Gay Rights Activist Questions Hillary Clinton at EU

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on a man at a Q&A session at the European Parliament today  "because he [was wearing] a T-shirt that [said] 'I Love Hillary'" on it.

The man stood up and said: "My name is Max. I am from Moldova, and I am a gay rights activist. In seven countries in the world homosexuals are sentenced to death and many more to prison. A lot of gay men around the world die because of the HIV AIDS policies that the Bush administration had that did not allow to spend money on prevention for men who have sex with men. How do you see the foreign policy of the United States changing in the coming years in the field of human rights and in particular sexual rights and gay and lesbian rights?"

As I've noted before, things certainly aren't good in Moldova.

Answered Clinton: "Human rights is and always will be one of the pillars of our foreign policy. And in particular, the persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something that we take very seriously. It is terribly unfortunate that right now in unfortunately many places in the world violence against gays and lesbians, certainly discrimination and prejudice are not just occurring but condoned and protected. And we would hope that over the next few years we could have some influence in trying to change those attitudes..."

Watch Clinton's entire answer, AFTER THE JUMP...

EU Called on to Look at Moldova Following Gay Pride Terror

UK Gay News reports that MEP Raul Romeva has called on the European Union to "reconsider its relations" with Moldova following last weekend's terrifying assault on a bus filled with participants observing Gay Pride festivities there. I posted about the incident on Monday.

According to UK Gay News, "Fifty participants of the parade were blocked in a bus surrounded by several hundred aggressive protestors shouting 'Beat them to death' and 'Don’t let them escape'. After being forced by the neo-fascists to destroy their pride materials – colourful balloons, posters with anti-discrimination slogans and flags of the EU – Pride participant’s bus was eventually allowed to go. Police forces merely observed the violence and attacks and did not bother to intervene."

Said Romeva: "It is unacceptable that Moldova exposes its own citizens, along with foreign visitors, to such violent attacks. Perhaps the European Union should reconsider its relations with a state so gravely breaching International Human Rights Obligations."

(image source)

Moldovan Police Stand By As Nationalists Attack Gay Activists

Sixty gays and lesbians aboard a bus headed to march at a Gay Pride rally (which late on Friday the mayor of Moldova's capital Chisinau announced the city would not allow) were surround by hundreds of nationalists and neo-Nazis who threatened to kill them while the police stood by and watched it happen, according to UK Gay News:

"The law on freedom of assembly of Moldova guarantees peaceful assembly to everyone, and puts an obligation on the police to guarantee the exercise of the right and the safety of participants. 'The police did not facilitate the exit of pride participants from the bus into the street, did not prevent the rival aggressive groups from intervention, and through their passivity encouraged escalation of violence and the build up of the all-permissive hostile atmosphere,' GenderDoc-M said in a statement this afternoon. Independent human rights observers witnessed hatred shouts, such as 'Beat them to death' and 'Don’t let them escape'.

Six police cars were allegedly parked 100 meters away but there was no interference of the riot by law enforcement.

UK Gay News adds: " Two unidentified well-built men wearing the signs of the rival groups, forced the doors from both sides of the bus and demanded the destruction of all march materials (banners asking for anti-discrimination law and tolerance, European Union and Moldovan flags and rainbow balloons) as condition for lifting the blockade of the bus. According to the estimates of independent observers some 200 to 400 people had surrounded the bus. The core of the crowd were teenagers, some dressed military-style, some wearing black masks and others skinhead-like carrying A4 posters with derogatory homophobic messages and signs. The outer ring of the crowd was mostly middle-aged men wearing black clothes encouraging the youths."

Below, left, nationalists knock on the door of the gay and lesbian headquarters in Chisinau and on the right, members of the gay and lesbian community rest in a hotel after the incident.

Moldovan Police Stand Accused of Letting Protestors Highjack Bus Carrying Gay Pride Participants [uk gay news]

Previously
Moldova Kicks Off Pride Festivities with Symbolic Gay Marriage [tr]
Mayor Bans Moldovan Gay Pride Parade [tr]

Mayor Bans Moldovan Gay Pride Parade

That first-ever Moldovan Gay Pride parade I posted about earlier has been banned by the mayor of the nation's capital Chisinau.

Organizers sent out a notice earlier today, part of which read: "It is already sixth time that a peaceful LGBT demonstration is banned in Moldova, despite pressure and criticism of the Council of Europe, European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. From the police, city hall and mass-media we have learned that a number of groups is planning violent attacks on pride participants. We believe that the unlawful decision of the city hall was designed to shift the responsibility for any victims of this violence from local authorities and the police to pride organizers. The actions of the Chisinau city hall and the police are in violation of the European Convention for Human Rights and the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, to which Moldovan is a signatory, as well as other international human rights obligations of the Moldovan state. It is also against the European Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which Moldova has aspirations to join."

Many plan to march anyway, in defiance of the order.

Previously
Moldova Kicks Off Pride Festivities with Symbolic Gay Marriage [tr]

(thanks, rex)

Moldova Kicks Off Pride Festivities with Symbolic Gay Marriage

The small Republic of Moldova, sandwiched between Romania and the Ukraine in eastern Europe, kicked off its Pride festivities yesterday, a feat unto itself as such observances have in previous years been banned. The weekend's not over yet, however, and organizers hope to stage a parade. Here's what happened last year after officials banned the parade from taking place in the capital of Chisinau.

This year, according to gay groups there, it looks like the parade is a go. They write: "The public manifestation will be held under the slogan “All different – all equal” and it coincides with the celebration of the 10th anniversary of GenderDoc-M work in Moldova. The manifestation will take place on Sunday, 11 May from 11 till 12 a.m. the route of the manifestation is planned to start at the National Library and head to the Central Square of the City. We do hope that this year LGBT community will be able to benefit from the new law and nobody will ban it as previous years."

Yesterday's symbolic wedding ceremony included two brides wearing masks, and a fire breather. That's hot!

Moldova became independent from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

First time in Moldovan history LGBT community will have legal public manifestation [gay.md]

Previously
Moldovan Gays Protest Ban on Gay Pride [tr]

News: Thomas Roberts, Penguins, Jason Castro, Kylie Minogue

New York high court refuses to strike down state's recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriage: "The Court of Appeals declined yesterday to review the mid-level appellate court's decision to recognize the couple's Canadian marriage, the first such ruling by an appellate court in New York State. For now, that lower court decision remains binding across the state."

Thomas Roberts talks to The Advocate about the news industry's glass ceiling for gays: "It’s funny that people think I got fired from CNN. I left CNN on my accord: I resigned from my contract because of personal reasons. I never dealt with anything but respect and kindness. There’s a great misconception. I’ve worked my ass off, I’ve been fortunate, and luck doesn’t hurt either. If people don’t like that I’m gay or that I talk about being gay, I’m sorry. Because that’s not my problem."

American Idol's resident stoner Jason Castro has his own hot doll, complete with dreads, and it can be yours.

A-Rod faints as daughter is born.

Have any questions for Chace Crawford?

Filipino Archbishop defends right of gays to participate in Santacruzans: "If they are devotees, they are religious and they look decent, I believe they have the right to join in. I think it would be better for us to see gays who act formally and decently in the Santacruzan rather than young and beautiful women who are not clean and [are] immoral."

Gay penguin book And Tango Makes Three is "most objected to" library book in America for second year straight: "Other books on the ALA's top 10 list include Maya Angelou's memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in which the author writes of being raped as a young girl; Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, long attacked for alleged racism; and Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, an anti-religious work in which a former nun says: 'The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.'"

Three teenage girls admit to tagging school and vehicles with racial, vulgar and homophobic messages in Wisconsin.

Moldova hopes to hold its first Gay Pride ever: "Organisers of the Gay Pride in Moldova – 'Rainbow over the Dniester' – are hopeful of being able to stage a parade this year in the country’s capital, Chisinau. The Pride is the seventh to be organised, but in previous years the parade has been banned by the authorities. 'During three previous consecutive years, public authorities have banned the public manifestations on various pretexts,' said a spokesperson for GenderDoc-M, the Pride organisers. 'This year after we applied to the City Hall to inform the authorities about planned public manifestation within the Pride, we got the information, which gave us hope.'"

Kylie Minogue show hot out of the gates in Paris.

One benefit to having a fat ass.

Rhode Island lawmakers to debate bills that would allow same-sex couples married elsewhere to divorce in that state: "Lawmakers filed the divorce bill after Rhode Island's Supreme Court ruled in December that a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts cannot divorce in Rhode Island, where they live. Massachusetts is the only state to legalize gay marriage."

Looks like Dick Cheney's gone hunting again.

John Travolta is a subway terrorist.

White House admits it is missing email backups from start of Iraq war: "The White House acknowledged in a court filing last night that it no longer has backup tapes of email from between March 1 and May 22, 2003, a period that includes the beginning of the Iraq war. Yesterday's filing is the latest development in the ongoing White House emails lawsuit, in which two non-profits, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA), are suing to force the administration to recover any missing emails and institute a more effective email archiving system."