Quickies: Ex-Gay Rhetoric, Facebook Name Police, and Three Stories out of Africa

• Gay Law Student Rhetorically Slays Ex-Gay Therapist – Watch this gay law student recount what happened when his parents forced him to see a gay conversion therapist. It turns out that ex-gay therapist use a lot of the same tactics of creationists: circular logic, history denial, science denial.
• Two Bad Actors Behind Facebook Real Names Blow Up – Two Twitter users claim to have reported thousands of “fake names” on Facebook. They started with drag queens, who they describe with homophobic slurs, and used their comment threads and friends lists to find others users registered under aliases. Note that these “brave heroes” continue to hide behind their twitter handles.
• Uganda President Backing Off from Anti-Gay Legislation – “Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said his country risks a trade boycott by the West if it reintroduces a divisive anti-gay law that was rejected by the constitutional court.”
• South Africa’s LGBTI-Friendly Mosque Burned – The liberal Cape Town mosque, which openly accepts LGBTI, holds unsegregated services and even intends to use female imams, caught fire Saturday night, the night before the start of Eid al-Adha. There were no injuries, and only the door took damage. Police suspect arson.
• Demonstrations World Wide to show Solidarity with LGBTs in Egypt – Egyptian police have been arresting and tormenting LGBTs despite having no laws prohibiting homosexuality. Activists rallying behind  #StandForEgyptLGBT and #SolidarityWithEgyptLGBT are organizing protests in front of Egyptian embassies around the world slated for October 18th.
• Drag Queen Conchita Wurst to perform for European Parliament – The Eurovision winner’s performance is meant to signal Parliament’s support of LGBT rights.
• Grindr Chats Displayed Live as Art Instillation – “Dutch gay artist Dries Verhoeven is sitting in a glass-walled container and is airing his Grindr conversations – live and unedited – on screens and online.” We can argue about whether this is legal, or whether this is art, but I think we can all agree: it is douchey.

Featured Image: #SolidarityWithEgyptLgbt