GLBT DIGEST - February 07, 2007

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

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To: AOL and Yahoo Subscribers

Once last week, and again yesterday, AOL blocked Ray's List articles sentthrough QueerNet. Yahoo blocked Ray's List once last week.

AOL frequently blocks Ray's List Digests sent through our Comcast account.
However, this is a first for the articles sent through QueerNet.

Online Policy Group provides QueerNet as a free service to many groups likeours. Increasingly, valuable hours of volunteer and non-profit time isspent fighting battles with Yahoo and AOL. For us at Ray's List, it isextremely frustrating and time consuming to do the hours of research andmechanical work putting together a mailing to have it rejected out of hand.

As you know, AOL and Yahoo are attempting to extract large fees from sendersof "legitimate" bulk email in the guise of protecting their subscribers fromspam. In effect, they're are establishing a toll tax.

This is dangerous stuff!

In addition to the email we receive from subscriptions to groups of choice,we all do a lot of vital business on the internet. We can't allow the"biggies" - AOL and Yahoo - to change the internet for their personalcorporate gain.

We are very aware of the problems with spam on the internet and understandthe significant issues confronting all internet providers. But, we stronglyobject to the high-handed, arrogant and self-serving methods of the internetgiants, AOL and Yahoo.

When the email sent to you, as AOL and Yahoo subscribers, is blocked at theentry gates, you are not made aware. Big brother is taking care ofyou????? While the occasional loss of articles in Ray's List may not belife threatening - we wonder what other important mail you are not receivingfrom YOUR PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS with AOL and Yahoo. And, when Ray's List andother volunteer services are forced out of the market, we all lose.

AOL and Yahoo understand the corporate bottom line. Let them now thatyou're not happy! And, be prepared to take your $$$ with you.

Best,
Ray and Michael
Ray's List


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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/020607ozact.htm


Oz Federal Gov't Nixes Gay Unions Bill
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 6, 2007 - 6:30 pm ET

(Canberra) For the second time the federal government has used its power tothwart the Australian Capital Territory from enacting legislationrecognizing same-sex couples.

Federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock said Tuesday the government of PrimeMinister John Howard would recommend that the Governor General veto themeasure if the territorial government went ahead with the bill and passedit.

In 2004 Howard's government enacted a law defining marriage as a unionbetween a man and a woman.

Most Australian states have legalized some rights and benefits for same-sexcouples - the latest was South Australia in December (story) - but theterritorial government's bill would go further, giving same-sex couples therights and obligations of marriage but without the name.



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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/020607edwards.htm


Edwards Under Fire For Gay-Positive Hires
by The Associated Press

Posted: February 7, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET

(Washington) Two bloggers hired recently by Democratic presidentialcandidate John Edwards were criticized Tuesday by a Catholic group for poststhey had written elsewhere on the Internet.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and CivilRights, demanded that Edwards fire Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan.

"John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by twoanti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots," Donohue wrote in a statement."He has no choice but to fire them immediately."



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Advocate.com

http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid41803.asp


Haggard convinced he's now ''completely heterosexual''

Ted Haggard, a leading evangelist who admitted to ''sexual immorality''following allegations of sex with a male prostitute, is convinced he is''completely heterosexual,'' said one of four ministers who oversaw threeweeks of intensive counseling with the disgraced minister.A leading evangelist who admitted to ''sexual immorality'' followingallegations of sex with a male prostitute is convinced he is ''completelyheterosexual,'' said one of four ministers who oversaw three weeks ofintensive counseling with the disgraced minister. The Reverend Ted Haggard,a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, also said his sexual contact with menwas limited to the former male prostitute Mike Jones, who came forward withsexual allegations, the Reverend Tim Ralph of Larkspur told The Denver Postfor a story in Tuesday's edition.

''He is completely heterosexual,'' Ralph said. ''That is something hediscovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. Itwasn't a constant thing.''



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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/020607massDemo.htm


Mass. Gay Marriage Foe Faces Civil Rights Charge
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: February 7, 2007 - 12:01 am ET

(Worcester, Massachusetts) The leader of a Catholic group pushing anamendment to the Massachusetts constitution banning gay marriage has beencharged with a civil rights violation in addition to an assault charge inrelation to a December demonstration in Worcester.

Larry Cirignano, the leader of Catholic Citizenship, was formally chargedTuesday with interfering with civil rights.

He will appear before a magistrate on February 20 to determine if theprosecution has enough evidence for the charges to go to trial.



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The current issue of The Independent Gay News is online

http://www.indynews.4t.com/



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Express Gay News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11245

Decision in Atlanta gay pastor's professional fate
Schmeling faces removal from Lutheran clergy
By ZACK HUDSON | Feb 6, 3:00 PM

An embattled Atlanta church pastor who endured a four-day church trial forhis same-sex relationship awaits news of his professional fate, which couldarrive as early as this week.

A 12-member jury of Lutheran clergy members has until Wednesday, Feb. 7, toreach a decision on whether Bradley Schmeling violated the pastoral conductguidelines of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America when he fell inlove and moved in with his partner, Darrin Easler, who is a former ELCApastor himself.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601571_pf.html


Ex-Student Accuses Jesuit Of Misconduct

By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 7, 2007; B06

A Maryland Jesuit has been removed from the ministry and is under closesupervision after being accused of sexual misconduct involving a studentwhen the priest was an assistant principal of Gonzaga College High School inthe 1970s.

The Rev. H. Cornell Bradley could not be reached for comment, and aspokeswoman for the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus said hissuperiors have instructed him not to speak to the media. But a provincestatement said that Bradley, 69, "has said he is unable to deny theallegations."



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601871_pf.html

Mars Scraps Snickers Ad After Complaints
Super Bowl Spot Criticized as Homophobic

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 7, 2007; C01

The maker of Snickers drew snickers from many viewers of Sunday's Super Bowlbroadcast with a commercial featuring a brief, unintentional lip lockbetween two guys.

Soon after, the complaints started to roll in.

Result: In what might be one of the fastest retreats in corporate history,candymaker Mars Inc. yanked the multimillion-dollar commercial from theairwaves late Monday and vaporized related material from its Web site. Thenormally reticent McLean-based company issued a public statement, saying itwas just trying to be funny and didn't intend to offend.

But its ad, in which two auto mechanics bite into a Snickers bar from eitherend and inadvertently end up lip to lip, clearly rubbed some people thewrong way. Three gay rights organizations condemned the commercial ashomophobic, arguing that the men's reaction (they tear out their chest hairto prove they're really "manly") demeans gay men.



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