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Ireland’s first civil partnerships have taken place early and in secret

The first civil partnerships in Ireland have already taken place, more than a month earlier than the planned introduction of the ceremonies. It is understood that at least one member of both couples involved are suffering from serious illnesses with a risk of that one may die before the three month notice period for a civil partnership would elapse.

The first couple’s civil partnership was registered on 7th February 2011 and a second, on the 11th of February. Both couples were male.

The Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act, 2010 came into force on January 1st 2011 and requires a minimum of three months notice between the application for a civil partnership and the date of the ceremony. However, a judge can waive the notice perioid on compassionate grounds, primarily the serious illness of one of the partners.

Tiernan Brady of the Gay and Lesbian Network told the Sunday Times that celebration of the first two partnerships were historic milestones. “It’s really fantastic,” he said. “It’s the culmination of a long process. It’s great to have state recognition for these partnerships. It’s a gigantic leap forward for Ireland. Civil partnership addresses real needs for real couples.”

A gay couple who had a civil partnership in Northern Ireland and later became naturalised as Irish citizens, became the first officially recognised civil partners in the state last month.

Civil partnerships offer some of the same rights to property and pensions as marriage but do not have the same tax status. This element was to have been confirmed in a finance bill that has now been curtailed as a result of Ireland’s general election on February 25th. All parties have pledged to introduce the changes to taxation law after the election. However, it is not known if the changes will be retrospective and cover the couples who have already registered their partnership, should one of the pair die.

Like Britain, many campaigners say civil partnerships are not enough and the Labour party has pledged in its manifesto to hold a referendum to decide on the introduction of same-sex marriages. The Labour party has also pledged to allow gay couples to jointly adopt children.

In Britain, the first civil partnership to be registered involved a terminally ill man, who was given special dispensation to ignore the fifteen day notice period of a civil partnership.

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Ireland’s first civil partnerships have taken place early and in secret

The first civil partnerships in Ireland have already taken place, more than a month earlier than the planned introduction of the ceremonies. It is understood that at least one member of both couples involved are suffering from serious illnesses with a risk of that one may die before the three month notice period for a civil partnership would elapse.

The first couple’s civil partnership was registered on 7th February 2011 and a second, on the 11th of February. Both couples were male.

The Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act, 2010 came into force on January 1st 2011 and requires a minimum of three months notice between the application for a civil partnership and the date of the ceremony. However, a judge can waive the notice perioid on compassionate grounds, primarily the serious illness of one of the partners.

Tiernan Brady of the Gay and Lesbian Network told the Sunday Times that celebration of the first two partnerships were historic milestones. “It’s really fantastic,” he said. “It’s the culmination of a long process. It’s great to have state recognition for these partnerships. It’s a gigantic leap forward for Ireland. Civil partnership addresses real needs for real couples.”

A gay couple who had a civil partnership in Northern Ireland and later became naturalised as Irish citizens, became the first officially recognised civil partners in the state last month.

Civil partnerships offer some of the same rights to property and pensions as marriage but do not have the same tax status. This element was to have been confirmed in a finance bill that has now been curtailed as a result of Ireland’s general election on February 25th. All parties have pledged to introduce the changes to taxation law after the election. However, it is not known if the changes will be retrospective and cover the couples who have already registered their partnership, should one of the pair die.

Like Britain, many campaigners say civil partnerships are not enough and the Labour party has pledged in its manifesto to hold a referendum to decide on the introduction of same-sex marriages. The Labour party has also pledged to allow gay couples to jointly adopt children.

In Britain, the first civil partnership to be registered involved a terminally ill man, who was given special dispensation to ignore the fifteen day notice period of a civil partnership.

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Leonardo DiCaprio to play gay J Edgar Hoover in film penned by writer of ‘Milk’

Former teenage heart throb Leonardo DiCaprio will play J Edgar Hoover, in a biopic of the FBI’s first director as a cross dressing repressed homosexual.

J Edgar, which is directed by Clint Eastwood will see DiCaprio play Hoover as an “emotionally tortured figure trapped in a highly charged relationship with his mother,” who is played by Dame Judi Dench according to the Sunday Times.

The newspaper says it has seen copies of the script of the film that while containing no over sex, show Hoover struggling with sexual feelings for his protégé, Clyde Tolson. The pair would often dress identically, holiday together and were buried a few yards apart from each other.

The film has been written by Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Milk, the biopic of America’s first openly gay politician Harvey Milk. Last week Mr Lance Black said he would deal with Hoover’s sexuality in “in a human, realistic way: homosexuality without gay stereotypes”.

Although the script makes reference to Hoover’s alleged cross-dressing, DiCaprio said that he was unlikely to be seen on-screen in a frock. “We have not done the fittings for those,” he said when asked if he would be cross-dressing. “So I don’t think so.”

In 1995, DiCaprio depicted the gay relationship between poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine in the film Total Eclipse.

In 2009, papers revealed the investigations that the FBI under Hoover conducted into the sexuality of well known individuals including presidential aide Jack Valenti.

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Leonardo DiCaprio to play gay J Edgar Hoover in film penned by writer of ‘Milk’

Former teenage heart throb Leonardo DiCaprio will play J Edgar Hoover, in a biopic of the FBI’s first director as a cross dressing repressed homosexual.

J Edgar, which is directed by Clint Eastwood will see DiCaprio play Hoover as an “emotionally tortured figure trapped in a highly charged relationship with his mother,” who is played by Dame Judi Dench according to the Sunday Times.

The newspaper says it has seen copies of the script of the film that while containing no over sex, show Hoover struggling with sexual feelings for his protégé, Clyde Tolson. The pair would often dress identically, holiday together and were buried a few yards apart from each other.

The film has been written by Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Milk, the biopic of America’s first openly gay politician Harvey Milk. Last week Mr Lance Black said he would deal with Hoover’s sexuality in “in a human, realistic way: homosexuality without gay stereotypes”.

Although the script makes reference to Hoover’s alleged cross-dressing, DiCaprio said that he was unlikely to be seen on-screen in a frock. “We have not done the fittings for those,” he said when asked if he would be cross-dressing. “So I don’t think so.”

In 1995, DiCaprio depicted the gay relationship between poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine in the film Total Eclipse.

In 2009, papers revealed the investigations that the FBI under Hoover conducted into the sexuality of well known individuals including presidential aide Jack Valenti.

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Preview: BBC investigates religious gay Muslim marriages being held in the UK and USA

Less than a week after the government announced the process for implementing religious civil partnerships, BBC Radio 5 Live are to broadcast an investigation into the growing numbers of gay Muslims seeking Islamic marriages.

Last week, the Movement for Reform Judaism joined Liberal Judaism, the Quakers and Unitarians in offering to host civil partnerships and calling for same sex marriages. One religious denomination that made no formal move was Islam. But, according to a BBC investigation to be broadcast tonight, there are Muslim clerics who are willing to officiate at gay weddings.

5 Live Investigates speaks to one couple who have had a ‘nikah’ – an Islamic marriage contract.
Asra, one half of the lesbian couple featured told the BBC how she got together with her partner Sarah: “We met about three years ago, at an iftar – a breaking of fast during Ramadan.

“I think a lot of Muslims find that time of year very spiritual and very enlightening, and so I think that’s why our relationship developed, because we spoke about our faith. Eventually we went on a date.”

“After the first date, which was about an hour, Sarah casually asked me to marry her.”

Sarah said: “I think it was more like four hours, after dinner, coffee and walking. I didn’t really plan it, but it just really seemed like the way it was between us, I should try and keep it as pure as possible.

“That may sound strange being lesbians, but it felt like we should do it the most honourable way we could.”

The couple decided that they wanted to have a nikah, to cement their relationship, that they were able to enter into without the help of an official Imam, or Islamic cleric. Unlike Jewish rabbis or Christian priests and vicars, Imams are not ordained ministers in a formal sense. “A few friends said you don’t really have to have an official Imam, but you need someone who is knowledgeable enough about the Qur’an to do it,” Sarah said. “Fortunately, one of our friends was, and she offered to do it. She’s a lesbian herself, and she said we could do it in her home.”

Three months after they met, the paid signed their nikah and held a ceremony.

“We got rings from Camden market, and we drew up contracts – we got a blueprint off the internet of a heterosexual contract and we both looked at it separately,” Sarah expained. “To see if there were things we wanted to change. I remember I put about the dog – that if we broke up, Asra wouldn’t steal the dog.” The couple had a dowry of £5.

Asra’s parents are not accepting of her homosexuality. Sarah’s on the other hand are, she says its because she wasn’t born a Muslim: “I converted five years ago – I think my family is quite accepting of my sexuality.

But sometimes it seems like they are waiting for me to grow out of being a Muslim.”

In America, a gay Imam, Daayiee Abdullah has performed a number of more fomal nikah ceremonies. He claims that denying gay Muslims a religious union, is against Islamic law. He told the BBC: “Since Islamic legal precedence does not allow same sexes to wed, Muslim societies make it a legal impossibility within Islam [but] by not allowing same-sex couples to wed, there is a direct attack on the Koran’s message that each person has a mate who is their ‘comfort and their cloak’.”

Sarah and Asra say that as a couple they face two types of discrimination. They face homophobia from the Islamic community, and Islamaphobia from the gay community, something that Sarah says: “really worries me”.

5 Live investigates is broadcast at 9pm this evening on BBC Radio 5 Live. A podcast of the programme will be available here shortly after broadcast.

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Preview: BBC investigates religious gay Muslim marriages being held in the UK and USA

Less than a week after the government announced the process for implementing religious civil partnerships, BBC Radio 5 Live are to broadcast an investigation into the growing numbers of gay Muslims seeking Islamic marriages.

Last week, the Movement for Reform Judaism joined Liberal Judaism, the Quakers and Unitarians in offering to host civil partnerships and calling for same sex marriages. One religious denomination that made no formal move was Islam. But, according to a BBC investigation to be broadcast tonight, there are Muslim clerics who are willing to officiate at gay weddings.

5 Live Investigates speaks to one couple who have had a ‘nikah’ – an Islamic marriage contract.
Asra, one half of the lesbian couple featured told the BBC how she got together with her partner Sarah: “We met about three years ago, at an iftar – a breaking of fast during Ramadan.

“I think a lot of Muslims find that time of year very spiritual and very enlightening, and so I think that’s why our relationship developed, because we spoke about our faith. Eventually we went on a date.”

“After the first date, which was about an hour, Sarah casually asked me to marry her.”

Sarah said: “I think it was more like four hours, after dinner, coffee and walking. I didn’t really plan it, but it just really seemed like the way it was between us, I should try and keep it as pure as possible.

“That may sound strange being lesbians, but it felt like we should do it the most honourable way we could.”

The couple decided that they wanted to have a nikah, to cement their relationship, that they were able to enter into without the help of an official Imam, or Islamic cleric. Unlike Jewish rabbis or Christian priests and vicars, Imams are not ordained ministers in a formal sense. “A few friends said you don’t really have to have an official Imam, but you need someone who is knowledgeable enough about the Qur’an to do it,” Sarah said. “Fortunately, one of our friends was, and she offered to do it. She’s a lesbian herself, and she said we could do it in her home.”

Three months after they met, the paid signed their nikah and held a ceremony.

“We got rings from Camden market, and we drew up contracts – we got a blueprint off the internet of a heterosexual contract and we both looked at it separately,” Sarah expained. “To see if there were things we wanted to change. I remember I put about the dog – that if we broke up, Asra wouldn’t steal the dog.” The couple had a dowry of £5.

Asra’s parents are not accepting of her homosexuality. Sarah’s on the other hand are, she says its because she wasn’t born a Muslim: “I converted five years ago – I think my family is quite accepting of my sexuality.

But sometimes it seems like they are waiting for me to grow out of being a Muslim.”

In America, a gay Imam, Daayiee Abdullah has performed a number of more fomal nikah ceremonies. He claims that denying gay Muslims a religious union, is against Islamic law. He told the BBC: “Since Islamic legal precedence does not allow same sexes to wed, Muslim societies make it a legal impossibility within Islam [but] by not allowing same-sex couples to wed, there is a direct attack on the Koran’s message that each person has a mate who is their ‘comfort and their cloak’.”

Sarah and Asra say that as a couple they face two types of discrimination. They face homophobia from the Islamic community, and Islamaphobia from the gay community, something that Sarah says: “really worries me”.

5 Live investigates is broadcast at 9pm this evening on BBC Radio 5 Live. A podcast of the programme will be available here shortly after broadcast.

Read More

WikiLeaks cables reveal Ugandan homophobia

Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show the extent of Ugandan homophobia.

American embassy cables describe a 2009 UN-sponsored meeting which gay rights campaigner David Kato spoke at, the Guardian reports.

Mr Kato, who was murdered this month, was openly mocked as he nervously read a speech against a bill to strengthen Uganda’s laws against homosexuality.

The US diplomat wrote that the homophobia of bill sponsor David Bahati MP was “is blinding and incurable”.

The cables also refer to anti-gay pastor Martin Ssempa and Ugandan ethics minister James Nsaba Buturo.

One said: “Bahati, Buturo, and particularly Ssempa’s ability to channel popular anger over Uganda’s socio-political failings into violent hatred of a previously unpopular but tolerated minority is chilling.”

The memos also showed diplomatic attempts to combat the controversial bill.

The status of the bill is currently unclear but anti-gay feeling runs high in the country.

Gay rights campaigners in Uganda are calling for a full investigation into Mr Kato’s death.

One man has been arrested and police say Mr Kato’s activist was not relevant.

The activist had received death threats after successfully suing a newspaper for publishing his name, address and photo in an anti-gay campaign.

Read More

WikiLeaks cables reveal Ugandan homophobia

Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show the extent of Ugandan homophobia.

American embassy cables describe a 2009 UN-sponsored meeting which gay rights campaigner David Kato spoke at, the Guardian reports.

Mr Kato, who was murdered this month, was openly mocked as he nervously read a speech against a bill to strengthen Uganda’s laws against homosexuality.

The US diplomat wrote that the homophobia of bill sponsor David Bahati MP was “is blinding and incurable”.

The cables also refer to anti-gay pastor Martin Ssempa and Ugandan ethics minister James Nsaba Buturo.

One said: “Bahati, Buturo, and particularly Ssempa’s ability to channel popular anger over Uganda’s socio-political failings into violent hatred of a previously unpopular but tolerated minority is chilling.”

The memos also showed diplomatic attempts to combat the controversial bill.

The status of the bill is currently unclear but anti-gay feeling runs high in the country.

Gay rights campaigners in Uganda are calling for a full investigation into Mr Kato’s death.

One man has been arrested and police say Mr Kato’s activist was not relevant.

The activist had received death threats after successfully suing a newspaper for publishing his name, address and photo in an anti-gay campaign.

Read More

Tory MP claims most gay people don’t want the right to marry

A Conservative MP has claimed that only a “tiny number” of gay people actually want the right to marry.

Edward Leigh, the MP for Gainsborough, questioned why the language of marriage should be “mangled” and suggested that changing the law would lead to recognising polygamy.

He wrote on his website: “The British are a tolerant people and it is right that homosexual people should be allowed to get on with their lives.

“But this does not extend to mangling the language of marriage so that, for the sake of the tiny number of gay people who prefer marriage to civil partnership, everyone else in society must have the definition of their own marriage altered forever.

“Once we have departed from the universally understood framework of marriage, there is no logical reason why the new alternative institution should be limited to two people. Why not three? Or thirty-three?”

Mr Leigh also claimed that most gay people do not want the right to marry.

He said: “Why must they also have the language of marriage? No doubt because it is an important symbol to them. But it is also an important symbol to many other people. Must the religious and cultural heritage of the whole nation be overturned to suit the demands of a minority even of the gay community itself?”

It is not clear what Mr Leigh, who has always voted against gay rights, based this claim on.

A recent PinkNews.co.uk poll of 800 readers found that 98 per cent wanted the right to marry.

Seventy-seven per cent agreed that marriage and civil partnerships should be open to everyone, while 23 per cent said that marriage should be the only form of recognition for all couples.

A Populus opinion poll for the Times in June 2009 found that 61 per cent of the public believe that ‘gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships’. Only 33 per cent disagreed.

The government announced yesterday that it would allow religious civil partnerships and begin consulting on allowing gay people to marry.

Equality minister Lynne Featherstone insisted that the plans have the support of the entire government and that there had been no resistance from Tory ministers.

“I am fully supported by all of government over these plans going forward,” she said.

Read More

Tory MP claims most gay people don’t want the right to marry

A Conservative MP has claimed that only a “tiny number” of gay people actually want the right to marry.

Edward Leigh, the MP for Gainsborough, questioned why the language of marriage should be “mangled” and suggested that changing the law would lead to recognising polygamy.

He wrote on his website: “The British are a tolerant people and it is right that homosexual people should be allowed to get on with their lives.

“But this does not extend to mangling the language of marriage so that, for the sake of the tiny number of gay people who prefer marriage to civil partnership, everyone else in society must have the definition of their own marriage altered forever.

“Once we have departed from the universally understood framework of marriage, there is no logical reason why the new alternative institution should be limited to two people. Why not three? Or thirty-three?”

Mr Leigh also claimed that most gay people do not want the right to marry.

He said: “Why must they also have the language of marriage? No doubt because it is an important symbol to them. But it is also an important symbol to many other people. Must the religious and cultural heritage of the whole nation be overturned to suit the demands of a minority even of the gay community itself?”

It is not clear what Mr Leigh, who has always voted against gay rights, based this claim on.

A recent PinkNews.co.uk poll of 800 readers found that 98 per cent wanted the right to marry.

Seventy-seven per cent agreed that marriage and civil partnerships should be open to everyone, while 23 per cent said that marriage should be the only form of recognition for all couples.

A Populus opinion poll for the Times in June 2009 found that 61 per cent of the public believe that ‘gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships’. Only 33 per cent disagreed.

The government announced yesterday that it would allow religious civil partnerships and begin consulting on allowing gay people to marry.

Equality minister Lynne Featherstone insisted that the plans have the support of the entire government and that there had been no resistance from Tory ministers.

“I am fully supported by all of government over these plans going forward,” she said.

Read More

One in five unaware that HIV can be passed though unprotected gay sex

A survey suggests that one in five people do not know that HIV can be passed on through unprotected gay sex.

The poll of 1,944 people, by the National AIDS Trust, also found that the same number did not realise that unsafe heterosexual sex could lead to transmission of the virus.

African and Caribbean people were least likely to know that unprotected gay sex was a route of transmission – 49 per cent compared with 20 per cent overall.

This is the fourth year that the charity has published the annual survey ’HIV: Public Knowledge and Attitudes’.

Researchers said it was particularly concerning that more people now wrongly believe that HIV can be caught through kissing (nine per cent) and spitting (ten per cent). These figures have doubled from 2007′s survey from four per cent and five per cent respectively.

Less than half of the public (45 per cent ) believe HIV can be passed from person to person by sharing needles or syringes. Only 30 per cent were able to correctly identify all the ways HIV can and cannot be passed on.

Sixty-seven per cent of people said they had sympathy for those with HIV and 74 per cent believed they should have the same level of support and respect as people with cancer.

Eleven per cent had no sympathy, rising to 30 per cent towards those infected with HIV through unprotected sex.

Almost half of people (47 per cent) thought that there are no effective ways of preventing a pregnant mother with HIV from passing HIV on to her baby.

Evidence shows that the right treatment gives an HIV-positive mother a 99 per cent chance of having a healthy baby.

Deborah Jack, the chief executive of National AIDS Trust, said: “It is certainly positive to see the majority of the public have supportive attitudes towards people with HIV, but there are still huge gaps in awareness of what it means to live with HIV in the UK today.

“It is extremely important that inroads are made in terms of educating the general public so we can eradicate the prejudice which still exists around HIV. In addition to improving knowledge of HIV, intensive work also needs to go into tackling the often deep-seated judgments and beliefs held about HIV and the people affected.

“The government made a concerted and effective effort to tackle this stigma in mental health, and now it is time for HIV to be addressed in the same way.”

Read More

US teen ‘killed gay man in panic after cough medicine overdose’

A North Carolina teenager accused of murdering a gay man confessed he carried out the attack after overdosing on cough medicine, police say.

Tapes from emergency calls also suggest that 19-year-old Michael Anderson attacked 36-year-old Stephen Starr after the older man made sexual advances to him – known as the ‘gay panic’ defence.

Starr was found dead at his home in Mountain View on Monday.

He had been shot three times and attacked with an axe. Reports say an obscene word was carved into his skin but police have refused to reveal what the word was.

In tapes of 911 calls, Anderson is heard telling a police dispatcher that he had killed his roommate.

After describing how he killed Starr, he said: “I (overdosed) on Mucinex DM. It makes me feel a little weird and I took too many.”

Abusing the drug can cause psychotic episodes, experts say.

Later, he said the pair had met at a gay bar and Starr had offered him a place to stay.

He said: “I met him and went to his house and he took me in. I turned straight again. And he wanted to touch me and stuff and I wouldn’t let him…and he kept trying.

“And I waited until he went to sleep and I shot him three times. And I mutilated him very badly and I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

Anderson was due to appear in court today.

Read More

One in five unaware that HIV can be passed though unprotected gay sex

A survey suggests that one in five people do not know that HIV can be passed on through unprotected gay sex.

The poll of 1,944 people, by the National AIDS Trust, also found that the same number did not realise that unsafe heterosexual sex could lead to transmission of the virus.

African and Caribbean people were least likely to know that unprotected gay sex was a route of transmission – 49 per cent compared with 20 per cent overall.

This is the fourth year that the charity has published the annual survey ’HIV: Public Knowledge and Attitudes’.

Researchers said it was particularly concerning that more people now wrongly believe that HIV can be caught through kissing (nine per cent) and spitting (ten per cent). These figures have doubled from 2007′s survey from four per cent and five per cent respectively.

Less than half of the public (45 per cent ) believe HIV can be passed from person to person by sharing needles or syringes. Only 30 per cent were able to correctly identify all the ways HIV can and cannot be passed on.

Sixty-seven per cent of people said they had sympathy for those with HIV and 74 per cent believed they should have the same level of support and respect as people with cancer.

Eleven per cent had no sympathy, rising to 30 per cent towards those infected with HIV through unprotected sex.

Almost half of people (47 per cent) thought that there are no effective ways of preventing a pregnant mother with HIV from passing HIV on to her baby.

Evidence shows that the right treatment gives an HIV-positive mother a 99 per cent chance of having a healthy baby.

Deborah Jack, the chief executive of National AIDS Trust, said: “It is certainly positive to see the majority of the public have supportive attitudes towards people with HIV, but there are still huge gaps in awareness of what it means to live with HIV in the UK today.

“It is extremely important that inroads are made in terms of educating the general public so we can eradicate the prejudice which still exists around HIV. In addition to improving knowledge of HIV, intensive work also needs to go into tackling the often deep-seated judgments and beliefs held about HIV and the people affected.

“The government made a concerted and effective effort to tackle this stigma in mental health, and now it is time for HIV to be addressed in the same way.”

Read More

US teen ‘killed gay man in panic after cough medicine overdose’

A North Carolina teenager accused of murdering a gay man confessed he carried out the attack after overdosing on cough medicine, police say.

Tapes from emergency calls also suggest that 19-year-old Michael Anderson attacked 36-year-old Stephen Starr after the older man made sexual advances to him – known as the ‘gay panic’ defence.

Starr was found dead at his home in Mountain View on Monday.

He had been shot three times and attacked with an axe. Reports say an obscene word was carved into his skin but police have refused to reveal what the word was.

In tapes of 911 calls, Anderson is heard telling a police dispatcher that he had killed his roommate.

After describing how he killed Starr, he said: “I (overdosed) on Mucinex DM. It makes me feel a little weird and I took too many.”

Abusing the drug can cause psychotic episodes, experts say.

Later, he said the pair had met at a gay bar and Starr had offered him a place to stay.

He said: “I met him and went to his house and he took me in. I turned straight again. And he wanted to touch me and stuff and I wouldn’t let him…and he kept trying.

“And I waited until he went to sleep and I shot him three times. And I mutilated him very badly and I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

Anderson was due to appear in court today.

Read More

Labour calls for progress on gay marriage

The Labour Party has welcomed government announcements on gay marriage and civil partnerships.

Party leader Ed Miliband said he hoped progress could made as soon as possible.

He said: “The introduction of civil partnerships was one of the most significant changes introduced by Labour. Those equalities now have overwhelming public support and are being copied by many countries around the world.

“Today’s announcement is an important step towards implementing Labour’s Equality Act and allowing people to choose to a faith based service.

“Five years on from the first civil partnership it is right that we look at extending marriage equality for those people who want it. I welcome the announcement and hope that progress can be made on this important issue as soon as possible.”

In August, Mr Miliband called for gay marriage in an article for PinkNews.co.uk. He wrote: “‘Separate but equal’ is not good enough and PinkNews.co.uk’s own recent poll demonstrated the huge support in the LGBT community for a right to marry. I want to see heterosexual and same-sex partnerships put on an equal basis and a Labour Party that I lead will campaign to make gay marriage happen.”

Today, shadow equality minister Fiona Mactaggart said: “Allowing civil partnership ceremonies to take place in religious buildings was part of Labour’s Equalities Act, so it’s welcome to see the government pressing ahead with this.

“This is a necessary next step towards equality between civil partnerships and marriage and we will make sure that the government doesn’t just consult but delivers too.”

James Asser of LGBT Labour, said: “LGBT Labour fully supports for full marriage equality between heterosexual and same-sex couples and welcomes the government’s announcement today that it will consult on ‘next steps’ towards gay marriage. We also welcome the fact that the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has again confirmed his support for marriage equality.

“Our concern would be that the consultation that has been announced today does not have much detail and the minister, Lynne Featherstone, was unable to confirm that these plans would come in before the next election.

“The last thing the LGBT community want is a consultation to be used to push the issue into the long grass. We are keen to contribute to any consultation and we will be urging government to make tangible progress on marriage equality as soon as possible.”

Ministers announced today that a consultation will be held on the “next steps” for recognition of gay couples.

They also said that religious groups will be given the right to host civil partnerships, if they wish.

PinkNews.co.uk understands that the government’s preferred option is to eventually open civil marriage and civil partnerships to all couples, whether straight or gay.

Read More

Labour calls for progress on gay marriage

The Labour Party has welcomed government announcements on gay marriage and civil partnerships.

Party leader Ed Miliband said he hoped progress could made as soon as possible.

He said: “The introduction of civil partnerships was one of the most significant changes introduced by Labour. Those equalities now have overwhelming public support and are being copied by many countries around the world.

“Today’s announcement is an important step towards implementing Labour’s Equality Act and allowing people to choose to a faith based service.

“Five years on from the first civil partnership it is right that we look at extending marriage equality for those people who want it. I welcome the announcement and hope that progress can be made on this important issue as soon as possible.”

In August, Mr Miliband called for gay marriage in an article for PinkNews.co.uk. He wrote: “‘Separate but equal’ is not good enough and PinkNews.co.uk’s own recent poll demonstrated the huge support in the LGBT community for a right to marry. I want to see heterosexual and same-sex partnerships put on an equal basis and a Labour Party that I lead will campaign to make gay marriage happen.”

Today, shadow equality minister Fiona Mactaggart said: “Allowing civil partnership ceremonies to take place in religious buildings was part of Labour’s Equalities Act, so it’s welcome to see the government pressing ahead with this.

“This is a necessary next step towards equality between civil partnerships and marriage and we will make sure that the government doesn’t just consult but delivers too.”

James Asser of LGBT Labour, said: “LGBT Labour fully supports for full marriage equality between heterosexual and same-sex couples and welcomes the government’s announcement today that it will consult on ‘next steps’ towards gay marriage. We also welcome the fact that the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has again confirmed his support for marriage equality.

“Our concern would be that the consultation that has been announced today does not have much detail and the minister, Lynne Featherstone, was unable to confirm that these plans would come in before the next election.

“The last thing the LGBT community want is a consultation to be used to push the issue into the long grass. We are keen to contribute to any consultation and we will be urging government to make tangible progress on marriage equality as soon as possible.”

Ministers announced today that a consultation will be held on the “next steps” for recognition of gay couples.

They also said that religious groups will be given the right to host civil partnerships, if they wish.

PinkNews.co.uk understands that the government’s preferred option is to eventually open civil marriage and civil partnerships to all couples, whether straight or gay.

Read More

New Moscow mayor says no to gay Pride marches

Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin says that the city does not need gay Pride marches.

When asked by the Ekho Moskvy radio station if a march would be permitted this year, he said: “I doubt it.”

The Moscow News reports that Mr Sobyanin continued: “I have my own opinion on this. Moscow absolutely does not need this and I am not in favour of it.”

The city’s last mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, repeatedly banned the marches on pretexts of health and safety and has called gays and lesbians “satanic”.

In October, the European Court of Human Rights upheld three complaints over Moscow’s Pride ban.

Russian gay rights leader Nikolai Alekseev complained to the court that the parade bans in 2006, 2007 and 2008 breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court agreed.

Since 2006, campaigners have attempted to hold the events but these were broken up by police.

In May 2006, more than 120 people were arrested and in 2007, British gay activist Peter Tatchell was severely beaten by neo-Nazis. In 2008, marchers accused police of brutality.

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New Moscow mayor says no to gay Pride marches

Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin says that the city does not need gay Pride marches.

When asked by the Ekho Moskvy radio station if a march would be permitted this year, he said: “I doubt it.”

The Moscow News reports that Mr Sobyanin continued: “I have my own opinion on this. Moscow absolutely does not need this and I am not in favour of it.”

The city’s last mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, repeatedly banned the marches on pretexts of health and safety and has called gays and lesbians “satanic”.

In October, the European Court of Human Rights upheld three complaints over Moscow’s Pride ban.

Russian gay rights leader Nikolai Alekseev complained to the court that the parade bans in 2006, 2007 and 2008 breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court agreed.

Since 2006, campaigners have attempted to hold the events but these were broken up by police.

In May 2006, more than 120 people were arrested and in 2007, British gay activist Peter Tatchell was severely beaten by neo-Nazis. In 2008, marchers accused police of brutality.

Read More

Peaches Geldof says she dated a trans man

Peaches Geldof has revealed that she once dated a trans man.

The self-described model, journalist and TV presenter said she was “quite into it” and embraces “any kind of multiculturalism”.

She told the Daily Mirror: “I went on a date with a boy and it turned out the boy used to be a girl. And I was quite into it to be honest with you.

“He just told me on the first date and I did see him again.

“I just think it’s cool – I embrace any sort of multiculturalism, any sort of sexuality, it fascinates me.”

She added: “I think it’s beautiful and he was comfortable enough with it. I don’t think anything is wrong.”

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