Europride 2007

As I've written yesterday, June 30 was the day of the Europride 2007, this year hosted by Madrid Pride. Let's translate here what the main Spanish paper wrote and put some links.

Rights with Pride
(Antonio Navia / 20 minutos)

El Pais, 30.Jun.2007

The massive March Europride 2007 converted this saturday the streets in the heart of Madrid in a party to celebrate the achivements in social and legal acknowledgment of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people, but also to show how much has still to be done for equality. The Lesbian Federation, Gays, Transgenders and Bisexuals (FELGT) and the Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and TRansgenders of Madrid (COGAM) claim more than one million and half participants in the demonstration.
The demonstration, that toke place between Puerta de Alcalá and Plaza de España, had on head the slogan: Now Europe! Equality is possible, written in Spanish, in English and in other languages. The entire itinerary was crowded as well as the closest streets.
On the head of the demonstration were: the Spanish Minister of Culture, Carmen Calvo; the leader of IU (United Left), Gaspar Llamazares; leaders of UGT and CC OO, Cándido Méndez and José Maria Fidalgo; the secretary of Social Movements of PSOE [the Socialist Party in the government], Pedro Zerolo; and the speaker of IU in Madrid Assembly, Inés Sabanés. Leaders of FELGTB, Antonio Poveda, and COGAM, Miriam Navas, were also in the head of the march.

A lot to be done
March began around 6pm with firecrackers and the anthem of the gay colectivity, the famous song ¿A quién le importa? [Who cares?] performed by Alaska, that was also listened in the middle of the way, in Plaza del Callao, and at the end in Plaza de España. The Minister of Cultures and the secretary of Social Movements of PSOE sang and danced listening to this song, being dressed with glasses and necklaces with flowers and the colours of the rainbow, symbol of gays.
In the statement, read by representatives of lesbians, gays, transgenders and bisexuals at Plaza de España, it was reminded that, since the first Pride, 30 years ago in Barcelona, it was demanded a "social and legal acknowledgment" which then seemed "lamost impossible", but "there is still a lot to be done" against discrimination and homophobia.
Laws such the marriage or the one that allows the change of name and sex without surgery intervention, have assumed the acknowledgment of dignity to "homosexuals, trangenders and bisexuals", the text says. However, there are a lot of social and legal claimings to achieve, like the inclusion in the National Health System of all the process of sex change in all the provinces, as it was done in Andalucía, Extremadura, Aragón, Asturias, Cataluña and Madrid.

"Citizenship to educate clergy"

During the demonstration, among the flags of different countries, placards with slogans were exhibited: No to the resource of PP [the Conservative Party] to the marriage. Citizen Pride! , Thirty years of democracy and two of equality. Are they going to kick us?, Latin America goes ahead, To bane homofobia from the educative centers, Families do care. Those of gays and lesbians too, Freedom, equality, laicism and Citizenship to educate clergy.
At the end of the march, more than 40 floats came slowly, with hundreds of people adorned with suits and disguises dancing disco music. After the speeches, having Plaza de España as stage, they carried on the celebration with the performances of Dios y Malizzia, Hanna, Marta Sánchez, Innocence, Locomía, Harem and La Terremoto de Alcorcón.

Links (in Spanish)

20 minutos (with video)
20 minutos (photos)

El Pais (with video)
El Pais (photos)

Arrests at Russian gay protests

Fresh report from several News Agencies
27. May.2007

The gay rights demonstrators were trying to deliver a petition to the mayor of Moscow, demanding the right to stage public marches in order to allow a Gay Pride march to go ahead.

MPs from Germany and Italy were reportedly among those arrested.
British gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was arrested, along with the leader of GayRussia, Nikolai Alexeyev. Tatchell was punched in the face before being detained.
Italian MEP Marco Cappato was kicked by an anti-gay rights protester and then arrested when he demanded police protection. "Where are the police? Where is the protection? I'm a member of European Parliament," he shouted before he was led away.
Several demonstrators were punched and kicked by the anti-homosexual protesters who threw kicks, punches and eggs at the gay rights group, chanting "Moscow is not Sodom" and shouting "Death to homosexuals".
Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov has called homosexuality "satanic" and said he will never allow gay rights parades in Russia's capital.
Gay activists were also attacked by right-wing protesters and arrested during a march in 2006.
Sunday's protest was to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Russia. Moscow city police spokesman Viktor Bryukov had warned the organisers not to go ahead.
"Moscow police don't have the right to encroach on the law to pander to a group of citizens who exploit the theme of human rights while distorting this notion," he said.

On Saturday, right-wingers and members of the Russian Orthodox Church held an anti-gay demonstration in Moscow.The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, supports the ban on gay parades.


Video from Associated Press:

If you want to see more related videos click here. (BBC video)

Iran is killing homosexuals

Ok, this is not new. Everybody knows this Islamic Republic loves to be as Islamic as it gets. That includes to execute gay teenagers. Crime: to be homosexual.

Let's write today about a famous hanging of July 2005. A lot of hangings took place before and after this one (on August 28, 2005 it happened another one), but this is just an example of what happens in Iran.


Two gay Iranian teenagers - one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17, were executed on July 19th 2005 for the "crime" of homosexuality. The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), reported the execution and provided the pictures of the teens' last moments you can see on this page.
The two youths - identified only by their initials as M.A. and A.M., were hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran, on the orders of Court No. 19. Consensual gay sex in any form is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Teenagers admitted having gay sex (probably under torture) but claimed in their defense that most young boys had sex with each other and that they were not aware that homosexuality was punishable by death. Prior to their execution, the gay teenagers were held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes. The length of their detention suggests that they committed the so-called offenses more than a year earlier, when they were possibly around the age of 16.
The Iranian authorities were putting out a cover story that the two boys had participated in the rape of a 13-year-old, but this accusation was entirely trumped up by the religious authorities who control the legal system and has no basis in fact.

In Iran homosexuality is illegal, those charged with love-making are given a choice of four deathstyles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword, or dropped from the highest perch. According to Article 152, if two men not related by blood are discovered naked under one cover without good reason, both will be punished at a judge's discretion. Gay teens (Article 144) are also punished at a judge's discretion. Rubbing one's penis between the thighs without penetration shall be punished by 100 lashes for each offender.
This act is punishable by death if the 'offender' is a non-Muslim. If frottage is thrice repeated and penalty-lashes have failed to stop such repetitions, upon the fourth 'offense' both men will be put to death. According to Article 156, a person who repents and confesses his gay behavior prior to his identification by four witnesses, may be pardoned. Even kissing 'with lust' (Article 155) is forbidden. This bizarre law works to eliminate old Persian male-bonding customs, including common kissing and holding hands in public.
According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979. In August 2004, a 16-year-old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, was hanged for having sex before marriage, which is, according to Iranian law, an "act incompatible with chastity".

Meanwhile, in Europe...

Swedish Public Radio, 2006
«Sweden has again started expelling Iranian homosexuals seeking asylum here – ending the freeze which went into effect after the public hangings of 2 teen-age gays in Iran over a year ago.
Swedish migration authorities say they are basing their decision on reports from the Swedish Embassy in Teheran which claim that homosexuals risk no dangers there – as long as they are discrete.
Swedish gay activists and the Swedish section of the global human rights organization, Amnesty International, sharply criticize this line as cynical – asking if other categories of persecuted refugees are being denied asylum here with the argument that they should go home and simply avoid detection by the regimes.»

Think about this... I'm waitting for comments.


The report about the hangings was obtained from DIRELAND.
More information:
OutRage report (in English)
Iran Focus news (in English)
The National Council of Resistance of Iran report (in English)