■ Rosanna Flamer-Caldera and Dr Peter Jackson

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December 25:
USA:  Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas: It’s Time for the Religious Right to Get Some Holiday Cheer.  Op-Ed by Imam Daayiee Abdulla.  Once again this year, the religious right has taken offense at the so-called ‘war on Christmas.’  The American Family Association and other radical religious groups have called for a boycott of Target because of the corporation's policy of saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”

December 23 :
UK:  Mother of Slain Army Private Calls on Pentagon to Immediately Implement Anti-Gay Harassment Plan.  Patricia Kutteles, mother of slain Army Private First Class Barry Winchell, issued a statement today in response to reports that Private Kyle Lawson, 19, was attacked by a fellow service member at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, after fellow soldiers learned Lawson is gay.

December 21: UK: 
‘Congratulations’ Says Government Minister to Gay Couples.  Labour’s Deputy Minister for Equality, Meg Munn MP, has congratulated gay couples across the country who are taking part in the UK’s first same sex civil partnership ceremonies this week.

Latvia:  Disappointed Latvian Gays Call on President to Press for Legal Same-Sex Partnership: Epiphany of Homophobia in Latvian Politics.  A last-ditch plea to the Latvian President from a group of European Members of Parliament failed to alter her decision to sign the constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman which was passed last week by the Latvian parliament.

Latvia:  President Signs Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment.  The President of Latvia, Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, has signed the constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.  Latvia becomes the first country in Europe to have an anti-gay clause in its constitution.

December 20:
UK/Zimbabwe:  Lesbian Hunger-Striker Ends 33-Day Fast in UK.  A Zimbabwean lesbian protesting against her detention without trial in a Bedfordshire asylum centre has ended her 33-day hunger strike.  Thando, an asylum applicant, aged 29, had been protesting against her six-month incarceration in the notorious Yarls Wood asylum detention centre near Bedford. 

USA:  Pentagon Labels Gay Kiss-In A ‘Credible Threat’ to Security!  According to recent press reports, Pentagon officials have been spying on what they call “suspicious” meetings by civilian groups, including student groups opposed to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual military personnel.

Latvia:  Latvian President’s ‘Gay Marriage’ Decision Expected Today.  Latvian Radio is reporting that President Vaira Vike-Freiberga might be announcing today her decision on the proposed constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Nepal:  Lesbian Group in Nepal Kicked Out by Landlord.  The lesbian support group Mitini has been kicked out of its rented premises in Kathmandu – and the women say they have been threatened by soldiers from the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA).

December 19:
USA:  Military Surveillance of Gay Student Groups Recalls McCarthy Era Crackdowns.  The recent revelation that the U.S. military is spying on gay rights groups, say historians, evokes the Cold War crackdowns on gays during the McCarthy era, academics say.

USA:  I’m Afraid for His Life, Gay Soldier’s Mom Says.  The mother of a gay American teenage soldier has told a newspaper that she is afraid for his life, following a homophobic assault, allegedly by another soldier, in Arizona.  “I have been crying myself to sleep,” Sheila Lawson told the Arizona Daily Star which revealed the case of 19 years-old Private Kyle Lawson.