Golden Girls
Out and proud lesbian athletes Sarah Vaillancourt, Vibeke Skofterud and Irene Wust celebrated a very successful Winter Olympic Games. Canadian hockey player Vaillancourt and her team won gold ahead of the Americans. Norwegian cross country skier Vibeke Skofterud took home gold, with two of her team mates, in the Ladies 4x5km relay classic. While Wust won individual gold for Sweden in the ladies 1500m speed skating .
BBC Murder Charges
British TV presenter Ray Gosling will face court next month charged over the suspected murder of his gay lover, who was dying of AIDS. The 70-year-old Nottingham man confessed to smothering his un-named lover many years ago during his BBC East Midlands’ Inside Out show, which went to air in February. In the film he told how he made a pact with his lover that when there was nothing more that could be done medically he would put him out of his pain. ‘I don’t think it’s a crime,’ he said on film. ‘…When you love someone, it’s difficult to see them suffer.’ Shortly afterwards he was interrogated for 30 hours by police, during which he disclosed the lover’s name. He told the British press: ‘I don’t regret saying what I did on the television.’
The Pride of Slovakia
The eastern European country of Slovakia will host its first ever Pride festival this May. It is the last European Union country to hold a LGBT festival, which has been named Duchovy (Rainbow) Pride. Event spokesperson Romana Schlesinger told Pink News: ‘Rainbow Pride Bratislava 2010 is an important step towards the visibility of lesbian and gay people in the public space.’ Paul Birrell, the chair of Pride London, welcomed the news. ‘There continues to be opposition and violence at some events, such as Sofia and Belgrade, but Slovakia is sending a strong message that no country in Europe is a pride-free zone,’ he told Pink News.
Fatal Sex Game
BBC presenter and gay icon Kristian Digby died of auto-erotic asphyxiation, according to The Sun newspaper. The To Buy Or Not To Buy host was found dead of ‘unexplained’ circumstances in his British apartment on March 1, police said. However a source revealed to The Sun that the 32-year-old star suffocated while starving himself of oxygen for a thrill. INXS singer Michael Hutchence was suspected of dying the same way despite officially being found to have committed suicide, while Kill Bill actor David Carradine accidentally hanged himself during a sex act in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ugandan petition
Almost half a million people have signed a petition calling for the withdrawal of an anti-gay bill before Uganda’s parliament. The bill will impose the death penalty on those who have homosexual sex with a minor or disabled person while infected with AIDS, as well as repeat offenders. Anyone convicted for having gay sex will be jailed for life and those found to have not reported homosexual activities will also face a prison term. The petition of 450,000 signatures has been presented to Parliament, which has yet to debate the bill.
Aja Styles
