President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is due to address the conference today, which is being credited as an important historic event in the history of Brazil.

Sgt Laci Marinho de Araujo was taken into custody after he and his partner took part in a television interview on Wednesday.

He was arrested by the military police who surrounded the TV station until he came out, and has now been taken to an Army prison.

The sergeant had been featured on the cover of this month’s Epoca magazine, where he and his partner sergeant Fernando Alcantara de Figueiredo had given an interview.

In it they talked openly about being in a stable relationship for 10 years, and how they had been living together.

Sgt de Araujo had been missing from his unit since April as he was suffering for a number of health and mental problems.

He claims he has been a victim of ‘sexual discrimination.’

The ministry of defence has denied this, claiming that he had been arrested on the grounds of his desertion from the military.

“This is not a problem of sexual discrimination, but rather one of discipline,” Defence Minister Nelson Jobim told newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

In spite of the positive shift of attitude towards gay men and lesbian women serving in the army, the arrest of the sergeant raises some serious doubts about how real and substantial the shift really is.

The CBI is the UK’s leading business organisation, speaking for 240,000 businesses.

The TUC is the voice of Britain at work. With member unions representing over six and a half million working people, it campaigns for a fair deal at work and for social justice at home and abroad.

The report, entitled, Talent not Tokenism, was launched by the director-general of the CBI, Richard Lambert; the general secretary of the TUC, Brendan Barber;

Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality & Human Rights Commission, and the Minister for Women and Equality, Harriet Harman, were also at Tuesday’s event.

Talent not Tokenism encourages companies to employ people on the basis of their abilities and potential, regardless of their sex, race, age, disability, sexual orientation or religion.

The report shows that promoting diversity need not be complex or a legal minefield for business.

And it identifies some essential factors for bringing about change, including leadership from senior management and employee involvement, through unions and other workforce representatives.

It also has advice from senior executives of some leading companies such as Barclays, BT, and Shell.

“The need to unlock the talents of all – to create a truly representative workforce – is even more crucial at a time of economic uncertainty,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

“The issue is not whether business can afford to diversify, but whether it can afford not to.”

The report contains a number of case studies and examples of how various businesses have diversified their workforce and have benefited from it.

A case study by IBM cites evidence that its approach to lesbian and gay equality helps attract and retain customers.

Public service company Serco’s commitment to diversity has helped it win contracts, deliver better services to local communities and capture new custom.

You can read the report here.

It kicks off on 11th July.

Spread over three days, the event is a colourful celebration of all diversities that live in the area and universal equality for all.

bournefree was originally set up in 2004 and has since become an annual affair attracting thousands of people from across the UK.

bournefree 2008 kicks off with Jazz night on 11th July, a perfect way to spend an evening listening to the sounds of Jazz artists as the sun goes down.

The 12th sees everyone dressed up as sexy doctors and nurses, hunky soldiers and sailors, all taking part in the procession. This time the parade is going all the way through The Triangle (the town’s gay village).

The event also has its trademark bournefree live show with an excellent line up of top acts including a variety of performers, from singers and musicians to drag artists and comedy acts.

It doesn’t end there, the street party in The Triangle is to be larger than ever been before with a huge entertainment stage, beer tent, VIP area and a range of market stalls.

The festivities end on 13th July, with a Caribbean Affair at Jimmys, The Branksome and Bent.
For more information on planing you bournefree weekend log on to www.bournefree.co.uk

Saint Laurent was one of the greatest French couturiers of the 20th century, often dubbed the godfather of haute couture.

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria, on August 1 1936.

He came to Paris aged 17 and just four years later was heading the house of Dior.

He later started his own internationally-renowned label YSL.

His admirers claim Saint Laurent was the zeitgeist of modern fashion, making the modern woman what she is today, dressing her in modern silhouettes, and revolutionising avant grade fashion.

The Independent wrote in an editorial after Saint Laurent’s retirement:

“By putting a woman in a man’s tuxedo, he changed fashion forever, in a style that never dated.”

One of the most influential couturiers of the last century, Saint Laurent’s best known creation was the 1966 women’s tuxedo pant suit, “Le Smoking”, which combined traditional masculine tailoring with a feminine silhouette.

He dressed the likes of Paloma Picasso, Lauren Bacall, and Blanca Jagger and Marella Agnelli.

Yves Saint Laurent’s career, like all others, had his fair share of controversy.

In 1971, he appeared nude in an advertisement for his men’s cologne YSL, and then again with the launch of his perfume called “Opium”, which  brought accusations that he was  glamorising drug use.

Though Saint Laurent ruled the fashion world, he kept a low profile when it came to matters close to his heart.

In 1991 Saint Laurent came out publicly as gay in an interview for the French daily newspaper Le Figaro.

When the designer announced his retirement in 2002 at age 65, and the closure of the Paris haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier, it was mourned in the fashion world

As Pierre Berge, Yves Saint Laurent’s lover, companion and business partner, said:

“Haute couture would die after the retirement of Yves Saint Laurent.”