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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/us/politics/09conservatives.html?ei=5094&en=892671df9338ef10&hp=&ex=1160452800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
October 9, 2006
Evangelicals Blame Foley, Not Republican Party
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
VIRGINIA BEACH, Oct. 7 - As word of Representative Mark Foley's sexuallyexplicit e-mail messages to former pages spread last week, Republicanstrategists worried - and Democrats hoped - that the sordid nature of thescandal would discourage conservative Christians from going to the polls.
But in dozens of interviews here in southeastern Virginia, a conservativeChristian stronghold that is a battleground in races for the House andSenate, many said the episode only reinforced their reasons to vote fortheir two Republican incumbents in neck-and-neck re-election fights,Representative Thelma Drake and Senator George Allen.
"This is Foley's lifestyle," said Ron Gwaltney, a home builder, as he waitedwith his family outside a Christian rock concert last Thursday in Norfolk."He tried to keep it quiet from his family and his voters. He is responsiblefor what he did. He is paying a price for what he did. I am not sure howmuch farther it needs to go."
The Democratic Party is "the party that is tolerant of, maybe more so thanRepublicans, that lifestyle," Mr. Gwaltney said, referring to homosexuality.
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MA: Episcopal Diocese may quit marriages;Same-sex debate drives Mass. plan
Boston Globe, MA, October 8, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/08/episcopal_diocese_may_quit_marriages/
Episcopal Diocese may quit marriages
Same-sex debate drives Mass. plan
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff
In a novel approach to the tensions that have accompanied the same-sexmarriage debate in many religious denominations, the Episcopal Diocese ofMassachusetts this month will consider getting out of the marriage business.
A group of local Episcopal priests, saying that the gay marriage debate hasintensified their longtime concern about acting as agents of the state byofficiating at marriages, is proposing that the Episcopal Church adopt a newapproach. Any couples qualified to get married under state law could bemarried by a justice of the peace, and then, if they want a religiousimprimatur for their marriage, they could come to the Episcopal Churchseeking a blessing from a priest.
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WI: Opinion--The amendment's cruel? Alternatives are crueler
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, October 8, 2006
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=510459
The amendment's cruel? Alternatives are crueler Patrick McIlheran
The most potent argument by those opposing the leave-marriage-aloneamendment is one they never state openly in ads:
It's just mean.
The ads get near it. Some imply that the amendment would take benefits fromunmarried couples or stop women from seeing dying lovers.
Yet we know from the 19 states that already adopted amendments like oursthat no private employer has been made to withdraw any benefits.We know from those states that lovers can still name each other in wills andpower-of-attorney papers. We know, too, that Wisconsin's non-partisan legalauthorities say there's no danger to benefits or legal arrangements.
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Freelance-Star, VA, October 8, 2006
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/102006/10082006/227497
Group against gay unions riles voters
Family Foundation letter vexes registrars and sparks complaints from registered voters statewide.
By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO
Voter registration offices around Virginia were inundated with complaintsfrom residents who received letters last week saying they may not be signedup to vote.
The letters were from the Richmond-based Family Foundation, a strongproponent of the proposed state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"Each voter will be asked if he or she would like to define marriage as a union only between one man and one woman in the Commonwealth,"the letter states. "By amending our constitution this way, Virginians can besure that our state law banning same-sex marriage is not overturned by anactivist judge, leaving/forcing our Commonwealth to uphold/recognize Vermont values."
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http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/09/gay
Oct. 9
Affirmative Action for Gay Students
At gatherings of admissions officials, there is much talk about students who suffer discrimination or other hardships and how colleges should help themto enroll. But as Greg McCandless noted Friday at the annual meeting of theNational Association for College Admission Counseling, there is a group that"people were not talking about" - gay applicants.
While there have always been gay college students, they were invisible inthe admissions process in previous generations. College don't ask studentstheir sexual orientations, but McCandless, associate director of admissionat Harvey Mudd College, said that a small but growing number of studentscome out during the admissions process - raising the question of howcolleges should consider that information. Everyone who spoke at a sessionabout gay applicants in the admissions process agreed that the studentsshould not be discriminated against for revealing this information. The morecontroversial question was whether they should receive the sort ofaffirmative action boost that some other groups receive at manyinstitutions.
"I think there's a case to be made" that gay students should receive suchassistance, McCandless said, although he acknowledged that the issue was atricky one.
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Sunday, October 08, 2006 6:30 PM
Subject: [euro-queer] IGLYO Bulletin #20
(http://www.iglyo.com/content/article.php?id=QA000135)
Dear readers,
We're glad to inform you the 20th Bulletin of the International LGBTQ Youth and Student Organization (IGLYO) has just been released.
Please click on the following link to access the Bulletin:
http://www.iglyo.com/content/article.php?id=QA000135
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Arizona Daily Star, AZ, October 8, 2006
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/150159
Diocese's booklet tells voters that matters of abortion, gay unions 'intrinsically evil'
By Stephanie Innes, Arizona Daily Star
PHOENIX - Abortion and gay marriage are non-negotiable issues for Catholicsvoting in elections, says a new guide released by Roman Catholic Diocese ofPhoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted.
"Let us vote on the basis of a well-formed conscience," Olmsted told about400 worshippers at St. Mary's Basilica during Mass Saturday morning beforereleasing a booklet titled "Catholics in the Public Square."
Olmsted said Catholics should be living their faith "24/7," including inmatters of politics. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix includes nearly ahalf-million Catholics.
One-hundred-thousand copies of the booklet in both English and Spanish havebeen printed and are scheduled for distribution in Phoenix parishes.
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http://gaycitynews.com/gcn_540/thefastafallofmark.html
GAY CITY NEWS
Volume 5, Number 39 | Sept. 28 - Oct. 4, 2006
Foley Follies: "I Am a Gay American Alcoholic Sex Abuse Victim"
By Andy Humm
Mark Foley studiously avoided coming out for decades despite having a malepartner for nineteen years and being confronted by opponents and reportersabout his sexual orientation going back to his first Congressional campaignin 1994. Now that he is the nation's most famous Internet sexual predator and harasser--compelling him to resign his House seat and facing criminalcharges--Foley took a page (so to speak) from the Jim McGreevey playbook anddid him one or two better by declaring himself an alcoholic, a victim ofsexual abuse at the hands of a priest, and gay. Yes, he finally came outjust when no one wanted him to.
It is scoundrel time in Washington and with any luck this scandal willbring down the corrupt Republican Congressional leadership of which Foleywas a part. This shameless cabal, led by Speaker Denny Hastert and untilrecently Tom De Lay, ought to have been turned out over such things as theirdestructive war in Iraq, reallocation of wealth upwards, shredding of theBill of Rights, and disregard for the separation of church and state--not tomention their cynical gay-bashing votes on a constitutional amendment to bansame-sex marriage.
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Midland Daily News, MI, October 8, 2006
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17299936&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
State could be a leader on gay rights, columnist says
By Erika M. Hirschman
Detroit News columnist and gay activist Deb Price thinks of Michigan asan innovative state. A state, she says, that can reclaim its place as anational leader on gay rights.
Price spoke to an audience at Saginaw Valley State University Saturday,calling it a "historic night."
She asked the audience, which included gay and lesbian couples of allages, families and students, to figure out how to talk about gay and lesbianissues in their communities. Opening up those discussions could lead to fullmarriage equality for gay and lesbian couples in Michigan.
Her topic: "To repeal Michigan's Gay Marriage Ban. Turn the Anti-GayTide," was sponsored by Midland-based PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friendsof Lesbians and Gays), Perceptions of Saginaw Valley, SVSU's Gay-StraightAlliance and the Bay County YWCA.
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CO: The ties that divide;Gay, straight couples tell what measures mean to them
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, October 8, 2006
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1322393&secid=1
The ties that divide
Gay, straight couples tell what measures mean to them
By PERRY SWANSON, THE
GAZETTE
Blake and Barry Olesen-Phelps finally tied the knot in 2001 after 15 yearstogether.
There was no proposal on bent knee preceding the ceremony, no justice of thepeace officiated and the two made no trip to the county clerk seeking alicense. More than 100 people gathered in a friend's backyard for thereading of vows and an original song written for the couple, "Blessed AreYou."
As far as Colorado law is concerned, the service meant nothing. But the two
men said their relationship is valid with or without a government
endorsement.
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/10/100806ozschool.htm
Student Flunked For Refusing Gay Assignment
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 8, 2006 - 11:00 am ET
(Brisbane, Australia) Evangelicals and conservative politicians are up inarms after a 13-year old girl received a failing grade for refusing to do anassignment on homosexuality.
Students in the grade nine class at a high school south of Brisbane wereasked to imagine living as a heterosexual in a mainly gay colony on themoon. The assignment was aimed at teaching students what it is like beingin the minority.
The assignment asked the students to consider ten points in writing theirterm paper, including the origins of homosexuality and what strategies theywould use to exists in a mostly gay society.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-09forum25oct09,0,6214548.story
MARK FOLEY
Mission undone
By Tony Plakas
October 9, 2006
During the time I spent nearly 10 years of my life representing gay andlesbian people in Palm Beach County, many of whom lived in Mark Foley'sdistrict, I cannot think of a single time he represented me or the communityI served.
Through my professional experience leading the mission of a social servicesagency, I received daily reminders of the infinite array of personal issuessurrounding the concept of coming out. As such, I was one of the fewrepresentatives of my community who thought highly of him and conceded thatthe political forces at play in his life presented significant personalobstacles to being authentic about his sexuality.
I attended Mark Foley's fly-ins in Washington, saw him frequently at eventsand continuously marveled at the way he conveyed complex political argumentsin a manner that contributed to the high approval he received from hisconstituents and colleagues from both sides of the aisle.
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From Human Rights Watch, Oct. 9:'Netherlands, Sweden: Bar Deportations to
Torture in Iran
Officials Must Not Return Gay and Lesbian Asylum Seekers to Iran
(Brussels, October 9, 2006) - As the Netherlands mulls resumingdeportations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers backto Iran, and Sweden begins such deportations again, both Europeangovernments must adhere to their international legal obligations not to sendpeople back to the risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.
In letters to Dutch and Swedish authorities, Human Rights Watch said thatstates cannot return people to countries where they face torture,ill-treatment or death. "As the Ahmedinejad government cracks down ondissent, this is the wrong time for the European governments to beconsidering new expulsions of gay or lesbian asylum seekers to Iran," saidScott Long, director of Human Rights Watch's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual andTransgender Rights Program. "Penalties for homosexual conduct in Iran rangefrom torture to death. Returning people to the risk of torture would makethe Netherlands and Sweden complicit in their fate."
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