Petition calls for end of 'Special relationship' with US
A petition posted on the Downing Street website has called for the 'special relationship' between America and the UK to be scrapped, citing differences over foreign policy and gay rights.
Following proposals this week proposing same-sex couples parenting and fertility rights in the UK, the petition declares that certain states in the US would fail to mirror these rights, if ratified in law.
McConaughey and Armstrong – failure to launch?
Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey has denied rumours that he and seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong are more than 'just friends'.
McConaughey joked in Details magazine: "We tried it. It wasn't for us."
The 2005 People magazine "Sexiest Man Alive" and star of 2006 film Failure to Launch has previously been romantically linked to Penelope Cruz and Sandra Bullock.
Iraqi gays fear for their lives
Homosexuals across the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, are being targeted and murdered by Islamic militants and the police.
Inhabitants of the Al-Amiriya and Al-Jamia'a neighbourhoods have told of how extremist groups have raped and beheaded gays in the street and also targeted their relatives.
Under Saddam's regime, gays were imprisoned. However, the Iraqi constitution approved by referendum in December 2005, refers to Islam as being "the official religion of the state and a basic source of legislation".
Gay rights for Mozambique
Mozambique has held its first ever seminar on gay rights.
Yesterday, Mozambican Human Rights League (LDH) chairperson Alice Mabota urged Mozambique's gay and lesbian citizens to organise and fight for their rights.
She said that, while the LDH will support gay rights, it is not campaigning specific issues such as the legalisation of gay marriage, and that it would be up to the gay community to raise such a demand.
Midwest gets gay
The number of same-sex couples in Iowa has risen 58% in the past 5 years, a new report found today.
The University of California's Williams Institute used the figures of the 2000 Census to estimate that the numbers of same-sex households in Iowa jumped from 3,700 in 2000, to 5,800 in 2005.
Students outrage over 'curing' course
Students nationwide have expressed their outrage after a Christian course aiming to 'cure' homosexuality piloted at Edinburgh University.
Students at the university began protesting the PURE course after it was discovered to recommend homophobic literature, such as What Some of You Were by Christopher Keane, which details the stories of "ex-gays" who have been "cured" of their homosexuality by the power of Christianity, and how "gay relationships are characterized more by promiscuity than by fidelity."
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell' students prevented from enlisting
Nine people were charged with trespassing yesterday after staging a sit-in protest when four openly gay college students weren't allowed to enlist in the U.S. Army.
The four students — Jessica Arvidson, Stacey Booe, Matt Hill Comer and Alex Nini — were participating in the Right to Serve campaign, a national effort by the group Soulforce protesting the federal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Japanese city amends pro-gay law despite protests
A Japanese city has amended a rare local law protecting homosexuals from discrimination, despite protests from activists who said the law was being watered down to exclude the gay community.
The step coincides with efforts by conservative lawmakers, including the next prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to revive respect for traditional family values they fear are being eroded in modern society.
USA: compulsory AIDS tests for teenagers and adults
In a major shift of policy, the USA federal government recommended yesterday that all teenagers and most adults have H.I.V. tests as part of routine medical care because too many Americans infected with the AIDS virus don't know it, reports the New York Times today.
The recommendation, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urges testing at least once for everyone aged 13 to 64 and annual tests for those with high-risk behaviour.
Latvia legislates in favour of gays and lesbians at work
Latvian legislators have endorsed a ban on sexual discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the workplace, reversing an earlier decision that earned them sharp criticism at home and abroad, Agence France-Presse reports.
This decision reverses a failed vote to ban discrimination in the workplace against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people (LGBT) in June. the failure to implement the ban drew strong criticism from human rights and gay and lesbian groups but also from Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
Ex-lover 'saws through neck' of newly-out girlfriend
A man who killed and almost decapitated his newly-out girlfriend did so by sawing through her neck, a court heard today.
Pathologist Dr Vesna Djurovic said Jacqueline Queen suffered dozens of injuries before she died and may have been unconscious as her ex-boyfriend James Seaton, 46, battered her to death.
Rainbow Project volunteer indecently assaults man
A northern-Ireland gay-support group worker has been given three years probation for indecent assualt.
William McGinley, 45, a Rainbow Project volunteer, indecently assaulted a man, 22, at his home on 3 March 2005.
Londonderry Crown Court heard Mr McGinley's victim awoke to discover Mr McGinley assaulting him.
Russian transgender's killer sentenced to life
A transgender woman was stabbed to death by a man whom had left a gay club with him, the St Petersburg Times reports.
Lucas McCauley, 30, frequented a well known gay and transgender club dressed as a woman named Reshae.
The murder was being considered as a possible hate crime.
Gay father gains custody of his 'neglected' sons
A gay doctor in South Africa has been in court trying to obtain custody of his two sons so that they could live with him and his gay partner.
The doctor, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the children, has been granted temporary custody of his children by the Johannesburg High Court last week. Judge Mohammed Jajbhay ordered that the doctor get temporary custody pending investigations by a family advocate.
Teen Pleads Guilty to San Diego Gay Pride Attacks
A 15-year old suspect pleaded guilty yesterday to attacking several men leaving San Diego's gay pride Festival on July 29th.
According to prosecutor Oscar Garcia, the 15-year old and two other men targeted six victims leaving the gay pride festival, attacking them with knives and baseball bats.
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