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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Ireland-St-Patricks-Day.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Dublin Throws Diverse St. Patrick Parade
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:13 p.m. ET
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Lithuanian musicians, drum-beating Punjabis and WestAfrican dancers used Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday tocelebrate their place in a booming Ireland that has become a land ofimmigrants.
One man dressed as St. Patrick in papal hat and sunglasses did the samba,while another float nearby featured ''Miss Panty,'' Dublin's premier dragqueen.
Dublin's freewheeling parade drew a half-million spectators and includedChristine Quinn, the first openly gay leader of the New York City Council.Quinn is boycotting the more conservative New York parade because theorganizers refuse to let gay and lesbian groups march.
This year, she accepted an Irish government invitation to be part of theDublin City Council contingent.
''The fact I'm here in Dublin and able to march and participate in inclusiveevents should send a message of how backwards the New York parade is,'' saidQuinn.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Marriage-Strategy.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Gay Marriage Advocates Switch Strategies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:42 p.m. ET
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Aronda Kirby and Digit Murphy were once married tomen, received the tax breaks for married couples and were legally permittedto take family leave if their husbands or children got sick. Both women lostthose protections when they came out as lesbians, divorced their husbandsand set up a new household together with their six children.
Now, with couples like Murphy and Kirby in mind, some gay rights advocateswho previously fought for ''marriage or nothing'' are shifting strategies.Rather than fighting to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, they'relobbying for the protections marriage provides.
Those who follow the movement say bills taking that approach that wereintroduced this year in Rhode Island and Washington state could signal abroader change in tactics, although some gay marriage advocates fear itcould undercut more than a decade of work.
''We've had all the rights, so we want them back,'' Murphy said. ''We don'tcare how we get them.''
Gay rights proponents have had to accept less than marriage before. Courtdecisions forced New Jersey and Vermont to adopt civil unions. Connecticut'slegislature passed a civil union bill even though many gay rights activiststhere had pressed for marriage.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701162_pf.html
The Problem, in A Fundamental Nutshell: 'Is Your Baby Gay?'
By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 18, 2007; D01
Pity the poor fetus. There's a lot coming its way. And now there's talk on aconservative evangelical blog of a hypothetical hormone patch that anexpectant mother might wear to eradicate her fetus's natural gayness.
The patch, the biological determinism: It's all conjecture, for now. But ithit like a theological IED when it turned up earlier this month on the blogof the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the leading voices of the 16million-strong Southern Baptist Convention. He blogged on these issues underthe appropriately provocative headline: "Is Your Baby Gay? What if You CouldKnow? What if You Could Do Something About It?" In his postings, he raisesthe possibility of a biological basis for homosexuality and prods his flockto think about how it should respond.
At a time when homosexuality in the military has reemerged as a flash point,causing presidential candidates to deflect and dance gingerly around thetopic, Mohler has taken up the debate about the origins of homosexuality ina way he ad mits has roiled many in the Christian right.
For seeming to contradict a basic tenet of anti-gay thinking -- thathomosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not a state of nature -- Mohler,president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, wasinundated with e-mails from readers who castigated him, he said on his blogFriday.
And for expressing his approval of a hypothetical prenatal intervention tochange a baby's sexual orientation, he was verbally attacked by gay-rightsadvocates. Some of them likened him to the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele forseeming to advocate the manipulation of nature to "basically wipe out gaypeople," said Wayne R. Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, a group that fightsefforts to convert gays to heterosexuality.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701123_pf.html
The Wide Spectrum Of Sex-Ed Courses
Montgomery Veers Toward Liberal End On Homosexuality
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 18, 2007; C01
In Seattle public schools, sexual orientation is taught in ninth-gradehealth class, a one-day session that uses vignettes about fictitious teensto illustrate same-sex and opposite-sex attraction. But the topic can ariseas early as grade 5, in discussions on the many changes that accompanypuberty.
In Salt Lake City, schools do not address sexual orientation, in healthclass or anywhere else.
By adding 90 minutes of instruction about sexual orientation to eighth- and10th-grade health classes this year, including contested material onhomophobia, transsexuality and the process of "coming out," MontgomeryCounty joins an increasingly polarized debate on how -- if at all --
ex-education classes should discuss sexuality.
"This is probably the last big issue around sexuality education," saidMartha Kempner, spokeswoman for the Sexuality Information and EducationCouncil of the United States (SIECUS) in New York, a group that advocatescomprehensive sex education. "And I think we are seeing that many of thecontroversies today revolve in some way around sexual orientation."
In most of the country, the trend in sex education is toward "abstinenceonly," which dictates that sex outside of marriage is wrong and potentiallydangerous. Such programs tend to bypass homosexuality, except tocharacterize gay sex as a public health risk.
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Canada.com
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=bb2b0882-1412-421f-82e1-5dde4800673f&k=56490
Half of HIV transmitters unaware, survey says
CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette
Saturday, March 17, 2007
MONTREAL - Half of new HIV transmissions happen when newly infected peopledon't know they are carrying the virus and don't even test positive for it,a new study shows.
The study, presented Friday at an AIDS symposium in Montreal, provokedquestions on how to deal with the problem of treating unknown sources ofinfection - including mass screening and using antiretroviral therapy forprevention.
"People are most likely to transmit the AIDS virus when they are firstinfected than in the chronic stages of the illness," co-researcher MichelRoger of the Universite de Montreal said.
A team led by Dr. Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill AIDS Centre,followed 2,500 HIV patients in several Montreal clinics over eight years.
An estimated 30 per cent of people with HIV don't know they are infected,which makes it important but difficult to identify them, Wainberg said.
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Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1530677.ece
March 18, 2007
Gay Romeo ballet gives Juliet kiss-offSteven SwinfordALAS, poor Juliet. Matthew Bourne, Britain's most successful choreographer,is to give Romeo a male lover in a gay version of the romantic tragedy.
Bourne, whose all-male Swan Lake has enthralled audiences for more than adecade, is again using an all-male cast for Romeo, Romeo - his version ofProkofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet, based on the Shakespeare play.
For Bourne, 47, the challenge is to portray a convincing gay relationship indance. He said last week: "It's more to do with dancing than with sexuality.A male dancer, whether he's gay or straight, fits into a relationship with afemale partner very happily.
"Getting away from that, making a convincing love duet, a romantic, sexualduet, for two men that is comfortable to do and comfortable to watch - Idon't know if you can. I've never seen it done."
Bourne's Swan Lake, in which all the swans and cygnets are male, was firststaged at Sadler's Wells theatre in London in 1995, and became thelongest-running ballet in London's West End and on Broadway. But although itwas critically celebrated, Bourne has long had concerns that it was short ofbeing a true homosexual work of art, since many of the performers were notplaying people.
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From Michael Emanuel Rajner
National Secretary - Campaign to End AIDS
Founding Member - Campaign to End AIDS-FLORIDA
Affordable Housing for low and moderate income individuals living withHIV/AIDS is a major issue throughout the nation and our government is notdedicating the resources required to effective respond to this issue.
In the month of March alone I have heard from over a dozen people livingwith HIV/AIDS troubled over the fact that they can not find a safe andaffordable place to live. Without housing, an individual's foundation isalmost non-existent. Without housing, where do you keep your food, yourmeds, get the needed rest to fight the infection?
With that said, below is an announcement for an upcoming HOPWA "open forum"in Miami/Dade County. While no public or private program is perfect, itrequires the people benefiting from the program to contribute to theplanning process and provide constructive feedback and present possiblesolutions to continually improve the system for all. When most laws andprograms are enacted and implemented, the substance and response to thecrisis usually get distorted in the process and politics. The legislativeprocess does not end there - it is up to you as the recipient to claim yourseat as a stakeholder and participate.
Just last week I heard from a gentleman in Northern Florida where theirHOPWA program cut rental benefits from $650 a month to $200 a month. Whenthese recipients may already be on a fixed income of $13,000 annually, howare they going to survive? Across the nation we as a community areexperiencing cuts in government funded HIV/AIDS programs when you considermore and more people become infected with HIV/AIDS everyday!
Participate and claim your seat as a stakeholder at the table.
Yours in the fight!
Michael Emanuel Rajner
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Swedish church open to gay church weddings if same-sex marriage legalized
The Associated Press
Friday, March 16, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/16/europe/EU-GEN-Sweden-Gay-Marriage.php
STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Sweden's Lutheran Church is willing to marry gay couplesin church if the government decides to make same-sex weddings legal, aspokesman for the Swedish Church Assembly said Friday.
Since 1994, Sweden has recognized civil unions between homosexual couples,but marriage in the traditional sense has remained illegal. On Wednesdaynext week, however, a government-appointed committee will present a reporton whether the law allowing civil unions between homosexuals should bechanged to also include marriage.
Bishop Claes-Bertil Ytterberg, spokesman for the Swedish Church Assembly,the decision-making body for the Church of Sweden, said that if the reportproposes a law change to allow homosexual weddings, the church will supportit and will open its doors for same-sex ceremonies. But it will be up to theindividual priest to decide whether to perform it.
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International Lesbian and Gay Association
www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2007-0105&language=EN
16 March 2007
European Parliament calls on Nigeria to respect human rights for LGBT people
Yesterday the European Parliament adopted a resolution on human rightsviolations in Nigeria and amongst other things called on Nigeria not toadopt the bill currently being debated. The bill is entitled the 'Same SexMarriage (Prohibition) Act' and it would impose a five-year prison sentenceon anyone who 'performs, witnesses, aids or abets the ceremony of same sexmarriage', but also on anyone involved publicly or privately in positiverepresentation of or advocacy for same sex relationships.
The European Parliament was presented with different drafts of thisResolution prepared by various political groups in the Parliament, but theversion prepared by the Group of the European People's Party (ChristianDemocrats) and European Democrats (EPP-DE) was adopted. This is the'weakest'version in terms of the denial of human rights to LGBT people in Nigeria,which is causing causes serious concern amongst human rights defendersworldwide.
Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said:
"We welcome the European Parliament's stance on human rights violations inNigeria. At the same time we believe a more targeted resolution on thespecific situation of LGBT human rights defenders would have sent a strongermessage to Nigeria. We fear that the current outrageous bill outlawing anyactivities representing and protecting the human rights of LGBT people inNigeria is not prominently dealt with by the Parliament and this issue mightloose its momentum by being shelved together with other ongoing human rightsconcerns in Nigeria."
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BayWindows.com
http://baywindows.com/ME2/Audiences/Segments/Publications/Print.asp?Module=Publications::Article&id=41A52F447F86430CB4739334653B1485
Issue Date: 3/15/2007, Posted On: 3/15/2007
HRC struggles to find its footing in New Media
Ethan Jacobs
ejacobs@baywindows.com
As part of his criticism of the Human Rights Campaign, Malcontent bloggerMatt posted an altered version of the HRC logo, replacing the equal signwith a "less than" symbol. Blogger Chris Crain also posted the altered logoon his blog.
For the past two months, some of the most prominent LGBT bloggers on the webhave taken aim at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), criticizing the country'slargest LGBT rights organization with a relentlessness that would have beenimpossible just a few years ago. On a daily basis, bloggers from across thepolitical spectrum - conservatives like Andrew Sullivan, progressives likePam Spaulding and Michael Petrelis and libertarian-leaning bloggers likethose at the Malcontent - have used the platform of their blogs to whack theorganization on everything ranging from the organization's perceivedalignment with the Democratic Party and its slowness to acknowledge the workof gay-friendly Republicans to its aggressive fundraising and merchandisingcampaigns within the community to its alleged ineffectiveness
The back and forth between HRC and the blogs shows just how difficult it isfor an organization to control its public image in the24/7-instant-communication world of the Internet.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/v-print/story/43983.html
Posted on Sun, Mar. 18, 2007
Bigotry hurts the military
BY ALAN K. SIMPSON
As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it iscritical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service in themilitary. I voted for ''don't ask, don't tell.'' But much has changed since1993.
My thinking shifted when I read that the military was firing translatorsbecause they are gay. According to the Government Accountability Office,more than 300 language experts have been fired under ''don't ask, don'ttell,'' including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. This when evenSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently acknowledged the nation's''foreign language deficit'' and how much our government needs Farsi andArabic speakers. Is there a ''straight'' way to translate Arabic? Is there a''gay'' Farsi? My God, we'd better start talking sense before it is toolate. We need every able-bodied, smart patriot to help us win this war.
In today's perilous global security situation, the real question is whetherallowing homosexuals to serve openly would enhance or degrade our readiness.The best way to answer this is to reconsider the original points ofopposition to open service.
America's views on homosexuals serving openly in the military have changeddramatically. The percentage of Americans in favor has grown from 57 percentin 1993 to a whopping 91 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed in a Galluppoll in 2003.
Military attitudes have also shifted. Fully three-quarters of 500 vetsreturning from Iraq and Afghanistan said in a December Zogby poll that theywere comfortable interacting with gay people. Also last year, a Zogby pollshowed that a majority of service members who knew a gay member in theirunit said the person's presence had no negative impact on the unit orpersonal morale. Senior leaders such as retired Gen. John Shalikashvili andLt. Gen. Daniel Christman, a former West Point superintendent, are callingfor a second look.
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BayWindows.com
http://baywindows.com/ME2/Audiences/Segments/Publications/Print.asp?Module=Publications::Article&id=41A52F447F86430CB4739334653B1485
Issue Date: 3/15/2007, Posted On: 3/15/2007
HRC struggles to find its footing in New Media
Ethan Jacobs
ejacobs@baywindows.com
As part of his criticism of the Human Rights Campaign, Malcontent bloggerMatt posted an altered version of the HRC logo, replacing the equal signwith a "less than" symbol. Blogger Chris Crain also posted the altered logoon his blog.
For the past two months, some of the most prominent LGBT bloggers on the webhave taken aim at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), criticizing the country'slargest LGBT rights organization with a relentlessness that would have beenimpossible just a few years ago. On a daily basis, bloggers from across thepolitical spectrum - conservatives like Andrew Sullivan, progressives likePam Spaulding and Michael Petrelis and libertarian-leaning bloggers likethose at the Malcontent - have used the platform of their blogs to whack theorganization on everything ranging from the organization's perceivedalignment with the Democratic Party and its slowness to acknowledge the workof gay-friendly Republicans to its aggressive fundraising and merchandisingcampaigns within the community to its alleged ineffectiveness
The back and forth between HRC and the blogs shows just how difficult it isfor an organization to control its public image in the24/7-instant-communication world of the Internet. The various readerships ofthe blogs in question is significant: Sullivan, who is an editor for TheAtlantic Monthly, averages 83,720 visitors a day, according to a site meteron his blog; Spaulding responded in an email request for information thatshe gets 4300 unique visitors per day; the Malcontent site meter says thereare 1944 unique visitors per day and Petrelis gets about 418 visitors a day.In the not-so-recent past, HRC could control its public image through emailsto its members and stories in the LGBT press that would always carry HRC'spoint of view. But persistant criticisms from influential bloggers likeSullivan, Spaulding and Petrelis have upended that dynamic.
It's unclear what prompted the recent criticisms in large part because,according to the bloggers themselves, it has not been a coordinated effort."It's definitely not organized because I've been blogging and I haven't hadtime to read a lot of other blogs," said Spaulding, who writes at Pam'sHouse Blend, which has taken home the Weblog Award for best LGBT blog forthe past two years. Spaulding said she was prompted to write postingscritical of HRC last month for its silence after Wyoming Republican StateReps. Dan Zwonitzer and Pat Childers spoke out in favor of gay rights duringa hearing on a bill to ban recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages,helping convince the committee to kill the legislation. Spaulding said shelearned about the speeches after Petrelis wrote about them on his blog, thePetrelis Files, Feb. 23. Both bloggers took HRC to task for notacknowledging the speeches through an official release.
On his blog Feb. 26 Petrelis wrote, in response to a post from Spauldingasking when readers expected HRC to issue a release: "I think Pam isexpecting way too much from the Democratic Party hacks running HRC. Fourdays after Zwonitzer delivered his plea for gay equality, HRC remains silentabout it."
About a week and a half later, HRC issued a public letter thanking the twolawmakers and credited Spaulding and Petrelis with bringing the story totheir attention. But for Spaulding, the acknowledgement of Zwonitzer andChilders came too late.
"HRC has chosen to cleave to the Democratic Party to the exclusion ofrecognizing allies we need to have on the other side of the aisle," saidSpaulding.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_064102345.html
Mar 5, 2007 10:29 am US/Eastern
Religious Leaders Rally Around Sex Change Manager
(CBS4) Largo Religious leaders in the City of Largo plan to rally around aformer official fired after announcing his plans to pursue a sex changeoperation.
Last week, City commissioners voted 5 - 2 to oust City Manager SteveStanton.
"We think this is a really clear example of the type of employmentdiscrimination that transgendered people face every day," said SimonAronoff, deputy director of the National Center for Transgender Equality inWashington, D.C.
Area religious leaders agree that Stanton's dismissal was discrimination, sothey're planning to protest it Tuesday morning in front of Largo's CityHall.
Stanton, who was forced to reveal his secret by a local newspaper, is onpaid leave while the city begins the legal process to end his contract. Ifhe decides to appeal his termination, the commission must vote again toformally fire him.
Stanton had a solid reputation as a forceful and energetic leader in his 14years on the job, which he had planned to keep as he went through the genderreassignment process.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Andrew Sullivan on Ann Coulter
Andrew Sullivan
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Faggot
I watched Ann Coulter last night in the gayest way I could. I was on astairmaster at a gym, slack-jawed at her proud defense of calling someone a"faggot" on the same stage as presidential candidates and as an icon oftoday's conservative movement. The way in which Fox News and Sean Hannityand, even more repulsively, Pat Cadell, shilled for her was a new low forFox, I think - and for what remains of decent conservatism. "We're allfriends here," Hannity chuckled at the end. Yes, they were. And no faggotswere on the show to defend themselves. That's fair and balanced.
I'm not going to breathe more oxygen into this story except to say a coupleof things that need saying. Coulter has an actual argument in self-defenseand it's worth addressing. Her argument is that it was a joke and that sinceit was directed at a straight man, it wasn't homophobic. It was, in herwords, a "school-yard taunt," directed at a straight man, meaning a "wuss"and a "sissy". Why would gays care? She is "pro-gay," after all. Apart frombacking a party that wants to strip gay couples of all legal rights byamending the federal constitution, kick them out of the military where theyare putting their lives on the line, put them into "reparative therapy" to"cure" them, keep it legal to fire them in many states, and refusing toinclude them in hate crime laws, Coulter is very pro-gay. As evidence of howpro-gay she is, check out all the gay men and women in America now defendingher.
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