[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/gaymarine.jpg[/img2]A billboard advertisement in Memphis featuring a former US marine and the tagline "I'm gay and I protected your freedom" has been torn down by vandals.

The ad was part of a series of five put up by Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Centre (MGLCC) as part of National Coming Out Day, in which gays and lesbians are encouraged to tell someone about their sexuality.

According to reports, the poster was completely removed on Friday night.

It featured Tim Smith, a former US marine, in full uniform.

Police have not said whether they have any suspects in custody.

Heidi Williams, the presudent of MGLCC, told WMC-TV: "I know that they intended to silence us with hate. However, we are choosing to unite and come over that with a stronger voice, and a message that we are here – and we deserve equality as well as everyone else."

The organisation is urging police to conduct a full investigation and is planning to hold a rally next weekend over the incident.

Nation Coming Out Day takes place on October 11th.

If true, this is indeed good news ...

HIV breakthrough as scientists discover new vaccine to prevent infection | World news | guardian.co.uk

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/baby.jpg[/img2]Gay couples in Scotland will be permitted to adopt children together from next week.

Currently, a gay person can adopt a child but their partner has no legal rights or responsibilities as a parent.

The new provision will come into law on Monday September 28th and will bring Scotland in line with England and Wales on gay adoptions.

It was welcomed by Carl Watt, the director of Stonewall Scotland, who said: "What all children need and deserve most of all is a safe, secure, loving and stable home environment and same sex couples are equally able to provide this as opposite sex couples.

"This legislation also means that there will be hopefully fewer children in care homes and more with homes and families of their own."

Adoptions by gay individuals in Scotland are thought to be rare, with only two cases in Edinburgh.

The Catholic church in Scotland has already criticised the new rights, saying that gay relationships are not stable enough to care for children.

Spokesman Peter Kearney told the Herald: "Children need security and stability and civil partnerships and same-sex relationships are profoundly unstable.

"This change is unlikely to have an effect on the shortage of adoptive parents because there are very few same-sex couples interested in adoption.

"It would have been better if the government had launched a campaign to encourage heterosexual married couples to consider adopting."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/touristoffice.jpg[/img2]Plans have been unveiled which will provide LGBT tourists and London's community with its first ever purpose built LGBT tourist information office.

The office, which will open later this year, will be the first time that tourists and the gay community will have an information centre specifically tailored LGBT needs.

The idea is the brainchild of Ku Bar owner Gary Henshaw and project manager Shaun Newport. Shaun said:

"The majority of the time LGBT travellers have the same needs as straight travellers, what we want to do is provide that extra bit of inside knowledge that can help LGBT people when in another country.

"You may be Gay, Spanish and Catholic and looking for a gay friendly Catholic Church, we would be able to help you in a way that many more mainstream tourist offices wouldn't."

The tourist office is also aimed at members of the London gay community who may want advice on everything from what art exhibitions to advice on where to go for health check ups.

"London gay scene is massive and as it grows it can become increasingly difficult to find something that is gay AND relevant to you. Not every gay man wants to go to the same sort of bar."

The office will also link up with local businesses offering discounts and promotions to popular places for gay travellers.

The Gay Tourist Office will be situated above Ku Bar Lisle Street, situated a stones throw away from Londons Leicester Square.

If you would like to get involved in the Gay Tourist Office email Shaun Newport at [email protected]

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/eltonandbaby.jpg[/img2]A Ukrainian minister said today that gay pop star Elton John will not be allowed to adopt a child from the country because he is not married and is too old.

The star visited an orphanage last week and said the experience had changed his mind about adopting. He added that one little boy, whose parents had died of AIDS, had "stolen my heart".

Although Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish are in a civil partnership, Ukraine does not recognise this as marriage.

In addition, family, youth and sports minister Yuriy Pavlenko told Associated Press that at 62, the star is too old as there cannot be more than a 45-year age gap between a child and an adoptive parent.

Sir Elton and Furnish have already come under fire from various adoption charities.

Save the Children UK said that international adopting can set a dangerous precedent in encouraging poor parents to give up their children in the hope of a better life for them.

In July, Ukraine hit the gay press for banning the film Bruno, which features a gay journalist.

The country's culture ministry said that the film included an "artistically unjustified exhibition of sexual organs and sexual relations, homosexual acts in a blatantly graphic form, obscene language, sadism [and] anti-social behaviour which could damage the moral upbringing of our citizens."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/harveymilk.gif[/img2]A bill to designate May 22nd as Harvey Milk Day has reached the desk of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Milk was a gay activist who was assassinated in 1978. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. During his 11 months in office he sponsored a gay rights bill and helped to defeat a proposition that would have seen openly gay and lesbian teachers sacked.

The bill has already passed the state's house and senate, and if signed by Schwarzenegger, will pass into law as a special commemorative day to encourage schools to recognise the activist's work.

However, the day would not be an official holiday.

Last September, Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill and said that Milk was not well-known enough. Since then, a film of the activist's life won an Oscar and he was posthumously awarded the the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by president Barack Obama.

In August, Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver chose Milk as one of 13 inductees into the state's Hall of Fame.

Last week, Equality California and senator Mark Leno delivered almost 40,000 petitions calling for the governor to sign the bill into law.

"Every day we hear from people who have been touched by Harvey Milk's inspiring message of hope and his story of determination and sacrifice," said Geoff Kors, Equality California executive director.

"A champion for the civil rights of all Californians, Milk's remarkable legacy is still felt far beyond San Francisco, and this bill is an appropriate way to pay tribute to the invaluable contributions he made to our state and to our nation."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/lordsnowdon.jpg[/img2]Lord Snowdon, who was married to Princess Margaret, had gay affairs, the celebrity interior designer Nicky Haslam has claimed.

In a forthcoming memoir, Haslam, 69, alleges he had an affair in 1959 with Lord Snowdon, then known as Antony Armstrong-Jones, just a year before he married Princess Margaret.

He also said the peer had an affair with Tom Parr, later head of the luxury-goods firm Colefax and Fowler.

Haslam said he first met Lord Snowdon in 1955 at the age of 16 and began an affair with him four years later.

He wrote: "I had a very brief romance with Tony Armstrong-Jones, somewhat one-sided on my part as Tony, who was dazzlingly attractive, had other irons in the fire."

However, Lord Snowdon, now 79, has poured cold water on the claims, saying: "It's not true as far as I'm concerned – and I should know."

The peer has been subject to rumours about his sexuality for decades but has never said he is bisexual.

When asked once in at a party in New York about the Queen's health, Princess Margaret is said to have replied: "Which one? My sister, my mother or my husband?"

Yesterday, the official website of the Prime Minister's office published an apology for the treatment of Alan Turing and many others who found themselves in his situation. This has come after a long campaign for Mr Turing's rehabilitation after he was the victim of homophobic law during the 1950s. To quote from the statement:

Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.

Full text of the statement

Nothing will ever compensate for Mr Turing's treatment, but a statement like this has been long overdue, considering the years of embarrassment and real suffering caused to Mr Turing, his family and friends and others in similar situations. Even after homosexual acts in private between consenting adults were legalised in 1967 homophobic victimisation of glbt men and women continued with official sanction. For many in the world the suffering goes on and even here the war is not yet fully over, but these are remarkable times in which to live.

Earlier this year we heard about the Lithuanian Parliament approving legislation to outlaw the "promotion of homosexuality" in its schools. New proposals take this attitude even further, possibly making any mention of homosexuality in public places a criminal act.

I wonder why people get so hot under the collar about EU control of member states when the whole European machine seems to lumber away from confronting something that really matters?

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[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/ladygaga_rs.jpg[/img2]Lady Gaga was thrilled to learn two men had sex at one of her concerts. The 'Poker Face' singer says her career high point so far was during a concert in New York when the audience - which included '4 Minutes' star Madonna - shed their inhibitions and made love as she sang.

The lesbian star said: "My sister texted me and she was like, 'Madonna is 15 feet away from me. And there are two guys having sex in the audience.

"I just remember thinking, 'Wow, this is exactly what I wanted. I've got Madonna and I've got gay sex!'"

Despite being delighted at having Madonna as a fan, the singer has rubbished comparisons between the two performers, insisting she is happy just to be herself.

She explained to V magazine: "Look, when I was a brunette, they called me Amy Winehouse. When I was a blonde, they called me Madonna. Then they called me Christina (Aguilera), then Gwen (Stefani). I just don't think most people's reference points go back very far."

Despite her ascent to global stardom, the 'Paparazzi' singer insists she will always continue to play intimate concerts at gay clubs as she wouldn't have a career without them.

She explained: "With the exception of God, my family, and best friend Matthew Williams, and the Haus of GaGa, the gay community is the single reason that I am here today.

"I started out playing gay clubs in America, then I went to London to play G-A-Y, where I didn't think anyone knew who I was, and there were thousands of people there. How could I ever turn my back on those people who really fought for me? And besides the loyalty factor, playing in gay clubs is fun!"