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MEDIA RELEASE
Polish government confirms its official attitude against LGBT people
"European Commission can no longer remain silent"
3rd of October 2006
Last week, the Selection Committee of the YOUTH program in Poland announcedit rejected a European Voluntary Service project on the basis it would'propagate homosexual behavior and attitude among young people'. Thisdecision violates article 13 of the Amsterdam treaty, which explicitlyforbids the discrimination of sexual minorities in the European Union. Wedemand that the Commission immediately takes appropriate measures againstPoland, and announces its view on this happening.
We consider this action as a concrete proof of Poland's official attitudeagainst homosexuals. Polish Prime-Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski recentlyexplained to the European Commission during a visit to Brussels: "I ask younot to believe in the myth of Poland as an anti-Semitic, homophobic andxenophobic country. People with such preferences have full rights in Poland, there is no tradition in Poland of persecuting such people."
Please contact us for the full article - rays.list@comcast.net
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http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/09/the_closet.html
Saturday, September 30, 2006
The Closet
by Andrew Sullivan
30 Sep 2006 11:30 am
For almost my entire adult life, I've been openly gay. Why? It was toohumiliating and psychologically destructive to lie. I don't think of this asa virtue, really. In some ways, I think it was my pride that forced me to behonest with myself and others; and a deep sense that obviously this was howGod made me, and it behooved me to deal with it forthrightly. It was also fueled by a conviction, as the 1980s darkened for so many gay men, that Ihad an actual responsibility to be out, and to advance the dignity of somany fighting literally for their lives. It was like being black in the1950s. My own HIV diagnosis convinced me to fight harder, because I trulybelieved it might not be for much longer. And in those years and beyond,others chose to sit it out, to run for cover, even to distance themselvesfrom who they were and from their fellows who so desperately needed theirhelp.
Maybe we should feel anger at these people. I don't. I feel sadness. Sadnessat the compromises they made and the misery they fueled for themselves. Inso far as someone like Jim McGreevey has, for whatever reason, overcome hisshame, then I have no interest in judging him. I feel glad he has found somehappiness at last, despite his past corruption, human flaws and pastopposition to marriage equality. We are all human, and my own life has itsown share of emotional and sexual mistakes. Equally, the news about MarkFoley has a kind of grim inevitability to it.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1481544§ion=news&src=rss/uk/topNews
Israeli army chief makes peace with gays
Tue Oct 3, 2006 08:55 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's top general made peace with the country's gaycommunity on Tuesday after he seemed to suggest publicly that homosexuality was unspeakable.
Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, the military's chief of staff, was quoted byIsraeli media as saying in a speech last month: "There are two genders -- men and women. Actually there is another one you are not allowed tomention."
Shai Doitch, spokesman for Aguda, Israel's gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender association, said Halutz told the group that he hadnot referred to gays when he made his comments.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
LGBT HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN AT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, SESSION 2
Arsham Parsi's speech in 2nd Session of United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva:
Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen:
My name is Arsham Parsi. I am Secretary General of the Persian Gay andLesbian Organization. PGLO for the past four years has volunteered itsefforts to paint an accurate picture of LGBTs' situaton in Iran. And we willspare no effort in the struggle to increase the basic human rights ofIranian LGBTs. Today, I have the immense responsibility of reporting thesituation of Iranian LGBTs in but a few minutes. And, there is inevitablymuch that will be left unsaid. Our organization has prepared informationpackets that are available to you, and that you can study at your leisure togain a better understanding of the living conditions and the hardships weface.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
South Africa: Editorial--Marriage is for all of us
Dispatch, South Africa, October 3, 2006
http://www.dispatch.co.za/2006/10/03/editoria/editorial.html
Our Opinion
Marriage is for all of us
THE Department of Home Affairs took its proposed Civil Union Bill to Mthathayesterday, ostensibly to seek public comment on it.
The department, after being ordered by the Constitutional Court to changeits 1961 Marriage Act by December 1 to include the right of same-sex couplesto legally marry, wants to hear what ordinary South Africans have to say.
Why bother? From the past protest marches and the outrage from conservativeand religious groups, it is abundantly clear that many believe that marriageshould remain the exclusive right of heterosexual couples.
This newspaper supports the right of same-sex couples - as enshrined in ourConstitution - to have the equal benefit of the law.
It also believes in Section 9 (3) that says there will be no unfairdiscrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.earnedmedia.org/AFT1002.htm
Foley Scandal Raises Doubts about GOP's Flirtation with Pro-Homosexual Policies, AFT's LaBarbera Says
Contact: Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth, 630-546-4439
CHICAGO, Ill., Oct. 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- The scandal of disgracedhomosexual pederast and former Rep. Mark Foley illustrates the dangers ofthe GOP's growing flirtation with pro-homosexual policies, said AmericansFor Truth President Peter LaBarbera.
"For years, we have seen some Republican Party leaders drift in apro-homosexual direction," LaBarbera said. "Their rationale is winning thevotes of 'moderate' swing voters, but they forget that there is a price topay among values voters when you abandon principle on a core moral issue."
"Top Republican leaders knew about Foley's homosexuality and his recklessbehavior with underage boys, yet they did not act," he said. "How long werethey prepared to keep this dirty secret from the public? Is winningelections now more important to Republicans than protecting children? Is itmore important than letting constituents know about a Representative'simmoral conduct, which of course influences his votes (Foley had a pro-"gay"record)?
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Ireland: Lesbian couple wed in Canada launch landmark lawsuit seeking marriage rights in Ireland
Associated Press, October 3, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/03/europe/EU_GEN_Ireland_Gay_Rights.php
Lesbian couple wed in Canada launch landmark lawsuit seeking marriage rights in Ireland
DUBLIN, Ireland - A lesbian couple who were legally married in Canadalaunched a landmark lawsuit Tuesday seeking to win the same legal rights andfinancial benefits as married heterosexuals in Ireland.
Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone - who were married in Vancouver,British Columbia, in September 2003 within months of the legalization ofsame-sex marriage there - are the first gay couple in Ireland to go to courtto seek state recognition of a foreign marriage.
It is also the first such lawsuit filed in Europe. Belgium and theNetherlands already recognize same-sex marriages and several other nationsgrant homosexual couples tax, inheritance and child-rearing rights similarto those for married heterosexuals.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Gay ole party?
Florida Insider, 10/02/2006
There are millions of homosexuals in the United States. Whether byethnicity, geography, profession or whatever, any cross section of theAmerican population will reveal many gays. Unfortunately for the unity ofthe Republican Party, one of those cross sections is the Republican Party.
Most media and many Democrats are focusing on the fact that formerCongressman Mark Foley was sending sexually provocative emails to a minor.That the youngster was male is implied to be of secondary importance. Thisallows those seeking to bury the Republicans in the mid-term elections totaint the party for supposedly having sexually perverse Republican foxesguarding the henhouse of youth, while leaving off any implication thathomosexuality is of itself immoral. (For the purposes of this analysis,we're not saying it is or isn't.) GOP detractors know full well thatRepublicans themselves will turn on one another over the gay aspects ofFoley's wrongdoing.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://breakingnews.ie/2006/10/03/story279433.html
Couple compare Irish gay rights to racism
03/10/2006 - 14:50:55
The Irish state's refusal to recognise or allow same-sex marriages wascompared to racial prejudice in the US during a landmark case before theHigh Court today.
Lesbian couple Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan are taking anaction against Ireland's Revenue Commissioners after it refused to treatthem the same as heterosexual married couples for tax purposes.
They married under Canadian law in Vancouver in September 13, 2003.
Michael Collins, senior counsel for the pair, said they wanted the HighCourt to recognise the status of their marriage or allow them to marry inIreland.
In his opening arguments in the case, which is expected to run for threeweeks, he said they had rights to marry each other under the IrishConstitution and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rightsand Fundamental Freedoms.
He told Judge Elizabeth Dunne they are being discriminated against on thegrounds of sexual orientation and/or gender.
The state has never put forward any specific justification for itsdiscrimination and the burden was on it to prove what public good was beingserved by the ban, according to Mr Collins.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/10/03/turkeys_transsexuals_face_increasing_violence?mode=PF
Turkey's transsexuals face increasing violence
By Selcuk Gokoluk | October 3, 2006
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Belgin still vividly remembers the night, more than aquarter of a century ago, when police herded her and dozens of othertranssexuals and transvestites on to a train as part of a campaign to cleanup Istanbul.
"We did not know where the train was taking us. The police beat us andlocked us up in the wagons. They gave us no water or food," she said,evoking scenes reminiscent of World War Two.
The roundup took place just before the 1980 military coup in Turkey whichled to the suspension of democracy and the jailing of hundreds of thousandsof people for their political views. Some were executed. Many people fled abroad.
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Ray's Note:
What's wrong with this headline ? !!! - "molested as teen and is gay"
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1003foley,0,3569182.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Attorney says Foley was molested as teen and is gay
By Peter Franceschina and Mike Clary
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 4, 2006, 12:12 AM EDT
WEST PALM BEACH -- As a young teen growing up in Lake Worth, former U.S.Rep. Mark Foley was molested by a clergyman, his attorney announced Tuesday,causing adolescent trauma that may have contributed to but does not excusehis sexually explicit Internet exchanges with congressional pages.
The attorney, David Roth, also declared, "Mark Foley wants you to know thathe is a gay man."
The revelations came as the fallout from the Foley scandal and the salaciousinstant messages and e-mail he wrote to boys continued to darken thepolitical landscape for Republicans weeks from midterm elections.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cgayreact04oct04,0,6219414.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
News about Foley is no surprise to gays, who note sexual orientation is not a central issue
By Anthony Man and Elizabeth Baier
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 4, 2006
Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley's decision to acknowledge he is gaydidn't surprise those in the gay community who've known him for years orwatched from a distance and suspected.
Gays activists cautioned Tuesday -- as they have since the scandal brokesurrounding sexually explicit Internet communications with teens -- thatFoley's sexual orientation, in or out of the closet, has nothing to do withimproper involvement with minors.
"His sexuality was never a question. Everybody knew. [But] being gay andbeing interested in teenagers are two different things," said Eric Johnson,who was assistant manager of a Foley campaign for the Florida Legislature in1991 and 1992.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301633.html
Some Say They Felt Uneasy About Representative's Attention
By James V. Grimaldi, Juliet Eilperin and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; A01
In 1995, male House pages were warned to steer clear of a freshman Republican from Florida, who was already learning the names of the teenagers, dashing off notes, letters and e-mails to them, and asking them to join him for ice cream, according to a former page.
Mark Beck-Heyman, now a graduate student in clinical psychology at George Washington University, and more than a dozen other former House pages said in interviews and via e-mail that Rep. Mark Foley was known to be extraordinarily friendly in a way that made some of them uncomfortable.
Beck-Heyman, who was a Republican page and is now a Democrat, said the attention was "weird," and he provided a handwritten letter that Foley sent him after the page left Washington to return home to California. The note suggested that they get together during the Republican National Convention in San Diego in 1996.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100300673_pf.html
Business Adopts Gay-Friendly Policies
By VINNEE TONG
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; 1:46 PM
NEW YORK -- Because of an increasingly common policy at U.S. companies, Vivienne Armstrong can choose from two different plans when she considers her health insurance: the one offered by her employer and one offered by her partner's.
Armstrong, a registered nurse, gets her health coverage through the defense firm Raytheon Co., which offers domestic partner benefits to her partner, Louise Young. Young, a senior software engineer in the Plano, Texas, office, said Armstrong chose Raytheon's plan simply because it has stronger benefits.
Young, a lesbian activist, said she is encouraged by signs of the growth of gay-friendly corporate policies within her industry and in corporate America. And a lobby group, the Human Rights Campaign, reports that gay-friendly policies are being added at a greater number of companies, where they are a draw to prospective employees gay and straight.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301492_pf.html
The Washington Post
The Open And Closeted Lives of a Gay Congressman
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; C01
Mark Foley had secrets.
First, there was whispering about the Republican congressman's sexual orientation, beginning in 1994 during his first House campaign. He was almost outed two years later when he voted against gay marriage. In 2003, Foley dropped a Senate bid after the rumor mill again started churning. He dismissed the speculation as "revolting and unforgivable."
Although publicly unacknowledged, Foley's homosexuality gradually became known in Washington and Florida political circles. Over time, it became a defining force in his career. Foley was restlessly ambitious, but as a Republican from a state with lots of social conservatives, his prospects for higher office were dim.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301633.html
The Washington Post Company
Some Say They Felt Uneasy About Representative's Attention
By James V. Grimaldi, Juliet Eilperin and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; A01
In 1995, male House pages were warned to steer clear of a freshman Republican from Florida, who was already learning the names of the teenagers, dashing off notes, letters and e-mails to them, and asking them to join him for ice cream, according to a former page.
Mark Beck-Heyman, now a graduate student in clinical psychology at George Washington University, and more than a dozen other former House pages said in interviews and via e-mail that Rep. Mark Foley was known to be extraordinarily friendly in a way that made some of them uncomfortable.
Beck-Heyman, who was a Republican page and is now a Democrat, said the attention was "weird," and he provided a handwritten letter that Foley sent him after the page left Washington to return home to California. The note suggested that they get together during the Republican National Convention in San Diego in 1996.
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