Laurence Watts

Despite the leaders of all three of Britain's main political parties having stated their support for legalising same-sex marriage, the topic was noticeably absent from the recent Queen's Speech, an event that precedes and details the government's plans for forthcoming legislation.

Two other things occurred on Wednesday, May 9,...

At the end of March I was shocked to learn that two gay men from an Atlantis Cruise had been arrested in the Caribbean island of Dominica. The local authorities must have known it was a "gay cruise line" before it docked, which led me to question why, having allowed...

Let me be clear from the start: in using the above title, I am not being anti-Semitic. Rather, I am trying to make a point by sounding absurd. Ban Jewish marriage? Why on Earth would anyone want to do that? Well, by the same reasoning, why ban or prevent two...

When "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) was finally repealed exactly six months ago, on Sept. 20, 2011, few could have predicted that the half-year that followed would be so eventless. That is a testament to America's brave men and women in uniform, but also a condemnation of their leadership.

It was with huge dismay and much gnashing of teeth that I read Marten Weber's piece here on The Huffington Post, "Egg, Banana, and Coconut: Are Gays More Racist?" The piece does the LGBT community a great disservice.

Aside from a closing paragraph in which he concedes his...

On Feb. 15 Adam Bouska, Jeff Parshley, and I were in Washington, D.C. for "NOH8 on the Hill," the exclusive NOH8 photo session we set up especially for members of Congress. We thought we might be able to persuade a couple of Congressmen to take part. This is an election...

You've heard the one about the closeted "tough-on-immigration" sheriff who was running for Congress and got outed by his Mexican ex-lover, right? If not, you should really get to grips with the story of Paul Babeu. A good place to start is the New Times exclusive that broke...

In November 2011 it was reported that a local entrepreneur had agreed to buy San Diego's Union-Tribune newspaper for $110 million. The fact that San Diego's 144-year-old, sole daily newspaper was changing hands would not ordinarily have been newsworthy, but it was in this instance because of who...

What follows is my account of a conversation between me, my partner, and our friend Jarrod Chlapowski. It's October, and we are three miles into what was meant to be a short walk through the museums and parks of sunny San Diego. My accent has been the source of endless...

I first met NOH8's Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley in July 2011, when I interviewed them for Pink News. Like them, I was in California on the night of Nov. 4, 2008, when Proposition 8 was passed. Like them, I was shocked that such a thing could happen in what...

Tennis is undoubtedly one of the world's most gay-friendly sports. Many former champions, including Martina Navratilova, Conchita Martínez, Gigi Fernández, Lisa Raymond, and Amélie Mauresmo, are openly gay. At the social level, so many gay men and women play tennis that every major city boasts its own gay tennis club....

Last week's Iowa Republican Caucus produced what effectively amounted to a tie. Mitt Romney came in first place with 30,015 votes, while Rick Santorum came in second, just eight votes behind him on 30,007. Both Republicans are on record as saying they favour amending the United States Constitution to define...

I know what you're thinking. It's January, you've New Year's resolutions to break, and you're nervously waiting for your credit card bill to arrive. Why on Earth is someone writing an article about Santa Claus? The short answer is: I've had a revelation.

Two weeks ago I published my...

December is usually a slow month for news. As such, it's compulsory for journalists during this month to do one of two things: either write an article summing up the main events of the year almost gone, or write a forward-looking piece about the year to come. 2011 was a...

He's one of the most famous people in history, known to children and parents the world over. He perfected the super-sonic reindeer years before NASA and has singlehandedly kept Toys R Us in business throughout the recession. This year the man in red sat down with me to deliver a...

I'm a big Meryl Streep fan. I loved her Miranda Priestly in 2006's The Devil Wears Prada, a performance for which she rightly received her 14th Oscar nomination. I loved her just as much as Donna Sheridan in 2008's Mamma Mia, a film with the artistic integrity of a walrus...

On Dec. 8 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments for why video of 2010's historic Proposition 8 trial should be made public. A U.S. District Court ruled in September that "no compelling reasons exist" not to allow public access to the recordings. If common sense prevails,...

On Nov. 17, 2011, California's Supreme Court ruled that Proposition 8's proponents have standing, under state law, to defend their ballot initiative given the governor and attorney general refused to do so. This likely means that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will also grant them...

More learned people than I claim that William Shakespeare originated more than 1,000 words of the English Language. The fact that Shakespeare (c. 1564-1616) predated Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of The English Language (published in 1755) undoubtedly helped cement his reputation in this regard. Nowadays it's much harder to create...

Back in August the LGBT press got a bee in its bonnet over British actor Luke Evans. Luke appears to have stepped back into the closet since making it in Hollywood, despite being openly gay in interviews as recently as 2004. His story was of particular interest to me because...