Global gay news briefs
EX-GAYS PICKETED
NORTHERN IRELAND: A Northern Ireland-based group which claims to “support men and women with homosexual issues who voluntarily seek change in sexual preference” has been picketed by Belfast’s GLBTI community. The Core Issues Trust had been holding a conference and its keynote speaker was American ex-gay speaker David Pickup, who claims homosexuality is the result of a failure to bond with a parent of the same sex or same-sex peers. In 2009 an attendee at one of Pickup’s ex-gay retreats killed himself just weeks after making a complaint to local law enforcement about the retreat.
JUDGE WAS RIGHT
UNITED STATES: A US Federal Court judge has thrown out a challenge by opponents of same-sex marriage to a verdict by a Californian court that could reinstate same-sex marriage in that state. Lawyers for the ProtectMarriage group claimed Judge Vaughn Walker was unfit to have heard the case as he has a long-time same-sex partner and could potentially benefit personally if same-sex marriage was reinstated. The Federal District Court found that Walker’s hearing the case was no different from a female judge hearing sex discrimination cases.
NO HATE SPEAKERS PROMISE
UNITED KINGDOM: Representatives for London’s largest mosque have promised it will no longer allow homophobic speakers and called a $250 fine given to a British Muslim who put up stickers proclaiming the East End district a gay-free zone a “slap on the wrist”. “Any speaker who is believed to have said something homophobic will not be allowed to use our premises, whether that is us organising an event or someone else,” a spokesman for the East London Mosque said. However, the mosque has breached similar pledges before, and activists are urging the mosque to ensure the ban is adequately made known to the British Muslim community.
