A major disadvantage to our new podcast experiment has been less time for blogging. 

In time for the G-20, a roundup of some international LGBTQ information and news ....

Belgrade, Serbia has cancelled Gay Pride.  In spite of plans of horrific violent attacks from anti-gay foes, the government backed the event as a constitutional right, but then asked the venue be changed as the security risks mounted.  Organizers refused and it has been cancelled.  Pride organizers throughout Europe are baffled.

Nikolai Alekseev, who runs the GayRussia.ru Website and is a co-organiser of Moscow Pride, told UK Gay News that he could not understand the cancellation.

?The authorities seem to have put any personal views of gay matters to one side and to back the rights of the gay community to hold the Pride Parade.

?Even the President called for the neo-fascists, religious groups and others who objected to back-off.  But it appears right now that the authorities decided that they would not be able to provide safety at the planned venue, but offered an alternative that was not acceptable to the organisers,? he said.

Sound familiar? Life is complicated when you are balancing public safety, constitutional rights and common sense.  It certainly isn't a good comparison to the G-20 because no one is threatening the constitutional rights of the rich and mighty to meet at the Convention Center. 

Belgrade Pride organizers are saying that the public statements of support are a sham because the government could not put its money where its mouth is by providing the necessary security measures. 

The latest in Elton John's attempts to adopt a Ukrainian orphan.  While I am generally not a fan of transnational adoptions, this is pretty sad. Part of what's sad is how much it resembles picking a puppy from a shelter rather than making a conscious decision to become a parent.  But, if heterosexual megastars can do it ....