Mark Malone, who is unemployed, turned himself in to a Newsbury police station in Berkshire a day after the attack.

In a brief meeting, Mr Malone spoke only to confirm his address and date of birth.

Anne Greenhaigh, chairman of the bench, remanded him in custody until June 13th, when he will appear before the Crown Court charged with murder.

Fifty-year-old Mr Akers, from Wallington, was attacked with a large carving knife at around 3pm on Tuesday in toilets near Walton Bridge that police said are “a popular meeting place for men.”

He was taken by air ambulance to St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey where he died at 5.30pm.

A post-mortem has revealed that he died from a single stab wound to the back.

A retired accountant, he lived with his partner of 22 years.

Allegations about the poet’s relationship with the young boys surfaced after the screening of Fairytale of Kathmandu, a documentary on Mr Searcaigh’s charitable work in Nepal made by a former friend of his.

The poet wrote a letter denouncing the accusations yesterday, saying: “If my gay lifestyle and relationships in Nepal have offended anyone, I am sorry.

“But to suggest that I in any way coerced or preyed upon these young men is untrue and distasteful. My relationships in Nepal have always been open and loving and above board.”

The letter has only provoked further outrage, with the Rape Crisis Network denouncing it as an attempt to “deliberately confuse allegations about sexual exploitation with his gay lifestyle.”

A spokeswoman for the network told the Irish Times: “To deliberately and intentionally confuse the sexual exploitation of boys in a poverty-stricken country with a ‘gay lifestyle’ is insulting to gay men and women, and a ploy to confuse matters.”

She continued: “Had his sexual exploitation involved 16-year-old girls, whom he befriended outside their place of education while providing much-needed money for their education to continue, the Rape Crisis Network would be issuing the same statement.”

Pressure is already growing on the Irish government to remove Mr Searcaigh’s poetry from the school syllabus.

Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes recently challenged Mary Hanafin, minister for education, on the “appropriateness or otherwise” of having the work on the current syllabus.

The minister – who recently had to defend her actions in helping Mr Searcaigh secure a visa to Ireland for a Nepalese friend – said she was “shocked and appalled” by the allegations.

She said: “I accept the social, personal and health education course in particular aims to equip students with an awareness of their rights and responsibilities, and the values, knowledge and skills for ethical decision-making.

“I am also conscious of the need for positive role models for our young people,” she continued, adding that the issue was complex and had to be treated in a measured way.

Mr Searcaigh runs a variety of charity projects in Nepal, a country he visits for around three months a year.

In a statement he said: “It is with a heavy heart that I have read and listened to the media comment about the documentary ‘Fairytale of Katmandu’.

“I opened my life and work in Nepal to someone I considered a friend.

“I believe the filmmakers never had any intentions of showing the work I have being doing in Nepal for some 13 years now. I have undertaken projects to provide water, housing, education and business opportunities for the people of Nepal,” he added.

“I have considered deeply the opinions put forward by my critics and I can see how my actions could have been misinterpreted. It hurts me to think that I would be seen in this light.”

The allegations are now the subject of a police investigation in Ireland.

The programme marks a subtle new phase in the one-party-state’s attitudes towards homosexuality, which – while not overtly discriminatory – have followed the ‘Three nos’ criteria since sodomy was decriminalised in 1997: No approval, no disapproval and no promotion.

Wang Weizhen, deputy director of the government’s HIV/AIDS prevention department, told China Daily: “By learning more about gay people, we can better protect them against this incurable disease.

“Studies are under way in several cities to collect information on gay men, such as their distribution and behavioural patterns,” he continued.

The department is set to announce special funding, technical support and information sharing in its push to rein in the level of HIV transmission.

The situation among China’s gay community is worsening at a troubling pace. Gay sex accounted for just 0.4 percent of new infections in 2005, but that figure had risen to 3.3 percent by 2007.

Of the 700,000 Chinese people living with HIV or AIDS, 11 percent contracted the virus through gay sex, according to Ministry of Health figures..

While homosexuality is still officially classified as a “mouldering life style of capitalism” in the officially communist state, there are no laws against gay sex or lifestyles. Neither are there any laws protecting Chinese gays from discrimination, however.

Hairspray, which features male actor Michael Ball in the lead female role, won seven awards – including best new musical, best director and best actress in a musical. Michael Ball won the best actor in a musical award for his portrayal of Edna Turnblad.

Gay activist Sir Ian McKellen snatched the best actor award for his performance in King Lear and the Old Vic’s version of Almodovar’s All About My Mother – whose plot deals with transvestites and male prostitution – took the award for best new play.

All-male productions of Twelfth Night and the Taming of the Shrew, again at the Old Vic, won best ensemble performance.

It’s the eighth year of the whatsonstage.com awards, which, while overshadowed by the prestige of the Olivier awards, retains the credibility of being the only theatre awards ceremony voted for by the public, 25,000 of which voted this year.

The awards will presented at the Lyric theatre this Sunday.

Speaking at the end of a local fact-finding mission yesterday, Mr Tatchell said: “The people of Gibraltar are wonderful, but the government appears tobe drifting towards autocracy.

“It is failing to respect the human rights of its own citizens, especially gay people, the disabled and immigrants,” he said.

Mr Tatchell, who was invited to conduct the assessment by local equality rights movement GGR, said people were afraid to report discrimination and harassment due to fear of state officials.

“After having met with a wide cross-section of Gibraltarian society, it is apparent that Gibraltar fails a number of UK and EU human rights standards,” he said.

“It is also clear that victims of human rights abuses lack effective, swift mechanisms for the redress of grievances and are often silenced by an atmosphere of intimidation and fear.

“Many people have told me about instances of discrimination, harassment and injustice.

“None were willing to make official complaints or go on the public record regarding the human rights violations they had suffered. All were afraid of retribution from

state officials.

“Some feared losing access to jobs, housing, welfare benefits, medical treatment, student places and educational awards and grants,” the British activist continued.

“Human rights shortcomings are damaging Gibraltar’s reputation internationally, which may discourage some investors and tourists. It could also undermine European support for Gibraltar’s right to self-determination.

“People are less likely to sympathise with Gibraltar’s sovereignty claim if it has a poor human rights record.”

Mr Tatchell, who supports Gibraltar’s right to self-determination, met with ordinary citizens and human rights campaigners.

He also had meeting with the leaders of all political parties, apart from Peter Caruana, chief minister and head of the governing Gibraltar Social Democrats, the neo-conservative party currently in power.

Mr Caruana refused to attend the meeting if Felix Alvarez, Mr Tatchell’s host and Chair of the GGR, was present.

“The Chief Minister’s attitude towards Mr Alvarez was petty and rude,” Mr Tatchell argued.

“I did not think it was right that Peter Caruana was prepared to meet me, a foreigner, but not one of his own Gibraltarian citizens.

“This did not strike me as polite or reasonable.”

Gibraltar’s record on gay rights lags far behind that of other European countries.

The age of consent for gay men is higher than for their heterosexual equivalents, contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

There is no legal recognition of same-sex couples and ‘buggery’, ‘attempted buggery’ and ‘gross indecency’ remain illegal, again contrary to the European Convention.

The passage praising Baroness Warsi constituted the only part of the speech where he mentioned equality.

The Conservative leader said he was proud to have the first Muslim woman in a cabinet or shadow cabinet.

But Baroness Warsi infuriated the gay community with leaflets for her 2005 campaign which berated Labour for overturning Section 28.

“Labour has scrapped Section 28, which was introduced by the Conservatives to stop schools promoting alternative sexual lifestyles such as homosexuality to children as young as seven years old,” it read.

“Labour reduced the age of consent for homosexuality from 18 to 16, allowing schoolchildren to be propositioned for homosexual relationships.”

A letter obtained by pinknews.co.uk later revealed that several Labour politicians wrote to David Cameron asking him to distance himself from the comments.

Mr Cameron never responded to their letter, but its existence proves that he was aware of Baroness Warsi’s views before appointing her shadow community cohesion secretary.

Today Mr Cameron was touting Baroness Warsi as proof the Tories were the ‘One Nation’ party.

“If we are really the one-nation party, the party of opportunity for everybody, it’s not enough just to open the door and say ‘come in’, we have to get out in Britain’s ethnic minority communities and get the brightest and get them in,” he said.

Mr Cameron’s support for his minister so shortly after her comments on BNP voters will be taken by many observers to be further proof of a drift to the right.

Comments from former shadow homeland security secretary Patrick Mercer earlier this year about racist abuse in the army earned him an instant sacking from Mr Cameron.

But Baroness Warsi’s comments seem to have merely earned her emphatic praise from her leader, both on Andrew Marr’s Sunday AM programme and in his leader’s speech.

Nevertheless, he made a point of denying any change to the party’s modernising agenda.

Mr Cameron said: “There’s been quite a lot of talk of lurching and I can tell you we are not going to be lurching to the left, we are not going to be lurching to the right, we are just going to provide the good solid leadership that this country needs.”

Mr Cameron delivered his speech without an autocue saying: “It might be messy but it’ll be me.”

While covering most of the major issues – from immigration to the environment – his speech was noticeable for its lack of content on equality issues.

Mr Cameron made no mention of gay, disabled or women’s rights.

The speech today was being billed as the most important of his political life, following substantial poll leads for Labour and the near-certainty of a 2007 general election.

It will have soothed some of those concerns with its confident delivery and calls for Mr Brown to “go ahead and call that election,” delivered to loud applause.

He finished his speech saying: “We will fight and Britain will win.”

The Tories can now expect a bounce in the polls following media attention on the conference. Whether that bounce can sustain itself is another matter.

Mr Putin is prevented from seeking a third term as president by the Russian constitution, but if he undertakes a four year period as prime minister he would again be eligible for the post in 2012.

The move, announced last Monday, is being condemned by human rights groups, who have been horrified by the attacks on free speech and gay rights in the country during Mr Putin’s time in office.

An Amnesty International spokesman told pinknews.co.uk: “Amnesty International has serious concerns about the Russian government’s treatment of LGBT rights.

“We’ve had numerous homophobic attacks in Russia, some of them fatal.

“The authorities have failed to tackle discrimination because of sexual orientation.”

Mr Putin said he would run for prime minister if two conditions were met. Firstly, his party – United Russia – must win the parliamentary elections, and secondly the new president must be “decent, capable and effective.”

Those conditions make his appearance as prime minister all but certain. United Russia stand little chance of being defeated in the next election, due to their massive popularity and monopoly of state-broadcast television.

Should he become prime minister the post of president will in all probability be reduced to a toothless decoration, with Mr Putin continuing to exercise extensive control over the country.

For the Russian gay community, such an eventuality would signal a depressing development, wiping away any chance of seeing tangible change in the country.

Moscow’s mayor, Yuri Luzhkov is closely tied to Mr Putin. He is well known for his homophobic sentiments and banned a Gay Pride march in the capital in 2006.

Amnesty’s spokesman said: “LGBT people have been subject to violent attacks while attending clubs in Moscow.

“In 2006 the Gay Pride march was banned in Moscow.

“The Russian Orthodox and Muslim leaders have publicly criticised Pride and made homophobic statements.”

An attempt to hold a Pride march in 2007 were denounced by the Mayor as “satanic”. For the second year in a row it degenerated into violent clashes with homophobic extremists.

The Amnesty spokesman added: “There have been protests where the police have refused to step in and watched while LGBT activists and journalists have been injured.”

Meanwhile, the Other Russia party has recently made chess champion Gary Kasparov is leader.

Other Russia may be a beacon of hope for the LGBT community, but its commitment to gay rights is far from certain.

By collecting together all opponents of the Putin regime under one tent, the coalition hosts some homophobic groups as well.

Nationalists, liberals, minority rights activists and communists are all included in the party.

Within its ranks one can find skinheads as well as human rights campaigners.

Psychologists and sociologists have long presumed that homosexual ethnic minorities would suffer from greater mental health problems because they were a member of two groups suffering discrimination.

“These findings suggest that black lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals have effective ways to cope with prejudice related to racism and homophobia”, said lead researcher Dr. Ilan H. Meyer, associate professor of clinical Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health.

But statistics for suicide are less encouraging.

Black and Latino gays and lesbians and bisexuals had higher instances of attempted suicide than white gays. The most common age for this was in the teenage years, the most common time to come out.

The research was conducted on 388 white, black and Latino New Yorkers – all gay, lesbian or bisexual – between the age of s of 18 and 59.

On an optimistic note, researchers found that across all race and sexuality groups younger individuals had far fewer instances of mental disorder or suicide. This correlates with the theory that a liberalised attitude towards sexual orientation will result in less stress and depression.

The cancellation follows fierce campaigning by Canadian Gay Rights Lobbyists, who have called on the government to prevent the stars’ arrival in the capital, Ottowa

Canada’s anti-prejudice laws outlaw the instigation of hate crimes, and campaigners are encouraging the government to act on them.

A spokesperson for the group said: “Artists have the right to free speech, but their presence in Canada can be perceived as a licence to incite violence.

“Canada has banned anti-Jew, anti-black people from entering the country. This should be no different.”

Jamaican gay rights groups claim attacks against gay men in the country are encouraged by the prevalence of ‘murder music’ there.

Sizzla and Elephant man are two of the most famous singers accused of violent lyrics.

Akim Larcher, a spokesman for the pressure group Stop Murder Music, said: “Compared to these two, Eminem is much less expressive in inciting violence and murder.”

Both performers have promised to steer clear of homophobic lyrics and Sizzla has signed the Reggae Compassion Act in association with Stop Murder Music, but that appears to have held little weight with the venue.

All five dates of the star’s 2004 UK tour were cancelled after gay rights activists protested against his presence.

The Sentencing of Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Bill, proposed by Patrick Harvie, a Scottish Green MSP, would bring Scotland into line with England and Wales, where courts have been able to impose tougher sentences for offences committed due to the victims disability or sexual orientation since April 2003.

There are no guarantees that enough MSPs will support the bill, but it appears to have received a warm welcome from the government.

A Scottish government spokesman told pinknews.co.uk: “We’ll look at the details of Patrick Harvie’s bill and will be discussing with him and others how to take this forward in the coming months.

“The Scottish government has a manifesto commitment to extending hate crime legislation.

“It’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of how.”

The move was supported in Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party manifestos during the elections last May. A 2004 working group, which included police, the Crown Office and gay and disabled groups recommended the legislation in 2004.

“I was deeply disappointed that the last executive decided not to press ahead with this simple but important measure,” Patrick Harvie said.

“We know that the hate crime laws which protect religious groups and minority ethnic

communities are useful not only in individual cases, but also in focusing police attention on the problem.

“Disabled people and sexual minorities deserve no less protection from prejudice and bigotry.”

He continued: “This measure should gain cross party support – I want to urge all political parties to show that their commitments on tackling prejudice in Scotland will be followed through.

“It would be a great show of unity if this Bill was passed with the support of all the parties which supported this measure south of the border, as well as the Scottish parties.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said:

“Labour will consider the detail of Partick Harvie’s bill when it is fully published. Tough action on anti social behaviour must be a priority, it is extremely disappointing that the SNP in government seem to have gone soft, rolling back measures Labour introduced to make our communities safer.

“The Tories and the SNP talk tough on law and order and act soft.”

The Scottish Conservative party has already indicated it will not support the bill.

Shadow justice secretary Bill Aitken said: “An assault is an assault and Patrick Harvie is wrong if he believes that any judge would not increase a sentence for an assault on a person who is, for example, physically disabled.

“The problem now is that there are too many aggravations, racial or sectarian. It has created a situation whereby the only people who do not enjoy the full protection of the court are heterosexual white males.

“Everyone is entitled to the same protection from the courts and assaults should always be dealt with severely, regardless of any lifestyle choices that happen to be undertaken by the perpetrator or the victim.”

But the police have indicated their support for new hate crime measures, with the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS) saying the bill would send out a message to the gay community that the law was on their side.

Speaking on behalf of the ACPOS, ACC Neil Richardson of Lothian and Borders Police said:

“The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland considers all crime motivated by hate as utterly intolerable.

“This addition to the legislation will send a clear message of support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and should assist in giving increased confidence to those who are, or become, victims of homophobic or transphobic crimes to report the circumstances to the police.”

Recent Scottish studies have revealed that violence against the gay community is reaching a devastating level.

According to one such report, 36 percent of LGBT people have experienced abuse or violence in the last year, compared to 2.5 percent of the general population.

Stonewall’s Scotland Director, Calum Irving, said: “We strongly welcome Patrick Harvie’s bill and hope that all MSPs actively support it.

“A modern Scotland should be a country which makes it clear that anti-gay hate is wrong and will be tackled with the full force of the law.”

Orgies of men fellating and fondling each other in the street provoked laughs and photographs from curious onlookers but no police action, according to reports.

Two reporters for Americans for Truth about Homosexuality documented prevalently older men walking down the street completely naked, men masturbating in public with groups of visitors watching them, men and women beating each other with whips, women walking around with their breast exposed and a large smattering of gay and straight master-slave couples.

One police officer admitted to the pair that public indecency laws were “apparently” not being enforced, and stressed that anyone coming to the Folsom fair would be expecting to come face to face with that kind of activity.

The fair – which celebrates sadomasochism – has been running since 1984, and is now California’s third largest spectator event. City officials and event organisers have had a

good relationship throughout that time, with political observers praising the organisers’ sense of community and volunteer support.

This year’s event was marred by controversy over a promotional poster, however.

It featured a version of Da Vinci’s Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples replaced by fetishists and sex toys on the table.

Following concerted lobbying by the conservative Concerned Women for America, Miller Brewing, one of the events sponsors, called for its logo to be removed from the poster.

“While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organising committee developed this year,” the company said.

“We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organisers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately.”

Conservative protestors called on California’s House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to do something about the promotional material, but she refused to do so.

As part of her September 28th morning press conference, Ms Pelosi, a Catholic, said: “It’s a cconstitutional question. It’s a religious question. It’s about as global a question as you could ask.

“I’m a big believer in the First Amendment. I do not believe Christianity has been harmed by the Folsom Street Fair.”

The fair draws around 40,000 annual visitors.

The landmark civil rights bill, which would protect the American LGBT community from workplace discrimination, provoked outrage in the gay community when its leading proponents – Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank – opted to exclude transsexuals from its remit in a bid to ensure its success in the House.

The debate over the rights and wrongs of that exclusion have provoked an unprecedented debate among gay activists about how far they are prepared to relax their principles in order to achieve change.

In short – would it be better to compromise and attain long hallowed anti-discrimination rights or retract from the current bill and fight for the rights of the entire community?

Gay groups stressed that if transsexuals and transvestites are excluded from the bill, they will be unlikely to win protection at a later date.

Ms Pelosi and Mr Frank – both long-term fighters for gay rights – argue that including transsexuals will make the bill impossible to pass, and that the half-way measure at least secures vital rights for the gay community.

But that same gay community overwhelmingly opted for solidarity with their transsexual allies yesterday morning when several leading gay rights groups withdrew their support for the bill.

Nearly a hundred gay groups signed a letter to that effect and sent it to every member of the House.

It stated “very clearly and unequivocally that we refuse to accept and in fact we oppose any legislation that leaves any part of our community behind, particularly the transgender community,” Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“This is a watershed moment in the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement. The last five days have been one of the most gruelling and difficult we have ever faced, but our community has rallied in ways we’ve never seen before.”

That unity now appears to have had the desired effect.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Barney Frank and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin issued a statement yesterday afternoon announcing a delay in the passage of the bill, and thereby giving activists time to fight for the inclusion of all LGBT groups.

The statement said: “After discussions with congressional leaders and organisations supporting passage of [the bill], we have agreed to schedule mark-up of the bill in the Committee on Education and Labour later this month, followed by a vote in the full House.

“This schedule will allow proponents of the legislation to continue their discussions with Members in the interest of passing the broadest possible bill.”

But Mr Frank made his support for the exclusion bill well understood. In an impassioned statement, he said: “The question facing us – the LGBT community and the tens of millions of others who are active supporters of our fight against prejudice – is whether we should pass up the chance to adopt a very good bill because it has one major gap.

He continued: “I believe that it would be a grave error to let this opportunity to pass a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill go forward, not simply because it is one of the most important advances we’ll have made in securing civil rights for all Americans in decades, but because moving forward on this bill now will also better serve the ultimate goal of including people who are transgender than simply accepting total defeat today.”

But the passing of the bill, in whatever form, will not be the end of the story.

Even if the bill were to pass both chambers, many political analysts believe President Bush will simply veto the proposals.

Mr Giuliani’s tolerant views on homosexuality and abortion are stoking dissent in the party’s religious wing, who are less than impressed with the candidates on offer.

Last Saturday a secretive meeting of around 40 high powered Christian conservatives took place in Salt Lake City to discuss their options, including forming a break-away third party.

Participants in the group included James Dobson, founder of the Focus on the Family evangelical ministry and Tony Perkins, head of conservative policy group the Family research Council.

Richard A. Viguerie, direct-mail expert and long-time conservative activist told AP that while he would not give away the names of the people at the meeting, President Bush “would not have been elected in ’04 without the people in that room.”

He continued: “You could almost cut the anger and the frustration with a knife in that room it’s so strong.

“Because they don’t know what else to do, they’re talking third party.”

Rumours such as this could easily drive American liberals into a frenzy of anticipation. A split Republican party could well signal a free-run for the presidency for a Democratic candidate dedicated to gay rights, women’s rights and a less hawkish foreign policy.

As Johann Hari wrote in the Independent: “If Giuliani becomes the Republican nominee, there is a significant chance that the evangelical wing of the party – obsessed with God, guns and gays – will break away and run a third party candidate against him.

“James Dobson, founder of the influential, hard-right Focus on the Family, has already said he ‘cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision.’

“An evangelical third party could split the right-wing vote and let a Democrat through the middle – just as Ross Perot did in 1992.”

Giuliani, who is, if anything, further to the right of Bush on foreign policy matters, adopts a distinctly tolerant manner when discussing abortion and gay rights. After dumping his second wife he even went so far as to move in with a gay couple.

Pushed on the possibility of a Republican split while campaigning in New Jersy, Mr Giuliani said: “I’m working on one party right now — the Republican Party.

“I believe we are reaching out very, very well to Republicans. The emphasis is on fiscal conservatism, which brings Republicans together.”

Christian conservatives are feeling hard done by, faced with a collection of socially liberal republican presidential candidates. Apart from Giuliani, Senator Fred Thompson takes a progressive attitude to social issues and John McCain opposed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The Republican party’s current problems are merely the latest incarnation of tensions which have simmered under the surface for several decades.

Right wing commentators claim the party routinely uses and abuses its Christian support base, relying on them for votes but rarely delivering the changes they want.

As Mr Viguerie told AP: “Conservatives have been treated like a mistress as long as any of us can remember.

“They’ll have lots of private meetings with us, tell us how much they appreciate it and how much they value us, but if you see me on the street please don’t speak with me.”

Left wing commentators claim Republicans use religious issues to convince working class Americans to vote against their economic interests, winning elections by railing against abortion and gay marriage and then using power to implement tax cuts for the super-rich.

Addressing international MPs at well-respected human rights watchdog the Council of Europe, the Patriarch said: “This [homosexuality] is an illness, a change, a distortion of a human person.”

Referring to his successful attempt to ban a Moscow gay rights parade earlier this year, he added: “It’s an illness like kleptomania – so why don’t we advertise that?”

The Patriarch was confronted by Lord Russel-Johnstone when the peer used the one question allotted to him to accuse the Russian figurehead of hypocrisy by preaching tolerance but practising something else entirely.

“I think throughout the world tolerance for homosexuality and lesbianism is increasing,” the peer said afterwards.

“Being a long-standing heterosexual I have no physical understanding of it, but I am certain, however, that people of the same sex in loving relationships should be respected.

“I certainly want to respect that – and I would not want to live under the Patriarch, that’s for certain.”

Lord Russell-Johnston mentioned that he had not been surprised by the Patriarch’s views, but was shocked to notice the smattering of applause which followed them among some of the MPs representing the Council.

The women, 34 year old Sizakele Sigasa and 23 year old Salome Masooa were raped, tortured and killed in Meadowlands, Soweto.

Their hands were tied up using their underwear and their tied ankles using their shoelaces. Both had been shot several times.

Police say they are still investigating the case and no arrests have been made.

Many participants wore a T-shirt saying ‘Dying for Justice’ in sympathy with the two victims. Other T-shirts read ‘Pissed Off Women’ and ‘Lesbian Rights are Human Rights’.

Olive, a 35-year-old lesbian on the march, told the Star newspaper: “Sizakele Sigasa was a close friend of mine. After what happened to her, I’ve become extremely cautious.”

Twenty two year old Lesego agreed. “I’m here to tell the public that we aren’t different,” she said.

“And being gay is certainly not un-African. We have a very liberal constitution but it isn’t implemented in civil society.

“And things are getting worse. Most of my sisters have been violated.”

Onlookers seemed to sympathise with the marchers, with one resident telling the Star: “They are fighting for their rights. I have no problem with that.”

The marchers stopped at Meadowlands police station to hand in a petition calling for greater protection for the township’s gays and lesbians.

March organiser Phumla Masuku said: “This is my home and I also have the right to be here.

“We fear being raped and even murdered, but I’m tired of running.”

The Commission brings together a number of anti-discrimination commissions into one equality body designed to enforced anti-discrimination legislation and offer employers, public sector bodies and individuals practical advice.

But the mayor claims that the current level of legal protection is inadequate.

“Britain’s anti-discrimination law is not working and needs a major shake up to deliver real and enforceable rights to equality,” he said.

“Intrinsic to securing our vision for a fundamentally more equal society is legislation that protects people against discrimination in all its forms and mechanisms.

“This is not the case at the moment: discrimination remains legal depending on who you are and where it happens. The law is mainly enforced on an individual basis, after discrimination has had an impact on an individual’s life.”

He continued: “Tribunals have few powers to correct patterns of discrimination, while barriers mean that few cases of discrimination in services get a hearing.”

Mr Livingstone, who is seen as having a strong record on gay rights since he set up Britain’s first register for gay couples in 2001, called for a comprehensive Single Equality Act to replace the UK’s myriad anti-discrimination legislation.

“A new Act is needed to remove loopholes in legislation and give stronger enforcement to end pay discrimination against women and challenge the under-representation of women and ethnic minorities in senior employment and breaches of disability discrimination legislation,” he said.

“Lacking representative structures yet with a remit to cover six strands of equality in addition to human rights, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights is a far from ideal organisation to replace and extend the three statutory equality commissions.”

He called for more “checks and balances” to be built into equality law, including the monitoring of workforces, reviews of pay structures, explicit duties on procurement, an extension of public sector duties and improved enforcement.

Wakefield prison authorities have so far denied four of the pair’s requests for a visit, and the 33 year old has now decided to raise the stakes.

“I have not eaten and I will not,” Mr Huntley said.

“It is the only way you take notice of me and listen to my views. I want to be able to see people in my cell, not just in the day room.

“I will keep on refusing meals until my regime changes.”

The Evening Standard claims a source in the Home Office said: “He is saying he is on hunger strike and that he is serious this time.

“He has not had any food for six days now. Whether he can last remains to be seen.”

Meanwhile, a prison insider told the Mirror of a strange pact between Huntley and his lover whereby he could acquire drugs in exchange for some of his possessions.

The insider said: “Huntley’s belongings, including a PlayStation, CD and cigars, were found in Wood’s cell so he is being investigated for supplying the drugs.”

The drugs may well be those Huntley has previously used in his three attempted suicides.

He is currently on 24-hour suicide watch with six wardens on call if he once again tries to take his own life.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice refused to verify the claims, saying they would not comment on individual prisoners.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a Muslim, was one of David Cameron’s most celebrated appointments to the front bench earlier this year, but her comments have reopened accusations of a drift to the right on the eve of Mr Cameron’s vital leader’s speech at the party conference.

In an interview with the Independent, Baroness Warsi said: “There are a lot of people out there who are voting for the British National Party and it’s those people that we mustn’t just write off and say ‘well, we won’t bother because they are voting BNP or we won’t engage with them’.

“They have some very legitimate views – people who say ‘we are concerned about crime and justice in our communities, we are concerned about immigration in our communities’.

“Immigration has been out of control. We don’t have any idea how many people are here who are unaccounted for, and it’s that lack of control and not knowing that makes people feel uneasy – not the fact that somebody of a different colour or a different religion or a different origin is coming into our country – the fact that it is actually not controlled,” she continued.

“The control of immigration impacts upon a cohesive Britain. The pace of change unsettles communities.”

Her words were immediately seized on by anti-racist groups.

Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote (OBV), a group Baroness Warsi used to work for, said: “Pandering to racist views peddled by the BNP and bought by BNP voters is grotesque.

“This country would collapse if it wasn’t for migrant workers.”

The comments are bound to be interpreted as evidence of a gradual drift to the right in the Conservative party but David Cameron defended Baroness Warsi on Andrew Marr’s Sunday AM programme.

“I’ll tell you something about Sayeeda,” he said.

“She has spent most of her political life in West Yorkshire fighting the BNP street by street, standing up for the Conservative Party.

“I think the BNP is a dreadful party,” he continued.

“I wish they didn’t exist. I think they are despicable people. But we have to recognise that people do have concerns about immigration.”

It is not the first time Baroness Warsi has found herself in trouble over her views. Stonewall originally questioned her suitability for the community cohesion post following the accusation that homophobic comments had appeared on her 2005 campaign literature.

While leaflets sent to white voters contained an anti-immigration theme, those sent to Muslim voters concentrated on homosexuality.

“Labour has scrapped Section 28, which was introduced by the Conservatives to stop schools promoting alternative sexual lifestyles such as homosexuality to children as young as seven years old,” it read.

“Labour reduced the age of consent for homosexuality from 18 to 16, allowing schoolchildren to be propositioned for homosexual relationships.”

Pinknews.co.uk obtained a copy of a letter to David Cameron from various Labour politicians, including Mike Wood and Shahid Malik, complaining about the tone of the leaflets.

“After perusing the leaflets, which focus negatively on race and sexuality, we would welcome your position vis-à-vis the literature,” the letter read.

“We would welcome your leadership on this issue within your own party and we hope that you would wish to distance yourself and condemn the literature which certainly has no place in a constituency that already has the highest BNP vote in the country.”

A senior source in the Labour party confirmed that Mr Cameron had received the letter, but had not replied.

Baroness Warsi later apologised for the leaflets in an interview with the Guardian.

“I look back at lots of my election leaflets and think, ‘God – why did I phrase it like that? What was I on?’” she said.

“Looking back on it, maybe I could have used much better language than that.”

It remains to be seen whether she will be forced into an apology for her latest comments.

The new commission, which incorporates the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission, is being launched today.

Its Chair, Trevor Phillips, said: “We live in an age of difference where most of us believe that people must be judged on their abilities, not their age, what they look like, their disability or their families and private lives.”

The results of a survey timed to coincide with the first day of the commission reveal a persistent level of discrimination in the UK.

Fifty percent of those questioned thought sexual orientation was a main reason for discrimination. It came second in the list after ethnic background, which 66 percent cited as a common cause.

Other reasons included age, religion and disability.

Equality secretary Harriet Harman said the launch of the new Commission would be a major step forward in challenging prejudice.

“Fighting discrimination, prejudice and hatred in all its forms and giving everyone the chance to fulfil their potential in a fair and peaceful society will be at the heart of this government,” she said.

“We are proud of our track record on equalities and the creation of the new commission is another important step forward.”

The Gfk-NOP poll revealed that forty one percent of those who admitted to suffering discrimination said it occurred at work.

Only a quarter of those who had experienced the discrimination took any further action, with the majority believing that nothing could be gained by doing so.

“This is the clearest reason for the existence of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and equality law,” Mr Phillips said.

“Unless people feel that they can deal openly with unfairness we risk a simmering cauldron of resentment to poison our workplaces and schools. Our work isn’t about supporting vexatious litigation by a few persistent grumblers; it is about building a fairer, more confident and more united Britain.”

The new commission will provide practical guidance to employers, individuals and the voluntary and public sectors while also monitoring the success of equality legislation across society.

Mr Phillips continued: “We will continue to support meritorious and significant individual cases. But we can do even better by working to change underlying attitudes and biased behaviour.”

But the commission already came in for criticism today, with the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents its staff, saying it would be a “toothless tiger” unless it receives adequate resources.

The union fears that the ECHR, like its predecessors, will suffer year-on-year budget cuts, hampering its ability to fulfil its obligations.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “Discrimination is still rife in 21st Century Britain.

“If the body is to avoid being a toothless tiger then the government needs to put its money where its mouth is and back its stated commitment to equality with the resources to root out and challenge discrimination.”

But Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall and one of the 14 commissioners on the EHRC, sounded a more optimistic note.

“This is hugely important,” he told pinknews.co.uk, “because people will have a public body required to defend them for the very first time.

“The challenge is to make sure that it works as well as some of the charities supporting equality have been able to do at their best.”

The Durex Global Sex Survey asked 317,000 participants in 41 countries about their sexual habits, and will be published in this months Foreign Policy magazine.

While the general trend is for individuals in richer countries to have a larger number of sexual partners, Turks seem to buck the trend, totting up 14 partners in a lifetime.

Italians reported 12, the United States and Switzerland 10, France eight, Spain six, while Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China and Hong Kong all reported between two and six.

In general, low income countries average 6.3 sexual partners in a lifetime, middle-income countries 8.6 and high-income countries 9.7.

But Turkey’s relatively low income status and conservative social culture have led some critics to question the results.

“It is nonsense,” Alper Mumcu, gynaecologist in Istanbul’s American Hospital, told the Turkish Daily News.

“It’s an internet survey, not a scientific health survey. Maybe just high income people filled it out.

“It’s a commercial thing.”

Critics say the figures reflect tendencies among the well-off in Istanbul as opposed to the habits of the general population. Others mistrust any survey based on internet responses because it can only reflect certain socio-economic groups.

General manager of Durex Turkey, Erdinç Nuray, disagrees.

“Turkish people are known as good sexual partners and we believe having 14 partners in a lifetime is in line with reality. Those are the results totally based on the answers of respondents,” he told the Turkish Daily News.

He admitted the company had no idea which part of the country the respondents lived, however.

“In developed countries they have a more free life than in Turkey, they can go out and date and have different sexual partners. Those things in Turkey are still taboo,” he continued.

“In Turkey, in urban areas, people have a more free life and can thus have more partners. There are also many people having sex with different sex workers before they get married.”

The survey found the average age Turks lost their virginity was 16.

Norway had the highest number of people having unprotected sex, with a massive 70 percent of Norwegians admitting to doing it without knowing their partners sexual history.

On the other end of the scale, only 25 percent of respondents in India or Hong Kong had had unprotected sex.

Gays, lesbians and transsexuals registered similar levels of unprotected sex as their straight counterparts, with 45.3 percent of men and 48.4 percent of women admitting to it.

In fact, variations in unprotected sex due to identity are very low. Women and men, gay and straight, married or single, all produced similar results.

The most important variable for the likelihood of having unprotected sex is simply promiscuity.

The survey found that the more partners an individual has, the greater the chance of them having unprotected sex.