Zimbabwe police raid gay group offices, arrest 2

A defense attorney says police in Zimbabwe have arrested two members of a gay organization in Harare.

Attorney David Hofisi says he has not been allowed to visit them in jail since their arrest May 20, but they were expected to be brought to court in late May.

Ellen Chadehama, 34, and Ingatius Mhambi, 38, are employees of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe organization. They were arrested on allegations under Zimbabwe’s censorship laws.

Police raided the offices of their gay and HIV/AIDS awareness group searching for indecent materials, and removed documents and computer files.

Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries. President Robert Mugabe has described same-sex partners as “lower than dogs and pigs” but arrests of gays are rare in Zimbabwe.

Brazil bishop says kids are ‘spontaneously homosexual’

A Brazilian archbishop said adolescents are “spontaneously homosexual” and in need of guidance, while society at large is pedophile.

Archbishop Dadeus Grings – a conservative priest who has made controversial statements in the past – told the O Globo newspaper at a Brazilian bishops’ conference that society’s woes are being reflected in the sex abuse scandal enveloping the Roman Catholic Church.

“Society today is pedophile, that is the problem. So, people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign,” Grings told O Globo.

The comments come as the church is under fire for a sex abuse scandal touching all corners of the globe – and three weeks after Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the No. 2 official at the Vatican, said at a news conference in Chile that the sex scandals were linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.

There have been several cases of priests allegedly abusing children that have surfaced in Brazil in recent months.

Read more...

Portugal’s president ratifies gay marriage law

Portugal’s conservative president said he is reluctantly ratifying a law allowing gay marriage, making the predominantly Catholic country the sixth in Europe to let same-sex couples wed.

President Anibal Cavaco Silva said he would not veto the bill because majority liberal lawmakers would only overturn his decision. The country must focus instead on battling a crippling economic crisis that has increased unemployment and deepened poverty, he said.

“Given that fact, I feel I should not contribute to a pointless extension of this debate, which would only serve to deepen the divisions between the Portuguese and divert the attention of politicians away from the grave problems affecting us,” Cavaco Silva said.

He said he was setting aside his “personal convictions,” though he did not elaborate and did not take reporters’ questions.

Read more...

Lithuania gay Pride march draws protesters

Opponents of Lithuania’s first gay Pride parade threw smoke bombs and tried to break through a barrier May 8, but were stopped by police firing tear gas.

Later, protesters threw rocks and street signs at security forces and two Lithuanian lawmakers were detained after trying to climb the barrier.

About 400 people took part in the two-hour march – dubbed “For Equality” – in a sealed-off area in downtown Vilnius. Holding large rainbow flags and dancing to music blaring from loudspeakers, they walked along a road near the Neris river.

Participants included many foreigners, diplomats and members of the European Parliament.

“We are here because we believe ... in a just society. Labels are for filing, for clothing, not for people. And we are here today to remove labels from people,” said Birgitta Ohlsson, Sweden’s minister for European Union affairs.

Read more...