London: Two former students from Pakistan have defied death threats to tie the knot in Britain's first Muslim lesbian civil partnership. Rehana Kausar, 34, and Sobia Kamar, 29, took their vows at a registry office in Leeds and instantly applied for political asylum in the UK, according to local media reports.
"This country allows us rights and it's a very personal decision that we have taken. It's no one's business as to what we do with our personal lives, Kausar, originally from Lahore, told the Birmingham-based 'Sunday Mercury' newspaper.
"The problem with Pakistan is that everyone believes he is in charge of other people lives and can best decide about the morals of others but that's not the right approach. We are in this state because of our clergy, who have hijacked our society, which was once tolerant and respected individuals freedoms," she added. Kamar, originally from Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, described her partner as her "soul mate".
Relatives of the couple said the women had received death threats both in the UK and from their native Pakistan, where homosexuality is still deemed illegal under Pakistani law. During the ceremony earlier this month, the couple dressed in white bridal wear reportedly told the registrar that they had met three years ago while studying business and health care management at Birmingham, having travelled to the country on student visas, and had been living together in South Yorkshire for about a year....
04:42 PM, May 27, 2013
Cannes: Lesbian love story "La Vie d'Adele", by French director Abdellatif Kechiche, won the Cannes film festival's top honour, the Palme d'Or, on Sunday. "La Vie d'Adele - Chapitre 1 & 2" (Blue is the Warmest Colour) beat 19 other films in the main competition at the world's biggest film festival to take home one of the most coveted prizes after the Oscars. The top acting awards went to US...
11:56 PM, May 26, 2013
A FIFA spokesman confirmed the letter but emphasised it was a preliminary inquiry. ...
07:23 PM, Mar 07, 2013
The Union Home Ministry has come up with new guidelines which bar foreign gay and lesbian couples from seeking surrogacy services in India. ...
11:59 PM, Mar 06, 2013
As we celebrate 100 years of cinema, we go back in time to see how the pioneers treated homosexuality on celluloid. ...
08:20 AM, Feb 27, 2013
A bill to legalise same-sex marriage in Britain cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday, as lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposals championed by Prime Minister David Cameron. The vote in the House of Commons - 400 to 175 in support of the proposed legislation - will be followed by more detailed parliamentary debates. The proposals also require the approval of the House of Lords before they become law....
09:52 AM, Feb 06, 2013
President Barack Obama said Sunday that gays should be allowed in the Boy Scouts and women should be allowed in military combat roles, weighing in on two storied American institutions facing proposals to end long-held exclusions. The president's comments in a pre-Super Bowl interview on CBS come ahead of this week's meeting of the Boy Scouts' national executive board. ...
09:32 AM, Feb 04, 2013
The pope made the comments in his Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches. ...
01:35 PM, Dec 22, 2012
The British government has said it will introduce a bill next year legalising gay marriage but banning the Church of England from conducting same-sex ceremonies. Equalities minister Maria Miller said on Tuesday the bill will authorize same sex civil unions, as well as religious marriages if religions decide to 'opt in'. ...
10:57 PM, Dec 11, 2012
Same-sex couples in Washington state started saying wedding vows early Sunday morning, just minutes into the first day they could marry after the state's gay marriage law took effect. Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples picked up their marriage licenses as early as 12:01 am Thursday, but because of the state's three-day waiting period, the earliest weddings could take place was just after midnight, early Sunday morning. ...
04:51 PM, Dec 09, 2012
Hundreds of gays, lesbians and transgenders marched on the streets of the capital on Sunday protesting discrimination against them and demanding their right to live a life of dignity. ...
06:40 PM, Nov 25, 2012
Kolkata: Thanks to Indian gay-tour operators, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community across the world is vying for India as the ultimate 'pink' tourist destination. "LGBT tourists want the same things as any traveller: to feel safe and welcome. India is becoming more popular with gay travellers since the high court decriminalized homosexuality in 2009. Feeling welcome is not only a reference to local hospitality, but also to...
12:08 PM, Nov 22, 2012
Hyderabad: When I spoke to my parents about my sexual orientation, they almost disowned me. They never accepted my relationship with my partner, shares Smruthi Narayan. Her partner Shwetha Pai points out, Its not a disease or a mutation and is not even limited to one community or country. The fact that such people can be born anywhere is something that people fail to understand. Everybody plays the blame game....
01:32 PM, Jul 24, 2012
Chennai: It was on June 25, 1978 that the rainbow flag representing gay pride was flown for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Thirty-four years have passed and things remain more or less the same for this marginalised section. The visibility of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) and now the Q (Queer) and I (Intersex) community, has increased in Chennai, with the recently hosted...
11:57 AM, Jun 25, 2012
Kathmandu: Nepal will grant citizenship certificates to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community, recognising their sexual orientation for the first time. Nepal's Home Ministry has issued directives to this effect. Now third-gender people will have separate head as "others" in their citizenship certificates, according to Home Ministry spokesperson Shankar Koirala. "We have already issued directives to the Ministry of Law to add the "others" head in all necessary forms, documents...
05:03 PM, May 24, 2012
New York: A week after US President Barack Obama voiced his support for same-sex marriage, American weekly news magazine Newsweek has heralded him as "the first gay president" in its cover story. The magazine's cover features Obama with a rainbow-coloured halo over his head and the headline 'The First Gay President'. The cover story is by writer Andrew Sullivan who talks about how he was moved to tears when Obama...
11:11 PM, May 14, 2012
New Delhi: Pulling up the Centre for its "casual" approach on important issue of decriminalisation of homosexuality, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it needs to be condemned. After going through various affidavits of the Government, a bench of Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyay said the Centre has taken this case very casually. "They have taken this case very casually. This practice needs to be condemned and we are...
01:51 PM, Mar 20, 2012
New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has filed a formal affidavit in the Supreme Court, coming in support of decriminalisation of gay sex among consenting adults saying the decision was taken as early as July 2009 by a GoM comprising Union ministers of Home, Law and Family Welfare. The affidavit comes in the backdrop of the rebuke of the Centre by the apex court on February 28 and earlier hearing...
12:16 PM, Mar 04, 2012
New Delhi: Expressing displeasure for not furnishing details of homosexuals' population, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked for all relevant records from the Centre about LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people, including their number and the number of HIV-infected among them. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya said the data which was put before the Delhi High Court has not been placed here and...
01:39 PM, Mar 01, 2012
