Sexual orientation

Barack Obama has spoken openly about his support of equal rights for gay couples, but some are questioning his support for gay rights.

In 1980s Britain, where anti-gay prejudice was widespread and accepted, a group of gay and lesbian Britons reached out to support the UK’s striking miners. Their story, the subject of a film released last year, has much to teach today’s Internet-based activists, says the screenwriter of “Pride.”

Red envelopes are a traditional gift in Chinese societies during the Lunar New Year, often given out by married couples to their single family members, but that tradition can be awkward for LGBT couples, who aren’t widely accepted. Now a Hong Kong group is using red envelopes for a different purpose.

The UK is planning to open what’s being called its first “gay school.” There’s a proposal in Manchester, England, for a school focusing on the education of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

People on the fringes of society — criminals, discriminated-against minorities, rebellious teenagers — often need to speak in code. So they create secret languages, or argots. In Turkey, the LGBT community and others keep their words to themselves with the help of an argot called Lubunca.