GLBT DIGEST March 20, 2007

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net
and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.nyblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=4986

Honors, Heroes & Hillary
GMHC Dinner Marks 25th Anniversary
Mar. 16, 2007

Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) commemorated its 25th anniversary-and the25th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic-with a gala dinner Monday night atPier Sixty at Chelsea Piers.

Nearly 1,000 people attended the event, which raised almost $900,000 and
honored the individuals and institutions that have lead the fight againstAIDS.

Sen. Hillary Clinton stopped by to address the pre-dinner crowd. Thepresidential contender praised GMHC and promised an increase once she'selected president in government monies to the Ryan White CARE Act, whichhelps those with HIV/AIDS.

Honorees at the GMHC dinner included Mathilde Krim, Ph.D., founding chairmanof amfAR; Craig R. Miller, AIDS Walk founder; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Viacom,Inc; the Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, chairman of the Board, NationalBlack Leadership Commission on AIDS; fashion designer Michael Kors; andrenowned furniture designers Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams.

Rosie O'Donnell, Cyndi Lauper, New York City Council Speaker ChristineQuinn, and Stan Herman were among the presenters.

Larry Kramer and Edmund White, two of the six founders of GMHC, were also inattendance.
-Trenton Straube



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/ny-spamaechi185135167mar18,0,3419591,print.story

Gay ex-NBA player Amaechi aims to ignite global talks on human rights,homophobia

BY KAREN BAILIS
karen.bailis@newsday.com

March 18, 2007

John Amaechi is always up for a challenge.

The 6-10 former NBA center has built his life around setting goals beyondhis towering reach and meeting them. His career is testament to his focusand determination.

A pro career is not built on height alone, and when one starts out as arotund, shy, athletics-allergic boy from the basketball desert of England,the outsized odds already were against Amaechi. But once he decided as ateen that he would become the first NBA player to come from England, therewas no swaying Amaechi from "the plan" he drew up with his "mum" to help himreach his goal.

He's taking that same driven approach now that he's become the first formerNBA player to come out as gay, with the publication last month of hismemoir, "Man in the Middle."

His objective: Ignite a global conversation about human rights andhomophobia and improve the lives of those harmed by bigotry.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20070317T160000-0500_120540_OBS_LARGE_NUMBER_OF_GAY_COPS_.asp

Large number of gay cops
Homosexuals in the JCF get high marks for performance
By T K Whyte Sunday Observer correspondent
Sunday, March 18, 2007



Like their counterparts in many other parts of the world, Jamaican cops arelearning to live with a large and growing number of gay and lesbiancolleagues, in a profession known to be typically hard on homosexuals.

But the increase in the number of homosexuals has apparently caught theJamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) off guard. There is no official policy ongays in the constabulary, and while it has been acknowledged that they aremany - one cop used the term "rampant" - actual figures have not beencompiled.

"We have quite a large number of them (gays and lesbians) in the force butthey are not openly acknowledged. They are still in the closet," said headof the police legal affairs division, Inspector Gladys Brown-Campbell.

Brown-Campbell, a lawyer, also admitted that the force did not have a policyon how they must be treated, and in the absence of official policy on gays,the police force treated homosexual cops as any other members of the force.

"If an offence is reported against them, it is investigated and if proven,they are usually dealt with to the full extent of the law, and that is toplace them before the courts," Brown-Campbell told the Sunday Observer in aninterview.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.nyblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=4970

This Gay Vet Doesn't Need Lecture on Morality

By
Mar. 16, 2007

TO THE EDITOR:

Re: "Gay group wants apology from Gen. Pace for calling gays 'immoral'"
(nyblade.com, March 13)

Marine Gen. Peter Pace's comments during his March 12 interview with theChicago Tribune should not come as a surprise to anyone. This type ofextreme homophobia among some military leaders has always been at the rootof the military's discriminatory policies against gays and lesbians.

However, as a gay veteran, I no longer have to be lectured by militaryleaders on the laws of morality. The military has much to account for withrespect to its own moral failings as an institution. And Gen. Pace mustaccept the responsibility of reforming the military establishment to preventfuture moral failings. I would like to summarize just a few examples.

First, it is immoral to deny minorities, such as gays and lesbians, equalprotection under the law and a level of freedom of speech commensurate withother service members.

It is immoral to continue prosecuting an immoral war in Iraq, which wasstarted and continued with poor and sometimes false military intelligence.

It is immoral not to properly equip our troops for such a war. It is immoralto institutionalize torture in our armed services as was done in Abu Ghraibprison and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5447119&siteId=36

onpoint
New ideas on gay rights
From D.C. to Boulder

By Michael Booth
Denver Post Staff Writer
Denver Post
Article Last Updated:03/17/2007 02:24:36 PM MDT

When it comes to the morality of being gay, you just can't get a straightanswer these days.

The sitting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff calls homosexualityimmoral, and the first and toughest one to call him out is a gray-haired,red-state senator from Virginia who used to be secretary of the Navy and nowheads the powerful, hidebound Armed Services Committee.

Meanwhile, it's Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, alleged champions of allthings diverse and politically correct, who can't get their heads out oftheir press releases and make a clear denunciation of Gen. Peter Pace.

When former NBA star Tim Hardaway said on radio that he hates gays, it wasthe allegedly Neanderthal world of male sports that immediately attackedHardaway as a pariah, a sad and lonely loser.

Then a couple of Boulder punks tried to make their own statement againstgays last weekend, starting a fight with two men walking arm in arm. Theirresponse didn't come from the ACLU, GLAAD or the United Nations - you canread the official answer in the black eye and bloody nose sported by themanly heterosexual attackers in their police mug shots. They got pummeled byone of the guys they picked on.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/49324

Top General's 'Immoral' Assessment of Gays Leads to Positive Fallout
By Deb Price, Creators Syndicate
Posted on March 19, 2007, Printed on March 20, 2007

As Wyoming's straight-shooters might say, "Hey, Gen. Pace, thanks for theinsult!"

Without intending to, Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of taff,helpfully restarted the national conversation about the treatment of gayAmericans fighting for our country. He described those of us who're gay as"immoral" and likened us to adulterers.

Momentarily slipping out of the familiar camouflage of discreditedrationales for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Pace left absolutely zero doubt aboutthe true reason uniformed gays continue to be forced to stay closeted,celibate and fearful of being hounded out of the military: ignorance.

In the uproar that followed, something wonderful happened: We got verypublic signals that even among Republicans who voted for the gay ban,there's a refreshing willingness to reconsider it.

Alan Simpson, a retired three-term Republican senator from Wyoming,eloquently explained in a Washington Post guest column why he no longersupports the ban. And Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, a respectedformer chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, "strongly" disagreedwith Pace's characterization of gays as mmoral and announced he'll notcomment on the ban until after new hearings are held.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/49160

For the Christian Right, Gay-Hating Is Just the Start
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
Posted on March 19, 2007, Printed on March 20, 2007

http://www.alternet.org/story/49160/

On the morning of March 8 in Sioux Center, Iowa, a bus parked outside ahotel was
undiscovered with anti-gay slurs, along with a hate-filledmessage on a piece of rdboard reading: "God does not love feary fags."

The bus was one of two that were transporting some 50 lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender students, along with supporters, on the start of a two-monthtrip to 32 Christian colleges with policies that discriminate against thosewho are not heterosexuals. The Equality Ride, as it is known, organized bySoulforce, had first traveled to Sioux Center to visit Dordt College, aschool that counts "sexual activity with someone of the same gender" aspossible grounds for "an employee's discharge or a student's dismissal."

The harassment is not new. During a similar series of protests last year,someone in Cleveland, Tenn., scrawled "fags-mobile" on the side of the bus.Members of the Equality Ride have been arrested for trespassing, at the WestPoint military academy and elsewhere, and greeted at many of their stopswith active hostility. The night before the buses were spray-painted withhateful slogans, three vehicles circled the hotel where the activists werestaying to harass those inside.

The website has more on the ride, including pictures of the bus graffiti.But what is important is not this specific incident, or any other recentexamples of public intolerance, but the seismic shift in public mood in muchof the United States, a shift largely engineered by the radical Christianright. The Christian right has begun to strip gays and lesbians of theirconstitutional rights and render them second-class citizens. The gay rightsmovement, which made many gains over the past couple of decades, is reelingbackward. And the mounting persecution of gays and lesbians is ominous notonly for them but for the rest of society.

I spent two years reporting and writing "American Fascists: The ChristianRight and the War on America." At the numerous gatherings I attended aroundthe country, one of the driving forces and most effective mobilizing agentswas the issue of sexuality. This mass movement, led by figures such as JamesDobson, claims that tolerance of "alternative lifestyles" is eroding theAmerican family. They describe "same-sex attraction" as a disease that canbe cured. And they condemn all sexual love that is not heterosexual as anabomination in the eyes of God.



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Malta Today

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2007/03/18/t5.html

News . 18 March 2007


More people under 34 favour gay marriages

James Debono

Younger people have a completely different view when it comes to gaymarriages. With 54 per cent of respondents aged 34 and under favouringregislating gay marriages, over 82 per cent of those aged over 55 opposesuch a measure, a MaltaToday survey reveals.

Overall, only 29 per cent support the introduction of gay marriages. Theseinclude 6 per cent who specified that they favour gay marriages but disagreewith gay adoption rights.

The prevalence of liberal opinions among the younger age groups seems topoint towards a radical break with tradition in the near future.

Catholic European countries like Spain and Belgium are now in league withthe Netherlands as the only countries in Europe celebrating gay marriages.Most other countries have introduced civil partnerships which give gays mostif not all the rights enjoyed by married couples.

Labour respondents are more favourable to gay marriages than Nationalistrespondents. While only 33 per cent of respondents who had voted MLP in 2003favour gay marriages, only 14 per cent of PN voters have the same opinion.As in the case of divorce, Labour voters show a more secular attitude.

10 per cent of respondents claim that they have a relative living with asame sex partner. This could be resulting in a greater understanding ofproblems encountered by gay people in their daily lives.



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Telegraph.co.uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=IKEB0NI1LA4JVQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/03/19/ngays119.xml&site=5&page=0

Last ditch attempt to block gay rights bill
By Simon Caldwell
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 20/03/2007

A Conservative peer is to launch a last-minute attempt to kill offcontroversial new gay rights laws.

Baroness O'Cathain will propose a motion against the Sexual OrientationRegulations when they come before the House of Lords on Wednesday.

The regulations have the aim of ending discrimination against homosexuals inthe provision of services, goods and facilities.

But they have been severely criticised by Christian, Jewish and Muslimleaders who fear that they will "discriminate heavily" against anyone whoexpresses the view that gay sexual acts are not equal to the conjugal loveof heterosexual married couples.

Catholic bishops have said that the regulations could force the closure oftheir 13 adoption agencies which will lose government funding if they refuseto place children with same sex couples.



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MSNBC.msn.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17662272/site/newsweek/print/1/displaymode/1098/

A New Battle Over Gays in the Military
Peter Pace called homosexual acts 'immoral' last week. It wasn't the firsttime he'd weighed in on the matter.

By Dan Ephron
Newsweek

March 26, 2007 issue - Brian Fricke says he played the "pronoun game" forabout three years. The Marine Corps sergeant substituted "she" for "he" whenhe told peers about his relationships, keeping the fact that he was gay fromall but a small number in his unit. It wasn't until the day he left for Iraqin 2004 that the pretending got to be too much. Fricke, a Tennesseanstationed at Miramar air base near San Diego, was being driven to thedeparture point by his boyfriend, Brad. The two had been together forseveral months, and it dawned on Fricke at the staging area that, with thebombings in Iraq, he might not see Brad again. Around them, Marines weretaking leave of their own loved ones. Fricke felt the resentment rise. "I'mputting my life on the line like the others," he recalls feeling. "Damn it,if I'm not going to say goodbye to the person I love." Fricke kissed Bradhard on the lips. When he turned to face his unit, he realized no one cared."People want to know that you'll be there for them in battle. Everythingelse just matters a lot less."

Not to everyone, it turns out. Gen. Peter Pace, another Marine who heads theJoint Chiefs of Staff, caused a storm last week when he called homosexualacts "immoral" in response to a question from the Chicago Tribune. Heexplained later he was expressing a personal view, but NEWSWEEK has learnedit wasn't the first time he'd done so. At a 2005 Wharton School leadershipseminar, Pace told grad students, also in response to a question: "The U.S.military mission fundamentally rests on the trust, confidence andcooperation amongst its members. And the homosexual lifestyle does notcomport with that kind of trust and confidence." In both instances, Pace wasarguing the merits of "don't ask, don't tell"-a 1993 law that says gays andlesbians can serve in the military only if they stay in the closet. But asthe military establishment clings to the policy, the experiences of Frickeand others, buttressed by recent polls, suggest younger service members aremore willing to accept gays in their ranks, even when they're out.

The shift mirrors a rising acceptance nationwide of homosexuals. The newNEWSWEEK Poll shows 63 percent of Americans believe gays and lesbians shouldbe able to serve openly in the military. When members of the military wereasked a similar question, 58 percent either agreed gays should serve openlyor were neutral in a Zogby poll taken four months ago. Experts offer theIraq war as one explanation. "When the bullets start flying, that'sprecisely when military people don't care about the [sexual] identity ofpeople next to them," says Aaron Belkin, who researches sexuality and thearmed forces at the University of California, Santa Barbara. And with thewar impinging on recruitment and retention, the military seems to apply"don't ask, don't tell" selectively. Only about 600 gay and lesbian servicemembers were kicked out of the military last year, compared with about 1,200in 2001.

Still, Belkin and other congressional observers say the policy won't changeany time soon. When Democrats swept Congress last November, Rep. MartinMeehan of Massachusetts drafted a bill to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."More than 100 House members have signed it. But with an election campaignunderway, many Democrats believe it's the wrong time to be seen as cateringto a liberal constituency.

Which leaves service members like Fricke feeling vulnerable. Though he cameout to more members of his unit while in Iraq, Fricke remained worried thata less tolerant officer might find out and press for a dishonorabledischarge, which would jeopardize his benefits. When Fricke returned home,he told Brad to stay away from the arrival hall, where the family reunionstend to get giddy and tearful. Greeting him there seemed too risky. Ninemonths later, Fricke turned down a fat re-enlistment bonus and left themilitary. "I was hiding less, but by then I didn't want to hide at all," hesays. In his civilian life, the pronouns are all in order.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031907poland.htm

Polish Anti-Gay School Bill Condemned By International Human Rights Group
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: March 19, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET

(New York City) The Polish government's proposed legislation to censor alldiscussion of homosexuality in schools and other academic institutions wouldviolate freedom of speech and impede free access to information, HumanRights Watch said Monday in an open letter to Prime Minister JaroslawKaczynski.

Last week, the deputy minister of education, Miroslaw Orzechowski, said thatthe government is developing legislation to "punish anyone who promoteshomosexuality" in schools and education establishments. Teachers, principalsand students who violate the law could face dismissal, fines or prisonterms.

HIV/AIDS educators who address safer sex for LGBT people would be bannedfrom schools, as would all LGBT organizations. Orzechowski also announcedthat "teachers who reveal their homosexuality will be fired from work."

The legislation could pass parliament by the end of the month.

"Polish authorities claim to be protecting families, but in fact they aretrying to deny children free speech and lifesaving information on HIV/AIDS,"said Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch's LGBT Rights Program.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031907blacklife.htm

Greater Access To HIV/AIDS Treatment Helps Raise Life Expectancy For AfricanAmericans
by The Canadian Press

Posted: March 19, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Toronto, Ontario) The life expectancy gap between African-Americans andwhites in the United States is narrowing, research from McGill University inMontreal and two U.S. and British universities shows.

The effect was most noticeable among African-American men, largely due to adecrease in homicides, improvements in the treatment of HIV-AIDS and feweraccidents, said head author Sam Harper, an epidemiologist who specializes inthe study of health inequalities at McGill.

``Those are the main factors driving the gains in men. For women, those samethings also are important but also reductions in heart disease mortality,''Harper said from Montreal.

He and his co-authors studied data from the U.S. National Vital StatisticsSystem to try to figure out what was behind the closing of the lifeexpectancy gap that began to be apparent around the mid-1990s.

Life expectancy in the United States has been on the rise since at least thelate 19th century. But for as long as life expectancy rates have been brokenout by race and ethnicity, the average life expectancy of blacks has beenshorter than whites.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031907military.htm

Gays In Military Not Re-enlisting Because Of DADT Fears
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: March 19, 2007 - 3:00 pm ET

(Washington) For the first time researchers have looked into the number ofLGBT members of the military who have not re-enlisted when their tours ofduty end. Government statistics show that since the passage of "Don't Ask,Don't Tell" in 1994 an average of 1,000 men and women were discharged eachyear as a direct result of the policy.

But advocates for gays in the military have long believed the number wasactually much higher because of failure to re-enlist. The Williams Instituteon Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Lawdecided to examine the issue of LGBT re-enlistment.

In a study released Monday the Institute says it found that in addition tothose discharged, 3,000 LGBT servicemembers would likely stay in themilitary if they could serve openly.

The research examined re-enlistments for 2004. The military intends to addmore than 18,000 new troops each year for the next five years. The studyauthors said that if patterns observed in 2004 were to continue for the nextfive years, the estimated retained LGB personnel would account for nearlyone in six of the additional troops required.

"If the military needs more troops, it makes more sense to keep theestimated 65,000 well-trained and seasoned lesbian, gay and bisexualsoldiers they already have instead of lowering standards to recruitconvicted felons, as a recent report from the Michael D. Palm Center showsthey have been doing," observed study author Gary J. Gates.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031907castration.htm

3 Sentenced In Castration 'Dungeon'
by The Associated Press

Posted: March 1 9, 2007 - 11:00 am ET

(Waynesville, North Carolina) Three men accused of operating what policedescribed as a sadomasochistic "dungeon" that included castrations have beensentenced to jail time.

Richard Peter "Master Rick" Sciara, his partner of 20 years Michael Mendez,and the man they called their slave, Danny Carroll Reeves, pleaded guilty tofelony castration and maiming. Superior Court Judge Dennis Winner said itwas difficult to call the dungeon's willing patients "victims," but he saidsix castrations performed there were certainly a crime.

"I think this is a type of perversion that cannot be tolerated by society,"Winner said during a sentencing hearing.

In plea bargains, Sciara, 62, was sentenced to a year in prison, though hehas served all but two weeks of that time. Reeves, 50, was sentenced toeight months in prison, and Mendez, 61, received four months. Reeves andMendez have already served their sentences and will enter four and twomonths of house arrest, respectively, and three years of supervisedprobation.

In exchange for the pleas, the state dropped charges of misdemeanorpracticing medicine without a license and conspiracy.

Prosecutors said the men ran a sadomasochistic "dungeon" fashioned from anenclosed carport in 2004 and 2005 at a house in a quiet neighborhood nearWaynesville in western North Carolina. Six men, some from as far away asSouth America, came to the home for castration, while others went seekingother types of body-modification surgery, prosecutors said.

Sciara had worked as a physician's assistant at the Colmery-O'Neil VAMedical Center in Topeka, Kan., from February 1976 to June 1999.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602043_pf.html

Girls' Fertility Chartbook Stirs Debate

By Maia Szalavitz
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 20, 2007; HE02



Should teenage girls be taught to recognize the physical signs that indicatewhen they are most likely to become pregnant? Health educator ToniWeschler -- author of the 1995 bestseller "Taking Charge of YourFertility" -- thinks so, rallied by hundreds of letters from women who readher book later in life and wished they had had such information earlier.

Consequently, Weschler has published a version for teens. Titled "CycleSavvy: The Smart Teen's Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body" (HarperCollins),the more recent work has sparked controversy -- and not just amongsupporters of abstinence-only education. Some comprehensive sex educationadvocates are asking: Is this too much information, too soon?

"You can't imagine how challenging it was to do in a way that respected theintelligence of teens," Weschler says. "All I can say is, I will never be apolitician."

In fact, Weschler -- who collaborates on her books with her brother, NewYorker writer Lawrence Weschler -- argued fiercely with him over just howmuch information to include.

He wanted to feature the specific rules that show how women can chart theirwaking temperatures, cervical fluid and cervical position to avoid orachieve pregnancy. But she argued that teenagers weren't yet responsibleenough to follow those rules.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/opinion/oped/oped.htm

The ABCs Of Discrimination

by Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal Executive Director

The governor of Utah did a dangerous thing last week. He signed a bill intolaw that would allow schools throughout the state to ban gay-straightalliances if they do not "maintain the boundaries of socially appropriatebehavior."

The extremist lawmakers who'd backed the bill claim its regulations willapply equally to all student clubs. This is as disingenuous as it ishomophobic. Debating the bill over the past month or so, lawmakers dubbed itthe "gay clubs bill," and used it to codify their baseless concerns thatgay-straight alliances (GSAs) "indoctrinate" helpless youth into the "gaylifestyle." And while the new rules are indeed written to apply to allclubs, everybody knows that requirements like obtaining parental permissionto join a club or submitting written materials to the principal for reviewmean quite a different thing when you're comparing a GSA with, say, a chessclub.

A school district rarely monitors a chess club to see if it's maintaining"boundaries of socially appropriate behavior," but this kind of scrutiny isroutine for GSAs. It's why we've spent more than a decade fighting for therights of gay clubs. In fact, one of Lambda Legal's earliest GSA casesinvolved the first gay student club in the state of Utah, formed in 1995 ata Salt Lake City school. We argued that under the federal Equal Access Act,schools that receive federal funding and allow at least one after-schoolclub to meet and use the school's facilities may not deny any student clubthe same treatment based on the content of what they want to discuss.

The Salt Lake City school district knew we were right, but instead of simplyletting the GSA meet, it banned all noncurricular student clubs. Talk aboutcutting off your nose. There were more lawsuits and protests by students andparents, and finally in 2000, the district relented, allowing all clubs tomeet, including the GSA. Two years ago, the controversy surfaced again whenstudents at a school in conservative Utah County formed a GSA. The schoolboard navigated around the Equal Access Act by requiring parental permissionefore students could join any student club. It's no surprise that the GSAstalled out under such a tough restriction - and that restriction is nowstate law.

Today there are about a dozen GSAs in the state of Utah. Think about that:roughly 12 gay clubs in the entire state. Even if each club has 10 activemembers (which they all don't), we're still talking about 120 people out of2.5 million. So state lawmakers cannot be proud: they've targeted the 120 orso young people under their wings who are some of the most in need of theirprotection.



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The Express Gay News

http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=12053

Arkansas gay foster ban bill remains in Senate
Governor hasn't said if he will sign measure if it passes
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) | Mar 20, 8:36 AM

The Arkansas Senate again backed away from making a bill banning gays andunmarried couples from being foster parents or adopting children immediatelybecome law after being enacted.


A Senate vote Monday failed to add an emergency clause to the bill by Sen.Shawn Womack (R-Mountain Home). Senators voted 20-7 last week to pass thebill, failing to reach the 24-vote mark needed to allow the clause.


After Monday's vote, Womack said he would make a decision within a daywhether to try again or to simply send the bill over to the House as thelegislative session begins to wind down.


"The emergency clause is just going to save us three and a half or fourmonths," Womack said. "I would like to have it go into effect now but Idon't want to lose the whole bill because of three months."


However, Womack said he might have the votes if "we could get everybody inthe room at the same time." The emergency clause vote received 21 votes topass Monday, with seven "no" votes and seven senators not voting.



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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail818xmar20,0,4740827.story?coll=sfla-news-letters

Free speech is a right that applies to all of us in all ways

Leon Van Dyke
Fort Lauderdale

March 20, 2007

The writer of the Feb. 28 letter, "Free speech?" fails to see the irony whenshe found John Amaechi's "coming out" statement as information she did notwant nor need to know.

Conversely, then, Tim Hardaway's display of homophobic bigotry wasinformation that others did not want nor need to know. The writer should beapprised of the fact that exposure to all ideas is an opportunity to thinkand decide for ourselves which ideas we approve.

The writer seems to approve of Mr. Hardaway's thinking. That's based onwhatever thought processes to which she has been exposed. I'll back Mr.Amaechi and his freely, frankly and publicly speaking about his sexualitywhile allowing Mr. Hardaway his opportunity to express his feelings, thoughI will hardly be one to approve of such thinking.



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Detroit News

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070319/OPINION03/703190318&template=printart

Deb Price

GOP shows willingness to reconsider Don't Tell policy


A s Wyoming's straight-shooters might say, "Hey, Gen. Pace, thanks for theinsult!"

Without intending to, Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,helpfully restarted the national conversation about the treatment of gayAmericans fighting for our country: He described those of us who're gay as"immoral" and likened us to adulterers.

Momentarily slipping out of the familiar camouflage of discreditedrationales for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Pace left absolutely zero doubt aboutthe true reason uniformed gays continue to be forced to stay closeted,celibate and fearful of being hounded out of the military: Ignorance.

In the uproar that followed, something wonderful happened: We got verypublic signals that even among Republicans who voted for the gay ban,there's a refreshing willingness to reconsider it.

Alan Simpson, a retired three-term Republican senator from Wyoming,loquently explained in a Washington Post guest column why he no longersupports the ban. And Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, a respectedformer chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, "strongly" disagreedwith Pace's characterization of gays as immoral and announced he'll notcomment on the ban until after new hearings are held.



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

http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18084888&brd=2729&pag=461&dept_id=590556&rfi=6

Why Are So Many Mid-Life Gay Men Getting HIV?

By: Spencer Cox and Bruce Kellerhouse, Ph.D.
Gay City News, New York, NY
03/15/2007

New data released by the city's Department of Health show that the highestrates of new HIV infections are among gay men 35-49 years old. Thesefindings are alarming and, to some, perplexing.

Why are so many mid-life gay men who were able to avoid HIV infection for solong now taking risks that are exposing them to the disease? We believethat one common thread runs through most of these men's life histories: theycame out and/or lived during the death-saturated culture of the 1980's andearly-mid 1990's.

Mid-life gay men have lived most of their adult lives during the worst ofthe HIV/AIDS epidemic, experiencing the loss of partners, friends, andpeople in their community. As witnesses to so much illness, death, and loss,their voices have seldom been heard and their needs largely overlooked.Having once been the activists, caregivers, and volunteers for ourcommunity, many mid-life gay men now feel invisible and isolated. Not onlylives were lost, during this period, but entire social networks and ways ofliving disappeared too.

The traumatic effects of AIDS-related losses were closely studied between1988 and 1996. By 1988, gay men had already on average lost six lovers,friends, and/or family members. Researchers have shown that people who hadmore experiences of AIDS-related loss also had higher levels of traumaticstress response symptoms and recreational drug and sedative use.


However, almost no effort has been made to study the long-term impact of theAIDS epidemic on mid-life gay men, or to determine whether current elevatedlevels of risk-taking behaviors in gay men are related to the trauma ofsurviving one of the worst epidemics in our history. That lack of attentionmay now have come home to roost - in rising rates of risky behavior that aresecondary to the effects of unprocessed traumatic responses to decades-oldlosses that haunt our daily conscious and unconscious lives as mid-life gaymen.

Friendships have been shown to play an important role in health maintenanceand in provision of care during poor health. The relationship betweenfriendships and health is particularly important for gay men, for whomsocial networks often take the place of missing biological families.Conversely, many health problems that are now common among gay men are madeworse by loneliness and lack of social opportunities.



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

Gay-marriage issue up for debate - Indy Star

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/LOCAL1901/70318007/-1/RSS

March 18, 2007

Gay-marriage issue up for debate

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener

Louisville Courier-Journal columnist

A committee hearing Wednesday will signal whether Hoosiers are likely to bevoting in 2008 to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution or whetherthe long amendment process will just be getting under way again.

House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, pledged during the fall electioncampaign that the proposed amendment would get a hearing and a vote ifDemocrats controlled the chamber.

That was important because two years ago, when Democrats had the majority,Bauer blocked the resolution, saying he believed it was unnecessary becauseIndiana already has a law banning same-sex marriage.

Republicans, though, turned his action into a public spectacle and that falltook back control of the House.



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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories07/march/0316072.htm

March 16, 2007*

Some Democrats knock national party on LGBT issues*
by Eric Resnick

Gay Peoples Chronicle

*Washington, D.C.--*"If your goal is simply to elect Democrats, then give tothe Democratic National Committee."

"But if your goal is to make the Democratic Party better on LGBT issues,then your money should go to supportive state parties and independent LGBTgroups like the Stonewall Democrats," said Paul Yandura, a former Clintonadministration official and Democratic fundraiser.

"This is a conversation [the LGBT community] needs to have and hasn't yet,"Yandura added.

According to Yandura, "Not much has changed since last year" when he and hispartner Donald Hitchcock openly challenged DNC chair Howard Dean over anumber of incidents and issues they perceived as insulting to LGBTDemocrats.

A month before Dean addressed the National Stonewall Democrats conventionlast June, he appeared on the *700 Club *in an attempt to reach out to"values voters" and avoid the party being labeled too pro-gay, especially onmarriage equality.

Dean caused an outrage among LGBT activists by telling the *700 Club*audience--incorrectly--that the party platform of 2004 says "marriage isbetween a man and a woman."



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

Christianity: The Kingdom of God and the Witness of GayMarriage: An Analysis

http://instituteforprogressivechristianity.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=36

Link to paper (53-page Microsoft Word document):

http://www.crossleft.org/files/theKingdomofGodandthewitnessofgaymarriage(postedMarch3)-1.doc

The Institute for Progressive Christianity

Written by Otis Gaddis III
25 January 2007

Re: The Kingdom of God and the Witness of Gay Marriage: An Analysis

The paper examines the integration of gay marriage as a moral good intoChristian theology. It demonstrates that this integration illuminates andclarifies our understanding of God's plan of creative transformation of theworld and humanity into the Kingdom of God, the utopian end of all things.This integration offers an interpretation of gay marriage as an almosticonic window into God's Kingdom reality. The paper discusses the impact ofgay marriage one five areas of Christian theology: 1) gender equality; 2)the meaning of Christian marriage; 3) the theological significance ofadoption; 4) the spiritual nature of sex; and 5) the destiny of the Churchin its relationship to Christ.

Summary of outline:

1. Gay marriages demonstrate the possibility and desirability of genderequality in any marriage by modeling a relationship where the parties to themarriage do not distribute roles and responsibilities based on gender. Thismodeling supports the positive transformation of the curse of genderconflict, and subsequent patriarchal domination pronounced at the Fall fromParadise into gender egalitarianism .

2. Gay marriage's ascendancy and resilience in society participates in afundamental shift of the culture's understanding of marriage. That is,marriage is being transformed from a utilitarian arraignment grounded in theidea that women are sexual property to an egalitarian life journey with apartner who one chooses to develop and share mutual love, affection,respect, and support.

3. Gay marriages with children model an ethic of adoption that resonatestheologically with biblical understandings of how humanity will be invitedinto the communal life of the Trinity.

more....


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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
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www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute

Study estimates that U.S. military would add 4,000 troops per year if "Don'tAsk, Don't Tell" policy was lifted

19 March 2007

Media Contact: Gary J. Gates,
Senior Research Fellow,

Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law,
gates@law.ucla.edu ,
310.825.1868 (office), 202.257.6400 (mobile)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA-A new research brief from the Williams Institute onSexual Orientation Law and Public Policy finds that an estimated 4,000lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel have been lost each yearbecause of the United States military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)policy.

The analysis shows that had the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy not beeninstituted in 1994, an estimated 4,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual militarypersonnel would have been retained each year. Of that group, an average of1,000 men and women were discharged each year as a direct result of thepolicy and 3,000 would likely stay in the military if they could serveopenly.

The military intends to add more than 18,000 new troops each year for thenext five years. If patterns observed in 2004 were to continue for the nextfive years, the estimated retained LGB personnel would account for nearlyone in six of the additional troops required.

"If the military needs more troops, it makes more sense to keep theestimated 65,000 well-trained and seasoned lesbian, gay and bisexualsoldiers they already have instead of lowering standards to recruitconvicted felons, as a recent report from the Michael D. Palm Center showsthey have been doing," observes study author Gary J. Gates. "Allowinglesbians, gay men, and bisexuals to serve openly could go a long way tomeeting the President's directive to add 92,000 troops in five years."

The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy advanceslaw and public policy through rigorous, independent research andscholarship, and disseminates its work through a variety of educationprograms and media to judges, legislators, lawyers, other policy makers andthe public. This study can be accessed at the Williams Institute website:


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

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0703180058mar18,1,3185865.story

Condom debate targets prisons

Strategy to fight HIV faces uphill challenge

By Jeremy Manier
Tribune staff reporter

March 18, 2007

Prisons have a rate of HIV infection nearly five times greater than the ratenationwide, yet they are among the few places in America where condoms arealmost impossible to get.

Those unsettling facts have spurred a growing campaign by lawmakers andpublic health advocates who are concerned that prisons may be a primebreeding ground for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The most recent effort to put condoms in Illinois prisons suffered a setbackThursday when a state House committee voted 6-5 against a bill that wouldauthorize distribution of condoms to state inmates.

But officials with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, which argued for themeasure, said they hope to find a compromise with the Illinois Department ofCorrections, one of the bill's main opponents. A U.S. House bill that wouldallow condoms in federal prisons was introduced in January, though so farRep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is one of only two co-sponsors.

Such efforts face daunting hurdles. Sexual contact is banned in most prisonsystems, and officials believe allowing condoms could undermine the rulesand even lead to rape of inmates.

Yet supporters of condom laws say the reality is that homosexual behavior inprison is common, and inmates with no means of protection could contractdiseases and infect others both in prison and afterward. Most public healthexperts consider condoms an essential part of HIV prevention efforts.

The objections to condom distribution seem detached from real life to KeithDeBlasio, who said he contracted HIV after being raped by another inmate ata federal penitentiary in Michigan, where DeBlasio was serving time forembezzlement and fraud. DeBlasio said his attacker probably wouldn't haveagreed to use a condom, but making condoms available could prevent otherprisoners from getting the disease.



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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400013.html


washingtonpost.com


Christian Sex-Ed Lesson Criticized
Comedian Spreads Misinformation, Fear, Group Says

By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007; LZ01

Christian comedian Keith Deltano used fear, shame and misinformation tospread his message about abstinence to students at three high schools inLoudoun County this school year, according to a critique by an organizationthat advocates comprehensive sex education.

The group reviewed Deltano's February performance at Dominion High School inSterling. Its findings were shared Friday night at an event at GeorgeWashington University in Ashburn organized by Mainstream Loudoun and somechurches.

The Ashburn event featured the movie "The Education of Shelby Knox," about aChristian teenager in Texas who becomes an advocate for comprehensive sexeducation, and a discussion afterward with the star of the film. Sponsors ofthe event said they wanted to start a public conversation about sexeducation in Loudoun.

"We were concerned that our kids were not being given the right informationto make good decisions," said Kathy Hawes, president of Mainstream Loudoun,which advocates for the separation of church and state.


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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2007/03/norm_kent_launc.html

Norm Kent Launches National Gay News.Com
By Rob Sepulveda

Staff Correspondent

The Founder and the original publisher of the Express Gay News, FortLauderdale attorney Norman Elliott Kent, pictured, has announced the launchof an online daily gay national electronic newspaper.

Nationalgaynews.com hits the web in force today, with a front page story
exposing possible homophobia in the operation of an international cruiseline which arbitrarily canceled a popular 'Bears' cruise. The story can beviewed online at http://nationalgaynews.com/content/view/165/1/

Kent, now 57 years old, had sold the Express to Window Media in January of2004, and waited until his three year non competition covenant was fulfilledbefore inaugurating his latest project.

Stated Kent, "The gay community can be an affluent, sophisticated high techenvironment, and it is my belief that a clean online publication, whichcaptures the breadth and diversity of our world, will be very popular andinviting. I really do not want to give any long speeches. I want the productto speak for itself."

The online newspaper will be filled on a daily basis with original writing,linked news sources, and columns on all aspects of gay and mainstream life.Links on the home page generate connections to sports, lifestyle, scienceand technology, business, health and HIV, as well as entertainment and ahost of other gay and lesbian related interests.

Partnering with Kent in the project is Bill Meyer, 52, who has operated anonline gay guide for Florida, as well as originating online gay BBS systems.He has now created at nationalgaynews.com a nationwide resource guide forgays and lesbians to find activities and interests anywhere in the UnitedStates. Also joining Kent is the Website Administrator and Programmer,Dennis Jozefowicz, 36, who has been involved in computer multimedia since1996, expanding into dynamic content design.





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National Gay News.Com

http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

March 19, 2007

Cruise Line Cancels Gay Group
By Norm Kent,
Publisher

For the second time in less than three months, Norwegian Cruise Lines hascanceled a gay cruise involving a 'Bears' group.

As defined in Wiklpedia, 'Bears' are usually mature gay men with hairybodies and facial hair, most of whom happen to be heavy set.

"This is discrimination based on appearance; on sizeism..almost like you aretoo ugly to go on a cruise. That is totally unjust." says Paul Stalbaum, apopular and well known Fort Lauderdale, Florida based travel agent.

"Norwegian representatives were happy for our business, took our deposit,and welcomed us with open arms," Stalbaum stated, who booked the tour forChumley's Bear Cruises in June of 2006.

"Chumley'sBearCruises have been running for years very successfully without incident," stated Mark 'Chumley' Singer, 45, event producer and host ofChumley's BearCruises.

Singer, a founding member of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, objectedstrenuously to the cancellation. "This is a clear error," he protested, "wemarket to, and host guests of amazing quality and demeanor," statedPennsylvania based Singer, who has worked as an event producer with such nonprofits as the Philadelphia Skyline Project and Equality Forum. "How darethey put down our clientèle."

The cancellation by Norwegian came without warning to Stalbaum or Singer."On our October 2006 cruise we enthusiastically announced our 2007 sailingwould be on the Norwegian Pearl in October of 2007. The guys were so excitedthat we accepted deposits on the spot, with NCL's full blessing," Stalbaumnoted.



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Forwarded by Steve Krantz

PFLAG Los Angeles

Seven Straight Nights - Oct 7 - 23

Straight Families across America Demand Equality for LGBT Families

Thousands of heterosexual people believe in equality for Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Americans. Many people in this growing andlargely untapped force for equality want to go beyond traditional politicalactivism, but struggle to find meaningful ways to be involved in thepeaceful pursuit of LGBT equality. They want to do more than write theirelected officials or simply vote against a hateful measure. These allieshave been without a venue for direct activism to collectively and visiblydemonstrate their commitment to equality for their gay friends, familymembers, co-workers and neighbors. Until now.

Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights will give straight Americans anopportunity to do justice and provide fair-minded people a place to stand upand be counted for equal rights, educating thousands of people across thecountry in the process.

Produced by Atticus Circle and Soulforce, Seven Straight Nights will consistof a series of actions across the country in as many states as possible andend in the nation's capital at the Jefferson Memorial.

Seven Straight Nights will take place from October 7 - 13, 2007. On each ofthe first six nights, straight families will hold an overnight candlelightvigil in front of the Governor's Mansion or other appropriate place in theirstate's capital city. Depending on the record of the governor, the vigilwill either offer thanks for the state's positive policy record or issue acall to action for change in how LGBT families are treated in that state.

The vigils in each of the states will be coordinated by a straight "leadfamily" who will recruit their fair-minded friends to join them in thisdemonstration of grassroots activism. LGBT activists will play major supportroles in each state, yet the front lines will be comprised of straightpeople who support full inclusion and equality for all Americans.

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



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London, 20 March 2007

GAY RIGHTS VOTE IS CRUNCH TIME FOR RELIGIOUS HOMOPHOBES

"Britain no longer wishes to be bossed about by clerics"

Religious groups have invested so much of their efforts and resourcesinto overturning the Sexual Orientation Regulations when they comebefore parliament on Wednesday that they face humiliation if theyfail, says the UK Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

Christian pressure groups in the shape of the Christian Institute, theEvangelical Alliance and the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, have goneall out to smash the Sexual Orientation Regulations. They have putmisleading advertisements in the national press, they have bombardedMPs and peers with endless letters demanding that the regulations bestopped and they have organised demonstrations among Christians who
are now completely hysterical about the issue.

Even the mainstream churches have put their heads on the line.
Statements from the Archbishop of Canterbury and assorted bishops, as
well as from the Catholic hierarchy, make clear that the mainstream
churches are as determined as the pressure groups to put pay to the
regulations.

GALHA's secretary George Broadhead said: "This is the biggest and most
united religious campaign we have seen for a long time, and Wednesday
- when the regulations go to the House of Lords for final approval -
will be crunch day. Lady O'Cathain, spurred on by the ChristianInstitute, has tabled a motion to overturn the regulations and theChurch of England bishops are threatening to turn out en masse to votethe new law down. If they succeed, they will have severely retardedthe push for LGBT equality, and it will spur them on to other actionsto push our rights back even further. If they fail, they will havebeen given the message loud and clear - Britain no longer wishes to bebossed about by clerics. It will be the best argument for getting thebishops out of the House of Lords once and for all. And it will send amessage to the bigots that they will not prevail."

GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL OFFICE
34 SPRING LANE, KENILWORTH
WARWICKSHIRE CV8 2HB
UNITED KINGDOM
TEL AND FAX 01926 858450
EMAIL secretary@galha.org
WEBSITE www.galha.org



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Orthodox Church opposed to gay parade in Moscow

20/03/2007 17:16

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070320/62304412.html

MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Orthodox Church is opposed to GayPride parades as propaganda of homosexuality harmful to society, a churchofficial said Tuesday.

Commenting on reports Monday that the gay community in Moscow is planning toset up an organizing committee for a Gay Pride parade in May, despitepermission being denied last year, Vsevolod Chaplin said: "Society hasrejected homosexual propaganda, which triggers resentment and protest."

Chaplin, who is deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchy's department forexternal relations, said the gay minority in Russia were free to live asthey liked, but their influence on society, especially children, was amatter that demanded the interference of society and the authorities.

"Authorities must listen more attentively to public opinion, rather thanthose expressed by some foreign groups or a handful of vociferouspropagandists of homosexuality," Chaplin said.

About 200 gay rights activists held an unsanctioned march in the Russiancapital last May, which resulted in violent clashes with members of a numberof political parties and religious and radical movements, and the arrest ofabout 120 people from both sides, most of whom were later released.



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Organizing committee for May Gay-Pride Parade in Moscow set up

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=2759

Moscow, March 19, Interfax - A committee in charge of organizing a Gay-PrideParade in Moscow on May 27, which will mark the 14th anniversary since theabolition of criminal prosecution for homosexuality in Russia, wasestablished on Monday.

"Whereas there were only three of us last year, this year's organizingcommittee includes seven people, among them both representatives of the gaycommunity and heterosexuals. It underscores the importance of our event forsociety as a whole and the development of democracy in Russia," NikolayAlexeyev, an activist of Russia's movement for homosexuals' rights and theevent's organizer, told Interfax.

A document notifying the Moscow mayor of plans to stage the second Gay-PrideParade is to be submitted 10-15 days before the planned date, he said.

"If the Moscow authorities again ban the Gay-Pride Parade, we will appealthis decision in court. We will again go to the European Court of HumanRights," Alexeyev said.




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Poland's 'homosexual propaganda' law slammed

Published on the Web by IOL on 2007-03-19 12:59:55
Independent Online
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw2007031912595554
9C771826

Warsaw, Poland - A leading human rights group warned Poland on Monday that aproposed law to ban what it calls "homosexual propaganda" in schools wouldpromote discrimination and deny children lifesaving information about Aids.

The group, Human Rights Watch, made its warning in an open letter to PolishPrime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, saying also that the planned law wouldviolate freedom of speech.

Last week, Poland's Education Ministry proposed legislation that would allowteachers to be fired for promoting what it called "homosexual culture." Thebill does not clearly define what is meant by "homosexual culture," but itseems to include basic information about Aids and lessons promotingtolerance toward homosexuals.



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In Israel, gay Arab activists forge ahead with plans for a rare publicconference

The Associated Press

Sunday, March 11, 2007

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.

When news of the conference, which was advertised on Aswat's Web site,reached the Islamic Movement in Israel, it sparked a war of words betweenArab liberals and Muslim conservatives.

"Lesbians ... need treatment, they don't need to spread their strange ideasin the Arab community," said Mohammed Zbidat, a spokesman for the IslamicMovement, a conservative force that has grown increasingly influential inthe Arab Israeli community in recent years.



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http://www.aswatgroup.org/english/

In Israel, gay Arab activists forge ahead with plans for a rare publicconference

The Associated Press

Sunday, March 11, 2007

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.

When news of the conference, which was advertised on Aswat's Web site,reached the Islamic Movement in Israel, it sparked a war of words betweenArab liberals and Muslim conservatives.



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http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Culture/10900.htm

Islamic Movement denounces Palestinian lesbian conference as 'fatal cancer'

By israelinsider staff March 11, 2007

Palestinian lesbians are slated to gather for a conference in Haifa at theend of March, but the event has already been denounced by Muslim leaders.

The conference is being held to mark the five-year anniversary of Asawat, alesbian women's organization.

Knesset Members Ibrahim Sarsur and Abas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta'al), theleaders of Israel's Islamic Movement, released a statement calling on "allrespectable people from all communities and streams to stand up againstpreaching sexual deviance among our women and girls."

The organization has 85 members, most of whom live in Israel and the WestBank and Gaza.

The Islamic Movement statement also said, "We must not let this fatal cancerspread in our community."

Asawat stated that it was aware of the situation and would respond whenappropriate.

The Southern Islamic Movement joined Orthodox Jewish groups in protestingthe Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem.


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