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The New York Times
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=808
December 8, 2006, 5:58 pm
Foley Report Finds No Violations
By Kate Phillips
Well, we've read the full Foley folio now, meaning the ethics committee'sreport on the scandal that rocked the House of Representatives in the falland surely caused slippage among some Republican incumbents who lost theirseats in the midterm elections.
The chronology of how former Congressman Mark Foley befriended and wasconsidered by some to be too friendly to the young House pages dates all theway back to 1995, the report seems to suggest.
But the ethics panel found no House member or employee violated thecongressional code of conduct. (Becauses he had resigned, Mr. Foley was notunder the committee's jurisdication. And because of separate criminalinvestigations, he did not testify before the panel.) It said it found noevidence that any House member knew of the extremely explicit instantmessages that Mr. Foley sent to mostly former pages.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=16695&pf=1
Police say gay serial killer confesses to 23 murders
Associated Press
Wednesday Dec 6, 2006
Short, overweight and suffering from a heart condition, Ronald J. Dominiquehardly seemed a threat to anyone, much less a serial killer.
A near-broke nobody who lived with his sister before moving into a homelessshelter, he went willingly, leaning heavily on a cane, when officers came toget him last week.
Even with a meek persona, investigators said, Dominique bound and strangledor smothered 23 men and teenage boys in south Louisiana in what the FBIconsidered its most urgent serial killing case.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.familypride.org/statement.html
Statement from Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of Family Pride,regarding the announcement of Mary Cheney's pregnancy:
"The front page of the Washington Post's website announced today that MaryCheney, Vice-President Dick Cheney's gay daughter, is pregnant. Mary and herpartner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are described as "ecstatic" about thearrival of their first child, due in late spring.
"The news of Mary Cheney's pregnancy exemplifies, once again, how the bestinterests of children are denied when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendercitizens are treated unfairly and accorded different and unequal rights andresponsibilities than other parents. As Mary and Heather enter into thelife-changing roles of parents, they will quickly face the reality that nomatter how loved their child will be - by its mothers and its grandparents,aunts & uncles, cousins and close family friends - he or she will never havethe same protections that other children born to heterosexual couples enjoy.Mary and Heather currently live in Virginia. Unless they move to a handfulof less restrictive states, Heather will never be able to have a legalrelationship with her child.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1377
Gay PACs see growth in recent elections
by Lisa Keen
[Editor's note: This article is the first of two examining the growth ofLGBT dollars in elections.]
There are two ways to vote for candidates in the United States: through theballot box and through the checkbook. In both, the LGBT community willalways be outnumbered by virtue of the small percentage of the populationthat can be identified as LGBT.
But even so, the gay political dollar is turning up more frequently in moreraces and more arenas than ever before and, this year, it helped improve thepolitical landscape for LGBT people both in Congress and at least two statelegislatures. It also contributed to the first failure of a proposed stateconstitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/08/AR2006120800336_pf.html
The Instructive Message of 'History Boys'
By Philip Kennicott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 10, 2006; N01
We may live in a society that eroticizes teenagers, but the question of sexbetween adults and teens is so explosive that it refuses to remain just asubplot of any narrative it appears in. The e-mails and instant messagesthat then-Rep. Mark Foley sent to teenage male pages should have been a veryminor story, when compared with the daily carnage of Iraq or memories ofKatrina or debate about issues such as stem cell research, in the unfoldingof the last election. But the Foley debacle dominated the news coverage andmay have helped bring down the Republican majority.
So too the minor sexual contact between a teacher and his students -- mostof them 17 or 18 years old -- in Alan Bennett's play (and now movie) "TheHistory Boys" is really just a subplot, one thread among many in a play thatis primarily about education. But it's almost inevitable that this subplotwill predominate in the way audiences remember and react to the work. Giventhe climate of fear about adolescent sexuality, the "boys" loom larger thanthe "history" in the reception of Bennett's Tony-winning opus.
The movie arrives on the heels of the play's U.S. premiere on Broadway lastApril and its six Tony Awards in June. And even closer on the heels of theFoley scandal earlier this fall, which involved congressional pages of aboutthe same age as the boys depicted in Bennett's play. The scandal and theplay both focus attention on that fraught period of late adolescence, whenteenagers are sexually aware, often sexually active, but not yet fullyenfranchised members of society.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/08/AR2006120800908_pf.html
Committee Says GOP Left Foley Unchecked
Ethics Panel Faults Many, Punishes None
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 9, 2006; A01
The House ethics committee concluded yesterday that House Speaker J. DennisHastert (R-Ill.) and his top staff probably knew for months, if not years,of then-Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate contact with former House pages butdid nothing to protect the teenagers.
Top GOP House leaders also "failed to exercise appropriate diligence" in thematter, the committee's report found, and tried "to remain willfullyignorant of the potential consequences of Foley's conduct." The ensuingscandal contributed to the Republicans' losses in the midterm elections. Thereport speculated that some officials were reluctant to act too aggressivelyfor fear of exposing Foley's homosexuality or for political reasons.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave50.htm
DICK CHANEY SHOULD RESIGN
Coach Dave Daubenmire
December 8, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
Is it just me or has anyone else had it up to their ears with this"Christian Administration?" The latest in-your face to faithful Christiansis the news that Vice-President Dick Cheney and his wife are expectinganother grandchild. Although we rejoice over all life, it is thecircumstances surrounding the pregnancy that has caused the back of my neckto turn red. You see, VP Cheney's pregnant-daughter is a lesbian, whichmeans she chooses to have sex with women. If my public school education iskicking in properly it seems to me that two women having sex cannot producea child. Only the introduction of sperm, something carried exclusively bymen, uniting with an egg, something carried exclusively by women, can bringabout a pregnancy. Pardon the pun, but there seems to be a fly in the turkeybaster.
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From Marc Adams
HeartStrong
http://heartstrong.org/mailman/listinfo/heartstronglist_heartstrong.org
Dear HeartStrong Friend,
As 2006 draws to a close, we trust that you will keep HeartStrong at thetop of your year end giving list.
Why? Here are ten reasons.
1. HeartStrong has provided outreach and support to gay. lesbian, bisexualand transgendered students from religious schools quietly and consistentlysince 1996.
2. Since 1998, our Outreach Team has driven 331,000 miles around theUnited States by car in efforts to provide outreach & support as well aseducate the public.
3. Since 1998, the Outreach Team has hosted a minimum of 150 educationalforums annually.
4. Religious school enrollment in the United States and around the worldis at an all time high with millions more students in these educationalinstitutions than when the work began in 1996. Our work is more relevantnow than it was when we began ten years ago.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://gaycitynews.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2729&dept_id=568857&newsid=17563590
12/07/2006
First South African Gay Couples Wed
By: ANDY HUMM
Same-sex couples began legally marrying on December 1 as Vernon Gibbs andTony Halls, partners for nine years and both game rangers, were the first todo so in a magistrate's office in the town of George.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=features&sc3=&id=3235&pf=1
Tracing Our Roots
by Scott Darby
EDGE News Contributor
Monday Nov 27, 2006
Pioneering gay historian Jonathan Ned Katz led a panel discussion at HarvardUniversity in November at an event to mark the 30th anniversary of hisgroundbreaking book Gay American History. Later, he spoke with EDGE abouthow he came to specialize in the fascinating subject and some of what he'slearned.
The Nov. 6 event that also featured a book-signing and reception drew a fullhouse. Its sponsors included two Boston GLBT organizations, The HistoryProject (www.historyproject.org) and Stonewall Communities(www.stonewallcommunities.com).
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.washingtonblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=9608
OPINION | washingtonblade.com
Holy irrelevance!
U.S. Catholic bishops are so out of touch with parishioners that they shouldbe ignored.
By PAUL VARNELL
Dec. 08, 2006
YOU COULD ALMOST feel sorry for U.S. Catholic Bishops. Periodically theygather, issue "tut-tutting" pronouncements and everyone ignores them. Youhave to wonder why they even bother.
Assembling in Baltimore last month, the bishops delivered themselves of anamusing piece of badinage titled "Ministry to Persons with a HomosexualInclination." There they claimed that although a person with a homosexualinclination is not disordered, the inclination is disordered, that suchpersons should not marry each other, adopt children or disclose theirinclination outside a trusted small group.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Eagle County To Offer Same-Sex Benefits
http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_342150812.html
Friday, December 8, 2006
(AP) EAGLE, Colo. Employees of Eagle County will be able to apply forinsurance benefits for same-sex partners next year.
"It had been requested, and the direction came from the county commissionersto do this," County Human Resources Director Nora Fryklund told the VailDaily in Friday's editions.
Same-sex couples who ask for benefits will be treated like heterosexualcouples in common-law marriages and will be interviewed to determine whetherthey qualify, Fryklund said.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061208.wxsamesex08/BNStory/National/home
Same-sex marriage file closed for good, PM says
Tory attempt to restore traditional definition fails in House; socialconservatives cry foul as Harper declares debate over
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper has declared the contentiousissue of same-sex marriage to be permanently closed.
After a Conservative motion calling on the government to restore thetraditional definition of marriage was defeated yesterday by aresounding 175 to 123, Mr. Harper said he will not bring the matter backbefore Parliament.
"I don't see reopening this question in the future," he told reporterswho asked whether same-sex marriage would return to the table if theConservatives won a majority government.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Israeli bill reversing ruling passes, but still may fail
By Michael Foust
Southern Baptist Convention Baptist Press
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=24562
JERUSALEM (BP)--An Israeli bill that would reverse a pro-"gay marriage"ruling by that nation's highest court passed the legislature Dec. 6,although it still must pass twice more and apparently faces an uphill climb.
The legislation passed by a vote of 33-31, although several legislators whooppose the bill were absent and pledged to be there during the next vote,The Jerusalem Post reported. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert voted against thebill, which would prevent the government from recognizing "gay marriages"from other countries, The Post said. It passed in mid-day during a time whenmany legislators leave for lunch.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Jay Kaplan <kaplan@aclumich.org> wrote:
Michigan Appeals Court Grants ACLU Victory in Gay Second Parent AdoptionCase
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 8, 2006
CONTACT: Jay Kaplan , ACLU of Michigan LGBT Staff Attorney: 313.578.6812
Detroit -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan applauded aMichigan Court of Appeals majority decision today to uphold second parentadoptions within same-sex relationships, a process that allows unmarriedcouples, including lesbian and gay couples, to establish a legalrelationship with the couples' children.
"This is an outstanding victory for Michigan children and a welcomeacknowledgment of hundreds of gay and lesbian parents," said Jay Kaplan ,ACLU of Michigan, LGBT Staff Attorney. "Gay and lesbian families inMichigan can now feel secure in the permanence of the adoptions and knowthat courts cannot separate parents from their children without legal justcause."
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Gay-Rights Legislation: Will the President Use His Veto?
By Oriol R. Gutierrez Jr.
http://www.diversityinc.com/public/983.cfm
Friday, December 8, 2006
Diversity and the Bottom Line
Seven states passed anti-same-sex marriage initiatives during the Novemberelection. There now are only four states-Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Yorkand New Mexico-that do not have either a state constitutional amendment or astate law that restricts marriage to one man and one woman.
That statistic may seem to support the assertion that an overwhelmingmajority of Americans reject civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender (GLBT) people. However, that assertion is far from accurate.
The newly elected Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives andthe Senate next year are expected to approve hate- crimes legislationagainst GLBT victims. Further, Congress may even pass employmentnondiscrimination legislation protecting GLBT employees.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/politics/09romney.html?ei=5094&en=1b882f9a7cae6ec8&hp=&ex=1165726800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 9, 2006
Romney's Gay Rights Stance Draws Ire
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 - Gov. Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Republican who hasbuilt a presidential campaign on a broad appeal for conservative support, isdrawing sharply increased criticism from conservative activists for hisadvocacy of gay rights in a 1994 letter.
Mr. Romney's standing among conservatives is being hurt by a letter he sentto the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts saying that he would be a strongeradvocate for gay rights than Senator Edward M. Kennedy, his opponent in aSenate race, in a position that stands in contrast to his current role as achampion of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
"We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern," Mr.Romney wrote in a detailed plea for the support of the club, a gayRepublican organization.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Judge-Gay-Marriage.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 8, 2006
Sen. Brownback May Lift Hold on Nominee
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:46 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a potential presidentialcandidate, said Friday he would lift his hold on a federal judicial nomineeif she agrees to step aside from any case dealing with same-sex unions.
Brownback, a Republican raising money for a possible White House bid, hasstalled the confirmation of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet Neff tothe federal bench because she once attended a lesbian commitment ceremony.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.evolutionpublishing.com.au/sxnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1309&Itemid=41
Youth say no to gay rights
Almost half of the next generation do not believe gay people deserve thesame rights as heterosexuals, a global poll has revealed. A survey for theBBC World Service looked at the views of young people aged 15-17 in keycities on issues such as climate change, terrorism, and homosexuality.
In total 3,050 people were interviewed around the world in ten key citiesincluding London, New York, Rio, Delhi, Moscow, Cairo, Baghdad, Lagos,Nairobi and Jakarta.
In response to the question - Should homosexuals be given the same rights asheterosexuals? - 47 per cent said no, with 37 per cent supporting equalrights. In London, only 36 per cent of 313 young people asked backed rightsfor GLBT people while 39 per cent were against it. Rio had the highestamount of support, with 74 per cent saying yes, followed by New Yorkers with67 per cent, then Delhi with 51 per cent.
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