Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Global Gay: The Next Frontier in Human Rights - Documentary (2018)

A global revolution is underway to obtain what UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Barack Obama call ‘the final frontier in human rights’: the universal decriminalization of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is forbidden in almost half of the world. Out of 196 UN member states, there are 7 where it is punishable by death.

In 84 others, it can merit prison and physical punishment. But today, momentum is building and the debate on gay rights is omnipresent - whether it be regarding legalization in the Middle East and Africa or the focus of gay marriage laws in the West.

After years of long diplomatic struggle, several world leaders have declared themselves in favor of the universal decriminalization of homosexuality. But victory won’t come easily. The countries that still punish homosexuality refuse to give in to international pressure. Global acceptance and equality will take time to achieve.

‘Global Gay’ follows this battle for decriminalization through the lives and work of some of its fearless pioneers, providing a vibrant chronicle of the growing global social movement. In the words of Ban Ki Moon, “The time has come”.

Filmed in Russia, Cuba, Cameroon, Nepal and South Africa.


Dear Sir David Attenborough: Homosexuality in the Animal Kingdom (2013)

The former features editor of Britain's first national gay newspaper Gay News and author Keith Howes presents an open appeal to broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough to cover, depict and acknowledge homosexuality in the animal kingdom. Please note that any views expressed in this video are not necessarily those of the film maker. Please subscribe if you like this video.

#LGBT’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa


Fanack »

Homosexuality in the Middle East and North Africa: A Grim Situation with Rays of Hope »

Activists Discuss Being LGBTQ+ in the Arab World | NowThis (2018)

‘There was nothing wrong with me. It was the people around me that were wrong.’ — These LGBTQ+ Arabs want others like them to know there is hope.

These LGBT activists want other Arabs who happen to be gay, lesbian, transgender or trans, bisexual, queer, pansexual, intersex, gender non-conforming, non-binary, or questioning their gender or sexuality in general, to know that they are not alone.

These LGBT advocates encourage others to take pride in their sexuality and gender, providing LGBT advice, and reminding all people that LGBT rights matter because they are HUMAN rights.


Hungary’s Classrooms Have Become the New Battleground for the War on ‘LGBT Ideology’

THE GUARDIAN: Viktor Orban has used a new law to equate gay people with paedophiles. He’s not the first to use this tactic

Last week, the Hungarian parliament banned any portrayal of homosexuality or transgenderism to minors, in educational material or on television. Appending this to a law protecting children from child abuse, the country’s president, Viktor Orbán, drew an explicit connection between homosexuality and paedophilia. In so doing, he resorted to a canard that much of the world has long dispensed with, but that is enjoying a troubling new emergence in the global battles against “gender ideology”: the danger posed by homosexuals and trans people to children.

“The logic of the government is to find an enemy and pretend that they are saving the country from this enemy,” said the Hungarian LGBTQ+ leader Tamás Dombos in a presentation to the United States Congress last week. Dombos described the new law as “a conscious and diabolic political strategy” by the government to divert public attention from its messy response to the Covid crisis. The law is also a salvo in a tough upcoming election, and an effective way of staking what I term a “pink line”: a nativist boundary protecting, in this case, Hungarian “values” against the immoral imperialism of George Soros and Brussels. » | Mark Gevisser | Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Stonewall risks all it has fought for in accusing those who disagree with it of hate speech »

Monday, June 21, 2021

CNN's Christiane Amanpour Shares Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis

CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour revealed to viewers that she has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Amanpour, 63, is one of the best-known journalists in the world. She has been off the air for the past four weeks due to the undergoing surgery.

James Michael Tyler: Friends' Gunther Reveals Cancer Diagnosis

BBC: Friends star James Michael Tyler, who played Central Perk waiter Gunther, has said he has stage four prostate cancer.

In an interview with NBC's Today show, the 59-year-old revealed he was diagnosed in September 2018 after a routine physical examination.

The cancer has since spread to the actor's bones and he can no longer walk. He is undergoing chemotherapy.

"Eventually, you know, it's gonna probably get me," he told host Craig Melvin.

Speaking about his diagnosis, he said: "I was 56 years old at the time, and they screen for PSA, which is prostate-specific antigen. » | BBC | Monday, June 21, 2021

‘I Am Very Shy. It’s Amazing I Became a Movie Star’: Leslie Caron at 90 on Love, Art and Addiction

THE GUARDIAN: The legendary actor reflects on her riches-to-rags childhood, confronting depression and alcoholism – and dancing with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire

Leslie Caron and her companion, Jack, greet me at the front of their apartment. They make a well-matched couple – slight, chic, immaculately coiffured. Caron, the legendary dancer and actor, is 90 in two weeks’ time. Jack, her beloved shih tzu, is about nine.

Caron heads off to make the tea, with Sidney Bechet’s summery jazz playing in the background. I am left alone with Jack to explore the living room. It feels as if I am tunnelling through the history of 20th-century culture. Here is a photo of a pensive François Truffaut; below is a smirking Warren Beatty. The centrepiece on the wall is a huge watercolour of Caron’s great friend Christopher Isherwood, painted by his partner, Don Bachardy. To the left is Louis Armstrong, to the right Rudolf Nureyev, with whom she starred in 1977’s Valentino, and further along is Jean Renoir, who she says was like a father to her. And we have barely started.

Caron leads me into her magnificent garden, long and thin as a cricket wicket. “What do you think?” she says, with undisguised pride at her handiwork. She points out the petunias, geraniums, forget-me-nots and a solitary rose trailing on the wall. The pots, some of them almost as big as she is, line up like a military tattoo. “The rose came out in the night. Fabulous.” She licks her lips. » | Simon Hattenstone | Monday, June 21, 2021

Nutzen von Intervallfasten nicht erwiesen

SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG: Die dünne Studienlage zeigt keine Vorteile im Vergleich zur Diät nach Stechuhr - die Risiken sind unklar.

Manchmal ist der Wille zur Wirkung größer als die wissenschaftliche Beweiskraft. Das gilt für einige Methoden der konventionellen Medizin, für etliche alternative Verfahren, aber auch für den großen Grenzbereich zwischen Erfahrungswissen, Volksglauben und dem alltäglichen Irrsinn, den Menschen gelegentlich mit sich anstellen. Populäres Beispiel ist das Intervallfasten. Es erfreut sich großer Beliebtheit, und zu Recht vergessene Schauspielerinnen, selbsternannte Ernährungsexperten und andere hauptberufliche Ego-Darsteller schwärmen davon. Schließlich haben sie es ja selbst ausprobiert - außerdem gibt es "Studien". » | Kommentar von Werner Bartens | Freitag, 18. Juni 2021

Royaume-Uni : l’ex-« speaker » vedette Bercow quitte les conservateurs

LE POINT : John Bercow estime que le parti du Premier ministre Johnson est devenu « réactionnaire, populiste, nationaliste, et parfois même, xénophobe ».

Un départ remarqué. L'ancien président de la Chambre des communes britannique, John Bercow, a annoncé dimanche 20 juin 2021 qu'il quittait le camp conservateur. L'homme politique de 58 ans en a profité pour lancer une violente critique contre le Premier ministre Boris Johnson dont le parti est devenu, selon lui, « réactionnaire, populiste, nationaliste, et parfois même, xénophobe », dans une interview accordée au journal The Observer.

Il avait rejoint les torys à l'âge de 17 ans, et a été député du Parti conservateur pendant 12 ans avant d'être élu en 2009 président de la chambre basse du Parlement, quittant alors toute affiliation à un parti comme le veut la coutume. Après avoir quitté ce poste en octobre 2019, il a annoncé dimanche rejoindre les rangs du parti d'opposition travailliste qui, espère-t-il, renversera le gouvernement. « La conclusion à laquelle je suis arrivé est que ce gouvernement doit être remplacé. La réalité est que le Parti travailliste est le seul moyen qui peut atteindre cet objectif. Il n'y a pas d'autre option crédible », explique John Bercow. » | Source AFP | Publié : dimanche 20 juin 21 ; modifié : lundi 21 juin 21

Princess Latifa: Instagram Image Appears to Show Dubai Ruler’s Daughter in Spain

THE GUARDIAN: Princess, who was seized trying to flee the sheikhdom in 2018, has appeared in several social media posts in recent months

A Dubai princess who has been the subject of concern from a United Nations panel after being seized trying to flee the sheikhdom in 2018 has appeared in a social media post that described her as being in Spain on a “European holiday”.

An image published on an Instagram account belonging to former Royal Navy member Sioned Taylor appears to shows Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas airport.

Taylor’s caption, punctuated by a smiley face emoji, reads: “Great European holiday with Latifa. We’re having fun exploring!” Comments by Taylor acknowledged the location of the image, which match other images of the airport. » | Dan Sabbagh | Monday, June 21, 2921

Boris Johnson a Pundit Who Stumbled into Politics, Says Cummings

THE GUARDIAN: Former aide says in Substack Q&A that No 10 is now ‘just a branch of the entertainment industry’

Downing Street under Boris Johnson is “a branch of the entertainment industry” and nothing will get done in terms of serious policy focus until he leaves, Dominic Cummings has said in his latest blast at his former boss.

In a question and answer session with paid subscribers to his Substack newsletter, Johnson’s former chief adviser described the prime minister as “a pundit who stumbled into politics and acts like that 99% of the time”.

Giving evidence to MPs last month, Cummings criticised Johnson as completely unfit to be prime minister, describing him as media obsessed and “like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”. » | Peter Walker, Political correspondent | Monday, June 21, 2021

EU Prepares to Cut Amount of British TV and Film Shown Post-Brexit

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: number of UK productions seen as ‘disproportionate’ and threat to Europe’s cultural diversity

The EU is preparing to act against the “disproportionate” amount of British television and film content shown in Europe in the wake of Brexit, in a blow to the UK entertainment industry and the country’s “soft power” abroad.

The UK is Europe’s biggest producer of film and TV programming, buoyed up by £1.4bn from the sale of international rights, but its dominance has been described as a threat to Europe’s “cultural diversity” in an internal EU document seen by the Guardian.

The issue is likely to join a list of points of high tension in the EU-UK relationship since the country left the single market and customs union, including disputes over the sale of British sausages in Northern Ireland and the issue of licences in fishing waters, which led to Royal Navy patrol boats being deployed to Jersey earlier this year. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Monday, June 21, 2021

Swedish PM Stefan Löfven Loses No-confidence Vote

THE GUARDIAN: Premier is first in country’s history to be ousted by opposition MPs and has a week to decide next move

Sweden’s parliament has backed a no-confidence vote in the centre-left prime minister, Stefan Löfven, making him the first premier to be ousted by opposition MPs in the country’s history and giving him a week to resign or call snap elections.

The vote, called by the nationalist Sweden Democrats barely a year before a general election, plunges Sweden back into political uncertainty four years after the last inconclusive poll produced a deadlocked parliament and led to months of negotiations to form a coalition. » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent | Monday, June 21, 2021

‘It’s Going to Come as a Big Shock’: UFO Experts Await Pentagon Report

THE GUARDIAN: UK ufologists are worlds apart on the importance of a hotly anticipated US intelligence release

Nearly 75 years after Roswell, the possibility that we are not alone in the universe is once again the talk of mainstream politics.

The impending release of a Pentagon report on the activities of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) has sparked a wave of interest and recent pronouncements from the programme’s former director, Luis Elizondo , have raised the eyebrows of ufologists worldwide.

“We are quite convinced that we’re dealing with a technology that is multigenerational, several generations ahead of what we consider next generation technology,” Elizondo told the Washington Post earlier this month.

But a world away from Washington, perhaps the biggest ripples have been felt in Todmorden, a quiet market town in the Pennines. About 20 miles north of Manchester, the town of 15,000 has been the site of a number of unexplained events and reported sightings – earning itself a reputation as Britain’s answer to Roswell in the process. » | Alex Mistlin | Monday, June 21, 2021

Annie Lennox: A Whiter Shade of Pale (Tradução)

Sunday, June 20, 2021

The Invisible Enemy: Cyber Terrorists Wreaking Havoc and Costing Billions | 60 Minutes Australia

Stelter: Why Isn't Fox News Fact-checking Carlson's January 6 Claim?

CNN's Brian Stelter emailed Fox News a number of questions about host Tucker Carlson's claim that the FBI was behind the January 6 Capitol insurrection and why their team of journalists have not investigated the veracity of the allegations.

The Observer View on the Tory Byelection Defeat in Chesham and Amersham

THE OBSERVER: The Lib Dem victory shows that voters are finally seeing through the lack of substance behind Boris Johnson’s appeal

The resounding Conservative defeat in last week’s byelection in Chesham and Amersham should ring alarm bells for Boris Johnson. There are many ways to dismiss this result as an anomaly: opposition to HS2 and planning reforms; a strong local campaign by the Liberal Democrats; a lacklustre Tory candidate. All of these were factors, but this huge swing against a government that won an overwhelming majority just 18 months ago – in one of its heartland seats – hints at the electoral consequences of substituting empty rhetoric and divisive culture wars for competent governance in a national crisis. It suggests that Johnson’s appeal may not be as universal as his backers believe.

The byelection result is further evidence of the long-term realignment in English politics. Just as Labour has been losing support among alienated Leave voters in its heartland seats, last month’s local election results highlight how the Conservatives are losing support among working-age graduates, many of whom voted Remain, in what were traditionally Conservative strongholds in affluent areas of London and the south-east. This has become more noticeable since the 2019 election, when many socially liberal Conservative voters who backed Remain supported Boris Johnson because they could not countenance the idea of Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister and, despite their pro-European sentiments, just wanted to see Brexit done. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, June 20, 2021

James Taylor - How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)