Are Beckham and Williams a special couple?

David Beckham and Robbie Williams are possibly plying an eccentric gay couple in the American hit series Desperate Housewives. Several American media report that the gay creator of the show, Marc Cherry, thinks that the two Brits, who both live in LA, are the perfect neighbors for his desperate ladies at Wisteria Lane. Cherry is said to have wanted the combination Williams and Tom Cruise for the cameos. But because Brits are said to have more talent for sending themselves up, they approached Beckham.

The Italian fashion world plunged into mourning by the sudden death of the 62-year-old designer Gianfranco Ferré. He died from a stroke on the 17th of June. The designer had two strokes before but managed to recover. Ferré started off as an architect but turned to fashion in the seventies, which gave him the nickname: “L’architetto Ferré.�.� In 1978 he started the label Gianfranco Ferré and he was also artistic director with Christian Dior from 1989 till 1997.

A city that graces both sides of a legendary river, crossed by a succession of regal bridges. At night, the lights on the monuments and bridges gleam in the dark like jewels. Grand, tree-lined boulevards and neoclassical buildings from the 19th century. Neighborhoods with winding, narrow, cobblestone streets from medieval times. Antique-filled flea markets, fascinating book stores, inviting cafés with strong coffee and sweet confections, museums and concerts to delight the eye and ear. Budapest offers the sophisticated traveler the familiarity of European culture with a tantalizingly distinctive Hungarian flavor.

Broken Sky (El Cielo Dividido)

The students Gerardo and Jonás meet each other at university and fall hopelessly in love. They spend every waking moment together, have sex constantly and can’t keep their hands off one another. Still Jonás misses something. He falls for another guy and pushes heartbroken Gerardo in the direction of Sérgio, who’s had his eye on him for a while. Yet Gerardo and Jonás can’t really let go of each other...

On the 5th of September 2007 the Homomonument on the Westermarkt in Amsterdam will celebrate its twentieth anniversary. And for the occasion, various local (gay) organizations will join forces to help commemorate the day.

The Homomonument is a unique war monument, which not only memorializes victims of the Second World War, but also all those who have suffered persecution because of their homosexuality. At the same time, it was meant to be a living monument, a place of personal reflection and celebration as well as an inspiration for future generations: a place to meet, to party, to be visible and to be proud.

Cronica De Una Fuga

Director Israel Adrian Caetano was born in 1969 in Montevideo (Uruguay) and moved to Argentina when he was sixteen. Now he’s a famous Argentinean film maker. His latest movie is called “Cronica De Una Fuga� and is now playing in cinemas in Holland. It’s based on the true story of Claudio during the military regime of general Fidela in Argentina.

This year's Leatherpride Amsterdam will take place from thursday november 1st untill sunday november 4st. As usual it was very hard to find a good location and set up a good programme, but this year we have succeeded better then before. There has been thought of a programme that will garuantee a much more versatile Pride. On thursday night the kick-off starts with a Rubber Only Party organised by Leatherpride Nederland in Club Lexion.

Dear Northern Neighbors

Are in your country also gay marriages meted out all round in which one of the guys is non-European? A Jan (*) who marries a Pjotr (*) or an Erik (*) with Pang Kon Dong (*)? It isn’t because we don’t really have an excellent summer that we’re not swamped with invitations for gay marriages with exotic sounding names...

At a gay meeting spot at the Haarlemse Staten Bolwerk a 45-year old man was beaten and robbed last Friday night. The police think the man from Haarlem was assaulted because he is gay. He sustained injuries in his face, his back and one knee. The man was cruising at the city park Staten Bolwerk, said the police. He met a young man who asked him what he was doing in the park. Even before he could answer the guy hit him in the face. He kept punching and the victim lost consciousness for a short while.

Rome marked the opening of its first "Gay Street" with flags, banners and protests amid a row over a gay couple who claimed they were detained by police for kissing near the Colosseum. Campaigners welcomed a 325-yard zone in the center of the city — filled with shops and bars — as an area where gays can "feel at ease," after days of heated debate in predominantly Roman Catholic Italy over the kissing incident.

The Aruba Registration office has registered the first gay marriage. The couple said the registration only took ten minutes and had been very pleasant. In April this year the Supreme Court ruled that all marriages from Holland should be valid in the entire Kingdom. During a meeting with COC Nederland chairman Frank van Dalen in June, premier Oduber of Aruba had already promised this. The COC is very happy that he kept his promise. The couple, a man from Aruba and his Dutch husband declared they wanted to register their marriage in Aruba on Tuesday; they are very happy with the whole procedure.

The assaults on gays are most structural in Amsterdam, when you compare it to the rest of the world. The news will keep gay tourists away from our capital. This is going to cost the Amsterdam economy a lot of money. “Amsterdam has ruined its reputation as gay capital,� Boris Dittrich states. The former Liberal Democrat’s leader is now director of Gay issues of Human Right Watch, the most important human rights organization after Amnesty International in the world. In an interview with De Telegraaf he voices his concern on the wave of anti-gay incidents in the Dutch capital, like during last Pride weekend.

“Visiting gays still regard Amsterdam as Gay Capital, a place where anything goes. Last weekend showed that their enthusiasm was also answered with violence,� says Dennis Boutkan, chairman of COC-Amsterdam in Het Parool. Dutch gays are already more alert; they know that anti gay violence is on the rise. Walking through the streets hand-in-hand seems to be something from the past for gays and lesbians in Amsterdam. Boutkan: “They don’t want to cause any trouble so they hide the fact that they’re gay."