The UK is searching for its favorite lesbian or gay novel, with works by Alan Hollinghurst and Sarah Waters among the early picks. The brainchild of Manchester publishing agency Commonworld, the Big Gay Read is open to any lesbian or gay-themed novel in a public vote.

After several criticizing reports, the federal government revises its Website containing information for parents about educating their children about sex. In its first month, the site received about 5 million hits. Recently, the section on sexual orientation was changed to address some of the concerns voiced by the gay rights community.

A Swedish lesbian couple who were thrown out of a Stockholm restaurant in 2003 for kissing won an appeal Monday against an earlier court ruling that cleared the restaurant owner of sexual discrimination. The Court of Appeals in Stockholm ordered restaurant owner Aziz Cakir to pay 50,000 crowns ($7,100) in damages and to cover the legal costs of Sweden's activist group against sexual discrimination, HomO, which filed the appeal. Cakir asked Anna Fernstrom and Susanne Gustafsson to leave his restaurant after they kissed and later told police he did not let anyone engage in such behavior on his premises regardless of their sexual orientation. Stockholm District Court cleared him of discrimination - a charge that can result in a year in jail - in the first trial against him. The issue being the country's first test of legislation against sexual discrimination in the provision of goods and services. But HomO director Hans Ytterberg said the appeals court found the restaurant failed to prove "these two girls behaved in a way that would justify telling them to stop or telling them to leave the premises. " "The Court of Appeals has made it clear that discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation is a serious violation of people's rights and can cost you dearly. This will hopefully function as an effective deterrent. "

Slain porn star's agent wants to donate proceeds from her final movie to local Canadian children's hospital. Twenty-three-year-old, Natel King, stage name Taylor Sumers, made her final on-screen appearance in a porn film titled "Lesbian Lover. " After being stabbed to death last year, King's agent, Stephen Sirard, wants to donate proceeds made from the film's sales to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Sirard said lawyers for his FCF agency in California had asked the hospital if they could highlight the promised gift on the cover of their video, using wording like "all proceeds from the sale of this video go to Sick Kid's Hospital in Toronto. " But hospital spokeswoman Carol Duncan said she has not heard anything about the issue, and she declined to say how the hospital might react to a donation of this kind. "We have to send the issue to the ethics committee and the board of directors for consideration," she said. King, described by Sirard as "a porn star with principles," says King raised money for the hospital before she was murdered. King was stabbed to death in February 2004 after a photography shoot near Philadelphia. The photographer has pleaded guilty to murder and could face 25 years in jail.