New York leader wants gay marriage within two years
The Governor of New York has said that he wants a Democrat controlled state Senate to legalise gay marriage as one of it's priorities in 2009.
Eliot Spitzer made his remarks on Wednesday at a fund-raising event for the Senate Democratic Committee in Greenwich village, where guests had paid up to $10,000 to attend.
A witness told The New York Post that Governor Spitzer said:
"One of the first things we're going to do when [Senate Minority Leader] Malcolm Smith is [majority] leader is gay marriage."
Ocean's Eleven star sorry for faggot comment
Scott Caan has apologised for calling a photographer a "faggot."
The 31-year-old son of Hollywood legend James Caan, who starred in all three of the Ocean's movies alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt, also offered $10,000 (£4,890) to fight the reporter who had taken pictures of him eating a cheeseburger.
He told website TMZ.com, who hosted footage of the incident: "I am sorry for using such a derogatory word."
Tribunal told of lesbian encounter in Army stables
A young soldier told a tribunal yesterday how he saw two lesbian colleagues sharing a passionate kiss, one with her hand down the others trousers.
Gunner Ashley Yeats said he felt 'embarrassed' after catching Lance Bombardier Kerry Fletcher, 31, and Corporal Louise Ashman, 29, in the army stables of 40 Regiment Royal Artillery in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, where they were all working in early spring 2005.
Horror guru calls for gay lead characters in computer games
Author, artist and computer game designer Clive Barker has attracted anti-gay remarks after saying he would like to see a game with a central gay character.
Mr Barker made the remarks to Gamepro.com on Tuesday while being interviewed about the design and release of his new game, Jericho, on the Xbox 360.
Asked about the role of gender in games, he said: "One day I want to be part of a team that creates a game with a gay man or woman in the lead role where they are casually sexual."
Vietnamese high school pupils accepting of homosexuality
A survey of school children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's capital, has revealed that a quarter of them believe at least 10% of their class mates are gay.
HCMC University of Pedagogy conducted the poll of 300 pupils at three junior high and high schools and discovered that 80% of pupils said "no" when asked "is homosexuality bad?"
Experts believe that while the actual number of gay pupils is difficult to determine, open homosexuality in schools appears to be on the rise, despite still carrying social stigma amongst the adult population.
DVD Review: Poltergay is a camp Halloween treat
When young couple Marc (Clovis Cornillac) and Emma (Julie Depardieu) move into their new home, a huge, run-down house that's been empty for years, all is not what it seems.
For a start, there's the loud disco music that wakes Marc up every night, although Emma can't hear it.
Giant images of winged penises begin to appear on the walls and a Polaroid camera photographs Marc showering, seemingly of its own accord.
Policeman fined for homophobic remarks
A officer from Cleveland Police has been found guilty of making homophobic and racist remarks.
At Teesside Magistrates' Court on Wednesday PC Peter O'Kane, of Queens Drive, Billingham was fined £600 and £950 costs after he was convicted of two public order offences, reports the Newcastle Evening Gazette.
25-year-old Mr O'Kane was overheard making the remarks on December 28th while out with a group of friends at the Oak Pub, in Middlesbrough, which has a predominantly gay clientele.
Bahamas police accused of harassing gay tourists
A gay cruise-ship operator is demanding a public apology from the Royal Bahamas Police after they raided a party for LGBT tourists.
DaJuan Xavier, Executive Director of Ebony Pyramid Entertainment, called the incident, which happened on Saturday October 6th at the Hard Rock Café in Nassau, an attempt "to harass, intimidate, and frighten."
According to the Nassau Guardian, Mr Xavier reported the incident to the US embassy and is now preparing to make his request to police.
Dancing boys a mark of prestige in Afghanistan
Young boys are being sexually abused in Afghanistan in line with a tradition where they are bought by older men to dance at parties.
The practice of "bacha baazi", meaning "boy-play", is enjoying a resurgence in the North of Afghanistan where ownership is seen as a status symbol by militia leaders according to Afghan news site, e-Ariana.
While condemned by clerics and human rights groups, authorities are doing little to end it.
Leading gay commentators question incitement law
Prominent gay journalists have expressed concern at proposals from the government to introduce a new offence of inciting hate against gay, lesbian and bisexual people.
They believe it will undermine freedom of speech, adds little to existing laws and even plays into the hands of homophobes and bigots by allowing them to become martyrs.
However, gay equality organisation Stonewall hit back, saying there is a lot of misunderstanding about the proposed new offence.
Young Tory resigns over homophobic Facebook group
A young Conservative student leader has been thrown out of the party and suspended from his university after making homophobic and anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook.
Fergus Bowman, 22, a second-year politics and religion student at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), had earlier resigned as chairman of the student union's Conservative Future branch.
Conservative Future is an under-30s organisation that plays an active role in recruiting young people into the party.
Newcastle plans Pride 2008
An annual celebration of the North East's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities is being planned.
Northern Pride will be launched in July 2008 and aims to attract 3,000 people from the region and beyond by offering a wide-range of entertainment.
Run by a team of LGBT volunteers from the North East, organisers hope it will grow to become a mainstay of the region's cultural calendar in the same way as other Pride events in Manchester and Brighton.
Prescott rejects Russian church leader's gay hate
John Prescott, the former British Deputy Prime Minister, joined European Parliamentarians yesterday in petitioning the head of the Russian Orthodox Church about his homophobic views.
The petition read: "We urge Patriarch Alexy to avoid the use of language inciting intolerance and to respect, rather than seek to deny, the fundamental rights of sexual minorities."
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II had called homosexuality an "illness" and attacked what he called "homosexual propaganda."
Conservative anger over cruising ground firefighters
A Conservative councillor is seeking to overturn the punishment of four firefighters from Avon Fire and Rescue Service who were reported after shining torches on gay men cruising in Bristol Downs.
Bristol city councillor Spud Murphy labelled the decision to discipline the men for misuse of fire equipment and bringing the service into disrepute after the incident in June as "barmy", echoing outrage already shown by the tabloids.
One of the men caught in the firefighter's torchlight later filed a complaint under advice from charity Terrence Higgins Trust.
THT launches drugs awareness campaign
Sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust has launched a new campaign this week to provide support and information to gay men about drugs, HIV and sex.
The new scheme offers outreach work, one-to-one counselling and a series of information booklets examining how different drugs affect health, sexual behaviour and HIV medication.
The Gay Men's Sex Survey (2005) showed that drug use was widespread amongst gay men. Men who use drugs were more likely to have unprotected anal sex.
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