GLBT DIGEST May 4, 2008

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

-Understanding the Temporary Insanity of Adolescence
A MIDDLE school teacher in these parts once warned parents that the teenageyears were a period of "temporary insanity" - meaning that their rapidlyevolving offspring would do things to make them wonder whether common sensewas ever a human attribute, but that parents should also trust that thechildren would grow into more or less self-reliant adults. Every few days,there arrives some confirmation of the madness, the latest a report in TheJournal News that Westchester youngsters are "robotripping" - swallowingdangerous amounts of cough and cold medications (like Robitussin) to get acheap high from stuff they can buy over the counter. Ten youngsters havebeen taken to emergency rooms for detoxification in the past four months,the newspaper reported, including a Pelham 14-year-old who swallowed 50 gelcaps that left him with rocketing blood pressure. Such stories do notsurprise Dr. Ann L. Engelland, a pediatrician specializing in all forms ofadolescent quirkiness.
"Kids are risk takers - that's how they grow," Dr. Engelland said in aninterview. But, she said, there is a difference between risk-taking behaviorand red-flag behavior.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/04colwe.html?_r=1&sq=gay&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=2&pagewanted=print

-Soccer Star's Misadventure Leaves His Fans Smirking
RIO DE JANEIRO - In a city famed for sexual tolerance, the men who shine onthe soccer field are held to a different, more macho standard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/world/americas/04rio.html?scp=4&sq=gay&st=nyt

-The All-White Elephant in the Room
BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, godirectly to YouTube, search for "John Hagee Roman Church Hitler," and berecharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04rich.html?scp=9&sq=gay&st=nyt

-Op-Ed Columnist: The All-White Elephant in the Room
BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, godirectly to YouTube, search for "John Hagee Roman Church Hitler," and berecharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04rich.html?_r=1&scp=10&sq=gay&st=nyt&oref=slogin


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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/

-Gay Rights vs. Religious Rights
A federal judge has ruled that the Georgia Institute of Technology hadmaterials in its office to support gay students that amounted tounconstitutional support for some religious groups over others.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/05/02/gatech


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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-Russia must grab chance to beat AIDS epidemic: U.N.
Russia will undo good progress in combating HIV/AIDS and miss the chance tostem the epidemic if it does not offer more help to people who injectthemselves with drugs, U.N. AIDS chief Peter Piot said on Saturday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050301316.html

-Methodists Struggle To Reflect Diversity
African and Asian Congregations Are on the Rise
Once the epitome of Main Street, U.S.A., the United Methodist Church israpidly becoming an increasingly international family.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050203416.html


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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
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-Methodists defy rules on gays
More than 200 Methodists attended a lesbian couple's commitment ceremonyFriday in defiance of a vote to uphold a church rule that says gayrelationships are "incompatible with Christian teaching."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flamethodists0305pnmay03,0,5048960.story


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
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-White politicos have their own pulpit gasbags
If Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright were white, he'd probably have his own churchshow on television.
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/518862.html


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
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-Gays not civil rights victims, UT administrator argues
A University of Toledo administrator is on paid leave because of an articleshe wrote for Toledo Free Press in April, reports News 11's Shelley Brown.
Crystal Dixon, UT's associate vice president of human resources, hadresponded to a column about the gay rights struggle, saying "As a Blackwoman ... I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing thehomosexual lifestyle are civil rights victims. I cannot wake up tomorrow andnot be a Black woman. Daily thousands of homosexuals make a life decision toleave the gay lifestyle."
http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=8259990


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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
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-Gay Ex Top Cop Loses Bid For London Mayor
(London) Brian Paddick, the man who was the highest ranking openly gaypolice officer in the world, has lost his bid to become Mayor of London.

-NJ Becomes 2nd State To Mandate Paid Family Leave For Gay Partners
(Trenton, New Jersey) New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) Friday signed broadlegislation that mandates paid family leave for same-sex partners - makingthe state the second after California to have such a law.

-Expansion Of Colorado Non-Discrimination Law Advances
(Denver, Colorado) Legislation that would expand a non-discrimination law toprotect gays and lesbians in housing and public accommodation has clearedits first hurdle in the Colorado House.

-Calif. Supreme Court To Hear Lesbian Fertility Case
(San Francisco, California) The California Supreme Court will hear oralarguments on May 28 in the case of woman who was denied fertility treatmentsbecause she is a lesbian and was not married.

-Geography May Help Obama In Indiana
(Indianapolis, Indiana) Barack Obama is looking for a little home cooking innext week's Indiana primary. Counting on it, in fact.


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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
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-Clinton and Obama Make Local LGBT Media Rounds in N.C., Indiana
The LGBT press logged its most active week to date in terms of accessing thepresidential candidates, as local outlets in North Carolina and Indianapublished interviews with senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ahead ofthe May 6 primaries. The interviews with Obama were his first with the localgay media.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid53768.asp

-Colleges Allowing Mixed-Gender Dorm Rooms
Erik Youngdahl and Michelle Garcia share a dorm room at Connecticut'sWesleyan University. But they say there's no funny business going on.
Really. They mean it.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid53777.asp


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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
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-Take a Cycling Holiday This Year and See a Different World on Two Wheels
More and more of us are traveling the world more frequently and traveling tomore of the worlds far flung destinations, the world truly is a smallerplace than it was twenty five years ago. As well as it being easier to getto many of the worlds more exotic destinations some of the countries thathad been out of bounds and inaccessible to travels for many years have alsoopened their borders to tourists and travelers alike. This being the casewe now have more opportunities to get to these destinations and enjoy whatin many cases is a totally unspoilt country with people who welcome visitorsinto their lives with open arms. So what is the best way to see thesecountries and get a flavour of what the country is really like?


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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
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-A gay Canadian couple that immigrated to the United States last year isfacing visa and border-crossing problems, causing the two to regret theirmove. Chris Barr, 46, and Phil Fogel, 40, once residents of Montreal,Quebec, and partners for 10 years, moved to the Philadelphia area late lastyear so Barr could pursue work in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Barr was required to move here because his company closed the site where heworked in Canada. The company offered him a new position in the UnitedStates. Barr said he didn't want to come to the United States, and theunexpected problems the couple encountered after moving here have made himmiserable. "I'm starting to regret it now," Barr said. Barr is a residentof the United States and able to work here on an L1 visa. His partner staysin the United States under a B-2 visitor's visa. The B-2 is given tovisitors who are household members with another visitor in long-termimmigrant status. Such household members could include the same-sex partnerof someone who is a U.S. resident, such as Fogel. Fogel said Barr'ssituation is fine and "basically the problem is me not being his legallymarried other half," Fogel said.

-A friend recently asked whether I thought there were many fence-sitters outthere regarding the marriage amendment. "Probably not," I immediatelythought. The amendment, which will be voted on in November, says marriageshould be only between one man and one woman. Most people already know howthey stand on this one. No Hillary-vs.-Obama drama here. Still, I'd like tomake a suggestion to those supporting the amendment: Watch the documentary"Inlaws & Outlaws." Yes, it's definitely a pro-gay film, directed by DrewEmery and the True Stories Project out of Seattle, but don't let that stopyou. You won't hear rants about civil rights or see religious folks beingcaricatured a la Michael Moore. You'll just hear people talk about theirlives, their loves, the day they fell in love - both gay and straight. It'sfunny and varied and at times poignant. At the All Saints Cinema, where Isaw it Saturday night, the silence sometimes was palpable because, for asecond, everyone stopped breathing and took in the words of the person onthe screen.

-A nationally representative poll (using Knowledge Networks internet paneldata) of gays, lesbians and bisexuals has been released by Hunter College,paid for by HRC. [...] Same-sex marriage did not make the list of the top 5political priorities of GLBs overall. It skyrockets, however, among 18-25year olds.

-Frenchman Frederic Minvielle has been a productive, happy resident of theNetherlands for the past six years, and even married a Dutch national in2003. But his placid existence took on Kafkaesque twist earlier this year,when French authorities informed Minvielle that his expatriate idyll hadcost him his French citizenship. The main reason, according to Minvielle andhis supporters: because his spouse was another man.
The Netherlands recognizes official gay unions, but France does not. That,in essence, is what led to the revocation of Minvielle's French citizenship,though the bilateral Franco-Dutch immigration accords pertaining to the caseare complex. The trouble began when Minvielle adopted his Dutch husband'scitizenship in 2006 - a right extended to foreign spouses of officially wedcouples in the Netherlands, whether gay or heterosexual. Indeed, Minviellesays the main motivation for his naturalization was to show gratitude to aDutch society that makes no distinction between gay and heterosexualmarriages.


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Soulforce Email Update
1. Report from the Soulforce 10th Anniversary Reunion & Direct Action at the2008 UMC
2. t's Not Too Late To Celebrate!
3. Leonard Pitts Column on Rev. James Lawson
4. For The Bible Tells Me So on DVD
http://www.soulforce.org/email_campaign/email_5_2_2008.html


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Forwarded from Euro-Queer
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-We are happy to inform you that the dedication of the "Memorial for thehomosexuals persecuted under National Socialism" will take place on May 27at 1 PM in the centre of Berlin.

-Iranian Artist Fights to Have Muhammad Art Displayed in Dutch MuseumsFor the third time in four months, the controversial work of an Iranianartist has been suddenly yanked from a Dutch museum exhibition.
The artist, who goes by the alias Sooreh Hera and who lives in exile in theNetherlands, said she received death threats after attempting to show herseries of photographs entitled "Adam & Ewald, Seventh-Day Lovers."
Some of the photographs include depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and hisson-in-law Ali in poses that would likely upset any believer in anyreligion. The most controversial images feature gay men posed in variousstages of undress. In one, a man wears leather chaps with his buttocksexposed, wearing a mask of Ali, the son-in law of the prophet Muhammad. In otherphoto two men are shirtless wearing masks of both Ali (on the left) andMuhammad (on the right). Click here to view photos by Sooreh Hera
http://soorehhera.com/gallery.html
Warning: Contains graphic material.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354075,00.html

-Christian Festival Faces Allegations of Discrimination
A German Christian youth festival accused of discriminating againsthomosexuals and women has been disrupted by protests and its Website hit byhackers. That it received money from the German government has some angry.
It is being described by its organizers as a "belief party," and "theChristian event of the year." The "Christival," which runs until Sunday,has brought some 16,000 people between 16 and 26 from across Germany to thecity of Bremen. But while Germany's other big church get-togethers --the Protestants and Catholics hold them regularly -- are mostly feel-goodevents with singing and praying accompanied by a fair amount of mediacoverage, the Christival event this year kicked off with a very differenttenor and got some press it didn't anticipate.


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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

-American Family Association Letter
Procter & Gamble wants to know if you approve its efforts to promote thehomosexual lifestyle. It has established a toll-free number for you to calland vote to approve or disapprove its support of homosexuality.
P&G has added homosexual lovers to its soap opera "As the World Turns." Ithas also added scenes of homosexuals with open mouth kissing. The motivebehind P&G's push is to desensitize viewers, especially younger viewers, tothe homosexual lifestyle. The ultimate goal of homosexual activists ishomosexual marriage. Thousands of homosexual activists are already callingP&G.
Take Action!

-Greetings from The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion andMinistry!
You are receiving this e-newsletter because of your interest in the work ofthe Center. If you know of someone who should be on this list, pleasecontact us at clgs@clgs.org. You can also unsubscribe from this list orforward this e-newsletter to others; just click on the appropriate buttons.
http://www.clgs.org/

-Take action on Uniting American Families Act
Same-sex binational couples are not protected by U.S. immigration policy;since they are not recognized as a family, they are often forced to leavethecountry in order to stay together. There is a way to change this - with yourhelp!The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) is a bill pending in theU.S.Congress that will grant equal rights to American citizens who areinsame-sex relationships with non-citizens. On May 6, 7, and 8, ImmigrationEquality is leading an action week during which LGBT families will travel toWashington D.C.to lobby Congress to pass UAFA. Even if you cannotparticipate in D.C., youcan support their efforts by taking action locally:
call or writing your members of Congress, visit their local offices, writeto your local papers, or sign a petition.
http://www.unionvoice.org/outandorganizing/join.html?r=l71lN9Sq1qa4E

-The United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-GovernmentalOrganization (DPI/NGO) is organizing its annual conference in Paris,September 3-5, 2008 on the topic of Human Rights to commemorate the 60thanniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. DPI/NGO willconsider the topic of Human Rights for the first time since 1994. The HumanRights Conference is to be sponsored by the United Nations DPI/NGOCommittee, UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Commission and the Government ofFrance.


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