South Korean film director Gwang-soo Kim Jho yesterday announced his plans to marry his boyfriend in a symbolic ceremony to bring attention to LGBT rights.

'We wanted to convey the message that all sexual minorities should be given rights equally in a beautiful way,' Kim Jho said at a press conference, where he and his boyfriend were dressed in tuxedos and kissed for the cameras, Reuters reports.

French President Francois Hollande has warned those behind a rise in homophobic violence will be punished.

As the National Assembly prepares for a final vote on the ‘Marriage for All’ law, the once peaceful protests have become more violent.

In one attack, four men broke into a gay bar in the northern city of Lille and three employees were assaulted.

The former gold mining town of Bisbee, Arizona has become the first jurisdiction in the state to recognize same-sex relationships.

The city council voted on Tuesday to legalize same-sex civil unions despite the threat of legal action against it by the Arizona Attorney General.

Attorney General Tom Horne had written to the council prior to the vote to warn that it had ‘no authority to pass the ordinance’ and that if it was approved he would seek to have it blocked in court before it could come into effect.

Two men from Mali who were going to be executed for having gay sex have been saved.

France, as well as other African nations and including Mali's army, intervened to end a ten month rebellion by groups of Tuareg tribes and Islamist extremists.

The groups have taken over most of Northern Mali, including the town of Gao enforcing Sharia law, punishing thieves with amputation and executing gays.

French Muslims have joined Catholics in protesting the country's plans to legalize gay marriage and adoption.

An open letter signed by 50 Muslim activists calls on religious followers to join a march against the law in France's capital Paris on Sunday (13 January).

'We will protest on 13 January by joining a pluralist campaign to preserve the traditional framework of marriage,' the letter reads.

'We invite all French Muslims to turn out in large numbers.'

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit secretly flew to India to care for a gay palace employee's twin babies, born to a surrogate mother in the subcontinent.

The royal made the trip in late October after the worker and his husband, who are also her friends, couldn't get a visa for the journey.

France’s leading Roman Catholic bishop has said plans to legalize same-sex marriage will profoundly change French society.

Speaking in Lourdes, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois urged Catholics to show their opposition to the planned marriage reforms by writing to elected officials and using other ‘democratic means of expression.’

A kiss between a handsome footman and an aristocrat was cut from an episode of international hit Downton Abbey in Greece on Monday night.

'This is of course an obvious case of censorship, an extreme act of homophobia and discrimination which unfortunately, after what has been happening recently, we cannot characterize and unprecedented,’ said main opposition party Syriza in a statement criticizing state TV channel NET.

An anti-gay activist group has demanded Russia’s prosecutor general to take action against a milk brand that they allege promotes homosexuality.

Activists also stated that they will picked shops selling milk produced by PepsiCo Inc's Russian subsidiary because they believe that a rainbow on the packaging violates St. Petersburg’s law banning 'homosexual propaganda'.

Harassment of gay students in US schools is falling, according to a new survey.

Despite the vast majority still reporting name-calling or threats, under a third of gay students reported verbal harassment happened frequently, or every day.

This is down from 45% in 2007 and 40.6% in 2009, the year of the previous survey.

Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo plans to ban 38 pro-gay groups which he claims promote homosexuality.

The announcement follows police raids on gay rights workshops ordered by Lokodo.

'I have got a record of meetings that they have held to empower, enhance and recruit [homosexuals],' Mr Lokodo told Reuters.

Although the non-governmental organizations which he intends to 'de-register' have not been named yet, activists say if the plans go ahead it will not only effect LGBT campaign work in Uganda.

An American Catholic nuns group have responded to Vatican criticism that they have not devoted enough time to speaking out against gay marriage.

The nuns were reprimanded for not making the ‘Biblical view of family life and human sexuality’ more prominent in their agenda, reports Reuters.

The Vatican accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious of spending too much time focusing on poverty and social justice concerns.

A scathing ‘doctrinal assessment’ on Wednesday also slammed the group for being silent on abortion.