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http://www.capitolhillblue.com/content/2006/09/florida_reps_em.html
Florida Rep's emails to male page raise eyebrows
September 29, 2006 7:27 AM | Capitol Hillbillies
Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley exchanged personal emails with a16-year-old former male page for a month, asking how old the young man was,if he wanted a photo, and requesting a photo.
Reports of the emails have rocked the House, bringing back memories of ascandal involving two members of Congress who had sex with two Congressionalpages in the 1980s.
While Foley denied doing anything improper, sources say the Capitol HillPolice department is now looking into the Congressman's behavior.
In 1983, the House censured Illinois Republican Congressman Phil Crane andGarry Studds (D-Mass) after both admitted having sex with pages. Crane'slover was female while Studds' was male. Crane, who cried on the floor ofthe House and asked his colleagues to forgive him, lost his re-election campaign the following year.
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http://www.365gay.com/opinion/Libby/Libby.htm
Watching Out For Human Rights
by Libby Post
We're kept out of the military. We're fired from our jobs. We're targets of hate crimes. We're denied the ability to legally recognizeour relationships. And this is just in the United States .
Homophobia has taken on a particularly international flavor of late aslesbian and gay organizations are denied entrance to United Nationsgatherings.
The latest door was closed in Zimbabwe when that country's president, therabidly homophobic Robert Mugabe, refused to let the Gay and LesbianAssociation of Zimbabwe attend a 3-day U.N.-sponsored human rights meetingbetween the national government and human rights groups. The UNrepresentative in Zimbabwe refused to comment.
In neighboring South Africa, the government banned the country's leadingHIV/AIDS organization from attending the UN's Special Session on AIDS. TheTreatment Action Campaign (TAC), which was nominated for a 2004 Nobel Prize,has been a constant thorn in the South African government's side on how ithas dealt with the country's AIDS crisis.
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/09/092906calif.htm
Schwarzenegger Signs 'Gay Panic' & LGBT Housing Bills, Vetoes School Bias Bill
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
September 29, 2006 - 3:00 am ET
(Sacramento, California) California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signedlegislation Thursday night making it more difficult for defendants to us theso-called 'gay panic' defense.
The bill grew out of the brutal slaying of transgender teen Gwen Araujo in2002. At the trial of three men accused of punching, gashing, choking,tying up and strangling the 17 year old attorney's claimed their clients hadpanicked when it was discovered by two of the men with whom Araujo had sexthat she was born biologically male. The three were convicted but it tooktwo trials.
The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act directs the Office of EmergencyServices to create training materials for district attorneys on bestpractices to address the use of bias-motivated defense strategies incriminal trials. The bill also requires the Judicial Council to adopt ajury instruction that tells jurors not to consider bias against peoplebecause of sexual orientation, gender identity or other characteristics inrendering a verdict.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801700_pf.html
Senators Seek Domestic-Partner Benefits for Federal Workers
By Stephen Barr
Friday, September 29, 2006; D04
Sens. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) have introduced legislation that would permit unmarried federal employees to apply for health, dental and vision insurance, retirement and other benefits for their domestic partners.The senators said that many companies and state and local governments offer domestic-partner benefits and that it is time for the federal government to do the same.
"Federal workers should be able to extend their benefits to loved ones," Smith said. He added, "I believe we need to rid the workplace of discrimination, not just in hiring decisions but also in the rights and privileges afforded employees." Lieberman said offering expanded benefits coverage "will help federal agencies compete for the most qualified personnel."
Spokesmen for the senators said the bill's introduction was intended to ensure that the issue will come up for consideration next year. Congress, however, has been reluctant to take action on domestic-partner benefits in the federal sector, in part because that would reopen debate on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bans federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
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Jesse's Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo
"Halloween: The Great Gay Holiday"
October is an important month in our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender calendar. October is GLBT History Month, a month devoted to dis-covering and celebrating our past. On October 11, we observe "Coming Out Day", a dayin which we "take the next step" in our ongoing, coming-out process. Butwhile both GLBT History Month and Coming Out Day are of recent origin, thismonth's most popular queer holiday predates recorded history and capturesthe essence of sex and gender variance to a much greater degree than do theactivist holidays. Just open the pages of any queer paper during the firstweeks of November and you will see what our communities were doing onOctober 31st. In the words of the lesbian poet and scholar Judy Grahn,Halloween is "the great gay holiday".
I love Halloween. All through my life, October 31 has always been a specialday, though now I don't go out as much as I used to. I certainly enjoywriting about it, though, and I try to write a Halloween article every fewyears. Once thought to be a children's holiday, Halloween (actually Hallowe'en, but I prefer to use the more common spelling) is now almost as popular withadults. According to Nicholas Rogers, author of Halloween: From PaganRitual to Party Night, "Halloween at the end of the millennium has become amajor party night for adults, arguably the most important after New Year'sEve. . . . [T]he amount of money spent on Halloween has more than doubled inthe last decade, making it the second retail bonanza after Christmas."
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
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15624683.htm
CA - Bill would give gay couples right to file taxes as married couples
BUT LANDMARK VICTORY WOULD COME WITH TAX HEADACHES
By Mark Schwanhausser Mercury News
Gov. Schwarzenegger has three days left to decide whether to give a landmarktax victory to gay rights activists -- the right to file as married couples -- but stick them with a tax-filing headache.
The bill, which is among a stack of bills that will become law unless vetoedby Saturday, would require California's 75,000 registered domestic partnersto file their state tax returns as if they were legally married -- even though they'd still have to submit single returns to Uncle Sam.
More....
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15624683.htm
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1203&article=1203
Bay Area Reporter
September 28
Lesbian activist Aleta Fenceroy dies
by Liz Highleyman
liz@black-rose.com
Aleta Fenceroy, who for eight years operated the Fenceberry LGBT newswirewith her partner Jean Mayberry, died Saturday, September 23, after a battlewith cancer. She was 57.
Ms. Fenceroy was born December 27, 1948. She raised two children as a singlemother on welfare while working part time and studying music. She attendedMorningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, then received her master of finearts degree at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
After working for the Iowa Department of Corrections for more than a decade,Ms. Fenceroy went back to school to earn an associate degree in computerprogramming in 1998. She then took a job in Omaha, Nebraska, as aprogrammer-analyst with First Data Resources.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=276849
Commentary: Clinton Jokes And Culture War Stories Highlight Values Voter Summit, Day 2
By: Mark Kernes
WASHINGTON -
Before entering the ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. for the beginning of the second day of the 2006 Values Voter Summit, Idecided to check out what was actually in the "goodies bag" I'd been givenat registration, as well as a few items I'd picked up in the course of Day 1.
Besides the convention booklet itself, one of the most useful inserts wouldundoubtedly be the "Contact Information for Senate and House CongressionalMembers" booklet, beautifully done up in red, while, blue and gold, withRepublicans in plain type, Democrats in italics, and "Members who have diedor resigned" in bold brackets. (Hi, Tom! Hi, Duke!)
Young Americas Foundation (formerly Young Americans for Freedom, the seminalRepublican college campus crusade) was giving out copies of its magazineLibertas, this issue featuring on the cover an article titled "Teachers'Pets" - and can you believe it? Of the eight people pictured, every singleone is a Democrat!
