Prime Minister Gordon Brown held the second reception for LGBT History Month on 24 February.Both he and Harriet Harman reiterated their support for the successful month and assured the UK's LGBT communities that they would never walk the road alone in the journey to full equality. After they left, Sarah Brown stayed and talked to guests for the remainder of the evening. Elly Barnes, David Watkins, Tony Fenwick and Sue Sanders, members of the History Month organising committee, were seen busily chatting to people and encouraging support and patronage. Watch this space for news of new patrons to join ...

Rep. Tammy Baldwin Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Source: Office of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin - February 4 GILLIBRAND, BALDWIN TO SEC. CLINTON: SAVE LGBT REFUGEES LGBT Individuals Tortured and Killed in Iraq in 2009 No Proper Investigations, No Arrests for Crimes Against LGBT Individuals in Iraq Take Action to Enforce Human Rights Laws to Protect Members of the LGBT Community in Countries Where Their Rights Are Abused. Washington, D.C. – With hundreds of LGBT individuals being beaten, persecuted and even killed in Iraq, Iran and other countries, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), joined ...

Kerry Eleveld is reporting over at Advocate.com that a letter signed by over 90 members of Congress has been sent to President Obama urging him to publicly denounce anti-gay legislation in Uganda and Rwanda.Here is the text of the missive :President Barack ObamaThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20500Dear Mr. President:We write to raise serious concerns about a grave injustice occurring in Uganda and other countries that are taking steps to criminalize or otherwise severely discriminate against their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities. We consider this to be an international human rights issue, requiring a ...

Organizers of the Shanghai Pride events in 2009 Photo via China Daily An article in China Daily calls 2009 the “year of gay China” because of the country’s increasingly active and visible LGBT communities, but several of the websites that have helped those communities grow have now been shut down down by their hosting providers, an advocacy group charged Wednesday. According to a report in the English-language edition of People’s Daily, at least 10 LGBT websites in China have been shut down by the companies that host their servers. The webmaster of a Beijing gay site ...

Is the LGBT Community Invisible, or just not active in public?? Recently a blogger wrote about how it seem that his local LGBT community is invisible, If XXXXXXXXX hopes to move forward on local LGBT equality, our community will have to step up our public visibility. After all, if our own community and its leadership doesn’t care enough to make a stink over our treatment, why would the general public? It isn’t as if LGBT rights are on the forefront of an average citizen’s mind, you know. Well that quote could mean just about any local community in North Carolina. There seems ...

The NZ Christian Right isn’t happy with the Key administration. Should we really be surprised that this is the case? They only needed to look across the Pacific, at Canada’s Harper administration, for the basic game plan. There is some genuflection when it comes to the appointment of Christine Rankin and Bruce Pilborow to the Families Commission and some triangulation and spin over reviews of the Section 59 Repeal Act, but nothing terribly substantive. Mostly, they are politely ignored. Key isn’t spending up on marriage education at the cost of mainstream social spending dealing with families in real need during this recession. ...

For the LGBT communities of Maine, Washington, New Jersey and Michigan, today marks the end of months-long battles on their rights, as voters head to the polls and cast their votes for marriage referendums, a new governor and employment protections. Marriage & Domestic Partnerships Voters in Maine will decide whether or not to repeal a bill granting [...] ...

Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons: Gay LA: New York: Basic Books: 2006. California’s largest city has its own richly detailed LGBT history. Leading lesbian historian Lillian Faderman and her associate Stuart Timmons delve into the backgrounds of this phenomenon. There are a few hiccups, although I suspect that gaps in the archival material may well have been responsible for attenuated historical coverage of LGBT communities in Native American, African American, Asian American and Hispanic communities, compared to the wealth of content that white American middle-class and working-class LGBT communities get in this volume. However, that aside, I was much impressed ...

Michel Martin, host of NPR’s Tell Me More, talks with veteran Washington Blade reporter Lou Chibarro, Jr. who has written for the paper for three decades. Chibarro has observed more closely than most the vast changes that have happened within the LGBT communities over during that time. From the start, the Blade has been, as Chibarro recalls, operated as a medium that would be “sympathetic and supportive of the community, but would not be an arm of some of the gay movement organizations that were in existence then.” Even if it hasn’t always been achieved, the paper’s goal of independence ...

Today, I’m speaking with Jesse Garcia about the beginning of LULAC 4871 (also called “The Dallas Rainbow Chapter”), building bridges between the Dallas Latino and LGBT communities, and how immigration reform affect many more LGBT people than we may realize (and not just Latino people). Find out more at http://lulac4871.org Our interview was recorded at Spiral Diner in Oak Cliff. Late in the interview, you’ll hear what must’ve have been the effects of the cook being overcaffinated as he rings the kitchen bell like he’s lost his mind. Thank you for visiting and supporting the show sponsors! With networking opportunities, ...