Green Party MP Jan Logie says she is "safe'' after being detained by Sri Lankan authorities and her passport confiscated.

Refugees facing imprisonment in their home country because they are gay may have grounds to be granted asylum in the European Union, the 28-nation bloc's top court has ruled.

A murderer who was sentenced to solitary confinement for an unlawfully long three-week period had his human rights beached, the Court of Appeal has found.

The US Senate has pushed a major anti-bias gay rights bill past a first, big hurdle - a clear sign of Americans' greater acceptance of homosexuality nearly two decades after lawmakers narrowly rejected discrimination legislation.

Actors Jonah Hill, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell are among a batch of celebrities donning Russian-language "Love Conquers Hate" T-shirts to show support for gays in Russia alarmed by a new law banning pro-gay "propaganda".

Labour leader David Cunliffe says it won't be very hard for Labour to reach its newly adopted target of at least 45 per cent women MPs after next year's election.

Four Chilean men have been convicted of first-degree murder for beating a gay man to death and carving swastikas into his body.

Claims among dubious Pakistanis that Malala Yusufzai is now Western puppet ignore her ongoing heroism.

The Ministry of Health acted unlawfully in refusing to consider paying a mother for the care she gives her Down Syndrome son, the High Court has ruled.

The Big Gay Out was held at Coyle Park in Pt Chevalier.

Dame Rosie Horton is not one to shy away from telling the truth, discovers Penny Lewis.

Hundreds of people black and white, many holding hands, filled an Alabama church that was bombed by the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan 50 years ago.

NZ could follow Britain's lead and appoint a Victims' Commissioner, but the Justice Minister said the move would have to make a real difference.

President Barack Obama was set to lead civil rights pioneers Wednesday in a ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech roused the 250,000 people who rallied there decades ago for ra

The detention and subsequent criminal investigation into the partner of a Guardian journalist threatens to undermine the position of the free press.

The number of marriage forms downloaded reached 516 on Monday, when the new documents became available allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Jeered by protesters, human rights activists, jurists, Australia's Prime Minister yesterday refused to budge on his new PNG refugee policy.

More than half the people who responded to a Herald-DigiPoll survey think criticisms of Dame Susan Devoy's appointment as Race Relations Commissioner were unfair.

How would these so-called experts feel if their attitudes paved the way for the extermination of all the world's kittens by masked terrorist gangs, asks Toby Manhire.

A Chinese New Zealander who entered China illegally to see his parents claims he was detained, chained and tortured for five days before being deported to Auckland.

Owners of a Whangarei lodge have apologised after turning away a lesbian couple who had booked a shared bed - but are not ready to welcome back gay people.

Labour leader David Shearer has quashed his party's proposal for women-only candidate selections.

Images from inside the military prison at Guantanamo Bay give an insight into the heavy-handed tactics the United States is using to force-feed prisoners.

Let's not judge her before we know her and even when we think we know her, let's focus on the results, writes Gregory Fortuin.

NZ has just passed a law that mirrors what is probably the most disastrous Australian policy failure of the past 20 years, writes Tracey Barnett. Mandatory detention of asylum seekers arriving by boat.

Two former All Blacks have condemned three fans who yelled homophobic slurs at a test match, while a gay-friendly rugby team has thanked the woman who confronted them.

Rugby fans have got in behind the woman who stood up to the use of homophobic slurs at an All Black test - although some believe she is just being oversensitive.

Controversial legislation which would allow boat people to be detained for up to six months was expected to pass another hurdle last night.