The 10 worst places to live if you're gay. New human rights report details nations with oppressive policies toward its gay and lesbian citizens. The top ten? Uganda, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Cameroon, Poland, Nepal, and India.
The American Family Association's Donald Wildmon is disturbed that the Soulforce Equality Riders are targeting universities that have bigoted policies. He's upset by Soulforce Spokesman Jacob Reitan's statements, which he relates to his cronies: “We must cut off the suffering at its source. The source is religion-based opposition — the religion-based oppression — and it's taken place for centuries.” Not good, not good. So he and his cronies have a hypothetical discussion on AFA Radio and seem to get very excited about the idea of targeting gay bathhouses. Wildmon: “We're going to the bathhouses in — in 24 cities — the homosexual bathhouses — and we're going to confront these people, you know, for what they're doing.”
Tom Cruise demands Viacom keep the closet shut. The actor reportedly went to Paramount execs and told them that if Comedy Central aired the South Park episode “Trapped in the Closet” which features Cruise locked in a closet while various actors arrive to plead him to come out, he would refuse to do any publicity for MI:3.
Royal Navy Vice-Admiral Adrian Johns says an “unhealthy secrecy” has been extinguished in the British Armed Forces as gays and lesbians have been allowed to serve openly: Those individuals need nurturing, so that they give of their best and are, in turn, rewarded for their effort. Nurture includes the freedom to be themselves…Since then, policy has shifted towards creating an environment where gays and lesbians can now feel free to ‘come out' if they wish, without fear of being harassed or bullied.”
New York's first openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is boycotting the St. Patrick's Day parade because for a 16th straight year they have not allowed gays and lesbians to march in the parade. Quinn: “I can't deny who I am on any given day.”