Learn where modern Gay Pride started

When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.

This documentary on PBS' American Experience beautifully outlines the history and the context that changed attitudes in America and many other parts of the world.

Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.

"Unscrupulous uses of the Olympic marks"

Police answering a 911 call about a home invasion in East Vancouver Wednesday found no break-in suspects when they arrived but did discover 107,000 ecstasy tablets, some imprinted with the Olympic rings symbol.

"The officer saw large bags of multi-coloured pills in plain view, which the officer believed to be consistent with ecstasy," Desmarais said.

Some of the tablets were stamped with peace signs and some with the Olympic rings.

Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee has vigorously pursued unlicensed use of the Olympic rings symbol in the past and a spokesman said it was aware of the Vancouver police seizure.

"This illustrates that there are and will be unscrupulous uses of the Olympic marks," said Bill Cooper, VANOC's director of commercial rights management. "Like the Vancouver police, we will continue to be diligent in our surveillance and rigorous followup."

[ Who cares about the ecstasy when the Olympic logo is being misused! ]

Is gaybashing on the rise?

Reported gaybashings seem to be on the rise in some cities. What are we seeing and why?

In the last year in Vancouver, gay men and lesbians have been punched in the jaw, pelted with eggs, hit in the face, struck with a hammer and kicked in the groin. The gaybashers allegedly yelled "I hate you," "fucking scum," "fuckin' fag," and "He's a faggot. He deserved it."

Since 2006 the number of hate crimes investigated by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has more than tripled. These numbers include hate crimes based on sexual orientation, religion, race and ethnicity.

Of the 167 incidents investigated by the VPD in the last three years, 86 were found to be hate-motivated. Twenty-six of these cases were based on sexual orientation.

Prior to 2006 the VPD didn't track the type of hatred motivating the crime. But Insp John deHaas, inspector in command of the force's Diversity & Aboriginal Policing Section, says the gay community is one of the most targeted groups for hate crimes.

That suggests reports of gaybashings are rising along with reports of hate crimes overall.

Bombs + Bashings Mar OutGames in Copenhagen

As many as three explosive devices reportedly detonated in two track stadiums of the Outgames in Copenhagen, leaving one person with minor injuries.

Before the men’s 4x200-meter track relay in the afternoon, two bombs were thrown onto the track and exploded instantly. An Outgames athlete was taken to a local hospital with injuries to his right hand from flying shrapnel. He has since been released.

Participants on the field were unharmed but shaken by the incident.

Less than an hour later, a second bomb was thrown in another stadium. Luckily, no one was injured, but track events were delayed for 90 minutes.

Police now have a 31-year-old male suspect in custody.

This is the second violent incident in less than a week for the Outgames.

Three men -- from England, Sweden, and Norway -- had been attacked in the Danish capital following opening-night ceremonies over the preceding weekend. All three victims were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and were later released. In that incident police arrested two men whom witnesses reported shouted antigay phrases before beating the men. Both suspects, who were believed to have been inebriated at the time, held criminal records and were expected to remain in custody for the remainder of the event.

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Once again Russia crushes Gay Pride

Police in Moscow have broken up a gay pride rally that was banned by city authorities.

About 30 activists gathered Saturday morning near a university in southwestern Moscow to denounce what they say is discrimination against gays and lesbians in Russia.

After one minute, as demonstrators unfurled banners calling for gay rights, police charged into the group, grabbed about 20 people and dragged them into police cars and vans.

Among those detained were British activist Peter Tatchell and American activist Andy Thayer of Chicago, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network.

Thayer said Russia's gays and lesbians are engaged in a fight "for the soul of Russian democracy."

"If … the right to assemble is taken away from lesbian and gay people here in Russia, then other Russians have to fear for their own freedom," Thayer said shortly before he was hauled away.

Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has described homosexuality as "satanic."

Mikhail Nalimov, leader of the United Orthodox Christian Youth, said his group would not tolerate any gay pride rallies in Russia.

"The aim of the gay movement is to destabilize the country and society and we will not let that happen," he said in a BBC interview earlier in the week.

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Happy Corner Gas Day! (... or is it Merry Corner Gas Day? )

April 13 will be Corner Gas Day in Saskatchewan, following the signing of a proclamation Monday at the provincial legislature.

Corner Gas Day will coincide with CTV's broadcast of the final episode of the comedy series after six seasons.

Wall signed the official proclamation in Regina with series star and creator Brent Butt present.

The show, set in the fictional town of Dog River, was shot in Regina and the village of Rouleau, 70 kilometres southwest of the city.

Butt, 42, is from Tisdale, Sask.

"We want to thank Saskatchewan's own Brent Butt, the Corner Gas producers, cast and crew for many hours of laughter," Wall said in a news release.

Spain: 'gay panic' defense aquits man who stabbed gay couple and set bodies on fire

27 year old Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño (left) was born in Spain. 32 year old Julio Anderson Luciano (right) was born in Brazil. They lived together in the Spanish province of Vigo and were planning to get married.

Both were stabbed to death by Jacobo Piñeiro Rial in their apartment in the early morning of January 13th, 2006. The bodies showed a total of 57 stab wounds, according to forensics.

After killing them, Piñeiro took a shower and cleaned himself up. He filled a suitcase with some of their belongings to make it look like a robbery and then spilled clothing all over the place. He poured alcohol over everything, including his victims' bodies, turned on the gas spigot on the stove, and set everything on fire. The local fire department said that little evidence would have survived if it wasn't for their prompt response to the 5-alarm fire.

Hey Dude Where's My Car?

Michael Otero parked his new red truck in front of a convenience store in Laguna Beach, California and went inside for only a few minutes. When he returned, the truck was gone! Since he had left the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked, Otero assumed it had been stolen. Police watched the surveillance video and found out what really happened.

The early bird beats up the protester

The Denver police union is selling T-shirts that poke fun at protesters at last month's Democratic National Convention, but the main target isn't laughing.

The back of the shirts reads, "We get up early to beat the crowds" and "2008 DNC," and has a caricature of a police officer holding a baton.

Borat star busted for film stunt in Italy

Outrageous comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen has found himself in hot water again, after storming onto the catwalk at a fashion show in Milan.

Cohen, in costume and in character, leaped onto the runway during Spanish designer Agatha Ruiz De La Prada's show in Milan and strutted around before security chased, captured and turned him over to police,.

The Cambridge University-educated star was detained at a police station for about half an hour, during which someone fetched his passport to vouch for him. He was released without charge.

The British star is filming a new movie based on another of his over-the-top characters: Austrian fashion reporter Bruno. The mockumentary Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt is slated to hit theatres in May 2009.

Gay bashing in Vancouver investigated as hate crime

Vancouver police say they are treating an attack in the city's West End as a hate crime, after a 27-year-old man was struck in the face while walking hand-in-hand with another man.

Early Saturday morning, a group of four young men approached the pair, calling out gay slurs. One of the men then hit him in the face with enough force that he fell back on the sidewalk and was knocked unconscious.

Smith's jaw was dislodged and fractured in a number of places, and he's scheduled to go in for surgery Monday, which will leave his jaw wired shut for six weeks.

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When Jeremy comes marching home again, Hurrah!

With less than a week before U.S. Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman and his family are to be deported, the Liberals have reaffirmed their support for his fight to stay in Canada.

The 29-year-old Hinzman, his wife, Nga Nguyen, and their children — six-year-old Liam and six-week-old Meghan — have been ordered to leave Canada by Sept. 23 or face deportation.

Fresh off the campaign trail, Liberal Bob Rae spoke at a Toronto news conference with Hinzman. Rae urged the government to support a motion passed earlier this year by all parties, except the Conservatives, to let conscientious objectors take up permanent residence.

RCMP relied too much on Taser manufacturer info: report

RCMP officials relied too heavily on information provided by manufacturers when they developed their own stun gun policies and training programs, an independent review concludes.

The review of the Mounties' policies on the use of electrical stun guns, known by the brand name Taser, was prepared on the orders of RCMP Commissioner William Elliott.

"There was an overreliance on research carried out by [stun gun] manufacturers and/or the views of police services relying primarily on the research conducted or sponsored by the manufacturers," the review states in its conclusion.

Mob Rules

Security guards break in their nightsticks on a banner-waving soccer fan running across the arena, prompting players and fans to storm the field and beat up the guards.

Airport Security: Shoes, belts, laptop, shampoo ... bra!

Like most travelers in the post-Sept. 11 world of heightened airport scrutiny, Berkeley resident Nancy Kates is familiar with the drill: Shoes, belts, laptop, shampoo.

For Kates, though, the security check at Oakland International Airport got too invasive. A big-busted woman wearing a large underwire bra, she set off the metal detector and was checked by a female TSA agent with a metal-sensitive wand.

"The woman touched my breast. I said, 'You can't do that,' " Kates said. "She said, 'We have to pat you down.' I said, 'You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.' "

Star Trek weapon seized in knives amnesty

This dangerous-looking five-foot-long weapon has been recovered by police in Gloucester. The shocked officers who took custody of it, are using it to publicize a five-week period during which they hope around 30,000 weapons will be handed in.

A spokesman for police said: "It is a particularly nasty blade that can, literally, take someone's head off. We are very glad it is off the streets and we want more weapons handed in."

The blade is believed to be a stainless-steel copy of a Klingon weapon called a Batliff from the science fiction series Star Trek.