Benjamin Cohen founded PinkNews.co.uk in 2005 and was editor until 2006. He was technology correspondent at Channel 4 News between 2006 and 2012.
Twitter: @benjamincohen-
30 June 2006An alternative night out after EuroPride + Bar and club owners have been criticised in the past for hiking up prices for Pride weekend and this weekend's Europride will be no exception. However, one promoter is offering an alternative to the hiked up prices if you journey South of the River Thames.Running for the eleventh year in a row, South London performance and club night Duckie is running their Gay Shame special. This year, the event will have a European theme and has been renamed EuroShame. -
29 June 2006HIV research on brain dead is immoral + A British academic has criticised the Australian ethicist Peter Singer for claiming that HIV research should be conducted on brain damaged humans.Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University in the USA is best known for his controversial views on bestiality, euthanasia and disability. In June he suggested that HIV research should be conducted on people in a persistent vegetative state as they are will not suffer because they are "beyond consciousness." -
29 June 2006Simon Hughes: Coming out is a burden lifted 2 PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveSimon Hughes found himself at the centre of a media storm earlier this year when he unsuccessfully ran for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats following revelations that he was bisexual.In his first interview on his private life since the leadership election, he tells PinkNews.co.uk's Benjamin Cohen how he came to the decision to come out, his role in the Bermonsey by-election and why he's proud of his records on gay rights. -
23 June 2006‘Police can’t stop cruising’ residents told + The Metropolitan Police claim to be powerless in their battle to halt the growing popularity of gay cruising and straight dogging in a spot noted for its natural beauty.Scratchwood Open Space is near Borehamwood in Hertfordshire but is owned by Barnet Council. In the past three years, the site has seen its popularity grow for both straights and gays to meet for anonymous sex. -
23 June 2006Will Young to come out as a thesbian + The gay Pop Idol winner, Will Young is to make his professional stage début as an effeminate 1920s drug addict in the Noel Coward play, the Vortex.Young, who came out as gay shortly after winning the first series of Pop Idol was enroled on a musical theatre course when he won the television talent contest. -
23 June 2006Paris Hilton descends on German toilet from 7000 feet 7 When a girls got to go, a girls got to go, it doesn't matter if you're in a helicopter 7,000 feet above the ground.Paris Hilton, the celebrity heiress ordered her helicopter pilot to descend on an unwitting German farming family so that she could excuse herself.Ms Hilton gained cult status within the gay community following her television series 'The Simple Life'. -
21 June 2006Paddick snubbed for honour- newspaper claims + A newspaper is claiming that Britain's most senior gay police officer has been snubbed for a top honour.The right of centre Daily Mail claims that Brian Paddick, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is furious that he has not been awarded the Queen's Police Medal in last week's Birthday Honours list.Friends of Mr Paddick have claimed that he was promised an award. -
17 June 2006G-A-Y under threat following sale of Astoria + The Astoria theatre, home to the G-A-Y night club has been sold for almost £24 million to a developer who intends to turn the venue into shops, offices and flats.G-A-Y is owned by the Mean Fiddler Group a subsidiary of the American advertising and media giant Clear Channel. Managed by Jeremy Joseph the gay night has played host to Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Sugar Babes together with X-factor winner Shane Ward. -
13 June 2006Lesbian Tory rules herself out of mayor race 2 PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveThe openly lesbian vice-chairman of the Conservative party has officially ruled herself out of standing to become Mayor of London.Margot James, who is the vice-chairman of the Conservative party with responsibility for women says that she is concentrating on her campaign to become elected to the House of Commons."It's a hard decision but parliament is my goal." -
5 June 2006HIV positive rapist is “lowest of the low” says gay rights campaigner + PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveHuman rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell has branded an HIV positive Zimbabwean who pretended to be gay as "the lowest of the low" after he raped two teenage girls.Gabriel Vengesai, 45, had already been found guilty of statutory rape after he had consensual, unprotected sex with a 14-year-old girl who bore him a child. -
5 June 2006Western Isles to lift ban on gay marriage + The Western Isles (Eilean Siar) are preparing to reverse their ban on civil partnerships or gay weddings taking place on the islands.The Western Isles became the only part of Britain to ban gay marriages after local councillors and registrars agreed to a boycott.Registrars are permitted under the Civil Partnership Act to refuse to conduct a ceremony on moral grounds. -
5 June 2006Naked butlers moon their way to the states + A company offering hen parties and gay weddings almost naked waiters has proved so successful in Britain that it is opening up offices around the world."Butlers in the Buff" provides waiters wearing only a bow tie, collar, cuffs and a bottom-revealing apron. The company was founded by a former Royal Marine, Jason Didcott who served in the Gulf War and in Bosnia. -
27 May 2006Fundamentalists attack German MP on Moscow gay rights march 4 Over 120 people including a German MP have been arrested in Moscow after campaigners attempted to hold the capital's first gay rights rally.Volker Beck, a Green member of the German parliament was attacked by 20 religious protesters and punched in the face whilst he was giving a television interview. -
22 May 2006Catholic Church say gay sex lessons are “outrageous” + The Catholic Church in Scotland have condemned the inclusion of gay sex within the syllabus of sex education lessons in Scotland.Following the abolition of section 28 in Scotland six years ago, teachers can now talk freely about gay sex, sexually transmitted diseases and condoms for safe gay sex."Teachers felt they didn't know what to say to pupils about same-sex relationships." -
15 May 2006Mrs Thatcher to dance with cocaine fuelled gay man in drama 1 Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will be shown dancing with a gay Oxford graduate who is high on cocaine in a new drama beginning this week on BBC Two.The Line Of Beauty is adapted by award-winning writer Andrew Davies from Alan Hollinghurst's 2004 Man Booker Prize-winning novel. A story about love, class, sex and money that gets deep under the skin of the Thatcherite Eighties. -
15 May 2006Transgendered man deceived wife for 17 years with home made penis + A female-to-male transgendered person who made his own penis did not tell his wife of 17 years that he was born a woman lost his parental rights to his wife's daughter at the Court of Appeal earlier today.The man referred to as Mr J, is legally considered to be a male following the 2004 Gender Recognition Act that allows a transgendered people to legally take on a different sexual identity to their birth and can therefore marry someone of the same birth sex. -
15 May 2006Newcastle gay club evacuated after arson attack 1 Over a thousand clubbers at a gay venue had to be evacuated in the early hours of Saturday morning following an arson attack at a club in Newcastle.The entrance to the The Loft Luxe club in Newcastle, northern England was doused in petrol and set alight at approximately 3.50 am on Saturday morning. -
13 May 2006Celibacy as the cure for homosexuality? Meet the real Opus Dei 21 PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveDespite a negative portrayal in The Da Vinci Code and media furore over Ruth Kelly's involvement, Opus Dei member and senior representative Jack Valero, in the organisation's first interview with the gay press, tells PinkNews.co.uk's Benjamin Cohen how much happier and closer the group makes him feel with God."I've been celibate since I joined Opus Dei when I was 16. It's tough of course." -
10 May 2006Gay Conservative becomes chairman of the London Assembly 2 PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveAn openly gay Conservative has been elected as the chairman of the Greater London Assembly (GLA), the city wide governmet.Brian Coleman, GLA member for Barnet and Camden who is openly gay told PinkNews.co.uk "I'm looking forward to wearing the beautiful badge of office, complete with diamonds and drop pearl!" Adding with a chuckle: "I shall wear with it with my customary dignity- I'm not the sort of man who could get away with dressing up in drag." -
9 May 2006MPs and gay groups question wisdom of Kelly appointment 21 PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveThe newly appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has come under immediate pressure from the gay community and fellow MPs over her dual appointment as Minister for Women and Equality.Ms Kelly, who is believed to be a member of Opus Dei, the controversial devout Catholic sect will be the voice of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community within the cabinet.
