GLBT NEWS Monday June 2, 2008

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

-When Intolerance Becomes Intolerable
Many career shifts involve an “aha” moment. In Lisa Sherman’s case, the moment was not only the catalyst for a career change but also led her to tell her boss she was gay. And her experience ultimately became memorialized in a case study for the Harvard Business School. It all started in 1993 with a diversity training seminar at what was then Bell Atlantic, where Ms. Sherman was a vice president for marketing. She kept the fact that she was a lesbian to herself at work because, she said, she worried that being openly gay would derail her career. She was, by her own account, a master at what she calls the “black art of pronoun puppetry, substituting ‘him’ and ‘we’ for ‘her’ and ‘she.’ ” During the seminar, participants were asked to write on flip charts, filling in the blanks on a variety of sentences: “Blacks are ...,” “Asians are ...,” “Jews are. ...” Ms. Sherman said that many of the answers reflected certain stereotypes. “Latinos are family oriented,” “Asians are hard workers,” “Jews like big offices.” (She admitted writing that last one.) But when she got to the page with gay people on it, she said that seeing the words written by her colleagues literally made her sick. “Pathetic,” “perverse” and “immoral” were among the ones she recalls. Some were written by people she had worked with for 15 years, many of whom she considered to be friends.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/business/smallbusiness/02shift.html?sq=GAY&st=
nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=6&adxnnlx=1212404563-D7IOeAuWUVrb1g8AxYoabA

-In Harlem, the Governor’s Support of Same-Sex Marriage Gets a Mixed Reaction
The news not only caught Edwin Perez off guard, it turned his stomach. Mr. Perez, 28, had long been a supporter of Gov. David A. Paterson, who forged his political career in Harlem, which he represented in the State Senate for 23 years. But Mr. Paterson’s recent move to order state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere eroded Mr. Perez’s respect for a man he had once greatly admired. “I’ve lost my faith in him because of this,” said Mr. Perez, a law student at Fordham University who also sells incense and scented oils on the corner of West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue. “He could be trying to pick up the backing of the gay population, but even with that agenda, it’s still not right,” said Mr. Perez, a burly man who converted to Islam as a teenager, and who believes that homosexuality is a sin. “It’s just wrong. It’s nasty.”
Yet Mr. Perez’s view, while echoed in several corners of Harlem, was by no means universally held throughout the neighborhood, where many cherish Mr. Paterson as a native son.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/nyregion/02gay.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=GAY&st=nyt&o
ref=slogin

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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Letter: Homosexuality is not a choice
If Alva James-Johnson thinks being gay is a choice, then it certainly was appropriate that her part of the debate on same-sex marriage was under the word "unhinged." Did she choose to be straight? Why would anyone "choose" to be something that three-quarters of the world so reviles? Before she makes statements like "choosing to be gay," she needs to read up on homosexuality. Evelyn Floresta - Sunrise, Florida
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail836sbjun02,0,360092.story

-Stonewall Library and Archives - Fort Lauderdale:
'Out of the Shadows' exhibit opening Wednesday at Broward Main Library June 2, 2008
A new exhibition "Out of the Shadows: Gay America from Kinsey to Stonewall" will open at the Broward Main Library, 100 S. Andrews Ave., on Wednesday.
The exhibition is Stonewall Library & Archives' latest examination of gay and lesbian history in America. It will be on view until June 28 and then becomes part of Stonewall's online museum. Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public.
For more information, call 954-763-8565.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbdig06024sbjun02,0,1586942.
story


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

-Jesse's Journal | The day after pride BY JESSE MONTEAGUDO
Many of you will be reading this article after one of this month’s many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride events. First established to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion of June 27-28, 1969, GLBT (or LGBT) Pride is now observed worldwide as a community-wide celebration that unites all genders, races, classes and lifestyles. By taking part in Pride events, we assert who we, as individuals and as a people. We contribute all that is good in us to Pride events and in return Pride makes us feel good about ourselves and others like us. In short, Pride is a tremendous morale boost and an antidote to self-hatred and internalized heterosexism and homophobia. Unfortunately, Pride events are usually followed by all-too real and not very proud reality. After Pride ends, we must return to a world that hates us as much as it did before Pride began.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Lifelong Republican finds himself unlikely hero of gay rights activistsCalifornia Chief Justice Ronald George could have taken the easy road in the legal conflict over gay marriage.
But as a crowd gathered outside the state Supreme Court's headquarters last month, anxiously awaiting a ruling on the fate of same-sex marriage, George had already decided that the time was ripe for his court to make the hard decision and rewrite California's civil rights landscape. When the clock struck 10 a.m. and the Supreme Court released its decision, George knew his court had made history. "I certainly couldn't help but think that," George said in an interview this week in his office, cluttered with stacks of papers on desks and the conference table where the seven justices meet every Wednesday. The 68-year-old George penned the 121-page ruling striking down California's ban on same-sex marriage, opening a new chapter in this era's most wrenching civil rights battle. The 4-3 decision, which George calls the toughest of his career, was announced as the chief justice was in his office, hosting a television crew from New York filming a documentary on the death penalty. Now the ruling will define his legacy as chief justice.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/554181.html


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

-Praise the Lord and pass the menu, please
In Indiana Bible Belt, restaurant-church catering to gays
LA PORTE, Ind. — Some first-time visitors to Holy Macaroni pass through an entrance hall separating its sanctuary and dining room, glance at a display of local newspaper notices, turn on their heels and leave. Apparently they weren't prepared to find the building contains not only the Italian restaurant but a gay-friendly church, both of them operated by co-chefs, co-pastors and lovers Randy Duncan and Daniel Wright. This part of northwest Indiana is just a few miles to the south of the Lake Michigan sand dunes that draw Chicago urbanites to summer homes, but it is Bible Belt country.
Still, on a recent visit some diners said they resented any suggestion their gustatorial taste should be influenced by their hosts' love life. Among them is Brian Buck, who was eating at Holy Macaroni with his girlfriend and her parents. The young woman wore a necklace dangling a cross. "Arab, gay, or straight, there's no difference between people," said Buck.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-holy-macaroni_bd01jun01,0,2262960.sto
ry?track=rss


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

-The California Supreme Court says gay marriage is a constitutional right.
What a gift to Republicans!
You're kidding, right? Republicans are all talk. Conservatives should quit lying to themselves about the culture war. It's over. We've lost. How? Polls show that most Americans are against gay marriage. Yes, but not young voters. There's a clearly emerging social consensus in favor of gay marriage. Maybe conservatives need better arguments. Good luck with that.
What we're arguing against is not gay marriage, really. It's modernity itself. [...] So what are cultural conservatives supposed to do? Now? Push for a constitutional amendment carving out a religious liberty exception to federal civil rights laws regarding homosexuality. Otherwise, religious institutions that adhere to traditional sexual morality are going to be strictly penalized once gay marriage is declared to be a federal constitutional right.

-Never doubt the impact of a single vote. Was it really just two weeks ago when the California Supreme Court voted 4-3 to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage in the state? Given the changes in perception since then, it seems much longer. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a gay marriage bill in 2005, announced his support for the court's decision the day it came out on May 15. A week later, Attorney General Jerry Brown's office declined to back a move to delay the wedding ceremonies until after voters are likely to decide the issue in November. And, in the real shocker, for the first time in more than 30 years of polling on the issue, the Field Poll found that a majority of Californians surveyed - 51 percent - believe that gay couples have the right to marry.

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

-Four arrested after Moscow's unauthorised Pride demonstrations
A group of 30 gay activists managed to stage short protests in front of Moscow City Hall and a statue of Tchaikovsky yesterday without being arrested.

-We outfoxed the Moscow authorities
Moscow Lesbians and Gays today successfully held Pride with widespread coverage by alternative, prominent international and some mainstream Russian media.

-Gay basketball hero to be Olympic ambassador
Former NBA player John Amaechi will be Amnesty International's first sporting ambassador at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

-Heavy security as protesters outnumber gays at Riga Pride
A march for gay rights has passed off peacefully in the Latvian capital Riga. Police arrested four of an estimated 400 anti-gay protesters, but the threats of violence against the Pride march did not materialise.


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

-Gay Paraders Opt for Safer Approach
Gay rights activists protested in defiance of a City Hall ban on Sunday, marching in front of the Moscow State Conservatory and unfurling a banner demanding greater rights for gays and lesbians from the window of an apartment on Tverskaya Ulitsa, just blocks from the Kremlin. Dozens of activists from Gay Russia, led by organization head Nikolai Alexeyev, held a series of separate protests throughout the city to try to avoid exposing protesters to some of the violence that accompanied the larger gay pride parades in 2006 and 2007."We wanted to make this pride [day] different from the last two years," Alexeyev said in English. "We didn't want to have any more beatings in the street. We just want to show everyone that we are normal people."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/367906.htm

-Excerpt from an interview with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers
Q: Please tell me, have you formulated your personal view about this weekend's gay pride event?
A: My personal attitude is very clear, it has always been in place, and it will never change. I oppose absolutely any kind of intolerance, and that is the basic platform which I will always observe. I think that the main thing for people is not only to stop being intolerant, but also to understand others.
We are talking only about tolerance, but we seldom talk about trying to form an understanding and comprehension vis-à-vis any minority group, no matter whatkind.
Q: So you think that this march will be something like a "friendship day" and integration? Because there's also the view that it's extremism which exacerbates intolerance.
A: One thing of which I am certainly proud and of which I am proud whenever I meet with foreigners is that ours is a truly democratic country. We have a truly free country in which every citizen has the right to express himself, and that opportunity is respected. I think that those are values from which we must not retreat.

-Riga Pride 2008 has been a great success! Watch for yourself at --
http://www.dailymotion.com/gb/cluster/news/featured/video/x5mbt0_riga-pride-2008
_news
or
http://m.youtube.com/details?v=hUUczUcced0&warned=1&v2=1&locale=en_US

-3 videos of Moscow Pride with infos
All 3 videos produced by us. Additional info explains each event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbbczscTNaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExrSayYwffU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgPsFq24QQQ


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

-From Victoria Lavin, Editor
www.dailyqueernews.com
DailyQueerNews.com, created through a partnership between OutletNewsMedia and the operators of the Fenceberry LGBT news list successor, Daily Queer News, gathers LGBT/queer related news and opinion from across the nation and world. The site is a one-stop shop of a varied selection of news on politics, activism, the election, youth, religion, opinion, the blogosphere and more.

-Dobson slammed for 'scare tactics'
Focus founder rips gay rights bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/30/dobson-slammed-for-scare-tacti
cs/

-10 Gay Documentaries Everyone Should See
Posted on May 28, 2008 by Michael Crawford
As an antidote to the straight-washed version of history foisted on us by raditional media and educational institutions, I present to you 10 Gay ocumentaries Everyone Should See. These ten films only begin to scratch the surface of the rich and amazing history of LGBT people. Find out more at the GLBT Historical Society. Also check out 10 Films Every Gay Boy Should See and 10 Books Every Gay Boy Should Read.
http://bloggernista.com/2008/05/28/10-gay-documentaries-everyone-should-see/

-UCLA to Study Identical Twins
Anti-gays cling to the mantra “there is no gay gene” to comfort them when troubled about their efforts to legislate discrimination. As long as sexual orientation is not genetic then they can claim it is not innate and therefore gay people can be blamed and punished.
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/05/31/2134

-Exodus Global Alliance Tolerates Latest Antigay Killing
We have commented many times on the atrocious human-rights record of the global ex-gay network Exodus Global Alliance: It supports imprisonment of homosexual persons in Barbados and refuses to condemn documented antigay violence from the Caribbean and Latin America to Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa. In Ecuador, as previously noted, the Exodus alliance co-exists with ex-gay torture and incarceration centers without voicing so much as a hintof opposition. That trend of silent support for violence continued this week with the apparent murder on May 26 of Bahamian musician and AIDS activist Wellington Adderley. Exodus’ response was to show callous and immoral disregard for the latest murder of a gay humanitarian leader.
http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/exodus-global-alliance-tolerates-latest-antigay
-killing/

-Are gay priests the problem?
Yes, when they're part of the church's gay subculture, the 'Lavender Mafia.'
In recent weeks much ink has been spilt over the ramifications of two significant developments in the Roman Catholic Church. Both the announcement of a new wave of seminary evaluations and a forthcoming Vatican document reportedly barring gays from the priesthood have been met with a torrent of criticism, much of it shrill. Aside from the fact that both items have been grossly overblown, much of the criticism is written in ignorance of facts that would suggest these bold moves in the early days of the Ratzinger papacy might just be the proper formula for initiating a modern day reformation of the Catholic priesthood.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-rose_16
edi.ART.State.Edition1.428ab0e.html

-A climate of violence against gay people
WINSTON-SALEM - Recently a woman reported that she was brutally raped at her home in Charlotte. Now an anti-gay marriage amendment has been introduced in the state Senate. You may wonder what the two have to do with each other. I believe they are directly related. You see, the woman, who chose not to disclose her identity to the one local TV station, WBTV, that covered the crime, said she was a lesbian, and that while brutalizing her, her attacker made it clear that he was raping her because she was a lesbian.
The crimes committed against gay people are too numerous to be counted. And in North Carolina we don't try to count them, because crimes committed on account of a victim's sexual orientation are not classified as "hate crimes" under state law.
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1087382.html

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