The police force, banks and management consultants top the Stonewall equality index ahead of the public sector, the media and education. The index which for the fifth year has ranked employers based on their impact of workplace culture on gay, lesbian and bisexual employees is as a key barometer of diversity practices across the UK. The index looks at how employees diversity policies and...

AS the rockets fire and the troops fight, we wonder what life is like in Jerusalem and what Palestinians and Israelis are all about, and how tolerance is not a one-side quality: In the summer of 2006, Jerusalem was to host, for the first time in history, the World Pride events, which were to culminate in a traditional gay pride parade. The planned events stirred turmoil in the politically complex city, with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders banding together in an uncompromising battle against what they said would defile the holy city. On the other side stood the activists of the Open House, Jerusalem’s LGBT community center, who planned the events. Steadfast in the face of the heated and violent anti-gay sentiment, they had to deal with threats to much more than just...

In Yeats' 'Second Coming (Slouching towards Bethlehem)' his concern was Ireland's struggle: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. In our village church on Christmas Eve the candles were lit, every window ledge decorated, every pew filled, there was an expectant buzz of chat just before the lights went down: the familiar, lilting solo of the first verse of 'Once in Royal David's City', then the congregation of 400 or more swelled the sound, familiar incantations that span me back to a dozen or more fortunate Christmasses before. You can find stables round here, sheltering not oxen...

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The most marvellous thing Doctor Who brings me in 1994 is Richard, obviously, but you can’t buy one. Low-budget video Shakedown – Return of the Sontarans beats any BBC Sontaran story, while the Master returns in a book (but which? Dun-dun-dahh…!). New Adventures highlights include Conundrum’s fun and games, Tragedy Day’s telethon satire (and openly gay character), and hugely entertaining Sherlock Holmes-Doctor Who-Cthulhu hustle crossover All-Consuming Fire. And with Sylv’s Doctor doing brilliantly, a new range beckons for the rest…Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures – Venusian Lullaby “‘Remember us, Doctor,’ he breathed. ‘I beg of you, remember us all.’” What would you do if your world was doomed? Paul Leonard offers black humour, desperation, horror and...

With less than a month to go to the inauguration of the first Black President of the United States, Rick Warren the pastor who some has, in the eyes of some been controversially, chosen to pray at that historic event has made a statement on gay marriage. He said in the podcast released on Monday: "I have in no way ever taught that homosexuality is the same thing as a forced relationship...

If only we lived in a world where the ignorant words of an old man with too much time on his hands didn’t matter; they do. We live in a world where people like Mikey Causer are beaten to death for being gay. Yet again with Pope Benedict XVI we have the Vatican badmouthing homosexuality, transsexualism and every variance from baseline heterosexual behaviour and institutions: Since faith in the Creator is an essential part of the Christian Credo, the Church cannot and should not confine itself to passing on the message of salvation alone. It has a responsibility for the created order and ought to make this responsibility prevail, even in public. And in so doing, it ought to safeguard not only the earth, water, and air as gifts of creation, belonging to everyone. It ought also to...

I've been sort of umming an ahing about just how far to post today following the Pope's comments in which I took a satirical look. However, following seeing what young Alistair Wood has had to say I felt that the time is probably right for one of the most heart on a sleeve blog posts seen here on my journal. Some of the stuff you will see below has been hinted at in part though the history...

The headline story in the Daily Fail was Homosexuality is as great a threat as rainforest destruction, says Pope wow you've seen the horror all day. Iain Dale (dare I speak his name two evenings in a row) suggested that the Pope should just join the BNP and be done with it. Paul Walter took more considered look at just what he said in depth rather than trying to simply fill a headline....

Yesterday afternoon, blogging super gay man Iain Dale did a post about how he and a reporter were verbally absued by some thirteen year-old leading to the eventual reaction by Iain to one of them wearing a white tracksuit that "it looked a bit gay".Now, putting aside the fact that a white tracksuit is a thoroughly gay thing and anyone wearing it deserved to be flogged in the street for their sheer chavvy gayness, Iain's decision to use the word "gay" in the popular and now commonplace usage as a synonym for "crap", has, shall we say upset some people.Upset in fact to the point that Iain has been branded a homophobe. I'm sure his gay male civil partner - lovely chap incidentally - will be reminding him of that during their more intimate moments over the forthcoming Yuletide, and it will...

Never mind Iain Dale’s Gaygate, I spotted an article about the latest series of Torchwood in which the author, John Scott Lewinski (any relation?), has this spot of wisdom: And, in case fans weren’t aware, Torchwood boss Captain Jack Harkness (pictured) evidently has occasional homosexual tendencies — as does actor John Barrowman. This reporter wasn’t sure if folks had picked up on that subtle plot point communicated in the show’s whispered subtext during the two previous seasons. That fact seems to eclipse what has become a very good sci-fi show. Assuming this is sarcasm, WTF? The “gayness” has always been an integral part of Torchwood. If sex has, on occasion, got in the way of good plotting, it hasn’t actually been Captain Jack’s...

There is a Facebook group The word "gay" is not a synonym for "stupid". The aim of the group is to disassociate the current trend among young people for saying something is a bit gay to mean either uncool, untrendy or stupid. The side affect of this of course is that those friends of such people who are gay feel the knock on effect of the word being used in this way. Therefore you can imagine...

As expected, Civil Registrar Lillian Ladele’s victory against Islington Council for religious discrimination was overturned on appeal. And the full ruling makes for very interesting reading. She felt her devout Christianity precluded her from officiating over civil partnerships, and that the law should protect her in this, despite civil partnerships being conducted by the state, not the Church, and them being a secular rather than a religious institution. But far from being as intransigent as she wanted to make the council out to be, they initially did make efforts for her to do different work for the same pay: 6. There were two other registrars who at this time also objected to carrying out these duties. One accepted an offer of different employment on the same pay, which removed...

For those of you who don’t know, Mike Huckabee is an evangelical, former Republican governor of Arkansas, and he ran for president this year against stalwarts like Mitt Romney, John McCain and Sarah Palin. His affable aura got him quite a distance through the primaries this year before the GOP voters thought he was probably unelectable. Nonetheless he’s back up and out and trying to position himself as the presumptive Republican nominee for 2012 before Obama’s even taken office. Fortunately Jon Stewart won’t have a word of it - not because Huckabee’s a hard-line evangelical per se, but because he’s rampantly homophobic and generally makes no sense with his social conservatism. Stewart quite rightly points out that the definition of marriage has evolved...

Islington Civil Registrar Lilian Ladele, who memorably defeated Islington Council, whom she claimed had discriminated against her on religious grounds, looks likely to have her victory earlier in the year overturned on appeal: Last week Justice Sir Patrick Elias, President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, said there was a “fundamental problem” with the Ladele ruling. “Let’s say I am an anarchist and I feel strongly that I want to go around blowing things up, but my employers object,” he said, according to the Islington Tribune. “It may well be that anarchy is my genuinely held belief. But it does not mean that my employer’s decision not to allow me to is discriminating against that belief. “The fundamental problem with the tribunal’s judgement...

The Blood Transfusion Service has announced plans to extend existing donors ability to give blood beyond their 70th birthday. It is a move seen as increasing the available pool as blood by about 15,000 donation per annum (of course with the addition of my Y Chromosome the odds of me getting that far based on familial precedent are slim). It will not apply to new donors who must start before...

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more beautiful man. Have you? (Photos by John McRae except where stated) For those of you who aren’t avid readers of this blog, this is Matthew Mitcham, 20 year old Aussie diving gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics last summer. Matt’s now an honest-to-goodness gay icon, having come back from burn-out to coming out before the Games and then coming from behind to produce the highest ranked dive in Olympic history on his last jump. Whilst his example should inspire us all, I wanted to give you this post for far less noble reasons. Can you guess what they are? And I’m sorry it’s not an umblemished original, but I couldn’t resist adding it. Those eyes! That smile! And what about Myles Formby’s work?...

Oh what I’d give to attend the next Sydney Mardi Gras… Openly-gay Olympic gold medallist and Australian Sports Performer of the Year, Matthew Mitcham, will be leading next year’s Mardi Gras Parade. Mitcham said he was honoured to be asked to lead the parade. “Mardi Gras has an illustrious history and I’m really proud to now be part of that,” he said. “There is such a huge buzz in the city on Parade night and it really does bring the whole city together. I am really excited to be right in the middle of the action.” New Mardi Gras Chair David Imrie said Matthew’s story is an inspiration to the community. “His comeback to elite sport following burn-out to create one of the most magical moments in Australian Olympic history made him the obvious...

Contrary to John Pilger's variously partial and wrongheaded attack in the Guardian yesterday it is wholly appropriate for the FCO to host a day of debate about the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights. That is not just because of history. In our diplomacy around the world, in our aid programme, in our deployment of troops, and in our defence of international law we uphold the values of the UN declaration. There were three priorities at Monday's conference. First taking justice to the international question to tackle impunity - through the international criminal court. Second the scope of human rights, highlighting the importance of lesbian and gay rights. And third the links between human rights and conflict. There are people around the world benefitting from UK...

I've altered the title slightly from Malc to whom a hat tip is due. But the impact is the essence of the story. The Vatican are mixing up a decriminalisation of homosexuality with a move to civil partnerships or even same sex marriage it would seem. They are opposing a UN resolution calling on all Governments worldwide to "decriminalise" homosexuality. The resolution is merely aimed at the...

Where do you start with the accolades for Matthew Mitcham? Greatest diving Olympian in history? One of the greatest gay role models in modern times? Well he’s got a new one: winner of the top prize at the Sports Performer Awards in Australia. Despite his win in Beijing however, he still doesn’t have a corporate sponsor. No, I don’t understand it either. Is it homophobia or something else? His awards win brings $50,000 with it, but nothing ongoing: Despite being the first Australian male to win a diving gold medal for 84 years, Mitcham has since discovered that producing that record-breaking dive “hasn’t been a financial goldmine”. “It’s not a sport that flush with huge dollars,” said David Lyall, from Mitcham’s management...

We live in a society which is secular, where we are governed by the rule of law, and those working in the public sector are expected, regardless of their personal beliefs, to treat everyone equally, and not to discriminate. Yet Graham Cogman decided that being a Christian licensed him to abuse the responsibilities inherent in free speech, his job description as a police officer, and ultimately the ruling of a previous disciplinary tribunal. He had threatened his employer with a tribunal for religious discrimination for disciplining him for sending out homophobic religious emails to colleagues, saying: “The blatant support for homosexual rights in Norfolk Police makes being a Christian officer extremely difficult.” “I am not undertaking this action lightly but I have to make a...

Nigel is 37, Jamie is 32. They’ve been together for ten years and are passing themselves off as 30 and 27 on Gaydar for the odd threesome. They mutually agreed to play together, with a whole rulebook and everything to protect their relationship, but when they hit their tenth anniversary Nigel invites a 17 year old he found on Gaydar to share their bed. The boy is indifferent to their rulebook and exposes and exploits not just the huge chasm which has grown between the two men, but the sham which their ‘rulebook’ has become. Jamie had bought into the agreement to open their relationship up, but realises through the intrusion of Mark into the relationship that his needs have changed. What to do with a 10 year relationship? To compromise, change or leave?...

The Metropolitan Police have gone back on a deal they were party to, in confronting gay hate reggae music. Where previously they had insisted that (as negotiated successfully with the Bradford, the Birmingham, and the Manchester police) artists such as Bounty Killer, who promote anti-gay violence in their music, would have to sign the Reggae Compassionate Act as a precondition for performing in London, they now appear to have changed their minds: London’s police service has been criticised by gay rights activists for allowing a concert by a notoriously homophobic singer to go ahead in the city this weekend. “We are aware of a planned concert by the artist Bounty Killer at Stratford Rex on Sunday November 23rd. “Conferences have been held between the police, the...

No I'm not talking about some prissy queens down the local gay bar who police the attire and attitude of any chicken or newbie who happens to troll inside. I'm talking about fascists, who happen to be gay. Last month Jörg Haider died in a crash, allegedly as he drove away from a gay bar slightly inebriated. He was famous as a former leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and as a neo-Fascist. There's something that doesn't sit right with me that a man could be a member of a xenophobic organisation and who could controversially occasionally praise some of Nazi Germany's policies and yet be gay as well. Forgetting about the sheer morality of it, surely the fact his policies are watered down versions of the policies of a regime that incarcerated, tortured and murdered thousands of gay men...

“I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion.” Gingrich also stated: “[W]hen the radicals lost the vote in California, they are determined to impose their will on this country no matter what the popular opinion, no matter what the law of the land.” (source) There are indeed gay people and secular individuals who want to impose their will on the rest of you. But let’s unpick that - the ‘rest of you’ are the fundamentally religious. ‘We’ are the gay, the straight,...

It may seem hard to believe - it sure is for me, having spent some time in the 90s training as a counsellor, but a Christian counsellor for Relate is suing his employers for requiring him to counsel gay people: Gary McFarlane says the publicly-funded national counselling service failed to accommodate his faith or allow him to try to overcome his reservations. Mr McFarlane worked for Relate in Avon and is also a solicitor and a part-time tutor on relationships at Trinity Theological College in Bristol. He said that he has “overcome” his prejudices against same-sex couples since he began working as a Relate counsellor in 2003, but now that he is training to be a psychosexual therapist, he feels he cannot deal with gay and lesbian people. Fortunately though he was suspended and...