The concert was the start of four days of events to welcome the President-elect into the White House.

However, Robinson’s invocation, titled A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama, was left out of the HBO television coverage of the event, which has been viewed as a slight by many in the LGBT community.

There were also claims that many who had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial were also unable to hear the speech because of a problem with a set of speakers.

During the prayer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Robinson asked that American be blessed, “With freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.”

The decision to have the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire speak at the concert followed a lengthy debate by Robinson and many gay rights groups over the choice of Reverend Rick Warren to deliver a prayer on the day of inauguration.

Warren has publicly denounced homosexuality, likening it to incest.

In interviews before the concert Robinson had spoken to say that he wanted to ensure the prayer was inclusive of all American people, no matter what their religion.

Robinson also asked for the nation to be blessed, “With anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of colour, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.”

Obama, along with Vice President-elect, Joe Biden also spoke during the celebrations. The concert featured performances from performers Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Usher.

Alexander Bruce, 25, and Jaco van der Walt, 19, had decided to marry after being together for a year and had gone to the Home Affairs office for an initial appointment on December 17th.

However, they claim that when they arrived at the Germiston Home Affairs office on January 2nd they were laughed at by an official who then refused to marry them.

After speaking to a more senior member of staff, the official returned to the couple and said that the Germiston Home Affairs office could not accommodate same-sex marriages.

“I spoke to the supervisor myself and he told me that I should go to the Alberton Home Affairs office,” Bruce told The Citizen newspaper. “The supervisor did not treat us with respect at all; he was quite rude to us.”

Bruce later phoned the Alberton Home Affairs office, and was told that Germiston Home Affairs office is in fact permitted to perform same-sex marriages.

“I was so excited about getting married and was really disappointed when we couldn’t go through with it,” Van der Walt told the newspaper.

Home Affairs claimed the marriage did not take place because there was no record of the couple’s appointment on December 17th.

The two men now plan to marry at the Alberton Home Affairs office and hope to take legal action.

South Africa is the only country in Africa that has legalised same-sex marriage.

It is a social network that enables you to post messages while following selected people, who then follow you back in return.

“What you’re effectively doing is pulling off someone’s feed, and so for instance on my Twitter feed I post what I’m doing in my campaign around South West Devon, which local issue I’m campaigning on next, and the roughly 300 people that follow me will get that delivered in their Twitter feed, just like an inbox,” Luke explains.

Labour figures and people involved with his campaign are joined on his Twitter by a certain Stephen Fry.

“He always brightens up my day and posts on his Twitter feed about ten times a day with his latest thoughts, how he’s feeling, and what he’s doing,” says Luke, a 28-year-old with the enthusiasm of a teenage tech junkie.

 ”He also follows me back so he gets my updates.

“It’s a wonderful way of whittling down the internet world so you only get what you want in your inbox, and you can pull in feeds from all over the world.”

Luke posts on his Twitter feed about five or six times a day and as a parliamentary candidate regards it as a useful tool.

“As far as a campaign resource it’s useful if I’m out campaigning, because if I see something I can instantly tell people about it and ask their opinion.

“For example when I’m going into meetings with a local politician I can ask people if there are any questions they want to me to put forward.

“I think one of the problems with politics at the moment is that, through no fault of the people involved, it has become sometimes become quite distant.

“Digital media like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter allows you to personalise your communications much more, especially in my situation, going up against a Conservative MP with a 10,000 majority.”

Why does he put so much effort into campaigning in an area that is traditionally a Tory stronghold?

A quick trip around his campaign website reveals many YouTube videos of the distinctly photogenic candidate taking up local issues all round the constituency.

He spends nearly every weekend there, despite having a fulltime public affairs job in London.  

“I’d like to think of it as a surprise Labour gain on the night,” he laughs, “South West Devon is where I grew up, it’s my home.

“I’m lucky in the fact that I can campaign in my own community on issues I remember growing up with, in areas and with people I know about.

“I think it’s essential because it gives you a real bond with the people there and helps you understand what’s on their mind and know how to represent them more.”

Barack Obama election as the 44th President of the United States was an internet election, and his use of the net to raise funds and marshal supporters has not been lost on Luke. 

He believes there are lessons that UK political parties can learn from the new leader of the free world.

“Put simply the Obama campaign changed the way that political campaigns are run from now on.

“What Obama did was to motivate people and give them a reason to go out and vote for him just by appealing to them and to the core issues they are talking about.

“If a politician is talking the same language as the electorate they are naturally going to do well.

“The Obama Everywhere campaign was fantastic, because effectively the same content was delivered to people in different ways.

“That’s how the online world works now and all the main UK political parties have taken elements of that.

“Obama brought people together to campaign in their community. He gave people power to speak to their neighbours and say, ‘Let’s have an Obama party,’ or, ‘Have you seen what he’s done here?’”

With regards to the UK, he is not taken in by the talk about an early election.

“My money would be on 2010 but we do have elections before then.

“In my constituency in June this year we have Devon County Council elections and there are European elections, which happen in every part of the UK.

“But personally I would prefer 2010 for a general election because it would give me more time to carry on campaigning, which is really good fun and something I don’t want to end.”

He agrees that it is campaigning that motivates him.

“I campaign in my constituency every weekend; we also do phone canvassing and letter writing. The more time I have to do these little bits, hopefully the more it will pay off.

“The best thing I can do is fight and keep on fighting.

“Gary Streeter (the sitting Tory MP) tells me he’s not worried about losing his seat and perhaps with a 10,000 majority he shouldn’t be.

“When you’ve got any Government, or any council, or any MP with a strong majority as Gary certainly has, how are they being held to account for what they’re doing?

“I’m sure that some of the decisions they’re taking are the right ones and I’m sure that some of them aren’t, and if we’re not campaigning to hold them to account then they are getting away with these.”

From his website it is clear that the environment is close to his heart.

“I am a bit of a greenie,” he admits.

“And one thing I’m quite keen to do is to make sure the campaign is as green as possible.

“When the election kicks off there will be monitoring of all of our campaign output, not only election spend, but also for carbon spend. I think it’s important that politicians should lead by example.”

As the interview draws to a close I ask Luke, who is gay and single, how he finds time for a life outside of work with all his political commitments.

“Good question,” he muses.

“If you spend all your time in Westminster village, then you only get a Westminster village perspective on things,” he says finally.

“Sometimes I cringe when I see politicians desperately trying to explain they are a normal person. You have to be able to ground yourself.

“I like going clubbing, playing football, hockey and going down the pub with my mates, just like everyone else.”

Click here to find out more about Twitter.

Shaun Dykes, 17, died instantly after throwing himself off the top of Westfield Shopping Centre car park in Derby on September 27th last year.

People had shouted at Dykes, urging him to, “Get on with it,” and “Come on, stop wasting time,” while also filming footage on mobile phones that later appeared on YouTube and social networking sites.

Police negotiators had been speaking to Dykes, from Kilburn in Derbyshire, for two hours.

Detective Inspector Barry Thacker, trained negotiator told the inquest in Derby:

“Shaun was engaging with us. I had been sat with my arms out towards him.

“He bent down to reach down to my hand when there was a shout of, “You’re wasting taxpayers’ money. He stood up, said, “It’s gone too far” and started counting down. Then he said, “No”, closed his eyes and threw himself off.”

Earlier Shaun’s mother had received a text message from her son which read:

“I can’t cope with myself, I don’t know how to cope with anyone else.”

She had found letters inferring he was planning to commit suicide and told the inquest: “I tried ringing and ringing but he didn’t answer. Then he called me. I said, come back, come back.

“I was asking him where he was. He said Derby. He wouldn’t tell me anymore.”

The inquest was also told that Shaun had been suffering with depression and was upset over breaking up with his boyfriend five days previously.

As a verdict of suicide was recorded, Louise Pinder, Assistant Deputy Coroner for Derby, denounced the people that had urged Dykes to jump.

She said: “I am quite sure police officers were taken by surprise by the despicable people taunting Shaun.

“It’s inconceivable that, whilst negotiators were talking with Shaun, these mindless people were behaving with such insensitivity and without any apparent concern for a human being’s safety.

“The individuals who were taunting Shaun at that time, whose identities remain unknown, are responsible, at least in part, for his death.”

Chief Superintendent Andrew Hough said: “The city lost its humanity for a period of time that day.”

Click here to view the Facebook memorial page for Shaun Dykes.

State Senator Dennis Damon’s Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedoms revokes the state’s Defence of Marriage Act, which defines a marriage as between a man and a woman only.

Since 2004 Maine has allowed gay and lesbian couples to register as domestic partners.

Domestic partnerships only grant some of the rights given to married couples.

Senator Damon told a news conference on Tuesday that the bill, which was written with help from the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition, will “fully end discrimination in Maine.”

One of the aims is to put an end to any problems same-sex couples would encounter if they apply for a marriage licence in Maine.

The subject of same-sex marriage has been a topic for discussion recently in New England with the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders announcing their aim to have same-sex marriage legalised in all six states by 2012.

If Senator Damon’s bill is passed, it would make Maine the third state in New England to allow same-sex marriage, after Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Republican Josh Tardy, a member of the state House of Representatives, is to press for  a constitutional amendment which states that marriage is limited to heterosexual couples.

Maine Governor John Baldacci said in a statement after the press conference on Tuesday he would be watching the debate but was not yet willing to give his support to same-sex marriage.

Groups which oppose gay marriage have already said they will fight the bill.

Of the six states in New England only one, Rhode Island, does not offer same-sex couples any type of recognition under law.

Staffordshire University introduced the toilets at the nightclub on the Leek Road campus of the university on 7th January.

The decision to trial the gender-neutral toilets was made in December, and they are the first of their kind in Stoke-on-Trent.

Fee Wood, President of the Student Union, told the Stoke Sentinel:

“We are trying to make things as easy as possible for all our students.

“We do have transgender students here, but the new facilities are not just for them – they are for the androgynous students as well.”

A decision will be made in March as to whether to expand the toilets to other parts of the University.

Last year Manchester University hit the headlines after the renaming of its male and female toilets as an effort to avoid offending their transgender students. The men’s toilets were re-named; “toilets with urinals” while the female toilets were simply, “toilets.”

Last year, it was decided that transgender people should be given the option to use whichever toilet they felt happier with, as part of the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

A 4-3 majority at the city commission voted in the provision, and almost immediately there were campaigns launched to the decision reversed.

A television advert released recently by opponents to the law goes as far as to imply that it gives sex attackers pretending to be transgender people the option to follow victims into toilets.

In this instance, a young blonde-haired girl is shown being followed by a middle-aged man, despite the fact that there have been no reported incidents to police as a result of the new law.

The chairman of Citizens for Good Public Policy, Cain Davis, said: “We know when men go into women’s restrooms bad things can happen.”

However, campaigns have also been launched by groups which support the law, and who claim that these adverts are part of a more general attack on the LGBT community.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has stated that 108 cities and countries have in place similar systems which protect the rights of transgender people.

Groups that oppose the law want to have the provision revoked in a March 24th ballot measure.

The Alien Legacy: The Origins of Sodomy Law in British Colonialism, states that Section 377,  introduced under the Indian penal code in 1860, is responsible for the persecution of homosexual people that still occurs in more than 35 countries, from Uganda and Nigeria to Papua New Guinea.

It punishes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and was introduced because the British felt the new colonies needed a code of behaviour in order to “reform”, as well as a fear that the new colonies could “corrupt” some of their own.

Today homosexuality is still a crime in many countries. Seven nations retain the death penalty, including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Iran.

In the early 1990s Robert Mugabe made the headlines when he described gay and lesbian people as “un-African” and said they were, “worse than dogs and pigs.”

Scott Long, director of the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch said:

“Half the world’s countries that criminalise homosexual conduct do so because they cling to Victorian morality and colonial laws.

“Getting rid of these unjust remnants of the British Empire is long overdue.”

Different variations on the 1860 law soon spread across most of the British colonies.

Later, when many of them achieved independence, a great number kept the sodomy laws.

Although initially only meant to penalise against certain acts, the laws ended up discriminating against entire groups of people.

In India, people listed as “eunuchs” (the British term for Indian hijras or transgender members of the population) were seen as a “criminal tribe” and could be arrested and jailed for simply even appearing in public.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967.

In 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committee declared that sodomy laws violate a person’s right not to be discriminated against.

Despite these moves forward, the laws still stand amongst many of Britain’s old colonies, including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma) and Sri Lanka.

The report concludes:

“Sodomy laws encourage all of society to join in surveillance, in a way congenial to the ambitions of police and state authorities.

“That may explain why large numbers of countries that have emerged from colonialism have assumed and assimilated their sodomy laws as part of the nationalist rhetoric of the modern state.

“Authorities have kept on refining and fortifying the provisions, in parliaments and courts-spurred by the false proposition they are a bulwark of authentic national identity.

“The campaigns for law reform are not merely for a right to intimacy, but for the right to live a life without fear of discrimination, exposure, arrest, detention, or harassment.

“Reform would dismantle part of the legal system’s power to divide and discriminate, to criminalise personhood and identity, to attack rights defenders, and to restrict civil society.

“Removing the sodomy laws would affirm human rights and dignity. It would also repair a historical wrong that demands to be remembered.

“The legacy of colonialism should no longer be confused with cultural authenticity or national freedom.

“An activist from Singapore writes: “It’s amazing” that millions of people “have so absorbed Victorian prudishness that even now, when their countries are independent – and they are all happy and proud they’re free from the yoke of the British-they stoutly defend these laws.”

“He concludes:

“”The sun may have set on the British Empire, but the Empire lives on.”

“These last holdouts of the Empire have outlived their time.”

James Hopkins, 42, said that the person who had murdered Robyn Browne was in fact a Jamaican man who went by the name of “Appee.”

Ms Browne, 23, was found dead at the flat where she worked in Gosfield Street, Central London in February 1997. She had been stabbed nine times in the chest and neck.

Hopkins claimed that he and Appee had gone to Miss Browne’s flat in order to retrieve her address book.

He told the court that the plan had been hatched over drinks with Appee in London, claiming: “He said there was a girl that lived nearby that had some phone numbers that he needed, a book that she wouldn’t return.”

He told the court that when he saw Appee fighting with Ms Browne he tried to pull the two apart.

“I could see there was a lot of blood coming from around Browne’s abdomen, chest area,” he said. 

“Appee made for Browne again. I grabbed him and this time Appee turned round and head butted me.

“I staggered back and Appee returned and stabbed Browne up near the neck. I was in a state of shock. I couldn’t believe what happened.”

Hopkins claimed that he had made an appointment with Ms Browne at 7pm on the night of February 28th, believing her to be a female prostitute.

He said: “When the door opened it was a black man in a dress, a bathrobe. I asked to use the bathroom and I heard Browne moving into the bedroom.” He went on to say that he pressed a buzzer which gave Appee entry into the flat.

It was not until a bloody palm print that left at the scene was identified from the police computer database in 2007 that Hopkins was linked to the murder.

The trial continues.

The resolution, the work of Italian MEP Giusto Cantania, uses arguments based on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

It calls for countries which already recognise gay marriage to also acknowledge it across different Member States.

In article 75 of the resolution states that legislation should be drawn up to: “propose guidelines for mutual recognition of existing legislation between Member States in order to guarantee that the right of free movement within the European Union for same-sex couples applies under conditions equal to those applicable to heterosexual couples.”

A similar declaration was tabled in October by British MEP Sharon Bowles.

It instructed countries, “with existing same-sex partnership legislation to recognise the arrangements of other Member States that have also made provisions for same-sex partnerships.”

PinkNews.co.uk revealed in December 2008 that despite the best efforts of campaigners, many British MEPs had not signed up to the cause.

A request to Nigel Farage MEP from campaigner Ben Hepworth was responded to by Andrew S. Reed at the MEP’s office in Brussels who said:

“I should point out that the assembly’s Written Declarations – just like its Resolutions and Own-Initiative Reports – have no legal force, because the assembly is only allowed to vote meaningfully upon matters placed before it by the EU-Commission (under the Commission’s “sole right of legislative proposal”).

“Moreover, the Commission only proposes matters, which it knows the assembly will adopt. If there is any doubt about this, the Commission merely passes its proposals directly to the EU-Council.

“I am not sure, therefore, what is meant by “the policy-stage” (hoping the Commission will take notice, perhaps) but it certainly does not mean much.

“The assembly’s initatives are merely ways of making the assembly, and its members, look as though they are doing something, when, in fact, they are merely a rubber-stamp for the Commission and a trick to make the EU look as though it possesses an element of democracy.”

However, there were also positive responses from MEPs who added their support for the declaration.

Currently some EU nations, including Spain and Belgium, do allow gay marriage.

The UK has civil partnerships, which are also to be introduced in the Republic of Ireland.

The French pacte civil de solidarité (PACS) is recognised in Britain, despite civil partnerships not being recognised in France.

Currently gay and lesbian people who have recognised unions or same sex marriages are being denied the right to move and live freely amongst EU Member States.

The election in November gave the Democrats a 32-30 majority.

The Human Rights Campaign,  America’s biggest organisation dedicated to achieving equality for the LGBT community, welcomed the Senator Malcolm Smith’s new role as Senate Majority Leader.

The Democrats have a majority in the state Senate for the first time in more than 40 years.

Joe Solmonese, President of HRC, said:

“The Human Rights Campaign congratulates Senator Smith, who is a long-time, strong advocate for full equality for all New Yorkers, including the LGBT community.

“We further congratulate Senator Smith for refusing to make anyone’s civil rights a bargaining chip in negotiations over leadership of the Senate.

“We look forward to Senator Smith leading a new Senate that makes equal rights a reality for all New Yorkers, and, as we have said before, HRC is committed to continuing to working aggressively with Empire State Pride Agenda, Marriage Equality New York, and supporters of equality throughout the state to win marriage equality in New York in this coming legislative session.”

As PinkNews.co.uk reported in December, the Democrats’ commitment to gay marriage was put under threat after three Senators refused to back Senator Smith as leader.

Senator-elect Pedro Espada Junior had wanted to split the roles of President of the Senate and Majority leader, with himself as Majority Leader and Senator Smith as pro tempore of the Senate.

It was also reported that Senator Smith was pressurised to agree that a vote on a marriage equality bill would not happen within the Senate in the coming year, which resulted in him receiving thousands of emails from people who support marriage equality.

The Democrats have promised legislation to legalise gay marriage if they took power.

However Senator Smith responded at the time to these claims at a Manhattan press conference, saying:

“I am announcing that the Democratic Members of the Senate have elected to cease negotiations on reorganisation matters with all three Senators as discussed both in private and in the press.

“We are suspending negotiations, effective immediately, because to do so otherwise would reduce our moral standing and the long-term Senate Democratic commitment to reform and to change.

“We believe that ultimately, we must do what is right for the people of the State of New York. Furthermore, real reform cannot and should not ever include limiting the civil rights of any New Yorkers.

“Those issues must be part of the legislative process. The members of this Conference have come a long way to consider the demands placed on the table.

“But frankly, we would rather wait two more years to take charge of the Senate than to simply serve the interests of the few.

“New York State cannot afford the type of self-serving politics being proposed and I will not be the leader to sacrifice what is right for New York for a quick political solution.”

Last week all 32 Democrats voted for Senator Smith. He is the first African-American to become NY Senate Majority Leader.

In June 2007, the state assembly voted with an 85-61 majority in favour of a marriage equality bill.

It later stalled in the Senate.

Sandra Cecilia Pavez Pavez filed the lawsuit in the Inter-American Human Rights Court on January 8th, over a year after she lost her teaching post.

She appeared last week with her lawyer, Alfredo Morgado and the President of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (MOVILH).

Rolando Jimenez, President of MOVILH said:

“Once again, people who have a different sexual orientation are systematically denied justice.

“Sandra’s case demonstrates how sexual minorities do not have rights in the eyes of this country’s judicial system, and the only option left is to seek international assistance.”

Ms Pavez had taught at a public school in San Bernardo for 23 years.

She lost her position in 2007 after admitting to church authorities she was a lesbian, resulting in her teaching certificate being taken away.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz, head of San Bernardo Diocese, also urged Ms Pavez to seek psychological help.

She has twice previously attempted to file lawsuits, one before a local court and another before Chile’s Supreme Court but both attempts were unsuccessful.

Ms Pavez said:

“If there is no guarantee of my rights as a citizen in this country then what kind of citizen am I? A third or second class citizen? Maybe I don’t even have a category in my country.”

MOVILH have claimed there is discrimination against minority people in Chile, who make up 10% of the country’s population.

Nadine Sclumpf, from Switzerland, was awarded 15,000 euros (£13,400).

The court ruled that her human rights had been violated when Switzerland’s Federal Insurance Court dropped her case against SWICA medical insurance for not paying for her treatment.

Ms Sclumpf was known as Max until she had gender reassignment surgery in 2004, aged 67.

She waited until her wife had died of cancer in 2002 and her children had grown up before proceeding with the treatment.

SWICA medical insurance had initially refused to reimburse the cost of the treatment because Ms Sclumpf had the operation before the end of the two year “observation” period set by the high court in 1988.

However, there is another age-old question that has once again become the hot topic of conversation as the 80th anniversary approaches – is Tintin gay?

As openly gay British journalist Matthew Parris reported in The Times, “What debate can there be when the evidence is so overwhelmingly one-way? A callow, androgynous blonde-quiffed youth in funny trousers and a scarf moving into the country mansion of his best friend, a middle-aged sailor?”

Tintin himself is always featured with two of his closest companions, a dog called Snowy and a sailor, aptly named Captain Haddock. Of the two women in his life, one is called Bianca Castafiore, who Parris describes as a, “fag-hag if ever there was one” and the other a, “curler-wearing virago” who, “may well have been lesbian.”

Parris goes on to point out that it is in fact Tintin’s dog who has a, “tendency to be distracted by lady dogs: a tendency in which he is consistently foiled by his master and by Herge’s plot.”

Herge is of course Georges Remi, Tintin’s Belgian creator who could not have known that this debate would rage 80 years after his character’s first appearance.

However there have been many people who have spoken out in Tintin’s defence. Marcel Wilmet, a spokesman for Studios Herge told The Sun newspaper:

“Just because there is an absence of women does not mean that Tintin was gay.

“Tintin is not at all gay – he was very macho in fact. He has many friends who are boys but they are not boyfriends.”

In France there has been uproar over the comments made by Parris.

Although Georges Remy was from Belgium, he was French speaking, meaning that many French people have come to adopt Tintin as their own.

Newspaper le Figaro used the headline, “They have walked on Tintin” and even brought in Serge Tisseron, a celebrity psychiatrist who commented that describing Tintin as gay is, “lonely revenge for a homosexual.”

The government makes grants totalling 450,000 euros (£405,000) a year to Christian groups that promote the interests of homosexual people.

Orthodox group Onze Weg (Our Way) claimed to do this and received a subsidy of 50,000 euros in September.

Members of Parliament Boris van der Ham and Anouchka van Miltenburg started asking questions after an article in Revu Weekly made claims that groups such as Our Way deliberately set out to encourage gay people to “become” heterosexual.

Dutch Education Minister Ronald Plasterk had previously defended the funding of these groups, but was forced to ask Our Way for an explanation following the allegations.

Our Way responded in a letter: “Our subsidy is intended to promote an open discussion of homosexuality among orthodox Christians.

“It is out of the question that we support clubs that advocate helping people to get rid of their homosexual feelings.”

In Parliament last Thursday Mr Plasterk announced the group will not receive funding from the government.

The article in Revu Weekly also made similar allegations against another group, the RefoAnders Foundation.

They have since been asked to make a detailed account of what their aims are.

It had been reported that Paluyan was to report to a military base in Mozyr on January 9th, after a change in law meant that he was no longer exempt from the army because of a medical condition.

News of Mr Paluyan’s conscription was widely reported through the Belarusian LGBT community, and lead to the Belarusian Initiative for Sexual and Gender Equality planning a protest in front of a local military department.

Generally when someone called up for military duty in Belarus states they are homosexual they are identified as having a “psychiatric disease.” Mr Paluyan is reportedly the only person exempt from military duty without being diagnosed with a mental illness.

In an email to GayRussia Mr Paluyan said:

“It is good that everything was done on time and many thanks to everyone for support which I received from friends and colleagues.

“Without their help I would now be wearing the military boots.”

Meanwhile activists have launched a campaign with the aim of getting the Ministry of Defence to reduce homophobia within the Belarusian army.

Throughout the month the Petrie museum will be host to Legacy, an exhibition of paintings from the London based artist Andrew Prior.

The work will feature paintings of Andrew’s acquaintances as well as his visions of Hadrian and Antinous, and are all based on the Roman Mummy portraits of Hawara.

The exhibition will be open from 13.00-17.00 Tuesday to Friday and 11.00-14.00 on Saturdays.

On 5th February there is an opportunity to listen to Dr Debbie Challis’ seminar Desire and Papyrus: The Discovery Of Fragments Of Sappho In Egypt (LGBT).

This seminar will concentrate on the how the poetry of Sappho, a Greek poetess, was received in the literature and art of 19th century.

The talk will concentrate on how pieces of poetry written by Sappho that were found in Egypt helped to overturn her image. This seminar will run from 6pm-8pm.

On 26th February, there will be a seminar called Antinous: Gay Icon?

This will concentrate on Hadrian’s lover Antinous and his influence throughout history, with John J. Johnston speaking on the role on Antinous and that of sexuality in Roman Egypt and Cathie Bryan continuing with Antinous’ influence into a more modern era.

The Petrie Museum can be found at University College London, Malet Street, London. WC1E 6BT.

For more information www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk

Boston-based GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) announced the ‘Six by Twelve’ campaign on the fifth anniversary of the Massachusetts court ruling that legalised gay marriage, the first state in the country to do so.

The group have also had success in Connecticut, where after a state Supreme Court ruling the first same-sex weddings took place in November.

The Executive Director of GLAD, Lee Swislow said:

“By 2012 we not only can have marriage equality throughout New England, we can have a road map for the rest of the country.”

A state Supreme Court ruling in California in May allowed gay marriage, and an estimated 18,000 gay and lesbian couples took advantage of their new rights.

Voters approved a ballot measure in November that seeks to deny gay couples their marriage rights by changing the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Gay rights groups are challenging the validity of Proposition 8 in court.

Californian gay and lesbian couples can still register domestic partnerships but cannot get married.

GLAD hopes to achieve its aim of legal gay marriage in all New England states by collaborating with equality groups across the region.

Meanwhile in Washington, State Senator Ed Murray is working alongside five other members of government in order to increase the rights given to couples in domestic-partnerships.

Murray told The Olympian newspaper that he hopes to push for a same sex-marriage bill in the future, a move which opposing groups say they will fight.

As a comedian, she plays gigs all over the country and has been a finalist at Funny Women at the Comedy Store.

Next week she will bring her critically acclaimed comedy show I Am Nesia to London, starting with a free show at Peckham Library on 14th January and then two further shows at Camden’s Etcetera Theatre on January 15th and 16th.

PinkNews.co.uk: Tell us about the new show I Am Nesia.

The title is just a pun on amnesia, as the show is based on memory.

I’ve always had a little dream where I panic about not doing revision, and the show started from that.

Sometimes I think what would happen if I had to take my physics A-Level again, and of course comedians often have a fear of forgetting their set when they are on stage.

I do a running gag in the show where I say “It’s not about me,” but of course it is.

The idea is that there is a slightly frumpy chemistry teacher who wants to talk about herself instead of teaching the lesson.

I did the show in Edinburgh last year which was a bit of a last-minute decision, usually comedians do the comedy circuit before they take a show to Edinburgh but I’m doing things the other way round.

Have you had positive experiences at the festival?

In 2007, it was a bit of a disaster.

A group called Funny Women cast me in a play; it was an all-female stand up cast.

The play was called Guid Sisters but it was pulled after two performances, because it just didn’t quite come together. It was a shame because the idea was really good.

But I was also up there doing a late night show with two other comics, so I stayed up there for the whole run anyway.

You took a degree in engineering. What made you change plans and go into performing?

Do any of us have a plan? I think in early life I just wasn’t confident enough doing what I wanted to.

I was quite into science at school and took A-Levels in maths, physics and art. I originally wanted to go to art college, as that was something I had a natural gift for. When you are younger, I think you are more likely to do what is expected of you, but once you graduate you want to do what makes you happy.

Do you get stage fright before you perform?

I think it’s good to be a little bit nervous. After I had begun to do comedy, I found getting on stage to do music a total breeze! Now it’s more the other way round because the music gigs are more few and far between.

But you do still keep up the singing alongside the comedy?

Yes because I think it would be a shame to let that go, in fact I’m performing in Cambridge on Saturday.

How do you react when the audience clearly aren’t on board?

With music it’s not so bad because you just enjoy it for yourself and people generally come up to you at the end and say they really enjoyed it even if you know they didn’t.

With comedy you just have to do what you can and hope that a little bit of banter will bring the audience back on your side. When you are a new comic, I think it’s much harder to go off script and have a different plan.

You’ve played quite a few venues on the LGBT circuit. Do you enjoy them?

I think they’re fun, they are always a very supportive audience. When I play at venues such as Comedy Camp (in Soho) it feels a bit like playing to a home crowd!

Do you tailor your shows depending on the audience you are playing to?

I tend to surprise people a bit, especially if there are some that aren’t very clued up because I don’t fit the ridiculous stereotype of a lesbian that most people still adhere to.

I once played at a Christian Centre for Women’s Day in Battersea.

The stage was in a lecture room with a cross and there was a lady who almost fell off her chair when I got to the part of the show where I came out.

I said: “I know, you think I’m too attractive to be a lesbian.”

I think humour sometimes helps to release the tension!

What else do you have coming up in the future?

I’m presenting some LGBT radio shows with South City Radio, a local south London station, which start on 27th January.

We will be having guests such as Stella Duffy coming on, I’m really looking forward to it. I also doing some work for Resonance FM at the moment which is good fun!

For more information on Rosie Wilby check out the official website www.rosiewilby.com or on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/rosiewilbycomedy

Alexander Paluyan, 23, has so far been exempt for medical reasons.

Members of the Belarusian Initiative for Sexual and Gender Equality have expressed concern about him serving in what is regarded by the group as a largely homophobic army.

Another gay man has also been called up but his identity has been kept a secret.

Paluyan has to report to a military department in Mozyr today (January 9th) where he will learn if he is still be exempt or be told the date he is due to start.

In an email to GayRussia.ru, activists wrote:

“We are anxious for the physical and psychological health of our friend, colleague and activist.”

An application has been made by the Belarusian Initiative for Sexual and Gender Equality to have a demonstration on January 12th in front of the military department.

They say they want to draw the attention of the authorities to the dangers homosexual men face in the army.

Sergey Androsenko, a representative for the organisation, said:

“It is not safe for an openly gay person to be called up for military duties.”