Euro Pride and a Somewhat Disappointing Apology

Hello Readers!
What a weekend! To those of you readers who stopped by our table at Reading Pride, thank you for your support! Unfortunately, the weekend is over, and the work week begins again. Two news stories today – one positive and the other somewhat less – for this temperamental Monday.

First, one of the less known Pride events, especially stateside, is EuroPride, which took place this past weekend in Warsaw, Poland. Over 8,000 participants marched and celebrated at this historical event, made even more special due to Poland’s relatively rocky history in terms of equality towards its LGBT community. The former communist bloc country, still socially conservative and with a large conservative Catholic community, had banned the parade five years earlier. The ban was lifted after an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. While the event still sparked controversy and counter protests, and even though the event drew less marchers than Pride events in other European countries, the success of EuroPride 2010 hints towards a slow but steady progression of LGBT rights in Poland, and a continuing push for LGBT rights in Europe, both East and West.

For the full article on EuroPride 2010, thanks to VOAnews.com, click here:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Poland-Hosts-Post-Communist-Europes-First-Gay-EuroPride-Parade-98706174.html

For more information on EuroPride, here is the EuroPride Webpage, as well as a wiki link:
http://www.europride.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europride

Next, here’s an update on the controversy of the comments made on The View recently about HIV/AIDS in the black gay community. On June 22, hosts on The View made several comments concerning this topic that angered some in the LGBT community. Guest host D.L. Hawkins statement;

“When you look at the prevalence of HIV in the African-American community, it’s primarily young women who are getting it from men who are on the down-low.”

Drew a full page ad response from GLAAD in Variety Magazine, calling for ABC to publicly apologize for the comments and give the true information on the subject. ABC’s response, which came recently, claimed that “…The topic of HIV/AIDS has been raised many times over the show’s 13 years, with many voices and opinions contributing to a conversation that we expect to continue as long as The View is on the air.” GLAAD then issued a statement calling the response “evasive”, and asking that The View “Talk about the tough issues with a commitment to honesty, accuracy and fairness.”

For the full article, from 365gay.com, click here:
http://www.365gay.com/news/glaad-disappointed-with-abc%E2%80%99s-statement-on-down-low-comment/

Greg S.