Tomorrow, the the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit will hear arguments in Wayne Blyth Healy v. Luis Spencer, a case from the early 80’s that is being re-opened because “the state prosecutor used a blatantly homophobic strategy that emphasized a “homosexual element to the murder” and “also suppressed (either intentionally or not) vital evidence that no sexual encounter had taken place.” The Phoenix presents a fascinating article on how the homophobic culture of the past may have influenced a jury and wrongly convicted a man of murder.

Cameroon’s human rights abuses continue. The government is refusing to release nine men who were acquitted of the “crime” of homosexuality. They are part of a group arrested in a June 2005 raid of an alleged gay bar. The government, apparently not happy with the court’s decision, has voided their acquittals and called for a new trial. “At their initial trial, Judge Tonye, the magistrate overseeing the case, declared the men innocent of all charges after the prosecution called not witnesses and presented no proof that a crime had occurred.” The actions are not a shock in this country with a history of anti-gay abuse of its citizens.

Exodus to Britain? In the face of gay marriage woes across the nation and the lack of immigration rights, a new report says that many gay American couples are moving across the pond: “Many US citizens go into exile to preserve their families and stay with their life partners. When US citizens’ foreign partners are not permitted to live with them in their country, Americans are forced to uproot themselves and leave their families, their jobs, their communities and country. Often, they turn to one of the 19 countries with laws that let citizens sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration purposes.”