GLBT DIGEST December 16, 2007

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NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/nyregion/16berube.html?pagewanted=print

Allan Bérubé Is Dead at 61; Historian of Gays in Military

By MARGALIT FOX
December 16, 2007

Allan Bérubé, a MacArthur Award-winning independent scholar whose history ofgay men and lesbians in the military in World War II is widely consideredthe definitive book on the subject, died on Tuesday in Liberty, N.Y. He was61. A former resident of Manhattan, Mr. Bérubé had lived in Liberty inrecent years.

The cause was complications of stomach ulcers, a friend, Wayne Hoffman,said.

"Coming Out Under Fire" (Free Press), published in 1990, explores the uneasybut at times surprisingly benign relationship between the United Statesmilitary and its gay members.

Mr. Bérubé's book was invoked frequently during the debate that simmered inthe 1990s around President Bill Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy,which officially allowed gay people to serve in the military if they kepttheir sexual orientation secret.

"Coming Out Under Fire" was also the basis for a documentary film of thatname, released in 1994.

more . . . . .



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ExpressGayNews.com

http://expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=15680

In stand for gay marriage, church cuts all unions
Straight couples must go to judge or justice of the peace for license

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) | Dec 14, 10:42 AM

It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight, you can't get legally marriedat Lyndale United Church of Christ.

The small, liberal church in south Minneapolis was the first of several TwinCities congregations last year to stop performing civil marriage ceremoniesas long as gay marriage is illegal. These churches, and a handful of othersaround the country that took the same step, will still hold a religiousceremony to bless the unions of straight and gay couples -- but straightcouples must go separately to a judge or justice of the peace for themarriage license.

"If you feel that gay and lesbian people are loved and credited by God, thenhow can we continue to discriminate against our brothers and sisters?" askedRev. Don Portwood, the reserved Nebraska native who's been lead pastor atthe 120-member Lyndale United Church of Christ for 27 years.

The churches in question minister to only a handful of the most liberalchurchgoers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and most have a large contingent ofgay members in the congregation.

"Go 20 miles out of the city and it will be a different story," said theRev. David Runnion-Bareford, executive director of Biblical WitnessFellowship, a New Hampshire-based conservative movement within the UnitedChurch of Christ.

more . . . . .



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ExpressGayNews.com

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/NEWS/712110309&emailAFriend=1&template=printart

Provincetown police to receive civil rights training

December 11, 2007 6:00 AM

The town's police officers will receive the Anti-Defamation League's civilrights training, following a spate of incidents this summer that drewcomplaints against the police for insensitive treatment of gay men.

The training, scheduled for February for full-time officers and May forsummer officers, is one of three activities the town's No Place For Hatecommittee will sponsor in 2008. A townwide survey will be conducted and apublic forum is planned.

At a committee meeting last week, Provincetown acting Police Chief WarrenTobias said he would not seek input from those who complained this summer,such as the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project in Boston and off-Caperesident Richard Hall.

Hall has said his condition after an alleged assault on Sept. 9 warrantedmore attention from officials. The committee may have been formed because ofthe summer's incidents "but I don't want it to stay focused on that," saidmember Cathy Reno Brouillet.

- MARY ANN BRAGG



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The Guardian - UK

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2224553,00.html

Children are targets of Nigerian witch hunt

Tracy McVeigh in Esit Eket
Sunday December 9, 2007
The Observer

Evangelical pastors are helping to create a terrible new campaign ofviolence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil arebeing abused, abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money outof the fear of their parents and their communities

Watch the video: Child 'witches' in Africa, and click here to see a relatedgallery

The rainy season is over and the Niger Delta is lush and humid. Thissouthern edge of West Africa, where Nigeria's wealth pumps out of oil andgas fields to bypass millions of its poorest people, is a restless place. Inthe small delta state of Akwa Ibom, the tension and the poverty hasdelivered an opportunity for a new and terrible phenomenon that is leadingto the abuse and the murder of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children. Andit is being done in the name of Christianity.

Children are targets of Nigerian witch hunt

Evangelical pastors are helping to create a terrible new campaign ofviolence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil arebeing abused, abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money outof the fear of their parents and their communities

Watch the video: Child 'witches' in Africa, and click here to see a relatedgallery

The rainy season is over and the Niger Delta is lush and humid. Thissouthern edge of West Africa, where Nigeria's wealth pumps out of oil andgas fields to bypass millions of its poorest people, is a restless place. Inthe small delta state of Akwa Ibom, the tension and the poverty hasdelivered an opportunity for a new and terrible phenomenon that is leadingto the abuse and the murder of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children. Andit is being done in the name of Christianity.

Almost everyone goes to church here. Driving through the town of Esit Eket,the rust-streaked signs, tarpaulins hung between trees and posters onboulders, advertise a church for every third or fourth house along the road.

Such names as New Testament Assembly, Church of God Mission, Mount ZionGospel, Glory of God, Brotherhood of the Cross, Redeemed, Apostalistic.Behind the smartly painted doors pastors make a living by 'deliverances' -exorcisms - for people beset by witchcraft, something seen to cause anythingfrom divorce, disease, accidents or job losses. With so many churches it's acompetitive market, but by local standards a lucrative one.

But an exploitative situation has now grown into something much moresinister as preachers are turning their attentions to children - naming themas witches. In a maddened state of terror, parents and whole villages turnon the child. They are burnt, poisoned, slashed, chained to trees, buriedalive or simply beaten and chased off into the bush.

more....



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Forwarded from Transgender Equality

Jacqui -jacquicharvet@tgirls.net

LEGISLATION TO OVERHAUL NEW JERSEY'S HATE CRIMES AND SCHOOL BULLYINGLAWS IS ON ITS WAY

The bill, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 8-0 yesterday,adds "gender identity or expression" to the state's hate crimes lawand strengthens the state's hate crimes law for all minority groups.

The bill also requires schools to post on the web, and widelydistribute, their anti-school bullying policies, and creates aCommission on Bullying in Schools to further strengthen the state'santi-bullying law.

The bill will become the 154th LGBT civil rights law enacted at thestate, county and local levels since Garden State Equality's foundingin 2004 -- a civil rights record.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Contact: Steven Goldstein, cell (917) 449-8918

By a unanimous 8-0 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterdayapproved S2975, chief-sponsored by Senators Barbara Buono and LorettaWeinberg, to strengthen New Jersey's hate crimes and anti-schoolbullying laws. Presenting testimony in favor of the bill were GardenState Equality and the New Jersey Anti-Defamation League -- both ofwhich conceived the bill -- as well as New Jersey EducationalAssociation, the Gender Rights Advocacy Association, and the AttorneyGeneral's office on behalf of the Corzine Administation.

There was no opposition testimony. Among those voting "yes" yesterdaywas Senator Gerald Cardinale, perhaps the most conservative member ofthe New Jersey legislature. The Assembly Judiciary Committee, andfull Assembly and Senate, are expected to pass the bill in January.The bill is A4591 in the Assembly, chief-sponsored by WilfredoCaraballo, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Upendra Chivukula and John McKeon.

more....



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National Gay News

http://nationalgaynews.com/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:

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The World's Sexiest Athletes: Andy Roddick
He just helped earn the United States their first Davis Cup victory in overa decade with his amazingly focused all court game and shockingly powerfulserves. The name Andy Roddick has become almost synonymous with Americantennis over the past few years as one of the top ranked men in the world whocan compete with the unstoppable Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He is atough, intense, aggressive competitor on the tennis court, but it is hischarm, charisma, comedic behavior and incredible cuteness that have made hima fan favorite and one of the world's sexiest athletes.
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Some 3,800 Young People Homeless in New York-Study
An estimated 3,800 people under age 24 go homeless each night in New York
City, but they blend in so well they are hard for social workers to find,according to the city's first-ever census of homeless youth.
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HIV Positive Contestant Jack Mackenroth Forced to Leave 'Project Runway'
It was a rather sad ending to his Project Runway experience as sexy man JackMackenroth became the first contestant ever to check himself out of the gamebefore the runway show off. The openly HIV positive contestant bid himselfauf wiedersehen after a bacterial infection caused his mouth to swell.Now inits fourth season, Project Runway has been dubbed by some as the gayest showon television with its numerous openly gay contestants and its flair for thedramatic.
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For Gay Teenagers, Hope in Numbers
Michael Moreno, a 15-year-old 10th grader from Brewster, could not believewhat he was seeing as he walked into the big hall at the Westchester CountyCenter, and he grew quiet. There, for as far as the eye could see, werehundreds of boys and girls who belonged to gay-straight clubs at area middleschools and high schools. "This is a great moment for him," said hisstepfather, Hector Ramos. "He's always felt so isolated."
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Gay Marriage Debate Intensifies
New Jersey's well organized gay rights advocates are finding theiradversaries are also getting prepared for a coming legislative debate overgay marriage.The National Organization for Marriage, established earlierthis year in Princeton, made itself known over the past few weeks with radioadvertisements urging people to call their lawmakers to tell them thatallowing gay couples to marry would undermine the institution.
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Some Churches Cut Civil Wedding Ceremonies
It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight, you can't get legally marriedat Lyndale United Church of Christ. The small, liberal church in southMinneapolis was the first of several Twin Cities congregations last year tostop performing civil marriage ceremonies as long as gay marriage isillegal. These churches, and a handful of others around the country thattook the same step, will still hold a religious ceremony to bless the unionsof straight and gay couples - but straight couples must go separately to ajudge or justice of the peace for the marriage license.



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

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/12/iran-logo-tv-fa.html

IRAN: LOGO TV FAILS MAKWAN--AGAIN!

by Doug Ireland
December 15, 2007

The following is a response to the letter written for Queerty by JasonBellini (right), news anchor of LOGO, the national gay TV network that isowned by Viacom/MTV, in response to a criticism of LOGO I'd written earlier:

Dear Jason,

I just caught a re-run of the December 10 news broadcast you hosted onLOGO in which you dealt with the execution of 21-year-old Makwan Moloudzadehin Iran -- the broadcast you boasted about in the letter you wrote forQueerty replying to my criticism of the half-hour, end-of-the-year newsreview for ignoring the persecution and execution of Iranian LGBTers,including Makwan, in its discussion of Iranian President MahmoudAhmadinejad. It's a slightly belated addition to my first rejoinder to yourletter, now that I've had a chance to see the Makwan piece to which youreferred.

There's nothing in that LOGO report on Makwan (left) that anyone should havethe chutzpah to boast about, however. You devoted about four sentences and15 seconds to Makwan, and confined your report to saying he was executed foran act of sodomy committed when he was 13. Period.

No mention of the fact that there was NO evidence presented against Makwan,or that the plaintiffs against him had all recanted, in court, theirstatements to police about Makwan, and said they were false and had beenextracted under pressure (under torture, reported the courageous Iranianjournalist who covered the case.)

No mention on your air that the verdict was based solely on the suppositionof the clerical judge who sentenced him to death, or of the other whoppingirregularities in his trial. And no mention that the verdict was a violationof international law. Not a word.

No mention, either, of the fact that the trial was denounced as a horrificmiscarriage of justice by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and theInternational Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission -- whose executivedirector, Paula Ettelbrick (left), had said (in a press release issued wellbefore your broadcast, as were the condemnations of the trial and verdict byAI and HRW), "This is a shameful and outrageous travesty of justice andinternational human rights law. How many more young Iranians have to diebefore the international community takes action?"

more....



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