White closets, Tokyo pride and lesbian Amazons

Your Daily Package of newsy and naughty bits from around the world


Coming out makes you happier (if you’re white)

Researchers at the University of Kansas have found that while white men are happier after coming out verbally as gay, Latino men are happier if they come out silently, for example by just showing up with a partner. The authors say this shows that different social groups approach gay identity differently.

Read more at Gay Star News.

Pride celebrates landmark year in Japan

Organizers say 50,000 people turned out to Tokyo’s gay Pride parade (photos), marking a year of promising steps in Japanese gay rights. Support for gay people has been rising quickly in Japan, and in November Tokyo’s Shibuya ward authorized municipal civil partnerships for gay couples.

Read more at the Latin American Herald Tribune.

Italian civil unions bill arrives at Lower House

After passing in the senate, a bill to recognize same-sex civil unions will reach the Italian Lower House floor May 9. Italy remains the only Western European nation with no recognition of same-sex couples at all.

Read more from ANSA.

Russell T Davies imagines lesbian Midsummer Night’s Dream

In a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for the BBC, gay director Russell T Davies has inserted a lesbian Amazon plotline, as well as the non-canonical death of Athens’ King Theseus. But don’t worry, writes Kaite Welsh at The Telegraph, it’s just what Shakespeare would have wanted.

Northern Ireland couple appeals cake discrimination judgement

A Christian couple in Northern Ireland are arguing it would have been “a sin” for them to bake a gay-themed cake. The bakers were found guilty of discrimination last year, and now are appealing the ruling.

Read more at the Guardian.

 

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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