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September 19, 2012
Britain should take a stand on Uganda’s gay hate

Omar Kuddus argues that UK Prime Minister David Cameron should stick by his words after Uganda banned a ‘gay’ play and took action against its British producers

In August the Uganda’s Media Council banned performances of what would have been the first theater production in the country to discuss LGBT issues.

That decision, and more urgently Uganda’s legal steps against people who staged the play, now require immediate and serious redress by the international community

The play, The River and the Mountain, by British playwright Beau Hopkins, was to have been performed at the National Theatre of Uganda but the theater backed off after the Media Council intervened.

June 6, 2012
Man jailed for gay relationship after partner dies in window fall

Belgian jailed for homosexuality, not murder, after Filipino partner falls to death in Dubai

A Belgian man has been sentenced to a year in jail after his gay Filipino partner fell to his death from the window of their Dubai apartment.

But despite the dying man reportedly using his final breaths to say he was pushed out of the window by his lover, the Belgian has been jailed for homosexuality, not murder.

May 16, 2012
Two men jailed for alleged public gay 'fondling' in Emirates

Two men sentenced to jail and deportation from United Arab Emirates after woman 'saw' them having gay embrace, highlighting privacy issues

Two men ‘spotted’ fondling each other in a parked car near a beach in Jumeirah, Dubai were sentenced to three months prison to be followed by deportation, reported the National, an Emirates based daily yesterday (15 May).

The two, a salon receptionist 27-year-old Filipino named by the initials 'RS', and a 32-year-old Omani named by the initials AA, were arrested by the police just after 3am on 9 April following a tip off from a member of the public.

April 12, 2012
Men from Britain and Seychelles jailed in Dubai for gay sex

British and Sychelles nationals sentenced to three years jail for drunken gay sex in Dubai. And Bangladeshi men get six months for toilet sex

Two men have been sentenced for three years in jail for having drunken gay sex in public in Dubai.

That's according to a report in The National, an Emirates-based English paper yesterday (11 April).

Two Bangladeshi men have also been arrested for having gay sex in a public toilet and will be deported after serving six months in jail.

February 26, 2012
Emirates gay ‘cure’ video gets press attention for first time

The United Arab Emirates' newspaper, The National, has given unprecedented coverage after an anti-gay video was removed from YouTube

The National, a respected newspaper in the United Arab Emirates has reported on the removal of a gay 'cure' video made in the UAE from YouTube.

The response from the country's most widely respected English language broadsheet follows the story on Gay Star News about the video.

Local LGBT activists see this as an important first step in a social dialogue.