The Daily Sting, Tuesday: ‘HoMo Hotel’ Not a Go, India’s Trans Bill Sparks Backlash
Among Tuesday’s big gay headlines, India’s trans bill that passed yesterday has been denounced by the local trans population, while the “HoMo Hotel” in Australia has officially decided to drop the name.
In other news, a gay man in Singapore won the right to adopt his own child, conceived through surrogacy. Yet another David Hockney painting is expected to make serious money on the auction block. And in the United States, as the New York Attorney General is pursuing a lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, the charity will officially be dissolved.
From India’s trans bill to the HoMo Hotel that almost was, here are the day’s big headlines:
1. India’s Trans Bill Has Been Denounced by the Local Trans Population (News)
It took two years, but yesterday the lower house of India’s parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill. The bill seeks to provide trans people with their own identity, and to prohibit discrimination against them. But the local trans community has railed against the bill, which it considers regressive. “The govt passed the trans bill without taking into account any demands or suggestions made by trans communities,” said one local trans group. “The govt clearly doesn’t care about trans rights or our lives.” Some have urged the ruling party to withdraw the bill.
2. Gay Man in Singapore Has Been Granted the Right to Adopt His Son (News)
People are saying a recent decision by Singapore’s high court is a landmark one, as it granted a gay man the right to adopt the child he conceived through a surrogate in the United States. In the Asian city-state, children born outside of marriage must be adopted to obtain citizenship, and now the man will have sole custody. (His partner of 13 years will have no rights to the child.) The chief justice in the decision stressed it “should not be taken as an endorsement” of a same-sex household. In Singapore, gay sex is punishable by two years in prison.
3. Australia’s HoMo Hotel Has Decided to Opt for Another Name (Travel)
A five-star hotel in Tasmania, Australia, that will cost around $400 million had planned to be named HoMo Hotel, but following criticism the hotel will be ditching that name, a portmanteau of the word “hotel” or Hobart (where the hotel is located) and MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, which will be accompanying the hotel. “[I]t turned out that I didn’t really have the right to call something HoMo when I’m not gay,” says museum founder David Walsh. “It offended a few people. I guess I was being culturally insensitive.” Instead the hotel will be called Motown.
4. The Donald J. Trump Foundation Will Be Dissolved (News, Politics)
The Attorney General of New York announced today that as her office is pursuing a lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Donald Trump and his three eldest children, the charity itself will be dissolved. President Trump has agreed to shut down the personal charity and give away its funds. He stands accused of using the foundation for personal and political benefit. The New York AG is also asking that a judge ban the Trumps (temporarily) from serving on the boards of any other local nonprofits.
5. David Hockney Painting of Gay Couple Could Fetch $38 Million at Auction (Art)
It wouldn’t be the first David Hockney painting to make big bucks at auction, but it’s believed a painting by David Hockney, made in 1969, could go for as much as $38 million at auction next year. It’s a painting of gay couple Henry Geldzahler, curator for the Met in NYC, and his partner Christopher Scott. Hockney had met the former at Andy Warhol‘s factory. Hockney is himself openly gay. Just last month he broke the record for the most expensive art sale for a living artist.
