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NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Presbyterians-Gays.html?sq=gay&scp=6&pagewanted=print
Presbyterians Vote on Lesbian Clergy
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:25 a.m. ET
January 16, 2008
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) -- A Presbyterian deacon who has twice been deniedordination because of her sexual orientation can move forward with her bidto join the clergy.
The regional body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 167-151 Tuesdaynight in support of Lisa Larges' application, despite the denomination'slong-standing ban on openly gay ministers. Larges, 44, still must submit toan interview with the regional body as soon as April, church officials said.
Larges said after the vote that she was proud of the church members'decision, despite the heavy opposition.
''The church is a beautiful, messy thing,'' she said. ''It's about lovingthe church in spite of the church. It's about being part of a movement tocall the church back to its best self.''
While the meeting represented a third try for Larges, it was thought to bethe first test of a policy adopted by the Presbyterian national assemblygiving local presbyteries the right to ordain candidates who declareconscientious objections to specific church teachings, said Jerry VanMarter, news director for the Presbyterian Church (USA).
more . . . . .
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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/15/unc
North Carolina and Coach Settle Sexual Harassment Suit
Jan. 15
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has settled a former femalesoccer player's lawsuit alleging that the university's high-profile women'ssoccer coach harassed and sexually discriminated against her and that NorthCarolina officials failed to stop the behavior.
As part of the settlement, the university agreed to pay $385,000 to MelissaJennings and to revise its sexual harassment policies and procedures afteran independent review; Anson Dorrance, the coach, went further than he hadbefore in acknowledging having engaged in "inappropriate and unacceptable"behavior by participating in "group discussions of ... team members' sexualactivities." Dorrance will face no punishment from the university.
The North Carolina settlement comes as numerous other colleges anduniversities have absorbed multimillion-dollar verdicts in cases brought bycurrent or former athletes or coaches under Title IX of the EducationAmendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination at educationalinstitutions receiving federal funds.
Dorrance and the university had for a decade vigorously fought the charges -riginally brought by two players, one of whom, Debbie Keller, settled in2004 - that Dorrance created a hostile environment that amounted to sexualharassment and denied her a right to an education under Title IX of theEducation Amendments of 1972 and the Constitution's equal protection clause,and that North Carolina and its officials permitted the hostile environmentto occur. Lower courts rejected the players' case, but last spring, adivided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Dorrance andUNC to stand trial, saying Jennings had "proffered sufficient facts for ajury to find that Dorrance's degrading and humiliating conduct wassufficiently severe or pervasive to create a sexually hostile environment."
The majority opinion - basing its opinion on the former athletes' version ofevents, as is the norm when considering a motion that would otherwisedismiss a case - said that Dorrance, who also coached the U.S. women'ssoccer national team, regularly "bombarded players with crude questions andcomments about their sexual activities and made comments about players'bodies that portrayed them as sexual objects. In addition, Dorranceexpressed (once within earshot of Jennings) his sexual fantasies aboutcertain players, and he made, in plain view, inappropriate advances toanother."
more . . . . .
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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/15/lasalle
Anti-Muslim Bias Case Gets Hearing
Jan. 15
In many bias cases, allegations involving remarks can come down to a "hesaid/she said" dispute - with no certainty about what was said.
In an unusual case that went to trial Monday, a judge found that depositionsby a one-time dean constituted an admission that he had made comments likethose alleged in the complaint by a professor who was ousted as a departmentchair - despite backing from his department. The judge's ruling in fact waspart of why he rejected a request by La Salle University to dismiss thecase.
According to Majid Tavana, Gregory Bruce - then the business dean -responded with anti-Muslim remarks when Tavana filed a university grievanceabout his ouster as chair. According to Tavana, Bruce accused him ofstarting "a one-man jihad" over policy differences, and said: "All Iranianshave a problem with authority.... Look what you did to the Shah."
La Salle has fought the suit and denied any bias against Tavana based on hisethnicity or religious belief. But J. Curtis Joyner, a federal judge hearingthe case, wrote in rejecting the attempt to kill it that Bruce had in hisdeposition "admitted that he made comments like this to plaintiff."
A spokesman for La Salle said it was university policy never to comment onpending litigation, and reiterated that policy even when told that the judge's ruling specifically indicated that statements like those had been made by adean to a professor.
more . . . . .
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BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7189064.stm
Published: 2008/01/15 12:48:32 GMT
The law on hate crime in Scotland is to be widened to protect the gaycommunity and disabled people.
The proposals, put forward by Green MSP Patrick Harvie, have been backed bythe Scottish Government.
They should win the approval of parliament with the backing of the LiberalDemocrats, bringing Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.
But the Tories criticised the move, saying it would make "some more equalthan others" in the eyes of the law.
Mr Harvie's Sentencing of Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Billwill be taken forward in early 2008.
It aims to strengthen the law to protect disabled people and those from thelesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities by extending statutoryaggravations to cover crimes motivated by malice or ill will towardsvictims.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said no-one should be targeted because oftheir sexual orientation or disability, adding: "While good government needsa clear vision, we must also deal decisively with immediate problems.
"To do otherwise would compromise public safety."
Mr Harvie said the justice system was oblivious to the motivation behindhate crimes against disabled people and the gay community.
The bill, he added, would allow records of such incidents to be kept for thefirst time, ensuring that the progress on reducing attacks could bemonitored.
"We want to see a Scotland where these offences are made a thing of the pastand where all Scots are treated with dignity and respect," said Mr Harvie.
Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said attacks on gay people wereserious issues already recognised by judges and sheriffs.
"In Scotland, we pride ourselves in the fact that we are all equal in theeyes of the law but some it now seems are more equal than others, whichcannot be right," he said.
The bill has also been backed by the Scottish human rights commissioner, theEquality Network, the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland and anumber of Labour MSPs.
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From Stephen Barris / ILGA
Dear activists, dear friends of ILGA,
The XXIV World conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Associationwill take place in the City of Québec, Canada, from Wednesday May 14 tillSunday May 18, 2008.
We are currently unable to give you more information but will write earlyFebruary to tell you about the launch of a website which will provide alldetails on the conference.
In the meantime, our very best wishes in advancing our common struggle in2008,Stephen Barris, Patricia Curzi and Trevor Cook
ILGA
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UIC Lavender Research Forum: March 12, 2008
We are proud to invite you to the first annual Lavender Research Forum.The LRF is the University of Illinois at Chicago's own research showcasefeaturing LBGTQ-centered projects by faculty, postdoctoral research fellows,graduate, and undergraduate students. This groundbreaking event will takeplace on March 12, 2008, so mark your calendars and stay tuned for upcomingdetails.
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The inaugural World Pride & Power Conference hosted by the World Pride &Power Organization held in the theme of "Unity, Empowerment & Inclusivity",convening Thursday, February 21-February 24, 2008 in Los Angeles, Californiaat the Olympic Collection Conference Center in Los Angeles is proud topresent the, "World Pride & Power Lifetime Achievement Award," to WNBAB-Ball Player, Sheryl Swoopes, in honor of her amazing career in sports, herunwavering commitment to global wellness and her courage in embracing samegender love as an expression of love and community.
Ifalade Ta'Shia Asanti, World Pride & Power Organizaton co-founder, commentson the World Pride & Power journey, "In all my years of organizing I'venever witnessed this kind of outpourng of community support for aninternational gathering. I feel so proud of the honorees for this year'sWorld Pride & Power Awards who represent both grassroots and celebrityleaders. We really need folks to show up in record numbers as our unitedpresence will send a strong message to those who seek to invalidate ourcontributions to society, our families and the Black community as a whole.Our goal is to unite one of the largest bodies of SGLBT people in the worldfor this historical gathering. Together we can do it," Says IfaladeTa'Shia Asanti.
more....
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kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MySpace Agrees to Lead Fight to Stop Sex Predators
By ANNE
January 15, 2008
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/anne_barnard/index.html?inline=nyt-per
MySpace the country's largest social-networking Web site, hasagreed with attorneys general of 49 states to take new steps to protectchildren from sexual predators on its site. It also agreed to lead anationwide effort to develop technology to verify the ages and identities ofInternet users, officials announced Monday.
The agreement is the latest attempt by law enforcement officials nationwideto shield children from online dangers, including the risk of encounteringinappropriate sexual content or receiving sexual advances through sites likeMySpace and Facebook. The sites, increasingly popular among college, highschool and even younger students, allow any Internet user to create aprofile to display personal information and build networks of friendsonline.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
January 14, 2008
Letters to The Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20071
Gentlemen:
Your article on the objections raised by social conservatives to theMaryland Insurance Administration's definition of domestic partnership("Domestic Partnership Definition Is Criticized"-January 11, page B6)reveals a fundamental aspect of the right wing's social agenda that allcitizens should recognize. These zealots do not seek puritanicalrestrictions directed only against gays and lesbians. No indeed, their "nosex outside of marriage" position is as vehement with respect toheterosexual couples as it is against same-sex couples.
These reactionary social engineers have already lost their battle to depriveunmarried domestic partners of insurance coverage. As your article notes,Maryland law now requires an insurance company to offer coverage to thedomestic partners of a firm's employees if the employer asks for it.Astonishingly, these radicals now want this right limited to homosexualpartners, discriminating against anyone who is not gay!
Why would anti-gay groups take such a position? The statements quoted inyour article make clear their view that unmarried couples who live togetheror have sex together are doing something illegal. The InsuranceAdministration's policy, says Doug Siegler of the Maryland Family ProtectionLobby, "legalizes cohabitation. It's a huge cultural change".
Of course, Mr. Siegler is doubly wrong. The "cultural change" of which hespeaks is an accomplished fact in modern America, where millions of coupleslive together outside of marriage. And, he is wrong about the law. None ofthose unmarried couples cohabitating in Maryland are doing anything illegal.But everyone should recognize that the agenda of intolerance is not reallyabout being gay. It's an agenda aimed at any of us whose livingarrangements or sexual relationships don't fit the "only in marriage"tyranny of these puritans. All of us, gay and heterosexual alike, muststand up for our freedom.
Richard O. Cunningham
Judy A. Guerin-Cunningham
Note: The writers, a married couple residing in Maryland, are Chairman andVice-President, respectively, of the The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, anon-profit education and advocacy organization devoted to the propositionthat sexual freedom is a fundamental human right.
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kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AIDS/story?id=4130615&page=1> &page=1
Porn Industry Still Struggles With Condom Issue
At Annual Conference, Optional Condom Policies Called Into Question
By ERIC M. STRAUSS
Jan. 14, 2008 -
As the 41st Consumer Electronic Show's four days of tech gadget goodnesscame to a close Thursday, Las Vegas welcomed back another old friend theannual Adult Entertainment Expo.
No matter what your ethics dictated, CES convention goers couldn't avoid eyecontact with the scantily clad women of the adult entertainment worldroaming the Sands Expo space. And an invitation to their booths wouldintroduce even the least curiously initiated to displays of their filmsshown, in CES tradition, in high definition on the latest plasma TVs.
Hypothetically, one of these executives who took a wrong turn on their wayhome may be surprised to learn that during the making of these unrated filmsunlike football, hockey or baseball, the adult film industry requires noprotection at all. The use of a condom is strictly voluntary and almostnever done.
Although an HIV outbreak in 2004 in the porn industry caused the industry toimpose a condom-only policy, few of the performers in today's films areusing them. This has caused great concern to a coalition of Californiapublic health leaders including Peter Kerndt of the Los Angeles CountyDepartment of Public Health.
"There's little regard and no protection for the people who work in thisindustry. This is the last at-risk population exposed unnecessarily to therisk of HIV and a host of other sexually transmitted diseases," Kerndt said.
more....
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nytimes.com
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html&tntemail0=y>
OP-ED COLUMNIST: Politics and Misogyny
By BOB HERBERT
January 15, 2008
With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's win in New Hampshire, gender issuesare suddenly in the news. Where has everybody been?
If there was ever a story that deserved more coverage by the news media,it's the dark persistence of misogyny in America. Sexism in its myriaddestructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life. For manymen, it's the true national pastime, much bigger than baseball or football.
Little attention is being paid to the toll that misogyny takes on society ingeneral, and women and girls in particular.
Its forms are limitless. Hard-core pornography is a multibillion-dollarbusiness, having spread far beyond the stereotyped raincoat crowd to anyonewith a laptop and a password. Crowds of crazed photographers risk life andlimb to get shots of Paris Hilton or Britney Spears without their underwear.At New York Jets home games, men regularly gather at Gate D to urge femalefans to expose themselves.
In its grimmest aspects, misogyny manifests itself in hideous violence -from brutal beatings and rape to outright torture and murder. Fifteen monthsago, a gunman invaded an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania, separatedthe girls from the boys, and then shot 10 of the girls, killing five.
The cable news channels revel in stories about women (almost always youngand attractive) who come to a gruesome end at the hands of violent men. Thestories seldom, if ever, raise the issue of misogyny, which permeates notjust the crimes themselves, but the coverage as well.
The latest of these obsessively covered stories concerned a pregnant marine,Maria Frances Lauterbach, who had complained to authorities that she hadbeen raped by a fellow marine. Her body was found last week buried in abackyard fire pit in North Carolina.
It just so happens that the Democratic presidential candidates arecampaigning this week in the misogyny capital of America: Nevada. It's aperfect place to bring up the way women are viewed and treated in thissociety, but don't hold your breath. Presidential wannabes are hardly in thehabit of insulting the locals.
more....
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Welcome to the January 15, 2008 newsletter of www.glbtq.com, the world'slargest encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queerculture.
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Best known for his research on peanuts, African-American agronomist andeducator George Washington Carver (1864?-1943) become a cultural icon as the"Wizard of Tuskegee," but at the cost of hiding his homosexuality.
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/carver_gw.html
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The network of independent gay and lesbian bookstores that arose in the1970s served as incubators for the literary and cultural development of themodern gay rights movement in the United States and abroad.
http://www.glbtq.com/literature/gay_lesbian_bookstores.html
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In a wide-ranging Point of View essay, "'My Heroes Have Always BeenCowboys': Men Who Love Men, Westerns, and 'Brokeback Mountain,'" EricPatterson explores the significance of the beautiful film that Ang Lee andhis associates based on Annie Proulx's brilliant short story, "BrokebackMountain." He contends that in both its versions "Brokeback Mountain"compels Americans to consider the significance of love between men, andparticularly to consider it in relation to American constructions ofmasculinity and the heroic national ideal of the Cowboy, where male lovesupposedly is unthought and unthinkable, unspeakable and unspoken. Pattersonexplains how these works depict homoeroticism and homophobia, "passing" andits consequences.
http://www.glbtq.com/sfeatures/pattersonbrokeback.html
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Although the roots of country music are in conservative rural America, inrecent years many gay men and lesbians have become attracted to it, andthere has been an emergence of gay and lesbian country performers.
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/country_music.html
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Compulsory heterosexuality is the assumption that women and men are innately attracted to each other emotionally and sexually and that heterosexuality isuniversal, a view that leads to an institutional inequality of power thatprivileges heterosexual males and denigrates women, especially lesbians.
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/compulsory_heterosexuality.html
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Homophobia was originally defined as a "dread of being in close quarterswith homosexuals," but it is now sometimes used to describe any form ofanti-gay bias.
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/homophobia.html
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Prominent American artist Delmas Howe (b. 1935) seeks to visualize gayhistory by linking the past with the present in intensely homoerotic,deceptively naturalistic paintings.
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/howe_d.html
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Mixed-orientation marriages--those in which one partner is straight and theother is gay or lesbian--often end in divorce, but such an ending is notinevitable.
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mixed_orientation_marriages.html
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The International Gay Rodeo Association, a thriving group with more thanthirty affiliates across the United States and in two Canadian provinces,celebrates both the cultural heritage of the rural West and the glbtqidentities of its participants.
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/rodeos.html
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Matthew Shepard (1976-1998) led an unremarkable life, but his shocking deathtransformed him into an icon of the glbtq movement for equality.
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/shepard_m.html
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
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Melissa Harris Lacewell debates Gloria Steinem
Greetings:
Attached is a link to a videotaped conversation between Dr.Melissa Harris Lacewell and Gloria Steinem regarding gender and race in thepresidential primaries.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/14/race_and_gender_in_presidential_politics
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
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The Woodhull Freedom Foundation Newsletter
Starting the Year off Right
January 2008
The past year was a huge step forward for the Woodhull Freedom Foundationand the sexual freedom movement.
* We organized a Congressional briefing for freedom of speech andsexual expression with partner organizations, meeting with members ofCongress to educate them about sexual freedom as a core value for allfair-minded Americans.
* We established the Sexual Freedom Network, a website community thatbrings together three key forces in today's world of sexual freedom rights:
organizations who support various aspects of sexual freedom; some of the topthinkers and writers on the subject of sexual freedom; and most importantly,you - the community of people who share our belief that sexual freedom is afundamental human right.
* We held the first Sexual Freedom Forum in Philadelphia.
Nationally-renowned speakers and local organizers came together to discussthe most effective strategies for advancing sexual freedom. Attendeescreated concrete plans and partnerships to work together in a comprehensiveseual freedom movement.
And our work is just the beginning! 2008 promises to be a year of importantaccomplishments and measurable progress for the sexual freedom movement!
We'd certainly welcome your support important work!
Keep reading to learn more about the amazing projects we are undertaking atWoodhull.
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001sRZUq4r24SQwvGqcyBpkYRY1Egh3TDSufidH_QYfq3V2ENfj05pTNAnDzRBvXWB-w2P3kPrlT0Kkc5DRJ4KFsg5NYIuXA8chNHwtjxYrC_JEVPQ53rDKVnb8OIPhlspFLj34a5GmQqU
more....
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Letter to Bill Marriott re. In-Room Porn Films
NEW YORK, Jan. 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- The president of Morality inMedia, Robert Peters, submits to the media the following letter and isavailable for comment:
January 11, 2008
Mr. J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr.
Chairman and CEO of Marriott International
Marriott Drive
Washington, DC 20058
Dear Mr. Marriott:
I am writing again about the pay porn channels provided at Marriott Hotels.This time I have two sisters-in-laws to blame for booking my wife and me atyour hotels. As I mentioned in my letter of July 18, 2007, when I choose ahotel room I try to avoid staying at hotels that offer pay porn channels.
The fact that both of my sisters-in-laws booked rooms for us at MarriottHotels, however, is one reason that I am writing to you. You have built anationwide chain of quality hotels that includes modestly priced hotels,impressive big city hotels and pleasant resorts. I would love to be able tostay at your hotels with a clear conscience and encourage others to dolikewise.
The other reason that I am writing is because you profess to be a Mormon;and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is 100% againstpornography, which gives me at least a faint hope that you may some day cometo your senses and disassociate your family name and faith from pornographicfilms with titles like these, which were offered at the Marriott hotels inMassachusetts and California where my wife and I stayed during theThanksgiving and Christmas holidays:
"Young Trophy Wives" "Naughty Neighborhood Wives" "Cheating Wives" "Please
Pump My Wife" "Mothers Do It To" "When My Husband Is Away" "Housewives Need
Cash" "Secret Interracial Wife Orgy" "Slutty Older Women"
"College Teen" "Young Office Sluts" "Young Bait" "College Amateur Invasion"
"Tight Virgin Holes" "So Young So Tight"
"Sticky Young Sluts" "Sex With the Teacher" "18 and Corrupted"
A few years ago, I wrote an article, "The Link Between Pornography andViolent Sex Crimes" (published at www.ObscenityCrimes.org, "Porn Problem &Solutions" page), which makes a strong argument that pornography is acausative factor in many violent sex crimes.
more....
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Gay & Lesbian Leadership
SmartBrier
http://www.smartbrief.com/index.jsp
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Report: Gay men being infected by drug-resistant bacteria
A new type of highly drug-resistant bacteria is being spread, possiblythrough sexual contact, among gay men in San Francisco, New York, Boston andLos Angeles, according to a new study. The report, which was publishedonline by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found the greatestconcentration of those infected by a form of the methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus to be in San Francisco's Castro and among gay men whoreceive treatment for HIV in health facilities in San Francisco and Boston.
San Francisco Chronicle (1/15) , The New York Times (1/15)
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Md. marriage backers vow to press on, despite death of key lawmaker
Maryland state Sen. Gwendolyn Britt, D-Prince George's County, who thismonth was set to be the chief sponsor of a bill to legalize marriage for allMarylanders, died Saturday at age 66. "This is a devastating loss, becauseSen. Britt was a leader on the issue," said Dan Furmansky, executivedirector at Equality Maryland. "But this issue is about more than just oneperson. It's about the dignity and worth of thousands of Marylandresidents." The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act willstay on track, but it's not clear who will take over as its main sponsor,according to this article. Washington Blade (1/14)
Iowa leaders debate whether marriage issue is up to courts, lawmakers
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Pat Murphy, the Democratic speaker of the Iowa House, is resisting calls byHouse Minority Leader Christopher Rants to put marriage on the agenda, whilethe issue is still pending before the state Supreme Court. "I can't help butnotice that Christopher wants to be a legislator, a judge and a jury,"
Murphy said. "We need to let the judicial process take its process. ... Wedon't see the courts in here trying to subvert the legislature. We shouldn'tbe trying to subvert the judicial process, either." The Des Moines Register(Iowa) (1/14)
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Md. group wants to launch LGBT law clinic this fall
A coalition of Maryland lawyers and advocates is aiming to raise $250,000 bySeptember to launch The FreeState Law Project, the state's firstorganization to handle the legal needs of its LGBT residents. The Sun(Baltimore) (free registration) (1/14)
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Learn to run a winning campaign!
The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute is bringing its renowned Candidate &Campaign Training to Charlotte, NC. Join us Feb. 21 to 24 to learn how tobuild a winning campaign. Whether you're running as openly LGBT or workingon a campaign, our training will provide you with the tools you need forsuccess. Click here to learn more and apply by Jan. 28.
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Editorial: Time to end silence on AIDS for younger generation
Citing new data showing HIV rates are rising among younger, gay men, The NewYork Times reminds officials of the need for condom distribution, testingand treatment and for leaders in impacted communities to restart the publicdialogue about the epidemic. "Silence now seems to be winning the day," theTimes writes. "Nearly 6,000 gay men died of AIDS in the United States in2005; still, many young men appear to have persuaded themselves that theinfection is no longer such a big deal." The New York Times (1/14)
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Blogger: Lawsuit to question DNC's LGBT record
A wrongful-termination suit filed against the Democratic National Committeeby Donald Hitchcock, a gay former staffer whose domestic partner, also aformer staffer, wrote a letter questioning the party's commitment to LGBTvoters and issues that was published in the Washington Blade, is likely toput into a potentially harsh spotlight the party's recent LGBT record,according to blogger Andrew Belonsky. "I can only hope that the next fewweeks of testimony and public scrutiny will set the party straight," hewrites. "If not, well, I may have to stop voting all together -- and nobodywants that. Except for the Republicans, of course..." The Huffington Post(1/14)
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This is to inform you that the EU has launched a call for proposal for HumanRights defenders.
The deadline for application is 04.03.08.
Objectives of the programme and priority issues
The general objectives of the new instrument are to contribute to thedevelopment and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and respectfor all human rights and fundamental freedoms, consistent with the EuropeanUnion's foreign policy as a whole.
This instrument is designed to help civil society to become an effectiveforce for political reform and defence of human rights. In doing this, itwill complement the new generation of geographical programmes, which willfocus on public institution-building. The EIDHR will offer independence ofaction, which is a critical feature of cooperation with civil societyorganisations at national level, especially in the sensitive areas ofdemocracy and human rights. Great flexibility and increased capacity torespond to changing circumstances or to support innovation are among thefeatures of the new instrument.
The new instrument is global in scope. It is applied at national, regionaland international levels and supports actions carried out in third countriesthroughout the world, and also in Member States if relevant to needs inthird countries.
In this context, the specific objectives of the EIDHR, are defined in the2007-2010 strategy paper which sets out five specific objectives:
1. Enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms incountries and regions where they are most at risk.
2. Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights anddemocratic reform, supporting the peaceful conciliation of group interestsand consolidating political participation and representation.
3. Supporting actions on human-rights and democracy issues in areascovered by EU guidelines, including dialogues on human rights, human-rightsdefenders, the death penalty, torture, and children and armed conflict.
4. Supporting and strengthening the international and regional frameworksfor the protection of human rights, justice, the rule of law and thepromotion of democracy.
5. Building confidence in and enhancing the reliability and transparencyof democratic electoral processes, in particular through electionobservation.
The current Strategy Paper for the period 2007-2010 can be consulted at thefollowing address:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/worldwide/eidhr/documents/eidhr-strategy-paper-2007_en.pdf
This call for proposals is published with the aim of selecting actionsconcerning "Support for human rights and democracy-related actions in thefield of human rights defenders".
More information is available : http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=16041
PlanetOut shares fall to record low
Company says it may sell itself
NEW YORK (AP) | Jan 15, 4:17 PM
Shares of PlanetOut Inc. sank to an all-time low Tuesday after the mediacompany, which serves the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community,said it may sell itself.
PlanetOut shares fell $1.45, or 23.4 percent, to $4.75 in early afternoontrading. Earlier, the stock traded as low as $4.65 _ its lowest since areverse stock split in early October.
Late Monday, the San Francisco-based company said it hired Allen & Co. tohelp review strategic options, including a possible sale. PlanetOut alsosaid it will stop providing earnings guidance or hold quarterly earningscalls.
In a phone interview Tuesday, PlanetOut spokesman Kevin Nyland said thecompany is evaluating a possible sale "because we believe it may be in thebest interest of our shareholders."
Nyland said he could not say if any companies have expressed interest inpurchasing PlanetOut.
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=16026
Spokane man pleads not guilty to extorting state legislator
Contends Rep. Curtis reneged on promise to pay for sex
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) | Jan 15, 11:09 AM
A Spokane man has pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to extort moneyfrom a former state legislator after a night of sex.
Cody Castagna, 27, on Monday pleaded innocent to three counts of theft, twocounts of extortion and one court of conspiracy to commit extortion.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque set a trial date of April7.
Prosecutors contend in court documents that Castagna and three other menattempted to blackmail former Rep. Richard Curtis in October.
Curtis, a Republican from the southwest Washington town of LaCenter, said inpolice reports that he and Castagna had sex in a hotel room and thatCastagna later took his wallet and threatened to expose him publicly if hedid not pay $1,000.
Castagna has contended Curtis reneged on a promise to pay $1,000 for sex.
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Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN1442045020080114
Ellen DeGeneres tops Oprah as favorite TV personality
Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:11pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Comedian and daytime TV host Ellen DeGeneresousted talk show queen Oprah Winfrey as the U.S.'s favorite televisionpersonality in a poll released on Monday.
The popular entertainer catapulted from the No. 8 spot last year to pushWinfrey into second place. Winfrey had reigned the Harris Poll's favoritetelevision stars list for five consecutive years.
DeGeneres stirred an outpouring of public support last year when she sobbedon TV over a puppy she adopted that was taken back by an animal rescue groupafter she gave it to her hairstylist's family without the agency'spermission.
Late night TV host Jay Leno, British actor Hugh Laurie, who stars in theseries "House," and comedian Jon Stewart rounded out the top five.
"When the 10 stars on this list are looked at more closely, a theme emerges.Seven of them have a talk show -- either late night, prime time or daytime," Harris said in a statement.
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BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7187866.stm
ITV cleared over Davidson remarks
Complaints about comic Jim Davidson's use of the words "shirt-lifter" and"poof" on TV show Hell's Kitchen have been rejected by media watchdog Ofcom.
Almost 200 people complained about Davidson's behaviour on the ITV1 show,including perceived bullying against gay contestant Brian Dowling.
Davidson agreed to leave the show but denied being homophobic.
Ofcom backed ITV1 saying audiences needed "an unedited insight into thecontestants' personalities".
It added: "There was a consensus view on the programme that Jim Davidson'sbehaviour towards Brian Dowling was not acceptable and that he was in theminority."
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San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2008/01/15/chronicle/archive/2008/01/15/MNI5UE0L8.html?tsp=1
S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
(01-14) 14:11 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A new variety of staph bacteria, highlyresistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, isspreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles,researchers reported Monday.
The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine foundthe highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in andaround San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit healthclinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston.
The culprit is a form of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcusaureus, a bug that was once confined to hospitalized patients but, since thelate 1990s, has been circulating outside medical settings, afflicting anyonefrom injection-drug users to elementary school students. A strain calledUSA300 has been a leading cause of MRSA infection in this decade, and anexceptionally drug-resistant variant of it is now on the loose, researcherssay.
The study estimated that 1 in 588 residents living within the Castroneighborhood 94114 ZIP code area is infected with that variant, which isresistant to six types of commonly used antibiotics. The risk of contractingthis difficult-to-treat bug is 13 times greater for gay men than for therest of the city's population, researchers found.
"We probably had it here first, and now it is spreading elsewhere," saidBinh An Diep, a researcher at San Francisco General Hospital and lead authorof the report. "This is a national problem, and San Francisco is at theepicenter."
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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A national gay-rights group came to Orlando on Tuesday to launch a statewideeffort against a proposed ban on same-sex marriage.The Human Rights Campaignheld the first of a series of training sessions for gay-rights volunteers ata Thornton Park eatery, despite word from the state that a proposedconstitutional amendment backed by Orlando's Florida4Marriage was more than20,000 signatures short of making the November ballot."The last thing weshould do in this moment is change our campaign in any way," said JoeSolmonese, president of the Washington-based group, which bills itself asthe nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil-rightsorganization.
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The three opposition parties in Sweden have said they may force a billthrough parliament to extend marriage to gay and lesbian couples.Undercurrent laws, dating back to 1987, marriage is defined as being between aman and a woman. Gay and lesbian couple can register their partnershipthrough a civil ceremony, a process introduced in 1995 which gives same-sexcouples the same rights as married couples.A new piece of proposed"gender-neutral" legislation however, may soon remove this distinctionallowing anybody to marry in the Church of Sweden. Six of the seven partiesrepresented in parliament are in support of gay marriage with only theChristian Democrats, a junior member of the four-party coalition, opposingit.The opposition Social Democrats, Greens and Left party claim thegovernment has had ample time to bring forward legislation.
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Evan Wolfson: In 2007, state legislatures considered a record number ofmarriage bills, while courts continued to hear cases brought by coupleschallenging their unfair exclusion from marriage. Bills to create civilunion or partnership as interim steps advanced in diverse states - productsof the work to win marriage itself. By year's end, couples stood before thehigh courts of three states seeking marriage, legislatures in two statesenacted measures just short of marriage, the California legislature and onechamber in New York voted for the freedom to marry, and public opinioncontinued to move in the direction of embracing marriage equality (as havethe policy positions of many leading presidential candidates, who havecalled for undoing the federal anti-marriage law passed just a decadebefore. In 2007, the people with the best first-hand, lived experience ofmarriage equality decided overwhelmingly to keep it, in a dramatic 3/4'smajority vote by the Massachusetts legislature. The marriage conversation,and even state Supreme Court stumbles, moved the Washington legislature toenact a "first steps" partnership bill, and spurred governors andlegislative leaders to pledge support for the freedom to marry in statessuch as New Jersey and Maryland. Likewise, introduction of marriage billsvastly upped the ante and helped civil union progress in New Hampshire,Illinois, and other states, while underscoring that marriage itself remainsthe frame and the goal, as well as the engine of advance.
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The two heavy, scented cylinders weighed me down like the rocks in VirginiaWoolf's pockets, but I wasn't intending to sink. I was determined to riseabove, think positive and hold my candle high at the vigil on January 2ndwhen domestic partnerships should have become legal in Oregon, but werestalled until the court considers the claims of an out-of-state conservativeinterest group fighting to restore signatures on a failed referendumeffort.My response to the candlelight vigil (besides wanting to knock theblock off some of the screaming protesters who rained on my nuptial paradefour years ago when we married in Multnomah County) was to ask, "Where areour heterosexual allies?" I looked at the people outside Q Center thatnight, where the vigil was held, and while there were some obvious friendsand family among us, primarily it was we, the attacked, who stood togetherholding a candle to light the shadows that anti-gay activists would like toshove us back into. My wife pragmatically pointed out that hundreds ofheterosexuals standing with us wouldn't change the decision on February 1st,that it was a legal case, not a popularity contest. But I stubbornly thinkthis is where our friends and family should stand by our sides. Domesticpartnerships give necessary legal protections for families; rights that ourstraight friends take for granted and would be outraged to lose.
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Arabic Lecturer Uri Horesh began a hunger strike Monday in response to hisdenied complaint against the University's non-discrimination policy, whichdoes not include health benefits for same-sex couples. As of Jan. 1, theUniversity of Michigan started offering some health benefits to employeesand other qualified adults who have shared a residence for six months. Thispolicy circumvents Michigan laws regarding same-sex marriage, which fueledHoresh's complaints against UT.Horesh said he sent an e-mail to the Divisionof Diversity and Community Engagement in December and one on Monday aboutthe strike, but has not received a response. Horesh said he will quietlyabstain from eating until the policy is changed."I'm taking theresponsibility on this somewhat creative idea whereby I could keep on doingmy job until I may or may not be able to do it if something happened,"Horesh said. "I can wear my rainbow-colored longhorn T-shirt or wear mylittle button, but who gives a damn about that? Maybe this would make moreof an impact."
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A key Statehouse Republican's call for a constitutional amendment banninggay marriage sparked controversy even before the first speeches weredelivered this morning on the Legislature's first day.House Minority LeaderChristopher Rants, a Sioux City Republican, handed out copies of his openingremarks before they were delivered. He urged legislators to move ahead withlegislation that would define marriage as between a man and a woman."I thinkthat it is worth one hour of debate time," Rants told reporters a fewminutes before he gave his remarks. "If we can spend an hour debatingpropane tank regulation, I think we have one hour that we can debate out ofa hundred days to debate the value of traditional marriage."House SpeakerPat Murphy, a Dubuque Democrat, said legislative action on Iowa's marriagelaws is premature.
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Good news here as signatures came up short, but the fundies will still get achance to turn in more sigs to get the measure on the ballot. From Fairnessfor All Families: Apparently the "glitch" at the Division of Electionscaused an over count of 27,000 signatures for the marriage petition. Insteadof hitting the 611.009 mark, the opposition is at 589,020 as of Jan 10th.
HOWEVER, they have until Feb 1st to turn in signatures and that means theJan 29th Primary gives them an obvious focus to ID the last wave ofsignatures. In addition, there will be legal battles if they fall short toplace this on the ballot that will leave this an open questions and one wewill have to continue to organize against. Many states that put all theirhopes in defeating this via legal intervention ended up ill prepared when an11th hour ruling placed it before voters.Primary day is January 29th, andFairness for All Families is asking for volunteers to work the polls andexplain the ramifications of the amendment to voters.
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In many ways, when it comes to the presidential primaries, I feel like I"don't have a dog in this fight." But it's interesting to me that somepeople are already declaring the Democratic primaries a two person race.
And, apparently, to some gay voters the candidate's differences on DOMA are"minor."
As Georgia voters prepare to head to the polls on Feb. 5 to take part inwhat's been dubbed Super Duper Tuesday, when more than 20 states hold theirpresidential primaries, many local gay leaders are speaking out with publicendorsements. With Hillary Clinton fresh off a crucial win in New Hampshireand Barack Obama still riding on his win in Iowa, local gay votersacknowledge they are torn between the two. Both Democratic presidentialcandidates claim nearly the same stance on gay issues such as repealing"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as well as providing legal protections for gaycouples. But John Edwards, also a strong gay rights supporter, seems to havelost his footing in the race, according to University of Georgia politicalscience professor Charles Bullock.In a race where none of the "leading"candidates support marriage equality, and the candidates who do supportmarriage equality get almost no support in terms of contributions or votes,the matter of repealing DOMA becomes-or should become-more important.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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UT Southwestern Finds Drug to Prevent HIV's Spread in Mice
After 25 years of researchers around the globe being confounded by HIV,scientists in Dallas have shown that the virus's transmission can be stoppedwith medications. The scientific first, though performed only in lab mice,bodes well for a future when people at high risk for HIV infection wouldhave a convenient way to protect themselves from the virus.
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The Mautner Project, The National Lesbian Health Organization, Announces NewExecutive Director
The Mautner Project, the National Lesbian Health Organization, named LeslieJ. Calman, Ph.D. as the new Executive Director. The announcement was madetoday by the Mautner Project's Board of Directors and Board Chair Dr. LindaSpooner.
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Comprehensive Public Health Approach Needed," Says AHF - More Effective
Prevention Needed for MRSA, HIV and Other STDs
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), today expressed concern over a recentstudy first reported publicly today in an 'Annals of Internal Medicine'article which found that sexually active gay men in San Francisco were 13times as likely to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, than their heterosexualcounterparts. On the heels of recent increases in both HIV infections andsyphilis among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), AHF believes a multi-prongedpublic health approach to the prevention of infectious diseases and STDstargeting this and other at-risk populations must be undertaken. AHF alsobelieves that it is crucial that such an effort be sustained for the longerterm, and that despite potential budgetary cuts on a state and federallevel, significant public health resources and funding must be targeted tohelp break the chain of new infections in the MSM community, and whichaccording to today's report, also have the potential to spread into thegeneral population.
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Equality Forum 2008 to Feature 63 Programs, Parties and Special Events
World's Largest Annual GLBT Civil Rights Forum
The 16th annual Equality Forum will feature 63 programs including 34 panels,14 parties and 15 special events. Equality Forum 2008 will be held fromMonday, April 28 to Sunday, May 4 in Philadelphia. The largest annualnational and international GLBT civil rights forum has no registration feeand all substantive programs are free.
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HRC Organizes for FL Presidential Primary, Looks Ahead to Stop Anti-GayMarriage Amendment
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese to kickoff series ofeducational trainings across FloridaThe Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender civil rights organization, partnering with Florida Red and Blue,will kickoff the first of a series of educational trainings to take placethroughout the state of Florida in advance of the presidential primary. Thetrainings will mobilize volunteers and give them the tools they need tospeak with voters at the Presidential Primary Day polls on January 29,informing them of the November state constitutional amendment that would bansame-sex marriage, already illegal in Florida, and eliminate all domesticpartnerships. HRC President Joe Solmonese will attend the first training inOrlando, tomorrow, January 15, and the second training in Ft. Lauderdale onJanuary 16.
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GLAAD, G-Force Sponsor - Public Forum on Gay Athletes
Former NBA Player John Amaechi and Others Discuss Visibility of Gay AthletesThe Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and G-Force, anall-star gay ice hockey team, today announced a public forum titled, Gays inSports - The Invisible Athlete. The event will address the role of thelesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the realm ofsports. Openly gay former NBA player John Amaechi, ESPN senior writer LZGranderson, and Ryan Quinn, a cross country skier at the University of Utah,will participate in the forum. Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of the sports Website Outsports, will moderate the event scheduled for Friday, January 18 at6:30 p.m. at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colo.
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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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ACLU: Larry Craig Had Expectation Of Privacy In Bathroom Gay Sting Bust
(St. Paul, Minnesota) In an effort to help Sen. Larry Craig, the AmericanCivil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in publicbathrooms have an expectation of privacy.
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Campaign Attention Shifts To SC, Nev.
(Charleston, South Carolina) Republican presidential contenders focusedtheir energies on South Carolina's GOP primary just four days off with stillno clear front-runner after a critical Michigan victory for Mitt Romney andwith John McCain facing what could be a make-or-break battle.
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Bloomberg Boosters Launch Petition
(Washington) Supporters of a third-party presidential bid by New York MayorMichael Bloomberg launched a 50-state petition drive Tuesday seeking to"draft" the billionaire who is edging closer to entering the race whilecontinuing to deny he is a candidate.
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Clinton, Obama Move Past Race Scuffle In Debate
(Las Vegas, Nevada) Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clintonand Barack Obama blamed aides and campaign surrogates Tuesday night forfueling a campaign controversy over race, jointly pledging on the birthdayof Martin Luther King Jr. to put the matter behind them.
in South Carolina in just four days.
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Iowa Republicans Press For Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment
(Des Moines, Iowa) Republicans are demanding that Democrats who control the legislature take up a proposed amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.Wednesday hundreds of conservative Christians bussed in from across thestate added leverage to the call.
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No Name-Calling Week Offers Chance To Combat Homophobia
(New York City) Thousands of elementary schools across the country will takepart next week in the fifth-annual No Name-Calling Week, providing aopportunity for educators to address the growing problem of homophobia inthe nation's schools.
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Scotland To Pass Gay Hate Crime Law
(Edinburgh) The Scottish government has announced it will back a Green Partyprivate member's bill to increase sentences for those convicted of hatecrimes against members of the LGBT community and the disabled.
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Kenya: Forced Circumcisions With Rusty Swords
(Nairobi) For two terrifying hours, the woman crouched inside her shop,watching as a gang attacked five men in the street, pulled down theirtrousers and sliced their genitals with rusty machetes.
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Watch What You Hang From A Trailer Hitch
(Richmond, Virginia) Drive across Virginia with an outsized rubber replicaof testicles dangling from your trailer hitch and you face a fine under abill before the General Assembly.
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Not Guilty Plea In Lawmaker Gay Sex Extortion Case
Spokane, Washington) A 27-year old Spokane man has pleaded innocent tocharges he tried to extort money from a former Washington state legislatorwith whom he had sex.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-burns15jan15,1,6623914.story?track=rss
Kennith H. Burns, 81; led gay rights Mattachine Society in the 1950s
From the Los Angeles Times
From a Times Staff Writer
January 15, 2008
Kennith H. Burns, an early leader of the Mattachine Society, one of thecountry's first gay rights organizations, died Dec. 16 at Providence St.Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. He was 81.
The cause was lung failure, according to a friend, Dale Olson.
Burns was a founding member of the Mattachine Society, which was founded inLos Angeles in 1950 by activist Harry Hay and others.
In 1953, when McCarthyism was strengthening its grip on the nationalconsciousness, Hay and other Mattachine leaders with communist ties wereousted and Burns assumed a prominent role in the organization.
The society moved in a more conservative direction during Burns' tenure asMattachine president in the mid- to late 1950s. Along with other Mattachineleaders, including Harold Call and Don Lucas, he urged members to tempertheir public image and assimilate into society.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=2588
Newsom stresses diversity in speech
by Matthew S. Bajko
m.bajko@ebar.com
Mayor Gavin Newsom began his second term in office Tuesday, January 8 with astinging rebuke for those who complain about "San Francisco values" duringhis inaugural speech.
Standing on the staircase underneath City Hall's Rotunda, Newsom recalledhow nearly four years ago same-sex couples exchanged marriage vows on thosevery steps. With his ordering city officials to wed gay and lesbian couples,Newsom said, We saw how San Francisco can be a beacon for the world when weled the fight for marriage equality."
And when the city extended protections to transgender residents "it becamebetter," said Newsom. To those who continue to attack him and the city forstanding up for LGBT rights, the mayor had a response.
"They deride what they call 'San Francisco values.' But we know that thosevalues inspire many more than they frighten," said Newsom, later adding,"when others were fearful, San Franciscans did not falter. ... We will notstop making this city an inspiration and an example for others."
Bay Area Reporter society columnist Donna Sachet said she was struck most bythe inclusiveness of the mayor's speech.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=2609
Online extra: Political Notes:
Gay groups focus on sending
LGBTs to party conventions
by Matthew S. Bajko
m.bajko@ebar.com
It isn't just who might win their party's presidential nominationstransfixing LGBT Democrats and Republicans this winter. They are alsofocused on ensuring there is gay representation at their party's nationalconventions this summer.
For gay Democrats, the goal is not just to have LGBT people at theconvention, but also to push the party to adopt pro-gay stances in itsplatform. For gay Republicans, it is just the opposite: they want tocounteract efforts by their party's conservative, evangelical wing to pushthrough anti-gay measures into the GOP's platform.
"It is not about just going to the convention. The greater good comesdirectly from getting people involved in the party process because that ishow we really begin to move our agenda," said Sacramento resident LaurieMcBride, co-chair of the National Stonewall Democrats board. "This is aboutshowing our community is part of the solution and part of a winningcoalition that can put a Democrat in the White House. That will move ouragenda in places like Arkansas, Kansas, North Dakota, and other places wherehistorically the party has seen our agenda as a problem and something to runaway from."
James Vaughn, director of Log Cabin California and the gay Republicangroup's Western Region director, said just as LGBT Democrats want to shapetheir party's agenda during the convention, so to do LGBT Republicans.
"Just like on the Democratic side, it is important to have representation atthe convention to weigh in on the platform as much as possible. Also, it isgood to just have a presence. Most people are not willing to spout some oftheir anti-gay stuff when they are having to look face-to-face at someonewho is gay or lesbian," said Vaughn.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Time.com
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1703180,00.html?xid=rss-world
The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name - Discreetly
By Simon Elegant/Beijing
Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008
The west side of Beijing's venerable Workers' Stadium is ground zero for thecapital's party animals. Stretching south of the stadium gate is a row ofhuge dance clubs with names like Babyface, Coco Banana, Cargo and Angel,each competing with its neighbors to be bigger, brighter and louder. But onthe other side of the road, the offices and shops are shuttered and dark bylate evening when revelers start pouring out of taxis. Only one discreteneon sign is visible, backlit white letters above a small stairway pickingout the name, "Destination," Beijing's premier gay club.
Despite its unassuming exterior, the long lines of young men waiting forentry on most weekend nights are a giveaway. And inside it's all action. Ona recent Saturday night, hundreds of men milled around the outer roomsdrinking and flirting. Around the tennis-court-sized dance floor an Eminemconcert featuring the singer performing with what appeared to be members ofa circus troupe, including a dwarf, looped on half a dozen video screens,and pulsing lasers and strobe lights flashed over the mass of writhing,sweating bodies. It's been like this every weekend for the last couple ofyears, the club's manager says, with dancing continuing until the lastcustomer leaves around five or six.
Xiao Wang, as he is introduced to me, is propped up against a wall in one ofthe bars. The 29-year-old architect, who sports a discreet stud earring anda fresh razor cut, looks puzzled when I ask him about the drawbacks of beinggay in Beijing, whether he gets hassled by the authorities? "Hassled forwhat? Being gay?" He laughs. "Why would they want to do that?"
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
HuffingtonPost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-belonsky/the-gays-the-dems-some-_b_81444.html
The Gays, The Dems, Some Serious Trouble, and Dough
Posted January 14, 2008 | 04:21 PM (EST)
There's a war brewing in the Democratic National Committee -- and, no, it'snot about race. This battle, however, does involve another so-calledminority group: the gays. And the results may cost the party some serioustrouble -- and dough.
For those of you not paying attention, the drama started back in 2006, whenformer DNC staffer Paul Yandura wrote an open letter questioning the party'sso-called queer commitment. The April 20, 2006 letter read, in part: "Allprogressives need to be asking how much has the DNC budgeted to counter theanti-gay ballot initiatives in the states... We also need to know why theDNC and our Democratic leaders continue to allow the Republicans to use ourfamilies and friends as pawns to win elections." Yandura's letter probablywould have been ignored had it not been for one tiny detail: his domesticpartner, Donald Hitchcock, headed the DNC's gay branch, the Gay and LesbianLeadership Council. The proverbial pooh soon hit the democratic fan.
Hitchcock found himself in a tough position on April 27th, 2006, when gayweekly newspaper The Washington Blade published Yandura's letter. Less thana week later, on May 2nd, DNC chief of staff Leah Daughtry allegedly askedHitchcock to step down. The long-time activist refused, but soon had nochoice after Dean and company gave him the boot, which certainly makes onequestion the DNC's motivations. Were they getting political revenge a laValerie Plame, or did they fire Hitchcock for his poor performance, as waslater insinuated: "It was decided we needed a change. We decided to hire aproven leader." Hitchcock calls their explanation hog wash and has sincefiled a discrimination suit against the DNC.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
AmericanChronicle.com
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/30342
Republicans, Gays and the Military: Continued Prejudice
By Robert Fantina
January 16, 2008
At the most recent debate between the members of the multitude known as'Candidates for the Republican Presidential Nomination,' those gentlemenseemed to fall all over each other in their quest to shine theirconservative credentials for all the world to see. Nowhere was this moreevident then in their responses to one of moderator Wolf Blitzen'squestions. Mr. Blitzen asked each of the candidates his position on allowinghomosexuals to serve openly within the military. In typical political-speak,being unable to give a 'yes' or 'no' to a simple question, each manblathered on and on until the result was 'no,' openly gay men and womenshould not be allowed to serve. Arizona Sen. John McCain, increasingly proneto bizarre comments, even made the following startling statement about thepolicy: "It is working, my friends. The policy is working. And I amconvinced that that's the way we can maintain this greatest military."
A report from May 24, 2007 indicates that it is not working; fifty-eightArab linguists had been discharged from the U.S. military because they aregay, in keeping with the 'don't ask, don't' tell' policy on sexualorientation. With these rare and vital skills being lost, how can Mr. McCainbelieve that the policy that is causing that loss is working?This situation raises several very serious issues.
The United States is drowning in the quicksand of an unwinnable war thatshould never have been waged, and while doing so it is sending hundreds ofthousands of Iraqi citizens to their graves, increasing the worldwideterrorist threat and decimating whatever is left of America's tatteredreputation throughout the world. Yet much-needed Arab language skills arebeing eliminated from the military, simply because the experts possessingthose rare and vital abilities are gay.
The case of Ian Finkenbinder is telling. During his tour of duty Mr.Finkenbinder worked in some of Iraq's most dangerous areas. Being one of asmall number of American soldiers fluent in Arabic, he worked in gatheringintelligence.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
WashBlade.com
http://www.washblade.com/2008/1-11/view/columns/11863.cfm
Exploring origins of homosexuality
Most research on gays is pointless, misdirected and based on falseassumptions.
Jan. 11, 2008
THERE SEEM TO be a number of fears - maybe it would be better to call themconcerns - out there at the margins of the gay community over research onthe origins of homosexuality and the possibility of changing people's sexualorientation. The concern is mainly that the results of such research couldbe used to prevent or extirpate homosexuality.
I suspect there isn't much anyone can do about such research. Like allresearch, it is going to continue because people want to know more aboutourselves and about how the world works. But I also feel sure that anyconcerns are greatly exaggerated.
Take the issue of research into the origins of (causes of, reasons for) malehomosexuality. That would be interesting to know, just as it would beinteresting to know the equally mysterious cause(s) of heterosexuality. Butscientists aren't quite researching the right thing. Most researchers seemvery confused about what homosexuality/homosexual desire actually is. Andmost seem overly impressed with the fact that most women are also attractedto men and so draw the logically invalid conclusion that male homosexualitymust be caused by something female in gay men, as if desire for men can haveonly one cause.
Clever studies that manage to change an insect's or animal's overallbehavior from male typical to female typical are not about homosexuality atall. Male homosexual behavior has no particular connection to acting like afemale. It is not thinking or feeling or acting like a woman. It is about aman (whether top or bottom) being attracted as a man to other men. (In somedeveloping countries, some gay men do imitate women as a signaling device,but that practice is being abandoned with the worldwide spread of gayliberation.)
SCIENTISTS SHOULD BE doing research into the origins of homosexual desire.Homosexual desire is largely a cognitive or conceptual matter, so theorigin(s) have to be sought in the cognitive (even esthetic) values of thegay individual.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Sacbee.com
http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/637789.html
Lesbian may move forward with bid to be Presbyterian minister
By LISA LEFF - Associated Press Writer
Published 12:36 am PST Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A Presbyterian deacon who has twice been denied ordination because of hersexual orientation can move forward with her bid to join the clergy, after aregional governing body narrowly approved her candidacy.
The regional body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 167-151 Tuesdaynight in support of Lisa Larges' application, despite the denomination'slong-standing ban on openly gay ministers. Larges, 44, still must submit toan interview with the regional body as soon as April, church officials said.
Larges said after the vote that she was proud of the church members'decision, despite the heavy opposition.
"The church is a beautiful, messy thing," she said. "It's about loving thechurch in spite of the church. It's about being part of a movement to callthe church back to its best self."
While the meeting represented a third try for Larges, it was thought to bethe first test of a policy adopted by the Presbyterian national assemblygiving local presbyteries the right to ordain candidates who declareconscientious objections to specific church teachings, said Jerry VanMarter, news director for the Presbyterian Church (USA).
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The Guardian UK
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011508HA.shtml
Iraq Casualties Tested for HIV
By Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday 11 January 2008
Iraq and Afghanistan casualties to get HIV tests. Poor record keeping at USfield hospitals blamed.
British soldiers and civilian contractors seriously injured in Iraq andAfghanistan are being tested for HIV, hepatitis and other diseases as healthcampaigners reacted angrily to the news that they had been given blood fromAmerican donors who had not been properly screened.
British defence officials confirmed that the US military had not followedits own procedures by testing all the donors after the blood was given to 18British service personnel and six civilians. All the soldiers involved havebeen alerted. The Health Protection Agency said some of the civilians maynot yet have been contacted, although it had alerted all their GPs. Everyonepotentially at risk was being offered testing and counselling, the agencysaid.
The Ministry of Defence examined its military medical records after theAmerican error, described by an official as the result of "poor recordkeeping", was discovered before Christmas. The US military failed to carryout retrospective testing of the blood of all the emergency donors.
A US defence department spokesman said the military did not have the meansor the time to screen donors properly on the battlefield during combatoperations.
Derek Twigg, a defence minister, said yesterday the soldiers would "almostcertainly" have died if they had not received the transfusions on the frontline.
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ebar.com
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=2590
Newsom announces new LGBT staffers
by Matthew S. Bajko
m.bajko@ebar.com
Mayor Gavin Newsom welcomed half a dozen new LGBT administrators andcommissioners to his administration this week as he kicked off his secondterm in office.
Joining Newsom in Room 200 this year are two new staffers from the LGBTcommunity: Jason Chan, who has worked in the mayor's office of neighborhoodservices, will serve as the mayor's liaison to commissions, and CatherineDodd, whom Newsom appointed to the Health Commission last year, will be hisdeputy chief of staff for health and human services.
Out lesbian Julian Potter, who had served as the mayor's deputy chief ofstaff for health and public safety, will now work at the airport as its newfederal and regional government affairs manager. She will report directly toairport director John Martin, who is openly gay. Potter starts her newposition January 28.
Dodd now becomes the highest-ranking LGBT official among the mayor's innercircle. A registered nurse, she previously worked on health issues as adistrict chief of staff for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and in the Clintonadministration, she served as Region 9 director for health and humanservices, covering the Western portion of the country.
Dodd did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday. LGBT leaders praised thehiring decision and said they were glad to see Newsom maintain outrepresentation among his senior staff.
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OrlandoSentinel.com
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/southofdowntown/orl-cfbriefs15_308jan15,0,5466199.story
Commissioner to help gay center
January 15, 2008
ORLANDO
-Facing no competition for her upcoming re-election bid, City CommissionerPatty Sheehan is donating $25,000 of her leftover campaign funds to the Gay,Lesbian & Bisexual Community Center of Central Florida.
Sheehan said the check, to be formally presented today, represents thelargest contribution her campaign account will make.
"The Center of Central Florida does so much for so many deserving gay,lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," the openly gay commissioner said.
Funeral director Sam Odom dropped out of the District 4 race in October,saying he was unable to raise enough money to campaign successfully.
The center will use the money toward its $50,000 building fund, paying for anew roof and much-needed repairs. The agency serves more than 15,000 peopleannually.
Bianca Prieto, Jay Hamburg and Kate Santich of the Sentinel staffcontributed to this report. The Associated Press also was used.
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HoustonVoice.com
http://www.houstonvoice.com/blog/index.cfm?blog_id=16004
Black gay forum announced
Posted by Rebecca Armendariz, Online Editor| Jan. 14 at 12:03 PM |
RArmendariz@washblade.com
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16, 2008
Prominent black lesbian blogger Jasmyne Cannick will host a presidentialelection forum in Los Angeles on January 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. The event willtake place in the historic African-American community of Leimert Park at theLucy Florence Coffee House and Cultural Center at 3351 W. 43rd Place.
"It's a Black Thang! The Black LGBT Vote '08" will feature the voices andopinions of the GLBT African-American community. At the end of the forum,participants will hold a mock vote to determine which presidential candidatewould have the black gay vote in the primary.
Confirmed panelists include Abner Mason, Executive Director of AIDSResponsibility and former President of the Log Cabin Republicans;Alan-Michael Graves, Board Member, National Black Justice Coalition;Christina Fontenot, Graduate Student, Dillard University, New Orleans; DougSpearman, Actor (Noah's Arc); Ivan Daniel, C.E.O., Ivan Daniel Productions;Jazzmun, Actor (Punks, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Heroes); Jeffrey King,Founder, In the Meantime Men's Group; Jewel Thais-Williams, C.E.O., CatchOne Night Club and Village Health Foundation, Emmy Award winning directorParis Barclay; Patrik-Ian Polk, Filmmaker (Punks, Noah's Arc); RosalindRenfro, Partner, Soulful Touch Entertainment; and Treazure Lee, C.E.O.,TreazureMag.com.
The organizers of the forum have invited the leading Democratic andRepublican candidates to join them. Moderators are journalist, blogger andcommentator Cannick and Season three star of BET's College Hill realityseries Ray Cunningham.
"Hopefully this forum will shed light on the issues that black gays see asbeing most important while letting our Presidential candidates know that ourvoices and votes count, too, and that all gays aren't white and all blacksaren't homophobic or heterosexual, and our vote is not to be taken forgranted or our voices ignored," Cannick said.
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WashBlade.com
http://www.washblade.com/2008/1-11/news/national/11852.cfm
Transgender activists turn on one of their own
Once lauded, Stanton denounced as traitor after interview with Fla.newspaper
By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Jan. 11, 2008
Less than one year after being fired from her job as city manager of Largo,Fla., because of her status as a transgender woman, Susan Stanton has comeunder fire from transgender activists, who have called her a sell-out totheir cause.
In a series of developments that would have been unthinkable just monthsago, Stanton's perceived status as a positive role model for the transgendercommunity has soured, with transgender activists expressing outrage over arecent newspaper article quoting her as calling trans people "men indresses." Stanton says the article misrepresented her views.
But Stanton remains firm in her support for gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)and the Human Rights Campaign, over their controversial decision to back anemployment non-discrimination bill (ENDA) for gays that excludes protectionsfor trans people. Frank and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)have said there weren't enough votes to pass a trans-inclusive bill and thatmoving ahead with a gay-only version would make it easier to pass atrans-inclusive bill sometime later.
"I think we need to do a whole lot more educating before we're going to beable to realistically have the support on the national level to get thispassed," Stanton said of a trans-inclusive measure. "I personally don't feeldenying the rights of one group should be perpetuated unless everybody hasthose rights," she told the Blade.
Stanton became the subject of international news coverage last February whenthen Steve Stanton, 48, a husband and father of a teenage boy, announced hewas transitioning into a woman. At the time, Stanton presided over 1,000employees as city manager of Largo, a conservative, Republican-leaning townof 76,000 on Florida's Gulf Coast. Stanton had held the position for 14years.
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Gay.com
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2008/01/15/2
Spain's leader cites gay rights in re-election bid
published Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Spanish government called general elections for March 9, formallylaunching Monday what is shaping up as a close race between the rulingSocialists and opposition conservatives.
The Cabinet approved a decree at a special meeting, and Prime Minister JoseLuis Rodriguez Zapatero met later with King Juan Carlos to have the monarchformally sign it.
Zapatero is seeking a second term after being elected in March 2004elections that ousted a conservative government devastated by the Madridterror bombings by Muslim extremists. The attack killed 191 people andinjured more than 1,800.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Zapatero gave his government a glowing reviewon the state of the economy, social legislation such as legalization ofsame-sex marriage and other achievements. He said he will ask voters foranother term.
"We have a great country. We are a great country. We deserve the best offutures and we are prepared for it," Zapatero said.
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SLTrib.com
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7946954?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Spirit world
Survey: 'Unchurched' Americans say church is 'full of hypocrites'
Compiled by Tribune wire services
Article Last Updated: 01/11/2008 07:06:17 PM MST
Almost three-quarters of Americans who haven't darkened the door of a churchin the past six months think it is ''full of hypocrites,'' and even more ofthem consider Christianity to be more about organized religion than aboutloving God and people, according to a new survey.
Almost half those surveyed - 44 percent - agreed that ''Christians get on mynerves.''
But the survey of ''unchurched'' Americans by LifeWay Research also foundthat some 78 percent said they would be willing to listen to someone whowanted to tell them about his or her Christian beliefs. Researchers,affiliated with the Southern Baptists' LifeWay Christian Resources, defined''unchurched'' as Christians who haven't attended church in six months aswell as non-Christians such as Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.
The findings echoed a previous study by The Barna Group that found the vastmajority of young non-Christians view Christianity as anti-gay, judgmentaland hypocritical.
The study was based on an overall sample of 1,402 adults who wereinterviewed by phone in 2007, including 900 ages 18-29 and 502 age 30 andolder. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
- Religion News Service
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BizJournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2008/01/14/story3.html
Alabama absent from gay/lesbian 'best places to work' studyBirmingham
Business Journal
- by Crystal Jarvis Staff
cjarvis@bizjournals.com | (205) 443-5630
Friday, January 11, 2008
No Alabama-based companies rank as an ideal place for gays and lesbians towork, according to a recently released survey.
Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender civil rights organization released its annualreport dubbed "The Best Places to Work for GLBT Equality," which recognizescompanies with more than 500 employees that offer same-sex partner benefits,diversity training, gender identity protection and sponsor gay and lesbiancommunity events.
Alabama companies did not rank because many failed to respond to the surveysmailed out by the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said Eric Bloem, theHuman Rights Campaign Foundation's deputy director of its Workplace Project.
Not responding to the surveys can indicate that the particular companiesdon't offer specific programs catered to gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender workers, Bloem said.
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SouthTownStar.com
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/740943,011508homophobia.article
Experts to schools: Gay issues crucial
by david schwab, staff writer
January 15, 2008
School violence - including shootings, teasing and bullying - will continueacross the country until education leaders take a closer look at gay,lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues that affect young people, an expertat the University of Illinois at Chicago said.
Patrick Finnessy, director of gay, lesbian and transgender concerns at UIC,delivered this message to a group of about 30 teachers, counselors and otheryouth advocates from across the Southland on Friday at Governors StateUniversity in University Park.
The seminar was part of the national Safe Zone workshop series.
Of all the recent school shootings across the country, Finnessy said in aninterview Monday, "100 percent of the perpetrators were taunted or mockedfor being gay or effeminate," he said.
"Until schools look at this issue, this violence will continue," he said.
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dailyutahchronicle.com
http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2008/01/14/News/Lgbtq.Recruitment.Day.A.Dud-3150895.shtml
LGBTQ recruitment day a dud: Organizers say high schools discouragedattendance
By: Adam Fifield
Posted: 1/14/08
Only one high school student showed up for the Lesbian Gay BisexualTransgender and Queer High School Conference held on Saturday, but that wasan improvement from last year when no students attended the event.
Last year's conference, held in March, met resistance from Utah's schooldistricts, particularly Jordan School District, which circulated an e-maildiscouraging administrators from advertising the event.
The reasons for this year's low turnout evaded Cathy Martinez, director ofthe LGBT Resource Center, but she insisted exposure to the conference, whichis only in its third year, will eventually reach out to the community andboost numbers.
"We still have a lot of potential," Martinez said.
For this year's conference, the resource center recruited the help of DanCairo, who works for the U's High School Recruitment Center.
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GayWired.com
http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=132&id=17786
Examining the Ban on Gay Blood
By Dylan Vox
01.14.08
Since 1983, The Food and Drug Administration has placed an absolute ban onblood donations from men who have sex with other men. In the height of atime when "killer blood" was circulating through the blood supply, thegovernment and the public panicked, and a disease sweeping the gay communityseemed to warrant a lifetime ban.
This month, however, a California bill passed the senate, which would allowHIV positive men to donate sperm if they meet certain requirements. Thelegislation would allow "washed" sperm to be donated to impregnateconsenting women.
While the bill may seem like a progressive move on the part of thegovernment, it is primarily only targeted at straight men who are wanting toproduce a family, instead of a lift on the ban against gays
The government's gay scare began in 1981, when physicians in San Franciscoand New York City began to see a pattern of unusual infections and cancersin young and otherwise healthy active homosexual men.
Originally thought to be contracted through the use of inhalants and otherstimuli, the unknown virus--a collection of symptoms such as upperrespiratory tract infections, pulmonary tuberculosis, severe weight loss,and lesions--resulted from damage to the immune system.
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Reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN13371758
Drug-resistant staph passed in gay sex -US study
By Amanda Beck
Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:00pm EST
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - A drug-resistant strain of potentiallydeadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is beingtransmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said on Monday.
They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginningto appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and LosAngeles.
Sexually active gay men in San Francisco are 13 times more likely to beinfected than their heterosexual neighbors, the researchers reported in theAnnals of Internal Medicine.
"Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable,"said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Franciscowho led the study. "That's why we're trying to spread the message ofprevention."
According to chemical analyses, bacteria are spreading among the gaycommunities of San Francisco and Boston, the researchers said.
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AfterElton.com
http://www.afterelton.com/people/2008/1/gaypeopleschoice_voting/1
The Gay People's Choice Awards: Voting is open!
by AfterElton.com Staff
January 13, 2008
Fans of film, television and music find themselves at the start of whatcould possibly be a very boring awards season. For one thing, the writers'strike has put the kibosh on nominees actually attending awards ceremonies.The Golden Globes, set to air last night, were canceled. The People's ChoiceAwards tried to get by with pre-taped acceptance speeches last week - andlost half its usual television audience. And even if the writers' strikeweren't playing havoc with the awards shows, the GLBT community doesn'texactly have a lot to root for given how sparse 2007 was in terms of gayvisibility.
But just because there wasn't much award-worthy gay-specific entertainment,that doesn't mean that gay (and gay-friendly!) viewers don't have opinionson what should be recognized for general excellence in the past year.
Like the People's Choice Awards, we thought we'd ask the public (well, ourpublic at least) to vote on what they considered the best of 2007. Call itthe Gay People's Choice Awards.
We're asking you to vote on your favorites in the traditional movie,television, music, and internet categories, but at the end we've includedseveral gay-specific categories that you won't find covered anywhere elsethis awards season!
For each category we've assembled what we consider to be the top fivecontenders, but if your favorite isn't listed never fear - write-incandidates are allowed.
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HoustonVoice.com
http://www.houstonvoice.com/blog/index.cfm?blog_id=16011
Documentary series to air 'Wide Stance'
'In the Life,' a documentary series that tells stories about people andissues shaping the gay experience, now has their January episode up, forstreaming online, titled 'Wide Stance.'
'Wide Stance' focuses on entrapment, or Sen. Larry Craig's defense in thebathroom sex scandal that swept last year's news. The show will focus onissues around public sex laws, historic inconsistencies in how they'reenforced from state to state and among various groups.
You can watch the full show here.
http://www.inthelifetv.org/promo/1704_pre.mov
'In the Life' is a three-time Emmy Award nominee and winner of various gaymedia awards.
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