Gay Pride

NEW YORK — Thousands of marchers and a rainbow of floats filled the streets of New York yesterday as the city celebrated gay pride, one of a full weekend of events marred by a shooting death Saturday at a street party in San Francisco. Participants in New York’s annual parade, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson, made their way down Fifth Avenue toward Greenwich Village. Throngs of people turned out despite heat and humidity to watch the parade. The parade had three grand marshals, including Constance McMillen, the lesbian teenager who sued her Mississippi school...

China's government considered homosexuality a mental disorder until 2001. Mobs in Senegal have disinterred bodies of men they believe were gays and dragged them through the streets. In Egypt, laws prohibiting "shameless public acts" have been used to imprison gay men. While gay-rights activists hailed President Barack Obama's support for same-sex marriage as a symbolic victory, for many around the world the idea of legal unions between homosexuals is a distant dream. Gay people in many countries would settle for simply getting to be themselves without fear of being attacked or thrown in...

A Mass at St. Cecilia’s Church intended to celebrate gay pride month that sparked controversy and was canceled by the Archdiocese of Boston has been rescheduled for next month, church officials said yesterday. “See you all on July 10!’’ said Rainbow Ministry president John Kelly, throwing his hands into the air at an alternative service held outside the church last night. An audience of nearly 250 people, from children in baseball uniforms to elderly couples in their Sunday best, applauded.

A prominent Russian gay rights activist was convicted on Friday of spreading "gay propaganda" among minors in the first such ruling in Russia's modern history. Nikolai Alexeyev told the Associated Press that a city court in St. Petersburg fined him 5,000 rubles ($170) for breaching the law, which was controversially introduced by lawmakers in Russia's second-largest city in February. He pledged to appeal the decision. Gay rights activists say the legislation could be used to ban public demonstrations.

Hundreds of thousands of people dancing and wearing costumes are packing the streets of South America’s biggest city to celebrate gay pride and call for an end to homophobia. Gays, lesbians and their supporters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, are participating in the city’s 15th annual gay pride parade on skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista. Many are dancing to the beat of loud music blasting from several sound trucks. Organizers hope more than 3 million join in the parade, which they say is one of the biggest in the world.

Norwich University, the nation's oldest private military academy, will hold its first gay pride week, officials at the school said. From Monday through Saturday, a series of awareness-raising events will be hosted by the campus Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Question, and Allies Club. The club first met on Sept. 20, 2011, the day that "don't ask, don't tell," the military's policy banning gay service members from serving openly, expired. Governor Peter Shumlin will speak at Norwich's first Queer Prom on Saturday.

STRASBOURG, France — The European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia yesterday for letting Moscow ban gay pride marches simply because the city’s mayor — who famously compared gays to the devil — and other officials disapproved of them. The binding ruling means that Russia must ensure gay parades are freely held in its cities and requires the country to pay organizers of gay pride events $41,300 for damages and court costs stemming from bans from 2006 to 2008. The court is an arm of the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog.

The U.S. Ambassador to Italy says Lady Gaga has accepted an invitation to participate in a gay pride parade in Rome’s Circus Maximus — the closing event of 2011 Euro Pride. David Thorne said in a statement Monday he is “very proud to have an Italian-American artist of her stature’’ come to the Italian capital. He quoted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as saying “human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights.’’ The pop star was invited by Thorne and the local organizers of Euro Pride, which takes place each year in a different European...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The party still had its traditional leather-clad legions and dramatic drag queens, but yesterday's gay pride parade featured marchers even more radical -- married same-sex couples. Gay and lesbian newlyweds hoisting poster-sized reproductions of their marriage licenses had a starring role at San Francisco's 34th annual parade. They were joined by Mayor Gavin Newsom and others who helped promote same-sex unions in the history-making wedding march at City Hall earlier this year.

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbian authorities have banned a gay-pride march and an antigay protest planned in the nation's capital this weekend to avoid violence. When two similar events occurred side by side in Serbia's capital last year, about 100 people were injured, cars were burned, and shops were looted in clashes between police and the antigay, far-right extremists. The gay pride march and the antigay protest planned in Belgrade today have been banned "to avoid bloodshed," Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said yesterday.

Norwich University, the nation's oldest private military academy, will hold its first gay pride week, officials at the school said. From Monday through Saturday, a series of awareness-raising events will be hosted by the campus Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Question, and Allies Club. The club first met on Sept. 20, 2011, the day that "don't ask, don't tell," the military's policy banning gay service members from serving openly, expired. Governor Peter Shumlin will speak at Norwich's first Queer Prom on Saturday.

Norwich University, the nation's oldest private military academy will hold its first gay pride week, officials at the school in Northfield, Vt., said. From Monday through Saturday, a series of pride-related and awareness-raising events will be hosted by the Norwich University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Question, and Allies Club. The club is believed to be the country's first ever LGBT Club on a military campus university officials said in a press release. The club first met on Sept.

Some of the NHL's biggest stars are featured in a public service announcement promoting equality within the sport, regardless of sexual orientation. Rick Nash, Duncan Keith, Corey Perry, Dion Phaneuf and Henrik Lundqvist are among the players who participated in the spot that debuted on NBC during Sunday afternoon's broadcast of the New York Rangers' 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins. The idea is part of the "You Can Play" project, which was created by Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers and the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke.

NEW DELHI — The Indian government clarified to the Supreme Court yesterday that it accepts a recent ruling legalizing gay sex in the country. A lawyer told the Supreme Court that the government would not challenge a 2009 order by the Delhi High Court striking down a colonial-era law that made gay sex a crime. The order was appealed by conservative groups and the Supreme Court is hearing opinions from those groups as well as gay-rights activists. The latest statement comes after another government lawyer told the court last week that gay sex was "highly immoral" and should be...

Nearly 40 years after she won the last of her 11 Australian Open singles titles, Margaret Court is back in the news at Melbourne Park for her opposition to gay marriage. Her stance has spurred the creation of a Facebook group, "Rainbow Flags Over Margaret Court Arena," which is urging spectators to display rainbow-colored gay pride banners at the show court that bears her name during the Australian Open, which begins Monday. "Politically correct education has masterfully escorted homosexuality out from behind closed doors, into the community openly and now is aggressively...

Authorities in Brazil say nearly 700,000 people have celebrated in a gay pride parade at Copacabana beach Many participants waved rainbow flags and wore lavish Carnival costumes as loud music blasted from more than 15 sound trucks in Sunday's festivities. Gay men, lesbians and cross-dressers danced and cheered to demands that Brazil enact more laws against homophobia in Latin America's biggest nation. Organizers had hoped for nearly 1.5 million people at the 16th annual parade, but Rio de Janeiro police tell the newspaper the O Globo and other...

Norwich University, the nation's oldest private military academy will hold its first gay pride week, officials at the school in Northfield, Vt., said. From Monday through Saturday, a series of pride-related and awareness-raising events will be hosted by the Norwich University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Question, and Allies Club. The club is believed to be the country's first ever LGBT Club on a military campus university officials said in a press release. The club first met on Sept.

Sunday Mass at St. Cecilia’s Church in the Back Bay brought the first standing ovation any parishioner could remember. During the first Mass since the Archdiocese of Boston canceled one planned for next weekend in support of St. Cecilia’s gay and lesbian churchgoers, the Rev. John J. Unni preached a fiery message of unconditional love and what he called “acceptance of all.’’ “You are welcome here, gay or straight, rich or poor,...

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbian authorities have banned a gay-pride march and an antigay protest planned in the nation's capital this weekend to avoid violence. When two similar events occurred side by side in Serbia's capital last year, about 100 people were injured, cars were burned, and shops were looted in clashes between police and the antigay, far-right extremists. The gay pride march and the antigay protest planned in Belgrade today have been banned "to avoid bloodshed," Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said yesterday.

Hundreds of thousands of people dancing and wearing costumes are packing the streets of South America’s biggest city to celebrate gay pride and call for an end to homophobia. Gays, lesbians and their supporters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, are participating in the city’s 15th annual gay pride parade on skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista. Many are dancing to the beat of loud music blasting from several sound trucks. Organizers hope more than 3 million join in the parade, which they say is one of the biggest in the world.