While the gay equality movement in the US has made recent strides, from the abolition of Don't Ask, Don't Tell to the increasing number of states where gay marriage is legal, too many transgender men and women still live in the shadows.

National Public Radio aired a piece (15 June) on the lives of transgender Americans, specifically teenagers and young adults.

A disabled gay man ended up crawling up the stairs of a gay nightclub in Glasgow, which refused him entry, only to have door staff call the police on him.

He and his partner are now at the heart of a discrimination row with one of Scotland’s top gay venues after the incident in the early hours of this morning (14 June).

Nightclub bosses allegedly refused entry to cerebral palsy sufferer Robert Gale since he was in a wheelchair and said there were no facilities for him at their venue, The Polo Lounge, in the heart of the gay village in Scotland’s biggest city.

An anti-gay leader has said an 18-year-old gay rights activist would still be alive if France had not legalized same-sex marriage.

Frigide Barjot, leader of the French religious right, argues Clément Méric would still be alive if it was not for the government who ‘refused to listen to the French people’.

Transgender women in Bangladesh are calling for an allocated seat in parliament to speak out for their rights.

The demand was made at the launch of a new organization called Bangladesh Transgender Welfare Foundation (BTWF) at Dhaka National Press Club last Saturday (1 June).

'Unfortunately, we have been deprived of many opportunities and benefits provided by the government,' said BTWF president Abida Sultana Mitu, Dhaka Tribune reports.

To help combat the spate of anti-gay hate crimes in New York City in recent weeks, lesbian City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced free classes to teach violence prevention strategies and safety tips to the LGBT community.

Quinn said the classes, Center for Anti-Violence Prevention, will provide the community with the tools they need to stay safe.

'No one should be made to feel unsafe because who they are or who they love,' Quinn said in a statement. 'The spate of bias attacks against LGBT New Yorkers in recent weeks is unacceptable and must end now.'

Businesses and organizations throughout the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) are being encouraged to demonstrate their support for the LGBT community and intersex people by getting involved in a renewed Safe Place program which launched today in Sydney.

Set up in 1991, the program originally involved participating venues displaying a sign which identified them as a place of refuge for victims of street-based homophobic violence, with venue staff receiving training and resources to help them provide appropriate support.

The Australian House of Representatives yesterday passed legislation that will make discrimination against LGBTs illegal under federal law.

The Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Bill will make it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status under national laws in line with laws already passed by Australia’s states.

As a parent, my job one is the protection and care of my children. It is my job to be vigilant over their self-worth, to keep them physically safe, to show them how to be moral and productive citizens, and to empower their spiritual growth. It is a duty I take very seriously.

Transgender woman Lucy Meadows was, by all accounts, a highly respected teacher who valued her privacy. Her family has asked for that privacy to be respected. But it was inevitable the media would report the coroner’s comments at her inquest, which found she had committed suicide.

A coroner investigating the suicide of transgender British teacher Lucy Meadows has slammed the media for their ‘ill informed bigotry’.

Meadows killed herself on 19 March, aged 32 – and the hearing today confirmed it was of carbon monoxide poisoning.

American singer, rapper and actress Lauryn Hill is making some new enemies, and for once they do not include the Internal Revenue Service.

She is now being accused of having anti-LGBT lyrics in her new song ‘Neurotic Society’, released three days before she went to jail for tax evasion.

In a list of examples of how society is crumbling around her, Hill blames ‘social transvestism’, ‘drag queens’ and a lyric people are interpreting as ‘girl men’.

According to Hill, they are just as bad as ‘pimps’, ‘pushers’, and ‘serial criminals’.