Tag Archives: International news

Chechnya Ramps Up Gay Concentration Camp Pogram, 100 Detained and 3 Dead

Chechnya Ramps Up Gay Concentration Camp Pogram, 100 Detained and 3 Dead

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Reports have emerged this week that Chechnya has ramped up its anti-gay pogram and that 100 gay men were detained and three killed in these camps last week.

Novoya Gazeta, a Russian newspaper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian politics and social affairs, said that several new camps have been set up in Chechnya where gay men have been forced to promise to leave the republic.

The most recent report in Novoya Gazeta said that those arrested include well-known local television personalities and religious figures.

Svetlana Zakharova, from the Russian LGBT Network:

“Gay people have been detained and rounded up and we are working to evacuate people from the camps and some have now left the region.”

“Those who have escaped said they are detained in the same room and people are kept altogether, around 30 or 40. They are tortured with electric currents and heavily beaten, sometimes to death.”

A prisoner who escaped told Novoya Gazeta that prisoners were beaten to force them to reveal other members of the gay community. Another said that before being incarcerated in one of the camps he survived by bribing Chechen police thousands of rubles every month in order to survive.

Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, Russia project director for the International Crisis Group, says: “The story is very much developing…victims are escaping. It is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to “honour killings” by their own relatives for tarnishing family honour,”

Last year Russian singer Zelimkhan Bakaev was arrested, tortured, and murdered by by Chechen authorities due to suspicion of homosexuality.”

His body has still not been found.

 

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Gay Syrian Refugee Found Beheaded and Mutilated in Istanbul, Turkey

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Gay Syrian Refugee Found Beheaded and Mutilated in Istanbul Turkey

A gay Syrian refugee has been found beheaded an mutilated in Istanbul, Turkey.  The man had also been previously kidnapped and gang raped, his friends said. 

Muhammed Wisam Sankari, known to his friends as Wisam, vanished after leaving his house in the district of Aksaray on July 23. He was found dead two days later, a mile away from his home. 

His flatmate Rayan Gorkem, who went to identify his body, told the Turkish LGBT magazine KaosGL: “They had cut Wisam violently – so violently that two knives had broken inside him.

“They had beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition, his internal organs were out. We could identify our friend from his pants.” 

“About five months ago, a group kidnapped Wisam in Fatih (Istanbul’s historic centre). They took him to a forest, beat him and raped him. They were going to kill him but Wisam saved himself by jumping on the road.”

 Rayan said: “We complained to the police headquarters but nothing happened.”

Sankari arrived in Istanbul a year ago after fleeing the war in Syria, but wanted to leave Turkey because he feared for his life. 

While homosexuality has been legal in Turkey since 1923, when the republic was founded. It was also legal in the Ottoman empire from the mid 19th century.

However, gay people in Turkey regularly complain of harassment and abuse in a largely conservative Muslim society, where same-sex relationships are frowned upon.

Also human rights organizations like Amnesty International have warned that Turkey does not offer full protection as required under the UN Refugee Convention. 

“No one cares about us. They just talk. I get threats over the phone. I speak calmly so something does not happen. It does not matter if you are Syrian or Turkish, if you are gay you are everyone’s target,”close friend of Wisam Sankari said.

Critics say that the President Tayyip Erdogan and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded have shown little interest in expanding rights for minorities, gays and women, and are intolerant of such dissent.

 

German “Milk Technician” Klaus Burkart Crowned Mr Gay World 2015 – Got Milk?

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Mr. Gay germany

 

Twenty-one-year-old Mr Gay Germany Klaus Burkart has won the title of Mr. Gay World 2015.

Burkart, a “milk technician” was presented with the Mr Gay World sash and trophy by 2014 winner Stuart Hatton in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday night.

Via Gay Star News:

Burkart says in his official profile on the Mr Gay World website he would like to be a ‘role model for young gay [men] all over the world and help them with their coming out and also change young people’s opinion of homosexuality.’

‘I would like to lead the world to a point where it is not essential to even have a coming out.’

He added that he is planning a campaign to visit schools and talk about how to avoid bullying and gay bashing.

According to results published by Gaynz.com, the top four contestants Troy Michael Jonsson (Iceland), Jordy De Smedt (Belgium), Tomi Lappi (Finland), and Emmanuel Mass Luciano (Hong Kong).

Special Awards winners:

Art Challenge – Siyathokoza Thabani Khumalo (Zambia)
Mr Photogenic – Jesus Martin Márquez (Spain)
Sport – Carl Anton Ljungberg (Sweden)
Social Media – Jordy De Smedt (Belgium)
Written Test – Klaus Burkart (Germany)
National Costume – Gabriel Jesus Naal Hernandez (Mexico)
People’s Choice – Wayne Grech (Malta)
Swimwear – Scott Fletcher (Australia)
Congeniality – Jorge Escribano Pelaez (Colombia)
Fashion – Jesus Martin Márquez (Spain)

There was no delegate from The United States.

Now about Klaus’ milking talents…….

.

 

Mr. Gay Germany 2

 

Mr. Gay Germany 3

Brave Trans Activist Takes On Anti-Gay “Eat Da Poo Poo” Pastor Martin Ssempa On Uganda Television

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Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa who is famous for his “Gays Eat Da Poo Poo” hate speech appeared on Ugandan television’s Morning Breeze with trans activist Pepe Onziema and launched into another  vitriolic rant about the various ways gays reportedly have sex (with bananas and other objects).

After being attacked by Ssempa, Onziema tells the moderator: “Society has not rejected me…It is the propaganda of the likes of Ssempa. My family loves me as I am.”

Ssempa aka Uganda’s own Honey Poo Poo is quite the bully.   And the moderator is also quite the idiot.

Video streaming by Ustream

Two Men In Cameroon Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison For Being “Percieved” As Gay

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Two men in Cameroon were sentenced to five years jail-time for the suspicion of being gay and International gay rights groups are in an uproar.

Coming just one week after Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé was sentenced to 3 years prison for sending a text message to another man which said: ‘I’m very much in love with you’.  Franky Djome and Jonas Singa Kumie received a five-year prison sentence for being ‘perceived’ as gay , the highest possible sentence by a Cameroon judge because their vocabulary was “feminine”, because they drank a beverage that’s perceived to be something gay men drink, and because the clothes they were wearing were not masculine enough’,

Andre Banks, Executive Director of AllOut.org said: ‘“The cases of Franky, Jonas, and Roger are not isolated incidents — these are systematic violations of the most basic human rights.

Homosexual activity both male and female is illegal in Cameroon, under Section 347, with a penalty of five years in prison and a fine.

In 2011 alone, over a dozen men were arrested under Section 347, solely on the suspicion of being gay.

EXCLUSIVE – U.S. Embassy to Hold “LGBT Pride Month” Reception for U.S. and Japanese Business Leaders

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U.S. Ambassador to Hold  “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month” Reception for U.S. and Japanese Business Leaders 
by Tokyo Guest Poster Jason Kendy

It was approximately a year ago when Hillary Clinton issued a State Department directive to overseas U.S. embassies: find ways to reach out to local populations regarding LGBT issues. It was part of a plan  to do with raising of awareness of LGBT issues worldwide and the importance of foreign countries embracing thier LGBT communities and to  demonstrate U.S. support overall on LGBT Equality.

I was skeptical to say the least.

Until yesterday that is, when I received by snail mail a personal (embossed no less!) invitation from U.S. Ambassador John Roos to visit his residence for a reception honoring LGBT Pride Month. Huh, wha? Is this the United States we’re talking about?

Seems ‘ol Hillary has been cracking the whip, making sure a directive doesn’t remain simply that and instead results in actual steps. The embassy did its homework as well— casting far and wide for the guest list. Word is they have invited not only U.S. business leaders here in Tokyo, but also executives from Japanese companies with sexual orientation non-discrimination policies (Nomura is a biggie that comes to mind) as well as companies making an actual gay marketing push (Softbank, Google Japan, Alfa Romeo Japan, some domestic beverage makers).

I contacted the embassy to suggest they include a recently elected openly gay assemblyman here, as well as some of the more effective political activists in the Japanese community.

As a 25-year resident of Japan, I can only hope the reactionary Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara hears about all this! The old coot is an unspeakable bigot from way back who never ceases to anger foreign and domestic communities alike with his intolerant views.

It says a lot to people like Ishihara, to the prime minister, and to Japan’s business community that the nation’s closest ally by far is opening up its ambassador’s residence specifically for this event.

Well done, Madame Secretary and Mr. President.

**Jason Kendy, a gay U.S. citizen, leads corporate communications at a major European financial institution in Tokyo. He left the U.S. for Tokyo just after college during the Reagan years and soon realized he had no intention of returning to the anti-gay environment of his birthplace. He would love to see the U.S. amend its immigration laws to recognize the validity of his 12-year relationship with his Japanese partner—but certainly is not holding his breath. You can follow Jason’s personal musings at @jkentokyo on Twitter.

Kickboxing Lesbian Elected To Be Head Of The Scotland’s Tory Party! BOOYAH!

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32 year old Ruth Davidson is a kickboxer, an ex-soldier, an openly lesbian woman and is now the new head of the Scottish Tory Party.

Davidson who was inspired by David Cameron, who only took a seat at the Scottish Parliament at the  election in May,  has already become the first overall leader in a shake-up of the party.

Runner-up Murdo Fraser,  had pledged to scrap the ‘tainted’ Tory brand, proposing to set up a new centre-right party for Scotland prompted Ms Davidson,  to enter the race and defend the current Scottish Conservative and Unionist party.

You go kick some kilted ass girl!

Afghanistan Ministor of Interior Hanif Atmar Attempted To Cover-Up U.S. DynaCorp Contractors Buying Boys For Sex

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In a State Department leaked cable Afghanastan’s Ministor of the Interior Hanif Atmar requested the help of the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan to quash a story about DynCorp, which was under a U.S. government contract to train Afghan police about DynaCorp employee’s  buying drugs and little boys.

Those “dancing boys,” of course, are the bacha bazi, . Boys ages 8-16 who are hired away from their poor families for the entertainment of wealthier men. Officially they simply dress in up girls’ clothing and dance; unofficially they are bought and sold as sex slaves.

That an American contractor would be engaging in such activity is horrific.

The Washington Post in a  July 2009 article very briefly mentioned the scandal: “One effort to train Afghan civilian police has drawn attention from the State Department’s inspector general following incidents of questionable management oversight, including one instance in which expatriate DynCorp employees in Afghanistan hired a teenage boy to perform a tribal dance at a company farewell party and videotaped the event.”

BREAKING NEWS: DPRK (North Korea) Bombs South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island – VIDEO

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According to South Korean military officials, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea fired scores of artillery onto the island and into waters off the west coast of the divided peninsula, prompting a return fire. Calling the DPRK’s artillery firing “unacceptable”, South Korea vowed to “punish” its former wartime rival in case of further provocation.
The South Korean military authorities called the artillery firing an “intentional” and “inhumane” attack.  One South Korean soldier was killed, another 13 were wounded

According to officials of South Korea, the military of South Korea is now put on a heightened alert and the entire population of the island, which is near the sea border, was evacuated in a matter of urgency to bunkers and safe places It is also reportedly the military deployed fighter jets to the Yellow Sea in deterrence against further provocation from the North.