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May 13, 2013
Let my girl use the girls' toilets, says Aussie mum of trans child

Mother of trans child in Queensland, Australia, is fighting for her to be treated like any other girl

The mother of a transgender child in Queensland, Australia is fighting for her to be allowed to use the girls' toilets at her primary school.

The mother of four, who is not named to protect the identity of her children, said in an interview with The Sunday Mail (Queensland) that her nine-year-old has told her that she's a girl, not a boy, since she was four years old.

April 8, 2013
George Michael rumored to have spent two months in rehab

British gay singer has returned to the UK after allegedly secretly spending two months in an Australian rehab clinic

British gay singer George Michael has returned to UK after reportedly spending two months in rehab for ‘emotional anxiety’.

The 'Faith' singer secretly checked into The Sanctuary clinic in Byron Bay, New South Wales, the Metro reports.

A statement from the singer’s spokesperson said: ‘There is no truth in the rumor circulating on Twitter about George Michael. George Michael is perfectly fine.’

February 22, 2013
Gay marriage ban is not sex discrimination, Australian judge rules

Federal court judge Jayne Jagot rules same-sex marriage ban is lawful as both sexes are treated equally

A judge ruled yesterday that the ban on same-sex marriage in Australia does not constitute sex discrimination.

Gay rights activist Simon Margan brought a legal challenge against the Australian government and the states of Queensland and New South Wales for not allowing same-sex marriage. 

January 18, 2013
Scientists find 'potential cure' for AIDS

Australian researchers have created a modified protein that protects human cells from the immune deficiency virus

Australian scientists have said they have a made a breakthrough in the fight against AIDS.

The Queensland Institute of Medical Research say they have discovered how to modify a protein in HIV, so instead of replicating, it protects against the infection.

Associate Professor David Harrich says while it cannot cure HIV, the modified protein has protected human cells from AIDS in laboratory tests.

January 14, 2013
Queensland health minister accuses gay health group of failure

Australian Right-wing Liberal state government minister continues to stick the knife in gay health charity months after cutting its funding

Queensland health minister has delivered an unrestrained attack on the gay health group he cut funding from last year, and the previous state government, blaming them for a predicted rise in HIV infection.

January 14, 2013
Queensland health minister accuses gay health group of failure

Australian Right-wing Liberal state government minister continues to stick the knife in gay health charity months after cutting its funding

Queensland health minister has delivered an unrestrained attack on the gay health group he cut funding from last year, and the previous state government, blaming them for a predicted rise in HIV infection.

August 27, 2012
Brisbane Pride Festival this September

This year’s Brisbane Pride Festival will run from August 31 until September 30 and comes just as the weather hots up in Australia’s ‘sunshine state’

The 2012 Brisbane Pride Festival celebrates the LGBT family through September this year, beginning with a launch party on the night of August 31.

This year’s theme for the festival is ‘We are family,’ which Brisbane Pride Festival president Deeje Hancock said was about celebrating a sense of community.

‘We want to celebrate all that is wonderful and wild about our community, and we have a fantastic array of events that reflect the interests of our diverse queer community,’ Hancock told the Gay News Network.

August 26, 2012
Australian state revives controversial Grim Reaper AIDS commercial

The Australian state of Queensland will spend half a million dollars on an AIDS awareness campaign featuring the Grim Reaper - about a fifth of the money it stripped from the state's only LGBT health organization

The Australian state of Queensland has produced a new advertising campaign reviving a controversial cultural icon from the 1980's Australian fight against AIDS to raise awareness about HIV after stripping the state’s only LGBT community health organization of all funding.

August 12, 2012
Controversial safe sex campaign returns in Queensland

A safe sex campaign that was pulled down after complaints from Christians and then reinstated will return in the Australian state of Queensland from this month

A controversial safe-sex campaign targeting gay men has returned in the Australian state of Queensland a year after it was removed from billboards and bus shelters following an orchestrated campaign against it by Christian activists.

The Rip & Roll campaign resulted in 222 complaints, making it the most complained about advertisement in Australia in 2011, after the far-right Australian Christian Lobby urged its members to complain about it.

August 9, 2012
Scientists attack media over gay animal hype

Study finds that media coverage of scientific reports on animal same-sex behavior paints gays and lesbians in negative light

A study claims that media coverage of research on same-sex animal behavior promotes negative stereotypes of gays and lesbians.

Dr Andrew Barron from Australia's Macquarie University and Dr Mark Brown from Royal Holloway University of London found that scientific reports on gay behavior in animals were exploited by the media for 'titillation and humor' or  suggest that homosexuality can be cured.

August 6, 2012
More Aussies support gay marriage than ever says poll

A new poll shows 64% of Australians are in favor of gay marriages

A new Galaxy poll prepared for Australian Marriage Equality (AME) has found that gay marriage support in Australia is at highest level so far.

The poll surveyed 865 Australians aged 18 to 69 years, distributed throughout the Australian states. It found that 64% agreed that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, of which 32% indicated strong agreement.

July 26, 2012
Gay rights activist place full page ad in Queensland newspaper

PFLAG Australia president addresses Premier Campbell Newman in personal letter

Queensland for Equality has wasted no time starting their campaign against the repeal of rights for gay people in the Australian state.

The newly formed gay rights group took out a full page advert in the state newspaper, the Courier Mail, with PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Australia.

The advert takes the form of a letter from the president of PFLAG Australia, Shelley Argent, to the Queensland premier, Campbell Newman.

July 24, 2012
LGBT activists mobilize in Queensland

Queenslanders for Equality launched in response to the state government’s repeal of same-sex couples rights

LGBT activists in the state of Queensland, Australia, launched a new campaign group on Sunday to counter the reduction of their rights by the Liberal National Party (LNP) government.

Queenslanders for Equality will tackle the roll-back of rights for LGBT people in the state since the LNP took power in March this year.

July 20, 2012
‘Gay panic’ killer walks free after four years

An Australian man who killed a man he claimed had made a gay pass at him has walked free after only four years in jail after using the so-called ‘gay panic defense’ to downgrade a murder charge to manslaughter

An Australian killer who claimed his victim made a gay pass at him has walked free after just four years in jail.

Jason Pearce was charged with the murder of Wayne Ruks in the grounds of St Mary's Catholic Church in the town of Maryborough in Queensland, Australia in July of 2008, but had his murder charge downgraded to manslaughter by using the so-called ‘gay panic defense.’

July 16, 2012
Priest’s campaign to close legal defence for homophobic killers goes viral

An Australian Catholic priest's petition campaign to end the so-called 'gay panic defense' has received over 100,000 signatures in just a few days

An Australian Catholic priest’s online campaign to close a controversial legal loophole in the state of Queensland’s Criminal Code has received a massive boost with nearly 160,000 people signing his petition – and over 100,000 of those in just the last few days.

Father Paul Kelly began campaigning on the issue after a man was killed in the grounds of his Maryborough church in 2008 and the killers acquitted of murder after one of the men claimed he had been reacting to a non-violent sexual advance.

July 15, 2012
Liberal National Party conference picketed by LGBTs over rights reversal

The LGBT community in the Australian state of Queensland has picketed the state conference of the ruling Liberal National Party ahead of moves to strip them of further rights

LGBTs in the Australian state of Queensland have picketed the Liberal National Party’s state conference in Brisbane to protest the government’s winding back of LGBT rights.

Around a hundred people picketed the conference on Saturday, holding up placards with slogans including, ‘Pride not Prejudice,’ ‘Homophobia has to go,’ and ‘Hate is not a Family Value’ outside the Brisbane Hilton hotel.

July 8, 2012
Queensland delivers on threat to reroute AIDS funding

The Australian state of Queensland has delivered on a threat to reroute $2.6 million in AIDS funding to a Ministerial Advisory Group despite the local LGBT community's protests

The Australian state of Queensland has delivered on its threat to set up a Ministerial Advisory Committee to direct where money to combat the spread of HIV should go after it defunded the state’s only LGBT community health organization, and has now announced the composition of the committee.

Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg will now direct $2.6 million in funding it previously gave to the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) to the advisory committee to distribute, though its supporters are continuing to campaign against the decision.

June 22, 2012
Queensland government reduces same-sex couples' rights

Civil unions will become ‘registered relationships’, surrogacy will only be available to opposite-sex couples, after heated late-night parliamentary debate

The Queensland government further angered the LGBT community last night by downgrading civil union partnerships to ‘registered relationships’ and announcing a change in surrogacy law so that it will only be available to heterosexual couples.

Changes to the civil union law were passed at 12.25am today after five hours of debate and an interruption by protestors who chanted ‘shame, bigot, shame’.

June 21, 2012
Australian census registers nearly 34,000 same-sex couples

1,334 of same-sex couples describe themselves as married

The Australian Census 2011 published today has 33,714 same-sex couples registered, and 1,334 of them described themselves as married - the first time that they were able to do so on a census.

The information from the latest five-yearly census shows that there are more male than female same-sex couples (17,583 to 16,131).

June 13, 2012
Queensland denies same-sex couples civil union ceremonies

Queensland civil union law amended to appease Christian lobby, same-sex couples will not be allowed state-approved ceremonies

Yesterday, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman announced plans to amend, rather than abolish civil union law in the Australian state.

Same-sex couples will still be allowed to register their partnerships, but they will not be allowed to have state-sanctioned ceremonies.

Civil Union law in Queensland came in just weeks before the socially conservative Liberal National Party (LNP) was voted into state government.

May 31, 2012
Thousands march to defend civil unions and protect LGBT health in Brisbane

Around 2,000 marched to the Queensland parliament last night to protest anti-LGBT moves by the new Liberal National Party state government

Around 2,000 people marched to the Queensland parliament in Brisbane, Australia last night to protest the new state government’s treatment of the LGBT community.

The rally entitled Defend Civl Unions, Save Healthy Communities delivered a double message to the new Liberal National Party, who took over from the Labor Party at the end of March.

Civil unions for same-sex couples were legalized in Queensland just three weeks before the change in government.

May 31, 2012
Thousands march to defend civil unions and protect LGBT health in Brisbane

Around 2,000 marched to the Queensland parliament last night to protest anti-LGBT moves by the new Liberal National Party state government

Around 2,000 people marched to the Queensland parliament in Brisbane, Australia last night to protest the new state government’s treatment of the LGBT community.

The rally entitled Defend Civl Unions, Save Healthy Communities delivered a double message to the new Liberal National Party, who took over from the Labor Party at the end of March.

Civil unions for same-sex couples were legalized in Queensland just three weeks before the change in government.

May 21, 2012
Queensland cuts funding to state’s only LGBT health agency

Health minister says ‘I refuse to throw good money after bad’

The only LGBT health agency in the Australian state of Queensland is ‘putting out an international distress call’ following the news that the state’s new LNP (conservative) government is cutting its funding.

Health minister Lawrence Springborg said the cut in funds was in response to an increase in HIV prevalence in the state and what he said was a failure in public health policy.

May 4, 2012
Same-sex marriage inquiry hears conflicting views

The last day of a public hearing into legalising same-sex marriage hears from the Australian Psychological Society and Christian lobby groups

The second day of the senate's hearing into legalising same-sex marriage heard conflicting views from psychologists and Christians.

Representatives of the Australian Psychological Society told the hearing in Melbourne that there is a direct link between allowing same-sex couples to marry and better mental health for same-sex attracted people.

Dr Fiona Barlow from the University of Queensland said:

March 26, 2012
New Queensland premier has conflicting records on gay rights

The Liberal National Party’s Campbell Newman will be sworn in as Queensland state premier today, but with his confused stance on repealing civil unions there can be a glimmer of hope

The Liberal National Party’s Queensland leader Campbell Newman will assume office as state premier today (26 Mar) with election promises including repealing same-sex partnership that gave his party a landslide victory over the weekend.