Mariela Castro Espín embodies LGBT rights in Cuba. © Elblogdemarielacastro

(Blogmensgo, January 31, 2012) The Cuban Parliament should consider in 2012 a bill to legalize civil unions between same sex couples. This would be a PACS and not a fully-fledged gay marriage. Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Centre for Sex Education (Cenesex) and daughter of President Raul Castro, said in a lengthy interview that the review of this text requires a green light first at the conference of the Communist Party of Cuba scheduled January 28, 2012.

The legalization of homosexual civil unions would be in the more general framework of a parliamentary debate to renovate the Family Code and to promote non-discrimination absolute citizens, regardless of the reason for this discrimination. On this “policy of non-discrimination” that must first be decided by the Communist Party, and in particular discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

One of the outstanding issues concerning the recognition by a specialized committee of the Ministry of Public Health, the change of identity of transgender people without surgery. Mariela Castro said that in some cases the operation is not desired by the transgender person or not possible for health reasons.

Of a total of 175 applications, only 15 sex reassignment operations were conducted in Cuba. The first took place in 1988 and then following from 2007, says the director of Cenesex. The operation is done after two years of observation and hormone treatment. Surgical fees are then paid by the community.

Note that the convention center in Havana just hosted from 23 to 26 January 2012, the sixth edition of the Cuban Congress on Education, counseling and sex therapy. The event will be chaired by Mariela Castro Espín.

Philca & Matt / MensGo

(Via 20 Minutes)

This article has been translated from our French blog.  To view the original, please click here!

My baby just cares....©gallavin.com

(BlogMensGo 18 January 2012) Gallavin covers one of Nina Simone’s biggest hits: My Baby Just Cares for Me.

Nominated for his first music video « Mad about the Boy » at the 2011 Music Video Awards of Right Out TV in the US, Gallavin releases his second single and music video “My Baby Just Cares for Me”.

In a relaxed and urban style, Gallavin celebrates all types of love and friendship with fun and humour on Nina Simone’s greatest songs My Baby Just Cares for Me. Rearranged unexpectedly with pop-funk resonances by Pierre Sottas, Gallavin gives, through this song, a tribute to the ones you love and who love you in return for who you are unconditionally.

The music video of My Baby Just Cares for Me can be seen on Gallavin’s Youtube page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEvCwB8TXVs or on his Internet website www.gallavin.com.

The single My Baby Just Cares for Me, from the album Mad about the Boy, is available on iTunes, Amazon.com and other legal music downloadable websites. The CD Mad about the Boy can be ordered on www.gallavin.com/shop or www.CeDe.ch

For more information and photos: www.gallavin.com.

Contact: steven.gallavin@gallavin.com or 00 41 76 388 50 45

(Ed: Note….my cameo role in this video is as the guy holding the sign ‘free hugs’ on my personal passing of this video around amongst friends on Facebook etc, the feedback has been very positive and having listened to the album several times, its definitely one to download!!)

Matt / MensGo

Via Press Release E Mail from Gallavin.com

The quality of the book will be buried under an avalanche of good feelings? © Ejaf.org.

Blogmensgo, January 13, 2012) Elton John will publish in July 2012, a book on AIDS, entitled Love Is the Cure: Ending the Global Aids Epidemic (Therapy & love to end the AIDS pandemic). The copyright will be donated to the Elton John Foundation against AIDS (website | Facebook page) that the British singer founded in 1992.

The book will discuss the very personal experience and feelings of Elton John with HIV / AIDS. The ghosts of many friends, including singer Freddie Mercury and American young hemophiliac Ryan White, this book is both very public and very private, which means above all to change attitudes in its readers.

“This disease must be treated not with a miracle vaccine but by changing hearts and minds, and through a collective effort to break down social barriers and build compassionate bridges,” said the gay pop icon.

Elton John, 64, will publish this book in the United States by Little, Brown & Company and the United Kingdom at Hodder & Stoughton. The British publisher said that the release of the first book of Elton John will coincide with the XIXth International Conference on AIDS, held in Washington. Hodder will publish the book in an audio version that Elton John will lend his own voice to.

Comment. Memories for themselves and for something a little more crisp, Elton John fans are going to have to wait.

This article has been translated from its original in on our French Blog.  To view the original click here.

Philca & Matt / MensGo

(via The Guardian of January 10, 2012)

Spray me! ©Matthew/MensGo

(BlogMensGo, 12 January 2012) Once upon a time, a prince named Angeleo, lived in a castle in a land not too far away by a big, big lake.  He was a happy, but lonely prince.  Oh, he had great looks, body and riches untold.  But he was all alone listening to his fairyPod dancing in the empty halls of his grand home.

To share his love of magic, music and good times, he decided to give a party for all the gays and friends of his lovely land.  And who knows, maybe he would meet his prince charming for the ‘Happily ever after….’

It’s time to party again boys and girls! I am giving you more than 2 weeks notice here to get your glad rags together and book that train ticket to Zurich for another Angels party! The theme being this time round ‘Kitsch Party – A Fairy Tale’ and will be held again at the Volkshaus on the 28th of January! Doors opening at 10pm!

Feathered fantasy ©Matthew/MensGo

Angels are proud to welcome DJ and Producer Micky Friedmann at the turntables.  With a world wide performance list including Splash and Alegria in NYC, Hustlaball in London, Scandal in Ibiza, Circuit Barcelona, La Demence in Brussells, Celebrities in Vancouver, GMF in Berlin, I am pretty sure he will do his best to impress us in Zürich with his sexy sounds!

The upper floor will again host the local legends: The duo Wollana and Rolly who left people screaming for more in 2011, the Lollipop is back!

And F-Junior is the opening DJ on the main floor!

Oh and of course, who could forget! Myself and the rest of the MensGo Team will be there, two of us with cameras in hand to snap you all for the MensGo website! So look out for us with tools in hand and say hello!

Of course, you can see the details of this and other parties planned here in Switzerland and everywhere else on our social events diary at mensgo.com along with the photos of the party.

Where are the bears? ©Matthew/MensGo

Angels are planning ahead of course, so note the following dates in your diary (I will be reminding you before hand AND you will see these on the mensgo agenda).

White Party – 5th of May 2012 – Volkshaus, Zürich

Folies Au Lac – July 2012 – Badi Tiefenbrunnen

Neon Party (Street Parade) – 11 August 2012 – Volkshaus, Zürich

Black Party – 3 November 2012 – Volkshaus, Zürich

So….tickets are available at Ticketino www.ticketino.com or you can buy from one of the pre sale locations in Zürich: Cranberry Bar, Rathaus Café, Daniel H., Männerzone, and Ministry of Kink. So get your tickets ASAP to avoid disappointment!

The 300 volunteers who test the “pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV” (Prep) will swallow two tablets of Truvada before and during the peak of sexual activity, then a third tablet after this period. Half of the cohort swallow a placebo without knowing it.

Tagada + Truvada = Ipergay. ©Truvada.com.

Designed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Truvada combines two active ingredients, emtricitabine (FTC) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF). Its use will complement – not replace – the means of prevention and screening routine, which will be offered to participants: condoms, vaccination against hepatitis A and B, screening for infections and sexually transmitted diseases. It is not just a drug prophylaxis, but a combination prevention.

The experiment will take place in Paris, Lyon and Montreal. If it proves successful, a second phase will add 1,600 volunteers in the initial cohort.

A similar experiment was conducted in six countries, 2007-2009 (iPrEx trial, cf. Our article of 24 November 2010). But Ipergay distribute the drugs as requested by voluntary participants, as required by the protocol iPrEx had resulted in deficiencies in the adherence and a reduced risk of contamination of only 44%.

Comment. “Gays are among new HIV-positive, and rarely detected earlier at the AIDS stage,” says the ANRS in its press release in PDF. The ANRS forget, however, that gays are historically the people who paid the highest price to the pandemic.

That said, I like this acronym: Ipergay is almost hyperfun.

This article has been translated from an article written on our French blog.  To view the original please click here.

Philca & Matt/ MensGo

No I didn't get 6 children from Sodomy! ©Flickr/Anwar Ibrahim.

(Blogmensgo, January 10, 2012) The High Court of Kuala Lumpur has surprised observers by relaxing their charges on January 9, 2012 against Anwar Ibrahim, who was tried for “homosexual sodomy.” The former deputy prime minister faced up to twenty years imprisonment, Malaysia considers homosexuality as a crime.

Anwar Ibrahim, 64, married with six children, had pleaded not guilty. This was, he said, a set-up. “The 26 year old man who accused him had met with Mr. Najib [the current prime minister] two days before the alleged sodomy,” says Anwar Ibrahim’s blog just before the disposition of cases. The court would not “make a finding of guilt based on a mere presumption,” the accuser was a former employee of the defendant.

The leader of the People’s Justice Party (Keadilan, the main opposition party) might have also perhaps served much more than twenty years of imprisonment to which he seemed destined. In January 2010, shortly before the start of the trial against Anwar, the Court of Appeal in Kuala Lumpur confirmed that the prohibition of sodomy for “sexual deviance” was consistent with the Constitution of Malaysia. The order dismissing the 2010 ipso facto a 39 year old man who had been sentenced to sixty years in prison, three times the maximum penalty under the pretext that he had “committed” acts of sodomy.

It’s the second time that Anwar Ibrahim was charged with sodomy. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison in 1998 and spent six years in custody before being expanded. The release which is to benefit now allows him to prepare the general elections scheduled for 2013, where he once again will challenge the supremacy of Najib Razak, the party in power and the corruption that plagues Malaysia.

This article has been translated from the original which was written on our French blog.  To view the original, click here.

Philca / MensGo

(Via all the press on 9 January 2012, and Asian Times)

©Photoxpress.com/Andy Heyward.

(BlogMensGo 5th January 2012) Time goes so fast! its already the 5th, but I am finally back! With working in Milan over new years and then back in the office straight after, I have not stopped! And as usual, corporate Switzerland wants its pound of flesh!

So, we hope you have all recovered nicely from the Xmas and New Years festivities! and now feeling refreshed! Being Thursday we can all hopefully relax in the thought that we hopefully can have a fairly quiet weekend!

We hope 2012 will see more growth with the MensGo empire, that we can not only grow the blog into more languages but also improve its content and frequency of articles! Bringing more entertainment, health and news relating to our community!

We have already seen a competition running with MensGo, things are on the up for us!

If you have not signed up already for MensGo and are just reading this blog, don’t forget to do so, its not just a dating site, but more social network which is ever growing, along with a social calendar!

So, Happy New Year and we look forward to spending more time with you over the coming year!

Matt / MensGo

A Christmas with pure water, I dare you! ©Photoxpress.com/Mykola Velychko.

(Blogmensgo, December 25, 2011) The Gay Blog MensGo is going to have a a phase of half-sleep until 2nd January 2012 inclusive.

There is no complete rest for the wicked, as I am working Milan 29/30/31st and returning to Lausanne on the 1st.  Yes, am working over New Years in my role as photographer.

Hope you are all having a lovely xmas and you have an even better new years.  We wish you all the best for 2012 and hope it will be a happy and prosperous one for you all!

So I guess it will be the usual, January new years resolutions of getting back to the gym, don’t drink as much etc….lets see how long we can make it last!

So….from Switzerland, Happy Holidays!

Matt / MensGo

This elegant would be better without the gloves ... © 4310club.ch

(Blogmensgo, December 22, 2011) If you haven’t yet planned your Christmas Eve or New Years, it is not too late. Ok, so you will not get an early bird discounts and you MAY find you can not get in because the place is already full.

In any case, I advise you to go through the agenda MensGo (presentation page | direct link). Remember, access to the five star social network MensGo is reserved for members, but registration to MensGo is free.

The MensGo agenda suggests Christmas Eve at Club 43&10 in Lausanne, from December 24 to 2359hrs and 59 seconds until 25 December 0500hrs (the evening actually begins at 1, but I added one hour so that no one gets the wrong date).

If you’re still feeling in the festive party spirit after all that food, get down to the Trixx in Lausanne which is hosted at its usual spot in the MAD Nightclub on Sunday.  The evening is called Mary X-Mas and goes along with Steven Redant, a resident of Dementia in Brussels – Earplugs not included.

And to celebrate the transition to the year 2012? The method is identical, just to log on the agenda, to choose your date (ie December 31 or January 1) and your sorting criteria (by date, city, country, etc..) To display the menu festivities. Extensive menu, in this case, with fiestas planned in Rio de Janeiro, Lausanne, Geneva, Basel and Madrid.  Of course here in Lausanne, we have the Jungle Party again at the MAD!

Have a great holiday and keep covered!

This article has been translated from our French blog, the view the original version please click here.

Matt & Philca / MensGo

Of course, the women didn’t let him get away, instead, one of them tackled him to the ground while waiting for a bouncer at a nearby bar.  Neither of the women were injured but lane was arrested on a charge of malicious harassment (hate crime) and also could be charged with assault for his threatening actions.

I say….good on ya girls!

Via the Advocate

The Episcopal Church of Scotland still has put HIV / AIDS on the cover of its December newsletter ... © Scotland.anglican.org.

(Blogmensgo, December 14, 2011) The Episcopal Church of Scotland told the Scottish Government on December 6, 2011, that it would refuse to perform marriages between same sex couples. A week earlier it’s colleague the Presbyterian church gave a similar response, as was done before the leaders of Muslim and Catholic Scotland.

[Summary | Detailed Response (PDF)]

The leaders of all persuasions have responded negatively to the possible celebration of gay and lesbian marriages among their flock. These negative responses are the result of a consultation launched three months ago by the Scottish Government on the acceptance of gay marriage by the civil and religious authorities.

The Episcopal Church of Scotland, which claims 40,000 followers, bases its doctrine on a canon stating that marriage is the “physical, spiritual and mystic union of a man and woman, created by the mutual consent of their heart, their spirit and their will, as a sacred bond of a lifetime instituted by God.” Episcopalians and leaders indicate that they are “opposed to the enactment of the marriage between same sex, whether on religious or civil.”

In the same response to the government, the Episcopal hierarchy refuses to celebrate religious civil partnerships, arguing that the case does not look that civilian authorities.

But the Episcopal Church of Scotland will not change his mind if the Anglican Church, to which it belongs, takes a different final decision. The Anglican bishops feel they have not yet had time to settle the question definitively. Where appropriate, a full or partial reversal of the Episcopal Church of Scotland remains an option.

According to the article that I use as a source, “the Episcopal Church of Scotland had once seemed to take a more liberal option on the question of homosexuality. In particular it argued that the fact of being a homosexual couple was not a barrier to ordination to the clergy. ”

Religious communities and religious officials will not be forced to perform same sex marriages even if gay marriage were legal, said the Scottish Government. In England and Scotland, heterosexual civil marriages can be celebrated and formalized in places of worship rather than the town hall if both bride and groom want.

This article has been translated from our French blog, the view the original version please click here.

Matt & Philca / MensGo

(via La Croix (in french) of December 8, 2011)

Bingu wa Mutharika, President slumped in his suit of homophobia. © Weforum.org / Eric Miller.

(Blogmensgo, December 13, 2011) The Minister of Justice for Malawi provided the Commission for government laws on the 8th December 2011, a bill to decriminalize homosexuality. The precise timing of the review text and possible adoption was not specified.

Officially, the government of Malawi would like to consider “the sentiments of the public” and make a “response to public opinion on certain laws.” Unofficially, it is to retain the support of Western donors.

The Penal Code of Malawi considers homosexuality and sodomy as “indecent practices and acts against nature” liable to fourteen years imprisonment. It imposed the maximum sentence in a court last year to a gay couple to be married as symbolic.  President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned them shortly after the verdict, but this was after five months of preventive detention.

The announcement of the Minister Ephraim Chiume aims to give pledges to donor countries that have recently clamped down against the small country in southern Africa, where there are 14% positive. International aid Malawi maintains a drip, but its Western partners now want guarantees for the respect of democracy, individual freedoms and human rights.

The British Prime Minister opposed hostilities by suspending its aid programs in Malawi since July 2011. In addition to the economic and political criteria, the UK requires respect for the rights of gays and lesbians in any country that it sponsors, without which the British aid will be reduced or eliminated.

The European Union is almost as tough on Malawi, U.S. President Barack Obama said on December 6, 2011, that he also wants to put the fight against homophobic discrimination in the heart of its international policy, but without going to the financial sanctions.

Comment. In Malawi, the rights of the LGBT community are absent and the head of state publicly likened gays to dogs. Citizens have no right to assign the state judiciary, the police have the right to search without commission and the press especially the right to remain silent.

So in response to pressure from Western governments that the Minister Ephraim Chiume passed its bill on the decriminalization of homosexuality along with text to enhance press freedom and civil liberties.

It also is a trick to double trigger: the bill decriminalizing homosexuality can be adopted more easily if it is hidden in the middle of more consensual text (in Malawi, homophobia is still alive), and a possible rejection of the other bills would serve as an excuse to torpedo one of the decriminalization of homosexuality.

In short, Malawi is a country where democracy remains locked up in a dictionary.

This article has been translated from our French blog, the view the original version please click here.

Matt & Philca / MensGo

Via AFP

In England this is referred to as a hairdressers car! © Ledorga.fr.

(Blogmensgo, December 9, 2011) Every year, the association Ledorga called to vote for the European Gay Car of the Year 2012 and European gay brand of 2012. There are only a few days to vote online – probably until December 15, 2011, if tradition is respected, but this is not stated anywhere.

There are 58 new cars for you to decide, from A to V such as Audi – Volkswagen. And 88 brands of automobiles sold in Europe vying for the prize of Internet users, from A to Y such as….yes…Abarth. To vote, simply click on the picture or go to Ledorga’s website.

Last year, under the year, the RCZ Peugeot and Citroën had won the votes of Internet users. The winners of the 2012 vintage will be announced January 14, 2012. There it will echo the proclamation of winners, as usual.

This article has been translated from our French blog, the view the original version please click here.  I have to admit here, I have stripped the references for voting for French cars, being British I should replace with some British manufacturers but….well, we do not REALLY have any left do we!

Matt & Philca / MensGo

(via Ledorga, email of 16 November 2011)

Minister Manu Sareen. Hunk gay-friendly. © Flickr / Ditte Valente.

(Blogmensgo, November 29, 2011) The first same-sex marriages should be celebrated in Denmark by the summer of 2012. Manu Sareen, Minister for Equality and the Church since October 3, 2011, will file a bill to that effect in Parliament. It will take about six months to enact the law and its implementing decree.

Legalizing gay marriage will delete concomitant PACS (or “registered partnership” according to local terminology), that Denmark was the first country to establish. The Minister Sareen’s announcement comes after the death of activist Axel Axgil on October 29, 2011, who had PACS (Eigil and his companion, who died in 1995) on 1 October 1989, that is to say the same day that the PACS came into force in Denmark.

The homosexual and heterosexual couples have exactly the same rights and their union will be uniformly designated by the word marriage. Homosexual couples can adopt children after two years (see our article in the March 18, 2009) and the Lutheran pastors who wish are allowed since 1997 to bless the little pacs by truncating the ritual of marriage.

Protestantism has a status of state religion in Denmark, where the Lutheran church claims more than 80% of the population among its faithful. The previously refused obedience same-sex marriages, although most of its bishops are in favor of marriage between gays or lesbians.

The Bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov-Jakobsen, welcomes this new “political decision”, while saying he understands that some people resent the predicted demise of the statutory differences between married couples and civil unions. Last year, 63% of Danes were in favor of religious marriage of homosexual couples (see our article in the March 10, 2010).

Manu Sareen. The Minister also likes pink balloons. © Flickr / Bo Knudsen Nissen / Hovedstadens Radikale Venstre.

The text of the future marriage law should provide a number of details concerning the rights and duties of spouses and how marriages are celebrated. The pastors who wish will probably not allowed to gay marriages, but the Lutheran Church must find replacements for their blessing marriages between same sex.

By consulting the English Wikipedia file of the Minister Manu Sareen, I see it “was named Politician of the Year in 2003, 2006 and 2007 by the Association LGBT Danmark”. It is also the first man having been appointed Minister for Equality in Denmark.

This article has been translated from our French blog.  To view the original article, click here.

Philca & Matt / MensGo
(via Le Figaro du 23 novembre 2011)

The hope is to live - as triple therapy. © UNAIDS / DR.

(Blogmensgo, November 28, 2011) UNAIDS noted in its report published on September 21, 2011 PDF that 34 million people worldwide were living with HIV / AIDS at the end of 2010, an increase of 3.3% in one year and 17% in ten years. This is good news, since this figure demonstrates both greater effectiveness of triple therapy and more widespread use of antiretroviral drugs.

“We are on the verge of a breakthrough in the response to AIDS. “Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, announced his optimism at the outset. According to him, and subject to “move from a fragmented approach in the short term response to long-term strategic investments that are accompanied by the height,” it is not forbidden to consider the eventual disappearance of HIV / AIDS.

Several indicators accredit the victory of man over the pandemic, although there are still black spots. Thus the annual rate of new HIV infections he fell 21% between 1997 and 2010, the number of AIDS deaths has also fallen back by 21% since 2005. It was still, for 2010 alone, still 2.7 million new HIV infections and 1.8 million deaths due to HIV / AIDS.

At the same time, sub-Saharan Africa, the continent most affected, increasing ART coverage of 20% between 2009 and 2010, while at the same time certain population groups, such as those “men who have sex with men and transgender people, “began to change their behavior and strategies for protection.

Nearly half (47%) of HIV positive people now receiving antiretroviral treatment in developing countries. But this same statistic is less than 20% in 17 countries in which poverty is generally considered (Madagascar, Sudan) but in some cases rather relative (Latvia, Tunisia). In developing countries, half of the infected are unaware of their HIV status, which is an obstacle to reducing HIV / AIDS.

The UNAIDS set itself a target of “zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths” in 2015. This will include the elimination, by then, of new HIV infections in children.

Comment. Perhaps this is due to a cursory reading, but I have not seen the report in 2011 mentioned the disastrous policies openly homophobic here and there. It is likely that some countries make up  and down their statistics on HIV / AIDS, especially where homosexuality is condemned to death. Makeup doubly guilty, because not conducive to a minimum of prophylaxis.

This article has been translated from the original article on our French blog.  To view the original article click here.

Philca & Matt / MensGo

(via all thé press, and Le Monde of 21 november 2011)

Come to bed eyes

(Blogmensgo, November 26th, 2011) Olivier Marillier and Millius Raphael were both crowned Mister Suisse Romande, respectively in 2011 and late 2007. And both are gay, the first having made his public coming out after the fact and the second has never hidden his homosexuality.

Raphael Millius (Facebook page), 25, has just made its media coming out in the morning of November 9th. This Valais, domiciled in the canton of Vaud, “wants [her] coming out allows an open mind.” Only his friends knew his preference for the guys when he was elected Mister Suisse Romande May 14, 2011.

Raphael “[saw] no need” to reveal his sexual orientation to the public before, during or just after the election. He generally prefers to take his time. As proof, he lived his first homosexual experience at age 20 years and has been living as a couple for less than two years.

The other reason Millius Raphael did not reveal his preference when he was on the podium is that he did not want to be stamped or branded ‘Mr. Gay’. I do not argue. However, this could help me live some passions, such as the theater. ”

Homosexuality, Mister Suisse Romande and the theater

The theater, homosexuality and a title of Mister Suisse Romande, these are three similarities between Raphael Millius and his predecessor the vintage 2007-2008, Olivier Marillier. Clearly passionate about art and culture, Olivier has discovered that in 2010 one of his vocations, following an internship at the prestigious drama Cours Florent in Paris. But he also practiced drawing and painting, among other cultural activities without sacrificing the modeling.

Olivier Marillier. Its future bogoss is taking shape. ©Oliviermarillier.com/Emo-photo.com

Born in Biel and now age 35, Olivier Marillier (website | myspace page) is involved also in cases such as the fight against HIV / AIDS. he will also sponsor the Telethon in Switzerland on the 2nd and 3rd of December 2011.

Olivier has not hidden his homosexuality before being elected in late 2007, but he does not mean that a standard, as explained on the morning of March 10, 2008: “I always said that I did not want to be a gay icon. Play flag bearers, it does not stick with me, I’m not a claimant. What I want is to highlight all the differences, that’s why I sponsored the Stop Suicide Association. ”

Comment. The major difference between the two Mister Western Switzerland? When they were elected, Raphael Millius pretending to be more heterogeneous than it is and Olivier Marillier was suspected of being less gay than he is.

But Millius Raphael only multiplied shoots, directed ostensibly straight. As evidenced on his Facebook page, where the hot shots “Le Matin knock on the door for an interview out of bed.” The two alleged lovebirds, scantily clad or naked in the bathtub, displaying a gargantuan marital happiness as spontaneous as the laughter canned in a sitcom. It is surprising that the bogoss has not withdrawn his Facebook profile these photos are a little compromising.

COMMENT: Just a side note, in case you are not in Switzerland and wondering what Swiss/Suisse Romande is…..this is the name for the Western french speaking part of Switzerland.  I have tried to find out why we are called Romande or Romandies but to no avail!

This article has been translated from the original on our French Blog, to view the original, click here.

Philca & Matt / MensGo
(via 360°  10 novembre 2011 and Le Matin des 10 mars 2008, 24 août 2010 et 9 novembre 2011

Transphobia has the two deadliest weapons: contempt and hatred. © Transgenderdor.org.

(Blogmensgo, November 27, 2011) The 13th International Day in memory of transgender victims (Transgender Day of Remembrance or TDoR) was held November 20, 2011. Like all November 20, it has generated a plethora of events around the world. Suffice to say, its here to mention especially France and Italy.

For a chronological analysis of the situation and legislation in France, read this article on the blog of Strasbourg and follow the many links in it.

I take this opportunity to relay a request from LeZ in Strasbourg: “I am also looking for platforms including the claims of claims interséxué.e.s, and bisexual-le-s, trans, lesbians and gays – including rights of LGBTI abroad – as well as international instruments recognizing the legitimacy of these claims. “Please respond to this specific request directly to their blog.

The French National Assembly rejected on 17 November 2011, an amendment to transphobia. In doing so, France “refuses to recognize transphobia as a ground for discrimination,” growls the National Association transgender (ANT) in a statement quoted by LeZ’s PDF.

In Italy, the new government ends an era of Berlusconi who has not been favorable to trans people. The combination with the day

Please....

TDoR is accidental, as suggested by a program of initiatives prepared long in Italy.

On our blog in Italian, Giorgio took the opportunity to remind the preparation of Stop 2012, a global initiative – of Spanish origin – to remove the “gender identity disorder or gender” (TIG) of the list of psychiatric illnesses.

On October 22, 2011 it was also organized the “International Day of Struggle for depathologization trans identities,” which resulted in various events in 70 cities in 32 countries (see press release in French).

Campaign Stop 2012 is given five major objectives: to ensure that the TIG no longer appear in current diagnostic manual (DSM IV and ICD 10) or under development (DSM V and ICD 11), abolish “monitoring protocols “imposed on transgender and intersex; obtain hormonal and surgical” without psychiatric supervision “allow health care integral elements specific to the population trans transphobia legally regarded as discrimination and fight effectively against it .

This article has been translated from our French blog, to view the original article, click here.

Philca & Matt / MensGo

(via LeZ Strasbourgeoises of 17 November et BlogMensGo.it of 19 November 2011)

Magic Johnson ©wikipedia 2011

(Blogmensgo, November 25, 2011) On Saturday, November 12, 2011, an unknown Mayor (John Vila) from a small town (Cabestany in the Oriental Pyrenees) symbolically married two strangers of the same sex (Patrick and William). Twenty years ago, November 7, 1991, a world-famous basketball player (Magic Johnson) announced his HIV status. Both events have created a buzz. But their long-term effects are not the same because they are two very different types of buzz from each other.

The marriage of the two lovers has been celebrated as symbolic, since France has not legalized gay marriage. This was mainly to advocate gay marriage and tease the presidential candidates and also the French public on this issue.

The revelation of his HIV status by Magic Johnson stemmed from a completely different context. We must go back twenty years to understand who Earvin Johnson Jr., aka Magic Johnson was: One of the greatest basketball players of all time, as popular in those days as what was later Michael Jordan.  For those who do not understand the sport, say that Magic Johnson was the basketball equivalent of Ayrton Senna in motor racing, Andre Agassi in tennis and football Michel Platini: almost a living god.

But the buzz with Magic Johnson was very different from that created by Rock Hudson who announced on July 25, 1985, that he had AIDS. The buzz is very different because the career of Hudson was vegetating while Johnson was at the height of his glory. Buzz still in that Rock Hudson was still a living symbol of the hero and heartthrob, The buzz was also very different because of the revelation of homosexuality and AIDS, where Rock Hudson destroyed a myth, while the disclosure of HIV status of Michael Johnson reinforced a myth.

In other words, the public lost interest quickly when Rock Hudson made his announcement as he could label it as homosexual (AIDS was generally considered a “gay disease” So as a patent of infamy), while the extraordinary popularity enjoyed by Magic Johnson aroused the interest of the general public for this disease which, six years after the death of Rock Hudson lost his seal of infamy as it touched people “from all sides” and personalities such as Hervé Guibert known about in the media.

So the hetero Magic Johnson aroused much more consciousness alone that most homosexuals alone can do.  So, it is clear that the double work of advocacy and awareness raising is needed, it comes from the LGBT community or heterosexual community, and that is for the LGBT community or the heterosexual community. It will be remembered even about Magic Johnson in twenty years, but it’s not because everyone will have forgotten the two lovebirds Cabestany that their initiative was not somewhere equally necessary than the actions of Magic Johnson.

This is precisely where I was going. Community action has value and impact if it is not running in a closed circuit, as well as initiatives outside the community should not be neglected just because they are alien.

Going back to our Magic basketball player, I note that for twenty years campaigning for better control and for better information on HIV / AIDS, especially through the foundation that bears his name. His main regret is that people believe, seeing him in good health after twenty years of HIV infection, it is pointless to protect themselves. Big mistake. Stay alive as much, claim to Russian roulette without removing all the balls of the barrel …

This article has been translated and adapted from the original article on our French blog.  To view the original, please click here.

Philca & Matt / MensGo

(via RedHOT.org  8 novembre and 24 Heures du 9 novembre 2011)

Patrick Leahy (Vermont), champion of gay marriage. But the opponents are tough. © Leahy.senate.gov / DR.

(Blogmensgo, November 17, 2011) On the 10th of November 2011, the Senate Committee on Justice voted, eight by ten votes against a bill (S. 598) to repeal the current law on defense of marriage (Doma) prohibiting the U.S. recognition of same-sex marriages at the federal level. The bill, introduced by Dianne Feinstein, Democratic senator from California, can now be presented for adoption in plenary session at a date has not yet been set.

The law of 1996 Doma provides that only marriage unites a man and a woman. But there are 131,000 same-sex couples legally married in the United States. Gay marriage is actually legal in the capital Washington and in six states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont). But the law prevents these 1100 Doma couples legally married to claim family allowances, health insurance, tax benefits, pensions or grants of federal origin, which transforms the de facto second-class married.

The bill must be passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives before being promulgated by the Head of State. If the federal Senate is controlled by Democrats, the House is a Republican stronghold. The Senate committee chaired by Patrick Leahy (news releases before and after the vote), a state senator from gay-friendly, Vermont, voted to put the text to the agenda in the plenary. Its likely adoption by the Senate is likely to remain purely symbolic, since it will then be confirmed after the election by the members.

[The English can watch the video of the meeting of the Senate Committee, starts at about 21:00. To listen and edit sound, as the Chairman of the Committee is a little hoarse.]

The main supporters of a repeal of the DOMA law are President Barack Obama, a majority of elected Democrats (including Democratic senators ten members of the commission of Justice), a small minority of elected Republicans, a group of 70 large companies (including Google, Nike and Xerox) and cataloged many organizations on the left. Opponents of the repeal are recruited especially among elected Republicans, the religious lobbies, organizations traditionalists, the extreme right movements and a small minority of elected Democrats.

This article has been translated from the original on our french blog.  To view the original, click here.

Matt & Philca / MensGo

via Los Angeles Times