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RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcasting company reprted the following this evening;
Majority favours gay marriage rights
21 October 2006 22:07
A Sunday Tribune/Millward Browne opinion poll to be published tomorrow showsthat almost two-thirds of those surveyed are in favour of gay and lesbiancouples having the same legal and financial rights as married couples.
Support is highest among women and among those in the 18 to 35 age group.
But the survey also shows that 50% of people questioned are against allowingsame sex couples to legally adopt children.
37% said they were in favour of such a move.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1021/gaymarriage.html
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Killer Khatami - No honorary degree!
Sir Menzies Campbell colludes with Islamist murderer
Lib Dem pro-gay credentials tarnished
Khatami should be arrested and put on trial
London - 23 October 2006
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, has agreed tohonour the former President of the Islamist dictatorship of Iran,Mohammad Khatami.
Khatami has defended and justified the barbarities of Sharia law,which include the death penalty for gay people, unchaste women andMuslims who turn away from their faith.
Sir Menzies will present Khatami with an honorary doctorate of law atSt Andrews University in Scotland on 31 October. Khatami will alsospeak at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think-tank,the following day (see protest details below).
Protests are planned at both events, involving students, women'sgroups, left-wingers and Iranian refugees. These protests are backedby the LGBTI human rights group, OutRage!
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http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid37716.asp
SIN is in: An HIV-positive social network
Far from being devastated by HIV, Bryan Levinson grew with it. A welcomeby-product of his experience is Strength in Numbers (SIN), the fast-growingsocial network of HIV-positive men and friends Levinson founded.
By Mark Breindel
Different people react to HIV-positive diagnoses in different ways. Somebecome depressed, some try to escape. Bryan Levinson responded by startinghis own HIV-positive social network.
"Maybe my way of denial was to be in total openness about it," he muses, afew busy years later. "I've been totally open from day one."
Far from being devastated by HIV, Levinson grew with it. After "coastingalong" in his late 20s, Levinson said the experience of getting HIV at 30made him start taking better care of himself, and more fully appreciatelife.
"I find that happens with positive guys," Levinson said. "They tend tobecome more settled, because they've had the shit knocked out of them. Itell people God bitch-slapped me: 'Wake up, bitch!'"
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http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid37784.asp
Oprah's lipstick lesbians respond to Scarborough and co.
When partners Nikki Weiss and Carole Antouri appeared on Oprah earlier thismonth, they had a great time. That is, until MSNBC host Joe Scarborough andhis guests excoriated the pair for being gay. Now the women respond.
By Paul Florez
Partners Carole Antouri and Nikki Weiss appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Showon October 2 for an episode about women who left their husbands for otherwomen. In addition to telling Oprah about their life together, they showedthe talk-show diva their "lipstick kiss," the thoroughly innocent air kissthey do so as not to ruin their lipstick.
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/102206ireland.htm
Overwhelming Support For Gay Couples In Ireland
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 22, 2006 - 11:00 am ET
(Dublin) A new public opinion poll shows the majority of people in Irelandbelieve same-sex couples should have the same rights and obligations asmarried opposite-sex couples.
But the survey also shows most people do not think same-sex couples shouldbe allowed to adopt children.
The survey, taken for Dublin's Sunday Tribune, shows that 64 percent ofthose polled said they are in favor of gay and lesbian couples having thesame legal and financial rights as married couples.
Just over 25 percent of those surveyed said were against same-sex couplerights, while about 10 percent had no opinion.
The poll shows a growing trend toward acceptance of gay and lesbianpartners. In February, 51 percent of those surveyed in a similar poll saidthey supported legally acknowledging gay couples.
How to best achieve equality for same-sex couples has pitted LGBT rightsgroups against the government of Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-ybtrav23oct23,0,952219.story
Members of the gay-oriented Web site PlanetOut.com named Fort Lauderdale"Best Gay Resort Town" in a 2006 survey. The poll also named the Royal Palmsin Fort Lauderdale the top gay resort in North America.
Separately, Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco market research firm,found that New York remains the top travel destination for gay men, followedby Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Fort Lauderdale and Palm Springs rate highly with older gay men. Youngerlesbians are more likely to travel to Orlando, according to the company'sannual Gay & Lesbian Travel Survey.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cpjustify23oct23,0,4753553,print.story
Abusive priests often deny effect of actions, studies find
By Peter Franceschina and Jim Davis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 23, 2006
The Rev. Anthony Mercieca doesn't characterize his relationship with a youngMark Foley as sexual, or even harmful. To him it was a "spontaneous thing."
Specialists who treat and study abusive priests say Mercieca's efforts todownplay and rationalize his actions with the teenage Foley are common. In astudy commissioned in 2002 by the U.S. Catholic Conference and conducted byJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice, researchers found that justifying andexcusing abusive behavior were a result of distorted thinking and denial.
"It's not something you'd call rape or penetration or anything like that. Itwas just fondling. It was sort of like a spontaneous thing," Mercieca, 69,told WPTV-Ch. 5 from the Maltese island of Gozo, where has lived sinceretiring from the Archdiocese of Miami in 2002.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/102106help.htm
Pharma Company Gives $200,000 To Gay Help Line
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 20, 2006 - 4:00 pm ET
(San Francisco, California) Giant pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnsonhas given the GLBT National Help Center $200,000, the largest donation inthe organization's ten year history.
The Help Center provides two national phone line systems - one for LGBTadults, the other for teens - were people can get peer counseling andadvice. It also helps local gay crisis centers across the country.
The J&J donation was made through its K-Y brand division and will be givenover a three year period.
The money will be used specifically for special projects that are designedto help more people learn about the organization's services, to grow itsresource database and to enhance the community's ability to contact the HelpCenter, said Brad Becker, executive director of the GLBT National HelpCenter.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/102106bus.htm
Bus Company Admits Mistake On Gay Ad Dispute
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 21, 2006 - 11:00 am ET
(Minneapolis, Minnesota) Minneapolis-St Paul Metro Transit says it made amistake in the way it handled the case of a driver who refused to operate abus as long as it had an ad for a local gay publication.
Metro Transit says it was trying to do the "right thing" by the diver basedon her religious beliefs, but in doing so sent the "wrong message" to thegay community.
Last week the LGBT community became furious when it learned the company hadgiven in to the worker's demand. (story)
Metro Transit issued a memo to dispatchers instructing them not to assignthe driver, identified only by her employee number, to any of the busesrunning the ad "under any circumstances" the Star Tribune reported.
"The decision has nothing to do with the content of the advertisement," hesaid. "It has everything to do with the employee's religious beliefs," MetroTransit spokesman Bob Gibbons told the paper.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/22/AR2006102200927_pf.html
Funds from National Groups Go to Both Sides
By Chris L. Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 23, 2006; B02
Major national religious groups, gay rights activists and deep-pocketedindividual donors have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for andagainst a Virginia measure that would ban same-sex marriages and civilunions, according to campaign finance reports, as the state becomes thelatest battleground in the nation's debate over the issue.
Campaign finance records indicate that out-of-state donors, including theHuman Rights Campaign and other national groups, are helping lead the effortto defeat the amendment, giving nearly half of the $761,000 raised by theCommonwealth Coalition, the group leading the fight against the amendment.Also among the contributions to the organization are $25,000 from thepolitical action committee of former governor Mark R. Warner (D) and $1,000from Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Cheney, who lists Great Fallsas her address.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-celxgay15oct22,0,6427498.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla
The Sun-Sentinel
POLITICS
Gays still bumping into glass ceiling
To get ahead, elected officials must keep secret
By Anthony Man
Political writer
October 22, 2006
Gays have made enormous political strides in Florida and the nation, yetadvances have come glacially for openly gay elected officials.
Many gay men and lesbians in elective office remain in the closet, whileopenly gay politicians face a glass ceiling that makes advancement to higheroffice much more difficult for them than for their straight colleagues.
The decision by Mark Foley to come out only after ensnaring himself in ascandal over sexually explicit Internet correspondence with teenage boys andresigning from Congress has some concerned that the glass ceiling may beharder to break through, at least temporarily.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/BAGMTLTPGG1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
New sex predator law facing legal tests
- John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Attorneys for two Bay Area sex offenders are poised to test theconstitutionality of a new state law that allows convicts designated assexually violent predators to be held indefinitely in mental hospitals afterthey have completed their prison terms.
The new law does away with a previous law's provision guaranteeing predatorsa new civil trial every two years to determine whether they should still beheld at a state mental hospital.
Rocky Pulizzi, 57, convicted of molesting his 7-year-old son and sodomizinga jail inmate, became the first person in the state committed at trial underthe new law Sept. 27. The legislation went into effect immediately afterGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it Sept. 20 -- two days after Pulizzi'scommitment trial had begun before a jury in San Jose.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
AZ: Prop 107--About marriage or benefits for partners?
Arizona Republic, AZ, October 22, 2006
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1022adwatch1022a.html
Prop 107: About marriage or benefits for partners?
Amanda J. Crawford
The Arizona Republic is examining campaign ads that aim to influence voters' decisions in the Nov. 7 general election.
Proposition 107 would define marriage in Arizona's Constitution as the unionof one man and one woman. It also would bar governments from recognizing anyalternative to marriage, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships, forcouples both gay and straight.
The campaign working against the initiative, the Arizona Together coalition, put out a commercial last week urging voters to reject Proposition 107.
Calling the measure "the so-called protect marriage amendment," the30-second commercial explains why the state does not need or wantProposition 107 and why the state can't afford it.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
AR: Flip-flop on gay foster parent position
Arkansas News, AR, October 22, 2006
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/10/22/DavidJSanders/338116.html
Flip-flop on gay foster parent position By David Sanders
Mike Beebe's position on gay foster parenting has become a focal point inthe race for governor. I might point out that it was Beebe's twisting in thepolitical winds that has earned the issue so much examination.
Let's review: It was reported earlier this year that the Democraticgubernatorial candidate told a group of gay and lesbian Democrats that, asgovernor, he would stand up to efforts in the Legislature to prevent themfrom serving as foster parents. Incidentally, the group, called theStonewall Democrats, gave Beebe its endorsement and a check. Why wouldn'tit?
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/102106okschools.htm
Oklahoma City Schools Nix Gay Bullying Rule
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 21, 2006 - 12:01 am ET
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) LGBT faculty and the parents of gay students wereexcited this week when they discovered on the Oklahoma Public Schools Website that a new student handbook would include language forbidding bullyingon the grounds of sexuality.
But as word spread the section on LGBT bullying mysteriously disappeared.
School district officials say the policy had not been approved by the schoolboard and should not have been posted.
"The language in the handbook has to be consistent with board-approvedpolicy language," district spokesperson Sherry Fair told the Oklahomannewspaper.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
VA: Editorial--Say 'no';The 'marriage' amendment protects nothing and harms us all
Daily Press, VA, October 22, 2006
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-55552sy0oct22,0,2198244.story?coll=dp-opinion-editorials
Say 'no'
The 'marriage' amendment protects nothing and harms us all
We Virginians have a remarkable opportunity. We can make a statement thatwill resonate across this nation - and that is no exaggeration.
If we go to the polls on Nov. 7 and reject an effort to sully our stateconstitution with the words of a misguided effort to "protect"marriage, then we will have reminded Americans what constitutions are for.They are not for limiting human relationships. They are not for restrictingfreedom. They are not for muddling and meddling in the intimate questions ofwho may love whom and how that love is to be protected and nurtured.
The Marshall-Newman amendment - more typically referred to as the amendmentto ban same-sex marriage - is a legislative train wreck waiting to happen.If allowed to leave the station on Election Day, it would amend the Bill ofRights of the Virginia Constitution with language that is, at best,ambiguous in terms of its legal effects and, at worst, mean-spirited andbigoted.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Pioneer Press, MN, October 22, 2006
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/15812849.htm
Marriage: changing, but constant
LAURA BILLINGS
Those folks who favor a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage are halfright when they say the most traditional union in the history of the humanfamily is the marriage of one man and one woman.
They're just off by the number of wives.
"Actually, the most traditional form of marriage, which has been approved bymore societies than any other, and which appears most often in the firstfive books of the Bible, is polygamy - one man and many wives," saysStephanie Coontz, author of "Marriage, A History:How Love Conquered Marriage."
While the plot of HBO's "Big Love" may still be too bold for network TV,Coontz says, "almost every marital and sexual arrangement . howeverstartling it may appear, has been tried somewhere before."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
The Coloradoan, CO, October 22, 2006
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061022/NEWS01/610220389/1002
Ballot sets sights on marriage
By KELLI LACKETT, KelliLackett@coloradoan.com
Two initiatives on the Nov. 7 ballot wrestle with how marriage and otherlifelong commitments will be treated under Colorado law.
Amendment 43 would define marriage in the state Constitution as a unionbetween one man and one woman.
Referendum I would change Colorado statutes to extend the same benefits,protections and responsibilities granted to spouses under Colorado law tosame-sex couples who obtain a license for a domestic partnership.
Some polls indicate both measures could pass. That means voters might bewilling to give same-sex couples the same legal protections as other couplesbut aren't willing to go so far as to accept marriage as anything other thana union between a man and women but not same-sex couples.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
The Truth About Obscenity Law
by Larry Walters
http://www.ynot.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=profile&mode=viewprofile&u=
Obscenity Issues / Legal Issues: Obscenity Laws
Date: Aug 21, 2006 - 02:18 PM Substantial misinformation has circulatedabout the issue of obscenity law and compliance guidelines. This handout isdesigned to call the readers' attention to some simple truths about theconcept of "obscenity" and how the issue is handled in the courts. Nothingcontained herein should be considered legal advice. Please consult your ownpersonal attorney on specific legal questions.
The author can be reached at Larry@LawrenceWalters.com.
1. 'Pornography" is protected speech. "Obscenity" is illegal. True.Significant confusion surrounds this issue, and the press often confusesthese two terms. "Pornography" is a lay term generally used to describesexually-explicit media.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
365Gay.com, October 22, 2006
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/102206episc.htm
Turmoil Continues In Episcopal Church Over Gay Issues by 365Gay.com
Newscenter Staff
(New York City) Deep cracks within the Episcopal church over gay clergy andsame-sex couples show few signs of healing, evidenced by decisions thisweekend in Texas and Connecticut.
The diocese of Dallas on Saturday narrowly voted against a motion to splitfrom the US branch of Anglicanism but agreed to look at the issue in ayear's time.
The diocese, meeting in convention, has "only delayed the inevitable"said one clergyman who supported an immediate split. A survey s commissionedby Bishop James Stanton of priests and lay leaders in the diocese releasedshortly before the vote showed more than half believe the Church is movingin the wrong direction, 42 percent wanted their parishes out of thedenomination, and almost a third wanted to remove the word "Episcopal" fromthe church signs, letterheads and literature.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
CT: Bishop Allows Gay Blessings;State's Episcopal Leader Reverses Ban, Angers Conservative Clergy,Members
Hartford Courant, CT, October 22, 2006
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-espiscopal1022.artoct22,0,3026364.story?coll=hc-headlines-local
Bishop Allows Gay Blessings
State's Episcopal Leader Reverses Ban, Angers Conservative Clergy, Members
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, And LARRY SMITH, Courant Staff Writers
The head of the Episcopal diocese in Connecticut reversed a long-standingpolicy this weekend by announcing that priests may give pastoral blessing tosame-sex unions in church ceremonies.
The decision by Bishop Andrew Smith does not allow Episcopal clergy toofficiate at civil union ceremonies. It does allow the priests, through ablessing ceremony in the church, to acknowledge gay and lesbian couples whohave had a civil union granted by the state.
Smith's announcement could generate further controversy.
While it is likely to be accepted by a significant majority of Episcopal churches in the state, it is just as likely to further strain an alreadycontentious relationship between Smith and conservative parishes.
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