Two men in the United Arab Emirates were sentenced to three months in prison because a woman allegedly saw them “fondling each other” in a car. The UAE limits PDA pretty strictly, and is known to be harsh to its LGBT community.

Here’s the Advocate’s summary of what happened:

The men, whose names aren’t being released, allegedly hooked up in a car near Jumeirah Beach. A 48-year-old woman who found the car “suspicious” began tailing the vehicle, which initially moved upon seeing her. When the woman caught up with the car, she claims she saw the men fondling each other, though conflicting reports exist on what exactly the 27-year-old and the 32-year-old were doing. Now, the men will not only face jail time but will be deported to their home nations of the Phillipines and Oman.

A priest in Denmark has refused to bury a deceased woman after discovering that she was a lesbian.

The priest refused to hold the funeral, making the absurd claim in front of the woman’s elderly partner of more than 30 years. The woman’s daughter watched this happen as well, and was rightly outraged.

“I thought, can it really be true that we should be ashamed of it?,” the deceased woman’s daughter, Kirsten Østergaard, told homotropolis.com. “I looked at my mother’s life partner and she was completely silent — and then I became really upset on her behalf. It’s a terrible situation to put her in.”

The priest has since apologized for his actions, but that doesn’t make up for the trauma he caused this family, not in the slightest. Remember back in February, when a priest in the U.S. refused a lesbian communion at her mother’s funeral? Why is this BS still happening in the world? 

In response to North Carolina’s passing of Amendment One, same-sex couples from all over the state have been pouring into marriage license offices demanding licenses, knowing they will fail.

At the Register of Deeds office in Winston-Salem, nine gay and lesbian couples tried to get marriage licenses. When she and her partner were denied, Mary Jamis stuck around rather than vacating the area, saying she refused to leave until she was granted her constitutional right to get married.

Jamis and a friend blocked the entrance to the marriage license office and refused to leave half an hour after it closed. They were arrested and then charged with second-degree trespass, then released without bond.

Oy. It will not be like this forever. One day, hopefully soon, we will evolve to a point where people can marry the person they love without risking arrest. We’ll get there. 

A morning show DJ in Cleveland made a comment about a caller that has GLAAD up in arms, and rightfully so.

When a man wrote in to the radio station to talk about how his daughter was gay, Dominic Dieter, a DJ for WMMS, reportedly said: “You should get one of your friends to screw your daughter straight.”

Here’s GLAAD’s response:

Aaron McQuade, GLAAD’s director of news and field media, released the following statement: “It was appalling and dangerous for this show to tell a father that he should have one of his friends rape his daughter. That’s essentially how Dieter responded to this listener, and this is no laughing matter in a world where people are too often the victims of violence and sexual assault based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. And Dieter gave this vile advice to everyone who was listening, including educators, parents and children — sending the message that it’s okay to physically or sexually abuse people who are perceived to be gay.”

I am absolutely sickened that people like this exist. This man should be off the air for life.

EDIT: Someone responded to this post with the following:

“Yes, because people should lose their job because they have an opinion that you find offensive. Sterling logic.”

Nope, people should lose their jobs for proposing sexual violence as a means of changing someone’s sexual orientation. But maybe that’s just my opinion.

As the infamous Don’t Say Gay bill builds up speed in Tennessee, other states seem to be taking a liking to the idea of writing discrimination into school curriculum.

Missouri Republicans have proposed a bill much like the Don’t Say Gay bill and it already has dozens of sponsors. The bill would ban any discussions, materials or extracurricular activities that acknowledge sexual orientations other than straight (or, in this case of archaic wording, “reproductive”) in public schools. Pretty sure that means no GSAs, too.

One sponsor says the bill is aimed at limiting discussion about sexual orientation in general, not specifically homosexuality, but I’m going to go ahead and say nobody believes that. And another sponsor, House Small Business Committee Chairman Dwight Scharnhorst?

Scharnhorst told HuffPost that teaching about LGBT issues would lead to other discussions. “There is no need to talk about Billy wanting to marry a goat,” he said.

The comparison of marriage equality/same-sex relationships/homosexuality in general to bestiality makes me more livid than possibly anything else on this planet. The fact that this is actually an argument is absolutely infuriating. Missouri friends, you better start rallying against this.

The president of student government at Alpharetta High School in Georgia has been removed from his position for suggesting the school make LGBT-inclusive changes to its prom festivities.

Reuben Lack pitched to the student council a measure that would replace the traditional “Prom King” and “Prom Queen” with “Prom Court” so students could acknowledge same-sex couples. The council debated the measure, but it was shot down by the faculty adviser before they could vote on it. Lack proposed the idea again two weeks later and the adviser once again pulled it.

After an email exchange with the school principal, Lack was informed that he was being fired as student body president “for ‘pushing personal projects’ and advocating for ‘policy changes.’” He’s now suing the school district to be reinstated, and clearly he deserves his position:

A spokeswoman for the school district said that Lack was let go from his position because of his “inadequate performance as a student body president.” However, according to the lawsuit, Lack has moderated a public mayoral debate, acted as a student ambassador for the Fulton County Commission, had bike racks installed at his school, and wrote the first set of bylaws for the student council. While also acting as president of the debate team, Lack received  an Incredible Dedication Award from the county Board of Commissioners.   

This is unbelievable and really quite disturbing. If a school is going to punish forward-thinking students for trying to better the environment for everyone, claiming those efforts to be “inadequate performance,” we’re in serious trouble.

The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage has launched a full-scale campaign against Starbucks after discovering that the company voiced support for Washington’s recently passed marriage equality law.

NOM has accused Starbucks of “taking sides in a culture war” and wrongly using its patrons’ money to further a cause they may not support. They argue that “half of Americans” and “virtually all consumers” in some countries disagree with marriage equality, and that Starbucks is breaking its promise not to support political causes by supporting marriage equality.

NOM launched a website, DumpStarbucks.com, to get the message across, and will advertise in the U.S., the Middle East and Southeast Asia. They’re also encouraging people to call their local Starbucks and complain to the manager about the company’s stance.

The website for this campaign is seriously homophobic and generally vile, so read at your own risk. Also, this entire tirade against Starbucks is ridiculous. Get over it, NOM. People support marriage equality now. That’s just how it is. If anything, I might buy more Starbucks now.