United Kingdom, 2 Nov 2011 - The Home Office has confirmed its decision to allow religious buildings to host civil partnerships by the end of 2011. When civil partnerships were introduced in 2005, the law stated that they could not be held in religious buildings, nor contain any religious language.

The report details the regulations needed to enforce the Equality Act 2010, which removed the prohibition on holding the ceremonies at churches, synagogues and other religious buildings.

London, 4 Oct 2011 – Those convicted of homosexual crimes could soon apply to have their convictions wiped from the records under a government measure to tackle discrimination. More than 16,000 convictions for crimes relating to consensual gay sex could be removed from police computers, following intense lobbying from gay rights group Stonewall [DailyMail reports].

United Kingdom, 20 Sept 2011 - The Ministers are to launch a consultation in March 2010 with a view to opening up civil marriage to same-sex couples ahead of the next general election. 

London, 8 Sept 2011 – Ministers have agreed today to let men who have not had sex with another man in the past 12 months to donate from November in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is expected to make a decision soon [BBC report].

United Kingdom, 27 Apr 2011 - Adoption agency Catholic Care has spent two years engaged in legal proceedings seeking an  exemption under the Sexual Orientation Regulations enabling it to discriminate against same-sex couples. The agency which found homes for approximately ten children a year suspended its adoption services in 2008. Last year the legal arguments went to the High Court where Catholic Care won the right to challenge the anti-discrimination rules. But the Charity Tribunal unanimously ruled today that the agency could not opt-out of equality laws.

United Kingdom, 1 Mar 2011 - The High Court has rejected an appeal by a Pentecostal Christian couple against the decision of a local authority not to place children with them as foster carers owing to their anti-gay beliefs. In a landmark decision the High Court ruled that equality laws "should take precedence" over religious views.

London, 13 Feb 2011 – The government is expected to announce full marriage equality for gays and lesbians under reforms to marriage laws to be announced later this week. The reported move will end the final major legal discrimination against gays and lesbians in Britain.

United Kingdom, 28 January 2011 - Three men appeared at Derby Magistrates' Court on charges of incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, having handed out leaflets outside Jamia Mosque in Derby. Ihjaz Alie, 41, Mehboob Hussain, 44, and Umer Javed, 37, were charged on the 27th of January with incitement to hatred.