A Front-Row View of Madonna's Rebel Heart Tour

Neal Broverman

www.advocate.com/music/2015/9/16/front-row-view-madonnas-rebel-heart-tour

Uganda president says new anti-gay law ‘not necessary’

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said a new anti-gay law is ‘not necessary’ because the country already has one.

According to the Associated Press, the long-standing leader indicated that he would not further pursue anti-gay legislation he signed last year but was later thrown out by the country’s highest court.

‘That law was not necessary, because we already have a law which was left by the British which deals with this issue,’ he told reporters in Tokyo last week.

Uganda already punishes gay sex with up to life imprisonment under a colonial-era anti-sodomy law, and same-sex marriage is banned in the constitution.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act would have made it illegal to even ‘promote’ homosexuality, and those who failed to report LGBTI people to the police would also risk arrest or jail.

‘It is our view that we punish exhibitionism, recruiters and homosexual prostitutes,’ Museveni said in February last year as he signed the law on live TV.

‘We are sick of homosexuals exhibiting themselves. All Africans are flabbergasted by this exhibition of sexual conduct.’

The proposed law was widely criticized in the West, including by US President Barack Obama, and was struck down by the constitutional court that August.

The post Uganda president says new anti-gay law ‘not necessary’ appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/uganda-president-says-new-anti-gay-law-not-necessary/

Kim Davis loses yet another bid to delay gay marriage licenses

Kim Davis on Tuesday (15 September) lost yet another bid to delay her office from issuing gay marriage licenses.

A day after the Kentucky clerk returned to work, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reiterated that ‘Davis has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on her federal constitutional claims.’

She spent five days in jail last week for contempt after she defied a Supreme Court order to issue gay marriage licenses because of her ‘sincerely-held religious beliefs.’

The latest ruling was in a countersuit against Governor Steve Beshear, who ordered Davis comply with the US Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide and who she claims is partly responsible for her present troubles.

One of her deputies started issuing licenses to gay couples while she was away. When she returned on Monday, Davis said she would not block her deputies from issuing licenses, but ordered her name be removed from the templates and replaced with ‘pursuant to federal court order.’

Davis has one more request for reprieve before the appeals court, which argues that the order she was jailed for defying should only apply only to the four gay couples who sued her and no others.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who represented the couples, asked the court to reject ‘Davis’ latest attempt to avoid the obligations of her office.’

‘[She] keeps asking the same question and getting the same answer from the courts – that she has to do her job.’ said James Esseks, director of ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project.

‘Issuing marriage licenses doesn’t mean she approves of those marriages, it just means she’s doing the job she was elected to do.’

The post Kim Davis loses yet another bid to delay gay marriage licenses appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/kim-davis-loses-yet-another-bid-to-delay-gay-marriage-licenses/