SEARCH

NOTE

iChatGay.com claims no credit for any images featured on this site unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyright to it's respectful owners. iChatGay.com is in no way responsible for or has control of the content of any external web site links. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies; the site's proprietors do not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the contents, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact us via e-mail and they will be promptly removed.

Events | Travel

Amsterdam Gay Pride Canal Parade

Tens of thousands of people thronged Amsterdam Saturday (2008, Aug 2), to watch the city's biggest-ever parade of homosexuals floating flamboyantly down the historic canals in dazzling style. In a festive atmosphere the streets lining the canals and the bridges over them overflowed with members of the gay community, residents, tourists, party-goers and curious onlookers. Disco music pumped from the 80 boats passing through the canals in a four-hour spectacle that involved plenty of glistening male torsos, bikinis, glitter, feathers and boas. For the first time ever, members of the Dutch cabinet and Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen joined the parade to show political support for the gay cause. Mayor Cohen said in a statement earlier that gay acceptance appeared to be under threat. "The number of incidents of discrimination and of violence against gay people has increased in the past year," he said."It is time to stop talking about tolerance and focus instead on acceptance of sexual differences in Amsterdam," AFP reports.

See all posts about :
Events | Travel

Events | Travel

Europride 2008 in Stockholm

EuroPride 2008, presented by Stockholm Pride, is a ten-day celebration featuring a unique combination of politics and partying. This year’s theme is “Swedish Sin, Breaking Borders”, focusing on international LGBT issues. The two festival areas – Pride House and Pride Park – offer visitors a wide range of experiences, including music, entertainment, cuisine, debates, seminars, talks, workshops, theater and, last but not least, the opportunity for mingling, networking, friendship and romance. Throughout the festival, EuroPride has a high profile across the city in association with museums, galleries, cinemas, clubs and shops. The Pride Parade, which has grown over the years to become something of a street party, will make its way through Stockholm on Sunday August 2. Last year’s parade featured 50,000 participants and half a million spectators. Stockholm EuroPride from July 25 to August 3, 2008.

See all posts about :
Events | Travel

Politics | Events

Gay Pride March attacked in Budapest

Forty-five people were taken into custody and 10 others were injured in clashes between police and homophobes during a gay rights march in the Hungarian capital Saturday, AFP reports. About 450 people took part in the march in central Budapest when extremists began throwing explosive devices, eggs, cobblestones and bottles at police and the marchers. Police seized chemicals and Molotov cocktails from a six-member group waiting for the demonstrators in an uninhabited flat along the route of the march. Liberal member of Parliament Gabor Horn was hit and a police car carrying former undersecretary Gabor Szetey, the first openly gay Hungarian politician, and member of the European Parliament Katalin Levai was also attacked, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. Last weekend, gay pride marches in Eastern Europe (Czech Republic and Bulgaria) were also disrupted. A report by the European Union's rights watchdog found Tuesday that a third of EU states are still failing to ensure equal rights for gays and lesbians (see previous post).

See all posts about :
Politics | Events

Society | Politics | Events

Gay Pride Weekend

Around half a million people marched in the streets of Paris, one of the most crowded Gay Pride in the world. A new poll published on Sunday in the JDD shows that a large majority of French people (62%) think that same-sex marriage should be allowed and for the first time a majority (51%) thinks they should be allowed to adopt children, despite the opposition of French President. Eastern Europe Gay Pride marches have been disrupted by right wing extremists in Czech republic and in Bulgaria where the police arrested nationalist opponents trying to attack participants reports AFP. In the U.S., Hundreds of thousands marched from Fifth Avenue to Greenwich village in New York for the 39th annual Gay Pride in Manhattan. Starting off the parade were Governor David Paterson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (picture below). San Francisco Pride march was also crowded with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (picture above) receiving ovations along the parade for his role in Gay Marriage victory in California. San Francisco Pride Message was this year: "Inclusion Not Tolerance."

See all posts about :
Society | Politics | Events

TV | People | Events | Entertainment

Ellen is the Best

Ellen DeGeneres, won for the fourth year in a row the Outstanding Talk Show Host Award for The Ellen DeGeneres Show at the 35th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards presented at a black-tie gala at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre on Friday night, June 20th and telecast live on the ABC Television. Her award was presented by Jake Silbermann and Van Hansis (Luke & Noah in As the World Turns). Watch a video...

See all posts about :
Ellen DeGeneres | TV | People | Events | Entertainment

Society | Politics | Events

California's first Gay Marriages

California officials began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday evening after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing the ceremonies took effect. The May 15 ruling took effect at 5:01 p.m. (8:01 p.m. ET) Monday. Gay and lesbian couples had lined up for hours outside county clerk's offices in anticipation of the decision coming into force. Lesbian rights activists Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84, were the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in San Francisco on Monday June 16th, with Mayor Gavin Newsom presiding over their wedding ceremony (picture). "This is an extraordinary moment in history," Newsom told a cheering, standing-room-only crowd at City Hall. "I think today, marriage as an institution has been strengthened." Watch an AP video...

Source CNN

See all posts about :
Gay Marriage | Society | Politics | Events

Travel | Society | Politics | Events

Norway approves Gay Marriage

Norway's parliament on Wednesday June 11th, 2008, adopted a new marriage law that allows homosexuals to marry and adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated, AFP reports. After a heated debate, the members of parliament adopted the text by a vote of 84 to 41. The three centre-left coalition parties in power and two opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, voted largely in favour of the law, while the Christian Democrats and the far-right Progress Party voted against it. Norway thus became the sixth country in the world to grant homosexuals the right to marry on an equal footing with heterosexuals, according to Norwegian television TV2. "This decision is of an importance comparable to universal suffrage and our law on parity," Labour Party rapporteur Gunn Karin Gjul said during the debate.

See all posts about :
Gay Marriage | Travel | Society | Politics | Events

Events | People | Politics | Society

T.R. Knight kicks off Gay-Pride month

Tonight, T.R. Knight will join the Matthew Shepard Foundation to help kick off National Gay-Pride month with a celebration of the California Supreme Court decision and a dusk "commitment to protect our rights" ceremony at the famed West Hollywood hotspot in California, The Abbey. At 8pm, couples from around the nation will commit with a "vow to vote no" and support of the campaign to defeat the November ballot measure that would take away the marriage rights granted by the Supreme Court (see previous post). The event will be officiated by West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang and witnessed by Judy Shepard and a host of celebrities. Couples will be wearing the Matthew Shepard Erase Hate pendant courtesy of Love and Pride jewelry designer, Udi Behr.

Source Matthew Shepard Foundation

See all posts about :
Events | People | Politics | Society | Matthew Shepard

Travel | Music | Events | Entertainment

True Colors Tour 2008 is back

The True Colors Tour is back for more this summer with an exciting new lineup of legendary and up-and-coming artists. Produced in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign, the 26-city North American tour is presented by Logo in support of the newly created True Colors Fund of the Stonewall Community Foundation. The tour kicks off Gay & Lesbian Pride Month today at Boston's Bank of America Pavilion. The True Colors Tour was conceived by Cyndi Lauper, stemming from her desire to give back to the community for the love and support they have given her throughout her career. True Colors Tour, May 31 - July 5. See 2008 Tour Schedule here...

Source True Colors & Logo

Events | Politics

A Memorial for Gay Victims in Berlin

A monument was unveiled in Berlin in memory of the thousands of homosexuals persecuted, tortured and murdered by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. It is estimated that the Nazis sent between 5,000 and 15,000 gays to concentration camps. The memorial is designed by the Berlin-based Norwegian-Danish artist duo Ingar Dragset and Michael Elmgreen with footage of two men kissing, directed by the Danish Thomas Vinterberg. "If today, in 2008, 63 years after the end of the National Socialist era, we unveil a monument in the middle of the capital to homosexuals killed ... it is not only in memory of the horrors of the past... It is also first and foremost an expression of our conviction that in our country there is no place for the discrimination of homosexuals, of people who think and live differently," Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said. Openly gay Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, used the occasion to plead for broader rights for gays and lesbians in Germany: "Even today, discrimination is an everyday occurrence. We still do not have legal equality." Watch an AP's video...