QC World News Headlines

AFRICA:
South Africa – Transgender woman, Lindiwe Rigane, gets turned away from a Miss South Africa beauty pageant because she is not legally or naturally a woman. [SOURCE]
ASIA:
Mumbai, India – During a 600+ gay pride parade in Mumbai, India, marchers protested a 1947 British Imperial anti-sodomy law that Indian police still use to persecute homosexuals. [SOURCE]
India – The BBC World Service Trust India–with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–has released a cell phone ring tone that features a professional singer chanting the word “condom” 50 times, a capella. [SOURCE]
Beijing, China – Openly gay ex-NBA star/blogger John Amaechi covers LGBT politics during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games. [SOURCE]
Beijing, China – US Amnesty International urges public to take action to release HIV/AIDS advocate Hu Jia from prison. [SOURCE]
AUSTRALIA:
Hobart, Tasmania – The Australian Red Cross has ignored the opinion of its chief medical advisor that there’s no justification for excluding donors who’ve had oral or protected anal sex. [SOURCE]
Olympic News – Openly gay Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham gets 18th in men’s 3m diving competition. [SOURCE]
EUROPE:
London, UK – After shunning them for decades over worries of blackmail, MI5, the UK security service, has consulted Stonewall, the gay lobby group, on ways to recruit more gay staff. [SOURCE]
Berlin, Germany – Police search for vandals who damaged a monument to gay victims of the Nazi Holocaust. [SOURCE]
NORTH AMERICA:
Denver, Colorado – More than 350 National Stonewall Democrats from across the country have arrived in Denver for four days of meetings, parties, and lobbying ahead of the Democratic National Convention. They had a key role in helping shape the Democratic Party LGBT platform. [SOURCE]
United States – On top of their “coming out” line, Hallmark rolls out gay greeting cards for gay commitment ceremonies. [SOURCE]
SOUTH AMERICA:
Buenos Aires, Argentina – Argentina announced it’s first nationwide gay rights measure granting same-sex couples the right to claim their deceased partner’s pensions. [SOURCE]
Sao Paulo, Brazil – Brazil’s lower house of Congress has rejected part of a pending adoption law that would have allowed gay couples to adopt children because there’s federal law doesn’t recognize same-sex unions. [SOURCE]