**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The Doctor's World: Leaving Platform That Elevated AIDS Fight
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D
Dr. Peter Piot, the only head of the United Nations AIDS program in its 13-year history, is retiring on Wednesday. He is credited as the person most responsible for making heads of state understand the political, economic and social ramifications of a pandemic that rivals the worst in history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/health/30docs.html?scp=6&sq=gay&st=cse
-The Early Word: Administration Preview
By Michael Falcone
Though the economic crisis, along with renewed tensions in the Middle East, are likely to loom large as the curtain goes up on President-elect Barack Obama's first 100 days, it's not too early to take a look at the new administration's policies on issues that have attracted fewer headlines lately, starting with education.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/the-early-word-previewing-the/?scp=3&sq=gay&st=cse
-Lesbian Pair Wins Ruling Over Refusal of Ceremony
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A lesbian couple from New Jersey who were barred from holding a civil union ceremony last year at a beachfront pavilion owned by a church group won a legal victory on Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/nyregion/30ocean.html?scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Maine bishop threatens to punish vocal activist
By DAVID SHARP
The leader of Maine's Roman Catholics has taken the unusual step of threatening to punish an outspoken advocate for people who were sexually abused by priests, possibly by denying him communion. Paul Kendrick of Freeport has been banned from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, and warned in a letter that if he tries again to contact Portland Bishop Richard Malone he risks losing any right "to participate fully in the sacramental life of the church."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901797.html?hpid=sec-religion
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Teens' sexuality struggles go with them to school
Identity struggles require understanding and support, activists say
By Akilah Johnson
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbglbteens1230sbdec30,0,7124184.story
-Miami chorus for gay men has big dream
Group aspires to be premier regional chorus
By Sarah Larimer
When Craig Fashbaugh was dying, he decided to spend his last years in South Florida. When doctors told him he still had time, Fashbaugh, who has a bass voice, decided to sing. About 20 years after an HIV diagnosis, Fashbaugh is on stage with about 80 other men, belting out holiday carols to an audience of 400. As founder of the Miami Gay Men's Chorus, he says the group is looking to build its reputation as a premier South Florida chorus - and an organization brimming with both acceptance and talent.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-flsbchorus123008sbdec30,0,7742651.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-ON THE TUBE: Celebrities are adopted, too
Jamie Foxx, Faith Hill and Keyshia Cole hope to help children find homes for the holidays. Speaking backstage last month after filming their appearances for the CBS special A Home for the Holidays, Foxx, Hill and Cole shared how they coped with being adopted.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/people/story/830733.html
=
South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Opponents weigh lawsuit over adoption, foster ban
News conference expected Tuesday
Opponents of an Arkansas law that bans unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children may be moving closer toward suing over the new restriction.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23208
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-HIV Skeptic Christine Maggiore Dead at 52
The Los Angeles Times has confirmed with the Los Angeles County coroner's office that 52-year-old HIV skeptic Christine Maggiore died Monday, December 29.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69838.asp
-Man Avoids Hate Crime Charge, Gets 5-1/2 Years in Prison
A 25-year-old New York State man was sentenced Tuesday to 5-1/2 years behind bars after pleading guilty to attacking a gay man in March. Judge Richard Keenan added a year and a half to the sentence that Jesse Parsons was originally expected to receive after he made a plea agreement in September, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, which, as a hate crime, would have landed him up to 15 years in prison.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69534.asp
=
Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Catholic leader claims Pope's homophobic outburst "misrepresented"
By Rachel Charman
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and Archbishop of Westminster, has defended Pope Benedict XVI's controversial comments about gay people.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10145.html
-Top legal website predicts gay marriage to be hot topic for 2009
By Rachel Charman
FindLaw, the most-visited legal site on the web, today released its Top Ten Legal Predictions for 2009. The list is a breakdown of what are expected to be next year's legal hot topics. In amongst the predictions is an expectation that gay marriage, civil partnership and the chaos caused by California's Propostion 8 will continue well into the new year, with both conservative and liberal groups still impassioned about the issue.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10153.html
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
www.dailyqueernews.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Gay Quakers to Meet in Oregon
Just Out
A nationwide Quaker organization, Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, will hold its meeting in Oregon for the first time on Valentine's Day weekend. The 2009 Midwinter Gathering will be held at Camp Adams in Molalla. Local organizers include historian and artist Mitchell Santine Gould, and Bonnie Tinker of Love Makes a Family. The weekend offers sexual minorities and allies worship, education, entertainment, administrative duties, play and socializing. Click here for updates.
=
Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-The Top Five Heroes and Heroines in LGBT rights in 2008
by Michael A. Jones
http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/the_top_five_heroes_and_heroines_in_lgbt_rights_in_2008
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-Help GLAAD Thank Campbell's for LGBT-Inclusive Ads
While GLAAD has been hard at work fighting defamation against our community in media this year, anti-gay activists continue to put time and money into targeting media that show our lives and community in a fair and accurate way. This month, the anti-gay American Family Association showed their "holiday spirit" by demanding their constituents respond to a LGBT-inclusive advertising campaign released by the Campbell Soup Company. The ads for Swanson broth ran in the national LBGT news magazine The Advocate. The campaign, entitled "Home for the Holidays," features a lesbian couple with their son and lists Swanson broth as a key element in the family's annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve celebration (see below). The ad was met with an alert from the AFA that called for e-mails and phone calls attacking the Campbell Soup Company, which owns Swanson's, for acknowledging that gay people "constitute a family and are worthy of support."
http://www.glaad.org/2008/Eblasts/campbells_blast.html
=
From Steve Krantz
stevek@bipedinfo.com
PFLAG Director, Southern Pacific Region, and National Board Member,
http://www.pflag.org
Jews for Marriage Equality Founder,
http://www.jewsformarriageequality.org
-Parents' response key to health of gay youth
Kids with parents who reacted negatively 8 times more likely to try suicide
By LISA LEFF
Young gay people whose parents or guardians responded negatively when they revealed their sexual orientation were more likely to attempt suicide, experience severe depression and use drugs than those whose families accepted the news, according to a new study. The way in which parents or guardians respond to a youth's sexual orientation profoundly influences the child's mental health as an adult, say researchers at San Francisco State University. The findings appear in the January issue of Pediatrics and are being released Monday. "Parents love their children and want the best for them," said lead researcher Caitlin Ryan, a social worker who directs the university's Family Acceptance Project. "Now that we have measured all these behaviors, we can see that some of them put youth at extremely high risk and others are wellness-promoting."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28420846/
=
Anything but Straight
http://www.waynebesen.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Religion and Morals
If 2008 taught the world one lesson, it is that religious people are not morally superior to those who are non-religious. Indeed, faith often shelters the shameless and provides cover for the most corrupt among us. Sanctimony was the sanctuary of Bernard Madoff, the con artist who bilked fellow Jewish people who never imagined this man of piety would mastermind a Ponzi scheme. A New York Times article summed it up: "...Jews all over the country are already sending up something of a communal cry over a cost they say goes beyond the financial to the theological and personal." The article quoted Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angles who said, "I'd like to believe someone raised in our community, imbued with Jewish values, would be better than this."
http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/religion-does-not-mean-morality/
=
Detroit News
http://detnews.com/
-Americans embrace gay-friendly proposals
by Deb Price
Gay Congressman Barney Frank likes to tell the tale of the mother who reacts with love and acceptance to the news that her son is gay, but warns him:
"Just don't tell your father. It would kill him." Frank's story illuminates a misimpression, even among gay-friendly Americans -- that other folks' internal thermometer toward gay people and our rights is stuck close to freezing. But as the nation prepares for a new Congress and president, a recent Newsweek poll indicates that politicians shouldn't run from gay-friendly feelings. What makes the Newsweek poll especially valuable is that the responses to its wide range of questions underscore that, other than on same-sex marriage, most Americans would embrace steps to pass laws to treat those of us who're gay equally.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081229/OPINION03/812290326
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 30, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Blagojevich to Name Obama Senate Replacement
By Monica Davey
Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois will name Roland Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the United States Senate, someone with knowledge of the governor's plans confirmed on Tuesday. Mr. Blagojevich, who faces federal corruption charges including allegations that he tried to sell Mr. Obama's former senate seat for a high-paying job or money, had not been expected to try to fill the seat. As recently as ten days ago, his lawyer, Edward Genson, said he would not attempt to make an appointment, since Senate leaders had indicated they would not accept anyone whom the beleaguered Mr. Blagojevich had appointed.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/blagojevich-to-name-obama-senate-replacement/?hp
-No End in Sight in Gaza Battle
By ETHAN BRONNER and TAGHREED EL-KHODARY
JERUSALEM - Israel launched airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza for a fourth consecutive day on Tuesday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the bombardment "the first of several stages," suggesting that the conflict was far from resolution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/world/middleeast/31mideast.html?hp
-Secular Party Wins Landslide Victory in Bangladesh
By SOMINI SENGUPTA and JULFIKAR ALI MANIK
NEW DELHI - After two years of army-backed emergency rule, democracy returned to Bangladesh as the secular Awami League party secured an overwhelming victory in election results announced on Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/world/asia/31bangladesh.html
-The Doctor's World
Leaving Platform That Elevated AIDS Fight
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D
Dr. Peter Piot, the only head of the United Nations AIDS program in its 13-year history, is retiring on Wednesday. He is credited as the person most responsible for making heads of state understand the political, economic and social ramifications of a pandemic that rivals the worst in history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/health/30docs.html
-Op-Ed Columnist: Add Up the Damage
By BOB HERBERT
Does anyone know where George W. Bush is? You don't hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were hurled at him in Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30herbert.html?ref=opinion
-Op-Ed Contributor: Why Israel Feels Threatened
By BENNY MORRIS
Li-On, Israel
MANY Israelis feel that the walls - and history - are closing in on their 60-year-old state, much as they felt in early June 1967, just before Israel launched the Six-Day War and destroyed the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies in Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30morris.html?ref=opinion
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Group sues to reinstate firearms ban
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sued the Bush administration Tuesday in hopes of stopping a new policy that would allow people to carry concealed, loaded guns in most national parks and wildlife refuges.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123001373.html?hpid=moreheadlines
-Soldier alleges military pattern of Christian bias
By JOHN HANNA
An atheist soldier suing over prayers at military formations claims a larger pattern of religious discrimination exists in the military, citing attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and an evangelical bias in a suicide prevention manual.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901924.html?hpid=sec-religion
-Has Israel Revived Hamas?
By Daoud Kuttab
JERUSALEM -- In its efforts to stop amateur rockets from nagging the residents of some of its southern cities, Israel appears to have given new life to the fledging Islamic movement in Palestine. For two years, the Islamic Resistance Movement (known by its Arabic acronym, Hamas) has been losing support internally and externally. This wasn't the case in the days after the party came to power democratically in early 2006; despite being unjustly ostracized by the international community for its anti-Israeli stance, Hamas enjoyed the backing of Palestinians and other Arabs. Having won a decisive parliamentary majority on an anti-corruption platform promising change and reform, Hamas worked hard to govern better than had Fatah, its rival and predecessor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901901.html
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
-Franken Leads by 50 Votes With Absentees Left to Count in Minnesota Democratic candidate Al Franken now holds a 50 vote lead over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman with almost all of the counting in Minnesota's Senate race done. Mr. Franken's lead grew by a few votes Tuesday when the state Canvassing Board finished allocating thousands of ballots that had been held up due to candidate challenges.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123064841953142469.html
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Best of 2008: World photography
Some of the stories that made compelling images in 2008: A magnitude 7.9 quake rocked China's Sichuan province. Georgian cities came under attack by Russian troops. The citizens of Nepal cast votes in national elections. The poor residents of Dharavi, the largest slum in India, struggled to hold on to their valuable land.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/yearinreview/la-fg-bestofforeign-pg,0,1380234.photogallery?track=yir-nl-compellingphotos
-Best & Worst 2008: Most shocking headlines
Heath Ledger, Madonna, Britney Spears and Herbie Hancock topped the news this year.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/la-et-headlines08-pg,0,5798506.photogallery?track=yir-nl-shockingheadlines
-What they said: Best quotes of 2008
A Yale lecturer and editor of the Yale Book of Quotations has compiled a list of 2008's most memorable quotations. Fred R. Shapiro said picking the best quotes this year was challenging because the presidential race and financial crisis provided so much material. He relies on suggestions from quote-gatherers and his own choices from songs, the news and movies.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/yearinreview/sfl-2008-best-quotes.pg,0,3469183.photogallery?track=yir-nl-topquotes
-Businesses that failed in 2008
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-failedbiz-pg,0,3949586.photogallery?track=yir-nl-failedbus
-From Orlando Sentinel
Florida lands 28 of top 500 hotels in the world
Travel + Leisure magazine has come out with its annual list of the 500 best hotels in the world and Florida has landed 28 on the list from the Panhandle to Disney to the Keys.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/orl-top-500-hotels-florida-story,0,3634803.story
-Ellen Goodman: Bush leaving a mess with little regret, no remorse
My Bush-bashing was in remission. But then the senior staff of Bush enablers gave two rocking chairs to the man who described himself as "an old sage at 62...headed to retirement."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-30goodmansbdec30,0,6735504.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
- Alligator Alley must remain a public asset
BY GINA DOWNS
South Floridians were handed a present last week just in time for Christmas. We get to hold on to our national treasure, Alligator Alley, for a few more months. The proposed sale of our asset has been postponed. Why? Because the economy has come to a screeching halt or, perhaps some would say, has taken a nose dive. In other words, no $25,000 proposal deposit was received by the Florida Department of Transportation on Dec. 22. No bidders. No takers. No deal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/830744.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Kucinich criticizes Israel; wants U.N. probe
By Ian Swanson
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel's attacks on Gaza, criticizing Israel for a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks. The criticism stands in stark contrast to the statements of other Democrats, who have offered near-unanimous support for Israel amid the latest violence in the Middle East.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kucinich-criticizes-israel-wants-u.n.-probe-2008-12-29.html
-Study: Black-on-black homicides rising among teens
JAY LINDSAY
Black teenagers are killing each other in rising numbers but the troubling trend has been masked by a falling crime rate in the United States, according to a study released Monday by Northeastern University. FBI crime statistics show overall decreases in murder and other violent crimes. But a report by criminal justice professors James Alan Fox and Marc Swatt uncovers other disturbing trends within that data.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/29/study-blackonblack-homici_n_154077.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Blagojevich to Name Obama Senate Replacement
By Monica Davey
Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois will name Roland Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the United States Senate, someone with knowledge of the governor's plans confirmed on Tuesday. Mr. Blagojevich, who faces federal corruption charges including allegations that he tried to sell Mr. Obama's former senate seat for a high-paying job or money, had not been expected to try to fill the seat. As recently as ten days ago, his lawyer, Edward Genson, said he would not attempt to make an appointment, since Senate leaders had indicated they would not accept anyone whom the beleaguered Mr. Blagojevich had appointed.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/blagojevich-to-name-obama-senate-replacement/?hp
-No End in Sight in Gaza Battle
By ETHAN BRONNER and TAGHREED EL-KHODARY
JERUSALEM - Israel launched airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza for a fourth consecutive day on Tuesday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the bombardment "the first of several stages," suggesting that the conflict was far from resolution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/world/middleeast/31mideast.html?hp
-Secular Party Wins Landslide Victory in Bangladesh
By SOMINI SENGUPTA and JULFIKAR ALI MANIK
NEW DELHI - After two years of army-backed emergency rule, democracy returned to Bangladesh as the secular Awami League party secured an overwhelming victory in election results announced on Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/world/asia/31bangladesh.html
-The Doctor's World
Leaving Platform That Elevated AIDS Fight
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D
Dr. Peter Piot, the only head of the United Nations AIDS program in its 13-year history, is retiring on Wednesday. He is credited as the person most responsible for making heads of state understand the political, economic and social ramifications of a pandemic that rivals the worst in history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/health/30docs.html
-Op-Ed Columnist: Add Up the Damage
By BOB HERBERT
Does anyone know where George W. Bush is? You don't hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were hurled at him in Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30herbert.html?ref=opinion
-Op-Ed Contributor: Why Israel Feels Threatened
By BENNY MORRIS
Li-On, Israel
MANY Israelis feel that the walls - and history - are closing in on their 60-year-old state, much as they felt in early June 1967, just before Israel launched the Six-Day War and destroyed the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies in Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30morris.html?ref=opinion
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Group sues to reinstate firearms ban
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sued the Bush administration Tuesday in hopes of stopping a new policy that would allow people to carry concealed, loaded guns in most national parks and wildlife refuges.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123001373.html?hpid=moreheadlines
-Soldier alleges military pattern of Christian bias
By JOHN HANNA
An atheist soldier suing over prayers at military formations claims a larger pattern of religious discrimination exists in the military, citing attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and an evangelical bias in a suicide prevention manual.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901924.html?hpid=sec-religion
-Has Israel Revived Hamas?
By Daoud Kuttab
JERUSALEM -- In its efforts to stop amateur rockets from nagging the residents of some of its southern cities, Israel appears to have given new life to the fledging Islamic movement in Palestine. For two years, the Islamic Resistance Movement (known by its Arabic acronym, Hamas) has been losing support internally and externally. This wasn't the case in the days after the party came to power democratically in early 2006; despite being unjustly ostracized by the international community for its anti-Israeli stance, Hamas enjoyed the backing of Palestinians and other Arabs. Having won a decisive parliamentary majority on an anti-corruption platform promising change and reform, Hamas worked hard to govern better than had Fatah, its rival and predecessor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901901.html
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
-Franken Leads by 50 Votes With Absentees Left to Count in Minnesota Democratic candidate Al Franken now holds a 50 vote lead over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman with almost all of the counting in Minnesota's Senate race done. Mr. Franken's lead grew by a few votes Tuesday when the state Canvassing Board finished allocating thousands of ballots that had been held up due to candidate challenges.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123064841953142469.html
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Best of 2008: World photography
Some of the stories that made compelling images in 2008: A magnitude 7.9 quake rocked China's Sichuan province. Georgian cities came under attack by Russian troops. The citizens of Nepal cast votes in national elections. The poor residents of Dharavi, the largest slum in India, struggled to hold on to their valuable land.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/yearinreview/la-fg-bestofforeign-pg,0,1380234.photogallery?track=yir-nl-compellingphotos
-Best & Worst 2008: Most shocking headlines
Heath Ledger, Madonna, Britney Spears and Herbie Hancock topped the news this year.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/la-et-headlines08-pg,0,5798506.photogallery?track=yir-nl-shockingheadlines
-What they said: Best quotes of 2008
A Yale lecturer and editor of the Yale Book of Quotations has compiled a list of 2008's most memorable quotations. Fred R. Shapiro said picking the best quotes this year was challenging because the presidential race and financial crisis provided so much material. He relies on suggestions from quote-gatherers and his own choices from songs, the news and movies.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/yearinreview/sfl-2008-best-quotes.pg,0,3469183.photogallery?track=yir-nl-topquotes
-Businesses that failed in 2008
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-failedbiz-pg,0,3949586.photogallery?track=yir-nl-failedbus
-From Orlando Sentinel
Florida lands 28 of top 500 hotels in the world
Travel + Leisure magazine has come out with its annual list of the 500 best hotels in the world and Florida has landed 28 on the list from the Panhandle to Disney to the Keys.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/orl-top-500-hotels-florida-story,0,3634803.story
-Ellen Goodman: Bush leaving a mess with little regret, no remorse
My Bush-bashing was in remission. But then the senior staff of Bush enablers gave two rocking chairs to the man who described himself as "an old sage at 62...headed to retirement."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-30goodmansbdec30,0,6735504.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
- Alligator Alley must remain a public asset
BY GINA DOWNS
South Floridians were handed a present last week just in time for Christmas. We get to hold on to our national treasure, Alligator Alley, for a few more months. The proposed sale of our asset has been postponed. Why? Because the economy has come to a screeching halt or, perhaps some would say, has taken a nose dive. In other words, no $25,000 proposal deposit was received by the Florida Department of Transportation on Dec. 22. No bidders. No takers. No deal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/830744.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Kucinich criticizes Israel; wants U.N. probe
By Ian Swanson
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel's attacks on Gaza, criticizing Israel for a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks. The criticism stands in stark contrast to the statements of other Democrats, who have offered near-unanimous support for Israel amid the latest violence in the Middle East.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kucinich-criticizes-israel-wants-u.n.-probe-2008-12-29.html
-Study: Black-on-black homicides rising among teens
JAY LINDSAY
Black teenagers are killing each other in rising numbers but the troubling trend has been masked by a falling crime rate in the United States, according to a study released Monday by Northeastern University. FBI crime statistics show overall decreases in murder and other violent crimes. But a report by criminal justice professors James Alan Fox and Marc Swatt uncovers other disturbing trends within that data.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/29/study-blackonblack-homici_n_154077.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 30, 2008
**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.
~~FLORIDA GLBT NEWS~~
Dean Trantalis for Fort Lauderdale Mayor Campaign
-RALLY FOR DEAN
We're excited that the Rally for Dean/Partnership for Change preparations are underway! Please mark Wednesday, January 7 at 6pm on your calendar.
We're kicking off the final month of the campaign with a rally for all of Fort Lauderdale. Our goal is to sign up 100 volunteers to knock on 100 doors - that's 10,000 Fort Lauderdale homes who need to know about my campaign!
We'll also be signing up volunteers for phone banking, hosting fundraisers, and being condo captains. We can do it! Bring your friends, and tell everyone you know - we'll see you there! Better yet, click here to volunteer.
Details:
Rally for Dean/Partnership for Change
Wednesday, January 7 - 6pm
ArtServe - 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
=
Steve Rothaus
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Anderson to perform in Fort Lauderdale
From Tsunami Recordings: Singer-songwriter-comic Jamie Anderson will appear in Ft. Lauderdale on January 17 at 8 pm, with In Harmony at the MCC Sunshine Cathedral, 1480 SW 9th Ave, www.inharmonyproductions.org, 954-717-9494.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
=
Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-'Avenue Q' at Broward Center
Sesame Street goes awry in this hilarious (and very gay!) Broadway musical
By Dan Renzi
The Broadway touring production of "Avenue Q" returns to SoFla this week, opening at the Au Rene Theater in the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. With songs like 'Everybody's a little bit racist' and 'It's okay to be gay,' this is not your run-of-the-mill musical.
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#23194
~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Broward County school district streamlines Web site for parents
By Kathy Bushouse
It's now easier for parents with children in Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports's public schools to find what they need on the school district's Web site. Gone are the days when parents had to hunt through numerous pages and click on multiple links. The district recently rolled out a new site for parents, with important information, dates and advice. It includes grief counseling for parents and students affected by the shooting at Dillard High School and what teachers wish parents would do more often.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbtraffic1230sbdec30,0,2200900.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-POLITICS: Drama dominates Broward municipal elections
Though turnout for municipal races is low, city races can be lively and often involve choosing officials who must make crucial budget decisions during difficult financial times.
BY AMY SHERMAN
Who says municipal elections are boring? In Deerfield Beach, longtime Mayor Al Capellini -- suspended in December after an arrest on a corruption charge -- is running for reelection. His potential opponent, Commissioner Steve Gonot, recently resigned after his own corruption charges.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/830725.html
-MIAMI BEACH: Income disparity on Miami Beach is highest in nation
BY TRENTON DANIEL
The working class and fixed-income retirees view wealth with inspiration and frustration in Miami Beach, which has the highest income gap in the United States.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/beaches/story/830748.html
-Almost one in 10 Floridians on food stamps
BY JOSE PAGLIERY
Unemployed and strapped for cash, Floridians are asking for state assistance to feed their families in record numbers.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/829187.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Sansom hires attorney Richard Coates to handle ethics complaint
By Alex Leary
House Speaker Ray Sansom has hired a well-known Tallahassee lawyer to defend him against an ethics complaint filed in connection with him taking a $110,000 job at his local college.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article952456.ece
-Shy, rich farmers thrust in spotlight as players in U.S. Sugar deal
By SUSAN SALISBURY
The buzz in the close-knit Florida grower crowd started in 2000: A wealthy Missouri farmer was buying groves. Lots of groves. Almost nine years later, many still haven't met Gaylon Lawrence Sr., 74, or his son, Gaylon Lawrence Jr., 46.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/business/epaper/2008/12/29/a1a_lawrence_1230.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
~~FLORIDA GLBT NEWS~~
Dean Trantalis for Fort Lauderdale Mayor Campaign
-RALLY FOR DEAN
We're excited that the Rally for Dean/Partnership for Change preparations are underway! Please mark Wednesday, January 7 at 6pm on your calendar.
We're kicking off the final month of the campaign with a rally for all of Fort Lauderdale. Our goal is to sign up 100 volunteers to knock on 100 doors - that's 10,000 Fort Lauderdale homes who need to know about my campaign!
We'll also be signing up volunteers for phone banking, hosting fundraisers, and being condo captains. We can do it! Bring your friends, and tell everyone you know - we'll see you there! Better yet, click here to volunteer.
Details:
Rally for Dean/Partnership for Change
Wednesday, January 7 - 6pm
ArtServe - 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
=
Steve Rothaus
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Anderson to perform in Fort Lauderdale
From Tsunami Recordings: Singer-songwriter-comic Jamie Anderson will appear in Ft. Lauderdale on January 17 at 8 pm, with In Harmony at the MCC Sunshine Cathedral, 1480 SW 9th Ave, www.inharmonyproductions.org, 954-717-9494.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
=
Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-'Avenue Q' at Broward Center
Sesame Street goes awry in this hilarious (and very gay!) Broadway musical
By Dan Renzi
The Broadway touring production of "Avenue Q" returns to SoFla this week, opening at the Au Rene Theater in the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. With songs like 'Everybody's a little bit racist' and 'It's okay to be gay,' this is not your run-of-the-mill musical.
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#23194
~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Broward County school district streamlines Web site for parents
By Kathy Bushouse
It's now easier for parents with children in Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports's public schools to find what they need on the school district's Web site. Gone are the days when parents had to hunt through numerous pages and click on multiple links. The district recently rolled out a new site for parents, with important information, dates and advice. It includes grief counseling for parents and students affected by the shooting at Dillard High School and what teachers wish parents would do more often.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbtraffic1230sbdec30,0,2200900.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-POLITICS: Drama dominates Broward municipal elections
Though turnout for municipal races is low, city races can be lively and often involve choosing officials who must make crucial budget decisions during difficult financial times.
BY AMY SHERMAN
Who says municipal elections are boring? In Deerfield Beach, longtime Mayor Al Capellini -- suspended in December after an arrest on a corruption charge -- is running for reelection. His potential opponent, Commissioner Steve Gonot, recently resigned after his own corruption charges.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/830725.html
-MIAMI BEACH: Income disparity on Miami Beach is highest in nation
BY TRENTON DANIEL
The working class and fixed-income retirees view wealth with inspiration and frustration in Miami Beach, which has the highest income gap in the United States.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/beaches/story/830748.html
-Almost one in 10 Floridians on food stamps
BY JOSE PAGLIERY
Unemployed and strapped for cash, Floridians are asking for state assistance to feed their families in record numbers.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/829187.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Sansom hires attorney Richard Coates to handle ethics complaint
By Alex Leary
House Speaker Ray Sansom has hired a well-known Tallahassee lawyer to defend him against an ethics complaint filed in connection with him taking a $110,000 job at his local college.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article952456.ece
-Shy, rich farmers thrust in spotlight as players in U.S. Sugar deal
By SUSAN SALISBURY
The buzz in the close-knit Florida grower crowd started in 2000: A wealthy Missouri farmer was buying groves. Lots of groves. Almost nine years later, many still haven't met Gaylon Lawrence Sr., 74, or his son, Gaylon Lawrence Jr., 46.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/business/epaper/2008/12/29/a1a_lawrence_1230.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Monday, December 29, 2008
GLBT DIGEST December 29, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Letters: What the New School Was, and What It Should Be
To the Editor: As alumni of Eugene Lang College of the New School University, we would like to offer a different interpretation of the college from that presented in "To New School Critics, Their Leader Lacks Focus" (news article, Dec. 21). While SAT scores may be "considerably lower" than those of Columbia and New York University, students come to Lang not as a substitute for these universities but for a completely different experience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/opinion/lweb29newschool.html?scp=10&sq=gay&st=cse
-Op-Ed Columnist: George, Abe, Rick & Barack
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
I'm leaving the country the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. It's nothing personal. Nor, I hasten to add - lest some people get too excited - is it anything permanent. It's just that I happen to have a speech to give in Canada.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/opinion/29kristol.html?scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Study: Family behavior key to health of gay youth
By LISA LEFF
Young gay people whose parents or guardians responded negatively when they revealed their sexual orientation were more likely to attempt suicide, experience severe depression and use drugs than those whose families accepted the news, according to a new study.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122900003.html
-Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds
Teenagers Who Make Such Promises Are Just as Likely to Have Sex, and Less Likely to Use Protection, the Data Indicate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122801588.html?hpid=moreheadlines
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Same-Sex Adoption Debate Rages on in Sunshine State
Posted by Dan Slater
Florida, according to Florida's News-Press, is the only state with an outright ban on gay people adopting children. But the state's Supreme Court could change that. Last month, a Miami-Dade judge declared that Florida's 1977 law violated equal protection rights. "It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent," Judge Cindy Lederman wrote in a November 25th ruling. "The exclusion causes some children to be deprived of a permanent placement with a family that is best suited to their needs." Lederman said there is no moral or scientific reason for banning gays and lesbians from adopting, despite the state's arguments otherwise. Here's a CNN report on the ruling.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/12/29/same-sex-adoption-debate-rages-on-in-sunshine-state/
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Obama keeps word by inviting Warren
Some of president-elect Barack Obama's supporters are upset that he chose Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. They should not be surprised. He promised as a candidate that he would try to change the divisive tone of U.S. politics.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-29pagesbdec29,0,2354830.story
=
Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Campbell Soup's gay ads attacked by American Family Association
By Rachel Charman
An ad for Campbell's Soup Company appearing in gay magazine The Advocate has been condemned by the American Family Association (AFA). The double-page ad features two female restaurateurs and a young boy. The text accompanying the picture identifies the women as a couple and the boy as their son.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10121.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Letters: What the New School Was, and What It Should Be
To the Editor: As alumni of Eugene Lang College of the New School University, we would like to offer a different interpretation of the college from that presented in "To New School Critics, Their Leader Lacks Focus" (news article, Dec. 21). While SAT scores may be "considerably lower" than those of Columbia and New York University, students come to Lang not as a substitute for these universities but for a completely different experience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/opinion/lweb29newschool.html?scp=10&sq=gay&st=cse
-Op-Ed Columnist: George, Abe, Rick & Barack
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
I'm leaving the country the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. It's nothing personal. Nor, I hasten to add - lest some people get too excited - is it anything permanent. It's just that I happen to have a speech to give in Canada.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/opinion/29kristol.html?scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Study: Family behavior key to health of gay youth
By LISA LEFF
Young gay people whose parents or guardians responded negatively when they revealed their sexual orientation were more likely to attempt suicide, experience severe depression and use drugs than those whose families accepted the news, according to a new study.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122900003.html
-Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds
Teenagers Who Make Such Promises Are Just as Likely to Have Sex, and Less Likely to Use Protection, the Data Indicate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122801588.html?hpid=moreheadlines
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Same-Sex Adoption Debate Rages on in Sunshine State
Posted by Dan Slater
Florida, according to Florida's News-Press, is the only state with an outright ban on gay people adopting children. But the state's Supreme Court could change that. Last month, a Miami-Dade judge declared that Florida's 1977 law violated equal protection rights. "It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent," Judge Cindy Lederman wrote in a November 25th ruling. "The exclusion causes some children to be deprived of a permanent placement with a family that is best suited to their needs." Lederman said there is no moral or scientific reason for banning gays and lesbians from adopting, despite the state's arguments otherwise. Here's a CNN report on the ruling.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/12/29/same-sex-adoption-debate-rages-on-in-sunshine-state/
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Obama keeps word by inviting Warren
Some of president-elect Barack Obama's supporters are upset that he chose Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. They should not be surprised. He promised as a candidate that he would try to change the divisive tone of U.S. politics.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-29pagesbdec29,0,2354830.story
=
Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Campbell Soup's gay ads attacked by American Family Association
By Rachel Charman
An ad for Campbell's Soup Company appearing in gay magazine The Advocate has been condemned by the American Family Association (AFA). The double-page ad features two female restaurateurs and a young boy. The text accompanying the picture identifies the women as a couple and the boy as their son.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10121.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 29, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Axelrod Puts Stimulus Plan at $675 Billion to $775 Billion
By SHARON OTTERMAN
The last Sunday of the year was a quiet one on the network's morning talk shows, with David Axelrod, President-elect Barack Obama's political adviser, looking ahead to the new administration while Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reflected on the past eight years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/us/politics/29talkshows.html?scp=5&sq=gay&st=cse
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-A One-Word Explanation? Try 'Greed'
by Jay Bookman
The secret to capitalism's success is its ability to take one of mankind's most powerful emotions - greed - and harness that emotion to drive economic progress. By greedily pursuing our own individual self-interests, the theory goes, each of us contributes almost accidentally to greater prosperity for everybody.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/27-0
-Southern strategy backlash
BY DAVID S. BRODER
As a rule, a new president's choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former congressman from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/829455.html
-Israeli Aircraft Continue Raids on Gaza; Arab Anger Rises
By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY and ISABEL KERSHNER
GAZA - In a third straight day of deadly air strikes against the emblems and institutions of Hamas on Monday, Israeli warplanes pounded targets in Gaza including the Interior Ministry while the Israeli Army declared areas around the beleaguered enclave a "closed military zone."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/middleeast/30mideast.html?_r=1&hp
-Bernie's funda-mental defense
If you thought Bernard Madoff's $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi. Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/12/28/2008-12-28_bernies_fundamental_defense.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Axelrod Puts Stimulus Plan at $675 Billion to $775 Billion
By SHARON OTTERMAN
The last Sunday of the year was a quiet one on the network's morning talk shows, with David Axelrod, President-elect Barack Obama's political adviser, looking ahead to the new administration while Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reflected on the past eight years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/us/politics/29talkshows.html?scp=5&sq=gay&st=cse
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-A One-Word Explanation? Try 'Greed'
by Jay Bookman
The secret to capitalism's success is its ability to take one of mankind's most powerful emotions - greed - and harness that emotion to drive economic progress. By greedily pursuing our own individual self-interests, the theory goes, each of us contributes almost accidentally to greater prosperity for everybody.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/27-0
-Southern strategy backlash
BY DAVID S. BRODER
As a rule, a new president's choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former congressman from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/829455.html
-Israeli Aircraft Continue Raids on Gaza; Arab Anger Rises
By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY and ISABEL KERSHNER
GAZA - In a third straight day of deadly air strikes against the emblems and institutions of Hamas on Monday, Israeli warplanes pounded targets in Gaza including the Interior Ministry while the Israeli Army declared areas around the beleaguered enclave a "closed military zone."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/middleeast/30mideast.html?_r=1&hp
-Bernie's funda-mental defense
If you thought Bernard Madoff's $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi. Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/12/28/2008-12-28_bernies_fundamental_defense.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 29, 2008
**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.
~~FLORIDA GLBT NEWS~~
From Dean Trantalis for Fort Lauderdale Mayor Campaign
-OUR CITY WANTS YOUR SUPPORT ...
AND SO DOES DEAN!
To Everyone who has shown their support for this campaign, The time is now!!!
Until now, we've been raising funds for this final push. We are only a little over 6 weeks out from the election and we are honored and humbled to have the outpouring of support we have received so far. Now it's time for everyone supporting this campaign to let the rest of Fort Lauderdale know why they should vote for Dean. On Wednesday, January 7th, 2009, we'll be holding a rally at ArtServ at 6pm. We need each and every one of you to commit to attending the rally and bringing at least 1 friend. It's time to step up and make our united voices heard. If you have volunteered previously, we ask you to volunteer again. And please attend. If you have given money or helped us raise funds, we ask that you give your time and help us raise volunteers and attend. If you have wanted to help but haven't been able, we ask that you take the time to attend. This a call for "ALL HANDS ON DECK". Tell everyone you know and send this to as many people as possible. We want everyone. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your support. Thank you.
Chip Clapp
Volunteer Coordinator
Dean Trantalis for Mayor Campaign
volunteer@deanformayor.com
(954) 701-2902 cell
=
PFLAG FT. LAUDERDALE BILINGUAL
THURSDAY.... JANUARY 15TH, 2009 - 7 - 9 PM
SUNSHINE CATHEDRAL
1480 S W 9th AVENUE
FT. LAUDERDALE
OPEN TO ALL LGBT PEOPLE YOUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND ALLIES
Bring your favorite dessert to share - Carole Benowitz will be facilitating our first meeting
NEXT TO CHURCH IN TWO STORY BLDG - 1ST DOOR....FIRST FLOOR
95 TO DAVIE BLVD, GO EAST, GO OVER BRIDGE AND MAKE RIGHT ON 9TH AVE
PLEASE JOIN US AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE AT OUR RAP GROUP PFLAG is a non-sectarian National Organization that helps to promote the health and well being of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through support, education and advocacy. We have over 500 Chapters in the U.S. and aboard. ALL meetings are confidential.
FOR INFO: Carole Benowitz, PFLAG Florida State Coordinator - National Board
of Directors - 561-716-9464 pflag@pobox.com
~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~
From Scott Newton for Wilton Manors City Commission Campaign
-CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER FOR SCOTT NEWTON
A Voice for ALL of Wilton Manors
Monday January 5th @ Georgie's Alibi
Manchester Room
2266 Wilton Dr. - 6:00- 8:00 pm
Includes 2 drinks and appetizers
$25.00 minimum contribution suggested with a maximum of $500.00
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-When new employer asked, lawmaker delivered
By Alex Leary
More than a year before accepting a controversial job with his hometown college, House Speaker Ray Sansom was regularly taking direction from the man who later would become his boss.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/article950433.ece
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
~~FLORIDA GLBT NEWS~~
From Dean Trantalis for Fort Lauderdale Mayor Campaign
-OUR CITY WANTS YOUR SUPPORT ...
AND SO DOES DEAN!
To Everyone who has shown their support for this campaign, The time is now!!!
Until now, we've been raising funds for this final push. We are only a little over 6 weeks out from the election and we are honored and humbled to have the outpouring of support we have received so far. Now it's time for everyone supporting this campaign to let the rest of Fort Lauderdale know why they should vote for Dean. On Wednesday, January 7th, 2009, we'll be holding a rally at ArtServ at 6pm. We need each and every one of you to commit to attending the rally and bringing at least 1 friend. It's time to step up and make our united voices heard. If you have volunteered previously, we ask you to volunteer again. And please attend. If you have given money or helped us raise funds, we ask that you give your time and help us raise volunteers and attend. If you have wanted to help but haven't been able, we ask that you take the time to attend. This a call for "ALL HANDS ON DECK". Tell everyone you know and send this to as many people as possible. We want everyone. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your support. Thank you.
Chip Clapp
Volunteer Coordinator
Dean Trantalis for Mayor Campaign
volunteer@deanformayor.com
(954) 701-2902 cell
=
PFLAG FT. LAUDERDALE BILINGUAL
THURSDAY.... JANUARY 15TH, 2009 - 7 - 9 PM
SUNSHINE CATHEDRAL
1480 S W 9th AVENUE
FT. LAUDERDALE
OPEN TO ALL LGBT PEOPLE YOUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND ALLIES
Bring your favorite dessert to share - Carole Benowitz will be facilitating our first meeting
NEXT TO CHURCH IN TWO STORY BLDG - 1ST DOOR....FIRST FLOOR
95 TO DAVIE BLVD, GO EAST, GO OVER BRIDGE AND MAKE RIGHT ON 9TH AVE
PLEASE JOIN US AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE AT OUR RAP GROUP PFLAG is a non-sectarian National Organization that helps to promote the health and well being of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through support, education and advocacy. We have over 500 Chapters in the U.S. and aboard. ALL meetings are confidential.
FOR INFO: Carole Benowitz, PFLAG Florida State Coordinator - National Board
of Directors - 561-716-9464 pflag@pobox.com
~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~
From Scott Newton for Wilton Manors City Commission Campaign
-CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER FOR SCOTT NEWTON
A Voice for ALL of Wilton Manors
Monday January 5th @ Georgie's Alibi
Manchester Room
2266 Wilton Dr. - 6:00- 8:00 pm
Includes 2 drinks and appetizers
$25.00 minimum contribution suggested with a maximum of $500.00
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-When new employer asked, lawmaker delivered
By Alex Leary
More than a year before accepting a controversial job with his hometown college, House Speaker Ray Sansom was regularly taking direction from the man who later would become his boss.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/article950433.ece
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Sunday, December 28, 2008
GLBT DIGEST December 28, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Op-Ed Columnist: You're Likable Enough, Gay People
IN his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." We all know how that turned out. Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28rich.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Gay&st=cse
-Chief Judge Is Retiring, Leaving Trail of Successes for Women on the Bench
By JOHN ELIGON
It was no secret that Gov. Mario M. Cuomo wanted a woman on the New York State Court of Appeals. When a seat opened in 1983, Judith S. Kaye was one of two female finalists. But the road was not exactly rising up to meet Ms. Kaye. She had no judicial experience, and a bar group - a women's group, in fact - urged the governor not to give her the job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/nyregion/28kaye.html?scp=6&sq=Gay&st=cse
-Mildred Loving | b. 1940
The Color of Love
In June 1963, Mildred Loving, the 22-year-old wife of Richard Loving, a bricklayer, sat down with a piece of lined loose-leaf paper and wrote a letter in neat script to the Washington branch of the A.C.L.U. "My husband is White," she wrote, "I am part negro, & part indian." Five years earlier, they married in Washington, she explained, but did not know that there was a law in Virginia, where they lived, against mixed marriages. Upon arriving back home, the two were jailed, tried and told to leave the state, which is how she ended up back in Washington. Her request to the A.C.L.U. was heartbreakingly humble: "We know we can't live there, but we would like to go back once and awhile to visit our families & friends." A judge had told them that if they set foot, together, in the state again, they would be jailed for one year. She hoped to hear from the lawyer there "real soon."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/magazine/28loving-t.html?sq=Gay&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=4&adxnnlx=1230472804-P1s0umPa8k6m3mFyFqPWbQ
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Spain: big pro-family rally in Madrid
By DANIEL WOOLLS
MADRID, Spain -- Tens of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122800274.html
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Rick Warren, Obama and the Left
The left's intolerance of Rick Warren could slow Obama's progress
The most thoughtful and interesting debate of the two-year-long presidential campaign occurred last August at Saddleback Church between John McCain and Barack Obama, moderated by Saddleback pastor Rick Warren. So it is notable that President-elect Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration next month has brought forth hyperpartisan invective from the Democratic left. It has spent the past week conveying to the world its disappointment and disgust with the choice of Pastor Warren because he opposes gay marriage and abortion.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033836308436501.html
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Same-sex couple win birth certificate fight
By Janet McConnaughey
A same-sex couple in California has won a federal court ruling that their adopted son's Louisiana birth certificate must bear the names of both adoptive fathers. The facts are so clear that no trial is needed, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey wrote.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flatwodads1228sbdec28,0,6474573.story
=
Steve Rothaus
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Jesse's Journal | In Praise of Books
By JESSE MONTEAGUDO
Recently I saw Mark Doty accept the National Book Award (NBA) in Poetry for his book Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (Harper Collins). During his acceptance speech Doty, an openly gay man, thanked his husband Paul (they were recently married in Massachusetts). Like Augusten Burroughs's memoirs, and David Sedaris's humor, Mark Doty's poetry appeals to all readers regardless of their sexual orientation. Needless to say, it is a great distinction for an openly gay poet to be honored, not as the best American gay poet, but as the best American poet period. And Doty's honor was well-deserved.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
=
South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Miami finalist for Gay Games in 2014
The 'gay Olympics' could bring thousands of people, millions of dollars to South Florida
By Dan Renzi
Is Miami ready to host the world's largest gay sporting event that will bring in an estimated 15,000 gay visitors spending beaucoup gay bucks in less that six years? The city is a finalist for the 2014 Gay Games, the largest gay and lesbian sporting event in the world. Three other cities--Boston, Cleveland, and Washington--are also finalists for the bid.
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#23184
=
365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-What you can do to help appoint a gay Secretary of the Navy
By Emma Ruby-Sachs
I just received a press release about a campaign from December 31st until January 2nd aimed at encouraging Obama to choose William White, an openly gay man.
http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-what-you-can-do-to-help-appoint-a-gay-secretary-of-the-navy/
=
Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-The Swedish Humanist Association, like other Humanist organizations, promotes secularism, rationalism, a non-religious life-stance and human rights. It has always fought homophobia. In recent years, it has had a major break through in public debate, and tripled its number of members, which has made it the fastest growing Humanist association in the world! Now, the SHA has collected its TV and video films and put them on its website. A couple of them are interviews with gay and lesbian persons, made by the SHA chairman, Christer Sturmark. Although most of the films are in Swedish, a few are in English. Maybe they are of some interest to you.
http://www.humanisterna.se/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=414:audio-och-video&catid=14:humanisterna&Itemid=154
-KATHMANDU: Sexual minorities mark SC verdict anniversary
"Here is something important for us parliamentarians," stressed Sunil Babu Panta, while explaining the Supreme Court ruling that ensured equal rights to sexual minorities. "The apex court has already given a ruling [to the government] to formulate appropriate laws and also bring about amendment to the existing laws so as to ensure the separate identity and rights of people with a different sexual orientation."
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=628
-Gay & Lesbian Humanist, December 2008
If you'd rather read G&LH than spend time with the in-laws, the December issue is now online. Alternatively, if you've already done the festive thing and are now stuffed with mince pies and sherry, why not take a look now!
The new issue of Gay & Lesbian Humanist is now available at http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org/ and we end the year with controversy, courtesy of the human-rights campaigner and G&LH contributor Peter Tatchell.
If you're gay and in the UK, your blood is tainted, he says. That, anyway, is the view of the organisation that spends much of its time and budget appealing for that precious commodity: blood. "We all now carry the mark of the HIV 'Anti-Christ'," writes Tatchell in our special feature on blood donation, and why gays are not allowed to donate
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-A New Iranian Queer Magazine
The First Issue of Neda Magazine is available online Neda is a monthly online magazine in Farsi. In this issue we published some articles about sexual orientation, Harvey Milk, 60th anniversary of UN Human rights declaration, and few community issues.
you can read online or download PDF/Word file on
www.nedamagazine.net
=
Gay American Heroes Foundation Update
www.GayAmericanHeroes.com
-Dear Friends,
I'm sorry to report to you that we have had two more LGBT hate crime murders in December and now we have possibly three more. This would bring the total for LGBT hate crime murders in 2008 to 37 human beings whose lives have been stolen from all of us senselessly. This equates to one LGBT hate crime murder every 9 days in the USA in 2008. And, this number only represents those that we know about since 19 states still do not report LGBT hate crimes. Our HEROES are being stolen from us and their family and friends because of hate and those who teach and promote hate. We cannot live in fear for even one more second! Gay American Heroes is here to face head-on the ongoing violence against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people and fight those who otherwise seek to enslave us in their belief system.
So, until we, as the LGBT community, are extended the same rights, freedoms, and protections that every other American enjoys, Gay American Heroes will be united in the fight for respect, dignity, and equal protections under the law as defined in our Constitution. We will win this civil rights and human rights battle through awareness, education, perseverance for justice for all humanity. Please join us. Help Honor our Heroes and put an end to the Hate.
Show your support by going to www.GayAmericanHeroes.com and Adopting a Hero Today!
Thank you.
Scott Hall
Founder
Email GayAmericanHeroes@yahoo.com
www.GayAmericanHeroes.com
-December 18,2008 Three Black Gay Men Murdered in New Orleans, Police Hunt for Suspects
Thanks to Lisa Moore, the fab editor of black LGBT-themed Redbone Press, for the heads up. New Orleans police have identified three black men who were gunned down in a 7th Ward home. The men were apparently gay, one possibly transgender, and police "believe the three victims knew their killers." The victims were all from Mississippi and living together in a home on the 2500 block of Pauger Street. They are identified as Felix Pearson, 19; Kenneth Monroe, 27; and Darriel Wilson, 20. Nola.com reports the men were found Saturday afternoon after the building manager "said he saw the lower half of a man's body through a window and called 911."
=
Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Mother admits abusing 16-year-old son for being gay
A woman in Scotland has admitted in court that she sent homophobic text messages and shouted abuse at her own child because he is gay.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10065.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Op-Ed Columnist: You're Likable Enough, Gay People
IN his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." We all know how that turned out. Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28rich.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Gay&st=cse
-Chief Judge Is Retiring, Leaving Trail of Successes for Women on the Bench
By JOHN ELIGON
It was no secret that Gov. Mario M. Cuomo wanted a woman on the New York State Court of Appeals. When a seat opened in 1983, Judith S. Kaye was one of two female finalists. But the road was not exactly rising up to meet Ms. Kaye. She had no judicial experience, and a bar group - a women's group, in fact - urged the governor not to give her the job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/nyregion/28kaye.html?scp=6&sq=Gay&st=cse
-Mildred Loving | b. 1940
The Color of Love
In June 1963, Mildred Loving, the 22-year-old wife of Richard Loving, a bricklayer, sat down with a piece of lined loose-leaf paper and wrote a letter in neat script to the Washington branch of the A.C.L.U. "My husband is White," she wrote, "I am part negro, & part indian." Five years earlier, they married in Washington, she explained, but did not know that there was a law in Virginia, where they lived, against mixed marriages. Upon arriving back home, the two were jailed, tried and told to leave the state, which is how she ended up back in Washington. Her request to the A.C.L.U. was heartbreakingly humble: "We know we can't live there, but we would like to go back once and awhile to visit our families & friends." A judge had told them that if they set foot, together, in the state again, they would be jailed for one year. She hoped to hear from the lawyer there "real soon."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/magazine/28loving-t.html?sq=Gay&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=4&adxnnlx=1230472804-P1s0umPa8k6m3mFyFqPWbQ
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Spain: big pro-family rally in Madrid
By DANIEL WOOLLS
MADRID, Spain -- Tens of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122800274.html
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Rick Warren, Obama and the Left
The left's intolerance of Rick Warren could slow Obama's progress
The most thoughtful and interesting debate of the two-year-long presidential campaign occurred last August at Saddleback Church between John McCain and Barack Obama, moderated by Saddleback pastor Rick Warren. So it is notable that President-elect Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration next month has brought forth hyperpartisan invective from the Democratic left. It has spent the past week conveying to the world its disappointment and disgust with the choice of Pastor Warren because he opposes gay marriage and abortion.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033836308436501.html
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Same-sex couple win birth certificate fight
By Janet McConnaughey
A same-sex couple in California has won a federal court ruling that their adopted son's Louisiana birth certificate must bear the names of both adoptive fathers. The facts are so clear that no trial is needed, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey wrote.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flatwodads1228sbdec28,0,6474573.story
=
Steve Rothaus
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Jesse's Journal | In Praise of Books
By JESSE MONTEAGUDO
Recently I saw Mark Doty accept the National Book Award (NBA) in Poetry for his book Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (Harper Collins). During his acceptance speech Doty, an openly gay man, thanked his husband Paul (they were recently married in Massachusetts). Like Augusten Burroughs's memoirs, and David Sedaris's humor, Mark Doty's poetry appeals to all readers regardless of their sexual orientation. Needless to say, it is a great distinction for an openly gay poet to be honored, not as the best American gay poet, but as the best American poet period. And Doty's honor was well-deserved.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
=
South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Miami finalist for Gay Games in 2014
The 'gay Olympics' could bring thousands of people, millions of dollars to South Florida
By Dan Renzi
Is Miami ready to host the world's largest gay sporting event that will bring in an estimated 15,000 gay visitors spending beaucoup gay bucks in less that six years? The city is a finalist for the 2014 Gay Games, the largest gay and lesbian sporting event in the world. Three other cities--Boston, Cleveland, and Washington--are also finalists for the bid.
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#23184
=
365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-What you can do to help appoint a gay Secretary of the Navy
By Emma Ruby-Sachs
I just received a press release about a campaign from December 31st until January 2nd aimed at encouraging Obama to choose William White, an openly gay man.
http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-what-you-can-do-to-help-appoint-a-gay-secretary-of-the-navy/
=
Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-The Swedish Humanist Association, like other Humanist organizations, promotes secularism, rationalism, a non-religious life-stance and human rights. It has always fought homophobia. In recent years, it has had a major break through in public debate, and tripled its number of members, which has made it the fastest growing Humanist association in the world! Now, the SHA has collected its TV and video films and put them on its website. A couple of them are interviews with gay and lesbian persons, made by the SHA chairman, Christer Sturmark. Although most of the films are in Swedish, a few are in English. Maybe they are of some interest to you.
http://www.humanisterna.se/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=414:audio-och-video&catid=14:humanisterna&Itemid=154
-KATHMANDU: Sexual minorities mark SC verdict anniversary
"Here is something important for us parliamentarians," stressed Sunil Babu Panta, while explaining the Supreme Court ruling that ensured equal rights to sexual minorities. "The apex court has already given a ruling [to the government] to formulate appropriate laws and also bring about amendment to the existing laws so as to ensure the separate identity and rights of people with a different sexual orientation."
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=628
-Gay & Lesbian Humanist, December 2008
If you'd rather read G&LH than spend time with the in-laws, the December issue is now online. Alternatively, if you've already done the festive thing and are now stuffed with mince pies and sherry, why not take a look now!
The new issue of Gay & Lesbian Humanist is now available at http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org/ and we end the year with controversy, courtesy of the human-rights campaigner and G&LH contributor Peter Tatchell.
If you're gay and in the UK, your blood is tainted, he says. That, anyway, is the view of the organisation that spends much of its time and budget appealing for that precious commodity: blood. "We all now carry the mark of the HIV 'Anti-Christ'," writes Tatchell in our special feature on blood donation, and why gays are not allowed to donate
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-A New Iranian Queer Magazine
The First Issue of Neda Magazine is available online Neda is a monthly online magazine in Farsi. In this issue we published some articles about sexual orientation, Harvey Milk, 60th anniversary of UN Human rights declaration, and few community issues.
you can read online or download PDF/Word file on
www.nedamagazine.net
=
Gay American Heroes Foundation Update
www.GayAmericanHeroes.com
-Dear Friends,
I'm sorry to report to you that we have had two more LGBT hate crime murders in December and now we have possibly three more. This would bring the total for LGBT hate crime murders in 2008 to 37 human beings whose lives have been stolen from all of us senselessly. This equates to one LGBT hate crime murder every 9 days in the USA in 2008. And, this number only represents those that we know about since 19 states still do not report LGBT hate crimes. Our HEROES are being stolen from us and their family and friends because of hate and those who teach and promote hate. We cannot live in fear for even one more second! Gay American Heroes is here to face head-on the ongoing violence against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people and fight those who otherwise seek to enslave us in their belief system.
So, until we, as the LGBT community, are extended the same rights, freedoms, and protections that every other American enjoys, Gay American Heroes will be united in the fight for respect, dignity, and equal protections under the law as defined in our Constitution. We will win this civil rights and human rights battle through awareness, education, perseverance for justice for all humanity. Please join us. Help Honor our Heroes and put an end to the Hate.
Show your support by going to www.GayAmericanHeroes.com and Adopting a Hero Today!
Thank you.
Scott Hall
Founder
Email GayAmericanHeroes@yahoo.com
www.GayAmericanHeroes.com
-December 18,2008 Three Black Gay Men Murdered in New Orleans, Police Hunt for Suspects
Thanks to Lisa Moore, the fab editor of black LGBT-themed Redbone Press, for the heads up. New Orleans police have identified three black men who were gunned down in a 7th Ward home. The men were apparently gay, one possibly transgender, and police "believe the three victims knew their killers." The victims were all from Mississippi and living together in a home on the 2500 block of Pauger Street. They are identified as Felix Pearson, 19; Kenneth Monroe, 27; and Darriel Wilson, 20. Nola.com reports the men were found Saturday afternoon after the building manager "said he saw the lower half of a man's body through a window and called 911."
=
Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Mother admits abusing 16-year-old son for being gay
A woman in Scotland has admitted in court that she sent homophobic text messages and shouted abuse at her own child because he is gay.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10065.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 28, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Op-Ed Columnist: Win, Win, Win, Win, Win ...
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way? Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes, consumers stop buying those cars, the oil producers celebrate, we remain addicted to oil and prices gradually go up again, petro-dictators get rich, we lose. I've already seen this play three times in my life. Trust me: It always ends the same way - badly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28friedman.html?ref=opinion
-Op-Ed Columnist: A New Chance for Darfur
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
If Barack Obama wants to help end the genocide in Darfur, he doesn't have to look far for ideas of how to accomplish that. President Bush and his top aides have been given, and ignored, a menu of options for tough steps to squeeze Sudan - even destroy its air force - and those will soon be on the new president's desk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28kristof.html?ref=opinion
-Op-Ed Guest Columnist: The Pre-Blame Game
By TIMOTHY EGAN
In the icy last days of a year that can't pass fast enough, the departing president is looking for shelter from the storm of his hubris, while the incoming one is trying to keep that same load from burying him. Soon enough, the mess will be all Barack Obama's. But in the holiday interregnum, the winter air is thick with excuses at the White House no-regret fest. The president has given 10 exit interviews, spinning an unnecessary war, the shredding of the Bill of Rights and an epic run of economic negligence as bold action taken with Churchillian fortitude.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28egan.html?ref=opinion
-White Farmers Confront Mugabe in a Legal Battle
By CELIA W. DUGGER
CHEGUTU, Zimbabwe - Edna Madzongwe, president of the Senate and a powerful member of Zimbabwe's ruling party, began showing up uninvited at the Etheredges' farm here last year, at times still dressed up after a day in Parliament.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/africa/28farmers.html?hp
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The 10 Worst Predictions for 2008
Prognostication is by far the riskiest form of punditry. The 10 commentators and leaders on this list learned that the hard way when their confident predictions about politics, war, the economy, and even the end of humanity itself completely missed the mark.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4569&page=0
-Israel Strikes
Hamas suffers a serious blow -- but the real winner may be Iran. ISRAEL'S AIR offensive against the Gaza Strip yesterday should not have been a surprise for anyone who has been following the mounting hostilities in the region -- least of all the Hamas movement, which invited the conflict by ending a six-month-old ceasefire and launching scores of rockets and mortar shells at Israel during the past 10 days. The initial Israeli strikes appeared to deal a punishing blow to the Islamic movement, reportedly killing several of its leaders and dozens of other militants and security force members. Inevitably, however, civilians were among the more than 200 reported Palestinian dead, and renewed Palestinian rocket fire against Israeli cities killed at least one person. While Israel could justifiably describe its action as one of self-defense, it's far from clear that it will end up improving the country's security -- even as it risks a wider conflict.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/27/AR2008122700976.html
-MISSED CONNECTIONS: Why Can't I Get Off This List?
By Juan Fernando Gómez
I call it the little room. In most cases it's actually not that small, but my claustrophobia seems to kick in as soon as the immigration officer separates me from the other passengers on my flight and escorts me through a door into my own private travel hell.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601120.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Foreign Relations
Cuban Myths Will Test Obama
To navigate a sensible Cuba policy, Washington needs to separate truths from long-held fictions
By DAVID LUHNOW and JOSé DECORDOBA
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, he will become the 11th U.S. president since Fidel Castro came to power on Jan. 1, 1959. Indeed, Fidel was already in charge when Mr. Obama was born. That the Cuban regime has lasted half a century just 90 miles from U.S. shores -- and nearly two decades after the end of the Cold War -- is remarkable. It is a testament to the comandante's political genius, to the cruel effectiveness of totalitarian repression and to Washington's ham-handed approach to the island.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033808707236469.html
-Russia Again Warns of Gas Supply Disruption
Russia's state natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom warned Saturday that a pricing dispute with Ukraine could disrupt gas supplies to Europe.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123038799846537253.html
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-COMMENTARY: Coming year will be one of change, crises
BY BAN KI-MOON
The coming year will be a narrative of tension -- a series of difficult choices between the imperatives of the present and those of tomorrow. How we resolve this tension will be the measure of our vision and our leadership.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/827737.html
-EUROPE: Riots a warning of more chaos
BY GUY SORMAN
PARIS -- The riots that have rampaged across Greece may have many causes, but one that is rarely mentioned is the fracturing of the Greek left into George Papandreou's traditional socialist party, PASOK, and an increasingly radicalized faction that refuses all accommodation with either the European Union or modern economics. To varying degrees, this divide is paralyzing Socialist parties across Europe.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/827736.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-GOP chairman 'shocked' that Obama parody sent out
The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Saturday he was "shocked and appalled" that one of his potential successors had sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro."
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/politics-12/123043104926880.xml&storylist=topstories
-Poll: 75% glad Bush is done
By Paul Steinhauser
A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/26/bush.poll/index.html?eref=rss_politics
-States are selling off roads, parks, airports and lotteries to raise funds
Ballooning budget deficits have prompted more U.S. states to sell off roads, parks, airports and lotteries to raise money. Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/828403.html
-Business takes a liking to Barack Obama
Old antipathies fading, but how long will it last?
In these scary economic times, the politics of the business world suddenly seem topsy-turvy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Manufacturers are openly praising President-elect Barack Obama for being smart and practical, for making business-friendly appointments and for a strong economic stimulus package.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-obama-administration-dec28,0,6404506.story
-At Capitol, slavery's story turns full circle
Historians hope significance comes to light as Obama takes office
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office at the US Capitol, the first African-American to become president will be standing amid stonework laid by slaves more than two centuries ago. He will appear before a crowd massed on the Mall, where slaves were once held in pens, ready for auction. He will end his inauguration route at the White House, where the foundations were laid by slaves, and where eight presidents held blacks as their human property.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/12/28/at_capitol_slaverys_story_turns_full_circle/
-Ideology steers RNC chairman race
A battle for the soul of the Republican Party has spilled over into the contest for national committee chairman, as conservative members are prodding candidates to shift their way. Now that the presidential campaign is over and the congressional leadership elections are settled, conservative activists are turning to the race for chairman as their next chance to shape the party.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ideology-steers-rnc-chairman-race-2008-12-27.html
-Illinois House Won't Subpoena Obama Staff
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald Says Doing So Would Imperil His Investigation
The Illinois House committee investigating a possible impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich won't subpoena two incoming White House advisers, the committee chairwoman said Saturday, shutting down a request from the governor's attorney.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/27/national/main4687787.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4687787
-Obama bristles as the bubble closes in on him
The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone - it's been closing in on Barack Obama for some time.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16882.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Op-Ed Columnist: Win, Win, Win, Win, Win ...
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way? Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes, consumers stop buying those cars, the oil producers celebrate, we remain addicted to oil and prices gradually go up again, petro-dictators get rich, we lose. I've already seen this play three times in my life. Trust me: It always ends the same way - badly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28friedman.html?ref=opinion
-Op-Ed Columnist: A New Chance for Darfur
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
If Barack Obama wants to help end the genocide in Darfur, he doesn't have to look far for ideas of how to accomplish that. President Bush and his top aides have been given, and ignored, a menu of options for tough steps to squeeze Sudan - even destroy its air force - and those will soon be on the new president's desk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28kristof.html?ref=opinion
-Op-Ed Guest Columnist: The Pre-Blame Game
By TIMOTHY EGAN
In the icy last days of a year that can't pass fast enough, the departing president is looking for shelter from the storm of his hubris, while the incoming one is trying to keep that same load from burying him. Soon enough, the mess will be all Barack Obama's. But in the holiday interregnum, the winter air is thick with excuses at the White House no-regret fest. The president has given 10 exit interviews, spinning an unnecessary war, the shredding of the Bill of Rights and an epic run of economic negligence as bold action taken with Churchillian fortitude.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28egan.html?ref=opinion
-White Farmers Confront Mugabe in a Legal Battle
By CELIA W. DUGGER
CHEGUTU, Zimbabwe - Edna Madzongwe, president of the Senate and a powerful member of Zimbabwe's ruling party, began showing up uninvited at the Etheredges' farm here last year, at times still dressed up after a day in Parliament.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/africa/28farmers.html?hp
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The 10 Worst Predictions for 2008
Prognostication is by far the riskiest form of punditry. The 10 commentators and leaders on this list learned that the hard way when their confident predictions about politics, war, the economy, and even the end of humanity itself completely missed the mark.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4569&page=0
-Israel Strikes
Hamas suffers a serious blow -- but the real winner may be Iran. ISRAEL'S AIR offensive against the Gaza Strip yesterday should not have been a surprise for anyone who has been following the mounting hostilities in the region -- least of all the Hamas movement, which invited the conflict by ending a six-month-old ceasefire and launching scores of rockets and mortar shells at Israel during the past 10 days. The initial Israeli strikes appeared to deal a punishing blow to the Islamic movement, reportedly killing several of its leaders and dozens of other militants and security force members. Inevitably, however, civilians were among the more than 200 reported Palestinian dead, and renewed Palestinian rocket fire against Israeli cities killed at least one person. While Israel could justifiably describe its action as one of self-defense, it's far from clear that it will end up improving the country's security -- even as it risks a wider conflict.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/27/AR2008122700976.html
-MISSED CONNECTIONS: Why Can't I Get Off This List?
By Juan Fernando Gómez
I call it the little room. In most cases it's actually not that small, but my claustrophobia seems to kick in as soon as the immigration officer separates me from the other passengers on my flight and escorts me through a door into my own private travel hell.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601120.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Foreign Relations
Cuban Myths Will Test Obama
To navigate a sensible Cuba policy, Washington needs to separate truths from long-held fictions
By DAVID LUHNOW and JOSé DECORDOBA
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, he will become the 11th U.S. president since Fidel Castro came to power on Jan. 1, 1959. Indeed, Fidel was already in charge when Mr. Obama was born. That the Cuban regime has lasted half a century just 90 miles from U.S. shores -- and nearly two decades after the end of the Cold War -- is remarkable. It is a testament to the comandante's political genius, to the cruel effectiveness of totalitarian repression and to Washington's ham-handed approach to the island.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033808707236469.html
-Russia Again Warns of Gas Supply Disruption
Russia's state natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom warned Saturday that a pricing dispute with Ukraine could disrupt gas supplies to Europe.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123038799846537253.html
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-COMMENTARY: Coming year will be one of change, crises
BY BAN KI-MOON
The coming year will be a narrative of tension -- a series of difficult choices between the imperatives of the present and those of tomorrow. How we resolve this tension will be the measure of our vision and our leadership.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/827737.html
-EUROPE: Riots a warning of more chaos
BY GUY SORMAN
PARIS -- The riots that have rampaged across Greece may have many causes, but one that is rarely mentioned is the fracturing of the Greek left into George Papandreou's traditional socialist party, PASOK, and an increasingly radicalized faction that refuses all accommodation with either the European Union or modern economics. To varying degrees, this divide is paralyzing Socialist parties across Europe.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/827736.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-GOP chairman 'shocked' that Obama parody sent out
The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Saturday he was "shocked and appalled" that one of his potential successors had sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro."
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/politics-12/123043104926880.xml&storylist=topstories
-Poll: 75% glad Bush is done
By Paul Steinhauser
A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/26/bush.poll/index.html?eref=rss_politics
-States are selling off roads, parks, airports and lotteries to raise funds
Ballooning budget deficits have prompted more U.S. states to sell off roads, parks, airports and lotteries to raise money. Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/828403.html
-Business takes a liking to Barack Obama
Old antipathies fading, but how long will it last?
In these scary economic times, the politics of the business world suddenly seem topsy-turvy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Manufacturers are openly praising President-elect Barack Obama for being smart and practical, for making business-friendly appointments and for a strong economic stimulus package.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-obama-administration-dec28,0,6404506.story
-At Capitol, slavery's story turns full circle
Historians hope significance comes to light as Obama takes office
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office at the US Capitol, the first African-American to become president will be standing amid stonework laid by slaves more than two centuries ago. He will appear before a crowd massed on the Mall, where slaves were once held in pens, ready for auction. He will end his inauguration route at the White House, where the foundations were laid by slaves, and where eight presidents held blacks as their human property.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/12/28/at_capitol_slaverys_story_turns_full_circle/
-Ideology steers RNC chairman race
A battle for the soul of the Republican Party has spilled over into the contest for national committee chairman, as conservative members are prodding candidates to shift their way. Now that the presidential campaign is over and the congressional leadership elections are settled, conservative activists are turning to the race for chairman as their next chance to shape the party.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ideology-steers-rnc-chairman-race-2008-12-27.html
-Illinois House Won't Subpoena Obama Staff
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald Says Doing So Would Imperil His Investigation
The Illinois House committee investigating a possible impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich won't subpoena two incoming White House advisers, the committee chairwoman said Saturday, shutting down a request from the governor's attorney.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/27/national/main4687787.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4687787
-Obama bristles as the bubble closes in on him
The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone - it's been closing in on Barack Obama for some time.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16882.html
=
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#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 28, 2008
**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.
~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Broward College begins offering bachelor's degrees in education Broward College reacts to 'critical' shortage of graduates Jonathan Whitehorn wanted to be a teacher but the goal seemed out of reach. The 29-year-old bartender lives in Hollywood and didn't have the time or money to constantly commute to state colleges in Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/davie/sfl-flbbrowardcollege1228sbdec28,0,1812284.story
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-MIAMI FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
Time runs out on rape suit
A federal judge says the U.S. Bureau of Prisons was 'woefully deficient' in protecting a government witness from guards who repeatedly sexually assaulted her at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/828390.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Reform judicial nominations
As became evident this month, Florida gives the governor too much power over selecting judges. Gov. Crist provided the evidence this time, but it could be any governor. The system makes it too tempting.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/12/28/a20a_jnc_edit_1228.html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Broward College begins offering bachelor's degrees in education Broward College reacts to 'critical' shortage of graduates Jonathan Whitehorn wanted to be a teacher but the goal seemed out of reach. The 29-year-old bartender lives in Hollywood and didn't have the time or money to constantly commute to state colleges in Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/davie/sfl-flbbrowardcollege1228sbdec28,0,1812284.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-MIAMI FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
Time runs out on rape suit
A federal judge says the U.S. Bureau of Prisons was 'woefully deficient' in protecting a government witness from guards who repeatedly sexually assaulted her at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/828390.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Reform judicial nominations
As became evident this month, Florida gives the governor too much power over selecting judges. Gov. Crist provided the evidence this time, but it could be any governor. The system makes it too tempting.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/12/28/a20a_jnc_edit_1228.html
=
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#####
Saturday, December 27, 2008
GLBT DIGEST December 27, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia’s Secular Cast
Thirteen years after a war in which 100,000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, Bosnia is undergoing an Islamic revival.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27islam.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=GAY&st=cse
-Boy Scouts of America Plans Campaigns to Lure Hispanics
As it prepares to turn 100, the Boy Scouts of America is facing a huge test: drawing Hispanics into its declining, mostly white ranks. “We either are going to figure out how to make scouting the most exciting, dynamic organization for Hispanic kids, or we’re going to be out of business,” said Rick Cronk, a former national president of the Boy Scouts and chairman of the World Scout Committee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/27scout.html?scp=3&sq=GAY&st=cse
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Religion's Big and Unprecedented Role in '08 Politics
From the Presidential Election to the Debate on Gay Marriage, Faith-Based Issues Dominated
By Kevin Eckstrom
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601421.html
-Ending Impunity for Rape
Marianne Mollmann
In too many cases, forced sex is seen as not rape but 'bad luck' or something 'much deserved.'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601493.html
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-On Transition Website, Obama Promises More to Gay Community
This is interesting -- and I'm not entirely certain what it means. Obama's transition website, Change.gov, includes a section called 'Agenda' that outlines the administration's objectives in any of a couple dozen policy areas. For the most part, the 'Agenda' section is a near carbon-copy of the 'Issues' section on Obama's campaign website, BarackObama.com. In the area of 'Civil Rights', however, there is a significant difference between the campaign website and Change.gov, the transition website. Specifically, the transition website makes a much broader range of commitments to the gay and lesbian community.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/on-transition-website-obama-promises.html
-Calif. attorney general's ballot fight is first in 4 decades
California Attorney General Jerry Brown's refusal to defend the Proposition 8 marriage ban in court marks the first such opposition to the outcome of a ballot measure since 1964. That year, Attorney General Thomas Lynch declined to defend a ban reversing a fair-housing law that would have permitted racial discrimination in property sales and rentals. Brown's decision is getting a mixed reaction from former attorneys general, according to this article. San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/24/MNB414U5HV.DTL
-Michigan: Triangle Foundation
Alicia Skillman to Lead Triangle Foundation
Triangle Foundation is pleased to announce attorney and long-time community advocate Alicia J. Skillman as Executive Director.
http://www.tri.org/
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
www.dailyqueernews.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Spanish Judge Suspended Over Lesbian Adoption Bid
Associated Press | Boston Herald
MADRID, Spain — A Spanish court says a judge has been suspended for attempting to thwart a woman’s effort to adopt her lesbian partner’s child. The Superior Justice Court in the southeast Murcia region says it suspended Judge Fernando Ferrin Calamita for two years. The court also ordered the Catholic judge to pay the woman €6,000 ($8,400) in compensation. The woman had been trying to adopt the child born to her partner after they were married in 2005. Read more
-Hour Magazine Give Honor to Hero to Arsham Parsi Among Others!
Richard Burnett | Iranian Queer Railroad
http://www.hour.ca/columns/3dollarbill.aspx?iIDArticle=16328
Here is my 13th annual column of the year’s heroes and zeros.
*Hero After giving birth to a baby girl in July, trans man Thomas Beatie, 34, announced in November that he is pregnant with his second child. “I feel it’s not a male or female desire to have a child,” Beatie says. “It’s a human need.”
*Zero David Letterman, who called Thomas Beatie an “androgynous freak show.”
*Hero Actor James Franco who - when David Letterman demanded on-air what it was like to kiss Sean Penn in the biopic Milk - leaned over and kissed Letterman.
*Zero Heinz, for pulling its U.K. Deli May TV ad featuring two men kissing.
*Hero The New York Rangers, for trying to prevent further homophobic taunting and chanting at Madison Square Garden.
*Heroes The 60 marchers who braved hundreds of violent thugs at their May 11 Gay Pride parade in Chisinau, Moldova; the 35 Pride marchers arrested by police in Moscow on May 31; the 45 Pride marchers attacked by ultra-nationalists in Budapest on July 6; the 2,000 Pride marchers who defied protesters in Warsaw on June 7; the 500 who marched in Calcutta, 700 in Bangalore and 800 in Delhi on June 29; the 18,000 in Taipei on Sept. 27, the largest Pride parade in Asia; and the five million marchers who waved rainbow flags in São Paulo on May 25.
-A Historic Day at the UN
By: DOUG IRELAND
Louis-Georges Tin, the intelligent moving force behind the decriminalization declaration, appeared in New York last week to talk about his initiative and also to sing a vibrant a capella rendition of In an international affirmation of LGBT rights without precedent, a declaration calling for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality, signed by 66 nations, was read from the podium of the United Nations on December 18. At a press conference following the reading of the “Statement on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” to the UN General Assembly by Argentina’s envoy to the world body, Ambassador Jorge Argüello, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, Maxime Vergahen, declared that “human rights are for all people” and that “there can be no excuse for the prosecution, discrimination, or violation of the human rights of gay, lesbian andtransgendered people.” Verhagen added that the reading of the non-binding declaration and its “broad support” by 66 member states meant that the question of LGBT rights was “no longer taboo [and]… now firmly inscribed on the agenda of the United Nations.” At that same press conference, Rama Yade, the minister for Human Rights in France, which took the initiative in creating the declaration during that nation’s six-month term in the rotating presidency of the European Union, called the reading of the statement “a historic day for LGBT peoples and an excellent day for all who struggle for human rights. ” Read more
-Warren-Endorsed Nigerian Archbishop Backed Anti-Gay Laws
Worse Than Third Reich’s
Bruce Wilson | Talk2Action
As seems to be happening with increasing frequency, a story I’d previously posted at Talk To Action, almost exactly two years ago in this case, has suddenly become rather timely. A number of political bloggers [1, 2, 3] have noted Rick Warren’s support for the virulently anti-gay Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, but the story has lacked some needed historical context; In 2006, Warren publicly lionized (literally) Akinola three monthsafter the Archbishop had endorsed legislation more draconian than comparable anti-gay statutes passed prior to World War Two under the Third Reich. topic: Gay Rights As I described in my December 18, 2006 post, a schismatic faction of Virginia Episcopalian churches had just voted to align themselves with the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who at the time (and probably still) supported draconian anti-Gay legislation that would, among other strictures, “make it illegal for gay men and lesbians to form organizations, read gay literature or eat together in a restaurant.”Although I missed it at the time, the proposed legislation was apparently denounced, according to the current Wikipedia writeup on Akinola, by the US State Department: “The proposed legislation was formally challenged by the United States State Department as a breach of Nigeria’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” It was one of those rare examples from the last eight years, it would seem, in which United States foreign policy clearly aligned in support of basic human rights. Rick Warren, however, appeared to be on the other side of the issue.
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia’s Secular Cast
Thirteen years after a war in which 100,000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, Bosnia is undergoing an Islamic revival.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27islam.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=GAY&st=cse
-Boy Scouts of America Plans Campaigns to Lure Hispanics
As it prepares to turn 100, the Boy Scouts of America is facing a huge test: drawing Hispanics into its declining, mostly white ranks. “We either are going to figure out how to make scouting the most exciting, dynamic organization for Hispanic kids, or we’re going to be out of business,” said Rick Cronk, a former national president of the Boy Scouts and chairman of the World Scout Committee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/27scout.html?scp=3&sq=GAY&st=cse
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Religion's Big and Unprecedented Role in '08 Politics
From the Presidential Election to the Debate on Gay Marriage, Faith-Based Issues Dominated
By Kevin Eckstrom
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601421.html
-Ending Impunity for Rape
Marianne Mollmann
In too many cases, forced sex is seen as not rape but 'bad luck' or something 'much deserved.'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601493.html
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-On Transition Website, Obama Promises More to Gay Community
This is interesting -- and I'm not entirely certain what it means. Obama's transition website, Change.gov, includes a section called 'Agenda' that outlines the administration's objectives in any of a couple dozen policy areas. For the most part, the 'Agenda' section is a near carbon-copy of the 'Issues' section on Obama's campaign website, BarackObama.com. In the area of 'Civil Rights', however, there is a significant difference between the campaign website and Change.gov, the transition website. Specifically, the transition website makes a much broader range of commitments to the gay and lesbian community.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/on-transition-website-obama-promises.html
-Calif. attorney general's ballot fight is first in 4 decades
California Attorney General Jerry Brown's refusal to defend the Proposition 8 marriage ban in court marks the first such opposition to the outcome of a ballot measure since 1964. That year, Attorney General Thomas Lynch declined to defend a ban reversing a fair-housing law that would have permitted racial discrimination in property sales and rentals. Brown's decision is getting a mixed reaction from former attorneys general, according to this article. San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/24/MNB414U5HV.DTL
-Michigan: Triangle Foundation
Alicia Skillman to Lead Triangle Foundation
Triangle Foundation is pleased to announce attorney and long-time community advocate Alicia J. Skillman as Executive Director.
http://www.tri.org/
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
www.dailyqueernews.com
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Spanish Judge Suspended Over Lesbian Adoption Bid
Associated Press | Boston Herald
MADRID, Spain — A Spanish court says a judge has been suspended for attempting to thwart a woman’s effort to adopt her lesbian partner’s child. The Superior Justice Court in the southeast Murcia region says it suspended Judge Fernando Ferrin Calamita for two years. The court also ordered the Catholic judge to pay the woman €6,000 ($8,400) in compensation. The woman had been trying to adopt the child born to her partner after they were married in 2005. Read more
-Hour Magazine Give Honor to Hero to Arsham Parsi Among Others!
Richard Burnett | Iranian Queer Railroad
http://www.hour.ca/columns/3dollarbill.aspx?iIDArticle=16328
Here is my 13th annual column of the year’s heroes and zeros.
*Hero After giving birth to a baby girl in July, trans man Thomas Beatie, 34, announced in November that he is pregnant with his second child. “I feel it’s not a male or female desire to have a child,” Beatie says. “It’s a human need.”
*Zero David Letterman, who called Thomas Beatie an “androgynous freak show.”
*Hero Actor James Franco who - when David Letterman demanded on-air what it was like to kiss Sean Penn in the biopic Milk - leaned over and kissed Letterman.
*Zero Heinz, for pulling its U.K. Deli May TV ad featuring two men kissing.
*Hero The New York Rangers, for trying to prevent further homophobic taunting and chanting at Madison Square Garden.
*Heroes The 60 marchers who braved hundreds of violent thugs at their May 11 Gay Pride parade in Chisinau, Moldova; the 35 Pride marchers arrested by police in Moscow on May 31; the 45 Pride marchers attacked by ultra-nationalists in Budapest on July 6; the 2,000 Pride marchers who defied protesters in Warsaw on June 7; the 500 who marched in Calcutta, 700 in Bangalore and 800 in Delhi on June 29; the 18,000 in Taipei on Sept. 27, the largest Pride parade in Asia; and the five million marchers who waved rainbow flags in São Paulo on May 25.
-A Historic Day at the UN
By: DOUG IRELAND
Louis-Georges Tin, the intelligent moving force behind the decriminalization declaration, appeared in New York last week to talk about his initiative and also to sing a vibrant a capella rendition of In an international affirmation of LGBT rights without precedent, a declaration calling for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality, signed by 66 nations, was read from the podium of the United Nations on December 18. At a press conference following the reading of the “Statement on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” to the UN General Assembly by Argentina’s envoy to the world body, Ambassador Jorge Argüello, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, Maxime Vergahen, declared that “human rights are for all people” and that “there can be no excuse for the prosecution, discrimination, or violation of the human rights of gay, lesbian andtransgendered people.” Verhagen added that the reading of the non-binding declaration and its “broad support” by 66 member states meant that the question of LGBT rights was “no longer taboo [and]… now firmly inscribed on the agenda of the United Nations.” At that same press conference, Rama Yade, the minister for Human Rights in France, which took the initiative in creating the declaration during that nation’s six-month term in the rotating presidency of the European Union, called the reading of the statement “a historic day for LGBT peoples and an excellent day for all who struggle for human rights. ” Read more
-Warren-Endorsed Nigerian Archbishop Backed Anti-Gay Laws
Worse Than Third Reich’s
Bruce Wilson | Talk2Action
As seems to be happening with increasing frequency, a story I’d previously posted at Talk To Action, almost exactly two years ago in this case, has suddenly become rather timely. A number of political bloggers [1, 2, 3] have noted Rick Warren’s support for the virulently anti-gay Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, but the story has lacked some needed historical context; In 2006, Warren publicly lionized (literally) Akinola three monthsafter the Archbishop had endorsed legislation more draconian than comparable anti-gay statutes passed prior to World War Two under the Third Reich. topic: Gay Rights As I described in my December 18, 2006 post, a schismatic faction of Virginia Episcopalian churches had just voted to align themselves with the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who at the time (and probably still) supported draconian anti-Gay legislation that would, among other strictures, “make it illegal for gay men and lesbians to form organizations, read gay literature or eat together in a restaurant.”Although I missed it at the time, the proposed legislation was apparently denounced, according to the current Wikipedia writeup on Akinola, by the US State Department: “The proposed legislation was formally challenged by the United States State Department as a breach of Nigeria’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” It was one of those rare examples from the last eight years, it would seem, in which United States foreign policy clearly aligned in support of basic human rights. Rick Warren, however, appeared to be on the other side of the issue.
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NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 27, 2008
**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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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Mortgage Rates Are Still Too High
Krugman
Mortgage rates have dropped in recent weeks, which is a good thing. But there's still a huge spread between mortgage rates and rates on federal debt.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/mortgage-rates-are-still-too-high/?hp
-Scores Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza
A Gazan medical official said that at least 140 people had been killed in Israel's massive attack on Hamas targets in Gaza, launched in retaliation for recent rocket fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?hp
-The Gas Tax
If the Obama administration is to meet its twin objectives of reducing the consumption of foreign oil and cutting emissions, it needs to curb the nation's demand for energy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/opinion/27sat1.html?ref=opinion
-No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in 'Passive Houses'
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Innovative homes pioneered in Germany are encased in such an airtight shell that barely any heat escapes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?hp
-Alert the Media: Obama Has Made a Break for It
In the news-free zone that is Barack Obama's preinauguration Hawaiian vacation, this passes for a bulletin: The president-elect ditched his "press pool" of media minders to take his daughters to a water park on Friday morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/politics/27obama.html
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The GOP Goes South
David S. Broder
Its ranks are increasingly dominated by right-wing Southerners who don't care about national image.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601129.html
-Call the Vote
The new president and the new Congress should set a date for considering D.C. voting rights.
IN PUSHING congressional leaders for early action on voting rights for the District, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) says she's mindful of the "unprecedented issues" facing the new Congress. Nonetheless, she wonders: Wouldn't it be appropriate to enact the measure close to the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth on Feb. 12? Ms. Norton is right about the symbolism. But an even better argument is that D.C. residents -- shut out of their government for 200 years -- should have a voice in deciding these important issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601557.html
-Protections in Peril
A midnight attack on the Endangered Species Act, courtesy of the Interior Department
THE BUSH administration had the good sense to stop trying to push through last-minute regulations that would have made it easier to build coal-fired plants and other polluting facilities near national parks. It was wise to hold off on changing "new source review" rules that govern when power plants must add pollution-reduction equipment. But it couldn't leave well enough alone when it issued regulations that essentially gut the Endangered Species Act. Because the rule will take effect before Barack Obama assumes the presidency, he's stuck with it. But relief could come by way of the courts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601555.html
-The Audacity of Crime in Mexico
Kidnapping of U.S. security expert embarrasses Mexican officials, raises new fear among expats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601914.html?hpid=topnews
-Kennedy Says She Kept Quiet Out of Respect
By Larry Neumeister
Caroline Kennedy said Friday that if she is appointed to a seat in the U.S. Senate, she knows she will have to prove herself because of her famous background and her lack of political experience. "I came into this thinking I have to work twice as hard as anybody else," the 51-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy said. "I am an unconventional choice."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601928.html?hpid=sec-politics
-Kwanzaa Has New Relevance For Our Times
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601480.html?hpid=sec-religion
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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
-Mexico Suspends U.S. Meat Imports
The move, which took effect Wednesday, came about a week after the Mexican government filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization about a new U.S. law that requires labeling the origin of fresh beef and pork imported to the U.S. U.S. trade partners are concerned the country-of-origin labeling policy will encourage American consumers to favor U.S.-raised meat. The law, which was included in the 2008 Farm Bill and took effect Sept. 30, requires supermarkets or other food retailers to label or otherwise display the country of origin for meat, produce and certain kinds of nuts.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123032055825435841.html
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Why we need newspapers
BY SUSAN ESTRICH
In Los Angeles, where I live, there was plenty of snickering about the Tribune Company's decision to file for bankruptcy protection. Tribune owns The Los Angeles Times, which in recent years has seen its staff cut even more than its circulation and advertising.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/827632.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Poll: 75% glad Bush is done
By Paul Steinhauser
A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon. Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they're glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they'll miss him.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/26/bush.poll/index.html?eref=rss_politics
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Mortgage Rates Are Still Too High
Krugman
Mortgage rates have dropped in recent weeks, which is a good thing. But there's still a huge spread between mortgage rates and rates on federal debt.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/mortgage-rates-are-still-too-high/?hp
-Scores Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza
A Gazan medical official said that at least 140 people had been killed in Israel's massive attack on Hamas targets in Gaza, launched in retaliation for recent rocket fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?hp
-The Gas Tax
If the Obama administration is to meet its twin objectives of reducing the consumption of foreign oil and cutting emissions, it needs to curb the nation's demand for energy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/opinion/27sat1.html?ref=opinion
-No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in 'Passive Houses'
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Innovative homes pioneered in Germany are encased in such an airtight shell that barely any heat escapes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?hp
-Alert the Media: Obama Has Made a Break for It
In the news-free zone that is Barack Obama's preinauguration Hawaiian vacation, this passes for a bulletin: The president-elect ditched his "press pool" of media minders to take his daughters to a water park on Friday morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/politics/27obama.html
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The GOP Goes South
David S. Broder
Its ranks are increasingly dominated by right-wing Southerners who don't care about national image.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601129.html
-Call the Vote
The new president and the new Congress should set a date for considering D.C. voting rights.
IN PUSHING congressional leaders for early action on voting rights for the District, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) says she's mindful of the "unprecedented issues" facing the new Congress. Nonetheless, she wonders: Wouldn't it be appropriate to enact the measure close to the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth on Feb. 12? Ms. Norton is right about the symbolism. But an even better argument is that D.C. residents -- shut out of their government for 200 years -- should have a voice in deciding these important issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601557.html
-Protections in Peril
A midnight attack on the Endangered Species Act, courtesy of the Interior Department
THE BUSH administration had the good sense to stop trying to push through last-minute regulations that would have made it easier to build coal-fired plants and other polluting facilities near national parks. It was wise to hold off on changing "new source review" rules that govern when power plants must add pollution-reduction equipment. But it couldn't leave well enough alone when it issued regulations that essentially gut the Endangered Species Act. Because the rule will take effect before Barack Obama assumes the presidency, he's stuck with it. But relief could come by way of the courts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601555.html
-The Audacity of Crime in Mexico
Kidnapping of U.S. security expert embarrasses Mexican officials, raises new fear among expats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601914.html?hpid=topnews
-Kennedy Says She Kept Quiet Out of Respect
By Larry Neumeister
Caroline Kennedy said Friday that if she is appointed to a seat in the U.S. Senate, she knows she will have to prove herself because of her famous background and her lack of political experience. "I came into this thinking I have to work twice as hard as anybody else," the 51-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy said. "I am an unconventional choice."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601928.html?hpid=sec-politics
-Kwanzaa Has New Relevance For Our Times
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601480.html?hpid=sec-religion
=
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
-Mexico Suspends U.S. Meat Imports
The move, which took effect Wednesday, came about a week after the Mexican government filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization about a new U.S. law that requires labeling the origin of fresh beef and pork imported to the U.S. U.S. trade partners are concerned the country-of-origin labeling policy will encourage American consumers to favor U.S.-raised meat. The law, which was included in the 2008 Farm Bill and took effect Sept. 30, requires supermarkets or other food retailers to label or otherwise display the country of origin for meat, produce and certain kinds of nuts.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123032055825435841.html
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Why we need newspapers
BY SUSAN ESTRICH
In Los Angeles, where I live, there was plenty of snickering about the Tribune Company's decision to file for bankruptcy protection. Tribune owns The Los Angeles Times, which in recent years has seen its staff cut even more than its circulation and advertising.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/827632.html
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Poll: 75% glad Bush is done
By Paul Steinhauser
A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon. Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they're glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they'll miss him.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/26/bush.poll/index.html?eref=rss_politics
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FLORIDA DIGEST December 27, 2008
**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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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Jeb Bush poised for Florida Senate run
By AMIE PARNES
As Caroline Kennedy pursues her bright-lights, big-city bid for the U.S. Senate, another child of dynasty is quietly testing the waters for his own Senate run. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush - the son of one president and the brother of another - has been working the phones since Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced earlier this month that he won't seek reelection in 2010. Sources say Bush hasn't made up his mind about running for Martinez' seat, but that he's getting green lights from would-be contributors and blessings from Republican Party leaders.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16847.html
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and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Jeb Bush poised for Florida Senate run
By AMIE PARNES
As Caroline Kennedy pursues her bright-lights, big-city bid for the U.S. Senate, another child of dynasty is quietly testing the waters for his own Senate run. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush - the son of one president and the brother of another - has been working the phones since Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced earlier this month that he won't seek reelection in 2010. Sources say Bush hasn't made up his mind about running for Martinez' seat, but that he's getting green lights from would-be contributors and blessings from Republican Party leaders.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16847.html
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Friday, December 26, 2008
GLBT DIGEST December 26, 2008
**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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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Eartha Kitt, a Seducer of Audiences, Dies at 81
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/arts/26kitt.html?hp
-A Parting Shot at Women's Rights
The law has long allowed doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an abortion, but new regulations elevate the so-called right to refuse beyond reason.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/opinion/26fri2.html?ref=opinion
-Let New Jersey's Couples Marry, All of Them
To the Editor: Re "Separate and Not Equal" (editorial, Dec. 20):
Bravo for calling on New Jersey's governor, Jon S. Corzine, to honor his promise to grant same-sex couples the right to marry.
It is beyond frustrating for me, as a lesbian, a taxpayer and a contributing member of our state and society, to know each and every day that my relationship is unequal to a heterosexual couple's relationship.
As a parent, I find it extremely difficult to explain to my child why I cannot "get married." He does not understand what a "civil union" or "domestic partnership" means. He does not understand how politics work. He does not yet understand bigotry, bias and small-mindedness.
So many of us are told to be thankful for the progress we have made - yet it is simply not enough. Our committed relationships are exactly like heterosexual committed relationships, with the same potential for joys, challenges and rewards. They are, indeed, marriages and deserve equal nomenclature along with equal rights.
Elizabeth Schroeder
Montclair, N.J., Dec. 20, 2008
-To the Editor:
All state-sanctioned unions between two people - currently termed marriages - essentially are and should be called civil unions.
Churches and other religious institutions could continue to grant marriages "under God," but the government should stick to what it is actually supposed to be doing: approving a legal contract between two individuals who also happen (one hopes) to be in love.
Then maybe people would finally leave God out of this and let people unite in peace.
Charlotte Martin
Forest Hills, Queens, Dec. 20, 2008
-To the Editor:
Re "Top Lawyer in California Urges Voiding Proposition 8" (news article, Dec. 20):
While the California Supreme Court is considering whether Proposition 8 violates the State Constitution, it might also consider whether the effort to invalidate 18,000 gay marriages violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution as well.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment." If it serves to protect convicted criminals, it certainly should extend to persons who are guilty of nothing other than engaging in a marriage ceremony at a time when it was legal to do so. Could there be anything crueler to those couples than to now invalidate their marriages?
I have read all of the moral and biblical justifications for Proposition 8, as well as the arguments for and against sustaining it, but I find it incredible that the "victors" should want to inflict such further hurt on a group whose marriages have injured no one.
The Constitution prohibits invidiously discriminatory punishment. The invalidation of these marriages solely based upon the fact that the participants are gay clearly would be an act of invidious discrimination.
H. Lee Sarokin
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Dec. 21, 2008
The writer is a retired United States Circuit Court judge.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Rick Warren's Invitation
I thank E.J. Dionne Jr. and Richard Cohen for their Dec. 23 columns on the invitation of the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration. They helped me -- a gay man in a 34-year relationship, an early supporter of President-elect Barack Obama and an activist for civil-marriage equality -- to understand my disappointment in the response of leading advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. Mr. Obama has consistently focused on the transformational potential of hope, reconciliation, redemption and community-building. Mr. Dionne focused on this hope and the hard and risky work of changing hearts and minds. In contrast, Mr. Cohen focused, as have many leading GLBT activists, on disillusionment and betrayal. Did we understand Mr. Obama during the campaign, and do we understand now? I see the invitation through a lens of hope -- hope for finding common ground and building trust, and for changing the divisive politics of "the culture wars" as usual. I trust that Mr. Obama supports full equality for GLBT people. I trust, but I will verify. Let's judge the wisdom of this invitation by how both a President Obama and the Rev. Warren assert the moral leadership called for by Mr. Cohen in support of the civil rights of GLBT people.
STEVE MELOV
Takoma Park
-Maybe Kathleen S. Rochelle ["Rick Warren and the Obama Inaugural," letters, Dec. 20] was on to something when she wrote so knowingly about homosexuality violating "the intentional design of human beings created in the image of God to procreate and fill the world with more human beings." And so maybe now, with overpopulation choking our planet, He's pushing homosexuality. Just a thought.
FRANK SCHOWENGERDT
Alexandria
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/24/AR2008122402097.html
-'Sopranos' actor 'Johnny Cakes' dead in suicide
Police say the actor who portrayed the gay lover of a closeted mobster on "The Sopranos" has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in New York.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500562.html
-'I Couldn't Take Any More'
In Togo, girls as young as 5 suffer physical, sexual abuse amid global surge in domestic worker trade.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122501198.html?hpid=topnews
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Steve Rothaus
www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:
-New book from John J. McNeill: 'Sex as God Intended'
A new book from John J. McNeill: Sex as God Intended. McNeill will be signing books Jan. 11 at Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale. Here's the news release: Lethe Press is proud to release the latest work from the acclaimed Biblical scholar John J. McNeill. "Sex as God Intended It will make you think. It will make you question everything you've heard in the media or in church about homosexuals and God. It will make you question the rightness or wrongness of gay marriage. It will make you take a closer look at your faith and your beliefs. It is a book that encourages spiritual and intellectual growth, and a book that all Christians should read, even if your pastor or minister or priest tells you it is evil." -- Jack Gardner, Edge Boston [...] McNeill is a former Jesuit priest who clashed with Church officials over his compassionate and sex-positive teachings about homosexuality. McNeill is available for interviews and limited speaking engagements. He can be reached at jjmcneill@aol.com.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-RELIGION AND POLITICS: Pastor Warren, beware the pitfalls of access to power
BY CAL THOMAS
These days everything is political, or can be made so; even an inaugural prayer. That isn't exactly correct. The inaugural prayer in question is not the Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction, but Rick Warren's invocation. Lowery favors same-sex ''marriage,'' and Warren does not.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/826596.html
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South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Many suffered from anti-gay violence in 2008
Advocates say increase in gay visibility may have spurred crimes
From a series of street bashings in Seattle to the baseball bat murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant in New York, episodes of anti-gay violence punctuated a year now ending with police investigating the alleged gang rape of a lesbian near San Francisco.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23171
-Divorced Tenn. mother appeals night ban on partner
Restriction called a paramour clause
A same-sex couple is asking the Tennessee Court of Appeals to lift a judge's restriction in a child custody agreement that prevents the divorced mother's partner of nine years from staying overnight. The Tennessean reports The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief Tuesday with the Court of Appeals in Jackson on behalf of Angel Chandler, a divorced mother with two kids.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23179
-Whitman-Walker's 'Christmas massacre'
Clinic ousts senior staff, triggering lawsuit threats
By AMY CAVANAUGH
Pat Hawkins, 68, started volunteering at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in 1984. She joined the staff five years later and continued to serve as one of its longest tenured employees. Mary Bahr, 54, has worked at the Clinic in various roles for more than 19 years, most recently as the director of administration.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23158
-Cities vie for major gay sports event
Tourist boards, gay leaders eager to host Gay Games in 2014
By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Is Miami ready to host the world's largest gay sporting event that will bring in an estimated 15,000 gay visitors spending beaucoup gay bucks in less that six years?
http://www.floridablade.com/2008/12-25/news/localnews/5403.cfm
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Gay in 2008
By Emma Ruby-Sachs
Writing the year-end wrap-up today is hard and sad. Hard because this has been an incredibly eventful year for gay rights, sad because many of us, myself included, are so angry about Reverend Rick Warren, giving thanks for the wins might be harder than we would like. That said, here is a list of important successes and failures for the year: The law of equality is evolving
http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-gay-in-2008/
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
- Mormons Gone Wild
By Dan Allen
After one man undresses missionaries for his calendar, LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University strips him of his degree. When they weren't busy promoting the passage of California's Proposition 8 in recent months, Mormon leaders tried their best to make Chad Hardy's life hell. Riled by his "Men on a Mission" calendar of shirtless returned missionaries, elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated Hardy -- a lifelong Mormon -- in July. Then in September, officials from the Provo, Utah-based Brigham Young University informed the 32-year-old entrepreneur, who had participated in the school's graduation ceremony a month earlier, that his diploma would be denied. BYU says Hardy's expulsion from the church placed him outside of the "good honor-code standing" necessary to award him his degree, which has been placed on nonacademic hold; Hardy contends that since he completed his coursework prior to excommunication, the rule should not apply. Meanwhile the 2008 skin-baring calendar has sold more than 10,000 copies, and Hardy -- who eschews sexual labels himself -- says the just-released (and "a little bit sexier") 2009 incarnation is already "flying off the shelves."
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid69009.asp
-Rick Warren Does the Gay Rights Shuffle
In the wake of gay rights activists taking President-elect Barack Obama to task for including Yes on 8 mouthpiece Rick Warren in his inauguration, the Saddleback Community Church pastor has taken to the web to explain his position on gay rights.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69604.asp
-Man Avoids Hate Crime Charge, Gets 5-1/2 Years in Prison
A 25-year-old New York State man was sentenced Tuesday to 5-1/2 years behind bars after pleading guilty to attacking a gay man in March. Judge Richard Keenan added a year and a half to the sentence that Jesse Parsons was originally expected to receive after he made a plea agreement in September, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, which, as a hate crime, would have landed him up to 15 years in prison.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69534.asp
-Campbell Stands Behind Advocate Ads, Doesn't Cave to AFA
Despite demands from the American Family Association calling for e-mails to Campbell Soup Co. urging the company to stop "pushing the gay agenda," the icon of all things American is standing behind a decision to advertise in the gay and lesbian market.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69429.asp
-Ugandan Judge Cites Rights for Lesbians
Two Ugandan women were awarded $7,000 Monday after a judge ruled their rights were infringed upon when they were arrested for being suspected lesbians in 2005. According to lesbian and bisexual rights organization Freedom and Roam Uganda, or FARUG, Yvonne Oyoo and Victor Juliet Mukasa had been waiting for 17 months for a verdict.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69546.asp
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-The President's First Mistake:
Tell Ric Warren to Preach Somewhere Else
By Norm Kent
It is my obligation as the publisher of a national gay newspaper (www.nationalgaynews.com) to weigh in on the President-Elect's selection of Pastor Ric Warren to deliver an invocation at his inauguration. This is change we can't believe in. As a spokesperson for the gay community, I want to make it clear that I find it offensive. Mr. Obama is not being inclusive and 'post-partisan.' He is being divisive. He is 'swift boating' us. After Jeremiah Wright, you have to wonder about his selections for Divine Guidance.
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
-Finally a Gay Male Character on Battlestar Galactica
Apparently my geek antennae haven't been properly tuned as there have already been four special Battlestar Galactica webisodes aired. And as a special bonus the show's first gay man is revealed in the first few minutes. And, as many already suspected, it is the aptly named Felix Gaeta who gets to be the pioneer. This token gift from BSG creators for a gay character, which gay fans have been screaming for since the show's beginning (nay, since the dawn on sci-fi TV) is both refreshing and a bit annoying. I don't mean to complain because I am glad to finally have some acknowledgment, but it comes in the form of an addendum. Yes, BSG watchers are almost all fanatical enough that we would all watch webisodes as well as regular episodes but you can't disavow that it was clearly an afterthought. Read More...
-Disbarred Attorney Calls Gays 'Perverts'
Thompson Has a History of Fighting Gays
By Robbie Gaye
Forget Pastor Ric Warren for a moment, the Coral Gables attorney permanently disbarred earlier this year by the Supreme Court of Florida posted an opinion on a justice association blog last week that homosexuals are 'sexually perverse.' Jack Thompson, convicted of 27 counts of professional misconduct, including knowingly lying to a judge, and numerous acts which constituted violations of the Florida ethical rules, made the post on J.A.A.B. blog, a Broward County legal website. Thompson was a Dade County lawyer before his removal from the profession. Read more...
-Many Suffered From Anti-Gay Violence in 2008
From a series of street bashings in Seattle to the baseball bat murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant in New York, episodes of anti-gay violence punctuated a year now ending with police investigating the alleged gang rape of a lesbian near San Francisco. Advocates said Tuesday they do not know whether the threats, beatings and murders reflect a true rise in attacks or increased reporting of hate-based crimes that persist even as gays gain greater visibility and legal protections. Read More...
-2009: A Sneak Peek at the
Trans Year to Come
By Jacob Anderson-Minshall
In a world where stories like Thomas Beatie's pregnancy can capture world-wide attention overnight, it's difficult to foretell what the biggest transgender stories of 2009 will be. But here are a few of the stories-and trans folk-to watch next year.
Activism/Politics
Following our massive, community-wide sigh of relief after the 2008 Presidential elections some of us may think the hard work is over. But there's still plenty to fight for nationally-like ENDA-and locally, as in Gainesville, Florida, where last year's City Council authorized transgender individuals to use women's bathrooms in the city's businesses and public facilities. The ruling is at risk during March's elections when a ballot measure may amend the city charter to eliminate accommodations for transgender individuals. Read More...
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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Government criticises Channel 4 for homophobe Ahmadinejad's Christmas message
The Government and the Conservatives have criticised Channel 4's decision to broadcast an Alternative Christmas Message by homophobic, anti-Semitic Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10085.html
-US federal judge orders Louisiana registrar to recognise out of state adoption
An organisation that furthers gay rights through litigation has hailed a federal court decision on same-sex adoption as "a major victory for same-sex parents."
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10067.html
=
Forwarded from Euro-Queer
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article:
-THREATS AND ATTACKS AGAINST SERBIAN GAY ACTIVISTS
Ever since the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, within its tender to co-finance projects/programmes in the field of public information, decided to grant 256,500.00 dinars (3000 EUR) for www.queeria.com, a gay-lesbian website belonging to "Queeria Centre", a non-governmental organization from Belgrade, our collaborators and activists have been constantly receiving death threats and threats of physical violence. Every day threats are being sent to the website's official email address to the effect that the website is going to be hacked, that we are sick people who should be treated, that all of us (LGBT population) should be killed... Such threats are also uttered in the comments made on the website.
http://www.queeria.com
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-Rick Warren Is an Unapologetic Christian Radical -- And There's No Need to Apologize for Opposing Him
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
..AMY GOODMAN: President-Elect Barack Obama is drawing criticism from many supporters for his choice to deliver the invocation at next month's inauguration. Obama selected the Rev. Rick Warren, a leading evangelical opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage. Warren supported California's recent gay marriage ban and has compared abortion to the Nazi Holocaust. In a recent interview with the Web site beliefnet.com
..RICK WARREN: I'm opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I'm opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I'm opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
..STEVEN WALDMAN: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married? ..RW: Oh, I do. I just say, for 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion. This is not a Christian issue. Buddhists, Muslims, Jews -- you know, historically, marriage is a man and a woman.
http://www.alternet.org/story/115088/
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From Transgender Equality
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-LGBT inmates face unusually high risk of sexual assault in prison
By Meghann Myers
It's been 60 years since the United Nations General Assembly issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirming the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all people. Yet prisoners are often denied the most basic protections of the law. Rape is still a brutal reality in prison, a problem that disproportionately affects LGBT inmates. In 2003, Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), creating federal mandates to fight sexual assault in prisons. But its implementation has been slow. This year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics conducted the first national survey of violence in the corrections system. It found sexual orientation to be the single greatest determinant for sexual abuse in prisons - 18.5 percent of homosexual inmates reported sexual assault, compared to 2.7 percent of heterosexual prisoners. Though PREA aims to reduce these figures, prisoners and their advocates have been waiting on its official guidelines, which are set for release in 2009.
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7733&catid=&volume_id=398&issue_id=411&volume_num=43&issue_num=13
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Eartha Kitt, a Seducer of Audiences, Dies at 81
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/arts/26kitt.html?hp
-A Parting Shot at Women's Rights
The law has long allowed doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an abortion, but new regulations elevate the so-called right to refuse beyond reason.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/opinion/26fri2.html?ref=opinion
-Let New Jersey's Couples Marry, All of Them
To the Editor: Re "Separate and Not Equal" (editorial, Dec. 20):
Bravo for calling on New Jersey's governor, Jon S. Corzine, to honor his promise to grant same-sex couples the right to marry.
It is beyond frustrating for me, as a lesbian, a taxpayer and a contributing member of our state and society, to know each and every day that my relationship is unequal to a heterosexual couple's relationship.
As a parent, I find it extremely difficult to explain to my child why I cannot "get married." He does not understand what a "civil union" or "domestic partnership" means. He does not understand how politics work. He does not yet understand bigotry, bias and small-mindedness.
So many of us are told to be thankful for the progress we have made - yet it is simply not enough. Our committed relationships are exactly like heterosexual committed relationships, with the same potential for joys, challenges and rewards. They are, indeed, marriages and deserve equal nomenclature along with equal rights.
Elizabeth Schroeder
Montclair, N.J., Dec. 20, 2008
-To the Editor:
All state-sanctioned unions between two people - currently termed marriages - essentially are and should be called civil unions.
Churches and other religious institutions could continue to grant marriages "under God," but the government should stick to what it is actually supposed to be doing: approving a legal contract between two individuals who also happen (one hopes) to be in love.
Then maybe people would finally leave God out of this and let people unite in peace.
Charlotte Martin
Forest Hills, Queens, Dec. 20, 2008
-To the Editor:
Re "Top Lawyer in California Urges Voiding Proposition 8" (news article, Dec. 20):
While the California Supreme Court is considering whether Proposition 8 violates the State Constitution, it might also consider whether the effort to invalidate 18,000 gay marriages violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution as well.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment." If it serves to protect convicted criminals, it certainly should extend to persons who are guilty of nothing other than engaging in a marriage ceremony at a time when it was legal to do so. Could there be anything crueler to those couples than to now invalidate their marriages?
I have read all of the moral and biblical justifications for Proposition 8, as well as the arguments for and against sustaining it, but I find it incredible that the "victors" should want to inflict such further hurt on a group whose marriages have injured no one.
The Constitution prohibits invidiously discriminatory punishment. The invalidation of these marriages solely based upon the fact that the participants are gay clearly would be an act of invidious discrimination.
H. Lee Sarokin
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Dec. 21, 2008
The writer is a retired United States Circuit Court judge.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Rick Warren's Invitation
I thank E.J. Dionne Jr. and Richard Cohen for their Dec. 23 columns on the invitation of the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration. They helped me -- a gay man in a 34-year relationship, an early supporter of President-elect Barack Obama and an activist for civil-marriage equality -- to understand my disappointment in the response of leading advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. Mr. Obama has consistently focused on the transformational potential of hope, reconciliation, redemption and community-building. Mr. Dionne focused on this hope and the hard and risky work of changing hearts and minds. In contrast, Mr. Cohen focused, as have many leading GLBT activists, on disillusionment and betrayal. Did we understand Mr. Obama during the campaign, and do we understand now? I see the invitation through a lens of hope -- hope for finding common ground and building trust, and for changing the divisive politics of "the culture wars" as usual. I trust that Mr. Obama supports full equality for GLBT people. I trust, but I will verify. Let's judge the wisdom of this invitation by how both a President Obama and the Rev. Warren assert the moral leadership called for by Mr. Cohen in support of the civil rights of GLBT people.
STEVE MELOV
Takoma Park
-Maybe Kathleen S. Rochelle ["Rick Warren and the Obama Inaugural," letters, Dec. 20] was on to something when she wrote so knowingly about homosexuality violating "the intentional design of human beings created in the image of God to procreate and fill the world with more human beings." And so maybe now, with overpopulation choking our planet, He's pushing homosexuality. Just a thought.
FRANK SCHOWENGERDT
Alexandria
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/24/AR2008122402097.html
-'Sopranos' actor 'Johnny Cakes' dead in suicide
Police say the actor who portrayed the gay lover of a closeted mobster on "The Sopranos" has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in New York.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500562.html
-'I Couldn't Take Any More'
In Togo, girls as young as 5 suffer physical, sexual abuse amid global surge in domestic worker trade.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122501198.html?hpid=topnews
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Steve Rothaus
www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:
-New book from John J. McNeill: 'Sex as God Intended'
A new book from John J. McNeill: Sex as God Intended. McNeill will be signing books Jan. 11 at Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale. Here's the news release: Lethe Press is proud to release the latest work from the acclaimed Biblical scholar John J. McNeill. "Sex as God Intended It will make you think. It will make you question everything you've heard in the media or in church about homosexuals and God. It will make you question the rightness or wrongness of gay marriage. It will make you take a closer look at your faith and your beliefs. It is a book that encourages spiritual and intellectual growth, and a book that all Christians should read, even if your pastor or minister or priest tells you it is evil." -- Jack Gardner, Edge Boston [...] McNeill is a former Jesuit priest who clashed with Church officials over his compassionate and sex-positive teachings about homosexuality. McNeill is available for interviews and limited speaking engagements. He can be reached at jjmcneill@aol.com.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-RELIGION AND POLITICS: Pastor Warren, beware the pitfalls of access to power
BY CAL THOMAS
These days everything is political, or can be made so; even an inaugural prayer. That isn't exactly correct. The inaugural prayer in question is not the Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction, but Rick Warren's invocation. Lowery favors same-sex ''marriage,'' and Warren does not.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/826596.html
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South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Many suffered from anti-gay violence in 2008
Advocates say increase in gay visibility may have spurred crimes
From a series of street bashings in Seattle to the baseball bat murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant in New York, episodes of anti-gay violence punctuated a year now ending with police investigating the alleged gang rape of a lesbian near San Francisco.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23171
-Divorced Tenn. mother appeals night ban on partner
Restriction called a paramour clause
A same-sex couple is asking the Tennessee Court of Appeals to lift a judge's restriction in a child custody agreement that prevents the divorced mother's partner of nine years from staying overnight. The Tennessean reports The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief Tuesday with the Court of Appeals in Jackson on behalf of Angel Chandler, a divorced mother with two kids.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23179
-Whitman-Walker's 'Christmas massacre'
Clinic ousts senior staff, triggering lawsuit threats
By AMY CAVANAUGH
Pat Hawkins, 68, started volunteering at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in 1984. She joined the staff five years later and continued to serve as one of its longest tenured employees. Mary Bahr, 54, has worked at the Clinic in various roles for more than 19 years, most recently as the director of administration.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23158
-Cities vie for major gay sports event
Tourist boards, gay leaders eager to host Gay Games in 2014
By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Is Miami ready to host the world's largest gay sporting event that will bring in an estimated 15,000 gay visitors spending beaucoup gay bucks in less that six years?
http://www.floridablade.com/2008/12-25/news/localnews/5403.cfm
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Gay in 2008
By Emma Ruby-Sachs
Writing the year-end wrap-up today is hard and sad. Hard because this has been an incredibly eventful year for gay rights, sad because many of us, myself included, are so angry about Reverend Rick Warren, giving thanks for the wins might be harder than we would like. That said, here is a list of important successes and failures for the year: The law of equality is evolving
http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-gay-in-2008/
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
- Mormons Gone Wild
By Dan Allen
After one man undresses missionaries for his calendar, LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University strips him of his degree. When they weren't busy promoting the passage of California's Proposition 8 in recent months, Mormon leaders tried their best to make Chad Hardy's life hell. Riled by his "Men on a Mission" calendar of shirtless returned missionaries, elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated Hardy -- a lifelong Mormon -- in July. Then in September, officials from the Provo, Utah-based Brigham Young University informed the 32-year-old entrepreneur, who had participated in the school's graduation ceremony a month earlier, that his diploma would be denied. BYU says Hardy's expulsion from the church placed him outside of the "good honor-code standing" necessary to award him his degree, which has been placed on nonacademic hold; Hardy contends that since he completed his coursework prior to excommunication, the rule should not apply. Meanwhile the 2008 skin-baring calendar has sold more than 10,000 copies, and Hardy -- who eschews sexual labels himself -- says the just-released (and "a little bit sexier") 2009 incarnation is already "flying off the shelves."
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid69009.asp
-Rick Warren Does the Gay Rights Shuffle
In the wake of gay rights activists taking President-elect Barack Obama to task for including Yes on 8 mouthpiece Rick Warren in his inauguration, the Saddleback Community Church pastor has taken to the web to explain his position on gay rights.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69604.asp
-Man Avoids Hate Crime Charge, Gets 5-1/2 Years in Prison
A 25-year-old New York State man was sentenced Tuesday to 5-1/2 years behind bars after pleading guilty to attacking a gay man in March. Judge Richard Keenan added a year and a half to the sentence that Jesse Parsons was originally expected to receive after he made a plea agreement in September, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, which, as a hate crime, would have landed him up to 15 years in prison.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69534.asp
-Campbell Stands Behind Advocate Ads, Doesn't Cave to AFA
Despite demands from the American Family Association calling for e-mails to Campbell Soup Co. urging the company to stop "pushing the gay agenda," the icon of all things American is standing behind a decision to advertise in the gay and lesbian market.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69429.asp
-Ugandan Judge Cites Rights for Lesbians
Two Ugandan women were awarded $7,000 Monday after a judge ruled their rights were infringed upon when they were arrested for being suspected lesbians in 2005. According to lesbian and bisexual rights organization Freedom and Roam Uganda, or FARUG, Yvonne Oyoo and Victor Juliet Mukasa had been waiting for 17 months for a verdict.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69546.asp
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-The President's First Mistake:
Tell Ric Warren to Preach Somewhere Else
By Norm Kent
It is my obligation as the publisher of a national gay newspaper (www.nationalgaynews.com) to weigh in on the President-Elect's selection of Pastor Ric Warren to deliver an invocation at his inauguration. This is change we can't believe in. As a spokesperson for the gay community, I want to make it clear that I find it offensive. Mr. Obama is not being inclusive and 'post-partisan.' He is being divisive. He is 'swift boating' us. After Jeremiah Wright, you have to wonder about his selections for Divine Guidance.
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
-Finally a Gay Male Character on Battlestar Galactica
Apparently my geek antennae haven't been properly tuned as there have already been four special Battlestar Galactica webisodes aired. And as a special bonus the show's first gay man is revealed in the first few minutes. And, as many already suspected, it is the aptly named Felix Gaeta who gets to be the pioneer. This token gift from BSG creators for a gay character, which gay fans have been screaming for since the show's beginning (nay, since the dawn on sci-fi TV) is both refreshing and a bit annoying. I don't mean to complain because I am glad to finally have some acknowledgment, but it comes in the form of an addendum. Yes, BSG watchers are almost all fanatical enough that we would all watch webisodes as well as regular episodes but you can't disavow that it was clearly an afterthought. Read More...
-Disbarred Attorney Calls Gays 'Perverts'
Thompson Has a History of Fighting Gays
By Robbie Gaye
Forget Pastor Ric Warren for a moment, the Coral Gables attorney permanently disbarred earlier this year by the Supreme Court of Florida posted an opinion on a justice association blog last week that homosexuals are 'sexually perverse.' Jack Thompson, convicted of 27 counts of professional misconduct, including knowingly lying to a judge, and numerous acts which constituted violations of the Florida ethical rules, made the post on J.A.A.B. blog, a Broward County legal website. Thompson was a Dade County lawyer before his removal from the profession. Read more...
-Many Suffered From Anti-Gay Violence in 2008
From a series of street bashings in Seattle to the baseball bat murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant in New York, episodes of anti-gay violence punctuated a year now ending with police investigating the alleged gang rape of a lesbian near San Francisco. Advocates said Tuesday they do not know whether the threats, beatings and murders reflect a true rise in attacks or increased reporting of hate-based crimes that persist even as gays gain greater visibility and legal protections. Read More...
-2009: A Sneak Peek at the
Trans Year to Come
By Jacob Anderson-Minshall
In a world where stories like Thomas Beatie's pregnancy can capture world-wide attention overnight, it's difficult to foretell what the biggest transgender stories of 2009 will be. But here are a few of the stories-and trans folk-to watch next year.
Activism/Politics
Following our massive, community-wide sigh of relief after the 2008 Presidential elections some of us may think the hard work is over. But there's still plenty to fight for nationally-like ENDA-and locally, as in Gainesville, Florida, where last year's City Council authorized transgender individuals to use women's bathrooms in the city's businesses and public facilities. The ruling is at risk during March's elections when a ballot measure may amend the city charter to eliminate accommodations for transgender individuals. Read More...
=
Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Government criticises Channel 4 for homophobe Ahmadinejad's Christmas message
The Government and the Conservatives have criticised Channel 4's decision to broadcast an Alternative Christmas Message by homophobic, anti-Semitic Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10085.html
-US federal judge orders Louisiana registrar to recognise out of state adoption
An organisation that furthers gay rights through litigation has hailed a federal court decision on same-sex adoption as "a major victory for same-sex parents."
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10067.html
=
Forwarded from Euro-Queer
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article:
-THREATS AND ATTACKS AGAINST SERBIAN GAY ACTIVISTS
Ever since the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, within its tender to co-finance projects/programmes in the field of public information, decided to grant 256,500.00 dinars (3000 EUR) for www.queeria.com, a gay-lesbian website belonging to "Queeria Centre", a non-governmental organization from Belgrade, our collaborators and activists have been constantly receiving death threats and threats of physical violence. Every day threats are being sent to the website's official email address to the effect that the website is going to be hacked, that we are sick people who should be treated, that all of us (LGBT population) should be killed... Such threats are also uttered in the comments made on the website.
http://www.queeria.com
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-Rick Warren Is an Unapologetic Christian Radical -- And There's No Need to Apologize for Opposing Him
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
..AMY GOODMAN: President-Elect Barack Obama is drawing criticism from many supporters for his choice to deliver the invocation at next month's inauguration. Obama selected the Rev. Rick Warren, a leading evangelical opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage. Warren supported California's recent gay marriage ban and has compared abortion to the Nazi Holocaust. In a recent interview with the Web site beliefnet.com
..RICK WARREN: I'm opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I'm opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I'm opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
..STEVEN WALDMAN: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married? ..RW: Oh, I do. I just say, for 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion. This is not a Christian issue. Buddhists, Muslims, Jews -- you know, historically, marriage is a man and a woman.
http://www.alternet.org/story/115088/
=
From Transgender Equality
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-LGBT inmates face unusually high risk of sexual assault in prison
By Meghann Myers
It's been 60 years since the United Nations General Assembly issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirming the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all people. Yet prisoners are often denied the most basic protections of the law. Rape is still a brutal reality in prison, a problem that disproportionately affects LGBT inmates. In 2003, Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), creating federal mandates to fight sexual assault in prisons. But its implementation has been slow. This year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics conducted the first national survey of violence in the corrections system. It found sexual orientation to be the single greatest determinant for sexual abuse in prisons - 18.5 percent of homosexual inmates reported sexual assault, compared to 2.7 percent of heterosexual prisoners. Though PREA aims to reduce these figures, prisoners and their advocates have been waiting on its official guidelines, which are set for release in 2009.
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7733&catid=&volume_id=398&issue_id=411&volume_num=43&issue_num=13
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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