Another tragic bad news round up
In South Africa, a man has been charged with raping a lesbian - to “correct her” the blight of “corrective rape disgust and enrages me beyond measure
In Iran a gay man who worked for the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees tells us how he was brutally attacked and raped by the Basij. Rape is a common and horrendous tool used in hate crimes and it is too rarely talked about.
In Dubai, a gay student has been convicted and sentenced to prison for 3 years. He is asking to be kept from the general prison population
In Cameroon, 2 men have been imprisoned… for being gay this comes, ironically, after the country protested at the UK allowing a gay asylum seeker from Cameron remain because of persecution - they wish to assure us that gays are not persecuted in Cameroon. They probably also wish us to know that the Pope actually ISN’T Catholic, and bears use urban public facilities and would never dream of defecating in any woods.
In Rwanda, as presidential elections approach, arrests of GBLT people are increasing following a disturbing rise and trend towards homophobia in the country
In Iraq, the government backed persecution of GBLTs continues, with the raid of a beauty parlour and the arrest of 5 gay men. The men were brutally beaten and one had to be removed on a stretcher. The US and the UK reminaly largely indifferent about the persecution of GBLTs in the country we have “liberated”.
In Helsinki, the Pride Parade celebrations there were disrupted when bigots launched a pepper spray attack on the marchers. It is important to remember that even Pride is not safe - but that’s a lesson we have learned so many times before. 3 men have since been arrested
In Bradford, a mob of 15 people attacked a gay couple. 15 people grabbed make-shift weapons to attack a gay couple. There is still so much reason to fear.
In Atlanta a gay couple were attacked by a gang of youths, including one who held a gun to one of their heads. The same park saw a previous anti-gay murder before
In New York a gay couple were attacked by a group of teenagers using anti-gay slurs
Also in New York, Driton Nicaj who attacked 3 gay men last year, causing some of them severe injury. His sentence? 21 days.
In Spain Jacobo Piñero, a man who stabbed to death a gay couple 4 years ago, stabbing them 57 times and setting fire to their flat is now working free as he cannot be detained without charge any longer. Why was his trial a shambles and a new one planned? Because his “gay panic” defence was accepted.
There is some deeply depressing news about hate crimes statistics in the US on Pam’s site