At Amsterdam Pride 2015

LIVE VIDEO: Amsterdam Pride

There's also a better non-embeddable video stream with live commentary in Dutch. (Tipped by JMG reader Dieter)

AP: AIDS Community Devastated By Shoot Down Of Malaysian Airliner

Obama Speaks About Airliner Attack

This afternoon President Obama held a press conference on the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner. Here's an excerpt of his statement via a transcript provided by the White House:

Here’s what we know so far. Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine. We also know that this is not the first time a plane has been shot down in eastern Ukraine. Over the last several weeks, Russian-backed separatists have shot down a Ukrainian transport plane and a Ukrainian helicopter, and they claimed responsibility for shooting down a Ukrainian fighter jet. Moreover, we know that these separatists have received a steady flow of support from Russia. This includes arms and training. It includes heavy weapons, and it includes anti-aircraft weapons.

Here’s what must happen now. This was a global tragedy. An Asian airliner was destroyed in European skies, filled with citizens from many countries. So there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened. The U.N. Security Council has endorsed this investigation, and we will hold all its members -- including Russia -- to their word. In order to facilitate that investigation, Russia, pro-Russian separatists, and Ukraine must adhere to an immediate cease-fire. Evidence must not be tampered with. Investigators need to access the crash site. And the solemn task of returning those who were lost on board the plane to their loved ones needs to go forward immediately.

Near the end of his remarks, the president paid tribute to the many AIDS researchers who perished in the attack.

Let me close by making one additional comment. On board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, there were apparently nearly 100 researchers and advocates traveling to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combating AIDS/HIV. These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence. In this world today, we shouldn’t forget that in the midst of conflict and killing, there are people like these -- people who are focused on what can be built rather than what can be destroyed; people who are focused on how they can help people that they’ve never met; people who define themselves not by what makes them different from other people but by the humanity that we hold in common. It’s important for us to lift them up and to affirm their lives. And it’s time for us to heed their example.

After his prepared statement, the president took questions from the press about sanctions against Russia.

Bisexual Dutch Gold Medalist Slammed For Celebratory Cuddle With Vladimir Putin

Openly bisexual Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust told reporters that she had a "cuddle" with Vladimir Putin after winning her gold medal on Sunday.

Wust told Dutch national broadcaster NOS, "I got a cuddle from him," at a party held in her honor. "He congratulated me and asked if everything was OK in Russia and I congratulated him on (Russian speedskater) Olga Graf, of course, for her third place (in the 3,000 meters). He was happy to see me, but then he had to leave again. But I cuddled him." John van Vliet, a spokesman for the Netherlands' Olympics Committee, said Putin gave Wust a quick hug and wished her well. Wust, who took gold at the 3,000 meter women's speedskate on Sunday, is one of seven openly gay athletes competing at the games.

Queer Nation reacts via press release:

“The Olympic athletes have said that they will not make political statements during the Games yet that is exactly what Ireen Wust did,” said Duncan Osborne, a member of Queer Nation. “By embracing Vladimir Putin, a man who has trampled on the human rights of LGBT Russians, political dissidents, artists, undocumented immigrants, and others in Russia, Wust has endorsed his fascist agenda.” “LGBT Russians and political dissidents are showing us what courage and commitment look like,” said Osborne. “Embracing Vladimir Putin is a betrayal of that courage and commitment. Wust should be ashamed of herself. Every athlete in Sochi should understand that the whole world is watching. We cannot make the athletes show the sort of courage that LGBT Russians display, but we will not be silent and we will not forget if the athletes embrace Putin.”

RUSSIA: Dutch Diplomat Attacked In His Moscow Home, "LGBT" Scrawled In Lipstick On His Bathroom Mirror

In what may have been payback for the arrest of a Russian diplomat, a senior Dutch diplomat was assaulted in his Moscow apartment last night. After beating and tying up the man, his assailants used lipstick to scrawl "LGBT" on his bathroom mirror.

The attack happened on Tuesday evening when Onno Elderenbosch, the deputy chief of the Dutch embassy in Moscow, was returning home to his fourth-floor apartment on Povarskaya Street in the Russian capital. He was forced to take the stairs after noticing the elevator in the building was not working and was then met by two men posing as electricians who wanted to check if the electricity was working in his apartment. Once Elderenbosch opened the door to his apartment, the men pushed him inside and knocked him to the floor before using duct tape to restrain him. Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the attackers ransacked the apartment before fleeing the scene. The unidentified men also used lipstick to draw a heart symbol pierced with an arrow on a mirror in the hallway, accompanied by the letters “LGBT” which refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The Dutch government is a strong supporter of LGBT rights and previously criticized Russia for its stance on the issue, which includes a controversial ban on LGBT “propaganda.”

The BBC reports on the incident at The Hague that may have motivated the attack.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans apologised last week after a Russian diplomat was arrested. Dmitri Borodin was held for several hours on suspicion of mistreating his two young children, prompting President Vladimir Putin to demand the Dutch apology. Protests were held outside the Dutch embassy in response to the arrest. After an investigation, the Dutch foreign minister conceded that police had breached the rules on diplomatic immunity.

News reports do not say if Elderenbosch is gay. The US ambassador to Russia tweeted a condemnation of the attack this morning.

Rugby Calendar Men

Clip recap: "The Lowlanders are a gay rugby club in Amsterdam. This is the promo video for the making of their 2014 calendar, proceeds from the sale of which will finance their trip to Sydney to play in the Bingham Cup 27-31 August 2014." Possibly not work-friendly.

Amsterdam Pride Stands Up For Russia

LGBT people in the Netherlands stood up for their brothers and sisters in Russia at his weekend's Amsterdam Pride boat parade, where anti-Putin slogans and displays were in heavy evidence. Members of the local Labour Party wore "Gay Pride For Russia" t-shirts.

On Saturday, more than 500,000 people attended the 2013 Gay Pride Festival in Amsterdam to celebrate homosexual rights. The Amnesty International boat caught the attention of many as it featured a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin, following the recent anti-homosexual propaganda laws in Russia. In July, four Dutch were arrested in Murmansk, Russia for suspicion of gay propaganda. The detained group of Dutch documentarists, lead by Sharelly Emanuelson, were able to return to the Netherlands safely.

RUSSIA: Gay Dutch Tourists Arrested For Violating Homosexual Propaganda Ban

The Russian LGBT Network reports on Facebook:

URGENT NEWS! In Murmansk city (North Russia) 3 Dutch citizens detained by the police on charges of gay-propaganda. At the moment they were released from the police station. Police compiled reports on the violation of rules of stay in the territory of Russia and the violation of the law of the "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors." Court hearing will be at 9 a.m. (Moscow time) 22 July 2013. The Russian LGBT Network provides legal assistance. We will keep you updated.

I'll have more on this after the hearing.

UPDATE: "URGENT NEWS from Murmansk city: we have just been informed that the case with the Dutch activists will NOT be held today. We'll keep you informed about the situation."

Updated Global Marriage Map

After last week's first gay wedding in France, the Agency France-Presse posted the above map.

Updated Gay Marriage Map

Source.

Marriage Equality Nations

(Via JMG reader Thomas)

Topless Protesters & LGBT Activists Accost Vladimir Putin Who Then Denies Russian Oppression Of Gays

Topless protesters from the Ukrainian group FEMEN accosted Russian President Vladimir Putin today at a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Three members of the women's rights group Femen, which has protested against Russia's detention of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot around Europe, disrupted his visit to a trade fair in the German city of Hanover. They stripped to the waist and shouted slogans calling Putin a "dictator" before being bundled away by security men. "Regarding this performance, I liked it," grinned Putin at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "I did not catch what they were shouting, I did not even see if they were blondes, brunettes or chestnut-haired.

Later today at a meeting in Amsterdam over 1000 gay activists demonstrated against Putin's presence.

Many houses and bridges in the historic canal district of Amsterdam were draped with banners and the rainbow flag of the gay pride movement, protesting about what human rights organizations say is institutional repression of gays in Russia. "Putin go homo," read one, echoing the message "Putin go home" on the front page of Friday's NRC Next daily newspaper. "I'm protesting against the anti-gay law in Russia because it's unreal. You can't tell people to go back into the closet," said one protester.

Putin reacted to the gay demonstrators with an outrageous lie, telling the press, "In the Russian Federation - so that it is clear to everybody - there is no infringement on the rights of sexual minorities. These people, like everyone else, enjoy all the same rights and freedoms as everyone else."

Dutch Catholics "Debaptize" Themselves Over Pope's Anti-Gay Comments

Years ago I posted about the "debaptism" movement in which Catholics request that their names formally be stricken from the memberships rolls of their local diocese. This month that (mostly) symbolic move has gained steam in the Netherlands due to Pope Ratzinger's incessant attacks on same-sex marriage.

Tom Roes, whose website allows people to download the documents needed to leave the church, said traffic on ontdopen.nl – "de-baptise.nl" – had soared from about 10 visits a day to more than 10,000 after Pope Benedict's latest denunciation of gay marriage this month. "Of course it's not possible to be 'de-baptized' because a baptism is an event, but this way people can unsubscribe or de-register themselves as Catholics," Roes told Reuters. He said he did not know how many visitors to the site actually go ahead and leave the church. About 28 percent of the population in the Netherlands is Catholic and 18 percent is Protestant, while a much larger proportion – roughly 44 percent – is not religious, according to official statistics. The country is famous for its liberal attitudes, for example to drugs and prostitution, and in April 2001 it was the first nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriages.

RELATED: Early this year a French man successfully sued to have his name removed from the baptismal records of his diocese. He was the first in his nation to be officially debaptized.  In Germany, about 200,000 Catholics have filed the paperwork declaring that they will no longer pay the religion tax which is allocated to the Catholic Church.

NOTE: The above certificate is from Britain's Secular Society.

Gay Marriage Comes To The Caribbean

The tiny Caribbean island of Saba has legalized same-sex marriage.

Two men were recently married in Saba, marking the first ceremony of its kind in the region and setting off a frenzy of calls from gay couples in other Dutch Caribbean islands seeking to marry, said Julietta Woods with Saba’s Civil Registry office.”People keep calling me every second,” she said by telephone this week. As part of the Netherlands Kingdom, the islands of Saba, Bonaire and St. Eustatius have to recognize same-sex marriages. While Bonaire and St. Eustatius have balked at the idea of legalizing such unions, the idea has been embraced in Saba, long considered a gay-friendly destination. “We’ve seen it as a human rights issue,” said Saba council member Carl Buncamper, who is openly gay. “It is important to give the partners equal rights when it comes to inheritance and other benefits.”

The Netherlands became the first nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.

I Come In PEZ -You Spin Me Round

Holland To Spike Blasphemy Law

Press TV has the story:

The Dutch parliament will approve a motion to abolish a law that criminalizes blasphemy, mainly due to strong support by the Liberal Party (VVD).  On Wednesday, a majority of parties in the Netherlands stated that the blasphemy law was no longer relevant in the 21st century. The VVD party had refused to support efforts to annul the law during the tenure of the previous government in order not to upset the fundamentalist Christian party SGP, whose support was necessary in the upper house of parliament.

The Christian-right party has denounced the decision, saying that it is a "painful loss of a moral anchor." It will still be illegal to insult the police or Queen Beatrix.

Netherlands Grants Asylum To LGBT Iraqis

LGBT Iraqis facing persecution at home are now eligible for asylum in The Netherlands.

The situation facing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Iraq is so serious that they do now qualify for asylum in the Netherlands, immigration minister Gerd Leers said on Thursday. However, would-be refugees will have to prove they are from Iraq, the minister said in a briefing. His decision follows the publication of a foreign affairs ministry report which was highly critical of the treatment of homosexuals in Iraq and said in some areas they are deliberately targeted by armed militias.

The change is abrupt about-face for Minister Leers, who said in April that gay asylum seekers should "hide their homosexuality" in their home countries rather than seek refuge in The Netherlands. The new rule apparently only applies to Iraq although LGBT people from at least three other nations have recently sought asylum in The Netherlands.

Eurovision 2012: Holland's Joan

Former Voice Of Holland contestant Joan Franka's Eurovision 2012 entry is presently #1 on the Dutch charts. As for her Native American outfit, we're told the song is about playing "Indians" with her five year-old friends. Cute enough track, but lacking in the Eurovision cheese. My money is still on the Bubushkis.

NETHERLANDS: Parliament Moves To End Refusal Rights On Same-Sex Marriage

In a move that echoes an ongoing battle in New York state, this week the Dutch parliament voted to end an exemption which permits civil marriage officiants to refuse gay couples.

MPs voted on Tuesday afternoon for a change in the law to prevent civil servants refusing to conduct gay marriages. It is thought to be the first time the government has been defeated in an important parliamentary vote. Under current legislation, registrars can refuse to carry out a gay wedding if they are opposed on religious grounds. The cabinet has argued that as long as gay couples can get married in every local authority area, opt-outs should be allowed. But opposition MPs say this is institutionalised discrimination and want a change in the law. Although the anti-Islam PVV is sympathetic to this position, the party had been expected to vote against it because of its alliance with the minority cabinet.

Maybe one of our Dutch readers can tell us what happens next.