James McDonald

“I’m supposed to go into battle knowing that I’m a second class citizen, only because I’m gay. That I’m good enough to die for this country, but not good enough to be an equal-rights citizen.” 

A popular referendum narrowly rejected a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples.

This less progressive—and less controversial—version is expected to easily pass in the lower house of parliament. 

Set on modernizing Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has made the legal recognition of gay couples a make-or-break issue of his tenure.

Now, couples need only wait another year before finally tying the knot. 

16-year-old Shira Banki was murdered by a Jewish extremist at last year's Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. 

Long the heart of the court's conservative bloc, his death has shocked the political establishment.

He will be gracing the cover of a special Collector's Edition of Men's Health Germany.

"Everything that was me wasn’t there. Some feeling came over me that this was the end," the comedian remembers.

“I am scared of what a Republican president will mean for my family.”

The court reinstated a colonial-era ban in 2013, resulting in widespread state-sponsored persecution of gay men.