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Welcome to our new NEWS page where the latest News will appear. We will still have our Newsletters and the old ones will be found in the archive section in a few weeks time.

Hate crime report - 2008 – 2009

The second Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) annual hate crime performance report was published in Jan 2010 and the report covers

a range of hate crime strands for 2008-09:

The Key findings regarding Homophobic and Transphobic crime are  

To see the full report Click http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/CPS_hate_crime_report_2009.pdf

Blood Ban lifted in Sweden

The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has confirmed that from the 1st of March next year they will now allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood as long as they have not had sex with a man in the last 12 months. Donors will though have to fill in a questionnaire about their sex lives and all blood would be tested before being used.

The Stigma of HIV

A new report "The People Living With HIV Stigma Index" which is a two-year research project funded by the Department for International Development and the International Planned Parenthood Federation has found that only 39% of people felt confident that their medical records were being kept confidential, with 18% saying their HIV status had been revealed without their consent.

It also found that one in five people with an HIV diagnosis had been harassed, threatened or verbally assaulted in the past 12 months. Many reported ignorance and prejudice from within the medical profession, particularly from GPs and dentists. One in five reported being denied medical treatment because they had HIV.

Figures released on recently by the Health Protection Agency showed the numbers of people living with HIV in the UK had reached an all-time high of 83,000, an 8% rise on the previous year. Of that number, 27% will not know they have the virus because the figure was reached by scientists anonymously testing random blood samples.

But the reports findings were not all negative. More than 60% of respondents said they felt they could change attitudes if they challenged discrimination.

Ticking Boxes

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are set to ask MPs to include a question in the 2011 census on sexual orientation. The government had previously decided not to ask people to state whether they are straight, gay or bisexual, saying it would be too controversial but the EHRC maintains it is necessary when there are already questions about race and religion. Sadly the Office for National Statistics also believes the question is unnecessary and in 2006, cited concerns about "privacy, acceptability, accuracy [and] conceptual definitions". ( Nov 2009 )

Parenting Skills

Professor Stephen Scott, Director of research at the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, stated recently that evidence showed children raised by two women tended to have higher aspirations and were more likely to champion social justice. A wide range of research over the years has found that children raised by lesbian couples are as healthy and happy as those brought up in heterosexual households and there is no evidence to show they are more likely to be gay. And in 2008, the longest-running study into lesbian parents in the United States found that it is discrimination, not the sexual orientation of their parents, which harms children.

Anti-Homosexuality Bill

in Uganda a draft of the "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" was introduced on October 14, 2009.

Paragraph 3 of the draft bill sets out provisions on what it names as "aggravated homosexuality," which will incur the death penalty, contradicting the global trend toward a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.Homosexuality is already a crime in Uganda (introduced into the penal code by the British), but the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has been complaining that the law is inadequate to curb homosexuality that is reported to be on the increase in Uganda. Please consider signing the No 10 petition and circulate around to others http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ugandangays/#detail

HIV US Travel Ban to be Lifted

The Obama Administration will, from early next year, eliminate the travel ban ( in place for 22 years ) on those with HIV/Aids wishing to enter the United States.

Bisexuality

A Stonewall study "Bisexual People in the Workplace" has shown that bisexual employees are often excluded by their gay and lesbian counterparts.It suggests that lesbian, gay and bisexual employee network groups often exclude bisexuals. The 24 page booklet can be ordered from Stonewall on 08000 50 20 20.

An End to the Gay Blood Ban ?

As you know gay men who have had sex with other men are currently banned for life from donating blood as part of controversial measures designed to reduce the risk of passing on infections such as HIV and have been in force for the last 24 years . But due to an expected shortfall resulting from Swine Flu the NHS Blood and Transplant agency has called for a 50 per cent increase in blood donations and a result the advisory committee on the safety of blood, tissues and organs has been meeting to discuss evidence for and against exclusion of high-risk donors, and is expected to make its final recommendations to the government next year.

The last review in January 2007, recommended the continued exclusion or deferral of a range of groups from blood donation, including men who have sex with men, those who have ever had sex for drugs or money or have ever injected drugs. Oct 2009

Petition to No. 10 for the Prime Minister to call on Indonesia to repeal brutal sentences for adultery and homosexuality

The petition Reads " We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to express Britain's intention to apply economic and political sanctions against Governments that apply torture, imprisonment or the death penalty for adultery, homosexuality or transgender identity" According to the Pink Paper online - The Aceh, province of Indonesia, has passed new laws allowing heavy punishments for homosexuality, adultery and alcohol consumption.Under the new laws, those convicted of homosexuality may face public lashings and up to eight years in prison.For married people found guilty of of adultery, the penalties are even greater, with the harshest being stoning to death.Aceh is a semi-autonomous region and has the power to decide its own laws. It currently abides strictly by Shari'a law and the latest bill reinforces this.The decision to allow regions semi-autonomous power was made by the central government in 2001 in an attempt to pacify separatist rebels.Indonesian local authorities were granted the right to use Islamic law, the result being a strict conservative attitude to homosexuality often leading to the prosecution of gays, despite a federal constitution supposed to protect LGBT civil rights

Please visit http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Indonesia/ and sign the petition

Homophobia on the Pitch

A new report has found that homophobia is endemic in football and clubs are not doing enough to tackle the issue . 'Leagues Behind' produced by Stonewall has found that homophobia was still widespread in the sport in contrast with the advances into tackling racism.Among the findings

Remember that only one Premier League football player has been openly gay, Justin Fashanu and he sadly killed himself in 1998.

To read the full report go to www.stonewall.org.uk/documents/leagues_behind.pdf

‘Miss’ Gay Torbay

Following the crowning of 20-year-old chef Jonathon Harrison as Torbay's first Mr Gay Torbay , lots of people asking have been asking whether there will be a ‘Miss’ version and so the search has begun for Miss Gay Torbay 2010. For more details email rob@club-remix.co.uk

The L-Word

Major retailers are stocking versions of the film Lesbian Vampire Killers with the word Lesbian blanked out. Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda are among the stores that have chosen to stock the censored cover but no one is owning up to having requested the wording to be obscured. But so what's new Diva magazine has received negative reaction to the word lesbian from retail outlets. So it looks like the L-word is still to scary for a "family" store shame the films 86 minutes of juvenile stereotypical heterosexual male fantasy!

Overturning Prop8

The influential Equality California says it will not ask voters to repeal the golden state's ban on same-sex marriage until 2012.Organisers spoke to campaign consultants, donors and community leaders and determined 2012 would be the best year to introduce a measure to overturn Proposition 8. It will, the group says, give them more time to persuade voters to back their cause and raise money. But some activists say the Prop 8 fight should take place sooner rather than later , including the Los Angeles-based Courage Campaign, which announced in August it would continue a push to place a measure on the 2010 ballot.

Don't play the Guessing Game

The GMFA has launched a campaign to warn gay men that there no way you can guess whether your partner will be HIV-positive. Recent studies have shown that around 40% of HIV-negative men claiming to know their sexual partner’s HIV status where simply guessing and only 20% of HIV-positive men say they always disclose their status, whilst its estimated that a third of men with HIV don't even know they have the virus. Here's one of the campaigns postcards , this and others can be downloaded from www.gmfa.org.uk/londonservices/booklets-and-postcards/index#hiv-detector

No 10 apologises for treatment of Alan Turing

In response to a recent petition the government has apologised for the treatment of Alan Turing whose code-breaking exploits at Bletchley Park helped to develop the Bombe that deciphered messages encoded using Enigma machines.

In Gordon Brown's statement, published on the official Number10.gov.uk website, it concludes: "on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better." Turing was given experimental chemical castration for being gay and committed suicide two years later, at only 41.

The apology also says: "It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely." The E-petition attracted more than 30,000 signatures including Richard Dawkins and Peter Tatchell"

Evangelical Therapies

The governing body for UK psychiatry has been asked to follow its American counterpart and advise its members not to refer those confused about their sexuality to therapies designed to "change" their sexual orientation. Research this year has shown that 1 in 6 therapists in Britain had tried to turn gay people straight.

The American Psychological Association has concluded, after analysing 83 studies, that these therapies do not work and can, in some circumstances, induce depression and suicidal impulses. and have stated that they "were alarmed to read in a report in the Guardian earlier this year that a significant number of psychiatrists and psychologists in Britain are still offering to help gay people change their sexual orientation.With this in mind, we would like to suggest that the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Psychological Society consider issuing an advisory to their own members"

The pressure to continue such therapies would appear to come from evangelical religious sources. The American Psychological Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 and in August produced a study that concluded homosexuality cannot be cured.

Topping the Polls

An opinion poll earlier this year commissioned by The Times revealed that a majority want gay marriage in the UK. 41% of respondents said they would accept their child coming out as gay - just 9% said they would reject a gay or lesbian child. 45% said they would be upset but would try to come to terms with it. 61% said they support marriage for gay couples - at present gay people may only enter into a civil partnership.49% back equal adoption rights and 68% support “full equal rights” for gay men and lesbians.51% said that gay relationships should be taught in schools as being of equal value to heterosexual relationships. 4% of men in the anonymous poll said they had had a sexual encounter with another man. "In this matter it is parents who are the ones who matter and clearly they are much more realistic about the wider world than veteran opponents of equality.

Lesbian TV

'Far Out', Britain's first online lesbian TV series is set to take over the internet this summer. This dynamic and groundbreaking series comes directly from the audience it's made for and it's already creating a buzz with comparisons to "This Life" and "Queer as Folk" being made. The website is now live and the part one of the pilot will be shown on the website in early September. http://www.farouttv.co.uk/

Its now 40 Years since the Stonewall Riots

On the 28 June 1969 events at a small gay bar in Greenwich village became the centre of a protest that changed the course of gay history. Like most gay bars in the 1960s "The Stonewall Inn" was frequently targeted by police intimidation, where the demanded payoffs in return for not arresting or publishing the names of the patrons.This was a time in the States when homosexual sex was still illegal in every state apart from Illinois, it was a crime punishable by castration in seven states and there were no laws in America to protect gay people.

On the the night of 27th instead of complying with the police, drinkers in the bar started to resist and as news of the spontaneous riot spread across the city more and more people joined the crowd was made up of all members of the LGBT community standing together in defiant " Gay power" . The police tried several times to break up the crowd , but the violence lasted for 5 nights . At one point a row of drag queens Can Can'd their way towards the advancing police.

This, its argued, was the moment that the Gay Liberation Movement was born - the rest is history

Pink Power

The Independent publishes its latest "pink list" of the most influential Gay and Lesbian people in Britain to day -

No.1 Peter Mandelson
No.2 Stephen Fry
No.3 Sir Ian Mckellen
No.4 David Starkey (academic, writer, presenter)
No.5 Beth Ditto (an American, but British based Musician)
No.6 Alan Bennett ( writer)
No.7 Phyllida Lloyd ( film director and theatre director - its she that adapted Mama Mia for the West End )
No.8 Ben Bradshaw (Culture Secretary)
No.9 Carol Ann Duffy ( Poet Laureate )
No.10 Nick Bowles ( Head of Implementation, Conservative Party )