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Forwarded from EuroQueer
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
English
15.09.06
Reporters Without Borders / Internet Freedom desk
IRAN
AUTHORITIES BOAST OF SUCCESS IN INTERNET FILTERING
Iran is doing its utmost to isolate its citizens from the rest of the worldby purging the Internet of independent content, in the name of 'morality',says Reporters Without Borders, noting that the authorities even brag aboutthe success of their censorship.
"We are filtering more than 10 million websites", boasted the technical headof the Iranian company in charge of Internet censorship, on 11 September2006.
The worldwide press freedom organisation said it was difficult to check thisstatement but it had monitored an increase in filtering since the start ofsummer 2006. Censorship seems particularly targeted against sites dealingwith the condition of women, it noted.
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Stacy Lienemann
Direct Response and Scholarly Promotions Manager
University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
612-627-1934
http://www.upress.umn.edu
The first comprehensive work on the transgender civil rights movement.
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter, editors
University of Minnesota Press | 400 pages | 2006
ISBN 0-8166-4311-3 | hardcover | $60.00
ISBN 0-8166-4312-1 | paperback | $19.95
With analysis from legal and policy experts, activists and advocates,Transgender Rights assesses the movement's achievements, challenges, and opportunities for future action. Examining crucial topics like family law,employment policies, public health, economics, and grassroots organizing,this groundbreaking book is an indispensable resource in the fight for thefreedom and equality of those who cross gender boundaries. Moving beyondmedia representations to grapple with the real lives and issues oftransgender people,Transgender Rights will launch a new moment for humanrights activism in America.
"This is a cutting-edge book full of new information and newideas." -Patrick Califia
"At last! Transgender Rights is the only book any activist, ally, or familymember should really need to figure out the tactics of most if not allgender bullies and stop them dead in their tracks. Yippee for the goodguys, the good grrls, and all the rest of us good folks." -Kate Bornstein"A valuable contribution to understanding this evolving edge of humanexperience." -Susan Stryker
"This book introduces transgender/transsexual/intersex social, political,and legal issues to a broad audience. I think this is an urgently importantconfiguration of concerns, and was moved, grateful, and profoundly excitedto find that the editors have brought into being a collection that presentsthem so well." -Janet Halley, Harvard Law School
Contributors: Kylar W. Broadus, Judith Butler, Mauro Cabral, Dallas Denny,Taylor Flynn, Phyllis Randolph Frye, Julie A. Greenberg, Morgan Holmes,Bennett H. Klein, Jennifer L. Levi, Ruthann Robson, NohemySolórzano-Thompson, Dean Spade, Kendall Thomas, Paula Viturro, WillyWilkinson.
For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book's webpage:
http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/C/currah_transgender.html
Sign up to receive news on the latest releases from University of Minnesota Press:
http://www.upress.umn.edu/eform.html
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401556_pf.html
Kaine Says He Will Campaign Against Same-Sex Marriage Ban
By Chris L. Jenkins and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 15, 2006; B06
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) urged Virginians to vote against a proposedconstitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions, sayingthe ballot question puts thousands of unmarried couples at risk of losing aslew of benefits.
Kaine's comments, as well as his pledge to campaign vigorously against themeasure, came just hours after Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell(R) issued a legal opinion arguing just the opposite. McDonnell said therights of unwed couples to sign over property, develop wills and make othercontracts will not be threatened by the proposed amendment on the Novemberballot.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/nyregion/15mcgreevey.html
September 15, 2006
McGreevey Finds Revising an Image Is Not So Easy
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI and ANDREW JACOBS
As a politician, former Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey was a masterof message discipline, a candidate with an uncanny ability to restrict hispublic statements to preordained talking points.
But as an author, Mr. McGreevey's attempts to orchestrate a publicitycampaign for his autobiography appear to be suffering from the literaryequivalent of opening-night jitters.
After months of trying to ensure that his forthcoming book is viewed as astory of redemption and the torturous spiritual journey that led him topublicly admit that he was the nation's first openly gay governor, Mr.McGreevey instead finds himself cast as a prime example of the irresponsibleexpectant father.
And the book, "The Confession," is not even scheduled to be on the shelvesuntil next week.
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-john.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 15, 2006
Elton John Ends Spat with George Michael
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:27 a.m. ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Elton John has put an end to his feud with fellow Britishpop star George Michael, declaring ``we're fine.''
The row erupted two years ago when John said Michael appeared to be in a``strange place,'' wasting his talent by staying at home and shunning thelimelight.
Michael later complained that harsh media treatment of his private lifestarted after John's adverse comments.
But Elton John was all sweetness and light on Friday, telling ITV hostMichael Parkinson: ``George and I are fine. He came and stayed down my houselast year. We're fine.''
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_us13sep14,0,7986464.story
Colo. Worker Wins Transgender Bias Case
By JON SARCHE
Associated Press Writer
September 15, 2006, 12:14 AM EDT
DENVER -- A woman who was fired while preparing to undergo sex-change surgery was let go in violation of state anti-discrimination law, the headof Colorado's civil rights agency has ruled.
Advocates praised the ruling, saying it was the first of its kind inColorado and a sign that society has begun to better understand transgenderpeople.
Danielle Cornwell, 54, claimed in a complaint filed in April with the CivilRights Division that she was fired in July 2005 because she was a woman andbecause she had recently told the company she planned to undergo gender-reassignment surgery.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15519219.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Gay lawyers protest honor for Bowers
DOUG GROSS
Associated Press
ATLANTA - A planned honor for former state Attorney General Mike Bowers has raised the ire of gay lawyers in Georgia, who say his defense of the state'snow-defunct anti-sodomy law makes him undeserving of the award.
The Atlanta Bar Association plans to give Bowers its Leadership Award at anOctober banquet.
The Stonewall Bar Association, a group that supports gay and lesbianattorneys in the state, responded with a letter to the Atlanta bar this weeksaying Bowers left a "discriminatory and hypocritical legacy."
In the mid-1980s, Bowers, acting in his role as attorney general, went allthe way to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend Georgia's anti-sodomy law from achallenge by the American Civil Liberties Union
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/09/acceptable_nudity.html
When is nudity acceptable on the news?
Ever since the infamous "nipplegate" incident involving Janet Jackson'scostume malfunction, television channels in America have been especiallysensitive to any bare flesh.
So Allan Little's piece from Swaziland on Friday (watch it here) saw a groupof BBC World producers studying the US rule book very carefully... since webroadcast on American cable networks, and have to respect "local" laws.
Allan reported on the "Ceremony of the Reed" - where the King of Swazilandchooses a wife from a parade of women dressed in traditional costume. Thatis, they weren't wearing anything on top. There wasn't really any way ofavoiding the issue - that's how they were dressed, and to have edited outany toplessness would have been bizarre.
But talking to colleagues in the US, it's pretty clear that American TVchannels have become cautious to the extreme on any issues involving eithernudity or swearing. One channel reportedly re-edited a cartoon because itshowed a bare bottom.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid36466.asp
The Advocate
September 15, 2006
Openly gay woman tries to enlist in Army as protest of policy
The possibility of arrest served to curtail a protest against the U.S. military's policy on gay soldiers. Nichole Rawls, 27, tried to enlist at an Army recruiting office in northwest Norman, Okla., on Wednesday, but a police officer who arrived there told Rawls and others participating in the demonstration that they could be arrested if they stayed at the office after being asked to leave.
"I am aware of the Army's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, but I don't agree with it. I want to serve my country, but I am not willing to hide who I am in order to do so," said Rawls, a Shawnee resident who is openly lesbian.
Rawls said she and her supporters chose the Norman recruiting station because they thought University of Oklahoma students might join a planned protest. "We were treated with respect, but I was saddened that the recruitment officer didn't know about the Military Readiness Enhancement Bill, a bill now in Congress," said supporter Pamela Disel, also of Shawnee. If approved, the measure would replace the present "don't ask, don't tell" policy with one of nondiscrimination.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.nerve.in/news:25350015638
Nepal government begins crackdown on gays
Thursday, 14 September 2006
"In Nepal's conservative society, where the son is valued much more than the daughter, homosexuals are regarded as freaks and homosexuality is a punishable offence. The gay community has been urging the new government to end homophobic laws and incorporate gay rights in the new constitution that is to be implemented soon."
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, Sep 14 - Nepal's vulnerable gay community, who had taken part in the popular protests against King Gyanendra's regime, are now being targeted by the new 'democratic' government they supported to power, a gay rights organisation said.
The new government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, that was sworn in May and pledged to uphold democracy and human rights, has now started a cleansing drive against homosexuals in the capital, arbitrarily arresting them, detaining them illegally and beating them up in police lock-ups, according to the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's most prominent gay rights organisation.
Sunil Pant, president of Blue Diamond Society, says the new drive against metis - homosexual men who dress up as women - began about a month ago.
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MEDIA RELEASE
14 September 2006
For immediate release
European Parliament puts homophobic bullying on its agenda
On 13 September 2006 a Report on Social Exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender (LGBT) young people was launched in the European Parliament.
Members of the European Parliament (MEP) taking part at the launch agreed todraw up a declaration to stop homophobic behaviour in schools. MEPs from theIntergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights committed to take a lead on thisinitiative.
The launch of ILGA-Europe's and IGLYO's joint publication on socialexclusion of LGBT young people led to these and other concrete promisescoming from the European Parliament. The Intergroup together with IGLYO andILGA-Europe shall develop an agenda on how young LGBT people in Europeshould be protected against discrimination occurring in different spheres oflife.
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