Moscow mayor asked to “review” gay pride ban

The Council of Europe has called on the mayor of Moscow to reinstate the city’s gay pride parade.

President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council, Giovanni di Stasi asked Yuri Luzhkov to “review,” his policy and allow the gay community to march in Russia in May as it is an entitlement according to human rights conventions of free expression and protection from discrimination.

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State moves toward legal protection for civil partnerships
By Michael O’Farrell, Political Reporter
THE Government is about to take the first step towards providing legal protection for civil partnerships with the establishment of a new working group to advise on the issue. 2

Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting agreed that the Department of Justice would establish the working group and instruct it to prepare an options paper for the Government.

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Greece does not want gays in its armed forces

 
ATHENS, March 28, 2006 (AFP) - Greece officially does not want gays in its armed forces, excluding both those serving under its compulsory conscription system and those enlisting voluntarily, the Greek armed forces general staff said Tuesday. 

The Greek army bars gays from its ranks under a 2002 presidential decree which excludes from military service all persons "suffering from psycho-sexual or sexual identity disorders," a general staff source told AFP.



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HIV is gay couple's escape route

Once condemned to silence and secrecy, India's homosexual and eunuch community is perhaps far more visible today than it ever was. Though this visibility has brought empowerment, it has also led to increased persecution, societal condemnation and abuse. Across India, gays are being forced into heterosexual marriages by unknowing or unrelenting families. What follows is a relationship of deceit and double life. In a special series, The Third Sex CNN-IBN does a reality check on sexuality choices and unconventional (sic) sexuality in India.


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Araujo's tragic story coming to small screen
Lifetime channel may broadcast movie about slain transgender teen in June

NEWARK — The story of slain Newark transgender teen Gwen Araujo has been told in court, on TV and in the newspapers. Now, it will appear in movie form.

The Lifetime channel, in conjunction with Sony Pictures Television, began production of the film, currently titled "The Gwen Araujo Story," April 2 in Vancouver. It is expected to air in June. Its creators hope to educate people about the struggle of gender identity.


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Transsexual UK
Sarah fell in love with Stephen. But Stephen was born a girl. Their wedding is one of hundreds involving sex-change partners since a change in the law
By Marie Woolf

Sarah and Stephen met as students in the 1970s. They have a secure and loving home in Manchester, and four young children. When they were married in June last year, after 26 years together, dozens of family and friends shared their special day.
But the wedding was not only a joyful affair, it was a historic one. For Stephen, a successful law lecturer, was born female. Now a bearded, tattooed family man, living in a £600,000 home in the south of the city, he is one of 1,200 transsexuals who, since a change in the law last April, have been granted the right to marry.

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Anti-gay slurs chalked on Tech campus
Mroz: ‘Incidents ... are unacceptable’
By Kayla Stewart, Gazette Writer


HOUGHTON — Written in multi-colored chalk, from the ground in front of the Memorial Union Building all the way down to the Rozsa Center, anti-gay slurs hit Michigan Tech University in the middle of the night Thursday.

The timing of the writings, which included bodily harm threats to gays involving bats, mutilation and guns, was sandwiched in a week of gay pride events. But Les Cook, vice president of student affairs, said they don’t know for sure if the threats are a direct response to the week’s activities.

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Gay-rights rally attracts huge crowd
By the Associated Press


RICHMOND, Va. -- More than 1,300 people attended a dinner Saturday night, signalling that there is significant support for a campaign to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in Virginia.