Nick Duffy

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Bill Passes that Fixes Legal Disparity Between Straight and Gay Sex Offenses

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California lawmakers have passed a bill intended to fix a legal disparity that treats gay sex offences more severely than straight ones, despite far-right anger and death threats. Gay Democratic lawmaker Scott Wiener was threatened with “public execution” after far-right conspiracy theorists latched onto his bill, SB 145, which seeks to close a loophole in California’s sexual offence laws. Under current state law it is a crime to have sex with someone under the age of 18, but judges have a discretionary power to keep teenagers off the sex offenders’ register for having sex with people of a similar age, such as […]

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Same-sex Couples finally Able to Marry in Churches in Northern Ireland

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Same-sex couples can apply to have religious weddings in Northern Ireland from today (1 September), with ceremonies set to begin later this month. Gay weddings began in Northern Ireland in February, but so far couples have only been allowed to undergo civil weddings – with a further wait for regulations to be amended to allow religious weddings and for the conversion of existing civil partnerships into marriages. From 1 September, however, couples in Northern Ireland can also register for a religious wedding ceremony, bringing the region in line with Scotland, England and Wales. Religious bodies can also choose to opt in to provide […]

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Gay Black ‘Literary Genius’ Randall Kenan Has Died at 57

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Acclaimed author Randall Kenan, whose work reflected on being Black and gay in the South of the United States, has died aged 57. Keenan’s celebrated works, including A Visitation of Spirits, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, and The Fire This Time, netted him a string of prestigious awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the North Carolina Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Rome Prize, and a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction. He also penned an influential biography of gay novelist James Baldwin, and Walking on Water, an oral history of Black American life. Tributes paid to ‘literary giant’. Kenan was found […]

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Czech Republic in Danger of Following in the Anti-LGBTQ+ of Poland and Hungary

An equal marriage campaigner in the Czech Republic has warned that the country could follow in the footsteps of Poland and Hungary in embracing anti-LGBT+ hatred. After years of progress towards equality across Europe, LGBT+ campaigners across the continent have faced a bruising few years – with politicians in Poland openly stoking anti-LGBT+ hatred to their own ends, while in Hungary the right-wing government led by Viktor Orban is legally erasing recognition of transgender people. In the Czech Republic, campaigners are also fearful of a backslide on the issue. Although registered partnerships are legal in the Czech Republic the country does not […]

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Gay Democrat Threatened with ‘Public Execution’ by ‘Homophobic, Antisemitic’ Trolls over LGBT+ Rights Bill

Democratic lawmaker Scott Wiener has been threatened with “public execution” by far-right conspiracy theorists after trying to fix a disparity in California’s sexual offence laws. One of California’s most prominent LGBT+ officials, the state senator has faced a torrent of threats after putting forward a bill to fix a loophole that leads to discrimination against LGBT+ teens. Under current state law it is a crime to have sex with someone under the age of 18, but judges have a discretionary power to keep teenagers off the sex offenders’ register for having sex with people of a similar age, such as a 17-year-old […]

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Gay Men Start Having Sex Earlier than Straights – and it Means They’re Missing out on Sex Ed

Sex education may be starting too late to help young gay men, according to new research. A study from Rutgers University, published in the Journal of Sex Research, highlights a disparity between young gay men and the straight population when it comes to the age at which people first engage in sexual behaviours. Queer men become sexually active at an earlier age, researchers find. Based on a sample of 600 young men who have sex with men, researchers found that on average, same-sex sexual encounters first happen at 14.5 years of age – before straight teens are typically sexual active. Queer men have […]

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Poland’s Homophobic President Andrzej Duda Wins Re-election

President of Poland Andrzej Duda has narrowly secured re-election, after an ugly election campaign that saw him resort to homophobic dog whistles. According to preliminary results from Sunday’s run-off vote, the ultra-conservative Duda received 10,394,843 votes (51.22 per cent), giving him a wafer-thin margin of victory over the liberal candidate Rafal Trzaskowski, who received 9,901,371 votes (48.78 per cent). The result suggests that the Duda’s election campaign tactic of repeatedly targeting LGBT+ people in an effort to tap into rising homophobic sentiment appears to have paid off. President Andrzej Duda secures narrow victory after tapping into public homophobia. Duda, an ultra-conservative who […]

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Half a Million Dollars Raised to Protect the Future of the Stonewall Inn

After warnings that it might shut its doors for good, people have raised $250,000 to secure the future of the Stonewall Inn. The bar is considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, and was designated a US National Monument by Barack Obama in 2016 in recognition of the 1969 Stonewall riots – which were sparked by a police raid on the venue. But despite its central role in LGBT+ history, the owners of the still-functioning bar warned ahead of the 51st anniversary of the riots last week that a prolonged period of closure due to COVID-19 has left its future […]

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Democrats Push to Rename John Wayne Airport over Anti-gay Actor’s White Supremacy

There are calls to rename John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, over his white supremacist and homophobic beliefs. The Democratic Party of Orange County passed a resolution on Friday that called for Wayne’s name and likeness to be removed from the Orange County airport, one of several airports that serves the greater Los Angeles area, over his “racist and bigoted statements”. Wayne was famous for his film roles in early Westerns – but the local party notes he also had “white supremacist, anti-LGBT+, and anti-Indigenous views”. John Wayne was a proud white supremacist who decried ‘perverted fags’. The movie star’s racist […]

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LGBT+ Activists in Kyiv Transform Soviet Monument into Symbol of Equality

Creative LGBT+ activists in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv have used drones to vastly improve a Soviet-era monument. Like Pride parades around the world, the annual Kyiv Pride march – which has previously drawn violent far-right counter-protesters – has been cancelled in 2020 due to coronavirus. With LGBT+ people prevented from marching through the streets, on Sunday activists from Kyiv Pride decided to do the next best thing – and take to the skies of the city instead. LGBT+ activists used a drone to give an old Kyiv statute new meaning. The enterprising activists used a drone to carry a giant rainbow flag […]

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