Politics
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6 December 2006Northern Ireland politicians call for gay rights repeal 13 Northern Ireland politicians are calling on the UK government to repeal the Sexual Orientation Regulations to be introduced in the province in the New Year, until the Assembly is fully restored.DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson has tabled an Early Day motion to Parliament asking for the law to be delayed by the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, as in the rest of the UK, for further consultation. -
6 December 2006Canada to vote today on keeping gay marriage + The great 'debate' in the Canadian parliament yesterday about the legality of gay marriage turned out to be more like a cry in the dark.The minority Conservative government had made headlines across the world with its pledge to repeal the decision last year to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.In the event Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not even turn up for the debate. -
6 December 2006Comment: Gay partners in poverty 8 Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell calls on the Chancellor to provide "transitional relief" in today's Pre-Budget Report to gay couples who are not in a civil partnership.Thousands of low income same-sex couples have been plunged into poverty as a result of benefit rule changes introduced when the Civil Partnership Act became law on 5 December last year.On the first anniversary of civil partnerships, the gay human rights group OutRage! is urging Chancellor Gordon Brown to provide "transitional relief" for the many gay partners who have suffered severe financial hardship as a result of the sudden, overnight changes in social security regulations. -
6 December 2006South Australia gays get new rights + South Australia is to grant a series of rights to gay and lesbian couples. -
6 December 2006Gay Republicans welcome HIV law change + A gay Republican lobby group has applauded the US President after he eased travel restrictions for HIV travellers entering America.The Log Cabin Republicans welcomed an announcement from the White House on World AIDS Day that President George W Bush would issue an executive order allowing HIV-positive people to enter the US on short-term tourist or business visas without having to seek special permission. -
6 December 2006SNP maverick attempts to derail gay adoptions + A major shake-up of adoption law in Scotland, which would see gay and lesbian couples able to adopt children for the first time, is under attack from a Scottish Nationalist.Roseanna Cunningham, an SNP member of the Scottish Parliament, has tabled a motion which would prevent gay couples from adopting. -
6 December 2006Cheney’s lesbian daughter is pregnant + Dick Cheney's daughter is having a baby, according to reports.While states across America argue over same sex marriage and gay parenting, the Vice President's daughter, Mary Cheney, is likely to create a shining example of same sex families.A source told the Washington Post that Ms Cheney and Heather Poe are "ecstatic." -
6 December 2006Gay marriage bans losing support 2 Bans on same-sex marriage performed more poorly in the November 2006 elections than in the past, in part due to their declining appeal in states with smaller "born-again" Christian populations, according to a study released this week.The research by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute claims that if current trends hold, such bans would fail at the ballot box in many of the states that have not yet considered same-sex marriage initiatives. -
6 December 2006Estonian gay activist to stand for parliament 1 One of Estonia's most prominent gay men has announced that he is to run for a seat in the country's parliament in next year's general election.Andi Ravalepik told Eesti Paevaleht newspaper that he will be contesting a seat in the 101-member Riigikogu in the March 2007 general election. -
6 December 2006Indian tribe accept lesbian couple 57 A lesbian couple have undergone a formal tribal 'wedding' ceremony in a village in eastern India. -
6 December 2006Gay groups welcome stand against violence + Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from around the world have welcomed a landmark statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered last Friday at the United Nations Human Rights Council by Norway on behalf of 54 States.The statement condemns human rights violations directed against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. -
5 December 2006Anniversary protest against Ruth Kelly at No10 + PinkNews.co.uk ExclusiveIt was certainly a novel way to spend your first anniversary. -
5 December 2006Retro Bar first to help tackle homophobic bullying + The Retro Bar has become the first to join Stonewall's new Bar and Club Partnership scheme to raise money to tackle homophobic bullying in schools.The central London venue has committed itself to raise a minimum of 1,500 throughout the year for Stonewall campaigns including Education for All, which tackles homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools. -
5 December 2006US eases travel restrictions on HIV+ people + The White House used World Aids Day last week to announce a change in the rules relating to people with HIV travelling into the USA.President Bush made no mention of travel restrictions during his remarks to the press on Friday, focusing instead on the problems AIDS poses in Africa.He pledged $15bn to continue programmes to make retroviral drugs available to people in developing nations. -
5 December 2006HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! 8 Civil Partnerships are one year old today!Who would have thought, ten or even five years ago, that gay couples in their thousands would be legally tying the knot across this dear nation of ours?Today marks the one-year anniversary of civil partnership legislation that has finally made honest men and women of an incredible amount of us gays. -
5 December 2006Fight against Pentagon gay ban continues + Activists campaigning against the US military's ban on openly gay or lesbian recruits have begun a blog counting down the Top 10 Don't Ask Don't Tell stories of 2006.Frontlines, the official blog of the SLDN, will re-visit a significant story from the past year each day, counting down to the most important event related to the military's gay ban on Friday, December 15th. -
5 December 2006Human rights boss: Gays don’t deserve rights 2 His appointment was controversial, and now gay groups seem to have been proven right after the head of Latvia's human rights committee told a press conference that the gay community should not be given equal rights to heterosexuals.Janis Smits told a press conference this week that gay people are not a legitimate minority and should "recover normal sexual orientation." -
5 December 2006Gay groups combat hate crime in Hackney + Gay campaigners have joined with other local community groups to tackle domestic violence and hate crime in the London Borough of Hackney.Galop, an LGBT community safety group, the East London Out Project, and Polari, an organisation which works for better services for the elderly gay community, have contributed to two policy documents on the issues. -
5 December 2006Gay rights chief named as equality commissioner 5 The chief executive of gay charity Stonewall has been named as one of the commissioners for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.Ben Summerskill will provide guidance to the new body regarding his experience of campaigning for LGBT rights.Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly announced the names of nine new CEHR Commissioners this morning. -
4 December 2006Maryland activists argue for gay marriage + In advance of oral arguments before Maryland's high court, prominent state psychologists, social workers, and child welfare advocates have spoken out in support of marriage for same-sex couples.The Maryland chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, representatives of these groups stressed extensive, consistent scientific evidence showing that children raised by lesbian and gay couples develop as well as children raised by heterosexual couples.
