GLBT DIGEST - December 11, 2006

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The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16199274.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Mon, Dec. 11, 2006


Key West's WGAY-TV a first for the nation

BY STEVE ROTHAUS
srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

It isn't often that a startup local TV station makes the David Lettermanshow Top 10. Desperate Poolboys and The King of Queens -- these are two ofthe talk host's ideas for programming on Key West's upcoming WGAY-TV.

Station owners and program providers say WGAY on UHF Channel 41 will be thefirst gay-oriented, over-the-air TV channel in the United States. Thelow-power station is scheduled to begin broadcasting from Big Coppitt Key inFebruary. It will be seen throughout the Keys on Comcast Cable andthroughout the world on the Internet.

Several gay-oriented TV networks have also launched recently, includingViacom's Logo and Here! TV, both available on cable and satellite in SouthFlorida. A third network, Q Television, suffered cash-flow problems from thetime it went on the air in 2004 and folded six months ago.


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Lesbians and single mums to get IVF on the NHS
By JULIE WHELDON, Science Correspondent

Last updated at 23:20pm on 10th December 2006
Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=4216
60&in_page_id=1879

Doctors currently give fertility treatment if they believe their patient hastaken into account a child's need for a father-figure

More single women and lesbians could get IVF under Government plans to scrapthe requirement for doctors to consider a child's 'need for a father'.

Currently doctors can only give fertility treatment if they believe theirpatient has taken into account a child's need for a father-figure.

But now it has emerged that ministers are likely to drop this in a shake-upof Britain's embryology laws expected to be announced this week.




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http://english.pravda.ru/society/sex/85760-0/

Being gay is faddish in today's Russia

Homosexuals were rare species in Russia some 10 years ago. Homosexual malesmet one another in secrecy, they might be sent to prison because sodomy wasa punishable practice under the penal code effective at the time. But thingshave changed dramatically. These days it is faddish to be a gay in Russia.The "lavender invasion" has reached the scale of an epidemic. NowadaysRussia's gays launch they own web sites, open cafes and clubs.

Family man with a "boyfriend" on the side

I did not have to talk Sergei and Pavel into coming for an interview. I justasked them, and they agreed on the spot. Sergei is 21 and Pavel is 23. Bothof them look like real lady killers. They are tall and full of muscles. Theyare stylishly dressed too. There is nothing feminine about them."Why aren't you interested in dating girls? Both of you look so handsome," Icould not help asking them the question.

"Have you ever dreamed of having sex with a woman?" Sergei fired back
without missing a beat."No, I haven't. I'm into men."


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Vatican criticises Italy plans on gay, unwed couples

Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:34 AM GMT
By Phil Stewart

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?storyid=2006-12-10T033441Z_01_L09554731_RTRUKOC_0_UK-ITALY-COUPLES.xml&type=topNews&WTmodLoc=Top+News-C3-More-8


ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Saturday Italy's left sought to"eradicate" the traditional family by adding to its Christmas wish-listlegislation that would give legal rights to unwed couples, includinghomosexual ones.

The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said in an editorial thatpoliticians in the ruling centre-left coalition were embarking on a"senseless battle". They aim to put forward a bill by the end of January.

"Fifteen days to Christmas. And there are those making other calculations,thinking of other deadlines," it wrote in its weekend edition.



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


UK: One year of being Mr and Mr; civil partnership works

The Observer, UK, December 10, 2006

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1968369,00.html

One year of being Mr and Mr

After Pink Wednesday 2005, when gay couples were finally given the chance toformalise their relationships after decades of hiding, Louise France talkedto some of the first to tie the knot. Going back now, she finds them inperfect agreement: civil partnership works Louise France


Sometimes it's the small details that make a difference. The forms on whichthey can now tick the box marked 'civil partners' next to 'single','married' and 'divorced'. The travel agent who addressed them as Mr and MrJohnson and ensured they got a double room (never mind the fact they alsogot food poisoning and won't be holidaying in Turkey again). The fact thatMark's mum Brenda calls Shaun her 'son-in-law', and a picture of them intheir tuxedos hangs up in her hallway next to the photographs of the otherfamily weddings.




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


VT: Opinion--Lesbian moms, divorced dads in same boat

Barre Montpelier Times Argus, VT, December 10, 2006

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061210/FEATURES05/612100307/1014/FEATURES05

Lesbian moms, divorced dads in same boat By JEFFERY M. LEVING and GLENNSACKS

In a highly-publicized new decision, a Virginia appeals court ruled Tuesdayin favor of a lesbian social/non-biological mother in her custody battleagainst her child's biological mother. The former couple, Lisa Miller andJanet Jenkins, joined in a same-sex civil union in Vermont in 2000 and had achild together in 2002. After their breakup, Miller, the biological mother,moved to Virginia with their daughter Isabella, won sole custody, andexcluded Jenkins from the girl's life.

Opponents of gay marriage, gay activists and the media have focused almostexclusively on the new decision's impact on same-sex marriage.Lost in this, however, is the fact that the case is a textbook example ofone of America's greatest social problems - the refusal of many divorcingmothers to allow their children to continue to have a relationship withtheir former spouses.



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


UK: Civil partnerships: Darling, happy anniversary

Independent, UK, December 10, 2006

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2062412.ece

Civil partnerships: Darling, happy anniversary In the first year of civilpartnerships, 15,500 couples tied the knot

- and a few untied it as well. Stuart Husband reveals how the British
- even in Ambridge - have taken gay weddings to their hearts Stuart Husband

A few years ago, Graham Norton was asked his views on the desirability ofgay marriage. "Why would I want to do that?" he replied. "I thought thewhole point of being gay was to avoid doing what everyone else did." Acouple of weeks ago, Little Britain's Matt Lucas announced to a fairlynonplussed Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs that, in the wake of EltonJohn and David Furnish, he was about to be the next-highest-profile gaygroom in the land, with his imminent wedding to his long-term partner, KevinMcGee.


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