A new gay rights movement is stirring in Belarus and 19 year-old Sergei Androsenko is helping to lead it.

At a conference on the topic 'Do radical organizations have the right to exist?' held in Minsk on Tuesday, Androsenko found himself seated with members of Bealarus' far right organizations. The conversation quickly turned to the topic of homosexuality and Androsenko, a member of the Belarusian Initiative for Sexual and Gender Equality argued strongly on behalf of equal rights for LGBT people living in Slavic Europe.

Even the right-wingers were impressed. A member of the Pravyi Alliance said: “This young guy certainly came and got what he wanted – everyone is discussing homosexuality”.

After the conference, Androsenko spoke with the press and spoke passionately about how the gay community must engage homophobia head on:

"We, the representatives of the movement for the rights of sexual minorities, should not be scared to come to the events of our opponents.

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Queen Sofía of Spain was bored of flying from airports named in her honor one day and decided to sit down with author Pilar Urbano and get literate by saying a bunch of entertaining things about gays in an interview for a book.

It seems that the 70-year-old queen was under the impression that it was all a big pretend game, like a mock naval battle or an election and was surprised to learn that the book, The Queen Up Close, was actually going to be published and read by the common-folk.

Turns out the queen, a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (say it three times fast aloud right now) dynasty has all sort of conservative royal opinions, much like Peggy Noonan — only Sofía's actual royalty.

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Super-queeny pop star Prince become a Jehovah's Witness seven years ago, an experience he describes as "a realization. It’s like Morpheus and Neo in ‘The Matrix'". The upshot of this for everyone is that if you live in Los Angeles, there's an honest-to-goodness chance that you'll have Prince show up on your doorstep one day, clutching a copy of The Watchtower. The downside? He's saying things like:

"But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right… God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’"

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Eminem bud and frequent collaborator Trick Trick let loose a torrent of homophobic invectives to All Hip Hop today, telling the magazine that he doesn't want gay people to buy his album:

“I’ma [sic] go on the record right now with this. Homosexuals are probably not gonna like this album, I don’t want your fagot money any goddamn way. I don’t like it [homosexuality]. Carry that shit somewhere else.”

It gets better.

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We're just awash in exciting Proposition 8 statistics here today. Maybe protest organizers will find this useful in planning their next 8-hour marathon march. Here's your handy-dandy visual representation of LA's homophobia.

As you can see, South Central is not too keen on the gays, whereas WeHo and Santa Monica are BFFs with them. The Valley is obviously teeming with bigots, so it's a good thing nobody cares about it.
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Remember how upset we were yesterday that Mickey Rourke told a paparazzo to "Tell that fagot who wrote all that shit in the paper I'd like to break his fucking legs"? Well, all's forgiven now that he's issued the standard publicist written apology:

"I want to sincerely apologize for the derogatory word I used. It was insensitive and inappropriate of me and I am deeply sorry that I may have offended anyone."

According to E!'s Marc Malkin, who got the "exclusive statement" (Digression: Is it crazy to think that a public apology ought to be something made, you know, publicly?), this isn't the first time Rourke's been in trouble for using the word "fag":

"Rourke found himself in similar trouble back in 2006 when he used the F-word to describe a drunken fan who he almost got into a fight with.

"Look, I'm not afraid to say the word f-g," he said in an interview with New York's Time Out magazine. "I've got plenty of gay friends. We toss the word around."

So, now we're going to spend the rest of the day with images of Mickey Rourke and his gay friends painting each others toenails while calling each other "faggot" and giggling about how much they want to bash each others brains in stuck in our head. Just great.

After last week's super-duper confusing and inaccurate discussion about Prop 8 on The View– Hassleback referenced Ake Green, a priest jailed under Sweden's hate speech law after calling homosexuality an "abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society" and Sherri was all worried her (presumably homophobic hate spewing) pastor is going to get sent to the clinker as well, The View took on the issue again today.

Turns out the daytime ignorance bothered all the gays in the village, or at least Ellen and GLAAD, who called The View ladies to explain that gay marriages will not jail your preachers and force your children to go to reeducation camps. The bit about Prop 8. forcing men to wear eyeliner on Thursdays is totally true, however.

You think we should have made a stronger case that there is a big difference between religious marriage and legal marriage?

India's gay sex debate continues!

While health officials hope to lift the nation's colonial-era ban on "buggery," more conservative politicians are pulling out all the stops to keep the prohibition in place. One civil servant went to so far as to argue that lifting a ban on anal sex would lead to personal injury for participants.

The High Court, however, wasn't buying it:

"In several countries where ban has been lifted (from gay sex), no one has claimed that the act is injurious. Even WHO does not say that it causes injuries to people involved in such acts," a bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar remarked while hearing arguments being made on behalf of senior VHP leader B P Singhal that such acts cause injuries to private parts of the people who indulge in gay sex and that it should not be allowed even between consenting adults.

"Do you have any material to substantiate the claim that indulgence in such acts causes injury to people's body," the bench asked.

No evidence was submitted, and the court later remarked "human beings are the same everywhere." That simple, yet powerful statement comes after the court denounced claims that homosexuality's a disease.

Ahhh!

Not content with trouncing gay rights in Arizona, California, Florida and 27 other states, right-wing organizations are looking to start up anti-gay initiatives elsewhere.

So says Christian Coalition for America president Roberta Combs:

The American people are proud of their fellow citizens in the states of California, Florida and Arizona for upholding traditional marriage between one man and one woman.

Christian Coalition of America will continue to fight to ensure that government serves to strengthen and preserve, rather than threaten, our families and our values.

Are we the only ones envisioning greedy, brain sucking zombies?

Oh, come on! Radio host Lars Larson last Friday ran a faux commercial for gay Democrat Barney Frank's fictitious presidential campaign. Here's what "Frank" had to say for himself:

Hi, everybody. I'm Barney Frank and I'm running for president of the United States. Why? Well, because Nancy Pelosi pissed me off. Harry Reid pissed me off, and so did ol' Barack. Ol' Barack himself pissed me off too. I'm pissed at the Repubicans and the Democraps, and I'm going to run as an independent sort of fellow.

Now remember, this Erection Day — Election Day, vote for Barney Frank for President. I'm Barney Fag — uh, Frank and I approve this massage — message.

Larson later reiterates the right's claim that Frank's relationship with former Fannie Mae executive Herb Moses clouded the politician's vision as head of the House Financial Services Committee.

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Dr Muhammad Siddiq's getting what he deserves!

The British doctor, who heads the Islamic Medical Association, came under fire last year after telling Pulse magazine that "gays are worse than the ordinary careless citizen. They are causing the spread of disease with their irresponsible behavior." The implication was that there should be laws to prohibit our same-sex ways.

Siddiq originally defended his comments by saying he was stressed, but then later said that his son had written the letter as a joke, and that he had signed it without reading over it. Britain's General Medical Council wasn't buying it and their Fitness to Practice board decided yesterday to suspend Siddiq's medical license for 12-months.

Andrew Popat, chairing the GMC hearing, called the GP's actions inappropriate and not in the best interests of his patients.

He added that the letter to Pulse was "liable to undermine public confidence in the medical profession and liable to bring the profession into disrepute".

He said: "The panel continues to have concerns regarding Dr Siddiq's insight into his actions."

Obviously this man's an absolute loon, so we have more than simple concerns - we have disdain and, more pungently, fear.