Noticed: Pam's Blend, UN status, foreigner in Colombia, the men of Dominica

Fellow blogger Pam Spaulding gets a nice write up in last Friday's issue of the Washington Blade. Her blog, Pam's House Blend, is an interesting blend of politics, LGBT rights news, feminist commentary and musings on how skin color and hair get played through media - and society.

Last week, I was glad to find out that the United States had back-tracked on a shameful vote in January in which they joined countries such as China and Iran in blocking two international LGBT organizations, ILGA and LBL, from being considered for consultative status to the United Nation. On May 17th, ILGA Europe and Germany's LSVD were also denied consultative status but this time the United States voted in favor of the LGBT organizations. What came as a surprise in reading this Blade article was that Colombia switched from abstaining the last time around to also supporting the LGBT organizations (yay for Colombia!). They joined Chile, France, Germany, Peru and Romania who had been previously supportive. Against consultative status? African nations Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Sudan and Zimbabwe as well as China, Iran, Pakistan and the Russian Federation (India and Turkey abstained and Cuba, which voted against the LGBT organizations in January, was absent at last week's vote). In February, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), had sent a letter to Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe expressing his disappointment in the earlier votes. Last week Frank told the Blade that he was pleased but that additional pressure was needed to secure consultative status for these organizations in the future.

Speaking of Colombia, we've been checking out Sangroncito's World as of late. The self-described "compulsive traveler" arrived in Bogota on Monday and has been blogging about his experiences. We're not so sure what to think of his indulgence in some of the younger men he meets during his time abroad, including some beautiful Brazilian hustlers on his last trip, but it's interesting to see a foreigner discover the country I love so much through his eyes. I hope he doesn't mind me also sharing a link to his Colombia photo album on flckr.

Speaking about beautiful boys, Anthony Montgomery, who graciously linked to this site a while back, truly gives you a view of the vibrant gay social life that exists nowadays in the Dominican Republic through his blog. Recently, he has also been featuring some glorious images of Dominican men as captured by photographer Paul Culver (including Cesar, above). For more of life in DR and those men, check out Anthony's blog, Monaga. There is also a lot more on architecture in Santo Domingo, travel to the island and Dominican club life as well.