Saudi police arrest gay 23-year-old for wearing a swimsuit

The police say he was arrested for "indecency," but he thinks he was targeted for being gay.

A gay 23-year-old Saudi Arabian YouTuber named Suhail al-Jameel says that he has been arrested for “sharing nudity online” and now faces prison time because he posted a picture of himself wearing leopard print swim shorts at a local beach. 
His picture ran afoul of the country’s new public decency laws passed last September which explicitly forbid men from wearing shorts. It’s also against the law to be gay in Saudi Arabia, though its unclear if authorities targeted al-Jameel for his sexual orientation.
Al-Jameel reportedly has “over 170,000 Twitter followers and regularly posts make-up tutorials, fashion advice, and dance videos to his various social media platforms,” according to Queerty.
He posted the picture, saying “Miss the sun”

In a Snapchat message, al-Jameel wrote:
I take a photo of myself wearing shorts at the beach and I go to jail for wearing shorts. Then the police change my charges to electronic crimes for sharing photos of nudity. How am I nude if I am wearing shorts on a hot beach?
This is a shame to say that in 2019 LGBTQ are not welcome in Saudi Arabia, you must live in secret and can’t live in peace. You want tourism but you won’t give us freedoms.
He then encouraged gay tourists to stay away from the country, writing, “There is no place for you here. It is illegal to be who you are and it is sad.”
Saudi Arabian authorities and other countries with anti-gay laws have a history of harassing and arresting known gay men under trumped up charges of drugs, pornography, indecency, and prostitution. Saudi Arabia also has laws forbidding media outlets from publishing any material supporting gay rights.

Somizi Mhlongo marries boyfriend

After 2 years of engagement, Somizi Mhlongo decided to finally marry his boyfriend Tebogo Mohale Motaung last month.
Online frenzy ensued when the flamboyant actor and singer shared fabulous photos of his extravagant wedding with his over 2 million Instagram followers who were all commenting very positively.
In attendance at the wedding were many South African celebrities in dazzling attire.
Mhlongo who is 46, currently serves as a judge on DSTV Idols South Africa. He is a successful actor, choreographer, radio personality and an influential figure within the South African entertainment industry. He has many award-winning films to his credit, such as ‘Sarafina’, ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ etc.
Congratulations to the couple!

WHY DO PEOPLE SEND OUT NUDE PICS OF THEMSELVES?

It seems a universal fact: give people a way to take a photograph, and they’re going to take photos of themselves naked. Those photos are also likely to be sent to others, too.
One real question remains: why?A study from the University of Arizona has revealed a number of reasons for sending nudes, and some intriguing differences between the motivations of men and women.
UA sociology doctoral student Morgan Johnstonbaugh asked more than 1,000 college students from seven universities to talk about the last time they chose to send a nude or semi-nude photo of themselves to someone else. She then offered them a list of 23 possible reasons why they sent the photo, and let them check off as many of those reasons that fit.
The difference in reasons were noteworthy.
The most common reason for sending an explicit image seems obvious: women and men both sent them with the notion of turning on their recipient, with men doing that 73% of the time compared to women 67% of the time. Both men and women were equally interested in sending a photo simply because they were asked to, with 40% willing to pass a photo to an interested party who asked for one.

Outed Iranian singer faces execution for being gay

A popular Iranian singer now faces execution after being outed.
Mohsen Lorestani, a Kurdish-Iranian musician, has been accused of homosexual conduct after allegedly flirting with a man in a private chat conversation on social media. Authorities have charged Lorestani with “corruption of the Earth,” which carries the death penalty.
Iran, a fundamentalist Muslim state, remains one of the most antagonistic nations on Earth when it comes to queer people. In recent years, the execution of two men made international headlines. Police arrested Hasan Afshar, age 17, for homosexual conduct in 2014. Authorities held him in captivity for two years before a public hanging. Alireza Tajiki, only 15, was also executed in 2016, after confessing to being gay under torture.
“Our society has moral principles,” said Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. “And we live according to these principles … These are moral principles concerning the behavior of people in general. And that means that the law is respected and the law is obeyed.”
Under the Obama Administration, the United States offered political asylum to LGBTQ people fleeing laws like those found in Iran, or in neighboring nations like Saudi Arabia. Donald Trump reversed those protections and Vice President Mike Pence has resisted efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in the international community.

No LGBT rights in Zambia: take asylum seekers seriously!

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in Zambia face legal challenges not faced by non-LGBT citizens. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both males and females in Zambia.
Formerly a colony of the British Empire, Zambia inherited the laws and legal system of its colonial occupiers upon independence in 1964. Laws concerning homosexuality have largely remained unchanged since then, and homosexuality is covered by sodomy laws that also proscribe bestiality.
Social attitudes toward LGBT people are mostly negative and coloured by perceptions that homosexuality is immoral and a form of insanity. In 1999, the non-governmental organisation Zambia Against People with Abnormal Sexual Acts (ZAPASA) formed to combat homosexuality and homosexuals in Zambia.
Arguably the largest recipient of Fundamentalist Evangelical missionaries during British colonial times, Zambia's societal attitudes towards homosexuality heavily mirror these influences. A 2010 survey revealed that only 2% of Zambians find homosexuality to be morally acceptable; nine points below the figure recorded in Uganda (11% acceptance).
In 2013, Christine Kaseba, the wife of former President Michael Sata, said that "silence around issues of men who have sex with men should be stopped and no one should be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. But this is far from a widely held view, as the following extracts from the editor’s comments on July 17, 2019 in Zambia Daily Mail:
Homosexuality: Not in Zambia