First published October 25, 2007

The Co-Operative Bank is among several financial services providers who have failed to add the option of Civil Partner to their application forms a PinkNews.co.uk investigation has revealed.

Joe and Neville Temple, who have lived together for 42 years, recently tried to persuade Smile, an offshoot of the Co-op Bank, to add an option for the legal status of Civil Partner to its application forms.

Over a period of months they received several messages from Smile promising that they were looking into it and would make changes to their system soon, only to be told earlier this month that the bank is under not legal requirement to offer such a category and they should use the ‘other’ category instead.
Smile informed the Temples that no further action would be taken on the matter.

Neville Temple has banked with the Co-operative Bank since 1969 and with Smile since it opened.

He told PinkNews.co.uk: “Despite being assured on more than one occasion that something would be done, we have now been informed that the Bank will not provide such an option on its forms.

“This seems to us to be an affront to gay and lesbian people in civil partnerships. The bank will accept their business, but it will try to bury their status under ‘other.’”

The first civil partnerships were formed in December 2005.

Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that 18,059 civil partnerships had been registered by the end of 2006.

When the Temples originally complained to the bank in May this year they received the following message from a Smile representative:

“I am very sorry for the delay in replying to your secure message.

“I have contacted other departments regarding your query and have been advised that we are aware of the Equality Act and are currently looking into updating our systems.

“I am very sorry for any upset caused by our delay in amending this situation, however as I’m sure you will appreciate it can take time to update our systems.

“I have been advised that it shouldn’t be much longer until we are able to offer Civil Partnership as an option on application forms.

“Although I can’t give an actual date as to when this change will take effect, I can assure you that any updates will be posted on our home page.”

Another message shortly afterwards said: “I’m sorry this is causing you such distress, as I’m sure you can appreciate these things do just take time.”

Five months and more than ten messages later they received the following response:

“I have been passed this query on by Dougie who has looked into your complaint.

“He has spoken to our Legal services team whom have advised that they believe that we are under no legal requirement to specifically offer the category ‘civil partner’ as the ‘other’ category can be used.

“This issue was put to The (Co-op) Bank a couple of months ago to see if we would change anything and they have made the decision at this time due to the cost implication that no further action will be taken.”

Neville told PinkNews.co.uk: “We both feel very strongly about being treated shabbily by Smile which claims to be an ethical bank.

“We were in the Newcastle branch of the Co-operative Bank, which owns Smile and which Smile customers use for counter business.

“The other day drawing money out to pay into our new bank and we saw a notice on the front of the counter thanking customers for supporting the Bank’s ethical policies. We found this very ironic.

“Joe feels that the Bank has lied more than once about updating its forms while at the same time deciding that it would not provide the option of ‘civil partner’ on its forms – or could it be that the staff are merely incompetent?

“Joe is also annoyed about the Bank’s failure to supply the name of a senior member of its staff to whom we could make further representations. This information was requested by secure message, but the request was ignored.

“I feel that Smile wants the business of civil partners while wanting to keep this from other potential customers by not listing the option.”

The Temples felt so strongly about the issue that they opened a new current account with Lloyds TSB.

“This bank could hardly be more welcoming,” they told PinkNews.co.uk

“Not only does it list civil partnership on its application forms but also it lists ‘Dissolved Civil Partnership’.

“Lloyds TSB completed the opening of our new account within a matter of days with the very friendly help of its personal banking manager.

“We have already told Smile that we are closing the joint account and have given them the reasons for doing so.

“I think that it is reprehensible that Smile suggested as far back as May that civil partner would appear on their list of options and not finally ‘come clean’ about their real attitude – disguised under cost implications – until October.”

A spokesperson for the Co-operative Bank told PinkNews.co.uk: “We have told customers who have complained about this that there isn’t a solution at present to this issue due to costing issues.

“However, we are still looking into it as a whole business, and hopefully in the hear future we will be able to make changes to our system.

“It would be a massive procedure due to all the paperwork and changes to the computer systems that would be involved.

“A proposal is currently being put together to assess the costs of such as change. It won’t happen overnight. We will keep PinkNews.co.uk updated of any changes as the occur.”

Another PinkNews.co.uk reader, who asked to remain anonymous, had a similar experience with Marks Spencer earlier this year when he questioned them about why Civil Partner was not on their marital status menu for their financial services.

He said: “Marks and Spencer always trotted out the same response -that they were still looking into it, despite it being nearly two years since the Equality Act was introduced.

“I then forwarded them a copy of an email from Stonewall which reminded them of their legal obligations and almost by return of email I was informed by MS that they would be adding the option of Civil Partner to their marital status menu in August, which they have done.

“Well to be accurate it’s only half done. They now have as an option of (married/civil partner) on the same line, but what they should really have which is what most other companies offer is (Civil Partnership/Civil Partnership dissolved), but I suppose half a sixpence is better than half a penny.”

The same reader also recently wrote to online bank Egg informing them that he would be closing his online savings account because of their reluctance to add Civil Partner to their marital status menu.

He received a response from a staff member there, Ms Karina Evans, which read: “It is not a legal requirement for Egg to make this change, until we are advised that we have a legal obligation to implement these changes we will not be adding Civil Partner to the drop down menu.”

Mr Sanderson said: “I think this says enough about Egg that even if it is not a legal requirement, it proves that Egg is prepared to discriminate by not affording those customers in a Civil Partnership their correct marital status as a goodwill gesture and they will only do it if forced to by a legal obligation.

“So much for good customer relations. It’s also interesting that companies like those already mentioned, offer the non legal option of cohabiting, but still refuse to offer Civil Partner.”

A Spokesperson from Egg told PinkNews.co.uk:

“Egg has not refused to add ‘Civil Partner’ to its marital status menu.

“We do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in the provision of any of our products and services, and recognise that we do need to include ‘Civil Partner’ in the marital status drop down menu.

“To this end, we are currently considering implementation options.”

Epilogue
Three days after PinkNews.co.uk published its investigation into the absence of civil partnership options on application forms, the Co-operative Bank announced that they would update their application forms despite previously saying they were under no legal obligation to include “civil partner” rather than “other” on forms. The bank told PinkNews.co.uk: “As a leading ethical bank, over the last few months we have been reviewing the initial decision not to include ‘civil partnership’ on our application forms.

“We are currently in the process of updating our online application form to include the option ‘married or civil partnership’ in the marital status field.
“When our paper application forms are reprinted, they will also be updated. Although this will take place when they are printed again, due to the large volume of paper this involves and the effects it would have on the environment if we were to destroy those already in existence.”

The other banks mentioned in the PinkNews.co.uk investigation later updated their application forms to include civil partnerships.

Researchers have analysed blood samples of the trial’s 2677 participants to try to assess why the vaccine, developed by Merck Research Laboratories, was not effective.

The results, which were published online by the Lancet this week, show that the vaccine did not prevent infection in those not previously infected with HIV, nor did it reduce the amount of virus in participants who became infected with HIV through exposure from an infected person while taking part in the trial.

In fact, people given the vaccine had a slightly higher risk of HIV infection. However, this increased risk was only seen in men who received the vaccine who were uncircumcised or had pre-existing immunity to adenovirus type 5, the cold virus used as a carrier for the vaccine, compared to those that received placebo.

The reasons for this increased risk are now being investigated. The researchers have stressed in their report that the vaccine itself cannot cause HIV.

Health officials, however, are remaining positive about the outcome of the study.

Larry Corey, principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) said in a statement: “This trial stands as a landmark clinical HIV vaccine investigation that has profoundly informed the entire HIV vaccine research field.”

Peter Kim, President of Merck Research Laboratories, said: “As disappointing as the outcome of the study was, we will continue to follow the study participants and conduct additional analyses as part of Merck’s commitment to a comprehensive approach to address the complex challenges of the AIDS pandemic.”

Our “Prozac Nation” understands and sympathises with depression in its various forms. We understand stress and anxiety, and few weeks pass without the mention of eating disorders.

Even suicide is discussed intelligently and empathetically and recognised as something that desperately needs to be dealt with.

However, if you mention ‘self-harm’, many people will shake their heads or shrug it off, believing it to be the domain of attention-seeking teen girls or misunderstood Goth kids.

It is seen by many not as a problem that needs care and attention but as a form of self-indulgent manipulation or self-pity, that the person in question will at some point grow out of.

The reality is that any one, of any age or any gender, may find themselves using self-harm as a coping method, for any number of reasons.

An estimated 170,000 people a year are admitted to hospital through self-harm injuries, and that’s before you factor in the many thousands more who may never seek medical help (based on a Healthcare Commission report for 2006 which found that 150,000 people attended Accident and Emergency departments with self-harm injuries).

What is even more worrying is that people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) seem to be far more likely to self-harm.

The statistics vary, but one piece of research published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation found that young LGB people are three to six times more likely to self-harm than heterosexual young people.

It also estimated that 40% of all young LGB people self-harm or attempt suicide at least once.

While these stats are shocking, they don’t reveal the true extent of the problem: newer research and anecdotal evidence from self-harm organisations suggests it is not just younger LGB people who self-harm.

The reasons for this high incidence of self-harm in the gay community are still being researched, but it is easy enough to work out the link with the homophobic bullying, hate crime and isolation experienced by large numbers of LGB people.

In 2005 the Lesbian Gay Foundation reported that 73% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people have experienced prejudice, discrimination and harassment because of their sexual orientation.

Stonewall research found that of current secondary school pupils, 143,000 children have suffered from anti-gay name-calling; 64,000 have been physically attacked; and 26,000 have had death threats.

It is also important to distinguish between self-harm and suicide – although the two are linked (about 3 in 100 people who self-harm over 15 years will actually kill themselves), the majority of people who self-harm do not what to end their lives, they are harming themselves to deal with emotional pain.

There are in fact many misconceptions surrounding self-harm, a result of a general lack of information or awareness and also skewed media representation of the problem.

One self-harm organisation, LifeSIGNS, defines self-harm as:

“any deliberate, non suicidal behaviour that inflicts physical harm on your body and is aimed at relieving emotional distress.

“Physical pain is often easier to deal with than emotional pain, because it causes ‘real’ feelings. Injuries can prove to an individual that their emotional pain is real and valid.

“Self-injurious behaviour may calm or awaken a person.

“Yet self-injury only provides temporary relief, it does not deal with the underlying issues.

“Self-injury can become a natural response to the stresses of day to day life and can escalate in frequency and severity.” (www.lifesigns.org.uk)

Saturday 1st March was National Self-Injury Awareness Day.

Despite events being organised by the small number of dedicated self-harm organisations across the country, it received very little in the way of media coverage.

One such organisation that works to raise awareness of self-harm is Nottingham based Harmless, a user-led organisation that provides support, information, consultancy and training on self harm to people who self harm, their friends and families.

It was founded in October 2007 and has users from all over the world.

While gathering information about the users of its website, the co-founders of Harmless noticed that a third of site members were gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Caroline, one of the two co-founders of Harmless (who are both gay), says she and her colleagues particularly noticed the lack of research into LGB self-harm, noting that research studies tend to lump suicide and self-harm together rather than consider them as separate issues.

“We set up Harmless in response to the need for a service,” Caroline told PinkNews.co.uk.

“We’ve worked within this area for a number of years and we just felt strongly that there were certain target groups that were being overlooked in this area.

“We set up Harmless to provide support and information for people that self-harm, but also to improve education and resources, so we really want to focus on outreach projects for places that come into contact with people who self-harm, giving training, workshops and speeches.

“We’ve worked in the field for a number of years and over the years we’ve noticed more and more people contacting us and the large number of people who informally state variations in sexuality leaves us to believe a high proportion of our members, who do self-harm, are lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans.

“We’ve heard several statistics quoted about LGBT self-harm.

“Channel 4 did a recent programme which said 1 in 4 young gay teenagers self-harms, although other ones estimate that it’s higher, especially as a lot of it goes unreported.

“A lot of the statistics also only focus on young LGBT people, which doesn’t give the full picture.

“There does seem to be a lot of young LGBT people who self-harm but it might just be that they are the ones coming into contact with services more than older LGBT people.

“Understanding self-harm is very complex, people do it for a variety of reasons, usually because they are isolated and unhappy in one way or another; people express varying degrees of distress from anger through to self-hate.

“Many people express confusions over identity. People might self-harm because they have family difficulties or money difficulties or it might be a more personal thing about themselves.

“People self-harm to cope but they also self-harm to punish themselves.

“So with that in mind, we could concur that LGBT groups are going to be vulnerable if they’ve faced any kind of discrimination, internal distress over their sexuality or difficulties in their families.

“I think the group as a whole might be more vulnerable to some of the life difficulties that people go through that might lead to high levels of distress and the onset of self-harm.

“We’ve had some people who have contacted us state explicitly that issues surrounding their sexuality was their motivation for beginning self-harm.”

Caroline believes that Harmless is unique in what it does.

“The difficulty is that in the past few years we’ve had so many misconceptions and shame surrounding self-harm, it’s only in the past few years that people have really started to talk about it.

“Now we’ve got the National Institute of Clinical Excellence who provided some guidelines for NHS staff on how to best respond to self-harm, and that was a real shift in the perspective of health providers, really acknowledging the vast quantity of people who come into contact with services because they are harming themselves.

“That’s a huge shift in the way people are thinking about self-harm.

“There are a couple of organisations: Bristol Crisis Service for Women and 42nd Street which is a service for young people, but on the whole there’s not a generic service doing what we do.”

Another issue of concern is the response of healthcare professionals to people who self-harm.

“People seem to have had mixed experiences with healthcare professionals, you get people at both ends of the spectrum.

“Some people have had very positive experiences of coming into contact with services, but a lot of people say the treatment they received is abysmal.

“That’s an all too common experience.

“Many people are being told they are attention seeking, or manipulative or they can’t be helped, and that’s one thing we really need to target, not just as an organisation, but all of us can make a difference by raising the profile of self-harm and educating those nearest to us,” says Caroline.

PinkNews.co.uk spoke to two LGBT people about their varying experiences of self-harming and the links between self-harm and their sexuality.

Beth, 29, Manchester.

Beth is a male to female trans person who officially changed her name in January this year and is now about to begin hormone treatment and is on a NHS waiting list for surgery. She is a mental health nurse.

“Self-harm and ‘alternative lifestyles’ are both relatively taboo subjects in our society.

“The LGBT gay community are sometimes made to feel bad about who we are even in 2008 and so at times it’s all too easy to end up feeling a bit self-loathing.

“If you already feel marginalised and obscured from sight (even within the self-harming ‘community’) then it makes sense that you are likely to be more at risk of self-harm than the majority of the population.

“I first harmed myself in 2001 at the age of 22 as a response to having been deferred from going on to my second year of nurse training for 12 months due to a relapse of depression.

“At the time it helped unleash emotions that I had never been able to express as the male me since being brought up with the ‘boys don’t cry’ mentality.

“Initially it happened quite a lot in 2001 and then I’d say I have had one or two brief episodes of self harm each year since then up until stopping in early 2007.

“I’ve now come to realise that people may say ‘boys don’t cry’ but I’m a girl and I do cry so now I can express my emotions in less destructive ways.

“I didn’t tell anyone about my self-harming but my girlfriend saw the scars and was naturally concerned.

“My mum also saw the scars in 2001 when I answered the door to her wearing a towel and completely forgetting to cover my arms.

“My mum still asks me if I’m self harming. But thankfully I’m not any more although in times of stress the idea does pop in to my head just as other people reach for a pint or a cigarette when the going gets tough.

“I’ve sought medical help on a few occasions but that was more for help and treatment for depression rather than specifically for self harm.

“In the past I’ve sought help and support from an online support forum relating to self-harm and the part that my gender issues have had in causing my self harm.

“I was told at the time that I couldn’t expect support for the gender issues as only I knew what it was like to transition from one gender to another.

“My argument to that is that I don’t know what it’s like to be a patient with dementia but I can still try to empathise with the person rather than not bothering to even try to understand on some human level.

“It seems that if you say you are LGBT then people assume that that is more of an issue to discuss than the self harm that you went looking for support with.

“I don’t know if you can say people ‘recover’ from being someone who self-harms.

“I guess it’s a bit like ex-smokers and recovering alcoholics. No matter how long it is since you have last self harmed, or had a drink, or a cigarette you know somewhere deep down that self harm/alcohol/nicotine is there as a coping strategy that has worked for you in the past.

“These days sometimes self harm still needs ME every now and then but I’m able to remember that I don’t need self harm. So I’m getting there.

“There is life during and after self harm. It is a bit of an uphill battle at times. But I’ve given up self-harming. When the time is right for you, you can too.”

Lindsay, 31, Yorkshire.

Lindsay is a computer programmer who lives with her partner in Yorkshire.

“I don’t really remember the first time I self-harmed, just that I was doing it regularly by the time I was 10.

“It slowly got worse through my teens until I was doing it daily during A-levels and Uni.

“In my twenties I did it less frequently but more severely, usually after drinking.

“I struggled with drugs and alcohol from about 17 onwards and it was my self-harming that lead me to realise that I also had to stop drinking completely, which I did about 2 years ago.

“The “why?” is something I’ve attempted to unravel many times. I was sexually abused as a child and developed a dissociative disorder – basically my body doesn’t always feel like it is part of ‘me’.

The abuse was certainly a factor but I also have a very strong instinct to attempt to manage emotional and physical pain internally – I’ve always felt that asking for help might get me in trouble.

“I grew up in a very homophobic, religious family. We attended an evangelical church where it was believed that gay people were possessed by an evil spirit.

“I knew deep down that I was attracted to other girls but also that it would cause huge problems if I didn’t pretend to be ‘normal’.

“I am absolutely happy to be who I am today and am out in every area of my life but I know that I still have a lot of internalised homophobia to contend with.

“My family loved me but weren’t emotionally equipped to help me, so there was pressure to hide my self-harm and simply pretend to be OK.

“In my teens there was a cycle of my parents finding out that I’d hurt myself because I needed to be taken for stitches or someone at school had reported it, and then me promising that it wouldn’t happen again and feeling very guilty for all the worry, and then hiding it for a while until I got caught out again.

“I find it hard to understand how so many doctors and nurses let me simply go home and didn’t push for there to be a deeper exploration of what was going on for me, but I’m told that I’m very good at appearing to be ok when inside I’m imploding.

“It’s a paradox which lots of people who self-harm have to contend with – generally self-harming requires some degree of dissociation, and when you’re dissociated it’s impossible for people to accurately assess your state of mind.

“I’ve even self-harmed in Accident and Emergency after being left alone with a sharps bin despite telling them that I wasn’t safe.

“Apparently I came across as calm and together – the opposite of what was going on internally.

“A couple of weeks ago it was a year since I last self-harmed. It had to get to a horrendous and dangerous situation before I got the help I needed, and I’m lucky to be alive.

“Just over a year ago I was turning up in Accident and Emergency needing treatment a couple of times a week.

“I had a crisis stay for four days in a wonderful place called The Maytree which offers respite to people at risk of suicide.

“As well as simply providing a safe haven they helped me to piece together a picture of the kind of help I needed to get better.

“I still think about self-harming a lot. Probably every day. But I don’t actually want to do it any more, I have finally found a connection with my body which allows me to feel that it’s part of me.

“I also have a very supportive partner who can help me to find words for what is going on, or just hold me until I’m ok if I’m really struggling.

“She’s a therapist herself so it doesn’t freak her out, and is also very understanding of my need to stay away from alcohol and drugs – something not all my friends have been able to accept.”

For more information on Harmless and their work with people who self-harm visit their website.

Harmless is filming a DVD project about self harm and would like to invite LGBT people to contribute their experiences.

Please email info@harmless.org.uk and write DVD in the subject heading.

The petition, launched by Human Rights Watch and the Moroccan Human Rights Association, also asks for the release of six men currently imprisoned under this article of the penal code, and demands that the government protect the rights to privacy and a fair trial.

Police arrested the six men in November 2007, after a video was circulated on the internet, including on YouTube, showing a private party in Ksar el-Kbir, a town between Rabat and Tangiers.

Press reports claimed the party was a “gay marriage”.

The prosecution produced no evidence at trial that the defendants had violated Article 489, which provides prison terms for persons who commit “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex.”

The men, who ranged from 20 to 61 year of age, all denied the charges.

On December 10th, after demonstrators marched through the town demanding that the men be punished, a court in Ksar el-Kbir sentenced them to between four and 10 months in prison.

A Tangiers appeal court on January 15th upheld their conviction but reduced their sentences slightly.

“This trial shows how an unjust law can be used to violate the basic right to privacy and fuel social prejudice,” Joe Stork, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division told PinkNews.co.uk.

“When a trial is as unfair as this one, people should protest to the authorities,” Khadija Ryadi, president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association added.

“Beliefs may differ, but everyone shares the desire for justice.”

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Morocco has ratified, bars interference with the right to privacy.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has condemned laws against consensual homosexual conduct as violations of the ICCPR.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has held that arrests for consensual homosexual conduct are, by definition, human rights violations.

A message of support for the IDAHO campaign will be read on behalf of incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone. Mayor of London. Richard Barnes the Conservative Leader on the London Assembly, Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor, and Sian Berry, the Green candidate will also be speaking.

Students on the Design for Graphic Communication course at the University of Arts, London have designed double sided broadsheet posters to encourage UK campaigners to arrange events for the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17th, and the winning posters will be displayed at the event.

David Lammy, Minister for Skills and MP for Tottenham will be handing out the prizes to the students and making a speech at the event. He is joined by Minister for Equality, Barbara Follett, and Linda Bellos, former leader of Lambeth Council, who works on mainstreaming equality and diversity in the British Army and Metropolitan Police.

Louis-Georges Tin, the founder of IDAHO will explain the priorities of the 2008 campaign, Pastor Kiyimba Brown will describe how he set up an IDAHO Chapter in Uganda, Ali Hilli founder of Iraqi LGBT will highlight the gravity of the situation for LGBT activists in Iraq, and Bill Schiller of the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network will graphically describe the plight of the LGBT community in Belarus.

Amnesty International will also be represented. Niranjan Kamatlkar, Artistic Director of Wise Thoughts will look at creative ways to address homophobia and transphobia in the UK, and a representative from the East London Out Project will talk on the theme of the IDAHO campaign this year “Lesbian Rights and Sexism”.

Finally, Sue Sanders will display the work undertaken by students for Schools Out and LGBT History Month.

Organiser Derek Lennard told PinkNews.co.uk: “We hope this event will be inspiring, thought provoking and enjoyable and inspire campaigners to plan events for IDAHO.”

At about 7.30pm on Monday 25 February 2008 the victim was on Canal Street when he was approached by two other men.

One of these men approached the victim and stabbed him in the neck. He suffered a serious stab wound in the incident and was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary.

He died a short time later.

Officers have now launched a murder inquiry to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident.

Superintendent Catherine McKay, from Greater Manchester Police’s North Manchester division, told PinkNews.co.uk: “At this stage it is too early to speculate about a possible motive. We are making extensive inquiries to establish exactly what happened but it would appear it was not a homophobic attack.

“We have a good relationship with businesses in the Gay Village and also with the community and would like to reassure people that it is a safe place to visit. We have a dedicated team comprising an officer and police community support officers based in Canal Street to provide advice and reassurance to people who live, work and socialise there.

“While it is true to say that this kind of incident is incredibly rare on Canal Street it does not take away from the fact that this man’s death is a tragedy. We are doing all we can to piece together what happened. I would also appeal to any witnesses or anyone with information about the incident to come forward.”

A 66-year-old man was arrested on Monday 25 February 2008 on suspicion of murder and is currently being interviewed by detectives.

A 49-year-old man was also arrested on Tuesday 26 February 2008 on suspicion of murder and is police custody for questioning.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to call Greater Manchester Police on 0161 872 5050 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111. You can also contact Greater Manchester Police’s Gay Village Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team, which is based at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation on Princess Street, with information on 0161 856 3277.

The petition presented to Malta’s ‘Partit Nazzjonalista’ (Nationalist Party) by the Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) was backed by 1,084 signatures.

It also requested the inclusion of an article in the Criminal Code regarding homophobic and transphobic violence, and a clear strategy addressing homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools.

The MGRM also wants gender reassignment surgery to be made available through Malta’s public health services and goods and services protection for LGBT people.

Education Minister Louis Galea, MEP Simon Busuttil and party General Secretary Joe Saliba were present at the meeting, which is part of a set of meetings being held before Malta’s General Elections on the 8th March 2008.

The Times of Malta reported that the PN said it was adamant that the definition of marriage was strictly that of a union between a man and a woman, and therefore same-sex marriage was out of the question. But they added that the Nationalist Party was committed to addressing the rights of cohabitating persons – whether heterosexual couples, gay couples or siblings.

The MGRM representatives made the point that the relationship between gay couples should not be equated to that between siblings.

Dr. Busuttil referred to a section of the PN’s electoral manifesto which states that the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality’s mandate will be extended to cover all grounds of discrimination.

He argued that this could also pave the way for research on issues related to sexual orientation discrimination including those surrounding the lack of recognition of same-sex couples and homophobic bullying in schools – issues on which research within the local context is lacking.

The MGRM representatives said that they had contacted the Education Division with a proposal for a survey on anti-gay bullying in schools. Dr Galea indicated that such studies should ideally be conducted by the education authorities.

The PN representatives declared themselves to be in favour of anti-discrimination legislation relating to the provision of goods and services and stated that they would be willing to support an EU directive to this effect.

With regards to access to gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for transgender persons as part of the public health services, it was stated that this had not yet been discussed at party level. Joe Saliba acknowledged the importance of this issue as it related to one’s identity and therefore had a huge impact on the individual’s quality of life.

Gabi Calleja, MGRM Coordinator, stressed that trans people were among the most vulnerable and socially excluded groups, and that a government that had social inclusion high on its agenda should consider addressing the needs of this group as a priority.

The movement said that the position expressed by the PN representatives during this meeting laid the groundwork for further constructive discussion in future. MGRM hopes that this will result in concrete policy actions should the Nationalist Party be re-elected.

In 2004, Malta banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation after the Malta Gay Rights Movement lobbied for the measure to be included in an Employment Relations Act.

Malta, a British colony until 1964, has around 400,000 inhabitants and is the smallest EU state in terms of both size and population.

In 2000 the government was criticised by gay rights groups for openly homophobic statements condemning EU proposals to treat gay people equally.

According to a December 2006 Eurobarometer survey, only 18% of the Maltese population support gay marriage, and there is significant prejudice against the LGBT community.

The 24-page pamphlet has been sent to all public school superintendents in a coalition led by the National Education Association (NEA) and American Psychological Association (APA).

The initiative has drawn criticism from national pro-family group the Family Research Council, who have said it is a “promotion of homosexuality” in schools and gives parents “16,000 new reasons to question the agenda of national teachers’ union leaders.” The group has put together its own flier in opposition to the guide, entitled Homosexuality In Your Child’s School.

Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel serves as a guide for public school employees “who confront sensitive issues involving gay, lesbian and bisexual students,” the coalition of 13 national associations said in an APA news release announcing the distribution of the booklet.

The brochure “includes the most recent information from professional health organisations, as well as up-to-date information on the legal responsibility of school officials to protect students from anti-gay harassment.”

The joint statement from the coalition states: “The opportunity for students to learn is diminished when they do not feel safe or supported at school.

“In addition to assault and harassment, gay, lesbian and bisexual students experience high rates of emotional distress, suicide attempts and substance abuse.

“These factors hinder their emotional and social development, as well as their ability to succeed in school. It is our responsibility to provide accurate and factual information. We believe this publication will be a valuable tool to help educators, administrators and others concerned with caring for America’s students.”

First formed in 1998, the coalition produced the original version of Just the Facts to respond to concerns that school personnel were receiving inaccurate information on the issue of sexual orientation. The updated publication reflects the coalition’s continuing concern about the safety and well-being of gay, lesbian and bisexual students.

Led by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Psychological Association (APA), the coalition includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counselling Association, the American Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers and the American School Counsellor Association.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), dismissed the project as evidence for parents to question the agenda of the NEA and its allies.

“Among the so-called ‘facts’ in the 24-page document is the opinion that homosexuality is ‘a normal expression of human sexuality,” he said in an email statement on the FRC website.

“The booklet also warns teachers not to discuss ‘transformational ministries’ that suggest homosexuality is a condition that can be changed. Religious-based views are regarded as harmful, if not dangerous.

“This is no surprise to those who have followed the leftward drift of the NEA leadership. For years, the organisation has used teachers’ dues to subsidise its top officials’ left-wing fanaticism, which includes everything from promoting homosexuality and abortion in schools to pushing birth control.

“The APA is no better. In the past few decades, the group has gone from listing homosexuality as a mental disorder to becoming one of its biggest champions in the public square.

“Now both groups are using their influence to transform public schools into incubators for their radical social agendas. These lessons in political correctness must stop!”

The Family Research Council’s own schools brochure, Homosexuality In Your Child’s School, states: “Despite decades of activism and media propaganda promoting acceptance and celebration of homosexuality, and a number of political and judicial victories for the pro-homosexual movement, polls show that a clear majority of Americans still believe that homosexual behaviour is ‘morally wrong.’”

“Pro-homosexual activists have therefore decided that indoctrinating impressionable school children is an easier way of changing public attitudes toward homosexuality than persuading adults.”

It is one of the first major TV deals to take place since the Hollywood writer’s strike came to an end last Tuesday.

According to Hollywood Reporter, the untitled project revolves around two men, one straight, one gay, who are lifelong best friends and business partners. Both of them are in serious romantic relationships and try to find a balance between their allegiances to each other and to their significant others.

The central characters mirror the relationship between Will Grace creators David Kohan, who is straight, and Max Mutchnick, who is gay. They have been friends since their teenage years at Beverly Hills High School.

Last development season, the duo wrote a CBS pilot revolving around a gay writer, a straight writer and their hot young assistants.

The ABC project is brand new, and was written speculatively before the strike began on November 5 last year.

Warner Bros. Television, where Kohan and Mutchnick have a production deal, shopped it to the networks immediately after the strike ended.

He is reported to be due to be returned to the UK next week, where he may face deportation back to Iran.

19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi is currently being held by police in Rotterdam pending his return to the UK.

According to a relative he is on suicide watch and has threatened to go on hunger strike.

At the end of last year a court in the Netherlands, where he was arrested, ruled he must be returned back to the UK.

He fled England last spring after his visa ran out and a Home Office tribunal dismissed his appeal against deportation.

It is feared that if Mehdi is ordered to be deported back to Iran he may face execution for being gay.

Mehdi left Iran in 2004 to travel to England on a student visa and continue his education.

While he was in the UK he learned that Iranian authorities had arrested his boyfriend back in Iran, and that his boyfriend had been forced to name Mehdi as someone with whom he had had a relationship.

Nick Hughes battled the fire which started when Sonny Lockwood poured petrol through the letter box his home in New Addington, Croydon before igniting it with a parachute flare.

While he fought the flames naked, he ordered his partner Peter Cameron to remain in their bedroom with the door closed, thinking he would have a better chance of survival.

Lockwood, 20, allegedly targeted the couple in retaliation to the pair testifying against him at an earlier ASBO hearing.

On Friday, Lockwood he was jailed for ten years for the “murderous” attack.

Today, Mr Hughes, 41, told thisiscroydontoday.co.uk: “This will hopefully strengthen the resolve of those who are under the thumb of hate crime to come forward and be counted.

“There’s a real fear among all minority groups that crimes perpetrated [against them] are somehow their fault – but it’s not.”

When questioned about whether he could forgive Lockwood for the arson attack he said: “For forgiveness to be earned there must be remorse shown. I’ve not seen that remorse yet – from any of the Lockwood family.”

In October last year, Mr Hughes says he experienced what was probably the worst day of his life when he had to testify in the trial at Croydon Crown Court.

He said: “The jury had to see me vulnerable – but also strong.

“In all of this I have not made any attempt to hide who I am. To hide is to give into the bullies.”

His testimony helped secure Lockwood’s conviction for arson with intent to endanger life.

Mr Hughes told thisiscroydontoday.co.uk that ever since he and Mr Cameron, 59, had moved to North Downs Crescent, they had faced homophobic abuse from Lockwood and his gang.

Lockwood’s then attacked the couple’s home at 4am on January 24.

Since the attack, both men have taken anti-depressants and time off work, which has left them unable to make mortgage repayments.

A 17-year-old was convicted of harassment after creating a fake profile on the social networking site Bebo and driving his former friend to attempt suicide by luring him into an online relationship and then telling friends and teachers intimate details of their online conversations.

The 16-year-old victim, from Brighton, East Sussex, swallowed 60 painkillers.

Brighton Youth Court was told the victim’s life was saved by his mother, who took him to hospital.

The cyberbully, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty last month to harassment, and apologised in court on Monday to the victim.

He was given a 12-month referral order and told to pay his victim £250. The court also confiscated the his laptop.

Niall Cowley of anti-bullying charity Beat Bullying told PinkNews.co.uk:

“This is a significant legal landmark. There is an incorrect perception that real world laws do not apply online, and that harassment, intimidation and threatening behaviour will go unpunished.

“Well let this be a cautionary tale to would-be cyberbullies.

“The truth is, when you bully online, you are more likely to be caught because of your digital fingerprint.

“This young man’s courage to take this case to court could well be the single greatest step in making online social networking safer for other young people. We have immense respect for him.”

The BBC reported yesterday that the court heard the pair fell out after the victim revealed secrets and told lies about the defendant.

The youth then set up the Bebo profile of the fake character and lured his former friend into a cyber relationship where explicit messages were exchanged.

He was found out when he accidentally sent the victim an e-mail purporting to be from the fake character from his own address.

“The victim was then told by the defendant that not only had he made up the identity but he had been talking to their friends and others around him, including his teachers,” said Suzanne Sorros, prosecuting.

“Effectively he was told that all those people were colluding against him and laughing at him.

“What caused specific distress was that this included his teachers.”

Chair of the bench, Tim Chittleburgh, said he hoped the case would send a message to other youngsters.

“This was a piece of planned and sustained harassment in public,” he said.

“You involved or at least intimated that teachers were aware, which was vicious.”

It has been 15 years since criminal prosecution of male homosexuality was repealed in Russia.

Russian Week against Homophobia is an attempt to attract public attention to the problem of homophobia in Russian society.

It will be held between 25-21 March. It is the successor of similar events conducted in Russia during European Week against Homophobia (EWAHO) in March 2007.

Events are due to be held in Saint-Petersburg, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Omsk, Petrozavodsk, Rostov-na-Donu, Samara, Tumen and Cheylabinsk. There will also be events held in the capital city Moscow, where Mayor Yuri Luzhkov banned two gay pride parades in 2006 and 2007 and seems likely to ban the third pride on 31 May this year.

There will be seminars, panel discussions, meetings, film showings with debates, as well as other events targeted at homophobia elimination in Russian society. In addition, the signature drive for the “Manifest against Homophobia” which was started last year will be continued.

The week is being organised by various LGBT organisations across Russia, including the Russian LGBT Network, Youth Network against Racism and Intolerance (YNRI) and “LaSky” HIV Prevention Campaign.

The organisers of the event said in a statement: “For almost a decade same-sex attraction is no longer considered pathological among mainstream Russian medical specialists. But still Russian society as a whole embodies strong negative attitudes and intolerance towards men and women of homosexual orientation based on prejudice and misinformation. It leads to widespread violation of human rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT), as well as to hate crimes – physical violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Low level of sex education is the ground for promoting fear, hatred and extremely fascist ideas by organizations and public figures of particular kind. That’s why homophobia is dangerous not only for LGBT themselves, but for the entire society, where the tendency for suppressing any individuality is being instilled.”

Ben Hamilton, 26, claims his workmates at a BMW showroom branded him “the nice poof”, “faggot” and “bender Ben.”

He told the hearing he was also banned from wearing pink clothing to work.

According to the Daily Mail Mr Hamilton said a manager told him: “It must be great to be gay. Does it mean you and your fella can go out, have a few beers, have a curry, beat each other up and still get laid?”

He said a colleague also mocked him for going to see an Elton John concert.

When he said the show was “crap”, the colleague allegedly replied: “But surely you boys are used to that, being in the same club. Come on, Ben, crap is an occupational hazard for you boys.”

Mr Hamilton, who has been openly gay since he was 15, is claiming unlawful discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. He also claims he was constructively dismissed.

The tribunal heard that Mr Hamilton was initially employed at Scotthall BMW in Chandler’s Ford, Hants, from December 2004 as a salesman.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that he told the hearing: “Work became dramatically more unpleasant and less successful for me from that point on.

“It was soon painfully clear gay men were regarded as fair game for abuse, bullying and harassment because of their sexuality.

“I had always been open about my sexuality, yet never expected to be treated differently because of it.

“Despite taking great pride in my appearance I was regularly criticised, belittled and humiliated about it.

“I believe that was due to my sexuality. For example, I was singled out to ensure my appearance did not conform in any way to the sexual stereotyping of a gay man.

“I was strongly discouraged from wearing anything pink because when I did I attracted comments such as ‘sweetheart, what on earth are you wearing’ and ‘hello sweety’.

“Mark Hannon (a manager) said ‘yahoo sweety, oh you look smashing’, tongue-in-cheek in a camp voice and with a silly wave.

“Others wore pink clothing without attracting such comments or jibes. I believe that was because they were not gay.

“I was even told in a sales meeting to go home and change my clothes. I was wearing a pink shirt and pink tie with a black suit.

“At least 10 other people were there. I had no choice and did what I was told. I went home and changed into a white shirt and a blue tie. I felt humiliated.”

Mr Hamilton, of Eastleigh, Hants, said he grew a ‘discreet’ beard but was told he must shave it off by his bosses.

“My hair is light brown, not ginger. Since then, I was regularly greeted by Mark Hannon and another colleague with ‘all right Noel – Deal or No Deal?’

“This could be up to 30 times a day in front of work colleagues and mostly on the sales floor.”

He added: “When you’re the victim you just cannot help feeling degraded.

“It was veiled hostility and homophobia aimed at belittling and humiliating me about my sexuality – something I cannot change.

“I couldn’t really win. When I objected I was instantly made out to be bolshy and a bad sport.”

He said that colleagues who went on anti-discrimination training did not take the sessions seriously.

The tribunal heard that in the summer of 2006 Mr Hamilton visited his GP. He was diagnosed as suffering from severe stress symptoms and was signed off sick. In October that year he resigned from his job.

The employment tribunal in Southampton, Hants, continues.

Eamon Farrell, 35, is planning to marry his 23-year-old boyfriend Steven Mannion after a proposing to him in New York last year.

According to the Mirror: “Eamon proposed before Christmas. The pair share a love of art and this is what brought them together.

“Eamon is a respected dance teacher who set up the National Performing Arts School in Dublin more than 10 years ago.

“And Steven is a really talented artist who has been welcomed into the Farrell family.”

The younger Farrell brother is best-known for his versatile performances in a string of hit films such as Phone Booth and Alexander.

It is rumoured Colin, 31, helped Eamon choose a diamond and sapphire-studded ring for his boyfriend.

The brothers are very close, and have bought houses next door to each other in Sandymount, South Dublin.

The couple have not yet decided where they will exchange vows – but it won’t be in the Republic.

The insider told the Mirror: “With Irish legislation the way it is at the minute, the wedding can’t be here.

“But the couple could go to the North or England for a civil partnership ceremony there.

“It’s more likely though that they’ll get married in the States so Colin’s whole family can be there.”

John Sebelius, 23, has the backing of his mother and father, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius.

Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran told AP both parents ‘”are very proud of their son John’s creativity and talent.”

John Sebelius is selling the game on his Internet site for $34.99 (£17.91), plus postage and packing.

The contact information on the website lists the address of the governor’s mansion. Corcoran said the address will change when John Sebelius moves.

The site describes Don’t Drop the Soap as a game “Where no one playing enters through the front door!”

“Fight your way through 6 different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole,” the site says.

“Escape prison riots in The Yard, slip glass into a mob boss’ lasagna in the Cafeteria, steal painkillers from the nurse’s desk in the Infirmary, avoid being cornered by the Aryans in the Shower Room, fight off Latin Kings in Gang War, and try not to smoke your entire stash in The Hole.”

The game includes five tokens representing a bag of cocaine, a handgun and three characters: wheelchair-using Wheelz, muscle-flexing Anferny and business suit-clad Salthe Butcher.

Corcoran said John Sebelius sought legal advice to be sure he followed proper requirements, and even took out a loan on his own to pay for the production of his work.

“This game is intended for mature audiences, not children, and is simply intended for entertainment,” Corcoran said.

LGBT History Month was started by LGBT campaigning organisation Schools Out.

Founded and run by volunteers, it first took place in February 2005, in the wake of the abolition of Section 28 and has grown each year.

It is intended to raise awareness of, and combat prejudice against, the LGBT community.

There are already hundreds of events planned throughout the country for February 2008.

Below is a selection of the events taking place across the country; check the LGBT History Month website for further details.

Greater London

The London events kick off with the launch events by Tower Hamlets and Islington councils, including music from the London Gay Symphony Orchestra and a Proud Heritage exhibition. There’s also the Out of Time exhibition that depicts the LGBT history of London’s East End, self-defence classes for LGBT women and women, films nights, history walks and writing workshops throughout the month. Also worth a look is the Schools Out AGM Conference on February 2.

South/SouthEast/South West

Amongst events on offer is a gay ghost hunt with David Wells from “Most Haunted”, the South West Sexuality Fair 2008 hosted by the University of Bristol, and an a lecture by journalist Rose Collis on Joe Orton’s Brighton.

North/North East/North West

Highlights include a free public LGBT film festival organised by GALYIC (Gay And Lesbian Youth In Calderdale) the launch of an official LGBT helpline by LGBT Rotherham, and the ICON wall exhibition in Stockport.

East Midlands/West Midlands

Visit the free Oscar Wilde exhibition in Nottingham, which focuses on the three trials that led to his imprisonment; with contributions from Wilde’s grandson, Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Also in the regions are comedy nights, a performance from stand-up Rhona Cameron, Shropshire’s Big Gar Read and Singalonga Rocky Horror in Hereford.

East Anglia

Cambridge University LGBT staff group are offering a free screening of the film Yosse and Jagger, and author Patrick Gale will at Heffers Bookshop talking about his writing and signing books. There’s also Bedfordshire’s Transgender Consultation Event and T-Ball.

Scotland

Aberdeen Art Gallery is hosting a talk about provocative artists Gilbert and George, while Kirkcaldy is host to a equality film festival.

Wales

The University of Wales (Newport) is hosting a free LGBT event entitled

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who banned two gay pride parades in 2006 and 2007 and seems likely to ban the third pride on 31 May this year, is going to be in Paris to take part in the M4 meeting (a summit of Paris, Berlin, London and Moscow Mayors) which will take place on 18-19 February in Paris City Hall.

He is on record as claiming he will never allow a gay parade to take place in Moscow, and has called gay people ‘Satanic.’

The Organisational Committee of Moscow Pride, LGBT Human Rights Project GayRussia.Ru and Russian Movement “LGBT Rights” are planning to organise a protest action against the visit and policies of the Mayor during his stay in Paris.

The organising committee of Moscow Gay Pride officially revealed last week that they will attempt to hold this year’s Moscow Pride on May 30 and 31. It will be the third Pride in the Russian capital.

A march in central Moscow, in support of tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia, is set for Saturday May 31.

Plans to stage marches in the previous two Gay Prides have been blocked by Mayor Luzhkov.

According to GayRussia, internal sources of the Interfax news agency within Moscow City Hall are hinting that the mayor is unlikely to change his opinion of the Gay Pride – and will again ban it.

The march will act as a finale to the two-day event, which will feature an international human rights conference, with Russian and foreign politicians and activists participating.

“Each year, our movement is getting bigger, and not only in terms of organisers but also in terms of participants,” Moscow Pride president Nikolai Alekseev told GayRussia.

Last weekend Mr Alekseev received a hero award in Los Angeles during the International Mr Gay finals for his attempts to stage full Prides. He was arrested during both previous Prides.

“When Moscow Pride was started there were only three of us, second Pride was organised by seven people – while this year the organising committee has been increased to ten. It is a diverse group of men and women, homosexual and heterosexual.”

Mr. Alekseev said that “notification concerning the march will be sent to Moscow Mayor in accordance with Russian legislation two weeks before the event.”

“The authorities have no legal basis for banning the event,” he added.

“That is why, even if they ban it again, we will still go on the streets to realise our constitutional right to freedom of assembly.”

He said that the paperwork for the application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg over last year’s ban of the Gay Pride march should be completed in early Feburary for delivery to the court.

The matter of the ban on the first march, on May 27, 2006, is already in Strasbourg and is awaiting consideration.

A 20-page application has been filed at the European Court of Human Rights regarding two separate issues: the ban by Moscow authorities of the gay pride march and the banning of the alternative Pride picket, both scheduled for May 27, 2006.

In the application, Pride organisers claim that in denying permission to stage both the march and the picket, the Russian Federation breached Article 11 (right to freedom of peaceful assembly), Article 13 (right to effective court protection) and Article 14 (discrimination ban) in conjunction with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Russia is a signatory.

Previously, the Moscow authorities have rejected requests to stage marches on the grounds that it would interfere with the rights and routines of ordinary Muscovites.

The Russian Orthodox Church and a number of far-right groups have also sworn to halt any attempt to hold any march in support of gay rights in Russia.

Last year, Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court ruled that a city ban on holding a Gay Pride Parade was legal. Around 100 protestors subsequently gathered outside City Hall to submit a petition to the mayor against what they called an “unfounded and illegal prohibition on holding the march in support of sexual minorities in Russia.”

The protest turned violent when British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell was kicked and beaten by extremists. Police detained 31 people, including two Italian members of the European parliament.

Mr Bryant represents the south Wales working class constituency of the Rhondda, where there is a particularly striking rate of teen pregnancies.

The report takes the form of an interactive web site, www.teenagemums.org.uk.

It includes an analysis of the most recent statistical and research work as well as conversations with young people and teenage mums.

It also contains 22 recommendations on sex and relationship education, the benefits system, supportive housing for teenage mums and the availability of contraception.

The MP, who was 26th in the PinkNews.co.uk list of Britain’s 50 most powerful LGBT people in British politics, will also lead a debate in Parliament today.

Mr Bryant said: “Teenage pregnancy is one of the toughest issues facing our poorest communities. It has been fascinating looking at the statistics and listening to youngsters and professionals alike.

“There are real challenges here – for government, for politicians and for all of us. I very much hope that people will visit the web site and make their own comments. This is just the start of the debate.”

In the report he states: “Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe and the second highest, after the USA, in the world.

“Depressingly, the map of teenage pregnancy is the map of British deprivation. In my own constituency, the Rhondda, the figures are striking. There were 101 live births to teenagers last year. That means that nearly 1 in 25 of all the 2,325 teenage women in the Rhondda gave birth in 2006. It was not an unusual year. And the Rhondda does not have the highest rate for teenage mums in England or in Wales.

“Everybody wants to tackle the problem. Churches complain about it. Children’s charities worry about it. Local authorities fret about it. Parents and teachers are anxious about it. The Government is committed to action and has managed to cut the rate since its peak between 1995 and 97 by roughly 12%.

“But the truth is that in Britain this is proving a remarkably intransigent problem. Cracking it will require far greater political determination. We need to be prepared to challenge deeply held prejudices and perceptions about sex, about education, about growing up and about what the state should provide.

“We need to face the fact that youngsters are sexualised very early on television, in popular music, in young people’s magazines – and that the whole pressure from the media is towards early (and incidentally, often illegally early) sexual experience. And we need to look at other countries’ experiences – because they have been far more successful in cutting teenage pregnancy rates.

“This is not a question of being more liberal or more conservative. Natural conservatives have to acknowledge that their opposition to good statutory sex education and contraception is part of the problem. And liberals need to come to terms with the fact that laissez faire cultural attitudes to sex have equally contributed to the soaring rates and that many girls, especially in the poorest communities, choose to become pregnant as young teenagers.

“Of course many teenage mums, against the odds, are immensely successful parents. And the last thing they need from politicians is a self-righteous lecture.

“But tackling teenage pregnancy is one of the most important challenges we face in areas like the Rhondda. It is one of the major reasons that poverty is handed down through the generations. It perpetuates the vicious cycle of under-achievement, benefit dependency, ill health, lack of aspiration, poor parenting and child poverty that blights so many areas of Britain.

“Whatever our personal attitudes to sex, we have to look at what works – and what is not working now. It is an urgent problem. Some may say that it is notoriously difficult for politicians or for Government to shift social attitudes, but I am certain we can make a difference.”

Mr Bryant makes 22 recommendations in the report, including that all children be provided with better, earlier information about sex and relationships, that Sex and Relationships Education in schools should start before the onset of puberty.

He also called for a national campaign to provide free condoms to young people, making them available in places where young people go, aimed at cutting STIs and pregnancies.

This should start in the 150 wards in England and Wales with the highest levels of teenage pregnancy.

The government expects to hand out 19.5 million condoms by the end of the Carnival on February 6, state news service Agencia Brasil reported, under the program first launched several years ago.

“We have to let society know the importance of prevention,” health minister José Gomes Temporão said as he kicked off the campaign at a Rio de Janeiro cultural centre, according to AP.

Church officials in Brazil, which is home to the world’s largest Roman Catholic population, have opposed the condom programme, as well as another plan to hand out morning-after pills during Carnival in the city of Recife.

“The church has nothing against having fun during carnival, but the banalisation of human sexuality is something we cannot tolerate,” Bishop Antônio Augusto Dias Duarte of the Life and Family Commission of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops said last week.

“It will only serve to diminish inhibitions and encourage orgiastic behaviour.”

About 80% of young men polled by the Health Ministry reported using condoms, although just 40% of women said they insist on it, Temporão said, without giving more details on the survey.

Nearly 600,000 Brazilians are HIV-positive, of whom 200,000 are being treated, he said, according to AP.

The United Nations has praised Brazil’s AIDS treatment program, which provides free antiviral medications that significantly improve life expectancy, as a global model.