The government has announced plans to restrict and block inappropriate content and provide a censored version of the internet.

Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy said: “The government policy applies to computers in homes, schools and libraries and targets pornography and ultra-violent sites.

“These will be identified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and blocked by internet service providers (ISPs).”

But many are concerned about the threat to civil liberties the new policy poses.

“One would have thought it should have been the other way around,” Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said, according to the Sydney Star Observer.

“If as a parent you’re worried about your children accessing adult porn, then you would ring up and get the filter put in place.”

Opposition communications spokesman Bruce Bilson has denounced the move, calling it a “headline-chasing proposal that lacks the hard work needed to bring forward a thoughtful plan.”

He also highlighted that filter technology is known to be flawed as it creates decline in network performance while being relatively easy to circumvent.

In 2006, a study carried out for the former communications minister Helen Coonan revealed that ISP-level filters cut network speeds by up to 78 per cent and were inaccurate and expensive.

The UK model provided by British Telecom, which Senator Conroy referred to as a success, was cracked by Cambridge researchers just last week.

The Senator said that the policy did, however, include other measures as well.

“This includes education programmes for parents and teachers as well as children, home-based filters, greater resourcing for policing illegal content, establishment of a youth advisory group on cyber-safety issues, and further Australian research into the changing digital landscape,” he said.

He also added that ACMA would complete a trial period on all aspects of filtering by the end of June.

The 2006 study estimated that setting up the system would cost $79 million (£35.4m) as well as an additional minimum $34 million a year to run.

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegal, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who is head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, said that not viewing homosexuality as a sin will lead to a variety of other sexual perversions.

“Morality is either absolute or it does not exist. If you excuse homosexuality, why not excuse paedophilia?” he said.

When the interviewer pointed out that there was a “great difference” between homosexuality and paedophilia, as the latter violated the “personal freedom” of children, Bishop Kirill said that people in the future would say that “12-year-old girls were considered children before, but now they develop much faster.

“Twenty years ago nobody could imagine that Germany would legalise homosexual marriages,” he continued.

“However, they get used to it by now. It is a matter of principle. There is one moral nature.

“Gay parade is an intrusive display of depravity. Thus we can successfully promote any other sin, as is done on TV.

“It vitiates public morality. The task of the Church is to say that sin is sin. Otherwise, the Church is not needed.”

In March 2007, Bishop Kirill objected to Moscow hosting a gay pride parade.

He said: “[It] is directed against the majority of Russian society.

“We believe that the law should not interfere in citizens’ private lives.

“You can sin if you want to, but you will answer to God.

“However, if you are trying to propagate your sin by seducing and degrading people, society must oppose it.”

Since 1989 Bishop Kirill has been active in the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, strongly opposing the encroachment of Roman Catholicism into Russian.

In a statement issues in August 2000, he explained that globalisation would inevitably lead to the kingdom of the anti-Christ and that it was the Russian Orthodox Church’s role to defend Russian nationality and religious identity.

Benjamin Butler, 29, and Matthew Wyatt, 33, duped John Gibbs at the Vibe club in Bristol before going back to his flat where they threatened him with a knife, stole his money and tied him up.

The pair then fled, leaving Mr Gibbs imprisoned in his flat.

A few days later he spotted the thieves in the city. He called the police and they were arrested.

“The victim went to Vibe nightclub in Frogmore Street, which is frequented by homosexuals,” said prosecutor William Hunter, according to the Bristol Evening Post.

“The defendants are not in a relationship with each other. They offered Mr Gibbs a lift home.

“Butler was driving. The vehicle was driven without insurance. They got to his house.

“Mr Gibbs, as a result of mixed messages, asked Butler if he could kiss him.”

According to Mr Hunter, Mr Wyatt then left the room and Mr Butler held Mr Gibbs down on the sofa while holding a knife so close to his throat that it left him with minor cuts.

“Butler said ‘Bad move, I’m straight. Where’s the money and valuables. Don’t move or I’ll kill you’,” said Mr Hunter.

When Mr Wyatt returned, he was holding a kitchen knife with a nine-inch blade.

“Wyatt said, ‘Don’t move, do as I say. Tell us where you keep the money,” said Mr Hunter.

When Mr Gibbs replied that he did not have any money, his bank card was taken by Mr Wyatt who went to a cash machine but returned without any cash.

The pair then ransacked his flat before fleeing with his camera, DVD player and computer.

Butler and Wyatt admitted the charges of robbery, false imprisonment and driving while disqualified.

In addition to their sentence, Butler was disqualified from driving for 12 months and Mr Wyatt’s licence was endorsed with six points.

Judge Michael Longman who jailed the pair said: “You both befriended Mr Gibbs in a gay club.

“To win his confidence you masqueraded as gay men yourselves to get an invitation to his flat.

“Although he was not injured physically in any serious way this will have deeply affected him psychologically in the long term.”

Allwyn Rondeau, 46, who lives in Feltham, Middlesex with his partner of 15 years, told the tribunal how he had rejected 42-year-old Lucy Chilton’s persistent advances time and time again because he was gay, but she would not give up.

The tribunal heard that on one occasion Miss Chilton “stuck her bum in the air saying ‘come on give it to me’”, according to The Daily Express.

At other times, she allegedly “wobbled her breasts” against him and called him “batty boy.”

At first, Mr Rondeau did not complain because he did not want to draw attention to the fact that he was gay.

“Throughout I chose not to complain formally as I didn’t want to rock the boat,” he said.

But when Miss Chilton told superiors that Mr Rondeau had grabbed her and simulated sex with her, a claim which was discovered to be untrue after an investigation, he finally decided to file an official complaint.

Now Mr Rondeau is suing Miss Chilton, his employers G4S Security Services and several other employees for discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.

The tribunal was also told that Mr Rondeau had suffered from depression since the investigation had begun and had been unable to return to work.

Mr Rondeau said that he no longer felt comfortable around women and that he rarely left the house without his partner.

When asked by Miss Chilton’s lawyer why he did not report matters sooner if the situation was so bad, Mr Rondeau replied:

“I kept on trying to take it and I tried to be strong, but eventually when she came up with these things (her harassment claims) I felt like a pervert. And I’m not a pervert.”

The tribunal in Reading, Berkshire, continues.

A report from the Eastern and Central Sexual Assault Service at Royal Alfred Hospital stated that although 44 male victims complained of being sexually assaulted last year, this number was just “the tip of the iceberg”.

Experts claim that as much as 95 per cent of male victims did not report such crimes to the police.

Manager Lisa Simpson said: “There is a huge denial about same-sex sexual assault.

“Men are vulnerable to sexual assault just as women can be vulnerable to sexual assault.

“Rape is about people who want to dominate other human beings in a sexually aggressive way.”

The hospital claimed that attackers are usually straight males who have sex with men but do not necessarily identify themselves as gay.

According to Ms Simpson, one of the common methods of luring victims was to spike their drinks with drugs.

“A lot of men seem to have met their offenders at pubs or clubs or venues such as that, had a few drinks and then become aware afterwards that they had been sexually assaulted and their drinks had been spiked with drugs or alcohol,” she said.

Since 2001, 293 cases of sexual assault have been reported and 16 per cent of the 273 cases reported to the clinic last year were from male victims.

In 2002, 4,800 men above the age of 15 claimed to have been sexually assaulted across the country, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

However, the hospital warned that although men were equally at risk of being sexually assaulted as women were they were less aware of the threat and also far less likely to report an incident.

A new caseworker at the London-based charity is available to help LGBT victims of sexual violence make anonymous reports to the police and provide them with advice.

According to the caseworker, Jamey Fisher, the aim of the service is to “help LGBT people who have experienced sexual abuse at any point in their lives.”

Ms Fisher can also provide information about other services which offer support to those suffering from sexual abuse.

These include the Metropolitan Police LGBT Liaison Officers, Sapphire Units – teams of police officers that investigate sexual crimes and look after victims – and Sexual Assault Referral Centres.

All of these centres employ fully trained staff to work with LGBT people and reports of sexual abuse are always taken seriously, even if the abuse happened in the past.

Galop can also offer help to individuals experiencing violence from partners or members of their family.

According to Galop, about one in ever four LGBT people will experience domestic abuse of a sexual, emotional, financial or physical nature.

Galop’s caseworkers are able to help victims of violence make a safety plan, speak to police and determine way to keep themselves safe.

The charity is also able to take reports of homophobic or transphobic hate crimes and sexual abuse and pass them onto the police through a third party reporting scheme.

In this way, victims are not obliged to speak to the police or give out any personal details in order for incidents to be recorded and investigated.

“What is most important right now is to get the word out so that we can help as many people as possible,” said Ms Fisher.

To contact Galop for help you can called the Shoutline on 020 7704 2040 or fill in an anonymous reporting form on their site.

For more information about Galop please visit www.galop.org.uk.

The purpose of the report was to explore the obstacles facing both LGB individuals and equality bodies when it came to the realisation of LGB rights.

Its findings showed that many LGB people are cautious about disclosing their sexuality in order to avoid adverse consequences that may arise in a homophobic environment.

Hetrosexism, the assumption that everyone is heterosexual, further exacerbates the problem of LGB invisibility.

Many individuals are also unsure whether they are being discriminated against or not.

According to the report, the first step on the path of redress involves the identification of a harmful experience.

But fear of victimisation, anxiety about the impact of litigation on interpersonal relationships and the potential threat to one’s career given the risk of being ‘outed’ all stand in the way of individuals seeking redress.

The second stage involves the transformation of the experience into a grievance, a step known as ‘rights realisation.’

Awareness of applicable laws and policies is crucial to enable individuals to translate the perceived harm into one that is understood as legally prohibited.

The third stage is that of redress.

Although all potential claimants, gay or straight, face barriers during the identification and pursuit of complaints, these tend to be heightened for LGB people.

Many LGB people admitted tolerating homophobic practices in order to ‘get by.’

One of the problems highlighted in seeking redress is that anonymity cannot be guaranteed in either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

This rules out the possibility of litigation for those who are not ‘out’ in all areas of their lives.

Certain LGB populations, most notably the young and those living in rural settings, are particularly vulnerable and for such groups the prospect of taking a case is remote.

The report stressed that it was crucial for equality bodies to help LGB people identify discriminatory practices and help them take action against them.

Equally important is to develop a positive culture of respect in order to counter the invisibility of minority sexual orientations.

Access to appropriate legal advice and personal support should also be enhance and awareness campaigns should be launched, information provided and training given on equality rights.

One suggestion involved LGB NGOs implementing an ‘E-quality mark’ designed to acknowledge best practice amongst employers and service providers.

The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) said that the issue is a huge problem for Irish nationals whose partners cannot live or work in Ireland.

Calls to GLEN about the issue have doubled in the past two years.

According to the Irish Independent, Eoin Collins, a spokesman for the organisation said: “Irish people who have a partner from outside the EU, such as Canada or the US, are having huge problems.

“We are working with somebody at the moment who is employed as a software engineer in Canada. He has been with his partner for 10 years and they’re married.

“The Irish man wants to return to Ireland, but if he does, his partner can only work if he gets a work permit and the employer can only get him one if he proves that he offered the job to almost everyone in Europe.”

The situation is also difficult for Irish people living in Ireland who are in a relationship with a foreign national, as their partners often cannot remain in the country.

Mr Collins gave an example of an Irish man whose Israeli partner of seven years is a qualified architect but can’t get permission to stay in Ireland.

“It’s definitely turning people off returning to Ireland,” he said.

They fear, he added, that their partners’ status “will cause tension in the relationship” because they will become frustrated if they are not allowed to pursue their careers or have to do menial work instead.

Last week the Irish government confirmed it will not legalise gay marriage.

Sean Power, the minister of state for equality, said that marriage could not be redefined in the Constitution to include same-sex unions.

The government will however be introducing a Bill on civil partnerships for same sex couples next year.

The decision follows talks between Mr McClelland and ACT attorney-general Simon Corbell about the proposed legislation to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions, which was due to come into effect in February 2008.

The discussion came after the previous attorney-general Philip Ruddock tried to block ACT laws, claiming that they were contrary to the federal Marriage Act.

“This means the ACT won’t be able to present its legislation in February,” said Mr Corbell, according to The Australian.

“The Commonwealth (federal) minister indicated he does have concerns with the proposed arrangements.”

In May 2006, the ACT became the first Australian state to recognise same-sex civil unions, but the federal government under John Howard blocked the legislation.

Mr Corbell is now seeking approval of amended legislation which seeks to address the concerns raised by the previous government surrounding language.

Of particular concern was the comparison made in the Act between same-sex unions and marriage.

Prime Minister Keven Rudd has vowed that he will not block the ACT’s attempt at civil union legislation and Mr McClelland has also agreed that blocking would not solve the situation.

“We’re about trying to resolve these things through discussion rather than threats of overtaking,” he said, according to The Australian.

“The reality is that both the ACT and the Northern Territory, that while they’re described as territories…you have to start from the premise of not arrogantly coming over the top to suppress laws that they’ve made.”

He also added that he is now looking at the Tasmanian civil union register as a model for use in the ACT as well as in other states.

“It’s certainly an issue I’d like to discuss with the states and territories,” he said.

“It’s not a bad example as a possible way to go.”

Although the Labour government opposes civil marriage for same-sex couples, it supports giving couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.

Laws regarding sexual activity apply equally to same-sex and heterosexual activity in all Australian states and territories and same-sex relationships are formally recognised.

However, since 2007, same-sex marriage has been officially prohibited at the federal level.

Didier Jambart, 47, is suing for €400,000 (£287,000) after being prescribed with dopamine agonist drugs, which he claims led to severe mood swings.

During his highs he turned to gambling and accumulated debts of €130,000.

He began to steal from his family, friends and neighbours to support his addiction and even sold his young son’s toys.

Mr Jambart also began looking for partners on gay internet sites to invite back to his home.

But in December 2004, he tried to kill himself – the first of three attempts.

“I could not have told this story even several months ago without breaking down,” said Mr Jambart, according to The Observer.

“I know of other dreadful examples here in France, including someone imprisoned as a result of their compulsive gambling, and of women who ended up prostituting themselves in mobile homes because of their sexual obsessions.”

According to Phillippe Damier, head of the neurology department at the Nantes CHU hospital, it was evident that Mr Jambart was suffering from a dopamine agonist disorder.

“As soon as we saw him we knew immediately it was dopamine agonists,” he said.

Mr Jambart was immediately put on different medication and the side effects disappeared.

“Without that, I would have killed myself or have ended up in prison,” he said.

But Mr Jambart’s case is not an isolated incident.

There are similar cases in Britain, the US and Canada with claimants saying that they experienced alarming side effects from the drugs which affect up to 15 per cent of those taking them.

Dopamine agonists are in several drugs which are commonly prescribed for Parkinson’s sufferers.

In Britain, two claims for compensation were filed last month by two individuals suffering from Parkinson’s who say that they became addicted to gambling after being prescribed Mirapexin, a type of dopamine agonist.

IGLYO member organisations will discuss the organisational priorities and strategies on advancing equality and human rights for LGBTQ young people.

Euro MP Michael Cashman will be speaking at the event. He is President of the European Parliament Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights.

At the meeting new Guidelines for the development of more friendly schools for LGBT people will be launched.

These guidelines will help school boards in making their schools more welcoming for all young people.

“Whereas there is a good intention in many schools to help young marginalised people, there is often lacking awareness of the position of LGBT young people,” said IGLYO board member Bruno Selun, responsible for the project.

“Because schools don’t see them, they think they don’t exist. The guidelines should help schools in both realising that LGBT pupils exist at each school, as well as taking measures that make these people feel at home and are protected.”

IGLYO Chair Björn van Roozendaal added: “Europe can no longer wait with protecting young people in schools and universities from any form of discrimination.

“Young LGBT people continue to be victims of bullying and discrimination and continue being deterred from treatment on an equal basis.

“If we want to count them as full European citizens, then we need to actively start protecting them today.”

Dorothy’s List was set up with the objective of raising £2,000 to help members of the LGBT community overcome the obstacles which they face when running for political office.

LGBT Labour said that they have so far received a positive response both from the LGBT community and from Labour party candidates and members.

“Dorothy’s List is important because there still remain barriers for LGBT people getting into Parliament, especially women, and the number of out MPs remains small,” James Asser from the LGBT Labour told PinkNews.co.uk

When asked whether he thought the fund sectionalised the LGBT community, Mr Asser replied that he didn’t think it sectionalised gay people any more than campaigning for more female MPs sectionalises women.

“It is about helping support our LGBT candidates in their campaign and trying to increase LGBT representation in parliament, which will benefit the LGBT community and give them a stronger more representative voice,” he said.

The name Dorothy’s List a taken from Emily’s List, which was launched in 1993 to raise money to help women members of the Labour Party with the cost involved with seeking parliamentary selection.

Emily was substituted with Dorothy because in gay slang, a “friend of Dorothy” is an old term for a gay man.

The euphemism dates back to World War Two when homosexuality was still illegal.

In the US, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund is the American political action committee dedicated to increase the number of LGBT public officials. However, it backs candidates from both major parties.

The group was there to protest against homophobic Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who was expected at the polling station later that day.

Mr Luzhkov has banned the last two gay pride marches in Moscow calling them a “work of Satan.”

Activist Nicolas Alexeyev was arrested after he wrote “No to homophobes, no to Luzhkov” on his ballot.

In Russia, spoiling the ballot is a form of protest.

An appeal was made by a group of gays and lesbians to the LGBT community two weeks before the parliamentary elections to write “No to homophobes” on their ballots.

The group claimed that as none of the parties standing in the elections supported gay rights, none should be voted for.

Homosexuality in Russia was legalised in 1993 and since 1999 is no longer included on the list of mental illnesses.

The arrests came amid accusations of illegal election practices against Vladimir Putin’s party, who secured a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.

The United Russia Party beat all opposition with 64.1 per cent of the vote.

The Communist Party, who trailed with 11.1 per cent of the vote, has announced that they will launch a legal challenge before considering whether to boycott the government.

In Washington, White House sources also voiced concern over the accusations and called upon Mr Putin to launch an investigation.

The opposition has accused the United Russia Party of pressurising voters, bribery and ballot-stuffing.

According to Reuters, Grigory Melkonyans of Golos, Russia’s biggest independent election observer, said: “These are not isolated incidents. The complaints are from every corner of Russia.”

The state-run media concentrated largely on Mr Putin and his party in the run up to the elections, while virtually ignoring the opposition.

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Europe’s main election watchdog, has claimed that it was unable to monitor the elections because it was obstructed by the Russian authorities.

Liberal politician Boris Nemtsov called it “the most dishonest election in the history of modern Russia.”

Yet opinion polls show that Mr Putin is very popular among the masses because he rescued the country from it economic slump in the 1990s.

Although Mr Putin is bound by law to step down in March after two terms, he will still remain a highly influential figure because of his party’s grip on power.

Many have speculated that this will drive a wedge between Russia and the West especially in light of Mr Putin’s comments last week about the West “poking their snotty noses” in Russia’s affairs.

Mr Putin won a seat in the country’s Duma, or parliament, in the election, meaning he could become Prime Minister after stepping down as President.

But, he stressed, in his announcement made the day before World AIDS Day, commitment is needed from the whole of society to help fight stigma and educate people to protect themselves.

Mr Brown said that HIV and AIDS are “one of the greatest challenges of our time and a key priority for this government.”

He added that the illness must be added to the list of other diseases, such as smallpox, which have now been eradicated.

In particular, attention will be given to health promotion work for gay men and African communities with an extra £2m investment.

Although the UK still has far lower rates of HIV than many other European countries, last year 7000 people were newly diagnosed with HIV.

Of those, 11 per cent were under the age of 24.

“Gordon Brown is absolutely right to highlight the impact of HIV in this country,” said Nick Partridge, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust.

“There are three times as many people living with HIV in the UK than in 1997 and the number of new infections each year is far too high.

“We need to re-invest in HIV prevention campaigns and effectively challenge the stigma which is still attached to HIV.

“We warmly welcome the increase in the AIDS support grant and its guarantee for the next three years.

“This will help local authorities provide support for the much larger number of individuals and families whose lives have been shattered by HIV.”

The National AIDS Trust also welcomed Mr Brown’s announcement but expressed concern about how the money would be spent.

“It is great to see the government taking seriously the social needs of people living with HIV in this country,” said Chief Executive Deborah Jack.

“But given the way recent public health funding was diverted at the local level, our one please is that this ring-fenced budget is actually spent on those it is meant to benefit, people with HIV.”

Last week, the government announced a further two programmes of support to countries abroad where HIV and AIDs is prevalent.

£19m will be spent on a television campaign in south Africa and £40m in Kenya, with the objective of changing attitudes to sex and encouraging the use of condoms.

“There are now 1.34 million people in Africa who are living with HIV instead of dying from AIDS, because of what we, together, have done,” said Mr Brown.

In the past 10 years the number of people being seen for HIV care has more than trebled, whilst a recent National AIDS Trust survey into Primary Care Trusts revealed that in the same period the amount spent on HIV prevention has decreased.

Groups working with gay men in London have highlighted recommendations to slash NHS funding for HIV prevention work among gay men in the capital by 36% in 2008 – a cut of more than £650,000.

Justice Minister Paul Goggins MP, who unveiled the draft Sexual Offences (NI) Order, said that there is no convincing reason for the age to be different than it is in the rest of the UK.

“By changing the age of consent, our aim is to modernise and strengthen the law in Northern Ireland to bring parity with England and Wales and ensure that the people of Northern Ireland are protected from sexual crime to the level as the rest of the UK,” he said.

The change to the age of consent is a matter for the British government and not the Northern Ireland Assembly or Executive.

Many parties in the province are outraged at the proposed bill which they see as symbolic of the decline in moral values.

David Simpson, an MP and Assmebly member for the DUP, which has strong links with the Protestant churches, said:

“The country is in a moral mess and instead of loosening morals further the government should be embarking on a programme of education and responsible parenthood.

“The bringing of life into the world should be based on the love between two responsible adults rather than a casual fling between immature 16-year-olds.”

In contrast, gay rights organisations championed the change, which they argue is logical and fair.

Speaking on behalf of the Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland, Liam Larmour said:

“We welcome a change in legislation that gives equal status to young people across the UK and are concerned that some agencies are challenging this legislation when the same agencies and their counterparts in the rest of the UK are not seen to be supporting their concerns.”

Mr Larmour also expressed scepticism about the intentions of those who oppose the change, especially as the same groups that objected to the law to lower the age of consent for LGB youth from 18 to 17, are protesting once again.

“We’d be very keen to know, is this the same reason that certain political parties and religious/politically-minded organisations or churches are again challenging the new legislative changes? It certainly seems that way,” he said.

“They have done everything they could think of to deny the rights of LGBT people in society and continue to do so.”

But for many, the change in law will be futile unless it is accompanied by an improvement in sex education so that teenagers feel empowered to make the right decisions.

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell said:

“Even 16 as an age of consent is problematic given that young people, gay and straight, have their first sexual experience before the age of 16.

“If we back up this change in law with earlier, better sex education, we can help encourage people to make wise responsible sex choices including choosing not to have sex.”

Echoing this opinion, David McCartney from the Rainbow Project, an organisation that supports gay and bi-sexual men in Northern Ireland, said:

“An arbitrary age will not prevent assault but training and education will.”

Mr McCartney added that contrary to reports in The Observer, the Rainbow Project has not clashed with the Rape Crisis Centre over the bill.

“We have slightly different approaches to reach the same objective,” he said.

According to The Observer, The Rape Crisis Centre was concerned that lowering the age of consent would allow older men to prey on even younger people, both from the heterosexual and gay communities.

The draft Sexual Offences (NI) Order 2007 aims to provide new legislation to strengthen protection against sexual offences.

It will reinforce protection for children and vulnerable groups against abuse and exploitation.

Any sexual act with a child under 13 will automatically be treated as rape.

The bill also includes tougher sentences for kerb-crawling and soliciting for the purposes of prostitution.

Northern Ireland has always been slow to progress in all sex-related matters.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1982, fifteen years behind England and Wales, and abortion still remains illegal except in life-threatening cases.

A public consultation for the bill will run from November 20 2007 until February 5 2008 and is likely to be implemented next April.

Mr Larmour said that he looked forward to the consultation.

“LGBT young people in particular are always left out of these debates and we welcome the opportunity to consult on the legislation,” he said.

Jason Warner and deMarco DeCiccio, a couple in real life, were stopped from performing their act Jason and deMarco in 2005 when a similar event was being organised by Safehaven, a ministry of the equal rights for all Free Community Church.

At that time, the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore said: “Based on the duo’s performance in the United States and information from the website, the couple have used their musical performances and their own example as a gay couple to promote a gay lifestyle” and as such would be “against the public interest.”

Amy Tsang, the MDA’s director for arts and licensing said that the 2005 concert had been prohibited because it was “open to general members of the public”, according to Fridae.com.

This time round, Safehaven has assured the MDA that the concert, which is for over-18s only, “is targeted at the high risk groups” and that its aim is “AIDS education and HIV prevention.”

Commenting on their decision to ask the authorities to allow the duo to perform for a second time, the event’s co-organiser Peter Goh said:

“We want to give ourselves as well as the authorities another chance to prove that together we can create more space to move the community towards healthy living.”

Mr Warner and Mr DeCiccio, who met in 2001, have released five albums and a single.

Both Christians, the pair has starred in a documentary entitled We’re All Angels about the anti-gay Christian fundamentalist abuse that they have received.

Mr Goh told Fridae.com: “Jason and deMarco are openly gay and we hope the HIV message will go so much further coming from people who are gay themselves.

“The fact that they are a gay duo makes them really unique.

“There are many openly gay artistes around, but you don’t see many gay duos who partner in life as well as in their music careers.”

The concert is being organised to tackle the rise in HIV infection rates amongst gay men in Singapore.

According to Action For Aids, 26 per cent of the 357 new HIV diagnoses reported in 2006 were from gay men.

AFA believes, however, that most cases are unreported and that the true figure is closer to 60 per cent.

Director Paul Toh said: “It is critical that gay men in Singapore realise that safe sex is not an option.

“It is totally non-negotiable if we do not want the HIV epidemic to devastate the community as it did in the US in the late 80s and early 90s.

“If we do not intensify our prevention work today, we certainly will find ourselves in the same situation sooner than we think.”

Last month the Singapore parliament legalised oral and anal sex in private between consenting straight adults in the first changes to the penal codes in more than two decades.

But the ban on “gross indecency” will remain in place and male homosexuals still face up to two years in prison for gay sex.

During the summer the authorities banned a gay photo exhibition, a gay poetry reading during Pride celebrations and a picnic and fun run from the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

The Alliance against Homophobia and Discrimination of Sexual Minorities (AHDSM) was formed earlier this month in response to the changes are outraged by the u-turn.

A coalition of 40 LGBT groups in South Korea, AHDSM claim that an investigation conducted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea showed that discrimination based on sexual orientation, education background and national origin form the basis of most discrimination in South Korea today.

AHDSM has launched a campaign for legislation of the Anti-Discrimination Bill in its original form.

According to the organisation, the seven categories are no longer protected by the bill which leaves them entirely dependent on the legal interpretations of individual judges.

“We are extremely disappointed with the current Participatory Government, which announced early on that it would protect the people from all forms of discrimination,” AHDSM said.

“We therefore cannot but call the current Anti-Discrimination Bill, from which seven categories and relief steps have been deleted groundlessly, a de facto Pro-Discrimination Bill.”

The government said that the new bill is based on international human rights conventions and examples of similar legislation abroad.

They admitted to removing the sexual orientation category because of the controversy that surrounded its insertion when the bill was drafted just a month ago.

Six other categories have also been deleted from the bill.

These include educational background, medical history, language, national origin, family type and status, and criminal and detention record.

The government has responded to criticism by stating that these deleted categories are now covered in the ‘and other reasons [for discrimination]‘ clause.

Jessica Stasinowsky, 20, and Valerie Parashumti, 19, confessed to beating 16-year-old Stacey Mitchell to death with a concrete block before dumping her body in a wheelie bin.

She was found by police in a shed after her parents had reported her missing in December last year.

Ms Mitchell, whose family had emigrated from West Moors, Dorset, was staying with the couple.

The pair, who admitted that they had thought about hacking Ms Mitchel up with a chainsaw, will appear in court in Perth, Western Australia next month.

According to the data, 504 new cases were reported per million inhabitants in 2006 compared to the average rate of new diagnosis across Europe of 111 per million inhabitants.

Countries in the European Union have a lower average rate of 67 per million inhabitants.

The statistics were released by Zsuzsanna Jakab, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), during a visit to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

She praised the country’s political commitment to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“In response to the high levels of HIV infection being reported, Estonia has launched an ambitious long-term plan for 2006-2015,” she said.

“The plan includes new initiatives on surveillance, prevention and treatment.

“We at ECDC are supportive of the work being done by the Estonian government to reverse the trend of increasing HIV infection rates.

“On behalf of the ECDC, I have pledged to support Estonia in a number of priority areas, including on surveillance, sharing country experiences and providing European guidance on HIV testing.”

On a visit to Estonia earlier this year, a team of ECDC experts stressed the need for continued action.

The EuroHIV figures also revealed that 86,912 new HIV infections were reported across 50 of the 53 countries of the World Health Organisation European Region in 2006, with 26,220 (30%) of those cases reported in EU countries.

The statistics showed that over two thirds of new HIV diagnoses in Europe were reported in the former Soviet Union countries, 41 per cent from females and 27 per cent from young people aged 15-24.

The principal cause of HIV transmission was from intravenous drug use, although the number of heterosexually-transmitted cases had increased five-fold since 1999.

In Western Europe, 35 per cent of the cases reported were female and 10 percent from those aged 15-24 years old.

The principal cause of transmission was heterosexual, with an estimated 43 per cent of cases originating from countries where the epidemic is widespread, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 1999, the number of new HIV diagnoses reported in Western Europe both among heterosexuals and homosexuals has doubled.

The ECDC estimates that approximately 30 per cent of those infected with HIV in Europe are unaware that they have the virus.

Tackling this “hidden” epidemic is a major concern for ECDC which hopes to promote higher testing rates across Europe so that those infected with the virus will have access to prevention and treatment services.

According to a government spokesman, David Daroczi, the proposed law, which would take effect from 1st January 2009, would give couples many of the same benefits as married couples, including rights of inheritance and taking each other’s name.

They would not, however, be able to adopt children.

Government statistics show that there were an estimated 349,000 unmarried couples in Hungary in 2005, 12.2 per cent of all families, compared to 62,000 in 1970, 2.1 per cent of all families.

But around 120 other laws would need to be adjusted to make way for the new legislation, many of which would require a two-thirds majority before they are ratified, including support from centre-right opposition.

Tibor Navracsics, parliamentary leader of Fidesz, the main centre-right opposition faction, said that his party could not make a statement regarding the legislation as they were yet to see it.

At present, the Hungarian government is led by socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany who controls 54 per cent of the 386 seats.

Referring to the draft legislation, a statement from the Prime Minister’s office said: “The government’s objective is to have order, to finally make the laws conform to people’s changed living circumstances.”

Hungary was the first former communist state to legalise same-sex partnerships.