Europe: Endless

Bit of a scoop in today's Independent.
According to a new Amnesty International report - Because Of Who I Am: Homophobia, transphobia and hate crime in Europe - lots of bad stuff happens to lots of gay people in lots of European countries, and not just in Russia!
Who knew?
MIND=BLOWN!!!

Today lots of twits on Twitter are very angry about a claim that two teachers in Russia have been sacked because they're gay.
Oddly, I don't recall such OUTRAGE last time a teacher in America was sacked because he was gay.
In fact, it's legal to sack a worker just cause they're gay in most American states.
USA! USA! etc.

Please support Fagburn's campaign to boycott the anti-gay apartheid Nazi USA regime.

Saudi Arabia: Spot The Difference

"Activists are concerned for the safety of a 30-year-old man arrested by the religious police in Saudi Arabia for using Facebook to date other men. The man, whose exact identity is not known, was arrested on 23 December (2011) but full details of the incident are only now becoming clear after a detailed investigation by Gay Middle East. Experts warn he may face blackmail and/or corporal punishment..."

Pink News.
Their news story goes on to quote a spokesperson for Amnesty International:

"Amnesty International is seeking more information on this case. If the man reported in the Sabq story has been arrested and charged with homosexuality, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release..."

Fagburn agrees with Amnesty - let's find out more, like if this happened.
Particularly as so many LGBT stories from the Middle East turn out to be invented, spun or distorted.
The Saudi Arabia story could prove to be true, of course, but it could turn out to be a fiction like last year's "abduction" of A Gay Girl In Damascus.
The Pink News story was first published on GayMiddleEast.com.
It was written by Dan Littauer - executive editor of Gay Middle East, a German citizen who lives in London.
Gay Middle East's unreliability - often driven by a pro-Zionist bias - has been pointed out by many queer Arab activists.

Uganda: The Politics Of Distraction

Update: It's hard to know what is happening with this story. Fagburn will come clean and say he is not an expert on Ugandan law - but it seems the resurrection of this bill may have been hyped up. Yours - as ever - in scepticism.
Update 2: Looks like the bill has gone, at least for now...

Ugandan police have sprayed opposition politicians with a pink liquid to stop them holding a rally in the capital, Kampala.
An interesting choice of colour, I'm sure you'll agree.
They got off lightly.
At least ten people were shot dead by police in riots in Kampala last month, according to Amnesty International.
The government has recently outlawed all protests.
And people in Uganda have a lot to protest about right now.
Inflation and unemployment are high, and there has been a steep rise in fuel and food prices.
So what does the Ugandan government do?
It resurrects an old "Anti-Homosexuality Bill".
The bill calls for life imprisonment for anyone convicted of "the offence of homosexuality", and the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality", such as having gay sex when HIV positive, or with a minor.*
The bill also proposes banning "the promotion of homosexuality".
I wonder where they got that idea from?
It is unclear if MPs will get to vote on the bill before the current parliamentary session ends this week, or after a new parliament is sworn in next week.

Regular updates here.

• 'Ugandan Spring? Instability Spreads To East Africa' Stephen Roblin, ZNet.
An online petition currently has over 800,000 signatories.
Not sure if this will make any difference - and as reactionaries in Uganda are trying to equate being pro-gay with colonialism it may do harm.

* There's a PDF of the original bill here. Spoiler alert: It's depressing as fuck.

Update: It's probably not happening.