"A video showing football [read: soccer] stars speaking out against homophobia will be released next year as part of an unprecedented drive by the sport's governing bodies to tackle a sharp rise in abuse and discrimination. The video will be shown in cinemas, on TV and in stadiums in an attempt to rid terraces and pitches of homophobic chants and slurs, the Guardian reveals.

It is hoped that up to a dozen players, including David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, David James, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and Cristiano Ronaldo, will be persuaded to take part." [Guardian]

"On December 21st it will be three years since civil partnerships—gay marriages in all but name—were introduced in England and Wales (Scots and Northern Irish registrars began one and two days earlier respectively). The pent-up eagerness of many couples to tie the knot created an early rush: nearly 4,000 people got hitched that December. Candlelit restaurants will be doing brisk business in the next few days. By halfway through this year nearly 60,000 Britons had entered a same-sex union, giving them legal rights virtually identical to those of married couples. In contrast to their American counterparts, most British gays seem relaxed about not having the right to call their partnership a marriage. “It meant we could get the law through sooner. Changing the wording is not really a priority,” says a spokesman for Stonewall, a gay-rights lobby group."[The Economist]

"The Home Secretary was criticised today for granting a visa to a controversial Jamaican reggae singer [Bounty Killer], allowing him to perform in London this weekend. Jacqui Smith was accused by gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of “rewarding a maladjusted thug” after the Home Office gave a work permit to dancehall artist Bounty Killer (Rodney Pryce). Tatchell has accused the singer of glorifying the killing of gay people and promoting gang culture. Bounty Killer will play at the Stratford Rex on Saturday." [TIL, earlier]

The National AIDS Trust is calling on Britain's National Blood Service to remove its lifetime ban of gays and lesbians from donating blood. The NBS responded that the discrimination was based on behavior, not orientation saying, "There is…no exclusion of gay men who have never had sex with a man, nor of women who have sex with women", with the AIDS Trust pointing out this means only virgins could donate. South Africa, Spain and Italy have lifted similar bans. [PinkNewsUK]

"Nearly £500,000 ($804,321) of lottery money has been set aside for research into drug problems among the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities…" [Telegraph]

Those Brits are full of good ideas! The United Kingdom's Home Office today announced that "hate preachers" could be banned from entering their land.

Foreign-born "preachers of hate" and other violent extremists will have to prove they have publicly renounced their views or be refused entry to Britain under tough new rules unveiled today.

The measures, set out in a written ministerial statement by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, will make it easier to exclude those who want to come to the UK to stir up religious or racial hatred.

Obviously "hate" can include homophobia, so Andy over at UK Gay News did a little digging and found that anti-gay preachers, like Fred Phelps, also face British banishment.

CONTINUED »

"A 17 year old boy who threw himself off the roof of a shopping centre in Derby last week as some of the crowd gathered to watch goaded him to jump was gay." [Pink News]

"The Queen and her concessions stands are being accused of homophobia after the Time Out Gay and Lesbian London guide book was refused for sale at Historic Royal Palace bookshops including the Tower of London bookshop, along with Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Gardens and the Banqueting House." [Towleroad]

In honor of their 150th anniversary, British lady mag Diva published this handy map of lesbian hot spots across the United Kingdom, which are shown in red. And that data rocked the region's Sapphic foundations:

The near-even spread of lesbians across the UK was not what Diva predicted.

Lesbians appear to be almost everywhere and a lot more thinly spread than we might think: most UK postcodes house between 0.2% and 1% of the lesbians in this survey, and it’s only in cities that upwards of 2% of the survey’s lesbians are found.

“The academic literature suggests that the lesbian population is not as concentrated [in major centres] as the gay male population,” said Darren Smith, an expert in the geography of population, at Brighton University.

It's all part of the plan, see? The gays hit hard in urban areas, while the lesbians fan out and begin nesting for the final phase of the revolution. Alright, team, back to the drawing board!

(Note that the lesbians have taken over all of Ireland. Well done, lasses!)

The UK's Home Office gets a big thumbs down after deporting two gay men this weekend. Despite expressing fear for their lives, John Nyombi and Babakhan Badalov were sent to their respective homelands of Uganda and Azerbaijan. [Pink News]

John Bosco Nyombi's shaking in his boots right now.

The British government this week informed Nyombi, an openly gay Ugandan national, that he will deported, despite the fact that the Ugandan government has a strict "no homo" police. What's more, Nyombi's brother worked as an opposition leader before being murdered by pro-government supporters.

Nyombi arrived in England in September of 2001 and has been living quietly in the country for seven years. He works with special needs adults.

Nyombi had once been granted asylum, but for some inexplicable reason, the Home Office appealed against it and Nyombi will be shipped off this Sunday.

This is, in a word, senseless.

"A sexual health charity has launched a new website and printed materials in six languages in an attempt to reach migrants… The leaflets have been produced in English, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and French. Marc Thompson, Deputy Head of Health Promotion at THT said: 'Some gay men come to the UK to escape homophobia and abuse and to live a more liberated life. But when they get here they find things are more difficult than they expected… The website and leaflets aim to give men who are new to the UK the information and contacts they need to stay safe and adjust to life in Gay Britain.'" Shouldn't they offer an Arabic translation? [Pink News]

Former UK Labour MP Leo Abse, who helped legalize gay sex in 1967, has died. He was 91. [BBC]

"A lack of local support could see the closure of a police group representing members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community." [This Is Croydon]

Activist Davis Mac-Iyalla definitely felt gay yesterday. The Nigerian national heard that he has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom.

Mac-Iyalla, who works with Anglican group Changing Attitude Nigeria, released the following statement:

I'm very grateful to the UK government for granting me asylum.

It means I will have an opportunity to continue working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Anglican church in Nigeria.

My heart really goes out to my LGBT brothers and sisters still trapped in Nigeria.

They are intimated and threatened by the increasingly hostile and violent environment against them, fuelled by the hostility of Archbishop Akinola and his fellow bishops - who claim that we don't really exist, and if we do then we are the spawn of the devil.

It is impossible to have a rational debate in such a climate of hatred coming from what is supposed to be a loving church.

Mac-Iyalla fled Nigeria earlier this year and received notes saying he'd be killed upon his return. And he didn't want that, obviously.