Man killed "for being gay"
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


The man at the centre of an Edinburgh murder trial has been accused of killing his gay friend because of his sexuality.

Ian Sutherland has been accused of murdering Alan Wilson, after police found Wilson's dismembered body in Sutherland's back garden. Previously, Sutherland had said he was aware that Wilson was gay but did not have any problem with his sexuality.

However, earlier this week, the jury was told that Sutherland's former girlfriend, Tracy Scott, had told a hotel manager that he had killed Wilson because he was gay.

"She told me he had murdered his flatmate, chopped up his arms and chopped up his legs and buried him in the back garden," manager Ms Canning told the court, recounting an episode where Ms Scott came into the hotel lobby looking for help.


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Campaign focuses on homophobic bullying at work
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


The Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) is to help fight homophobic bullying in the work place.

The campaign, launched earlier this month, also intends to help raise awareness of laws introduced last year to help protect LGB people from discrimination in the workplace.

The laws, which came into force last December, were intended to help ensure LGB people were safe in the workplace for the first time.

However, gay advocacy groups have already expressed fears that those employees at the most risk - as well as their employers - are not fully aware of their new rights.


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Faced with dissension in its ranks, GOP retreats on gay marriage vote
Kerry, Edwards probably spared from voting on amendment
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau Wednesday, July 14, 2004


Washington -- Republican divisions in the Senate over a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage are expected to allow Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and running mate John Edwards to avoid even voting on the measure, depriving President Bush of a potential campaign weapon on a sensitive cultural issue.

With at least five Republican senators openly opposing the amendment and as many as 10 leaning against it, GOP leaders faced the possibility that less than half the Senate would vote to support it, far short of the supermajority of 67 needed to amend the Constitution.

Facing such a humiliating defeat, Republicans opted to hold a procedural vote today to cut off debate. If that fails, as expected, it will kill the measure while avoiding a direct vote on the amendment itself.

The procedural vote leaves Kerry, D-Mass., and Edwards, D-N.C., with an excuse not to participate. Kerry's campaign said Tuesday the two senators would be prepared to vote against the amendment if it came up but would not feel obliged to vote on procedural matters.