GLBT DIGEST April 14, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Papal Visit Provokes Array of Protests
NEW YORK (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI may not see them or hear them, butaggrieved Roman Catholic activists hope his U.S. visit this week will helpthem draw attention to issues ranging from the ordination of women and gayrights to sex abuse by priests and the Vatican ban on contraception.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Pope-Protests.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gay&st=nyt&oref=slogin

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Washington Post
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-POPE BENEDICT XVI IN AMERICA
As Visit Nears, Sexual Abuse Victims Group Plans Protest
A decade ago, Toni McMorrow and her husband might have joined in the prayerand pageantry of the pope's visit to Washington. But now, she says, BenedictXVI's arrival and the throngs who will cheer him are "like daggers cuttinginto our broken hearts."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041302369.html?hpid=sec-religion

-McCain: More Conservative Than His Image
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The independent label sticks to John McCain because heantagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats.
But a different label applies to his actual record: conservative.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-McCain-the-Conservative.html?scp=4&sq=gay&st=nyt

-Senator Vitter Won't Testify in Sex Case
WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter will not have to testify about his ties toan upscale Washington escort service, a defense attorney said Monday,sparing the Louisiana Republican an embarrassing trip to the witness stand.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041400773.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Breast Cancer Vaccine Works Against Deadlier Form of Disease
SUNDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- A breast cancer vaccine significantlyreduced the risk of recurrence for patients who have a high expression ofthe protein HER2-neu.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041301616.html?hpid=sec-health


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-State's gay Republicans fine with McCain
The log cabin is a tricky place -- gay Republicans often must temper theirparty allegiance or risk self-ostracizing. Thanks to Washington's civilunion bill signed March 12, however, conservative gay partners not only havea host of new rights but a new lease on their vote come November.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/358749_firstperson14.html


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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Clinton, Obama Target Faith Voters
(Grantham, Pennsylvania) Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sundaythat the potential for life begins at conception as she and presidentialrival Sen. Barack Obama answered questions about faith and religion in boththeir personal lives and the public discourse.

-Democrats Sue McCain
(Washington) Democratic Party officials want a federal judge to order aninvestigation into whether Sen. John McCain violated election laws bywithdrawing from public financing, saying federal regulators are too weak toact on their own.

-War Weighs Heavily In Minds Of Pa. Voters
(Allentown, Pennsylvania) For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama,vital to getting the edge in military service-oriented but war-wearyPennsylvania is figuring out how to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq withoutdragging the flag in the process.

-Gay Foes Target Marriott Over Adult Movies
(Tupelo, Mississippi) Several conservative groups, including the AmericanFamily Association, are asking Marriott International Inc. to stop givinghotel guests the option of ordering pay-per-view movies with strong sexualcontent - gay and straight.


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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Is Lindsey Graham Gay?
At 52, the life-long bachelor has been fodder for such rumors for years, butwith the resignation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho - the anti-gay politicianwho pled guilty to disorderly conduct after allegedly soliciting sex in anairport men's room - the internet is abuzz over who's next, and they'redying to know what's going on in Graham's bedroom. Is it the latest graspfor the light switch in South Carolina's powerful political closet? Or theinevitable labeling of "closet-clinging self-hater" that befalls any contentbachelor?

-Gay Student Partners Banned From Dance
One of Brisbane's most prestigious all-boy schools says it's willing todebate a ban on gay students taking same-sex partners instead of girls tothe senior formal. The Anglican Church Grammar School, or Churchie, was indefence mode after it emerged several Year 12 students wanted to take theirgay partners to the college's end-of year dance on June 19.

-Get This Straight: I Love You, Man
In a 2007 episode of NBC's Scrubs, the show's main characters, J.D. andTurk, break into a musical duet proclaiming their mutual affection. "Guylove. That's all it is," the song goes. "Guy love, he's mine, I'm his.
There's nothing gay about it in our eyes." Turk and J.D. are two straightmale doctors who are, without a doubt, in a bromance, a relationship definedas "the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males,"according to urbandictionary .com.

-Homosexuals Want Pope to Bless Sodomy
Per Religion News Service's(1) Jonathan Rubin, homosexuals want PopeBenedict to honor their homosexual lifestyle. They say they want to beCatholic while at the same time practice sodomy. Who do these people thinkthey are anyhow?

-City's Gay Prejudice That Dare Not Speak Its Name
The only known lesbian on the board of a top City of London company blamesbusiness leaders today for the climate of fear that forces corporate gays tokeep their sexuality secret. Ashley Steel, from the accountancy giant KPMG,believes that gay people in the Square Mile are scared that their careerswill be blighted if they are open about their orientation. She admittedhaving lied at work about a ring given by her long-term lover, pretendingthat it came from her grandmother, to conceal her lesbianism from hercolleagues.

-Wilson Cruz, Among Others, Honored at 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards inSouth Florida
Jai Rodriguez, Teresa Rodriguez, Ivy Queen and Frank Cairo were among theguests who joined the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) asit honored actor Wilson Cruz and the best in Spanish-language media lastnight at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in South Florida.

-Bryan Fuller Reveals the Gay "Pushing Daisies" Character, Steals Our Hearts
Stuff you should know about Bryan Fuller: He hates Queer as Folk. He has "ahuge lesbian agenda". His beautifully written, eye-popping pilot for ABC'sPushing Daisies was named one of the 10 best television broadcasts of 2007by The Washington Post.


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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-For the typical young teen growing up in the Baby Boom generation, earningan allowance might involve some weed pulling, dish scrubbing or maybedetailing the family's sedan. But when your mother was Dear Abby creatorPauline Phillips, chores became a lot more interesting. Jeanne Phillipsclearly remembers her first allowance conversation with her mother, when shewas 14 and the family lived in Hillsborough. The advice column that hadstarted in The San Francisco Chronicle in the mid-1950s was still growing inpopularity. "I went to my mom with my hand out for money and she said, 'What are you going to do for it?' " Phillips remembers. "We didn't need anyone to clearthe table or dust. There was already somebody doing that. She said, 'I havean idea. I get lots of mail from teenagers. Why don't I select some for youand you can answer them? And if they're good, I'll sign them, and if they'renot, you can do them over.' That's how I started."

-SANTA FE-The number of same-sex couples in New Mexico has increased about35 percent between 2000 and 2005, a study released last week showed.
Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law foundNew Mexico in 2005 was home to 6,063 same-sex couples. Of those couples, 27percent were raising children, the study found. Chuck Jones and his partner,Richard Parker, who have adopted two sons, have seen evidence of moresame-sex couples who have families at his son's school. They were the onlysame-sex couple at the school five years ago. Now, there are two othercouples like them.

-Textbook - Texas: Talk about a civics lesson: A high school senior hasraised questions about political bias in a popular textbook on U.S.government, and legal scholars and top scientists say the teen's criticismis well founded. .... Another part of the book that the report criticizesdeals with a Supreme Court decision overturning a Texas law banning sexualcontact between people of the same sex. The authors wrote that the SupremeCourt decision had a "benefit" and a "cost." The benefit, it said, was tostrike down a rarely enforced law that could probably not be passed today,while the cost was to "create the possibility that the court, and notCongress or state legislatures, might decide whether same-sex marriages werelegal." Derek Araujo, the report's author, said that's a matter of opinionand that gay rights activists, for example, see it differently. "The majorproblem with this is they describe the costs and benefits of the system in avery political way," he said.

-Italy will hold general elections Sunday and Monday, with 32 candidatesrunning for prime minister.
Two-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, who heads the center-right People ofFreedom party (PDL), and former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, leader of thecenter-left Democratic Party (PD), are the two main contenders for the post.


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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Pressure grows on EU over discrimination directive
The European Commission has been urged by several leading groups in theEuropean Parliament to implement a discrimination directive that coverssexual orientation. There have been strong indications from CommissionPresident Jose Manual Barroso and employment, social affairs and equalopportunities commissioner Vladimir Spidla that the directive may focus ondisability only. Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty, covering race andemployment directives, requires EU member states to introduce legislation tooutlaw unfair discrimination.
click here for the full article

-Wales may get "ex-gay" ministry
The controversial fundamentalist Christian Stephen Green has hinted that thecontroversial movement that encourages people to "pray away the gay" andbecome straight could be established in Wales. Mr Green, who is notoriousfor his protests at gay Pride events, made his remarks in a BBC Walescurrent affairs programme, Week In, Week Out. While being interviewed by Hfrom Steps, also known as Ian Watkins, he told the former pop star, who cameout in 2007, that he could "walk away" from homosexuality.
click here for the full article


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From Deb Price

-Legal unions still have shortfalls for gays
The couple's move from New Jersey to Idaho was to help Robert Ryan breakfree of the dark depression he'd sunk into after narrowly escaping thecollapse of the World Trade Center tower where he'd worked until the Sept.11 terror attacks. Ryan was on the health insurance of his partner, Ralph Martinelli, a district sales manager for Konica Minolta Business Solutions. They'd fallenin love in 2004 and entered into a domestic partnership in Mount Laurel,N.J., the next year.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080414/OPINION03/804140327/1008

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Wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Gay pride or LGBT pride refers to a world wide movement and philosophyasserting that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals should beproud of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Gay pride advocateswork for equal "rights and benefits" for LGBT people.[1][2][3] The movementhas three main premises: that people should be proud of their sexualorientation and gender identity, that sexual diversity is a gift, and thatsexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot beintentionally altered.[4] Marches celebrating Pride (pride parades) arecelebrated worldwide. Symbols of LGBT pride include the rainbow flag, theGreek lambda symbol,and the pink as well as black triangles reclaimed fromtheir past use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_pride

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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Go to the links for the following articles:

-NEW YORK GOV. DAVID PATERSON 'HELD HOSTAGE' TO ALBANY BUDGET PROCESS, SENDS
EXTRAORDINARY MESSAGE TO LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ADVOCATES
"We will push on until we bring full marriage equality to New York state."
Gov. David Paterson addressed a standing-room-only audience at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's New York Leadership Awards last night, in which he was honored for his longstanding work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
http://www.outinnyc.com/home/news.asp?articleid=31914

-A Historic Democratic Primary in North Carolina?
The mainstream press is giving increasing coverage to the grassroots primarycampaign of openly gay North Carolina Democratic Senate nominee Jim Neal.
Special attention has been paid to the way Neal has used the Internet toraise funds and compete against Democratic rival, state Sen. Kay Hagan, whohas the support of party leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer. Ever since HowardDean utilized the netroots in his '04 presidential bid to raise money andgalvanize voters the media have increasingly focused on how the Internet ischanging the political process. It has been a consistent theme for Sen.Barack Obama's campaign, especially in talking about how he has been able toengage young voters. Now we are starting to see more stories of openly gaycandidates, like Neal, who are utilizing online technologies to challengethe party establishment.
http://glaadorg.nexcess.net/2008/04/a-historic-democratic-primary.html

-HRW's Long-Awaited Gay Iran Report: Not Available for Public Inspecton
Where is the Human Rights Watch report on Iranian gays promised in thesummer of 2006, as gay advocates in dozens of world cities, includingTehran, were preparing for a global day of solidarity with gay Iranians andagainst the death penalty?
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/

-Can't pray it away - I'm gay to stay By Victoria Lavin
I am a survivor of the harmful and dangerous techniques used by the ex-gaymovement. Until eight years ago, I had spent my life in deep denial that Icould change my identity as a lesbian. I was raised Catholic, and I rememberhearing, from a young age, that my life, my identity, was unacceptable toGod. The devastation that followed in trying to change to satisfy my familyand church led me to self-hatred and destruction. When I heard that MikeHaley was coming to Hastings College to spread the damaging lies of "ex-gay"reparative therapy, I was upset. I don't want students to buy into Haley's"message."
For 30 years of my life, I hated myself. I struggled with trying tochange my orientation. I ended up with a life that was not totally open,honest and loving to others and myself. I tried prayer in the most intensemanner. I have tried to be celibate, tried to live as heterosexual. It ledme to a hell I do not wish to return to. The harder I tried to change, themore deeply I fell into the trap of drugs and alcohol. The church taughtthat being gay was a sin and that I could not be in a relationship with Godbecause I was a lesbian. I found things that have been distorted forgenerations about being gay and the context in which it was being discussedin the Bible passages which the "ex-gay" industry often misquote. I havecome to an internal peace that God created me for a time and purpose. Hecreated me to be exactly what I am. I found that man places the rules on us,but God accepts me just the way I am. It's important that people know thetruth of my experiences so they don't head down the same self-destructivepath. I get upset when such claims have been made that there is a cure forhomosexuality when there is not. All these ministries do is tear upfamilies, lives and individuals. I give my message freely to all who willlisten. I started doing drugs and alcohol to cover up the pain and hurt thatI felt; I even attempted suicide while I was in college. I was in arelationship with my daughter's father for several years but nothingchanged. I was still a lesbian.
Today, I am living in Nebraska with my daughter and have been active inthe gay community on local and national levels. I am no longer strugglingwith my orientation or my spiritual journey. I have discovered that God doesnot live or exist by man's rules but his own. I came out of the denial whenI was recovering from my addictions. I found after being sober I still hadthese feelings and they did not just disappear after I stopped drinking andtaking drugs. I learned "to thyself own self be true."
Victoria A. Lavin
Beatrice, Nebraska

-Faith-based Eviction?
Gay man says Baptist-run shelter kicked him out of rehab program forattending Cathedral of Hope
A local gay man says he was kicked out of a drug rehabilitation program atNorth Texas' largest homeless shelter for attending the Cathedral of Hope.
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_8598.php

-Why Ex-Gay Survivors?
Over at the Gay Christian Network I received a thoughtful private messagewith a series of questions that I have heard before (but not quite soeloquently presented.
http://a_musing.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-ex-gay-survivors.html

-Protesters disrupt ex-gay speaker at Georgia State
Richard Cohen, founder of the International Healing Foundation, made apresentation on "Transitioning from Homosexual to Heterosexual" to anaudience comprised of 50-plus gay and lesbian protesters and about 20supporters of his "Freedom to Choose" theories at Georgia State UniversityApril 4, 1991.
http://www.southernvoice.com/2008/4-11/locallife/flashback/8388.cfm

-We're just about tolerated: Pakistani American gay activist
Chicago, April 14 (IANS) Being an openly gay Muslim is not easy, says
Pakistani American poet and activist Ifti Nasim who is now the subject of aBBC documentary. Ever an iconoclast, Chicago-based Nasim has on severaloccasions outraged the Muslim community through his poetry and columns.
Accolades have been a little late in coming to him, but Nasim expressed hispleasure at the latest honour - the BBC film.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/were-just-about-tolerated-pakistani-american-gay-activist_10037683.html

-Living with HIV long-term raises concerns
10.00PM: News that the quality of life of people infected with HIV hassignificantly improved in recent years is being welcomed by the AIDSFoundation, but the organisation harbours concerns for the future regardingthe effects of living long-term with the virus and toxic medications and apossible link to sudden deaths amongst long-term HIV positive men.
http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_5808.php

-Haley, Lavin talk tolerance under scrutiny
Mike Haley spoke to an overfilled chapel Monday night on his experiencesentering and exiting the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender community.
Forty-eight hours later, Victoria Lavin of Beatrice, Nebr., spoke to no morethan 50 people on her experiences of realizing and accepting her ownhomosexuality.
http://www.hcworldnews.com/story.cfm?content_id=1848

-Tolerance means separation from Bible
I typically start a column by sharing a similar experience in hopes to findcommon ground with you, the readers.
Today, I am starting with a quote.
http://www.hcworldnews.com/story.cfm?content_id=1937

-SUNY students take on FDA blood policy
AU group supports end to blood donations ban
Student leaders at the State University of New York at Binghamton are urgingtheir university to rethink its relationship with the American Red Cross,which enforces a Food and Drug Administration policy banning men who havesex with other men from donating blood.
http://media.www.theeagleonline.com/media/storage/paper666/news/2008/04/14/News/Suny-Students.Take.On.Fda.Blood.Policy-3322137.shtml

-No day of absence
It's not OK to skip school to avoid ideas you disagree with
No.
That's the answer Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools should give to those whowant excused absences for students who stay out of school in protest of the"National Day of Silence" April 25. On that day some students won't talkduring school as a protest of harassment of gay students.
http://www.charlotte.com/171/story/576071.html

-Gay sexpert: Do you have a sexual disorder?
I have to warn you, this column has a sharp edge to it. I guess I can get onmy high horse when sex gets misrepresented. Case in point -- thepsychological community has a manual called, The Diagnostic and StatisticalManual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which helps therapists determine differentmental illnesses and how to treat them. It contains a list of "sexualdisorders" called "paraphilias."
http://www.planetout.com/news/roundups/package.html?sernum=6394&navpath=/channels/health/sexuality/

-Hispanics Shine In S. Fla. GLAAD Media Awards
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (CBS4) ? Hollywood Florida played host to the 19th AnnualGLAAD Media Awards, honoring bit Hispanic names in the media for the workthey've done supporting and promoting causes of the gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender community (GLBT).
http://cbs4.com/entertainment/GLAAD.Media.Awards.2.698767.html

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