GLBT DIGEST - February 11, 2007

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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/021007utah.htm

Utah School Bill Revised To Target Gay Clubs
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: February 10, 2007 - 11:00 am ET


(Salt Lake City, Utah) A state senator who has been fighting gay-straightalliances in Utah schools for most of his political career has toughened thelanguage in a school clubs bill and skillfully maneuvered it into acommittee that he chairs.

Republican Sen. Chris Buttars used the Senate Health and Services Committeeto insert an amendment to a House bill passed earlier in the week that wouldallow schools to ban clubs they believe would threaten the "moralwell-being" of students or faculty.

Buttars then had the bill sent to the Rules Committee he chairs, ensuringthe measure will reach the Senate floor where it is expected to pass.


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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/021007canada.htm

Canada Issues Temporary Ban On Deporting Gay Nicaraguan
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: February 10, 2007 - 4:00 pm ET

(Toronto, Ontario) The federal government has stepped in allowing a gayNicaraguan fearing abuse if he is deported to remain in Canada, at leasttemporarily.

Alvaro Orozco, 21, was facing deportation after an immigration boardadjudicator did not believe he was openly gay when he fled his nativeNicaragua at the age of 12.

Following outrage by LGBT activists and immigration groups the federalJustice Department stepped in and issued a directive allowing Orozco toremain in the country for two months so that he can file a new applicationfor refugee status on the basis of humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Orozco fled Nicaragua when he was 13 and says he was taunted and beatenbeaten by his father from an early age. He said he fears he will be beimprisoned or killed if he is returned to Nicaragua.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/us/11bishop.html?ei=5094&en=db146594d0ee7cca&hp=&ex=1171170000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

February 11, 2007

New Episcopal Leader Braces for Gay-Rights Test
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

At a book party last week at the New York headquarters of the EpiscopalChurch, a line of more than 100 fans waited to have the church’s newpresiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, sign copies of her new book ofsermons, “A Wing and a Prayer.”

Bishop Jefferts Schori, the first woman presiding bishop in the history ofthe Anglican Communion, appeared a bit surprised at the celebrity treatmentbut clearly enjoyed the sentiment.

She is about to head off to a hostile reception.

This week, Bishop Jefferts Schori will represent the Episcopal Church at ameeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with the presiding bishops of the 37other provinces in the global Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largestchurch body. Some of those bishops, known as primates, have broken theirties with the American church after it ordained an openly gay bishop andpermitted the blessing of same-sex unions.



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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/11/ngay11.xml

Gay tourists turned off British holidays by camp campaign

By Chris Hastings, Arts and Media Editor, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:07am GMT 11/02/2007

It has "outed" a gay English king, highlighted male nudes inLondon's galleries, and even hired a model to dance through San Franciscoclad only in leather shorts and a Busby - VisitBritain has certainly triedhard to persuade homosexual tourists to come to Britain.

Now the country's official tourism agency is rethinking itsapproach after its own research found many homosexual holidaymakers thoughtthe advertising campaigns were camp and too obsessed with sex andstereotypes.

Overtly homosexual images are being phased out after focusgroups in the United States, Germany and France said the Chelsea Flower Showand Crufts were a bigger draw than the country's homosexual scene.

Old posters which featured images of half-naked hunks, dragqueens and "gay icons" like Kylie Minogue are being replaced withsophisticated, traditionally British images.



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Drag Queen won Danish final of the European Song Contest

"After a spectacular, exciting voting procedure, Drag queen DQ won DanskMelodi Grand Prix 2007, the Danish national selection for the upcomingEurovision Song Contest. 'She' will sing the song Drama Queen in theSemi-Final of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.

DQ's victory is highly remarkable, as the entry reached the final with awild card."

Source: The official website of the Eurovision Song Contesthttp://www.eurovision.tv/


It is the first time ever that the Danish final includes a drag number.



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February 10, 2007
Kyiv, Ukraine

NASH MIR (Our World) Gay and Lesbian Center
P.O. Box 173, Kyiv, 02100, Ukraine
E-mail: ourworld@gay.org.ua
Tel/fax: +380-44-573-54-24
Contact person: Mr. Andriy Maymulakhin, Coordinator

Media Release

Leader of Committee on Human Rights of the Ukrainian Parliamentnames homosexual people "perverts" and calls for a fight against them.

In November, 2006 the Head of the Committee on Human Rights, NationalMinorities and International Relations of the Supreme Council(Parliament) of Ukraine, communist Mr. Leonid Grach in an interviewstated that "homosexuality is an anomaly, which is caused by theamorality and the depravity of man". He expressed confidence that thepresent Parliament will not vote for a law legalizing same-sexfamilies and permitting them to adopt children. According to hisopinion, in the next Parliament this question will not be raised atall, "and we (in Ukraine) will have a healthy society".

In reply to his statement Ukrainian organizations of gays and lesbiansaddressed a letter to Mr. Grach in which we called for him to respectand protect the rights of homosexual people. However, Mr. Grach notonly didn't change his attitude, he recently expressed new insultstoward homosexuals.

On February 9, 2007 in particular he said: "Me and my colleagues inthe Parliament have to defend society from infringements uponmorality, and not admit into the consciousness and souls of people ofany age the thought that the state is on the side of the people whoare sowing debauchery, propagandising for dissoluteness, for sexualpermissiveness, and for bringing the abomination of seduction intosociety". In the opinion of Leonid Grach, the "state must protectsociety from an evil, from violence, including such evil ashomosexuality, lesbianism and suchlike others". The MP considers thatUkrainians must observe the norms of moral cleanness, "bequeathed tous from ancient times by orthodox ancestors".



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The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16673474.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Sun, Feb. 11, 2007

HIV spreading rapidly in Malaysia

Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The number of HIV infections in Malaysia couldsurge by more than fourfold to 300,000 by 2015 as the virus spreads rapidlyfrom high-risk groups to the general public, a senior health official warnedSunday.

Other than drug addicts, official statistics indicate the HIV virus thatcauses AIDS is spreading quickly to women, fishermen, lorry drivers andfactory workers, said Ramlee Rahmat, deputy director-general of publichealth.

Some 73,000 Malaysians have been infected with HIV, of which 75 percent areintravenous drug users and 7 percent are women, he said.

"Based on the trend that we are seeing, HIV infections can escalate to300,000 cases by 2015 if we do not do anything," Ramlee said.

The government has taken aggressive steps to fight HIV transmission under afive-year national strategic plan launched in 2006, he said.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/world/africa/10archbishop.html?pagewanted=print

February 10, 2007
The Saturday Profile

Inviting Africa’s Anglicans to Gather Under a Bigger Tent
By SHARON LaFRANIERE
BISHOPSCOURT, South Africa

IN times of turmoil, Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican archbishop forsouthern Africa, has a favorite spot: a wooden seat that encircles a massivefruit tree in his garden at the foot of Table Mountain. He calls it histhinking bench.

Perhaps never before has he had so much use for it. The global AnglicanCommunion, of which his province is the oldest African member, is teeteringon the brink of schism over the issue of homosexuality. A global meeting ofchurch leaders in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in mid-February is shaping up asperhaps the biggest confrontation yet between branches that condone gayclergy and same-sex unions, and those that reject them as violations ofScripture.

Archbishop Ndungane (pronounced un-dun-GAN-ee), who succeeded ArchbishopDesmond Tutu just over a decade ago as the leader of southern Africa’s fourmillion Anglicans, is pleading for acceptance. In Archbishop Tutu’s mold, heargues for a broad-tented church in which believers of various stripes livein harmony.


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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/world/africa/10archbishop.html?pagewanted=print

February 10, 2007
The Saturday Profile

Inviting Africa’s Anglicans to Gather Under a Bigger Tent
By SHARON LaFRANIERE
BISHOPSCOURT, South Africa

IN times of turmoil, Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican archbishop forsouthern Africa, has a favorite spot: a wooden seat that encircles a massivefruit tree in his garden at the foot of Table Mountain. He calls it histhinking bench.

Perhaps never before has he had so much use for it. The global AnglicanCommunion, of which his province is the oldest African member, is teeteringon the brink of schism over the issue of homosexuality. A global meeting ofchurch leaders in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in mid-February is shaping up asperhaps the biggest confrontation yet between branches that condone gayclergy and same-sex unions, and those that reject them as violations ofScripture.

Archbishop Ndungane (pronounced un-dun-GAN-ee), who succeeded ArchbishopDesmond Tutu just over a decade ago as the leader of southern Africa’s fourmillion Anglicans, is pleading for acceptance. In Archbishop Tutu’s mold, heargues for a broad-tented church in which believers of various stripes livein harmony.


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