[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/police3.jpg[/img2]The partners of gay and lesbian police officers who die in the line of duty will be eligible for benefits under new proposals.

The Home Office’s review of the police injury compensation scheme will also extend payments to unmarried heterosexual partners.

The proposal was included in a new consultation document on the scheme.

Other new measures include changing the current arrangement whereby survivor spouses stop receiving payments if they remarry or cohabit with a new partner.

"I am committed to ensuring we have an injury compensation system suitable for the challenges of modern day policing which recognises the demanding and sometimes dangerous roles that police officers carry out," said Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

"I hope the changes will provide peace of mind and assurances to police officers and their families, while ensuring the system is as effective as possible, administered consistently and targets help where it is needed most."

Under the proposals, officers who are injured on their way to or from work will no longer be eligible for benefits, while those who are completely disabled as a result of their injuries will receive five times their average pensionable salary.

My orientation is no longer gay, it is towards Julian McMahon!

He has placed a restraining order on me!! :eek:

He is just pure sex!

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/mi5.gif[/img2]
The British intelligence service MI5 is pushing to recruit more LGBT people to the organisation.

MI5 is being advised by Stonewall, the UK's leading gay equality organisation, on how to attract a more diverse range of applicants.
The intelligence service also wishes to encourage spies to be more open about their sexuality.

This year MI5 will appear in Stonewall's graduate recruitment guide, which lists gay-friendly employers.

Ben Summerskill, director of Stonewall, said:
"We are delighted that MI5 have decided to explore the pool of talent within the LGBT workforce."

"We will encourage graduate recruits to work in this area in the future."

"This is a sign that people in all sorts of public services are looking in a different way at how to recruit talented people."

"Previously, public services were delivered by the 'Man from the Ministery', who was white and heterosexual; that is now changing."

Mr Summerskill also told the Times on Sunday:

"I am optimistic that in 10 to 15 years their [MI5’s] employment profile will look very much like modern Britain."

"There is no reason why there shouldn’t be a lesbian or gay director-general."

Until the early 1990s gays and lesbians were prevented from taking sensitive government jobs as it was believed that they would be vulnerable to blackmail.

Since the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London, MI5 has expanded rapidly, with staff numbers predicted at 3,500 by the end of 2008.

MI5 are working towards diversifying their workforce by recruiting people from all backgrounds with a range of capabilities.

The MI5 recruitment website states: "An in-depth knowledge and understanding of a variety of communities, cultures and languages isn’t just an advantage, it can be absolutely critical.

"At present, we are very keen to speak to people who speak: Arabic (all dialects, and particularly North African), Sorani, Bengali, Urdu with or without Gujarati, Punjabi, Chinese (Mandarin), Somali, Pushto, Persian and Russian."

"We welcome all applications, but would be particularly interested to hear from women, individuals from ethnic minority groups and disabled people."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/testube.jpg[/img2]Academics at the University of Padua, Italy, claim that bisexual men may have inherited their attraction to men through "hyper-heterosexual" female family members.

Dr Andrea Camperio Ciani and colleagues showed that the female relatives of homosexual men tend to have more children, which they believe suggests that genes on the X chromosome are responsible.
The team now believes that the same is true for bisexuality.

The researchers carried out a survey of 239 men, asking about their families and sexual experiences.

The results showed that gay and bisexual men's female relatives on the maternal side had more children than those of straight men.

Dr Camperio Ciani stressed that this does not prove the existence of a "gay gene", but that an unidentified genetic factor promotes sexual attraction to men in both men and women.

This in turn would influence a woman's sexual attitude (but not increase her fertility), making her likely to have more children.

California Neuroscientist Dr Simon LeVay describes this genetic factor as "hyper-heterosexuality", and claims that it would help pass homosexuality on through the generations.

Dr Camperio Ciani and colleagues say that the genetic factor appearing in both bisexual and gay men supports the heory that sexuality is determined by a mixture of genes and experience.

Dr Camperio Ciani told The New Scientist: 'We understand that the genetic component has to interact with something to produce different phenotypes.

"Genetics is not determining the sexual orientation, it's only influencing it."

Dr Camperio Ciani studys sexual behaviour and sexual strategies in primates and humans, and victims of sexual crimes.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/panama_flag.jpg[/img2]President Martin Torrijos Espino has decriminalised gay sex in Panama.

On 29th July, President Espino and Health Minister Rosario E. Turner signed a decree repealing a 1949 law that made gay sex an illegal offence that would incur a $500 (£266) fine or a prison sentence.

The decriminalisation came after protests from gay equality group New Men and Women of Panama, the San Fransisco Bay Times reports.

The ban on gay sex was found to be inconsistent with international human rights treaties that Panama has signed, as well as the Panamanian Constitution.

The law was also in conflict with the Health Ministry's policy to 'maintain respect for the sexual preferences of each person, without the existence of any type of discrimination' in the administration of its sexually transmitted diseases programs.

Amnesty International states that there are currently 11 nations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean where homosexuality is illegal.

Those countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/obamafamily.jpg[/img2]The presumptive Democratic party nominee for President of the United States has pledged to work towards the elimination of discrimination against LGBT families if elected.

Barack Obama was responding to a letter from Jennifer Chrisler of the Family Equality Council.

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain said in an interview with the New York Times last month that he does not believe gay people should adopt children.

In response the FEC wrote to both candidates asking them to outline their plans to "recognise, respect, protect and celebrate all of the loving families [they] seek to represent."

Senator McCain has so far failed to respond, but Senator Obama said: "I’ll be a President that stands up for American families – all of them."

"The desire to build a life with a loved one, to provide for a family and to have children who will grow and thrive — these are desires that all people share, regardless of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity," he wrote.

"My own experience has taught me this lesson well. I was born to a single mother, my devoted grandparents helped raise me, and then I married the woman of my dreams and had two beautiful daughters.

"The love that has blessed each of those households has been strong and sure, and I know that millions of families across this nation share the same blessings.

"We also have to do more to support and strengthen LGBT families.

"Because equality in relationship, family, and adoption rights is not some abstract principle; it’s about whether millions of LGBT Americans can finally live lives marked by dignity and freedom."

Senator Obama listed more funding for after-school programmes, the abolition of the federal ban on same-sex marriage, an end to discrimination against LGBT families and "equal treatment in our family and adoption laws" as goals for his administration.

The FEC praised the candidate and pointed out that according to the 2000 census, more than 75% of American households "differ from the paradigm of a married, heterosexual couple raising their biological children."

Ms Chrisler stated in her letter to the candidates:

"Thirty-seven percent of parent households with children in the home are not headed by married,
heterosexual couples.

"Since 1940, grandparents have been the primary caregivers (without biological parents in the home) for approximately 2 percent of all children in this country, some 1.6 million children today.

"Forty percent of all children will likely be raised by unmarried partners living together for a portion of their lives.

"Lesbian and gay parents are raising four percent of all adopted children in the United States, as well as three percent of all children in foster care.

"Until grandmothers and grandfathers can easily access the government benefits intended to keep their grandchildren healthy and safe; until lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents can have their relationships universally and unquestionably recognised; until unmarried parents can access benefits without penalty or derision, we will not be doing justice by the millions of American families that do not fit a small minority's notion of what a"real" family is.”

Senator McCain’s comments about gay adoption were seized upon by LGBT rights advocates as evidence that he is hostile to their community.

Jody M Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said:

"We are disappointed and saddened that a public leader who is himself an adoptive father would deny the children in America’s foster care system the opportunity to thrive as part of a welcoming family.

"Love makes a family, but short-sighted positions like Senator McCain’s can certainly tear families apart, too.

"In a country where more than 125,000 children are waiting for foster parents, Senator McCain would deny loving homes to children who desperately need them simply because of an outdated prejudice about what a family may look like.”

In the wake of such criticism after his New York Times interview last month, the McCain campaign’s Director of Communications, Jill Hazelbaker, made the following clarification:

"McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue, just as he made it clear in the interview that marriage is a state issue.

"He was not endorsing any federal legislation.

"McCain’s expressed his personal preference for children to be raised by a mother and a father wherever possible.

"However, as an adoptive father himself, McCain believes children deserve loving and caring home environments, and he recognises that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes.

"McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/lindsaylohan.jpg[/img2]Lindsay Lohan has hit out at the Los Angeles police chief after he said she had "gone gay."

Chief William Bratton made the remark while explaining why he does support a crackdown on the paparazzi.

"If you notice, since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving, Paris is out of town not bothering anybody, thank God, and evidently, Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don't seem to have much of an issue," Bratton told LA news channel KNBC.

"Police chiefs shouldn't get involved in everyone else's business when it comes to their personal life. It's inappropriate," Lohan said in a video filmed by paparazzi and posted on celebrity website TMZ.

Ms Lohan has been romantically linked with DJ Samantha Ronson, sister of producer Mark Ronson, though her publicist has previously denied that they are in a relationship.

They were spotted kissing in May at one of P Diddy's yacht parties in Cannes.

The two have been friends for years and it is said the pair got exceptionally close during Lohan's stint at rehab last year.

At her 22nd birthday party in July the Herbie: Fully Loaded actress came clean about the lady in her life saying: "I just wanna live a healthy happy year, continue on the path I’ve been on and be with the person I care about."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/devalpatrick.jpg[/img2]The Governor of Massachusetts yesterday signed a bill that will allow gay and lesbian couples from other states to marry in Massachusetts.

It is now the second state in the US that has no residency requirement for gay and lesbian couples who want to marry. The other is California.

"In five years now, the sky has not fallen, the earth has not opened to swallow us all up, and more to the point, thousands and thousands of good people, contributing members of our society, are able to make free decisions about their personal future, and we ought to seek to affirm that every chance we can," said Governor Deval.

A Democrat, he is the first black Governor of Massachusetts.

In June he spoke of his pride in his daughter when she publicly came out as a lesbian. He then took part in Boston's Pride parade with her.

A 1913 law has affected same-sex couples since a Massachusetts court ruling in 2003 legalised same-sex marriage in the state.

Then-Governor Mitt Romney revived the 1913 law in order to weaken the impact of the state's Supreme Court ruling that gay and lesbian couples should have equal rights to civil marriage.

Originally the law barring unions by out of state residents grew out of the national outrage over the interracial marriage of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson.

A report from the Massachusetts Office of Housing and Economic Development forecasts a $111 (£55.4m) million windfall to the state should same-sex couples from other states be allowed to marry in the state.

The report also predicts the creation of 330 jobs and an additional $5 million in tax revenue over three years.

Massachusetts is one of only two states to officially recognise full marriage equality for same-sex couples.

In 2007, the state legislature defeated a measure, following the historic Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling legalising marriage, to amend the state's constitution to ban such unions.

The effort to defeat the measure was led, in large part, by Governor Patrick.

"He didn't know I was gay then," Katherine Patrick, 18, said in her "coming out interview" with gay paper Bay Windows.

"So, for someone so publicly to fight for something that doesn't even affect him was just like, 'That's my dad,' you know?

"That's all I could think. I was very, very proud to be part of this family, and this state in general."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/testube.jpg[/img2]A gene variant has been identified that could explain female-to-male transexuality.

The variation is found within the gene for an enzyme called cytochrome P17, which is utilised in the metabolism of sex hormones. According to researchers it leads to a high tissue concentrations of the hormones which could then influence the development of the brain.

Clemens Tempfer and his tram at the University of Vienna discovered the variant within DNA samples from 49 female-to-male transsexuals and 102 male-to-female transsexuals as 1,669 samples.

The proportion of male-to-female transsexuals and non-transsexual male control samples carrying the gene was around the same. But with women 44% of transsexuals carry the gene compared to 31% non transsexual women.

Linda Geddes writing in the New Scientist said: "While there are many women with the variant who are not transsexual and many female to male transsexuals who lack it, the finding raises the possibility that the variant makes women more likely to feel that their bodies are of the wrong sex, and that this is a result of their brains having been exposed to higher than average levels of sex hormones during development."

Mikael Landén of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm told the publication: "The present study found that a mutant gene that ultimately results in higher testosterone levels is overrepresented in female-to male transsexualism.

"This is in line with what we previously know about masculinisation of the brain and is therefore less likely to be a chance finding.

"Hence, the study is important and adds to the notion that gender identity is influenced by sex hormones early in life, and that certain gene combinations make individuals more vulnerable to aberrant effects."

Janett Scott, formerly the president of transsexual support group, the Beaumont Society said: "Nature may have made us the way that we are, but nurture is what gives us a problem."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/tomrobsmith.jpg[/img2]The acclaimed thriller Child 44's appearance on the 'longlist' of nominees for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction has upset some high-minded literary types.

Tom Rob Smith's masterful book, set against the bleak backdrop of 1950s Russia, follows respected secret policeman Leo Demidov and his wife Raisa.

His first novel, it caused a fierce bidding war at the London Book Fair.
Child 44 follows Leo as he struggles to track down a child-murdering serial killer whilst facing the Soviet system that refuses to believe crime exists unless committed by so-called 'deviants.'

In the poverty-stricken era of Stalin's cruel regime, homeless drunks and homosexuals are arrested for non-existent offences while paranoid citizens are pressured into denouncing suspected criminals, including friends and family members.

Since the release of Child 44 in February, Smith has been thrust rather rapidly into the limelight of the literary world.

His nomination for the Booker, one of the most prestigious prizes in literature, has unleashed a flurry of bitching among the notoriously bitter denizens of the book world.

On the Man Booker forum Jamie Byng wrote:
"I cannot respect a judging committee that decides to pick a book like Child 44, a fairly well-written and well-paced thriller that is no more than that, over novels as exceptional as Helen Garner's The Spare Room or Ross Raisin's God's Own Country."

He adds: "I will declare my bias - as the publisher at Canongate I had a vested interest in seeing The Spare Room make the shortlist."

Another poster, called Gobsmacked, commented:
"This is more Richard and Judy than Booker and the airport novel has finally been recognised with Child 44."

The reference to the highly popular Richard and Judy book club, now a mainstay of their Channel 4 show, might puzzle some of the other nominees this year, among them Salman Rushdie and gay journalist Philip Hensher.

Mr Hensher won the Stonewall Award for Journalist of the Year in 2007.
Not everyone in book land is upset that Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 has been nominated.

Laura Barton on The Guardian website wrote:
"Is the real issue the fact that there is a thriller on the list at all?
"Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 … received impressive reviews … and has already been awarded the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the year's best thriller."

The 2008 shortlist will be announced on 9th September and the winner on 14th October at an awards ceremony at Guildhall, London.

Chair of judges, former Cabinet minister Michael Portillo, commented:
"With a notable degree of consensus, the five Man Booker judges decided on their longlist of 13 books.

"The judges are pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and UK.
"We also are happy with the interesting mix of books, five first novels and two novels by former winners. The list covers an extraordinary variety of writing.

"Still two qualities emerge this year: large scale narrative and the striking use of humour."

The judging panel for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is: Michael Portillo, Alex Clark, editor of Granta; Louise Doughty, novelist; James Heneage, founder of Ottakar's bookshops and Hardeep Singh Kohli, TV and radio broadcaster.