DECEMBER 2005

December 30: Iran:  Iranian Women’s Group Hits Out at Death Sentence on Teen Girl.  Defaazzanan, an NGO supporting and defending  women’s rights in Iran, has joined the protest against the execution of Delaraa Daraabi (she was reported as Delaraam in our first report)
December 30:  UK:  New Adoption Law Gives Gay Couples Joint Rights.  Same-sex couples, whether in a ‘civil partnership’ or not, can from today jointly adopt children – as can unmarried opposite-sex couples.  Previously, adoption law in England and Wales allowed individuals – both straight and gay – to adopt, but this gave their partners few parental rights.
December 29: Lithuania:  Lithuania Follows Latvia’s Homophobic Outbursts Amid Calls for Constitutional Change.  By Eduardas Platovas.  Lithuanian MP and former social minister Irena Degutiene, a member of the Homeland Union (Conservatives) will reportedly begin collecting signatures in January as part of a drive to amend the constitution so ‘gay’ marriages will be banned.
December 29:  UK:  Civil Partnership – A Reason for Us All to Celebrate.  By the Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP, The Prime Minister.  This article was first published in The Independent on December 21, the first day of Civil Partnership registration in England and Wales.  It appears here with the permission of 10 Downing Street.
December 28: Nepal:  Two Metis Arrested in Kathmandu for Staying in Hotel.  In the early hours of this morning, a “meti” (transgendered male) was arrested by police as she was leaving the Thamel tourist area on a motorcycle with her male friend.
December 27: Iran:  Young Iranian Woman Gets Death Sentence.  Unconfirmed reports from Iran are today suggesting that a young woman has been sentenced to death by hanging.  According to IranPressNews.com (Persian only),  her name is Delaraam and she was 17 when she allegedly committed the crime.   It is not clear if the execution has taken place.
December 27: Asia:  2005 Utopia Awards for Gay and Lesbian Pioneers in Asia Announced.  Rosanna Flamer-Caldera and Dr Peter Jackson have been named joint s winners of the Utopia Award, Asia’s leading gay human rights award which recognises individuals and organisations that have contributed to improving the quality of life for the gay, lesbian, and transgendered communities across the continent.
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  : USA:  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.
December 21: 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.
December 21: 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. 
December 20: 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.
December 20: 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.
December 20: 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.
December 19: 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.
December 18: Russia:  Gay Rainbow Flags In Moscow’s Famous Lubyanka Square.  Twenty years ago it would have been an absurd dream: a thousand protesting activists on the streets of Moscow and then congregating in Lubyanka Square, which is dominated by the building that once held the KGB.
December 18: Latvia:  Latvian Gays Seek International Support for Petition to President.  Gay and lesbian activists have launched an online petition calling on the Latvian president not to sign the constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
December 16: Poland:  Polish Gays Take Warsaw to European Court of Human Rights - Mayor, Now Polish President-elect, Cited.  A claim that the “President of the Capital city of Warsaw” breached the European Convention on Human Rights was lodged today at the European Court of Human Rights by the organisers of the Warsaw Equality Parade, often dubbed “Pride Parade”.
December 16: Russia:  Moscow To Stage Mr. Gay Russia at Pride.   A competition to find Mr. Gay Russia is the latest event to be announced for the first-ever Moscow Gay Pride Festival, due to be staged at the end on May next year.
December 16: Czech Republic:  Registered Partnership for Czech Gays On Its Way to Senate. The Chamber of Deputies – the Lower House of the Parliament of the Czech Republic – passed the Bill for registered partnership of same-sex couples by an 86-54 margin today
December 16: UK:  Victim of Brutal Homophobic Assault Urges Gays To Report Incidents As His Attackers Are Jailed.  The victim of a horrific homophobic assault in Northern Ireland today called for all victims of homophobia to make their voices heard.  Terry McCartney was speaking as Steven Devenny (21) of Rinmore Drive, Creggan, was sentenced to three years in jail and co-accused Ciaran Rodgers (18), of Little Diamond in the Bogside, was given a year in jail and a year on probation for the attack.
December 15: Latvia:  Gay TV Personality Criticises Latvian Parliament As Euro-MPs Have Their Say.  From an “out gay” television personality in Latvia to Members of the European Parliament, there has been continued criticism of Latvia's Saeima (Parliament) following the third and final reading of the Constitutional Amendment that will define “marriage” as being between a man and a woman.
December 15: UK:  Gay Couple Loses Benefits of £6,000 a Year As Civil Partnerships Hit Poor, Sick and Elderly.  Andrew Brettell is 63 years old and lives in Kent with his 44 year-old partner Martin.  They have ‘cohabited’ for 18 years and took out a mortgage on their home 16 years ago, long before civil partnerships were considered possible – in the ‘bad old days’ when gay people had no legal rights.
December 15: Latvia:  Latvia Cements Homophobia Into Constitution As Gay Marriage is Banned.  The Latvia Parliament has adopted a constitutional change that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.  This will prevent any possibility for gay marriage in the future.  This morning, 65 MPs voted in favour of the change at the amendment’s third – and final – reading in Parliament.
December 14: USA:  SLDN Saves Three Dozen Military Careers in 2005 from Discharge Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don't Tell’.  Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has intervened to save the military careers in 2005 of three dozen gay service men and women, it was announced today.
December 14: Asia:  Asian Gays and Lesbians Celebrate 10 Years of Online Utopia.  Websites seem to have a shorter shelf life than a ripe banana, but one pioneering Internet portal is celebrating a decade of service providing a free, safe and popular online community for millions of homosexuals in Asia.
December 14: Poland:  Court Declares Illegality of Poznań Mayor’s Decision to Ban Polish Gay March.  The ‘voivodeship’ administrative court in Poznan has ruled that the ban of the Equality March in November by Ryszard Grobelny, the mayor of Poznań, was illegal under the Polish and European laws.
December 13: UK:  Gay Algerian Nurse Seeks Redress at Employment Tribunal.  A gay 34-year old Algerian nurse is taking the London-based Corporate Nursing Agency to an Employment Tribunal, alleging “discrimination, harassment, denial of training and dismissal on grounds of his sexual orientation.”
December 12: USA:  US Gay Groups Oppose Nomination of Samuel Alito to Supreme Court.  Four of the leading gay and lesbian advocacy organizations in the United States have today announced their opposition to the nomination of Samuel A. Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.
December 9: Europe:  International Human Rights Day: How Much Is There To Celebrate for  Gays in Europe? Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day when the world is marking the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
December 8: Africa:  Gays Call On Governments Not To Ignore Them.  Gay activists at an international conference on AIDS in Africa have called on governments to acknowledge the existence and specific needs of the gay community in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
December 8: UK:  Minister Hears First Hand of Homophobic Bullying in Schools and Receives Unusual Petition.  A 270foot long ‘petition’ of double sheets bearing thousands of footprints with the message “Stamp Out Homophobia in Our Schools” wound its way round Westminster yesterday afternoon.
December 8: World:  Worldwide Protest Tomorrow In Support of Incarcerated Turkish Gay, Mehmet Tarhan.  Gay and other human rights group, together with anti-war protesters and ‘refuseniks’ will take to the streets on tomorrow (December 9) demanding the release of conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan from a Turkish jail.
December 8: USA:  Freeholders Walk Out of Meeting as Public Demand Pension Fairness for Dying Gay Cop.  The tragic case of the dying police officer, who has had her request that her lesbian ‘life partner’ be allowed to receive her pension rights turned down last month by county Freeholders, took a macabre turn this evening as the elected Freeholders stormed out of their meeting. 
December 6: Latvia:   Latvia Moving Backwards, Say Gay and Lesbian Intergroup of MEPs.  Two leading Members of the European Parliament’s gay and lesbian rights ‘Intergroup’ have today expressed “serious concern” on the increased homophobia in Latvia.
December 6: Russia/UK:   Sir Elton John Has No Gay Wedding Plans in Russia: Russian media reports strenuously denied.  Recent press reports in Russia that Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish were planning a wedding in St. Petersburg have been strenuously denied by the singer’s representatives in London.
December 5: UK:   Timeline Of Gay and Lesbian Marriage, Partnership or Unions Worldwide.  From the Netherlands in 1979 to the UK's new law effective today, all the legislation - strong and weak - that recognises same-sex partnerships to some degree or another.
December 5: UK:   Diane Abbott Welcomes Civil Partnership Bill.  Member of Parliament Diane Abbott today welcomed the coming into force of the new Civil Partnership Act.  She said it was a step forward for human rights and would bring Britain closer to eradicating discrimination based on sexual orientation.
December 4: UK:    “Only Same-Sex Marriage Is Genuine Equality” – Outrage!  The legalisation of same-sex civil partnerships is a major milestone in the struggle for lesbian and gay rights in the UK, says Brett Lock of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights group OutRage!
December 3:  Jamaica:  Jamaican HIV Defender Murdered On Eve of World AIDS Day.  Steve Harvey from Christian Aid partner, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL), has been murdered in Jamaica.  He ran a programme providing support to gay men and sex workers. 
December 1:  Latvia:  Block Put on Gay Marriage by Latvian Parliament.  A change in the constitution that will define marriage as being between a man and a woman, and blocks the way for “gay marriage”, became a virtual certainty today when the 100-seat Latvian parliament passed the proposal with a massive majority in the amendment’s second reading.