All of the advertising spots around the site will be donated to his Peter Tatchell Foundation on his birthday to raise awareness and fundraise. PinkNews.co.uk will lose a not inconsiderable amount of money but we want to do it to mark an important day in the history of our community. Over the course of his 60th birthday year, we will donate a further 41 million advertising spots around this website and iPhone app to his foundation to celebrate the 41 years since he joined the London Gay Liberation Front.

Way back in 1973, aged just 21, Peter staged the first ever gay rights protest in a communist country – in East Germany – which resulted in him being detained and interrogated by the secret police, the Stasi. Many years later, in 1998, he helped expose the Nazi war criminal, SS Dr Carl Vaernet, who conducted gruesome medical experiments on gay prisoners in Buchenwald concentration camp.

More than any other person or organisation, Peter has, often single handed, campaigned for the rights we now enjoy in the UK. He’s also been a huge campaigner all around the world for LGBTQI rights. I believe that the 25th January should be celebrated not just throughout the LGBTQI communities around the world but actually beyond because he’s not just fought for our rights, he’s campaigned on a variety of human rights issues and put his own life on the line when he did, such as his two attempted citizens arrests of the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. After the second, he was severely injured by Mr Mugabe’s body guards.

Over the next few weeks, PinkNews is inviting you to send in your memories of him, how you met him how, how he inspired you and how you believe he’s changed your life for the better. As well as how you think he should continue his work.

Peter probably won’t remember, but I actually first met him on the former Channel 4 programme, The Big Breakfast. He was fresh from attending hospital after his attempted arrest of Robert Mugabe and I wasn’t at that stage publicly out. I was promoting a BBC programme I was appearing on. He probably won’t have realised how influential on me that meeting was and how I looked back on that when I decided to launch PinkNews.

Peter has been an amazing ally of mine since we started PinkNews.co.uk. He’s always supportive, eager to help and constantly writing columns for us. Even in my other life at Channel 4 News, Peter’s been a help. I remember phoning him as he sat, badly beaten in a Moscow police station, after being attacked by neo-Nazis at the banned Moscow Pride in 2007. Immediately after he was released, with a huge bloodied black eye, he recorded an interview via satellite telling a large audience in the UK how badly the Russian authorities were treating gay people in the city. Through his highlighting of the Moscow Pride ban, and the legal case brought by LGBTIQ campaigners in Russia, the country was subsequently found in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights.

The work that Peter does is inspiring, it has changed lives and it’s not just been by leading huge campaigns. He has helped many individuals too, including many LGBTIQ refugees in the UK escaping persecution in their home countries. With Peter’s help, for which he receives no salary, a large number have successfully been recognised by the British authorities and have been able to build new lives for themselves, free from the terror of state persecution.

His leadership of the Equal Love campaign, arguing that gay couples should have the right to marry and that straight couples should have the right to hold civil partnerships has so far been a partial success. The prime minister David Cameron has pledged to introduce gay civil marriage, although Peter is continuing the fight to ensure that gay couples should be allowed to hold religious marriages and straight couples to hold civil partnerships. In other words, true marriage equality. But it’s unlikely that without his campaign that the government would have even started moving in the current direction.

I’m really hoping that our many readers from all around the world dig deep from now until Peter Tatchell Day and throughout his birthday year to help support his and his team’s work through the Peter Tatchell Foundation. Click here for more details.

Benjamin Cohen is the founder and publisher of PinkNews.co.uk. He is also a correspondent for Channel 4 News

The application is essentially a hyper local dating service, listing 100 gay guys together with their photographs by their distance in metres from the user.
The new application, Project Amicus will offer similar functionalities, allowing users to discover other users who are close to their current location.

“Users love our existing location-based mobile experience, and we recognize the demand for a mainstream app,” Grindr founder Joel Simkhai said in a press release
“We’re thrilled to continue harnessing the power of location to deliver a compelling new global platform that fundamentally changes and improves the way we meet new people.”

Grindr has come under some criticism for promoting sexual promiscuity as the service can be used, should the user wish to find sexual partners with relative ease. Others have warned about personal safety, Daniel Gomez, Community Engagement Manager at The Lesbian & Gay Foundation said: “Programmes like Grindr are the new ‘Gay Bar’ of the millennium. But words of caution…use common sense when meeting up with men from the internet. We sometimes forget that it doesn’t always do what it says it does on the tin! I think sometimes it’s easy to forget, that not everyone has the same intentions you do when looking to meet men online”.

Grindr’s founder Joel Simkhai defended his application in an interview with PinkNews.co.uk last month: “As a company we employ moderators to monitor content, but Grindr users are no more vetted than the ones you meet in bars or clubs. Do we encourage promiscuity? Not at all, the platform we provide is neutral in that sense. We simply make it easier to meet people, be that for friendship, dating or otherwise. We’ve even had a Grindr user get help to fix his broken down car using our app.”
It is unclear yet whether the Grindr phenomenon will translate easily to a mainstream location based service.

Recently launched Ditto connects you to your Facebook friends who are near you, as does Facebook’s own Places application. These applications reinforce your existing, real world relationships.

Project Amicus will connect you to strangers who happen to be near you, just like its older sibling Grindr. But Grindr, for some serves a specific need, meeting partners. Even if you’re not using Grindr for sex, you can use it to meet people who you already have something really important in common with, your sexual orientation. Unless it lists people based on their interests, backgrounds and occupation, Project Amicus might struggle to to live up to the success of its big brother.

This article was first published on Channel4.com/BenjaminCohen

Speaking last week at a London meeting of young members of the Zionist Federation as well as a separate audience of LGBT Jews, Mr Horowitz spoke of his experiences as a gay politician and how they have informed his campaigning for human and gay rights across the middle east.

“If you solve the issues about separating religion from the state you can solve a lot of the issues relating to LGBT rights,” he told both groups.

“Through the courts, but not through parliament, we have very good LGBT rights in Israel already. Because of the religious power in parliament, it was always going to be impossible to pass legislation specifically to protect LGBT rights, especially with this horrible right-wing government. So we go through the courts, using the aspirations of equality within the Israeli Deceleration of Independence as the basis for our claims.

“Actually, the situation on the ground is not bad, better than here in the UK in many respects. For example, if you live with someone for just three months, it is enough under Israeli law to be considered as a ‘common law marriage’, with no marriage ceremony or registration and it makes no difference whether the couple is gay or straight. So if something happens to me and I die, my partner gets all his inheritance without any tax, just as he would if we were actually married.

“But there is a real danger with things being decided by court precedents rather than by Parliament, because if another judge, who is less liberal, makes a different ruling, then rights could be taken away, just like that. This is something we have to try and avoid on a daily basis. But the real problem isn’t gay rights in my opinion, it’s tolerance. Rights are guaranteed by the court but if people are beaten in the streets, or there is hate crime, obviously that’s also illegal but it doesn’t stop it ruining or in the tragic case of a shooting in an LGBT youth centre, ending gay peoples’ lives.”

Part of the reason why Israel protects unmarried couples as if they were married is because of the complex system of religious law that underpins a Jewish country with a significant Muslim and Christian minority.

Mr Horowitz explained: “Israel is a messy legal system with personal law being determined by different religious courts. There are the Jewish courts, the Muslim courts and 13 different denominations of Christianity have their own religious courts. We inherited this system from the British, who in turn inherited it from the Ottoman Empire. What it means is that so many religious institutions have a say about how I can live my life, how the law applies to me, that there is no provision for secular personal law.

“So, a Jew can’t marry a Christian within Israel, nor can a Christian marry someone of no faith. And a Jewish man with the surname Cohen [in biblical times the name for a priest] cannot marry a divorced woman. They are all, like gay couples forced to marry outside of Israel. The state does recognise all of these marriages and gives the couples legal protection, but it is wrong that the ceremonies themselves, particularly civil ceremonies can’t be done inside Israel.”

Mr Horowitz also pointed out that the religious groups within Israel are united in their opposition to homosexuality.

“The first time the country’s three religious leaders; the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Catholic-Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the chief mufti of the Muslim congregation have ever got together in history was in their opposition of World Pride coming to Jerusalem,” he said. “They got together and sat on the same table because of their hatred of gays.”

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk, Mr Horowitz explained how gay Muslims are treated within Israel and the Palestinian Territories. “When I talk about gay rights to an enlightened Arab politician, who agrees with me about every other human rights issue, they simply say ‘no we don’t have this phenomenon, it is only the Jews who have homosexuals, we don’t have this problem.’ How far from the truth they are.”

Mr Horowitz added: “The gay Palestinians fear for their lives. They leave their homes in Gaza and Ramallah and come to Tel Aviv where there is a very big gay community and nightlife. The problem is that in Tel Aviv, they are living as illegal immigrants. But if you send them back to Palestine, they might be killed by their own families. So what I’m doing in some of these cases is working with like-minded politicians to find them a suitable country where they can live safely outside of the Middle East. I have helped some gay people get refugee status in Sweden, Norway and Canada. There are all sorts of solutions to enable to them actually stay alive. But some of them do remain in Israel of course and that is right and we must help and support them.

“As for the Arab countries around us, this is a big problem. They are fundamentally very undemocratic and oppressive societies that do not respect the human rights of any kind. But it should be a topic that is raised by other countries as we’re not in a position to influence them, they often don’t even recognise the State of Israel. The problem with non-Palestinian refugees is if they live in an enemy country of Israel like Syria, the border is closed and it is almost impossible for them reach us. Egyptians and Jordanians can come because we have diplomatic relations with them, but it is not very easy for gay people from those countries to live in Israel, because unfortunately, our own religious establishment is not very tolerant to gays either. The interior minister, Eli Yishai, the man responsible for issuing visas to asylum seekers hates gays, so it is impossible to talk to him about cases, it is very complicated, but I try my best that I can.”

First published: 9th February 2006

The Conservative party are changing; at least that’s what leader David Cameron would like you to believe. One of the key architects of the change is Francis Maude, former Foreign Office minister and now chairman of the Conservative Party.

In his first major interview on gay rights, he explains to PinkNews.co.uk’s Benjamin Cohen that his party’s approach to gay rights in the 1980s and 1990s were wrong, that Section 28 was a mistake and expresses his love for his openly gay brother who died of AIDs 12 years ago.

Francis Maude sits in his office above a Starbucks and sips upon his mochachino coffee. Spotting my mp3 player, he exclaims: “I couldn’t live without mine, they’re great aren’t they!”

PinkNews.co.uk sits snugly on his computer screen and he explains that he’s just been making one of his regular visits to the website.

This is a man clearly willing to modernise, his drink, technology and dress sense are a clear break from the Tory-boy years. He uses phrases like “moved on” constantly as he tries to explain away his party’s past and look towards a more socially liberal future.

“We’ve been seen for a long time as a party which hasn’t been very open to gay people. That’s wrong.” Asked if this was morally wrong, he said: “yes, totally.” His voice cracking he adds: “I feel very strongly about this, I had a brother who was gay and died from AIDs, 12 years ago now.”

Part of the problem with attempting to engage with the gay community is that the community has long memories and deep routed suspicions of the motives of Conservatives claiming to be pro-gay. “I’ve been conscious that too many gay people who are conservative leaning have not felt comfortable to support us.”

“The thing that really brought it home to me most recently was a story Nicholas Boles, our candidate in Hove told me. He was canvassing and a guy said: ‘I can’t vote Conservative because I’m gay’. Nicholas replied: ‘I’m gay too’. The man appeared perplexed and claimed we’re an anti-gay party, but that sort of perception is intolerable. However, we’ve begun to redress it.”

In 2002, Alan Duncan became the first openly gay sitting Conservative MP. Francis Maude claims that it was a necessary move forward for the party. “Being a Conservative MP was by then virtually the only work environment where there were no openly gay people represented.” With a slight smile he adds: “expect perhaps for the Lib Dems, they’ve certainly made up for that in recent weeks.”

Perhaps remembering the moment his brother came out to him, he adds: “It is a shame that people can’t be open about sexuality but I don’t think any of us should underestimate how hard it is to come out.”

“Chris Smith [the former Labour cabinet minister] came out way back, more than two decades ago. That was a bloody brave thing to do especially in the 1980s.”

Commenting on the public outing of Simon Hughes as bisexual, he adds his support to the embattled Liberal Democrat leadership candidate: “I thought Simon’s explanation for his secrecy was so real. He didn’t want to rub his sexuality in the nose of his elderly mother. I can appreciate it.

“We shouldn’t criticise, that will change as time will go on. I hope we’re becoming a society where all of this matters much less and sooner it happens the better. People should be able to be more at ease with themselves.”

The anti-gay policies the Conservatives presented to the country during the 1980s and the 1990s, were Mr Maude claims
“wrong.” One of the most controversial policies was Section 28, which he claims was: “in hindsight a mistake, I voted for it, I was a minister.”

He however claims that there were some genuine reasons for adopting the policy: “Some local authorities were actively promoting homosexuality to school children at a time when gay sex under the age of 21 was illegal.

“However, times have moved on and the Conservatives should have move on with it much, much earlier and we didn’t. A big part of our problem more generally was that we have failed to keep pace with change in society.”

In 2002, Mr Maude joined with his close political friend, Michael Portillo and voted for gay couples to adopt children jointly. By voting with the government, they rebelled against a three-line whip and permanently destabilised the tenuous leadership of Iain Duncan Smith.

“I thought that opposing the right of gay couples to adopt was an absurd thing to do. It was already legal for single gay people to adopt but not for couples. It seemed to me right those couples that wished to give a loving home to a child that would otherwise not have a home seems to me to be obviously humane to allow that to happen.”

In 2004, Michael Howard, the then leader and architect of Section 28 decided to personally support the establishment of civil partnerships: “The Government thought that Civil Partnerships would be a trap for us, they wanted us to oppose it, as we had done with adoption issue but they hadn’t reckoned that the Conservative Party had by then moved on.”

In a message that will certainly upset die-hard Thatcherites like Norman Tebbit, he claims that gay partnerships pose no threat to the family. “For me its all to do with family values it is better for society that we should recognise those couples who wish to make a long term commitment to share responsibilities. It’s about strengthening our society.”

With a hint of remorse he sighs and adds: “This is all informed by my family, my wonderful, intelligent, beloved brother. The gay scene in London in the 1980s was quite aggressively promiscuous and I think if society generally and the government I served in had been more willing to recognise gay people then there would have been less of that problem.”

Looking me in the eye, he adds with regret: “A lot of people like my brother would not have succumbed to HIV and lost their lives.”

Epilogue
The interview with Francis Maude was exclusively published in The Independent and was later carried in a number of other newspapers as well as being discussed on a number of BBC News programmes.

Francis Maude was a key note speaker at PinkNews.co.uk’s first birthday party held at the Law Society in 2006. Prior to the general election, David Cameron asked him to make the relevant preparations for the machinery of Government changes following a potential Conservative victory. Following the establishment of the Coalition Government, Mr Maude was appointed minister of state for the Cabinet Office and is responsible for the smooth running of Government.

He has remained a key supporter of LGBT rights within the Conservative Party and the new Coalition Government.

I’ve been to many LGBT Pride events before; last year I accompanied the-then prime minister’s wife Sarah Brown at London’s Pride march. This year, both in Tel Aviv and in London, the experience was different, I wasn’t just ‘coming out’ as LGBT, I was coming out as an LGBT Jew. This is the first time I’ve combined these two very important constituent parts of my personality and cultural identity.

In Tel Aviv, I marched with about 20 members of the Gay Jews in London group. We accompanied 100,000 fellow Jews from around the world.

It’s hard to describe how that felt. It was about walking with tens of thousands of people you have a real affinity with – not just your sexuality but also your religion. People who have suffered the same struggles of conscience and fear of rejection before making the brave decision of coming out. People like me who had to reconcile the conflicting pressures of both knowing you have a different sexual orientation while at the same time wanting to belong to a religion, which at least in the orthodox tradition rejects you.

At last Saturday’s Pride London celebrations, more than one hundred LGBT Jews took part in the march. It was the largest Jewish turnout ever seen at Pride and it reflects the growth of the three Jewish LGBT groups: Gay Jews in London, the Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group and Beit Klal Yisrael, a predominantly gay synagogue.

The Jews joined hundreds of other religious marchers, including Christians, Muslims and Hindus, on the march across the West End, culminating in a rally at Trafalgar Square. Some may wonder why anyone would march at a Pride event at all, especially given that in the most part we’re no longer marching to achieve particular human rights and it was for equal rights that the first gay Pride march took place in London nearly 40 years ago last weekend.

I don’t think that people really even march as a celebration of their own sexuality, I think they march because they have pride in the strength of their own character, that they’re honest about their own needs and desires, and in the case of religious groups, that they’re proud of the way that God made them.

At the march itself, it was the Jews, wearing cheeky t-shirts emblazoned with “Jewlicious – 100% Kosher”, that caused the largest impact . I spent a lot of the march at the front with the mayor, Boris Johnson, who was rather taken with the t-shirt and emphasised to me the importance of different faith groups wanting to be part of this large celebration of LGBT life.

Perhaps the popularity of the Jewish group with the million-strong crowd was because publicly, orthodox Jewish leaders say little about homosexuality while Reform and Liberal Rabbis embrace us, in marked contrast to Muslim, Anglican or Catholic leaders. Indeed, the only demonstration against Pride was from an evangelical Christian group warning that by holding events such as an LGBT pride march, London will soon follow the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. But I have to question how long it’s sustainable for the orthodox community to fudge the issue of homosexuality.

Ask any orthodox Rabbi for their position on homosexuality and they’ll respond along the lines of “hating the sin but loving the sinner.” It’s certainly nothing like the language of evangelical Christians or hardline Muslims but it’s still not very satisfactory. How on earth can you “love” someone who you believe is deliberately committing a grave sin?

On every Yom Kippur, included alongside incest and bestiality in the list of banned sexual relationships, we read from the Torah: “you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” – an offence punishable with death. And every year we do that, we’re sowing into the minds of another generation of young people that being LGBT and Jewish will be a struggle. That passage used to make me believe I would be punished for something I couldn’t help and I’m not alone. Nearly all of my LGBT friends brought up in the orthodox tradition felt the same and that’s hardly going to fill anyone with pride.

Benjamin Cohen is a correspondent for Channel 4 News and the founder of PinkNews.co.uk

Postscript
I should add for the avoidance of doubt, that my attachment to Judaism is more or less exclusively a cultural one. I studied theology at university and so consequently, I don’t really believe in God any more, certainly not the personal God of traditional Jewish thought. The laws and traditions of Judaism that I follow therefore are the ones that I actually agree with or that I have a cultural affinity with. I do them because I want to, not like a religious person who often does particular things because they are scared of some sort of divine retribution.

But even though I no longer believe, I don’t lose the right to want the religion to change, to adapt and respond to modernity. While you could pretty well argue I could jump ships to a Liberal or Reform synagogue, I don’t think I should have to (see my earlier column on this subject). I want the mainstream branch of Judaism to change so that the situation for young LGBT Jews changes. When you’re a kid, you don’t get to chose the synagogue you attend, your parents do, and it’s only through changing the attitudes of orthodox Jews that will enable a different approach to homosexuality appear. That’s why I wrote the column for the Jewish News aimed squarely at the orthodox community.

The prose is sparking and witty, raising real debate and conflict while at the same time raising some genuine laughs as the clergy from around the world try and grapple with the very real problem of the approach to gay clergy. But then the play becomes a little muddled. Michael played by Jonathan Cullen, a lay volunteer at the conference has sex with a hotel porter, Joseph played by Fiston Barek.

When the action moves to Britain, we see that Michael is living the life of a supposed straight, married evangelical Christian. And Michael is having real trouble at home because his wife is desperate for them to try IVF despite his moral doubts about it.

As one can predict, Joseph arrives in the country and ropes Michael into helping him seek assylum in Britain following an attack on him because of a homosexual relationship being discovered. But Joseph is a really unappealing character, he is hurtful to Michael and is incredibly angry, for reasons that aren’t really explained. Consequently, I found it hard to feel any emotion or sympathy for the character.

The play climaxes with an encounter with a bishop brilliantly played by Ian Redford pretty much modelled on Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury who grapples with the problems of homosexuality and asylum.

It’s welcome to see a play on at the National Theatre that deals with such a contemporary issue for our community. It’s a shame that what begun as a gripping and pretty accurate fly-on-the-wall observation of the debates going on within the Church got so muddled with the sex lives of rather unappealing characters.

Friday, the day of the main Pride parade and celebrations was a day of contrasts. It began, as it does for many of the Jewish residents in Tel Aviv with the market as they prepare for the impeding Sabbath. It was a real sight to behold, little old ladies haggling down the price of a kilogram of tomatoes or poking their fingers on a cholla (sacramental bread) required for the Friday night Shabbat dinner. The gay pride parade was literally a couple of minutes walk from here, emphasising the contrasts that exist in this city. Religious and modern, gay friendly people seem to sit side by side with each other.

Pride itself began with a party in the park that hosts the city’s LGBT community centre. It felt a little like the gathering in Soho Square after London’s pride march. Stalls from religious groups sat next to those handing out condoms or shots of Smirnoff Vodka.
 
The march itself was phenomenal, normally I’m taking photographs from the side or interviewing politicians. This time I was there with tens of thousands of fellow gay Jews. It’s hard to describe how that felt, thousands of people you have a real affinity with- not just your sexuality but also your religion. It made the little bunch of 140 or so gay Jews who attend the Gay Jews in London group seem very small.

The march led to a massive beach party with thousands getting more than a little sozzled in the baking heat although it was a little too hot for me. Following a quick shower we headed to dinner at the Dixie Grill Bar Restaurant and on to Evita, a Tel Aviv institution that blends being a café, bar and mini-club. Rammed full with pride revellers, its drinks were ludicrously generous in their strength and were a little too much for me after a day in the sun. So I party pooped back to the hotel. Getting a taxi on a Friday night (Shabbat the Jewish Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday to sunset Saturday) was a little difficult and I couldn’t persuade my driver to use the metre- him insisting on “Shabbat” prices- although taxis in general in Tel Aviv are hugely affordable.

The next day while my fellow British guests were sleeping off their hangovers, or perhaps returning from someone else’s hotel, I really got to understand the joy of Tel Aviv. I met up with Boaz, a friend from university who is originally from Tel Aviv but was brought up in Brighton. He moved back to Israel a few years ago and I wanted the opportunity of meeting his new wife. But we spent the day together first, starting with a hearty late breakfast at Benedict’s in the Rothschild area of the city. He told me about life in the city, it’s vibrancy, excellent night life, tolerance and diversity. It’s also a pretty exciting place to work with a buzzing and growing technology and internet-start-up scene. We returned to the beach by my hotel to meet his wife and some friends to watch the sun set.
 
Back with the gays, we headed to Boya Restaurant which is in the recently redeveloped Tel Aviv port where warehouses and docks have been converted into restaurants, bars and night clubs. It’s a pretty trendy place to be buzzing with young people of all persuasions. The food was lovely, they were happy to adapt their menus for two rather fussy vegetarians, although the service was tediously slow. Perhaps their staff were a little exhausted from the parties the night before!
 
One of Israel’s best known DJs, Ofer Nissim invited us to the nearby TLV nightclub where she was hosting a gay circuit party. While the music wasn’t always to my taste, the light show was one of the best I’ve seen, much better than you’d see at a typical British gay nightclub and still managed to impress me just a week after I returned from the Ibiza summer opening parties. I was probably one of just a handful of men at the club who kept their shirt on all night- it’s quite hard to compete with the buffed up bodies of Israeli gays fresh from three years in the army! And while it wasn’t a surprise to constantly bump into my Jewish friends from London, it was a surprise to bump into Christian lobbyist I’d met at some Westminster events. He was on a spiritual trip around the Holy Land but timed it to coincide with Tel Aviv pride because of the rave reviews he’d heard from friends that had attended before.
 
At about 1:30 we headed back to the Crowne Plaza which was hosting a closing party in its beach bar. There I was surrounded by just about every gay Jew I know from London, all of whom come regularly for the pride festivities. This slightly smaller affair was relaxed and a nice way to end to the partying and it was just a short walk back to the room.
 
Before we set off for the airport on Sunday, we stopped in for a huge lunch at Dr Shakshuka Restaurant in Jaffa serving Libyan and Moroccan cuisine with delightful food for vegetarians to visit. As we sat eating salad after salad, a family sung as their 13-year-old son appeared having read his Barmitzvah portion of the Torah at the Western Wall of the Temple (the Kotel) yesterday. It filled me with hope that should he turn out to be gay, he’ll be growing up in a country where it seems as if he may not need be afraid of coming out and lives in a city where, if what I experienced during pride is the norm, then his sexuality will be celebrated.

Flights
El Al fly to Israel daily from London Heathrow as well as regular flights from London Luton from around £350 return. www.elal.co.uk

Hotel
The Crowne Plaza, Tel Aviv is perfectly located for the beach and is a short taxi ride away from both Jaffa and gay bars/ clubs. From £60 per night. ICHotelsGroup.com

Package holiday
El Al’s package holiday company Superstar Holidays offers both flights and accommodation at the Crowne Plaza from £640 per person based on a three night stay. SuperStar.co.uk

For more information on Israel, visit ThinkIsrael.com

Benjamin Cohen is the founding publisher of PinkNews.co.uk and a correspondent for Channel 4 News

Tens of thousands of people are expected to join Tel Aviv Pride today, the Middle East’s only significant gay celebration.

It comes just a few days after Israeli activists were banned from Madrid Pride, the largest in Europe, over Israel’s raid on a Gaza aid ship.

As of midday, just before the parade was due to start, the usual cacophony of whistles and cheers filled the streets before the marchers set off.

As well as the main body of marchers, two smaller parades are to be held to protest for better representation of marginalised groups in Pride.

The main parade’s route takes revellers past popular gay areas and the city’s religious quarters, starting on Gan Meir Park on King George Street and finishing at Gordon Beach.

Near the stage, a giant tube of lubricant encouraged safe sex as rabbis walked by, accentuating Tel Aviv’s reputation as a city of contrasts.

Now in its 13th year, the event has had a stable history, unlike Jerusalem Pride which has suffered violence in the past.

Over the years, some religious figures have called for Pride in Tel Aviv to be banned or at least curtailed, but these calls have been brushed aside.

Last year, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said his municipality had supported the parade since it began, calling a “happy party that marches the city’s streets proudly each year.”

The Israeli government has invited journalists from round the world to cover the day, while Jewish gay groups from Britain are also present.

Jonathan Sacerdoti, from the Zionist Federation, said: “Israel is a very good place to be gay. It’s accommodating and tolerant, unlike many other places in the Middle East.

There’s equality for people of all sexual orientations. Gays have been serving in the Army since 1993, gay unions from outside are recognised and there is gay adoption, thanks to Supreme Court rulings. It is a very positive place to be.”

Adam Ezekiel, from the Zionist Jewish Group, added: “This is the only gay parade here. In other places, gay people are being hanged. It’s very important to ensure our rights and opinions are heard.”

Sajron Jegerman, a spokesman for Pride, said: “There are so many people here. Today is a day of freedom, a day to be free.

He added he had heard of no religious opposition to the festival in its run-up and said everything was going “perfectly ok”.

He also expressed sadness at the barring of Israeli gay activists from having a float at Madrid Pride.

Mr Jegerman said he was “disappointed” at the clash between politics and human rights but added: “It will not stop us co-operating with them in future for gay rights.”

City officials had angrily countered Madrid’s perceived snub, with one inviting Madrid officials to visit Tel Aviv Pride in order to meet gay Arabs who could not be open about their sexuality at home.

A moment of silence is to be held later in memoriam of those killed at a Tel Aviv gay meeting last July. Two people were killed and a further 15 were injured when a gunman opened fire on the venue.

Benjamin Cohen is the founder and publisher of PinkNews.co.uk and technology correspondent for Channel 4 News.

Yesterday PinkNews.co.uk the website I founded revealed it had been aware of Laws’s sexuality but had not published details to respect his privacy. Something that has subjected this publication to a barrage of questions from the wider media. For the record, it is an editorial policy to never out anyone unless they are hypocrites and campaign against LGBT rights while secretly engaging in an LGBT relationship. David Laws on the issue of his sexuality is clearly not a hypocrite.

I first heard whisper of David Laws’s sexuality in 2006 while I was still PinkNews’s editor. It wasn’t unusual to be told tales of MPs personal lives often by their closest confidants. But David Laws’s sexuality wasn’t the cliche of an ‘open Westminster secret’.

He wasn’t one of the apparently straight politicians that are a fixture of the VIP rooms of gay night clubs like Heaven with a tendency for liaisons with fresh faced students. He wasn’t one of the handful of ‘straight’ MPs that have boasted of their gay sex lives to me while a little worse for wear at the end of my friends’ dinner parties. He wasn’t one of the ‘straight’ MPs stupid enough to have profiles on gay social networking websites.

David was different. The details of his relationship were secret, I never knew the name of his lover.

Coming out is always a drama, it’s always embarrassing. Far more so than it needs to be but far less than anyone in the closet fears.

Coming out and saying ‘I’m gay” is unfortunately interpreted not as an admission of the gender of the person you love but more about something deeply private, your sex life. The “I’m gay” line tells your parents, your grandparents, your boss, your friends, what you’re doing in the privacy of your bedroom (often actually far less seedy or dramatic than they imagine). Telling your parents that you’re gay immediately conjures up images of a life of promiscuity and instability when for some, like me or many of my friends it is nothing of the sort.

I don’t know David Laws or his partner so I don’t know how his family have reacted or the sort of people they are. But I know from my own experience that coming out (as I did to most of my family) from the stability of a loving relationship makes the whole thing more manageable and sensible. My parents looked at the relationship of me and my former partner as two people deeply in love with each other and about to live together in much the same way as they did with my sister and her straight partner. It could have been like that for David Laws had it not been for his wretched expenses claims.

It is a greater tragedy given his political party. Officially the Lib Dems are the most gay friendly of all parties. Nick Clegg has always supported full gay marriage and it is the only party whose LGBT wing is an official part of its governance. But it’s a party whose politicians too often are forced to come out rather than do so voluntarily as Conservatives Alan Duncan, Nick Herbert and Greg Barker have shown is perfectly acceptable.

The 2006 leadership election was awful for the Liberal Democrats.

Mark Oaten whose complicated sexuality has never been fully spelled out foolishly stood for the leadership with TV cameras filming his wife and he feeding his children their breakfast while knowing a rent boy had engaged in un-publishable sexual acts with him.

A week later, the single Simon Hughes (a great friend of PinkNews.co.uk) was forced to come out as bisexual after a tabloid revealed his previous entanglements with men found on gay dating phone lines. The fact he’d won the 1983 Bermondsey by-election as the “straight choice” against the openly gay Labour candidate Peter Tatchell in a virulently homophobic campaign didn’t help. Simon later apologised and Peter graciously accepted the apology and actually backed his campaign for Lib Dem leader. Simon had a brilliant gay rights record in Parliament and explained to me that he didn’t want to shock his elderly, Christian mother with the complicated life of a bisexual. He has been in relationships with both genders but had actually proposed to a woman.

The problem with the Daily Telegraph’s possession of the un-redacted expenses claims was that David Laws’s coming out was always going to be a nightmare. Any Telegraph journalist with access to the full expenses documents and who’d scrutinised David Laws’s claims would have put two and two together when hearing the name of his partner. Although the newspaper has asserted that its motivation was not to out Mr Laws. But it was always going to end in tragedy. Perhaps had the coalition he negotiated had not have been formed this would have been a tiny storm in a tea cup for a Lib Dem education spokesman. But when the man, a millionaire, is in charge of Government spending it could not have ended any other way.

For a day David Laws was the most powerful openly gay man in Britain. Today he is just another Lib Dem caught out by his fear of coming out.

Benjamin Cohen is the founding publisher of PinkNews.co.uk and is a correspondent for Channel 4 News

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were expected to be jailed last month, but the judge delayed sentencing and allowed them to call defence witnesses. The court is due to reconvene tomorrow (3rd April 2010). Monjeza and Chimbalanga could face up to 14 years in jail, in line with the country’s strict laws on homosexuality.

They have been in custody for almost three months, where they have been subjected to assaults.. the couple have twice been denied bail, and have pleaded not guilty to charges of sodomy and indecency. They were arrested last December after holding a traditional wedding ceremony in Blantyre.

The full text of the letter to President Mutharika is below.

Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s largest human rights organizations, documenting a broad range of human rights violations in over 80 countries. We are writing today to draw your attention once again to the ongoing criminal trial of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza. Their arrest and imprisonment on grounds of their sexual orientation and gender identity, as we detail below, presents a grave threat to the human rights of all Malawians. We urge that all charges against Monjeza and Chimbnalanga are dropped, to uphold constitutional principles of equality, privacy and dignity.

Scott Long
Director
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights Program
 

The newspaper’s political editor Jane Merrick writes: “Gordon Brown last month blocked Sri Lanka’s attempt to host the next Commonwealth summit, and last week David Miliband told the Commons that there remained ongoing concerns about the island’s government after a crackdown on the Tamil population earlier this year.

“Despite this, Mr Bradshaw, wearing a straw hat, checked shirt and jeans, arrived at Colombo airport on Friday morning for a Christmas break in the country.”

Human Rights Watch said that while on his trip in the country, the minister should publicly condemn President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s clampdown on Tamils. The organisation say while Mr Bradhsaw can travel freely around the island there are tends of thousands of internally displaced persons who have their movements restricted despite some relaxations on the rules this month.

The paper quotes James Ross, legal and policy director of Human Rights Watch as saying that Mr Bradshaw “should travel around, all over the country, and then publicly express his disapproval of the fact that there are still tens of thousands of Sri Lankans who cannot do the same thing because they are being held in detention centres.

“If he is going to go to Sri Lanka he should speak out and publicly honour the British government’s concerns about the situation there.”

The newspaper also points out that the culture secretary paid “£1,600 for a business-class ticket for the 10-hour flight. He left Heathrow on Thursday just before snowstorms hit – causing delays and cancellations – and arrived in Colombo on Friday, to be met by temperatures of around 31C.

“The minister’s choice of a far-flung destination and long-haul flight, with its sizeable carbon footprint, just as the Copenhagen climate talks were peaking, will earn him no points with environmental campaigners.

Mr Brashaw’s spokesman did not comment to the newspaper.

Two years ago, I wrote about my experiences in Synagogue over Yom Kippur, the day of atonement when according to Judaism, all men and women are judged and God decides whether to write them into the book of life for the following year, who will die at his allotted time and who before. It’s also the day that God decides who will have a good year and who will have a year of struggle. As I left yesterday’s service, I felt that it would be apt to update the original article.

As I sat in Synagogue yesterday during Yom Kippur I once again regretted that I’m still an attendee of the United Synagogue.

The United Synagogue is Britain’s largest Jewish community and represents what it defines as “modern Orthodoxy”, a centre ground which aims to embrace modernity with a traditional slant.

Despite their orthodox claims, the majority of those who belong to the movement are certainly not orthodox in the strictest sense of the word. They may attend synagogue regularly but they’ll often watch television and drive on Shabbat (the Sabbath) something which is banned.

But in terms of morality, particularly sexual morality, those Rabbis in charge of the synagogues have failed to recognise the strides forward both society as a whole and the Jewish community in particular have made in the past few years.

Many of my parent’s friends are clearly subscribers to the modern orthodox doctrines; strictly keeping Kosher, refraining from all forms of work on the Sabbath (even switching a light on) and attend Synagogue at least once a week. But all have accepted my sexuality, one even saying that I was “silly to have thought they would have behaved otherwise.”

Yet as I sat in the Yom Kippur service yesterday afternoon, I was reminded that the movement still has a long way to go. The Torah reading for the afternoon was from Leviticus, particularly those verses concerning forbidden sexual relationships.

Whilst most right minded people will believe that a man should not sleep with his mother or that a woman should not have sex with an animal, the ban on homosexuality; “you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” appears somewhat out of place.

The above verse is obviously a translation into English from ancient Hebrew. The literal translation of “V’et zachar lo tishkav mishk’vey eeshah toeyvah hee” is “and with a male you shall not lay lyings of a woman.” This is not quite the same thing.

Some commentaries understand this as a ban on men sleeping together in the bed of a woman, certainly no bad thing as it’s clearly poor etiquette, especially if it were done behind her back. Others understand this more as a ban on the pagan rituals of anal sex within religious pagan temple ceremonies.

But the United Synagogue seems to prefer the clearer translation, essentially a ban on gay sex. 2 years ago, I decided to leave the building as those verses were read, my own silent protest at firstly its inclusion in the service and the interpretations of the movement as a whole. This year I decided not to attend that service at all. But constantly throughout the rest of the day’s proceedings I found myself “confessing” for my “abominations”- perhaps a reference to the Torah’s description of a man lying with a men as with a woman as an “abomination,” something that carried the death penalty in biblical times.

Of course, I could choose to join the Liberal or Reform movements, both of whom have adapted their liturgy to remove condemnations of homosexuality. Indeed, Liberal Judaism has introduced a gay wedding ceremony and has many openly gay and lesbian Rabbis heading their communities.

But I do enjoy the services at the United Synagogue, sitting next to my father, grandfather, brother-in-law and seeing family and friends. I do however regret that it would seem highly inappropriate for my non-Jewish same sex partner to sit next to me.

I still do hope that by remaining within the movement, I like other LGBT Jews can act as an impetus for reform across the board, not just for LGBT rights but also to improve the role of women as leaders in our community. But I fear, as both the liberal/reform and ultra-orthodox communities within Britain increase in size, the United Synagogue may feel the need to lurch to the right rather than stake a claim in the centre ground embracing true equality regardless of sex or sexuality.

Benjamin Cohen is the founder of PinkNews.co.uk and is a correspondent for Channel4 News and the views expressed within this article remain his personal views and do not necessarily reflect the policies or editorial stance of either organisations.

You can discuss this article with him via Twitter www.twitter.com/benjamincohen

Turing famously invented the Turing machine and helped crack the German Enigma code during World War Two, ultimately helping the Allies to win the war. But he killed himself in 1954 aged 41 after being convicted of having a sexual relationship with another man.

A British court gave him the choice of going either to prison or undergoing chemical castration. He opted for the latter.

A campaign supported by major public figures including Professor Richard Dawkins, writer Ian McEwan, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and celebrity Twitterer Stephen Fry is the fourth most signed petition on the Downing Street website.

In a moving and emotional response, Mr Brown reflects on the 70th anniversary of the start of World War Two and says that Turing’s treatment was “utterly unfair” that he was convicted under “homophobic laws” and “deserved so much better.” Mr Brown’s wife Sarah posted on Twitter: “Just back to hear from Gordon that he has rightly issued apology to codebreaker and hero Alan Turing.”

Peter Tatchell called the apology “welcome and commendable” but said an apology was also due to the estimated 100,000 British men convicted of similar offences.

He said: “Singling out Turing just because he is famous is wrong. Unlike Turing, many thousands of ordinary gay and bisexual men were never given the option of hormone treatment. They were sent to prison.

“All these men were criminalised for behaviour that was not a crime between heterosexual men and women.”

Mr Brown’s response is below:
“2009 has been a year of deep reflection – a chance for Britain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who came before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred in us that sense of pride and gratitude which characterise the British experience.

“Earlier this year I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to honour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which have passed since the British government declared its willingness to take up arms against Fascism and declared the outbreak of World War Two. So I am both pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain’s fight against the darkness of dictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.

“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.

“Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.

“I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue.

“But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate – by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices – that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

“So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.”

Gordon Brown

The lone gun man dressed head to toe in black shot dead Liz Trubeshi, aged just 17 and 26-year-old Nir Kat. In what was described by some witnesses as a “blood bath”, he sprayed bullets from an automatic riffle ruthlessly. At least 12 other people were injured, and the shock of the event will likely scar them for life, even in a country as used to violence as Israel.

I’ve been told those in the building were at an event to discuss coming out and the issues particularly unique to young LGBT people. It is likely that some of those injured were not out to their families.

The LGBT, Jewish and Israeli communities came together in an act of solidarity to remember the two young lives that were lost but to also comfort each other in the realisation that violent homophobia is still a reality even in a supposedly liberal democracy like Israel.

In Soho Square, London, around 70 people gathered to write messages to send to the families of the victims. Passers by, enjoying a rare glimpse of the sun also stopped, lit candles and shared their condolences.

There were no real organisers of the event, people just agreed via social networking sites the best time to meet and it appears that this was the case across the world.

Israeli lesbian Yasmin Manmax, who lived just a minutes walk from the site of the attack, a gay organisation in Tel Aviv told PinkNews.co.uk: “They only held very sensitive activities there, things for young people. If you’d just ‘Google’ for the organisation, you’d get a different address. It must have been someone who knew it was being held there. It’s a regular building, it’s just a place of gathering- it’s a basement, there’s no where to run or jump out of the way of bullets. There’s no escape if he was in the doorway. It must have been like hell.”

I asked her if Tel Aviv was normally a relatively safe place to be a lesbian. “If you compare it to other streets in Israel, like Jerusalem, people say, ‘it’s safe in Tel Aviv’. It’s like if something were to happen here in Soho.”

Of course something like this did happen in Soho ten years ago, a nail bomb exploded in the Adrimal Duncan gay pub on Old Compton Street killing three people and injuring many more. The anniversary being little more than three months ago,

Another Israeli lesbian, Orni Goffer told me that Tel Aviv isn’t as liberal as many people might think. “There has been some trouble, It’s not a problem for religious people to put up a sign saying kill all the homos. It only takes one person to do this, behind the liberty of freedom of speech.”

She was also angered at the delay in the condemnations given by the political leaders of Israel. ” It was not condemned quick enough by the politicians,” she told PinkNews.co.uk. “They said ‘we’re shocked’, ‘it shouldn’t happen’ but also said ‘it might be someone from within the community who did the shooting’.”

Orni seemed to blame politicians for the shooting: “Their homophobic campaigns over many years could connect with people who have inner homophobia or finding it hard to accept their own sexuality. It could be their fault.”

I came away feeling quite uplifted that people did come out to join the vigil. But speaking to others who didn’t want to be named made me realise there was clearly a real fear among the Israeli LGBT community that this unknown gunman will strike again.

Sadly, it will also be on the minds of the government of Israel for a completely different reason, Tel Aviv with it’s “pink shekels” has become a magnet for gay tourists from all around the world.

People who come to Tel Aviv to marvel at its vibrancy and the fact that in a completely ironic way, has become a Mecca for LGBT from across the Middle East. A shining beacon of liberalism, where two men or two women can hold hands, can fall in love and even have their relationships recognised by Israeli law. A complete contrast to cities in neighbouring states where being gay still results in murder by the state not just by a crazed gunman.

Benjamin Cohen is the Founding Publisher of PinkNews.co.uk and a Correspondent for Channel 4 News

Below are video clips showing vigils in other cities.

Despite this, the BDS is making headway and Nepal is becoming somewhat of a haven for persecuted lesbians.

Nepal’s Supreme Court has even given its nod to same sex marriages. Mr Pant however explains to the Indo-Asian News Service: “Though the court has approved of same sex marriage, the government is yet to enact a law,

“Also, we are unsure if Nepali laws would hold (good) in India.”

In January he received the Monette-Horwitz Trust Awad for fighting homophobia. Awardees received a $2,500 (£1,790) stipend.

In May Mr Pant, founder of Blue Diamond Society, was named as one of five representatives of the Communist Party of Nepal-United in the 601 member new constituent assembly.

Dil Kumari Buduja, the BDS coordinator for the lesbian community estimates there are now about 1,200 lesbians who have come out of the closet while Nepal’s sexual minorities, including homosexuals and transgenders, would number over 200,000.

The once supremely conservative kingdom of Nepal now has four lesbian support groups to work towards legal and other rights of the growing lesbian community: Saino Nepal in Chitwan, Sangini Nepal in Birgunj town, Nawalo Srijana in Nepalgunj and Sahara Samaj in Itahari.

A fifth “Kathmandu Sashakti Samuha” will open this summer in the capital.

Ms Baduja, who prefers to call herself Badri, explained the reason for this to the Indo-Asian News Service: “It would have opened earlier but now we are busy working on the new constitution.”

The Maoists (Nepal’s former guerilla party), won an election last year that legally allowed them to draft a new pro-people constitution by next year. They now aim to create a new democratic and inclusive statute where the voices of sexual minorities can be heard for the first time in a constitution.

Two years ago, Nepal’s army sacked two women recruits for being lesbians but one of the dismissed recruits is currently flighting a court battle against the powerful army and hopes to be reinstated, which is a real indication that times are changing.

Badri believes that the strength of the Nepalese gay community is down to the fact that they are all working together.

Badri explained to the news service: “I went to a gay meet in Cape Town last year,

“I was shocked to see how the communities from India, Bangladesh and even developed nations like Japan behaved. The gays would have nothing to do with the lesbians and the lesbians shied away from the transgenders. In the process, the voice of protest got divided and became weaker.

“But in Nepal, all of us are fighting together. And that’s our strength.” 

Carla tells Leanne she doesn’t think she knows Tony any more and might need somewhere to stay if her thoughts turn out to be proven. Telling Tony a lie about a business meeting she goes after Jimmy – but he calls Tony straight after their meeting to report on what has happened. When Carla returns to the factory she won’t give up the questioning – and finally cracks and tells Tony how much she loved and still loves Liam, even though he is dead.

With nothing left to lose, Tony tells a stunned Carla that he was responsible for Liam’s death. At this point she starts to fear for her own safety and tries to figure out a way to escape. Salvation comes in the form of Vicki who arrives at the factory to tell them she is going back to Poland. Seizing the opportunity Carla opens the locked door despite Tony’s protestations. He is keen to get rid of Vicky and resume his conversation with Carla but she makes a last desperate bid for freedom – will she escape the murderer’s clutches or has she pushed him too far this time?

Len is gloating about David’s injuries but Anna reprimands him as she is worried about what is going to happen to Gary. David is pleased that Tina agreed to tell the police that Gary threw the first punch but Tina is already feeling uneasy about the lie, especially when Gail makes it clear how comforted she is that Tina witnessed everything. But Anna issues an impassioned plea to Gail asking her to get Tina to change her story so that Gary can escape a prison sentence. Gail however is unaware that Tina has lied about the fight and insists to Anna that she is doing the right thing giving evidence against Gary.

Janice is having her first lesson with Ken but she is not best pleased when he suggests that maybe she should set her sights a bit lower than five GCSEs and that she might be better thinking of a career as a care assistant rather than a nurse.

Steve and Lloyd have a heart to heart and realise that they can’t let a woman ruin their friendship – even if that woman is Steve’s mum. Liz is delighted that they are pals again but less than impressed when she discovers that Steve is taking Lloyd on a lad’s night out.

Eileen’s dad, Colin, is getting on like a house on fire with Rita and also seems to be impressing the other ladies on the street – much to Eileen’s annoyance. Meanwhile, Mary invites Norris on a cruise with her and her mother but he turns her down and refuses to believe Rita’s claims that Mary is falling for him.

Carla tells Leanne she doesn’t think she knows Tony any more and might need somewhere to stay if her thoughts turn out to be proven. Telling Tony a lie about a business meeting she goes after Jimmy – but he calls Tony straight after their meeting to report on what has happened. When Carla returns to the factory she won’t give up the questioning – and finally cracks and tells Tony how much she loved and still loves Liam, even though he is dead.

With nothing left to lose, Tony tells a stunned Carla that he was responsible for Liam’s death. At this point she starts to fear for her own safety and tries to figure out a way to escape. Salvation comes in the form of Vicki who arrives at the factory to tell them she is going back to Poland. Seizing the opportunity Carla opens the locked door despite Tony’s protestations. He is keen to get rid of Vicky and resume his conversation with Carla but she makes a last desperate bid for freedom – will she escape the murderer’s clutches or has she pushed him too far this time?

Len is gloating about David’s injuries but Anna reprimands him as she is worried about what is going to happen to Gary. David is pleased that Tina agreed to tell the police that Gary threw the first punch but Tina is already feeling uneasy about the lie, especially when Gail makes it clear how comforted she is that Tina witnessed everything. But Anna issues an impassioned plea to Gail asking her to get Tina to change her story so that Gary can escape a prison sentence. Gail however is unaware that Tina has lied about the fight and insists to Anna that she is doing the right thing giving evidence against Gary.

Janice is having her first lesson with Ken but she is not best pleased when he suggests that maybe she should set her sights a bit lower than five GCSEs and that she might be better thinking of a career as a care assistant rather than a nurse.

Steve and Lloyd have a heart to heart and realise that they can’t let a woman ruin their friendship – even if that woman is Steve’s mum. Liz is delighted that they are pals again but less than impressed when she discovers that Steve is taking Lloyd on a lad’s night out.

Eileen’s dad, Colin, is getting on like a house on fire with Rita and also seems to be impressing the other ladies on the street – much to Eileen’s annoyance. Meanwhile, Mary invites Norris on a cruise with her and her mother but he turns her down and refuses to believe Rita’s claims that Mary is falling for him.

Meanwhile, Aaron suggests that Paddy give Chas some time off to score brownie points. But his offer to cover the vets ends in disaster. He loses a client and spends time making personal phone calls and then Paddy catches him out handing a bag of drugs to a dodgy friend. Then Daz plays a prank on him in the garage which backfires – leaving him at loggerheads with the family again.
Elsewhere, Diane grows concerned that Andy is letting things slip. He hasn’t visited Sarah and Butler’s Farm is in a state – plus he is finding it difficult to meet the rent payments so even Mark tells him to get his house in order or face eviction. The pressure mounts and Andy decides to sell the farm – which infuriates Victoria and leads to a big row, until news come in that Jack has suffered a heart attack. They wait in hope but Diane has to tell them that he died in hospital – and although she tries to stay strong for the family, Andy decides to do is grieving alone. When he fails to help out at the funeral, an angry Val sets out for Butlers and tells Andy to step up and be the man his father would be proud of. But will he come through for the Sugdens?
Marlon confides in Paddy that he slept with Chas and although Paddy is hurt and storms out he soon decides it is time to tell her of his feelings. But there is too much going on when he does, and with a wealth of other problems on her mind Chas can’t respond and leaves. Can Chas get back on track with Paddy and Aaron?

With no word forthcoming from Terry, Brenda decides to send him an email to find out what’s going on.
Bob tries to cheer Brenda up by setting up a webcam so she can talk to Terry. After speaking with him Brenda is surprised when TJ steps in front of the webcam and announces that neither he nor his dad are missing her and would rather stay with Jean. Brenda is deeply upset and tries drinking her troubles away only for Doug to rescue her. After he takes her home Brenda tries to kiss him but Doug pulls away not wanting to take advantage. Will Brenda forsake Terry for Doug?

Leyla introduces her friend Skin to David and also to Lily, who is charmed by him despite her reservations. When he tries to leg it with some of Pearl’s valuables a chance action from David stops him in his tracks.
Meanwhile, a drunken Nicola and Jimmy get it together in the back of one of the King’s trucks. They fall asleep and the van is then taken out so the couple end up on an unplanned trip. When she finally gets back to Home Farm she is sent home by Natasha who disapproves of her unkempt appearance. With Nicola’s rough luck turn around?

Little wonder, then, that three years on we’re getting a sequel – and just in time for prime children’s movie season of the Christmas holidays. Un-baked Africa may not immediately spring to mind when thinking of this time of year, but hell – movies have always been about escapism. Who wouldn’t like to dream of sunshine and palm trees at this time of year?

Fully aware of the old law of diminishing returns when it comes to movie sequels, the team behind Madagascar 2 have looked to spice things up a bit. While retaining the same duo of directors (one of whom was behind the sorely underrated animated Woody Allen kids’ film Antz from back in 1998), they’ve revamped the writing team to ensure that this latest African adventure is as madcap and joke-packed as possible. The man they’ve turned to? The writer of Ben Stiller’s recent madcap comedy Tropic Thunder.

Considering how silly and fun Tropic Thunder was – not to mention how packed with movie references, what with being a spoof of Hollywood war films – the arrival of Etan Cohen as screenwriter can only be a good thing. Though don’t get too excited – that is not a typo, this is a different chap entirely from Ethan Coen, one half of the lauded Coen Brothers. Nonetheless, he’s got a good track record, having also penned the underrated Idiocracy last year, which was packed with inventive riffs on all manner of time-travel and sci-fi movies.

Plot-wise, little wonder that this is largely more of the same. Having somehow got through their adventures on the island of Madagascar in the last film, this second outing sees the old zoo animals attempt to make it back to the civilization of New York, having got homesick for being waited on hand and foot, even if it did mean they were behind bars. With the help of that crazy gang of penguins that ran away with the last film, they set off in an animal-built airplane – only to (perhaps unsurprisingly) swiftly crash-land, this time deep in the heart of Africa proper.

By chance, they land very near to where Alex the Lion (voiced by Ben Stiller) originally came from, and soon meet up with his old – and wild – family. But can they make friends with this very different set of animals, and will they ever find their way home? Well, with jokes as fun and characters as enjoyable as this, we have to hope the answer to the latter question is “not soon” – and with another sequel already in the works, it looks like this is one adventure that’s not over just yet.

With 100% of votes counted, 5,424,916 (52.4%) voted in favour of a constitutional definition of marriage being between a man and woman. 4,832,086 (47.6%) voted against. Some postal and absentee votes have yet to be counted.

The crowds have just left the Civic Centre and are now passing through the Castro district of the city before meeting at a rally in Delores Park.

Organisers said: “We are protesting tonight in San Francisco because it was in San Francisco that the California Supreme Court gave equality to all Californians, and many people who helped us get to that point are based in San Francisco.

“We’re not going to do nothing, we’re going to start with a march tonight but we’re not going to stop until we have equality again!”

Campaigners have begun legal proceedings against the state claiming that the banning of gay marriage is in breach of equality law.

Benjamin Cohen is the founder of PinkNews.co.uk and a Correspondent for Channel 4 News