Lebianism in now illegal in Malawi...OMG!

Malawi President Bingu Wa Mutharika has signed a bill into law that criminalises sex between two women. Malawi's penal code already prohibited sex between two men and the law was applied in the case of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza who were sentenced to 14 years in prison with hard labour for celebrating their love in what authorities called a traditional same-sex ceremony. Malawi also rejected pressure to comply with human rights obligations by the donor community.


Press Release from International Commission of Jurists:
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) expresses grave disappointment at Malawi’s recent enactment of a law criminalizing sexual relations between women. Such a law is an affront to human dignity and seriously undermines Malawi’s human rights commitments under international law.
The ICJ urges that the Parliament undertake an immediate review with an eye to repealing all laws that currently criminalize sexual activity on the basis of the sex of the partners.
In December 2010, the Parliament passed a bill amending the Penal Code of Malawi. In late January 2011, President Bingu Wa Mutharika assented to the bill, thus completing its enactment into law. The new Section 137A, captioned “Indecent practices between females,” provides that any female person who, whether in public or private, commits “any act of gross indecency with another female” shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a prison term of five years

Michigan HIV Disclosure Forms Legally Inaccurate

HIV advocates and legal experts say that Michigan’s local health departments and the state Department of Community Health are using documents that exaggerate the risks of HIV transmission and misstate the laws regarding disclosure. These “client acknowledgement forms” used by health departments are erroneously stating that it is illegal for an HIV-positive person to engage in unprotected sex and that it is a felony to share needles without disclosing an HIV-positive status. Furthermore, some counties are using signed disclosure forms to prosecute HIV-positive people for failing to disclose their status before sex, but it is never indicated that the forms can be used in criminal proceedings. Advocates are calling for the forms to be recalled.

GLAAD Award for Kristin Chenoweth...CONGRATS!!!!

 We were thrilled to learn that Kristin Chenoweth is the 2011 recipient of the Vanguard Award, presented annually at the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards to honor a member of the entertainment community who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people. You probably remember back in May when the Newsweek/Ramin Setoodeh soap opera first began that it was K.Cheno who publicly stood up for gay actors -namely her Promises, Promises co-star Sean Hayes- when Setoodeh claimed that they can’t play straight.

Black Gay Trailblazer-Honoring Black History Month

Bayard Rustin

(March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American civil rights activist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier. He is credited as the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He counseled Martin Luther King, Jr. on the techniques of nonviolent resistance. He became an advocate on behalf of gay and lesbian causes in the latter part of his career. Homosexuality was criminalized at the time, which made him a target of suspicion and compromised some of his effectiveness. Many African-American leaders were concerned that Rustin's sexual orientation and past Communist membership would undermine support for the civil rights movement. U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who was a member of the SCLC's board, forced Rustin's resignation from the SCLC in 1960 by threatening to discuss Rustin's morals charge in Congress.[7] Although Rustin was open about his sexual orientation and his conviction was a matter of public record, the events had not been discussed widely outside the civil rights leadership. When Rustin and Randolph organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Senator Strom Thurmond railed against Rustin as a "Communist, draft-dodger, and homosexual." He produced an FBI photograph of Rustin talking to King while King was bathing, to imply that there was a same-sex relationship between the two. Both men denied the allegation of an affair. Despite King's support, NAACP chairman Roy Wilkins did not want Rustin to receive any public credit for his role in planning the march.