Pakistani commentators have responded on Twitter to the news that they will be getting their own version of Glee with statements that are anything but gleeful.

Ibrahim Hanif, who is studying masters in theology in Pakistan, tweeted: 'Liberals' in Pakistan push their extremist views with Pakistan's first homosexual soap opera'.

Osama Ashfaq was also unimpressed, tweeting: 'Do people of Pakistan seriously want their children to grow up in such a society where Taboo issues are no longer Taboo?'

A Muslim lesbian couple from Pakistan have been joined in a civil union in the UK and seek political asylum saying they will be persecuted for their sexuality if they return to their home country.

Rehana Kausar, 34, and Sobia Kamar, 29 became civil partners in a ceremony earlier this month in Leeds.

'This country allows us rights and it’s a very personal decision that we have taken,' said Kausar to the Birmingham Mail.

A new TV channel in Pakistan is expected to give new visibility to the transgender community.

According to wire news agency Dispatch News Desk (DND), Abb Takk launched earlier this week, and is considered the only South Asian television channel willing to give a voice to the transgender community.

Abb Takk’s director of news and current affairs Nasir Baig Chugtai told DND that the channel will address not only ladies and gentlemen, but also ‘she-males’.

A hijra, or transgender woman, is standing for election in Pakistan and campaigning for equal rights.

'It is not our destiny to merely dance for others and hold begging bowls. We have a life to live,' said Sanam Fakir, electoral candidate in the central Pakistan town of Sukkur, to AFP.

The elections in mid-May will be the first time Pakistan's estimated 500,000 hijras (sometimes referred to as 'eunuchs') can vote and stand for election.

The House of Lords has called for a stronger government stance against the mistreatment of gay men and women in the developing world.

Members of the British parliament's upper house united in a debate led by Conservative peer Lord Lexden yesterday (25 October).

Recent USA drone strikes in Pakistan galvanised the transgender community to join political and faith groups protesting against such actions.

The Express Tribute reported that dozens of transgender women held a rally and demonstrated against the drone strikes in city of Sukkur, central Pakistan.

There have been several protests by political and faith groups, and on Monday (30 July) the transgender community in Sukkur joined the anti-drone protests.

A binational lesbian couple married in the state of Massachusetts is grappling with possible deportation.

Gloria and Jacquelyn, whose surnames are ommitted for security reasons, risk deportation from the United States because Jacquelyn can't legally sponsor Gloria's visa.

Though the state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004, the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 mandates that federal law only recognize the marriage rights between a man and a woman.  

Activists around the world are excited about a UN debate on LGBT rights, calling the event a ‘historic development’.

Tomorrow’s panel discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, on discrimination and violence against LGBT people marks the first time the UN Human Rights Council has focused on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Campaigners have applauded the event, which includes panelists from the US, Europe, Brazil and Pakistan.

A government-led campaign to get Pakistan's transgender population to register to vote has resulted in only 1,043 sign-ups to the electoral role. Pakistan's social welfare department says that 80,000 transgenders are registered with them, but unofficial estimates of how many transgenders, or ‘hijras’ as they are known in Pakistan and India stretch to 300,000 or 500,000. The hijras, often rejected from their families, live in transgender communities often turning to begging or prostitution to survive.