The document, written by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) is entitled Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Patients: The Issues for General Practice.

Odhrán Allen, Director of Mental Health Strategy at GLEN, said:

“Through the publication of this document, the ICGP have demonstrated commitment and professional leadership in ensuring that the health and well-being needs of gay and lesbian patients are met by Irish GPs.”

Dr. Margaret O’ Riordan, GP and Director of Training at the ICGP said she been working in partnership with GLEN for the past two years to address gay and lesbian issues in GP training.

“It is of great importance to us to provide lesbian, gay and bisexual people with an accessible and appropriate service,” she said.

Research reports including a recent one carried out in Galway under Minister Eamon Ó’Cuív, have found that many gay people are reluctant to reveal their sexuality to their GP even where it is relevant to their treatment.

An Equality Authority study focusing on the LGTB community found that a positive reaction from a GP to a person’s sexual orientation increased the trust that clients establish with their GP.

As a result they were more likely to provide them with information relevant to their health and return for further consultations, delivering better health outcomes.

Conversely, a negative response by a GP to a gay person’s sexuality was found to lead to delay or avoidance by the patient in seeking help and a reluctance to reveal other relevant sensitive information to the GP.

The document comes several months after the Government announced the Heads of their Civil Partnership Bill.

The bill gives same-sex couples the same financial and maintenance protection as married couples, a breakthrough for the lesbian and gay community.

It creates a legal relationship for same-sex couples, covering registration of civil partnerships, property and financial matters and dissolution of the partnership.

The new bill, announced in June 2008, will take approximately six months to pass, with the legislation likely to come into effect by the end of 2009.

The government has refused to legalise gay marriage.

Warwick Marsh, president of Fatherhood Foundation, was one of 34 co-authors of 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters, a report which calls homosexuality a mental disorder.

Ms Roxon announced today that Mr Marsh would no longer be an ambassador on the panel.

“Mr Marsh has not repudiated his offensive comments. This makes his position as an Ambassador untenable and I have made a decision to dismiss him from this role,” she said.

“I think these comments particularly about homosexuality are quite abhorrent.”

Mr Marsh came under fire last week along with fellow ambassador Barry Williams, whose name also appeared as one of the co-authors of the offending document.

Among other things, the report suggests that gay people are more likely to abuse children, be unfaithful or violent in relationships and abuse drugs.

Mr Williams has since denied he shares the views set out in the document, or that he wrote the articles in question.

“Because I contributed to that organisation, doesn’t mean that I put the words in that magazine or had anything to do with it,” he said.

“I have no discrimination against gay people – I have a lot of gay friends and I worship their friendship.”

While gay-rights groups have called for the sacking of both men, Ms Roxon has decided to keep Mr Williams on the panel, saying “He has publicly and expressly disassociated himself from any of these comments and I am prepared to accept that explanation.”

Mr Marsh however stood by the views expressed in the document.

“I believe it’s pretty accurate because it’s their research and figures,” he said.

“There’s a harm caused when you go outside the natural order.”

Mr Marsh was also the author of a Senate submission opposing the recent same-sex equality reforms.

He has released a statement saying he has been vilified for this belief that children should have parents of the opposite sex.

“If I am attacked it is because I believe every child has the right to a mother and a father. Children need a mother and a father, not two mummies or two daddies.” he said.

He added that he was baffled at the “sort of heterophobia” of certain journalists who claimed he was homophobic.

Ms Roxon said of the controversy over her appointments:

“I take full responsibility for this setback in the policy development and engagement process. But I remain firmly of the view that to reach men that feel disfranchised, disengaged and often at high risk. We will need to continue to be prepared to involve men with varying views and experiences.”

Unaffiliated to any political party, a group of transgender ‘ladyboys’ paraded past central Police Headquarters in Bangkok to protest at the lack of AIDS awareness in Thailand.

Glamorously dressed in brightly coloured ball gowns and feathered head-dresses, the group struck a contrasting pose to the increasingly militant demonstrations undertaken by the yellow-shirted PAD supporters across the capital.

The PAD has most recently shut down a second airport in Bangkok, following a string of stunts that have taken place over the last four months in an attempt to cause national chaos and topple the government.

With calls for new elections and a plethora of political factions vying for power, the current landscape looks hopelessly divided between the army and various political groups.

Since gaining independence in 1947, Thailand has experienced an endless upheaval in government.

Until 1992 there was intermittent military rule, a period characterised by coups, coup attempts and popular protests.

But despite its instability, the Buddhist country has always been seen as liberal when it comes to LGBT issues.

Though not officially supporting same-sex unions, the LGBT community there is considered one of the most free and open in the world.

As well as holding transgender beauty pageants, trans actors play key roles in Thai movies and soap operas.

Transgender figures are also seen in department cosmetics counters, popular restaurants, cabaret shows and in the famous red-light district.

While observers hope the increasingly fraught situation in the country will end peaceably, the ladyboys, with their stylish parade of singing and dancing showed the world how peaceful yet fabulous protest is all about.

The three-year-old male penguins who are kept in Polar Land in Harbin, north-east China attempted to conceal their theft by placing stones at the feet of the parents before waddling away with their eggs.

The deception however was noticed by the other penguins and the couple were soon ostracised from the group.

Keepers have decided to segregate the pair during hatching season to avoid disrupting the rest of the community.

Explaining the urge of the penguins to be fathers, a keeper from the zoo told the Austrian Times:

“One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite this being a biological impossibility for this couple, the natural desire is still there.

“It’s not discrimination. We have to fence them separately, otherwise the whole group will be disturbed during hatching time,” he added.

Whilst examples of homosexuality in animals exist in many species, it is stories of penguins that have attracted the most attention.

In Germany, a zoo provoked anger from gay-rights groups when it attempted to mate a group of male penguins with Swedish female birds who were brought in especially to ‘seduce’ them.

The attempt failed however as the penguins refused to be ‘turned’, showing little interest in their would-be mates.

The children’s book And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, published in 2005, tells the true story of penguins Roy and Silo, who formed a couple in New York’s Central Park Zoo.

They attempted to hatch a rock, which was replaced by a rejected egg from a mixed gender couple by zoo keepers. They then adopted the baby penguin Tango as their own.

Several libraries stocking the book received complaints from people accusing the book of promoting homosexuality and being ‘anti-family’ as well as unsuitable for its age group.

It has attracted great controversy in US states with parents in Illinois and Missouri requesting the book be placed in a restricted or non-fiction section of the library.

“The complaints are that young children will believe that homosexuality is a lifestyle that is acceptable.

“The people complaining, of course, don’t agree with that,” said Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

The number of reported library complaints about And Tango Makes Three dropped from 546 in 2006 to 420 in 2007.

Revision Studios in New Mexico, USA will fund the new translation of the Bible, in which God says it is better to be gay than straight.

Mitchell also hopes to adapt the book for a two-part mini-series, ‘The Gay Old Testament’ and ‘The Gay New Testament’.

“There are many different versions of the Bible, I don’t see why we can’t have one,” said Mitchell.

The idea comes from Horror in the Wind‘, the film he created that was banned by the by the New Mexico cinema chain Allen Theatres for being “too political.”

The film is shot in Alamogordo, New Mexico the town that is famous for being the town that burned the Harry Potter books.

Made for under $53,000 (£34.550), sci-fi comedy Horror In The Wind is about two bio-geneticists who invent an airborne formula that whilst intending to suppress sexual urges, inadvertently reverses the whole world’s sexual orientation.

Within a week the entire world is gay. Eventually people prefer it and amend the constitution to ban heterosexual marriage.

“I got the idea for the Princess Diana Bible from Horror In The Wind,” says Mitchell.

“After the world becomes gay, religious people create The Princess Diana Bible, which says that gay is right and straight is a sin. Then they burn all the King James Bibles.”

Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car accident in Paris in 1997. She was a prominent supporter of people with HIV/AIDS.

Mitchell claims the gay Bible is divinely inspired.

“There are scholars who say that like many priests, Jesus was gay. In Biblical times homosexual relationships were so commonplace that no one gave it a second thought. It was heterosexuality that was considered sinful.”

Whilst The King James Bible makes very few mentions of homosexuality – lesbianism isn’t mentioned at all in the Old Testament- it has been subject to much debate and differing interpretations with so called ‘pro-gay’ and ‘anti-gay’ readings of key texts such as the tale of Sodom, a verse from Leviticus and speeches by Jesus.

Douglas Howe writing on Christian blog site ‘Idol chatter’ criticised the book as, “art that’s destructive to faith. The whole idea of ‘The Holy Bible’ is that “all scripture is inspired by God and profitable.

“This book is inspired by a political agenda and one person’s desire to contort not only the text but the very context of it to suit his own perspective.”

Mitchell said the good works of Princess Diana were the inspiration for the title and defended the work, saying, “There are 116 versions of the Bible, why is any of them better than ours?”

The fatwa is currently at the ‘muzakarah’ stage, which means it has the status of official advice to the Islamic community.

But it could be implemented into the national Sharia law later on.

Malaysia is governed by two different kinds of court – Sharia courts to govern Muslim civil matters and the state’s secular courts, which apply to the 40% of Malaysians who are not Muslim.

Director-general of the National Fatwa Council, Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abd Aziz, explained the meaning of ‘pengkid,’ which has been translated as ‘tomboy’ by the English-speaking media, as “a married woman or maiden whose appearance or image is like that of a man.”

The fatwa ruling is directed specifically at the ‘pengkid’ woman.

Speaking to the New Straits Times he added that the manner of dress was only one aspect of ‘masculine’ behaviour by women the council sought to condemn.

“Although this also includes the dressing of the person and not just the way she behaves, the way of dressing is just one aspect of what makes a ‘pengkid’” he said.

When asked why the council went to such lengths as to rule on what women could wear, Mr Aziz identified seemingly innocuous actions such as dressing in a masculine way as something that could lead on to greater ‘crimes’ such as lesbianism.

“Not only is the act forbidden, but any act that may lead to the actual act is also forbidden,” he told the NST.

“If we allow this practice (of pengkid) to continue to develop, it will become a tradition, and then a norm.

“When it becomes a norm, then people will think no longer think of it as a wrong. This is something we do not want to happen.

“Actually, we are trying to save these women (from becoming lesbians).”

Under Sharia law in Malaysia, engaging in lesbian activities can incur a fine of up to RM 5,000 (£898), imprisonment for up to three years, a whipping of up to six lashes, or a combination of any of these.

Mr Aziz described how the fatwa was part of a larger aim by the council to prevent the spread of homosexuality which he describes as a “contagious” disease brought into Malaysia from abroad.

Referring to the current trend for more masculine dress among Malaysian youths he said, “I think we have become stuck in a western values trap that makes the dress code an excuse to denigrate our religion and values.”

When the fatwa was passed last month it was greeted with protests from two non-Muslim organisations in Malaysia, Katagender and Food-not-Bombs who wrote a petition to the council.

“The views expressed by the council reflect a deeper discrimination against anyone who does not conform with what is considered “mainstream” and also anyone who does not fit into a stereotypical heterosexual relationship. Everyone has the right to form loving relationships with the person of their choice, regardless of their sex and the sex of their partner,” it said.

Malaysian women’s group Sisters in Islam also criticised the council’s decision in a statement:

“Many Malaysian women sport short hair, wear trousers, shirts and don’t wear make-up. It is culturally normal for Malaysian women to be body comfortable with each other. Many women hold hands, hug their friends or kiss their friends on the cheek.

“And how do the authorities define ‘manly’ behaviour? Not gentle and demure enough? Talking too loud? Who would and how could one define and determine whether a woman is a tomboy or a lesbian?”

A lawsuit brought by gay-rights organisation Lamda Legal, on behalf of six same-sex couples, is scheduled to be heard on 9th December by the Iowa Supreme Court in Des Moines.

The suit follows the ruling of Iowa judge Robert Hanson in August 2007 who temporarily annulled the state’s Defence of Marriage Act, a decade-old law that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The ruling stood for less than 24 hours before a Polk County attorney filed an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court and a stay was placed on the ruling.

But in the nearly nine business hours that same-sex marriage was legal in the Hawkeye State, dozens of couples applied for licences.

Only one couple, a pair of Iowa State University undergraduates, was able to move fast enough to obtain a licence and rush through a ceremony before the stay was enacted.

Of the latest suit to be brought before the Supreme Court, Justin Uebelhor a spokesperson from the GLBT equality group One Iowa said “It could be a big step forward for Iowa and something Iowa could be proud of.

“It is important for Iowa to take the lead on this,” he added.

Chuck Hurley from the anti-gay group Iowa Family Policy Center spoke out against the couples’ suit, referring to the rights being sought by them as “anti-family”.

Until a final ruling is issued, Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan won’t know how long their marriage will remain legally recognised in Iowa.

On the morning of Aug. 31, 2007, the two college students filled out the paperwork for a marriage licence in Polk County, paid $5 to avoid the normal three-day waiting period and found a judge to sign the waiver form.

A pastor at the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines agreed to hold the ceremony on his front lawn, where it was witnessed by family and more than a dozen journalists.

Meanwhile The Supreme Court in California agreed last week to hear another case filed by Lamda Legal challenging the validity of Proposition 8.

The proposition was voted through on November 4 with a majority of 52% and proposes to change the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Jenny Pizer said “If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution,

“Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw. That’s too big a change in the principles of our constitution to be made just by a bare majority of voters.”

California was the second U.S. state, after Massachusetts, to make marriage licenses available to same-sex couples in May 2008, before going back on this reform earlier this month.

Whilst the US federal government does not recognise same-sex marriage, under the Defence of Marriage Act, many states have their own legislature on the matter.

Marriage for same-sex couples is currently legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Legal unions to same-sex couples with all the rights and responsibilities of marriage are available to couples in Vermont, New Jersey and New Hampshire.

Maine, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Oregon and Washington have created legal unions for same-sex couples that offer varying subsets of these rights.

However, twenty-six states have constitutional amendments explicitly barring the recognition of same-sex marriage, confining civil marriage to a legal union between a man and a woman.

Forty-three states have statutes restricting ‘marriage’ to two persons of the opposite sex and a small number of states ban any legal recognition of same-sex unions.

Gay rights groups have called upon Health minister Nicola Roxon to dismiss Warwick Marsh and Barry Williams from the newly created men’s health panel, designed to promote male health issues.

The paper entitled ’21 Reasons why Gender Matters’ was published by the Fatherhood Foundation two years ago and Mr Marsh and Mr Williams were among 34 authors who contributed to the document.

Amongst other things, the paper describes homosexuality as ‘gender disorientation pathology’ and suggests that gay people are more likely to abuse children, be unfaithful or violent in relationships and abuse drugs.

Ms Roxon said she was disgusted by the comments in the paper.

She added she was investigating what role the men’s health ambassadors played in creating the paper, of which there were 34 authors.

“These comments, relating in the main to homosexuality, are unacceptable and repugnant,” she said on Wednesday.

“I firmly disagree with the views expressed … I regard this as a serious matter and will consider closely the responses I receive,” she said.

The paper suggests children are more likely to be abused by homosexual people than by heterosexuals. It reads: “The sad truth is homosexual abuse of children is proportionally higher than heterosexual abuse of children.”

It also suggests gay people are more prone to infidelity, stating: “While heterosexual couples are not immune from relationship breakdown, infidelity and the like, they are less pronounced than in homosexual relationships.

Mr Williams, president of the Lone Father’s Association, said he did not write or provide any material contained in the paper.

“I was not an author of that story,” he told AAP.

“I have no discrimination against gay people – I have a lot of gay friends and I worship their friendship.

“If I’m still an ambassador, I’ll work with dark people, foreign people, gay people and everyone, that’s my motto,” he said.

Mr Marsh, the president of the Father Foundation, said several academics had contributed to the document.

“I believe it’s pretty accurate because it’s their research and figures,” he said.

Mr Marsh said he was not anti-gay but added society would be wise to understand that there was such a thing as a male and a female, and problems arose when the lines between the two were blurred.

“There’s a harm caused when you go outside the natural order,” he said

Gay rights group Australian Coalition for Equality criticised the government’s appointment of the men.

“If the federal government is sincere about an inclusive and effective men’s health agenda it must remove these hatemongers immediately,” spokesman Rodney Croome said.

Eva Cox, chair of the Women’s Electoral Lobby’s national co-ordinating committee, said the Government had “stuffed it” when selecting the pair, and must try again.

Ms Cox said she counted Ms Roxon as a someone with progressive feminist views.

“I think she’s probably had bad advice. (Mr Williams and Mr Marsh) were very popular with the last government and I think maybe she doesn’t realise how toxic that kind of appointment would be,” she said.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people continued to face discrimination and high levels of prejudice.

“It is important that any men’s health program is therefore carried out in a non-discriminatory manner.”

The outcry at these appointments follow earlier controversy over the appointment of Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s partner, former barber Tim Mathieson amid nepotism charges from the opposition.

While Brian Paddick, former Lib Dem contender for Mayor of London, is baring all in the Australian jungle courtesy of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, another LGBT political figure has just won public adulation with a turn on another show.

The first transgender person elected to the Italian parliament, Vladimir Luxuria, received the most votes from viewers of the reality TV hit Celebrity Island.

For the past six weeks, Luxuria lived with other celebrities on the beaches of Honduras, battling it out to win the votes of viewers and walk away with 100,000 euros (£84, 800) in prize money.

The 43-year-old served in the Italian parliament for two years as a member of the Communist Refoundation Party before losing her most recent election bid in April 2008.

She was the first openly transgender member of Parliament in Europe, and the world’s second openly transgender MP after New Zealander Georgina Beyer.

Luxuria plans to give half of the prize money to the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

Luxuria, whose original name was Wladimiro Guadagno, is also an actor and has become an icon of the Italian gay movement.

She helped organise Italy’s first gay pride festival in 1994 and continued her activism throughout her tenure as MP taking part in the first, banned, Moscow gay Pride parade in 2006.

She won her seat in parliament by a comfortable margin, representing a district in Rome.

Although Luxuria lives exclusively as a female, she has yet to undergo gender reassignment surgery and remains physically and legally male.

She has stated on occasion that she perceives herself as neither male nor female.

Mr Paddick, openly gay and definitely male, as viewers of I’m A Celebrity can testify, will be hoping for similar reality TV success.

Founded in 1983 as the Health Crisis Network, the group staffed by volunteers focused on providing a response to the epidemic with crisis intervention, social support and educational programmes.

Care Resource provides extensive services including medical, dental, preventative testing, case management, clinical research and meal deliveries to over 7,000 men, women and children affected by the HIV/AIDS.

This year’s theme is ‘The Gods & Goddesses of Mount Olympus’ and has a predicted turnout of 25,000 people.

The event runs from 26th November until 1st December.

Click here for more information.

In 2006 Vanneste, an MP for President Sarkozy’s UMP party, was convicted of homophobic speech and fined under anti-discrimination laws after stating that among other things “homosexuality was inferior to heterosexuality, and could be dangerous for humanity.”

The Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation) overturned the lower court ruling, in the name of freedom of speech, stating that “if the disputed remarks were able to hurt the feelings of certain homosexual people, their contents do not go beyond the limits of freedom of expression.”

Vanneste had been condemned under the 2004 law that prohibits discrimination or insults directed “towards a person or a group of people on the basis of their sex, sexual orientation or disability.”

The overturning of this ruling has raised concerns amongst gay rights groups such as the LGBT Centre of Paris-Gay, who said that it could hurt the”fragile gains” that have been made in gay rights in France.

Lawyer and academic Caroline Mécary said:

“At a time when people from all sides are beginning to be in favour or the Proclamation for true equality, the court’s decision appears to come from another age.’

Vanneste applauded the courts decision.

“That proves that we are in France, the fatherland of Voltaire, where one can express his ideas without having on the back a badgering lobby and a badly informed justice,” he said.

He defended his earlier remarks in an interview with the Evangelical Protestant Committee for Human Dignity.

“The Court of Appeal seeks to say very clearly that I have expressed perfectly acceptable opinions within a framework of normal democratic debate…and they are shared by the majority. They consist in particular in saying that one can obviously judge behaviour on a moral level.”

Prominent French politicians have spoken out in response to the ruling with UMP member Jean-Luc Romero calling for Vanneste to be expelled from the party.

But with his nomination renewed in January this year Vanneste remains secure as an MP, a fact which is some see as signifying a tacit approbation of his views.

Since the ruling Vanneste posted a blog on November 16th with the headline: ‘No to the homosexual propaganda in schools!’ protesting against the campaign against homophobia launched in French schools in July this year.

The choir Only Men Aloud! beat contenders Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus, the only gay choir to make it to the televised heats.

Last Choir Standing, presented by Myleene Klass and Nick Knowles, followed the same format of many other panel based entertainment shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Any Dream Will Do.

When the presenters followed the choirs through the competition the Gay Men’s Chorus became particularly fond of Myleene.

She joined the choir for a backstage rehearsal and they got on so well that they asked her to become a honorary member.

Formed in 2005, the founding members were in the London Gay Men’s Chorus. They then moved to Brighton and set up this choir as there wasn’t a gay men’s choir in Brighton.

Whilst Only Men Aloud! go on to world domination, The Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus have returned home with a increased fan-base.

Their self titled debut album Only Men Aloud! is on sale now.

The report, published in The Lancet, used mathematical models to explore the effects that testing all people aged 15 years older every year and starting them on antiretroviral therapy (ART) immediately after they were diagnosed would have on the HIV epidemic.

The strategy aims to accelerate the transition from the present endemic phase, in which most adults living with HIV are not receiving ART, to the elimination phase, in which most are on ART, to five years.

It could reduce HIV incidence and mortality to less than one case per 1000 people per year by 2016, or within 10 years of full implementation of the strategy, and reduce the prevalence of HIV to less than 1% within 50 years.

Roughly three million people worldwide were receiving ART at the end of 2007, but an estimated 6·7 million were still in need of treatment and a further 2·7 million became infected with HIV in 2007.

Scientists have estimated the theoretical strategy by 2032 would have an annual cost equal to that of the present strategy (US $1.7 billion) but that after this time the cost would decrease whilst the cost of the present strategy would increase.

They also concluded that whilst prevention efforts might reduce HIV incidence, they were unlikely to eliminate this disease.

Entitled ‘Fans, Stands and Homosexuality: Photographic journeys into football’ features the works of three artists.

‘Homosexuality’ by Jason Bartholomew-Hall explores the taboo of being gay in professional football. As a gay footballer and an artist, Bartholomew-Hall is on a personal and political mission to confront the myth that gay men do not play football.

He is also the founder of The Justin Campaign, which seeks to raise awareness about homophobia and homosexuality in professional football.

The campaign is named after Justin Fashanu, the first openly gay footballer who committed suicide in 1998 whilst facing sexual assault charges in America.

It was launched on 4 May 2008, two days after the tenth anniversary of Fashanu’s death.

At the time, a campaign spokesman said, “The FA, in conjunction with Stonewall and the GFSN, are fighting anti-gay prejudice on the terraces, looking to stamp out the kind of chants that haunted Justin,

“But ten years after his death, which the football world refused to mark, there are still no openly gay professional players or managers.”

The current aim of the campaign is to have Saturday 2 May 2009 recognised by the football authorities as ‘Justin Fashanu Day’ and to make the date an annual international day of protest against homophobia in sport.

The exhibition is on until November 28 at The Chelsea School, University of Brighton.

For  more information on the Justin Campaign see : www.thejustincampaign.com

Photo of exhibition:
http://www.outlinegallery.com/Piece.aspx?GalleryParentID=8&GalleryID=34&MediaID=179

Lesbian dating site Pink Sofa found that in a poll of 5,000 users, more than 60% believe they were born lesbian or bi-sexual and only 6% attribute their sexuality to upbringing or a life event.

Seven percent said their sexuality was a conscious choice.

A fifth of respondents opted for a middle ground, attributing their sexuality to a combination of nature, nurture and choice.

The nature/nurture debate is one that has a long and volatile history.

The ‘nature’ concept explores the possibility of a specific gene present at the time of birth that genetically predisposes people to homosexuality.

Advocates of this theory argue that proving there is a gay gene will provide “wider social acceptance and better protection against discrimination,” as Neil Swidey wrote in his article What Makes People Gay?

Proving that being gay is not a choice would mean that discrimination against being gay is unequivocally an infringement of civil-rights.

The ‘nurture’ concept of homosexuality argues that social, parental and environmental variables influence a person’s sexuality.

Until the 1970′s, this theory that someone could be ‘made’ gay was the predominant one and used to support attempts by doctors to ‘cure’ someone who was gay.

Freud wrote extensively about the affect overbearing mothers and the lack of father-figure has on children’s sexuality.

An shift in the official line came in 1973 with the removal of ‘homosexuality’ from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders.

In 1991 neuroscientist Simon LeVay challenged behavioural theories further with his discovery that the hypothalamus in the brain of a gay man was smaller than a heterosexual man’s sexual brain providing compelling physiological evidence to support the ‘nature’ theorists.

Researchers continue to hunt for the ‘gay gene’. Many avenues have been explored, from isolating DNA to observing gay animals, but as of yet, no one absolute explanation has been found.

Many take the line that being gay is a combination of both nature and nurture.

This suggests that a person can be born gay but their feelings are either perpetuated or (not perpetuated) by their environment.

In this case, their sexuality is only an issue if and when the person comes out of the closet.

Aubry won the election on November 21st by a wafer-thin majority of 42 votes, giving her 50.02 per cent of the vote against the 49.98 won by her rival Ségolène Royal.

The narrow win has prompted accusations of wrong-doing and calls for a recount by supporters of Royal.

“There was fraud, there was cheating,” said Royal’s close ally, Manuel Valls.

“The results of last night are profoundly in doubt.”

The results come at the end of a bitter leadership contest in which the popular Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, one of Europe’s most high-profile gay politicians, was a contender.

Delanoë was initially a favourite for the role, outpolling Ségolène Royal in May 2008.

He was also backed by former leader François Hollande, Royal’s former partner and father of her four children.

Delanoë pulled out of the race this month as the contest became increasingly bitter, distancing himself from a campaign that the French media dubbed ‘le duel des dames’ to “avoid creating further confusion”.

The controversial win by Martine Aubry and the refusal by Royal and her supporters to accept her victory has left the PS gravely divided.

Hollande has expressed frustration at the candidates’ failure to come together:

“No one person is now in a position to be the sole leader of the Socialist Party,” he told French radio.

“This party can only be led if we unite.”

Following the exit of Delanoë from the race, Hollande supported the running of Aubry but has said of her narrow win.

“It’s not a victory which today enables her to have a majority in the Socialist Party,” he said.

“What is more, nobody has a majority in the Socialist Party, and that’s where the problem lies.”

Delanoë has also expressed concerns at the state of the party, saying: “the Socialist Party is gravely ill.”

With the PS currently in disarray, there is speculation about when and if they will recover.

The next bid for power comes in the 2012 presidential elections. Allies of the Paris Mayor have hinted he might prove the most credible candidate.

The Left does well in local government elections, but has not taken the Elysee Palace since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995.

Delanoe has proved to be a popular Mayor of Paris since we was first elected in 2001, with innovative ideas such as Paris Plage and a bike-hiring scheme proving popular with the city’s residents.

He famously announced his sexuality in a television interview in 1998.

The 58-year-old was re-elected earlier this year.

In May, speaking to journalists at the launch of his new book, which urges French Socialists to accept Blairite reforms to the economy, he rejected the assertion that outside of Paris a gay man would not be electable.

Nicolas Sarkozy won a solid 53% of the vote in the second round of the Presidential elections last May to Ms Royal’s to 47%.

The victory of right-wing Sarkozy meant that the chances of gay marriage becoming legal in France are greatly reduced.

The President spoke out against gay marriage throughout his campaign. Royal supported opening up marriage to same-sex couples.

A 2006 Ipsos survey shows that 62% of French voters support gay marriage, while 37% were opposed.

French same-sex couples who enter into Civil Solidarity Pacts already enjoy some of the rights that heterosexual married couples have, although couples are not able to adopt or have artificial insemination.