Since his election on April 19 2005, the leader of the world’s 800 million Roman Catholics has taken an increasingly tough line in areas such abortion and same-sex marriage.

He has slammed calls to let divorced Catholics who remarry participate in the church and he has refused to relax the celibacy requirements for priests.

Venturing into politics, the Pontiff has given a stark warning to Catholic politicians that the faith’s values are “not negotiable.”

Europe remains one of the Pope’s key targets for re-establishing the religious basis of society.

His attempts took a blow when predominantly Catholic Spain moved to approve gay marriage and now he is focusing his efforts in Italy.

The Vatican remains at loggerheads with the Italian government over proposals to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples after the Pope’s persistent defence of the “traditional family” based on marriage between a man and a woman.

Unlike his predecessor John Paul II, who kept out of Italian politics ever since the Vatican failed to overturn Italy’s liberal abortion policy in 1981, Pope Benedict XVI has persistently ventured into the political-public spotlight to voice his opposition on secular issues.

Last February he accused policy and lobby groups of devaluing the family institution. The family “shows signs of ceding to lobbies capable of negatively eroding the legislative process,” he said.

“Divorce and free unions are on the rise, meanwhile adultery is viewed with an unjustifiable tolerance.”

And last October he warned people of “the risk of political and legislative decisions that contradict fundamental values and anthropological and ethical principles rooted in human nature.”

Such is the extent of his opposition that Italian police have given him special protection because of death threats.

However some have suggested that the Pope has started to step back from his public denunciations.

Marco Politi, the Vatican correspondent for the Italian daily La Repubblica and a biographer of John Paul II, sees Benedict’s position as mainly focused internally.

“Ratzinger is a great cultural, spiritual and intellectual figure, but at the Vatican he’s been a preacher. In history, a great professor is not always a great head of state,” Politi told the Associated Press.

“There have been no internal reforms – such as to give the faithful enough clergy – or new initiatives on the international scene for dialogue among the great religions. There is a great deal of catechism and little politics,” he added.

The pope is scheduled to visit Brazil next month to make a major policy address to Latin American bishops.

In September he will resume his European travels with a pilgrimage to Austria, a place where Catholics have traditionally been less welcoming of directives from Rome.

The Herefordshire’s Rural Media Company won the cash for its “Sticks and Stones” project, a series of short films on how to fight homophobia in rural communities.

Around 50 young gay people from rural communities are expected to feature in the films.

“We’ve wanted to set up this project for a long time and now we can really get going with this funding,” Nic Millington, the chief executive of Rural Media Company, told the Daily Mail

“There are so many homosexual youngsters in rural areas across the country but many feel they’re the only one.

“They are usually being bullied in school for being different because teenagers are trying their best to fit in.”

The young people participating in the scheme will be actively involved in script writing and will work closely with project managers to produce short films that explore different bullying scenarios.

They might also get the chance to put selected gay celebrities in the hot seat and ask them how they dealt with homophobic bullying in the past and what impact it has on them now.

The short films will also be uploaded onto internet sites such as YouTube to enable other people to engage in the project’s themes.

Stonewall, the gay equality organisation, has estimated that there are more than 60,000 young people suffering from homophobic bulling in rural areas.

Research undertaken at Liverpool University reported this week that homophobia is common in small villages and hamlets.

Professor Ann Jacoby said: “The rural idyll is very nice so long as you fit into certain categories, but problematic if you don’t.”

The decision follows a row over a same-sex couple who were denied the right to register their union in Aruba.

Aruba refused to recognise same-sex marriages in 2005 although it did legalise homosexual relations between consenting adults in private.

According to Advocate.com, the couple filed a case to repel the decision and won both their lawsuit and a subsequent appeal by Aruba’s government.

The Netherlands’ supreme court found that laws drawn up in the Netherlands, Aruba or the Netherlands Antilles are valid through the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Aruba is a 32km-long island in the Caribbean Sea that lies 27 km north of the Paraguaná Peninusla and Venezuela.

The country was granted partial independence from the Netherlands in 1986.

Although the country is self-governed it remains a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands forming a commonwealth with the State of the Netherlands and the State of the Netherlands Antilles.

The Netherlands is well-known for its liberal policies on issues such as sexual orientation.

It was one of the first countries to introduce legislation offering protection to LGBT people.

In 1993 the Dutch parliament passed the Equal Rights Law which included sexual orientation as a basis for anti-discrimination policy.

In 1998 domestic partnerships benefits were afforded to same-sex couples and in 2001 same-sex marriage was given legal recognition.

There is general public support for equal rights for gay and lesbians in the country and in 2006 a EU poll found the Dutch to be the strongest supports of same-sex marriage.

The country is also a popular destination for the world’s LGBT community.

Amsterdam in particular attracts a large gay following and its annual gay pride festival will kick off on 3 August.

Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, is on a visit to Canada.

Speaking to theology students in Toronto, he said that the Biblical passage most commonly used to condemn homosexuality, an extract from Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, was in fact meant to warn Christians not to be self-righteous in the face of others’ sin.

“Many current ways of reading miss the actual direction of the passage,” Williams said on Monday, according to Reuters.

“Paul is making a primary point not about homosexuality but about the delusions of the supposedly law-abiding,” he added.

His comments constituted a direct attack on conservative bishops who have been using the Bible to try to force pro-gay Anglican communities, particularly in the United States and Canada, out of the Anglican Communion.

Conservative and liberal branches of the worldwide Communion have been at loggerheads over the issues of homosexuality and same-sex unions ever since a gay bishop was ordained in the US in 2003.

Archbishop Williams’ comments come at a time when the Communion is nearing breaking point.

He has revealed that he considered cancelling the Communion’s next Lambeth conference, the assembly of Anglican bishops once every ten years, to avoid a schism.

“Yes, we’ve already been considering that and the answer is no,” he told the Anglican Church of Canada’s Anglican Journal.

“We’ve been looking at whether the timing is right, but if we wait for the ideal time, we will wait more than just 18 months,” he added.

The 14th conference will take place between 16th July and 4th August 2008 in Canterbury.

Archbishop Williams indicated last year that he did not want to discuss human sexuality issues at the conference, emphasising training matters instead.

In the Biblical text at the centre of the controversy Saint Paul says: “Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”

Williams said that these lines were the most important single text in Scripture on the subject of homosexuality.

But he stressed the importance of subsequent lines in which Paul warns readers not to condemn those who ignore God’s word: “At whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself,” wrote Paul.

Williams argued that a strict theological reading of the text would not allow a Christian to condemn others or find fault in their actions.

But he warned that such a reading would not necessarily prevent a schism since it satisfies neither liberal or conservative standpoints.

The reading maintains that homosexuality was a sin in Paul’s eyes but also challenges modern conservative Christians who judge and find fault in others on the basis of God’s word.

“This does nothing to settle the exegetical questions fiercely debated at the moment,” Williams said.

The event, which forms part of the singer’s summer tour, will campaign under the motto “You are not alone”, a reference to the five nurses who were sentenced to death in Libya on changes of deliberately infecting 426 children with AIDS.

In November 1998 it emerged that an AIDS epidemic had swept across a Children’s Hospital in Benghazi, one of Libya’s largest cities.

A total 426 Libyan children had been infected with HIV.

Libyan authorities took what they described as ‘precautionary measures’ against the Bulgarian doctors and nurses working at the hospital.

On March 7, 1999 six members of the group being held in isolation were formally arrested on the charge of deliberately infecting the children with HIV.

An investigation by the World Health Organisation concluded that the HIV infections had been caused by multiple sources of infections including poor sanitary practices in the hospital’s wards.

The findings were echoed in a final report by Prof. Luc Montagnier and Prof. Vittorio Colizzi, two of the world’s foremost HIV experts.

The report was submitted to the trial and formed a key part of the defence’s argument.

The defence team argued that the HIV virus existed before the medics began working at the hospital.

The defendants also claimed that they were forced into making a confession through torture.

However the prosecution put forward their own report by Libyan scientists that countered the claims of Montagnier and Colizzi.

The medics were eventually found guilty in May 2004 and sentenced to death by firing squad.

Although the sentence was successfully appealed against, the retrial resulted in another death sentence in December 2006.

As PinkNews.co.uk reported last year, many medical experts and human rights organisations have condemned the decision.

The National AIDS trust (NAT) claimed that the defendants had been turned into scapegoats.

Yusef Azad, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the National AIDS Trust said: “The verdict and sentence in this case are deeply shocking as there is overwhelming evidence to suggest the innocence of these healthcare workers.

“It is not the first time outsiders have been blamed for rising HIV rates instead of proper action being taken to reduce new infections. In this case the stigma and denial around HIV have turned these medical professionals into scapegoats.

The ruling has also been blasted by Bulgaria, the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses and EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini.

American talk show host Rosie O’Donnell, who is openly gay, will host the cruise which departs from New York on July 7.

The island’s African Methodist denomination attacked the gay visitors during its annual conference earlier this month.

In a statement the group said: “The AME Church opposes the same sex lifestyle of many of the anticipated passengers of the cruise hosted by Rosie O’Donnell.

“The lifestyle is incompatible with the word of God and the Christian moral fibre of our beautiful Bermuda.”

Last year the British overseas territory’s House of Assembly voted against adding sexuality to the Human Rights Act.

Renne Webb MP, a former tourist minister and gay rights activist, tried to pass the new law and said of the Christian protesters:

“I think that the church has the right to oppose whatever it wants to oppose within the context of its religion. However, it cannot dictate the tourism policy of the island.

“And within the context of our tourism policy we welcome all tourists to our shore. We do not ask them before their arrival whether they are homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual,” she told The Royal newspaper.

Rosie O’Donnell has been arranging cruises for gay and lesbian families since 2004 and her success was documented in 2006 in the HBO show All Abroad Rosie’s Family Cruise.

The inaugural cruise of 1,500 people set sail on a seven-day trip to the Caribbean on one of the largest cruise ships in the world.

This cruise was particularly special for Rosie as she had only recently married her long time girlfriend Kelli Carpenter in San Francisco.

The couple have three adopted children and are expecting a fourth, who was conceived via sperm donation.

The Yogyakarta Principles, named after the city whey they were adopted, were launched today by 29 international human rights experts at a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

They address issues such as rape and gender-based violence, extrajudicial executions, torture and medical abuses, repressions of free speech and discrimination in the public services.

Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch welcomed the strategy:

“These principles establish basic standards for how governments should treat people whose rights are too often denied and whose dignity is too often reviled,” he said.

“Firmly grounded in law and precedent, they enshrine a simple idea: human rights do not admit exceptions.”

The principles were adopted by a meeting of experts in international law in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2006.

They set out a legal standard for how governments and other agencies should end violence, abuse and discrimination against sexual minorities.

The strategy comes as a response to a session at the UN Human Rights Council last year where 54 states asked the council to act against violations of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Charlotte Bunch, executive director of the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, one of the human rights organisations that helped launch the principles, said:

“For more than three decades, lesbians have been among the millions of women’s rights activists pressing the international community to put gender equality at the human rights agenda.

“These sweeping principles are a bold and important step forward. Addressing civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights, they show how sexual rights and gender equality are inextricably interwoven with the full scope of rights protections,” she added.

As reported by PinkNews.co.uk earlier this month, The Fertility Institute, a clinic in Los Angeles, has started running a programme where male couples pay for eggs from a university student to be implanted in another woman, often from a working-class background, who carries the child.

The sperm comes from one of the gay men.

It is illegal to pay both surrogate mothers and egg donors in Britain.

The Fertility Institute also enables couples to choose the sex of the child, which is also illegal in the UK and nearly every other Western nation.

So far, around three-quarters of couples have opted for male babies.

The programme is the first surrogacy scheme that accommodates two-father families.

The Sun and The Times have seized on the story, claiming that nearly 20 male couples from the UK have participated in the scheme, paying around £33,000 to create a baby.

The programme has come under criticism for contributing to the normalisation of the “bio-family.”

Josephine Quintavalle, founder of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, an anti-IVF campaign group, told The Times: “This programme shows we have reached the ultimate in the manufacture of the bio-baby.

“There always seems to be a new way of reconstructing the traditional family.

“On the one hand in the United Kingdom we are saying that a child doesn’t need a father, but in America we are saying that two fathers is a good idea.”

But according to The Times, the clinic maintains that it is simply meeting a demand from gay men who are unable to start a family in Britain because of the shortage of donor eggs and surrogate mothers.

Dr Jeffrey Steinberg, director of The Fertility Institute, said: “In the past two years we have probably treated 20 British gay couples and in the past four days, since launching the dedicated programme for gay couples, we have had about 25 e-mails from gay British couples. There is a pent-up demand for this.”

Of the £33,000 that the gay couple pay to the clinic, about £13,000 to £18,000 goes to paying for the surrogate mother.

Last year Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, made it easier for lesbian couples to start a family by introducing legislation that would enable single women and lesbian couples to receive IVF without having to legally register a father for the child.

As PinkNews.co.uk reported earlier this month, while other centres have made headway into providing gay couples with biological children, The Fertility Institute is the first with a comprehensive programme covering each stage of the process.

This includes psychological, legal, medical and surrogate issues, as well as care for both donor and patient.

Before the programme was established, gay couples who wanted biological children had to go to several different agencies to find mothers, egg donors, lawyers and medical treatment.

70 couples in total have been treated so far, 40% of them from the US and the rest from Germany, China, Canada, Italy, Brazil, South Africa and the UK.

36-year old Sara Wheeler arguing that Georgia’s ambiguous position on gay adoption should reverse a decision which enabled her then partner, Missy Wheeler, to become the child’s second parent.

Wheeler gave birth to her son Gavin by artificial insemination in 2000.

Two years later the couple decided that Missy should adopt the child and become his second parent.

Georgia law doesn’t explicitly say whether gay parents can adopt a child.

The adoption was eventually granted by a judge in the Atlanta region’s DeKalb County after a parental investigation.

Sara Wheeler later broke up with Missy, who then demanded joint custody of the child.

Despite being warned by her lawyers that her actions could set gay rights back a century, Sara mounted a legal challenge on the grounds that Georgia law does not specifically allow gay adoption.

Both sides insist that the case is about a mother’s rights.

Sara’s tactics have caused a stir in Atlanta’s gay community and several gay rights groups have attacked her position.

The gay rights group Lambda Legal made a legal filing with the Georgia Supreme Court supporting Missy Wheeler.

Her lawsuit was eventually rejected by the DeKalb County judge and then the state Court of Appeals. The lawsuit failed to reach the Georgia Supreme Court when in February 2004, justices declined to hear the case in a 4-3 vote.

Sara admits that she has become alienated from the gay community and has had to rethink her sexuality. She no longer dates and doesn’t go to gay clubs or events.

In 2004, months before the decision not to hear Sara’s case at the Georgia Supreme Court, voters overwhelmingly approved the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage.

As part of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), activists will be spending hour-long shifts in a pub closet to raise awareness of laws across the world that discriminate against gay and lesbians.

The protest, organised by Gloucestershire Rainbow Day, will take place at the Lockkeepers bar in Wallbridge, Stroud, on May 18.

On IDAHO Day itself, May 17, a candlelight vigil will be held in the evening to remember Jody Dobrowski, who was the victim of a homophobic murder.

The 24-year-old bar manager was attacked on Clapham Common in London last year after making his way home from a night out.

Yvette Eagles, who runs the Lockkeepers with her partner Tamsin Hulls, told ThisIsGloucestershire.co.uk:

“Homophobic laws are still being passed in some countries and we can spend some of our time and energies highlighting these difficulties.

“We are lucky in this country that our rights are protected to a greater extent,” she added.

Last year saw Gloucester’s inaugural Gay Pride march.

It raised more than £300 for the gay rights group Iraqi LGBT, a Baghdad organisation fighting homophobia in post-Saddam Iraq.

This year will mark the third anniversary of IDAHO.

At least 50 countries will be involved in the campaign to promote LGBT rights across the globe.

Towns and cities across the UK are expected to organise a minutes noise against homophobia and lobby their local councils to fly the rainbow flag.

Derek Lennard, the IDAHO UK Coordinator said:

“This is a chance for us to demonstrate that we are not smug about advances made against homophobia in the UK, and at the same time we can not stand idly by while LGBT people are persecuted, criminalized and slaughtered around the world.”

Internationally, IDAHO will be campaigning for a United Nations resolution to decriminalise homosexuality across the world.

The movement has already been backed by a petition signed by over 5,000 people.

Ben Crouch, the UK North West Coordinator said: “The positive effect that a resolution of this type being approved at the United Nations will have on the global LGBT community will be equivalent in gay rights terms to the discovery of creating electricity.

For all those who have faced death, torture and imprisonment because of their sexuality, this resolution is for them.”

Campaigners can visit the IDAHO UK website

www.idaho.org.uk to get involved in the events and activities. 

The Terrence Higgins Trust’s youth service, NRG, is also holding prom for lesbian gay or bisexual under 21s and those who are questioning their sexuality.

‘Moving On Up’, will consist of workshops on topics ranging from hair and beauty to tai chi.

In the evening attendees will don their handbags and glad rags for the event’s prom.

“‘Moving On Up’ is a fantastic event and those who’ve attended in previous years have really loved it,” said Aretha Banton, the Trust’s Youth Services Programme Officer.

“The workshops are fun and interesting and the prom in the evening is always a real highlight,” she added.

The event is being held on April 28th in Waterloo.

The Terrence Higgins Trust was founded in memory of Terry Higgins, one of the first people to die of an AIDS related illness in England.

The charity provides a range of services across the UK for people with or affected by HIV and also lobbies for greater political and public understanding of the impact of HIV and sexual health on peoples lives.

To attend the event please contact the NRG team by calling 0207 803 1684 or email NRG@tht.org.uk 

Changing Attitudes Nigeria (CAN), an Anglican Church pressure group on LGBT rights, attacked a bill that would ban same-sex marriage and imprison anyone associated with promoting gay rights.

Davis Mac-Iyalla, head of Changing Attitudes Nigeria, warned that acceptance of the bill would see vast numbers of Nigerians fleeing to other countries to escape persecution.

“Already we are seeing an increase in homophobic behaviour and attacks, because people feel they can get away with it. The climate is already becoming intolerable”, said Mac-Iyalla.

“Unless the government tones down its language and cancels the bill, we are going to see a flood of refugees as people flee for their lives,” he warned.

The proposed legislation was introduced by President Olusegun Obasanjo in February 2006 and according the BBC, parliamentary insiders have said that the bill is likely to be passed by both chambers of the Nigeria National Assembly by the end of this month.

The legislation has attracted loud protest from across the world.

In March 2006, sixteen international human rights groups signed a letter condemning the bill saying that it “contravenes the basic rights to freedom of expression, conscience, association, and assembly.”

New York based Human Rights Watch said in a statement:

“This draconian measure will only intensify prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

The group also warned that the bill would make it harder to combat Aids in Nigeria since it would make some of the work being carried out by HIV prevention groups illegal.

But Emmanuel Onwubiko, a senior commissioner at Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission told the BBC:

“Supporters of the same-sex marriage in Nigeria don’t know what they are saying. As far as we are concerned, gay marriage is not allowed in Africa.

“If South Africa want to do it, that is their business. It is not Nigerian to by gay, let alone going ahead to legally get married as gay and even live as a family with adopted children.

It’s completely alien to our culture,” he added.

Nigeria has a population of roughly 117 million.

6.5% of the population is conservatively estimated to be gay putting at least 760,000 Nigerians at threat from imprisonment.

“If only a fraction of those sought sanctuary elsewhere, that would still create a headache for countries that Nigerians would naturally flee to,” warns Davis Mac-Iyalla.

Nigeria, like many African countries, is notoriously conservative on issues such as homosexuality.

It is currently banned in the Nigerian penal code and in Muslim law. Furthermore, in around a dozen northern states which are under Islamic Sharia law, it is punishable by death by stoning.

The country also has the world’s third-highest population of Aids suffers with around 3.6 million people infected with HIV.

Last week the European Parliament adopted a resolution on human rights violations in Nigeria and called on them not to adopt the bill currently being debated.

Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said:

“We welcome the European Parliament’s stance on human rights violations in Nigeria.

“We fear that the current outrageous bill outlawing any activities representing and protecting the human rights of LGBT people in Nigeria is not prominently dealt with by the Parliament and this issue might loose its momentum by being shelved together with other ongoing human rights concerns in Nigeria.”

Following the international success of Swan Lake, which has been touring for over ten years, Matthew Bourne is turning his attention to Romeo, Romeo.

It is an adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet, which, like Swan Lake, will feature an all-male cast.

Speaking last week, Bourne said that the project’s success rests on portraying a convincing gay relationship in dance.

“Its more to do with dancing than with sexuality. A male dancer, whether he’s gay or straight, fits into a relationship with a female partner very happily,” he told The Sunday Times.

“Getting away from that, making a convincing love duet, a romantic, sexual duet, for two men that is comfortable to do and comfortable to watch – I don’t know if you can. I’ve never seen it done.”

Bourne’s ground-breaking Swan Lake, which cast all the swans and cygnets with male performers, was first staged in 1995 and has since become the longest running ballet in London’s West End.

However, Bourne has admitted that it stopped short of being a homosexual ballet because the dancers were not playing people.

“I have a way of approaching it so as to make it – I hate to say ‘acceptable’, it’s a terrible thing to say – but so that people don’t run screaming from the theatre,” he said.

“I let them find their own way with it, take it as far as they want in their own heads,” he added.

Bourne plans to work with small groups of dancers on preliminary movements and scenes this summer. Full scale rehearsals could begin next year.

Bourne has created choreography for several major revivals of classic musicals including Cameron Mackintosh’s productions of Oliver! (1994) and My Fair Lady (2002, UK Tour – 2005/6) as well as the National Theatre’s revival of South Pacific (2002).

In 2004 Matthew co-directed and co-choreographed the hit West End musical Mary Poppins and won the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.

An official government report, due to be presented next week, would amend existing marriage laws to ensure that all couples have the same marriage rights regardless of their sexual orientation.

Bishop Claes-Bertil Ytterberg, head of the Church of Sweden’s Västerås diocese, signalled his support for the changes.

“We are prepared to carry out partnerships for homosexuals that have the force of law,” he said.

According to Sweden’s TheLocal.se, Bishop Ytterberg said that the proposals will make the Church of Sweden the first major denomination in the world to sanction full gay marriage.

Under existing legislation gay couples can have a civil partnership blessed in church but the legal weight of such unions can only be provided in civil ceremonies.

If the new system is put in place churches would retain the right to perform marriages but individual priests would have to seek a marriage licence independently.

Gay marriage has been a controversial issue within the Church of Sweden, an evangelical Luteran church.

Ytterberg has stressed the importance of taking a clear line:

“It is important that the Church of Sweden can be ecumenically weighty by being one step ahead and showing potential pathways. We are first in this context,” he said, according to TheLocal.se.

Although the marriage proposals have been supported by the Church of Sweden, Ytterberg has made it clear that the word ‘marriage’ will be reserved for heterosexuals while the new marriage laws will be renamed ‘cohabitation laws.’

“The word ‘marriage’ is so closely linked by tradition to the relationship between a man and a women,” he said.

“I admit that this is not a simple message to communicate,” he added.

The governmental report will undergo consultation with key stakeholders next week.

It is likely that the marriage laws will receive broad public support.

An EU poll conducted by Angus Reid Global Monitor in December 2006 found Sweden to have the second largest public approval ratings for the legalization of same-sex marriage.

50,000 activists, including leftists from Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s coalition, took to a Roman piazza and rallied in support for a bill that would offer greater legal protection to unmarried couples.

Some demonstrators wore bishop’s mitres with slogans that attacked the Vatican.

Catholics in Prodi’s coalition government as well as opposition parties have promised to shoot down the bill.

They have drawn attention to an article in the constitution that recognises the family rights of “natural” unions “based on marriage.” They argue that the article only accommodates heterosexual unions.

In response to the rally, Catholic groups launched the “Committee for the Family.”

Olimpia Tarzia, the organisation’s president, accused the left of trying to “attack the family as an institution” and put gay unions on a par with marriage, according to Reuters

The Vatican has taken a similar stance.

In February Pope Benedict XVI said in a Vatican speech that the family “shows signs of ceding to lobbies capable of negatively eroding the legislative process.

“Divorce and free unions are on the rise, meanwhile adultery is viewed with an unjustifiable tolerance,” he added.

Pierferdinando Casini, an opposition member of the Christian Democrats’ Union, pointed to contradictions within the coalition and said that the “government has lost its way”.

But some gay rights groups have argued that the bill is not radical enough. Franco Grillini, a leader of the gay rights group Arcigay, pointed to legislation in other European countries.

“None of these countries has seen the apocalyptic forecasts about the fate of the traditional family come true,” he told Reuters.

“On the contrary, Denmark, the first country to introduce gay marriage, has a

higher birth rate than Italy,” he added.

The bill grew out of Prime Minister Roman Prodi’s 2006 election campaign and is currently being scrutinized by a parliamentary committee.

Vladimir Luxuria, a transgender leftist deputy and Prodi supporter told Reuters:

More than 20,000 teenagers converged on the city ‘s ATT baseball park to participate in “BattleCry,” a two-day extravaganza featuring Christian rock and religious inspiration and worship.

Organisers argue that the event is a way for young Christians to protest against destructive aspects of culture including homosexuality, sex on television, and violent video games.

Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania, the Texas-based ministry behind BattleCry, said:

“All the stuff that’s being rammed down their throats, it’s pillaging and raping this young generation of any virtue,” according to The Associated Press.

“They’re saying ‘we’re tired, we’re going to shape our culture in a different way,’” he added.

However, many officials in San Francisco, one of the most liberal cities in America, protested against the event because of its explicit condemnation of homosexuality.

Aaron Peskin, the board’s president, called BattleCry “reckless and irresponsible”.

“We need to increase understanding of our human differences, not teach our kids to be suspicious and hateful towards people unlike them,” he said.

San Francisco gay rights groups also expressed concern about the event.

Thom Lynch, the executive director of the Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Centre, accepted that:

“When you’re in a city where there’s every viewpoint under the sun, and you’re working with a group for whom there can be only one viewpoint, and never any compromise, you’re going to have a clash of ideals,” according to The Associated Press.

But Luce remains adamant that the ministry’s message will prevail.

“The Bible teaches us homosexuality’s harmful and is a sin, period,” he said.

“There’s lots of documentation that homosexuals have shorter life spans, and are more prone to suicide and depression, so it’s not very loving of us to let them stay in that situation.”

18-year-old Charlotte Hamilton, who helped organise this year’s BattleCry, told AP that last year’s event transformed her life and steered her away from drugs, alcohol and sex.

“It’s nothing but a message of hope, of love, of joy, of how you can progress out of the rut you’re in,” she said.

“We definitely invite anyone who has any kind of confusion or misconception about the BattleCry message to check it out.”

Giertych is the leader of the League of Polish Families, a far-right party currently enjoying coalition with Kaczynski’s ruling Law and Justice party.

He angered Kaczynski last week by asking the European Union to stop “homosexual propaganda” and ban abortion.

The comments were rebuked by the European Commission which reinforced its opposition to discrimination against minority groups.

According to Reuters, Giertych’s conservative Catholic party has been earmarked by the European Parliament as a culprit behind a “rise in racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic intolerance” in Poland.

Poland has one of the toughest laws on abortion in Europe.

Laws permit a termination only when the life or health of the mother is threatened, when the baby is likely to be disabled, or when pregnancy is the result of a crime such as rape.

The League of Polish Families wants a total ban on abortion preventing a termination even in these rare cases.

Kaczynski also faces pressure from his own party.

An ultra-conservative wing of his ruling Law and Justice party wants to make it impossible to liberalise the abortion law in the future.

Political analysts have suggested that the row over abortion could undermine support for the ruling party among conservative voters.

Marek Migalski, a political analyst at Silesia University in Katowace told Reuters: “Giertych made a smart move.

“He is trying to paint Kaczynski as a liberal and take the ultra-conservative people on his side.

“But Kaczynski will keep in him in the government because he still needs him.”

Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s identical twin brother, Lech Kaczynski, has been the President of the Republic of Poland since October 2005.

Both have been known to make homophobic remarks during their political careers.

As the then Mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski banned the city’s gay pride parade in 2004.

He also banned the event in 2005 while allowing a homophobic counter-demonstration, the “Parade of Normality.”

Jaroslaw Kaczynski is reported to have said that homosexuals should not be allowed to teach.

And speaking to the weekly Ozon he said: “The affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilisation. We can’t agree to it.”

In August 2006, when quizzed by the EU over his gay rights record, Prime Minister Kaczynski said he was not a homophobe.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Brussels with EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said: “Please do not believe in the myth of anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic Poland this is a media thing – it is not real.”

Last week the President caused more trouble with remarks about homosexuality during a state visit to Ireland.

Speaking to an audience at Dublin Castle, Lech Kaczynski said that the promotion of homosexuality would lead to the eventual destruction of the human race.

“If that kind of approach to sexual life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear,” he said.

“Imagine what grand changes would occur in mores if the traditional links between men and women were set aside.”

Despite opposition from the conservative Popular Party, the law progressed through the country’s lower legislative chamber last week.

The new legislation asks transsexuals to obtain and present an official medical diagnosis outlining a clinically proven case of gender dysfunction.

The applicant must also have undergone appropriate treatment for two years. Only then can changes in official identity documents be implemented.

Prior to the legislation, Spanish transsexuals could only change their name and gender after undergoing a sex change operation and subsequently winning the approval of law courts.

In a joint statement, Pedro Zerolo, a spokesman for social affairs in the ruling socialist party and Cara Antonelli, who represents gay and lesbian interests in the party, said:

“Spain has placed itself at the forefront of Europe, as a leader in transsexual rights.”

The legislation brings Spain a step closer to countries such as Britain, where transsexuals benefit from greater legal recognition under the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

The legislation follows the approval of same-sex marriages by the Socialist government in 2005.

The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was elected into government in May 2004.

The introduction of greater rights for the gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals marks something of a turning point in Spain given its conservative Catholic past.

The move is a direct snub to organisers of the New York City parade who have again banned gay and lesbian groups from participating in the event.

Quinn, a Democrat and council speaker in NYC, will march in the Dublin parade on March 17th after being personally invited by officials.

She is expected to be joined by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the speaker of the Lower House of the Irish Parliament, and Dublin City Council members, AP reports.

“My participation in Dublin’s parade is an opportunity to march openly as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community, something we have not been able to do in New York City,” Quinn said.

“I hope my participation in the Dublin march will send a message about the importance of inclusion,” she added.

The New York City parade is organised by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organisation. They have refused to allow gay and lesbian groups to march in the parade since 1991.

After becoming council speaker Quinn tried to make a deal with the organisers of the event last year. The discussions were unsuccessful.

“Unfortunately, a compromise has not been reached this year with organisers of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade that would allow LGBT Irish New Yorkers to march in a way that openly celebrates our heritage and identity,” she said last year.

“New York City is the most diverse and welcoming place in the world – it’s a shame that for yet another year our St. Patrick’s Day parade won’t reflect that diversity.”

The parade in New York is one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day events in the world.

In 2006 more than 150,000 marchers took part in the procession and around 2 million spectators watched on from the streets.

Dublin boasts a five-day festival and in 2006 over 500,000 people attended the parade.

The New York event has historically attracted loud protest from gay rights groups. In the past several hundred arrests were made on average each year.

Quinn is optimistic that New York’s gay and lesbian communities will eventually be able to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In 2006 she said:

“I continue to hope and I firmly believe that someday soon Irish LGBT New Yorkers will proudly and openly march up Fifth Avenue on St. Patrick’s Day.”

22-year-old Christian Chavez, a member of the Mexican pop band RBD, revealed his homosexuality following the leaking of photographs that showed him marrying his partner at a ceremony in Canada.

“Certain photographs were released that show a part of me, a part that I was not prepared to speak of in fear of rejection, of criticism,” he said on the band’s website.

“I don’t want to keep on lying and lie to myself because of fear,” he wrote.

“I believe love is the purest feeling that exists and in this career filled with loneliness, having the opportunity to share those moments with someone, that when you look into their eyes, you forget all the negative things, it’s a gift of life, that I cherish more than fame.

“I don’t want to keep on lying and lie to myself because of fear,” he said.

Homosexuality is rarely publicly acknowledged in Mexico and many have doubted that Chavez would have spoken about his sexuality had the photographs not been released.

Mexican gay rights activist, Sergio Villarreal praised Chavez for his decision and hoped that it would persuade future generations to express their sexuality without fear of public rejection.

“This young man represents a new way of seeing things, less prejudiced and more open,” he said.

“Christian Chavez’s decision symbolises this new way of seeing life and raises hope of a more inclusive future with more respect for differences.”

RBD grew out of the teenage soap Rebelde, and are similar to British band S Club 7.

The programme featured a group of six students which rebelled against an elite Mexican boarding school by starting a band.

RBD has achieved commercial success selling over 9.5 million albums worldwide.

Chavez said he hoped his fans would understand his circumstances.

“Although I’m scared and filled with uncertainty I know that I can rely on the support of my fans, their love is bigger than all of this,” he said.

Chavez’s decision to get married will strike a chord with many gay and lesbian Mexicans.

In January the northern Mexican state of Coahuila became the first in the country to approve gay unions. Mexico City passed similar legislation in November.