Cruel homophobic taunting was rife at a renowned bespoke furniture-making factory, an employment tribunal heard today (19 June).

The entire cabinet making department was branded ‘the queer ones’ in banter and name calling which led Mark Crowther to sue the firm in High Wycombe, southern England for discrimination by sexual orientation.

The 51-year-old told the tribunal he was forced out of his job at the exclusive luxury furniture firm after suffering years of homophobic abuse and taunts from his co-workers.

Prince Harry would describe himself as ‘100% gay-friendly’, a gay soldier has revealed to Gay Star News.

James Wharton, in his new autobiography Out in the Army, describes serving openly gay in the British military for ten years.

In 2008, six soldiers threatened to beat him up over him being gay.

‘I think I’m going to be murdered by the infantry,’ he told Prince Harry, who apparently told him: ‘Right, I’m going to sort this shit out once and for all.’

For the first time in history, an openly lesbian activist has become a local councillor in Rome, the city of the Holy See.

And she wants to unite the LGBT population of the city to make the eternal city a gay capital in the style of London, New York or Berlin.

Imma Battaglia, 53, has been elected for the Sinistra, Ecologia e Libertà party, led by gay Puglia governor Nichi Vendola.

Battaglia organized the first official Italian pride in 1994. And she was also in charge of the World Pride 2000, organized in Rome in the year of the Catholic Jubilee.

LGBT voters in Rome are angry with the newly elected mayor because he failed to attend Saturday’s pride parade (15 June).

Despite being a left-wing and socially involved politician, Ignazio Marino from Partito Democratico (PD) said he could not go to the pride for ‘family reasons’.

He released a videomessage to the LGBT community, saying he stood for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cause.

‘But this is not enough’, Andrea Maccarrone, LGBT association Circolo Mario Mieli’s president, told Gay Star News.

In his radio address honoring Father's Day, President Barack Obama made sure to include gay dads.

'Being a good parent – whether you’re gay or straight; a foster parent or a grandparent – isn’t easy,' the president said.  'It demands your constant attention, frequent sacrifice, and a healthy dose of patience.'

The short talk didn't dwell on specific policies, although he promised  'to encourage marriage and strong families.' Instead, the president talked about growing up without a father.

The line in the advertisement says it all: 'celebrating our life in the free world.'

Gay immigrants from the former Soviet Union are putting the final touches on a Russian float that will be part of the 30 June New York City Gay Pride Festival.

At one time all British spies were like James Bond – straight, white and middle class. But no longer. MI5, the British secret service, is backing gay, trans and other diversity by sponsoring the 2013 National Diversity Awards.

They will be just one of the brands supporting a skyfall of diversity talent – positive role models and community organizations and businesses from the LGBT, ethnic minority, age, gender, religion and disability communities.

Gay icon George Takei has explained how everything in nature is gay.

The Star Trek actor came to help Conan O’Brien with an audience question that the red-haired comic had got a monologue wrong when demonstrating how ‘water worked’.

The gay rights activist came on stage to tell the fretting viewer how nature tends to work differently for gay and straight people.

He said: ‘You see water works differently for straight people. That’s because water itself is gay.

‘We wouldn’t have raindrops or oceans if water didn’t like to bind to itself.

Filipino gay rights activist Oscar Atadero has told Gay Star News that a study that found the Philippines is the tenth most gay-friendly country in the world, and the most gay-friendly country in Asia, is a 'dubious honor'.

'The results of the survey should be taken with a bit of caution,' said Atadero, who is a researcher for Rainbow Rights, adding that with a global survey cultural and linguistic nuances can be lost in translation.

Day one of the three-day LA Pride Festival belonged to the ladies and one lady in particular: Ivy Bottini.

Bottini (pictured) was honored Friday (7 June) for her more than 45 years of activism on behalf of women's and LGBT equality.

Last month sadly marked the 10th anniversary of the murder of Sakia Gunn of Newark, New Jersey. And her murder is mired, at best, by myths and, at worst, malicious intent.

Depending, however, on the LGBTQ circles you run in and where you get your news, you may or may not know who she was. For many, Gunn was and still is a small blip on the gay and national news radar screen.

Children brought up by same-sex couples are happier, healthier, and more sociable according to the initial findings from the world’s largest study on the subject.

The research, which studied the wellbeing of 500 children in Australia, found the self-esteem of children and the amount of time they spent with their parents was no different from the rest of the population.

But infants looked after by gay couples scored higher for overall health and family cohesion.