As a Senate committee prepares to hold public hearings in Sydney this week on Labor's draft national anti-discrimination laws, there’s growing outrage within the LGBTI community and elsewhere over the wide-ranging exemptions offered to religious bodies and other groups that will allow them to continue to legally discriminate against people on several grounds including sexual orientation and gender identity.

A Newcastle taxi driver has been ordered to apologise and pay $11,000 in compensation to Sydney man Gary Burns after a series of blog posts over a number of years that were found to be vilifying the gay community.

A new report helped launched by federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek late last week has found many members of the LGBTI community in NSW continue to experience troubling instances of severe discrimination and vilification.

Controversial anti-gay Christian preacher Peter Madden had his ‘Queensland Election Prayer Rally Tour’ over the weekend forced into an unexpected pit-stop at Lismore, as members of the gay and lesbian community vandalised Madden’s rally truck with paint and glitter.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has once again been rocked by claims of widespread bullying within its ranks and a culture prejudicial to women, ethnic minorities as well as LGBTI people following the discovery of yet another Facebook page used by serving and former Defence staff featuring hateful and offensive messages. 

BRITAIN: Five men have faced court this week in Derby, England after allegedly handing out leaflets calling for the death penalty for gay people in what is Britain’s first ever prosecution under new laws banning the stirring up of hatred based on sexual orientation.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has said that it has taken “administrative action” against 40 of its members after they joined and participated in a homophobic Facebook page which targeted serving gay and lesbian personnel, some of whom were officers.

UPDATED: The solicitor for a senior Army psychologist who was targeted and vilified over his sexuality via a homophobic Facebook group has blasted the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for failing to “protect minorities within its own ranks”, and has suggested that “military discipline does not count if you are attacking gay and lesbian people”.

BRISBANE: A transgender woman who a neighbour threatened to burn her house down, has been awarded $15,000 in compensation for harassment and vilification after the Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal (QCAT) found that she had been the victim of transphobic discrimination.