January David Kato was murdered in Uganda Ugandan gay activist David Kato was battered to death with a hammer in his home, after his name was listed in an anti-gay newspaper with the headline "Hang them!" To add insult, the pastor at Kato's funeral let loose with a homophobic rant, "homosexuality is evil and will be punished by God....Even the animals know the difference between a male and a female," he stated, while being shouted down by Kato's friends and supporters. In the UK, A Bristol judge ruled the Christian owners of a hotel acted unlawfully when they refused to give a gay couple a double room. Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy were awarded £1,800 each in damages. Nepal continued to set the standard, announcing it would include a new 'third gender' category in its Census. February England wicketkeeper Steven Davies became the first serving professional cricketer to publicly out himself. The 24-year-old Surrey player told the Daily Telegraph he decided to make the announcement after months of personal conflict. Musician Rufus Wainwright became a dad, with Leonard Cohen's daughter Lorca the surrogate mother for his daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen. March One of the world's most visible actresses and vehement AIDS campaigners Dame Elizabeth Taylor died in LA at the age of 79, leaving her legion of gay fans, in New Zealand and across the globe, mourning, celebrating and reminiscing. Apple did the logical thing and dumped a 'gay cure' app launched by the fervently anti-gay Exodus Ministries. April Chrissy Lee Polis was attacked in a Baltimore MCDonald's Hideous video footage of a transwoman being attacked in a Baltimore McDonald's was circulated on the internet, in an attack which left its victim Chrissy Lee Polis afraid to leave the house. She told the Baltimore Sun her attackers shouted, "That's a dude, that's a dude and she's in the female bathroom," and spit in her face. The discovery of what the media labelled a "gay cavemen" on the outskirts of Prague was actually described by experts as the skeleton of a third gender farmer ... Yet there was progress for the global trans community, with an Irish transwoman awarded more than $60,000 in a ground breaking decision against her employer, who asked her to switch to and from a female and male identity on request. Over in London, hundreds of people took part in a "kiss in" outside a pub where two men were thrown out for a public display of affection. And in the US one of the NBA's biggest stars Kobe Bryant One of the biggest stars of the NBA Kobe Bryant was fined US $100,000 for calling a referee a "faggot", despite his protest that he "didn't mean it literally". May Ben Cohen is a different breed of rugby player than most Clearly living in a different world than his former teammates, Rugby World Cup winning England back Ben Cohen retired from the game to focus on his anti-homophobia and bullying foundation. More than 30 people were arrested in central Moscow during the sixth attempt to hold a pride parade in the city, as far right groups clashed with those who were gathered in front of the Kremlin wall and city hall. Of those arrested, 18 were trying to hold a parade and 14 were anti-gay activists. In Uganda, a bill which would have made gay sex a capital offence was shelved, amidst widespread global condemnation. And the staunchly Roman Catholic Brazil approved same-sex unions. June Less than an hour after the same sex marriage bill was passed in New York State's Senate New York City's most iconic building the Empire State was celebrating in the colours of the rainbow flag. Two 'lesbian' online writers were exposed as hoaxes, with the creator of the lesbian news site Lez Get Real revealed as Bill Graber, a 58-year-old Air Force veteran and retired construction worker from Ohio. He was using the identity of his wife, Paula Brooks, to run a website which shared "a gay girl's view on the world". His wife had no idea. It followed the revelation blogger A Gay Girl in Damascus was actually an American man studying in Scotland, named Tom MacMaster. He was caught out after his made up character was in a fake kidnap plot. Melbourne bar Sircuit was given the right to ban women, on the grounds that it would ensure its patrons were not subjected to "attempts by predatory females to turn them straight". Meanwhile a safe sex ad featuring two men hugging was put back into Queensland bus shelters after an Australian Christian group's briefly successful campaign to have it removed was revealed and was met with fierce counter-protests. July It was lesbians to the fore in July, as a lesbian couple heroically rescued up to 40 young campers during the terrifying massacre by gunman Anders Behring Breivik on a Norwegian island. While in a case of extreme irony, a lesbian couple was told to stop holding hands at an exhibition celebrating the life of Gertrude Stein, in San Francisco. And of course gay marriage legislation came into effect in New York, sparking a rush on City Hall. August A 19-year-old woman pleaded guilty over the brutal beating of a transgender woman in a McDonald's in Baltimore, which was recorded on a cellphone and posted online. Australia's first ever glbt retirement village was announced, and will be built in Ballan, near Geelong, in Victoria complete with an indoor heated spa, bar and croquet lawn. One couple that won't be retiring there is Bert and Ernie, after Sesame Workshop poured cold water on calls for the puppets to be outed and get married. September Don't Ask Don't Tell finally came to an end, allowing glbt soldiers to serve openly in the US armed forces. It sparked one US soldier serving in Germany to call his father to tell him he was gay, and then post the conversation on YouTube. Camila Grey and Leisha Hailey were thrown off a flight for kissing "No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud. You can’t whisper hate," was the powerful response from L Word star and musician Leisha Hailey to Southwest Airlines' jumble of excuses for throwing her and her girlfriend off a flight, after they kissed. But change was in the air further north, as Britain's Government announced it wanted to legalise gay marriage by 2015. October Scotland and the world was left in shock at the killing 28-year-old gay barman Stuart Walker, who was believed to have been tied to a lamppost and beaten before being set alight. Johannesburg police stated they had no evidence a serial killer was targeting gay men in the city, despite reports six gay men had been killed in the past 18 months in cases which had striking similarities. In Cape Town, four men were finally convicted of the brutal 'corrective rape' and murder of 19-year-old lesbian Zoliswa Nkonyana, who was stoned, kicked and stabbed to death five years previously. Chaz's exit had Cher up in arms! Brave transman Chaz Bono was voted off Dancing with the Stars in the US, sparking a tirade from his mother Cher:: "I Have Got 2Hold my TEMPER ! MY Tears R OK ! Congratulations Chaz I’m SO PROUD OF U ! This was YOUR Quest… many were up in arms at the news a pair of bonded male penguins Buddy and Pedro was to be split up for breeding at Toronto Zoo, and a Welsh rugby player claimed he 'woke up gay' after a stroke, then ditched his lady and his job at a bank and became a hairdresser. December Queensland's Parliament past civil union legislation as Australia's momentum towards gay marriage continued to gather steam. The United Nations released a historic report calling for governments to protect lgbt people, prosecute all serious violations and repeal discriminatory laws, the US also took a historic stance on global gay rights, and Belgium swore in a gay Prime Minister. On the flipside, a Californian teenager was jailed for 21 years for pulling out a gun and shooting a 15-year-old gay student in the back of the head ... and Nigeria moved to strengthen its homophobic laws with a proposed anti gay marriage bill. Jacqui Stanford - 26th December 2011