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China: 16 million women ‘married to gays’
PinkNews.co.uk, February 3, 2012
A university professor in China has estimated that 16 million women in the world’s most populous country are married to gays. Professor Zhang Bei-chuan of Qingdao University says the huge number of women – equivalent to the population of the Netherlands – who have tied the knot with gay men are struggling to cope.

Anglican priests ask for choice over gay ceremonies
PinkNews.co.uk, February 2, 2012
In a letter published today, over a hundred clergy from the Diocese of London have asked the Church of England to let individual priests be free to conduct civil partnership ceremonies for gay couples if they so wish.

Lesbian killers in South Africa get 18-year jail terms
BBC.co.uk, February 1, 2012
Four South African men have been sentenced to 18 years in jail for stabbing and stoning to death 19-year-old lesbian Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006. The court found that the men killed Ms Nkonyana because she was living openly as a lesbian.

United Arab Emirates ‘straight makeover’ video slammed
PinkNews.co.uk, January 31, 2012
LGBT people in the United Arab Emirates have attacked a YouTube video ‘tutorial’ which shows how gays can be ‘cured’ or ‘scrubbed clean’ of their sexuality.

The Canadian rule which bans transgender flight
By Jane Fae, PinkNews.co.uk
Canada is now officially a transgender no-fly zone. This is the result of new rules, introduced last July, but only now coming to light, which state that an air carrier “shall not transport a passenger if … the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents”.

UN secretary general: African governments must respect gay rights
PinkNews.co.uk, January 30, 2012
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has told African leaders that they must respect gay rights in an unusually outspoken declaration made at an African Union summit in Ethiopia.

Gay Australians to receive overseas marriage permits
PinkNews.co.uk, January 27, 2012
Staring in February, gay Australians will be able to receive certificates allowing them to enter into gay marriages abroad. The permits, known as Certificates of No Impediment, are required by some countries before a couple can marry.

Tel Aviv emerges as top gay tourist destination
NewsTimes.com, January 25, 2012
Tel Aviv has long been a gay paradise, one of the few places in the Middle East where gays feel free to walk hand-in-hand and kiss in public. Now, thanks to its balmy climate, vibrant nightlife and a creative government-backed branding campaign, the city has become one of the world's top gay tourist destinations.

Ecuador’s new lesbian health minister to close ‘gay cure clinics’
PinkNews.co.uk, January 24, 2012
The appointment of a lesbian politician as Ecuador’s new health minister has caused a stir this week, as she announced a campaign to shut down religious ‘lesbian cure’ clinics. Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, announced the appointment of Carina Vance Mafla, who is openly gay, as the newest member of his cabinet.

Cuba may legalize same-sex civil unions this year
PinkNews.co.uk, January 19, 2012
Cuba’s first daughter, Mariela Castro, said the country’s lawmakers will consider legalising same-sex civil unions this year. Mariela Castor, daughter of President, Raul Castro and the director of the National Sex Education Centre told Cuba Si that the Cuban Justice Minister (Maria Esther Reus) announced that “… it is going to be discussed in the assembly, and is on the agenda for 2012.”

Honduras is test of new U.S. policy on gay rights
TheState.com, January 18, 2012
From U.N. chambers to the halls of the State Department, global pressure on countries to protect the rights of gay and transgender people is rising.

From homophobia to a moving apology in Turkey
Guardian.co.uk, January 18, 2012
Last week was tumultuous for Turkey's gay and transsexual people. A groundbreaking indie movie, Zenne Dancer, finally hit the screens, after winning five major awards at the country's foremost film festival, and receiving a shower of attention from the mass media – a shower that unfortunately quickly turned cold.

First trans teen in Miss England competition leads heat
PinkNews.co.uk, January 17, 2012
The first transgender teenager to enter the Miss England competition is leading in her heat of the pageant. The public vote is open for the heat 4 of the Miss Fresh Photographic competition, which Jackie Green, 18, currently leads with 189 votes.

Canada to fill “gap” on gay marriage
PinkNews.co.uk, January 16, 2012
The Canadian Justice Minister has reassured thousands of gay couples who have married in his country that their unions will be recognized there, but admitted there is a “legislative gap” in the rules on foreign nationals’ marriages.

Legal groups: Canada’s overseas gay marriages are safe
PinkNews.co.uk, January13, 2012
Gay advocacy groups have responded to a statement by a Canadian government lawyer yesterday which called into question the validity of thousands of gay marriages between foreign nationals on Canadian soil.

Up to 5,000 Canadian gay marriages ‘may not be valid’
PinkNews.co.uk, January 12, 2012
A lawyer for the Canadian government has said thousands of marriages between overseas gay couples which have taken place in the country since 2004 may not all be valid under domestic law. A government lawyer in a test case brought by one American and one English woman, who married in Canada in 2005 and now want to divorce, said their union was effectively invalid because they could not have married in their home countries.

Gay marriage in Cancun, Mexico suspended
On Top Magazine, January 12, 2012
The upcoming weddings of six gay and lesbian couples near the tourist destination city of Cancun, Mexico have been suspended. The weddings were expected to take place later this month after two gay couples said their lawyers successfully argued in front of judges that the Civil Code of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo does not specifically bar such marriages from taking place because the state's marriage application is gender neutral.

Liberian Speaker rules out gay rights bills
PinkNews.co.uk, January 12, 2012
The Speaker of Liberia’s House of Representatives has said no gay rights bills will make progress during his tenure. Alex J Tyler, a member of the Unity Party, told the Truth FM Breakfast Show that any law enshrining equal rights for gays would be immoral.

Sweden keeps sex-change sterilization law
TheLocal.se, January 12, 2012
A move to scrap Swedish laws requiring compulsory sterilization for people undergoing gender reassignment surgery has been put on ice following opposition from the Christian Democrats. The Christian Democrats have convinced the other centre-right parties to set aside a new legislative proposal that would have scrapped the law, arguing that the issued is legally complex and needs to be examined further.

Pope Benedict: Gay marriage a threat to 'future of humanity'
HuffingtonPost.com, January 10, 2012
Pope Benedict said on Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself." The pope made some of his strongest comments against gay marriage in a new year address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican in which he touched on some economic and social issues facing the world.

New Jamaican prime minister promises to review anti-gay law
PinkNews.co.uk, January 6, 2012
Jamaica’s new Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, who has said she will review the criminalisation of homosexuality in the country and not forbid gays from serving in her cabinet as former Prime Minister Bruce Golding had.

Transgender airline staff make inaugural flight in Thailand
PinkNews.co.uk, January 5, 2012
Thailand’s first transgender air stewardesses have taken part in PC Air’s inaugural flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani. The new airline took on four transgender crew last year when hiring thirty in-flight staff.

Gay men being trafficked in Kenya
Advocate.com, January 4, 2012
Gay and bisexual men in Kenya are being lured into sex trafficking rings in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, according to a new report in African LGBT magazine, Identity.

Same-sex marriages legal in Cancun
Advocate.com, January 3, 2012
Gay travelers just got another reason to head to the Caribbean. According to Fox News Latino, Cancun, Cozumel, and other resort areas in the Mexican Caribbean will soon allow same-sex couples to legally marry, thanks largely to a recently discovered quirk in the local civil code.

LGBT refugees made progress in 2011
Advocate.com, January 2, 2012
Much attention this year was focused on LGBT immigration and asylum in 2011, according to Paul Canning, a LGBT activist who serves as editor of LGBT Asylum News.

The Top International LGBT Stories of 2011
PinkNews.co.uk, December 29, 2011
As 2011 draws to a close, PinkNews.co.uk takes a look back at the most important stories of the last twelve months.

Gay and vilified in Uganda
By Frank Mugisha, New York Times, December 27, 2011
When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this month that the United States would use diplomacy to encourage respect for gay rights around the world, my heart leapt. I knew her words — “gay people are born into, and belong to, every society in the world”— to be true, but in my country they are too often ignored.

Double lives for gay teachers in Ireland
Reuters, December 21, 2011
Gay, lesbian or bisexual teachers in many Irish schools -- which are still dominated by the Catholic Church -- risk discrimination or even the sack if they reveal their sexuality, thanks to a law that permits religious employers to penalize employees for actions undermining their religious standards.

Politician arrested for claiming Zimbabwe president practiced homosexuality
PinkNews.co.uk, December 21, 2011
A female member of parliament in Zimbabwe has been arrested after suggesting the president, Robert Mugabe, is gay, according to Kenya’s Daily Nation. Lillian Kirenyi is a member of the Movement for Democratic Change, led by the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which currently shares power with Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.

U.N.’s first report on LGBT rights
PhillyMag.com, December 16, 2011
This week, the first-ever report of the state of LGBT rights around the world has been released by the United Nations. And the outcome is grim for many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people worldwide who face violence, torture, detention and discrimination for their sexual orientation and gender identity.

58 gays, lesbians slain this year in Honduras
TorontoNews.net, December 15, 2011
Dozens of members of Honduras' gay and lesbian community gathered outside the Attorney General's Office in this capital to protest the slayings of 58 gays and lesbians this year. The community wants to see 'the murders solved and justice done', spokesperson Jose Zambrano told reporters.

Filipino 'carolers' seek gay rights recognition
Manilla Bulletin, December 15, 2011
Singing a parody of ‘Jingle Bells,” members and supporters of the Ladlad Party-list and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations Thursday trooped to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines in Manila to ask the Church to recognize their rights by approving the inclusion of their protection in the proposed Senate version of the Anti-Discrimination Bill.

Ghana’s education ministry “optimistic” it can stop homosexuality
PinkNews.co.uk, December 14, 2011
A spokesman for Ghana’s Education Ministry has told the Accra Mail he is confident a programme in which teachers warn students of the “adverse consequences” of being gay will make it “a thing of the past”.

250,000 sign petition against St Petersburg “gay propaganda” law
PinkNews.co.uk, December 14, 2011
Nearly a quarter of a million people have signed a petition calling on world leaders to hold Russia to account for a draft law in St Petersburg which threatens to silence its gay community. The draft law would punish the promotion of LGBT lifestyles in public alongside paedophilia in Russia’s second largest city.

Republicans block appointment of El Salvador ambassador over pro-gay article
PinkNews.co.uk December 13, 2011
Last night, the US senate blocked president Barack Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to El Salvador after Republicans expressed outrage at an article she wrote in support of gay rights and unfounded rumours that an ex-boyfriend was a Cuban spy.

Gay, lesbian and transgender people face violence in South Africa
Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2011
Lesbian, gay and transgender people face entrenched discrimination, violence and hatred in South Africa, particularly women who do not behave the way this society expects them to, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

Malawi to review homosexuality ban after US aid threat
Guardian.co.uk, December 9, 2011
Malawi is to review laws banning homosexuality in response to public opinion, according to reports. The move comes just days after the US announced it would use foreign aid to pressure countries to decriminalise homosexual acts. America currently gives Malawi about $200m per year, with most going to healthcare.

Future of Obama's ambassador to El Salvador in question
USA Today, December 8, 2011
President Barack Obama's ambassador to El Salvador, Mari Carmen Aponte, a Washington lawyer and Hispanic activist, may be heading home at year's end, her diplomatic future undone by old, unfounded rumors that her boyfriend was a Cuban spy and new conservative outrage over a summertime op-ed on gay rights.

Nigeria to U.S. - No Apologies On Same Sex Law
AllAfrica.com, December 8, 2011
The Nigerian government maintained yesterday that it was an independent nation and as such it owes nobody apologies for laws that were meant to preserve the norms, values and culture of the country.

Nigeria anti-gay marriage bill risks AIDS funding
Las Vegas Sun, December 7, 2011
A bill originally designed to outlaw gay marriage in Nigeria likely has consequences far beyond its initial scope _ criminalizing gay groups and organizations could jeopardize millions of dollars of Western aid geared toward stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa's most populous nation.