Gay TV network celebrates AIDS awareness

The Annual Ribbon of Hope celebration is set to be shown on the American gay TV network here! for the second year in a row.

The event, now in its 11th year, is aimed at celebrating those working in television as well as individuals who keep HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention at the forefront.

The ceremony is due to coincide with World AIDS Day on the 1st December.

This is the eleventh Ribbon of Hope celebration. Previous winners have included Sex and the City, The West Wing and E.R who have all won awards for including story lines about HIV/AIDS.

Paul Colichma, founder of here! said in a statement: "The significance of the Ribbon of Hope taking place on World AIDS Day once again presents an important opportunity to renew awareness while addressing the complacency that currently hampers HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment efforts around the world.

"In that vein, here! is honored to be partnering with the Television Academy, once again on this important event and thrilled to be able to make this celebration to here!'s nationwide audience and global online community."

IVF hearing on hold after peer collapses

A hearing aimed at making gay and lesbian parenting easier in the future has attracted further criticism and was adjourned after a peer collapsed in the House of Lords yesterday.

The move was aimed at making the need for a father at IVF clinics unnecessary.

The Lords however said it should uphold the importance of both parents.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill contains new rules that will allow the gay and lesbian couples to become the legal parents of a child conceived through donated sperm, eggs or embryos.

According to the BBC, Lord Darzi had said earlier that it was important to change the law to make sure it "was reflective of modern society."

He said the Bill would "update the regulation of assisted reproduction to ensure it is both effective and also reflective of modern society."

Lord Dazi added: "The Bill includes clear recognition of same-sex couples as legal parents of children conceived through use of donated sperm, eggs or embryos."

Lib Dem peer Baroness Tonge said children could be brought up "very well indeed without either parent in some circumstances."

She added: "My party has never discriminated against gay people – which this debate is really about – and we will therefore support the removal of these words."

Labour Peer Lord Brennan, 65, collapsed and required heart massage before the second hearing of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was adjourned to a later date.

Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Tory party, said on Sunday that the proposals remove the need for a father and therefore threaten society.

Fourt-five Labour MPs have signed a motion saying the bill is "profoundly misinformed and clearly undermine the best interests of the child" and the leader of Britain's Catholic Church, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, has said the bill is "profoundly wrong.

First gay Somali website launched

A website aimed at improving communication between Somalian gay men has now gone live.

The site, the first of its kind for the Muslim East African nation, is aimed at the UK Somalian gay community and it is hoped that it will reach those who feel trapped in the homophobic country and show that there are others like them.

A spokesperson for the site, Somaligaycommunity.org, told Pinknews.co.uk: "It is a shame that we are still confronted with so much hate and discrimination for the fact that we are gay, but I believe the only way to overcome this is by educating ourselves and others and having a website like this will play such an important role."

Somaligaycommunity.org is meant to act as a contact and information point for what he feels is a community "in a state of limbo", due to not being attached to the Somali community in the UK or the mainstream gay community.

He says that the vitriolic responses written by some people on the website have been "really shocking."
"I think these people should be respectful of the countries they are in and not say such things."

Some visitors to the site have called it "disgusting", with others calling homosexuality an "evil disease."

GLAAD Honors Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize those killed because of anti-transgender violence or prejudice. To mark this event, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has released a PSA encouraging viewers to treat others with dignity and respect regardless of gender identity/expression or sexual orientation.

The 20-second spot is part of GLAAD's ongoing "Be an Ally & a Friend" campaign and features transgender actress Alexandra Billings (Grey's Anatomy, ER), as well as T.R. Knight (Grey's Anatomy), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), Rex Lee (Entourage), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) and retired NBA player John Amaechi.

Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded nine years ago to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered Nov. 28, 1998. The annual event is designed to raise public awareness of anti-transgender hate crimes and to encourage people to be allies to the transgender community.

"It is of vital importance that all of us, regardless of our sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance," GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano said in a release. "Transgender people face violence and discrimination every day. We all need to show our support by being allies and friends to the transgender community."

GLAAD's "Be an Ally & a Friend" PSA campaign features 22 public figures from television, film and sports. The spots, directed by Nadine Licostie and produced by Licostie and Connie Grazia for Red Thread Productions, encourage people to be allies to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and to help combat discrimination, directing viewers to resources at GLAAD.org.

GLAAD is releasing a new 20- or 30-second version of the PSA approximately every two weeks to be aired through broadcast collaborations with Access Hollywood, national cable networks such as Fox Reality, GSN, IFC, Lifetime, The N, Sci Fi Channel and Sundance Channel; local cable systems and network affiliates; online at LiveVideo, YouTube, AOL Video and MySpace; and others to be announced.

Argentina's sixteenth Pride event is great success

Argentina celebrated its sixteenth annual Gay Pride ceremony last weekend.

The event was held in Buenos Aires, which recently won the trophy in the Gay World Cup, also held in the Latin American country.

According to Reuters, Cesar Cigliutti, President of the Argentine Homosexual Community said at the event: "After sixteen years our motto is celebration.

"This party is a demand, for there to be gays and lesbians dancing in the street is a demand."

During the evening the event, which took place near the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedeal, attracted crowds of Catholic demonstrators, but they were kept separate from the fun by police.

Speaking to Wikinews, Marнa Josй Lubertino, Chairwoman of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism said: "This is an advance for democracy, that we can gather so many people to celebrate diversity.

"We must work against all types of discrimination and especially on this day against homophobia, and also pursue the rights not afforded to us; for example, the identity of transsexual people."

The city was the first in South America to legalise same sex unions, in 2002.

Germany's top political and sports analyst comes out

Imagine what would happen if Katie Couric came out of the closet. This week, Germany got a taste of a surprise like that when top political news and sports analysts Anne Will, announced her five-year relationship with University of St. Gallen Professor Miriam Meckel.

Born in Cologne Germany, Will began working as a reporter at Kцlnische Rundschau (the Cologne Review) while still attending college.

She became a well-respected journalist during the 1990’s and began writing for a variety of news magazines before landing a job hosting the popular German sports show Sportschau.

During the 2000 Summer Olympics, she became more high profile presenting athlete segments and sports commentary and was eventually brought on to anchor Germany’s top evening news show Tagesthemen.

Early last month Will began her own political talk show, Anne Will, which helped catapult her career as a successful political liaison.

While at an event at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, AfterEllen.com reports that the 41-year-old confirmed rumors about her sexuality while posing for a picture underneath the museums placard which reads "Tolerance and Understanding" with her longtime partner Meckel.

"Yes we are a couple," Will explained to reporters, "but we would like to keep our private life private." This was the first time Will had made a public statement about her relationship, although the couple has never tried to hide it even attending the 2002 Federal Press Ball together.

Will’s employers released a statement of support and acknowledged her dedication and perseverance as a talented journalist.

Will has been an advocate for establishing better European-African relations and has been a vocal voice for the abolishment of landmines. Will has used her notoriety to help campaign for UNICEF and other charities, which benefit children all over the world.

Former Tory leader attacks lesbian parents

A leading member of the Conservative party has launched a full-frontal attack on the rights of lesbian and gay couples to equal parenting rights.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is due before the House of Lords today.

It contains new rules that will allow the gay and lesbian couples to become the legal parents of a child conceived through donated sperm, eggs or embryos.

Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Tory party, said that the proposals remove the need for a father and therefore threaten society.

"Another nail will have been hammered into the coffin of the traditional family and another blow will have been struck against fatherhood," he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.

"This move could not have come at a worse time.

"Just as we are beginning to appreciate the vital role fathers play in the successful upbringing of children, Labour ministers are sending out the utterly wrong signal that fathers don't matter."

Gay equality organisation Stonewall said the proposed new rules would merely give legal status to gay couples that already exists for heterosexuals.

"At a time when three million children in this country are growing up in single-parent households, it seems odd there should be this obsession with a few hundred who have an opportunity to have a second loving parent," said chief executive Ben Summerskill.

Mr Duncan Smith's comments are at odds with the gay-friendly image the party is keen to cultivate since David Cameron took over as leader.

"To equate lesbian households with so-called 'broken homes', as Iain Duncan Smith has done, is as ludicrous as his attack on all unmarried couples and the Conservatives' bizarre wish to impose fathers on lesbian households suggests that some Tories simply don't understand anything beyond their own traditional backgrounds," said Lib Dem MP Evan Harris.

Mr Duncan Smith's concerns about the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill are likely to be echoed by many members of the House of Lords when the legislation is discussed today.

The Archbishop of York is expected to oppose the bill and many Tory peers will speak out against equality for gay and lesbian couples.

Opposition is not restricted to the Tory party - 45 Labour MPs have signed a motion saying the bill is "profoundly misinformed and clearly undermine the best interests of the child."

The leader of Britain's Catholic Church, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, has criticised the planned Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as "profoundly wrong."