Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Top Five Headlines

LGBTs Face Widespread Harassment in Europe
Vermont Marriage Bill Veto Threat Draws Mail
High School Sends Student Home for Wearing Women’s Clothes
Ugandan Gays Demand Equal Rights
EHarmony Launches Gay Dating Service

Get even MORE breaking news from any of our live, constantly updated news feeds, now available in 12 languages:

English | Español | Français | Deutsch | Nederlands | Italiano | Português | русский | 中國話 | 한국어 | Ελληνική | Český

Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals face widespread harassment, bullying and discrimination across Europe, according to an EU report released Tuesday. That harassment and discrimination occurs “in all areas of social life,” from schools to the workplace to health care centers, the report by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency said. …

Read the full story from The Associated Press.

Some called him a homophobe. Some accused him of spreading hatred. Some thanked him, or applauded him for showing “backbone” in the face of pressure from gay rights advocates. In the first two days after he pledged to veto a same-sex marriage bill, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas’ mailbag and e-mail inbox runneth over, with about 1,500 letters and messages pouring in. …

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Inside the halls of any typical American public high school, the outfit would hardly be construed as outlandish: a V-neck T-shirt, blue jeans and high-heeled boots, accentuated by earrings and a necklace. Worn by a male student, however, the outfit might raise some eyebrows. That’s what it did at Dunnellon High School, where last week 11th-grader Justin Reynolds showed up at school dressed that way, sporting eyeliner and mascara as well. His appearance led to his early dismissal by school administrators. …

Read the full story from Ocala.com.

Ugandan gay rights activists held a rare public protest Tuesday to call for equal rights and the decriminalization of homosexuality in the socially conservative east African country. “We are law-abiding citizens,” said lesbian activist Jacqueline Masha. “We deserve equal rights and protection under the law and constitution.” The rare public event follows several days of anti-gay protests last week in Kampala in which protesters accused gays of attempting to convert schoolchildren to homosexuality. …

Read the full story from The Associated Press.

As of today, EHarmony comes out of the closet. The adamantly heterosexual dating website, which has accepted only male-female couples since its inception in 2000, is launching a gay matchmaking service called Compatible Partners. But EHarmony’s new relationship with the gay community is more like a shotgun wedding: The company agreed in November to start the dating service as part of a settlement with the New Jersey attorney general in the wake of a discrimination suit. …

Read the full story from The Los Angeles Times.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Top Five Headlines

Gates: No Change Soon on `Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Zurich Elects Lesbian Mayor
Australian Catholic Church Testing for Gay Priests
Bid to Remove Givil-Rights Protections for Gays Fails
Gay Pride Planned in Moscow

Get even MORE breaking news from any of our live, constantly updated news feeds, now available in 12 languages:

English | Español | Français | Deutsch | Nederlands | Italiano | Português | русский | 中國話 | 한국어 | Ελληνική | Český

Don’t expect any change soon to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about gays in the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says both he and President Barack Obama have “a lot on our plates right now.” As Gates puts it, “let’s push that one down the road a little bit.” The White House has said Obama has begun consulting with Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on how to lift the ban. Gates says that dialogue has not really progressed very far at this point in the administration. …

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

The new mayor of Zurich will for the first time be a woman and openly gay person. Voters in Switzerland’s largest city elected Corine Mauch of the centre-left Social Democrats to replace Elmer Ledergerber of the same party. The 49-year-old Mauch, who was only elected to the city council last month, received nearly 42,000 votes, nearly 11,000 more than her only rival, the 57-year-old Kathrin Martelli of the centre-right Radicals. Mauch will take over the post at the end of April when Ledergerber officially steps down to devote more time to his family and new post as president of the Zurich tourist office. …

Read the full story from SwissInfo.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has confirmed that it will be following Vatican recommendations to test would-be priests to ensure they’re not gay. Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesperson James O’Farrell confirmed that the Corpus Christi Catholic Seminary in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton had started ‘testing’ potential priests for homosexuality, but would not reveal what the tests involve. The testing follows recommendations from a Vatican committee which declared that even celibate gay men should be banned from the priesthood because homosexuality is ‘‘a type of deviation’’. …

Read the full story from MCV.

Voters rejected a charter amendment, 58 percent to 42 percent, that would have removed the city’s anti-discrimination protection for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents. Charter Amendment 1 sought to strip away any equal-rights protections for employment, housing, credit and public accommodations not included in the state’s Civil Rights Law. Gays and lesbians are not included under the state law. Local gay activists rallied in Gainesville to oppose Tuesday’s vote, which they regarded as a key battle with Christian conservatives, who have mounted similar campaigns in other states. …

Read the full story from the Orlando Sentinel.

Russian gay activists plan to hold a Slavic gay pride in Moscow on the day of Eurovision song contest finals, May 16th. The action is named ‘Slavic’, not ‘Moscow Gay Pride’, because it is going to involve gays not only from Russia, but from Belarus as well, the action’s organizer, Nikolay Alexeyev, told Interfax Sunday. He said the action will take place with or without the authorities’ approval. …

Read the full story from MosNews.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Top Five Headlines

Japan Allows its Citizens Same-Sex Marriage Abroad
Delaware Senate Defeats Gay Marriage Ban
New Hampshire House Kills Transgender Rights Bill
Kansas Resolution Honoring Gay Chorus Rejected
UK Gay Men Warned Over HIV Risk

Get even MORE breaking news from any of our live, constantly updated news feeds, now available in 12 languages:

English | Español | Français | Deutsch | Nederlands | Italiano | Português | русский | 中國話 | 한국어 | Ελληνική | Český

Japan has given the green light for its nationals to marry same-sex foreign partners in countries where gay marriage is legal, a justice ministry official said Friday. Japan does not allow same-sex marriages at home and has so far also refused to issue a key document required for citizens to wed overseas if the applicant’s intended spouse was of the same gender. Under the change, the justice ministry has told local authorities to issue the key certificate — which states a person is single and of legal age — for those who want to enter same-sex marriages, the official told AFP. …

Read the full story from the AFP.

Two major pieces of legislation dealing with gay rights came up for a vote in the Delaware General Assembly Thursday. The first measure, Senate Bill 27, would have reinforced Delaware’s ban on gay marriage. That proposed constitutional amendment failed in the Senate Thursday. The House though did pass a measure to make it illegal to discriminate against gay people when it comes to everything from employment to buying homes. The bill now goes over to the Senate for consideration. Gov. Jack Markell said Thursday he supports the bill. …

Read the full story from WBOC-TV.