GLBT DIGEST - November 10, 2006

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

=


Bloody prejudice

The National Blood Service is stereotyping gay men as modern-day "Typhoid Marys" by rejecting them as donors.

By Peter Tatchell

The Guardian - Comment Is Free - 3 November 2006

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2006/11/gay_blood_ban_shame.html


Gay blood is banned by the National Blood Service (NBS). No man who has had oral or anal sex with another man - even just once, with a condom - is allowed to donate blood.

When I recently volunteered to be a donor, I was advised by the NBS: "Sorry, Mr Tatchell, you cannot give blood." Why not, I asked. "We don't accept donations from gay men," said the NBS.

The NBS gay ban is based on the unscientific, homophobic presumption that all gay and bisexual men are 'high risk' for HIV, regardless of their individual sexual behaviour.


=
The Express News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=9993


Gay blogger sought to protect pages
Fired HRC staffer denies political motive in exposing Foley e-mails
LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Nov 8, 9:43 PM


The gay blogger who is credited with posting the first set of e-mails that helped ensnare former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) in a sex scandal insists that his motive behind exposing the closeted gay Republican was not partisan politics.

'It became clear to me that there was a culture in Washington that knew about this activity and condoned it by doing nothing about it,' says Lane Hudson, the gay blogger credited with triggering the scandal that brought about the resignation of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. (Photo by J.R. Davis)

Lane Hudson, 29, a South Carolina native who worked for former Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) from 1995 to 2002, said he created an anonymous website called Stop Sex Predators in July in an effort to draw attention to what he called Foley's inappropriate overtures toward teenage pages on Capitol Hill.




=

Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org


http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs095/1098473122089/img/9.jpg?a=1101449757070

2006 ELECTIONS:

DID SEXUAL FREEDOM WIN OR LOSE?

November 08, 2006

Did sexual freedom win or did we lose? We achieved a a majority in the House of Representatives. At this point the Senate is evenly divided and we must wait for either a recount or legal action to determine the victor in Virginia. It apears that we gained six Democratic Governors.

While the victors are generally accepting of sexual freedom issues we have to acknowledge that they won on the back of sexual freedom.

We know what the public issues were - particularly the anti-incumbent sentiment against the war in Iraq. And there was a strong vote against corruption - but that corruption was linked, time and again, to sexual freedom. What cost the incumbents their seats was the demonization of sexuality.



=

Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org



US: Dale Carpenter--Same-sex marriage and the election (Part2)

The Volokh Conspiracy (blog), November 8, 2006

http://volokh.com/posts/1163007674.shtml

Same-sex marriage and the election (Part 2) Dale Carpenter

Much more important to the politics of gay marriage than the national election results are the results in (1) popular votes on state constitutional gay-marriage bans and (2) the results in state legislative races. Both suggest that we may be headed for more state legislative action toward the recognition of same-sex relationships in the form of civil unions and domestic partnerships (less so, for now, in the form of full marriage). This post will address the first development.

State constitutional gay-marriage bans

There are two huge stories in the votes on gay-marriage bans around the country. First, for the first time ever a gay-marriage ban has been rejected by the voters of a state, Arizona. It's not the same as an endorsement of gay marriage, but it's an unprecedented and potentially significant defeat for opponents of gay marriage. Still, I am at a loss to explain the precise reason for the result in Arizona.



=

Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org


Wednesday, November 8, 2006 (SF Gate)

God Hates Gay Evangelicals/Will Pastor Ted's love of hot man sex open the narrow mind of the religious right?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Let's assume it's all true. Let's assume that Ted Haggard is just deliriously, stupidly, crazyjuicy gay. I know, not much of a stretch, but let's go with it.

Yes, Pastor Ted, disgraced former leader of 30 million blithely homophobic evangelical Christians, yet another of those flamboyant semi-insane Liberace-with-a-Bible megachurch preachers, a man who had weekly conference calls with George W. Bush, a man who lobbied Congress on behalf of homophobic Supreme Court nominees, Ted has had so much gay sex with a male prostitute it makes Mark Foley look like child's play (so to speak). Fair enough?

Furthermore, let's assume the reaction of Haggard's stunned flock is also true, that many of his devout Christian set are "devastated" and "shocked" and "pulverized" and "beaten with God's own giant rod of icky homo scariness" (note: quotes not verified) about Ted's utter obvious gayness.



=

The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/15965775.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 09, 2006


ISRAEL

Israel plans force of 9,000 to guard gay pride parade Israeli police are mounting an 'unprecedented' operation to head off trouble at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

BY STEVE WEIZMAN
Associated Press


JERUSALEM - About 9,000 police will protect gay marchers in Jerusalem, the biggest internal civilian security operation in Israel's history, the police commander said Wednesday, after a week of riots by ultra-Orthodox Jews who threaten to attack the parade.

Jerusalem police chief Ilan Franco said permission was granted for 5,000 gay activists to march Friday through a nonresidential area away from the city center and to hold a closing rally in a university stadium there, while 20,000 religious protesters demonstrate about a mile away, near the Jerusalem central bus station.

Other anti-gay demonstrations are expected at main road junctions in Jerusalem and around the country, he said. The police deployment is code-named ''Operation Colors of the Rainbow,'' reflecting the gay movement's rainbow flag.




=

Anything But Straight
by Wayne Besen
http://www.waynebesen.com/


Anything But Straight
November 8, 2006


A Return To Reality


In the very week Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, George W. Bush has found his presidency in the gallows. Hussein now awaits his fate as a dead duck, while Bush will usher in his final two years as a lame duck. How bitterly ironic it must be that the Democratic landslide victory was fueled on outrage over the quagmire in Iraq and the president's refusal to "change the course" even after the facts repeatedly changed on the ground. This is more a victory for reality than a win over a sleazy and atavistic Republican majority that empowered lowlifes such as Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff and extremists like Rick Santorum.


The GOP is learning that reality may take extended vacations, but it never completely vacates. Denial may be effective as a tactic, but at the end of the day it does not stave off tragedy. In an even a greater state of denial than the president are Prozac Protestants, who must have become depressed and stayed home in larger numbers this Election Day. Who can blame them? First, we had Ralph Reed "humping in" on accounts with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, then we had Foleygate and now we have the fall of Rev. Ted Haggard.



=

http://online.logcabin.org/news_views/reading-room-back-up/log-cabin-republicans-blast.html


News Release
For Immediate Release

November 7, 2006
Log Cabin Republicans Blast Social Conservatives for Causing Defeat in House


(Washington, DC)-"Republicans lost this election because independent voters abandoned the GOP," said Log Cabin Executive Vice President Patrick Sammon. "Social conservatives drove the GOP's agenda the last several years. Their divisive agenda alienated the mainstream Republicans and independents who determined this election's outcome. Social conservatives should take responsibility for this loss."

"Democrats didn't win because of anything they stood for. They won because of Republican mistakes," said Sammon. "GOP leaders lost sight of what brought our Party to power in 1994. Limited government, lower spending, high ethical standards and accountability, and other unifying GOP principles attracted a broad coalition of support including fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, mainstream Republicans, libertarians, and independents. Now we've lost the U.S. House because Party leaders turned their backs on the GOP's core principles and catered only to social conservatives."



=

The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/15965809.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 09, 2006


SOCIAL ISSUES
Conservatives fail on ballot measures

Several GOP-leaning states rejected popular conservative causes, instead backing stem cell research and rejecting limits on abortion rights.
By DAVID CRARY
Associated Press


From the country's heartland, voters sent messages that altered America's culture wars and dismayed the religious right -- defending abortion rights in South Dakota, endorsing stem cell research in Missouri, and, in a national first, rejecting a same-sex marriage ban in Arizona.

Conservative leaders were jolted by the setbacks and looked for an explanation Wednesday. Gay-rights and abortion-rights activists celebrated.

The verdict on abortion rights was particularly clear:

. Oregon and California voters defeated measures that would have required parents to be notified before a girl under 18 could get an abortion.



=


Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

Associated Press, November 8, 2006

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/08/politics/p134004S73.DTL&type=politics

Losses on Ballot Measures Jolt Religious

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

>From the country's heartland, voters sent messages that altered America's culture wars and dismayed the religious right - defending abortion rights in South Dakota, endorsing stem cell research in Missouri, and, in a national first, rejecting a same-sex marriage ban in Arizona.

Conservative leaders were jolted by the setbacks and looked for an explanation Wednesday. Gay-rights and abortion-rights activists celebrated.

The verdict on abortion rights was particularly clear. Oregon and California voters defeated measures that would have required parents to be notified before a girl under 18 could get an abortion, and South Dakotans - by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent - rejected a new state law that would have banned all abortions except to save a pregnant woman's life.

"This was really a rebellion in the heart of red-state, pro-life America - the heart of the northern Bible Belt," said Sarah Stoesz, head of the Planned Parenthood chapter that oversees South Dakota. "It sends a very strong message to the rest of the country."





=

Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org


URGENT ALERT!!! Police Crackdown on the International LGBT Conference in Minsk

Svara till: lgbtbelarus-owner@googlegroups.com


Gomel, 08 November 2006: Today, at 8:20 pm the special police forces broke into the apartment where the meeting of Organizing Committee of the International LGBT Conference took place and arrested seven people: Vyacheslav Andreev, Sviatlana Bortnik, Svyatoslav Sementsov, Tanya Ivanova, Aleksei Filipenko, Natallia Kavalchuk, and Viachaslau Bortnik. The Conference materials have been seized. Activists have been brought to the Zheleznodorozhnyi Borrow Police Department and interrogated. Police officers asked for detailed information on the program of the conference, list of participants, and venue of the conference. International guests were of the special interest of police. Four of activists have been released after tow hours of detention.

According to our information at 10:25 pm, Vyacheslav Andreev, Svyatoslav Sementsov and Viachaslau Bortnik of Organizing Committee remain to stay at the police station. Two activists who are taking duty near the entrance to the Zheleznodorozhnyi Borrow Police Department confirmed that they haven't left the building and their cell phones are switched off.

We're following the situation and will keep you posted.

On behalf of Organizing Committee of the International LGBT Conference in Minsk, Tanya Ivanova Co-president of TEMA - information center loveforever@tut.by


[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest to Rays.List@Comcast.net ]

#####