NZ's 'garden city' is rolling out the pink carpet for the world premiere of a feature-length documentary telling the story of LGBT Christchurch on Saturday night at the Regent Cinema. The event marks the beginning of Christchurch's annual Pride Week of LGBT events ranging from workshops, to lunches, to parties, to theatre performances. Filmed by an independent company of movie-making lesbians in Christchurch, Through Rainbow Coloured Glasses was created from over 65 hours of interview footage of community leading lights ranging in age from mid 20's to mid 70's. "There are some very deep thread of personal, political and social ...

Berlin renamed a stretch of the Spree River in honor of a gay-rights activist persecuted by the Nazis in the 1930s as the city's biggest hospital opened an exhibition devoted to the sex researcher. A stretch of the Spree River in central Berlin was named after gay-rights activist and sexual researcher Magnus Hirschfeld in a dedication ceremony on Tuesday, May 6.   On the same day 75 years ago, the Nazis plundered his offices and later burned hundreds of his books.   Hirschfeld had founded the world's first institute dedicated to fighting discrimination against homosexuals. He went into exile in ...

The Odyssey nightclub, a major gay stomping ground for over two decades, is looking for a new home following a joint city-provincial agreement to build supportive housing on its site. "We were given notice May 1," reveals the Howe St club's co-owner Michael Levy, adding he had expected the bar to remain at its current site until 2011. "This is where we were caught off-guard," Levy says. "Now, it's not as if we did not know that this would eventually be coming in 2011. I mean, we knew that because that's when our lease expired and we did not ...

ELIZABETH, N.J.   — Former Gov. James E. McGreevey and his estranged wife settled custody issues for their only child on Thursday as they moved closer to dissolving their marriage, a court spokeswoman said. The deal regarding their 6-year-old daughter came on the third day of negotiations, which included some closed-door testimony before the judge who is attempting to avoid a divorce trial. No details were immediately available. Court spokeswoman Sandra Thaler-Gerber said lawyers for the couple would make a public statement later in the evening. The couple and their lawyers are scheduled to return Monday to the Union County ...

Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane) and Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) have come a long way since they first met.  What started out as a professional relationship between a lawyer and a key witness has eventually budded into a romantic affair that has endured many storms.  In the most recent episode of Brothers & Sisters, the gay couple has decided to take the next big step in their relationship as Kevin proposed and Scotty said yes. Although homosexual relationships aren't prohibited on TV, only a number of shows have incorporated gay romantic scenes in their storylines.  And because of ...

Lawyers and congressional aides trying to overturn America’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy have heard from an Australian sailor about how gay and lesbian defence force members were allowed to serve openly. Chief Petty Office Stuart O’Brien, currently based at HMAS Kuttabul in Potts Point, was invited to give an address on the Australian military’s experience of gay inclusion at Georgetown University’s law school in Washington DC last month and attend the annual dinner for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which fights the gay ban. A number of retired US officers are hoping the Australian evidence will help ...

The clearest picture yet of the identity, political attitudes, and civic engagement of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals is emerging from the largest and most rigorous survey of that community ever conducted. The political scientists who conducted the study unveiled their findings at a forum in Washington, D.C. on April 30. Kenneth Sherrill, a well-known researcher in the field and a professor at Hunter College in New York, said the 10 percent figure popularized by Alfred Kinsey referred to those who have ever engaged in sexual activity with a person of the same sex, rather than those who identify as ...

Two members of an unsanctioned gay rights protest action were attacked in St. Petersburg, according to a May 3, 2008 report by the Rosbalt news agency. The attack took place after the rally when four unknown people came up from behind their victims and struck them on the heads with blunt objects. The victims reported the attack to police and then sought medical treatment. Larger gay rights rallies have been brutally suppressed in recent years by police and far-right nationalists in Moscow. Attack on Gay Rights Protest in St. Petersburg Union of Councils for Jews in the Former ...

Thousands of students and a gay group are outraged by Washington University's decision to bestow an honorary degree on conservative political activist Phyllis Schlafly. The university is set to honor Schlafly May 16th during their annual commencement ceremonies. A conservative political activist best known for her stand against the feminist movement of the 1970s, Schlafly remains an active figure today. She continues to publish her own political newsletter which she started in 1967, The Phyllis Schlafly Report and remains president of The Eagle Forum, a group dedicated to the advancement of conservative causes. In recent years, Schlafly has returned ...

Note: To protect the identities of this family, NPR has used only first names. Robert and Danielle instituted an "only-in-the-house" rule when their son Armand was around 5, a modest effort to save him from himself. By that point, Robert and Danielle were exhausted. They had tried for years to steer Armand away from female clothing, fearing their young son would become the object of neighborhood ridicule. But nothing they said or did seemed to make any difference. There was no dissuading him, and so the only-in-the-house rule seemed like reasonable compromise. Armand agreed — he even seemed comfortable ...

A Washington clinic that provides free health services for the Latino community has spent only a fraction of the funds it received through two unprecedented 2006 Centers for Disease Control & Prevention grants, raising concerns among some local trans activists that the money is being mismanaged. La Clinica Del Pueblo, located on 15th Street N.W., was one of 23 organizations around the country that received a grant to establish behavioral interventions for high-risk young men of color who have sex with men.  Some CDC grant money unspent by Latino clinic ...

The Alliance for Full Acceptance will be hosting a coming out seminar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday (lunch provided) at the Charleston County Public Library on Calhoun Street. It’s a free event, through the help of members of the Lowcountry Gay and Lesbian Alliance. From AFFA: Learning to live openly and freely is a process that can be very difficult for many LGBT persons and their straight allies. Many of us waste precious time and energy hiding, if only partially, this important part of our lives. For allies, coming out and defending LGBT persons can be just ...

Coordinated events are being planned for the entire year across the area to promote venues working together in a combined effort to give customers a specific reason to choose the Gay Village as their first choice destination. The first event will be the Gay Village Eurovision Party Weekend which is planned to take place from 22 May through to 25 May. On the night of the contest itself on the 24 a number of venues will be broadcasting the live Eurovision show with surprise guest appearances throughout the weekend and across the Village from a number of ex Eurovision ...

-- A lawyer for a lesbian married in Massachusetts has asked Rhode Island's Superior Court for a divorce after an earlier attempt to dissolve the marriage failed. An attorney for Margaret Chambers asked the Superior Court on Thursday to dissolve his client's marriage after Rhode Island's top court blocked a divorce court from handling it. The judge did not immediately rule and set another hearing for June 12. Chambers wed Cassandra Ormiston four years ago in Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal. Rhode Island does not recognize same-sex unions. In 2006, they filed for divorce in ...

Shoppers at the Prowler gay lifestyle shop in London’s Brewer Street expect to see the latest designs from Armani, aussieBum, Calvin Klein, Diesel and Dolce & Gabbana. But baby clothes? A recent survey of GT (Gay Times) and DIVA Magazine readers revealed that 11% of gay men are fathers and 20% of lesbians are mothers. And as a result the leading gay high street retailer Prowler has taken the extraordinary decision to start stocking baby clothes in its flagship store in the heart of Soho. Gay Lifestyle Shop in London to Sell ...

KINGSTON - First pitched on the Internet as a planned nudist colony for gays and lesbians, the Web site for the proposed Rosebud Lodge near here had changed drastically by this morning. Earlier, the lodge was touting itself as a private resort for the "GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) Community." A collage of smiling same-sex couples was prominently featured. Now, the Rosebud Lodge Web site - www.rosebudlodge.com - merely describes itself as a private resort for adults over 18 that's "a dream in the making." Numerous Roane County residents are up in arms over the original description even ...

At the age of 21, a boy called Frank and a girl called Muk have defined themselves as homosexuals. Unlike many others, the two do not hide their status. Thanks to the love and understanding of their parents, they can be open and proud of being what they are. A gay boy's story Frank discovered he was different from other boys when he was about four or five years old. "I didn't like playing with boys. I didn't like sports which males are normally good at, such as football. I felt they are too violent. At home, I ...

In Australia, nearly 22,000 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 are homeless, according to the 2006 ABS census. The demand for practical support and accommodation services is high, which the National Youth Commission’s Australia’s Homeless Youth report highlighted in April. Caretakers Cottage is one not-for-profit organisation that addresses this need, having helped over 6,000 homeless young people get their lives back on track. “We initially opened to provide support to young people coming from the country to the city looking for employment, who were going to see the bright lights and come undone in one way or ...

The book awards season is in full swing, and the annual ceremonies for both the Nebula Awards honoring the best in science fiction and fantasy and the Triangle Awards for top gay and lesbian writing recently were held. Triangle Awards The Publishing Triangle also presented its annual prizes for the best in gay and lesbian writing. This year’s crop of winners are: Thom Gunn Poetry Award for Gay Poetry: Steve Fellner, Blind Date with Cavafy (Marsh Hawk); and Daniel Hall, Under Sleep (Univ. of Chicago) The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry: Joan Larkin, My Body (Hanging ...

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) has joined calls by Washington University students and faculty, urging the school to reconsider its plans to honor controversial activist Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary doctorate at the school's May 16 commencement ceremonies in St. Louis. Schlafly, founder of the conservative advocacy group The Eagle Forum, has been an outspoken opponent of equal rights measures for the women's and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.  In addition to her opposition to marriage equality for the GLBT community, Schlafly has also sought to block public school curriculums which present honest portrayals ...