A fundraiser is being held in memory of Ben Roper on Saturday May 18.

SYDNEY: With less than a week to go to this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, a number of groups and organisations including NSW Police and Amnesty International are busy putting the final preparations to their eagerly awaited floats.

Any future changes to the Marriage Act must ensure it is gender-neutral so the law can reflect the fact that our biological sex doesn’t determine our personality, our relationship roles nor who we are attracted to, writes Ben Cooper.

Set to feature the stars of recent stage hits like Jersey Boys, A Chorus Line and Fame, a special fundraising concert in Sydney this month will help raise funds and awareness for Beyondblue and people experiencing depression and anxiety.

Stars of stage and screen will come together in Sydney for a special concert next month to raise money and awareness for Beyondblue and people experiencing depression and anxiety.

Beyondblue has given its backing to new social media guidelines announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and has urged Twitter to also agree to the Federal Government’s complaints-handling scheme for social networking sites in a bid to reduce cyber bullying.

Speculation has risen further over the possibility that the AFL may introduce a pride round to the 2013 season fixture.

Volunteers are being sought for a new study that will take a look at alcohol use and mental health among lesbian, bisexual and same-sex attracted women.

An official function inside NSW Parliament will help mark this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance which will be held for the fourteenth time next Tuesday to commemorate the lives of those lost or curtailed simply for being transgendered.

Six research projects focusing on the mental health of GLBTI people will receive $1.2 million in funding from Beyondblue with over $240,000 coming from Movember donations.

National depression and anxiety initiative Beyondblue will be an official sponsor of the 2013 Sydney Mardi Gras festival.

The AFL will broadcast “'No to Homophobia” advertisements on big screens at preliminary final games in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend.

Controversial comments by some Christian leaders over the past week suggesting smoking was healthier than the “gay lifestyle” have now been linked back to discredited research funded by a fundamentalist group in the US as well as other papers which have since been retracted or disowned by their authors.

The chairperson of Beyondblue and former Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, said he is not surprised that the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has declined his offer to replace the Prime Minister at the ACL National Conference.

Despite criticism from GPs, mental health professionals, politicians as well as over social media and by members of the LGBTI community, an unrepentant Jim Wallace has continued to defend comments suggesting smoking was healthier than the “gay lifestyle”.