitation to acquire this quality of the sexual minorities. This is OK. That is normal. Our view is that it is wrong and unusual. Let the gay people do what they do. But they should not involve the citizens of our country."

Luzhkov recently said the gay pride events were "satanic".

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said the mayors had discussed it: "We had a debate on this is a very relaxed way. Our differences in the way we see the situation were made with great respect for each other’s views – and in a peaceful and calm way. In terms of discrimination in general, we have to look at equality of rights. That leaves us to combat every form of discrimination. You do not become homosexual – there is no risk of propaganda. This is not a disease you catch at some point. It is somehow part of our identity. Some of us have brown skin, some of us have fair skin, some of us have brown eyes, some of us have blue eyes. We are born heterosexual or homosexual. And that is it."

A German correspondent, Jochen Hick, reportedly asked if Luzhkov would allow the gay pride parade should the other mayors at the conference say they want to attend. Last year parade organizers attempted to hold events even after the parade was banned. The resulting violence from Russian nationalists and ultra-orthodox Christians injured visiting gay German MP, Volker Beck (see photo):

Luzhkov responded: “I am not going to allow the gay parade. The final decision is taken by the court. If the court makes the decision to allow the gay parade, then the participants are free to parade. Last year, the court supported my decision and the gay parade didn’t take place. If the gay parade is not allowed [by the court], that is according to the law.”

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was moderating the event, was branded a hypocrite for not taking a stronger stand in person against Luzhkov's position on gay rights after releasing a printed statement criticizing the Moscow mayor's views. Journalist Nicolas Alexeyev says Livingstone ignored his attempts to ask a question at the press conference because he was critical of the London mayor's policies: "It is very easy to make statements from his office about supporting gay rights. It is not so easy to be brave enough to tackle the Moscow Mayor about his attitudes."

Livingstone and Wowereit did not make public comments on the Russian Mayor's views.

Homosexuality Not a Disease, Gay Parisian Mayor Tells Moscow’s Luzhkov [uk gay news]

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Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit: "The Roof is On Fire!"

Gay Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit is being hailed for his quick action on New Year's Eve after spotting a fire on the roof of his apartment building and quickly running from door to door to warn its residents.

Said neighbour Gerd Luetjen: "We were sitting there eating our chocolate fondue when he rang the bell and shouted 'The building is on fire!' I tried to warn other neighbours but Wowereit had already been everywhere."

The fire was extinguished, and Wowereit, who had been celebrating with his partner Joern Kubicki, treated his neighbors to Champagne in a nearby restaurant. There was no word on whether it was served in women's shoes.

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