News

Glam Night of Nights

Perth’s LGBT community gathered at Novotel Langley’s Riverside Ballroom on Saturday, August 28 to celebrate the second annual Pride Ball and Glammy awards.

The MASKerade theme encouraged some fantastic costumes, with Kitty Hawkins of Gay and Lesbian Equality (WA) taking home the prize for best mask. (more…)

Thousands Rally for Marriage Equality

‘Vote with your genitals’ was the flamboyant message from Perth icon Patti Chong heard by over 1,000 people at the Equal Love marriage equality rally on August 14 at Forest Place.

Chong, a high-profile lawyer in Perth announced this mandate during the rally, met by a cry of laughter and support from the crowd of homosexual, heterosexual and transgender people present. (more…)

Regional Services Lacking

Rural LGBT communities still lack adequate health services and face limited access to the same level of help offered in urban areas of Australia, a health services executive has said.

Country Awareness Network (CAN) Executive Officer Adam Wright said it depended on location and circumstances as ‘some regions may be blessed and have great services while others may be completely different.’ (more…)

Fun and Gay Games in Cologne

The world’s biggest sports and cultural festival, the Gay Games has been hailed a success with almost 10,000 participants from 70 countries gathering to compete in Cologne, Germany last month.

Australia was well represented, with 365 athletes competing in a wide range of sports across the week-long games. (more…)

Proposition 8 Just Won’t Die

Celebrations over the demise of California’s Proposition 8 were short-lived last month as the ruling was immediately appealed to the next level of the judiciary.

US District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the proposition on August 4, deeming it unconstitutional, but left the marriage ban in place for now.

Since the ruling, the case has come into question over a technicality. (more…)

Australia Urged to Act Now on Human Rights

Australia’s leading human rights organisation has pushed for same-sex marriage and federal LGBTI anti-discrimination laws in a comprehensive review compiled for the United Nations.

The Australian Human Rights Commission released the report last month and has lodged it with the UN Human Rights Council for review in January 2011.

This will be Australia’s first Universal Periodical Review; a process the UN began in 2006 to examine the conditions of equality in all 192 member states across the globe. (more…)

Local News Briefs - September

FC Gearing up For Pride

In the lead-up to Pride, the Freedom Centre will change some of their key monthly events to prepare for an exhibition expected in late October. The monthly Guyspace and Girlspace nights have gone to make way for the CREATE evenings in September to generate pieces for the exhibition. The centre is calling out for anyone under 26 with an artistic flair to contribute. Dani Wright from the Freedom Centre encouraged anyone to head on down on either of the two CREATE Thursday evenings. The Freedom Centre will be changing up its events again in October with a monthly skills-share evening planned and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific event in conjunction with YouthLink. (more…)

National News Briefs - September

Killer Convicted after 19 Years

A man who brutally bashed a gay man almost two decades ago was jailed for at least 11-and-a-half years. 47-year-old Paul Darcy Armstrong was sentenced on Thursday August 12 in the NSW Supreme Court after a jury found him guilty, AAP reported. In September 1991, 27-year-old Felipe Flores was picked up by Armstrong at a Sydney bar. Just half-an-hour after seen leaving the bar, Mr Flores’ body was discovered in a deserted area at Woolloomooloo, known as lover’s lane. Presiding Justice Terrence Buddin said ‘the deceased had been brutally beaten to death’. Armstrong was sentenced to 17 years jail but may be eligible for parole in May 2020. (more…)

World News Briefs - September

UK Domestic Violence Crack-Down
A British police force has targeted same-sex domestic violence with the launch of an advertising campaign urging victims to come forward. The West Yorkshire police force unveiled their ‘We Won’t Turn Our Back’ campaign in response to over 400 incidents reported by victims of abusive gay and lesbian relationships in the last year. The poster uses images of men and women with footprints and injuries across their backs. Pink News reported many studies had found that victims of domestic abuse, especially gay men were often too embarrassed to report these crimes. (more…)

Family First Candidate Calls Homosexuals ‘Diseased’

11 August

A Family First candidate in Western Australia has angered the gay community, having said the minority were a ‘diseased group’.

Family First candidate for Hasluck Jim McCourt expressed his views at a community forum held at Woodlupine Family Centre on August 9 for residents to meet their potential representative members. (more…)