GLBT DIGEST - June 29, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
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-Law School Pays the Price in 'Don't Ask' Rule Protest
A renewed fight over the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is beingwatched closely here on the campus of the Vermont Law School, a 600-studentinstitution on the banks of the White River. The Vermont Law School is oneof two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters, as a protestagainst the 15-year-old rule that prevents openly gay men and lesbians fromserving in the military. As a result, the school is denied some federalresearch money - $300,000 to $500,000 a year by one outside analyst'sestimate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/education/29vermont.html?_r=1&scp=13&sq=gay&st=nyt&oref=slogin

-Tiny Voices Defy Child Marriage in Yemen
JIBLA, Yemen - One morning last month, Arwa Abdu Muhammad Ali walked out ofher husband's house here and ran to a local hospital, where she complainedthat he had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/world/middleeast/29marriage.html


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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-Violence at Bulgarian Gay Parade
Extremists throwing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs attacked the Bulgariancapital's first gay pride parade. Police said that the extremists had beenprevented from harming the 150 or so people in the procession through Sofiaand that about 60 people had been detained.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/28/AR2008062802103.html


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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
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-Gay Marriage Gives New Meaning To SF Pride Parade
Move over Dykes on Bikes. Here come the brides - and grooms. Given SanFrancisco's sizable role in initiating the lawsuits that led California'shighest court to strike down the state's bans on same-sex marriage, thecity's 38th annual gay pride festival and parade is likely to draw hugecrowds this weekend, tourism officials say.

-Gay Sues To End San Francisco Gun Ban
The National Rifle Association sued the city of San Francisco on Friday tooverturn its ban on handguns in public housing, a day after the U.S. SupremeCourt struck down a handgun ban in the nation's capital.

-GenY Finds Coming Out Still Difficult
(Toronto, Ontario) It was a black, stretch-velvet dress that outed ShawnFowler at the age of 14.

-Canadian Supreme Court Throws Out Libel Case Against Talk Show Host
(Vancouver, British Columbia) The country's top court has absolved formerVancouver radio personality Rafe Mair of defamation for a commentary inwhich he made reference to the Ku Klux Klan and Adolf Hitler.

-Iraq Gay Vet Discharged After Speaking Out
The Army has discharged a decorated medic who was deployed to Iraq despiteacknowledging he was gay.


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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
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-County clerks issued more than 8,500 marriage licenses in the first weeksame-sex marriage was legal in California, more than two and half times anaverage June week, a Times survey found. The tally includes licenses issuedto both same-sex and heterosexual couples, although county clerks in manylocations indicated that the majority went to gay and lesbian couples. Thestate, which is not tracking the gender of applicants, has replaced "Bride"and "Groom" on marriage applications with the terms "Party A" and "Party B."

-Joie de Vivre Hotels, which runs five boutique hotels in the Silicon Valleyand Santa Cruz region, is jumping on the same-sex wedding bandwagon - andadding its own socially conscious twist. Its area hotels - which include SanJose's Hotel Montgomery - are encouraging LGBT couples to book rooms withthem for their weddings. But to help ensure those new nuptial rights stayintact, Joie de Vivre plans to donate 10 percent of revenue from blocks ofrooms reserved for those weddings to either the Human Rights Campaign orEquality Marriage USA, which are both opposing a November ballot measurethat would ban gay marriage in California.


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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
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-Evangelicals decide to stick with Anglican Communion but fight gayordination
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which is closing inJerusalem today, has approved the formation of a new global network to fightagainst the preaching of "false gospels" of homosexuality and other"immoral" sexual behaviour.

-20 Pride marchers hurt in Czech attacks
Tear gas and fireworks were used by a mob of 150 homophobes, among themnationalist extremists, at a Pride event in the Czech city of Brno.

-60 arrests and petrol bomb attacks at Sofia Pride
A heavy police presence ensured there were no injuries to the 150participants at Sofia Pride in Bulgaria today.

-Meanwhile, from Paris to Berlin, gays celebrate their freedom
In Paris, half a million of some of the most desirable men - and women - inthe world took to the streets of their elegant city to show tout le mondejust how fabulous they are.

-Gay rights foe Stephen Green faces bankruptcy over court costs
Preacher Stephen Green may have overstepped the mark when he tried to bringa private prosecution against the BBC Director General.


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Forwarded from Euro-Queer
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-Sweden: New Practice for Iranian Gay Asylum seekers
According to an article in today's (June 28, 2008) Dagens Nyheter (DN) theSwedish Migration Board has decided that gay Iranians should be grantedasylum in Sweden if they have lived as out gay persons in Iran. [...] TheSwedish Migration Board on Friday took a guiding decisions which in a newway evaluate the risk to live openly as gay in Iran. The decision applies toa 25-year-old Iranians in the country lived openly with his boyfriend.25-year old fled to Sweden in October last year. Yesterday, he was givenleave to remain as a refugee when he was considered to run the risk ofpersecution because of their sexual orientation. Earlier, it would not havesufficed with the fact that he lived as openly gay.

-Thousands of gays join Berlin's Gay Pride Parade - Summary
Berlin - Tens of thousands of gays and lesbians defied rain to join theannual Gay Pride Parade through the streets of Berlin Saturday. Theexotically clad procession, many waving rainbow flags, started for the firsttime in former East Berlin before making its way along the boulevard Unterden Linden to the Victory column in the west of the city. Some came largelynaked to the 30th annual parade - known in Germany as theChristopher StreetDay parade - others were dressed as angels or devils, while many dancedalong the route wearing standard jeans and T-shirts. Gay activist DetlefMuecke said this year's parade was dedicated to highlighting continuingdaily violence directed at gays and lesbians.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/215615,thousands-of-gays-join-berlins-gay-pride-parade--summary.html

-Hundreds of thousands attend Parisian Gay Pride
Paris - More than half a million people took part in Gay Pride parade inParis on Saturday in the motto 'for a school without any discrimination.'The 2008 parade was dedicated to the fight against racism, sexism andxenophobia among young people. Among the prominent participants in theparade was Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe and former culture minister JackLang, both members of the Socialist Party. The conservative governing partyUMP and the centrist MoDem were also represented. The event as usual was toend with a dance at Paris' iconic Place de la Bastille.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1413883.php/Hundreds_of_thousands_attend_Parisian_Gay_Pride

-Czech Republic's first Gay Pride parade attacked by rightwingers
Prague - At least 20 people were injured when the Czech Republic's firstever Gay Pride parade was attacked by rightwing extremists armed with teargas even before the event was due to begin in the city of Brno. Threepeople were arrested when counter-demonstrators threw fireworks at thegathering of lesbians and gays in which an estimated 500 were toparticipate. As late as Wednesday, the authorities of the country's secondlargest city had rejected applications for a counterdemonstration by groupssuch as the 'National Party' and the 'National Resurrection.' With calls inthe internet for resistance to the 'queer parade,' more than 200 police werepresent during the planned event.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1413876.php/Czech_Republics_first_Gay_Pride_parade_attacked_by_rightwingers

-Bulgaria Skin Heads Attack Gay Parade with Molotov Cocktails, 60 Arrested
More than 60 persons have been arrested by the police for trying toattackand harass the participants in the gay pride parade, which took placeinSofia Saturday afternoon. The arrested are mostly representatives of theskin heads and other extremist groups, who were throwing stones, bottles,squibs, and even Molotov cocktails at the procession. The massive presenceof the police, who were about as many as the participants in the parade -150, however, prevented the hooligans from doing harm to any of thehomosexuals and their supporters, and no one has been reported injured. Theleader of the nationalist extremists Bulgarian National Union Boyan Rasate
has also been arrested, allegedly for taking part in the attempted violence.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=94619

-Bulgaria Skin Heads Attack Gay Parade with Molotov Cocktails, 60 Arrested
Here's some visuals:
Images: http://netinfo.bg/photo/2008.28.06parad
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksp7Bz6Z-NI&e
There is no information about injured participants from Pride!


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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
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-REMARKS BY MICHELLE OBAMA TO THE GAY AND LESBIAN LEADERSHIP COUNCIL ON JUNE
26, 2008
....I'm honored to be with you in a week that reminds us just how far we'vecome as a country. Five years ago today, the Supreme Court delivered justicewith the decision in Lawrence v. Texas that same-sex couples would neveragain be persecuted through use of criminal law. And on Saturday, werecognize the anniversary of the day people stood up at Stonewall and said"enough." These anniversaries remind us that no matter who we are, or wherewe come from, or what we look like, we are only here because of the braveefforts of those who came before us. That we are all only here because ofthose who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in a pursuitof that more perfect union that is the promise of this country. [...]Despite the extraordinary challenges we face today, we have a candidate whobelieves that the country is moving in the right direction, despite theinequalities created over the last 8 years. And then we have Barack Obama,who believes that we must fight for the world as it should be. ..A worldwhere together we work to reverse discriminatory laws like DOMA and Don'tAsk, Don't Tell.
..A world where LGBT Americans get a fair shake at working hard to get aheadwithout workplace discrimination. ..A world where our federal governmentfully protects all of us - including LGBT Americans - from hate crimes...And, a world where our federal laws don't discriminate against same-sexrelationships, including equal treatment for any relationship recognizedunder state law. ..A world that recognizes that equality in relationship,family, and adoption rights is not some abstract principle; it's aboutwhether millions of LGBT Americans can finally live lives marked by dignityand freedom.
http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2008/06/michelle-obamas-remarks-to-dncs-gay-and.html

-Turkey: Author of Gay Study Won Court Case
In a lawsuit between Mikail Bayram, an author who claimed that the13th century Persian scholar and poet Rumi was a homosexual, and theRumiResearch and Application Center director, who responded that Bayramneeded psychological treatment, the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled againstthe director, daily Radikal reported Friday. The director has been orderedto pay compensation to Bayram. In his book, Bayram, a member of the SelçukUniversity Science and Literature Department and an expert on the MiddleAges, claimed Rumi was a Mongolian spy and that the poet had a relationshipwith ªems.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=108429

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