Two Colorado women say ‘Kill The Gay’ was painted on their garage door

A lesbian couple in Colorado who say they were victims of a hate crime have been charged after police were determined they staged the incidents.

Last October the two American women called the police and said ‘Kill The Gay’ had been scrawled in red paint on the front of their house.

The next day, the couple said they discovered a noose hanging on the handle from their front door.

When asked what could have triggered these actions, the women Aimee Whitchurch, 37, and Christel Conklin, 29, reportedly told officials it could be revenge from the neighbors for failing to pick up after their dogs.

Nearly eight months later authorities are now saying the women are responsible for staging the hate crime. The women have responded by pinning posters on their garage door, saying they will not 'submit to hate'. ...

Royal prince and rugby hunk pose for picture supporting the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation

Britain’s Prince Harry has revealed his support for rugby legend Ben Cohen’s anti-bullying charity.

The prince and rugby union star posed together after a charity football match celebrating the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The image, which Cohen recently posted on his Facebook and Twitter page, shows the two hunks holding up a t-shirt for The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation.

Cohen tweeted: ‘My opposite number in the football match today was the Great Prince Harry! Harry loves what we are doing with StandUp!’

Cohen is one of the first straight professional athletes in Britain to focus his philanthropic efforts for the benefit of the gay community.

The foundation aims to raise awareness of the long-term damaging effects of bullying, and promises to stand up to bullying regardless of who is the victim.

On the website, Cohen says: ‘It is time we stand up for what is right and support people who are being harmed...

Director of NHS Employers Dean Royles says: 'NHS staff want to work in an environment that is fair, and diverse'

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has launched a diversity week with a showing of transgender art.

Front line workers and managers will attend workshops and seminars in an effort to spread equality and tolerance in the NHS.

Examples of events include NHS Rotherham which will host an exhibition of transgender photography, promising to ‘celebrate the lives of transgender staff and patients’.

NHS North West are promoting an ‘awareness raising timeline’ highlighting achievements of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who have contributed to health care from ancient Greece to present day.

The timeline will include James Barry, the military surgeon who was discovered to have been born a woman only after his death. Barry was the first British doctor to perform a caesarean section in Africa where both child and mother survived the operation...

New president Joyce Banda uses first state of the nation address to announce repeal of gay sex ban in Malawi, southern Africa

Malawi's new president, Joyce Banda, has said she will repeal her country’s law which bans homosexual acts.

The announcement in her first state of the nation address today (18 May) was trailed last December when Justice Minister Ephraim Chiume promised a review of the law in response to public opinion.

Malawi attracted international pressure when a gay couple was sentenced to 14 years jail in 2010 for ‘unnatural acts and gross indecency’ before being pardoned.

The rejection of laws against gay sex is just one of the ways Banda is breaking from the administration of her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika, who died in office. She has only been in power since 7 April.

Echoing Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, Banda also used her address today to promise freedom for Malawi’s citizens, equal opportunities, better education, healthcare, clean water, access to computers and more industry...

'Especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted.'

Never one to mince words, Elton John paid tribute to the late Donna Summer and in the same statement, blasted The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for passing her over when she was nominated this year.

'Her records sound as good today as they ever did,' he said of Summer who died Thursday (17 May) at the age of 63. 'That she has never been inducted into the Rock `n' Roll Hall of Fame is a total disgrace especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted.'

The singer did not name any of the 'second-rate talent' he believes should not have been inducted ahead of Summer who is the first artist to have three consecutive double-LPs reach number one on the Billboard charts and during a 13-month span, had four number one singles.

Her first big US hit was I Feel Love which reached number two in early 1976. The next year, her single I Feel Love reached number six. She finally hit number one with the 1978 single MacArthur Park...

'This is the very first time we are hearing this new outlandish story'

In the 1978 musical Grease, Danny Zuko and Kenickie were the best of friends and the actors who played them, John Travolta and Jeff Conaway, got to be pretty close off screen as well.

Conaway died last year but according to his girlfriend, his friendship with Travolta had ended more than a decade earlier. She alleges that the two-time Oscar nominee tried to have oral sex with Conaway while staying at his house in the 1990s.

The story, published in the tabloid The Globe, is the latest sexual allegation to surface against Travolta in the past two weeks and the latest to be batted down by the actor's attorney, Marty Singer.

'This spate of recklessly published tabloid stories is just part of a malicious tabloid agenda to boost lagging sales by running outrageous defamatory stories about my client sourced by people seeking notoriety or a payday,' Singer said in a statement...

'My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I'm dating to know'

Raven Symone, the television, recording, stage and film star who first came to fame as a child on The Cosby Show, is saying that her sexuality isn't anybody's business.

Symone, 26, took to Twitter to respond to tabloid reports that she is in a lesbian relationship.

'My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I'm dating to know,' she tweeted. 'I'm not one for a public display of my life.'

Symone added: '... That is my right as a human being whether straight or gay To tell or not to tell as long as I'm not harming anyone. ... I am a light being made from love. And my career is the only thing I would like to put on display, not my personal life. Kisses!'

The actress made her Broadway debut in January as the star of the musical Sister Act in the role of as Deloris van Cartier which was played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film...

Anti-gay group objects to billboard in Los Angeles featuring male couple sharing a single T-shirt

First it was JC Penney, then Urban Outfitters then JC Penney again.

Now the anti-gay group OneMillionMoms, a subgroup of American Family Association, as another retailer in its sights: The Gap.

It objects to a new billboard The Gap has unveiled in Los Angeles that features a male couple pressed together under a single T-short along with the words 'Be Bright, Be One.'

The group wants its followers to contact the retailer to let them know they are 'highly offended' by the billboard and are providing a form letter on their website.

They are also threatening a boycott stating that GAP Inc. Brands, including Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, and Athleta 'does not deserve, nor will it get, money from conservative families across the country.'

'Supporting GAP is not an option until they decide to remain neutral in the culture war,' the group states. 'GAP needs to seriously consider how their immoral advertising affect the youth of our nation.'...

Istituto Nazionale di Statistica released its first national survey on homosexuality in the Mediterranean country

More than half of Italians think that same-sex couples should have more rights, but only 43% believe that they should have the right to marry.

The Italian Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (national institute of statistics) released its first survey on homosexuality in the Mediterranean country, in Rome this morning (17 May).

More than one million Italians describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and two million revealed to have had a same-sex relationship or experience.

‘La popolazione omosessuale nella società italiana’ (The homosexual population in Italian society) is the name of the first national survey, which has been presented at Montecitorio Palace, the seat of the lower Italian parliamentary chamber.

PD party leader Pier Luigi Bersani said: ‘Now it’s time for a law against homophobia. No one should have to face discrimination for his/her sexuality.’...

Activists defy anti-gay laws in Iran and Russia to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Activists in Iran, one of the most homophobic countries in the world, braved persecution today (17 May) by publicly unfurling a rainbow flag to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

Campaigners in the Muslim state's capital Tehran also distributed leaflets and flew multi-colored balloons to raise awareness of LGBT rights.

It is just one of hundreds of creative and innovative activities happening in 95 countries around the world today in celebration of IDAHO.

From the US to the Philippines, LGBT people are making their voices heard, organizing everything from festivals to flashmobs.

In St Petersburg, Russia, activists defied the city's anti-gay 'propaganda' law by holding a mass rally, marking 20 years since the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a mental illness...