Attackers "filmed" anti-gay assault
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


Police are urging members of Southampton's gay community who may have been witness to a series of homophobic attacks to help them in their enquiries.

The incidents, which took place on the 24th, 25th and 26th April, were focussed on gay men on Southampton Common and featured verbal abuse, punches and damage to cars.
Five men were subjected to the assaults, with all but one suffering at the hands of teenagers.

GOP leader Frist attacks LGBT families during simulcast
Event speaker claims supporters of marriage equality belong in ‘an asylum’
by John Marble


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is catching the heat from the National Stonewall Democrats (NSD) for leading a political event where participants routinely ridiculed gay families while calling for legalized discrimination.

Frist joined, via video, a live simulcast broadcast by the Family Research Council titled “Justice Sunday: Stopping the Filibuster Against People of Faith.” The event was designed to build support for Republican efforts to change Senate rules in order to approve the most radical, anti-gay judicial nominations of the Bush Administration.

MORE ACTION IS NEEDED TO STOP DEPORTATION OF COLOMBIAN GAY MAN FROM CANADA



In spite of the efforts of local and international activists, and the media coverage that the case has received, the Canadian government has not yet replied to the appeal to stop deportation of Juan Camacho. Further action is requested in order to urge the Canadian government to take positive action.

Microsoft rethinks its stand on gay rights
Diversity is a key workplace issue, its workers are told
BY ELIZABETH GILLESPIE
The Associated Press


SEATTLE -- After Microsoft was denounced for dropping support for a gay-rights bill in its home state, CEO Steve Ballmer told employees Friday that the company would publicly back such legislation in the future.

Ballmer's e-mail came two weeks after activists accused the company of caving to pressure from a pastor who had threatened to launch a nationwide boycott of the company.

SOULFORCE PROTEST AGAINST ANTI-GAY FOCUS ON THE FAMILY APPLAUDED


"The fair-minded Soulforce members and their allies who braved arrest to protest against the extremist Focus on the Family are true heroes," said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign applauded the approximately 1000 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their supporters who protested against the extremist Focus on the Family, outside of their Colorado Springs compound. The protest was put together by the interfaith group Soulforce, which promotes freedom from religious and political oppression for GLBT people.

Bullying Among Grade-School Youth a Daily Occurrence

UCLA Study Finds that Half of Sixth Graders Bullied Within Five-Day-Period

WASHINGTON (April 28, 2005) The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) today cites a new UCLA study which shows that bullying among sixth graders is a daily occurrence. The study reports that within a five-day-period, almost half of the sixth graders in two different Los Angeles based public schools say they were bullied by other students.

STOP THE NEXT WAR NOW! Effective Responses to Violence & Terrorism
NEW! - CODEPINK Book

How can we humanize each other and act as responsible global citizens? Stop the Next War Now, edited by renowned peace activists Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, shares expert insight on the issues and powers-that-be that can lead us to war - including the media, our elected politicians, global militarization, and the pending scarcity of national resources. It aims to educate and reflect on the effectiveness of peace-movement activities and offers hope, through shared ideas, action steps, and practical checklists to transition from a culture of violence to a culture of peace.

Texas targets 'sexy cheerleading'


Legislators in the US state of Texas have voted to ban "sexually suggestive" cheerleading in schools.

The bill - which requires approval by the state Senate - would allow authorities to police routines deemed vulgar and force schools to stop them.

Incomplete News Undermines US Values    
By Peter Phillips

Dozens were kidnapped by roving gangs off the streets of their hometowns, disappeared from families, hooded, chained, repeatedly interrogated, incarcerated for years in military prisons, and then told it was all a mistake. Did this happen in Stalinist Russia, some South American military dictatorship, Apartheid South Africa? No, the gangs were special forces of the US Government operating with approval from the highest levels of the Pentagon, the victims Afghan civilians recently released from the Guantanamo military prison camp in Cuba.


The New York Times published an article April 20 reporting how 17 innocent Afghans were recently freed from Guantanamo prison after three and half years. "Several of the Afghans said in interviews that they had been told by American officers that they were being freed because they were innocent of any crime," the article reported. "The men would be given new clothes, turbans and travel money and allowed to go home," the paper disclosed.

British military chief reveals new legal fears over Iraq war
Antony Barnett and Martin Bright
The Observer


The man who led Britain's armed forces into Iraq has said that Tony Blair and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, will join British soldiers in the dock if the military are ever prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq.

In a remarkably frank interview that goes to the heart of the political row over the Attorney General's legal advice, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, said he did not have full legal cover from prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Ten U.S. soldiers killed in last 48 hours in Iraq   
Big News Network.com     Saturday 30th April, 2005    


Ten U.S. troops are dead as a result of bombing attacks from Thursday night through to Saturday.

At least 50 Iraqis, mostly police and Iraqi soldiers have also died as a wave of bombings have swept the war-torn country.

Military, pushed,releases burial pix



This photo of a burial at sea was one of 700 images of flag-draped coffins released yesterday by the Pentagon following a lawsuit and Freedom of Information Act request.

Tactical victory for US and the oil industryGreenpeace calls on scientific community to rise above politics

International — Greenpeace denounced the influence of the oil industry and fossil fuel interests in the election of the new Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In today's vote at the IPCC's 19th Session, the candidate supported by the United States was elected after a nasty politicised discussion.

"The US has struck another blow in its broad effort to undermine the
science of climate change, and to undermine interational institutions and international agreements," said Sawyer.

Fiji gay pair to appeal sentence
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK
]

The men jailed in Fiji for having consensual sex have been given a month to make a formal appeal to the country's High Court.

However, the Fiji Director of Public Prosecutions has warned that the government will be fighting the case, and may well rely on signatures of anti-gay bodies.

Australian tourist Thomas McCoskar, 55, was arrested after found having sex with local man Dhirendra Nada, 23.

They were arrested and sentenced earlier this month, with the first magistrate saying their crimes would make "any decent person vomit".

He jailed them for two years, despite the pair pleading for leniency.

Rallies Planned Ahead of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Meeting


On Monday, May 2, nearly all of the governments in the world will meet at the United Nations to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a Review Conference that takes place every five years. A coalition of over 2,000 organizations around the world, have teamed up with United for Peace and Justice to organize a big march and rally this Sunday, the day before the conference opens, to demand global nuclear disarmament. Thousands of people are expected to attend including the mayors of Hiroshima and