[Gay] Gay News from Around the Gay World That is Gay

[Eddie Teach]

Best to let the doctor take a look first.

[Valmy]

He could have slashed his own throat and still had enough strength left to wash and put the knife away, cleaned up all the blood, and then crawled into his bathtub to die so he didn't dirty the floor. 

[garbon]

He could have slashed his own throat and still had enough strength left to wash and put the knife away, cleaned up all the blood, and then crawled into his bathtub to die so he didn't dirty the floor. 

I saw a couple "media outlets" noted suicide as possible factor in their headlines. Even daily mail though said that he was noted entering building with a man and then no weapon was found nearby body.

[Caliga]

Incidentally, I love the NYC police's restraint - a guy gets found with his throat slashed and they *suspect* foul play. 

IIRC Charles Rocket killed himself with a self-inflicted throat wound.

[Solmyr]

The Finnish parliament is going to vote tomorrow on gay marriage. There's been a lot of heated discussion in the last few months, the vote is the result of a citizens' initiative proposal (a system where if you get at least 50k signatures for a law proposal, the parliament has to discuss it). Gay marriage laws have already been repeatedly torpedoed by the parliament's law committee (which is just barely dominated by conservatives), but at the moment it looks like it's going to pass in the general vote tomorrow (slightly over half of the deputies are known to be in favor). The Greens and the Left Alliance are obviously fully for it, the Swedish party is mostly too. The National Coalition (current PM's party and one which I normally vote for) is very split between mostly older conservatives and younger liberals, but the latter are in a clear majority. Opponents of gay marriage include the Christian Democrats, Center Party (though there are quite many dissenters), and the True Finns (conservative nationalists/crazies). The funny thing is that the Center Party is currently leading the gallup polls very strongly and the next parliamentary elections are in spring, so if they get to form the next government, they could be stuck with having to implement the law they oppose. Anyway, waiting and hoping for Finland to join the other Scandinavians in the civilized world...

[Solmyr]

And gay marriage was legalized by the parliament with votes of 105 for and 92 against, amid lots of moaning by religious fundamentalists. This does not mean the law changes immediately, as there will need to be implementation done by the government, which will not happen until the next elections in spring. As I said above, the next government and parliament may well be majority conservative, so it remains to be seen whether they will attempt to stall or torpedo the new laws...

EDIT: Grauniad article here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/finland-legalises-gay-marriage

[Martinus]

As already posted elsewhere, Poland has the first openly gay politician elected in majority elections (i.e. where one needs to get more than half of votes to get elected).

First gay mayor elected in Poland

Published 01/12/2014 | 10:36

Voters in Poland have elected the country's first openly gay mayor.

Robert Biedron, who already made history in 2011 by becoming the first openly gay politician in parliament, was elected mayor of the small city of Slupsk in northern Poland.

Results have been released of the run-off race, which took place on Sunday.

The elections for regional parliaments and municipal government saw a record number of openly gay candidates, though none of the others won seats. Most of them are young and making their first runs for office, and they mostly represented left-wing parties that did poorly. The elections took place in two rounds over two weeks.

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/first-gay-mayor-elected-in-poland-30787488.html

My boyfriend is friends with the guy, and my very good friend is also very good friends with the guy's boyfriend. Are we: gay mafia? 

[Martinus]

Here for a slightly broader coverage:

Slupsk gains Poland's first openly gay mayor?

01.12.2014 10:32

Robert Biedron, an LGBT campaigner and member of maverick MP Janusz Palikot's ultra-liberal 'Your Movement', won the mayoral elections in Slupsk, northern Poland, on Sunday, thus possibly becoming Poland's first openly gay mayor.

The 38-year-old managed to muster 57.08 percent of the ballot (15,308 votes), beating the ruling Civic Platform's candidate Zbigniew Konwinski, who received 42.92 percent (11,511 votes). In the first round of voting on 16 November, Biedron managed to garner 20.34 percent, coming second to Civic Platform's Konwinski (29.09), but beating Law and Justice's candidate Robert Kujawski (18.65 percent).

The result turned heads as previous polls predicted that Konwinski and Kujawski would go head-to-head in the second round. Robert Biedron is a graduate of political and social science from the University of Warmia and Mazuria in Olsztyn, and is better known for setting up and running the Campaign Against Homophobia.

In 2011 he became an MP from the Gdynia-Slupsk constituency, winning almost 17,000 votes.

Speaking to the PAP news agency following his victory, Biedron said that "I will lead a very modest [local government], as this town is modest, as well as being one of the most debt-ridden in Poland."

"The three limousines which are available to the mayor will no longer be mine, as I go everywhere by bicycle," Biedron underlined, adding that he is also to move to the town. (jb)

[Caliga]

My boyfriend is friends with the guy, and my very good friend is also very good friends with the guy's boyfriend. Are we: gay mafia? 

You are: movers and shakers!

[The Brain]

Movers are weird.

[Martinus]

There are few more articles on this on the English language sites, which offer more background, but not going to repost them all - just thought I'd share this little story which I found amusing:

He attended a local soccer match during the campaign and was heckled with homophobic slurs. After the first round, he was by chance approached by one of the men who shouted the insults.

"He said, 'of eight candidates you were the only one we didn't expect, but you were the only one who came to our game. You have balls, so we voted for you,'" Biedron recalled.

[Admiral Yi]

My boyfriend is friends with the guy, and my very good friend is also very good friends with the guy's boyfriend. Are we: gay mafia? 

It's not a gay mafia until you start doing special favors for each other.  For example, if he hires a bunch of gays to work in the mayor's office.

[Tonitrus]

Meanwhile, in China....

Chinese Gay Dating App Grows to 15 Million Users
BEIJING — Dec 1, 2014, 9:54 AM ET
By LOUISE WATT and ARITZ PARRA Associated Press
China Gay Dating App



In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014, condom shaped mascots prepare for an AIDS awareness event at the office Blue City in Beijing, China. Danlan.org, a website for gay people to share experiences, has spawned a dating app specifically for gay... View Full Caption The Associated Press

By day, Ma Baoli was a high-ranking officer in a seaside city police force. By night, he ran a website for gay people to share experiences and on which he spoke under a pseudonym about the pressure he faced as a homosexual.

After several years, the police force found out and told him he could not run a private website that was earning money from advertisements while serving as a police officer.

Ma chose his website, a move that later proved fruitful. His Danlan.org has spawned a Chinese-language dating app for men called Blued that has garnered 15 million users, 3 million of them outside China, over two years.

And last month, his company, Blue City, received $30 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capital company DCM Ventures. Ma hopes to use the money to expand abroad and possibly prepare for an IPO. He is also considering launching a dating app for lesbians.

In a country where the government considers any activism dangerous and where homosexuality has traditionally been taboo, Ma has managed to build his business partly by reaching out to government agencies and showing them he can provide a public service in spreading safe-sex messages.

In 2012, he was invited to meet with now-Premier Li Keqiang because of his AIDS prevention work.

Wu Zunyou, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases center, praised the app for its usefulness in conveying information to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community.

"It's very hard to receive so many registered users in such a short time," Wu told The Associated Press last week at an AIDS awareness event held by Blue City and also attended by local government officials. "None of our public awareness websites can receive such attention. This is a very important channel to be able to spread information about AIDS prevention among the LGBT community."

The app allows users to look for people by location or the last time they logged on. It also enables group settings so people can organize activities such as hiking or assembling a basketball team, as well as providing information from health authorities on locations for HIV testing and treatment.

Andrea Pastorelli, a policy specialist at the United Nations Development Programme, said the Chinese CDC had recognized the app's usefulness in reaching people they were unable to.

"They are having a real issue reaching out to the most marginalized people and in China that's where the epidemic is," he said.

"The fact that they have been able to attract this much money shows that there is interest in the so-called pink market," Pastorelli added. "Private companies are realizing that gay people exist and gay people represent a huge market."

An investment manager at the Beijing office of DCM Ventures who asked not to be named because she was not authorized to speak to the media confirmed that the company had invested $30 million in Blue City, saying its future outlook was promising.

"Five percent of the total population are LGBT people," she said. "Social attitudes toward gay people will become more and more tolerant in the future."

For Ma, 37, who goes by the online pseudonym Geng Le, the investment signals a shift in attitudes already among Chinese toward homosexuals.

Five years ago, his website Danlan.org would be regularly shut down. Today, that doesn't happen anymore, and it carries discussions on whether to legalize same-sex marriage, for example.

[Razgovory]

Needs more anti-rioters.

[Admiral Yi]

Seedy, I like that outfit better than the last one.