Taylor Swift: Please stop calling me gay
Despite unfounded rumours of her kissing model Karlie Kloss and the appreciative glance she gives a female dancer’s crotch in “Shake It Off,” Taylor Swift would like the media to please stop calling her gay. “As my 25th birthday present from the media, I’d like for you to stop accusing all my friends of dating me,” she tweeted. Oh well.
IOC votes to include sexual orientation in charter
The International Olympic Committee has voted unanimously to approve president Thomas Bach’s 40-point reform plan for the organization, including the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Olympic Charter’s list of identities protected from discrimination. Gay rights groups pressured the IOC to change the rules after concerns over the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Egyptian TV show hands gay men over to authorities
An Egyptian TV journalist set up the arrests of at least 25 men on charges of homosexuality by tipping off authorities about a bathhouse. Reporter Mona Iraqi filmed an exposé of the bathhouse, which she describes as “the whole story of the dens for spreading AIDS in Egypt,” then handed over information to morality police. The police then raided the bathhouse, dragging a large group of naked men into custody. Egypt is in the middle of a crackdown on homosexuality, including the recent sentencing of eight men to three years in prison for participating in a gay wedding ceremony.
Read more at BuzzFeed and the Associated Press.
Chile introduces same-sex marriage bill
A member of Chile’s governing coalition has introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, even though a bill to legalize civil unions in the country is still working its way through Congress. The marriage bill would change the words “a man and a woman” in Chile’s marriage law to “two people.” President Michelle Bachelet campaigned on marriage rights for same-sex couples when she was elected in 2013.
Read more from the Washington Blade.
FDA rejects gay blood donors
Despite a recommendation from an advisory committee to allow gay men who have been celibate for one year to give blood, the US Food and Drug Administration has rejected the plan, opting to maintain a lifetime ban on men who have had gay sex since 1977. Activists and journalists, including from The New York Times, have recently argued that the blanket ban is irrational and discriminatory. One FDA panellist, however, concluded, “It sounds to me like we’re talking about policy and civil rights rather than our primary duty, which is transfusion safety.”
Daily Beast: Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge are America’s worst gay power couple
A handsome pair of ambitious, successful gay men use their talent and wealth to push for progressive causes in journalism and politics. Good news, right? Not so much, says James Kirchick at The Daily Beast. Kirchick writes that Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and his husband, Sean Eldridge, are entitled, talentless brats who destroy everything they touch. What’s worse, he says, they got away with it because they’re gay.
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