The first legally binding unions between same-sex couples began in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday 1 May) in Colorado.

Couples were lining-up since 2pm yesterday outside the municipal Webb Building Denver where civil union ceremonies were scheduled to be performed from 12.01 to 2am, The Denver Channel reports.

In a bi-partisan vote, the US Senate on Tuesday (12 February) renewed the Violence Against Women Act which had expired in 2011.

But the renewal of the two-decade-old act was more inclusive this time around: it comes with assurances that gays and lesbians, Native American women and immigrants will have equal access to the act's anti-domestic violence programs.

Senators voted 78-22 to renew the act which has been credited with helping reduce the rates of domestic violence against women in the US.

A Canadian judge has decided that a gay couple with a UK civil partnership can be treated as married – and therefore get divorced.

The judgement in Ontario follows legal objections from the Canadian federal Crown.

In 2009 Wayne Hincks and Gerardo Gallardo entered into a civil partnership in London. Both obtained Canadian citizenship after emigrating to Toronto in 2010.

Unlike Canada, British law does not currently allow same-sex couples to marry although civil partnerships allow for similar rights and responsibilities.

Iran’s state-owned English-language news network has published an article claiming the US is being run by a ‘Jewish Mafia’ keen to promote homosexuality.

The op-ed in the ‘Viewpoints’ section of Press TV’s website, blames ‘Zionists’ for the state of America’s economy and says that won’t improve until they are removed from power.

Switzerland’s National Council has voted to allow gay couples to adopt each other’s children.

However the motion passed in the lower house of the Swiss parliament yesterday (13 December) is much more limited than the original version approved by the Council of States, or senate.

The Council of States in the Federal Assembly, or parliament, had backed giving adoption rights based on the best interest of the child in question – regardless of marital status or sexual orientation.

An exhibition exploring feminism and sexuality in China was a big hit in Shanghai last year and is now showing in San Francisco.

Gay Star News talks to Abby Chen, the currator of WOMEN我們 (the Chinese characters mean 'we' or 'us', pronounced 'wo men') featuring 13 artists, about activism as art, sexual harrasment on the subway and feminism in China's LGBT movement.

Why did you decide to put on this exhibition now?

The suffragettes are often cited as an inspiration in campaigns for civil rights everywhere. Just a month or so ago Julian Clary compared the struggle for gay marriage to the suffragette campaign for Votes for Women in Britain. This weekend, as we commemorate Emmeline Pankhurst’s birthday, it’s worth reflecting on some of the lessons that we can learn from the suffragettes in our movement for LGBT civil rights.

A production of The Vagina Monologues in Chinese, with specially-written segments relevant to the LGBT community, played to packed audiences in Shanghai last weekend. Gay Star News speak to the director Xiao Yan about Chinese voices are calling more loudly for gay rights than for women’s rights.

Why did you decided to stage The Vagina Monologues in China?