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ARCHIVE
Note that only articles originated by UK Gay News are archived
Listings of UK, Ireland and Europe LGBT Events
February 2005
February
28: UK:
HIV Diagnoses in UK Remain
at High Level During 2004. New diagnoses of HIV in the United
Kingdom remained at a high level during 2004, the Health Protection Agency
revealed today. Reports received so far show there were 5,016 new diagnoses
reported for 2004 compared with 5,047 at the same time in 2003. These
figures will rise further as late reports are received, the Agency says.
February 28: Swaziland:
HIV Diagnoses in UK Remain
at High Level During 2004. New diagnoses of HIV in the United
Kingdom remained at a high level during 2004, the Health Protection Agency
revealed today. Reports received so far show there were 5,016 new diagnoses
reported for 2004 compared with 5,047 at the same time in 2003. These
figures will rise further as late reports are received, the Agency says.
February
26: International Sports:
GLISA Annual
Report Shows Membership at 52 Organisations.
The annual report of the
Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA) was released here
yesterday (February 25) – the first anniversary of the association’s
incorporation as a legal entity.
February
25: UK:
Gay Muslim Takes On Deutsche Bank, but
Media Barred From Tribunal.
The press were barred from
an employment tribunal that was hearing the case of Sid Saeed, the gay
Muslim who claims both racial victimisation and homophobic harassment
against the London division one of the world’s biggest financial
institutions, the German conglomerate, Deutsche Bank.
February
25: USA:
Soulforce Responds
to Statement by Anglican Communion.
Yesterday, primates of the
Anglican Communion issued a statement that they want the U.S. Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to stop performing same-sex holy
unions, stop consecrating bishops who live with a partner of the same sex,
and withdraw temporarily from the Communion's Councils, and to explain their
position and thinking on homosexuality and the church, in Nottingham,
England in June.
February
23: UK:
‘Schools Out’ Makes
Complaint about
Tabloid Homophobia.
A British tabloid
Sunday newspaper could find itself in trouble over an article, by Nigel
Nelson, under the headline ‘Fury Over Kids Gay-Levels’ and the renaming of
Shakespeare to ‘Shakesqueer’.
February 23: UK:
Haringey Central Library
Goes ‘Haringay’ With LGBT Book Section.
Haringey Libraries
in London are launching a new LGBT book collection to mark the
UK’s first ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month.
The new collection, featuring books
by LGBT authors and about LGBT issues, will be launched at a special event
on Sunday, February 27 at Wood Green Central Library.
February
21: UK:
UK Civil Partnerships Come
Into Force December 5.
Christmas might be a
long way off, but the Government is giving a Christmas present to same-sex
couples, it was announced this morning.
The landmark Civil Partnership Act
will be brought into force on 5 December this year. Any couple wishing to
form a civil partnership will be able to give notice of their intention to
register at a Register Office from that date.
February
21: UK:
Gay Algerian Faces Deportation
After 10 Years in UK - Lover pleads for partner
to be allowed to stay. After living a happy, secure life in
Britain since he was 15, a 25-year old gay Algerian, Saad B, now faces being torn apart
from his lover and deported to his violently homophobic homeland of Algeria.
February
20: World Sport:
FGG vs GLISA:
No Bridge Is Built,
But Foundation Is Laid, by Andy Harley.
No major bridge was “built” at last
weekend’s summit that arranged to try and reach some sort of agreement
between the two competing international gay games, both being staged in
North America next year.
February
19: UK:
Durham Students to Stage LGBT ‘Awareness
Week’. Students at Durham University are
set to stage their first-ever LGBT Awareness Week the highlight of which
will be a carnival on Friday (February 25) at lunchtime. The “week” kicks
off on Wednesday and events range from a screeningof The Laramie
Project to a discussion on homophobia in education.
February
18: UK:
THT Launches Website to Meet Growing Health Needs of Young Gay Men.
Terrence Higgins Trust is responding to the
growing health needs of young gay men –including their sexual health – by
launching the first national website aimed at young gay men,
www.ygm.org.uk.
February
16: Canada:
Prime Minister Paul
Martin's Speech to Parliament on the Civil Marriage Act.
Note: This address was prepared and Prime Minister Martin might
have altered a word or two on delivery during the Second Reading in
Parliament. The text was provided by the Liberal Party of Canada
February 16: UK:
Gay
Candidate Opens Election Campaign With ‘Blog’.
Simon Williams, the Green Party's parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemp
Town constituency in the General Election, is writing a weekly
web diary or ‘blog’
of his election campaign as it takes shape over the next few weeks in the
marginal Labour-held constituency.
February
16: USA:
When Religion is an Addiction, by Bob
Minor.
As the religious right pushes its
anti-gay, anti-women’s reproductive rights, anti-science, pro-profit agenda
nationally and in state capitals across the nation and wins, that high is a
sweet fix for the addicted. It gives them a comforting feeling of relief
that they’re really right, okay, worthwhile, and acceptable.
February
15: USA:
I
Won’t Be Silent Anymore.
The full text of the speech given by
19-years-old Maya Marcel-Keyes, daughter of right-wing Republican politician
Alan Keys, at a gay rights rally in front of the State House in Annapolis,
Mayland, on February 14. Maya publicly “outed” herself.
February
14: UK:
Stephen Fry Becomes a London Pride Patron.
London Pride Festival Fortnight and Pride Day on July 2
look set to be star studded events with actor, writer, comic and raconteur
Stephen Fry the latest gay celebrity to accept an invitation to be a Pride
Patron.
February
12: Leader:
Freedom to Marry, Gay
Marriage, the State, Religion and Civil Rights. Today is the first day of “Freedom
to Marry Week” in the USA. Some may think that this “week” is something new
in the light of the controversy surrounding same-sex marriage. But in fact
there has been a “Freedom to Marry Week” each year since 1998.
February
11: UK:
Don’t Use Gays to Justify
Abuse, Says OutRage!
Gay rights group OutRage! has
condemned London Mayor, Ken Livingstone for his anti-Semitic
outburst to a London Evening Standard reporter during a City Hall event
celebrating the 20th anniversary since Chris Smith “came out” to become
Britain’s first openly gay Member of Parliament.
February
10: USA:
Alabama Rep. Allen Gets Gift of Gay Author’s Novel – and
a Shovel. Controversial Alabama lawmaker Representative Gerald
Allen has been sent a present of a “gay-themed” novel and a miniature shovel
following his proposal for a state law banning gay books, plays and films at
public institutions, including libraries and college campuses.
February
10: USA:
Ebbin Battles Virginia Anti-Gay Legislation.
Virginia State Delegate Adam Ebbin, the first
openly gay member of the Virginia General Assembly, has hit out at proposed
and far-ranging state legislation that targets the LGBT community.
February
9: Poland:
Gays Hit Out Over Lack of Holocaust Memorial Day Recognition.
The LGBT community
in Poland has criticised organisers of last month’s Holocaust Memorial Day
for not permitting official recognition of the gay men who were slaughtered
in Auschwitz.
However, two representatives of the LGBT community did manage to “break in”
to Auschwitz on Memorial Day to lay wreaths after being turned away
February 9: Your Rights Section:
Thirty Years of Sex Discrimination Legislation:
Where We Are Today,
by Frank Griffin.
This year marks the
30th anniversary of the first Sex Discrimination Act, which was introduced
in 1975. In order for this legislation to be effective and supportive for
individuals who are affected by Discriminatory Acts, because of their Sex or
Sexual Orientation, it is a very important for social development, that
people know their rights.
February
7: UK:
Young Gay Men Being
Failed by Sex Education System. One third of young gay men do not
know the most basic facts about HIV and its transmission, according to the
worrying report ‘On the Move’, the findings from the UK Gay Men's Sex Survey
2003, undertaken by Sigma Research and commissioned by Terrence Higgins
Trust. Published today.
February
6: UK:
‘Murder Music’ Record
Agreement Does Not Affect UK Music Retailers, Say Green Councillors in
Brighton.
Simon Williams, a Green City Councillor, who has spearheaded the campaign in
Brighton and Hove against the large record chains that refuse to pledge to
take ‘murder music’ completely off-sale, said, following an agreement
between anti-murder music campaigners and some record companies to stop the
production of music with murder lyrics.
February
5: Swaziland/Cameroon:
Top Officials of Trade Unions Publicly
Tested for HIV.
In a move considered to be
a breakthrough in the conservative kingdom of Swaziland, the secretary
general of each of the two trade union federations publicly took an HIV test
on Friday.
February
3: USA:
As Discharge of Gay
Linguists Continue, Pentagon Again Acknowledges Shortage of Language
Experts, Says SLDN. In an interview published in today's American Forces Press Service,
Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Gail McGin,
underscored the Pentagon's need to recruit new language specialists,
especially those who speak Arabic and “linguists for other areas of the
world that have attracted increased U.S. interest during the war on terror.”
February 3: USA:
Indiana Equality Seeks
Rejection of Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage.
The future of Indiana's economic health and viability is the most important
issue facing all Indiana families, declared leaders of Indiana's gay and
transgender communities in a press conference the week before an Indiana
Senate committee contemplates the adoption of a constitutional amendment
banning same-sex marriage.
February
3: USA:
HRC Responds to State of
the Union Address, by Steven Fisher. Once
again, President Bush contradicts himself. President Bush said that
government should never undermine family values and family responsibilities
but, in the very next breath, called for passage of a constitutional
amendment that undermines GLBT families and denies them the same
responsibilities of all others.
