40 Gay Men Saved In Chechnya

There’s a brave Russian LGBT network that worked hard to save 40 gay men from what’s been happening in Chechnya with gay concentration camps. They can’t be praised enough for this.

After launching the helpline, the woman said many of the men have been afraid to call.
“Since the very beginning, the first people who contacted us … were terribly scared, they were not even sure if we [could] be trusted [or] if we were going to kill them,” she said.

The woman added that the Russian government is not giving them any support and is ignoring them as they are an LGBT organisation. 

There’s more here. I’d like to know where the outrage is for this. It wasn’t even trending on Twitter.

Facebook Blocks Thai Users From Content

According to this article, Facebook censorship is in the news again. It’s not the first time Facebook has done something like this and I doubt it will be the last.

Facebook users in Thailand are currently blocked from seeing a video featuring the country’s king floating through a German mall wearing a crop top and hanging with one of his mistresses.

Vice reports the video was banned because Thailand’s government finds it insulting to the king. 

Here’s the rest. Facebook has admitted doing this, but you can see the video on Twitter. If you ever wonder why a lot of people like me prefer Twitter over Facebook, this is one of the reasons.

Trevor Noah and Insensitive Tweets About Gays

Long before this particular incident happened, I blocked Trevor Noah from my Twitter feed because I didn’t think his jokes were clever or funny. At the time, I didn’t even know who he was, and frankly I still don’t really care. But this made the news and I’m linking because it shows some of the hypocrisy we are dealing with these days.

This is what Noah said, in his own defense.

“I know, like many people, I haven’t always been the most open-minded…growing up in a country where I was told gay people weren’t people,” he admitted, obliquely referencing controversial tweets that came to light in 2015. “Everyone can change if you just listen. It’s scary, but it’s not as scary as the journey most of the people in this room have gone through.”  

You can read more here and check out his insulting tweet. Even that apology is not very clever. It reminds of the way a certain politician who shall remain nameless claimed they had “evolved,” on the gay marriage issue instead of apologizing for being wrong. I’m tired of hearing evolved. I’m tired of excuses. Tell us you’re sorry, that you were a douche, that you were wrong, and then we can forgive you. But leave the excuses at home.