Two more anti-gay attacks were reported in New York City in the hours after about 1,500 people attended a rally Monday night (20 May) in the streets of Greenwich Village where a gay man was gunned down over the weekend.

This brings the number of anti-gay attacks in New York City during the past 30 days to seven including the murder of 32-year-old Mark Carson who was shot in the head Saturday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference Tuesday (21 May) called the murder of Carson 'despicable.'

On 1 May Jason Collins, the 7’0” center for the Washington Wizards, and a former Boston Celtics, came out. His statement ‘I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay’ made the cover story for Sports Illustrated.

On 2 May, three Morehouse College basketball athletes were accused of raping an 18-year-old Spelman College student. The story didn’t hit the airwaves in the same way as the Collins story.

Many in the African American community were silent on both incidents because they view both as poxes on the community.

Assaults on the LGBT community and incidents of homophobic hate speech have both risen sharply in France over the last year.

The number of calls to SOS Homophobie’s helpline were up by 27% on the previous year.

Homophobic hate crime spiked last year in the run-up to the French parliament's approval of a Bill allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

Incidents doubled in October and November when compared with the previous year, and tripled in December.

An online fundraising campaign has been launched to help pay the hospital bills of a New York gay couple who were attacked in broad daylight.

The New York Police Department has identified suspects in a gay bashing that took place on Sunday.

Authorities have released surveillance footage of at least six individuals wearing Knicks basketball jerseys they want to talk to about the beating.

Nick Porto and his partner Kevin Atkins, who were attacked near 34th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan on Sunday (5 May), identified their attackers as men wearing Knicks jerseys.

A Knicks basketball game had just ended when the couple was walking arm-in-arm down 8th Avenue after finishing brunch.

A gay mayor in France is the latest politician to be sent death threats in the mail.

Thierry Speitel, mayor of Sigoldsheim in the Haut-Rhin area of eastern France, was sent bullets through the post this week over his equal marriage support.

Speitel, who is gay himself, said he was shocked by the incident and described the act as ‘odious’, The Local reports.

The father of a gay teen who hanged himself is walking across the United States to spread his message against bullying.

On 19 January, Joe Bell’s 15-year-old son Jadin was taken to Portland hospital in Oregon after he hanged himself on a playground at an elementary school.

The teen, who had gone to a counsellor to report homophobic bullying in the past, died two weeks later.

Students are staying silent to raise awareness of homophobia in schools today (19 April).

The National Day of Silence has over 8,000 schools and universities in the US, and many more across the world, participating by not saying a word.

Organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), many students are posting pictures of themselves on the National Day of Silence Facebook.

Gay teachers in Ireland have said their students are bullying them, and they fear they cannot do anything about it in case they lose their jobs.

At the Teachers’ Union of Ireland annual conference, Patrick Hogan, from Limerick City Council, said action was needed immediately to stop ‘the fear being suffered by so many of our colleagues.

‘Our LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) colleagues fight to overcome the huge fears they face in their schools every day,’ he told the conference.

British TV stars Rylan Clark and Lucy Spraggan – this year’s Celebrity Big Brother winner and fan favorite from last year’s X Factor – have thrown their support behind Stonewall’s Brighton Equality Walk.

The walk takes place on 5 May, the Sunday of the public holiday weekend, and raises funds for the gay equality charity’s work to tackle anti-gay bullying in schools.

A man has spoken out about being gay bashed in the Wollongong city center in the early hours of the morning of the same day as the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade was held just up the coast.

26 year old gay man “Paul” told the Illawara Mercury that he had left a Wollongong nightclub around 3.20am on Saturday with some friends when a group of men started yelling homophobic slurs at them.

British comedian Zoe Lyons will host Stonewall's Brighton Equality Walk, which is entering into its 10th year, and has so far raised almost £400,000 ($600,000 €460,000) over the last decade.

Gay Star News was the 100th participant to sign-up for the event this year, which will take place on 5 May.

The openly lesbian TV personality takes the helm of the event which fights anti-gay bullying in schools.

Lyons said in a statement: 'It's 2013 - anti-gay bullying in schools just shouldn't be happening.