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February 14, 2013
Singapore couple goes to court to abolish anti-gay sex law

Singapore's High Court held its first hearing of Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee's case that seeks to repeal the country's anti-sodomy law 

A gay couple in Singapore seeking to abolish a long-standing law banning gay sex had their case heard in court today.

The court case was heard just days after a former department store manager sued his boss for alleged discrimination against gays.

The two cases highlight how members of Singapore's LGBT community have become increasingly vocal, demanding changes in the city-state's attitudes toward homosexuality by speaking out against discrimination and raising legal cases to challenge the law.

December 12, 2012
Don't discriminate against gays and lesbians says Cambodian PM

Prime minister of Cambodia, who threatened to disown his daughter in 2007 for having a 'wife', says 'there should be no discrimination' against gays and lesbians

The prime minister of Cambodia told citizens not to discriminate against gays and lesbians while speaking at a ceremony in the south of the Southeast Asian nation.

'There are gays and lesbians in every country,' said Hun Sen. 'So there should be no discrimination against them just because of their destiny,' Associated Press reports.

November 27, 2012
Associated Press bans the word ‘homophobia’

AP says calling anti-gay hate a ‘phobia’ is inaccurate but word’s inventor says it is needed and ‘hard won’

The Associated Press (AP) has banned its journalists from using words like ‘homophobia’ and ‘transphobia’.

Its new Stylebook, which dictates the language reporters must use, also scraps the word ‘Islamophobia’ and the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’ which it says is a euphemism.

American newswire service AP has 3,400 employees, scattered in bureaus around the world. But its guide is even more influential as many other publications use it rather than create their own.

October 7, 2012
Belgrade Pride organisers protest ban

This year’s Belgrade Pride march may have been banned but supporters have rallied at an indoor event and held a sit down protest to protest the ban

Supporters of Belgrade Pride have held a sit down protest and indoors event on Saturday despite an official ban on the pride march going ahead over fears that right wing extremists would riot in the city.

Associated Press reported that around two dozen flag waving activists held a ‘small, silent, non-violent and motionless [sit-down] protest,’ on the side walk in central Belgrade.

August 6, 2012
US shrinks say trans no longer 'mental illness'

American Psychiatric Association removes transgender from mental illness category after years of LGTB lobbying

Transgender people are no longer considered 'mentally ill' by the American Psychiatric Association.

The mental health organization's decision to replace the term 'gender identity disorder' with 'gender dysphoria' means transgender is no longer categorized as a mental illness and comes after years of campaigning by activists.

July 2, 2012
Gay journalist found dead in Mexico City

Armando Montano was just 22 and interning for the Associated Press

Armando Montano had begun a summer internship for the Associated Press in Mexico City less than a month ago.

On Saturday, the 22-year-old aspiring journalist from Colorado was found dead in the elevator shaft of an apartment building near where he was living.

Montano, a member of the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists, was not on assignment at the time of his death.

June 21, 2012
GOP lawmaker says gays in military issue settled even if Romney wins presidency

Howard McKeon believes focus should now be on restoring military funding

California Congressman Howard 'Buck' McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said today (21 June) that he has no plans to try and reinstate the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy even if fell0w Republican Mitt Romney is elected to The White House.

June 21, 2012
Southern Baptists: Gay rights aren’t civil rights

Majority of religious delegates say same-sex marriage is not a civil rights issue

Thousands of Southern Baptists voted gays do not deserve to have equal civil rights yesterday (20 June).

The decision comes a day after the American religious group for the first time voted black man Fred Luter as their leader, striving to erase the organization’s legacy of racism.

The majority of delegates said same-sex marriage is not a civil rights issue, as it affects their strong Christian faith.

June 15, 2012
Pentagon to celebrate gay pride for US troops

US military saluted for supporting gay servicemen just months after repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' policy

The US military will salute gay troops by holding its first ever pride event, just months after repealing the notorious 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.

May 25, 2012
Brazil takes first steps to legalizing gay marriage

Politicians in Brazil have made a small step to recognizing same-sex partnerships but the courts are still far ahead of them

Brazil’s politicians have made a small step to catching up with their judges and legalizing same-sex marriage.

A proposal to allow same-sex civil unions has been before Brazil’s Congress for 16 years.

But yesterday (24 May) the human rights committee in Brazil’s Senate approved a change in the law to say a civil union is between two people, without saying they have to be opposite genders.

However even that stops short of full gay marriage. And the bill still has to pass through other senate committees before it can get to a full vote and become law.

May 25, 2012
Mugabe says gays harm women's rights

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says homosexuality leads to 'extinction' of human race as UN assesses country's human rights record

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says homosexuality harms women's rights and leads to the 'extinction' of the human race.

In yet another anti-gay tirade, the 88-year-old African dictator told a women's HIV/Aids and gender rights conference in Harare that the 'gay world' was unnatural and removed women's right to bear children.

May 22, 2012
Croatia to recognise same-sex marriages

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic announces plans to recognise partnerships, getting them closer to marriage

The prime minister of Croatia has announced plans to recognise at least some 'gay marriage' rights.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told reporters that registered partnerships would be ‘a somewhat higher standard than what we have now,' according to the Associated Press, though he may still stop short of full marriage equality.

May 17, 2012
Filipino boxer denies quoting Leviticus

Manny Pacquiao says that he supports gay rights, but opposes gay marriage

Filipino world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao has denied quoting a violent anti-gay passage of the Bible and defended his opposition to gay marriage after a backlash.

National Conservative Examiner published an article last weekend in which it appeared Pacquiao, who is also a congressman in the Philippines, quoted a Bible passage from Leviticus that says gay people ‘must be put to death’.

May 10, 2012
Chile votes in law to protect gay bash victims

The gay-bashing of 24-year-old Daniel Zamudio sparked a national outcry and a global call for hate-crime legislation

Chilean congress passed a hate-crimes law Wednesday night, an act of legislation pending since 2005.

The law passed with a vote 25-3, and allows people to file anti-discrimination lawsuits for crimes committed against them based on their sexual orientation, race, gender, religion or nationality. The measure will also seek to give harsher penalties to those who violate the new law.

March 22, 2012
Men arrested in Dominica for having sex on gay cruise ship plead guilty

They apologize, are called 'rogues and vagabonds,' and ordered to pay $900

Two men arrested for having sex aboard a cruise ship that had docked on the Caribbean island of Dominica pleaded guilty Thursday (22 March) to indecent exposure.

John Robert Hart, 41, and Dennis Jay Mayer, 43, both of Palm Springs, CA, were on a Celebrity Summit cruise ship when they were arrested by an officer on board after people on the dock saw them having intimate relations. Sex between two men is illegal on the island.

March 22, 2012
Two California men on gay cruise arrested - for having sex

Gay sex illegal in Dominica, the Caribbean island where arrest took place

Two California men who were allegedly seen having sex aboard of a cruise ship were arrested Wednesday (21 March) on the Caribbean island of Dominica where gay sex is illegal.

The men, both in their early 40s, were on a Celebrity Summit cruise ship and were arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure and sodomy after someone from the dock saw them engaged in sex, according to the Associated Press.

February 22, 2012
Proposition 8 proponents want recent court decision reviewed

Protect Marriage Coalition continues fight to keep gay marriage banned in California

As expected, proponents of California's Proposition 8 petitioned a federal appeals court Tuesday (21 February) to review a recent ruling which found the ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.

The filing keeps same-sex marriages in the state on hold at least until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals makes a ruling on the petition.

February 12, 2012
Whitney Houston dead

Whitney Houston is dead

The Associated Press, with other news organizations, is reporting that Grammy award singer Whitney Houston is dead.

Publicist Kristen Foster made the announcement on Saturday, but offered no details about cause or location.

The multiple award winner was 48.

January 21, 2012
Gingrich wins South Carolina primary

Gingrich, who would ban gay marriage, takes the South Carolina primary

As reported by the Associated Press, Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina primary.

The third election in the 2012 Republican primary, seemed never to be in doubt. Multiple  TV news organizations called it for the former House Speaker right after the polls closed at 7 pm , EST.

According to AP, former Gov. Mitt Romney came in second. Rick Santorum, an ex-senator, is third, and rounding the four man field is Rep. Ron. Paul.

December 28, 2011
Jamaica election descends to homophobia

Labor Party plays anti-gay card in last minute struggle for votes ahead of Jamaican election

Homophobic insults have marred the final days of Jamaica’s national election campaign according to the country’s one gay rights group.

Ruling-party candidates have courted anti-gay voters before tomorrow’s vote the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) has claimed.