Jamaica To Appoint Civilian Monitor In Gay Murder Probe
(Kingston) A day after the United Nations accused Jamaica of dragging its feet in finding the killers of a gay AIDS activist the government has announced it will appoint a civilian monitor to ensure police are doing their job.

Church Commitment Ceremony For Gay Priest Draws Anger From Conservatives
(London) A gay Anglican priest and his partner will have a church blessing service this month immediately following their civil union.

Jewish, Evangelical Leaders Meet Amid Gay Differences
(New York City) The prestigious Jewish Theological Seminary has sponsored dialogues with all sorts of American religious and ethnic groups over the past 67 years, but never with evangelical Protestants - until last week.

School Pulls Student Paper Over Gay Ad 
(Lampeter, Pennsylvania) Administrators stopped the distribution of a high school newspaper with an advertisement by a gay and lesbian support group, and distributed it two weeks later without the ad.

Portland Moves To Broaden Gay Benefits Law
(Portland, Oregon) Portland could soon become the latest city to require companies holding city contracts to provide health benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees.

New Calif. Supreme Court Judge Mum On Gay Marriage
(Sacramento, California) being pilloried for days by members of his own party for picking a left-leaning Democratic activist to be his top aide.

Bloomberg Calls For Legalized Gay Marriage
(New York City)  A day after winning a reversal of a court ruling that would have legalized same-sex marriage in New York City, mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will fight for the right of gay and lesbian couples to wed.

NJ Senate Appointment Gets High Marks On Gay Issues 
(Washington) New Jersey Gov.-elect Jon Corzine on Friday appointed Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez to serve out the remaining year in Corzine's Senate term.

Donate Libel Winnings To Gay Charity Robbie Williams Told
(London) Singer Robbie Williams is under fire from a British gay rights group after he successfully sued a tabloid and two magazines that claimed he is a closet gay.

Oral HIV Test Giving False Positives
(San Francisco, California) A promising new oral HIV test that uses fluid swabbed from the mouth to quickly and easily detect the virus that causes AIDS incorrectly diagnosed a quarter of the people who tested positive in San Francisco, city health officials found.

Weho Politicians Blast Ford Gay Ad Decision
(West Hollywood, California) The mayor and mayor pro tem of West Hollywood have blasted Ford Motor Corporation Chair William Ford for the company's decision to end its advertising in the LGBT media.

10 Years In Prison For Transmitting HIV During Gay Sex
(Brisbane, Australia) A Brisbane gay man was sentenced Friday to ten years behind bars for infecting his partner with HIV.

SF Cop Defends Homophobic, Racist Videos
(San Francisco, California)  A police officer who produced videos that the mayor and police chief blasted as homophobic, racist and sexist is defending his work.

Immune Response To HIV Differs, Even in Identical Twins
(Los Angeles, California) In findings illustrating the difficulty of developing an AIDS vaccine, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles AIDS Institute have discovered that the immune systems in two HIV-positive identical twins responds to the infection in different ways.

Opposition Continues Over Lesbian Pastor's Defrocking
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Two rulings concerning gays by the highest court in the United Methodist Church are continuing to divide the denomination.

Police Crackdown On Liberty Avenue
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) In an action that mirrors a storyline in the now defunct Queer As Folk, Pittsburgh police are cracking down on gay sex on Liberty Avenue.

U.N. Accuses Jamaica Of Not Doing Enough To Hunt Down Gay AIDS Activist's Killers
(New York City) The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS on Thursday told the Jamaican government it isn't doing enough to find the killers of Lenford "Steve" Harvey.

NY Gay Marriage Ruling Overturned
(New York City) A New York State appeals court on Thursday overturned a ruling that the state ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

Dykes Win Trademark
(San Francisco, California) San Francisco lesbian bikers have won a major battle with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Australian Gay Guilty Of Passing HIV
(Brisbane, Australia) A Brisbane gay man was convicted Thursday of willfully transmitting HIV to a sexual partner.

Appeal Being Prepared In Lesbian Baby Case
(San Francisco, California) An appeal to the California Supreme Court will be filed early in the New Year in a controversial case involving two doctors who refused in vitro fertilization to a lesbian.

High School Field Trip To 'Rent' Too Gay For Parents
(Glocester, Rhode Island) A group of parents is calling a high school field trip a "promotion of homosexuality". 

S.F. Cops Make Homophobic, Racist Videos On City Time 
(San Francisco, California) Twenty San Francisco police officers are being suspended from duty after the discovery of  homophobic racist videos produced by the officers. 

Vatican Says Gays Unfit To Be Parents
(Boston) The Vatican's top man in America has asked Boston Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley to step in and stop allowing Catholic Charities of Boston to place adoptive children with same-sex couples.

Appeals Court Upholds Ruling On Bullied Gay Student
(Trenton, New Jersey) An appellate panel ruled Wednesday that New Jersey's anti-discrimination law applies to children victimized by bias-based bullying, saying schools can be held liable for student-on-student harassment.

Transsexual Cannot Become Crisis Center Councilor Court Rules
(Vancouver, British Columbia) A Vancouver transsexual has lost the latest round in her battle with a women's group to become a volunteer rape counselor.

Christian 'Right' Wants Control Of Your Money
(New York City) If holiday shopping weren't hard enough, growing numbers of advocacy groups are campaigning to steer shoppers away from certain retailers and products - citing causes from gay rights to getting the word "Christmas" more prominently in the public eye.

Gay Poet Walt Whitman's Landmark Work Celebrated
(New Haven, Connecticut) Devotees and scholars of gay writer Walt Whitman are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the original edition of his seminal work, Leaves of Grass, the concise volume of 12 poems that pushed the boundaries of social decency and of poetry itself.

Alabama Lawmaker Introduces Hate Crime Bill
(Montgomery Alabama) Less than a week after Alabama's largest LGBT civil rights organization called for hate crimes legislation following two unrelated homophobic attacks, a state legislator is proposing adding sexual orientation to existing hate crime laws.

Teen Who Attacked 2 Gay In N.M. To Be Sentenced As Adult
(Santa Fe, New Mexico) A Santa Fe teen who took part in the beating of a gay man last February has shown no remorse the judge in the case says.

Wisconsin Senate Passes Anti-Gay Amendment
(Madison, Wisconsin)  The state Senate voted Wednesday to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to ban both gay marriage and civil unions. 

Gay Ex-Gov. Finds Comfortable Pew At Episcopal Church
(Trenton, New Jersey) Former altar boy James McGreevey hasn't been seen much around his parish church since he declared last year "I am a gay American".

Man Dies After Gay Union Ceremony
(London) A day after Matthew Roche entered into a civil partnership with his longtime lover Christopher Cramp the 46 year old has died.

Voters Toss Out 'Gay Chat Mayor'
(Spokane, Washington) Spokane Mayor James West is out of a job today.  Voters overwhelmingly decided the mayor had violated his office by offering city jobs to young men he met in gay chat rooms in return for dates. 

Mass. Anti-Gay Petitions Begin Arriving For Certification
(Boston, Massachusetts) Boxes of petitions to have a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions put to voters have begun arriving at the office of Massachusetts Secretary of State Francis Galvin.

Prosecutor Won't Seek Death Penalty In Gay Slaying
(Montrose, Colorado) Two men charged with killing an openly gay Montrose man appeared briefly in court Tuesday.   

Australian Facing Jail For Passing HIV To Gay Sex Partner
(Brisbane, Australia) A Brisbane man has been charged with infecting a gay sex partner with HIV. A court order prevents publication of the names of both the accused and the alleged victim.

EU Urged To Condemn Latvian Anti-Gay Measures
(Brussels) European LGBT civil rights advocates are calling on the European Union to force Latvia to adhere to the EU's human rights laws.

Lesbian Convicted Of Killing Partner
(New York City) A Yonkers woman has been convicted of first-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her longtime partner last Christmas Eve.

'Gay Chat Mayor' Awaits Fate
(Spokane, Washington) Spokane Mayor Jim West should know late tonight if he will finish his first term, as the results are released in an unprecedented recall election triggered by a sex scandal. 

Robbie Williams Wins Gay Libel Suit
(London) Pop star Robbie Williams has won a lawsuit over claims he is secretly gay.

Lawyers Get Grilling By Justices In Gay Issues Case
(Washington) The Supreme Court was told Tuesday that if universities want federal funding they must allow military recruiters on campus even when the schools disagree with "don't ask, don't tell".

Make Gay Man Testify At Partner's Trial Prosecutors Tell Judge
(New York City) Prosecutors are opposing efforts to apply the state's marital privilege law to same-sex couples, arguing that a man charged in a school embezzlement scandal can testify against his partner.

Cop Involved In 'Gay Wedding' Bust Under Investigation
(Abu Dubai) A United Emirates police officer who took part in the arrests of two dozen men at what police called "a mass homosexual wedding" is under investigation for taking cell phone pictures of some of the accused.

Lawsuits Escalate Against Universities With Gay Rights Regulations
(San Diego, California) A conservative Christian law practice that already is suing several universities over gay rights regulations has filed suit against San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach claiming Christian students are being discriminated against. 

Boston College Cancels Gay Students' AIDS Fundraiser
(Boston, Massachusetts) Boston College has abruptly cancelled an AIDS fundraiser sponsored by the schools LGBT group.

Israeli Gays Fight Supreme Court Appointment
(Jerusalem) The expected appointment of a social conservative to Israel's Supreme Court has drawn the ire of LGBT civil rights groups.

Md. Marriage Ruling Could Impact 06 Election
(Baltimore, Maryland)  A proposal to ban gay marriages will be a contentious issue in the 2006 Maryland General Assembly session, but just how big an issue and how much of an impact it will have on next year's election may depend on a circuit court judge in Baltimore.

Pressure Mounting On Exxon To Provide Gay Worker Protections
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) One of the nation's largest mutual funds says it will vote its shares in ExxonMobil in support of adding sexuality to the company's nondiscrimination policy.

Ford Pulls Gay Ads But Reasons Unclear
(Washington) Ford Motor Company has pulled most of its advertising from LGBT media companies after a threatened boycott by the American Family Association but whether the two are related is unclear.

Wisconsin Gay Marriage Amendment Moves To Senate Vote
(Madison, Wisconsin) The Wisconsin Senate will vote Tuesday on a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Suit Seeks To End State Department Ban On HIV Workers
(Washington) An appeal was filed Monday in a case involving a State Department ban on hiring people for the foreign service who are HIV-positive.

UK Gay Unions Law Comes Into Effect
(London) Britain's civil partnership law is effective today, but not all gays are cheering. 

Calif. Gay Marriage Foes Said Unlikely To Get Prop On June Ballot
(San Francisco, California) A group trying to get a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage put to voters in California concedes it won't make it on the June 2006 ballot and may not make it in November.

Gay Marriage Opponents Have 'Leave It To Beaver Mentality' Relationship Expert Says
(Portland, Oregon) The debate over gay marriage has social conservatives decrying the destruction of the sanctity of marriage, but a nationally renowned marriage expert argues the institution was thrown into chaos long ago.

Canadian Leader Cautious In Support For Gay Candidate
(Vancouver)  New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton was cautiously diplomatic in his defense of embattled candidate Svend Robinson during a visit to Robinson's riding on the weekend.

Supreme Court Hears Gay Military Case This Week
(Washington) The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in the first case involving gays since John Roberts became Chief Justice.

Judges Rule Doctors Acted Legally Denying Calif. Lesbian Insemination
(San Diego, California) A state appeals court has ruled that two fertility doctors had the right to refuse to artificially inseminate a lesbian based on her marital status because it would have violated their religious beliefs.

Anti-Gay Group Dumps Bank
(Denver, Colorado) Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian group based in Colorado Springs, is withdrawing funds from Wells Fargo because of its alleged involvement in pro-gay causes.

The Rocky Road To Marriage Equality
(Washington) From Massachusetts to California the road to marriage equality for gays and lesbians is marked by twists and turns.

Spokane 'Gay Chat Mayor' Pleads For Second Chance
(Spokane, Washington)  Mayor Jim West, facing recall next week in an abuse-of-office sex scandal, says in a newspaper advertisement that he made mistakes, but asked voters for a second chance.