Gay couple marries in traditional ceremony in northeastern Thailand

The northeastern province of Khon Kaen witnessed its first same-sex wedding ceremony on Saturday, reported the English-language Bangkok Post.

The Post reported that Choengchai Plubpiboon, 42, the owner of the stainless steel maker PB Metal Co Ltd, led a traditional ‘khan mak’ engagement procession to the house of his partner Uthane Korasing, 30.

The festivities was attended by family and friends.

Choengchai offered Uthane’s family 1 million baht (US$30,000) and 10 baht-weight of gold ornaments worth 200,000 baht as a dowry, as it is customary for the groom to pay to pay a dowry to the bridge’s family in Thailand, the Post reported.

Thailand does not legally recognize same-sex marriage. The status of the civil union bill, which was reportedly being drafted by Democrat and Pheu Thai parties, is unknown after the May 22, 2014 coup.

Choengchai’s father Thongchai Plubpiboon told the newspaper that his son came out to him 15 years ago.

‘Our family accepts him as he is. He’s hard working and has built a business for the family so that we have everything. What he needed was the right partner,’  the father said.

‘When my son told us he would like to marry Uthane, I was shocked and then I felt happy for him. He finally found a good partner who understands him. I’m very happy for them.’

Two women married in a similar traditional ceremony in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima last November with the blessings of their families.

A report issued by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) last year found that while the tourism authority actively promotes Thailand as a gay-friendly destination, acceptance of LGBTI people in society is still low.

The post Gay couple marries in traditional ceremony in northeastern Thailand appeared first on Gay Star News.

Sylvia Tan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-couple-marries-in-traditional-ceremony-in-northeastern-thailand/

Roger Rees: 1944-2015

Roger Rees, the  Tony Award-winning actor with appearances on television programs Cheers and The West Wing, died last night (10 June). His husband, playwright Rick Elice, and family and friends were at his side at his New York City home. The Welsh-born actor was 71. According to a release from O&M Co. the cause was cancer.

Rees’ career started at the Royal Shakespeare Company and he attended the Slade School of Fine Arts. In 1976, he played Malcolm in Trevor Nunn’s stage production of Macbeth. Two years later, he reprised the role for television.

He took the title role in the original production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, David Edgar’s stage adaptation of the Dickens novel. His performance won him the Olivier and Tony Awards for best actor in 1982.

In 1984, he starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in the television movie The Ebony Tower. From 1988 to 1991 he starred in the sitcom Singles, with co-star Judy Loe. From 1989 to 1991 and in 1993, he appeared on the award winning series Cheers. Later television appearances include substitute teacher Mr. Racine on My So-Called Life, British Ambassador Lord John Marbury on The West Wing, and James MacPherson on Warehouse 13.

Reese was also a presence on the big screen. In 1983 he co-starred with Mariel Hemingway in Star 80. He played the Sheriff of Rottingham in Mel Brooks’ film Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). Later film appearances include Frida (2002) and The Prestige (2006).

According to a 2012 profile in The New Yorker, Elice saw Rees in the Broadway production of Nickleby. Describing his future husband as ‘devastatingly beautiful,’ the playwright sent him a letter to invite him to a benefit. Rees did not reply. A year later, after a dress reseal for Cats, the two met again.

‘Standing before me was a six-foot-four, extraordinarily handsome American in a Burberry raincoat,’ Rees recalled to the magazine in 2012. ‘It was the raincoat that did it.’

There was a date, and that led to a long-distance relationship. Rees relocated to New York City in 1995, and the pair lived together. In 2011, two months after same-sex marriage became legal in New York, they married.

Nunn described the actor,  in a statement, as ‘inspirational. He had the perpetual boyishness and mischief of a Peter Pan, extraordinary wit combined with a gift for self-satire, and dauntless optimism coupled with deep-rooted belief.’

According to NPR, Sir Patrick Stewart tweeted the following:

Brilliant actor, dear friend and colleague, witty, kind, private man, Roger Rees died this morning. A space is left that cannot be filled.

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) July 11, 2015

A private funeral service will be held next week; details of a memorial will be forthcoming.

The post Roger Rees: 1944-2015 appeared first on Gay Star News.

James Withers

www.gaystarnews.com/article/roger-rees-1944-2015/

A street artist makes Julius Cesar a queer icon in Rome

A rainbow coloured Julius Cesar gazes out atop his famous lines: ‘The die is cast.’

In celebration of LGBTI civil victories across the world, a Roman street artist presented a ‘revised’ portrait of the city’s most famous citizen on Friday.

Mauro Pallotta drew Julius Cesar covered in rainbow colours accompanied by the quote: ‘Alea iacta est’ (the die is cast).

He said: ‘After the historic result of the Supreme Court in the US recently, and the Irish Yes Equality campaign, [I] wanted to reiterate what [Cesar] said first of all: “The die is cast”.’

He was alluding to the momentum the gay rights movement has gained in recent years.

Julius Cesar was born on July 12 100BC. Whether he was a ‘queer icon’ is disputed.

He was not openly homosexual, but suspected to have engaged in affairs with men when young.

During his time as a general, he was teased for a youthful affair he had with a Turkish king: Nicomedes IV.

To taunt him and reduce his credibility, his enemies crafted the phrase: ‘Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar.’

Same-sex relationships were tolerated in Cesar’s time and common. However it was considered unmasculine to be the passive partner (‘bottom’), as the chant suggests.

The post A street artist makes Julius Cesar a queer icon in Rome appeared first on Gay Star News.

Jack Flanagan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/a-street-artist-makes-julius-cesar-a-queer-icon-in-rome/

Gay Iconography: Bow Down To Bey

When I started this column in 2013, there was one pop star in particular that inspired my preoccupation with pop stars and the gay men who love them. That star: Beyoncé.

Queen Bey, while widely adored in the gay community, is a divisive figure when it comes to bestowing the title of gay icon. When Beyoncé released her self-titled fifth solo album to widespread critical and commercial success, some members of the LGBTQ community felt a little slighted by the former Destiny’s Child singer. One writer for Slate pointed out that Bey’s failure to acknowledge her gay fans among the album’s strong themes of feminism, empowerment and sexuality. The conversation sparked by the Slate post inspired passionate responses and prompted further examination of how one qualifies as a gay icon. Additionally, as a popular black artist with a large gay fanbase, she was at the center of a debate surrounding gay men misappropriating black female culture.

Throughout her career, however, Bey has shown support for the LGBTQ community. She shared a handwritten message of support for marriage equality to her nearly 40 million Instagram followers. When the Supreme Court decision came down, she shared a special rainbow-themed rendition of her “7/11” video.

In an interview with PrideSource, Beyoncé spoke about her relationship to her gay fans:

“Most of my audience is actually women and my gay fans, and I’ve seen a lot of the younger boys kind of grow up to my music. It’s great when I’m able to do the meet and greets, because I’m able to really connect and have conversations. People look at some of the artists that I admire – like Diana Ross and Cher – and they identity that glamour with Sasha Fierce, and I’ve been really inspired by the language. I have my (gay) stylists and my makeup artist, and all of their stories and the slang words I always put it in my music. We inspire each other.”

Wherever you land on Beyoncé’s place among the pantheon of gay icons like Judy, Barbra and Bette, it’s impossible to deny the impact she’s left in pop culture.

Here are some of our favorite Beyoncé musical moments:

The world first really got to know Her Beyjesty as part of the late-‘90s girl group Destiny’s Child. With hits like “Bills Bills Bills,” “Say My Name,” and “Bootylicious,” Destiny’s Child sold more than 60 million records worldwide. Their track “Independent Women, Pt. 1” (above) was named by Billboard as one of the Top 20 most successful songs of the 2000s.

As a solo artist, Beyoncé has also amassed a massive catalog of hits and awards. She is the second most-honored woman at the Grammys, with 20 statues earned for work with Destiny’s Child and a solo artist. One of her most enduring anthems, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” inspired countless recreations across YouTube. It was a central performance on Glee, and was even covered by one of the grande dame gay icons Liza Minnelli in the sequel to the Sex And the City movie.

She paired with Mother Monster herself, Lady Gaga, for their duet “Telephone.” The cinematic music video, above, was named the best video of the decade (so far) by Billboard.

If there was ever a reason to tune into the typically tedious Super Bowl halftime show, it would’ve been for Beyoncé. When she took to the field halfway through the game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in 2013, she set the stage ablaze with a blistering performance. The incredible medley of hits (including former Destiny’s Child bandmates Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland shooting up from under the stage) is one of the most tweeted-about moments in history, garnering an astonishing 268,000 tweets per minute.

As she describes on Nicki Minaj’s track “Feeling Myself,” Mrs. Carter “changed the game with that digital drop.” She’s referring to the surprise release of her masterpiece of a fifth album that arrived with no prior promotion, breaking the mold of typical album release strategy. On top of the self-titled disc’s revolutionary arrival, she also released beautifully shot videos for every single track simultaneously.

What do you think? Is Beyoncé a worthy gay icon?

The post Gay Iconography: Bow Down To Bey appeared first on Towleroad.

Bobby Hankinson

www.towleroad.com/2015/07/gay-iconography-bow-bey/

Kid Spokesman for Focus on The Family Wants SCOTUS Put in Time Out

Focus on the Family’s latest temper tantrum over the arrival of nationwide marriage equality might be its most desperate yet.

read more

Sunnivie Brydum

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/07/11/kid-spokesman-focus-family-wants-scotus-put-time-out

Samsung ban gay-dating apps in South Korea over ‘moral’ concerns

Samsung and Google Play have taken down gay networking apps including Jack’d in South Korea according to app developers.

A report from Buzzfeed released Friday found Samsung, based in Seoul, refuses to list apps like Hornet, Grindr or Scruff in its country owing to ‘local moral values.’

Hornet’s CEO Sean Howell received an email which said his app had been removed due to: ‘Local moral values and laws [in which] LGBT is not allowed’.

It also said it: ‘Does limit LGBT content on a country-by-country basis.’

Hornet isn’t listed in Syria, Iceland or Argentina too – though the last two legalised gay marriage.

Another app Jack’d was banned in South Korea, but from the more popular Google Play website. Google have not said why.

However, the app’s mangers report they have around 500,000 users in South Korea. Presumably South Koreans are using loopholes like VPN to download apps banned in their country. Guides to doing so are easily avaliable online.

South Korea has the fastest broadband, and the highest smartphone penetration in the world, making it a lucrative and fast-growing market for developers.

However the country is notably conservative and religious; the government recently tried to close down its 16th pride parade, but failed after much protest.

Censorship is present in South Korea owing to the ongoing war with North Korea.

Despite no military action taken for decades, censors are cautious of anything which could be perceived as abnormal.

The post Samsung ban gay-dating apps in South Korea over ‘moral’ concerns appeared first on Gay Star News.

Jack Flanagan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/samsung-ban-gay-dating-apps-in-south-korea-over-moral-concerns/

Stockton, CA Police Lieutenant Blasts SCOTUS Ruling, ‘Vile and Sinful’ Homosexuality in Letter to Paper: VIDEO

A Stockton, California police lieutenant is under investigation after publishing a letter this week condemning the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, and arguing that homosexuality is “vile and sinful”, against natural law, and will lead to God’s destruction of the nation.

Stockton, located in the San Joaquin Valley, is the 13th most populous city in California.

Wrote Lt. Toby Will in his letter, which you can read in full here:

The Word of God is going forth with striking clarity and Divine accuracy. Man’s rebellion, ungodliness, and unrighteousness in rejecting the truth in order that he may live according to the vile and sinful passions of his corrupt heart is going to be met with the wrath of God.

When the highest court in the land ignores, twists, and misinterprets that governing document that was framed out of a noble and healthy respect for God and His word, and when the highest office in the land publicly declares the legitimizing of homosexuality to be a great victory for the nation, you can be sure that God is giving that nation over to its own destruction.

We are living in a time when the institutions ordained by God, marriage and family, which provide the very bedrock for civilized society, are being dismantled before our very eyes; and when marriage and family are dismantled, the nation that dismantles them will not stand.

Whoever speaks out against this blatant debauchery and dares to take a stand for the truth, will find themselves standing alone. But those who are willing to stand alone for the truth will find that God stands with them.

Will made a special request to the paper that his name and position in the police department be published.

He is now under review, the Stockton Record reports:

“He does not speak for the Police Department, and regarding his use of his police position, it is under administrative review,” department spokesman Officer Joe Silva said Wednesday. Silva could not discuss what that administrative review might lead to.

After reading the letter, Police Chief Eric Jones made a call to the San Joaquin Pride Center “to reassure them that Will does not speak for the Police Department,” Silva said.

Nicholas Hatten, executive director of the Pride Center, described his organization’s relationship with the Police Department as very good.

“We provided them with LGBT sensitivity training, and I don’t know if the lieutenant received the training. I wish he would have voiced his opposition to our faces rather than in a letter,” Hatten said Wednesday.

Local LGBT advocates are understandably concerned.

Said Stockton Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, chair of the LGBT caucus, to News10:

“I choked on my coffee [when I read the letter]…When you need to call 911, you should feel safe that the person who responds is there to support you no matter who you are.”

Watch News10’s report:

The post Stockton, CA Police Lieutenant Blasts SCOTUS Ruling, ‘Vile and Sinful’ Homosexuality in Letter to Paper: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Stockton, CA Police Lieutenant Blasts SCOTUS Ruling, ‘Vile and Sinful’ Homosexuality in Letter to Paper: VIDEO