British Olympic diver Tom Daley, 22, and U.S. Oscar-winning film scribe Dustin Lance Black, 42, got married May 7 at Bovey Castle Hotel in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England, Just Jared noted. The couple first started dating back in 2013 and got engaged in October 2015. The twosome have spoken candidly in the past about their love for each other, People.com noted. Speaking to Out magazine for a 2016 cover story, Black said, “Love is a commitment to me—something that goes deep.”
Huazhong University of Science and Technology in central China was known for its relatively welcoming attitude toward gay and lesbian people—so many Chinese were alarmed when a message of intolerance emanated recently from the university’s main campus in Wuhan, The New York Times reported. A photo of members of the women’s basketball team with the banner (“Defend core socialist values. Resist corrosion from decadent Western thoughts. Keep homosexuality far from campus”), posted online by the team’s coach, provoked immediate outrage, with people across China calling on the university to fire the coach and punish the students. Activists started a hashtag, #NoQueerNoGame, to show solidarity with lesbian athletes at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has had a cream pie shoved in his face while speaking to a packed business breakfast in Perth, Australia, according to News.com.au. He was barely into a speech to 500 executives at Perth’s exclusive Hyatt Regency hotel when a man in a suit appeared from behind a curtain on the podium and smeared the pie all over his face. When Joyce, who is gay, was asked if his advocacy on social issues such as same-sex marriage made him a target, he said that was pure speculation and police would investigate.
According to a testimonial in a Russian magazine, a 17-year-old boy was thrown from a ninth-floor balcony by his uncle because he was suspected of being gay, LGBTQ Nation reported. The Russian magazine Snob contained several testimonials from gay men who have fled Chechnya for survival in recent years. The men, whose names were not published, described violence against family, friends, and themselves in what one of them referred to as a campaign to exterminate gay people. Recently, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would investigate these human-rights abuses in Chechnya.
In Britain, a millionaire marketing director was shot dead in front of his husband at their home, PinkNews noted. Guy Hedger, 61, was killed by intruders who entered the house in Dorset, in southern England. He was murdered as his husband, Simon Pierre Hedger-Cooper, 48, watched on, it is understood. The couple had been in a civil partnership since 2005.
After being turned away from a Russian counseling hotline for being gay, a man was outed on social media by counselors who said they refused to “work with f*ggotry,” NewNowNext noted. The young man called the FROG center in St. Petersburg. After being put through to an operator, he explained that he was gay and needed counseling—to which the operator said, “This line isn’t for f*ggots” and promptly hung up on him. The man later tracked down FROG’s director Alexander Bronshtein on social media and complained about his employee’s behavior. Bronshtein answered, “You were told [we] don’t work with f*ggotry and then you were wished all the best. What was rude about this?”
On the Greek island/municipality Leros, two transgender refugees living in a refugee camp have reportedly been attacked by a number of locals, PinkNews noted. A group of an estimated 20 people on the island have been carrying out hatefully motivated attacks against refugees. The two trans people, who were staying in a UNHRC camp in Leros, were set up on by the group which is made up mostly of men. Greece rejected an asylum claim from a gay Syrian refugee last year and ordered the man to return to Turkey after they ruled that claims he could be persecuted for his sexual orientation in his home were deemed “unreliable.”
Wales will trial the use of HIV-preventing PrEP drugs for at-risk groups, in spite of a negative review from the country’s medicine body, PinkNews reported. Health experts say rolling out PrEP in the UK would be cost-effective if it leads to even a small reduction in HIV infections. Recently, the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group broke with the consensus from England and Scotland to advise against providing PrEP on the National Health Service.
Sam Stanley, a former British rugby star, announced his engagement to travel industry professional Laurence Hicks, his partner of seven years, Towleroad noted. Attitude magazine noted that, while the statement got tons of support, Stanley’s announcement was criticized on social media because of the couple’s difference in age (25 years). Stanley told Attitude, “Laurence & I love each other and to us that’s all that matters. We’re proud to represent the many relationships like ours.” The couple live in Sicily, where Stanley is planning to run a gym and Hicks is still working in travel.