GLBT DIGEST April 22, 2008

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Steve Rothaus
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/steve_rothaus/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Jamaica Observer advice column: Reader asks, 'Is my son gay?'
I found this item today on The Jamaica Observer's All Woman page. What doyou think of this advice? Please comment and share your opinions.
Is my son gay?Monday, April 21, 2008
Dear RB,
My son is seven and is displaying tendencies that I am not comfortable with.
He wants to play with his sisters' dolls, and allows the girls to dress himup in hair clips and paint his nails. I became enraged the other day when Isaw him dancing ballet while watching TV. I don't want to stifle him, but Idon't want him to grow up gay either. I want him to play ball, but hedoesn't even want to leave the house barefoot! He's around a lot of womenand I'm the only male influence in his life, unfortunately I work out oftown and only see the family on weekends. How can I turn him around to domanly things? Concerned Father
Dear Concerned father,
Since you have not, I will say it. You can't say that your young son ishaving homosexual tendencies because he likes dolls and plays with hissisters and her friends. I do not think that you can say that you willreverse these inclinations by getting him involved in more manly pursuits. Iknow how frightened you must be if you believe that your son is gay, but mayI say that your son, when he comes to this realisation will also beconcerned. I do not believe that anyone chooses lightly a lifestyle thatexposes him/her to violence, exclusion and ridicule.
You are correctly concerned that you do not spend enough time with your son.
Sons need their fathers to pattern themselves after. They need your help tounderstand how men see and experience the world. This is your job as hisfather, and know this, his mother can't do this. So spend more time withyour son. Learn to love him as he is.
Don't worry about his little boy games, just try to encourage his talentsand help him realise his dreams. Encourage him to be his authentic, trueself. That is the best gift you can give your son. I believe that if you dothis you will learn to love your son, and if the day comes when he must copewith this challenge or any other challenge, he will know that he can counton his father's love and support. If you do not do this and force him tobecome your mirror image, he will ultimately resent you and hate himself fornot loving his father. Try. I know that it is not easy, but you must do thisfor your son. He is depending on you.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2008/04/jamaica-observe.html


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

-Art Project Causes Controversy At Truman High
Anti-Gay Posters Displayed Behind Message Of Love
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A Truman High School senior's art project causedcontroversy Friday. Senior Amy Burrow affixed the words "love conquers all"to the front of a glass case filled with anti-gay poster s designed to looklike the ones used by protesters from Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church.
"I'm happy actually, because at least it involved thought," Burrow said. "Atleast it got them to stop and look at it." She spent two weeks working onthe project for her 3D art class. She was at the school until 10 p.m.Thursday, keeping the project a secret from students until Friday morning.
http://www.kctv5.com/news/15928001/detail.html


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

-Decision Day In Pennsylvania
(Blue Bell, Pennsylvania) Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked Pearl Harbor, theBerlin Wall and Osama bin Laden as she reached for a victory today inPennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary to recharge her comebackeffort.

-Pa. Demographics Can Be Misleading
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Older, whiter and more female than the nationas a whole, Pennsylvania looks like Hillary Rodham Clinton country.
Wealthier, better educated and more African American than the rest of thestate, Pennsylvania's thickly settled southeast corner could belong toBarack Obama.

-Military Using Convicted Felons To Replace Drummed Out Gays
(Washington) Newly released data show that the Army and the Marine Corp,under pressure to increase their numbers, have sharply raised the number ofrecruits who have felony convictions.

-Vt. Commission Makes No Recommendation On Gay Marriage
(Montpelier, Vermont) A state commission on Vermont's civil union lawsubmitted its report to the legislature on Monday but made norecommendations on revising the law to allow for same-sex marriage.

-Bill To Expand Colorado Gay Bias Law Advances
(Denver, Colorado) Legislation to ban discrimination against gays andlesbians in housing and credit in Colorado is expected to go to the Housethis week after a raucous debate in the Senate.


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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
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-All Politics Is Local
Senator Obama has taken a targeted approach to LGBT outreach at differenttimes in this race. Now if he would just apply the same philosophy to gaymedia.
http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid53588.asp

-Targeted Vandalization Not a Hate Crime in Oklahoma
After a night of partying in Oklahoma City, a gay resident returned to hiscar outside the Copa nightclub to find that it and several others had beenvandalized. Carber, as the man prefers to be identified, was with a friendthe night of April 12 when he discovered that the passenger-side window ofhis car had been smashed in with a cement block, which had a note attachedto it that read, "fag." Carber's car was the only one with such a note, henoted to police.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid53592.asp

-Obama Flush With Cash While Clinton Struggles With Debts
Barack Obama began the month of April with a 5-1 cash advantage over adebt-saddled Hillary Rodham Clinton, setting the stage for his lopsidedspending in the crucial primary state of Pennsylvania.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid53574.asp

-Seeking LGBTs to Serve the Next Administration
The Victory Fund begins vetting those interested in working for the nextpresident with far more applicants than when the process first took place inthe '90s.
http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid53573.asp


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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
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-Harrah's Named National Presenting Sponsor for the 19th Annual GLAAD MediaAwards in Los Angeles
The Harrah's Foundation is the presenting sponsor of the 19th Annual GLAADMedia Awards along with AT&T in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre onSaturday, April 26, 2008. The Harrah's Foundation donated a philanthropiccontribution of $150,000 in recognition of the critical work done by Gay &Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

-National Day of Silence to be Held in Record 6,000 Schools on Friday
Students from a record 6,000 middle and high schools have registered asparticipants in GLSEN's 12th annual National Day of Silence on Friday tobring attention to anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. The event is being heldthis year in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old from Oxnard, Calif., whowas shot and killed in school on Feb. 12 because of his sexual orientationand gender expression.

-PDA With A Purpose
Friday afternoon students in the Saluki Rainbow Network had more on theiragenda in the Student Center than enjoying a McDonald's value meal. A"Kiss-in" was staged to see public reaction to public displays of affectionbetween students in the Rainbow Network. Three couples moved around thefirst floor of the Student Center, holding hands and stopping to kissperiodically.

-UNICEF Backs Off Tongan HIV Role Claim
UNICEF, which carries out the United Nations HIV and AIDS work in the SouthPacific, has today backed down from over-stating its role in the drafting ofwhat it then incorrectly claimed is Tonga's first HIV Strategy. Meanwhile,Tonga's main HIV/AIDS organisation, founded by glbt people in the islandKingdom, has welcomed the continued inclusion of sexual minorities in whatis in fact a draft of Tonga's second HIV Strategy which will soon bepresented to the Tongan government, but is concerned that it was notconsulted about input into the detail of the Strategy.

-Breaking Out of the Glass Closet
'I am not a leather daddy. I am not a twink boy. But hey, I'm always up foradventure," says Charlie David, his perfect grin flashing. A twink boy is abarely legal gay boy. (I had to look it up.) The gay world has long had itsown lingo. But who knew it had its own travel show, too? Many people, itturns out. According to its publicists, Bump! is "the world's most watchedgay and lesbian travel series and Canada's most successful gay TV showexport." Its third season launched in February on the Canadian digital cablechannel OUTtv, as well as international outlets. It is also available onDVD.

-Gay and Lesbian Adults Are Reading and Responding to More Blogs ThanHeterosexuals
According to a recent national survey conducted by Harris Interactive®, gayand lesbian adults online are reading more blogs than their heterosexualcounterparts. When asked, just over half (51 percent) of the gay and lesbianrespondents reported reading some type of blog, compared to 36 percent ofheterosexual adults. A similar question on blog readership also was asked inNovember 2006, and at that time 32 percent of gay and lesbian adults thenreported reading blogs.


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

-A special commission appointed by legislative leaders to study same-sexmarriage stopped just short in its final report Monday of recommending thatthe state become the second in the country -- after Massachusetts -- toallow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

-The day had finally dawned. After 12 years of being girlfriend andgirlfriend, Holly Miller and P.R. Banks were getting married. Dressed in acream trouser suit with a sparkly pink top, Holly, 44, looked radiant as sheadjusted a silver tiara on her highlighted hair. P.R., who won't reveal herage, looked equally serene, wearing a traditional wedding gown with amatching tiara perched atop her elegant blonde bun.

-The sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sexmarriage in California said Monday they have gathered enough signatures toqualify the measure for the November ballot.
A coalition of religious groups called Protect Marriage collected more than1.1 million signatures in support of the amendment, said Brian Brown,executive director of the California office of the National Organization forMarriage.

-UCLA: As Tom Keegan and Davidson Lloyd declared "I do" in front ofapproximately a hundred spectators in Bruin Plaza on Friday, they provided aglimpse of a possible future in which same-sex couples enjoy full maritalrights. The Student Coalition for Marriage Equality created a lavish settingof purple and black for its Fourth Annual Same-Sex Wedding Ceremony. Keeganand Lloyd stood with their daughter, Connor Keegan-Lloyd, to exchange vowsin celebration of their 31 years together.

-Deb Price: My nominee for best ex-actor in a very supportive role: ArnoldSchwarzenegger. In a few simple sentences, the muscular Republican governorof California did some heroically heavy lifting for all Americans whobelieve in equal marriage rights for those of us who're gay. Asked at thegay Log Cabin Republicans' recent national convention whether he would jointhem in opposing a proposed California ballot initiative that would prohibitgay couples there from achieving marriage equality, Schwarzenegger began,"First of all, I think that (such a ban) would never happen in Californiabecause I think California people are much further along on that issue."
Then, as every heart in the room skipped a beat, he delivered some of themost important lines of his career: " And, No. 2, I will always be there tofight against that -- because it should never happen."


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

-Pope reinforces conservative values at the end of US tour
Pope Benedict XVI has concluded his six-day visit to the United States witha speech that spoke against abortion and gay marriage. Before a crowd ofover 60,000 people, he ended his first visit to the United States.

-Royal gay sex blackmail tape played in secret
The Old Bailey today heard a tape recording that contains claims that a malemember of the Royal family performed a gay sex act on an employee, known aswitness D. Members of the press and the public were ordered to leave thecourt room before the judge allowed the tape to be played.

-There are no gays in football claims Italian club official
A former managing director of one of the world's best-known football clubshas claimed that "a homosexual cannot do the job of a footballer." LucianoMoggi, formerly with Juventus, is banned from football until 2011.

-Uruguay's first gay union, four months after they became legal
In the South American nation of Uruguay, a new law granting cohabitingcouples who have lived together for more than five years the same rights asstraight married couples was signed into law in December.

-European Commission abandons gay discrimination directive
Opposition from Germany and other member states means that European Unioncitizens will not be protected by an EU directive from discrimination on thegrounds of sexual orientation. The BBC has learned that only disability willbe covered by the new directive.


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Forwarded from Euro-Queer
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article:

-Homophobic singer Bounty Killer is facing ruin after cities across Europerefused to host his concerts. London should have done the same
By PeterTatchell
Anti-gay Jamaican "murder music" singer, Bounty Killer, is facing financialmeltdown as his European tour is besieged by protests and concertcancellations. Despite the shameful collusion of the Metropolitan Policewith this notorious "kill gays" singer, Bounty Killer's UK tour datesoutside ofLondon - in Bradford and Birmingham - were axed, losing himthousands of pounds in performance fees. In Germany, Bounty Killer'sconcerts in Dortmund, Essen and Berlin were also cancelled; together withhis gig in Antwerp, Belgium. In contrast to the appeasement of the HomeOffice and the Metropolitan Police, the German government has announced thatBounty Killer and other singers who advocate violence and murder will, infuture, be refused visas.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2008/04/not_making_a_killing.html

-Brussels abandons plans to protect gays and lesbians
The European Commission has abandoned its plans to protect gays and lesbiansagainst discrimination under pressure from Germany. An anti-discriminationbill against all forms of discrimination on the grounds laid out in Article13 of the Amsterdam Treaty had been announced as part of the commission'swork programme for 2008. However, the European executive is now retreatingto the safe grounds of focussing solely on disability protection. Thecommission is afraid that more conservative member states will endanger theunanimity needed by member states. In its first public interview on thesubject, the commission confirmed to the BBC Parliament channel'sEurope-specialist programme, The Record: Europe what gay rights campaignersand many MEPs had feared would happen. "The commission would still preferto have a 'horizontal' directive that covers all the discrimination groundsin all the areas that are not covered yet," said Jan Jarab of thecommission's employment department in the interview.
http://euobserver.com/9/26023


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From Mark Haines - Mark's List
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/MSFL/2008/042108.htm

-Florida: St. Petersburg Pride 2008
St Pete Pride and Street Festival is billed as the largest Gay and LesbianPride celebration in Florida. Attendance at the June 2008 event is expectedto exceed 80,000 people. Last year's attendance topped 70,000. Thisspectacular event includes a Street Festival in St Pete's beautiful downtownthat has spectacular views of Tampa Bay and the world famous St PetersburgPier. Don't miss this incredible annual event.
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/st_petersburg_pride/2008/index1.htm

-Stonewall Street Festival
Saturday June 21 and Sunday 22nd, 2008
Gay and Lesbian Pride on the Streets of Wilton Manors, Florida
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/stonewall/2008/index1.htm


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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article

-Sexuality & the Law Vol. 1 No. 1, 04/15/2008
The first issue of the abstract series on Sexuality and Law is out - seebelow. It is open to scholars outside the legal academy who write aboutlaw. Could you circulate and/or announce to the LGBT poli sci network?
Although subscriptions to SSRN are not as widespread for poli scidepartments as for law schools, the law professor readership is enormous.
For anyone who wants to have his/her work read by those in the legalacademy, this is a tremendous opportunity, and I very much want it to beinter-disciplinary. Registration and uploads are free at http://hq.ssrn.com/.

-Campus Pride Founder Receives 2008 National "Voice of Inclusion" Medallionfrom ACPA
Because of his commitment to social justice, education development andtraining, Campus Pride founder andexecutive director, Shane L. Windmeyer, has been honored with the 2008 Voiceof Inclusion Medallion from the ACPA - College Educators International(American College Personnel Association). The Voice of Inclusion Medallionrecognizes an individual for their exemplary campus-based programs in thefield of Higher Education and Student Affairs. In addition, the award isbestowed to recipients who have responded to an assessed need in the areasof multiculturalism and diversity through well-developed, meaningfulprograms and practice.


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