Attempts to ‘cure’ lesbian, gay and bisexual people aren’t medically justified and endanger patients, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said today.

And it wants those who try to carry out the unjustified ‘therapies’ exposed and punished by national authorities.

PAHO’s released a position statement on the issue to tie in with International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

Gay scouts must not come out and LGBT youngsters need a psychologist, concluded an Italian Catholic Scout association.

Organizers AGESCI called homosexuality ‘a problem’ during a conference near Rome last November and published its conclusions last week.

Psychologists Dario Contardo and Manuela Tomisich and Catholic priest Padre Francesco Compagnoni spoke to an audience of hundreds of young Scouts.

Compagnoni commented that ‘in the United Kingdom, gay couples have the same rights of heterosexual couples. And we don’t want this kind of thing in Italy.’

Britain was revealed as the gay rights capital of Europe, according to the first study of its kind to be published on Tuesday (15 May).

The European International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe (ILGA-Europe) index, which rates 49 countries on more than 40 categories, rated the UK as the top country for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to exercise their legal rights.

Britain allows same-sex couples to obtain a civil partnership, apply for joint adoption, and discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited.

A video of a woman’s homophobic speech at a city council meeting has gone viral.

Discovered by gay blog Towerload, the American woman identified as Jane Svoboda, a known lobbyist, offers a few graphic, inaccurate remarks about gay people at a non-discrimination ordinance hearing in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Among her many delusional remarks are:

Ahead of a film screening at Beijing LGBT center this Saturday, Gay Star News speaks to the director of a short film about Xiyadie ('The Siberian Butterfly'), who uses the traditional Chinese art of papercutting to express his sexuality.

The traditional Chinese folk art of paper cutting is not usually used to depict sexually explicit homoerotic images, but Beijing-based artist Xiyadie found a means of self-expression for his sexuality in the 1400-year-old art form.

Out gay actor and author Stephen Fry is the latest high profile figure to record a Proud2Be video.

Several gay politicians, celebrities and organisations have uploaded Proud2Be videos to combat gay-shame and encourage all LGBT people to be proud of who they are.

'Part of life to learn what to be ashamed of and what to be proud of,' said British gay comedian Stephen Fry. 'I won't ever apologize for being born the way I was and feeling the way I do.'

A gay Ugandan asylum seeker is making a desperate plea for help just days before he is deported home where he claims his life is at risk.

After two failed attempts by the UK Border Agency to deport 41-year-old Felix Wamala, once on 24 December 2011 and again on 2 January, he has been booked on a Virgin flight back to Uganda on Friday (4 May).

Wamala is currently being held at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow airport, west London.

Alan Cumming's latest film, Any Day Now, just won the audience award at the Tribeca Flm Festival and focuses on a topic the actor feels very strongly about: gay adoption.

Cumming and Garret Dillahunt play a couple in the 1970s who are engaged in a legal battle to adopt a teenager with Down's Syndrome who they have been caring for.

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow will speak about his ‘personal journey’ in supporting gay rights in a lecture marking the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The MP will take time out from keeping the UK's rowdy politicians in check during parliamentary debates on 16 May to give a talk on international LGBT equality and human rights.

A 17-year-old in Utah, US, has become the latest gay teenager to commit suicide after allegedly being bullied at school.

The funeral for Jack Reese, who killed himself on 22 April, was held on Friday and a candlelit vigil will be held in his hometown of Ogden tomorrow (1 May).

Last Monday (23 April) his boyfriend Alex Smith had spoken at a community screening of a bullying film about how Jack was the victim of repeated homophobic bullying at school.

But what the 18-year-old didn't realize at the time, was that his partner was already dead.

CNN newsman and daytime talk show host Anderson Cooper has never discussed his sexuality publicly and blogger Perez Hilton thinks it's time he should.

'Look at someone like Anderson Cooper who even Out Magazine has reported as being gay,' Hilton says in an interview with BigThink.com that surfaced on YouTube this week. 'Has Anderson Cooper come out? No. That's his choice. He's going to remain in the closet even though everybody knows he's gay. And that's okay because it's his story to tell if and when he's ready.'

Members of the Sheffield community say it's time to give Edward Carpenter the recognition he deserves.

The Friends of Edward Carpenter group in the city in South Yorkshire, England is raising funds for a memorial dedicated to the early civil rights trailblazer.

A gay activist ahead of his time, Carpenter was moving in with his partner at the same time poet Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for his sexual relations with men.Upcoming events include a benefit concert in July where folk singer Grace Petrie will perform.