Millions celebrate LGBTQ pride in New York amid global fight for equality

NEW YORK - Millions lined the streets of New York on Sunday to wave rainbow flags, celebrate the movement toward LGBTQ equality and renew calls for action in what organizers billed as the largest gay pride celebration in history.

Some 150,000 parade marchers and an estimated 4 million spectators commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that triggered the modern LGBTQ movement, with corporate sponsorship and police protection that would have been unthinkable half a century ago.

Similar parades were being held around the world, with celebratory events in liberal democracies and growing fights for equality in other places.

North Macedonia held its first gay pride march on Saturday. In Singapore, marchers called for scrapping a law banning gay sex. In Turkey, members of Istanbul's gay and transgender community gathered for a small rally that ended with tear gas and rubber bullets on Sunday after their annual march was banned for the fifth consecutive year.

"It's hard for us today, but can you even imagine what some of these people went through in the past? There's no way to thank them," said Josh Greenblatt, 25, an actor wearing red sunglasses, a white crop top, ripped jeans and gold-heeled boots at the New York event.

Greenblatt said he found his outlandish outfit "empowering," and he had plenty of competition from revelers stripping down to the barest of essentials and celebrating New York's legalization of toplessness for women.

One woman wore a skintight rainbow dress with a rainbow afro about 2 feet (60 cm) high. A shirtless man sporting rainbow-colored wings and high white platform shoes strutted up Broadway. Rainbow onesie leotards were popular, and there were plenty of colorful wigs, patent leather, fishnets and bright makeup.

The festivities were set to conclude on Sunday night with closing ceremonies at Times Square and a waterfront concert by Madonna.

ANTI-CORPORATE DISSIDENTS

The world's marquee gay pride parade was preceded on Sunday by a protest march by thousands of anti-corporate dissidents who rejected a uniformed police presence and commercial sponsorship, while demanding LGBTQ equality.

The Queer Liberation March aimed to call attention to the killing of black trans women, protest U.S. detentions of migrant children and oppose actions by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to curtail the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people.

In San Francisco, companies such as Alphabet Inc's Google, Facebook Inc, T-Mobile and Netflix Inc lent the parade a corporate flavor. Dissidents opposing corporate sponsorship blocked an intersection of the parade route, shouting: "Stonewall was a riot."

"The system of policing upholds white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, gender binaries and capitalist rule," one San Francisco protester said over a megaphone.

Some during the events also paused to consider the state of LGBTQ rights under Trump, who has banned transgender people in the military, cut HIV/AIDS research and supported so-called religious freedom initiatives to curb LGBTQ protections.

The White House says Trump has long advocated LGBTQ equality and noted that he backed a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality.

"They could turn back gay marriage. Don't ever fool yourself," said Christopher Edward Andrew, 53. "Elections matter. Votes matter." The U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in a landmark ruling in 2015.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided New York's Stonewall Inn, ostensibly to shut down a Mafia-owned establishment selling watered-down liquor without a license. But the raid followed a series of others at gay bars in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, and the patrons fought back, forcing police to barricade themselves inside.

That touched off several nights of riots and the birth of a movement.

New York was designated the site of World Pride this year, drawing an estimated 4 million people to the city, where straight allies joined LGBTQ people in defending civil rights.

Mary Glasspool, assistant bishop of the New York Diocese of the U.S. Episcopal Church, said all its churches in Manhattan opened their doors for visitors from across the world.

"We want to show them this is a safe space and God loves everyone," Glasspool said. "Today, it is about love."

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Singapore holds gay pride rally amid calls for repeal of colonial-era law

SINGAPORE - Thousands of people took part in Singapore's annual gay pride rally on Saturday, with many calling for a law banning gay sex to be scrapped following similar measures elsewhere in the region.

Singapore joins dozens of other cities around the world in celebrating gay pride this weekend but it is the only one where gay sex is criminalized, although the law is not enforced.

Pressure for change in the city-state has increased since India's top court struck down colonial-era criminalization of homosexuality last year. Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan recently became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.

"The majority of Singaporeans are tolerant. But for us to be accepted, we have a long way to go," said Elaine, 26, a banker who attended the rally with her girlfriend.

"But I'm happy that the government doesn't stop or disallow events like this to happen," she added, asking to give only her first name.

Under the law, a man found to have committed an act of "gross indecency" with another man could be jailed for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare. The law does not explicitly ban homosexual acts between women.

Previous legal challenges to overturn the ban have failed but shortly after the landmark Indian court ruling, a Singapore DJ filed a new court challenge against the colonial-era law.

For 32-year-old public relations executive Devane Sharma, the criminalization of gay sex has repercussions on the society even if prosecutions do not take place.

"The government often says that the law isn't really enforced so it's okay, but there are ripple effects on the rest of society, especially in matters on sexual health and workplace discrimination," Sharma said.

The gay pride rally has been held since 2009 under stringent public assembly laws at Speakers' Corner, an area set aside for demonstrations, performances and exhibitions for citizens and permanent residents only.

During its six decades since independence, Singapore has emerged as a modern, wealthy city-state.

Lawmakers, however, remain cautious over social reforms, partly due to sensitivities stemming from the ethnic and religious mix among Singapore's 5.6 million inhabitants.

But there was an optimistic mood among the marchers at Saturday's rally:

"It's a matter of time. I think within a few years, the law will (be repealed). I am hopeful," Sharma said. 

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50 years on, New York police apologize for Stonewall riots

NEW YORK, United States - The head of the New York police department on Thursday apologized for a crackdown on the city's LGBTQ community during the notorious Stonewall riots, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the clashes that gave rise to the Gay Pride movement. 

"I do know what happened should not have happened," said police chief James O'Neil. "The actions taken by the NYPD were wrong, plain and simple. The actions were discriminatory and oppressive and for that I apologize."

The June 1969 riots, sparked by constant police raids on the Stonewall Tavern, a well-known gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, proved to be a turning point in the LGBTQ community's struggle for civil rights and gave rise to the Gay Pride movement.

The police chief made the comments to long applause during a briefing on safety measures for the city's Pride Month, the annual celebration for the city's diverse LGBTQ community. 

A number of people have called in recent days for the police department to apologize for its actions, including the speaker of the city council, Corey Johnson, who is himself homosexual, and the organizers of Gay Pride.

On June 28, 1969, members of the gay community protested against the latest in a seemingly endless series of police raids on the Stonewall Tavern on New York's Christopher Street, triggering a week of demonstrations and clashes that led to numerous arrests and property damage. 

New York is staging a series of events and rallies to mark the anniversary this month, culminating on June 30 with WorldPride, billed as the largest gathering of the LGBTQ community in the world. 

More than 3 million people are expected to attend those events in New York, New York police said. 

Last month, mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city would erect a statue to 2 transgender women who participated in the protests and who fought for LGBTQ rights. The mayor said it would be the first such statue in the world. 

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Thousands march and dance in New York's Gay Pride parade

NEW YORK -- Tens of thousands of people waving rainbow flags and hoisting political banners marched and danced on the streets of New York on Sunday in the latest festive edition of the Gay Pride parade that began in Central Park in 1970.

On foot, on roller skates, on motorbikes or riding on some 100 spectacularly colorful floats, participants moved slowly on a hot, sunny day along the two-mile (three-kilometer) parade route from historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, over to Fifth Avenue, then up to 29th Street.

The route was altered this year in anticipation of the celebrations planned for next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots between gay nightclub patrons and police that, in 1969, gave birth to the US movement for gay rights.

Many of Sunday's marchers were scantily dressed, like one clad only in a bikini with a rainbow-colored bottom and a pink top.

Another tanned and well-toned man on roller skates wearing a skimpy red trikini that amply displayed his sculpted abdominal muscles somehow managed to catch photographers' attention. He carried a sign that simply said "Love."

The theme of this year's parade was "Defiantly Different," a message inspired in reaction to President Donald Trump's treatment of the LGBTQ community, organizers said.

For the second straight year, many marchers carried anti-Trump banners and signs, criticizing policies seen as anti-gay.

For flamboyant Democratic New York Council member Corey Johnson, who at 36 is openly gay and is the city's first legislative leader with HIV, the slogan reflects New York's diversity: It has the nation's largest LGBTQ community, a population more than 40 percent foreign-born and where "more than 200 languages are spoken" just in the borough of Queens.

"As Lady Gaga says, 'I was born this way,'" he told the local ABC subsidiary, before returning to the parade, dancing and jumping with a rainbow banner streaming from his hand.

In a heavily Democratic city where gay voters matter, Johnson was not the only politician taking part: Also marching were Mayor Bill de Blasio, US Senator Chuck Schumer and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who walked behind a big banner reading "New York State of Love."

The parade's grand marshal this year was tennis legend Billie Jean King, 74, a lesbian and an outspoken defender of gender equality and LGBTQ rights, who rode in a carriage under a big, rainbow-colored parasol.

The atmosphere in this year's parade was much lighter than last year, when many marchers paid somber tribute to the 49 people killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

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Foreigners barred from Singapore gay-pride rally: organizers

SINGAPORE - Foreigners will be barred from attending Singapore's annual gay-pride rally, its organizers said, as the city-state tightens rules against the involvement of non-Singaporeans in protests.

Singapore's Pink Dot rally, which started in 2009, has attracted crowds of up to 28,000 despite a backlash from conservative groups in a state where protests are strictly controlled.

However, the government implemented new rules in November allowing only citizens and permanent residents to attend such events, which take place at the city's only free-speech site, Speakers' Corner.

Pink Dot's organizers said in a statement posted on their Facebook page Sunday that they will have to carry out checks to ensure that only Singapore citizens and permanent residents join the rally.

Making the announcement with "profound regret", the organizers said the police reminded them of the new rules ahead of this year's event, which is due to be held on July 1.

"In order to continue using Speakers' Corner, Pink Dot 2017 organizers have no choice but to adhere to this regulation, as organizers and foreigners caught flouting this rule are liable to be prosecuted," they said.

Violators face a fine not exceeding Sg$10,000 ($7,127) or a jail term of up to six months or both on conviction.

The new regulations also banned foreign companies from funding events held at the Speakers' Corner, including the Pink Dot rally.

Multinationals led by Facebook, Google and Goldman Sachs had funded previous editions of the gay-pride rally as part of their equal-opportunity initiatives.

After last year's event, the government warned that it would "take steps to make it clear that foreign entities should not fund, support or influence such events".

Singapore has long taken a hard line on what it considers foreign interference in domestic politics and has often been criticized by human rights groups for clamping down on political freedoms.

Open support for gay rights has grown in recent years, aided by changing social norms among the younger generation and a large influx of tourists and expatriates.

However Singapore's top court in 2014 upheld a law dating back to British colonial rule that criminalises sex between men.

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Gay pride: China activists fight 'conversion therapy'

CHONGQING - Telling his wife he was gay was never going to be easy. But Yu Hu never thought it would see him committed to a mental hospital and fed a cocktail of drugs to "cure" him.

Yu's wife readily agreed to a divorce, but his own family were nowhere near as tolerant.

They arranged for medical personnel to seize him, throw him into a van and strap him to a hospital bed.

For 19 days, he was given a mix of unidentified medications, with staff threatening to beat him if he refused to take them, all in the name of "curing" him of his orientation.

The 32-year-old was only released when his boyfriend and LGBT activists contacted police in Henan province.

Now Yu is suing his captors, the latest in a series of legal battles aimed at banning supposed "gay conversion therapies".

"They must be brought to justice, being gay is not a crime, but what they did to me is," Yu said. "This isn't only happening to me, and this must stop."

Yu still has nightmares about the episode last October. His demands are simple: an apology from the hospital and an acknowledgement homosexuality is not a disease to be cured.

The case is due to be heard on Wednesday.

'WE TRY TO EDUCATE DOCTORS'

Homosexuality is legal in China, but was only taken off the list of psychiatric disorders in 2001.

While Chinese attitudes to homosexuality have become more accepting in recent years, especially in larger cities, discrimination is still rife.

Government censors banned gay characters on television in March, with new guidelines decreeing: "No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on."

Many Chinese are their parents' only children as a result of the country's often brutally enforced family planning policies, so parental expectations of marriage and grandchildren tend to exacerbate pressures on gay men and lesbians.

Some enter into "cooperation marriages" with a knowing partner in order to satisfy their family's demands.

People who undergo conversion treatments -- either voluntarily or after submitting to family pressure -- spend about 20,000 yuan ($3,000) on average, according to the Beijing LGBT Center, although some see their costs spiral upwards as doctors encourage more sessions.

In Chongqing, fees are about 4,000 yuan for a course -- almost as much as the city's average monthly salary -- which can include solitary confinement and even chemical castration.

But authorities are more interested in policing activists than clinics, said campaigner Sha Sheng, whose group has helped hundreds of gay men and lesbians after they found themselves in debt and trapped in Chongqing facilities.

"Even though a court has said this is wrong, it's hard to fight against gay conversion therapy when the police are constantly shutting down our activities," said Sha.

Other activists are trying to convert the medical providers.

"We try to educate doctors, introduce them to homosexual people and show them it’s not an affliction to be gay," said Joelle Yao, an activist at the Beijing LGBT Center.

"A lot" of doctors leave the sessions with a "completely different view on homosexuality" she said, adding that Chinese prejudice was more often born of ignorance rather than religious conviction, making it easier to address.

But the task remains huge.

"We can’t reach everyone," she said. "China is just too big."

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Justin Trudeau marches in Montreal Pride parade

MONTREAL - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched with thousands of people in Montreal's annual Gay Pride parade Sunday, his third such appearance of the summer.

Large crowds along the parade route greeted the youthful politician whose popularity is soaring, as he walked through the city's downtown alongside colorful floats, dancers and musicians.

Trudeau made history in July when he became Canada's first sitting prime minister to participate in Toronto's Gay Pride parade, and also attended Vancouver's pride event.

Canada is "an open, positive society," the prime minister said, speaking in French. "It's an example that we should provide to the whole world."

Among G7 countries he is the only head of government or head of state to have participated in a Gay Pride parade.

Government representatives from all of Canada's political parties joined Trudeau in Montreal.

"It's important that all parties are here to recognize that the rights of the LGBT community are Canadian and human rights," Trudeau said before the event, sporting a seafoam green button-up and white pants.

Two girls led the procession holding a banner bearing the names of the 49 victims killed in the June 12 nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida.

"The Orlando massacre was a dark moment, and it's important to denounce these acts daily," said Quebec Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee, who is heading an action plan against homophobia.

"We must fight against homophobia, transphobia and aversion to diversity throughout the entire country," Vallee said.

Trudeau noted that the government would focus on recognizing transgender rights this year.

His government unveiled legislation in May that would add "gender identity" as a banned grounds for discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act, alongside race, religion, age, sex and sexual orientation.

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Gay Americans are shaken, unbowed by nightclub attack

NEW YORK - For many Americans, gay bars and nightclubs have long served as a place of refuge, a carefree place filled with like-minded souls away from the relatives, employers or anyone else who might judge them disapprovingly, or worse.

The massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida was seen as a jarring reminder of the discrimination they can still face, giving some renewed cause to march through city streets on Sunday in the Gay Pride events that fill the June calendar.

What compelled Omar Mateen to kill people dancing and mingling at Orlando's Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history is still being investigated. But the killer's father told NBC News his son had become angry after seeing two men kissing in Miami recently.

President Barack Obama, gay-rights groups and parade goers at Gay Pride events on Sunday cast the killings as an affront to the civil liberties of gay people after a string of hard-fought legal successes, including the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling a year ago that all 50 states must allow same-sex marriage.

"An incident like this brings the hatred that does exist out there to the forefront," Craig Baldwin said as he joined hundreds of people gathering in Washington, D.C., for the annual Gay Pride festival on Sunday, where people were by turns somber and defiant. A 39-year-old director for the Shakespeare Theater Company, Baldwin was handing out stickers that said "Shakespeare - Boys Kissing Boys Since 1592."

"It is a reminder of what we have to do to spread love, not hate," he said.

Julie Sibbing, 53, choked back tears as she discussed the shooting, saying it was important for her not to skip the parade.

"There is risk in this life and we're not going to let hate win," she said. "We've got to be amongst the family today. Everybody is suffering. I think we all kind of want to be together today."

In Orlando, leaders of groups that service LGBT residents announced an effort to raise money for the victims of the shooting had amassed more than $430,000 within hours.

"We will love and support the victims even as we join to eradicate the hatred that lies at the core of this violence," said Mary Meeks, a prominent Florida civil rights lawyer.

FLOWERS AT STONEWALL

Gay Pride parades in cities across the United States have grown out of the marches in 1969 protesting the police raids at the Stonewall Inn, a long-standing New York City bar that served gay people who were otherwise ostracized from society.

Rebecca Triglianos and Nicole Martin, a couple from Irvington, New York, contemplated the growing pile of flowers on Sunday outside the bar, a designated National Historic Landmark for its role in the gay-rights movement.

"This is a meeting space, we came here to celebrate marriage equality so we would come here to mourn a loss as well," said Triglianos, referring to the jubilant crowds that spontaneously gathered at the Greenwich Village bar a year ago to celebrate the Supreme Court's marriage decision.

Obama evoked the important role that bars and nightclubs have played in gay American life in his somber remarks on the attack at Pulse.

"The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub," he said. "It is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights."

Some older Americans recalled the widespread public indifference that greeted the early years of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, in which thousands of gay men died, and saw in the outpouring of sympathy following Sunday's attack a welcome sign of changed times.

"The younger gay community has never really witnessed anything as devastating on the community as the older community did with HIV," said Raymond Michael Sharpe, 55, a bartender at another Orlando gay club. "This time, we have the support of the whole world behind us, thank God."

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PH LGBT advocates welcome US legalization of gay marriage

MANILA - The colors of gay pride fly high in America following a historic ruling by the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage in all US states.

For gay rights advocates in the Philippines, the decision is a ray of hope for LGBT communities here and abroad.

Following the landmark decision in the US, Ang Ladlad Party-list spokesperson Bemz Benedito said the development is sure to inspire similar petitions in the country.

"They have laid down the groundwork for anti-discrimination and now the same-sex marriage. So we hope the same development will also happen in the Philippines... The Philippines should be ready. There's no other time but now. We have so many LGBT Filipinos suffering from prejudice and there's so much LGBT couples now who need that right and recognition as couples," Benedito told ANC on Saturday.

Benedito, however, admitted similar measures including anti-gender discrimination face an uphill battle in the country, especially given a resistant Catholic church.

"We are taking our battle one step at a time, but it's very clear for us in Ang Ladlad that the right to marriage is a basic human right, that the state should recognize [LGBT couples'] partnership and they should be accorded those rights and privileges just like any heterosexual couple."

"I hope that we can do the same so that no LGBT will be discriminated from their own country and they don't need to go to other countries just to get married and just so their union will be recognized," said Benedito.

The Ang Ladlad spokesperson called on allies in Congress to help push for LGBT rights, beginning with the approval of the anti-discrimination bill which has been pending for 15 years.

Benedito admitted making any headway rests on the LGBT community having a united stand and someone to represent them in the halls of Congress.

"No single law has been passed to protect the rights of LGBT Filipinos... We need also to solidify our community to support one political movement that will really represent their cause. We need allies, other party-list groups in Congress to push for laws that will really protect us." -- ANC

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Charice performs at San Diego LGBT festival

MANILA -- Filipina singer Charice performed at her first gay pride event in the US when she joined the San Diego LGBT Pride Music Festival in California last weekend.

Charice performed her own song "Louder," as well as the dance hit "Titanium," for the thousands of participants at the event, which carried the theme "Reflections of Pride."




I'm Charice, I'm a performer and I'm gay," Charice, who made headlines when she came out as a lesbian on the talk show "The Buzz" last year, told the crowd.

"First of all thank you for having me here. This is my first time and hopefully I could come back. Some of you might be wondering, 'Is that Charice?' Well to update some of you guys, first of all, I am Charice. I was discovered on YouTube. I was on 'Glee,' I was that little, well I'm still little, I was that girl with a long hair last year. June 2, 2013, I came out. It was always performing then but today performing like my real self in front of you guys, this is the best performance ever," added Charice, who was with her girlfriend Alyssa Quijano.

At the San Diego event, Charice was also reunited with her “Glee” co-star Alex Newell. She also had her photo taken with R&B singer Deborah Cox.

"Deborah and I having a little moment," Charice posted in her official Instagram account as she shared photo of her with Cox.

Charice is in the US to work on a new record, as well as a TV appearance.

The singer was also recently named one of the "30 Queer Women to Watch" by the website AfterEllen.com, which is "dedicated to the representation of lesbian/bi women in popular culture."

“Finally, I just woke up and told myself that’s it,” Charice told the website of her coming out. “I really want to be myself because I owe it to myself and I didn’t want to be depressed anymore.”

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