GLBT DIGEST - February 21, 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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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Military-Male-Rape.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

February 20, 2007
Lawyer: Men Accusing Airman of Rape Lied
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:47 p.m. ET

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) -- Men who say they were drugged and raped by an Air Force officer lied to avoid being revealed as gay in the military, a defense attorney told a military jury Tuesday.

Capt. Devery L. Taylor, former chief of patient administration at Eglin Regional Hospital, is gay and engaged in consensual sex with the men, his civilian attorney, Martin Regan, said during opening arguments in Taylor's court-martial.

Taylor, 38, pleaded not guilty Monday to raping four men and attempting to rape two others; prosecutor Capt. Eveylon Westbrook describes him as a serial rapist. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of all the charges against him. The charges are two counts of attempted sodomy, four counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful entry.

''This case is about homosexual activity that is not approved of by the military services in our country at this time. Every one of these individuals but one is either in the military service or wants to be in the service,'' Regan said.

Under the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy, members who are openly gay are subject to discharge.

Westbrook said Taylor met his victims in bars, spiked their drinks with the ''date-rape drug'' gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.

''Each victim will tell you they felt like they were drugged before he either assaulted or attempted to assault them,'' she said.

A Pensacola paramedic later testified that he and Taylor were friends and had consensual sex on a previous occasion before the two met again at a bar in July 2004. The man said that he had one beer and that Taylor then bought him a shot, which caused him to become extremely ill.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21episcopal.html?pagewanted=print

February 21, 2007
News Analysis

Many Episcopalians Wary, Some Defiant After Ultimatum by Anglicans
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

There was a time when the Episcopal Church in the United States was known as “the Republican Party at prayer,” but in the last 30 years it has evolved into the Rainbow Coalition of Christianity.

There are hip-hop Masses, American Indian rituals to install a new presiding bishop and legions of gay and straight priests who don the rainbow stoles of gay liberation. Its pews are full of Roman Catholics and Christians from other traditions attracted by its aura of radical acceptance.

Now the conservatives who numerically dominate the global Anglican Communion have handed their Episcopal branch in the United States an ultimatum that requires the church to reel in the rainbow if it wants to remain a part of the Communion.

With a communiqué issued in Tanzania on Monday after a five-day meeting, the leaders of Anglican provinces around the world (known as primates) asked the United States branch to bar gay men and lesbians from becoming bishops, and to stop official blessings of same-sex unions.The communiqué even specified a deadline: Sept. 30.

There is no certainty that Episcopal leaders will now comply. In interviews yesterday, some liberal and moderate leaders who constitute a majority in the American church voiced everything from confusion to serious misgivings to defiance. Many took umbrage at what they saw as meddling by foreign primates who are imposing their culture and theological interpretations on the American church.


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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/022007france.htm

French High Court Rejects Lesbian Co-Parenting
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 20, 2007 - 8:00 pm ET

(Paris) France's highest court on Tuesday ruled that the partner of a gay mom cannot adopt the child. The court said there is nothing in the law to permit same-sex couples to be co-parents.

In its ruling the court said that there are only only two ways the partner would be allowed to be considered a parent to the child.

The first would be for the child's mother, who gave birth to the baby, to renounce her parental rights - something the court said would not be in the child's best interests. The other would be for the government to amend the laws and allow same-sex marriage.

By bringing up the inequality of barring same-sex couples from marrying the court waded into the thorny issue of gay marriage in France - something that is already playing out in the presidential election campaign.

Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal has said that if her party forms the next government she will introduce a gay marriage bill.



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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/022007vatican.htm

Vatican Wants 'Conscientious Objector' Status For Opponents Of Gay Marriage, Abortion
by The Associated Press
Posted: February 20, 2007 - 8:00 pm ET

(Vatican City) The Vatican is launching a drive to make sure that Roman Catholic consciences correctly reflect Church teaching as it encourages the faithful to make their voice heard on moral issues such as abortion.

Catholic scholars, theologians, professors and others who explore morality issues will meet at the Vatican on Friday and Saturday to discuss how Catholics should follow their conscience, and if the situation calls for it, declare themselves to be conscientious objectors, especially doctors, nurses, pharmacists, judges or administrators.

Msgr. Elio Sgreccia, who heads the pontifical academy, told a Vatican news conference that the conference's conclusions would be made public in the hope they could serve as a reference point for those seeking guidance.

``We are convinced that not only is there legitimate space for the Christian conscience in a pluralistic society, but there is a usefulness for whole society when the Christian conscience can express itself and offer a contribution,'' Sgreccia said.

``Obviously, individual faithful are required to be certain of the validity of their judgments of their conscience, above all in relation to the truth,'' Sgreccia said. ``We need true, sure, correct consciences among the faithful, conditions that are not at all taken for granted.''

Sgreccia was asked about a recent decision in Britain, backed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, compelling faith-based agencies to consider gay couples in adoption cases. Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, had asked Blair for an exemption.

The Vatican official said Catholics should be allowed to be conscientious objectors in those cases.

``I'd marvel if in a nation like Britain, they would refuse to recognize conscientious objectors.'' He said Catholics might have to pursue the issue in European human rights courts.



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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/022007focus.htm

Gay Protestors Arrested At Focus On the Family
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 20, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET

(Colorado Springs, Colorado) Two women demanding that Focus on the Family stop issuing misleading statements about research on lesbian and gay parents have been arrested inside the organization's national headquarters in Colorado Springs.

Dotti Berry and Robynne Stapp of Blaine, Wash., entered the building seeking a meeting with FOF founder James Dobson.

Officials refused to set up a meeting with Dobson and the women staged a sit-in in the lobby. After about 20 minutes police were called.

When the women refused a police order to leave they were taken into custody.

"I am here today because I believed Dr. Dobson's teachings for many years, and it almost led to my suicide," said Stapp.

" My healing came from my acceptance of myself and my acceptance that God loves me exactly as I am."

The women are not unknown to FOF staff.

Stapp and Berry, who are associated with Soulforce a nondenominational group that protests against church groups that exclude gays, have toured Focus on the Family twice before to dialogue with visitors and staff about LGBT individuals and families.

Dobson and other Focus spokespeople frequently discredit LGBT parenting with references to "more than 10,000 studies that have showed that children do best when they have a mom and a dad."



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Express Gay News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11499

Wyoming House considers same-sex marriage this week
Senate passed bill last month
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) | Feb 20, 10:30 AM

The Wyoming Legislature this week will take up discussion a proposed ban on recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

The Senate last month voted 21-8 to endorse a bill that prohibits Wyoming from recognizing same-sex marriages. Wyoming law already specifies that marriages performed in the state must be between a man and a woman.

The marriage bill languished on the House side until last week, when Speaker Roy Cohee (R-Casper) assigned it to the Rules Committee, which he chairs. He said he intends to hold a committee hearing on it Thursday morning. If it passes, he said it will hit the House floor on Friday.

Cohee said he believes House members are split about evenly on the same-sex marriage issue. While he said he's heard some people question why the House would spend its time on the issue, he said he believes objectivity demands the bill get a hearing.

"I wanted a deliberative panel to look at it without any preconception," Cohee said, which is why he chose the Rules Committee. "I think it will get a good fair hearing on whatever it is that is in the bill."

Bob Spencer, a retired hospital chaplain in Cheyenne, is spokesman for Wyoming Equality, a group that works on gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual issues in the state.Wyoming House considers same-sex marriage this week

Senate passed bill last month



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Kansas City.com

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/16739531.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Tue, Feb. 20, 2007

`Ex-gay' movement: Saved? Or shoved back into the closet?

By Cary Leider Vogrin
The Gazette
(MCT)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Rev. Ted Haggard story has reignited discussion about what makes a person gay - and whether someone can switch sexual orientation and become an "ex-gay."

On one side are organizations like Focus on the Family and Exodus International, which at conferences across the country teach that homosexuality is a lifestyle that can be overcome.

On the other are groups such as Truth Wins OUT, formed specifically to counter such ministries and whose director, gay activist Wayne Besen, says there's no such thing as an "ex-gay."

"It's a recloseted homosexual," Besen said. "I have never met an ex-gay who isn't on the payroll of a group like Focus on the Family or Exodus."

Besen monitors both ministry groups, sometimes attends their conferences and said he has exposed "ex-gays" - including a former Focus on the Family employee - in compromising situations. Just last week, Truth Wins OUT posted two videos on YouTube aimed at further debunking what Besen calls "the ex-gay myth."

A video released Thursday features Robert L. Spitzer, a Columbia University psychiatry professor who says Focus on the Family is using his research on homosexuality out of context. And on Valentine's Day, Besen posted a nine-minute video that features a Mormon couple who are divorcing after 25 years because the husband is gay.

Besen said the movement to reform gays by encouraging marriage ends up hurting spouses and children.




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Education.Guardian.co.uk

http://education.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329720684-110908,00.html

A lesson in why it's cool to be gay
Hip hop artist QBoy is going back to school to teach kids there's no shame in coming out. Julie Bindel reports

Julie Bindel
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Guardian
When I came out at school as a lesbian, almost 30 years ago, it was not out
of choice. Bullies forced me out of the closet. Homophobia in schools in the 1970s was not recognised as such, and there was absolutely no support for me and my gay peers.

Wandering around an east London school only recently, I heard the word "gay" bandied around as an insult - "Your trainers are gay", or "What have you done to your hair? It's gay".

But in many ways, things have changed for the better. Young gays and lesbians seem to be coming out while still at school - which is a real shift from QBoy's days. Now 28, QBoy is the UK's first openly gay hip hop artist. Known as Marcos Brito to his family and friends, he was the victim of homophobic bullying at school, which he left 12 years ago. As part of a Channel 4 documentary on being gay at school, Coming Out to Class, he talked to schoolchildren about homophobia.

One of them was Jamie, now 16, who came out three years ago. "I have bad memories of school," says Jamie. "I was called Batty Boy, and they used to run their fingers across their throats, threatening to cut me." Jamie suffered a fractured skull after he was thrown down the stairs. His parents regularly complained to the school, but little was done. "Mum used to say to me: 'Can't I have a normal son?'"

"The problem for gay teenagers," says Brito, "is that if they don't have support at school, and are experiencing homophobia, they often can't talk to their parents about it either, which means they are totally alone."



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365gay

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/02/022007bloch.htm

Special Counsel Bloch Accused Of Intimidation
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 21, 2007 - 12:01 am ET

(Washington) A high level investigation into allegations of homophobia, illegal gag orders, cronyism, and retaliation against Special Counsel Scott Bloch is being stymied by intimidation of those who made the complaints two federal employee groups say.

The Office of Personnel Management began the probe of Bloch in 2005 under Inspector General Patrick McFarland following a year of complaints by members of Congress, Federal Globe - the LGBT organization for federal civil servants, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility - a watchdog group.

Now those groups say the Office of Special Counsel is trying to stonewall the investigation. This month employees at the agency were told to inform OSC management when they are contacted by investigators and that any contact with investigators must be in a special conference room at OSC headquarters.

The groups say the directive is an attempt to silence them.

After an inquiry from investigators in the probe the OSC has backed down on the meeting place, issuing a second directive saying the meetings could take place elsewhere.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Cyberbullying.html?pagewanted=print

February 21, 2007
States Seek Laws to Curb Online Bullying
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:16 a.m. ET

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Ryan Patrick Halligan was bullied for months online. Classmates sent the 13-year-old Essex Junction, Vt., boy instant messages calling him gay. He was threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly by so-called cyberbullies.

In 2003, Ryan killed himself.

''He just went into a deep spiral in eighth grade. He couldn't shake this rumor,'' said Ryan's father, John Halligan, who became a key proponent of a state law that forced Vermont schools to put anti-bullying rules in place. He's now pushing for a broader law to punish cyberbullying -- often done at home after school -- and wants every other state to enact laws expressly prohibiting it.

States from Oregon to Rhode Island are considering crackdowns to curb or outlaw the behavior in which kids taunt or insult peers on social Web sites like MySpace or via instant messages. Still, there is some disagreement over how effective crackdowns will be and how to do it.

''The kids are forcing our hands to do something legislatively,'' said Rhode Island state Sen. John Tassoni, who introduced a bill to study cyberbullying and hopes to pass a cyberbullying law by late 2007.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21episcopal.html?pagewanted=print

February 21, 2007
News Analysis
Many Episcopalians Wary, Some Defiant After Ultimatum by Anglicans
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

There was a time when the Episcopal Church in the United States was known as “the Republican Party at prayer,” but in the last 30 years it has evolved into the Rainbow Coalition of Christianity.

There are hip-hop Masses, American Indian rituals to install a new presiding bishop and legions of gay and straight priests who don the rainbow stoles of gay liberation. Its pews are full of Roman Catholics and Christians from other traditions attracted by its aura of radical acceptance.

Now the conservatives who numerically dominate the global Anglican Communion have handed their Episcopal branch in the United States an ultimatum that requires the church to reel in the rainbow if it wants to remain a part of the Communion.

With a communiqué issued in Tanzania on Monday after a five-day meeting, the leaders of Anglican provinces around the world (known as primates) asked the United States branch to bar gay men and lesbians from becoming bishops, and to stop official blessings of same-sex unions.
The communiqué even specified a deadline: Sept. 30.

There is no certainty that Episcopal leaders will now comply. In interviews yesterday, some liberal and moderate leaders who constitute a majority in the American church voiced everything from confusion to serious misgivings to defiance. Many took umbrage at what they saw as meddling by foreign primates who are imposing their culture and theological interpretations on the American church.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001618_pf.html

Some U.S. Bishops Reject Anglican Gay Rights Edict

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 21, 2007; A03

Several leading liberal Episcopalians said yesterday that they would rather accept a schism than accede to a demand from leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion for what they view as an unconscionable rollback of the U.S. church's position on gay rights.

The defiant reaction to the communique issued by the primates, or heads, of the Anglican Communion's 38 national churches on Monday at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, reflected a growing feeling on both sides of the dispute that time for compromise is running out.

"Yes, I would accept schism," said Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. "I would be willing to accept being told I'm not in communion with places like Nigeria if it meant I could continue to be in a position of justice and morality. If the price I pay is that I'm not considered to be part of a flawed communion, then so be it."

Conservative primates, many from developing countries, insisted in Dar es Salaam that the 2.3-million-member U.S. church must comply with the 77-million-member communion's position that "homosexual practice" is "incompatible with Scripture." They sought and won a Sept. 30 deadline for U.S. bishops to pledge to stop authorizing rites of blessing for same-sex couples and to promise not to consecrate any more gay bishops since the election of V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire in 2003.

U.S. conservatives hailed the communique. Martyn Minns, of Truro Church in Fairfax, one of 15 Northern Virginia congregations that have voted since 2005 to separate from the Episcopal Church, said it gives the U.S. church just "one last chance."



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MCC Responds to Escalation of Anti-Gay Violence in Jamaica


P U B L I C S T A T E M E N T
For Immediate Release: February 20, 2007

Leader of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC)
Expresses Outrage Over Attacks on Gays in Jamaica
Issues Urgent Call For Prayers, Actions To Support
Jamaicans Targeted For Violence And Abuse

Statement by
Rev. Elder Nancy L. Wilson
Office of the Moderator
Metropolitan Community Churches

A series of escalating attacks against gays and lesbians in Jamaica hasprompted our call today for island officials to guarantee the human rightsand safety of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons across Jamaica.

Today I am calling upon people of conscience around the world to speak upand to support those who are struggling for human and civil rights inJamaica.

The lethal combination of homophobia and AIDS-phobia must stop. We cannotstand by and watch as our sisters and brothers are tormented, beaten, rapedand killed solely for being who they are. There are leaders in Jamaica,including political and religious leaders, who have failed to speak up. Suchsilence is not acceptable. Now is the time for all people of goodwill tospeak out for justice and against intolerance. No person of conscienceshould remain silent in the face of the continuing horrific attacks on gaysin Jamaica.

The Valentine's Day attack on three gay men at a pharmacy in Tropical Plazain St. Andrews parish of Jamaica is part of a pattern of violence againstgays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons. This pattern of anti-gayviolence, which has included public beatings and numerous murders of gaypeople, has often flown under the radar of the Jamaican press and receivedscant attention from civil authorities.

According to the gay rights group Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexualsand Gays (J-FLAG), three men were shopping in a local pharmacy in the parishof St. Andrew when two of them were targeted by an unnamed woman whoreprimanded them for what she termed "distasteful" behavior. According toeyewitnesses, she left the store and made a phone call that resulted in alarge crowd gathering at the Monarch Pharmacy. The crowd called for thethree men to be "sent out" to face them. The incident is tragicallyreminiscent of the infamous biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, found inthe 19th chapter of the Book of Genesis.

For full article, contact rays.list@comcast.net



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Soulforce Launches Ongoing Civil Disobedience Campaign at Focus on the Family Headquarters

At approximately 1:30 p.m. on February 19, 2007, Dotti Berry and Robynne Sapp of Blaine, Washington were arrested and removed from Focus on the Family headquarters in police custody.

The couple entered the building earlier in the day and refused to leave until the organization's founder, James Dobson, takes a step toward reconciliation with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities by ceasing his misleading statements about research on lesbian and gay parents.

"I am here today because I believed Dr. Dobson's teachings for many years, and it almost led to my suicide. My healing came from my acceptance of myself and my acceptance that God loves me exactly as I am," said Sapp. Sapp and Berry have toured Focus on the Family twice before to dialogue with visitors and staff about LGBT individuals and families.

Dobson has consistently misrepresented LGBT families with misleading references to social science research. In recent months, several social scientists -- including Dr. Carol Gilligan of New York University and Dr. Kyle Pruett of Yale -- have publicly rebuked him for mischaracterizing their research conclusions. (For a video of Dr. Judith Stacey claiming Focus on the Family distorted her research, click here.)

Dobson and other Focus spokespeople frequently discredit LGBT parenting with references to "more than 10,000 studies that have showed that children do best when they have a mom and a dad." According to the American Psychological Association (APA), such claims rely on "studies that simply do not address gay and lesbian parents and their children." Moreover, "no credible evidence shows that children raised by lesbian or gay parents differ in any important respects from those raised by heterosexual parents."

Contact rays.list@comcast.net for full article.



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http://www.waynebesen.com/2007/02/learning-hardaway.html

Anything But Straight
Feb. 20, 2007
By Wayne Besen

Learning the Hardaway

Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington called a co-star a faggot and ended up in rehab, while former basketball star Tim Haraway said he hated homosexuals and now his career as an ex-jock pitchman is on a cold slab. This will be remembered as the year the F-word became the new N-word and homophobic comments were no longer considered acceptable in polite company. To be sure, America has not endorsed homosexuality, but the new rules do mean celebrities will lose endorsements if they gratuitously bash homosexuals.

Of course, careers have crashed before as a result of anti-gay antagonism. After Anita Bryant crusaded against a 1977 gay rights measure in Miami, a boycott was launched and the orange juice queen fell off her throne. More recently, Dr. Laura’s rampant homophobia, which included referring to homosexuality as a biological error, cost her a television show after a successful web campaign (www.StopDr.Laura.com) was launched targeting
advertisers.

Unlike Anita Bryant, before angry GLBT advocates could spell boy…oh, boy was Hardaway tossed aside by the National Basketball Association. David Stern, the NBA’s commissioner, immediately banished Hardaway from participation in the All-Star weekend activities. "We removed him from representing us because we didn't think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us," Stern said. BaldGuyz, a company that makes grooming products for bald men, also scalped Hardaway by killing his endorsement deal.



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

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=43021

Daily HIV/AIDS Report

Across The Nation | Roman Catholic Leaders Criticize New York City for Distributing 20M Condoms as Part of HIV Prevention Efforts
[Feb 20, 2007]

Roman Catholic leaders in New York City on Thursday released a joint statement criticizing the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's efforts to deliver about 26 million condoms to organizations and venues in the city to help curb the spread of HIV, the New York Post reports (Campanile, New York Post, 2/16). The health department last month approved a $1.57 million contract to deliver Ansell Healthcare's Lifestyle condoms and packets of lubricants to help curb the spread of HIV. The health department will pay Ansell four cents per condom, putting the cost of the program at about $720,000 annually, according to health officials. City health officials on Wednesday unveiled the official condom, which a subway theme with different colors for various train lines. Officials plan to track the progress of the program through an annual community health survey, which polls 10,000 city residents by telephone. New York City currently distributes about 1.5 million condoms monthly, or about 18 million annually, at no cost to organizations, health clinics, advocacy groups, bars, restaurants, nail salons, nightclubs and prisons.

Organizations or venues can request an unlimited supply of condoms at no cost through an online ordering system set up by the city health department (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/14).



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

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/LawArticleFriendly.jsp?id=1171287476370

Government Gone Wild: Regulations for 'Explicit' Materials Move Into theMainstream

<mailto:letters_to_the_editor@corp.law.com>

By Katherine A. Fallow and Scott B. Wilkens
Special to Law.com

02-20-2007

On Jan. 22, 2007, Joe Francis, founder of the popular -- and profitable --"Girls Gone Wild" series, was sentenced by a Los Angeles federal districtcourt to two years of probation, 200 hours of community service, and a$500,000 fine based on his guilty plea to two felony counts for violatingfederal record-keeping requirements for sexually explicit material. Francis'company, Mantra Films, was also ordered to pay $1.6 million by a Floridafederal judge in an earlier case involving 10 felony counts of violating thesame law.

These sentences represent the first time that federal prosecutors havesought to enforce the record-keeping requirements. For well over a decade,the law, codified at 18 U.S.C. §2257, has required producers of certainsexually explicit material to gather and maintain records concerning the ageand identity of individuals performing in those scenes, and to make thoserecords available for inspection by law enforcement officials. Violations ofthe law are subject to criminal sanctions, including imprisonment and fines.

Until recently, the record-keeping regulations were commonly thought to belimited to the adult entertainment industry, and the government had neveractively sought to enforce the inspections or penalty provisions. Last yearseemed to have marked a turning point, however. In addition to theindictments of Francis and his company, the Department of Justice for thefirst time exercised its power to inspect the records required under §2257,with the Federal Bureau of Investigation paying surprise visits to a numberof adult entertainment companies in California's San Fernando Valley in thelast three months of 2006.




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

Montel Williams Show Will Air AGLP Documentary on "ReparativeTherapy"

For information about today's Montel Williams show go to

http://www.montelshow.com/show/?showID=5087

In New York City area, the show will air today at 4 PM on Channel 9

For air time and station if you are not in NYC area, go to

http://www.montelshow.com/show/?showID=5087

For information about the documentary, Abomination: Homosexuality and the
Ex-Gay Movement, go to

http://www.aglp.org/

Jack Drescher, MD
jadres@psychoanalysis.net
http://www.jackdreschermd.net




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

Speak Up About the Michigan Court of Appeals
Ruling

http://www.tri.org

Michigan's GLBT College Campus Offices Respond to Anti-Gay Court Ruling

DETROIT - Michigan's campus offices working with the gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender (GLBT) community have announced their response to theMichigan Appeals Court's anti-families ruling made on February 2, 2007prohibiting public employers from offering domestic partnership benefits.

"These benefits provide health care and other important services to thefamilies our office works with every day," said Gregory Storms, ProgramManager of The Ellen Bommarito LGBT Center at University of Michigan -Flint. Storms added, "It is unfortunate that these reckless judges were sowilling to harm these families and put children's health at risk in anattempt to do something on behalf of voters that the voters didn't even wantthem to do."

The Michigan Consortium of Higher Education GLBT Centers this week unveileda Web site providing information on the Appeals Court's ruling andempowering people to voice their opposition to the ruling. The Web site -<http://www.tri.org/protectourfamilies> www.tri.org/protectourfamilies -allows people to contact their elected officials, submit stories about howthe ruling affects them and contribute to the effort to undo the damage theCourt of Appeals has done.




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

To: euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
Subject: [euro-queer] Gay Asylum Case - Slovenia

Two gay men from Kosovo (age 25 and 30), requested asylum in Slovenia on 9June 2006, on the ground of sexual orientation persecution in their countryof origin. They were victims of violence, raped, threatened to be killed bythe family members and other people, etc. because they were gay.

Their asylum application was rejected as irrelevant by Slovenian state, theanswer was negative. This decision appears to be against nationallegislation and international law, including the EU directive 2004/83/EC.

In order to support both asylum applicants and to help them to submit acourt appeal (with the help of a lawyer) we are now collecting evidence ofviolence and discrimination against GLBT people in Kosovo, official reportson human rights situation in Kosovo, and any other documents, which can beused in support of court procedure to illustrate dangerous and hostileenvironment for sexual minorities in Kosovo.

We are urgently asking for your help. If you have access to any documents,reports or other evidence with this regard, please send them to us as soonas possible.

Thank you!

dr.Tatjana Greif

SKUC-LL
Metelkova 6, Ljubljana
T +386 1 4327 306 & 4327 368
F +386 1 430 35 35
M +386 40 950 973
sekcijaskuc@mail.ljudmila.org
www.ljudmila.org/lesbo



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http://botetourt-county.blogspot.com/2007/02/bills-take-sites-out-of-sight.html

Bills take sites out of sight
Libraries that receive funding must use Internet filters, legislation says.

The Roanoke Times
Mason Adams and Cody Lowe

Should government require Internet filters on public access computers?

In late 2005, a police detective in the main branch of the Roanoke PublicLibrary's computer lab watched a man near him download pornographic Japanesecartoons depicting sexual acts involving children.

A search of the man's house later turned up pornographic pictures of realchildren, and a judge sent him to jail for 10 months.

Now, the General Assembly is considering a pair of bills that would requirepublic libraries to install Internet filters to screen for obscene materialand child pornography.

Senate Bill 1393 was passed by substantial votes in the House and Senate. Acompanion bill, House Bill 2197, awaits a final Senate vote today.

The bills would require any libraries that receive state funding to installfilters. The bills allow for the filters to be disabled at the request ofpatrons conducting legitimate research, and they'd also protect thoselibraries against the loss of state funding should the technology fail.


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