World
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17 October 2006Massachusetts Governor rallies against gay marriage 2 Governor Mitt Romney is facing criticism after calling upon evangelicals to condemn gay marriage and to fight what they see as a threat to Christian values in a nationwide broadcast last weekend.In a cavernous, gilded room festooned with American flags, Romney and a slew of leading conservative speakers described how a "homosexual agenda" was interfering with the constitutional rights of same-sex marriage opponents to express their dissent and religious freedom. -
17 October 2006Gay group promotes family life + Over 200 European delegates are expected to gather in Bulgaria next week to promote the diversity of families.The meeting being held in Sofia is entitle "We are Family - Our families in Europe and the European family," it is organised by the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and Bulgarian gay group Gemini. -
16 October 2006Gay Congressman under fire over camping trip + Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened an investigation into a camping trip taken by Representative Jim Kolbe with two former pages and others in 1996, according to a law-enforcement official.According to the Associated Press, Republican Congressman Mr Kolbe took the former pages as well as staffers and National Park Service officials on a raft trip in the Grand Canyon in 1996, his spokeswoman said. -
16 October 2006Foley scandal fails to spoil public gay support 3 Attempts by anti-gay right-wing leaders and anti-gay groups to brand the Mark Foley scandal as a gay issue have failed to impact voters' support of GLBT issues, a survey has revealed.Gay advocacy organisation, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), says it's been monitoring what it calls a coordinated effort to place blame on the gay community and equate Mark Foley's behaviour to the fact that he is gay. -
16 October 2006Zurich to host EuroPride 2009 6 Zurich has been chosen as the host of EuroPride 2009.The Swiss city was chosen after a meeting of the European Pride Organisers Association in Madrid, the city of next year's hosts.Delegates discussed bids from Tel Aviv in Israel, and Mannheim in Germany, but chose Switzerland after the country recently approved civil partnership laws in a national referendum. -
16 October 2006Hong Kong lowers gay age of consent 1 The Hong Kong government has agreed to lower the gay age of consent from 21 to 16.It comes after three judges at the Court of Appeal unanimously agreed last month that laws allowing a higher age of consent for homosexuals than for heterosexuals and lesbians were discriminatory and unconstitutional. -
16 October 2006Hollywood goes gay again. Well lesbian, in fact. + After the success of Brokeback Mountain, Hollywood is going gay again - but this time with two female leads.Heart throb actresses Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley are gearing up to play women with who are sexually attracted to each other in a film about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.Lohan is thrilled about working with Knightley on the project. -
16 October 2006Gay bashing victim dies + The gay man who was brutally beaten and then hit by a car near a popular New York gay cruise spot has died.Michael Sandy died on Friday after his family removed him from life support, after being attacked in Brooklyn last week,According to Newsday, the 29-year-old's family decided to remove him from the respirator after observing his birthday last Thursday at the hospital. -
16 October 2006Pole designs EU birthday logo + A Polish submission has been chosen as the logo for the European Union's 50th anniversary.Szymon Skrzypczak's design was chosen by a panel including gay designer Tony Malone, out of over a thousand applicants.The year 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. -
16 October 2006Congress’ first openly gay man dies + The country's first Congressman to publicly acknowledge that he was gay has died age 69.Gerry Studds passed away last weekend at a Boston hospital after collapsing earlier this month.His doctors at Boston Medical Centrr determined that he suffered from a blood clot in his lung, Studds' husband Dean Hara told the Associated Press. -
13 October 2006Three men charged with hate crimes after gay attack + Three young men were charged with vicious hate crimes yesterday after they confessed to luring a gay man to a parking lot to rob him —and then chasing him into traffic on the Belt Parkway.John Fox, 19; Ilya Shurov, 20, and Gary Timmins, 16, were charged with assault and robbery—all as hate crimes—in Sunday's attack on Michael Sandy, a gay man from Brooklyn who was clinging to life last night, police said.
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13 October 2006Radio host angers gay community with family views + A prominent San Francisco radio host and television news anchor is under fire this week from city officials and LGBT community leaders or comments he made on the air about non-traditional families.According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Pete Wilson, the anchor of ABC's local evening news and host of a radio show on KGO 810 AM, criticised Supervisor Bevan Dufty and his friend Rebecca Goldfader, who are sharing a home and co-parenting a newborn, during a radio broadcast. -
13 October 2006Northern Cyprus decriminalises homosexuality 1 Northern Cyprus is set to decriminalise homosexuality, bringing it in line with European Union (EU) laws and human rights in the rest of the country.Current laws in the Turkish Cypriot controlled part of the country regard homosexuality as "a crime against nature," but all is about to change after analysts said it is vital to make the change to bring the country into modern society. -
13 October 2006Gay rights for Mozambique + Mozambique has held its first ever seminar on gay rights.Yesterday, Mozambican Human Rights League (LDH) chairperson Alice Mabota urged Mozambique's gay and lesbian citizens to organise and fight for their rights.She said that, while the LDH will support gay rights, it is not campaigning specific issues such as the legalisation of gay marriage, and that it would be up to the gay community to raise such a demand. -
13 October 2006Midwest gets gay + The number of same-sex couples in Iowa has risen 58% in the past 5 years, a new report found today.The University of California's Williams Institute used the figures of the 2000 Census to estimate that the numbers of same-sex households in Iowa jumped from 3,700 in 2000, to 5,800 in 2005. -
13 October 2006Judge considering lesbian marriage rights + The High Court in Dublin has reserved judgement today on a decision regarding whether a lesbian couple who married in Canada should have their rights recognised in Ireland.Over the last fortnight the court has heard arguments from Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan claiming discriminating against homosexuality can lead to clinical depression and that the current concept of marriage is outdated. -
13 October 2006Gay benefits excitement drops + Government ministers are warning gay campaigners not to get too excited after to a landmark decision yesterday saw the Irish government agree to compensate a gay man for taking unpaid leave from his job to care for his partner.Equality campaigners hailed it as "important recognition" for same sex couples but the Minister for Social and Family Affairs Seamus Brennan insisted that the case would not set a precedent. -
12 October 2006Belarus drops diplomat gay porn charge + Belarus has dropped a gay pornography charge against a Latvian diplomat.A feud emerged last August between officials in Belarus and neighbouring Latvia after Belarusian national television screened footage describing "a dirty homosexual orgy" claiming to involve a Latvian diplomat. -
12 October 2006Gay rights politician in drug swab prank + A gay rights spokesman thought he was giving an impromptu political interview to eager reporters but ended up becoming one of the victims of a drug test prank for prime-time television this week, which has caused outcry in the Italian Parliament.Franco Grillini was one of 50 Italian politicians fooled by the prank which the programme Le Iene claims found 12 positive tests for cannabis and four for cocaine after secretly tested them for drugs when being asked to give an interview on the 2007 budget. -
12 October 2006Equality group welcomes gay carer compensation + The Equality Authority has welcomed a decision by the Irish government today to compensate a gay man for taking unpaid leave from his job to care for his partner.The equal rights group called it an "important recognition" for same sex couples in the Republic of Ireland, after the unnamed claimant won his case under the Equal Status Act.
