Where in the world do people feel most content with their lives?
According to a new report released by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based group of 30 countries with democratic governments that provides economic and social statistics and data, happiness levels are highest in northern European countries.
Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands rated at the top of the list, ranking first, second and third, respectively. Outside Europe, New Zealand and Canada landed at Nos. 8 and 6, respectively. The U.S. did not crack the top 10. Switzerland placed seventh and Belgium placed tenth.
Police in Moscow have broken up a gay pride rally that was banned by city authorities. About 30 activists gathered Saturday morning near a university in southwestern Moscow to denounce what they say is discrimination against gays and lesbians in Russia.
After one minute, as demonstrators unfurled banners calling for gay rights, police charged into the group, grabbed about 20 people and dragged them into police cars and vans.
Among those detained were British activist Peter Tatchell and American activist Andy Thayer of Chicago, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network.
Thayer said Russia's gays and lesbians are engaged in a fight "for the soul of Russian democracy."
"If … the right to assemble is taken away from lesbian and gay people here in Russia, then other Russians have to fear for their own freedom," Thayer said shortly before he was hauled away.
Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has described homosexuality as "satanic."
Mikhail Nalimov, leader of the United Orthodox Christian Youth, said his group would not tolerate any gay pride rallies in Russia.
"The aim of the gay movement is to destabilize the country and society and we will not let that happen," he said in a BBC interview earlier in the week.
International Day Against Homophobia will be observed across Canada and around the world on May 17 – this Sunday. The occasion presents an annual opportunity to rally citizens everywhere against all forms of homophobia. The theme for the 2009 celebration is Homosexuality Knows No Borders. The goal is to make the general population, especially ethnocultural communities of all backgrounds, more aware of gay and lesbian issues, and also of issues related to sexual div
ersity.
ATHENS, Greece — A Greek court annulled Greece’s only two same-sex marriages, officials said Tuesday, following a furious backlash against the ceremonies from the government and religious leaders. The two couples — one male, one female — exploited a loophole in a 26-year-old law that did not specify gender in civil weddings, and were married in June last year by the mayor of the small Aegean Sea island of Tilos.
The ceremonies drew the wrath of the powerful Orthodox Church of Greece, with one conservative bishop denouncing them as weddings of “humanoid couples.”
It's a subject so taboo that the cabinet minister responsible for seniors and representatives of the gay and lesbian communities couldn't find a seniors residence willing to host a news conference.
Laurent McCutcheon of the gay helpline Gai Écoute says homosexuality isn't discussed in most institutions that serve the elderly, leading many Quebec seniors to hide their sexual orientation.
As they age and lose their autonomy, gay, lesbian or transgendered seniors face stigma, loneliness, social isolation, rejection and in extreme cases, harassment from the very institutions they depend on to meet their needs.
