Gay News Headlines: Friday 31 October 2014

UK Ian McKellen given freedom of the City of London
	Sir Ian McKellen has been given the freedom of the City of London in recognition of his work for gay rights. He is one of the founders of campaign group Stonewall UK and also supports Pride London. Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf called him an "exceptional actor" and a "tireless campaigner for equality" bbc.co.uk 31 Oct 14
Diversity Role Models raises £75,000
	Guests at the anti-bullying charity's Carnival fund-raiser were entertained by aerialist Will Davis and the evening also featured 'Everyone is a Winner' carnival stalls, including a Spin 'n' Win and DRM's own Glambola diversityrolemodels 31 Oct 14
GAY BUSINESS Apple's Tim Cook highlights a policy gap for LGBT workers
	A May study by Human Rights Campaign found that 53% of LGBT workers in the USA hide who they are at work. And for good reason: In 29 states, workers can be fired for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered wsj.com 31 Oct 14
The 29 states where you can still be fired for being gay
	There is no federal law protecting LGBT workers against discrimination based on their sexual orientation. And while some states and cities have passed their own protections, there are still 29 states where you can actually be fired for being gay, leaving more than half of all total workers vulnerable to employment discrimination huffingtonpost.com 31 Oct 14
Tim Cook should be 'banned' from Russia
	"What could he bring us? The Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea? They all have unseemly ties over there," said St. Petersburg's anti-gay city council member Vitaly Milonov buzzfeed.com 31 Oct 14
HIV AIDS HIV testing rates surge among gay and bisexual men in England
	The numbers of gay and bisexual men in England coming forward for HIV testing has surged, following a nationwide drive to encourage those in high-risk groups to test for the virus and reduce the proportion of infections that remain undiagnosed - 22-30 Nov hivpreventionengland 31 Oct 14
WORLD Slovak Constitutional Court decides homophobic referendum will go ahead
	Slovakians will be called to vote to speak out over a set of questions seeking to limit the rights of LGBT people and seeking to inhibit sexuality education lgbt-ep.eu 31 Oct 14
Gay community hit hard by Middle East turmoil
	What is it like to be a gay refugee? James Longman hears some Syrians' disturbing accounts of abuse bbc.co.uk 31 Oct 14
Singapore's ban on gay male sex is upheld by top court
	Three gay men lost their fight to overturn Singapore's ban on sex between males, as judges at the nation's highest court ruled that the 76-year-old law is constitutional bloomberg.com 31 Oct 14
GAY BOOKS Alan Cumming launches heartbreaking new memoir
	Film, television and stage actor Alan Cumming will launch his heartbreaking new memoir, Not My Father's Son, with events in Edinburgh (12 Nov) and London (13 Nov) waterstones.com 31 Oct 14 Buy Book