2006

DECEMBER

Dec 31:  UK:  Gays, Lesbians, the Media, the Heroes, the Hatemongers ... and 2006.  A look back at 2006 though our eyes.
Dec 22:  UK:  Pyres of Hatred Toward Gays.  By David McCartney.  There will always be people willing to don the mantle of the Pharisees and Sadducees, seeking to enforce their will, judge and moralise. Often this takes the form of attempting to impose Old Testament Levitican laws on a modern and diverse society.
Dec 22:  UK:  Government Axe on Funding of Gay History Month ‘Despicable’, Say Lib Dems.  A Liberal Democrat spokesperson has described the government’s scrapping of funding of , Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month as “despicable”.
Dec 21:  Moldova:  Moldova Reminded That Right to Freedom of Assembly for Gays Is Prerequisite to EU Accession.  As the start of the so-called Pride Season 2007 comes closer on the LGBT community calendars, the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights is focusing its attention on the situation in Moldova, an applicant State for European Union membership. 
Dec 21:  UK:  Gay Nigerian Deported by UK's Labour Government.  Twenty year old gay Nigerian asylum seeker, Emmanuel Obahiaghbon, has been deported back to Nigeria, it was learned today.  He was deported on Monday December 4 on orders of the Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne MP.
Dec 20:  European Union:  ILGA-Europe Highlights Challenges for German Presidency of EU.  The German Presidency of the European Union, which starts on January 1, will have a number of challenges, especially in the field of equality, non-discrimination and human rights.
Dec 20:  UK:  BBC and Gay: What an Example To Our Young People!  Commentary by Paul Patrick.  The BBC have told-off Jeremy Clarkson for his misuse of the word “gay”.  They also instructed Stefan Abingdon, finalist in the World Service’s Next Big Thing to remove an offending usage from the song with which he entered the competition.
Dec 19:  European Union:  MEP Hits Out On Gay Blood Donation Ban in Some EU Countries.  A Spanish MEP has criticised the European Union countries that prohibit gays from donating blood – and is demanding that the European Commission takes action against this collective discrimination.  
Dec 19:  Belarus:  Belarus Denies Arrest and Detention of Gay Activists Last Month.  The Belarus Ambassador to Belgium, Vladimir Senko, has denied that any gay activists were detained last month in the run-up to the International Conference on LGBT Culture and Human Rights in Minsk.
Dec 19:  USA:  New Poll Shows US Military  Comfortable Serving With Gay Colleagues.  U.S. military personnel are increasingly comfortable serving with openly gay colleagues, a new poll has revealed.  
Dec 18:  European Union/Poland:  European Commission’s Decision to Fight Against Homophobia in Poland Is Welcomed.  A Finnish MEP has today expressed her “utmost satisfaction” with the European Commission’s condemnation of all discriminatory actions based on sexual orientation.
Dec 14:  European Union/Latvia:  Gay Intergroup Says Smits Unfit to Chair Latvian Parliament’s Fundamental Rights Committee.  The European Parliament’s ‘Intergroup’ on gay and lesbian rights is “dismayed” over revelations of further homophobic remarks made by Janis Smits, the new chair of the Latvian Parliament's Human Rights and Social Affairs Committee.  
Dec 14:  UK - Sports:  Gay Football Club Signs Major Sponsorship Deal.  Village Manchester FC, the city’s gay football club, has clinched a major three-year sponsorship deal with Recon.com, a fetish site for gay men.
Dec 13:  USA:  Soulforce Asks Time Magazine to Check Dobson’s Facts About Gay, Lesbian Families.  Soulforce has launched an online petition asking the editors of Time magazine to check James Dobson’s facts about lesbian and gay parenting.
Dec 13:  HIV/Aids:  Trials Show Male Circumcision Reduces HIV Infection.  The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and its cosponsors, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank, note with considerable interest today’s announcement by the US National Institutes of Health that two trials assessing the impact of male circumcision on HIV risk are being stopped on the recommendation of the NIH Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB).
Dec 13:  Europe:  European Gay Groups Get Consultative Status at United Nations.  Three European gay NGOs have been granted observer status at the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council announced on Monday.
Dec 12:  UK:  Northern Irish Politics and the Gay Equality Debate.  Commentary.  Politics in Northern Ireland can, at best, be complicated.  And yesterday’s debate and vote in the Transitional Assembly on The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 is a case in point.
Dec 12:  Australia:  Australian Capital Territory Introduces Civil Partnerships Bill.  The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has today published its Civil Partnership Bill which will, when passed, allow same-sex couples to have their relationships recognised in law.
Dec 11:  UK:  Manchester’s World Aids Day Events Raise £20,000.  Manchester’s Red and Wild festival over the World Aids Day period raised £20,000 for local HIV ‘good causes’ in the north west of England, organisers said today. 
Dec 9:  USA:  Dying Lesbian Cop’s Final Fight for Justice to Get Sundance ‘World Premier’.  A documentary film chronicling the fight of a dying police lieutenant to be able to leave her pension to her same-sex partner has been selected to be shown at next month’s Sundance Film Festival.
Dec 9:  USA:  President’s Order Does Not Rescind US HIV Travel Ban - Gay Groups.  Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and Immigration Equality are wanting more details about President Bush’s recent direction to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to “initiate a rulemaking that would propose a categorical waiver” for HIV-positive travellers to the United States.  
Dec 8:  USA:  SLDN Calls on White House to Re-Consider Anti-Gay ‘Don’t Ask’Don’t Tell’ Following Iraq Report.  The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) is calling on President Bush and the White House to reconsider the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in the wake of the Iraq Study Group report.
Dec 8:  USA:  Grandpa Dick, Welcome to the Revolution.  Commentary by Debra Chasnoff.  When I heard the news this week that Vice President Cheney’s daughter Mary and her partner were expecting a baby, I thought, “Wow. It’s finally happened.” A true revolution within our lifetime. Actually, in less than 25 years.  
Dec 8:  Europe:  UK Tory MEP Supports Gay Youth On Mental Health Issues.  A British Conservative MEP has today told a meeting of European gay youth that discrimination against gays is both “anti-Christian and anti-European”.  
Dec 8:  UK:  Anti-Gay Abuse Against Ashley Cole By Arsenal Fans  Planned For Sunday.  Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and captain Thierry Henry are being urged to speak out against plans by their fans to subject Ashley Cole to gay-baiting taunts this Sunday (December 10), when Arsenal plays Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Dec 7:  South Africa:  Black Gays the Target of Hate Crimes.  Black homosexual men and women are increasingly encountering a variety of hate crimes in South Africa, despite legislation protecting the rights of sexual minorities.  
Dec 7:  UK:  No Rush To ‘Gay Divorce’ Say Lesbian and Gay Lawyers.  Few couples who registered a civil partnership a year ago will apply to end a civil partnership when the first opportunity arrives on December 21, says QueerPod, a group of gay lawyers. 
Dec 7:  UK:  Celebrating Civil Partnerships – One Year On.  By Michael Cashman, MEP.  This week I am celebrating an anniversary … and not my own. I am, in fact, referring to the Civil Partnerships Act which came into force one year ago this week which permits same-sex unions and provides lawful entitlements equal to those of heterosexual couples. 
Dec 6:  UK/Iraq:  Five Gay Activists Kidnapped In al-Shaab District of Baghdad.  Five gay activists were abducted at gun-point by Iraqi police in Baghdad on November 9 – and nothing has been heard of them since then.  It is feared they may have been murdered by death squads – the armed wings of parties in the Bush and Blair-backed Iraqi government –operating under the cover of the Iraqi police. 
Dec 5:  UK:  Retro Bar First To Join Stonewall’s Fundraising Homophobic Bullying Campaign.  The Retro Bar has become the first to join Stonewall’s new Bar and Club Partnership scheme to raise money to tackle homophobic bullying in schools.  
Dec 4:  UK:  Gay Couples Lose Benefits of £6,000 a Year.  By Peter Tatchell.  Thousands of low income same-sex couples have been plunged into poverty as a result of benefit rule changes introduced when the government’s Civil Partnership Act became law on December 5 last year. 
Dec 4:  Belarus:  Underground and Exile Gay Events Planned for Belarus.  Plans are underway to organise ‘rainbow’ events, both underground in Belarus and in ‘exile’ during the next year. 
Dec 1:  USA:  Bush’s ‘Faith Based’ Ideology Fails World Aids Relief Work – Report.  A year-long investigation into how President Bush's $15 billion initiative for care, treatment and prevention of HIV/Aids abroad has found that it has failed countries struggling with the pandemic. 
Dec 1:  Jordan:  Aids High-Risk Groups Must Be Controlled, Says Senior Official.  Despite the low prevalence of Aids in Jordan, the existence of vulnerable groups that could become infected with the virus and the difficulty in tracking them are the biggest challenges for the country’s new strategy on AIDS, a senior health official said.
Dec 1:  UK:  Report Finds 58% of Gay Teens Have Sex Before Legal Age of 16.  Fifty-eight per cent of gay teens have sex before the age of 16, the annual Puffta love-sex-life survey has revealed. ... And 35% of those responding to the survey said that they had unprotected sex in the past three months.