Law
- Law
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29 May 2007Gay couple guilty of setting fire to club 57 A gay couple have been found guilty of torching a club with more than 50 people still inside.Stephen Bingham, 40, set fire to the Switch Spot in Newcastle an hour after he was removed from the club for punching the owner.Bingham was jailed for four and a half years. -
29 May 2007Australian gay bar wins right to ban lesbians and straight men 58 The Scottish owner of a gay bar in Australia has won the right to ban lesbians and heterosexual men from its premises.A tribunal made the historic ruling after hotelier Tom McFeely argued that women and straight men posed a physical threat to his guests in Peel Hotel, Melbourne.The Victoria tribunal said: "Sometimes heterosexual groups and lesbian groups insult and deride and are even physically violent towards the gay male patrons." -
26 May 2007Gay groups condemn blood donation ban 6 This week the Food and Drug Administration announced on their website that the current lifetime ban on donating blood will remain in effect for gay and bisexual men.In March of 2006, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), America's Blood Centers (ABC) and the American Red Cross (ARC) testified before the FDA that the lifetime ban for men who have sex with men "is medically and scientifically unwarranted." -
25 May 2007Gender reassignment doctor still allowed to practice 57 The UK's leading gender identity psychiatrist has had charges of serious professional misconduct against him upheld.The General Medical Council found 63-year-old consultant Dr. -
25 May 2007Stonewall launches guide to new gay protections 57 Stonewall today launched a guide to the new goods and services protections for LGB people.Sponsored by Lloyds TSB, the gay equality organisation has published 300,000 postcard-sized 'image-heavy text-light' guides.The 12-page booklets advise lesbian, gay and bisexual people that "If something is offered, you can have it, whatever the colour of your money." -
25 May 2007Study of employment tribunals reveals emotional cost 3 The first study of the impact of the employment equality regulations, which grant protection for LGB people in the workplace, has found that many employees who go to a tribunal suffer financially and emotionally.The regulations on sexual orientation and religion or belief were introduced in 2003.Employees who have tried to resolve disputes over discrimination under new equality regulations have ended up facing demotion. -
25 May 2007History event to mark decriminalisation of homosexuality 57 The House of Homosexual Culture will host a twentieth-century history event this weekend.57/67 celebrates and examines the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957, and the passing of the Sexual Offences Act ten years later.Historians, authors and members of the public will come together to discuss the effects of the two events on LGBT people both then and now. -
24 May 2007Gay couple settle adoption lawsuit + A Californian couple has settled a lawsuit against Adoption.com, an Arizona-based website that refused to let them post a profile in the hopes of finding a birth mother.As part of the settlement, the site's owners agreed to stop doing business with California residents.According to the Associated Press, the company could have kept doing business in the state if they had been willing to let same-sex couples participate, but they were not. -
23 May 2007Married woman in court over civil partnership 2 A married woman will appear before a court on charges of making a false statement to a registrar, after she allegedly illegally entered into a civil partnership.Suzanne Mitchell appeared before Shrewsbury magistrates today and was given unconditional bail.She is to appear at Shrewsbury Crown Court for a plea hearing on 9th July. -
23 May 2007Turned away from homeless shelter for being gay 1 A Chicago woman denied access to a city-funded homeless shelter on a cold November evening because she is a lesbian is challenging the discrimination she experienced.The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois recently announced the filing of complaints with the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations and the State of Illinois Department of Human Rights on behalf of Michelle Wang. -
22 May 2007Trans man jailed in Pakistan over marriage + A couple have been jailed after doctors concluded the groom was actually a woman, despite gender reassignment surgery.A court in Lahore, Pakistan said that Shumain Raj, 31, and Shahzina Tariq, 26, married last year, in defiance of Islamic law.Mr Raj initially brought the marriage to the attention of the court, when he complained about threats from his wife's relatives. -
22 May 2007Girl reunited with lesbian carer 1 After almost three months, a seven-year-old girl has been reunited with the woman in whose care she'd thrived for almost a year before being sent to live in a crowded foster home.The child had been held in foster care since Feb.
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21 May 2007Two charged over murder of pornographer + Two men have been arrested and charged with the killing of Bryan Charles Kosis, owner of gay pornographic movie company Cobra Video.According to the Associated Press, Harlow R.
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21 May 2007Canadians turning to US surrogates + Couples who participate in paid surrogacy in Canada can receive a $500,000 (£233,900) fine or a decade in jail.Yet these stiff punishments have not put an end to the practice. -
18 May 2007Insurance victory for Ohio transsexual 57 An Ohio transsexual has won a court battle with her insurance company over the cost of her gender reassignment surgery.Jan Stacy, and electronics engineer, was told when she began gender realignment in 2006 that her self insured plan covered the surgery.When she submitted the bills for the surgery to company Highmark Blue Shield, she was refused.
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18 May 2007New embryo bill will ease lesbian IVF + The government is to undertake a major relaxation of in vitro fertilisation rules in a new proposed bill.Some key elements included allowing hybrid animal-human embryos for testing, rules which could actually make it easier for single people and lesbians to receive fertility treatment, and it would give equal parenting rights to same sex partnerships.Last year a ban was placed on creating the "Frankenstein" hybrid embryos, due to considerable public unease. -
18 May 2007Mormon student loses gay jibe lawsuit + A judge has ruled against Rebekah Rice, the famed 18-year-old student who sued her school because she was punished by the administration and bullied by other kids for saying "That's so gay."Rice and her parents originally first sued the school in 2003. -
18 May 2007New York gays told marriages are legal 57 A gay New York couple have been told that their Massachusetts marriage is legal.On 10th May, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly found that gay weddings that took place in other states before they became "prohibited" in New York in July last year are legally valid.Michael Adams and Fred Davie were wed in Lowell, Massachusetts in 2004 after the state became the first in the U.S.
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18 May 2007Man charged over gay murders + A Nova Scotia man has been charged with the murder of two gay men.Glen Douglas Race was arrested in Texas on Tuesday by the U.S. -
17 May 2007Dawn raids target gay bashers + A series of raids by police across London has led to the arrest of 32 people suspected of a range of hate crimes.The Metropolitan Police said the operation, which involved over 200 officers, might encourage victims of such crimes to report them.On Tuesday a report found that police detectives investigating murders and violent crimes in the gay community influenced by institutional homophobia.
