THE MONTH IN A MINUTE.
HATEFUL BRITS
It’s revealed that one in four British adults would be ashamed of having an LGBT+ child. Despite legal rights and advancing equality, the UK’s attitudes to gay, bi and trans people – especially if they are their own kids – is trailing behind. Charities say the results of the survey are alarming.
CYN WIN
Cyndi Lauper will be awarded the United Nations’ inaugural High Note Global Prize for her efforts to help prevent and end homelessness among LGBTIQ youth. The award was created to recognise artists who use their music and platform to champion social justice issues. Lauper began her charity, True Colors United in 2008.
HIV HUG SCARE
Research finds that a quarter of US millennials (23-39-yearolds) would be scared of hugging someone living with HIV. The shocking research, by Prevention Access Campaign and US pharmaceutical giant Merck, shows that stigma and misinformation is rife in the USA and education is urgently required.
MOORALS
American Republican politician, Judge Roy Moore publicly calls for the US to return to a “more moral time” when gay people were criminalised and had no rights. Moore, who is facing allegations of misconduct with teenage girls, says same-sex marriage should not exist and sodomy should be made illegal.
TOURIST DANGER
Nigeria is named the world’s most dangerous country for gay men to visit. The LGBT+ Danger Index studies gay rights and freedoms. Other countries on the bad list include Barbados, Kenya and Tanzania, where strict rules make it risky for gay men to travel and be open about who they are. Scandinavian countries and Canada and Portugal made the top of the safest list. Australia scored a B+ as the
17th safest destination.
JILTED
A British gay couple, dubbed the country’s “first gay dads” for making history by using donor eggs and a surrogate mother to have children in 1999, make headlines again because one partner has left the relationship to hook up with his daughter’s ex-boyfriend. Barrie Drewitt-Barlow recently announced that he would be divorcing his husband Tony after 32 years for a 25-year-old who used to date his daughter.
SMOKE THAT
A US man wins $127 million in damages after suing tobacco company Phillip Morris following the death of his husband from smoking related illness. The case, brought by Bryan Rintoul after the death of partner Edward Caprio, is seen as much as a gay rights case as a legal action against smoking firms.
ANGEL ELTON
British singer Robbie Williams reveals that Elton John helped him sober up by checking him into a rehab centre. Williams says he turned up at John’s home in England with red wine stains on his clothing and was encouraged to seek help for alcoholism, which he now regards as a turning point in his life.
TORTURE
China makes the headlines for forcing gay men to undergo so-called “gay conversion therapy” at hospitals throughout the country. Human rights activists exposed the torture and harmful practice after investigating medical centres.
POPE MEET
The Pope meets with anti-gay Muslim leader Ahmed el-Tayeb – who thinks gay men should be put to death. The meeting is condemned by activists, who question Pope Francis’s stance on Christian values and acceptance of all of “God’s creations”.
DEADLY
Filipino politician Vicente Sotto compares Gay Pride to one of the “seven deadly sins”. Sotto says that Pride is the “head of Satan”.
KIM + KANYE
Kim Kardashian’s make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic surprises no one by coming out at the American Influencer Awards show. Dedivanovic used his acceptance speech after winning an Artist Achievement Award to open up about his sexuality. It comes as Kardashian’s husband Kanye West continues on his bizarre anti-gay journey, cosying up to evangelical preachers and even penning a song in praise on the notoriously homophobic fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A.
SALVO BACKTRACK
The Salvation Army insists it is no longer anti-gay. The group has a clear history of homophobia, with one highranking Australian Salvo suggesting in 2012 that gay men should be murdered.