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May 21, 2013

Gay Vietnamese-Canadian fashion design lecturer who lives in Ho Chi Minh City argues Vietnam is not ready for gay marriage

In response to Vietnam marching ahead of other Asian nations towards legalizing same-sex marriage, a gay Vietnamese-Canadian fashion design lecturer who lives in Ho Chi Minh City said that the country is not ready for marriage equality.

Legalizing gay marriage would not make Vietnam '"cool" when it has failed to acknowledge other gay rights issues', Valentine Vu writes in an editorial for Tuoitre News.

May 16, 2013

UN leaders tell gay and trans people they are not alone and promise to fight for their rights

A new video from the United Nations – warning countries who fail to protect LGBT people that they are breaking international – law has gone viral on YouTube.

The UN Human Rights office released the video on 14 May, telling LGBT people they are not alone and promising to work for their protection and freedom.

After Gay Star News highlighted the video others started to share it and it went from 368 views on YouTube to 65,000 now.

May 15, 2013

Homophobic hate crimes peak in the run-up to the introduction of same-sex marriage in France.

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.

May 15, 2013

A new United Nations video sends a clear message: LGBT rights are human rights and abuse of gay and trans people is against international law

The UN Human Rights office has released a new video telling LGBT people they are not alone and promising to work for their protection and freedom.

It reminds viewers that 76 countries still criminalize consensual same-sex relationships and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people everywhere continue to suffer violent attacks and discriminatory treatment.

May 14, 2013

National Council of Justice rules government offices that issue marriage licenses have no standing to reject gay couples

Gay couples across Brazil can begin applying for marriage licenses with or without a marriage equality law passed by the country's congress, according to a ruling Tuesday (14 May) by Brazil's top judicial panel.

The National Council of Justice said government offices in Brazil do not have the legal standing to deny the licenses to same-sex couples.

May 11, 2013

Mayor Michael Nutter's signature puts the US city Philadelphia in vanguard for gay equality

Philadelphia is now the only US city with wide ranging legislation to protect LGBT citizens and families.

Last week, on 9 May (Thursday), Mayor Michael Nutter signed Bill No. 130224. According to the city's website, the new law provides a tax credit to 'employers who offer health benefits to same-sex couples, life partners and transgender employees.'  No other city in the US offers such benefits to employers.

May 8, 2013

Two straight British 15 year-olds launched a campaign asking people to take a pledge to support young gay people and the wider LGBT community

Two straight British teens who had enough of seeing their gay friends discriminated against and bullied launched a campaign to support LGBT teenagers.

Nathan and Ross, two 15 year-olds based in Merseyside, England are encouraging people to ‘Take The Pledge’ to support of gay young people and the LGBT community.

The web based campaign urges supporters to download a template which has space for their name and a paragraph on why they support LGBT people.

May 4, 2013

As early as next week, Minnesota House and Senate representatives may vote on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state

Minnesota state representatives may vote on a gay marriage bill as early as next week.

Though no votes have been scheduled in either the House or Senate, according to The Associated Press, if the bill passes, gay marriage in Minnesota could come as quickly as 1 August.

As state representatives continue to debate their vote, one more Minnesota swing vote representative announced his support for the gay marriage bill.

May 4, 2013

Nigerian media sensationally report a married man has been stabbed to death over allegedly gay sex, while LGBT activists slam the country's press for creating a moral panic

Nigeria’s media has sensationally reported the murder of Adindu Ohamara, allegedly a gay banker, who was stabbed to death by a man he picked up in Akoka, Lagos State.

Ohamara returned home with a man he picked who allegedly stabbed him at midnight and left his flat.

The victim lived in a three-bedroom flat with his elder sister, Flora and a lodger.

April 25, 2013

New Mexico is one step close to marriage equality as five city councilors vote in favor, and three voted against

New Mexico capital Santa Fe voted in favor of same-sex marriage last night (24 April).

Over an hour of discussion, five city councilors voted for equal marriage, one voted against, and two abstained.

While the passage of the resolution does not change the law, supporters are saying this is the first step towards marriage equality in the US state.

April 25, 2013

Demitri Levantis explains the importance of gay rights to straight people today

I remember one of my tutors looking at my CV and noticing I’d written for Gay Star News before starting my journalism course and saying: ‘I assume you’re gay.’

The response I felt was of much annoyance – not because I’ve been in a relationship with a woman for the past two and half years – but for the narrow mindedness displayed by another straight person only a decade or two my senior.

April 23, 2013

Nevada state Senate repealed a ban on gay marriage and passed a marriage equality resolution during which the impassioned debate Senator Kelvin Atkinson came out as a gay man

The Nevada state Senate passed a same-sex marriage resolution, by a vote of 12-9.

The resolution passed today (23 April) repeals the state text defining marriage as between a man and a woman, replacing it with ‘the state shall recognize marriages and issue marriage licenses, regardless of gender’.

Same-sex marriage was banned in 2002 when voters passed a constitutional amendment, Nevada Question 2.

April 16, 2013

Parliament is to vote on amending their marriage bill with the majority of ministers in favor

New Zealand is ready to make gay marriage legal with parliament set to vote on the issue tomorrow (17 April).

The proposal to amend the country’s 1955 Marriage Act has been well received, and includes backing from Prime Minister John Key, the Global Post reports.

April 16, 2013

UN Secretary-General says ‘culture, tradition or religion’ is no excuse, governments have to protect gay, bisexual and trans people in strongest speech yet on issue

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has promised to lead a global campaign for LGBT rights.

And he has told governments around the world that they have a ‘legal duty’ to protect gay and trans people and that ‘culture, tradition or religion’ could not be used as an excuse for failing to do so.

His comments in a video message to the Oslo Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity yesterday (15 April) were not his first remarks on sexual orientation or gender identity – but were the strongest-worded.

April 10, 2013

Constitutional Court in Ljubjana rules that the old Family Code discriminates same-sex couples and asks the parliament to intervene

Slovenia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the country's law on inheritance and succession discriminates same-sex couples.

Speaking this morning (10 April) in the eastern European country’s capital, the court’s spokesman said ‘the Ljubljana’s parliament should fix the gap in six months’.

The new rules come after the case of two lesbian women from the Slovenian city of Koper. One of them appealed to the court after her partner died and she found she had no inheritance rights.

April 9, 2013

In a video posted by a French anti-gay group, it shows them vandalizing an Inter-LGBT fair in the gay district of Marais

Anti-gay bigots decided to film themselves vandalizing and wrecking the outside of a LGBT center in Paris, as seen in a video posted on 7 April.

It shows ‘Le Printemps Francais’ (French spring), a collective made up of hard line Catholics and royalists who have split from the mainstream ‘Manif Pour Tous’ anti-marriage equality movement.

The group published the video showing them vandalizing the annual Inter-LGBT fair in the gay district of Marais, but later deleted it. A pro-gay activist republished it on YouTube later.  

April 8, 2013

As the Senate discusses same-sex marriage and adoption, it is believed there are more attacks happening against gay people in France

A gay couple have said they were badly beaten up in Paris on 6 April.

Wilfred de Bruijn and his partner Olivier posted a picture of what happened after they were attacked by several men in the 19th district of Paris.

Describing it as the ‘face of homophobia’, De Bruijn said: ‘Olivier and I were badly beaten up just for walking arm in arm.

‘I woke up in an ambulance covered in blood, missing tooth and broken bones around the eye.

‘I’m home now. Very sad. Olivier takes care of me. Forbidden to work for at least 10 days.’

April 3, 2013

Russian human rights activist was arrested and fined after staging a demonstration against a far-right group in Syktyvkar

A Russian gay activist was arrested and fined for carrying out a one-man protest against an extreme right-wing group on 31 March.

Vyacheslav Slyusarev, head of a Russian LGBT rights group, was fined 30,000 rubles (£629, €740) after protesting 'Frontier North'.

Lesbian activist, Clare Dimyon MBE, told Gay Star News Slyusarev took to the Syktyvkar streets after the group decided to rally in one of the city’s parks.

March 25, 2013

Challenges to Prop 8 and DOMA could have historic implications

Although it could be months before the US Supreme Court issues its rulings, this week's hearings on California's Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) are already historic.

It marks the first time the high court has ever decided to take on gay marriage cases and it does so as multiple polls show support of marriage equality at an all-time high.

March 14, 2013

Rights group tell UN Human Rights Council to take action against homophobia, following its ongoing discussion of a report on the matter

A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) currently debated by the UN Human Rights Council found that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity remains widespread and persistent throughout the world.

The council is due to pass a resolution on the matter next week, and human rights groups have urged it to take a strong stand against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

March 8, 2013

Former president says Defense of Marriage Act, which he signed into law in 1996, is contrary to the American principles of freedom, equality and justice

The US president who signed into being a law that 'defended' marriage as being between one man and one woman has denounced the law as 'contrary to our constitution'.

Bill Clinton ratified the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, which he describes as 'a very different time', in an article in the Washington Post.

March 3, 2013

Caribe Afirmativo, a group that champions gay rights in Colombia's Caribbean region, documented 25 homophobic deaths in the region last year
 

A Caribbean-based gay watchdog group has reported 25 violent deaths of LGBT people in 2012, up from 21 reported in 2011.

Caribe Afirmativo, based in the Caribbean region of northern Colombia, reports that between 1 January and 31 December 2012 over two LGBT people died every month from violent or discriminatory causes.

According to Colombian newspaper El Universal, the group identified 21 homicides, two suicides and two deaths from surgical procedures that involved gay, bisexual or transgender individuals from the region.

February 27, 2013

Several US companies, including Apple, Nike and Morgan Stanley, have said marriage equality bans are bad for business

Facebook, Apple, and other companies have announced they will be backing marriage equality fights in the US.

Several American companies have submitted briefs to the US Supreme Court, saying same-sex marriage bans are bad for business.

In a note on LGBTQ@Facebook, the company said: ‘This week, Facebook is proudly joining many other businesses in submitting briefs to the US Supreme Court supporting same-sex marriage.

February 27, 2013

Governor Mark Dayton has indicated he will sign a marriage equality bill into law if it were to reach his desk

Marriage equality advocates are celebrating after Minnesota lawmakers have unveiled a new bill.

Sponsors of the same-sex marriage bill are aiming to repeal the outright 1997 ban prohibiting marriage for gay couples.

At a news conference today (27 February), co-author of the bill Scott Dibble spoke out in favor of marriage equality.

‘We are all human beings equal in the eyes of God,’ he said. ‘We’re affirming things that we all prize, love at the center of marriage.’