NEWS: George W. Bush To The Rescue, More Arrests In Russia, And A Long Goodbye To Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Brother of Gabriel Garcia Marquez publicly acknowledges that the author is suffering from dementia, and no longer writes:

"He has problems with his memory. Sometimes I cry because I feel like I'm losing him," he said.

... invited to talk about his relationship with Gabo, as the writer is affectionately known in Colombia, Jaime said he could not hold back from talking about his illness anymore.

"He is doing well physically, but he has been suffering from dementia for a long time," he said. "He still has the humour, joy and enthusiasm that he has always had."

Eight more gay activists arrested in St. Petersburg.

The New York Times on the fracturing of the "ex-gay" movement; and an interview with Exodus International's Alan Chambers:

Only a few years ago, Mr. Chambers was featured in advertisements along with his wife, Leslie, saying, “Change is possible.” But now, he said in the interview, “Exodus needs to move beyond that slogan.”

“I believe that any sexual expression outside of heterosexual, monogamous marriage is sinful according to the Bible,” Mr. Chambers emphasized. “But we’ve been asking people with same-sex attractions to overcome something in a way that we don’t ask of anyone else,” he said, noting that Christians with other sins, whether heterosexual lust, pornography, pride or gluttony, do not receive the same blanket condemnations.

London Pride.

CNN on the push to eliminate the United States' gay blood-donor ban:

... Since the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic decimated their community, gay men -- or MSMs (men who have sex with men) as they are called by federal agencies -- have not been allowed to donate blood. In June, a group of 64 U.S. legislators led by Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services encouraging it to move forward with a study that may lead to the end of the decades-old ban.

"This is a matter of life and death and we are turning away over 50,000 healthy men who want to donate blood," Quigley told CNN. "A straight person who has unsafe sex with multiple partners can give blood, and that creates a greater risk than a gay person in a monogamous relationship."

Obamafan serves the President eggs, bacon, toast, grits; dies happy.

Henceforth, 17 Magazine shall use only un-airbrushed, well-fed models.

The Guardian's Tom Shone goes gay for Magic Mike, and a lot of other movies, too:

The screen is an equal opportunity seducer – polymorphically perverse. If you are a man (or a woman) and you watch the famous scene in Notorious where Cary Grant nibbles Ingrid Bergman's ear while she is answering the phone, you don't feel two different things depending on which half of the screen you look at. I don't look at Bergman and go "yummy" and then look at Grant and go "shame about him."  Such is the heat of the movie screen that every grain and pixel is suffused with longing. The fact is: I have spent as much time in the dark of the movie theatre watching men kiss and be kissed, and getting a kick out of it, as I have women.

Amazon to enter the smartphone market.

George W. Bush spent the 4th in Zambia:

He worked alongside other volunteers in Kabwe - Zambia's second-largest city - to renovate a health clinic which specializes in the early detection and treatment of cervical cancer.

“You're always the former president but I wanted to come here as a laborer...I do want to say that on this particular trip that myself and friends have left behind a clinic and hope to inspire others to come and refurbish clinics as well,” Bush said.

Bush is helping lead the fight against cervical cancer in his post-presidential years and has so far helped raise more than $85 million ...

 

LGBT Activists To Defy Gay Pride Ban In St. Petersburg

Defying a ban on gay pride in St. Petersburg, Russia, activists and allies there say they'll march this Saturday, following a route that originally been approved by authorities, but was later cancelled. They are not, however, expecting a huge turn-out.

The Moscow Times elaborates:

Authorities authorized the parade, but the city's legal committee later reversed that decision, spokesman for the St. Petersburg governor's office Andrei Kibitov wrote Thursday on Twitter.

He said the city had revoked permission in part due to the "enormous" number of requests by residents not to allow the event.

Gavrikov called the reversal illegal and said participants would go ahead with the march and rally.

"We have in our hands the authorization given to us earlier, all the necessary papers," he said.

Gavrikov predicted that many fewer than the 300 people originally expected would attend the event because the city had rescinded permission.

It's unclear how the city will react to the march, but if they decide to crackdown, activists face fines that range from $153 to $15,300.

40 Arrested In Moscow Gay Rights Protest

From WashPo:

Gay activists tried to stage two demonstrations in Moscow on Sunday to demand the right to hold a gay pride parade in the Russian capital, but they were blocked first by Orthodox Christian opponents and then by police, who detained a total of about 40 people from both sides.

The gay activists first gathered outside the city council building, where a few scuffles occurred as their opponents tried to disrupt the demonstration, decrying homosexuality as a sin. After police broke up that protest, another group tried to stage a second protest at city hall, but once again police moved in and detained participants, including prominent gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev.

Alexeyev, by the way, was the first man arrested in St. Petersburg under that city's new law prohibiting the "promotion" of homosexuality.

Moscow, which doesn't yet have such a law, is nevertheless famously unwiling to issue permits for gay pride parades. In March, city authorities banned a parade scheduled for this afternoon; it was the seventh consecutive year officials had refused permits. On the day the parade was banned, Alexeyev -- who really gets around! -- wrote that he was "getting ready for clashes on the 27th."

The Orthodox Christians with whom he clashed this morning are described by WashPo:

Among the opponents of gay rights was Dmitry Tsarionov, who spoke to the crowd in front of a sign that said “Moscow is not Sodom.”

“I will not allow perverts to bring the wrath of God onto our city,” he said. “I want our children to live in a country where a sin that so awfully distorts human nature is not preached in schools.”

Activist Nikolai Alexeyev is First Court Conviction Under St. Petersburg Russia's Ban on 'Gay Propaganda'

Prominent Russian LGBT activist Nikolai Alexeyev is the first person convicted under the ban on 'gay propaganda' in St. Petersburg, Russia, the AP reports:

Nikolai Alexeyev told the Associated Press that a city court in St. Petersburg fined him 5,000 rubles ($170) for breaching the law, which was controversially introduced by lawmakers in Russia's second-largest city in February. He pledged to appeal the decision...

...Alexeyev was briefly detained last month after he picketed the city hall in St. Petersburg with a poster which said that "homosexuality is not a perversion."

He said the judge has not presented the grounds for her decision, and that they will only be available next week. Calls to the court went unanswered shortly after the ruling...Alexeyev said he would go to Russia's Constitutional Court and then to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if a higher court in St. Petersburg upholds Friday's ruling.

17 Activists Arrested Under St. Petersburg 'Gay Propaganda' Ban for Carrying Rainbow Flags: VIDEOS

Seventeen activists have been arrested in a May Day civil rights and freedom march, Coming Out St. Petersburg reports:

This year's May 1st march is a peaceful demonstration, permitted by the city administration. LGBT activists were marching as part of a larger "democratic" column, consisting of various democratic and civil society groups of St. Petersburg. 5 minutes into the march, police requested removal of rainbow flags. When activists refused, they were forcefully detained and are now facing charges of "propaganda of homosexuality" and non-compliance with the police. One activist was detained for holding a sign "homophobia is illegal."

17 activists are still being held by the police. Among those detained are Igor Kochetkov, chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, Mikhail Belodedov of Coming Out, Sergey Kondrashov, lawyer and straight ally, and Elena Popova, director of St. Petersburg organization "Soldier's mothers", defending rights of draftees.

Video of the scuffle and detentions which I located on YouTube, AFTER THE JUMP...

The recently-passed so-called "gay propaganda" law which bars (and imposes fines for) gay groups, gay books and periodicals, LGBT Pride events, and other "promotion" of homosexuality, is being considered in Moscow, and federally.

Russian Officials Plot Moscow, Federal Expansion of Law Banning 'Gay Propaganda'

The recent law banning "gay propaganda" in St. Petersburg, Russia is being taken up in Moscow, and perhaps, soon, federally, Russian media reports.

The St. Petersburg Times reports:

Deputies of the Moscow City Duma discussing the creation of an anti-gay law similar to the one in St. Petersburg have decided to broaden its scope to ban all kinds of “sexual propaganda,” and they said they plan to push the initiative on the federal level.

City Duma speaker Vladimir Platonov proposed the idea and stressed its importance during a roundtable meeting attended by representatives of regions where laws restricting homosexual propaganda among minors have already been enacted.

But the legislation would also ban the spread of materials of a heterosexual nature. Representatives of parental organizations said the law was not aimed at people of non-traditional sexual orientation, but a necessary step to protect children from information that would produce psychological harm, a news release about the discussion on the City Duma website said.

Advocates for the draconian law want it to go federal, and activists are planning a protest for tomorrow:

Platonov also said it was necessary to "address to the Federation Council in order to prepare a good federal legislative initiative that would protect minors from all the negative information."

One demonstrator stood outside the City Duma in a one-man picket to protest the discussion, holding a sign reading "Stop homophobic crooks! Moscow is behind us," Moskovksy Komsomolets reported. Gay rights activists said Tuesday they are planning a parade for May 27 to protest the advance of anti-homosexual legislation in Russia.