Another top British athlete has come out of the closet.

Steve Davies, 24, an English cricketer who competes at an international level, came out in a Feb 27 interview with The Daily Telegraph, saying "it is right to be out in the open."

Davies credits his decision to publicly disclose his sexual orientation to Gareth Thomas, a Welsh rugby player who came out two years ago. Thomas’s story attracted Hollywood heavyweight Mickey Rourke, who will portray Thomas in a film about his life and struggles as a once-closeted gay man.



Before Thomas, Davies says, “there was no one to look up to.” He added, “I have got nothing to hide and I am ready to tell people... I feel it is right to be out in the open about my sexuality.”

Being out is still rare in professional sport. In Canada, activists put the spotlight on gays in sport during the Olympics. Meanwhile, the Outgames are coming to Vancouver this year.

 

Thirty-two years ago today, a court acquitted The Body Politic and the officers of Pink Triangle Press on a charge of publishing immoral, indecent and scurrilous material.

Later that year, the delegates to the annual meeting of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition unanimously passed this resolution celebrating the acquittal:

We recognize the importance of making known our history, so much of which has been lost or stolen, and particularly, of commemorating the victories of lesbians and gay men. Given the historic importance of the acquittal of the officers of Prink Triangle Press as the first major legal victory for the Canadian lesbian and gay rights movement, and given the fortuitous date of that victory, we propose a yearly celebration to mark the day.
 
We realize that this date, Feb 14, has traditionally been celebrated as St Valentine’s Day and dedicated to the expression of heterosexual affection. We take this opportunity to challenge what Christopher Isherwood has called the “heterosexual dictatorship” by affirming for ourselves and for the world the existence, the strength and the beauty of gay love.
 
A central symbol of the St Valentine’s Day celebration has been the figure of Cupid, derived from the ancient Greek Eros. We intend to make this day a celebration of the liberation of Eros, both as a reality in our personal lives since coming out and as a political goal to be achieved.
 
We therefore proclaim Feb 14 as an annual Canadian gay holiday, to be known as “Pink Triangle Day.”

 

An HIV-positive man sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted two years ago for not disclosing his serostatus to sexual partners says he has served enough time in jail.

The case, known as Mabior, could go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. At its heart is a dispute about whether the accused put his partners at serious risk. Last October, the accused successfully reduced six aggravated sexual assault convictions to two, based on condom use and his low viral load.

Shortly afterwards, the Manitoba Court of Appeal ordered a new sentencing hearing on the charges for which he has been convicted. He will return to court Dec 16.

At a Dec 1 hearing, Ian MacNair, the accused’s lawyer, motioned for his client’s immediate release. Crown Wendy Friesen argued he should serve two more years in prison.

Justice Joan McKelvey reserved judgment.

In her 62-page decision, Manitoba Court of Appeal Justice Freda Steel found the trial judge was wrong to conclude that everyone who had sexual relations with the accused was exposed to “significant risk.”

In the four overturned sex assault convictions, Steel referred to medical evidence that showed the risk of exposure was low when the accused wore a condom. The judge also cited evidence that the accused's antiretroviral therapy meant there was a “high probability” he wasn't infectious.

The decision also stated:

“In this case, the scientific evidence indicated that either the careful use of a condom or effective antiretroviral therapy, which reduced viral loads to an undetectable level, could potentially reduce the level of risk to below the legal test of 'significant risk,'

And:

“Although the accused knew that he was HIV-positive, and despite medical warnings to the contrary, he did not disclose that condition to the complainants, who, with one exception, would not have consented if they had known he was HIV-positive... I can well understand that those complainants feel, in their opinion, that the nature and quality of the sexual act was fundamentally changed by the lack of disclosure of the risk of disease.”



A phone call and email request for an interview to Ian MacNair has yet to be returned.

The accused immigrated to Canada from Sudan in 2000. He will be deported when he is released from prison, but he has publicly stated he no longer wants to live in Canada. It might be interesting to note he is the second Winnipeg-based Sudanese immigrant to be in the news for HIV nondisclosure this year.

Image cc Joe Gratz/Flickr
 

As tonight is the first night of the remounting of Nina Arsenault's The Silicone Diaries at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, it's a good opportunity to revisit Arsenault's gripping talk at IdeaCity this year.

At one point, Arsenault speaks to the significance of social networking to her work:

"As someone who has been discriminated against sexually, the democratization of social networking sites has been invaluable for me to disseminate my ideas and art."

 Watch the whole presentation below:

 

 

 

In an attempt to phase out anti-gay bullying in London schools, some schoolteachers are now teaching gay history, PinkNews reports.