We live in a society which attempts to dictate sexual preference and gender identity through promoting the gender stereotypes and homophobic attitudes which underpin the heterosexual nuclear family, and by promoting marriage and the nuclear family as the only legitimate model for relationships. Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people suffer oppression because their lives are a challenge to the nuclear family which is an economic cornerstone of capitalism. The Socialist Alliance opposes all attempts to shoehorn people into sexual and gender conformity. We believe it is a basic democratic right that a persons’ self-definition of sexual preference and gender identity should be recognised. Heterosexism exists at almost every level in this society, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is entrenched in all of the key institutions of society - education, health, the law, the media, family, church and state.

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FIFTEEN same-sex couples have declared their love and commitment to one another in a wedding ceremony organised by Adelaide’s Feast gay and lesbian festival.

Hundreds of people gathered at Montefiore Hill, North Adelaide, for the public ceremony and a garden reception for invited guests at nearby Carclew youth arts centre.

Guests included family and friends, many of whom had travelled from interstate.

They celebrated under tents and trees on the Carlew lawns.

Wedding cakes were on display and later shared.

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A TEENAGER who triggered a homophobic murder on a gay council worker was locked up for 12 months today.

The 15-year-old knocked James Kerr to the ground before his two friends launched a savage assault, leaving him dying in a pool of blood.

The schoolboy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, contacted one of his friends after running into Mr Kerr, 51, in a park in Perth, Scotland, telling them he had been assaulted.

He had originally faced a murder charge but a guilty plea to a reduced charge of assault was accepted by the Crown in the early stages of the trial.

Sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Macphail told the youth his own attack had been homophobic and unprovoked, and that he had approved of his friends’ brutal killing.

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In the tradition of our own “Twenty Most Groundbreaking Gay Films” Entertainment Weekly writer Mark S. Luckie takes a look back at some of the defining moments in the portrayal of the LGBT community (in both film and television) in his video essay, “Landmark Moments in Gay Hollywood”.

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New mayor is proud of civic progress.

The newly elected and openly gay mayor of Ferndale said being gay is no longer an issue in city politics.

His sexual orientation had little to do with his campaign, said Craig Covey, 50, elected Tuesday with 54% of the vote.

Covey, a Ferndale councilman for eight years, said his campaign was able convince voters that the city had found inventive ways to succeed.

“Ferndale has demonstrated how to be successful in these new times, using smart-growth policies, diversity, inclusion and a walkable downtown,” Covey said Wednesday.

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Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) vote tests our values. An incrementalist law is a blunder.

For the past few weeks, members of Congress and leaders within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community have debated how best to advance the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). This legislation was initially intended to protect LGBT Americans from arbitrary firing and other forms of employment discrimination.

While states as diverse as Iowa and California already protect LGBT Americans from employment discrimination, 31 states still do not. Thus, there is overwhelming public support for federal employment protections. Reflecting this, a 2006 Gallup Poll reveals that 89 percent of respondents favor equal employment opportunities for gay people.

However, Republicans in Congress are pandering to their extreme right wing by refusing to support basic workplace equality for LGBT people. In the face of this opposition, some ENDA advocates led by openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., have introduced a compromised version of the legislation that retains the anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation while it excludes the more contested protections for gender identity. This incrementalist version of ENDA pragmatically embraces more mainstream gays and lesbians while it continues to leave transgender Americans vulnerable to discrimination.

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THE Coalition has relented to pressure and will grant to gay and lesbian couples the same rights on Commonwealth public sector superannuation as heterosexual couples.

Malcolm Turnbull, who is under considerable political pressure from the sizeable gay community in his seat of Wentworth, flagged the changes in a speech to a gay and lesbian business leaders function last night. They will be confirmed today.

While the Coalition will not grant gay couples de facto status, or adopt any of the other 58 recommendations outlined in a human rights report in June, it will allow, if re-elected, interdependent gay couples to share each other’s public pensions and super benefits - as heterosexual couples do.

It will apply across the Commonwealth public service, ranging from judges, politicians to public servants and the military.

Labor has already promised to institute all 58 changes, saying it was unfair to discriminate financially against people on the basis of them being gay.

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American International Assu-rance (Thailand) has denied claims that it discriminated against gays and insisted that several well-known gay men have been policyholders for years.

Sutti Rajitrangson, AIA senior vice-president for administration, said he could not name the famous gay policyholders for reasons of confidentiality.

AIA came under the spotlight this week when gay rights activist Natee Teerarojja-napongs claimed the company had refused to let him apply for a life assurance policy because he is a gay.

“I insist that AIA considers every application. We don’t exclude any groups of people. We consider each person’s application individually,” said Sutti.

“The company never received Natee’s application. Therefore, it is impossible that the company has denied him without considering his application. If anybody wants to buy insurance, they have to send us their application for consideration.

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>The general director of the Evangelical Alliance has spoken of the “huge challenge for Christians” living in a liberal democracy after his appointment as a commissioner to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Joel Edwards was a controversial choice for some gay rights groups.

The Evangelical Alliance are one of the most strident voices against gay rights in the UK. Just last month they gave evidence to a House of Commons committee opposing a new crime of incitement to violence on the grounds of sexual orientation.

They launched large-scale campaigns against the Sexual Orientation Regulations, which ensure equality of gay, lesbian and bisexual people when accessing goods and services.

“There seems to be an incredible inability to hear an alternative world view about human sexuality without calling it homophobia, anything which is not from the gay position is by definition homophobic, whereas in a liberal democracy that is really freedom of speech,” Mr Edwards told PinkNews.co.uk in an interview last year.

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Top rugby referee Nigel Owens has won an award after blowing the whistle on his sexuality.The 36-year-old, from Pontyberem in Carmarthenshire, has been named sports person of the year at a gay awards ceremony in London.

Mr Owens, who told The Post about his anguish of coming out earlier this year, made his Rugby World Cup debut last month.

He is regarded as the first openly gay man to referee at the top level.

Mr Owens, who took charge of the EDF Energy Cup clash between Leicester Tigers and Cardiff Blues on Saturday, said winning the award was “up there with being elected to referee the Rugby World Cup”.

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