TOKYO — Razor Ramon HG — or "Hard Gay" — is a 30-year-old, "amateur-pro-wrestler"-turned-comic whose public hip-pumping has shot him to fame both in Japan and around the world. Masaki Sumitani is the heterosexual man behind the parody of a Japanese macho gay man. During one recent TV appearance, while gesturing at his crotch in mid-thrust, he mysteriously blurted out, "Is this wrong?" the Japanese Times reported. Some gay people think so. "When I first saw him, I thought he was gay and making an appeal for other homosexuals," said Maru, a gay man who runs a shop in Tokyo’s main gay hotspot, the Japanese Times reported. "But then I was hurt when I realized he isn’t gay. It looks like he was just making fun of us. Now I can see it as just a silly gag, but he’s only got one trick and I’ve grown bored of it." An official at Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Hard Gay’s promotion company, said neither the comedian nor the company intend to insult anyone. Hokkaido Sexual Minority Association Sapporo Meeting, a gay support group formed a study group to discuss the issue. One member said that Hard Gay garners support from many gays because unlike cross-dressers or the rare "out" homosexual seen on television, he exhibits none of the feminine traits despised by some gay men, the Japanese Times reported.
MOSCOW — Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II thanked Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov for banning a Gay Pride march in the Russian capital, the Interfax News Agency and ITAR-TASS reported this week. "I am convinced that gays’ desire to organize a parade in Moscow will not help strengthen the family and the foundation of a strong state," Alexy said in his letter to Luzhkov, which Interfax published on its website. Gay Pride supporters had hoped to hold a parade on May 27 in observance of the 1993 anniversary of the abolition of laws against homosexuality in Russia.
LONDON — Gay sailors will be allowed to march in uniform at the EuroPride festival in the summer, a leading Royal Navy officer said March 16, the Times of London reported. Vice Adm. Adrian Johns said he was heartened that a significant number of gay navy personnel wanted to march in uniform in the main parade at the EuroPride festival in London. He said he had directed his diversity team to work out how an "overt service presence" that could participate in the parade. The decision was given full support by Adm. Sir Jonathon Band who said, "I don’t mind what people’s sexual orientation is, provided it doesn’t affect a ship’s operational efficiency." Johns said that the navy personnel who wanted to take part in the gay festival in uniform were "keen to give a strong personal signal that the Royal Navy is an inclusive employer of choice that welcomes and actively champions diversity in its work force."
CHENNAI, India — Gay men in Chennai have formed the first gay club under the name Men Community Development Society, the New Kerala reported. The group was launched by the Indian Community Welfare Organization, an anti-AIDS non-government organization. Jaya Lakshmi Sridhar, an activist and health adviser, said the organization would help gay men and society, the Indian newspaper reported. The group started off with 300 members and has identified more than 7,000 future members in the city. "This organization would provide them a safe haven. They are prosecuted outside, they suffer police harassment, people don’t employ them in good jobs, and they are marginalized. They have to sell their bodies for a living," Jaya said.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s Culture Ministry has restricted the viewing of the Oscar-winning gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" to viewers over the age of 18, a ministry official said March 16. The restriction reflects the sensitivities in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, where homosexuality is largely a taboo subject. The movie ratings subcommittee of the Culture & Tourism Ministry restricted the viewing of "Brokeback Mountain" before its opening in Turkey, said a ministry official. The subcommittee ruled that the movie would harm public morals, the official added. In the United States, the movie is rated R, requiring viewers under the age of 17 to be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. The Turkish Culture Ministry official said the rating decision could be reviewed if the producer of the movie objected.
