Notorious for his anti-gay views, federal Independent MP Bob Katter now regrets ever allowing followers in his Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) to air homophobic advertisements prior to this year’s Queensland state election.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has distanced itself from a doctors group who claim children are better off with heterosexual parents while the Greens as well as human rights experts have also blasted the controversial Doctors for the Family group led by a one-time candidate for the Christian Democratic Party.

Thousands of people including high-profile politicians and entertainers turned out over the weekend at rallies across the country for a National Day of Action for Marriage Equality, intensifying the pressure on Australia's leaders to support the introduction of same-sex marriage.

The NSW Greens claim Christian Democratic Party leader Fred Nile has stymied debate on a marriage equality motion which was expected to be discussed in Parliament yesterday with a contingency motion about Mothers Day instead, which members of the Greens nevertheless successfully amended so that it would acknowledge mothers in same-sex relationships.

EXCLUSIVE: In the first sign that Queensland’s recently enacted civil union laws are under threat from the new LNP Government, notaries wishing to perform same-sex civil unions have been left in the dark as to what is happening with their applications to the Queensland department of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Pressure has heaped on Prime Minister Julia Gillard following US President Barack Obama’s decision to air his personal support for same-sex marriage during a television news interview overnight.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has denied claims that he is backing away from his promise to extend the marriage laws to allow same-sex couples the right to marry.

US Vice President Joe Biden has been praised and then criticised by marriage equality advocates after he declared over the weekend on national television that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage before his office attempted to downplay the comments.

WORLD: The Republican Party now has its first openly gay state lawmaker with first term Missouri representative Zach Wyatt publicly coming out.

A major Malaysian newspaper which falsely claimed South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon was anti-Islam has apologised for the report.

Retired High Court judge Michael Kirby and former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally have together fronted a Senate committee hearing into marriage equality in Sydney today, with the former judge telling the inquiry that despite his successful career in the judiciary he was and remains “a second-class citizen”. 

Hobart City Council is planning to mark the controversial arrests of over 100 gay rights activists at Salamanca Place in 1988 with a series of public artworks.

Opponents of same-sex marriage in Scotland are planning to distribute leaflets to every household in Glasgow for their latest campaign to prevent any amendments to the current marriage laws.

The Speaker of Federal Parliament, Peter Slipper, has stood down in the wake of a growing scandal involving allegations of fraud and sexual harassment against a young male staffer.

I’m constantly amazed that the national press acts as if the Greens’ leadership transition from Bob Brown to Christine Milne poses imponderable questions about the future of the party and the nation.