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SPAIN: Constitutional Court Upholds Marriage Equality

¡Viva España! Spain's highest court has upheld the legality of that nation's landmark marriage equality law, reports the AP.

Spain's Constitutional Court [rejected] an appeal contending that marriage in the Spanish constitution means only the union of a man and woman. The county's top court voted 8-3 to dismiss the appeal of the conservative Popular Party.

Spain's Parliament passed the gay marriage law in 2005 when it was Socialist-controlled, with Popular Party deputies opposed. The Popular Party took power late last year after the Socialists were ousted over their handling of the economy. The gay marriage law angered the predominant Roman Catholic Church but opinion surveys showed most Spaniards backed it. More than 22,000 gay marriages have taken place in Spain.

Spain has the distinction of being "on the frontline of LGBT rights," reports the Global Post. When it legalized marriage equality in June 2005, it was became only the third country to do so after Belgium and the Netherlands. It also became "only the third country in the world to allow same-sex marriage with legislation that also allowed gay couples to adopt children."

Bravo. It's a sweet victory because last year at this time many progressives feared that Mariano Rajoy's PP would rollback protections for women and LGBTs.

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Will Spain's Conservatives Reverse LGBT Progress?

SPORNO: MMA Hotness Ron Stallings Strips Down and Weighs In

Trade alert! Mixed martial artists, kickboxing hotness and fitness champ Ron "Choir Boy" Stallings has uploaded a behind-the-scenes video that many of you may enjoy. After flexing in the locker room ...

The 6'0 and 185lb middleweight champ is seen stripping off for his weigh-in before fighting Mike Massenzio on September 14. The "packaging" is very! nice!

Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

GAMBIA: Indecency Charges Dismissed Against 20

There are promising developments in the West African nation of Gambia. A court has dropped charges against 18 men and two women who were arrested in April and charged with "unnatural offenses" and "indecency".

The defendants were accused of homosexuality but the prosecutors' case was "based on discredited evidence", reports Tanzania's The Citizen and the UK-based GayStarNews. Same-sex relations are banned in Gambia. Violators face up to 14 years in prison.

Two police officers previously testified that when they had raided the nightclub they had seen the defendants "wearing female clothes." ... These allegations were denied by all the defendants who stated no one there wore drag. The police officer obtained 43 pictures from digital cameras at the venue as central ‘evidence’ supporting their claims. However after examination most of the pictures were taken by the club owner’s at different occasions and could not possibly have been attributed to the accused.

That's the good news. On the other hand, some defendants say they have been ostracized by family and neighbors "after their names and photographs were published in newspapers."

President Yahya Jammeh has ruled Gambia after seizing power in 1994. In recent years the West African dictator has attracted international attention for his anti-gay rhetoric and violent threats. In May and June 2008, the Gambian leader ordered all homosexuals to leave the country and promised to "cut off the head"of any gay man remained in the West African nation.

The European Union has cancelled 22 million euros ($26 million) in budget support to Gambia in 2010 due to concerns over human rights, reports Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The EU is the leading aid provider for Gambia. Jammeh recently has slammed EU and UK attempts to link aid to human rights and support of gays.

Same-sex acts are currently illegal in at least 38 of 54 African countries. Four nations—Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan—boast the death penalty for gays or same-sex activity. South Africa and Seychelles are the only African nations that protect LGBT rights. South Africa is also the only African nation to guarantee marriage equality.

Some Background:
Gambia "Won't Be 'Bribed' to Accept Gays"
Gambian Pres. Threatens to "Cut Off the Head" of Gays
UN Rep Expelled After Doubting President's AIDS "Cure"
Gambian President Can Cure "HIV"
Gambian President Threatens to Fire All Gay Soldiers
UN Chief Urges African Leaders to Respect Gay Rights
Gambia President Renews

Will Spain's Conservative Majority Reverse Progress Made by LGBTs?

PHOTOS: Getty

Spain's center-right opposition People's Party has gained power in a landslide election "as voters punished the outgoing Socialist government for the worst economic crisis in generations."

"With the PP winning 186 of the 350 seats in parliament, 56-year-old Former Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy was given a free hand to carry out sweeping reforms and impose further austerity in an attempt to turn the country around," reports The Guardian.

Will Rajoy and the PP reverse the sweeping gains made by gays and women under Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero? Many gays and lesbians fear so, reports Expatica.com.

PP has appealed to the Constitutional Court against Spain's gay marriage law, which has allowed over 20,000 gay couples to wed since it was passed by the Socialist government in 2005. Rajoy has repeatedly said he prefers the term "civil union" to "marriage" for same-sex unions.

Zapatero also passed a "fast-track" divorce law that came into effect in 2005. Under a law that came into effect last year, abortion became fully legalised in Spain. It was previously available in cases of rape, deformity or where the pregnancy endangered a woman's health. The law controversially requires minors aged 16 or 17 to inform their families of a decision to abort, except if they face "a clear risk of family violence, threats, pressure or mistreatment".

Spain has the distinction of being "on the frontline of LGBT rights," reports the Global Post. When it legalized marriage equality in 2005, it was "only the third country in the world to allow same-sex marriage with legislation that also allowed gay couples to adopt children."

"With 5 million people out of work and the European Union's highest jobless rate, Spain is heading into its second recession in four years.," adds Reuters. Unemployment among youth ages 16-24 is above 45 percent.

IMF Chief Identified in Lineup, Previous Rape Allegations Emerge

PHOTOS: AP and AFP/ GETTY

More developments in the sordid criminal case against International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, arrested in New York City and accused of sexually assaulting a maid at a luxury hotel. Strauss-Khan, who was "widely expected" to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency, was dramatically escorted by detectives from a Paris-bound Air France jetliner only minutes before its departure.

Strauss-Kahn was picked out of a lineup last night by the victim, described as an "African immigrant", reports the Daily News. And very serious new details have emerged that the former French finance minister tried to sexually assault a French journalist in 2002,

Strauss-Kahn is expected to be arraigned Monday on criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment charges. He was in custody Sunday night at an undisclosed medical facility, where he was taken for DNA evidence testing. His accuser, described by a co-worker as a single mother of African descent, stared down the political star during a police lineup at the special victims unit.

She isn't the first woman to identify Strauss-Kahn as a sex fiend. Anne Mansoure, the mother of French TV reporter Tristane Banon, said that when her daughter interviewed Strauss-Kahn in 2002, he tried to attack her.

Banon, goddaughter of Strauss-Kahn's second wife, spoke about the attack in a 2007 TV program, but Strauss-Kahn's name was bleeped. She described the politician as a "rutting chimpanzee" and claimed she had to kick and fight him off. Sunday night, Mansouret told reporters in France that she regretted talking her daughter out of filing charges. " "I bear a heavy responsibility," Mansouret said.

More on the 2002 allegations at Business Insider. "Banon further alleges that the story was covered up in the media. Her publisher took out the chapter on Strauss-Kahn from the book for which she had tried to interview him. A segment on another talk show where she mentioned the incident was cut out during editing." Banon also says that she was scared for her physical safety.

UPDATE: Strauss-Kahn has been ordered held without bond and deemed an "extreme" flight risk. He is charged with attempted rape, carrying out a criminal sex act and unlawful imprisonment.

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IMF Chief Accused of Sexual Assault

IMF Chief Accused of Sexual Assault, Arrest Likely to Disrupt French Politics and Euro Crisis

PHOTOS: Reuters, Getty

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been arrested in New York City and accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.

Strauss-Khan, who was "widely expected" to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency, was escorted by detectives from an Air France jetliner at Kennedy International Airport only minutes before it was to due to depart for Paris on Saturday.

The former French finance minister was booked early Sunday morning "on charges of criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and unlawful imprisonment, police said," reported the Daily News. Strauss-Khan is not protected by diplomatic immunity and will be arraigned today.

The 32-year-old Sofitel hotel maid provided a terrifying account of the attack to cops. At about 1 p.m., she walked into Strauss-Kahn's $3,000-a-night-suite - Room 2806 - at the posh W. 44th St. hotel, thinking it was empty.

Strauss-Kahn, who is married to a New York-born journalist, emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down the hallway in his suite and yanked her into a bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her, the maid told police. She fought him off, but he dragged her into the bathroom, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to peel off her panties. At one point, he tried to lock the suite's door, police said.

The woman escaped, scampered out of the room and alerted a hotel staffer, who called 911, according to cops. The frisky Frenchie high-tailed it out of the hotel to the airport before cops arrived, leaving his cell phone and other personal items behind, police said.

The man nicknamed "the Great Seducer" has a history of sex scandals. In 2008, Strauss-Kahn was accused of having an affair with a former subordinate at the Davos World Economic Forum. "The IMF decided to stand by him despite concluding that he had shown poor judgment in the affair. Mr. Strauss-Kahn issued an apology to employees at the bank and his wife, Anne Sinclair, an American-born French journalist," reported the New York Times.

The incident is expected to have huge repercussions in French politics and the Euro debt crisis. "Strauss-Kahn had a good chance of becoming France's next President," reports the International Business Times. "If the rape accusations—and allegations that he tried to flee the US to escape justice—against him stick, it would not only end his presidential aspirations but could also dent the entire left-wing in France in the 2012 elections."

The arrest of the head of the International Monetary Fund "complicates" a key Monday meeting in Brussels on whether to give Greece billions more in aid. "But analysts said one man’s troubles won’t keep the 17 eurozone nations from trying to contain a debt crisis that threatens them all, reports the Washington Post.

REPORT: Zimbabwe Service Chiefs "Demand" Mugabe's Resignation?

There is some intrigue developing around Zimbabwe's notoriously anti-gay despot Robert Mugabe. Over the weekend, Mugabe managed to circumvent the European Union's travel ban on him and arrived in the Vatican for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II. Several Zimbabwean media outlets report that before Mugabe departed, party leaders and military chiefs "demanded" that he defer elections and immediately appoint a successor.

"He was told that he was no longer marketable as a candidate," sources told The Standard.

Sources said Mugabe and the security chiefs held a teleconference last week, when the veteran leader was in Singapore, where the president was told to tone down on talk of having an election this year. He was also told to instead direct his energies to appointing a successor in an effort to prevent further fissures within the party and the country.

The sources revealed that the hawks and securocrats told Mugabe that if need be, he had to dictate a successor to his party and they would support that person. "He was told that he was no longer marketable as a candidate," an informant revealed. "Zanu PF’s best chance was in identifying a successor who would be sold to the electorate between now and 2013.":

There are many questions surrounding the health of the 87-year-old despot, reports Voice of America.

"Mugabe has traveled to Singapore for the fifth time in four months, explaining that he returned to escort his ailing wife Grace home though some observers believe he made the trip for his own medical treatment. News reports have persistently circulated in recent years that he sought treatment in the Asian city state for prostrate cancer, but his staff has steadfastly denied such reports."

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party entered into a coalition government with the MDC in 2008. Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have rejected calls to include gay rights in the new constitution. Last month, Mugabe slammed the "filthy gays" of Europe and the European Union for imposing an asset freeze and travel ban on him and his inner circle.

Gay men and transgender women face widespread harassment, violence and rape in Zimbabwe, the U.S. State Department reported in its annual human rights survey.  Two LGBT activists were arrested and tortured last year.  Both were acquitted of all charges.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Attends Vatican Ceremony Despite EU Ban

IMAGE: GETTY

Earlier this month, Zimbabwe's notoriously anti-gay President Robert Mugabe slammed the "filthy gays" of Europe and the European Union for imposing an asset freeze and travel ban on him and his inner circle. Mugabe has managed to circumvent the ban and arrived yesterday in the Vatican for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, reports the BBC.

An EU travel ban forbids him from visiting member states but the Vatican, where the ceremony will take place, is a sovereign state and not in the EU. Mr Mugabe, a Roman Catholic, has been allowed to transit through Italy.

Italy's foreign ministry said it had requested an exemption from the EU travel ban for Mr Mugabe. A Vatican spokesman said Mr Mugabe had not been personally invited but as the head of a state with which the Vatican has relations he was entitled to attend.

Reports the AFP:

Mugabe, a Catholic who has been widely condemned for human rights abuses, also attended John Paul II's funeral in 2005 despite the 2002 travel ban—a visit that drew controversy because Britain's Prince Charles shook hands with him. Twenty-two world leaders are expected to attend the ceremony that will put John Paul II on the path to sainthood, the Vatican said. Five royal families—Belgium, Britain, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Spain—will be represented

Zimbabwe's despotic government is rabidly anti-gay. Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have rejected calls to include gay rights in the new constitution. Mugabe once infamously described gays as "worse than dogs and pigs" and recently apologized to dogs and pigs for the comparison.

Some Background:
Mugabe Denounces "Filthy Gays" of Europe
UN Votes to Condemn Anti-Gay Violence
Zimbabwe: Gay Activist Trial Delayed
Zimbabwe: Gay Activist Acquitted
Mugabe Apologizes to Dogs for Gay Comparison
Zimbabwe Vows to Outlaw Homosexuality in Constitution