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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obit-Sosman.html?pagewanted=print
March 11, 2007
Mass. Supreme Court Judge Sosman Dies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:46 p.m. ET
BOSTON (AP) -- Martha B. Sosman, one of three Massachusetts Supreme JudicialCourt judges who voted against the landmark decision legalizing gay marriagein the state, has died, the court said Sunday. She was 56.
Family members said the cause of death Saturday night was respiratoryfailure, according to a statement from Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall.
Sosman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and had been participatingin some cases by watching Webcasts of oral arguments, reading legal briefsat home and talking with other justices and law clerks by telephone.
''Justice Sosman will be remembered as one of the great justices of theSupreme Judicial Court, despite her all too brief tenure on the court,''Marshall said in the statement.
Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci hailed Sosman as a ''conservative'' juristwhen he appointed her to the high court as an associate justice in 2000.
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WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/11/AR2007031100568_pf.html
Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?
By DAVID BAUDER
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 11, 2007; 11:56 AM
NEW YORK -- Ann Coulter has been a reliable name for years among people whoplan television news shows _ an attractive, articulate blonde conservativewho's made a living lobbing verbal bombs.
Following her use of a gay slur about Democratic presidential candidate JohnEdwards this month during remarks to the Conservative Political ActionConference, some on TV are wondering whether her shelf life is expiring.
Many were angered by her use of the "f-word". Coulter later said sheconsidered it a "schoolyard taunt." She said it was a joke about "Grey'sAnatomy" actor Isaiah Washington saying he would seek counseling after usingthe word to refer to a fellow actor.
At least four daily newspapers have dropped Coulter as a columnist, citingher comment about Edwards.
Head-turning remarks are hardly anything new for the author of "Godless: TheChurch of Liberalism" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)." In"Godless" last year, she wrote of World Trade Center widows: "I've neverseen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031107israel.htm
Gay Arabs Begin To Organize
by The Associated Press
Posted: March 11, 2007 - 8:00 pm ET
(Jerusalem) A rare gathering of openly gay Arab activists is slated to beheld in Israel this month, drawing the ire of religious conservatives.
Headlined "Home and Exile," the March 28 meeting is meant to sparkdiscussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, saidRoula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist and one of the scheduled speakers.
The conference is being organized by Aswat, an Arab lesbian group based inHaifa, a coastal city home to both Jews and Arabs.
Around 100 to 150 people are expected to show up, Deeb said. Withhomosexuality a taboo topic in much of the Arab world, the meeting isimportant simply because it is taking place.
Israel is generally tolerant of homosexuality, and the country's secularmetropolis, Tel Aviv, is home to a thriving gay community. But Israel'sArabs, who make up 20 percent of the population, live mostly in separatecommunities and homosexuality is still considered out of bounds.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11891
Coach Dungy caught up in same-sex marriage debate
His appearance with Indiana Family Institute upsets gay group
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) | Mar 11, 5:52 PM
Colts coach Tony Dungy's acceptance of an invitation to speak to aconservative Christian group should not be construed as an endorsement ofthe group's opposition to same-sex marriage, the head of the Indiana FamilyInstitute said Saturday.
Some local and national gay rights groups have questioned Dungy's decisionto appear at a fundraising banquet this month for the institute, which hasbeen a leading supporter of a proposed state constitutional amendmentdefining marriage as only between one man and one woman.
Institute president Curt Smith said the invitation was based on Dungy'spro-family activities.
"We're very pleased coach Dungy is coming, and I don't pretend to know hisviews on some of the public policy issues we work on," Smith said.
The institute, which is affiliated with Focus on the Family, plans to honorDungy on March 20 with its "Friend of the Family" award. Previous recipientsinclude Focus on the Family co-founder Shirley Dobson, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence(R-Ind.) and former federal independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
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The Gillette News Record
http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2007/03/11/news/news07.txt
Catholic church tells gay couple communion won't be available
By BRANTLEY HARGROVE, News-Record Writer
Leah Vader grew up in the Catholic church. She went to Catholic school. Shetook communion every week. But on March 1, she got a letter from the Rev.Cliff Jacobson, the pastor of St. Matthew's Catholic Church, which sheattends.
The letter said that "because of your union and your public advocacy ofsame-sex unions, that you are unable to receive communion."
Vader and her spouse, Lynne Huskinson, were married in Canada. They've beenoutspoken advocates for gay rights. Vader brought Huskinson to the churchand she was baptized in 2000. The two have been a fixture at the churchsince 1998.
"I went in the shower and stayed in there until the hot water ran out,"Vader said of that day.
Neither have been back to St. Matthew's since receiving the letter. ToVader, communion is the holiest of sacraments, and to be denied it hasdevastated her.
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http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=21782-qqx=1.asp
Sunday Business Post, 11 March 2007
Norris protests executions of gays in Iran
By John Burke
Senator David Norris has snubbed the Iranian embassy in Dublin by refusingto attend a diplomatic function in protest at the hanging of two younghomosexual teenagers in the Middle Eastern country.
Senator David Norris has snubbed the Iranian embassy in Dublin by refusingto attend a diplomatic function in protest at the hanging of two younghomosexual teenagers in the Middle Eastern country.
Norris, who is a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, wasinvited to the function to celebrate Iranian National Day.
However, he issued a rebuke to the Charge d'Affairs at the embassy, sayingthat he "would not and could not attend a frivolous cocktail party torespect a state where two young people were murdered for being gay".
He was referring to the public hanging of one 18-year-old and a younger malein Mashhad city in July 2005 after they admitted to police that they werehomosexual.
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News Leader
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20070311&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=703110398&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Gay-rights group plans Monday visit to CBC
But the college won't allow them onto school grounds, citing group'smethods.
Linda Leicht
News-Leader
About 30 Soulforce Equality riders will arrive Monday at Central BibleCollege hoping to have a "conversation" about the school's position onhomosexuality.
They will more than likely be arrested, said one of the group's leaders.
"They're so fearful of the issue of homosexuality that even one of us comingon the campus ... for a respectful dialogue" is unacceptable, said CurtisPeterson, 22, of New York.
Ron Bradley, campus pastor, said the Assemblies of God Bible college is nottaking an "antagonistic posture" toward the group, but they are not welcomeon campus.
"We have no difficulty discussing this issue (of homosexuality)," saidBradley. Instead, it is the organization and its method that led to thedecision, he said. "Their track record has been ignoble at best."
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The Gillette News Record
http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2007/03/11/news/news07.txt
Catholic church tells gay couple communion won't be available
By BRANTLEY HARGROVE, News-Record Writer
Leah Vader grew up in the Catholic church. She went to Catholic school. Shetook communion every week. But on March 1, she got a letter from the Rev.Cliff Jacobson, the pastor of St. Matthew's Catholic Church, which sheattends.
The letter said that "because of your union and your public advocacy ofsame-sex unions, that you are unable to receive communion."
Vader and her spouse, Lynne Huskinson, were married in Canada. They've been
outspoken advocates for gay rights. Vader brought Huskinson to the churchand she was baptized in 2000. The two have been a fixture at the churchsince 1998.
"I went in the shower and stayed in there until the hot water ran out,"Vader said of that day.
Neither have been back to St. Matthew's since receiving the letter. ToVader, communion is the holiest of sacraments, and to be denied it hasdevastated her.
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The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/AUTO01/703100333/1148&template=printart
Ford: It wasn't pushed to drop gay ties
Automaker says not sponsoring GLAAD event has nothing to do with Christiangroup.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Ford Motor Co. acknowledged Friday it had dropped itssponsorship of a gay advocacy group's annual event, but denied it was theresult of pressure from a conservative group.
The American Family Association, a Tupelo, Miss.-based Christian group, haswaged a two-year campaign to boycott and pressure Ford to halt its supportof gay organizations and events and stop advertising in outlets that caterto gays and lesbians.
"It appears that Ford Motor Company, in response to AFA's boycott, issilently dropping public support for the homosexual agenda," the group saidin a statement posted Thursday on its Web site.
The site noted that Ford wasn't sponsoring the Gay & Lesbian AllianceAgainst Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards -- a decision Ford and GLAADconfirmed. Ford's Jaguar brand had sponsored the event in recent years,including last year. The awards are a series of ceremonies that begin in NewYork later this month.
But Ford denied it dropped the sponsorship because of the AFA. The automakeralso said it continues to advertise in gay and lesbian publications.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/nyregion/12roxy.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 12, 2007
Last Hurrah for a Gay Playground
By ERIC KONIGSBERG
At five minutes before 10 on Saturday night, the Roxy's manager, JasonMcCarthy, lined up the folks who staff the discothèque's massive front bar."O.K., everybody, remember what I told you," he said. "Smile a lot. Hugpeople a lot. Tell them how important the gay community has been to thisplace. O.K.?"
The Roxy, on 18th Street near the West Side Highway, was about to open forits last night. Since 1991, this warhorse of a club, which operates duringthe week as a roller-skating rink, has made its name as a gay dance hall onSaturday nights. But last month, the word went out that the Roxy would beshutting its doors for good after a final bash on March 10. The building'sowner has plans to sell it to developers.
"The end of an era," read the copy on a stack of promotional cards that saton a column near the Roxy's 6,000-square-foot dance floor. The card listed afew employment statistics - "53 disc jockeys"; "781 go-go boys" - inaddition to the four "live music icons" (Madonna, Cher, Bette Midler andBeyoncé) who were known to turn up nominally unannounced every now and thenand perform a short set.
But the Roxy's significance, said people from both sides of the velvet rope,has less to do with such performances than with the droves of gay men whocycled through its gates weekend after weekend.
"I've seen so many people come here, it's like I watched a lot of them growup," said John Blair, a club promoter who has been putting on Saturdaynights at the Roxy from the start.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/business/media/12adcol.html?pagewanted=print
March 12, 2007
Gay Athletes Slowly Enter the Endorsement Arena
By STUART ELLIOTT
FOR years, the number of athletes who were openly gay and had endorsementdeals could have been counted on the hand of the old-time baseball playerMordecai Brown, known after a farm accident by the nickname Three Finger.
Recently, however, that has started to change, as Americans have reassessedtheir ideas about homosexuality and as athletes have become more willing todiscuss their sexuality. In another sign of the times, a company that sellsmen's grooming products, HeadBlade, is to announce today that it is addingto its roster of endorsers John Amaechi, the former professional basketballplayer who said last month that he is gay.
Mr. Amaechi was a journeyman center for such teams as the Orlando Magic andUtah Jazz. He is the first National Basketball Association player todisclose his homosexuality. He also became the sixth retired male proathlete to acknowledge it, joining Billy Bean, a baseball player, and EseraTuaolo, a football player.
Mr. Amaechi "is the perfect storm," said Todd Greene, chief executive at theHeadBlade Company in Culver City, Calif., which specializes in products forbald men, because "he's African-American, a basketball player and gay, andthose are all huge demographics for us."
"And he uses the product," Mr. Greene said, adding that he learned Mr.Amaechi was a "HeadBlader," as Mr. Greene calls his customers, whiledeciding whether Mr. Amaechi would make an effective spokesman.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Thompson-2008.html?pagewanted=print
March 11, 2007
Actor Fred Thompson Considers 2008 Run
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:17 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Not enough ''star'' power for Fred Thompson in a GOPPresidential field that includes some of his friends? Whatever the case, theactor and former Tennessee senator is considering getting into the 2008race.
Thompson, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's drama ''Law &Order,'' said Sunday, ''I'm giving some thought to it, going to leave thedoor open'' and decide in the coming months. ''It's not really a reflectionon the current field at all,'' he said.
''I'm just going to wait and see what happens,'' Thompson added. ''I wantedto see how my colleagues who are on the campaign trail do now, what theysay, what they emphasize, what they're addressing, and how successful theyare in doing that, and whether or not they can carry the ball in nextNovember.''
Thompson, 64, said he was pondering a run after former Senate MajorityLeader Howard Baker and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming upsupport for his possible GOP candidacy, citing his conservative credentials.
''I think people are somewhat disillusioned. I think a lot of people arecynical out there. I think they're looking for something different. ... andI think that they're going to be open to different things,'' he said.
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WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031200332_pf.html
Lauper, Others Headline Gay Rights Tour
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
The Associated Press
Monday, March 12, 2007; 8:58 AM
NEW YORK -- For some people, Cyndi Lauper's classic "True Colors" is justanother love song.
But as Lauper learned from reading fans' letters, for others, the song'slyrics about letting "your true colors shine through" had a much deepermeaning.
"A lot of people were saying that when it came out (in 1986) they wereteenagers and they were coming out," says Lauper, a longtime gay rightssupporter. "They were disowned by their family and their friends and theirjobs got all messed up and they were totally alone, and suicidal, and thenthey heard `True Colors' and it made them feel hopeful."
So it's fitting that Lauper, 53, is one of the headliners on the new "TrueColors" tour, which will hit major cities nationwide to promote gay rights.Other performers for the 15-city event, which kicks off in Las Vegas on June8 and ends in Los Angeles on June 30, are Deborah Harry, Erasure andMargaret Cho.
"This tour is basically gonna be five hours of some of my favorite bands andme, and Margaret Cho making us laugh, and while we're touring, we're goingto be raising awareness," Lauper told The Associated Press on Friday. "Ithink people don't know what's going on, that's all."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031207basketball.htm
LSU Women's Basketball Coach Resigns Amid Scandal
by Ellen Seidler, AfterEllen.com
Posted: March 12, 2007 - 10:00 am ET
With the NCAA Women's College Basketball Tournament just around the corner,the timing couldn't be worse for the scandal that has recently eruptedaround Louisiana State University's women's basketball team and their coach,Pokey Chatman. Last week Chatman resigned amid allegations that she had asexual relationship with a female player on her team, and though the factsof the matter have not yet been confirmed, the scandal has turned the mediaspotlight on closeted lesbians in women's sports.
Last Wednesday, Chatman unexpectedly issued a press release stating that shehad resigned from her position as head coach of the LSU Tigers in order topursue "other career opportunities." No one believed her. The speculationwas immediate. Was she jumping ship to take an offer elsewhere - perhapsFlorida ? Why would she announce her departure before the NCAA tournamentbeginning next week? Was something else at play?
That something else quickly took center stage as word spread that Chatmanhad been forced to resign under pressure, and that her downfall hadsomething to do with an "improper" - as in sexual - relationship with aformer player. ESPN.com and the New York Times published stories citing anunnamed source who alleged that the university was informed of the situationby someone within the basketball program. Internet message board postsquickly filled with rumors and finger-pointing as well as the inevitablelesbian baiting.
Initially Chatman planned to coach her team in the NCAA tournament, but theensuing controversy quickly exploded out of control, and she issued a secondstatement last Thursday announcing that her departure would be immediate:"My resignation yesterday has prompted speculation and rumors that farexceeded my expectations and it is clear that my presence would be a greatdistraction during the NCAA Tournament."
Chatman was a highly respected - and apparently popular - coach at LSU. Aformer LSU star player, she became an assistant to the legendary and belovedSue Gunter in 1994. When Gunter fell ill during the 2003-04 season, Chatmantook over and has since guided the team to a 90-14 record and threefinal-four appearances in the past four years.
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The Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/cda/article_print/0,1983,DRMN_15_5411910_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT,00.html
CU students accused in attack on gay man
By Bianca Prieto, Rocky Mountain News
March 12, 2007
Two University of Colorado students were arrested following an attack on agay man near Pearl Street in Boulder.
Eric Schorling and Adam Perez, both 21, were arrested early Sunday foralleged assault and bias-motivated crimes.
The suspects are accused of making derogatory remarks to a gay couple whowere walking in front of them. The 21-year-old victim was walking with hisarm around a 19-year-old man near 10th and Pearl streets around 12:30 a.m.Sunday.
There was a brief verbal exchange before Schorling, Perez and the victimbegan fighting, police said. The victim was able to punch one of hisattackers and free himself shortly before police arrived.
The victim's name was not released.
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