GLBT DIGEST June 23, 2007

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/us/23beliefs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

June 23, 2007
Beliefs
A Liberal Explains His Rejection of Same-Sex Marriage
By PETER STEINFELS

Could legalizing same-sex marriage actually strengthen marriage as a socialinstitution? "If I could believe this," writes David Blankenhorn, "I wouldsupport gay marriage without reservation."

Mr. Blankenhorn is a self-described liberal Democrat and "marriage nut," aveteran leader in the movement to strengthen marriage, and especiallyfatherhood, in the United States.

His book, "The Future of Marriage," published last month by Encounter Books,explains why he doesn't believe same-sex marriage will serve that cause. Butgiven the charged nature of the subject, his book may also set a record foroptimism about the human capacity for rational discussion.

Mr. Blankenhorn, who opposes same-sex marriage, believes that the nationaldebate about the issue can be rescued from the polarized clash of gutreactions, religious injunctions, emotional appeals and accusations ofbigotry. He even believes the debate could provide "an invaluableopportunity for Americans to have a serious national discussion aboutmarriage's meaning and future."

The problem with that debate until now, as he sees it, is that "almostalways, the main focus is 'gay,' not 'marriage.' "



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Pride.html?pagewanted=print

June 23, 2007
NYC Has Reason to Celebrate Gay Pride
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:58 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York's gay pride parade is traditionally a mix ofpolitics and campy pageantry, and the state Assembly's move towardlegalizing same-sex marriage has heightened the atmosphere this year. Butparade organizers are smarting over the city's rejection of a request tohold a street fair in an area with the city's heaviest concentration ofgay-oriented businesses.

The parade, set for Sunday on Fifth Avenue, is one of dozens that take placeannually around the world. It commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, inwhich patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar resisted a police raid.

Dennis Spafford, a spokesman for parade organizers Heritage of Pride, saidhe expects a million marchers and spectators at this year's parade, whichcomes five days after the Democratic-controlled Assembly passed the gaymarriage bill, 85-61.

Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer supports the measure, but the Republican-ledstate Senate is not expected to act on it any time soon. Massachusetts isthe only U.S. state that has legalized same-sex marriage so far.

''We are now more sure than ever that New York will do the equal and justthing,'' said Cathy Marino-Thomas, co-executive director of MarriageEquality New York, a group that promotes legalizing gay marriage.



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washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202015_pf.html

Changing Patterns in Social Fabric Test Netherlands' Liberal Identity
By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 23, 2007; A12

AMSTERDAM -- For years, W.B. Kranendonk was a lone ranger in Dutchpolitics -- the editor of an orthodox Christian newspaper in a nation thathas legalized prostitution, euthanasia, abortion and same-sex marriage andallows the personal use of marijuana.

Today, with an orthodox Christian political party in the government for thefirst time, and with immigration anxieties fueling a national search foridentity, the country that has been the world's most socially liberalpolitical laboratory is rethinking its anything-goes policies.

And suddenly, Kranendonk no longer seems so all alone.

"People in high political circles are saying it can't be good to have asociety so liberal that everything is allowed," said Kranendonk, editor ofReformist Daily and an increasingly influential voice that resonates in theshifting mainstream of Dutch public opinion. "People are saying we shouldhave values; people are asking for more and more rules in society."

In cities across the Netherlands, mayors and town councils are closing downshops where marijuana is sold, rolled and smoked. Municipalities areshuttering the brothels where prostitutes have been allowed to ply theirtrade legally. Parliament is considering a ban on the sale of hallucinogenic"magic mushrooms." Orthodox Christian members of parliament have introduceda bill that would allow civil officials with moral objections to refuse toperform gay marriages. And Dutch authorities are trying to curtail theactivities of an abortion rights group that assists women in neighboringcountries where abortions are illegal.



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washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062200851_pf.html

Wyoming Governor Picks Surgeon for Senate Seat

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, June 23, 2007; A04

Wyoming's governor yesterday appointed John A. Barrasso, a Republicanlegislator from Casper, to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death ofSen. Craig Thomas (R).

The choice of Barrasso, 54, an orthopedic surgeon who was elected to theWyoming Senate in 2002, will not change the balance of power in the U.S.Senate. He will bring the same conservative approach to the job that Thomaspracticed.

"I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditionalfamily values, local control and a strong national defense," he wrote in hisapplication for the Senate seat. "In the State Senate, in addition toreceiving an 'A' rating from the [National Rifle Association], I have votedfor prayer in schools, against gay marriage and have sponsored legislationto protect the sanctity of life."

Barrasso, who received his undergraduate and medical degrees from GeorgetownUniversity, wrote that his goals in the Senate would be to promote ruralhealth care, energy independence and the agriculture industry, among otherthings.

As state senator, Barrasso chaired the Committee on Transportation, Highwaysand Military Affairs. He is well known for introducing annual health fairsall over the state. "He runs a very good committee. He's bipartisan. Hebrings the committee along and provides real leadership," said John C.Schiffer (R), the state Senate president.



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washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201818_pf.html

Shocked 'Straight': A Wrenching Treatment
By Jessica Dawson
Saturday, June 23, 2007; C02

At Conner, Mary Coble calls up the chilling prospect of sexualreorientation therapy in an occasionally lukewarm installation. A gripping21-minute video of young men and women -- actors, most likely, though theartist won't say for sure -- recounting tales of shock treatments aimed atturning gay people straight wrenches the heart and the psyche. The rest isicing; a video diptych closeup of Coble's hands during administration of thetreatment -- she received it at an opening performance -- is too subtle.Remnants of opening night -- the chair, electrodes and zapping equipment --set the clinical tone.

Mary Coble at Conner Contemporary Art, 1730 Connecticut Ave. NW,
Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 202-588-8750, to June 30; http://www.connercontemporary.com.



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washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201715_pf.html

Ready for Bloomberg?
By David S. Broder
Sunday, June 24, 2007; B07

Six months ago, when I began hearing rumors of New York Mayor MichaelBloomberg's possible interest in an independent presidential campaign in2008, I went to see the mayor at his City Hall office.

He told me what he has said repeatedly ever since -- that his intention wasto finish his second term in 2009 as "the best mayor this city has ever had"and then devote himself to philanthropy and good works. He then steered theconversation to city issues and explained what he was trying to do onhousing, transportation and social services -- an impressive agenda.

I barely knew him, and I took him at his word about the presidency.

When I talked the next day to Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, the man who hadsteered the billionaire communications-company mogul to victory in citycampaigns, I got a rather different story.

Sheekey drew a picture of a country ready and willing to consider electing apresident without a party label. He cited the success of independentcandidates for governor in Maine and Minnesota, and most of all, he talkedabout what Arnold Schwarzenegger was doing in California -- governing as a"post-partisan" leader of that mega-state and winning praise for doing so.



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washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201704_pf.html

Speech Police, Riding High In Oakland
By George F. Will
Sunday, June 24, 2007; B07

Marriage is the foundation of the natural family and sustains family values.That sentence is inflammatory, perhaps even a hate crime.

At least it is in Oakland, Calif. That city's government says those words,italicized here, constitute something akin to hate speech and can beproscribed from the government's open e-mail system and employee bulletinboard.

When the McCain-Feingold law empowered government to regulate the quantity,content and timing of political campaign speech about government, it waspredictable that the right of free speech would increasingly be sacrificedto various social objectives that free speech supposedly impedes. And it waspredictable that speech suppression would become an instrument of culturalcombat, used to settle ideological scores and advance political agendas bysilencing adversaries.

That has happened in Oakland. And, predictably, the ineffable U.S. Court ofAppeals for the 9th Circuit has ratified this abridgement of First Amendmentprotections. Fortunately, overturning the 9th Circuit is steady work for theU.S. Supreme Court.

Some African American Christian women working for Oakland's governmentorganized the Good News Employee Association (GNEA), which they announcedwith a flier describing their group as "a forum for people of Faith toexpress their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect forthe Natural Family, Marriage and Family Values."



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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flasex0623nbjun23,0,6585040,print.story?coll=sfla-news-nationworld

Men have more sex partners, study says
By DAVID CRARY
The Associated Press
June 23, 2007

NEW YORK It's a question that often prompts a boastful answer or a bashfulone: How many sex partners have you had?

Now the federal government says it has authoritative statistics, documentingthat men are far more likely to play the field than women.

A new nationwide survey, using high-tech methods to solicit candid answerson sexual activity and illegal drug use, finds that 29 percent of Americanmen report having 15 or more female sexual partners in a lifetime, whileonly 9 percent of women report having sex with 15 or more men.

The median number of lifetime female sexual partners for men was seven; themedian number of male partners for women was four.

The survey, released Friday, is based on data collected from 1999 to 2002for the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention.



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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/148840.html

FORT LAUDERDALE/WILTON MANORS
GAY PRIDE PARADE, FESTIVAL SET FOR SUNDAY

Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale will host the Eighth Annual StonewallStreet Festival and Parade from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday in Fort Lauderdaleand Wilton Manors.

Gay pride weekend will kick off at 7:30 tonight at the War MemorialAuditorium, 800 NE Eighth St. in Fort Lauderdale, with a comedy showfeaturing Jessica Kirson, Michele Balan and ANT from VH1's Celebrity FitClub.

The parade will begin at at 11 a.m. Sunday at Fort Lauderdale High, 1600 NEFourth Ave., and proceed along Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors, followed by astreet festival with live entertainment and more than 100 local vendors.

For more information visit http://www.stonewallstreetfestival.com.



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Advocate.com

http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid46657.asp

June 23, 2007
Wal-Mart rescinds support of LGBT organizations

Heeding the threat of a boycott by Christian groups and the disapproval ofmany employees, mega-retailer Wal-Mart has opted to stop supporting LGBTorganizations, Fortune magazine's online site reported Friday.

"We are not currently planning corporate-level contributions to GLBTgroups," Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of corporatecommunications, told the magazine. She also cited a Wal-Mart policy pennedlast year that prohibits "support[ing] or oppos[ing] highly controversialissues."

The decision comes only a year after Wal-Mart joined the National Gay andLesbian Chamber of Commerce, an organization of 24,000 gay- andlesbian-owned businesses, and cosponsored the Out & Equal workplace rightsgroup.

"I thought the company was moving in the right direction," one Wal-Martemployee wrote in an e-mail to Fortune. "But last week changed everything.Pulling funding from GLBT organizations is a slap in the face to gayemployees, and it sends a very clear message. Diversity within Wal-Mart isonly partially inclusive."

Williams said that Wal-Mart will be no less supportive of its LGBTpersonnel. In fact, many sources indicated to Fortune that Wal-Mart isworking harder to educate employees about LGBT-related issues.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/062207jerusalem.htm

Jerusalem Gay Leaders Begin Preps For 2008 Parade
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: June 22, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Jerusalem) LGBT leaders in Jerusalem have hailed Thursday's pride parade asuccess and say they have begun working on next year's event.

Jerusalem police, however, say any decision about 2008 is premature. Apolice spokesperson said there is no question that a gay event of some sortwill be held, but whether it is a parade requiring massive police protectionwill depend on circumstances at the time.

About 2,000 people took part in Thursday's parade, guarded by anunprecedented 7,000 police officers - many brought in from other citiesaround the country.

"We wanted to march at the heart of Jerusalem, and I'm very glad we did it,"Noa Satat, of Jerusalem Open House which organized the parade, toldYnetnews.

"We marched in the center of Jerusalem, and our pride flags, which representtolerance and equality, were flown through the streets, despite the mayor'sdiscontent and his attempt to sabotage the parade," said Jerusalem CityCouncilman Sa'ar Netanel.



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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/062307nyc.htm

Big Apple Prepares To Celebrate Pride
by The Associated Press

Posted: June 23, 2007 - 8:00 am ET

(New York City) New York's gay pride parade is traditionally a mix ofpolitics and campy pageantry, and the state Assembly's move towardlegalizing same-sex marriage has heightened the atmosphere this year.

But parade organizers are smarting over the city's rejection of a request tohold a street fair in an area with the city's heaviest concentration ofgay-oriented businesses.

The parade, set for Sunday on Fifth Avenue, is one of dozens that take placeannually around the world. It commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, inwhich patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar resisted a police raid.

Dennis Spafford, a spokesman for parade organizers Heritage of Pride, saidhe expects a million marchers and spectators at this year's parade, whichcomes five days after the Democratic-controlled Assembly passed the gaymarriage bill, 85-61.

Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer supports the measure, but the Republican-ledstate Senate is not expected to act on it any time soon. Massachusetts isthe only U.S. state that has legalized same-sex marriage so far.



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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002235.html

HHS Counters With Its Own Sex-Ed Critique

By Christopher Lee, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, June 21, 2007;A21

Liberal critics periodically complain that federally funded "abstinenceonly" sex-education materials are full of false or misleading statementsabout the effectiveness of condoms and other issues. Now the Bushadministration is firing back, charging that programs that endorse condomuse also are marred by imbalance and inaccuracies.

The latest round in the sex-ed culture war comes in a 40-page report by theDepartment of Health and Human Services that critiqued "comprehensivesex-education curricula" -- materials that teach about both abstinence andthe use of condoms and other protective methods. The analysis -- requestedtwo years ago by Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and former senator Rick Santorum(Pa.), both conservative Republicans -- concluded that nine widely usedcurricula contained misleading statements about condom failure, focused toolittle on abstinence and were only marginally successful in persuading youngpeople to use condoms or, better yet, to delay having sex.

"This study shows that very little of the message is around abstinence,"said Harry Wilson, an associate commissioner in HHS's Administration onChildren, Youth and Families. "When it comes to what they actually do intheir curricula, this shows that it is kind of given the short end of thestick."


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