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When talking about homophobia and horrible countries that pass anti-gay laws we often think about Putin's Russia, Uganda, Mugabe, and such. These places are more or less far and their society are perceived as traditional, old fashion, nothing like our Western society that is so amazing. Yet we needn't look so far from home... We forget homophobia is on the rise everywhere, even in Europe. I feel awful whenever I tell my girlfriend I can't hold her hand when we're walking in the centre of Brussels, the capital of Europe. She doesn't hold it against me but I get angry at our society where I can't feel safe because of who I love. A week after Kansas almost did the same but gave up at the last minute, Arizona passed a bill that would allow businesses to refuse to serve or give medical treatment to gays on religious grounds . First off if you want to get biblical, according to the scriptures, you should hate the sin, not the sinner (Matthew 5:43-44, 6:14-15, ...

"What is your name?" is always the first question I get when an official opens my passport in Israel, looking at me with this incredulous look on their face, eyebrows raised, waiting for my confirmation that my name is Surya which to them, pronounced the way my parents call me, sounds like the word for Syria in both Arabic and Hebrew. (What it really is, or the way my parents intended it anyway, is the sun ) Today I also learnt from someone that apparently, I look like what could be interpreted by many Israelis as a left-wing extremist student come to do activism in the country. And I certainly don't look like the typical intern that would walk into the office, which is a good thing. I do agree, I don't like looking like the norm, I like looking like what I want to look like. Anyway, I was in no way offended by this, I found it rather amusing and very insightful. I was told this, and it was later confirmed to me by someone else, as I said I was always detained at...

Today I didn't buy the newspaper, shame on me. But I still read the Indyand the Guardian online so I can tell you that: Hawaii has legalised gay marriage last night, making it the 15th state in the USA to allow gay couples to say YES to one another. YAY!! That's cool. Meanwhile in North Dakota this guy, Craig Cobb is trying to found this all white town in Leith. The guy is a self proclaimed white supremacist, he was told yesterday on live TV that his heritage is 14% Sub-Saharan African (He had previously agreed to taking a DNA test on the same show). That made me chuckle, I have to say. I wonder how the guy feels about himself now, will he attempt to amputate 14% of his body? Will he die from self loathing and shame hidden in a corner of his house? More seriously though, the confirmed dead numbers are increasing in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan pretty much destroyed the country . A lot of country are supplying help and donating emergency funds. Both the UN and ...