Wentworth Miller Tried to Commit Suicide

Wentworth Miller Tried to Commit
Suicide Before Coming Out: "The First
Time I Tried to Kill Myself I Was 15"
"The first time I tried to kill myself I was
15," he said.
"I waited until my family went away for
the weekend and I was alone in the house
and I swallowed a bottle of pills. I don't
remember what happened over the next
couple days, but I'm pretty sure come
Monday morning I was on a bus back to
school pretending everything was fine. And
when someone asked me if that was a cry
for help, I say no, because I told no one."
Miller continued, "Growing up I was a
target. Speaking the right way, standing
the right way, holding your wrist the right
way. Every day was a test and there was a
thousand ways to fail. A thousand ways to
portray yourself to not live up to someone
else's standards of what was accepted."

Sunil Babu Pant - The Gay Hero from Nepal

Sunil Babu Pant, a Belarus-educated
computer engineer, is Nepal's first openly gay lawmaker. On April 10, 2008, Pant won one of five seats secured by The Communist Party of Nepal (United) in the 601 seat assembly.

"We have chosen Sunil Babu Pant as our candidate to ensure the rights of gay and other minority groups," Ganesh Shah, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United), told AFP. "He will be the
first person to represent Nepal's gay
community."

Pant founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2001, the only gay rights group in Nepal. "Representing a sexual minority I will make sure the new constitution protects sexual groups, people with disabilities,
small indigenous castes and others," Pant told AFP.

Pant's election is a historic move in Nepal, a traditionally Hindu, caste-dominated and conservative culture.

In December 2007, Nepal's Supreme Court as ordered their government to extend equal protections under the law to their gay, lesbian, transgender and intersex
population

Nolan Lewis - Mr Gay India 2013

Nolan Lewis, a model from Mumbai went al the way International by representing India this year for Mr Gay World 2013 as Mr Gay India.
    Nolan Lewis also became the first Indian to reach the top 10 in this pageant this year. When asked, Mr Gay India Nolan Lewis said that participating in this inernational event wasnt an easy one.
   India where events like Miss World and other pageants are given so much priorities, Nolan Lewis was fighting to find companies to sponser him for this year. Nolan did contact various companies for support in participating for Mr Gay World, Mr Gay India 2013 Lewis didnt get anyone to sponser him. Even after gay sex being legalised in India in 2013, Nolan Lewis had to take part in this event at all his personal cost due to lack of sponsers.
    Below are some photos of Nolan Lewis which you may take a look at:

Zoltan Parag - Mr Gay India

Zoltan Parag may not be a popular name in closeted India but he surely has made the Indian lgbt community proud.
   Zoltan Parag, a male model from Mumbai represented India as Mr Gay India in New York for the internationally recognised Mr Gay World 2008.

   While this man, Zoltan Parag walked the streets of New York as Mr Gay India with proud, India far from appreciating it, does not even recognise Zoltan Parag for his participation in this international gay pageant.

New York boycotts Vodka - Protest Against Anti-Gay Laws in Russia

On Wednesday, gay right activists in New York City came up t and dumped vodka in the streets as a protest against Russia’s anti- gay law, with a large number of gay bar and club’s owners promising to boycott the use of Russian vodkas as a protest. The protest began last week in Seattle when the boycotting of Russian vodkas by gay bar owners began, which led to boycott in San Francisco where gay bar owners joined hands in this protest and reached out New York City, where gay activists openly poured vodkas in the streets.

 

      Advocates of gay rights in NYC, carried banners and signs that made statements about Russian vodkas being infused with hatred, and gathered together outside the Russian consulate in New York, on Wednesday, and poured it in the pavements and streets.

     This call for protest actually did come, when an investigator in Russia told in May, that a man of 23 years of gay was tortured and then killed when he told his friend about him being gay.

     Last June, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin also signed a law that banned gay propaganda, which would make participation in gay rallies illegal and would also make it illegal for anyone to speak for gay rights and support for homosexuals. A ban was also made by the Russian president on adopting Russian children by same-sex couples.

       This boycott focuses on Stolichnaya vodka, which has its ingredients of Russia origin, and has the vodka company too supported this protest for gay rights. The chief executive of Stolichnaya, Val Mendeleev, wrote in an open letter for the boycott, that the company has always been and will always support and be a friend to the LGBT community.

Russia is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Two Lesbians Get Arrested for getting Married in Dhaka, Bangladesh - World Where Crime is a Virtue and Love is a Sin

The news of two lesbian couples getting married and then getting arrested by the police has made the headlines all over. Yes, we live in a world, where loving is a crime, hence two women who did this crime of loving each other is behind the bars while ironic to this, criminals, loads of rapists, murderers are still out enjoying their lives and nothing has been done to punish them yet.

     This incident happened few days ago, on the 22nd of July 2013 where two lesbian girls were arrested for getting married, which was reported in Dhaka times and many other newspaper which created a storm in Bangladesh. Check the controversial report here http://www.mediatimes24.com/news/microapps/2719/23/detail.aspx#.UfAhcecmDE0.facebook
where people are demanding for severe punishment and even death for those lesbian couple for their ' so called crime' committed.
      One girl was a Muslim and the other was a Hindu which created more issue. The father of the Hindu girl had reported to the police a complaint that his daughter was kidnapped and was taken out for trafficking. He also did tell the police that the girl was underage, which actually both the girls deny of being. underage.
    

As per reports, various facts has emerged about the incident of the lesbian marriage in Bangladesh:

The girls had left their village of Firozpur in their own consent on the 14th of July and fled to the capital city of Dhaka. They have started living together in a house there in a neighbourhood in Dhaka.
The father of one of the girl had reported a complaint to the police on the 20th of July on the basis of abduction and trafficking.
The lesbian couple actually did undertake a ritual of marriage by exchanging garlands, which is a symbol of marriage in both Hinduism and Islam.
Police found the girls in Dhaka and arrested them on the 22nd of July. A picture of them exchanging garlands had actually been released.
Media did make a controversial topic out of this issue. As expected, the immature bigot public, political and religious leaders did shower homophobic comments and gay bashing.
One girl even made a statement in the media asking on what basis and ground did the police arrest them. No answer has yet been received to this question yet. 

Concerning this topic, do note these facts:

In Bangladesh, there is no law that causes prevention of two person whether it be same sex or not, to stay and live together, even though the Bangladesh police arrested them.
There is no law in Bangladesh that recognizes such marriage, hence there is no point of this marriage and a basis for an arrest is not existent. Still, the police arrested those crimes for doing something which isn't a crime.
In the Bangladesh Penal Code, the anti-sodomy section 377 says that it does not imply to women, hence the demands made under the law isn't applicable. So, why did the police made the choice of arresting the women?
It is common in Bangladesh that women are exposed to custodial violence and a risk is there that those women too maybe subjected to sexual and physical assaults when they are under detention.
Media has been given access to the girls, but access to the girls have not been given to human right activists, social activists, women's right activists and legal representatives to the girls yet.
Last year, Bangladesh made a solemn commitment to the UNHRC at the time of its UPR, saying that the LGBT community has be given protection from any kind of arbitrary abuse by any kind of state agents or any legal forces. With this arrest, the Bangladesh government violent this commitment.  


You may also read my other articles:


Indian Cinema and Homosexuality – Change in the Portrayal of Gay Characters





Being Gay in an Indian Society - Voices of Those Thousands Hidden Men





Brokeback Mountain - a Gay Theme Movie Straight People Too Would Appreciate

Indian Cinema and Homosexuality – Change in the Portrayal of Gay Characters

Homosexuality has always been a subject of taboo in India, until the Supreme Court passed the bill on legalizing homosexuality in 2009. Indian public along with a large percentage of viewers from the neighboring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan is largely influenced by the Indian cinema, and a rapid evolution has been seen in the portrayal of homosexuality in Bollywood as well.

      Gay characters were always projected in Hindi movies as an effeminate male used just for the sake for humor in the movies, which was actually very wrong to portray it as a subject of caricature. Well, one of the very well known depiction of a gay role in a movie in India, was by the openly gay movie director, Onir, in his movie, ‘My Brother Nikhil’ in 2005 which dealt with a gay man fighting with AIDS. Also came the very controversial movie, ‘Fire’ played by Shabhana Azmi, which showed lesbian relationship, which actually brought about lot of controversies all over India, with homophobic Indian crowd causing protests against the movie, but the movie still ran in theaters and successfully caught the Indian mass.

      One of the very mainstream hit Bollywood movie which actually took the gay notion in a serious way was Karan Johar’s 2009 hit, ‘Dostana’ which had homosexual depiction in the movie. Well, Dostana did not actually deal with homosexual relationship as the story had two men pretending to be homosexuals. But the movie did talk about homosexuality and the movie was actually a super hit all over India.

      This movie ‘ Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun’ was one movie that really did have a story which completely had a gay love story with Bollywood stars like Jeenat Aman, Helen and actors like Rituparno Sengupta and Aryan Vaid in it, but the movie could not be hit and got tangled in controversies as well. The movie was also criticized for its poor language and acting quality, plus it did not run completely all over India and had a very limited viewership. The director Onir actually have worked on various Hindi films dealing with homosexuality, like his movie, ‘I AM’ dealt with a very important issue of gay harassment by police and child abuse as a homosexual which was largely appreciated though this movie too wasn't like a typical Bollywood hit movie and did not reach out the mass.

      Karan Johar, who is known as one of those top directors of the Indian cinema has been casting gay characters in his movies since quite sometimes, which started from Kal Ho Na Ho, where a little joke was carried out with the depiction of the characters of Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan. Dostana too was his movie which was actually a movie that made the Indian viewers quite acquainted with what actually gays and homosexuals are. Even his movies like Student of the Year, had a gay character played by Rishi Kapoor. His most recent compiled Short film, Bombay Talkies too had a gay story, which also did have an on screen gay kiss, which is actually very new to the Indian cinema.

     Well, if a comparison is made between the Indian cinema and the International cinema, India is far behind when depiction of homosexuality is concerned. India yet hasn't had a very mainstream Bollywood movie that actually deals with gays and homosexuality. India is also yet to have a mainstream Bollywood actor/ actress to play a gay or lesbian role like what Hollywood actors have. For instance famous Hollywood actors who are straight have comfortably portrayed a gay characters like Heath Ledger, Bradley Cooper, Robert Pattinson, Jake Gyllenhaal, just to name few. While we are yet to see those famous actors of the Indian cinema to play a gay role. 

    However, the evolution of the Indian film industry has occurred and a vast change has been seen where the portrayal of homosexuality is concerned. Bollywood is still growing up and yes, one can expect to see a mainstream actor, director working together to make a gay themed movie and running in theaters all over India soon.