Wednesday, August 09, 2006

GLBT DIGEST August 9, 2006

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August 8, 2006

Aging face of HIV

Older patients pose challenges for physicians

BY KAREN MATTHEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pat Shelton has had the AIDS virus for at least 15 years, and also struggles with hepatitis C and high blood pressure. But what is bothering her most on this sultry summer day are hot flashes.

"I've gone through hell with my menopause," said Shelton, an elegant woman who recently swapped her dreadlocks for a close-cropped look while trying to stay cool. "It's kicking me. But HIV, I've been very blessed. I don't know why."

The 53-year-old Shelton, whose drug regimen has kept her HIV from developing into full-blown AIDS, in many ways represents the changing face of the HIV population in New York and around the country: They are getting older and presenting new challenges to health-care providers.

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The New York Times
August 8, 2006

"Sperm Monologues": What to Tell Your Unborn Child

Filed at 10:12 a.m. ET

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Some sperm donation clinics invite men to leave a message behind for their unborn child to hear when they are 18.

What do they say?

That question inspired ``The Sperm Monologues,'' a thought-provoking new play at the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival about the motives behind these video time capsules.

James Farrell, the play's director and co-author, explained the process.

``This is not compulsory and in the UK messages are written rather than recorded on video. Currently this is a more common practice in the United States,'' he told Reuters.

``We sent e-mails around to our friends asking what they might say in such a situation and that is where we got the idea for the piece.''

Although the title echoes Eve Ensler's hit play ``The Vagina Monologues,'' Farrell said:

``The Vagina Monologues is very much about women's liberation -- this is my body, this is me. The Sperm Monologues are not about men's liberation, but what we want to say is we do have feelings and we want to be noticed.''

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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200608%5CINT20060808c.html


WorldPride Parade Replaced by Protest Against Hatred
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
August 08, 2006

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - After postponing a parade through the streets of Jerusalem, organizers of this week's international homosexual gathering said they would replace the march with a protest against hatred in a city park.

"Though the march has been postponed until the end of current hostilities, it is essential for us to express publicly our outrage against the hate campaign targeting our community," the group's website said. "We will stand together quietly and peacefully in the center of Jerusalem."

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HeartStrong Inc
Contact: Marc Adams, Executive Director
1011 Boren Avenue #199
Seattle WA 98104
206-388-3894
http://www.heartstrong.org
marcadams@heartstrong.org


HEARTSTRONG EMBARKS ON 17th OUTREACH TRIP IN TEN YEARS

Seattle WA - On August 11, 2006, the most extensive grassroots outreach effort in the history of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenderedmovement will begin their 17th outreach trip. HeartStrong, Inc., is anon-profit educational organization which provides support to GLBTstudents in religious educational institutions and educates the publicabout the legal persecution which can and does occur.

"With the rapid growth in religious schools over the past ten years, ourwork is more vital than ever," executive director Marc Adams says. "Therehave only been increases in the numbers of students coming to us for help. However, we are celebrating our tenth year of outreach doing work that isnot popular in any community"

Contact us at rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the entire article.

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Oslo sperm bank rejects gays

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060808-122208-9714r

OSLO, Norway, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- One of Norway's two sperm banks has launched adonor recruitment drive but says homosexuals are not welcome.

The sperm bank at the Rikshospitalet has been hit hard by a new law thatallows children born through sperm donation to learn their fathers'identities when they turn 18, a prospect that has made many men reluctant todonate. The newspaper Dagsavisen reports the bank is falling short of itsgoal of doubling the number of donors every year.

"The main motivation for a donor must be a desire to help others, not, forexample, donating sperm in order to spread one's own genes," PeterFedorcsak, the head of the sperm bank, said, explaining that he questions the motives of gay donors.

The other national sperm bank in Norway does not consider donors' sexual identity.

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http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/16048/

Christian Democrats call for gay pride parade ban

Aug 08, 2006
TBT Staff

Estonia’s Christian Democrats, a party with no seats in the parliament, have asked the Tallinn government to prohibit a gay pride parade in the old city planned for Aug. 12.


#By promoting an unnatural lifestyle homosexuals are putting at risk minors, whom it is not possible to protect against the destructive impact of their propaganda in the densely populated Old City space,# the chairman of the Christian Democrats, Aldo Vinkel, told BNS.


#The laws oblige sellers to keep porn and sex publications away from display areas that can be viewed by children. It is evident that live models conveying the same message pose a significantly bigger threat to children,# he said.
In co-operation with BNS

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German court rules for Iranian lesbian

Monday, August 7, 2006 . Last updated 2:21 p.m. PT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Germany_Iran_Deportation.html

BERLIN -- A German court said Monday that it has ruled that an Iranian lesbian cannot be deported to her homeland because she risks facingpunishment there for her sexual orientation.

The 27-year-old woman, whose name was not released, traveled to Germany inSeptember 2003 and applied for asylum.

The woman argued that she felt excluded from society in the Islamic republicand wanted to "live out her homosexuality openly without having to fearpersecution," the Stuttgart administrative court said.

The court found that the chance of "disproportionate or discriminatorypunishment of a homosexual relationship between women is very high in Iran... because such a relationship is an absolute breaking of taboos, even worse than between men."
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FindLaw, August 8, 2006

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20060808.html

The State of the Nation on Same-Sex Marriage:
Key Court Losses Mean It May Be Restricted to Massachusetts For Now

By JOANNA GROSSMAN,
lawjlg@hofstra.edu

This July, the highest courts in New York and in Washington State each ruledthat it was constitutional to ban same-sex marriage. In each case, a lowercourt had ruled that the State's existing ban on same-sex marriage violatedthe state's constitution. And in each case, the state's highest court closedthe door on judicially-ordered same-sex marriage, but left open thepossibility for legislative authorization of the practice. And in Georgia,the state's highest court reinstated a constitutional amendment banning bothsame-sex marriage and civil unions.

What about possible challenges based, instead, on the U.S.Constitution's due process and equal protection guarantees? It turns outthat, also in July, a federal appellate court rejected just such a challengein Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning. The now-reinstated provision isan amendment to the Nebraska constitution, adopted by voters in 2000, thatbans not only same-sex marriage, but also any form of legal recognition forsame-sex couples.

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Times Herald-Record, NY, August 8, 2006

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/08/08/opinion-8views-08-08.html

Time for Legislature to end marriage discrimination By Alan Van Capelle

Now that our state's high court has decided that marriage discriminationagainst lesbian and gay New Yorkers does not violate our state Constitution,it is up to our lawmakers to right this wrong and provide full marriageequality for same-sex couples and our families. And they should do itquickly in the next legislative session.

A majority of New Yorkers already support equal access to marriage for ourfamilies - 53 percent, according to our most recent poll - while oppositionas dropped from 46 percent in 2004 to just 38 percent today. So like most other so-called controversial social issues that tend to go round and round for years in Albany, it's not the people of New York who need convincing, it's our lawmakers who need to simply catch up to where their constituents already are on this issue.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org


Roanoke Times, VA, August 8, 2006

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/wb/xp-77206

Even lesbian moms need to deal with exes If the couple were heterosexual, Virginia would not interfere with another state's child custody ruling.

Vermont and Virginia are locked into a debate over which state should decideif one or both of 4-year-old Isabella Miller-Jenkins' parents will raise her.

Vermont's Supreme Court ruled last week that her parents were residentsthere when they split up, so Vermont should retain jurisdiction.

Unless Virginia's court relinquishes its hold, the U.S. Supreme Court may bedeciding the child's upbringing. All because one of her two mommies wentshopping for a favorable court.

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WMTV, WI, August 7, 2006

http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/3515766.html

Businesses Against Gay Marriage Amendment
Justin Ware

The Madison business community is saying no to the amendment on this fall'sballot that would reinforce the ban against gay marriage.

Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce president Jennifer Alexander, saysembracing diversity is good business.

For that reason, she says the chamber has come out against the ban, becausethe language in the amendment could make it impossible for gay and straightcouples to receive domestic partner benefits, unless they are legallymarried ... and Alexander says that would chase potential employees out ofWisconsin.
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Canada: Married Lesbian Pastor Met With Opposition In Canadian Anglican Church

Canadian Press, Canada, August 8, 2006

(Ottawa) Linda Privitera, an ordained priest in the U.S. Episcopal Church,as felt "marginalized'' ever since joining her spouse Melissa Haussman - aCarleton University professor - last fall in Canada.

The two, who tied the knot in Massachusetts and whose marriage wasrecognized in Canada, quickly found themselves caught up in the cut andthrust of the Anglican Church of Canada's battle over whether marriedhomosexual pastors should be allowed to minister to congregations.

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The Progressive, August 2006 Issue

http://progressive.org/mag_davidoff0806

No Wedding Bells
Why banning same-sex marriage spells disaster
By Judith Davidoff

Ray Vahey and Richard Taylor met in Ohio in 1956. Taylor, a World War II veteran, was managing a toy warehouse in Cleveland. Vahey, just out of highschool, was in town for the Labor Day weekend. They fell in love the eveningthey met.

"It was the height of the busy season and he had to work," Vahey recalls."He taught me how to use a ticket pricer. It was an unusual honeymoon, butit was romantic to me."

The couple has been together ever since, moving around the country as Vaheyclimbed the corporate ladder. Their sprawling Victorian-style apartment inMilwaukee is stuffed with art and antiques, a shared passion that startedwhen they lived in San Francisco. They've seen each other through major lifeevents, including serious illnesses for them both.


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