A tribunal has ruled that a former police officer was victim to homophobic and racist abuse while on the force.

An employment tribunal found that Kevin Maxwell suffered from ‘an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’ as a gay black man working as a counter-terrorism officer.

The hearing was held because the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for law enforcement in greater London, was trying to appeal Maxwell's claims that he was fired unjustly.

UK’s Lancashire Police Constabulary have awarded their equality and diversity officer for his work on LGBT issues within the police.

Police Constable Ian Ashton received a Regional Commander’s Commendation award presented by Chief Superintendent James Lee.

‘I am extremely proud to have received this and it supports and endorses Lancashire constabulary’s work around LGB&T,’ Ashton told Gay Star News.

The commendation was awarded for Ashton’s work on national and local LGBT issues.

Twenty-nine countries in Europe are insisting transgender people are sterilized before their true gender is recognized in law.

That represents a major abuse of human rights and must stop, says a new report from the Council of Europe.

In many European countries, sterilization or sex reassignment surgery or both are a requirement for the country to legally recognize a transgender person in his or her new gender.

While gender reassignment surgery may incidentally cause someone to become sterile, some countries also insist on sterilization.

It's not an easy time for Sunil Pant, founder of the largest LGBT rights group in Nepal, Blue Diamond Society (BDS). A government office has sat on the renewal of BDS's license, holding-up funding so that staff haven't been paid for months. LGBTI activists are also being harassed, which Pant links to the same government officer.

A Texas woman is facing jail time after she beat her teenage son with an electrical cord after catching him in bed with another man.

Erica Moore, of Forest Hill, said one night she opened her 15-year-old son’s bedroom door to discover he was not alone, and her teenage male cousin was in the room with him.

CBS-DFW reports as she walked in, she saw her 18-year-old cousin giving oral sex to her 15-year-old son.

The 18-year-old who was seen attacked by a policeman at Sydney’s gay Mardi Gras has said he is not angry at the authorities, just the officer.

In the video, which has now been viewed over 200,000 times, Jamie Jackson is seen being held by the throat, slammed to the ground and stood on by a police officer.

Jackson is seen screaming ‘I did nothing wrong!’ as he is arrested by the police.

NSW Police has announced he was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and using offensive language in public.

‘Famous Welsh actor that was married to Elizabeth Taylor’ was about the extent of my knowledge about Richard Burton.

But it had just been announced he was being given a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, and I was in South Wales near the town where he was born, so it seemed like a good opportunity to learn a bit more about this icon of stage and screen.

Although never having formally trained as an actor, Burton was widely recognised and awarded as one of the leading actors of his generation - let’s re-cap some of the key facts:

Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, a vocal opponent against the Defense of Marriage Act, died earlier today (10 January).

'She made an indelible mark on everyone she met with her integrity, her positive outlook, and her unflinching commitment to righting the wrongs visited upon gay and lesbian military families,' said Allyson Robinson, the executive director of OutServe-SLDN, in a statement. 'The fight for full LGBT equality in this country is forever changed because Charlie Morgan took up the cause.'

A former LAPD police officer who is suspected of launching a one-man war against his former colleagues wrote in an online manifesto that lesbian and Asian police officers would be special targets for him.

Swedish queer feminist filmmaker Marit Östberg has directed the video for the new single from The Knife, released yesterday.

The video for the single Full of Fire features queer elements and female couples including a flirtation between an 'occupy' protestor and an army officer.

'The film Full of Fire started to grow as an embryo in the song's lines "who looks after my story?",' said Östberg.

According to Campbell a 32 year-old gay man from Brooklyn, the alleged attack happened after police officers responded to a noise complaint about a pride party he was hosting.

During a press conference held this morning (17 January), Campbell recounted how nine officers arrived at his home and disabled a surveillance camera before proceeding to forcefully enter his flat, brutally beating him and shouting abuse.

At the London 2012 summer Olympics, there were only two sports that discriminated on the basis of gender - men were not allowed to compete in either the rhythmic gymnastics or the synchronized swimming competitions.

At the time there was quite a bit of media interest in the gender-discrimination aspect of these sports, but has anything changed? What next for campaigners?