As Minnesota state senators spent four hours debating a gay marriage bill Monday (13 May), St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman had already decided on a way to celebrate the passage of the legislation.

Coleman has temporarily renamed his city's Washaba Street Bridge the Freedom to Marry Bridge for this week.

'Marriage equality here we come,' Coleman tweeted as he announced the temporary name.

The bridge spans the Mississippi River in the downtown part of the city and was built with pedestrians in mind with 11-foot-wide sidewalks.

Nitzan Horowitz announced his intention to run for election to Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv, against the incumbent Ron Huldai.

Horowitz, of the left of centre Meretz party, is the country’s only openly gay Member of the Israeli Knesset (MK), a post he intends to resign if elected to the be the mayor of Tel-Aviv.

His annoncement yesterday (6 May) pits the 49 year-old Horowitz against Labor’s Huldai in the 22 October elections.

If he wins, he would become Tel Aviv’s first openly gay mayor, and the first in any Israeli city or the Middle East.

LGBT rights advocates protested in front of the Lebanese Ministry of Justice in Beirut, after gay club goers were victims of abuse and illegal detention.

The rally shows growing confidence and anger in the country’s LGBT population. It is the first time people have come out in such a high-profile way specifically to fight for gay rights and have been prepared to challenge a government department and criticize the use of religion to justify homophobic oppression.

Still grieving the loss of her mother, Carla Hale was fired from her job as a high school physical education teacher - after 19 years - because the name of her lesbian partner had appeared in her mother's obituary.

But she is fighting her dismissal from Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio, and has tremendous public support from students, former students, parents and even the mayor of Columbus.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle agreed that Australia is starting to look 'a bit silly' for not going ahead with gay marriage as other countries around the world do so.

Fired lesbian high school physical education teacher Carla Hale has gotten some high-profile support in her quest to get her job back.

Michael Coleman, the mayor of Columbus, Ohio, has tweeted his support of Hale who was fired from Bishop Watterson High School by the Columbus Diocese over her sexuality.

'I stand with Carla Hale,' Coleman wrote. 'No one in Columbus or in the United States should be denied employment because of their choice of who to love.'

A Christian group is accusing Boris Johnson of mishandling a ban on anti-gay posters from London public transport.

According to the Telegraph, The Christian Legal Centre is accusing Johnson of a ‘cover up’, saying the mayor pressured officials into banning the anti-gay ads that read 'Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get Over It!'.

The Christian Legal Centre has submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act to see all the documentation involved in the case.

The ANC stated it will take action against its own Cape Town councillor (Cllr) Abdulhamied Gabier for alleging the city’s council is trying to promote Cape Town as ‘moffie city’, an offensive term roughly translated as ‘faggots’.

Gay Star News reported earlier today (29 March) that mayor Patricia de Lille, of the Democratic Alliance party (DA), slammed Gabier, saying: ‘the councillor had laid into Cape Town with a string of insults, among them the anti-gay slur’.

Believing an injection of comedy will help improve the UK, cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard plans to give up the comedy circuit and run for Mayor of London in six years time.

Izzard says he is the perfect candidate for the job as he is ‘determined’ and his popularity can inspire people to work harder.

He also thinks comedy will make politics more interesting.

He told The Sun: ‘There are lots of decisions to be made and people get bored talking about things that are only slightly different. It's very dry so you need comedy to make it palatable.’

The Mayor of London’s decision to ban a Christian group’s ‘gay cure’ advert from London buses was not illegal, a court has ruled.

Core Issues Trust, a non-profit Christian group, was banned by Boris Johnson from running a campaign calling for respect of individuals who claim they have been 'cured' of homosexuality.

The advert, a parody of gay rights charity Stonewall's 'Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!', would have said 'Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get Over It!'

Huddled around a warm laptop while it snows, we discuss gay German Mayor beats anti-gay German Mayor.

Also can you be against gay marriage but not be anti-gay?, Filipino drag contest held in Italian church, Angela Lansbury knows what causes Lesbians, the Queen doesn't say gay, Randy Firemen and we talk to John Lotherington from The Salzburg Global Seminar.