Saturday, September 29, 2007

GLBT DIGEST September 29, 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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NationalGayNews.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/28/MNAGSFEAR.DTL&type=printable

Senate OKs hate-crimes bill protecting gays, lesbians

But House Democrats weaken employment legislation for transgender people
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, September 28, 2007

(09-28) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Even as the Senate passed a hate crimes billsought for a decade by gays and lesbians, House Democratic leaders decidedThursday to strip transgender people from another long-languishing civilrights bill, generating dismay in the gay community and furious butfruitless lobbying for more time.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Reps. George Miller,
D-Martinez, Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., believe that
they lack the votes in the Democrat-controlled House to pass the EmploymentNon-Discrimination Act if it includes gender identity along with sexualorientation as a prohibited ground for firing an employee.

Frank and Baldwin are the only openly gay members of Congress.

"People now accept the fact that we just don't have the votes for thetransgender," Frank said.

Nervous Democrats had been hearing about Republican amendments to theemployment bill, Frank said, "that would talk about schoolteachers, and whathappens when the kid comes back from summer vacation and teachers changegender. We just lost enough Democrats and we couldn't be sure of theRepublicans."

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NationalGayNews.com

UK

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/view.php?id=5594

Three months in prison for homophobic abuse

28th September 2007 17:21
Joe Roberts

An Essex businessman has been sentenced to three months in prison afterdrunkenly threatening and shouting homophobic abuse at his neighbours.

43-year-old asbestos contractor Stuart Makemson of Twelve Acres, Braintree,brandished a snooker cue at Andrew Morrison saying: "I'm going to take thatnose off your face with this."

Mr Morrison and his wife had been woken earlier by Mr Makemson verballyabusing their gay son and his boyfriend, reported the Essex Chronicle.

Jonathan Longman, prosecuting, described how during the incident on April7th, an intoxicated Makemson stood by his front door shouting homophobicabuse and spitting.

He went on to push Mr Morrison across the chest with the cue.

Mr Makemson has shown no remorse or insight into the effect his homophobicremarks had on his victims and is not willing to address his attitude saidmagistrates.

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NationalGayNews.com

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/printable_version.cfm?objectid=19859170&siteid=50082

Iris sees more than stereotypes Sep 28 2007

by Karen Price, Western Mail

After winning over audiences as a gay lawyer in American drama Brothers andSisters, Matthew Rhys is now patron of a Welsh festival celebrating gay andlesbian film. He tells Karen Price he's proud his character goes againststereotypes

WHILE Brokeback Mountain helped introduce mainstream audiences to films witha gay theme, many movie fans are still unfamiliar with big-screen featureson the subject.

Now a wealth of lesbian and gay movies from across the world will be shownin Wales next week as part of the inaugural Iris Prize Festival.

A total of 30 short films will compete for the award and there will bescreenings at two venues in Cardiff.

The festival is promoted by photographs - like that on our cover - of afictional young woman, Iris, who is meant to have travelled the world touncover the film-making talent.

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NationalGayNews.com

http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Chicago+cop+accused+of+anti-gay+fracas+-+USATODAY.com&expire=&urlID=24160714&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fnation%2F2007-09-27-chicago-police-lawsuit_N.htm%3Fcsp%3D34&partnerID=1660

Chicago cop accused of anti-gay fracas

CHICAGO (AP) - Three women claimed Thursday in a federal lawsuit that anoff-duty Chicago police officer roughed them up and called them namesbecause of their sexual orientation after this year's gay pride parade.The lawsuit could become the latest black eye for the Chicago PoliceDepartment, which has faced tough questions lately about the actions ofoff-duty officers, among other problems.

"This case is another example of the corruption, cover-up and brutality thatis festering inside the Chicago Police Department," said attorney DanaKurtz, who filed the suit for damages on behalf of the three women.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Kelly Fuery, 36, DebraSciortino, 32, and Nicole Tomaskovic, 25, were the police department,officer William Szura and two state troopers.

According to the lawsuit, a vehicle driven by Fuery came upon a car movingat 30 mph on Interstate 55 after the June 24 parade. Fuery beeped her horn,and Szura responded by slamming on his brakes, speeding up and switchinglanes, making it impossible for Fuery to pass, the lawsuit said.

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NationalGayNews.com

http://wire.ggl.com/2007/09/27/best-story-evar-judge-goes-after-jack-thompson-for-gay-porn/

Best story EVAR: Judge goes after Jack Thompson for GAY PORN!!!

ATTENTION: This is NOT real Jack Thompson porn. To our knowledge, JackThompson has never posed naked. To our knowledge, Jack Thompson has neverBEEN naked.

Yes, pro-censorship lawyer and media personality Jack Thompson, aself-described fundamentalist Christian, is in danger of being reprimandedfor distributing gay porn.

GamePolitics.com has been covering Wacky Jacky's recent legal troubles,involving charges of professional misconduct filed by the Florida BarAssociation. As reported previously, Thompson is counter-suing both the Barand the judge in his own case.

That judge, Adalberto Jordan, is now pissed because Thompson attachedunredacted images from gay porn sites in an electronically-filed motion.Thompson was bizarrely trying to prove a connection between the Florida Barand Norm Kent, a criminal defense attorney in Fort Lauderdale, who publishesNational Gay News. Kent's website does not contain pornography - but ads dolink to gay porn sites. Thompson is accusing Kent of distributing gay pornto children (via the ads); and therefore the Bar Association distributes gayporn (through some unclear process).

However, it seems that the only person being exposed to gay porn, who didnot want to see gay porn, was Judge Jordan. Apparently, you're supposed toget permission before submitting pornographic images to the court. Thompsondid not.

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ExpressGayNews.com

http://expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=14553

Courts a tough road to gay marriage
Activists strive to highlight gay rights gains
BOSTON (AP) | Sep 28, 4:44 PM

When bells rang in 2004 to celebrate the nation's first gay marriages inMassachusetts, opponents warned that liberal courts were moving to permitgay marriage around the nation.

Three years later, despite attempts in many states, the nation's highestcourts haven't followed Massachusetts' lead. Last week, Maryland's highcourt became the latest after New York, Washington and New Jersey to refuseto grant marriage rights to gay residents.

"We were very disappointed to lose," said David Buckel of Lamdba Legal,which led the court fights in New York, New Jersey and Washington. "But youhave to expect it in a civil rights movement because what you're doing iscreating enormous change and there are enormous forces lined up against us."

Gay marriage opponents said the losses, coming in the states thought to bemost open to gay marriage, show how far advocates overreached after theruling in Massachusetts. Gay activists point to gains, such as court-orderedcivil unions in New Jersey, and say they are prepared for a long fight. Twogay marriage cases are pending before high courts in Connecticut andCalifornia.

One reason for the court struggle could be that an anti-gay marriagedecision in a liberal state such as New York creates cover for other highcourts who face the issue, said Yale law professor William Eskridge, aconstitutional scholar who supports gay rights. For example, the Marylandcourt cited the New York decision.

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ExpressGayNews.com

http://expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=14555

Frank introduces two versions of ENDA

Sexual orientation version headed for vote; 'gender identity' measure slatedfor early hearing
By LOU CHIBBARO, JR. | Sep 28, 4:49 PM

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) late Thursday introduced two new versions of theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, with one covering gays andbisexuals and the other covering transgender persons.

Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, dropped the two bills intothe legislative hopper following a heated meeting on Capitol Hill that sameday with gay and transgender activists, who expressed strong objections tothe dual bill approach.

He said he informed the activists about the results of an officialDemocratic "whip" count showing that a transgender inclusive ENDA would bedefeated in the House.

The rapidly changing events surrounding ENDA over the past few days havestunned gay activists and could lead to a divisive fight within the gayrights movement over whether or not to support an ENDA that excludestransgender protections.

Frank released a four-page statement late Friday explaining his rationalefor supporting the two-bill approach, saying he and gay rights allies mustmake the tough decision on whether "we should pass up the chance to adopt avery good bill because it has one major gap." [See text of statement at:house.gov/frank.]

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ExpressGayNews.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hatecrime28sep28,1,1112258,print.story

Senate adds hate-crime measure to war bill

The legislation would expand federal law to protect gays. Supporters hopepairing it with defense spending will prevent a Bush veto.

By Richard Simon
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday approved a long-debated measure thatwould expand the federal hate-crime law to cover violence against gays and,in an unusual gambit to make it difficult for President Bush to carry outhis veto threat, attached it to a defense bill.

Supporters of the hate-crime legislation mustered the minimum 60 votes theyneeded to overcome a threatened filibuster. The House approved the billearlier this year as a stand-alone measure, but neither chamber appears tohave the votes to override a veto.

"We have never had this bill with the potential to go as far as it is," saidSen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.), one of the chief sponsors, who pleaded forthe president to sign it as a "legacy that he can claim on an importantcivil rights issue."

Smith stood on the Senate floor next to a photo of Matthew Shepard, a gaycollege student who was brutally beaten in Wyoming in 1998 and left to dietied to a fence. The bill is named for Shepard. "What happened to Matthewshould happen to no one," Smith said.

In the first major expansion of the hate-crime statute passed in 1968, thelegislation would cover acts of violence motivated by a victim's sexualorientation, gender, disability or gender identity. Existing federal lawdefines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on religion, race,national origin or color.

The measure, which was also drawn up in response to the 1999 shooting attackby white supremacist Buford O. Furrow on a Jewish community center in theSan Fernando Valley, gives federal authorities more leeway to assist stateand local law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.

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ExpressGayNews.com

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=20711

Carolyn Lochhead:

Pelosi deadline is HRC gala Oct. 6

The decision by House Democratic leaders yesterday to dump transgenderpeople from a civil rights law protecting gays and lesbians from workplacediscrimination has put the Human Rights Campaign in a terribly awkwardposition.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco is to be the guest of honor atthe HRC's big national dinner Oct. 6, where she is to be feted for heraccomplishments on behalf of gay people.

The HRC gala could help explain the sudden rush to push the long-languishingEmployment Non-Discrimination Act, known as ENDA, through the House nextweek -- even if it means throwing transgender people off the bus.

The move has generated outrage in the gay rights community -- with thenotable exception of HRC, which so far remains silent, refusing to returnrepeated phone calls. Sources say HRC has scheduled and cancelled at leasttwo emergency board meetings over threats by some board members to quit ifHRC endorses the new ENDA bill, sans gender identity protections.

Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay Massachusetts Democrat who takes the leadon gay issues, said Thursday that Democrats lacked the votes to pass ENDAwith gender identity provisions, presentng Democratic leaders with thechoice of either pulling the bill or having it fail on the floor.

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ExpressGayNews.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21033858/site/newsweek/?from=rss&print=1&displaymode=1098

Interview: On Being Gay in Iran

A gay Iranian discusses Ahmadinejad's 'no gays' comment and what it's liketo live in a country that refuses to accept homosexuality.

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Patrick Falby
Newsweek
Updated: 1:56 p.m. ET Sept 28, 2007

Sept. 28, 2007 - To be gay in Iran means a life of fear. Shortly beforeMahmoud Ahmadinejad won his country's presidential election in 2005, Iranianauthorities hanged two teenagers officially charged with raping a13-year-old boy-but whom gay activists say were executed for their sexualorientation. Life for Iranian gays has not improved since then. Even thoughIran's senior religious figures have made statements calling for thewhipping or killing of homosexuals, the country's authorities continue todeny that they prosecute gays. Against this backdrop it's hardly surprisingthat the community is outraged over Ahmadinejad's glib comment to hisColumbia audience this week that "in Iran we don't have homosexuals like inyour country."

Indeed, so great is the insecurity of Iranian gays that even the few whohave found a safe haven in the United States are still afraid of speakingout about their old lives. NEWSWEEK's Patrick Falby spoke with Reza, a gayIranian man who would identify himself only by his nickname. Reza, whoreceived asylum four years ago, talked about his life in his home country inthe pre-Ahmadinejad era-and what it's like for those still living there.
Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What was your reaction when you heard Ahmadinejad's statement?Reza: It was embarrassing, the ignorance that he had. He could have said ita different way; he could have said we have no concept of being gay in ourculture. He could have meant we have no gay phenomenon in our culture. ManyIranians don't understand homosexuality. If today I went to my mother andtold her I'm gay, she wouldn't understand what I mean, because there'snothing in the media. They don't talk about it. It might sound strange, butthat's the way it is over there. There are basically places for gay peopleto go in Iran; they're public places, like parks. Places to meet people; youcould also call them cruising parks. When I was watching Ahmadinejad'sspeech, I wanted to tell him if you don't think there are gay people in Iranyou should go to [one of these parks] and you will see many of them. It's amatter of the government not wanting to acknowledge that these people exist.

What's it like being gay in Iran?
You would be the unluckiest person in the world, I guess, to be gay in Iran.No one can relate to you. You always have to hide your beliefs. You have tolive a lie. You either have to get married and live a double life or youjust have to commit suicide. If you're single for a long time you can be[asked] why you're not getting married and get forced to do that.

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ExpressGayNews.com

http://expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=4072

Craig scandal brings issue of sexual identity to light

Gay, straight, bi, MSM are all valid terms, researchers say
By ELIZABETH PERRY
Sep. 27, 2007

Sen. Larry Craig's (R-Idaho) arrest last June for allegedly soliciting sexfrom another man in an airport restroom and his insistence that he isstraight has reawakened the debate over sexual behavior, identity andorientation.

"I am not gay. I have never been gay," Craig said at an oft-quoted Aug. 28news conference. "I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis Airport."

Craig made a surprise visit to Capitol Hill last week, where he apologizedto his colleagues for "any embarrassment" at a Republican Senate luncheon,according to media reports. He said it is still uncertain whether or not hewill return to political office. Another hearing is set for Wednesday oncharges filed against him in the bathroom sting charges. He pleaded guiltyon Aug. 8 to a disorderly conduct charge and said he planned to resign fromthe Senate Sept. 30. He filed papers Sept. 10 to withdraw his guilty plea.

Craig's arrest has sparked debate about what it means to be straight, gay,lesbian or bisexual, or more specifically, how a selfidentified straight mancan have feelings of attraction for another man. One of the first people toscientifically study sexual orientation and identity was sex researcherAlfred Kinsey.

In his 1948 book, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male," Kinsey introduced hisHeterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, which ranged from zero, meaning aperson was exclusively heterosexual, to seven, meaning a person wasexclusively homosexual.

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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/09/092807taylor.htm

Elizabeth Taylor Appears At AIDS Benefit

by The Associated Press
Posted: September 28, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET

(Santa Monica, California) Elizabeth Taylor, wearing a coffee-colored,gold-sequined Naeem Khan gown accented with diamond jewelry, put somesuperstar sparkle into an HIV/AIDS fundraiser.

Taylor, 75 and in a wheelchair, is a founding chairwoman of the annualMacy's Passport event, a charity auction and showcase for food and fashion.

Since 1988, Passport has raised $25 million for HIV/AIDS services,prevention and research. The actress was honored Thursday night with its
first Humanitarian Award for AIDS Activism.

"I have done this every year for years," Taylor told The Associated Press inan interview. "It's tradition and it's part of my existence."

As her longtime friend Rock Hudson battled AIDS, which killed him in 1985,Taylor began work to raise funds and increase awareness of the disease.

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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/09/092807reggae.htm

Concert By Anti-Gay Reggae Artist Cancelled

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: September 28, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
Updated 5:00 pm ET

(Toronto, Ontario) Hours before a Jamaican reggae artist was to perform at aToronto club Friday night the owners of the venue pulled the plug citing hismusic that has advocated violence against gays and lesbians.

A day earlier Kool Haus CEO Charles Khabouth has said he was unable tocancel the contract with Elephant Man because of "a contractual agreementthat was signed before the matter was brought to my attention."

Friday afternoon, as opposition from LGBT groups mounted Khaouth, notifiedElephant Man's management that it was pulling the plug. Late in theafternoon the management company was attempting to find another venue.

Thursday Toronto police said they would be in the audience for the concertand if the singer performed any of the music that has been deemed by civilrights groups as homophobic the reggae artist could be charged underCanada's promotion of hate law.

Under Canadian hate law it is illegal to promote hate toward any minorityincluding the LGBT community in speech or print.

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365gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/09/092907craig.htm

Craig's Downfall May Benefit Environmentalists

by The Associated Press
Posted: September 29, 2007 - 8:00 am ET

(Washington) The fall of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, removes a longtimeobstacle to efforts by Democrats and environmentalists to promote salmonrecovery on Northwest rivers.

Craig, who was removed from leadership posts on the Senate Appropriationsand Energy committees after a sex scandal, is known as one the most powerfulvoices in Congress on behalf of the timber and power industries.Environmentalists have fought him for years on issues from endangered salmonto public land grazing.

Now Senate Democrats, exercising their slim majority, have waded into twocontentious issues - both related to Snake River salmon.

First, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada asked federal regulatorsto require passage for salmon and steelhead for relicensing of the HellsCanyon Complex, a series of dams on the Snake River between Oregon andIdaho.

Reid says the passage would allow salmon to return to their historicalspawning grounds in northern Nevada, where the shimmering fish used to runthick nearly a century ago.

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Advocate.com

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid49434.asp

Is Clinton Fatigue Setting In?

Forty percent of Americans have never lived when there wasn't a Bush or aClinton in the White House. Anyone got a problem with that?

With Hillary Rodham Clinton hoping to tack another four or eight Clintonyears on to the Bush-Clinton-Bush presidential pattern that already has heldsway for two decades, talk of Bush-Clinton fatigue is increasingly croppingup in the national political debate.

The dominance of the two families in U.S. presidential politics isunprecedented. (The closest comparisons are the father-son presidencies ofJohn Adams and John Quincy Adams, whose single terms were separated by eightyears, and the presidencies of fifth cousins Theodore Roosevelt and FranklinRoosevelt, whose collective 20 years as president were separated by aquarter century.)

''We now have a younger generation and middle-age generation who are goingto think about national politics through the Bush-Clinton prism,'' saidPrinceton University political historian Julian Zelizer, 37, whose firstchance to vote for president was 1988, the year the first President Bush waselected. And as for the question of fatigue, Zelizer added: ''It's not justthat we've heard their names a lot, but we've had a lot of problems withtheir names.''

And now, if Hillary Clinton were to be elected and reelected, the nationcould go 28 years in a row with the same two families governing the country.Add the elder Bush's terms as vice president, and that would be 36 yearsstraight with a Bush or Clinton in the White House.

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Advocate.com

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid49437.asp

Romney Criticizes Democrats on Gay Sex Ed

Republican Mitt Romney criticized his Democratic rivals Thursday for notrejecting the inclusion of gay-related issues in sex education for second-graders.

''Last night's debate was just the latest example of how out of touch theDemocratic presidential candidates are with the American people,'' Romneysaid in a statement released by his campaign. ''Not one candidate wasuncomfortable with young children learning about same-sex marriage in thesecond grade.''

''This is a subject that should be left to parents, not public schoolteachers,'' he said.

The Democrats were asked during a debate Wednesday night whether they wouldbe comfortable with having a story about same-sex marriage read to theirchildren as part of their school curriculum, as a second-grade teacher didlast year in Lexington, Mass.

The top-tier Democratic candidates -- senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of NewYork and Barack Obama of Illinois and former senator John Edwards of NorthCarolina -- generally said they favor teaching children tolerance forothers, including gays and lesbians. They did not expressly embrace orreject including same-sex marriage as part of a second-grade curriculum.



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Advocate.com

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid49439.asp

ENDA to Be Separated Into Two Bills: Sexual Orientation and Gender IdentityRep. Barney Frank will be introducing two separate versions of theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act: one that prohibits discrimination on thebasis of sexual orientation and another one that does the same regardinggender identity. The latter would protect transgender people, includingthose who have had sexual reassignment surgery and those who are living asthe opposite sex from which they were born.

The ENDA bill without trans inclusion will be marked up by the chamber'sEducation and Labor Committee next Tuesday so that it can be sent it to theHouse floor for a vote, Steven Adamske, a spokesperson for Frank, told TheAdvocate.

"The other one, GENDA if you will, will move on a separate track and willgive the ability for the committee and other lawmakers to hold hearings onit and better educate other lawmakers," Adamske added.

The original bill that was cosponsored by Frank included protections forsexual orientation and gender identity. Frank and House leadership decidedto split the measure in two after they said a preliminary "whip" voterevealed the original bill didn't have enough votes to pass due to thetrans-inclusive language.

Advancing two separate bills has, at least temporarily, set House leadersand LGBT activists on opposite sides of the fence.

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Advocate.com

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid49455.asp

Robbery Plot Unfolds in Hate-Crime Murder Trial

Gays are "easy to get." That was what the three men on trial for the murderof Michael Sandy allegedly thought when they planned to lure him for moneyand marijuana on Oct. 8, 2006.

In a videotaped confession at the Brooklyn supreme court on Sept. 25, one ofSandy's accused murderers, 19-year-old John Fox, told of the planned robberythat got out of hand. The holdup was said to be devised at the house ofcodefendant Anthony Fortunato along with Ilya Shurov, both age 20.

"I signed on my screen name and...then [Fortunato] proceeded from my screenname to go into the gay chat room and pick out a guy," Fox said in the tape,according to the New York Daily News. "And [Fortunato] was telling us howlike it's easy to get [a gay man] once you talk to them. They'll come andmeet you, and we were gonna do it for the money."

That night at Plumb Beach on Brooklyn's southern shore, four men werewaiting for 28-year-old Sandy, an interior designer for Ikea, who lived inthe Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

Plumb Beach, which runs parallel to the Belt Parkway, is a well-knownlocation for cruising and trysts.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/nyregion/29gay.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1191070614-S6ffVAui5RAgNwUqZ6nwqg

Claiming Constant Harassment, Gay Police Officer in City Files Suit

September 29, 2007
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

A gay police officer has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the New YorkPolice Department, claiming he has been constantly harassed since telling aco-worker of his sexual orientation more than four years ago.

The officer, Michael Harrington, 30, said in the suit that a supervisor toldhim in October 2005 that he was being transferred to the Sixth Precinct inthe West Village so he could "be with his people."

Officer Harrington, who is now assigned to the Manhattan South Task Force,claims that he was ostracized, stigmatized and discriminated against becausehe is gay, and that his career is stalled. The lawsuit, filed this week inState Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Officer Harrington said he had been subjected to a stream of antigay slurs,has been brow-beaten for minor infractions like not wearing his hat, and hasbeen assigned to posts, like foot patrol, usually given to rookie officers.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Episcopal-Conservatives.html

Breakaway Episcopalians Form Partnership

September 28, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:17 p.m. ET

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A leading Episcopal conservative announced plans for apartnership Friday that aims to create an alternative to the liberal-leaningEpiscopal Church.

Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, whose diocese is considering breakingaway from the national denomination, said the group will be called theCommon Cause Partnership.

The founders are a mix of groups with varying ties to the Episcopal Churchand the world Anglican Communion. Among the members will be Episcopaldioceses and parishes that have broken away or plan to split from thenational church, congregations that have never been part of the EpiscopalChurch and fellowships that are considered schismatic by the AnglicanCommunion.

Duncan said that forming a separate North American church structure forconservatives is ''necessary because of the drift of the church in theWest.''

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-cruising.html?pagewanted=print

Controversial Gay Film "Cruising" Revived

September 28, 2007
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:36 a.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - America in 1980 was a culture confronting itself.Conservative Ronald Reagan was elected president strongly supporting familyvalues, while at the box office "Cruising" hoped to lure mainstreamaudiences into seeing a movie featuring graphic gay sex.

Twenty-seven years later, the Reagan administration has come and gone,leaving a mixed legacy, and porn films of almost every stripe are easilyavailable.

But "Cruising," about a serial killer haunting New York gay bars and S&Mjoints, seems to have vanished in the intervening years.

It was a box office flop but drew protests from gay groups, instead of theexpected support, and its star, Al Pacino, who plays a straight copinvestigating the murders by posing as a gay man, seldom talks about it.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-People-TR-Knight.html?pagewanted=print

T.R. Knight: `I've Learned So Much'

September 28, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:08 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- T.R. Knight says he's evolved as a person since announcinglast October that he's gay.

''I feel I've learned so much this past year, so I'm grateful for that --so, yeah, that changes you,'' the 34-year-old actor said Thursday on ''TheEllen DeGeneres Show.''

Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley on ABC's hit medical drama, ''Grey'sAnatomy,'' announced that he's gay after it surfaced that Isaiah Washingtonhad used an anti-gay slur against him during an on-set clash with a co-star.

Washington, 44, was booted from his role as a surgeon on the show after heused an anti-gay epithet backstage at the Golden Globe Awards in Januarywhile denying he'd used it previously on the set against Knight.

He publicly apologized and tried to make amends by meeting with gay-rightsorganizations and filming a public-service announcement calling fortolerance.

Knight said telling the world you're gay isn't an easy thing to do.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801322_pf.html

I'm Here, President Ahmadinejad

By Amir
Sunday, September 30, 2007; B02

TEHRAN

I'm one of those people Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says don'texist. I'm a 25-year-old Iranian, and I'm gay.

I live in Tehran with my parents and younger brother and am studying to be acomputer software engineer. I've known that I was different from my brotherand other boys for as long as I can remember.

I was born in 1982, two years after the start of the Iran-Iraq War, and whenI was growing up, most boys loved to play with toy guns, pretending to besoldiers in the war. I liked painting, and playing with dolls. My brotherpreferred to play with the other boys, so most of the time I was lonely.

I was 16 when I first realized that I was sexually attracted to some of theboys in my high school classes. I had no idea what I could do with thatfeeling. All I knew about homosexuals were the jokes and negative storiesthat people told about them. I thought a homosexual was someone who sexuallyabused children -- until I saw the word "homosexual" for the first time inan English encyclopedia, and found a definition of myself.

After that, I started searching the Internet for information abouthomosexuality. Eventually I came across two Iranian Web sites where I couldcommunicate with other gays. I was 17. At first, I didn't want to giveanyone my e-mail address because I was afraid that I could be abused or thatmy parents might find out, or that people on the site could be governmentspies. But I finally decided to exchange e-mails with one person, and aftersome correspondence, we spoke on the phone. I'll never forget the first timeI heard the voice of another gay man. We arranged to meet at the home of afriend of his, and the three of us talked for hours. I felt so comfortablewith them. The next day I learned that the friend was interested in me. Hisname was Omid, and we became boyfriends.

more....



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Gay & Lesbian Leadership SmartBrief
http://www.smartbrief.com/index.jsp

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



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http://365gay.com/Newscon07/09/092807eu.htm

Europride Takes On Polish Anti-Gays

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: September 28, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Stockholm) The European Pride Committee has voted to hold Europride 2010 inWarsaw where Polish gays have been battling for several years with thefederal government.

The committee made its decision at its annual meeting in Stockholm thisweek,

Each year Europride is held in a different city. Next summer it will be inStockholm. In 2009 it moves to Zurich.

The selection of Warsaw comes only months after Europe's watchdog for humanrights hammered the Polish government for what he called an abysmal recordin the treatment of gays and lesbians.

"I think we should remember that one of the groups that were targeted by theNazis were homosexuals, and we should really avoid to fall into that trapnow," Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg toldPolish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski as he presented him with a failinggrade on human rights. (story )

Earlier in the year the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Warsaw'sformer Mayor Lech Kaczynski - the prime minister's twin brother and nowPoland's President - acted illegally and discriminatory in banning previousgay pride marches.

When he was mayor Kaczynski rejected parade applications from 2004 to 2006.

In 2005 dozens of militant youths were waiting as the marchers arrived atthe Parliament buildings and pelted the crowd with eggs. Police struggled totry to regain order, but were vastly outnumbered.

Last year, the State Prosecutor's office issued a letter to prosecutors inthe municipalities of Legnica, Wroclaw, Walbryzch, Opole and Jelenia Goraordering in sweeping terms investigations into the conduct of "homosexuals"on unspecified allegations of "pedophilia."

The government also has been considering legislation that would make it acriminal offence to "promote homosexual propaganda" in schools. (story)

Following the European court ruling, month more than five-thousand peoplemarched through the streets of Warsaw in the first legally sanctioned LGBTpride parade in the Polish capital. Many of the marchers carried bannersreading "Stop homophobia". (story )

The decision to hold Europride in Warsaw makes the Polish capital the firsttime the event will be held in an Eastern European city. The European PrideCommittee said it wanted to send a strong message to other former Communistcountries now part of the European Union.

"Other cities such as Moscow and Riga have to learn that it is unacceptablein Europe to prohibit gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenderedindividuals from appearing in public," said committee president RobertKastl.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbdig09297nbsep29,0,337171.story

Broward County: Bookfest to explore issues in gay, lesbian literature
September 29, 2007

National and local authors will discuss issues and sign their books at theGay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Bookfest Expo from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday atthe Main Library, 100 S Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale.

The free event, Over the Rainbow, recognizes contributions made by GLBTauthors and features the Flamingo Freedom Band. A panel will discusscontemporary issues in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender literature. Go to http://www.broward.org/library/pressroom.htm for more information.

Ft. Lauderdale - Tomorrow - 2pm - Sunday



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

STATEMENT OF BARNEY FRANK ON ENDA

"Being in the legislative minority is easy - pulling together to block badthings does not require a lot of agonizing over tough decisions. Being inthe majority is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, we have the ability tomove forward in a positive way on important public policy goals. Detractingfrom that is the fact that it is never possible for us at any given time toget everything that we would like, and so we have to make difficult choices.But it is important to remember that the good part of this greatly outweighsthe bad. Going from a situation in which all we can do is to prevent badthings from happening to one in which we have to decide exactly how muchgood is achievable and what strategic choices we must make to get there is a
great advance.

"The current manifestation of this is the difficult set of decisions we face
regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. We are on the verge of an
historic victory that supporters of civil rights have been working on for
more than thirty years: the passage for the first time in American history
by either house of Congress of legislation declaring it illegal to
discriminate against people in employment based on their sexual orientation.
Detracting from the sense of celebration many of us feel about that is
regret that under the current political situation, we do not have sufficient
support in the House to include in that bill explicit protection for people
who are transgender. The question facing us - the LGBT community and the
tens of millions of others who are active supporters of our fight against
prejudice - is whether we should pass up the chance to adopt a very good
bill because it has one major gap. I believe that it would be a grave error
to let this opportunity to pass a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill
go forward, not simply because it is one of the most important advances
we'll have made in securing civil rights for Americans in decades, but
because moving forward on this bill now will also better serve the ultimategoal of including people who are transgender than simply accepting totaldefeat today.

more....



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

National Center for Transgender Equality
September 28, 2007

NCTE Statement on the

Employment Non-Discrimination Act

(Washington, DC) - Yesterday our Congressional allies apparently abandonedthe Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 2015), the centerpiece of theLGBT legislative agenda, and introduced two new pieces of legislation whichseparate the protected classes of gender identity and sexual orientation.NCTE firmly rejects this strategy and joins most other national and manystate LGBT organizations in actively opposing these two new bills.

Until last week, the majority of our congressional allies and organizationalpartners were confident that our years of diligent work were ready to bearfruit. We believe that the original version ENDA, which was fully inclusiveof both gender identity and sexual orientation, was prematurely abandonedand should still be called to a vote.

NCTE thanks our friends in Congress for the important work that has alreadybeen done, but calls on them to return to their efforts to pass thishistoric piece of legislation.

It is disheartening to see that a bill, drafted over several years through acollaborative effort of LGBT advocates and allies, would be rejected withouta vote and without the counsel or assent of a single one of theseorganizations.

There has been increasing support over the last decade to includetransgender people in all local, state and federal legislation designed toend the injustice and inequality which has been perpetrated against LGBTAmericans for generations. In fact there are currently 13 states, the DCand over 100 municipalities which already have passed similar antidiscrimination laws to protect people on the basis of both gender identityand sexual orientation.

more....



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

http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/spacer.gif>

What Would Jesus Say About the Folsom Street Poster?

A Statement from Ricci Levy, Executive Director, The Woodhull FreedomFoundation

This weekend the annual Folsom Street Fair will be held in San Francisco.This year's poster, a Folsom Street version of The Last Supper, has gainedquite a bit of attention - - some appreciative, some hostile. The ConcernedWomen for America, in their annual attempt to shut down the fair, haveseized on the poster as the reason for this year's effort to squelch whatthey describe as the "Debauched Folsom Street Fair."

I would never presume to speak for Jesus and it troubles me that others,like the CWA (Concerned Women for America), do. But I wouldn't try tosilence them, no matter how harmful I thought their statements were.Woodhull believes in freedom of speech and sexual expression, and this iscertainly a case where both would apply to all involved parties!

I can, though, offer you a quote from the Bible, Luke 6:22, "Blessed are youwhen men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name asevil, for the sake of the Son of Man." [New American Standard Bible]

But let's face it. This isn't about THIS poster. After all, there have beenmany previous pop culture takes on The Last Supper, such as by The Simpsons,The Sopranos, Star Wars, Sesame Street and many others, and the CWA didn'trise up in horror to decry the "open ridicule of Christianity" as they didhere.

No - this isn't about the poster. This is about discrimination. This isabout hate. And this is about fear. This is about restrictions on freedom ofspeech. This is about suppression of sexual freedom - of sexual expression.This is about marginalization of a group of people trying to exercise thesame choices Matt Barber, CWA Policy Director, makes for himself; the rightto live one's life as one pleases and with whom one pleases in consensualadult relationships.

Petitioning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Barbara Boxer and DianeFeinstein, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to "publicly condemn thisunprovoked attack against Christ and His followers" is a smoke-screen, it'sa ruse to try, once again, to close down the Folsom Street Fair. If itwasn't, the other cultural takes on The Last Supper would have caused thesame comments. After all - what's reverent about The Simpsons? And does theblood and guts violence of The Sopranos honor the concept of The LastSupper?

Here's the crux of the issue: it's freedom of speech and sexual expressionand it's about hatred of the "homosexual" population. The CWA proves itthemselves when they describe "half-naked homosexual sadomasochists...sinitself."

That's what this is about - hatred and unabashed bigotry against a group ofhuman beings with the same fundamental human right every member of the CWAclaims for themselves, - indeed the same fundamental right to which we'reallentitled - sexual freedom that includes freedom of speech and sexualexpression!

Ricci J. Levy
Executive Director
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation



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

http://washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=14524>

Murder may be anti-gay hate crime

Victims' friends 'driven to despair' over alleged police, media cover-upBy LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Sept 27, 10:55 AM

A close friend of three college students who were shot to death executionstyle in a Newark, N.J., schoolyard in August said the students planned tojoin him in attending a black Gay Pride event in Queens, N.Y., the dayfollowing their deaths.

News of the students' plans to attend the Aug. 5 event at New York City'sRiis Park Beach surfaced after a New Jersey gay group released a letter lastweek calling on Newark authorities to investigate the murders as possibleanti-gay hate crimes.

The murder of the three students and the shooting of a fourth student, whois recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, shocked Newark's citizensand became the subject of international news coverage.


READ THE FULL STORY



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

My name is Kathleen Fortune and I'm a 2nd year Ph.D. student in Psychologybased out of the Stigma and Social Neuroscience Lab at the University ofToronto. My current line of research examines the unique experiences ofindividuals with concealable stigmatized identities, such as those withnon-heterosexual sexual orientations.

I'm currently looking for participants who identify as gay, lesbian,bisexual, or queer to take a short online survey about identity management.Completing the survey should take approximately 25 minutes and participantsare automatically entered into a draw to win a 2GB iPod Nano. The projecthas been approved by my University research ethics board.

I would appreciate any assistance you could provide in passing along thislink and the information about the study to friends and colleagues.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=55YOuIcBJxNVzn9bhARkog_3d_3d


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801826.html

Tireless Shuttle Diplomacy
Archbishop of Canterbury, on Trip to U.S., Wins Compromise in Bid to Avoid Anglican Church Split

By Bruce Nolan
Religion News Service
Saturday, September 29, 2007; B09

NEW ORLEANS

H is admirers describe him as a brilliant theologian with the soul of a poet, but it's the work of a diplomat -- a church diplomat -- that brought the archbishop of Canterbury here last week.

Archbishop Rowan Williams's 77 million-member Anglican Communion is in full-body spasm, seemingly on the verge of tearing itself apart over issues of homosexuality and the church.

For years, the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church -- the U.S. branch of the Worldwide Anglican Communion -- has steadily marched toward consensus that omosexual relationships are not necessarily sinful; that gay men and lesbians may become bishops; and that the unions of gay couples may be sanctified.

Some leaders of other Anglican churches, especially in Asia and Africa, are furious. Increasingly, they demand that Episcopalians be partly or fully ejected from the Anglican Communion of 38 autonomous churches and that beleaguered traditionalist Episcopalians be given their own orthodox shepherds.

Since assuming office in 2003, Williams has tried to moderate the conflict, shuttling around the world and deploying all his powers of persuasion. Allowing a split, he said last week, would be "an admission of defeat. . . . I have to say, God forbid."



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801246_pf.html

Courts a Tough Road to Gay Marriage

By JAY LINDSAY
The Associated Press
Friday, September 28, 2007; 3:52 PM

BOSTON -- When bells rang in 2004 to celebrate the nation's first gay marriages in Massachusetts, opponents warned that liberal courts were moving to permit gay marriage around the nation.

Three years later, despite attempts in many states, the nation's highest courts haven't followed Massachusetts' lead. Last week, Maryland's high court became the latest after New York, Washington and New Jersey to refuse to grant marriage rights to gay residents.

"We were very disappointed to lose," said David Buckel of Lamdba Legal, which led the court fights in New York, New Jersey and Washington. "But you have to expect it in a civil rights movement because what you're doing is creating enormous change and there are enormous forces lined up against us."

Gay marriage opponents said the losses, coming in the states thought to be most open to gay marriage, show how far advocates overreached after the ruling in Massachusetts. Gay activists point to gains, such as court-ordered civil unions in New Jersey, and say they are prepared for a long fight. Two gay marriage cases are pending before high courts in Connecticut and California.

more....


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092800637.html

Sandler Hopes to Help Gay-Rights Groups

The Associated Press
Friday, September 28, 2007; 11:19 AM

MEXICO CITY -- Adam Sandler says he would like to work alongside gay-rights groups after starring in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry."

Sandler, who was in Mexico with co-star Kevin James to promote the film's opening in theaters here, told a news conference: "If I can help anybody in any way, I certainly would."

But the 41-year-old actor-comedian stopped short of calling himself a potential gay icon.

"I don't think that's gonna happen, dude, certainly not," Sandler said. "If I was a gay man, I wouldn't want me to represent" the gay community.

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," scheduled to be released on DVD in the U.S. in November, tells the story of two straight firefighters who pretend to be gay domestic partners for pension benefits. The movie raked in about $35 million in U.S. box-office sales on its opening weekend despite weak reviews and some complaints of homophobia.


=


[Send your comments about articles to rays.list@comcast.net]
#####

GLBT DIGEST September 29, 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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Florida Red and Blue
info@floridaredandblue.com

A group calling itself Florida4Marriage.org is just 12,000 signatures awayfrom putting an amendment before Florida voters next November that says:

"Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman ashusband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or thesubstantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

There will be plenty of time in the next 13 months to debate what thesponsors of that amendment really want and the sweeping consequences oftheir ploy.

In fact, in November, 2008, we will count the votes. But in the mean time,pundits, politicians and the press will be counting something else - dollarsin the bank.

The truth of the matter is that until voters vote "yes" or "no" on thisamendment, fundraising is one of the only ways to know who is on which sideand how strong or weak a campaign is likely to be.

Our opponents, the amendment sponsors, have made it clear they will beready. Here's a quote from John Stemberger - the sponsor of the amendment(from the Orlando Sentinel):

"This will inevitably be the most robust, well-funded marriage amendment inthe history of these ballot initiatives across the country."

Robust. Well-funded. That's our challenge.

On Monday morning, political insiders will count these campaigns again -seeing who's in which camp and how much money each side has raised.

That's why we need you to donate today.

By making a contribution to Florida Red and Blue, you'll be telling thoseFlorida political insiders that the campaign to defeat this amendment willbe robust and well-funded too.

When the book gets closed on this quarter this weekend and the totals areadded up, will your name be there? Will you be counted?

For us, it's as much about how many people give as how much they give. Everydollar is very important. So don't be shy about giving any amount.

And it's easy. It takes less than five minutes with a credit card on-line.Will you give $10 to be counted now? $50? $100?

When you think about it, giving today is like voting twice. It lets thepress and pundits see your name and your commitment to this issue. And ittells our opposition that they won't walk into amending our constitution.With your contribution today we'll win this important fight about the typeof state we want to call home.

Thank you for your support,

Deborah Tannenbaum
Florida Red and Blue, Finance Director

VERY IMPORTANT TO ACT BEFORE MONDAY - If you make a financial contributionto Florida Red and Blue by Monday, you could be one of our first 1,000donors. And being in that exclusive, early company means your name will berecorded - forever - in a custom work of art by famous Florida artist XavierCortada. It's an amazing opportunity to be part of history and I hope you'llread more about The Cortada Project here.



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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/25/AR2007092502448.html

D.C. Area Iranians Criticize Reception Of Ahmadinejad
Hostility Counterproductive, Some Say

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 26, 2007; A11

Many Iranian Americans in the Washington area describe President MahmoudAhmadinejad as a provocateur, a hypocrite and an embarrassment to Iran. Yetsome are disturbed about the hostile reception Ahmadinejad has received thisweek during his visit to the United States.

Students, professionals and academics in the region's Iranian emigrecommunity said yesterday that they were frustrated and disappointed that thevisit has focused on sensational issues such as Ahmadinejad's denials thatthe Holocaust occurred and that homosexuality exists in Iran.

Instead, they said they wished that the rare encounter between a seniorIranian official and the U.S. public would raise issues that they considermore pressing to residents of Iran-- such as the oppression of women, thequashing of political dissent and the social control exercised by thecountry's real powers among the conservative Shiite Muslim clergy.

"I agree that Ahmadinejad is a despicable human being, but he is not adictator. He cannot dictate anything," said Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, director ofthe Persian Studies Center at the University of Maryland. The Iranianpresident was introduced Monday as a "petty and cruel dictator" by thepresident of Columbia University, which had been pressured not to let himspeak at the New York City campus.

more . . . . .



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

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=662989

Readers welcome reconciliation of mom, gay son

Posted: Sept. 17, 2007
Dear Abby

Abigail Van Buren

DEAR ABBY: I am writing to respond to "Grateful Mom" (July 13), the widowwho, in her time of need, was invited by her son Neil and his partner tolive with them despite having rejected Neil in the past because he is gay. Ihave a gay son, too, and I would not trade him for anyone. He is the mostloving and caring son any parent could ever have. I consider myself verylucky.

When it was time for me to relocate, it was his partner who first approachedme about moving across the state to be near them. My son helped me find acute little house to buy. My two dogs and I are very happy.

I will not have grandchildren, but I do have granddogs and another wonderfulson. I am blessed.

- Another Grateful Mom in Florida

DEAR ANOTHER MOM: I am pleased that things are going so well for you. Theresponses to "Grateful Mom's" letter were heartwarming. They serve as areminder that acceptance, love and recognition of the importance of familycan triumph over intolerance and fear. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: I was touched that "Grateful Mom" was able to reconcile with herson and forge a wonderful relationship with him. My oldest brother was gay,and my parents welcomed his life partner into our family. We all have openminds and hearts about individuality.

more . . . . .



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

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/63549/

Jena's Mayor Thanks White Supremacists for Their "Moral Support"

By Laura Flanders
Posted on September 25, 2007, Printed on September 28, 2007

This post, written by Laura Flanders, originally appeared on The Nation

"Jena is America," says Alan Bean, speaking of the Louisiana town where sixblack students are looking at decades in jail for a schoolyard brawl whilewhite kids are facing nothing for hanging up nooses. Jena is America in thesense that the unequal justice there is not unique. There are "Jena Sixes"behind bars in every state. But it isn't America in the sense that thecountry as a whole has had no trouble at all ignoring Jena.

Bean is a Baptist minister from Texas who formed Friends of Justice inresponse to the now infamous Tulia drug sting of 1999 in which over half ofTulia's black males were convicted on the uncorroborated word of a corruptand racist undercover cop. He was instrumental in getting that story out. InJanuary he got busy in Jena. By that time, a young white man had alreadybeen beaten up and six young black students had been indicted, originally onattempted murder charges. One of the six, Mychal Bell, was legally still ajuvenile when he was convicted of attempted second-degree murder with adeadly shoe. While the six were paroled, Bell's been incarcerated eversince.

"If the media wasn't watching what was going on then every last one of thosekids would be in jail," one of the Jena mothers, Tina Jones, told theNation's Gary Younge. Jones is generous. The truth is, "the media" haven'tbeen watching. Black radio has been listening, and the black blogosphere'sbeen buzzing, but the white "mainstream" and the white liberal media woke upto this story about a minute ago.

By every account I've heard, the people who had sufficient fire in theirbelly to wake up before dawn and bus their way into Jena September 20 wereAfrican American -- around 90 percent. Probably close to that samepercentage had a story to tell about a family member or neighbor who's beentouched by the criminal injustice system. "White liberals care, but theyjust don't feel it in anything like the same way," says Bean. "There's amassive experience gap."

James Rucker of the action-alert network, Color of Change, sent out an emailalert July 17 after hearing about the story from Bean and his onlinesubscribers. On the media front, he thinks there's good news and bad: "We'veseen the power of black radio and the black netroots who really came intotheir own on this story, but it hasn't captured the imagination of the leftmedia in the way that I would have hoped." (Subscribe to ColorofChange.org.)

more . . . . .



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

http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/section.php?id=5&detail=782

UPDATE: PAKISTANI COUPLE IN LIMBO UNTIL COURT DECIDES ON HUSBAND'S GENDER

Date: September 19, 2007 Asia & Pacific » USA » For Your InformationBackground

This is an update on the legal status of Shumail Raj, a female-to-maletransgender man and Shahzina Tariq, his wife, who were imprisoned byPakistani authorities. IGLHRC has followed this case closely.

Shumail Raj, 31, has undergone two surgeries to remove his breasts anduterus and has lived as a man for 16 years. He and his longtime girlfriend,Shahzina Tariq, 26, were married in September 2006. In May of this year, aHigh Court judge ordered the couple to be arrested for falsely testifyingthat Shumail was a man and that they were legally married. Shumail andShahzina were subsequently sentenced to three years in prison. In June 2007,a Supreme Court judge ordered the case to be re-opened and released thecouple on 10,000 rupees bail ($825). The Court is expected to decide ifShumail is a man or woman, which will determine if his marriage to Shahzinais valid.

Two months after being released from prison on bail, Shumail and Shahzinahave a temporary job at an NGO focusing on women's rights and are trying toget on with their lives. This update gives information on their currentsituation.

For more information about this case, please visit our previous stories:

1- PAKISTAN: TRANSGENDER MAN FACES ADDITIONAL LAWSUITS
2- PAKISTAN SUPREME COURT ORDERS RELEASE ON BAIL
3- ACTION ALERT: PAKISTAN: TRANSGENDER HUSBAND AND HIS WIFE SEPARATED AND
IMPRISONED

Nighat Khan, director of ASR Resource Centre, which is currently housing thecouple and providing them with employment, says, "Shumail is safe at themoment. But there is a risk. They [the couple] and we would like for them totry and stay here [in Pakistan] unless it is absolutely impossible. On onehand, Shumail says, we must get them abroad. But on the other hand he isunable and unwilling to give up his life in Faisalabad."

more . . . . .



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

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/5108

We can't sue our way to equality

By Andy Birkey , Minnesota Monitor

A California woman is suing eHarmony for discrimination because the popularinternet dating site does not allow gays and lesbians. A Minnesota lesbiancouple is suing a health club in Rochester because it will not allow theirfamily the same family rate afforded to married couples. These cases, likeseveral others, is exemplary of the showdown between private business,religious beliefs, and governmental responsibility to end discrimination.

Opinion: We can't sue our way to equality

eHarmony says that it can discriminate based on sexual orientation becausethe research used to create their matching system was developed and testedon heterosexuals. Company officials argue that it does not have thecapability to match gay and lesbian couples. Appearances, however, tell adifferent story.

eHarmony founder Neil Clark Warren told NPR's Terri Gross that an importantreason that they do not allow same-sex matching is because "same-sexmarriage in this country is largely illegal at this time, and we do try tomatch people for marriage." Warren went even further when pressed by Salon'sRebecca Traister. "We've got thousands of years of history of the human racein which this [homosexuality] was never treated as a marriage and there area lot of people who think it's just not going to have the same kind ofstability over time," he said.

eHarmony got its start with James Dobson's Focus on the Family, a group thatopposes homosexuality. Focus on the Family engaged in a large scalemarketing campaign for the dating website, a relationship that eHarmony iscurrently working to distance itself from.

more . . . . .



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

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-editgstransgendernbsep26,0,3751024,print.story

More protected classes aren't needed

September 26, 2007
ISSUE: Communities consider transgender protections.

Activists in South Florida want to make sure the transgender community hasthe same rights and protections as everyone else.

The fact is, they already do.

You can't legally discriminate in housing and employment by race, sex,
color, religion, national origin, handicap, familial status, sexualorientation or marital status. That pretty much covers it all.

Which makes the effort to push for transgender protection in some SouthFlorida communities an unnecessary move that would quite possibly do moreharm than good.

No law is going to make people more open-minded. Yet certain laws could spura backlash.

more . . . . .



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

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20896378/

Olbermann to Bush: 'Your hypocrisy is so vast'

A reaction to Thursday's press conference: the president was the one whointerjected Gen. Petraeus into the political dialogue in the first place
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
Updated: 9:59 p.m. ET Sept 20, 2007

So the President, behaving a little bit more than usual, like we would allinterrupt him while he was watching his favorite cartoons on the DVR,stepped before the press conference microphone and after side-stepping mostof the substantive issues like the Israeli raid on Syria, in condescendingand infuriating fashion, produced a big political finish that indicates,certainly, that if it wasn't already - the annual Republican witch-huntingseason is underway.

"I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack not onlyon General Petraeus, but on the U.S. Military."

"And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat party spokeout strongly against that kind of ad.

"And that leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats areafraid of irritating a left-wing group like Moveon.org or more afraid ofirritating them, than they are of irritating the United States military."

"That was a sorry deal."

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http://www.campusclimateindex.org/

LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index

Every college student has the right to a safe learning environment wherethey can learn, grow and succeed -- regardless of sexual orientation orgender identity and expression. Today many campuses are looking for ways tobecome safer, more LGBT-Friendly. Now they can learn how.

The LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index, owned and operated by Campus Pride,is a vital tool for assisting campuses in learning ways to improve theirLGBT campus life and ultimately shape the educational experience to be moreinclusive, welcoming and respectful of LGBT and Ally people. The onlyresource of its kind, the index also provides online access to searchcolleges and universities based on their LGBT-Friendly campus life(academics, policies, student organizations & activities, campus safety,health services, housing & residence life, recruitment & retention efforts,etc).

By highlighting positive efforts with the LGBT-Friendly Campus ClimateIndex, we can advocate more effectively for LGBT and Ally progress for allcampus communities. Please encourage campuses to be listed and help usrecognize campuses for continued achievements and success. Together we canchange the future. The time is now.

For LGBT & Ally Students & Families
Any public user may search the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index. For adetailed listing of campus profiles, use the Campus Search. Also, checkout our Spotlight to learn more about our Premier Campus and use the HonorRoll to view any campus scoring a 3 star rating or above. Don't forget toadd your campus favorites to My Bookbag to compare and request furtherinformation from the campus.

For Colleges & Universities
Any campus has the opportunity to take the online assessment tool consistingof 50+ self-assessment questions. The tool corresponds to eight differentLGBT-Friendly factors designed to help campuses measure and find ways to bemore inclusive, welcoming and respectful to LGBT & Ally people. Aftercompleting the online assessment, the campus official receives aconfidential report with results and recommendations. If you are the campusofficial responsible for LGBT issues or can speak professionally on behalfof the campus, please visit For Campus Officials Only to get started now.

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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5570.html

Study finds suicide more likely in those unsure of sexuality

26th September 2007 17:30
Georgina Roberts

Young people confused about their sexuality are most vulnerable to suicide,a study of university students has revealed.

The University of Washington research found that while gay, lesbian andbisexual participants are twice as likely as heterosexuals to have attemptedsuicide, those who still have issues with defining their sexuality are sixtimes as likely.

eOf the 528 participants, 79 of these identified themselves as same sexattracted heterosexuals and it was the number of suicide plans and attemptsof this group that caused University of Washington researcher Heather Murphythe most concern.

"I was shocked by the finding because the rate for these students was justoff the charts.

"They are still trying to fit into the mainstream heterosexual society andare not willing to talk to friends or go to a queer centre to talk aboutwhat they are experiencing.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070926/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pace_homosexuals_4

Gen. Pace: Homosexual acts immoral
By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 26, 6:02 PM ET

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at aSenate hearing Wednesday when he said he believes homosexual activity isimmoral and should not be condoned by the military.

Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarkshe made in spring, which he said were misreported.

"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in themilitary? Yes," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearingfocused on the Pentagon's 2008 war spending request.

"We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars andbeing very conscious of it," he added. "And that is, very simply, that weshould respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law ofthe land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's law."

Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general'sremarks, prompting Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptlyadjourn the hearing and seal off the doors.

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Daily Queer News
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http://nationalgaynews.com/content/view/1742/173/

Ft. Lauderdale

Decency Advocate Thompson Charged with Indecency

Federal Judge Accuses Evangelist Lawyer of Filing Obscene Pleadings
Wednesday, 26 September 2007 22:25
By Bill Meyer, in conjunction and cooperation with Norm Kent

Jack Thompson, the evangelical Coral Gables lawyer who is already beingprosecuted by the Florida Bar for professional misconduct, has taken a giantleap towards his own disbarment.

On Wednesday, a United States District Court Judge, Adalberto Jordan,appointed to the bench by President Bush, ordered Thompson to Show Cause whyhe should not be held in possible contempt of court.

Thompson is accused of filing obscene materials, accessible to the public,with federal pleadings which accuse the Bar of "collaborating" with NationalGay News Publisher Norm Kent.

Specifically, in a federal civil rights action, Thompson alleges that he isan honorable lawyer fighting to prevent pornography from being distributedto the public, and he, a devout Christian, is being unjustly prosecuted bythe liberal Florida Bar, while Norm Kent, "a homosexual lawyer with anactivist ACLU agenda" has been given a free ride.

Related Links:

SlashDot - http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/26/185247
GamePolitics.com - http://www.gamepolitics.com

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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5577.html

EuroPride 2010 to be held in Warsaw

27th September 2007 13:01

EuroPride 2010 will take place in Poland's capital city Warsaw.

The decision was made at the 14th international conference of the EuropeanPride Organisers Association (EPOA) in Stockholm.

The event will be the first Eastern European EuroPride and aims to send astrong message to a part of the continent where equal rights and acceptanceof the GLBT community is still minimal.

Warsaw Pride was banned in 2004 and again in 2005 by the then-Mayor ofWarsaw and now President of Poland Lech Kaczynski.

The event has taken place for the last two years without major incident.This has been due to a heavy police presence.

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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5577.html

EuroPride 2010 to be held in Warsaw

27th September 2007 13:01
PinkNews.co.uk writer

EuroPride 2010 will take place in Poland's capital city Warsaw.

The decision was made at the 14th international conference of the EuropeanPride Organisers Association (EPOA) in Stockholm.

The event will be the first Eastern European EuroPride and aims to send astrong message to a part of the continent where equal rights and acceptanceof the GLBT community is still minimal.

Warsaw Pride was banned in 2004 and again in 2005 by the then-Mayor ofWarsaw and now President of Poland Lech Kaczynski.

The event has taken place for the last two years without major incident.This has been due to a heavy police presence.

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Daily Queer News
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http://www.irqo.net/IRQO/English/pages/43.htm

Don't leave Iranian queers abandon! - Statement of Seyed Mehdi Kazemi

I am an Iranian national, was born on 08.04.1988, in Tehran. I am ShiaMuslim. I have one sister. I have lived all my life with my parents andsister until I came to the UK on 15.09.2005. My father owns dried fruitsshop in Iran and sometimes he exports and imports goods.

I attended school, in Tehran for five 12 years. When I finished mysecondary school I started my high school called Bagher Al Olom. I was 17years old that I should study in the UK. He made all arrangements for me tocome to the UK to study. I was granted six months student visa until March2006. In February 2006, I decided to continue my studies and extended mystudent visa until November 2006.

When I arrived in the UK I began my English course at Leicester SquareSchool of English in London. For the first two months I lived with my unclein London. I then moved to Brighton and in November 2005, and joined EmbassyCES College in Hove. I extended my student visa until November 2006 as Iwanted to continue my studies in the UK.

When I was in Iran I did not have any problems. However, I used to have amale partner whom I used to meet secretly. I was 15 years old when I starteddating one of my class mates in school. His name was Parham. He was alsoIranian and we used to spend a lot of time together. I had just turned 15years of age when I found out that I was sexually attracted men. I was veryscared of this feeling and did not tell anyone about it. Parham was my bestfriend and one day he told me that he was attracted towards men and notwomen. When he told me that I started feeling comfortable with him anddecided to tell him that I felt the same, we were 15 years of age when wedecided to start our relationship.

We used to meet everyday in school and sometimes out side school in cinemaor park. We started having sex about eight months after dating each other.We used to meet either in his house or my house when there was no onearound.

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Daily Queer News
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http://freedomtoserve.blogspot.com/2007/09/talking-about-heroes.html

The Advocate is out with its 40th anniversary issue, highlighting the LGBTcommunity's top 40 heroes, as selected via an Advocate poll. Ellen DeGeneres(yep, she's gay) topped the list, and there are three entries in the top 40of particular interest to SLDN supporters.

Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, a member of SLDN's military advisorycouncil, clocks in at #9. "Why should we be good enough to be cannon fodderbut not good enough to serve at home?," Cammermeyer asked the magazine in2001. "Twelve years earlier, as a colonel in the Washington State NationalGuard," the magazine writes, "she became the highest-ranking official in theU.S. military to come out of the closet while still in service. The resultwas an honorable discharge, a decision Cammermeyer fought until a federaljudge ruled that the ban on gays and lesbians in the military wasunconstitutional and reinstated her."

Colonel Cammermeyer also tells The Advocate that gay troops can have anotherimpact. "Imagine if every gay military person said 'If I can't be open, I'mout of here - send the straight people to war, and I'll stay home and go togay pride parades," she said. "Now is a good time to leave the military -the very time we are needed the most. The impact would be phenomenal. Maybethen we'd get rid of this stupid, half-assed law."

Leonard Matlovich, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heartrecipient, ranks #36 on the list. Matlovich was featured on the cover ofTime magazine in 1975, and was the palintiff in an ACLU lawsuit challengingthe ban on gays in the military. He won an honorable discharge andsettlement in 1980.

And author Randy Shilts is #31 on the top 40 heroes list. Shilts is theauthor of Conduct Unbecoming, the definitive history on LGBT militaryservice. (And, each year, SLDN presents its Randy Shilts Visibility Award tosomeone who has singificantly increased the visibility of gay servicepersonnel.)

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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
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http://www.sldn.org/templates/press/record.html?section=2&record=4344

General Pace Clarifies Remarks on Gays in the Military

September 26, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC - In remarks today at the Senate Appropriations Committee,outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace clarifiedremarks he made earlier this year about gay service personnel and the "Don'tAsk, Don't Tell" ban on open service. In response to questions from SenatorTom Harkin (D-IA) about Pace's earlier comments referring to homosexualityas "immoral," the General indicated a willingness to change the law.

"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual "General Pace isright in his assertion that lesbian and gay personnel should be treatedequally alongside their heterosexual colleagues."

serving in the military? Yes," Pace said. "(W)e should respect those whowant to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condoneactivity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's law." Pace then went onto say that, ""I would be very willing and able and supportive" to changesto the policy "to continue to allow the homosexual community to contributeto the nation without condoning what I believe to be activity - whether itto be heterosexual or homosexual - that in my upbringing is not right,"indicating support for policies that would treat behavior by all servicepersonnel, regardless of sexual orientation, the same.

"General Pace is right in his assertion that lesbian and gay personnelshould be treated equally alongside their heterosexual colleagues," saidAubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network(SLDN). "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' however, creates a separate set ofstandards for gay personnel. The law is about status, and not conduct.Policies regulating conduct are already on the books and should be appliedwithout regard to sexual orientation, but simply being lesbian or gay shouldnot be grounds for dismissal from the armed forces."

In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that Pace said that, "I do notbelieve the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK tobe immoral in any way." While reiterating his personal opinion today,however, Pace indicated that lesbian and gay Americans do serve, and the lawshould allow their continued service.

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Daily Queer News
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http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/09/27/opinions/letters_to_editor/18b88b96f9c25258862573620071fb0f.prt

Facts on gay parents

LEONARD KARLIN, M.D.

WATERLOO --- Dave Lindley (Sept. 5) states the American College ofPediatricians "has clearly stated same-sex marriages are not in the bestinterest of children," but he fails to attribute the actual study or explainthe problem when children are not involved or what it has to do withpolygamy in the Netherlands.

At the 2005 National Conference of the American Academy of Pediatricians,Dr. Ellen Perrin, professor of pediatrics at Tufts-New England MedicalCenter, presented a peer-reviewed study of the data from 15 publishedstudies and found that one to six million children in this country are beingraised by gay or lesbian couples. The studies found no difference inintelligence, behavior, self-esteem, psychological problems, well-being,peer relationships or gender identity when compared to children raised byheterosexual couples. Some of the studies followed the children to adulthoodand found a similar absence of problems.

Sorry, Mr. Lindley, sometimes the facts fail to cooperate with ourprejudices. Children of same-sex couples seem to be doing at least as wellas those of heterosexual couples. Allowing the same-sex parents to marrywould only further stabilize their situation.

Why would extending marriage privileges to same-sex couples endanger theinstitution of marriage? And why is who marries whom any of my or yourbusiness? And why is the political party "of small government" so involvedin private matters?



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

http://expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=4068

Ft. Lauderdale

Gay bartender severely injured in hit-and-run

Witness says car sped up and appeared to deliberately hit pedestrian
By PHIL LAPADULA
Sep. 27, 2007

A local gay bartender is in critical condition after being struck by a carin a hit-and-run incident on Sept. 18 in front of Ramrod bar in FortLauderdale. It was the second serious incident involving a pedestrian beingstruck on 4th Avenue near the bar in the past three months.

Thomas Davis, 32, was crossing 4th Avenue to go to work at the bar when hewas struck at about 10:15 p.m., according to a police statement. Davissuffered a broken leg, head trauma, a lacerated liver and bruised lungs.

A witness who was working security outside the bar when the incidentoccurred said the car sped up and swerved to hit Davis.

"From my vantage point, it was clearly deliberate," said Marcus Hopkins, oneof two security men outside Ramrod who witnessed the incident. Hopkins saidDavis crossed the street half way and stopped to wait for cars to passbefore continuing. When Davis was nearly on the other side of the street,Hopkins said he heard a car engine rev and saw a white car appear to swervetoward Hopkins. He said Davis' right foot was on the curb when he wasstruck.

"The car did not pause; it did not slow down," Hopkins said. "It just plowedright through him. [The driver] did not break at all. There were no skidmarks or tire marks on the road."

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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/09/092807obama.htm

Obama Draws Massive Crowd In Greenwich Village

by The Associated Press
Posted: September 28, 2007 - 9:00 am ET

(New York City) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama toldthousands at a rally Thursday that he would bring serious change toWashington if elected.

The Illinois senator, speaking in front of the landmark arch in WashingtonSquare Park in lower Manhattan's Greenwich Village, said that to trulyeffect change partisan politics must be stopped and the people must haveaccess once again to the federal government.

"We are sick and tired of being sick and tired. We want something new. Wewant some change," he said, quoting the late voting and civil rightsactivist Fannie Lou Hamer. The phrase is one he uses often on the campaigntrail.

Obama, wearing dark blue slacks and a light-blue dress shirt with an opencollar and rolled-up sleeves, came on stage to Kanye West's inspirationalsong "Touch the Sky," as thousands, including many college students, crammedinto the park near New York University.

He discussed the war in Iraq and health care, but avoided direct criticismof any of his opponents in the presidential race.

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Daily Queer News
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http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=3EFAE73A-3048-5C12-000CFFB7D69FF328

Scandals take a load off Craig, others

By: Carrie Budoff Brown
September 26, 2007 06:40 AM EST

For Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), the last press release posted to hiswebsite was in June, soon after a grand jury indicted him and thecongressman lost his final committee post.

For Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), the time stamp on his troubles can be foundin the "Photo Album" section of his site. The grip-and-grins ended in April,when the FBI raided Renzi's family businesses.

For Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), usually a chatterbox on the Senate floor,the speeches stopped once his arrest in a men's room sex sting became known.

They, along with Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), who also lost his committeepost following an FBI raid, have been consigned to the Get Lost Caucus - ahighly unofficial, exceedingly exclusive, nobody-chooses-to-enroll kind ofclub. It is four members strong, with potential for growth.

The guidelines for qualification: First, you hit a few legal snags (a raid,an indictment, an arrest), then you lose your committee assignments (or, inthe case of Craig, your ranking status).

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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.dailynews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20070928032211889C436048

Joburg and Soweto march for gay pride
28 September 2007, 06:20

The Joburg Gay Pride Festival comes of age with its 18th parade nextSaturday - and even the taxman will be there to celebrate.

On Saturday, the third Soweto Pride march gets under way. The Soweto marchstarts at 11am at the corner of Roodepoort and Mphuthi roads and proceeds toCredo Mutwa Park.

Forum for the Empowerment of Women spokesperson Phumla Masuku said a fewhundred people were expected to attend.

The Joburg Gay Pride Parade takes place from 10am at Zoo Lake.

Both marches will commemorate victims of hate crimes, including lesbiansSizakele Sigasa ,34, and Salome Masooa ,23, who were shot dead in Soweto inJuly.

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Daily Queer News
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http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4006358

South Africans are generally happy: survey

South Africans are generally happy and even if they are quite negativetowards gays, they teach their children to be tolerant, News24 reportedyesterday.

In addition, nearly 10% of South Africans think it is sometimes justified ifa man beats his wife.

That was part of the picture emerging from a South African survey of values,conducted last year by the Centre for International and Comparative Politicsat Stellenbosch University, in conjunction with Markinor.

On a scale of what was deemed acceptable, homosexuality fared better thanprostitution or abortion, but worse than divorce.

On a choice of neighbours, the vast majority of South Africans did not wantto live next door to drug addicts or chronic drinkers. - Sapa



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

http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_5012.php

Web profile abuse was "particularly nasty"

New Zealand Daily News
By GayNZ.com News Staff
28th September 2007 - 10:04 pm

"A particularly nasty example of the prejudice still faced by young peoplewith diverse sexualities and genders" is how a leading youth developmentproject describes the homophobic tirades left on public view on the internetfor three weeks after political heavyweight Bill English was alerted thatthey were apparently the work of his teenage son.

Despite intense media coverage following GayNZ.com's revelation of his weeksof inaction on the matter, English has yet to deny that the comments werethe work of his son, nor has any apology to LGBT teens been forthcoming. TheBebo profile page containing the comments, which continued to be added toand expanded on after English was made aware of the problem, was finallyremoved from public view on Tuesday evening, moments after the general mediaswooped on the story. Bebo is a social networking internet site which ispopular with New Zealand adults and, particularly, teenagers.

On his own website, in a statement made during the anti-smacking debate,English, who is MP for Clutha/Southland and deputy leader of the NationalParty, says he is "totally responsible" for the moral welfare of hischildren. He also acknowledges negative influences of peer pressure, which"seem to take over at a younger and younger age."

Homophobic abuse is "one of the last acceptable forms of prejudice" and suchverbal abuse can escalate to physical abuse, says Nathan Brown, the NationalCo-ordinator of the OUT THERE! Youth Development Project. "We feel it isn'tbeing taken seriously enough. Homophobic attacks that use words like'poofter' and 'faggot' send a powerful and threatening message to youngpeople that it is not OK to be different."

Brown says that even adults who are uncomfortable with issues aroundhomosexuality need to address homophobia in their children. "Whatever yourviews on homosexuality, the use of hate language in any context isunacceptable." He advises parents and teachers "to treat these attitudes asthey would any form of dehumanizing abuse like racism or sexism.

"Ignoring homophobic language will only make the problem get worse."



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Daily Queer News
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http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_4995.php

Kapiti Coast may get lesbian mayor

New Zealand Daily News
By GayNZ.com News Staff
25th September 2007 - 12:19 pm

Openly-lesbian candidate for mayor of Kapiti Coast, Jenny Rowan, says she'spassionate about polities, helping the local community, and addressingclimate change.

Jenny Rowan
Rowan is one of seven mayoral candidates in the in the north-west corner ofthe Wellington region, where current mayor Alan Milne is retiring.

As a Commissioner in the Environment Court for the past 16 years, Rowan hastravelled around New Zealand overseeing a range of cases including airportsites, landfills, towns, wind farms and marine farms and the building ofsubdivisions and marinas. "Climate change is real," she says. "We can notcontinue to develop subdivisions that are car-dependent and isolated fromservices - it is just not sustainable. More creative ideas and planning mustbe incorporated in all developments."

Rowan comes from a fourth generation farming family in Taranaki. She is aqualified mediator and negotiator, a Justice of the Peace and was awardedthe Queen's Service Order in 1991.



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

http://citizenchris.typepad.com/citizenchris/2007/09/teaching-gay-to.html

Teaching gay to seven year-olds
September 28, 2007

The reaction to the Democratic presidential debate question on Wednesdaynight about exposing second graders to gay relationships has shed some lighton where we are in terms of cultural acceptance.

As far as the candidates were concerned, they acted according to form:Edwards tried to suck up, Obama tried to be inspirational, and Clintonbasically punted.

Here's the background, via AP, though you can read the entire debate excerptif you follow the jump to this post:

The Democrats were asked during a debate Wednesday night whether they wouldbe comfortable with having a story about same-sex marriage read to theirchildren as part of their school curriculum, as a second-grade teacher didlast year in Lexington, Mass.

The top-tier Democratic candidates - Clinton, Obama and Edwards - generallysaid they favor teaching children tolerance for others, including gays andlesbians. They did not expressly embrace or reject including the same-sexmarriage as part of a second-grade curriculum.

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Daily Queer News
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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5590.html

Archbishop claims condoms are infected with HIV

28th September 2007 15:45
Joe Roberts

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Mozambique has claimed that someEuropean-made condoms and anti-retroviral drugs are deliberately infectedwith HIV.

The Archbishop of Maputo, Francisco Chimoio, made his remarks atcelebrations to mark 33 years of Mozambique's independence.

Talking to a BBC reporter, the Archbishop Chimoio said: "Condoms are notsure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are makingcondoms with the virus on purpose."

Refusing to name the countries, he added: "They want to finish with theAfrican people. This is the programme.

"They want to colonise until up to now. If we are not careful we will finishin one century's time."

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http://www.sldn.org/templates/legalhelp/record.html?section=19&record=741

Survival Guide

ROTC - Senior

Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets are considered service membersand "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass" applies to them.While the military generally does not look for evidence of homosexualconduct by ROTC student, the military can, and does, respond when it obtainsinformation about LGBT ROTC students. ROTC students who are the target of acommand investigation should say nothing, sign nothing and ask to speak witha defense attorney. Students with ROTC scholarships thinking aboutdisclosing their sexual orientation to the military are strongly encouragedto speak to an attorney before doing so. If an ROTC student is disenrolledunder "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass," the student willlose his or her ROTC scholarship, and may be asked to pay the military backfor the money already spent on his or her education.



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

http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/verizon/b887dx42et66xe

Take action today!

Click here to read the full

http://prochoiceaction.org/ct/771ZEFd1TEps/article.

I've got some bad news for you: even your cell phone isn't safe fromcensorship.

Last week Verizon Wireless deemed NARAL Pro-Choice America too"controversial" and "unsavory" to approve a short code for ourtext-messaging program.

Not familiar with the term "short code"? That's okay. The bottom line isthat Verizon won't let its customers access our text-messaging program.

Verizon's decision sends chills down my spine. What kind of company woulddeny its customers who signed up to receive information the ability to usetheir cell phones to participate in our democracy? That's just wrong.

I've sent a letter to Verizon president and CEO Lowell McAdam asking him toend his company's policy. But Verizon hasn't contacted me with an officialresponse - so now I'm asking for your help. Please send your own message toVerizon opposing
their decisiontoday!

The principle at stake here is simple. Verizon Wireless' customers haveevery right to decide what actions to take with their phones, regardless oftheir political views.

If you think that Verizon, which controls 25 percent of the cell-phonemarket, has no business deciding what information their customers can andcan't receive, I hope you take action today .

Thank you for standing with us.

My best,
Nancy Keenan
President
NARAL Pro-Choice America



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

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nettax27sep27,0,4294352.story?coll=la-home-center

Local governments face off with telecom and tech firms as ban on leviesnears expiration.

By Jim Puzzanghera
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 27 2007

WASHINGTON — A monthly phone bill of $50 now includes as much as $10in taxes. And some in Congress warn that consumers soon could be hit withsimilar assessments for high-speed Internet access.

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

https://secure.ga3.org/03/fighthate_senate/nZ7z1sgY1DW_2?>

I've been waiting for months to write this.

With your help, the U.S. Senate has just passed the Matthew Shepard Act!

I want to thank you, personally, for everything you've done to help makethis moment possible. HRC supporters sent 350,000 emails, made 30,000 callsto Congress, and wrote over 5,000 letters to local papers. Your commitmentwas inspiring. And even Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) acknowledged the workof the Human Rights Campaign during debate on the Senate floor.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your incredible support.

But even as we celebrate this victory - we know we face a tough road ahead.The bill has to survive final negotiations between the House and Senatebefore it gets to President Bush. Even then, he has threatened to veto it.

As you know, pressure from the radical right will be fierce the whole way.Our support must be fierce as well - so we will continue to ask for yoursupport over the coming weeks.

It's been nine years since Matthew Shepard was senselessly murdered becauseof who he was. HRC stands firmly committed to this being the year we finallymake sure every American is protected from this kind of violence.

We just made history. Thank you for getting us this far. Now, let's see itthrough to the end.

Warmly,
Joe Solmonese
President



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

http://www.prideagenda.org

Help Ensure that Transgender-Inclusive Language is Not Removed from ENDA!

Hate Crimes Bill Passes Senate, ENDA in Trouble

By a vote of 60-39, the U.S. Senate added the Matthew Shepard Act (HateCrimes) to the Department of Defense Authorization bill. This likely meansthat the next--and final--step for passage of this crucial bill would be asignature from President Bush.

ENDA, on the other hand, may be in trouble. Congressional Democrats areright now weighing whether or not to keep "gender identity" in the bill'stext. Some Democrats are getting nervous that the bill may not pass iftransgender-inclusive language is part of the bill. This would mean that,even if the bill were to pass and become law, it would still be legal in thevast majority of states, including New York, to fire someone from their jobsimply because of their gender identity and/or expression.

We need you to write your U.S. Representative and let him/her know that yousupport the bill as it is written NOW--including gender identity. Thereshould be no compromise on whether some or all of our community will beincluded in this bill when it goes to the House or Senate floor for a vote.Removing this vital part of the bill leaves millions of Americans vulnerableto losing their job simply because of who they are.

Click below to take action NOW!
http://eqfed.org/campaign/transgender_ENDA_2007/wb3n5d5918e6ee3



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

http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Sept/2701.htm

Cashman Welcomes Euro Court Ruling on Gay Rights in Poland

Poland has failed to meet its human rights obligations for gay men and women

STRASBOURG, September 27, 2007 - Euro MP Michael Cashman has welcomed thedecision of the European Court of Human Rights to uphold its previousverdict against the Polish Government and the ban by the Warsaw cityauthorities of the city's Gay Pride in 2005.

The ban came while Lech Kaczynski was mayor of Warsaw. Later that year, hewas elected President of Poland.

"This ruling can now be added to a growing list of actions being undertakenby the European institutions to defend the fundamental freedoms of not justPolish LGBT individuals, but of all European individuals," Mr. Cashman,president of the Parliament's gay and lesbian rights 'Intergroup', saidthis afternoon.

"The ruling highlights the importance of continued British membership andactive participation in the European institutions. As it has shown manytimes before, the European Union and the Council of Europe are both highlycapable bulwarks of values that are dear to every British citizen."

Tomasz Szypu³a from Campaign Against Homophobia, one of the five individualswho took the case to Strasbourg, told UK Gay News this afternoon that "weare very happy, especially now, when we know that EuroPride2010 will be inWarsaw".

more....



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

Fine By Me (from www.advocate.com)

September 27, 2007
Teen Disciplined for Gay-Positive T-shirt A Spencer, N.Y., student was senthome from school last week for wearing a T-shirt with a gay-friendlymessage.

Heathyre Farnham, 16, said she was not trying to be inflammatory by wearingthe shirt, which read, "Gay? Fine by Me."

"I had worn it two or three times before, and all of a sudden it'sinappropriate," Farnham said in a statement released Wednesday."[Principal Ann Sincock] said I was advertising my sexual preference andthat was offensive, which makes no sense because I'm straight.Maybe she herself was offended by it."

Farnham said in a statement that her peers at Spencer-Van Etten High Schoolwere supportive of the shirt's message. Even students who didn't agree withher message said they were disappointed she was sent home from school.

Farnham said she purchased the T-shirt at a local secondhand store. Theshirt was originally part of a campaign waged by a group of Duke Universityactivists in 2003 who had 75,000 such shirts created for distribution toother colleges, schools, religious communities, businesses, and civicorganizations.

more....



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

20070927175150.5BA347376D@hibiscus.onlinepolicy.net>

All Democrats and two independents in the Senate voted for the Hate Crimes legislation today. It passed 60 to 39.

McCain was the only senator not voting.

Nine Republicans voted in favor:
John Warner
Richard Lugar
Susan Collins
Olympia Snowe
George Voinovich
Arlen Specter
Norm Coleman
Judd Gregg
Gordon Smith (co-sponsor)

Note that Senators Craig and Vitter voted against this bill (with 39 other Republicans).

This legislation is trans-inclusive.



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

Vote on Hate Crimes approved by Senate

20070927182048.8B5797376D@hibiscus.onlinepolicy.net

YEAs ---60

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Mc0Caskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)


NAYs ---39

Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Martinez (R-FL)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)

Not Voting - 1

McCain (R-AZ)



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

Human Rights Campaign Condemns Gen. Peter Pace's Comments Regarding Gays inthe Military

"Gen. Pace's job is to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, notto use his own personal feelings to decide what is morally acceptable ornot," said HRC President Joe Solmonese

WASHINGTON-The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender advocacy group, today criticized Chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, for his comments during a Senatehearing. Gen. Pace said yesterday that "We should respect those who want toserve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that,in my upbringing, is counter to God's law." Gen. Pace also admitted thatthere are gays and lesbians serving honorably.

"Gen. Pace's job is to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, notto use his own personal feelings to decide what is morally acceptable ornot," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "He is supposed tobe our nation's top military leader, not the top religious leader. Ourcountry is at war. What brave, patriotic service members do in their privatelives should be his last concern, especially at a time when the militaryneeds every patriotic man and woman willing to serve."

more....



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

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation -

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/09/25/concerts-reggae-antigay.html

Coalition seeks ejection of reggae stars over anti-gay lyrics

Gay and lesbian rights activists are calling for the deportation of twocontroversial reggae artists scheduled to perform in Toronto in the comingdays.

Jamaican singer Elephant Man, whose real name is O'Neil Bryan, arrived inCanada last week for a series of dates across the country and is scheduledto perform at Toronto club Kool Haus on Friday.

Fellow Jamaican performer Sizzla, whose real name is Miguel Collins, isscheduled to perform at the same club on Oct. 5.

Both artists have been criticized by gay rights groups in several countriesfor preaching violence against homosexuals in their music.

A coalition entitled the Stop the Murder Music campaign has called onImmigration Minister Diane Finley to deport the two performers.

more....



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

The Boston Globe Cornel West and SylviaRhue

Fabricated fears about hate crime legislation

By Cornel West and Sylvia Rhue | September 25, 2007

AMERICANS who understand basic principles of justice have no problems withthe hate crime bill known as the Matthew Shepard Act. This legislation, nowawaiting a vote in the Senate, would finally protect the many citizens whoare targeted for violence simply because of their sexual orientation andgender identity, and it would provide law enforcement the necessaryresources to investigate bias-fueled brutality.

Unfortunately, some clergy across the nation have joined together to opposethis bill in an aggressive and divisive manner. For instance, conservativeAfrican-American leaders - most notably Bishop Harry Jackson of Maryland'sHope Christian Church - have been inundating the media and faith communitieswith the message that this legislation will allow police to storm intoworship services and arrest clergy if they speak against being gay. Theymake the incendiary allegation that the bill will create "thought crimes" bypunishing people for thinking ill of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderpeople.

The truth is that the Matthew Shepard Act protects all First Amendmentrights. And, although that is a given, this bill goes out of its way toprotect the free speech of ministers. Those pastors who wish to continuecondemning and dehumanizing the gay community will be free to do so.

more....



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Wilton Manors, Florida

Last night Wilton Manors City Commissioner Joe Angelo, confirmed that hediscussed with his fellow Commissioners during last night's city commissionto bring forward an initiative to include protections for "gender identity"and "gender expression". This initiative will be in line the successfulinitiative led by

Commissioner Suzanne Boisvenue and her fellow Commissioner in the City ofOakland Park.

At the next meeting of the Wilton Manors City Commission, they will vote togo forward with the process to include these protection classes. Theprocess will include this item to come before the city commissioner for afirst and second reading at which time a final vote will be cast.

The members of the Transgender Equality Rights Initiatives salutesCommissioner Joe Angelo and his peers for their leadership to protectvulnerable populations.

It should also be noted that Commissioner Angelo acted with amazingleadership and introduced discussion at the city level within a few daysafter discussion with the Transgender Rights Initiatives.

Commissioner Angelo also serves on the Broward County Human Rights Boardthat voted unanimously to recommend to the Broward County Board of CountyCommissioners to include "gender identity" and "gender expression" asprotection classes to the Human Rights Ordinance.

A few months ago, Wilton Manors City Vice Mayor Ted Galatis spoke in supportof amending the Broward County Human Rights Ordinance to include protectionsfor "gender identity" and "gender support". Vice Mayor Galatis is a formermember of the Broward County Human Rights Board.

We will keep you posted on continuing developments.

With you in the Fight!
Michael Emanuel Rajner
Co-Administrator - Transgender Equality Rights Initiatives (TERI)
merajner@gmail.com



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Irish Independent, hursday 27 September 2007

Schools lax on stopping anti-gay bullying

Katherine Donnelly

POST-primary schools have been slow to promote a campaign to combathomophobic bullying among pupils, it was claimed yesterday.

The Equality Authority launched the initiative a year ago, with thedistribution of posters and booklets to schools, highlighting thathomophobic bullying was unacceptable and actions that could be taken byschools to address the issue.

But Authority chief executive Niall Crowley said that it was "not clear thatthere has been an adequate take-up of these materials by educationalinstitutions. "This does not reflect well on any ambition by educationalinstitutions to establish a safe environment within which to be different",which, he said, was crucial if integration was to be achieved.

The initiative arose from concerns about high levels of homophobic bullying,which 79pc of teachers in a survey reported that they had seen it in theirschool.

more....



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Gays Without Borders

I'm an Iranian gay who has suffered problems and difficulties and been underinsults,taunts,hits,arrests and tortures over and over again when i was iniran just because of being a gay.

After the foolish answer of President Ahmadi nejad about homosexuals in iranwe saw a big wave of protests against him.

But,when look at his answer from the other view,I as a gay think that he wasright.
He told there is not any homosexual in iran like your country(usa).

Yes....he's right because there is not any homosexual in iran who;
-can walk freely like american gays
-can breath freely like american gays
-can come out and live proudly as a gay like american gays
-can have activity like american gays

And,on the other side,when in iran homosexuals are condemned to death orhave to escape to other countries so this is logic that there is not andthere should not be any alive homosexual in iran

Rigards
Mahmoud K



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A Letter from Iranian homosexual: I do exist as an Iranian homosexual

Hello Dear IRQO,

I have got very surprised, very angry of this article and I do not understand really what is point of President of Iran. If Iran do not have anyhomosexualthen I do not understand who I am then because I am an Iranian Gay and Ihaveso many problem back my country where is Iran because of my sexualorientation my is in danger in Iran then what is that?

My purpose of this letter is to kind of answering President Ahmadinejad andtosay that I do exist as an Iranian homosexual and it does not matter where Iam.

Best regards,

Mehdi Kazemi

Mehdi Kazemi is 19-years old Iranian Gay who is in the Netherlands now andhe is waiting for his asylum process by Dutch government. You can read moreabout him here: www.irqo.net/IRQO/English/pages/43.htm



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[al-fatiha-news] Urgent Action Alert: Malaysia Transexual Arrested; Fear forSafety, Torture or Ill-Treatment

Fear for safety/ torture or ill-treatment

MALAYSIA

Ayu (f), aged 44
Other transsexual individuals in Malaysia

Ayu, a male-to-female transsexual, was seriously beaten by state religiousofficials who detained her while she was talking to friends at the OldMelaka bus station in Kota Melaka, Melaka (Malacca) state, southwestMalaysia at around 11.30pm on 30 July. Ayu may be at risk of further abuse,and other transsexual people may also be in danger.

Ayu was reportedly approached by three enforcement officers from the MelakaIslamic Religious Affairs Department (Jabatan Agama Islam Melaka, JAIM), alocal government body tasked with enforcing social norms based on Sharialaw. The officials, all dressed in civilian clothes, reportedly punched andkicked Ayu when they detained her. One of them reportedly kicked her hardin the genital area. They only identified themselves as JAIM officials whenbystanders intervened to try to prevent the assault. When she said she wasin serious pain, they took her briefly to the local JAIM office, beforetransferring her to Melaka General Hospital. She had to undergo surgery on31 July for a pre-existing abdominal hernia condition, which had beenaggravated by the assault.

more....



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LOCAL NEWS | www.expressgaynews.com

Local News Briefs

By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ and PHIL LAPADULA
Sep. 27, 2007

Dania Beach City Commission passes diversity resolution

The Dania Beach City Commission reaffirmed its support and respect fordiversity with a resolution that was passed by the commission on Sept. 25.

"This action by our city commission coincides with the second anniversary ofthe Dania Beach Tourism Council," said Joe Van Eron, owner of LibertySuites, a gay guesthouse in Dania Beach, and president of the Dania BeachTourism Council. "Our city has long been home to a multi-cultural anddiverse population and stands committed in joining Broward County and itscities in welcoming diversity."

The resolution was passed in response to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle'srecent comments about gays and public sex, which several officials have saidcould damage the area's tourism industry.

Dania Beach commissioners modeled their resolution after recent similaractions taken by the Broward County Commission and the cities of FortLauderdale and Wilton Manors.



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LETTER TO EDITOR - EXPRESS GAY NEWS

5399 Northeast 14th Avenue, Suite 2
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334

I would like to thank the Express Gay News for recognizing the Dania BeachCommission for their support of a resolution re-affirming the diversity ofour City as a welcoming destination for all people, including Gays &Lesbians, and support for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & VisitorsBureau tourism marketing to diverse visitors...as the Commission has "Donethe Right Thing, at the Right Time". Dania Beach is proud to be adestination that has always welcomed the GLBT community to live, work, playand visit, without fear of bias or discrimination. In fact, our City is hometo many GLBT residents and Gay & Lesbian owned and friendlybusinesses.including my own Liberty Suites, which after 10 years, continuesto draw GLBT visitors to Dania Beach for its location and access to the mostbeautiful beaches in Broward County.

However, there is a need to clear a common misconception about our greatlittle city..John U. Lloyd State Park is not under the control of the Cityof Dania Beach, rather overseen by the Florida Department of EnvironmentalProtection, which reports directly to the Governor. For years the stretch ofbeach along John U. Lloyd State Park, north of the fishing pier and beach inDania Beach, has been known as gay friendly. As your readers may wellremember that our fight against the harassment was directed to the stateagency, and supported by the City of Dania Beach and its state Senator SteveGeller and Representative Tim Ryan. Their support for our cause should neverbe interpreted as being responsible for the outrageous behavior of theFlorida State Park rangers, and in fact should be remembered as a continuedrespect for the diversity of their residents and visitors.

It is unfortunate that our community has the need to even pass suchresolutions in the wake of the current assault on our values and diversity.It is my hope that all of Broward's 31 cities stand united in reaffirmingtheir commitment to diversity, and tell the world that the action of ourcommunity speaks far louder than the words of any one group or individual.The "Rainbow" flags are a symbol of our diversity and will continue towelcome all visitors to our wonderful piece of paradise.

Respectfully,
Joe Van Eron
President, Dania Beach Tourism Council
Proprietor, Liberty Suites



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Wilton Manors

Cong. Etz Chaim holds annual Family Picnic October 21

Congregation Etz Chaim, a South Florida Synagogue for GLBT Jews and theirfriends, will hold its annual Family Picnic on Sunday, October 21, from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. As in previous years, the Picnic will be held in Pavilion 6at T-Y Park, located on North Park Road and Sheridan Street, West of I-95,in Hollywood. A donation of $20 per adult or $10 per child covers a varietyof picnic food, soft drinks, games, activities, fun and fellowship. (ThePark also charges $1 for person upon admission.) Reservations are requiredand should be e-mailed in to jessemonteagudo@aol.com (Subject Line: Picnic)or phoned in to 954-424-8449, ext. 3. Congregation Etz Chaim is located at1881 N.E. 26 Street, in Wilton Manors. Regular Services are held on Fridaynights at 8:30 p.m.



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From Jesse Monteagudo

Friends, I am happy and proud to announce that, as of today, recentlypublished "Jesse's Journal" articles will be posted online in White Crane'sGay Wisdom blog. Lil' ol' me will be sharing a blog with the likes of BoYoung, Dan Vera, Eric Riley, Franklin Abbott and Perry Brass. For those whodon't know, White Crane is a highly-acclaimed, quarterly journal of gaywisdom and culture. Visit the site below and let me know what you think. --Jesse

http://whitecrane.typepad.com/gaywisdom



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Pew Research Center

http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=372

9% - Turks With Favorable View of U.S.
Fewer than one-in-10 people in Turkey, a NATO ally, now say they have afavorable opinion of America -- the lowest number among the 47 countriescovered by the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey and a substantial declinefrom the 30% who expressed a favorable opinion in 2002. Read more



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Inside Higher Education

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/28/hunter

Watch Out Whom You Invite to Speak ...

It's fair to say that Columbia University has heard more than an earful overits decision to offer a speaking platform this week to Iran's president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reaction ranged widely, with many condemning theuniversity for inviting the controversial leader, others praising Columbia'spresident, Lee C. Bollinger, for sternly rebuking the Iranian presidentwhile he looked on, and some doing both. Opinions flowed freely.

On Wednesday, one vehement critic, with a prominent platform of his own,went a large step further. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Californian who isalso a longshot candidate (to be generous) for the Republican nomination forpresident, introduced legislation that would "prohibit federal grants to orcontracts with Columbia University." The text of the legislation - whichcollege officials called "unprecedented" - was not yet available on anygovernment Web sites.

Hunter, who was en route to Baltimore for a Republican presidential debatethat lacked the four leading candidates, could not be reached for commentThursday. But in a news release he issued Wednesday about the legislation,which he dubbed the "Restoring Patriotism to America's Campuses Act," theCongressman contrasted Columbia's willingness to play host to Ahmadinejad toits anti-military stance, as Hunter characterized it, regarding the ReserveOfficer Training Corps and military recruiters.

more....



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Forwarded from Ron Mills
http://www.RonMills.us

Gallup Poll

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28780

Public attitudes toward the two major political parties have not changedmuch in recent months. That's good news for the Democratic Party, whichmoved into a superior image position when compared to the Republican Partymore than a year ago. Americans not only continue to view the DemocraticParty more favorably than the Republican Party in general terms, but theyalso choose the Democratic party as the preferred party for maintaining thenation's economic prosperity. And, in a departure from recent history,Americans see the Democrats as the political party better able to protectthe country from terrorism.

A new Gallup poll finds the Democratic Party's public image in much, muchbetter shape than the Republicans'. The Dems have a 53% favorable rating and43% unfavorable, compared to the GOP's dismal 38%-59% figure.

On the issues, the Dems are ahead, too. Asked which party would do a betterjob keeping the country prosperous, the Democrats holds a 54%-34% advantageover the Republicans. And when asked which party would do a better jobprotecting the country from terrorism and military threats, the Dems win47%-42%, just barely inside the polls ±3 margin of error.

The reason? The GOP's favorability has tracked almost exactly with PresidentBush. Right now they're at 38% favorable, and he's at 36%, a statisticallyindistinguishable difference.

more....



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Forwarded from Ron Mills
http://www.RonMills.us

Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that soldiers who favor U.S. withdrawalfrom Iraq are "phony soldiers."

The assertion -- reminiscent of MoveOn's attack on Petraeus, which generatedenormous controversy when Republicans attacked the group -- has thepotential to be equally explosive, since some troops who are currentlyfighting in Iraq, and a handful who have died there, have questioned the warin the media.

Now Dems are stepping forward to blast his remark. First up: the DemocraticCongressional Campaign Committee. Here's the statement just released by DCCCchief Chris Van Hollen:

"Rush Limbaugh's personal attack on our men and women in uniform isreprehensible. It minimizes the sacrifice our troops in Iraq and theirfamilies are making and has no place in the public discourse. Rush Limbaughowes our military and their families an apology for his hurtful commentsthat minimize their service to our country."
More on Rush's radio appearance here.

John Kerry's statement:
"This disgusting attack from Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader for the Chicken Hawkwing of the far right, is an insult to American troops. In a single momenton his show, Limbaugh managed to question the patriotism of men and women inuniform who have put their lives on the line and many who died for his rightto sit safely in his air conditioned studio peddling hate. On August 19th,The New York Times published an op-ed by seven members of the U.S. Army's82nd Airborne Division critical of George Bush's Iraq policy. Two of thosesoldiers were killed earlier this month in Baghdad. Does Mr. Limbaugh dareassert that these heroes were 'phony soldiers'? Mr. Limbaugh owes an apologyto everyone who has ever worn the uniform of our country, and an apology tothe families of every soldier buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He isan embarrassment to his Party, and I expect the Republicans who flock to hismicrophone will now condemn this indefensible statement."
Rep Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war vet himself.

"Someone should tell chicken-hawk Rush Limbaugh that the only phonies arethose who choose not to serve and then criticize those who do. I servedproudly, so did two of my fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne who spokeout and died just weeks ago. Generations of American veterans have worn theuniform with pride and we know it is no contradiction to serve your countryand still disagree with the Bush-civilian leadership that mismanaged thiswar."



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Forwarded by Sharon Goldenberg

'Male stewardess' just didn't fly

One man's fight to become a flight attendant was a lesson in jobdiscrimination.
By Kate Johnson and Albert Garcia
September 27 2007

As the space race reached a fever pitch 40 years ago, an unheraldedemployment rights pioneer named Celio Diaz Jr. held fast to a dream. Hedidn't endeavor to set foot on the lunar surface, but his ambition was stilldifficult to realize in 1967. Diaz wanted to be a flight attendant.

The complete article can be viewed at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-johnson27sep27,0,1871925.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com



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Gay & Lesbian Leadership SmartBrief
http://www.smartbrief.com/index.jsp

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

Craig reneges on resignation plans

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, now says he will postpone his planned Sept.30 resignation while awaiting a judge's decision on whether to dismiss aguilty plea related to an airport men's room sex sting. Senate MinorityLeader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declining further comment, said he stillbelieved Craig should leave office.
The New York Times (9/27)

--
Pace: Military should not sanction gay sex
Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is set toretire next week, reiterated in testimony before the Senate AppropriationsCommittee his belief that those engaging in gay sex are not compatible withmilitary service. "...[W]e should respect those who want to serve the nationbut not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in myupbringing, is counter to God's law," Pace said. Associated Press (9/26)

more....



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Care Resource and MDGLCC invite you

The World Premier of "BUGCHASERS"
by Octavio Campos
in the Studio Theater at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts

Friday, October 26, 2007 @ 8:00 P.M.

Special Discounted Tickets are available to you by simply calling786-468-2326 or email: groupsales@carnivalcenter.org and mentioning code:MDGLCC

The Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC) is the largestnot-for-profit corporation in the county for gay and lesbian businesses.

Care Resource is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is South Florida'soldest and largest HIV/AIDS service organization and a true leader in thecommunity.

Sensual and violent yet hilarious and heartbreaking, The BugChasers is adance-theater meditation on sex, lies, and death-wish eroticism. Throughhigh-intensity visuals and provocative texts, the Composition

Ensemble tells a dark story of those who would risk their lives to achieve atwisted sense of intimacy. Gay and straight, male and female--anyone couldbe a BugChaser.

Bug Chasers, a word used to describe a person who seeks to become HIVpositive, is just one of the Miami subcultures explored in this new,unsettling work. This work is co-commissioned by Carnival Center and MiamiDade College from South Florida's Octavio Campos.

Warning:This performance is not recommended for a first date. Adult themes.

Date: Friday, October 26, 2007
Time: 8:00 P.M.

Location: Studio Theater at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts.



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Florida Red and Blue

info@floridaredandblue.com

A group calling itself Florida4Marriage.org is just 12,000 signatures awayfrom putting an amendment before Florida voters next November that says:

"Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman ashusband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or thesubstantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

There will be plenty of time in the next 13 months to debate what thesponsors of that amendment really want and the sweeping consequences oftheir ploy.

In fact, in November, 2008, we will count the votes. But in the mean time,0pundits, politicians and the press will be counting something else - dollars in the bank.

The truth of the matter is that until voters vote "yes" or "no" on thisamendment, fundraising is one of the only ways to know who is on which sideand how strong or weak a campaign is likely to be.

Our opponents, the amendment sponsors, have made it clear they will beready. Here's a quote from John Stemberger - the sponsor of the amendment(from the Orlando Sentinel):

"This will inevitably be the most robust, well-funded marriage amendment inthe history of these ballot initiatives across the country."

Robust. Well-funded. That's our challenge.

On Monday morning, political insiders will count these campaigns again -seeing who's in which camp and how much money each side has raised.

That's why we need you to donate today.

By making a contribution to Florida Red and Blue, you'll be telling thoseFlorida political insiders that the campaign to defeat this amendment willbe robust and well-funded too.

When the book gets closed on this quarter this weekend and the totals areadded up, will your name be there? Will you be counted?

For us, it's as much about how many people give as how much they give. Everydollar is very important. So don't be shy about giving any amount.

And it's easy. It takes less than five minutes with a credit card on-line.Will you give $10 to be counted now? $50? $100?

When you think about it, giving today is like voting twice. It lets thepress and pundits see your name and your commitment to this issue. And ittells our opposition that they won't walk into amending our constitution.With your contribution today we'll win this important fight about the typeof state we want to call home.

Thank you for your support,

Deborah Tannenbaum
Florida Red and Blue, Finance Director

VERY IMPORTANT TO ACT BEFORE MONDAY - If you make a financial contributionto Florida Red and Blue by Monday, you could be one of our first 1,000donors. And being in that exclusive, early company means your name will berecorded - forever - in a custom work of art by famous Florida artist XavierCortada. It's an amazing opportunity to be part of history and I hope you'llread more about The Cortada Project here.


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