| 15 Injured in Estonia’s Pride March
A gang of homophobic protesters used stones and sticks to attack Estonias third annual Gay Pride March this past Saturday, injuring 15 people. Some 500 participants joined the Pride March in Tallinn, Estonias capitalthey carried rainbow flags and placards reading Love Doesnt Ask About Gender, We Have the Right to Be Who We Are, Children of Gays Need Protection Too, and We Heteros Support Gays. A Spaniard who was taking part in a gay seminar in Estonia together with other LGBT activists from Europe was hospitalized with a head injury after a stone was thrown at him during the march, said Juris Lavrikovs of the gay group Mozaika from neighboring Latvia, who was in Tallinn for the Pride march. A skinhead came at me shouting pederast in Estonian and spat in my face two times, he added in an e-mailed account of the days events.
150 people expected to take part in Gay Pride
The organisers of this weekend's Gay Pride Festival have vowed to go ahead with the festival this weekend even after receiving a homophobic email from a disgruntled member of the public. Matthew Monaghan, Chairperson of Galway Pride told the Galway Independent the event would go ahead. "It was basically trying to put us off having the parade. It was trying to stop people from coming out over the weekend but it won't work. The email isn't going to make us change any of our plans for the weekend and why should it".This is the 27th instalment of the Galway Gay Pride Festival, which is the oldest festival of its kind in the country. The festival kicks off on Thursday evening, 17 August, at Club Arus na nGael at 7.30pm. The main event of the weekend will occur on Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm when the Brod Ireland Pride Parade makes its way through the streets of Galway, starting off on Prospect Hill and finishing up in Fr Griffin Park.
Black Pride alleges lack of support from AIDS groups
As In the Life Atlanta prepares to host its 10th annual series of events for Black Gay Pride, organizers criticized an alleged lack of support from local AIDS agencies for the Labor Day weekend festival. "The most disturbing part is we accommodate majority black gay men, high risk, and we can not get a majority of Atlanta AIDS service organizations to come to the plate," ITLA board member Greg Smith wrote in an e-mail to Southern Voice. As the official organizer of Black Gay Pride, In the Life Atlanta sponsors a series of cultural, educational, social and political events from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4, including a two-day "Taking Pride in Healthy Living" conference at the Sheraton Midtown Colony Square, ITLA’s host hotel. Of the 11 sponsors currently listed on the group’s website, three are HIV organizations: AIDS Survival Project, Atlanta-based National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities, and PAUSE (Promoting Awareness of HIV Using Safer Sex Education), a program of the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
Archbishop fans the flames of homophobia
In a move that has surprised nobody, the Archbishop of Glasgow has blasted the decision to discipline nine firefighters who refused to hand out safety leaflets at a gay pride march. The nine officers were hauled over the coals by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service (SFR) when they moaned it would be embarrassing for them to attend Pride Scotia in uniform, while others claimed it would contradict their moral beliefs. Archbishop Mario Conti described the disciplinary action as dismaying. In 2003, when faced with the prospect of gay civil unions, he found the idea subversive. Bosses have ordered the group, from Glasgow's Cowcaddens station, to undergo intensive "diversity training" as part of their punishment. One of the men involved, a watch manager, was reduced to the rank of crew manager, losing an estimated 5,000 in salary.
| 
