Star Observer’s Weekly News Wrap-up
The world-famous Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras season officially started last weekend, with Fair Day attracting around 70,000 people to enjoy a day at the park with family and friends. On the same day, a special mass hand-holding moment took place in front of the main stage as a sign of solidarity with the Russian LGBTI community and athletes who are competing in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
This week’s issue also provides sneak peaks into other events happening during Mardi Gras, including a guide to some of the visual arts exhibitions and the Mardi Gras Film Festival that opens tomorrow.
Also in this week’s issue, we profile the man behind a fast-growing Indigenous LGBTI Facebook group, and put trans* rights in the spotlight with a special double-page Soapbox section that focuses on this.
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78ERS SET TO LEAD MARDI GRAS AGAINTHEY were there at the first Mardi Gras and survived the ensuing police batons and trumped up legal charges, and at next month’s event it will be the 78ers who will again be right at the front for the march down Sydney’s Oxford St for the iconic parade | Read more
SPOTLIGHT ON VOLUNTEERS FOR AIDS 2014
VOLUNTEERS will be integral to AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, the world’s largest HIV and AIDS conference and Australia’s largest-ever medical conference | Read more
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES TACKLE YOUTH HOMOPHOBIA AND TRANSPHOBIA
THE release of new research into the health and wellbeing of same-sex attracted and sex and gender diverse (SSASGD) youth has highlighted the need for community-based initiatives to address widespread homophobia and transphobia in Victoria | Read more
FOOTAGE OF ALLEGED POLICE GAY BASHING NOW MISSING
A TRIBUNAL hearing a gay Sydney man’s complaint that police officers from Rose Bay deleted footage from their own station’s CCTV system has agreed that over 25 minutes of footage is indeed missing but has not ruled on how it was lost | Read more
MORE COUNTRIES WITH ANTI-GAY LAWS THAN FIRST THOUGHT
A NEWLY-launched website to help track countries with anti-gay laws has found that homosexuality is considered a crime in 80 countries around the world, higher than previously thought | Read more
SPORTS REPORTER BLOWS LID OFF NFL HOMOPHOBIA OVER SAM COMING OUT
TEXAN sports reporter Dale Hansen has become an overnight global sensation after voicing his support for newly-out NFL prospect Michael Sam.
He also put a spotlight on the latent homophobia that continues to dwell within the sports world | Read more
COMEDY FESTIVAL SET TO BE QUEERER THAT EVER
THE Melbourne International Comedy Festival program launched yesterday, revealing a line-up of local and international queer comedians performing throughout the festival.
The launch of Australia’s largest cultural event was hosted by gay comedian Joel Creasey, whose show Rock God is one of many queer acts on offer in the festival’s massive program | Read more
HANDS-ON POP SONG PARODY
SATIRICAL gay singer song writer J Pee has released a follow up single to last year’s I’m Not Gay – this time in the form of a tongue-in-cheek homo-rap video, Sensual Masturbation | Read more
