Monday, August 07, 2006

GLBT DIGEST August 7, 2006

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Lithuania: Transsexuals stand for their rights

By Lithuanian gay league

A young woman willing to have an operation to change her sex lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against Lithuania and hasbeen invited to state her demands to the government during an open courthearing in Strasbourg on October 17th. She will also have to substantiateher 1 million litas (290,000 euros) suit against the country. The Strasbourg
court received the complaint from the woman, who feels that she should havebeen the opposite sex, a year ago. In her complaint, the Lithuanian citizensaid that she had consulted micro- surgeons over an operation to change hersex on a number of occasions and had often been sent to psychiatrists.Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital doctors have said that she is a transsexual and
should undergo such an operation. This is just the second case in Lithuania'spractice when the Justice Ministry, which represents the government at theEuropean Court of Human Rights, will have to express its position orally.


For the full article, contact us at rays.list@comcast.net



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http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060807/OPINION03/608070314/1272

The Detroit News
August 7, 2006
By Deb Price

Gays can learn from civil rights backlash

In May 1954, overjoyed by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated public schools were unconstitutional, NACCP attorney Thurgood Marshall predicted school segregation would vanish within five years.Instead, a decade later, only 1 percent of black children in the Deep South sat in the same classrooms as whites.What had interfered? A fierce backlash by the white majority.

That backlash prompted black leaders to debate whether full-throated demands for equality, particularly in courts, should be replaced by a go-slow approach aimed at giving white supremacists more time to see the error of their ways.The aftermath of the Brown decision has much to teach those of us who are gay and feeling wobbly after a string of heartbreaking setbacks in our push for equal marriage rights.

Legal scholar Carlos Ball offers historical perspective and a much-needed pep talk in "The Backlash Thesis and Same-Sex Marriage" in the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. (Find it using Google.) He stresses that the heterosexual backlash after the 2003 Massachusetts ruling opening marriage to gay couples was a predictable majority response to minority progress --
much like the backlash after Brown.


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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-pbmail966aug04,1,3237978.story


`Boy's Life' left out sexual minority

Donald Cavanaugh
Lake Worth

August 4, 2006

I am disappointed that Ralph De La Cruz failed to include even a passing nodto the sexual minority children in his audience who are making the samepassage as the young heterosexual subjects in his Sunday piece, "A boy'slife: making choices -- Heart's desire."

<http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-ralphboysliferelationshipsjul30,1,6427626.column>

I realize that it is easier to engage an audience with comfortable genderstereotypes -- especially when it comes to youth -- than to delve into thepanoply of gender, sexual and emotional expressions our non-heterosexualchildren are, and should be, exploring as they enter their teens. But to doso is, in my opinion, a failure to serve the entire population.

Unfortunately, this exclusion reinforces the segregation-by-silence and thestereotyping of being "different" that isolate our gay, lesbian, bisexual,transgender and questioning youth. It sets them up for failure and for thebullying and harassment that everyone agrees is a national concern.

I hope Mr. De La Cruz will try to include the normal adolescent experiencesof the rest of his audience before the series is done. It's time to embracesexual minority young people in mainstream stories. Leaving them out ispotentially damaging to a significant number of our young people.



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http://www.theeagle.com/stories/080606/texas_20060806075.php

Officer prepares for sex-change surgery

Associated Press

HOUSTON - A Houston police sergeant who is transitioning from male to femalehas voluntarily transferred to the city's dispatch center until the genderchange is complete.

In June, Sgt. Jack Oliver went public that he has begun medical treatment tohave his gender reassigned and become Julia Oliver.

The patrol sergeant has been receiving hormones for several months now andhas told officers she would like to be called Julia at work.

Before undergoing gender corrective surgery, Oliver will have to live as awoman 24 hours a day for an entire year.

Oliver's new job is now allowing the officer a chance to comply.


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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org

Potomac News, VA, August 6, 2006

http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN%2FMGArticle%2FWPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189830562&path=

Unitarians host rally against marriage ban
By ELISA A. GLUSHEFSKI,
eglushefski@potomacnews.com

Ambiguities in the language of the proposed amendment banning same-sexmarriage in Virginia is the "single most important ally in our fight"against its passage, Brian Pace, president of Equality Prince William, told160 people who attended a rally in Manassas on Saturday.

Pace and other opponents argued that the amendment's text could interferewith enforcement of domestic violence laws for unmarried partners, domesticpartner benefits offered by some businesses and other legal arrangements.

The rally at Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Sanctuary was planned topersuade residents to vote against the amendment on Nov. 7.



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Northern Ireland: Two gay female police officers to wed

Sunday Independent, 6 August 2006

ALAN MURRAY

THE first same-sex marriage between serving police officers on this islandis expected to take place within the next fortnight.

Sources within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) say two femaleuniformed officers have announced their intention to participate in a civilmarriage ceremony in the near future. It's understood a stag night has beenarranged at a venue in Newcastle upon Tyne in England this week for theofficers' colleagues and friends.

The two PSNI officers who are attached to the Castlereagh District CommandUnit (DCU) in East Belfast have told colleagues they intend to get hitchedin a fortnight's time to become the first married gay couple serving in apolice service in Ireland.

For the full article, contact us at rays.list@comcast.net




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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org

Gays flee Iraq as Shia death squads find a new targetEvidence shows increase in number of executionsas homosexuals plead for asylum in Britain

Jennifer Copestake Sunday August 6, 2006 The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1838222,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Hardline Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq are targeting a new type of victimwith the full protection of Iraqi law, The Observer can reveal. The countryis seeing a sudden escalation of brutal attacks on what are being called the'immorals' - homosexual men and children as young as 11 who have been forcedinto same-sex prostitution.

There is growing evidence that Shia militias have been killing men suspectedof being gay and children who have been sold to criminal gangs to besexually abused. The threat has led to a rapid increase in the numbers ofIraqi homosexuals now seeking asylum in the UK because it has becomeimpossible for them to live safely in their own country.