America's Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton (pictured), made a
landmark speech about global gay and lesbian equality this month.
Speaking to an audience of diplomats at the United Nations summit
in Geneva, she declared that the U.S. will fight discrimination
against gays and lesbians abroad by using foreign aid and diplomacy
to encourage reform.
"It should never be a crime to be gay" Clinton said. "Gay people
are born into and belong to every society in the world. Being gay
is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."
Lesbian TV sports personality Clare Balding criticised the Sports
Personality of the Year shortlist for not featuring any women. The
annual ceremony celebrates the best participants in UK sport over
the past twelve months. Sportsmen Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Luke
Donald, Mo Farah, Dai Greene, Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Andy
Murray, Amir Khan and Mark Cavendish are all nominees on the
current list.
The presenter, who has recently been given the all-clear from
thyroid cancer, said: "If you feel strongly about the all-male
SPOTY list, it might be worth making the point to the sports editor
of the paper you read, the radio station you listen to, the TV
stations you watch, that their coverage of female sport is very,
very limited in non-Olympic years.
"Otherwise, the world will stay exactly the same. If you want more
coverage of female sport, SAY SO. That way, those who care can turn
a rather desperate situation into something better in the long
term."
An epic marriage equality petition - containing more than 140,000
signatures - was presented to the Australian Labor Party during
their annual conference. A confirmed figure of 140,285 signatures
were presented to the Labor Party National Conference in Sydney
Convention Centre. Australia's openly-gay Finance Minister Penny
Wong was present to lend her support.
The petition reads: "Prime Minister Gillard, delegates to the
ALP National Conference: Not allowing same-sex couples to marry
denies them and their families legal equality and perpetuates
discrimination and prejudice. "The overwhelming majority of
Australians support full marriage equality and it is the right
thing to do. Marriage matters: amend the Commonwealth Marriage Act
so that same-sex partners can be wed."
