The New York State Division of Human Rights ruled in favour of 55-year-old Alicia S. Humig after it was decided that the city’s prison department ignored the abuse she was suffering from Jim Wright, a fellow officer at Wende prison in Alden, New York.

The New York Times reported that the judge recommended the award after saying that the case “reflected the most disturbing nightmare that any employee could find herself in.”

He continued that the prison department “permitted a work environment to flourish where the credible evidence showed that she could have been killed because she is a gay female.”

It was revealed that Humig twice filed written complaints which were generally ignored by prison bosses.

The human rights commissioner, Kumiki Gibson, said:

“This case shocks the conscience. This woman’s life was placed in danger because of her sex and sexual orientation.

“It is vital that the Department of Corrections take immediate steps to end such horrific discriminatory conduct.

“In New York, an employer cannot permit, condone, or facilitate discriminatory abuse and against an employee.

The New York State Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination and retaliation in employment based on sex and sexual orientation, among other protected classes.

“The law requires employers to respond, but here they neither responded nor prevented. In fact, they became complicit, a partner in crime.”

In the UK, lesbian, gay and bisexual workers are protected from discrimination thanks to rules which ban direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation driven by a person’s sexual orientation.

The Employment Equality Regulations of 2003 state that any person who discriminates against another will make his employer liable whether or not it is done with their knowledge or approval.

It does act as a defence though for the employer if they take ‘reasonable’ steps in preventing the discrimination from happening.

Gay rights groups in the US are divided over changes to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act currently before Congress after protections for trans people were dropped from the proposed legislation.

Alexander Sokolov announced on Monday that the photo, Kissing Policemen (An Epoch of Clemency) by Russian art collective Blue Noses, would no longer be part of next week’s show at the Maison Rouge exhibition hall in Paris.

Another 16 works of art have also been pulled including a second photo by Blue Noses which shows three men wearing Vladimir Putin, George Bush and Osama bin Laden masks lounging on a sofa in their underwear.

Customs officers confiscated this photo last year after a British art dealer tried to take it London.

Mr Sokolov said: “If this exhibition appears it will bring shame on Russia. In this case, all of us will bear full responsibility.

“It is inadmissible…to take all this pornography, kissing policemen and erotic pictures to Paris.”

All exhibits have been on display this year in Russia at the Moscow state-owned Tretyakov gallery.

Alexander Shaburov, one of the Blue Noses’, said the picture was homage to Banky’s famous stencil of two policemen kissing.

And he accused Mr Sokolov of censorship, saying: “The state is beginning to administer culture in the same way it did under Khrushchev.”

While Moscow authorities are notorious for their suppression of gay rights, Mr Shaburov added that the image was not even about gay people.

It was instead an absurd take on the cliché of a world full of peace and love for all.

“Given the fact the state has banned it, we haven’t quite reached this point yet,” he added.

The photo, which was taken in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, had been exhibited in the Tretyakov gallery in February and March without scandal.

It is currently being shown in a private Moscow gallery.

Yuri Luzkhov, Mayor of Moscow, banned Moscow’s gay pride earlier this year calling it “Satanic”.

Gay activists who defied the ban were faced with violence from protesters chanting anti-gay slogans as well as 1000 riot police who were aiming to stop the demonstration.

Detailed information from National Statistics said that 18,059 civil partnerships were formed between when the act came into force on 5th December 2005 until the end of 2006.

There were 1,953 civil partnerships formed in the UK in December 2005 and 16,106 in 2006.

The act gives same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples when it comes to benefits and responsibilities such as property, employment and pensions.

Although the statistics indicate that more men than women were forming civil partnerships in the UK overall, the gap was narrowing,.

In December 2005 and the first quarter of 2006 66% of civil partners were male, with this proportion decreasing to 57% in the last quarter of 2006.

90% of civil partnerships took place in England, with a third of male registrations taking place in London, a large figure when considered that the region only contains 13% of the UK male population.

The statistics also showed that the age of men entering partnerships is decreasing, with more than half of gay men being 50 and over in the first few months of civil partnerships, with this decreasing to only a third by the end of 2006.

Ages of female couples stayed around the same level.

There were no statistics available for ‘divorces’, or civil partnership dissolutions, as couples had to have been in a relationship for twelve months.

Although civil partnerships are identical to marriages in practice, some have criticised the fact that it will never be officially recognised as one. Jennie Bristow wrote for Spiked at the time:

“A civil partnership between two homosexual individuals is just like marriage. But it emphatically isn’t marriage, and it does not treat gay people as if they are straight. It is a different kind of institution, explicitly designed for different kind of people.”

However, most gay rights organisations such as Stonewall have supported civil partnerships along with all three main political parties.

In 2003, the then minister for equality Jacqui Smith explained why the law was changed.

“Civil partnership registration underlines the inherent value of committed same-sex relationships. It supports stable families and shows that we really respect the diversity of the society we live in. It opens the way to respect, recognition and justice for those who have been denied it too long.”

Bryan Drysdale, a 48 year old year chef, was driving a Mazda which hit the Paddington to Plymouth train at 100mph near Ufton Nervet in November 2004.

It resulted in seven deaths and 138 injuries, 18 seriously, when the impact turned the carriages of the train and made it slide down an embankment.

Slough Coroners Court heard evidence in which Mr Drysdale had kept his sexuality hidden since the age of 13, keeping the secret from his brother, family and close friends.

His parents were the only people he confided to.

He was also described as a heavy drinker who used recreational drugs and had financial problems.

Andi Conway-Horbury, who said he knew Mr Drysdale from 1978 and had a relationship with him for four years, said in a statement:

“He said he couldn’t come to terms with his sexuality, and was in his view, tormented by it.”

The Telegraph reported that Drysdale’s brother Ronald suspected that he was homosexual, but never got him to confide in him.

“I would have liked Brian to have discussed that he was gay and I gave him opportunities to talk to me but he never did,” he told the coroner’s court, according to the paper.

It also reported that Lee Hamerton, who was a close friend, saying in a statement: “I always suspected that he was gay and I always thought that Brian’s biggest problem and the reason for him being quite reserved and unhappy was because he would not come out.”

He did add: “If Brian did deliberately end his life, I really do not know why. He was never the sort of person to hurt anyone.”

Friends and family said that none of them thought that Drysdale was in a suicidal mood and some placed suspicion on his car as he had a history of purchasing vehicles in poor condition.

His brother claimed that the door of the Mazda could get stuck and was difficult to open.

The incident caused all eight carriages of the train to derail, and the train driver, as well as five passengers including two children, were all killed in the crash.

Leeds Animation Network will produce and distribute Out to the Family, designed for individuals, families and groups to watch so that they can discuss, communicate and be aware of the issues related to teenagers who are LGBT or questioning their sexuality.

The Network will distribute 4000 copies of the 12-minute DVD free of charge to audiences throughout the country, including organisations who work with teenagers and families.

Work will start on the DVD after the Network researches and consults with parents and teenagers as well as organisations such as Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FFLAG), and the Consortium of LGBT voluntary and community organisations (LGBT Consortium).

Leeds Animation Network is a co-operative, a business owned by the people who use its services.

One of the members of the co-operative, Janis Goodman, said: “Out to the Family is a project we have wanted to produce for years. After several rejected applications to different funders we were very pleased to get lottery money.

“There is a myth that discrimination is a thing of the past but even while soap operas may feature gay and lesbian characters the reality for many young people involves homophobia and society-wide pressure to be straight.

“The DVD will act as an aid to improve communications between parents and their children who are or may be gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning.”

Leeds Animation Network has been in operation for 25 years, producing and distributing animated films that deal with social and educational issues. It received lottery funding after fierce competition where it had to prove the project’s social significance. Last year they produced Out At Work.

It explained the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation, Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, which outlawed discrimination.

The song Kingdom of Heaven is a response to the hatred expressed “in the name of God” by Phelps and other religious fundamentalists.

She sings: “A suffering soul on the way to the kingdom of heaven, held up a sign saying ‘God Hates America.’

“There is a love, that is so hideous and destructive. We must drive it from Earth, to save all of our children. He must know it well, in the night it is the hell that he speaks of. It keeps him awake.”

It is an obvious reference to Phelps who preaches an anti-gay message with his church members holding up placards with messages of hate, as well as declaring that homosexuality and its acceptance has doomed the world to eternal damnation.

Fred Phelps is the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and is infamous for his parading around with slogans such as “Thank God for 9/11,” “AIDS cures fags” and “God hates the Irish.”

He first came to prominence when he picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager murdered in a hate crime.

Phelps has courted more publicity in recent years by picketing military funerals, arguing that it was his duty to warn people of God’s anger.

It resulted in President Bush passing a bill which hindered the church from protesting at these services.

They still continue to picket funerals as well as gay Pride events.

They also are present at concerts with artists such as Etheridge performing, and when criticised usually cite the first amendment to the US Constitution, which provides freedom of speech in America.

Dean Burton, 36, was also given a 51-week suspended jail sentence.

He had his previous community order for indecent exposure extended for peering through a window and watching the couple naked.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Burton was known to the women.

He had already insinuated that he would like to watch them in private after one of the women told him that she had a girlfriend.

Later the couple saw that a man was looking at them through the window, and installed a security camera overlooking the back of their house.

They later recognised Burton from the tape, and picked him out from an identity parade.

In the UK, non-consensual voyeurism became a criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act in 2003.

The judge ruled that Burton should escape jail because of his psychological instability.

The Sentinel newspaper reported that a statement was read out to the court from one of the woman that said the incident had left her “insecure, frightened, threatened and a nervous wreck.”

The men, both 22, were confirmed by Dutch police to have been arrested on May 26th and charged with attempted manslaughter, attempted criminal negligence causing bodily harm and public violence.

Dutch media report that prosecutors have pushed for an eight-month jail term for one of the offenders, while the other soldier faces six weeks in prison.

The soldiers have already spent 60 days in a Dutch jail, but will have to stay in the Netherlands until their legal situation has been resolved.

The incident is notable as Canada has provided more legal rights for LGBT people than many other liberal nations.

Since 2003 military chaplains have been allowed to bless same-sex couples, with the first same-sex military marriage occurring in 2005 between a sergeant and a warrant officer.

In fact military attitudes in neighbouring USA have been more damaging, with a report in 2005 revealing that the service lost 10,000 gays and lesbians due to its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

The Ottawa Citizen revealed that the military have not provided the soldiers with their legal defence.

Canadian Defence Department official Jillian Van Acker said that they were paying their own expenses and added: “they were provided with Dutch lawyers and have been receiving assistance from Dutch and Canadian authorities.”

A licensing committee decided that the Nightingale could stay open after consulting the council’s own surveys which were based on just two complaints in two years and were found to be well within legal limits.

PinkNews.co.uk had reported that the local council received complaints from developer Crosby House that the Nightingale was emitting too much noise and holding “unauthorised adult entertainment.”

It was known that the club did regularly hold “porn nights” and host male strippers.

Suspicions were raised as the complaint came only six months after Crosby were turned down from developing a number of flats close to the venue.

It was also revealed that Crosby’s own noise surveys, which they submitted to the committee, were carried out in 2006 and February 2007 before the Nightingale’s beer garden had its music system removed.

The lawyer for the Nightingale, Adrian Curtis, told the Birmingham Mail:

“The review of a licence suggests there is a problem to begin with. But there has been no problem.

“The Nightingale’s licence has had two reviews this year and no residents have complained. This review has had considerable publicity but no residents have come to the hearing.

“The council’s own environmental health officer says there is no legal nuisance. The only ones complaining are Crosby Homes.”

Labour councillor Steve Bedser had said at the time of the allegations by Crosby: “It is hugely disingenuous for developers to make a quick profit and then moan about noise nuisance.”

The awards will be held at the London Astoria on the 29th and 30th November, where it will be filmed by Double Jab Productions.

The G-A-Y awards aim to play tribute to the stars that have played at the Saturday night club night, including some of the biggest names of pop, such as Kylie Minogue, The Spice Girls and Madonna.

The stars will be announced weekly to build up the event, but it is rumoured that one of the acts playing will be the Sugababes.

The awards include G-A-Y Sex God and Goddess, as well as traditional music categories which will be decided by public vote through the club nights and online.

G-A-Y claim that the awards will bear the G-A-Y club stamp of “irreverence, flamboyance and fun.”

Sky One will announce how they intend to raise funds for charity with the transmission.

Promoter Jeremy Joseph told PinkNews.co.uk:

“It was an idea that was put to me and appealed. Sky One were interested in filming and promoting it and the project got bigger and bigger.

“We can’t announce tickets and prices yet because we are still working with Sky One as well as charities and deciding which ones we’ll go for.

“It’s to celebrate World AIDS Day and raise money for HIV and AIDS as well as create awareness because nobody seems to be doing anything about it anymore.

“Also it’s to celebrate the 15th year of G-A-Y.

“We put on the biggest names in the world, such as Madonna, Kylie, Christina and Pink, and this is way of recognising a market that other awards ceremonies don’t seem to do anymore.

“Everything like The Brits is all so up their own arses. Like Smash Hits used to do, we want to put pop back into the agenda again.”

Mr Joseph added that this will be the first televised awards ceremony from a gay club in the UK.

It’s all part of a series of comedy sketches specially commissioned by the BBC for an information campaign which attempts to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS among 16- 34 year olds.

The BBC’s HIV awareness campaign started running on October 1st and will run for the two months leading up to World’s AIDS Day on December 1st.

It launched with the documentary Stephen Fry: HIV and Me, and will carry on through BBC TV and radio programming.

The corporation recently revealed the results of a survey which revealed startling facts about the ignorance and complacency of young people about HIV.

It found that 89% of all 16-24 years rarely or never think about HIV when making decisions about their sex lives.

This comes at a time when young 18-24 year old heterosexuals are at increased danger from HIV with new diagnoses increasing in the last ten years, and the number of new infections among straight people now outweighing those in the gay community.

G.I. Jonny was launched online and along with TV and radio will direct viewers to an interactive website where more information can be found about HIV and AIDS.

It also gives you the chance to create your very own Jonny action figure which can be sent to friends and downloaded to Facebook.

Spokesperson for the G.I. Jonny launch, Simon Judges, said “The reason we did it this way was because the last HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign was 20 years ago.

“We’ve got a whole generation of young people who haven’t had the message, and if you look at the stats there is such a level of ignorance that it doesn’t cross young people’s minds to make any decisions regarding their sex lives.

“It’s just a fun way to carry the message across rather than force it.”

Click here for the G.I. Jonny website.

Professor Li Yinhe, a sociologist and campaigner for LGBT rights, and Zhang Beichuan, a leading scholar of homosexuality, have been at the forefront of a campaign to allow same-sex marriage in China.

Although the world’s most populous country has a conservative culture, partly due to Communist repression, laws have been slowly relaxed, with homosexuality effectively being decriminalised in 1997.

Li Yinhe previously attempted to submit same-sex marriage proposals to the National People’s Congress, China’s highest legislative body, but did not succeed due to lack of support from delegates.

Campaigners say that it would also promote safe sex and prevent the spread of HIV/ AIDS.

China Daily reports that Zhang Beichuan feels that “legal unions for homosexuals would lead to more stable same-sex relationships” and “help better protect the legitimate rights of same-sex lovers.”

The report in China Daily is significant as the press in China is controlled and censored and the newspaper is the widest-read state-run title published in English.

Many scholars and members of China’s burgeoning gay community feel that the country has retreated to its traditional ambiguity about homosexuality, with religions such as Buddhism and Taoism promoting diversity.

Unlike other religions such as Christianity, homosexuality has never been viewed as a sin.

This extends to literature and historical accounts as well as in practice, where it was often the case that young men could have sex with each other for friendship and married men take concubines of both sexes, as long as they were married and produced heirs.

PinkNews.co.uk reported that last year when China approved its first gay and lesbian organisation, Happy Together, which counts professors, teachers and students among its members.

The Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations is holding the Step-up programme, a three day residential event in London from the 22nd to 24th October.

It will teach the skills they say are needed for people to lead organisations at the highest level.

These include understanding the business end of leading an organisation, developing policy, increasing confidence and knowledge, and making contacts with the LGBT community.

The consortium is encouraging young people to enter, not only to add to their CVs but also to create new leaders who they hope will run the organisations they are trying to support.

No experience is necessary, but applicants must be 25 years old or younger, work, study or play in London, be defined as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and above all enthusiastic.

The consortium is a National Lottery funded charity that works across the entire United Kingdom and supports other LGBT groups, organisations and charities from a development standpoint.

It aims to provide funding and support for their numerous members as well as give them a voice to be heard with the National Strategic Partner Forum, an organisation that works with the Department of Health to help voluntary, community and public sectors work together.

James Walsh, who is in charge of the event, told PinkNews.co.uk:

“We hope that young people will go off to be governors, trustees for charities, a whole range of things including advisory board members.

“The whole point of it is that with the whole new equality legislation and the rights of young people, we want to bring the two together so that young LGBT people can have their voices heard at the decision making table.”

For more information click here.

Pariah was directed by Dee Rees, an American director who originally wrote it as a semi-autobiographical feature-length piece.

The movie already made a stir on the American short film circuit as well as winning the best narrative short award at the Newfest film festival in New York.

The Iris award is the largest ever prize given for a gay and lesbian short film and Pariah was the best entry from thirty shortlisted at the climax of a three day film festival in Cardiff.

The film is the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a 17-year old girl struggling to find her sexual identity.

She juggles the life she has with her gay friends and the world of her family and conservative parents, who she keeps her sexuality a secret from.

Ms Rees collaborated with her girlfriend Nekisa Cooper, who produced the 27-minute film.

The Iris prize is a award which aims “to recognise, celebrate and promote gay and lesbian moving image content, which will also promote tolerance, acceptance and further understanding of the credibility and business of gay and lesbian filmmaking.”

Gay and lesbian cinema has undergone big changes in the last 20 years, and the success of Brokeback Mountain put it firmly mainstream with box office success and Oscar acceptance.

In the UK, the British Film Institute (BFI) has annually held the London Lesbian and Gay Festival since 1986, and is now the third biggest film festival in the UK.