Gay News

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up, he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. Animals deserve more pity than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts, he told the Observer: We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the chance to ask God's forgiveness before they are killed.

The killings are brutal, with victims ritually tortured. Azhar al-Saeed's son was one. "He didn't follow what Islamic doctrine tells but he was a good son," she said. Three days after his kidnapping, I found a note on my door with blood spread over it and a message saying it was my son's purified blood and telling me where to find his body.

She went with police to find her son's remains: We found his body with signs of torture, his anus filled with glue and without his genitals. I will carry this image with me until my dying day.

A Belfast church has won the right to legally challenge a decision to ban a newspaper advertisement which described sodomy as an abomination.

Sandown Free Presbyterian Church took the full-page advertisement, which was headlined The word of God against sodomy, in the News letter. It appeared in the paper once ahead of last year's Belfast Gay Pride parade.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority banned it from appearing again after receiving seven complaints. The authority said the advertisement was homophobic.

The High Court has now said that there was an arguable case that the church's rights to religious belief and freedom of expression had been breached. Mr Justice Weatherup also found that Sandown may have been denied the chance to offer an explanation to the Advertising Standards Authority before the ban was imposed.

Lawyers for Sandown said the case centred on his client's ability to use the Bible in its public witness teaching. They claimed the authority was mistaken in its interpretation of a quotation from the Book of Leviticus which described homosexual acts an abomination. They said the description applied to sodomy itself rather than any individuals: This is the classic evangelical position between loving the sinner and hating the sin .

The concert promoters Live Nation and AEG canceled shows by the Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton after protests from gay rights advocacy organisations over the singer's homophobic song lyrics, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Buju Banton's scheduled shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston were reported to be canceled.

After reports that Buju Banton signed the reggae compassionate act in 2007, a pledge to refrain from anti-gay songs and statements, he denied having signed it. Buju Banton was tried and acquitted on charges that he participated in the beating of six gay men in Jamaica in 2004.

To some reggae fans, pressure to prevent Buju Banton from playing amounts to censorship, while gay activist groups see Banton's songs as hate speech — an example of an ugly undercurrent of homophobia in some reggae music.

Buju Banton has a long-standing reputation for inciting anti-gay sentiment. His 1992 single Boom Bye Bye proposes pouring acid on homosexuals and shooting them in the head with an Uzi, among other things.

Greek Pete is a 2009 UK gay docu-drama by Andrew Haigh

The BBFC passed the 2009 Peccadillo DVD 18 uncut with the comment: Contains strong real sex, nudity, sex references and drug use

See review from IMDb : Intelligent debate

This film won prizes at Outfest and some other festivals and was British, quite a rarity, so I made sure I checked it out.

I left the screening wanting to talk about the film, to discuss it with as many people as possible as it is nothing like I have ever seen before.

Some scenes are incredibly powerful and moving, and I wanted to know exactly which moments were real and which were staged. Nothing seemed staged at all and although Pete himself has approached this line of 'work' with a goal to pull together enough finances to invest in an education and a better future, some of the other boys amongst his friends do not have this immediate sense of ambition. What happened to them?

This is what I thought was very brave about the film. It never at any point made a judgment. It was an intimate peek into the lifestyle of a rentboy and dashed any preconceived ideas that people have about the oldest profession in the world. Pete is not that person you expect to see, but some of his friends are, yet they all look after one another. This is not Wiktor Grodecki, and anyone who watches this thinking that their Daily Mail high-ground will be bolstered by a mucky, seedy voyeurism that condemns it's subject matter via subjectivity will not get what they want. There is care, love and affection here, alongside extremely raw moments of insecurity and depression simmering beneath that confident veneer you see in many young men. There is no forced introspection. No moment where Pete must explain himself to camera. This is a film projected from within a society that does not judge itself and would never care to.

Greek Pete will divide audiences, but if you go in with an open mind, you will be stirred, jolted into action. It will make you think, and talk about it with others who have seen it. Any film that encourages intelligent debate should be seen, and this is one of them.

The company which hoped to set up an LGBT sex club in Gloucester's city centre has said it will demand a public inquiry after the plans were rejected.

Developing company Mystique hoped to turn the Grade-II-listed New County Hotel in the city centre into a restaurant by day and a sex club by night.

A spokesman for the firm told the Gloucester Citizen: When asked to declare their interests, the planning committee should consider their religious beliefs and step down if they believe their faith will dictate the outcome. I will be demanding a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the refusal.

Although councillors was instructed not to vote upon moral grounds, Susan Johnson, who spoke to the council on behalf of opponents, invoked Biblical language when addressing the planning meeting. She said: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

It was rejected on the puerile grounds that the city centre was an unsuitable location for the venue. [Is that the best they could come up with?]

Thailand's boxing silver medalist in the Athens Olympic Games, Worapoj Petchkhoon, will not see action in the Southeast Asian Games in Laos in December as he has been banned for three months as a punishment for modeling in a gay magazine.

There were reports that Worapoj appeared nearly naked in the Thai gay magazine STAGE which got the attention of the media as well as the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand (ABAT).

ABAT president Taweep Jantararoj initially stated that national athletes were supposed to present a good image while Worapoj defended his actions claiming the images, including the one on the magazine cover, were sporty and not obscene, but still they have tarnished the reputation of the national athletes.

The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art's controversial exhibition celebrating gay life and love has stirred up more outrage - this time, however, it's for censoring art that might 'shock' the public.

Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG), the body which runs the city's museums and galleries, has been accused of censors art at the shOUT' exhibition after it refused to show three works about HIV positive gay men at GoMA because it contained nudity and references to drugs and sexual acts.

The works are by Dani Marti, an internationally renown artist. He said CSG's decision not to show his two videos and a sound installation at the city centre gallery went against the very purpose of the exhibition, the fourth in GoMA's social justice series of exhibitions.

shOUT is about civil rights, he said: But they are compromising freedom of speech. They are compromising the permission of the people in my art works to speak about their emotions in public. The reaction of GoMA and the council is exactly the same that is happening to these individuals, making it hard to talk about coming out, about being gay, about disclosing their HIV status.

He blamed political pressure from within the council following earlier controversy around the exhibition.

One of the videos, Time Is The Fire In Which We Burn, was commissioned especially for the exhibition. It is an interview with a man called John from Glasgow, a former male prostitute and porn film actor, who talks about his life in Miami, being HIV positive, taking the drug crystal meth and extreme sexual acts he has taken part in.

The second video, Ausmusdad, is a portrait of a 63 year old who came out to his family in his late 40s and is HIV positive. It features full frontal male nudity. It has previously been shown in Zurich.

Culture and Sport Glasgow were uncomfortable with nudity and the reference to drugs and sexual acts, according to Marti. He, however, said the videos showed HIV positive men enjoying life and not being victims.

The final work planned to appear at GoMA was a sound installation, recorded in the basement of a gay club in Glasgow. A fourth, more conventional, installation - several large red drapes of scourers woven together and hung from the central staircase - was originally allowed to be shown at the gallery. Marti, however, said it could not be shown without the other three works and withdrew it personally.

To protest the city's decision, in the coming weeks he plans to create guerilla artworks around the city in front of council property.

A Christian association in Moscow, Russia has asked authorities to move gay clubs away from residential areas, schools, and cultural, sports and medical facilities. The push comes as part of a crusade against gay entertainment in the Russian capital from Oleg Mitvol, the Prefect of the northern district of Moscow.

Everything that is connected to the propaganda of gay culture must be moved away to limit the impact on ordinary people, because it leads to degradation, Konstantin Bendas, spokesman for the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, told The Moscow Times.

The organisation's open letter, which was published last Friday, said that authorities had to strictly control gay clubs to remove minors, drugs, prostitutes and porn distribution.

UK Gay News reports that over the weekend Mitvol raided gay club Body And Soul along with the prosecution department, the anti-drug unit and the police. They brought the Moscow TV Channel with them, along with photographers and a journalist.

I think that such clubs which, in line with casinos, lead to moral degradation of citizens and become the source of trouble, should be closed, said Mitvol last week.

Three people have been killed and at least 11 others wounded after a gunman sprayed automatic fire inside a club night for gay youths.

The shooting spree in central Tel Aviv, Israel, sparked a city-wide security lock-down.

A black-clad masked gunman is said to have stormed into the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association building and opened fire in a basement room where teenage homosexuals were holding a weekly support group, according to witness accounts.

Other gay clubs in Tel Aviv were warned to close by police for fear of follow-up attacks, according to the Israeli media.

A gay couple says they were detained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints security guards after one man kissed another on the cheek on Main Street Plaza.

They targeted us, said Matt Aune: We weren't doing anything inappropriate or illegal, or anything most people would consider inappropriate for any other couple.

Aune and his partner, Derek Jones were cited by Salt Lake City police for trespassing on the plaza, located at 50 East North Temple, according to Sgt. Robin Snyder.

The church contends the couple was asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior just as any other couple would have been. They became argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property. They were arrested and then given a citation for criminal trespass by SLPD.

Though Salt Lake City sold the property to the church in the late 1990s, it remains a popular pedestrian thoroughfare, and a site where couples often pose affectionately for photos.

The pair crossed the plaza holding hands, Aune said. About 20 feet from the edge of the plaza, Aune said he stopped, put his arm on Jones' back and kissed him on the cheek.

Several security guards then arrived and asked the pair to leave, saying that public displays of affection are not allowed on the church property, Aune and Jones said. They protested, saying they often see other couples holding hands and kissing there, said Jones.

We were kind of standing up for ourselves, Jones said. It was obviously because we were gay.

The guards put Jones on the ground and handcuffed him, he said. Aune said he was also cuffed roughly, and suffered bruises and a swollen wrist. The injuries did not require medical treatment, Snyder said.

Police arrived about 10:30 p.m. They spoke with the couple and two security guards before issuing the citations, Snyder said. The pair was banned from LDS Church Headquarters' campus for six months, Farah confirmed.

The kiss happened on a former public easement given up by city in 2003 in a controversial land-swap deal. The easement became private property, allowing the church to ban protesting, smoking, sunbathing and other offensive, indecent, obscene, lewd or disorderly speech, dress or conduct, church officials said at the time. In exchange, the city got church property for a west-side community center.

Aune said he was one of those who protested the transfer at the time: They claimed in 2003 this would never happen, they were never going to arrest anyone. It's clear now they do have an agenda.

Update: Kiss In

16th July 2009. From sltrib.com

Protesters are planning a second kiss-in near the Salt Lake City Temple to support two gay men who said they were stopped by LDS Church security after one man kissed the other on the cheek.

The event will take place at noon Sunday 19th July, according to a listing on Facebook. At 12:15 p.m., organizers will sound a whistle or bell as a signal to step onto a former public easement and kiss.

Located next to Temple Square, Main Street Plaza was public land sold by the city to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about 10 years ago. The sale allowed the church to ban speech and actions it disagreed with from the area between Temple Square and the Church Office Building.

Update: Kiss and Shout

21st July 2009. From 2news.tv, thanks to Alan

A mass-kissing protest near the Mormon church temple Sunday drew a shouting match between gay activists and a group of faithful Mormons.

For the second consecutive weekend, about 100 people gathered to stage a "kiss-in" to protest the treatment of two gay men cited for trespassing July 9 after they shared a kiss on the plaza owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both gay and straight couples exchanged kisses during the protest.

Demonstrators were greeted at the south entrance by a group of faithful Mormons carrying large signs that denounced homosexuality, prompting a heated verbal exchange.

Police say no one was arrested or cited, despite a large group exchanging kisses by a reflecting pool at the plaza's center.

Update: Church Henchmen on CCTV

31st July 2009. From sltrib.com , thanks to Alan
See video on YouTube

Matt Aune puts his arm around his partner, Derek Jones, pulling him close as four large men in dark suits gather around them July 9 on the Main Street Plaza.

The couple argue with the LDS Church guards, who yank the two men apart and put them in handcuffs. Jones falls to the ground.

Newly released security-film footage shows this scuffle, which ensued after Jones and Aune were stopped after they kissed on the church-owned plaza. The Salt Lake Tribune obtained the film through an open-records request with Salt Lake City.

It's as violent as I remember them being, Aune said. I'm kind of wondering where the kiss is though.

Salt Lake City prosecutor Sim Gill dropped the trespassing case Wednesday, saying that signs on the downtown plaza did not properly notify visitors that they were entering private property "at will," meaning they could be ejected at any time for any reason.

Supporters of the couple have staged two "kiss-in" demonstrations at the Main Street Plaza, and a similar rally -- part of a nationwide event -- has been scheduled for Aug. 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at downtown's Washington Square.

Jones and Aune said this week they are ready to move on and do not plan to file a lawsuit over the matter.

Update: Signs of Discrimination

3rd October 2009. Thanks to Alan

New signs at a Mormon church-owned plaza in downtown Salt Lake City put visitors on notice: Anyone can be asked to leave for any reason. T

he change follows a much-publicized incident this summer in which two men were cited with trespassing on the plaza after sharing a kiss. City prosecutors did not pursue the charges, saying signs at the plaza failed to adequately warn the couple they were entering private property.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter says the new signs include extra text at the suggestion of the Salt Lake City prosecutor's office. They now say the church reserves the right to refuse access to anyone. City prosecutor Sim Gill says the new signs provide clarity. He says with the new signs in place, visitors who refuse to leave could be prosecuted for trespassing.

Any comments?

The Pope has condemned a disgusting taxpayer-funded exhibition in which visitors are invited to write their stories back into the Bible

Visitors were offered pens by gallery bosses so they could write comments on the text - leading to a host of puerile and 'obscene' remarks.

Pope Benedict's anger over the show, organised by council-funded arts body Culture and Sport Glasgow, was expressed by a senior Vatican priest.

The adviser to the Pope said: It is disgusting and offensive. They would not think of doing it to the Koran.

Public complaints about the exhibit at the prestigious Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow have forced organisers to put the vandalised Bible on show in a locked case, while still allowing visitors to write comments on blank sheets of paper. The staff moderate the comments and insert acceptable pages into the bible.

The Made In God's Image exhibit is the work of Glasgow artist Anthony Schrag.
He wanted gays and transsexuals who felt left out of religion to write their way back in to the holy text.

Schrag worked with members of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Edinburgh on the project. But MCC minister Jane Clarke who devised the exhibit said: I had hoped people would show respect for the Bible. I am saddened some have chosen to write offensive messages.

Writing our names in the margins of a Bible was to show how we have been marginalised by many Christian churches, and also our desire to be included in God's love.

As a young Christian I was encouraged by my church to write my own insights in the margins of the Bible I used for my daily devotions - this was an extension of that idea. I still have that Bible, although it's rather tatty now.

She added: It was never my intention to offend anyone - believers and non-believers alike. I had hoped that people would show respect for the Bible, for Christianity and indeed for the Gallery of Modern Art. I am saddened that some people have chosen to write offensive messages.

Sridhar Rangayan is a gay activist, makes movies on issues confronting the community and is delighted with the Delhi High Court order decriminalising consensual gay sex between adults. Now, he feels it's high time the censor board also updates its rule book.

Rangayan has made three films on homosexuality -- the first is still lying with the censor board, the second he did not bother to submit for certification at all and the third has been accepted by the Central Board of Film Certification but with an 'A' [adult] certificate.

The censor board has rules which are antiquated and it's not accepting today's trend. I think it's time to fight to get the censor board rules changed. What we need is to have some young people as part of the core committee, Rangayan told IANS.

In 2003, he made Pink Mirror , which is said to be India's first film on drag queens. Though it has been screened at various NGO meets, it has yet to be screened in India: I approached the censor board thrice for the certificate and every time they rejected the movie. There is no nudity, titillation in my film. I have depicted my characters very sensitively, still I didn't get the certificate .

They had strange reasons to reject the film. They say that I have not depicted the gay community in good light. It was funny because I'm know the community very well. They wanted my characters to be apologetic for being gay. They wanted me to show characters crying and asking why god has made them like this, said Rangayan, who is founder of the Mumbai-based The Humsafar Trust that advocates gender and sexuality issues.

When Rangayan made his second film Yours Emotionally in 2006, he didn't bother to take it to the censor board and instead it screens it at NGO meets. The film is about two best friends - Ravi and Paul. The two come to India on a vacation and attend an all night gay party. Surprised by the openness of their hosts and the aggressiveness of the guests, the boys fall into the steadily growing Indian gay culture.

His third film 68 Pages , however, has got an A-certificate from the board and he is hoping for a commercial release.

Another director who has made a film on the issue is Ashish Sawhny. His Happy Hookers is a documentary that explores the secret world of male sex workers in the country.

Then there is US-based Indian filmmaker Manan Singh Katohora's When Kiran Met Karen . It is about a Bollywood actress called Kiran who is on the verge of becoming an international movie star until she meets sexy magazine journalist Karen and they find themselves swept up in a torrid affair.

None of these films have been released in India. As Rangayan says, perhaps we will have to wait till the censor board changes it rules.

A book in Arabic about gay travel in the Middle East is running into problems because of what gay-rights groups perceive as a derogatory translation of the word describing homosexuals.

The book, Gay Travels in the Muslim World , is a compilation of stories penned by gay Muslim and non-Muslim authors. It was translated into Arabic by the Lebanon-based publisher, Arab Diffusion.

The Arabic-speaking gay community is taking issue with the publisher's translation of the word gay into the Arabic word 'shadh', which means abnormal or deviant.

The book's editor, however, is pleased, as the controversial translation is fueling a positive debate in a region where homosexuality, for the most part, is taboo.

Arab Diffusion didn't mean any harm in using the word, Michael Luongo, editor and co-author of the book told The Media Line. He said the word was commonly used in the Arab world to describe gay people, and that gay-rights groups were trying to change this habit.

Gay-rights groups in the Middle East take offense to having their sexual orientation described as a perversion and would much prefer the word homosexual be translated with neutral word such as mithli, which means same.

The issue of the translation is being debated in the blogosphere and in academic circles.

Gay-rights groups have been arguing about the use of the word shadh for some time, and the controversy over the book helps them put their argument forward to the media using a live example, he said, and educate their publics about problems that arise in naming things.

The book is groundbreaking in that is the first book of its kind to be translated into Arabic before being translated into any other language. Luongo was advised he would be better off translating it first into French, but he said this would have limited the target audience to educated people in the Maghreb and in Lebanon.

Now that it has been translated into Arabic, he hopes it can reach a broader audience, but he is under no illusion as to the distribution limitations of a book on such an explosive topic: I don't know how people are going to get the book, and not a lot of the books will be published. But just having the book out there allows a valuable discourse.

The Lithuanian parliament will vote next week on whether to overturn a Presidential veto on a discriminatory law that institutionalizes homophobia.

President Valdas Adamkus vetoed the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information , which violates the right to freedom of expression and the right to be free from discrimination, on 26 June.

The wide-ranging censorship law had been passed by the Lithuanian Parliament (the Seimas) on 16 June. It was widely criticized for its discriminatory restrictions on public information on homosexuality.

On 7 July, a large majority of parliamentarians voted to reconsider the bill. On 14 July, the Seimas will decide whether to overturn the Presidential veto. If the veto is overturned, the bill will become law.

Update: President Overruled

15th July 2009. Based on article from news.bbc.co.uk

Lithuania's parliament has backed a bill that censors certain information, including on homosexuality, from reaching minors.

MPs overturned a presidential veto of the child-protection law, which critics say could institutionalise homophobia.

The legislation would ban the public dissemination of information considered harmful to minors.

This covers material on homosexuality, bisexuality and polygamy, as well as depictions of violence and death.

87 of the 141 MPs supported the bill, while only 6 were against.

Correspondents say homosexuality is frowned upon by many in Lithuania, where the majority of the 3.3 million population is Catholic.

Iraqi gays are being targeted and killed in what rights campaigners say is some of the worst violence against the community in recent years.

At least 68 gay and transgendered men have been killed over the last four months, according to the London-based rights advocacy group Iraqi LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender), bringing the total number of killings of Iraqis because of their sexuality to 678 since 2004.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, which recently conducted field investigations on the violence, estimates that hundreds of homosexual men may have been killed in recent months. Scott Long, a senior Human Rights Watch representative, described the killings as an extraordinarily brutal campaign targeting gay, transgender and effeminate men in several provinces.

Iraqi LGBT and HRW believe that Shia militias are the primary perpetrators of the violence and say the majority of killings have occurred in Shia areas in south/central Iraq (including the towns of Ammarah, Najaf, Karbala and Basra) and Baghdad's Sadr City district, the stronghold of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.

While no group has said it's behind the killings, Iraqi LGBT and HRW believe that elements of the Mehdi Army may be among the militants implicated in the violence, particularly in Sadr City.

Long suggested that some members of Mehdi Army were trying to act as agents of moral regeneration in an attempt to regain some control over Shia neighbourhoods, following massive military operations that weakened the militia: It is pretty clear that sermons started being preached in Shia mosques, particularly ones in areas that are heavily influenced by the Sadrists earlier this year, on the dangers of homosexuality [in the weeks prior to the wave of killings].

The Government has been defeated in the House of Lords over its attempt to repeal a free speech protection from a sexual orientation 'hatred' law.

Peers voted by 186 to 133 to keep the protection in place. The matter will be passed back to the House of Commons where MPs voted for repeal.

The protection makes clear that criticising homosexual conduct or encouraging people to refrain from such conduct is not a crime.

The Government says the protection is not necessary, insisting that the homophobic hatred offence would not catch the expression of such beliefs.

Mike Judge, Head of Communications at The Christian Institute, said: Genuine supporters of free speech will be pleased with this result. Democracy depends on the freedom of people to challenge ideas, to dispute with each other, to contend for what they believe. Too many Christians have already been intimidated by over-zealous police action because they gave voice to their views on sexual ethics. Surely the world is big enough to allow all sides to express their beliefs about sexual behaviour without fearing a knock on the door from the police. [But I wonder of he is so keen to defend free speech when it is religion that is being criticised]

An Indian court has overturned a 148-year-old colonial law banning homosexual relationships saying it was an affront to human dignity.

Campaigners described the ruling as India's Stonewall moment, a reference to historic riots by homosexuals in New York which are regarded as the inspiration of the modern gay rights movement.

The ban on homosexual relations was introduced by British colonial officials and describes sexual intercourse between people of the same sex as an unnatural offence.

Indian government officials had said same sex relationships were indecent, against Indian values, and if decriminalized would lead to an increase in delinquent behaviour and pose a health hazard to society.

Their argument was rejected yesterday by Delhi's High Court judges who said the ban denied gays equal rights and was an affront to human dignity. In our view Indian Constitutional Law does not permit the statutory criminal law to be held captive by the popular misconception of who the LGBTs (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) are. It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual," the judges commented.

Their ruling will take precedence over India's Penal Code until the parliament passes a new law on equality.

Religious groups, including leading muslim clerics and catholic clergymen, said despite the judgment, they still regarded homosexuality as immoral. Ahmed Bukhari, the chief imam at Delhi's historic Jama Masjid mosque, said: This is absolutely wrong. We will not accept any such law.

Update: Court Judgement Challenged

10th July 2009. Based on article from edition.cnn.com

A landmark ruling that legalized gay sex between consenting partners in India was challenged Thursday in the country's high court, lawyers said.

The supreme court issued a notice to the nonprofit Naz Foundation that had won a lower-court verdict after a seven-year legal fight to decriminalize gay sex. Notices also were issued to the federal government and the New Delhi high court, which ruled last week that consensual sex between partners of the same gender was legal.

An astrologer filed a petition challenging the ruling. The petitioner argued that no constitutional right is violated by the Indian penal code's Section 377, which had outlawed gay sex, said his lawyer Praveen Agrawal. The petition also cited Indian culture and health as grounds for seeking a stay on last week's ruling.

The supreme court posted the next hearing for July 20.

A petition signed by 20,000 Christians across the UK was handed in yesterday to Buckingham Palace, No 10 Downing Street and the House of Lords. Petitioners believe Government plans, contained in Clause 61 of the Coroners and Justice Bill to be voted on this week in the House of Lords, will effectively gag Christians from openly explaining what they believe the Bible has said about sexual conduct for more than 2,000 years.

The petition also drew attention to the plans of a small group of Peers who are trying to legalise assistance with suicide by tabling amendments to the same Bill. (Editor's note: this amendment was defeated last night in the Lords by 194 votes to 141).

Christian Concern for our Nation, sister organisation to the Christian Legal Centre, which has represented many Christians in high profile cases where employers have denied Christians the right of freedom of speech on moral issues, co-ordinated the Petition, signed by 20,000 individuals, to draw attention to what they describe as the devastating consequences to Christian witness if the Coroners and Justice Bill goes through Parliament as it stands.

Jonathan Ross
BBC Radio 2, 9 May 2009, 10:00

During a live and unscripted part of his Saturday morning radio show, Jonathan Ross discussed the prizes for the week's competition with his producer, Andy Davies. The prizes were primarily made up of Hannah Montana merchandise, which included a Hannah Montana MP3 player. As part of this discussion, Jonathan Ross said:

If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, then you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption in later life, when they settle down with their partner.

Ofcom received 61 complaints from listeners who were concerned that Jonathan Ross' comments were offensive and derogatory towards the gay community.

Ofcom considered these complaints under Rule 2.3 (material that may cause offence must be justified by the context).

Ofcom Decision: Not in Breach

Jonathan Ross' BBC Radio 2 show has been broadcast since 1999. It has an established format that is largely made up of quirky, humorous stories and on-air chat with the show's producer, Andy Davies.

The comment complained of was made during a live and unscripted element of the programme as part of a light-hearted discussion between Jonathan Ross and Andy Davies. In Ofcom's opinion, the comment was clearly presented as a joke intended to make light of the reactions that some parents may have if their child chooses a toy that is very widely recognised to be designed and marketed for the opposite sex. The humour was therefore based on the absurdity of the scenario and was not intended to cause offence. The fact that this comment was intended to be a joke was illustrated further by the reaction from Andy Davies, who was heard laughing. Ofcom therefore considered that the nature of the joke and the tone and manner in which it was presented made clear that it was not intended to be hostile or pejorative towards the gay community in general.

Ofcom took into account that Jonathan Ross is a well known personality, who has an irreverent, challenging and at times risqué humour that is familiar to audiences. Ofcom also recognised that the comment was clearly aimed at an adult audience. Importantly, if children did hear this comment it was unlikely that they would have understood it or its implications. In light of this, Ofcom considered that there was little potential for the comment to be imitated by children, for example in the playground.

Ofcom considered that the comment was in keeping with the usual light-hearted and humorous style and format of the programme. The nature of the joke would have been well understood by the vast majority of listeners and would not have exceeded their normal expectations for the programme.

Taking all these factors into account, Ofcom considered that on balance the material was justified by the context and met generally accepted standards. The programme was therefore not in breach of Rule 2.3 of the Code.

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has defended biblical teachings from a bygone era and said the Church should not be rolled over by culture.

Dr Nazir-Ali spoke as tens of thousands of people, including Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, joined the annual Pride London march to celebrate homosexual culture. A war of words broke out between Labour and the Conservatives over the issue of homosexuality last week after a minister accused the Tories of having a deep strain of homophobia running through the party.

The bishop's controversial comments will reignite the battle over homosexuality in the Church of England ahead of what promises to be a divisive week for Anglicanism. A new coalition of evangelical and Anglo-Catholic parishes, backed by Dr Nazir-Ali, will get under  way, which critics have claimed is an attempt to create a "church within the church.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Nazir-Ali said: We want to uphold the traditional teaching of the Bible. We believe that God has revealed his purpose about how we are made.

People who depart from this don't share the same faith. They are acting in a way that is not normative according to what God has revealed in the Bible.

The Bible's teaching shows that marriage is between a man and a woman. That is the way to express our sexual nature.

We welcome homosexuals, we don't want to exclude people, but we want them to repent and be changed.

The bishop added that it is not just homosexuals who need to repent, but all who have strayed from the Bible's teaching.

A Bill against homosexuality is in the offing, the Ugandan minister for ethics and homophobia, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, has said.

Addressing a press conference at the Media Centre yesterday, Buturo said the country was besieged by homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, human sacrifice, drug abuse, embezzlement and witchcraft to the extent that it was dangerously becoming a permissive society.

He noted that once the Bill is passed into law, it will be an offence to publish and distribute literature on homosexuality or advocate for it. He also stated that it would become impossible for homosexuals to address press conferences and attract people to their cause, once the Bill becomes law.

He disclosed that some donors were threatening to withdraw funding if Uganda becomes more hostile to homosexuals: I all the time tell them to leave us alone. I say (to them) that Uganda's integrity is more than the money they give us. We are not going to be taken advantage of on account of financial support .

Buturo urged religious institutions to fight immorality, arguing that they are supremely mandated to address matters of the soul.

He disclosed that he was 'looking after' 60 former homosexuals, saying they are under threat from their former colleagues. He, however, did not name the place where they are being kept.

Saudi Arabian authorities have charged 67 men detained at a party for reportedly wearing women's clothing.

Most of the men were Filipino and were arrested while standing outside a private party held in a villa near the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on the occasion of Philippine Independence Day.

According to the Saudi daily Al Riyadh, the police questioned the men after spotting suspicious behavior” and then proceeded to raid the party. More women's clothing, cosmetics, and alcohol were reportedly found in further investigations.

The Philippines' vice consul in Riyadh, Roussell Reyes, confirmed the arrests. Some of those arrested were reportedly wearing gowns and wigs and drinking liquor. It seems that there was a party, Reyes reportedly told a radio station.

The Philippine Embassy says that the men were released after their work sponsors posted bail, but that they still face charges, including imitating women and possession of alcohol.

If convicted, the men could face imprisonment and flogging. Human rights groups have condemned the arrests. New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch called on the Saudi authorities to drop charges against the men, saying the arrests constitute a violation of freedom of expression and rights to privacy.

If the police in Saudi Arabia can arrest people simply because they don't like their clothes, no one is safe. Arresting and charging people simply because the police decide that their appearance is unacceptable strikes at the heart of human freedom, said Rasha Moumneh, researcher in the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, in a statement issued by the organization.

The Indian Central Government has announced plans to repeal a 150-year-old law that criminalizes homosexuality in India.

The news has come as a major victory for Gay Right activists even as the government announced its intent to decide after consulting the Church and representatives of other religious groups.

The announcement was made by Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily who would be meeting Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss on the controversial section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Section 377, which was formulated by the British in the 17th century, terms same sex relationships as a criminal act and makes it punishable with an imprisonment of 10 years.

The Cabinet has mandated to have a re-look at the provision. But we are not going to rush to any conclusion. We will certainly take into account concerns of all sections, including religious groups like Christian church, Moily said at a press conference.

So far the Church has remained mum and is yet to officially voice its discontent against the amending of Section 377. This is a very sensitive issue and the Church is yet to come out with its statements, Bishop Sahu of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) told Christian Today.

Joseph Dias, general secretary of the Catholic Secular Forum said: The Church's stand on the issue has always been clear. For us it is an unnatural act, against the divine law. We will definitely oppose it.