GLBT DIGEST - February 10, 2007

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Orlando Sentinel

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2007/02/so_meech_is_gay.html

So Meech Is Gay? Yawn
Posted on Feb 7, 2007 1:44:02 PM

I knew John Amaechi about as well as anybody when he played with the Magic,as we collaborated on a weekly Magic Confidential feature called "Tea WithMeech."

It was just witty insights from Meech, and his take on all kinds of things.Without a doubt, he's one of the most refreshing athletes I've ever beenaround. He actually read books.

The tea reference, of course, was played off the fact that he's British.

And now he is something else: Gay.



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Baltimore Sun

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.steele08feb08,1,624528,print.column?coll=bal-home-columnists&ctrack=1&cset=true

Gay players shouldn't wait to come out
David Steele

February 8, 2007

Former NBA player John Amaechi's story about being a gay athlete on aprofessional sports team -- told in an upcoming book, an upcoming TVinterview and likely several hundred interviews in the upcoming weeks --sounds like a brave move.

It was just as brave when former NFL player Esera Tuaolo told his story acouple years ago.

And former NFL player Roy Simmons a couple years before that.
And former major league baseball player Billy Bean a couple years before
that. And former umpire Dave Pallone before that, and more than 30 yearsago, former NFL player Dave Kopay.



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Advocate.com

http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid41947.asp

Haggard's quick conversion draws skepticism from conservative Christians

Some conservative Christians are questioning the speed with which formerevangelical leader Ted Haggard was "cured" of his homosexuality.

Reports that disgraced U.S. evangelical leader Ted Haggard, felled last yearin a gay sex scandal, had gone "straight" with the aid of therapy may nothave surprised conservative Christians who argue that sexual orientation isa choice. But what did surprise some who also "made the switch" but tookyears to do so was the speed of the declared transformation: three weeks.

In the eyes of many conservative U.S. Christians, homosexuality is a sinfullifestyle choice that can be reversed through prayer and counsel. Gayactivists say they don't choose their sexual orientation and there isnothing sinful about it.



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Express Gay News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/2-9/view/columns/9986.cfm

Sins of omission
Log Cabin misrepresented Senator Baucus' position on key gay rightsinitiative.


By Jo Wyrick
Friday, February 09, 2007

MY LITTLE THIRD-grade Sunday school class at the First Baptist Church inGreensboro, N.C., taught me the important lesson that sins of omission andcommission are equal in nature.

Telling my mom that I had eaten my broccoli, when I had really just nibbledoff a taste before scraping it into the trash, could technically beconstrued as true. However, conveniently leaving out a few key factsactually made my story as much of a malicious lie as telling her a flat-outfib.

I was reminded of that lesson last week when an inflammatory action alertfrom the Log Cabin Republicans incorrectly warned that Sen. Max Baucus(D-Mont.) was prohibiting a piece of pro-gay legislation from moving forwardin his role as chair of the Senate Finance Committee.




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Express Gay News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/2-9/view/editorial/editorial.cfm

Just the facts
From Wikipedia to the Washington Post, more media outlets are covering gayissues, with decidedly mixed results.

Friday, February 09, 2007

KEEPING TABS ON mainstream media coverage of gay issues is becoming afull-time job as gay visibility increases and more outlets devote time andspace to our plight.

Two recent examples illustrate ways in which old-school journalists andonline upstarts still get our stories wrong.

A Blade reader e-mailed an interesting tidbit last week. It seems there'sbeen a debate raging at Wikipedia about the biographical entry for openlycloseted CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

The Blade and numerous other publications have written for years aboutCooper's sexual orientation. Cooper refuses to discuss his private life,even though he's more than happy to sit for endless interviews and to befeatured on magazine covers and in CNN's ubiquitous ad campaigns promotinghis show.



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365Gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/020907billboard.htm

Preacher Appeals To Supreme Court To Erect Homophobic Billboard
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

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

(New York City) A conservative pastor who is battling the Borough of StatenIsland for ordering the removal of a billboard containing a Biblicalcondemnation of homosexuality has filed a petition with the US SupremeCourt.

State and federal courts already have dismissed lawsuits brought by the Rev.Kristopher Okwedy, founder of Keyword Ministries.

Okwedy says the billboard message is protected under his constitutionalright to practice his religion. He is being represented by a lawyerfurnished by the American Family Association.



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Express Gay News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/2-9/news/national/national.cfm

Gay vets group receives government recognition
New IRS status lists group as veterans service organization


By PHIL LaPADULA
Friday, February 09, 2007

The American Veterans for Equal Rights, a national gay vets organization,has just received official recognition from the Internal Revenue Service asa veteran's service organization. The group is the first gay veteransorganization to be granted such an IRS status, according to Mark LaFontaine,national treasurer of AVER.

"The IRS status moves AVER a step closer toward being on equal footing withsuch esteemed organizations as the American Legion and the Veterans ofForeign Wars," LaFontaine said in an interview with the Express.

As a result of the new status, LaFontaine also announced this week that AVERwill expand its services for veterans. He said the group eventually plans tohave veterans service officers, who will be trained by the U.S. VeteransAdministration.

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The current issue of The Express Gay News is online

http://expressgaynews.com/

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/09/AR2007020902265.html

ASK AMY
Saturday, February 10, 2007; Page C03

Dear Amy:

I am a 33-year-old gay male in a happy relationship. I live in D.C., and myparents live in New York.

Recently, my boyfriend and I drove to Atlantic City for vacation while myparents were there. My mother agreed to have dinner with us, but my fatherwould not meet me unless I left my boyfriend elsewhere. I decided that itwould be terribly disrespectful to my relationship and my boyfriend to leavehim, even temporarily, so I didn't see my father during the trip.

My mother believes that I was terribly cruel not to meet my father, and thatI was ethically wrong, given the pain that my sexual orientation has causedhim. I never had a close relationship with my father, who was somewhatphysically and emotionally abusive to me as a child, and I view my mother ashis enabler, as she has always made excuses for his behavior.

Was I wrong not to see my father?


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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-rights-gays-adoption.html?pagewanted=print

February 10, 2007
Maine Lesbian "Adoptee" Case Tests Legal Bounds
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:08 a.m. ET

ROCKLAND, Maine (Reuters) - Olive Watson, daughter of a wealthy computermagnate, adopted her 44-year-old lesbian lover, Patricia Spado, in a Mainecourtroom in 1991 to provide her partner with greater financial security.

Fast-forward 16 years. The two have split up and the Watson family isseeking to annul the adoption in a complex legal case that provides aglimpse into efforts by same-sex couples to use adoption laws to establishlegal rights including inheritance.

Gay-rights advocates say it illustrates the difficulties homosexuals in theUnited States face in protecting the financial interest of their partners,defending the use of adoption as a last-ditch effort to provide protectionsotherwise unavailable to many gay and lesbian couples.


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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_politics18feb09,0,2372420,print.story

Huckabee Defends Traditional Marriages
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer

February 9, 2007, 9:25 PM EST

NASHUA, N.H. -- Republican Mike Huckabee said Friday that marriage shouldn'tbe treated as an experiment in response to questions about whether VicePresident Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter should have the right to wed.

The former Arkansas governor, who is seeking the GOP presidentialnomination, said heterosexual marriages face enough challenges withoutadding new configurations to the mix.

"Taking on a new definition doesn't make sense right now," Huckabee said inan interview with The Associated Press after speaking to business leaders inNew Hampshire.


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SOVO.com

http://www.sovo.com/print.cfm?content_id=6479

Anti-smoking experts urged to target gays
Atlanta conference includes strategies to reach gay smokers

By RYAN LEE
Feb. 09, 2007

From the pervasive presence of cigarettes in gay bars and some socialcircles, to gay-targeted ads and promotions that make smoking look sexy andpopular, there are many social and marketing forces that contribute to gaymen, lesbians and transgender individuals being an estimated 40-70 percentmore likely to be addicted to smoking than other groups.

But there is little counter-messaging being done by either mainstreamanti-smoking initiatives or gay health groups, experts said during adiscussion Wednesday at the annual meeting of the National Network ofTobacco Cessation Quitlines in Atlanta.

"You don't get the other side of the story," said Bob Witeck, CEO ofWiteck-Combs Communications, a gay marketing and consulting firm.


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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/020907alaska.htm

Alaska To Spend $1.2 Million To Poll Public On Gay Benefits
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: February 10, 2007 - 12:01 am ET

(Juneau, Alaska) A plebiscite pushed through by Republican lawmakers inAlaska that would ask voters their opinion on amending the Alaskaconstitution to prevent the same-sex domestic partners of state workers fromreceiving health benefits will cost four times the estimated cost of thebenefits it was learned this week.

In 2005 the state Supreme Court ruled the state must establish benefits tosame-sex partners of its employees in response to an action filed by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union and nine Alaska couples.

The high court ruled that because the state constitution has been amended tobar same-sex marriage, denying gay and lesbian couples insurance rightsextended to married couples deprives them of equal protection guaranteedunder the Alaska Constitution.


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The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/16667172.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Sat, Feb. 10, 2007

SPORTS

Gays await athlete who says 'I'm out'
Former NBA player John Amaechi came out and said he is gay -- but as thesports world discusses the issue, no active athlete has made such anannouncement.

BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN
mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com

Billy Bean had been hearing the rumors and reading the buzz on gay websitesfor weeks, and he was itching for the news to get out: An NBA player wasgoing to publicly say he is gay.

This was the day Bean, a gay former Major League baseball player, had beenlonging for, when an active pro in a men's team sport would bust open thelocker room door, take a deep breath and announce he is gay. Bean hoped theday would come when an openly gay athlete could confront teammates andexplain he was living a lie, that he doesn't find queer jokes funny, that itmakes him uncomfortable to hear endless bragging about teammates' sexualexploits with women.


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Sioux City Journal

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/02/09/news/latest_news/bf23e403490ea5968625727d00652f24.prt

Date posted online: Friday, February 09, 2007
Romney defends stand on gay marriage

12:25 PM
By Charlotte Eby
Lee Newspapers

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said Friday he has always beenagainst gay marriage and that Iowa voters can look at his record if they areconcerned about his conservative credentials.

The former Massachusetts governor, who will formally enter the presidentialrace next week, said opposition campaigns are trying to confuse people onhis position on the issue but have yet to find any action or statement tocontradict that.

"I have been an ardent defender of traditional marriage, and have foughtsame-sex marriage in every way I could conceive," Romney said. As governor,Romney pushed for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.But critics are pointing to his expressions of support for gay rights duringhis U.S. Senate campaign in 1994.

On abortion, Romney compared himself to former President Ronald Reagan, whohad a change of heart on the issue. Romney now describes himself aspro-life.


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The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/16667172.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Sat, Feb. 10, 2007

Gays await athlete who says 'I'm out'

Former NBA player John Amaechi came out and said he is gay -- but as thesports world discusses the issue, no active athlete has made such anannouncement.

BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN
mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com

Billy Bean had been hearing the rumors and reading the buzz on gay websitesfor weeks, and he was itching for the news to get out: An NBA player wasgoing to publicly say he is gay.

This was the day Bean, a gay former Major League baseball player, had beenlonging for, when an active pro in a men's team sport would bust open thelocker room door, take a deep breath and announce he is gay. Bean hoped theday would come when an openly gay athlete could confront teammates andexplain he was living a lie, that he doesn't find queer jokes funny, that itmakes him uncomfortable to hear endless bragging about teammates' sexualexploits with women.

''I'd be in the front row, wearing that guy's jersey, cheering for him,''said Bean, who lives in Miami Beach.


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ILGA-Europe.org

www.ilga-europe.org

9 February 2007
For immediate release

Russian government supports freedom of assembly for sexual minorities

In a remarkable statement on the banning of Moscow Pride, the Russiangovernment has strongly supported the right of sexual minorities to freedomof assembly.

The statement was made by the Russian Federation in its role as Chairman ofthe Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, a position it held fromAugust 2006 to January 2007. While acknowledging that the Moscow gay pridedemonstration was banned, and that a case is pending before the courts, itunderlined that:
People belonging to sexual minorities enjoy the same right to freedom ofexpression and freedom of assembly as any other individual

Not only can peaceful demonstrations in favour of sexual minority rightssimply not be banned, but the police has a duty to protect suchmanifestations when they take place

A general ban of a peaceful demonstration can only be justified if there isa real danger of disorder which cannot be prevented by reasonable andappropriate measures

The ban on Moscow Pride is the subject of a case against the Russianauthorities at the European Court of Human Rights.Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said:

"The strength of the statement, coming with the agreement of the 46 memberstates, is important for many countries, particularly in Central and EasternEurope, where LGBT freedom of assembly has been challenged on manyoccasions."



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