WorldPride London Scales Back

After weeks of controversy and public criticism, Pride London's chairman has resigned following the news that this weekend's WorldPride event has been drastically scaled down. WorldPride was first held in Rome in 2000 and the next one will be in Toronto in 2014. Lack of corporate sponsors appears to be one of the main causes of the collapse of London's event.

“Dr Williams resigned from his position following criticism of the Board’s handing of World Pride 2012. The rest of the Board remains unchanged and committed to delivering an event London can be Proud of. As previously confirmed this will be a scaled-down event from the original plans.” WorldPride has been reduced to a walking parade, starting at 11am instead of 1pm this Saturday. With just over a week until the event, it was announced that floats and vehicles would not be allowed to take part in the procession. As well as the earlier start time, the celebrations in Trafalgar Square will end at 6pm and no official Pride events will go ahead in the Soho area. A last-minute attempt with financial support from Gaydar and Smirnoff, owned by Diageo, to save abandoned elements of the day was made but proved unsuccessful.

Today Pride London posted an apology on their website.

Pride London deeply regrets the situation and we offer our sincerest apologies to the community, our sponsors and partners for the position we have found ourselves in. We understand the confusion and chaos that this must have caused for many people. We understand that the changes are last minute and people from all over the country and world will be affected by this in their plans to be part of the event. We share in your frustrations, but we hope that the community will understand the facts and the reasons why we have had to move to this position. There will be more detail on this shortly.

Earlier today the office of London Mayor Boris Johnson confirmed that he will not attend the reduced event, which some organizers now consider "unsalvageable." British LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell says the mayor should attend anyway.

"Boris’s non-attendance at this year’s WorldPride is symptomatic of a wider problem, an apparent unwillingness to consult and negotiate with London’s LGBT organisations and businesses to rescue WorldPride. Regardless of what Pride London has done, the mayor has an obligation to listen to the concerns of LGBT community organisations. He has failed to do so.”

JMG tipster Todd writes to wonder what may happen if huge crowds of people appear in the expected celebration areas where most streets will now be open as on any normal weekend. London's public safety agencies have issued warnings that all streets must be cleared on the greatly reduced timetable as London Pride does not have the licensing to permit large crowds to gather. By comparison, NYC Pride ensures crowd safety with the closure of more than a dozen West Village blocks.

NJ Cops Shut Down Furry Event

Word is just getting out that local New Jersey cops shut down a Memorial Day barbeque for about 200 "furries" after the venue got overcrowded. Oh, and two of the furries had engaged in public "inappropriate behavior."

According to posts on the Furaffinity site, the couple’s actions took place in front of many people in the middle of the day, including children. West Windsor Lt. Pat McCormack said police were called to the party but refused to go into further detail, saying the issue was being handled as a “personnel matter.” A YouTube video of the party, which showed guests grilling and dancing to music, drew several critical comments and video responses from self-described furries lambasting the two people involved in the incident. An online fundraising campaign was started after the barbecue and had raised close to $2,500 as of yesterday afternoon, according to the fundraising site at ChipIn.com. “Concerned furries have started this fundraiser to help the Twin ‘W’ Rescue Squad, which used to host the NJ FurBQ, recover some of the funds that were lost during some recent unfortunate events,” the website read.

Organizers concede that the event was overcrowded.

Starting Today In Texas

In the spring, the Tea Party-dominated Texas legislature upped the speed limit on some highways to 85 mph, a change that went into effect today. Insurance companies are very displeased.

"Obviously, the two things that kill most people on our highways are speed and alcohol. Increasing it to 85, or even 75, will have a dramatic impact on the death and injury rate on those highways where it's implemented," said Jerry Johns, a spokesman for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service. He said drivers already exceed 70 mph highway speed limits. "But 85 mph is simply too fast to drive even on a flat road. Any little hitch can cause an accident at that speed. There is still traffic on those roads, and to drive 85 mph is simply ludicrous," he said.

NEW YORK: Lawmaker Wants To Ban Electronic Devices While Walking

New York state Sen. Carl Kruger wants to make it illegal to use any electronic device while crossing the street.

Violators would be required to appear in court, and revenue from the $100 fines would go to a fund to educate people on the dangers of device distractions, the senator said. “This is not a nuisance offense,” Kruger said. “People are dying.” Kruger re-introduced the bill after a Manhattan man, who reportedly was using an iPod, was killed by a truck as it backed into an Upper East Side crosswalk last month. “If we were acting responsibly, then government would not have to interfere,” he said.

UNRELATED: Gay activists last year picketed a Kruger fundraiser, claiming that the Brooklyn Democrat was a closet case who voted against same-sex marriage in order to hide his sexuality.

This Is Not A Test

The French border city of Strasbourg got a major freak-out yesterday.

Strasbourg panicked Tuesday after sirens used to warn of impending nuclear attack or natural catastrophe malfunctioned and wailed for 90 minutes. The eastern city's fire and rescue service switchboard was flooded with about 600 calls during that time, 10 times more than normal, officials and France Telecom said, adding that the sirens went off due to a technical hitch. France's nationwide emergency warning network is the legacy of the air-raid siren network developed for World War II. It has 4,500 sirens placed around the country which are tested at midday on the first Wednesday of every month. France Telecom, which runs the system, offered residents of Strasbourg "its apologies for the inconvenience they may have suffered" during Tuesday's malfunction which affected several districts of the city.

San Francisco tests its earthquake siren every Tuesday at noon. Which can actually be a lot of fun when you have visitors which you have sternly warned a couple of hours in advance that they should run for cover if the alarm should happen to go off. Uh, not that I ever did that. A lot.