After nearly 10 years on the job, an elementary school principal in Oregon is losing his job and he and his supporters believe it is because he is gay.

Tom Klansnic says he had no problems with the Gresham Barlow School District until 2010 when he and his wife divorced and he came out as gay.

He says the district in Gresham, Oregon, has not told him why they are letting him go at the end of the school year.

A 15-year-old bullied gay teen who hanged himself two weeks ago died yesterday (3 February).

Jadin Bell was taken to Portland hospital in Oregon on 19 January after he hanged himself on a playground at an elementary school.

Bud Hill, a close family friend, said the teen had complained of homophobic bullying a week before and had talked to a counselor at his local high school.

‘He was different, and they tend to pick on the different ones,’ he said.

Bell was a sophomore, and a member of the cheerleading squad.

Following their no-show at memorial services for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, members of the Westboro Baptist Church have threatened to picket the funeral of two New York state firefighters who were shot and killed on Christmas Eve when they attended a house fire in the Rochester area.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church traveled to the Connecticut town Newtown with the intention of picketing memorial services for the victims of the mass shooting at the town’s elementary school but never left their hotel rooms thanks to a resounding community response.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) blamed marriage equality in Connecticut for the tragic shooting spree in Newtown that took 26 lives.

The Church announced that it will picket the funerals of the children with banners saying ‘God Hate Fags’ and other anti-gay hate messages.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, spokesperson of WBC and daughter of its leader, Fred Phelps, tweeted, ‘Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment’.

Five-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein was among the gay and lesbian celebrities who took to Twitter on Friday (14 December) to express their shock and outrage over the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school.

'Guns do nothing but encourage paranoid lunacy, arm fools and criminals, and rain grief and destruction down on the innocent,' tweeted Fierstein (pictured). 'And what will the NRA answer? 'If those teachers were armed this never would have happened.' You can't talk sense to the brain dead.'

Police in Taipei have charged a teacher with violating a Taiwan law that criminalizes HIV positive people who knowingly have unprotected sex.

The man surnamed Feng, who was also arrested on an illegal drugs charge, faces five to 12 years in prison if convicted under the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act.