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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.’