» Baby Debate.
"The Czech minister for human rights and ethnic minorities has called for a debate on whether the gay partner of a parent should be allowed to adopt his or her child… A RCA poll showed 42% of the country were against gay adoption, while 39% supported it." [Pink News] |
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Nepalese activist Sunil Babu Pant just became his nation's first gay politico after winning this week's Parliamentary election. Four other homos ran, but didn't quite make the cut. Pant, who founded the Blue Diamond Society, will now work his socially-conscious magic for the Communist Party. Meanwhile, over in the Czech Republic, Jiří Hromada makes a mark as the nation's first openly gay Senatorial candidate. The activist gave up his life as an actor two years ago to help lead the Gay Initiative, a queer activist group that shuttered in 2006. Rather than heading back to the stage, Hromada has enlisted in the Green Party and hopes for a big win this fall. |
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More and more queer Czechs are taking the partner plunge: "The number of registered partnerships between Czech same sex couples reached 487 by the end of last year with homosexual male couples prevailing considerably…" |
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Queers Span Long, Hard History
The Prague House of Ethnic Minorities currently hosts an exhibition chronicling the nation's queer history. The exhibit, which features pieces from antiquity through the Soviet era and into today, aims to open people's minds about the Republic's lavender-tinged reality. Says Minorities Ministry spokesman Jiri Hromada: "We want to show to the public that gays and lesbians did not fall from the Mars. The older generation used to say there were no homosexuals in its youth." This shit's going to give some old conservative man a stroke. |
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With public sentiment in favor of gay unions, and with the recent vote in the Czech Parliament to overturn a Presidential veto of the new civil partnerships law, we thought that July 1, the day the new law went into effect, would be a big day of celebration that kicks off a "frisky summer" of gays registering their unions. In fact only three couples reigstered on the first day, and none of those couples lived in Prague, the largest city. We suspect that many gay couples were not eager to put their relationship into the spotlight and will take advantage of civil unions after the media circus has died down a bit. Still, only three couples? It's a rather disappointing turn-out, but we are happy that the Czech Republic now has another gay attraction besides Bel Ami. First Gay Couples Enter Into Czech Civil Partnerships [365 Gay] |
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Even though the Czech Republic legalized gay civil unions in March, Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova has still slapped Czech President Vaclav Klaus on the wrist, saying, “I cannot be satisfied by him, because he does not consider homosexuals to be 100 per cent human beings." [insert bad, lesbian joke here] We grew up watching Martina play tennis on our grandma's cable, and always liked her because she was so bad-ass, or as Grandma used to say, "a little funny." Something that is more than a little funny is Martina's glamour shot, which we have for you after the jump. |
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We applaud the Czech Republic for such a progressive move, joining the major nations of Europe in making the world a better place for the gays. We also dream wistfully of the day our own government will catch up with countries that were Communist not so long ago.
Czech government passes same-sex civil unions law [Ceskenoviny] |
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The Czech parliament has just voted to grant some rights to same-sex couples. It isn’t full marriage yet, but it’s a start for the generally liberal Eastern European country known mainly to Americans as “the place you go after college.”
We’re booking our trip to Prague as we speak. Oh, and notice how we refrained from any use of the horrid pun “Czech-Mate?” You won’t get that kind of restraint from the AP. Well, at least in the copy. Czech parliament approves gay partnership rights [Washington Blade] |
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• Toby will sleep well tonight. It appears that Brat Boy has lost. [Vividblurry] • The Geography Club is being sent back to the University Place, Washington high school where it was banned. But it’ll remain geographically-challenged at the town’s middle school. [KIROTV]
• Will & Grace goes live again next month. Guess we’ll watch. We’re suckers for gimmicks. [Zap2it] • The Czechs are nothing like their Latvian neighbors to the North. [Sovo] • Brokeback Mountain expands today to, appropriately enough, 69 theaters. [Box Office Mojo] • LA is ceasing Oral HIV testing due to false positives. One of their “biggest concerns is the public is going to lose confidence in HIV testing.” You know, sort of like the way we lost confidence in the LAPD. [LA Times] • Someone please tell Dennis Hopper he only has two weeks to check out the James Dean Museum before it shuts down for good. [USA Today] |
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•Wait, so models aren't supposed to do blow now? This is all so confusing. We thought H&M and Chanel were supposed to encourage any activity that keeps your hip bones jutting out like two handlebars. Nothing makes sense anymore.
•Gay rights groups in California meet with Governor Schwarzenegger today to pressure him into signing the state's same-sex marriage bill. The groups believe that what he "does with this bill will define his legacy." We thought his former gay boy toy, action star, and bodybuilder image had already been cemented for eternity? •Wheels are in motion in the Czech Republic for those smooth Bel Ami boys to enjoy civil unions. •Our lusty brother Andy has exclusive dirt on Madonna's new album. |