Madonna: Solves MIddle East Conflict Once And For All!

Wooh!

PS Mad Madge now claims to be an Israelite.

PPS Oh and it's a picture promoting a Gay club night in Tel Aviv.

Syria: A Gay Guy In Beirut

The Arab Spring promised reform across the Middle East, but the turmoil is ongoing, including within the gay community.

Syrian refugees have fled to countries already facing major challenges, and often face discrimination not only because of their nationality, but their sexuality.

The BBC's James Longman went to Beirut, Lebanon, to hear some gay refugees' disturbing accounts of abuse.

BBC News.

There's a companion text article looking more broadly at gay life in the Middle East, though much of it reads like it was written from a distance after a quick Google.

The Western media doesn't have a very good record on reliable reporting about LGBT Syrians; you may remember the excited and widespread trumpeting of and reliance on the blog, A Gay Girl In Damascus - until it was exposed as being written by an American straight man in Edinburgh.

Oops!

Even More Fucking Royal Wedding News: Friends & Family

"It is not going to be quite the case that all human life will be there, but the guest list for the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey, released by St James's Palace, contains an eclectic mix of friends, family, sports stars, personalities and the odd unsavoury dictator or two.
"Rowan Atkinson, a friend of Prince Charles, will be present, along with several politicians who appear to take Atkinson's Blackadder character as their role model. Elton John will sit alongside some rulers who would throw him in jail for being gay...."

The Guardian.

Including the ones from Abu Dhabi, Brunei, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (US client state - still retains the death penalty), and Swaziland.
His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of Bahrain, has ducked out.
Bahrain - where they're currently killing protestors with Saudi (ie US/UK) support - is more liberal on homosex than all the above countries.

• Also see this letter to Media Guardian on the "absurd claims" 2 billion people will be watching the wedding on TV.

Update: Private Eye April 29th reveals British military "advisers" are in Bahrain advising the army.