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I really liked this description of the difference between gay and homosexual from gay.com:
“However, there is a difference between being homosexual and gay. As you say yourself, you’re “not straight”…but you’re not gay. Yet.
‘Homosexual’ is a hard-wired hormonal tendency to be turned on by your own sex and not the opposite sex.
‘Gay’, however is not (just) about sexuality, it’s about identity. It’s an achievement, not a predisposition. It’s a label homosexual men initially chose for themselves and it’s still an identity you have to choose – or refuse – to embrace. That’s the stage you’re stuck at right now.
Because gay is a social identity, people piece it together out of a string of stereotypes. That can feel oppressive. Will I have to be camp? Will I have to like Eurovision/give a flying f*** about Big Brother/get a tattoo/take ecstasy/take it up the bum?
The answer to all those is NO, not unless you want to.
More importantly, there are questions about giving up things too. Will I lose my family’s love? My circle of friends? Being a dad? Getting married?
The answer here is also NO, not necessarily – but that yes, being gay may make some of these things harder to achieve.”
And also, Moldovan gays defy pride ban
“It also contravenes a recent decision by the Moldovan Supreme Court, which robustly defends the right of all Moldovan citizens, including LGBT people, to freedom of expression, assembly and peaceful protest.
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The mayor’s [Ken Livingstone] statement was in response to the municipal authorities of Chisinau banning an event planned by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organisation GenderDoc-M for 27 April as part of the 6th Moldovan LGBT Pride festival.”
I wish I’d known closer to the time, I would have sent an email in support.

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South Pacific to stop bottom trawling

“A quarter of the world’s oceans will be protected from fishing boats which drag heavy nets across the sea floor, South Pacific nations have agreed.
The landmark deal will restrict bottom trawling, which experts say destroys coral reefs and stirs up clouds of sediment that suffocate marine life.” BBC
I’ve been following this issue for years, from back in the days when I still ate seafood. Good news on a lazy Sunday.

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“An Australian senator has caused a storm of protest for describing a female politician as “deliberately barren” and therefore unfit to govern.
Bill Heffernan said Labor Party deputy leader Julia Gillard did not understand the public because she had no children.” BBC
If I didn’t need it I’m so tempted to hand back my Australian passport at times like this.

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From the OddSpot: “A woman’s email to Telecom New Zealand’s help desk was rejected because the company’s filter system found her name, Gay, “inappropriate for business-like communication”. The woman, Gay Hamilton, is herself gay.”

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Life in Laos…

BBC: In pictures: Life in rural Laos
It explains a lot of what we saw as we travelled around – cows or buffalo grazing on scraps of grass in what looked rice paddies. It was ‘burning season’ while we were there and it was amazing to see how much land was being cleared, particularly on the trip over the mountains from Luang Prabang to Vang Viang, and on down to Vientiane. I couldn’t see how much was being cleared in the south because it was dark. I really don’t understand why the government lets people clear land they won’t be able to irrigate, and I worry that they’ll lose their top soil in floods and dust storms once they’ve cleared the trees and destroyed the infrastructure of the soil. I guess sometimes you can only go for short-term solutions, but it was kinda heart breaking.