Christian Guesthouse Owners Lose Appeal over Ban on Gay Guests
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Two Christian guesthouse owners, Peter and Hazelmary Bull, who were ordered to pay damages after refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in a double room lost their appeal today.

The challenge by the Bulls, who run Chymorvah House in Marazion, Cornwall, was rejected by three judges in the Court of Appeal in London.

They had appealed against a conclusion by a judge at Bristol County Court that they acted unlawfully when they turned away Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy in September 2008.

Judge Andrew Rutherford ruled in January last year that the Bulls had breached equality legislation and ordered them to pay the couple a total of £3,600 damages.

The appeal judges heard that the Bulls thought any sex outside marriage was a "sin", but denied they had discriminated against Mr Hall and Mr Preddy, from Bristol.

Today's ruling was given by Sir Andrew Morritt, Chancellor of the High Court, Lord Justice Hooper and Lady Justice Rafferty.

Mr Bull, 72, and Mrs Bull, who is in her late 60s, were not in court for the announcement. » | Friday, February 10, 2012

Gays 'Vilify' Rick Santorum, Wife Karen Dated Abortion Doctor
Rick Santorum's wife Karen said gays 'vilify' the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down and goes on to explain how Karen dated an abortion doctor before marrying Rick.

The Weekly Standard's Anti-gay Email Is Just One of a Disturbing Trend

THE GUARDIAN – NEWS BLOG: Frustrated American conservatives are exploiting gay paranoia to make up for a drought of ideas on how to fix the economy

Conservative magazine and website The Weekly Standard is under fire for sending a vituperative and deeply paranoid email to its thousands of subscribers, claiming that the "homosexual lobby" wants to indoctrinate American school students with a "perverted vision for a homosexual America".

The email, from the rightwing activist Eugene Delgaudio, rails against proposed legislation designed to protect young gay students from discrimination, saying it would "require schools to teach appalling homosexual acts".

The Standard has moved to distance itself from the email, sent as a sponsored mail-out by its marketing department, but the editor has declined opportunities to disavow the content.

Yet even in the charged atmosphere of cultural discourse in the United States, the language is extraordinary. Delguadio, renames the Student Non-Discrimination Act as the "Homosexual Classrooms Act" and says it would

• Require schools to teach appalling homosexual acts so "homosexual students" don't feel "singled out" during already explicit sex-ed classes;

• Spin impressionable students in a whirlwind of sexual confusion and misinformation, even peer pressure to "experiment" with the homosexual "lifestyle";

• Exempt homosexual students from punishment for propositioning, harassing, or even sexually assaulting their classmates, as part of their specially-protected right to "freedom of self-expression";

• Force private and even religious schools to teach a pro-homosexual curriculum and purge any reference to religion if a student claims it creates a "hostile learning environment" for homosexual students.

It goes on to say that the bill is "just the start" of a secret plan by gay campaigners. "In fact, it will set them up to ram through their entire perverted vision for a homosexual America." » | Posted by Matt Wells | Friday, January 06, 2012

Defend Persecuted Christians, Not Just Gays, Ministers Told

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ministers stand accused of double standards by threatening to withdraw aid from countries that persecute homosexuals but ignoring Christians.

Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory minister, will tomorrow claim the Government is turning a blind eye to abuse of Christians around the world while piling pressure on those who target sexuality.

In a speech in London, she will say “hedgehogs” have a better chance of being protected by the Government.

Miss Widdecombe has hit out following reports that David Cameron has threatened to slash aid to poor African countries that persecute gay people.

Malawi has already had its aid cut by £19 million after two gay men were sentenced to 14 years hard labour.

But in a speech to the annual conference of international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) tomorrow, Miss Widdecombe will say: “Fair enough. But what about Christians? When do we qualify for such protection or don’t we?

“You stand a better chance of earnest representation if you are a hedgehog than if you are a persecuted Christian.”

The plight of Christians came in to sharp focus this month following the death of at least 25 people, mainly Coptic Christians, in Egypt. Read on and comment » | Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor | Friday, October 21, 2011

Obama Told 'You Wouldn't Treat Jews Like This' As He Orders Black Caucus to 'Stop Complaining'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A leading black congresswoman has criticised Barack Obama for telling the Congressional Black Caucus to "stop complaining".

Representative Maxine Waters of California claimed Mr Obama "never would say that" to Hispanic, gay or Jewish groups.

She took umbrage at Mr Obama's fiery weekend speech in which he told black members of Congress: "I expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes.

"Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We've got work to do, CBC."

Mrs Waters, a former CBC chairman, told CBS News that she found the comments "a bit curious" and "not appropriate". She said that she was "not sure exactly who the president was talking to" when he made the speech.

"The president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus – he certainly didn't tell them to stop complaining," she said. » | Toby Harnden, Washington | Tuesdaay, September 27, 2011

Study Finds Poorer Health among Older Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals
PINK NEWS: A study of older gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in California suggests that they have poorer health than their straight counterparts.

According to the data from the California Health Interview Survey, gay and bisexual men between 50 and 70 have higher rates of physical disability, diabetes and high blood pressure than straight men of the same age.

Older gay and bisexual men were 45 per cent more likely to report psychological distress and one in five said they were living with HIV.

Half lived alone, compared to just 13 per cent of straight men.

Lesbian and bisexual women also had poorer health, with higher rates of physical disability and psychological distress.

They were also more likely to live alone than straight women.

Steven P Wallace of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, who led the research, said: “Many aging LGB Californians do not have biological children or strong family support. » | Jessica Geen | Tuesday, April 05,

Religious Gays Offered 'Conversion Therapy'
YNET NEWS: Association of religious homosexuals sets up fund subsidizing treatments aimed at changing sexual tendencies. 'There is no clear ruling in the world of research that one can or cannot change,' explains organization's director

For years, organizations for homosexuals have refused to acknowledge the possibility of changing a person's sexual inclination. A newly established association of religious gays and lesbians is now giving those psychological "conversion therapies" a chance.

Moreover, the association even plans to subsidize these treatments for its disadvantaged members who cannot afford to pay for them.

The move, which is expected to reignite the dispute over these treatments' efficiency and mental risks, may actually allow for wide cooperation between rabbis and senior educators in the religious public and groups of gays and lesbians from the sector.

So far, rabbis have distanced themselves from all gay organizations, perceiving their members as people who have not tried to change and are not seeking to emerge from the conflict they live in. >>> Kobi Nahshoni | Friday, February 25, 2011

Hawaii Legalizes Same-sex Unions
THE VANCOUVER SUN: Hawaii legalized same-sex civil unions, as its governor signed into law a bill giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual married partners.

Gay rights campaigners on Wednesday welcomed the signature by Governor Neil Abercrombie, following approval by lawmakers last week, although they said it did not allow gay couples to formally marry.

"This bill has been a long time coming for committed couples in Hawaii who have been denied the basic right to take care of their families," said Laurie Temple, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawaii.

"While we continue to work to achieve the freedom to marry for all couples, we commend the legislature and Governor Abercrombie for taking a stand against baseless discrimination by passing this bill." >>> AFP | Thursday, February 24, 2011

Fossils Gather! US Conservatives Object to Gay Republicans at Conference
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Leading Right-wing organisations in the United States have pulled out of a major conservative conference because of the participation of a gay Republican group, exposing a schism among conservatives over the direction of the movement.

The conference will attract thousands of activists to Washington and feature most of the Republican hopefuls for the party's 2012 presidential nomination. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
At least half a dozen groups have announced they will not attend the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) next month, which will attract thousands of activists to Washington and feature most of the Republican hopefuls for the party's 2012 presidential nomination.

They have objected to the status of GOProud as a co-sponsor of the event, though the group does not advocate actively for gay marriage, believing it is an issue that should be resolved by states and not the federal government. GOProud, whose name is derived from the Republican Party's nickname Grand Old Party, did however strongly support the recent repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy on military recruitment of gay people.

"The baseline reason is that homosexuality is not a conservative value," said Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. "It's the conservative Pac, not the libertarian Pac."

Brent Bozell, head of the Media Research Centre, which tracks liberal bias in the mainstream media, said: "We've been there 25 years, since our inception. To bring in a 'gay' group is a direct attack on social conservatives, and I can't participate in that."

The Family Research Council, which has participated in the conference for several years, said in a statement: "Organizations whose whole reason for existence is to promote the forced public affirmation of homosexual conduct should not be welcomed at Cpac, because that is not by any stretch of the imagination a 'conservative' agenda." >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Friday, January 07, 2011

Is Coming Out a Career Killer?
THE GUARDIAN: Former BP chief Lord Browne said this week that despite a shift in attitudes, homophobia is rife — and people in public life are afraid to come out

It hasn't been a great few weeks for those who dare to believe that we are living in enlightened times. It had been looking likely that Dr Jeffrey John, the highly regarded dean of St Albans, who came out in the 1970s and is in a (celibate) civil partnership, would become Britain's first openly gay bishop, but last week his nomination was blocked. There was the teacher in Liverpool who called a pupil "a fat gay boy" and the small but vocal anti-gay protest that tried (but failed) to disrupt the Pride festival in Derby. This week a Tory councillor, Denis Knowles, was cleared of homophobia to the dismay of many who took offence at his description of male Labour activists as being "of the limp-wristed variety". Last week Alastair Campbell revealed on his blog that when he appeared on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, when questioned about his views on gay rights, said: "I demand the right not to be bummed." Strange that the BBC didn't show that bit.

Meanwhile, some of the rightwing papers got themselves into a state about the "floodgates" being open to gay asylum seekers after last week's landmark ruling that two asylum seekers should have the right to stay in the UK – a story that was given an added dose of hysteria by the bizarre statement from one of the supreme court judges, Lord Rodger, that gay men should have the right "to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts and drinking exotically coloured cocktails".

So who can be entirely surprised by the piece in yesterday's newspaper by Lord Browne of Madingley, the former BP chief executive who resigned after he was outed in 2007, who wrote that homophobia still thrives in British public life? "Even in today's more tolerant age, there are many lonely people out there still afraid to reveal who they really are for fear of marginalisation and abuse." He highlighted the case of David Laws, the Liberal Democrat MP, who was forced to resign as chief secretary to the Treasury in May after he claimed expenses for accommodation owned by his male partner in order to keep their relationship secret. "[Laws' resignation] suggests that public figures continue to feel they have no choice but to cover up their sexuality," wrote Browne.

Perhaps one of the most revealing things about Lord Mandelson's memoirs, which came out this week, is what they didn't reveal. In an interview in the Times this week, he was asked about his position "as the most powerful gay man in the country", and in the closest he has yet come to acknowledging his sexuality publicly, he said: "I think I'm actually quite a good role model for people who, without any fuss or bother, without any self-consciousness or inverse or other discrimination, are able to make it in politics, to make it in public life … If I've demonstrated that, and provided a role model for that, then I think I've done a service."

Mandelson, Browne and Laws are all from a generation who grew up at a time when it was illegal to be gay, which may explain their reticence. But the last 10 years have seen a huge shift in attitudes, and a raft of legislative changes have brought greater equality for gay people: the introduction of civil partnerships; the right to serve in the military; to adopt; for lesbians to have IVF and for same-sex couples to be named on a child's birth certificate. There have been new laws against discrimination at work and in public services, the abolition of section 28 and the age of consent brought into line with that for heterosexuals. >>> Emine Saner | Saturday, July 17, 2010

Additional reporting by Patrick Kingsley

THE GUARDIAN: Being Outed Is a Blessing >>> John Browne | Thursday, July 15, 2010

General Synod: Church of England Exodus Feared Unless Women Bishops Plans Changed
THE TELEGRAPH: Conservative clergy have warned of a mass exodus from the Church of England and a sharp drop in its income unless divisive plans for the introduction of women bishops are changed.

On the first day of the gathering of the Church’s governing body, the General Synod, Anglo-Catholics claimed that “large numbers” would leave for Rome if their demands for concessions are not met.

Meanwhile 50 serving priests belonging to Reform, the evangelical group, signed an open letter saying that the situation could force them to cut off funding for dioceses and spend their money on training new vicars outside the Church instead.

The established church, which introduced women to the priesthood in 1994, is committed to ordaining female bishops as well but the process has been held up by the entrenched positions of both supporters and opponents of the historic move.

Liberals argue that women should be introduced to the episcopate on the same basis and with the same powers as men, otherwise an unfair two-tier system will develop.

However conservatives claim they were assured back when women priests were introduced that provisions would be made for them, similar to the “flying bishops” that currently cater for parishes that cannot accept the oversight of female vicars, when the next step was taken.

They want either an entirely new “men-only” province that could cover the whole of England, or extra junior bishops in dioceses who had not ordained women bishops and who would be answerable only to an Archbishop. >>> Martin Beckford | Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Rowan Williams Issues 'Profound Apology' to Gay Christians
TIMES ONLINE: The Archbishop of Canterbury issued a “profound apology” to the lesbian and gay Christian community today.
In a powerful address to the General Synod, Dr Rowan Williams warned that any schism within the Church would represent a betrayal of God’s mission.

But he made clear that he regretted recent rhetoric in which he has sought to mollify the fears of the traditionalist wing of the church.

The Archbishop is from the Church’s liberal wing and a man who once espoused equal rights for gays within the Church. More recently he has adopted a conservative line for the sake of Church unity.

Today he said: “There are ways of speaking about the question that seem to ignore these human realities or to undervalue them.

“I have been criticised for doing just this and I am profoundly sorry for the carelessness that could give such an impression.”
Addressing the even more contentious debate over gay ordinations — something which threatens to split the Church farther [sic] with the expected consecration in May of Canon Mary Glasspool, a lesbian, as a bishop in Los Angeles — Dr Williams said it had not been helped by those who ignored the fact that many worshippers were gay, as well as many “sacrificial and exemplary priests”.

He made it clear that there was blame on all sides of the argument that has brought the Church to the brink of splitting. He pleaded for Anglicans angry over gays and women bishops to cease fighting, admitting that he and other bishops might have to settle for a two-tier communion. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Prize Comment of the Day:

Why is 'God' so concerned with what men do with their willies? There must be hundreds of issues more deserving of attention in the world today than this. Too many men in dresses getting hot under the collar.

Surely a religion where you are encouraged to worship a naked man (and his dad) should be a haven for the gay community. I can't believe the church doesn't need the bodies on a Sunday either.

I think I might get burnt at the stake now. – Gaberdine Dog, [Source: TimesOnline/Page 3 of comments]

Cameron: Gay Refugees from Africa Should Be Given Asylum in UK
MAIL ONLINE: Gay refugees from Africa should be granted asylum in the UK, David Cameron has said.

The Tory leader suggested that homosexuals should be allowed to stay in Britain if their lives would be put in danger were they sent home.

Under immigration rules, gay men are often sent back to countries with homophobic regimes - and advised to keep their sexuality a secret in case local police attack them.

But in an interview with gay magazine Attitude, Mr Cameron said the rules should be changed to protect homosexuals fleeing persecution.

He also promised to do more to stop rappers whose songs contain homophobic lyrics from performing in Britain, and said he would force faith schools to teach pupils there was nothing wrong with being gay. >>> Daniel Martin | February 05, 2010

Attitude >>> | Thursday, February 04, 2010

The Dividing Lines of Uganda's Anti-gay Row
BBC: Newsnight's Tim Whewell has travelled to Uganda where an attempt to punish "aggravated homosexuality" with the death penalty has caused outrage across the world.

Preacher Martin Semper uses his popularity to deliver a vehement message of anti-gay rhetoric to an enthusiastic congregation at a Kampala University. Watch BBC video >>> | Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Two Guys Kissing Set to Steal the Super Bowl Show
THE INDEPENDENT: Next Sunday's football final will highlight an extra showdown: between liberals and the religious right

It's already a quintessentially American event, combining razzmatazz, cheerleaders, and multimillionaire sportsmen in a few excessive hours of made-for-TV entertainment. But this year, the Super Bowl will be jollified by a side-plot that perhaps reflects the true state of the nation: an angry dispute between liberals and the religious right.

Women's groups and gay activists are squaring up against opponents from the "family values" lobby over the contents of two very different television adverts that are due to air when the New Orleans Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts in next Sunday's finale of the American football season. One of the commercials carries a hard-hitting anti-abortion message, and was made by a conservative Christian organisation. The other couldn't be more different: it publicises a gay dating website called Mancrunch, and features two men holding hands on a sofa, and then passionately kissing. >>> Guy Adams in Los Angeles | Sunday, January 31, 2010

Gay Rugby Star Hosts 'Coming Out' Party to Thank Friends
THE INDEPENDENT: Sport and stage stars turn out to show solidarity with Wales's 'role model' player

For one of the rugby world's more eloquent stars, the speech was surprisingly brief – but then Gareth Thomas has done a lot of talking in recent weeks. Just before Christmas he did the unthinkable and became the first professional player in Britain to admit he is gay. Last night was his chance to celebrate the announcement.

"Everybody here tonight is celebrating that the world is changing," he said. "We are here to send the message that it's OK to be a sportsman and it is also OK to be gay."

The venue was Movida, a glitzy London club with a bright pink bar and equally garish cocktails – not a very likely hangout for burly rugby players. But this was no post-match celebration, rather an opportunity to tell the world that the sport was longer a place in which gay players had to hide their sexuality. Last night, the former Welsh captain's friends and supporters joined Britain's gay glitterati for Thomas's official "coming out" party – a remarkable display of solidarity that many hope will signal the beginning of the end of homophobia in sport. >>> Jerome Taylor | Friday, January 29, 2010

Remember Gays in the Holocaust

Barack Obama Is Out of Step on Gays in the Military
TIMES ONLINE: It takes two kinds of bravery to come out in the Armed Forces. Those who show courage deserve more than political cowardice

Among all the promises of change that swept Barack Obama to power, none seemed more simple, symbolic or easier to implement than his pledge to permit openly gay men and women to serve in America’s Armed Forces.

That promise has been repeated often over the nine months since his election — “don’t doubt the direction we are heading, or the destination we will reach”, he declared last weekend — yet America’s homosexual and lesbian soldiers remain firmly barricaded inside the closet.

The present policy, requiring gays to conceal their sexual orientation or face being discharged, could be overturned by executive order or legislation, yet Mr Obama apparently has little appetite for doing so. No timetable for a change in the 16-year-old policy has been set, and the White House is said to want to delay action into the distant future. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has become, under the Obama presidency, Don’t Rock the Boat, Don’t Act.

The law as it stands is a monument to hypocrisy, requiring homosexual soldiers to live a lie and allowing the military brass to ignore reality. With America fighting two wars and recruitment dwindling, it is also astonishingly short-sighted. More than 12,000 members of the US Armed Forces have been discharged since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell came into force.

The law passed by Congress in 1993 states: “The presence in the Armed Forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

As Britain’s experience shows, this is demonstrably untrue. A decade ago, when Britain was forced to accept gay troops by the European Court of Human Rights, some predicted heterosexual mutiny. “If the doors were opened to homosexuals, there would be a polarisation, people would be ostracised,” Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage (retired), the former head of military intelligence, insisted. “Men don’t like taking showers with men who like taking showers with men.”

As it turned out, the vast majority of serving soldiers accepted openly gay comrades without protest or, even more healthily, with benign lack of concern. At least two dozen armies across the world have admitted homosexuals and lesbians without any impact on operational effectiveness or recruitment levels. >>> Ben Macintyre | Thursday, October 15, 2009

Comment: Reflections on Yom Kippur and Homosexuality within Judaism
PINK NEWS: PinkNews.co.uk founder Benjamin Cohen reflects back on yesterday's Jewish festival of Yom Kippur and what it means for an openly gay Jew.

Two years ago, I wrote about my experiences in Synagogue over Yom Kippur, the day of atonement when according to Judaism, all men and women are judged and God decides whether to write them into the book of life for the following year, who will die at his allotted time and who before. It's also the day that God decides who will have a good year and who will have a year of struggle. As I left yesterday's service, I felt that it would be apt to update the original article.

As I sat in Synagogue yesterday during Yom Kippur I once again regretted that I'm still an attendee of the United Synagogue.
The United Synagogue is Britain's largest Jewish community and represents what it defines as "modern Orthodoxy", a centre ground which aims to embrace modernity with a traditional slant.

Despite their orthodox claims, the majority of those who belong to the movement are certainly not orthodox in the strictest sense of the word. They may attend synagogue regularly but they'll often watch television and drive on Shabbat (the Sabbath) something which is banned.

But in terms of morality, particularly sexual morality, those Rabbis in charge of the synagogues have failed to recognise the strides forward both society as a whole and the Jewish community in particular have made in the past few years.

Many of my parent's friends are clearly subscribers to the modern orthodox doctrines; strictly keeping Kosher, refraining from all forms of work on the Sabbath (even switching a light on) and attend Synagogue at least once a week. But all have accepted my sexuality, one even saying that I was "silly to have thought they would have behaved otherwise."

Yet as I sat in the Yom Kippur service yesterday afternoon, I was reminded that the movement still has a long way to go. The Torah reading for the afternoon was from Leviticus, particularly those verses concerning forbidden sexual relationships. >>> Benjamin Cohen | Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Onion: “It’s Gay to Smoke”
THE ADVOCATE: Last month, a conservative Congressional staffer advised that porn turns young boys gay, and now The Onion seems to be responding to his outrageous claim with a joke that may leave some people feeling burned. According to the satirical news source, “It’s gay to smoke.” >>> Julie Bolcer | Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Obama Will Soon Tackle Gay Ban in Forces, Says Adviser
THE SCOTSMAN: PRESIDENT Barack Obama will focus "at the right time" on how to overturn the ban on gay people serving in the military, according to a top aide.

General James Jones, the president's national security adviser, said yesterday: "I don't think it's going to be – it's not years, it will be teed up appropriately."

The Democrat-led Congress is considering repealing the 1993 law, although no action is expected until early next year. The largest number of homosexuals ousted under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy came in 2001, when 1,227 were discharged.

This month Senate majority leader Harry Reid wrote to Mr Obama and defence secretary Robert Gates asking for a review of the cases of two US officers discharged from the military because of their sexuality. "At a time when we are fighting two wars, I do not believe we can afford to discharge any qualified individual who is willing to serve our country," he said[.] [Source: The Scotsman] | Monday, October 05, 2009

Related: Gays in the US Military – Mark >>> | Monday, September 21, 2009

How Islamist Gangs Use Internet to Track, Torture and Kill Iraqi Gays
THE OBSERVER: Iraqi militias infiltrate internet gay chatrooms to hunt their quarry – and hundreds are feared to be victims

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

"It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Hamizi, a computer science graduate, is at the cutting edge of a new wave of violence against gay men in Iraq. Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. "Animals deserve more pity than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts," he told the Observer. "We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the chance to ask God's forgiveness before they are killed."

The violence against Iraqi gays is a key test of the government's ability to protect vulnerable minority groups after the Americans have gone.

Dr Toby Dodge, of London University's Queen Mary College, believes that the violence may be a consequence of the success of the government of Nouri al-Maliki. "Militia groups whose raison d'être was security in their communities are seeing that function now fulfilled by the police. So their focus has shifted to the moral and cultural sphere, reverting to classic Islamist tactics of policing moral boundaries," Dodge said.

Homosexuality was not criminalised under Saddam Hussein – indeed Iraq in the 1960s and 1970s was known for its relatively liberated gay scene. Violence against gays started in the aftermath of the invasion in 2003. Since 2004, according to Ali Hali, chairman of the Iraqi LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) group, a London-based human-rights group, a total of 680 have died in Iraq, with at least 70 of those in the past five months. The group believes the figures may be higher, as most cases involving married men are not reported. Seven victims were women. According to Hali, Iraq has become "the worst place for homosexuals on Earth". >>> Afif Sarhan and Jason Burke | Sunday, September 13, 2009