BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Identity Kenya says that a Tanzanian gay rights activist was found dead in his Dar es Salaam home, and murder is suspected as police begin their investigations.

The Kenya Sexual and Gender Minorities News Service says Maurice Mjomba appears to have been strangled and may have been dead for several days, but results of an autopsy are pending. It is also unclear whether his death was motivated by homophobia. 

Mjomba was a founding member of Stay Awake Network Activities (SANA), a sexual health education organization for men who have sex with men (MSM). Fellow activists and friends remember Mjomba as hardworking, diligent and honest, saying his death is a loss to the fledgling queer community in Tanzania, Identity Kenya says. 

Meanwhile, here in Canada, Xtra's Justin Ling has learned that a Toronto-area lesbian faces deportation to Uganda, after her most recent rejection letter from the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Her deportation date is set for Aug 4.

 

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – The Washington Blade reports that a 15-member Democratic Party committee unanimously backed the inclusion of same-sex marriage in the party's draft platform after a national hearing held in Minneapolis last weekend.

The Blade also notes that a Democratic National Committee staffer, who commented anonymously on the process, said rejection of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and positive language about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) are also part of the draft, but the exact wording was not revealed. 

Following the discussion and inclusion of any amendments, the platform will be presented to the party's convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in September.

In a July 30 release, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) observed that support for marriage equality has risen quickly and consistently over the last 10 years. Citing a recent Gallup Poll, HRC noted that 70 percent of voters between 18 and 34 support gay marriage. They also cite a Washington Post/ABC News poll finding that 58 percent of independent voters support marriage for gays and lesbians, while a Public Religion Research Institute poll indicated that gay marriage had the support of 49 percent of younger Republicans.

"For the first time, a major US political party has embraced gay and lesbian people as full Americans," Courage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs is quoted as saying in Gay Star News.

 

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Buzzfeed.com has listed 20 openly gay athletes who will be competing in the London Summer Olympics, which staged its opening ceremonies today (July 27).

They include:

Diver Matthew Mitcham and beach volleyballer Natalie Cook (Australia)

Cyclist Judith Arndt and fencer Imke Dupliitzer (Germany)

Field-hockey players Marilyn Agliotti, Maartje Paumen and Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, plus dressage rider Edward Gal (Netherlands)

Triathletes Carole Péon and Jessica Harrison, and handball player Alexandra Lacrabere (France)

Tennis player Lisa Raymond, basketball player Seimone Augustus, soccer player Megan Rapinoe (USA). Extra credit: US soccer coach Pia Sundhage is also out. 

Soccer players Jessica Landstrom, Hedvig Lindahl and Lisa Dahlkvist (Sweden)

Dressage rider Carl Hester (Great Britain)

Handball player Mayssa Pessoa (Brazil)

Handball player Rikke Skov (Denmark)

Check out their bios on BuzzFeed.

Meanwhile, multiple Grand Slam tennis singles champion Martina Navratilova, who came out in the early '80s, told Gay Star News that while the sports world is "still archaic" regarding homosexuality, athletes are "just too paranoid about coming out." 

"I think if they did they would realize it was okay," she said in the interview. 

"It is easy for a player to make jokes about fags or whatever, but if one of the team is an out gay player, they are not going to be making those jokes," she contends. "If just a few would come out while they are still players, the floodgates would open."

Read more of Navratilova's interview at Gay Star News. 

 

Landing image: uk.rapp.com

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Within a day of one another, Scotland and New Zealand have signalled their readiness to put same-sex marriage to a vote, with both countries giving strong indications that marriage equality bills will have the necessary cross-party support to become law.

In a July 25 release, the Scottish government also says that legislation will include protections for freedom of religion and speech. 

"Protection for religious bodies who do not wish to conduct same sex marriages already exists under UK equality law," the statement says. The government also noted its intention to protect individual celebrants who consider same-sex ceremonies to be contrary to their faith, adding that an amendment to the equality laws will be required to ensure such protection.

"We are committed to a Scotland that is fair and equal, and that is why we intend to proceed with plans to allow same-sex marriage and religious ceremonies for civil partnerships," Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says. "We are also mindful of the fact that the leaders of all the other parties represented in parliament support same-sex marriage and that there is significant parliamentary support for legislation," Sturgeon observes.

"Scotland is by no means the first and will not be the last country to legalize same-sex marriage," Sturgeon adds.  

A draft bill will be published for consultation later in the year. The announcement means Scotland will probably have legislation in place ahead of England and Wales.

Opposition from religious leaders like Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the UK's most senior Catholic leader, has been fierce. O'Brien had called for a referendum on gay marriage to delay the government's decision, but the idea was rejected, Gay Star News reports. But queer rights campaigners, other faith leaders and members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) see the government's move as "a proud day for Scotland." 

On the same day, British Prime Minister David Cameron reaffirmed his public support for gay marriage at a dinner for queer activists at his Downing St residence. "I think if it's good enough for straight people like me, it's good enough for everybody, and that's why we should have gay marriage and we will legislate for it," he said. 

Then on July 26, a day later, the New Zealand Herald reported that a bill to legalize same-sex marriage was drawn from a ballot and will go before the country's parliament. The Marriage Amendment Bill, brought forward by lesbian Labour MP Louisa Wall, "makes it clear that marriage is a union of two people regardless of their sex, sexual orientation or gender identity," the report notes. 

If that bill had not been drawn, Green Party MP Kevin Hague also had a private member's bill in the ballot aimed at legalizing gay marriage.

"The time had come," Hague told the Herald. 

Prime Minister John Key has said he would support such a measure at its initial stage but would not guarantee support through to the final reading when it would become law. He told the Herald that he votes on conscience issues based on the views of his constituents, noting that he was "more liberal" than his voting record indicated.  

 

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Jim Henson and his Muppets, actors Ed Helms (The Office), Peter Paige (Queer as Folk), author Christopher Rice, the mayor of Boston, a Chicago alderman, and now a Los Angeles youth group are turning up the heat on fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, which has taken a stand against gay marriage as well as confirmed that it has donated to anti-gay organizations.

"Guilty as charged," the company's president, Dan Cathy, reportedly said of his company's stance that marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Of the company's reported search for a new location in Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino told Chick-fil-A to forget it. 

"There is no place for discrimination on Boston's Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it," Menino wrote in a scathing letter to Cathy July 20. "You called supporters of gay marriage 'prideful.' Here in Boston, to borrow your own words, we are 'guilty as charged.' 

"We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom to all people. We are proud that our state and and our city have led the way for the country on equal marriage rights.

Following on the heels of Menino's dressing down of Chick-fil-A, Chicago alderman Joe Moreno  says he intends to block the chain's bid to build a second branch in the Windy City. "If you are discriminating against a segment of the city, I don't want you in the First Ward," Moreno said July 25.

And today, outside a newly opened branch of Chick-fil-A in Laguna Hills, Orange County, about 70 protesters from the group Youth Empowered to Act distributed flyers and asked customers at the restaurant to satisfy their fast-food appetite elsewhere. They carried rainbow flags, placards riffing on the company's slogan, "Eat Mor Chikin," and wore shirts with the words "Gay OK" on them. 

In the midst of the firestorm, Chick-fil-A has tried to back out of the situation, saying last week that it would leave the debate over same-sex marriage to the political hustings.

That's not stopping activists from organizing actions, like the National Same Sex Kiss Day at Chick-fil-A branches across the US. That event is carded for Aug 3.  

Another action, Flick-the-Hate: Eat for Love, spearheaded by Equality Illinois, is encouraging people to eat or spend money at queer-friendly establishments.

There was also a protest at a Chick-fil-A food truck in Washington, DC, today. 

Landing image:  GLAAD