Bangladeshi Men Arrested

According to Salem-News, three men have been arrested in Sylhet, Bangladesh, by Bangladeshi police for being gay.

Two of the men are Bangladeshi citizens while the third is a man from Great Britain. The three are members of the “Boys of Bangladesh” network, the oldest network in the country of self-identified gay men. “Boys of Bangladesh” began as a Yahoo group in 2002 as a means of connecting gay youth in the country who felt isolated. The group also held small gatherings back then that were kept secret to avoid police interference. These days the network has grown stronger and the organization has even secured office space complete with its own rainbow flag.

Despite the organization’s visibility, homosexual acts are still illegal in Bangladesh. The three Boys of Bangladesh members were taken into custody at a hotel in Sylhet for crimes defined under Section 377A of the Bangladesh Penal Code. Section 377A criminalizes adult homosexual acts which the three are suspected of committing with one another by police. The men were allegedly mentally and physically tortured by police while in custody. No word has been given on whether the Bangladeshi men were set free. The British man has been charged under Section 377A formally and is still in custody.

Read more at Salem-News.com

Bill Introduced in Bolivia to Permit Same-Sex Marriages

OnTop magazine reports that Bolivian Senator Hilda Saavedra has introduced a bill aiming to legal same-sex civil marriage.

Saavedra is a member of the current  Bolivian ruling political party, Movimento Al Socialismo. Saavedra said she has introduced the bill in order to help gay and lesbian individuals who have been living in secret to avoid social stigmatization.

Saavedra proclaimed that gay and lesbian people are an important part of the population and they should have equal rights. Under the latest Bolivian Constitution, discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal. Unfortunately, the constitution specifically defined marriage as only being valid between one man and one woman thereby ending any possibility of same-sex marriages being made legal.

 

Read More: ONTOP Magazine

 

 

Singaporean High Court Will Allow Challenge to Anti-Sodomy Law

Agence France-Presse reports that the highest court of Singapore will allow a constitutional challenge to the law criminalizing sexual relations between men in the nation.

A high court had previously refused the challenge to penal code section 377A brought by Tan Eng Hong,  a man arrested for engaging in oral sex with another man in a public restroom in 2010.

Section 377A states: “Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years.” Section 377A  criminalizes male to male sexual activity and provides for a prison sentence of up to 2 years.

Tan was convicted and fined  Sg$3,000 ($2,400). He challenges the conviction claiming that the Singaporean constitution provides for equal protection of all citizens under the law, and that this criminal provision treats citizens differently based on their sexuality.

Singaporean officials have tried to alleviate gay men’s fears of being prosecuted under the law by promising that it would not be enforced, but as long as it remains on the law books it is a threat to these men’s freedoms.

Read more at XINMSN

Lebanese Police Force Men to Undergo Anal Exams

Lebanese MTV host Joe Maalouf

According to Gay Star News, police in Lebanon have detained 36 men arrested in a gay sex sting and forced the men to undergo anal examinations.

Lebanese MTV celebrity host  Joe Maalouf alleged that authorities in Beirut were protecting “perverts in cinemas”. In response a sting was performed by local authorities in a well-known gay porn film cinema in Beirut on July 28th. Some of the men have since been released after having been anally examined by a doctor at the Hbeish Police Station.

The anal exams aimed to decipher which men had engaged in anal sex previously, providing proof of the men’s homosexual conduct. Doctors looked for traces of sperm in the rectum of the individuals examined as well as for larger anuses that were more “likely” to have been involved in anal sex.

Under Article 534of the Lebanese penal code, “unnatural sexual intercourse” is punishable by up to one year of imprisonment. Unnatural sexual intercourse includes same-sex relations in Lebanon.

Moscow Court Rules Not to Allow Pride Events for the Next 100 Years

Russian riot police detain an LGBT activist outside of a Moscow court back in May of this year.

The BBC reports that the highest court of Moscow, Russia, has ruled in favor of continuing a ban on gay pride marches in the city  for 100 years.

The court claimed that most residents of Moscow are against the pride marches and that the pride events cause public disorder. According to the ruling, an pride march will not be permitted in Moscow until at least 2112.

The case was brought by a well-known Russian LGBT rights activist, Nikolai Alexeyev. Alexeyev had previously been fined 5,000 rubles($170) in St. Petersburg for violating that city’s law against disseminating homosexual propaganda. According to the Huffington Post, while an individual may face up to a 5,000 ruble fine, organizations who disseminate homosexual materials may be liable for fines up to 500,000 rubles($17,200).

Homosexuality has been decriminalized in Russia since 1993, and laws requiring gay and lesbian individuals to be institutionalized was redacted from Russian law back in 1999. Although Russian homosexuals can act freely behind closed doors, they should be free to be open about their lifestyle in public as well. These laws not only affect individuals in Russia’s freedom to speak about their feelings freely, but also their ability to gather and associate with those of their own choosing.

Drop Dead Diva Episode Will Address FDA Ban on Gay Sperm Donations

According to the Advocate, the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva will soon air an episode addressing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s(Hereafter, “FDA”) ban on sperm donations by gay donors. You learn something new everyday…

I had no idea that the FDA has a similar ban on sperm donation to the agency’s restrictions upon blood donations made by men who have sex with men. Under the sperm donation guidelines any man who has had sexual relations with another man in the last five years is prohibited from making donations to a sperm bank. The FDA believes that this guideline will help prevent HIV and Hepatitis B infections in women receiving sperm.

These guidelines do not apply if a woman specifically requests that a particular man’s sperm be used.

 

To read more click here.