Jordanian Shadi Abdullah told investigators: "My family is very poor. I wanted to come to Germany to start a new life. Another reason was the opportunity to live a freer life in Germany. This involves my sexual tendencies toward men. I had expected problems and disadvantages in relation to this in Jordan."

According to The Times: "In addition to providing counterterrorism officials with details like the meanings of code words used in taped conversations, [Abdullah] laid out a road map of the network's capabilities and intentions and explained how the hierarchy was rebuilt after the death or capture of Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. Mr. Abdullah provided names and descriptions of dozens of Qaeda members, helping authorities to disrupt terrorist plots in Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States."

Only nine percent of the parents made use of artificial insemination. Most of the children resulted from previous opposite-sex couplings.

The survey was commissioned by the Glasgow gay group Beyond Barriers.

Respondents said the most important issue facing gay people is partnership rights, followed by discrimination and prejudice.

Surveyors found that two-thirds of respondents had been verbally abused by homophobes and 23 percent had been physical attacked. Only 17 percent reported the incidents to police.

The 39-year-old man, a former woman, has entered the force's officer training course.

The Met said the man will not be allowed to conduct physical searches of suspects because the law requires that a suspect be searched only by someone of the same gender.

A department spokesman said deliberate recruitment of transgender officers "will help us make the organization more representative of the communities we serve."

There are other transgender officers on the force, but they switched genders after they were hired.

Similar pools are being created based on ethnicity.

Met officers are being asked to submit details on their sexuality and ethnicity to a database that also will catalog language skills, life skills and hobbies.

Twenty acres are being set aside near the city center to attract developers to a "Gay Gateway."

A spokesman said Birmingham is "seriously rivaling Manchester as a place where gay people feel comfortable."

As the Franco-African summit opened in Paris, the protesters blasted fog horns and threw paint at the Zimbabwean Embassy. They also staged demonstrations outside Mugabe's hotel and at the Ministry of Justice and the Palace of Justice.

The protesters came from ACT UP, the Pink Panthers and the Movement for Democratic Change. Several people were arrested, including well-known British gay activist Peter Tatchell.

Tatchell, who has had several high-profile run-ins with Mugabe over the years, was grabbed by police Feb. 20 outside a Metro station en route to the protesters' fifth action, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"We were bundled into a police van and taken into 'preventive detention' at a nearby police station," Tatchell said. "I was told by the senior arresting officer that the interior minister had ordered the arrest of all protesters. We were held by the police for nearly two hours, until Mugabe left the Foreign Ministry. On our release, we were trailed by police cars and plainclothes officers. We were hunted like rats through the streets of Paris.

"It seems that the whole apparatus of the French state is organized to protect a human-rights abuser such as Mugabe and quash peaceful protesters like ourselves," Tatchell said.

Mugabe has said of gays: "What an abomination, a rottenness of culture, real decadence of culture. [Homosexuals are] repugnant to my human conscience ... immoral and repulsive. ... Animals in the jungle are better than these people because at least they know that this is a man or a woman. ... I don't believe they have any rights at all."

The report said all MPs from Prime Minister José María Aznar's People's Party were forced to vote against the measures.

People's Party deputy Rosa Estaras said the bills -- introduced by the Socialists, the United Left and three regional parties -- were torpedoed because they were "unconstitutional."

Kevin's birth certificate and passport now say he is male and the couple have had two children via in-vitro fertilization.

Williams might appeal to the High Court. According to his spokeswoman, "The case raises serious issues concerning the meaning of marriage under the Marriage Act."