Gay porn star director producer Michael Lucas is about to add tour guide to his resume – the head of Lucas Entertainment announced on his website that he is going to start taking groups of tourists to Israel Lucas writes “It is no secret that Israel is one of my favorite places in the entire world and I travel there at least twice every year to visit my favorite parties restaurants historical monuments beaches resorts and most importantly all of the close friends and wonderful people I have met throughout the course of my travels What I love about Israel is that it is extremely modern while maintaining such an amazi

g and diverse sense of history You can be in urban Tel Aviv one of the most gay friendly cities on earth surrounded by skyscrapers and then drive 40 minutes to ancient Jerusalem and see craftsmanship and architecture that is over 2 000 years old It is incredible Although I am uncut I’m 100 percent Jewish I was born to a Jewish mother and a Jewish Father his name is Bregman—can’t get more Jewish that I’ve been exposed to anti Semitism in Russia and so I’ve always had a warm place for Israel in my heart and groin have you ever seen those Israeli men It makes me happy to think it has a warm place in its heart for me Lucas promises this will not be your typical tourist’s look at Israel – evidenced by his description of the tour’s planned trip to Gaash Beach “This is the premiere clothing optional beach in Tel Aviv known only to insiders You can feel free to lie in the sun as nude as you’d like enjoy the ocean or feel free to watch any number of hot guys have sex up and down the shore I have traveled all around the world and never encountered a beach like this one ”Total cost of the trip is 4 799Launching the end of May 2010 the inaugural two week tour brings visitors on an extensive journey through the breathtaking nation of Israel personally accompanied by Michael Lucas Lucas has partnered with top experts in the Israeli tourism industry to contract the best amenities for the trip including licensed guides and luxury hotels The premiere group will visit notable historic sites numerous restaurants beaches and resorts along with several other locations that provide for the experience of a lifetime

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Mexico City enacted Latin America s first law recognizing gay marriage Tuesday and said it hopes to attract same sex couples from about the man to wed The law approved by city legislators on Dec 21 was published in Mexico City s official register Tuesday and will take effect in March It will allow same sex couples to take children and municipal officials say it will make Mexico s capital a vanguard city acirc 8364 8221 and attract extra tourism revenues Mexico City will go a center where gay people from all over the universe will be capable to follow and get their wedding and then spend their honeymoon here said Alejand

o Rojas the city tourism secretary We are already in negotiation with some travel agencies that are planning to offer package tours that include flights hotels guides and everything they take for the wedding like banquets said Rojas We are passing to get a metropolis on a par with Venice or San Francisco acirc 8364 8221 the current leader in the gay travel market segment The annual economic shock of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender travelers is approximately 70 million in the United States alone according to Community Marketing Inc a tourism research company that specializes in gay and lesbian consumers Gay marriages of foreigners in Mexico City would presumably only be recognized by countries and states that likewise have legalized same sex marriage An exception is New York State which doesn t allow same sex marriages but which recognizes those which were performed legally in other jurisdictions Mexico City s law allows same sex couples to take children apply for bank loans together inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city And of course nbsp even as Mexico City officials celebrated act of the law others vowed to stop the marriages from taking place nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

Can you imagine being gay living in a nation that nbsp HATES nbsp gays nbsp nbsp Life incarceration is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex under an anti homosexuality bill currently before Uganda s parliament If the accused individual is HIV positive or a serial offender or a person of confidence over the former partner or if the victim is under 18 a conviction will answer in the last penalty Members of the public are obliged to describe any homosexual activity to police with 24 hours or risk up to 3 days in jail acirc 8364 8220 a scenario that human rights campaigners say will leave in a witch

unt Ugandans breaking the new law abroad will be content to extradition requests AND GET THIS nbsp just to add fuel to the ardour of nbsp Ugandas deeply rooted homophobia a US linked evangelical campaign alleging that gay men are trying to recruit schoolchildren and that homosexuality is a habit that can be cured has ensured widespread public support for the bill Both Uk and Canada acirc 8364 8482 s prime ministers have told President Yoweri Museveni that a proposed law that would issue in homosexuals in Uganda being imprisoned for life or even executed needs to be withdrawn further nbsp nbsp reading Read More About Uganda s Homophobia and this kind of genocide at Guardian UK Gay Rights Uganda nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Gay Uganda BlogThe Best Gay Travel Guide nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia and the world s youngest republic It is bordered to the north by the People s Republic of China and to the south east and west by the Republic of India nbsp Nepal is a country of highly diverse and rich geography culture and religions The mountainous north has eight of the world s ten highest mountains including the highest Mount Everest Nepal s quest to appeal to the gay and lesbian market continues with a new LGBT tour company Nepal s first and only openly gay member of parliament and founder of the country s gay rights movement Sunil Babu Pant has started the republic s fir

t travel agency for gay travelers and is encouraging gay couples to get married in Nepal The company is called Pink Mountain Travels and Toursand Pant is energetic about its offerings acirc 8364 339 For gay couples who want a memorable wedding we are offering to hold it at the Everest base camp acirc 8364 Pant said acirc 8364 339 Or it can be in Mustang Nepal acirc 8364 8482 s northernmost district that was once part of an ancient Tibetan kingdom acirc 8364 339 We are offering lavish bridal processions on elephant back and a glittering package for the bride that includes exotic bridal gowns as well as makeup acirc 8364 The 37 year old Pant who founded the Blue Diamond Society BDS in 2001 to start a gay rights movement whose growth has today taken Asia by surprise says the new travel agency would help generate employment opportunities for gays and lesbians who have skills but don acirc 8364 8482 t get opportunities due to the bias still prevailing in society against them In November 2008 Nepal acirc 8364 8482 s Supreme Court struck a huge blow for gay rights asking the government to end all discrimination against the community and make new laws to meet their needs This includes formulating laws to allow same sex marriages making Nepal the only country in South Asia to give the official seal of approval to such unions READ MORE AT THAINDIANHow do you feel about getting married on the snowy slopes of Mount Everest I don t like being all bundled nbsp up but I think it s a nbsp great idea The Best Gay Travel Guide nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

President Obama nbsp has been key nbsp to lifting nbsp the ban on people with HIV AIDS entering the United States nbsp It is a significant step in promoting equality for people with the disease As it was the ban stopped people who have lived legally in this country for years from going abroad out of fear that they would not be allowed back in The U S has been among a dozen countries that bar entry to travelers with visas or anyone seeking a green card based on their HIV status The law effectively has kept out thousands of students tourists and refugees and has complicated the adoption of children with HIV The ban was pu

into place in 1987 when it was widely thought that HIV could be spread as easily as a cold Now many more treatments for the disease exist and there is no reason to fear that allowing people with HIV into the country will significantly impact its spread On a bigger scale after 22 years the biennial International AIDS Conference will return to the United States in 2012 The six day summit has drawn in recent years about 25 000 HIV AIDS researchers medical professionals activists and policy makers Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the decision to bring the conference to Washington in 2012 during a White House event on the eve of World AIDS Day During the event Clinton s condemnation of laws that criminalize being gay drew applause acirc 8364 339 We have to stand against any efforts to marginalize and criminalize and penalize members of the LGBT Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender community worldwide It is an unacceptable step backwards on behalf of human rights but it is also a step that undermines the effectiveness of efforts to fight the disease worldwide acirc 8364 she said Immigration Equality a group that advocates on behalf of LGBT immigrants said the ban took a heavy toll on the U S acirc 8364 339 The United States has paid a heavy price in terms of its reputation in the scientific community because of its antiquated policies on HIV positive immigrants and visitors acirc 8364 Steve Ralls director of communications for the group told On Top Magazine in an email The new rule goes into effect on January 4 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

25 years ago I was selling ad space for a small regional gay rag It was so hard trying to convince straight businesses the value and power of the gay dollar Fast nbsp foward Corporate America has finally figured out Gay business is big business and gay travel is even bigger business Comcast Spotlight acknowledged that fact when they launched the Gay Travel On Demand Channel Oct 14 Subscribers can now click onto tourism videos featuring Gay Chicago and Gay Friendly Halifax Canada is a prime destination for gay travel and the LGBT travel market is so desirable to Canadian businesses that FlyNovaScotia com not only sponsor

d a travel video on behalf of its capital city of Halifax 2006 population 372 679 but it also sponsored the Gay Chicago video which opens and closes with an ad driving viewers to the province s tourism Web site The unfortunate part is you have to have Comcast nbsp The goal is to create an On Demand gay travel guide on Comcast that is populated with dozens of gay travel videos for our customers to peruse at will said NGLCC member and Comcast Spotlight integrated marketing manager Nancy Newman The platform is free and available 24 7 to all 16 million Comcast digital subscribers I want the Gay Travel Channel to exist throughout the nation she says We need to see a dozen two dozen videos up there from Gay Chicago to Gay friendly Thailand My favorite line is crawl walk run acirc 8364 8221 we re crawling right now but we ll getting there New Gay Travel Guide nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

A gay Toronto couple was detained for 28 days in Dubai for carrying the prescription arthritis drug Celebrex which is prohibited in the United Arab Emirates UAE Rocky Sharma and Stephen Macleod who have been together for 10 years were stopped upon arrival in Dubai on Aug 2 where they planned to pass the day before reverting to Toronto from a vacation in India Macleod had a bottle of the prescription arthritis medication Celebrex in his suitcase They were told Celebrex is a controlled substance in UAE and even though they did not present themselves to border officials as a couple both partners were detained acirc 8364 33

I guess they thought we were gay and we would take some party drugs with us acirc 8364 says Sharma who is now safely back at home with his partner acirc 8364 339 They were definitely targeting people who are young from the western public and nicely dressed like they are going to party acirc 8364 The UAE has very tough drug laws Even over the counter medications that include traces of codeine are restricted Possession can lead in lengthy jail sentences heavy fines or the last penalty according to an advisory issued by the Canadian Department of Alien Affairs and International Trade DFAIT They were not granted an opportunity to meet a lawyer or consular officials but Sharma managed to meet friends at home on his Blackberry which he had on him at the sentence of his arrest Those friends gave him the emergency contact list of the Canadian embassy in Abu Dhabi which Sharma called before his Blackberry was confiscated Sharma acirc 8364 8482 s family also contacted DFAIT in Canada but their efforts were stymied by the long weekend acirc 8364 339 When I sent the message we were thinking we were going back home acirc 8364 says Sharma acirc 8364 339 That acirc 8364 8482 s when I took it out of my bag and sent the SOS message They were taking us toward the airport but I acirc 8364 8482 m glad I sent it because they were taking us to the detention centre We were very lucky about that acirc 8364 Sharma and Macleod were strained by their captors to submit urine samples for drug testing Sharma says they were told they were being held pending the results of the urine tests They were kept in a filthy prison cell with 8 other prisoners for 10 years before they were sent to separate prisons acirc 8364 339 If you get a wide and a pillow you acirc 8364 8482 re very lucky acirc 8364 he says acirc 8364 339 For the first few years we slept on the floor The bathroom conditions were but a mess in the ground for 200 people Food was just rice with some sort of sauce on it three times a day acirc 8364 For the following 18 days Sharma and Macleod could only communicate with each other via the case worker provided by the Canadian consulate acirc 8364 339 That was one of the worst parts because I had no thought how he was doing he had no thought how I was doing acirc 8364 says Sharma acirc 8364 339 We were told by the embassy not to even hint that we were a couple to act like we were just friends and that acirc 8364 8482 s what we did acirc 8364 Homosexuality is punishable by death in UAE Even when the match was formally declared innocent by the Dubai prosecution on Aug 18 they were kept another 11 days while their paperwork was processed DFAIT currently advises travellers to the UAE to acirc 8364 339 exercise high level of caution acirc 8364 but does not yield an official warning against travel Anyone carrying personal medication is advised to refer the UAE Ministry of Health Drug Control Department before traveling to confirm that the medication is allowed in the country Sharma says he and his partner will never yield to the Emirates after their experience nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

Harrah acirc 8364 8482 s Entertainment nbsp has been committed to creating a diverse inclusive environment for employees guests and communities for some time now nbsp nbsp As the only gaming organization to get a perfect score on the HRC acirc 8364 8482 s Corporate Equality Index Harrah acirc 8364 8482 s is attached to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender LGBT community nbsp Harrah acirc 8364 8482 s recently received HRC acirc 8364 8482 s nbsp Best Position to turn for LGBT Equality nbsp nbsp Harrah acirc 8364 8482 s Entertainment has endorsed the enactment of a Federal Employment Non Discrimination Act to see that

o employee in the United States may be fired for their sexual orientation or gender expression This year Harrah acirc 8364 8482 s Entertainment is a major sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign HRC nbsp The Harrah acirc 8364 8482 s Creation was also a sponsor of this year acirc 8364 8482 s Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards GLAAD held in Los Angeles and televised on the Bravo Network So what s next The world s largest casino company will begin courting gay and lesbian travelers in hopes of attracting new customers to a market decimated by the recession and competition from Pennsylvania slot parlors The drive to establish Atlantic City as a gay friendly town not only underscores the motive to extend the client base but also reflects a change in the ethnic landscape said Jennifer Weissman regional vice chair of selling for Harrah s Entertainment Inc We think our client base comes from all cultures all sexual orientations and all backgrounds We actually think that our customers will cover this she said Harrah s has been catering to gay and lesbian travelers at its Las Vegas casinos for a few years but will establish a similar campaign in the country s second largest gambling market with an Out in Atlantic City weekend of partying Sept 25 27 The event expected to make more than 1 000 people will bring some of the best known names in the gay and lesbian entertainment scene to the Harrah s casinos nbsp Amanda Lepore a transsexual icon and New York nightlife host will kick things off with a party Sept 25 at Club Worship at Showboat Casino Hotel s House of Blues The weekend will also include appearances by vocalist and Dyke Diva Lori Michaels and the cast members of Showtime s lesbian themed show The L Word nbsp Lance Bass of N Sync fame and Jai Rodriguez of the Bravo Network s show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy will host a company at Caesars Atlantic City Rodriguez will also host a gage of bingo at Harrah s Resort with proceeds benefiting the South Jersey AIDS Alliance nbsp While Atlantic City may not turn the next San Francisco for gay travel tourism officials believe the resort s evolution into a more upscale gambling and entertainment hub fits the lifestyle of gay and lesbian customers What the gay market is sounding for is high end retail accommodation and nightlife and that s what we have said Jeffrey Vasser president of the Atlantic City Convention amp Visitors Authority The more we reward the fact that Atlantic City is a gay friendly destination the best off we will be in attracting that market which is a very upscale market Separate of the Harrah s campaign the Atlantic City Convention amp Visitors Authority has reached out to the gay and lesbian community through the gay travel media and by having a promotions booth at a gay themed consumer show in New York In addition a private nonprofit organization called the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance nbsp was formed recently to promote gay lesbian bisexual and transgender businesses and people in the surrounding area Donald Wittkowski Press of Atlantic CityNew Gay Travel Guide nbsp and nbsp nbsp Best Gay Cities nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp