Global gains for civilliberties in 2003: Freedom House

(New York) US rights group Freedom House reported Thursday gains for democracy and freedom around the world in 2003, despite attempts in some regions to turn the global war on terrorism into a tool of repression. More »

LA Hate Crimes Against Gays Up

(Los Angeles, California) Hate crimes against gays and lesbians in Los Angeles County increased 7 percent in 2002 according to statistics released Wednesday with the most notable being the baseball attack on gay actor Treve Broudy. More »

Some Refusing To Vote In NH Primary Over Gay Bishop

(Durham, New Hampshire) Some residents of Durham, New Hampshire say they will not vote in the Presidential primary as long as the polling station is located in a church that denounced the state's gay Episcopal bishop and allowed a protest by the Rev Fred Phelps. More »

Shyness Can Be Deadly

(Los Angeles, California) How you react to stress influences how easily you resist or succumb to disease including HIV/AIDS, according to a new study by the scientists at the UCLA AIDS Institute. More »

Bush Gay Marriage Remarks 'Act Of War'

(Washington, D.C.) President George W. Bush's Support of the Federal Marriage Amendment is deemed a declaration of war on Gay America the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force warned Tuesday night. More »

Is Mass. Court Having Second Thoughts?

(Boston, Massachusetts) The Supreme Judicial Court has decided to open up the question of civil unions over marriage to all "interested persons". More »

Online adoption site refuses gay clients

(San Francisco) A California gay couple sued the Internet site Adoption.com on Tuesday, alleging the site won't help them adopt a child because they are homosexuals. More »

FOC's Anti-Gay- Marriage Boot Camp In Mass.

(Boston, Massachusetts) Focus on the Family, one of the most vocal anti-gay rights groups in the US, is coming to Massachusetts to train local clergy in fighting same-sex marriage in the Bay State. More »

NJ Assembly Passes Domestic Partner Bill

(Trenton, New Jersey) The Assembly late Monday night passed legislation giving limited recognition to same-sex couples in New Jersey. More »

List Of Ex-Military Brass Denouncing 'Don't Ask' Grows To 15

(Washington, D.C.) Following on the heels of three retired top servicemembers who came out last week and issued a statement condemning 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', a dozen other former officers Tuesday signed onto the measure. More »

Cook Testifies At Gay Cannibal Trial

(Kassel Germany) A chef testified Monday that he allowed the man dubbed the Kassel Cannibal to string him up on a meat hook and mark out the choice cuts on his body with a pen. More »

Violence Against Gays Unabated

(Sydney, Australia) The biggest investigation into anti-gay violence in Australia since 1994 shows there is virtually no change in the level of homophobia. More »

See previous news ...

Queer Bits: Conversations on Life

About 3 years ago, Adele Hamblin (former press maharishi and current conceptual photographer extraordinaire) "imported" her partner Leigh Hager – a budding novelist – from the USA with the legal aid of the Equality Project. Now, in the year of our campaign for the legal recognition of same sex marriages, our paths cross again as they join the ranks of support. More »

Volunteers required for psychology study

Daryth Crawford, a Clinical Psychology Masters student in the Department of Psychology at Wits University. Is conducting research on the relationship between self-esteem and depression in relation to employment status in monogamous gay partnerships. He requires gay males residing in Gauteng who are involved in a monogamous relationship and who have lived together for a year or more. One partner of this relationship must be employed/breadwinner and the other unemployed/homemaker. More »

Couples Wanted for BBC Documentary

The BBC is developing a new Observational Documentary series for TV in England , which is going to look at different societies around the world through the prism of weddings. "One story we are very keen to get is that of a gay wedding in South Africa -- and through the personal story of the couple (or couples) in question, examine wider issues about gay/lesbian life in SA since the 1998 constitution. Right now we are looking for the right couple to take part in the film." More »

Due to unintelligable technicalities, the e-mail addy: weddingfilm@bbc.co.uk has been behaving rather oddly. Should you have tried to contact Darius Bazargan to partake in the BBC documentary, and failed, please try again."