The Imitation Game has scooped up eight Oscar nominations this year, including the coveted Best Picture. Since its release in autumn 2014 the film has attracted widespread positive critical appraisal and…
I used to live in Brisbane, where, year after year on the afternoon of Christmas Day, a group of older gay men I knew would meet up in a pub. Spending some of the holiday season catching up with friends…
The film Pride, which won the Queer Palm Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is based on the true story of what seems to be a rare occurrence in human history: two oppressed groups (in this case…
The UN is mandated to protect all people without discrimination, to advance equality and to protect the human rights of all individuals. It has a strong track record of putting those things into place…
To her fans and friends in the Australian LGBT community, her name is Roma Therapy. But that’s not how she’s known on Facebook. Roma is one of thousands of queer performers who have been affected by Facebook’s…
The international movement to protect “traditional family values” has grown in proportion to protection for the human rights of LGBT people. In 2011, the Council held a panel on LGBT rights, at the start…
When natural disasters strike, the impact varies significantly across different social groups, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) communities are poorly accounted for in disaster…
In a largely unknown aspect of the 1984-5 Miners’ strike, gay activists from London gave much needed help to an embattled South Wales community. Their story is told in Pride, a film released in the UK…
With the gay pride season coming to a close, here is a question: have you withdrawn money from a multi-coloured gAyTM this summer? Or have you even tucked into your Burger King Pride Whopper? And if you…
The recent publication of a study measuring the quantity and quality of LGBT representation in mainstream Hollywood cinema has left the industry smarting. GLAAD’s research found that out of 102 major studio…
On Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18, academic and activist speakers from a range of national contexts came together in Glasgow for a groundbreaking conference on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender…
In her new book Straight Expectations, radical feminist writer and campaigner Julie Bindel has recently and very publicly claimed that she’s not convinced by the scientific argument that sexual orientation…
The recent furore over a Northern Ireland bakery’s refusal to make a cake bearing the iced message “support gay marriage” is just the latest in a series of incidents in which conservative Christians have…
The United Nations Human Rights Council is tasked with the universal protection and promotion of human rights, and is the UN’s principal human rights body. Yet it is being used by known rights abusers…
The phrase “that’s so gay” has traditionally been understood as homophobic. Stonewall’s School Report argued this position, and it will be discussed in their upcoming Education Conference. Stonewall argues…
Opera Australia (OA) has dealt with what was becoming a significant boycott threat by sacking the Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri. The company had planned to bring her to Australia to perform the role of…
A siren sounds in the workroom and the contestants, still in their street clothes, stop their conversation. “Oooh, girl! You’ve got She-Mail,” says a shrill voice. For those of you just tuning in, you’re…
Services for women fleeing domestic abuse and sexual violence in the UK have developed over the past 40 years, from grassroots services staffed by volunteers to a professionalised (if still small) sector…
Although Australia does not yet allow same-sex couples to marry, it is not a country that is generally described as homophobic. The days of it being a crime to be gay here are, thankfully, a relic of a…
Modern Family, ABC’s sitcom juggernaut, is adept at capturing the zeitgeist without ruffling too many feathers. Unashamedly conservative in its family-sitcom structure, it also excels at moments of quiet…