THE SHORT LIST

NEWS: Gay Pride In Iran, Protests In Ireland, Bigots In England, And More!

Despite the grave dangers gays and lesbians face in Iran, some brave activists there photographed themselves making a statement of gay Pride on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) back on May 17. (The full slideshow is here.) Iran was one of a number of countries unfriendly to LGBTs that had participants, including Algeria, Burma and the United Arab Emirates. [Care2Care].

There aren’t enough gay Republicans in the world, so heterosexual hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer is giving $1 million to fund a super PAC that will expressly lobby for marriage equality on the federal level. American Unity PAC will, in part, help deflect some of the financial fallout politicians will feel from taking a pro-gay stand. “There’s a feeling among some people that the Republican party is harsh on some things,” says Singer, a major GOP back with a gay son. [Politico]

As Parliament debates the legalization of gay marriage, Conservative MP Liam Fox announced that only a ‘metropolitan elite” were pushing for it. “I think that the vast majority of the public have a completely different set of priorities from what I would call the metropolitan elite and I think they will be looking for economic and social issues to be dealt with first.” Oddly, Fox was forced to step down as Secretary of State for Defence last year after his unusual relationship with a much younger man surfaced. [Telegraph]

In Dublin, gay rights group LGBT Noise is protesting outside the 50th annual International Eucharistic Congress, which began Sunday. The Congress, a religious gathering, includes Roman Catholic clergy and lay leaders and involves large open-air Masses and devotional ceremonies. (More than 25,000 people are expected at Friday’s closing ceremonies.) “Church leaders lobby governments to prevent LGBT people’s civil rights,” read a statement on the group’s website. “Civil marriage equality… is a civil right not a religious rite. If Catholic leaders want nothing to do with same-sex marriage, they don’t have to have one.”  [Irish Central]

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