Every now and again I see a story and am just so shocked and horrified that I’m lost for words. While those of us on this side of the world are trying to fight for marriage rights LGBTQ people in Uganda are being faced with a new bill that could lead to them being sentenced to death!

Sometimes I wonder if there really is an LGBTQ community. Are we really all fighting together for equality and to make stereotypes a thing of the past or do many lesbians think gay men are promiscuous hairdressers whilst some gay men think that we are lumberjacks.
I hope Graham Norton’s recent comments are not a reflection of the majority.

The news has circled the world, that two young people were shot dead yesterday, and several more were injured, in a gun attack by an unidentified man on an LGBT centre in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv, a secular city, has long been regarded as one of the most open and accepting cities in Israel, until now.

The Equality Commission of Northern Ireland has released the findings of a survey on various prejudices, it makes for sobering reading. It would appear that homophobia as well as racism and phobia of travellers are all on the rise. We can only surmise that the same can be said of the south.

I’m still seething at Brenda Power’s gobsmackingly ill-informed and homophobic ‘article’ in yesterday’s Sunday Times. How can she pass judgment (phrases like “get-up” “carry-on” ) on a Parade she didn’t attend? How can the Sunday Times see fit to publish such an unresearched article – what next? Reviews of theatre from a production shot? Reviews of concerts from hearsay?

Auntie Panti poses a question: “When the government that taxes us the same as everyone else, tells us that in return we’ll only have some of the same rights afforded to everyone else, where the fuck is the anger?”

Breda O’Brien was wittering on in Saturday’s Irish Times about Pope Benedict XVI’s Christmas message to his staff being misinterpreted by all and sundry. Her comments, however, are no distraction from the vicious homophobia of the current Pope.

Ah Christmas….a time of love and compassion, a time to take a moment to think about the world and those in it, to look beyond yourself and your agenda to see the good in all. Unless you’re the Pope of course.

Just writing the headline for this article makes my heart sink. It conjures up visions of kids and teens ignored, picked on and/or beaten up in that most tyrannical of places; school. What can be a more damning illustration of a society than young, terrified people getting no support from their elders?

Hot on the heels of a recent, similarly-themed opinion piece by his friend Ronan Mullen, where couples living in sin were resoundly chided, David Quinn of the Iona Institute has spoken out against Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly’s call to end “unfair discrimination” against unmarried straight couples.

An ad campaign has been launched in America to help stamp out homophobic language. Thinkb4youspeak intends to raise awareness amongst teens. Watch the ads featuring Hilary Duff and Wanda Sykes here.

So many people are coming out these days but for some reason this seems less accurate in the case of sports stars. Could the crowds be at fault?

As the Irish government seeks figure out just why the electorate rejected the Lisbon Treaty, its post-referendum navel gazing has led it to appoint a religious conservative to the committee charged with considering the outcome of the vote. It looks like Ireland is far from separating Church from State.

Dying for the sins of humanity? Sharing Christian charity? Tolerance and love for fellow human beings? Religious conservatives have more important things to worry about: In today’s modern world, nothing is too mundane or absurd as to escape the attentions of the crazies of the religious right in their preparations for Armageddon. We have a quick look at five classic examples from the past few years.

Eileen Flynn passed away earlier this week. She had been dismissed in the 1980s from her job as a teacher in a religious-run school, and the courts in Ireland upheld the school’s decision. Following her death, the same conservatism exists in the Ireland of 2008.

Paster condemns Katy Perry to the Inferno!

The Irish Times reports today that members of Italy’s mafia meted out a punishment of gang rape against one of their number they suspected of being gay. The man was raped while in prison two years ago by eight others, resulting in him requiring medical treatment. None of his attackers were punished by the authorities.