The new project however is said to be the subject of a bidding war amongst some of Hollywood’s top film studios. The Hollywood Reporter claims.

Meanwhile this week, gay campaigner Peter Tatchell gave his opinion on the film, saying the Borat character was less homophobic than previous character Ali-G.

Borat is famed for his attempts to kiss American men on the cheek, much to their fear and horror.

His characters are therefore seen more exposes of small town America; “the victims of his scurrilous send-ups are small-town middle Americans. Borat gives them the rope to hang themselves. He’s baiting them. They express real ignorance and prejudice, whereas Borat is only acting” says Peter Tatchell.

It remains to be seen how much controversy Bruno can muster.

The homophobic propaganda was produced by the Fundamentalist Baptist Mission in Waterford, Ontario and was called the “Prophetic Word”.

Many of the workers even refused to touch the pamphlets, Canadian Union of Postal Workers spokesman, Ken Mooney described the leaflets as “really offensive” and “hate mail.”

Postal bosses were adamant that their employees would have to carry the material, refusing to accept or even to question the issue of distributing hateful material. Colleen Frick, Canada Post spokesperson told the Toronto Star; “It will be delivered at some point in the next two days,” she said, explaining that the corporation has three days to deliver ad mail from the time it arrives at the depot.

“The posties don’t have the right to refuse to deliver the mail,” she said, “The contract between the corporation and the union requires them to deliver mail the corporation deems acceptable. “And this item was deemed such.”

It comes after the New jersey Supreme Court called for the state to give fairer rights to gays and lesbians.

Justice Barry Albin, who authored the 66 page majority ruling said unequal rights can no longer be tolerated, “[The] unequal dispensation of rights and benefits to committed same-sex partners can no longer be tolerated under our State Constitution.

“Our decision significantly advances the civil rights of gays and lesbians. We have decided that our State Constitution guarantees that every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples.”

But Mr Bush was less than impressed with the decision, “I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman. And I believe it’s a sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society and the wellbeing of families, and it must be defended.”

It echoes his remarks made at the time of a Senate vote on the issue earlier this year.

The President was in Iowa to support a Republican colleague Jeff Lamberti, but according to the BBC chose to refer to his fellow republican as Dave.

Other Republican hopefuls however have shunned the oratorical skills of the president for their fund raising or campaign events. Bush is currently standing particularly low in the opinion polls, largely due to the ever growing disaster and human tragedy that is Iraq.

The ‘family values’ rhetoric could be the prefect smoke screen for the electorate.

The protesters highlight the nature of the dictatorial Mugabe regime that has been omnipresent in Zimbabwe politics since independence and has also spiralled the previously buoyant country into economic catastrophe and human rights graveyard.

Alois Mbawara, of the FZY, said: ” South Africa has blocked calls for the UN to probe human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and it has endorsed Zimbabwe’s elections, even though they were conducted in an atmosphere of violent intimidation by Mugabe’s henchmen.

“Dr Zuma and President Mbeki know that the Zimbabwe government

violates SADC and AU democratic principles. By remaining silent, they tacitly endorse these violations”

Zuma was addressing the audience on the future of the United Nations; “We were sickened to hear Dr Zuma talk about international solidarity when her government is refusing to show solidarity with the persecuted people of Zimbabwe,” said Alois Mbawara, of the FZY.

The protesters heckled the speaker on the South African government’s lack of action against the Mugabe regime and its maltreatment of its citizens.

Initial protests were shouted down buy the chair person but as the protests went un-responded from Zuma they grew in intensity and Mr. Tachell took to the stage to unfurl a banner reading : ‘Mbeki’s shame. ANC betrays black Zimbabwe.’

Mr Tatchell was wrestled from the stage by security but the protests continued.

The two neighbours share a history of solidarity in fighting oppression and more recently South Africa is looked upon as the regions major power broker.

As the heckles escalated more and more protestors were ejected and eventually the police were called. Zuma made little recognition of the protests despite her past and when she did according to Mr Tatchell; “Dr Zuma said Zimbabweans in Britain had no right to speak out about the situation Zimbabwe. This is a bit much coming Dr Zuma, who spent much of the apartheid era in exile in the UK. That comment really incensed the audience.”

Síle de Valera opened the initiative which was conceived of by the Equality Authority and a youth group for the LGBT community called BeLonG To.

The campaign aims to distribute posters to every post primary school in the Republic and attempts to reiterate a commitment by schools to stamp out homophobic bullying.

Michael Barron of BeLonG To said: “Homophobic bullying is at a dangerously high level in Irish schools and cannot be ignored anymore. Now is the time to act to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people receive a safe and equal education.

“The fact that An Garda Siochana, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, the Teachers Union of Ireland, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, the Union of Secondary School Students, the National Parents Council – Post Primary, Parents Support and Pobal are endorsing this campaign, demonstrates that there is a real will to act now”

Research by Dublin City University has backed up Mr Barron’s statement indeed according to the research 79% of teachers were aware of homophobic bullying in their school whilst worryingly 90% of the teachers reported that their schools anti bullying policies included no reference to homophobic bullying.

As well as the posters, the Equality Authority stated that it intended to promote equality by “addressing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in the RSE and CSPE courses, by including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in the student council, by training staff on equality and diversity issues and by developing the role of guidance counsellors in providing appropriate supports to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students”.

To add to the mystery of the saga, a group calling themselves Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays Gays (PFOX) has offered to effectively change his sexuality.

The group has startlingly stated that “No one is born gay”. Claiming instead that homosexuality is entirely a result of abuse, “Society must take a stand and stop the deliberate misinformation that people are ‘born gay’ and can’t overcome unwanted same-sex attractions. Failure to get involved will produce more victims like Mr Foley who then become abusers themselves.”

This bizarre homophobic group have attempted to utilise the Foley scandal and his behaviour towards the young people involved to spread their offensive beliefs about sexuality; and their claims that abuse makes people gay, alluding to Mr Foley’s revelations that he was sexually assaulted as a child.

The scandal has added to a growing list of threats to Republican domination of the House in next month’s elections.

The group claim to convert gay people regularly, Mr Foley has not responded to their invitation instead choosing to check in to a strictly 18s and over alcohol rehabilitation clinic.

It is the second award ceremony for diversity, which the cabinet office champion as a demonstration of “successes in policy, employment and service delivery across Government”.

The a;gender network is a group which aims to “provide confidential and mutual support” whilst offering advice and work towards eradicating Transphobia in the government and civil service.

An independent panel of judges gave the group the award for “their inspirational work in providing a Civil Service support network for civil service employees who have changed, or need to change, their perceived gender, or who identify as intersex.”

Amongst the other winners were Wendy Benson of the ministry of Defence Police and guarding Agency in the leadership award, whilst the planning inspectoarte picked up the Partnership Award for their Tomorrow’s Planners project that “enables organisations to set up traineeships for people from under-represented communities at national level.”

The Improvement Award went to, the India office in the Department of International Development for their effective implementation of a new diversity action plan.

Bill Jeffrey, the Civil Service Diversity Champion, said ‘As Civil Service Diversity Champion, I am very proud of the outstanding work we are doing in this field, and was greatly impressed by the range and quality of the nominations. These awards are an opportunity to celebrate our successes in equality and diversity across Government and I warmly congratulate all today’s winners and runners-up.’

It is therefore of particular consternation, according to the Hepatitis B Foundation, then that people are reluctant to or don’t even know that there is a vaccination for a far more infectious and widespread disease: Hepatitis B.

The virus is a global issue and gay men are said to be particularly at risk being approximately 10 times more likely to carry the diseases.

The campaign is called B Aware and aims to bring about a change in attitudes amongst the public, politicians and even clinicians.

The public consciousness about this disease is worryingly limited and there is major concern that this ‘silent’ virus will become endemic.

Health professionals accuse the UK government and others of not taking the problem seriously. Many if not most western governments have conducted mandatory immunisation programmes, the British government however has instead chosen to target ‘high risk’ groups, perhaps because of a wrongly held belief that it will be more cost efficient; treatment however will invariably be more expensive than prevention.

Treatment can often involve regular hospitalisation for decades. Immunisation however is as simple as a few injections that would cost the government as little as 50p a go.

The economic issue is a powerful one but the personal benefit of prevention cannot be underestimated when compared with the years of treatment and possibly liver transplant. Failure to treat or prevent is fatal, the disease causes 80% of liver cancers according to Professor Arie Zuckerman.

The B aware campaign estimates that approximately 2 billion people are infected with the virus worldwide, it is the 10th leading cause of death globally but remains hard to detect without a blood test.

In the UK there are an estimated 180,000 chronically infected individuals and each year about 7,700 new cases develop, more than the estimated 7,000 new cases of HIV.

The virus develops slowly and diagnosis often follows years of unknowingly carrying the virus during which time the liver of the victim could be permanently damaged.

50% of infections are spread through sexual intercourse but the virus can survive for up to a week in a drop of blood on a razor so the potential for infection through intravenous drug use is also prevalent.

However, Mr Zuckerman describes the gay community as a shining light in the fight against this disease and in building consciousness.

The women’s organisation Sangini has presented a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) about the plight of gay people in the country.

Homosexuality is illegal in India and has been since colonial days.

This follows a petition made last month for a change in the law by high profile Indian academics and campaigners to the central government to modernise this ailing piece of legislation.

It is seen as huge contradiction for this supposedly democratic and progressive nation to possess such repressive legislation.

The law however is only the tip of the ice berg for the majority of gay people in India. Society and culture “are extremely family oriented. With no adequate insurance and health care systems in place, families build the social security net. Falling out of the family set-up is equivalent to loosing ones social security.

Women, who are not the way their families and society want them to be, often lose out immediately on this social security network.” according to Maya Shanker of the Sangini trust.

The traditional, conservative nature of the majority of Indian life thus condemns millions of LGBT people to extreme persecution and oppression.

A change in the law must undoubtedly be the first step in gaining acceptance and justice for this embattled community.

She also highlighted sexual health issues as a massive issue for this community. India has possibly the fastest growing HIV problem and it is only just emerging as an issue that politicians are willing to tackle particularly in the north of the country.

The Singapore Development Authority deemed the television show “sexually suggestive and offensive to good taste and decency”.

Despite being “pixelated” or perhaps because it was, AFP reports that the authority believed the women were engaging in “unnatural sex acts”.

According to the regulators it ” failed to comply with guidelines which disallow the promotion, justification and glamourisation of lesbian lifestyles and their explicit depictions”

The programme, named Cheaters was aired across traditionally repressive nations in Asia such as India, China and Indonesia with no problems.

The tiny city state is renowned for its draconian legislation with homosexuality and chewing gum both bizarrely illegal!

Indeed according to AFP anyone who “”voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals”, is liable to a possible life prison term and a fine”

They also report that there is however a flourishing gay scene in the city despite the official ‘nonsense’.

The position is not whole hearted however with the party still not supporting same sex marriages or adoption.

The spokesman for the party, Deutsche Welle reports, said: “the CSU wanted its new position regarding gay relationships to reflect today’s reality”.

The deputy party chief reiterated the party line of applying human rights arbitrarily on a radio interview, “We want to show that we respect the values which are lived in these partnerships” but; “that only extends to a certain point”.

The statements however are a small step forward in comparison to the open homophobia stressed by previous generations of leaders.

Bavaria under the CSU was the only state in Germany that took the issue of gay marriages all the way to the federal court in an attempt to block peoples rights to marriage.

Indeed it still blocks the right to marriage for same sex couples in official registry offices.

The move towards slightly more tolerance could be compared with this countries conservatives; attempting to capture more of the centre ground with the CSU making significant losses in several big cities in recent years.

The text message purports to be a friend whose mobile phone has run out of battery.

Many of the 150 plus volunteers were subjected to abuse by their co victims who mistakenly believed that the help-line was responsible for the rogue texts.

The police are now involved and are working with mobile phone operators to discover the source of the texts.

The main concern is the waste of peoples time and money and that the hoaxer could threaten the service’s ability to handle genuine calls.

The help line which has been operating since 1974, is entirely volunteer based and relies on charity but handles over 30,000 calls per year.

The switchboard deals with a wide variety of issues from safer sex to relationships and bullying.

Sacramento is said to have one of the largest former Soviet Union communities and these ultra religious groups are being blamed for a growth in anti homosexual actions.

The Russian speaking demonstrators are said to “far outnumber representatives from all other anti-gay groups combined” according to the Seattle Times.

The communities started coming to the area as refugees in the 80′s and like many former immigrant communities view the US as a safe haven for the practicing of their chosen religious ideology.

The demonstrators are accused of often violent and hate filled protests, indeed according to the said publication; “Nathan Feldman said he formed his gay self-defence organisation, Stand Up for Sacramento, after he was surrounded by dozens of Russian-speaking demonstrators at a June gay-pride parade”.

The hostility has united more liberal churches and human rights organisations in the area.

Unfortunately it appears that many of the anti gay groups have a belief in apocalyptic prophesy and that it is believers job to ‘cleanse’ the world of people different to them, in other words non-bigots.

The protests are also said to have had a significant affect upon the vetoing of a “state Senate bill that would have banned negative references based on sexual orientation from state textbooks and classes” according to the Seattle Times . The Californian version of section 28.

Mr Schwarzenegger the governor of California vetoed it saying that “protection against discrimination already existed in state law.”

The unions are illegal under Irish law but the embassy is legally British territory.

At least one partner has to be a British citizen. The move comes as growing pressure, both public and institutional mounts for the Republic to follow the lead of the UK and permit gay unions.

The Irish government, as yet does not recognise same sex unions. This follows controversy following the marriage of Irish lesbians Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan in Canada and the failure of the Irish government to recognise same sex weddings.

So far five couples have been wed in a public space on the grounds of the Embassy and so far no objectors have ruined the occasions.

The Irish justice minister, Michael McDowell, has also appeared to be keen to move away from the traditionally conservative past but reminded people that this would require a change in the Irish constitution.

Earlier this year Irish PM Bertie Ahern gave his backing for civil partnership laws, stating that the government is unequivocally in favour of treating gays and lesbians equally.

Alongside more established actors such as Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith, Gately will play the Glam rock hopeful Tommy Tomorrow in the story called Doctor Who: Horror of Glam Rock.

The role will involve the pop star turned actor performing his first solo work since 2001, doing a “T-Rex style” number.

Gately first came into the public eye when he played a small part in the Alan Parker film the Commitments in 1991. In 1993, he joined the Irish band, Boyzone.

The manufactured boy band scored six UK number ones and sold over ten million albums. The band split in 1999 following the decision of lead singer, Ronan Keating to pursue a solo career.

Gately attempted his own solo career but was dropped by his record label in 2001. Since then he has led a successful career as a musical actor.

The actor is said to be thrilled to be working on the project; “I’m so chuffed that I get to sing a song in Doctor Who.”

Campaigners are outraged at the move by the Lib Dem leader. Khatami is known to be a supporter of Sharia law, which is by nature homophobic and has been known to have condemned thousands to persecution and many to death in Iran during his regime.

Sharia law condemns people as young as nine to hanging for Gay sex.

The award is seen as deeply contradictory of Lib Dem policy. Muslim Affairs spokesperson for campaign group Outrage! Has branded the politician a hypocrite for honouring the openly homophobic former Iranian leader who would not condemn the death penalty for homosexuality at an interview at Harvard earlier in the year.

“Sir Menzies agreement to honour a homophobe like Khatami contradicts the Lib Dem’s supposed commitment to lesbian and gay human rights. It is a big disappointment,” said Mohamed Ali bin Mahmoud, Muslim Affairs spokesperson for OutRage!.”

This follows numerous incidents in which individuals and couples have been hanged, harassed and imprisoned for their sexuality. The National Union of students is planning to protest for a variety of other human rights abuses by Kathami’s regime, including the violent suppression of students protests.

The Lib Dems brushed off the criticism insisting it doesn’t reflect policy, a spokesman told PinkNews.co.uk: “This is a decision that has been taken by St Andrew’s University. As Chancellor of St Andrews University Sir Menzies Campbell plays no part in the decision making process, since the role of Chancellor is entirely honorary.”

The ceremony will take place at St. Andrews University on the 31st of October and will be followed by a speech by Kathami at Chatham House in London. Protests are being urged at both events.

The comedian has been accused of unfairly branding the central Asian nation as a nation of misogynistic, homophobic and generally backward individuals

The invitation comes after the US release of the film that involves Cohen posing as a reporter making a documentary about American life and ensnaring unwitting individuals with his own brand of humour. It also follows the banning of the movie by the largest Kazakh cinema chain and the suppression of the comedian’s website by the Kazakh government.

This follows his controversial character, Ali G that received similar criticism, that time from members of the black community, despite the character and actor being far from black, but rather the character portrayed was an aspirational ‘rude boy’.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s humour continues to tread the fine line between ironic humour and offensive stereotyping. The sentiments are easily misinterpreted as his own opinion despite the comedic nature of his characters.

Sir Elton will play piano and sing on a single, a cover of the Buzzcocks song ‘ever fallen in love’ to be released on November 21 the proceeds of which will go to human rights charity Amnesty International.

The gay star will join a number of bands and artists for the project including The Futureheads and The Datsuns, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and The Buzzcocks Pete Shelley are also involved.

John Peel died just over two years ago of a heart attack, he was revered and loved for his ability to uncover and give air time too unknown artists. The single is the latest in a long line of tributes and outpourings of affection for the radio legend.

“Foley’s departure in disgrace has added a sexual dimension to an ethics cloud hovering over the Republican majority less than five weeks before Election Day” the Associated Press reports.

The gay Republican congressman has been accused of sending explicit e-mails to young congress aides. The e-mails, it is alleged were not fully acted upon by the speaker of the house, Dennis Hastert (IL-R) despite knowing about them as far back as 2000 the Washington post alleges. He is now being asked to resign as well.

The scandal is seen, particularly by the democrats as a huge blow to the Republican image as representing ‘family values’. Indeed the Washington Post reports on a new poll by Newsweek which indicates the Foley scandal is doing significant damage to the Republicans’ political fortunes and could sink their chances of holding onto control of Congress on Election Day, Nov. 7.

The poll found that 52 percent of Americans, including 29 percent of Republicans, believe Hastert was aware of Foley’s Internet communications with underage pages and tried to cover up Foley’s actions. More of those polled, 42 percent, now say they trust Democrats to do a better job handling moral values than Republicans; 36 percent favoured Republicans on the values question.”

The handling of Iraq and this scandal have prompted many to believe that the Democrats can overturn the Republican Congress majority that has stood since 1995.

The Republicans have traditionally opposed such issues as gay marriage and abortion with strong links to the powerful Christian right lobby.

This comes after a growing conflict between the Christian right and more liberal parties surrounding votes on new laws regarding same sex marriage and other family values issues prompted by the electoral success of evangelical president Bush.

However this also comes as news of an increase in openly gay cohabitation across the traditionally socially conservative mid west according to The Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy.

The study also says that anti gay rights campaigning has had the opposite effect than that desired; “By launching anti-gay campaigns in the Midwest, gay rights opponents greatly increased the visibility of gay people and issues.

“As the media provide more accurate reporting on GLB issues, people in these states heard more about their lives – repeatedly. More exposure and more self-recognition, plus a political incentive to come out, all create a path towards self-acceptance and coming out.”

The Doctor Who spin off is set and produced in Wales and despite being based on a character from the series, no stories will inter link.

Both episodes drew over four million viewers to the digital channel last night.

John Barrowman has said of the production; ” I’m absolutely thrilled about Torchwood. It’s going to be a dark, wild and sexy roller-coaster ride.

“Working again with Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and the BBC is like hooking up with family again. I can’t wait to explore Captain Jack even more.”

The series will be over thirteen fifty minute episodes and is being aimed at the adult post water shed market.