Mozambique: Movement for Gay Rights to Be Announced Soon

At the end, on Friday night, of the first ever Mozambican seminar on gay rights, organised by the Human Rights League (LDH), gay activist Danilo de Sousa told AIM that the movement will probably be launched within the next couple of weeks.

But as yet it has no name. There is a dispute between those who want to affirm their gay identity (which would lead to a name such as "Mozambican Gay and Lesbian Movement"), and those who prefer to advance more cautiously, with a name such as "Organisation against Sexual Discrimination".

Transsexual Allowed To Revive Multi-Million Dollar Discrimination Suit Against Bank 


(London) A transsexual man who alleges he was fired by multi-national banking company HSBC because of his corrected gender will be allowed to appeal a labor tribunal ruling that dismissed most of his case.

Peter Lewis is seeking $9 million in damages. It is the biggest case of its kind since Britain banned discrimination on the basis of sexuality.

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Cameroon Violates Human Rights Laws By Detaining Gay Men 


In an opinion issued Wednesday, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that the nation of Cameroon violated international human rights laws by detaining 11 men because they are gay.

The 11 men were arrested at a bar frequented by gays and lesbians in Yaoundé, Cameroon. While in prison, the detainees faced harsh conditions and homophobic attacks from fellow prisoners.

The men were detained for more than one year on anti-homosexuality offenses rising from Cameroon’s Penal Code.

Long Beach City Council approves gay marriage resolution


LONG BEACH, Calif. The Long Beach City Council has unanimously approved a resolution supporting gay marriage.


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Critics slam UM curator over remark


The University of Missouri-St. Louis Faculty Senate has criticized Board of Curators member David Wasinger for making "homophobic comments" during a board meeting last week in Kansas City.

Wasinger, a St. Louis lawyer, made a critical comment about teaching "queer theory" courses. The comment came during a meeting of the board’s Academic and Student Affairs Committee.

Nepal urged to curb harassment of gays


NEW DELHI, Sept 29 - Delhi Declaration on Men having Sex with Men (MSM) produced by International Consultation on MSM called upon governments, international donors, multilateral institutions and civil society for urgent and coordinated responses to deal with HIV epidemics among MSM and transgender persons that is rapidly increasing in the region.

"Nepal will have to give special attention to police and military harassment to the MSM, which has made it difficult to carry out outreach programs," said Shivananda Khan, chief executive of the Naz Foundation Internationals, working on MSM, while making the declaration public.

Stigmatized by society and criminalized by law in many countries in the region including Nepal, it is difficult for MSMs to access information and services that they need to protect themselves from HIV, said K. Sujatha Rao, additional secretary and director general of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, government of India.


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Vietnam may allow sexual transformation operation


    HANOI, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will, under a draft decree, permit transgender people to undergo sexual transformation operation, from next January, according to local newspaper Saigon Liberation on Monday.

    Under the draft decree recently submitted to the government by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, transgender people, whose psychological self differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they were born with (for example, a female with a masculine gender identity or who identifies as a man), and people having unclear gender identity, can undergo the operation. After the operation, they will have new gender identity.



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'Gay students more depressed than peers'

Gay university students in Taiwan are three times more likely to suffer from depression and think about suicide than their heterosexual peers, a study showed on Monday.

According to a survey of 2 600 university students commissioned by the education ministry, gay university students are nearly three times more likely to suffer from depression (12,9 per cent) compared with straight students (4,8 per cent).


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Michigan Judge's Nomination to Federal Bench Halted Over Gay Marriage Ceremony 



The nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet Neff to the federal bench is on hold because she helped lead a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple four years ago, reports the Grand Rapids Press.

Gay Teacher 'Outs' Himself, And Parents Are Upset

Minneapolis Several parents of students at a downtown Minneapolis school are protesting a second-grade teacher's decision to tell his class he's gay as part of a discussion of diversity, without first notifying them.

The parents and about a dozen supporters held a protest Friday at the Interdisciplinary Downtown School, which serves students from 10 Twin Cities-area district. They want the school to let their children switch to a different class, a request that Principal Laura Bloomberg refused.

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Gay rights go to ballot
Voters to decide marriage ban, domestic partnerships

DENVER - Coloradans can vote for and against gay rights at the same time next month, thanks to two Referendum I would change state statutes to establish a new legal status called domestic partnerships, so gays and lesbians can enjoy some of the same rights as married people. Amendment 43 asks voters to change the state constitution to declare that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Advocates for domestic partnerships say there's no contradiction between Referendum I and Amendment 43.
"It is not gay marriage. It just isn't," said Sean Duffy, leader of the Referendum I campaign