gay marriage

Samoa Health clarifies stance on abortion and gay marriage

Over the past week media reports have said the Ministry was urging the Government to legalise abortion and gay marriage.

RNZI reports this prompted public outrage and a statement from Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi that he would never allow what he calls "heathenistic practices".

However, the Director of Health Leausa Toleafoa Dr Take Naseri says the media has misquoted and taken out of context the national policy paper.

Leausa says the ministry did not advocate making abortion legal, as it is illegal and the ministry is compliant to the law.

Aria awards: Kylie Minogue calls for same-sex marriage in Australia

The 48-year-old singer and actor Joshua Sasse, 28, announced their engagement earlier this year.

The couple subsequently vowed to postpone their nuptials until same-sex marriage becomes legal in Australia.

Dressed in "Say I Do Down Under" T-shirts at the Arias in Sydney, the pair urged the change to come next year.

"We're here to introduce a shining light in the Australian music industry," Minogue told the audience on Wednesday night.

"But we're also here to say thank you to everyone who has supported Josh's campaign for equality."

Being gay when it was still a crime

Now 93 and married to a man, he's "the luckiest, happiest, old gay man alive".

But for many years, he led a double life - married to a woman but secretly knowing he identified as homosexual.

As the government announces gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales will be offered pardons, George tells Newsbeat what it was like to be gay, when it was still a crime.

George believes he should never have been convicted of a crime and says the only thing he was guilty of is "being in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Gay rights gain support online in Cook Islands

The support comes following an article in CI News on Monday in which Prime Minister Henry Puna said he would not be following the United Nations’ ‘free and equal’ campaign.

Prime Minister Henry Puna first expressed opposition to the legalisation of same-sex marriage on April 28, 2013.

Following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in New Zealand, PM Puna said his government would not be following New Zealand's move.