Intolerance of gays and lesbians worldwide seems to be digging in, as the public and private lives of homosexuals come under fire from Oregon to Russia and South-Central Asia.

In Portland, two teenage girls who hugged and kissed on a bus were forced off the vehicle after a passenger complained to the driver.

The city transit agency says it’s against policy to eject young people from a bus; the girls’ parents may file their own complaint about the incident.

In Russia, Orthodox Christian groups plan on holding prayer meetings and patrols in a popular meeting venue for Moscow gays and lesbians.

This follows assaults on a gay rights demonstration in the Russian capital in which police let the perpetrators go and arrested the protestors instead.

In Pakistan, a court jailed one married couple for three years because the husband was formerly a woman who had undergone sex-reassignment surgery 16 years ago.

In addition to jail time, the court also mandated psychological treatment, amid questions over whether the marriage, which is not formally prohibited under Pakistani law, should be dissolved.

Experts in religious law there called the marriage a “curse” and an “obscenity,” and said that fines, imprisonment, divorce or capital punishment are all appropriate.

Sources:

“Girls, 14, ejected from Ore. bus for kissing”
The Advocate, June 13, 2007

“Orthodox groups to patrol homosexuals’ meeting venue in Moscow”
Interfax (Russia), June 13, 2007

“Sex-change couple jailed in Pakistan”
Times of India, May 28, 2007

“Tatchell punched during Moscow gay protest”
The Telegraph, May 28, 2007