Fridae

In its first official report on the issue, the United Nations top human rights official urged countries to abolish legal discrimination against gays, including the death penalty for consensual sex, days after the U.S. government said it would use foreign aid and diplomacy to promote gay equal rights.

A gay South Korean man has been awarded refugee status in Canada as South Korean conscripts, especially homosexual ones, are "highly likely to face abuses."

The LGBT Coalition for Seoul Student Rights Ordinance is petitioning the Education Committee of Seoul Metropolitan Council to keep the clauses which will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) in response to opposition from fundamental Christian groups who want the SOGI references deleted.

The Philippine's only political organisation for LGBTs has urged Catholic priests, who oppose the anti-discrimination bill, to "come out of their extravagant churches to see the reality – that some LGBTs are not hired to work, some are being harassed and violated and some 144 killed because of their sexual orientation and gender identity."

Abdul Rohman, a faculty member at Indonesian Islamic University, writes in The Jakarta Post that it is imperative to foster dialogue between religious groups and gay communities, and for religious groups to reach out to them and learn how to synchronise their situation with Islam.

The Australian government has lifted a ban on certificates for same-sex couples who wanted to marry in countries which allow same-sex marriage; gay marriage conscience vote slated for 2012.

In a speech to mark Human Rights Day, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls protecting rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people 'one of the remaining human rights challenges.'

Elio Di Rupo is officially the world's second openly gay and first openly gay male head of government after Iceland's Johanna Sigurdardottir.

The decision to rebrand the iconic gay parade as the 'Sydney Mardi Gras' as part of the festival’s new strategy to attract broader local, national and international audiences has got Sydneysiders debating the removal of the two words.

The Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival kicks off today with more than 30 full-length and short films to be screened over two weeks, and will feature more Asian content than in previous years.