GLBT DIGEST - December 17, 2006

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Palm Beach Post

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper/2006/12/17/m1a_foley_1217.html

An examination of the House Ethics Committee report on Mark Foley
From first days in D.C., Foley raised eyebrows
By Larry Lipman

Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Sunday, December 17, 2006



WASHINGTON - From the beginning of his time in Congress, Mark Foley wasknown as an overly friendly guy.

"Those of you who have met him probably know he was overly friendly witheveryone," Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, told the Houseethics committee in October, two weeks after the Republican congressman fromFort Pierce resigned in disgrace over sexually explicit electroniccommunications with former House pages.

"He talks to members, he talks to staff, he talks to interns, pages,"Fordham said.

Initial reporting on the House ethics committee report issued last weekendfocused on the key finding that House members and staff did not violate anyrules in handling the Foley matter.

But a deeper examination of the report reveals another startling truth:Concerns about Foley and young people existed almost from the time he tookoffice in 1995. It paints a vivid picture of congressional staff membersrepeatedly warning Foley for more than a decade about displaying excessiveinterest in young male pages, interns and staffers, but not raising theirconcerns with House leaders.




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www.guardian.co.uk/Observer/uk_news/story/0,,1973838,00.html

Catholic church in new sex abuse row

Diocese is shaken as former altar boy takes legal action claimingthat negligence exposed him to priest who was 'a danger to children'

Antony Barnett, investigations editor

The Catholic church faces fresh allegations of turning a blind eye topaedophilia after an Observer investigation revealed that one of itspriests was allowed to continue working despite warnings he posed adanger to children.

The priest, Father David Crowley, went on to rape a 10-year-old altarboy, whom he continued to abuse until 1995. Now the victim has spokenpublicly for the first time about his ordeal in order to expose the'scandalous' way he says the church has behaved. He has accused theRt Rev David Konstant, former Bishop of Leeds, of failing to stopCrowley despite having evidence that the priest was a sex risk tochildren. In 1997 Crowley was jailed for nine years after pleadingguilty to abusing boys for more than a decade.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16256494.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Sat, Dec. 16, 2006


Federal judge dismisses lawsuit by Milwaukee Gay Arts Center

Associated Press



MILWAUKEE - A federal judge threw out a civil rights lawsuit the MilwaukeeGay Arts Center filed after police shut down its production of "Naked BoysSinging."

The police department's vice squad shut down the nude musical revue inAugust 2005 because its organizers did not have a license. But the citylater determined the center did not need the license because it is anonprofit group, and the show resumed performances in October 2005.

The center was seeking more than $600,000 in damages, alleging violations offree speech and due process.

But U.S. District Judge Charles N. Clevert Jr. dismissed the suit last week,saying that in order to proceed, the Center "must establish that theviolations were part of a custom or policy by the municipality."



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121501827_pf.html


It's All in the Genes, Except When It Isn't

By Liza Mundy
Sunday, December 17, 2006; B01

There's a lot we don't know about the pregnancy of Mary Cheney -- but a fewthings we do. We know that the vice president's openly gay 37-year-olddaughter is expecting a baby whom her parents are happily preparing towelcome as their sixth grandchild. We know that she plans to raise the childwith her longtime partner, Heather Poe. And we know that there must be a maninvolved somewhere -- either a friend or acquaintance (a "known donor") or adonor from a sperm bank.

In short, we know that this pregnancy involves what's called, in thefertility business, "collaborative reproduction."

That's the trade term for a situation in which a couple (or a single person)conceives with help from a third party who probably won't be involved inraising the child, but who agrees, as one egg broker put it, to "geneticallycontribute to the conception process.


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121501812_pf.html


My Life as a Sperm Donor Dad

By Mike Livingston
Sunday, December 17, 2006; B04


"Do you have any kids?"

It sounds like a simple question. But at the risk of sounding like BillClinton, it depends on what the meaning of "have" is.

I'm the biological father of a lesbian couple's children -- two beautifuldaughters, born a year apart in the summers of 2004 and 2005. I love them.They love me. At least enough to fall asleep on my shoulder when I sing tothem. They live in New England, and I visit as often as I can.

Am I their father or their sperm donor? The labels don't matter. The giftinvolved here is not a vial of protein strands. The real gift is the one Ireceived: a family with a pair of little girls who are profoundly fortunateto have two devoted, strong, courageous moms. My daughters have three lovingparents and live with two of them. I, for one, was not so lucky as to livewith even two parents for most of my childhood. I turned out okay, but mydaughters have a definite advantage.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/16/AR2006121600660_pf.html


Gay Rights Dialectic

Sunday, December 17, 2006; B06

Regarding the Dec. 7 front-page article "Conservative Rabbis Allow OrdainedGays, Same- Sex Unions":

The Conservative movement's decision to both prohibit and legitimize fullinclusion of homosexuals has something important to teach Americans. On manyissues -- the war, abortion, homosexual marriage -- Americans are deeplydivided. Rather than either side needing to win, there is a lesson to belearned in the spiritual insight that there is partial truth incontradictory opinions. Keeping polarized opinions in a conversation isprecisely the way to discover more inclusive truths that create newpossibilities and opportunities.

With this courageous decision, the right learns that real people aregenuinely diminished by the prohibitions surrounding homosexuality. The leftlearns that this issue is not simply one of individual rights but haspsychological and social implications that generate tremendous fear.

May the conversation continue.

RABBI IRWIN KULA


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The New York Times

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/opinion/17rich.html?pagewanted=print


December 17, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Mary Cheney's Bundle of Joy
By FRANK RICH


IT'S not the least of John McCain's political talents that he comes acrossas a paragon of straight talk even when he isn't talking straight. So it wasa surprise to see him reduced to near-stammering on ABC's "This Week" twoSundays after the election. The subject that brought him low was theelephant in the elephants' room, or perhaps we should say in their closet:homosexuality.

Senator McCain is no bigot, and his only goal was to change the subject asquickly as possible. He kept repeating two safe talking points for dearlife: he opposes same-sex marriage (as does every major presidentialaspirant in both parties) and he is opposed to discrimination. But becausehe had endorsed a broadly written Arizona ballot initiative that could havebeen used to discriminate against unmarried domestic partners, GeorgeStephanopoulos wouldn't let him off the hook.



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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/print/sfl-tr17gaytraveldec17,0,3217358.story



ROAD TIP

Top gay-friendly spots: South Beach, Key West
By the Associate Press

December 17, 2006

San Francisco was named the top "gay-friendly" destination in a new surveyof gay travelers conducted by the Travel Industry Association.

Following San Francisco on the list's top 10 were Key WestNew York City;Fire Island, which is part of Long Island in New York; Provincetown, Mass.;Los Angeles; Miami-South Beach; Las Vegas; New Orleans; and PalmSprings-Palm Desert, Calif.

The national survey was conducted by the Travel Industry Association inpartnership with Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications.


Nearly half of gay and lesbian travelers said that whether a destination hasa "gay-friendly" reputation matters when they are making leisure travelchoices.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/us/17episcopal.html?ei=5094&en=70416e45f97b7238&hp=&ex=1166331600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print


December 17, 2006

Episcopal Rift Drawing Near Point of Revolt
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

For about 30 years, the Episcopal Church has been one big unhappy family.Under one roof there were female bishops and male bishops who would notordain women. There were parishes that celebrated gay weddings and parishesthat denounced them; theologians sure that Jesus was the only route tosalvation, and theologians who disagreed.

Now, after years of threats, the family is breaking up.

As many as eight conservative Episcopal churches in Virginia are expected toannounce today that their parishioners have voted to cut their ties with theEpiscopal Church. Two are large, historic congregations that minister to theWashington elite and occupy real estate worth a combined $27 million, whichcould result in a legal battle over who keeps the property.



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Forwarded from Ron Mills:
http://Politalk1.blogspot.com



WSJ/ABC NEWS POLL REVEALS SHIFTING ATTITUDES ON "NON-TRADITIONAL" PRES
CANDIDATES

In a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll,eight in 10 Americans would be"comfortable" or "enthusiastic" about an African-American or woman runningfor president.

More Americans express doubts about a candidate who served in Bush's cabinet(59%) than one who is gay or lesbian (53%). check page 19 of the polleven Evangelicals did worse than a Gay Candidate




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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-pastor-gay-sex,0,7109468.story


2nd Pastor Resigns Over Gay Sex Scandal

By Associated Press

December 11, 2006, 2:51 PM EST

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The founding pastor of a second Colorado church hasresigned over gay sex allegations, just weeks after the evangelicalcommunity was shaken by the scandal surrounding megachurch leader TedHaggard.

Haggard, a gay-marriage opponent, admitted to unspecified "sexualimmorality" when he resigned last month as president of the NationalAssociation of Evangelicals and pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Churchin Colorado Springs. A male prostitute had said he had had sex with Haggardfor three years.

On Sunday, Paul Barnes, founding pastor of the 2,100-member Grace Chapel inthis Denver suburb, told his evangelical congregation in a videotapedmessage he had had sexual relations with other men and was stepping down.




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