Poland s only gay MP attacked after Equality Parade
The introduction of civil partnerships were part of the march s agenda a move blocked by Polish deputies earlier this year. After the march had finished, Mr Biedron said he had retired to a cafe with a group of friends, where they were harassed by a man. An aggressive man insulted us, using homophobic statements, Mr Biedron told Polsat News.
He began to choke one of my friends and punched him in the face. When he recognized me he spat in my face, raised his fists and and kicked me in the stomach. The assailant then fled, but was arrested shortly afterwards.
This was an unpleasant incident, and it shows that there is perhaps no sense in burying one s head in the sand, Mr Biedron said. However, he remained optimistic about progress in attitudes towards LGBT equality in Poland. He noted that there had been no stones or bottles thrown at the march this year, unlike previous events.
He warned that there was a tendency among politicians to glorify such attacks in the name of conservative values. You cannot call bandits patriots, a tendency that one often hears from the lips of politicians, he said. Earlier this year the former President of Poland, Lech Walesa, remarked that gay politicians should be made to sit behind a wall in parliament.
Mr Biedron is a member of the liberal Palikot Movement, a party which also includes Poland s only transgender MP, Anna Grodzka. Ms Grodzka told PinkNews.co.uk that she, along with Mr Biedron, was proof that Poland was changing. I was very surprised by how many people voted for me, and that means the general situation in Poland has changed slightly, she said.
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More "evolution"
The Church of England leadership has been strongly opposed to David Cameron s plan s to redefine marriage which it maintains must be between a man and a woman.
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US: Congressman calls on FBI to investigate the killing of gay Mississippi mayoral candidate
The congressman called the violence unconscionable. Last weekend, in a statement, McMillian s family said the victim had been beaten, dragged and burned. The body of the 34-year-old was found on Wednesday 27 February near the Mississippi River west of Clarksdale.
Police charged Lawrence Reed, 22, from Shelby, Mississippi, in connection with murder soon after the body was discovered. Coahoma County sheriff s spokesman Will Rooker said the investigation continues and authorities are looking at all possibilities, including whether hate crime laws would apply. Mississippi s hate crimes law covers acts motivated by bias against a victim s race but not sexual orientation.
However, a federal hate crimes law covers bias against sexual orientation.
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UKIP local deputy chair resigns over party s shift towards opposing equal marriage
Craven, who stood for the Airedale seat in 2012 said he had become increasingly concerned about the party s shift towards oppositing equal marriage, and a negative tone about immigration. He said that he joined UKIP in 2011, and that he was under the impression that Nigel Farage supported equal marraige. Writing in a blog post, he said: I support gay marriage and while I do believe immigration should be restricted, I m not happy about a tone that is so repeatedly negative about it.
I m not a right-wing populist. I m a liberal at heart. I want a state that gets off people s backs, not one that tells them who they can and can t marry.
The disgusting dismissal of my friend Olly as Youth Wing Chairman, because he dared to support gay marriage on live radio, just confirms the direction Ukip is moving in. It s not a direction that I can go. The party has received criticism for the situation with Olly Neville, as it had not removed officials before for stating that gay couples adopting is child abuse or that people who read PinkNews should be sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Shortly after Neville s resignation, the UKIP Parliamentary candidate for the city of Chester, Richard Lowe was forced to resign following his support for equal marriage.
In January, the chairman of Conservative Future Ben Howlett says UKIP members who support equal marriage and are disgruntled with the party s row on the matter should consider joining the Tories.
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Poland: First gay and trans MPs take front-bench seats protesting former president s anti-gay remarks
Poland s first openly gay MP, Robert Biedron and the country s first trans MP, Anna Grodzka, took front bench seats in the assembly. Both are members of the country s progressive Palikot s Movement party, and their party leader, Janusz Palikot had arranged for them to sit there, relinquishing his own seat in order for Biedron to sit there, reports Canada.com. Lech Walesa is an important symbol for us all and for the whole world, Biedron told The Associated Press before attending the session.
I respect him and I d rather he used other words, words of acceptance and of respect for other people. The front row of the semi-circular lower chamber of the Polish assembly is normally reserved for party leaders, and prominent lawmakers. Grodzka and Biedron normally sit in the third row.
They will sit in the front row for a three-day period in protest. Grodzka recently made headlines after losing out on a deputy speaker job in a parliamentary vote. She was the first trans MP to be sworn in November 2011 Walesa s words have caused some to question whether he has permanently damaged his history as a champion of democracy.
All Out have begun a petition to get Mr Walesa to apologise for the remarks, which at the time of writing has received 4,378 signatures out of a goal of 5,000.
The former politician, father of eight and staunch Catholic, continually refused to apologise, and claimed that 95% of Polish people agreed with him.
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Lech Walesa: Nie Solidarnosc
Homosexuals should even sit behind a wall, and not somewhere at the front. "They must know they are a minority and adapt themselves to smaller things." Reuters. Ghastly Thatcherite Catholic anti-gay fuck. In a previous TV Interview in 1993 he outed Poland's Prime Minister, Jarolslaw Kaczynski.
It's a sign of how Poland has changed - and that Walesa is now yesterday's man - that another conservative (!) politician has reported him for incitement to hatred, and he made his comment because its parliament now has both an openly gay and a trans politician. PS Warsaw is a very beautiful city - rebuilt by the Soviets after the Nazis razed it to the ground - with some lovely people and some nice gay and gay-friendly venues, and a very interesting underground scene - in my experience all young Poles are either devoted Catholics or anarchists. Mini travel feature there.
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Gay football group criticise Daily Mail over Joey Barton article
Joey Barton continues his quest for intellectual and social respectability. Why not come out as gay? Instant credibility, instant respect, untouchable by the Football Association or future employers.
His past misdeeds mentally reprocessed and explained. Barton responded on Twitter with a series of comments. He said: I will probably have to sue.
I don t really need the money or the hassle. So I offer this as a olive branch. Actually, no.
Theres no olive branch. Enough s enough. Its just wrong and a little bit weird why he would write this.
In light of the Leveson enquiry, it seems a strange thing to print. I mean I have never even met the guy. He doesn t know me.
Shocking. Responding to the row, Chris Basiurski, chair of GFSN said: We find Martin Samuel s comments in the Daily Mail regarding Joey Barton today unhelpful as they distract from the more important message of trying to create a positive atmosphere in football for LGB&T people. It does nothing to address the very real experiences of homophobia we see in football on a regular basis.
We welcome Joey Barton s positive contribution to the debate in the past and hope he is not discouraged from supporting the LGB&T community in the future. At the start of the year, Barton was praised for taking part in a BBC Three documentary about the lack of openly gay footballers. He criticised the archaic views of some coaches within the industry and said it was a subject close to heart because his uncle is gay.
Last week, Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard urged gay players to come out of the closet because gay people need a hero . Former England international Gareth Southgate added that in his opinion it would not be a problem for gay footballers to be accepted in the dressing room. In response, GFSN s Chris Basiurski said he welcomed the positive comments, but added: The GFSN is working to create an atmosphere in football that would allow a footballer to come out if they wanted to, free from any form of discrimination or abuse.
We would never presume to ask someone to come out, that is a personal decision for each LGB&T individual to take. We also do not assume that any player who did come out would become an automatic hero or role model. Any player would be under enormous pressure, both in terms of media coverage and the response by fans and players on the pitch.
Front page headlines for footballers are not always good news.
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Desmond Tutu: Uganda should drop totally unjust anti-gay law
Last month, Ugandan parliamentary Speaker Rebecca Kadaga promised to bring a vote on the proposed law before Christmas. Ugandans are demanding it, she previously declared. With state-sponsored homophobic laws a visible presence across the continent of Africa, Archbishop Tutu said the church must stand with minorities.
My brothers and sisters, you stood with people who were oppressed because of their skin colour. If you are going to be true to the Lord you worship, you are also going to be there for the people who are being oppressed for something they can do nothing about: their sexual orientation, he said. Archbishop Tutu added that people do not choose their sexual orientation, and would be crazy to choose homosexuality when you expose yourself to so much hatred, even to the extent of being killed.
In July, Archbishop Tutu called for the global decriminalisation of same-sex relationships to aid the fight against HIV, comparing anti-gay laws to racial segregation in his home country of South Africa.
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Tory MP Bob Stewart: I will vote against same-sex marriage, but I m not homophobic
As such, I view marriage, whether organised simply by the state or a combination of church, temple, mosque and state, to be different to civil partnerships and special in a unique way. Personally I am not in the least homophobic and have great and true friends who are gay. Mr Stewart went on to say: I accept civil partnerships now although I must admit that I was vehemently against them when I was a young man.
Of course we lived in different times then and society has changed me with it. Last month, Mr Stewart s name appeared in a list of more than 100 Conservative MPs who have expressed concerns over David Cameron s plans to allow same-sex marriage. Mr Stewart has also reinstated his support for the anti-gay Coalition for Marriage (C4M) petition, which has called on the prime minister to drop his backing for marriage equality.
On a point of principle I have informed the government that, should there be a vote in the House of Commons asking MPs to vote in favour of so-called gay marriages I will not support the idea. I have also signed the Coalition for Marriage petition, Mr Stewart said. The government is due to outline its official response to this year s equal marriage public consultation later this month.
In November, Tory MP and former general Sir Edward Garnier told a constituent that gay couples in civil partnerships should feel free to describe their relationships as a marriage, although it should not have to require a change in the law.
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Poland: Gay man wins homophobia case against Danish supermarket Netto
Monika Wieczorek, a lawyer who represents the Polish Society of Anti-Discrimination Law (PTPA), said that the ruling is significant because of the amount awarded in damages. Netto must now pay Mr Muzalsk 18,000 zloty (around 3,579) as well as court costs. Discuss this Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter!
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