Law
- Law
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6 October 2006Gay rights denial ’causes mental illness’ + The stigma of homosexuality can cause mental illness and depression, a medical expert told the High Court this week as an Irish lesbian couple attempted to get their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland.Giving evidence at the Dublin High Court case being taken by Drs Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan, Dr Harry Kennedy, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, said that discriminating against homosexuality can lead to clinical depression. -
6 October 2006California rejects gay marriage + A California appeals court has dealt gay marriage supporters a severe blow after upholding the state's ban on same-sex marriages with a 2-1 vote.This latest defeat, following similar rulings in New York and Washington, supports California's 1977 law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. -
6 October 2006Campaigners seek to stop homophobic incitement 1 Gay charity Stonewall has received around £10,000 of donations towards plans for a campaign to stop incitement of anti gay hatred.The lobby group want homophobic incitement to be included in the next Criminal Justice Bill, which would make it illegal for anti gay statements to be made on public platforms such as in musical lyrics or political campaigns. -
6 October 2006Transsexual jailed for assaulting mother + A transsexual has been jailed for 60 days after being convicted of assaulting her 84-year-old mother.Diane Wells, 52, was convicted of misdemeanour assault on her mother last May at Manhattan Criminal Court and is also subject to a civil lawsuit from her siblings who claim she bullied her parent.
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5 October 2006Trans doctor investigated 3 A transgender activist has voiced support for a sex change doctor being investigated by the General Medical Council over allegations of professional misconduct.Dr Russell Reid, a consultant psychiatrist at Charing Cross gender identity clinic specialising in transgender and gender reassignment issues is accused of prescribing sex-change treatment for some transgender patients too quickly between 1984 and 2003. -
5 October 2006Email scandal grows after Foley comes out 3 A republican email sex scandal has taken a new turn after Mark Foley who resigned from the US Congress last week amid reports that he sent inappropriate messages to teenage congressional pages revealed he is gay.His revelation has brought House Republican leaders into the spotlight amid claims that some knew about his sexual orientation but refused to investigate so not to sound bigoted. -
5 October 2006Mayor’s gay party slur suspension quashed + London Mayor Ken Livingstone has had his four-week suspension from office overturned after appealing the decision this week.Mr Livingstone had been suspended from office for a month last February after comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, but the mayor has today successfully challenged the decision of the Standards Board for England arguing he was not on official duty when the comments were made. -
4 October 2006Activists criticise ‘gay spin’ in Foley scandal 3 Gay rights groups expressed outrage this week over the 'gay spin' they say the Republican leadership has put on the Mark Foley email scandal involving underage Congressional pages, emphasising that the ex-congressman's actions had nothing to do with sexual orientation."It is completely unacceptable, regardless of party or sexual orientation, for an adult to engage in this kind of behaviour with a minor," said Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender political organisation.
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4 October 2006Atlanta becomes first southern city to oppose ‘Don’t Ask’ policy + In an 11-2 vote, the Atlanta City Council passed a resolution this week calling on Congress to repeal the federal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members, making it the first Southern city to join the fight against the controversial policy.The resolution, which calls for passage of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a Congressional bill to repeal the law, was introduced by City Council member Anne Fauver and was supported by both Georgia Equality and the Georgia chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights. -
4 October 2006Escaped anti-gay murderer found hanged in his cell after recapture + A murderer who absconded from an open prison has been found dead in his cell after being recaptured.Lee Dewhurst, who was convicted of killing a gay man in 1992, was found hanged in his cell on Sunday 1st October. -
2 October 2006“For couples planning a Civil Partnership, it’s so important to have a solicitor who is supportive”, says Kahn Priestley 7 The family department within Healys solicitors, a firm who are this month advertising their services in the print edition of The Pink News, are offering legal services tailored to the lesbian and gay community in response to the Civil Partnership legislation.In order to do this, Healys have taken on a new lawyer, Kahn Priestley, who herself recently celebrated a civil partnership, to head up the Brighton wing of Healys family law department. -
29 September 2006California legislates for trans protections 1 Transgender groups are hailing California as "the most protective" US state after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed the country's first law addressing the use of gay and transgender panic defences.The bill, signed into law yesterday, makes it more difficult for a defendant accused of homophobic or transphobic violence to use the controversial gay panic defence which has previously been used to argue that a murderer or attacker had a temporary moment of insanity when discovering their victim was gay. -
28 September 2006Christian cleared over gay pride protest + The head of an anti-gay Christian lobby group has been cleared of public order charges after handing out anti-gay leaflets, but now plans to take civil action against the police for infringing on his freedom of speech.Stephen Green, director of Christian Voice, appeared before magistrates earlier this month after being arrested for handing out leaflets at Cardiff Mardi Gras which included quotes saying homosexuality is wrong. -
28 September 2006LA gay centre sues IRS for past discrimination + The LA Gay Lesbian Centre sued the Internal Revenue Service in US District Court this week to force the IRS to obey the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by releasing documents related to its discriminatory rejection of the centre's application for non-profit status in the early 1970s.More than a year after filing for federal 501(c)(3) non-profit status in 1971, the IRS denied the application from the "Gay Community Services Centre" (as it was known then) on the unsubstantiated grounds that it was not "organised and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes." -
28 September 2006Liberals still lead the way on gay rights + Liberal Democrat equality spokesperson Lorely Burt argues that her party has led the way in gay rights.Everyone knows that during last 10 years the fight for LGBT rights has made unprecedented advances.Less known is the fact that the Liberal Democrats have been the principal driving force behind these changes. -
27 September 2006Gay community safer after killer is caught + A convicted murderer who absconded from a South Wales open prison in July has been found in the Channel Islands, Paul Hunt writes.Lee Dewhurst, 35, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester was found in Jersey and arrested by police after escaping from Prescoed prison where he was serving a life sentence for the murder of a gay man in 1992. -
27 September 2006Entertainers outraged after another gay murder 1 PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveCabaret stars are planning to make a Band Aid style protest song against homophobia after another shocking gay murder - this time a pensioner on his way home from the pub.67-year-old Malcolm Bryan, who worked in the entertainment industry booking cabaret artists, was found dead at the bottom of a stairwell in a bock of flats in Portsmouth last week. -
26 September 2006Miss Piggee off to Supreme Court over homophobic pamphlets. + A US Federal Appeals Court has dismissed a teacher's lawsuit, who claimed that not being allowed to circulate homophobic pamphlets broke her constitutional right to free speech.Cosmetics teacher Martha Louise Piggee from Carl Sandburg College, Galesburg, Illinois, handed out pamphlets condemning homosexuality to her pupils.
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25 September 2006India divided over Anti-Gay law. + There is more evidence in India of the growing acceptance of homosexuality.A new survey by The Hindustan Times, shows that only about a third of Indian youth are in favour of keeping the country's anti-homosexual laws. -
22 September 2006Latvia legislates in favour of gays and lesbians at work 1 Latvian legislators have endorsed a ban on sexual discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the workplace, reversing an earlier decision that earned them sharp criticism at home and abroad, Agence France-Presse reports.This decision reverses a failed vote to ban discrimination in the workplace against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people (LGBT) in June.
