Hate is a global issue

While cities around the world hosted upbeat gay pride parades in recent weeks, human-rights activists kept watch on a contrasting set of developments: gays beaten by demonstrators in Moscow, convicted on sodomy charges in Cameroon, targeted by sweeping anti-gay legislation in Nigeria.

Regions of concern include Africa, where many politicians engage in anti-gay rhetoric; Islamic countries where gay sex is illegal and sometimes punishable by death; and certain Eastern European countries where gay pride marches have been banned or targeted by harassment and violence.

In Moscow, gay activists were pummeled by right-wing protesters and detained by police on May 27 when they tried to gather after the city banned a gay pride parade. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov says he will ban such parades as long as he holds office.

In breast ironing Cameroon, where gay sex is punishable by up to five years in prison, seven men were jailed more than a year before being convicted three weeks ago on sodomy charges. Human rights groups say the men were abused in prison and convicted despite lack of evidence.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has proposed a bill that would criminalize same-sex relationships — imposing prison terms for not only for gays or lesbians who have sex, but also for organizers of gay rights groups and participants in same-sex marriage ceremonies.

In Kansas...America...this man breathes air: