GLBT DIGEST - July 13, 2008

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

-Senate vote ends filibuster on HIV travel ban repeal
Ala. senator seeks to remove provision from AIDS bill
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade | Jul 11, 10:19 AM
A global AIDS relief bill that includes language calling for the repeal of alaw that bans foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV from entering theU.S. cleared a major hurdle Friday when the Senate voted 65 to 3 to end afilibuster that had blocked the legislation for more than two months. Butthe provision calling for repealing the HIV visitor and immigrant ban facesanother obstacle next week, when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is expected tointroduce an amendment calling for striking the repeal provision from thelegislation, officially know as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDSRelief or PEPFAR. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) named Sessionsas the senator seeking to kill the repeal provision minutes before theSenate voted to end the PEPFAR filibuster. Reid read a list of at least 10PEPFAR amendments expected to be introduced on Monday and identified theauthor of each one. A vote on the full PEPFAR measure could come as soon asMonday or sometime later in the week, Reid said.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=19645


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

-Gay Marriage: Tying or Not
June 13 turned out to be a lucky day for Jerry Lee, 62, and Don Ofstedal,59, of Minneapolis. That's the day the two men flew out to California forwhat they thought would be a pleasant, yet uneventful vacation. But alongwith wine tastings, fresh food, a tour of Hearst Castle and stunning drivesup the coast, Lee and Ofstedal added a last-minute stop: San Francisco CityHall, where they were married June 19. "Our vacation turned out to be a'pre-honeymoon,'" Lee said with a laugh.

-U.S. Census Bureau Won't Count Same-Sex Marriages
Tens of thousands of same-sex couples are expected to marry legally inCalifornia by 2010, if a constitutional ban on gay marriage doesn't pass atthe polls in November. But no matter what the voters decide, the officialgovernment count of the number of married same-sex couples in California isnot in doubt. It will be zero.

-Italian Wins Damages Over Gay Driving Test Retake
An Italian court has ruled the government must pay 100,000 euros (79,981pounds) in damages to a man who was told to retake a driving test because hewas homosexual. When 26 year-old Danilo Giuffrida told doctors he was gayat his medical examination for military service, they passed the informationto the transport ministry, who told him he must repeat his driving test orhave his licence withdrawn due to his "sexual identity disturbance."

-AIDS Researchers Want Human Test of Vaccine
GeoVax Labs Inc., an Atlanta-based biotechnology company specializing inprevention and treatment of infectious diseases, said Tuesday that it hopesto begin a large human trial of its AIDS vaccine this fall. The EmoryUniversity spinoff is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration to start a Phase 2 trial this fall of its human version ofits preventive vaccine that has proven successful in previous studies, saidRobert McNally, president and CEO of GeoVax Labs. The trial, to be conductedby the National Institutes of Health and supported by the HIV Vaccine TrialsNetwork, will involve 225 healthy volunteers from the United States andSouth America.


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

-Arkansas: Social issues fail signature count
Link: AP via Pine Bluff Commercial
For a group that successfully rallied Arkansas voters to outlaw same-sexmarriage four years ago, a campaign to effectively ban gays and lesbiansfrom serving as adoptive or foster parents seemed like a slam dunk.The Arkansas Family Council Action Committee set a goal of gathering 100,000signatures in support of its proposal _ a seemingly easy feat compared tothe roughly 200,000 it turned in for its gay marriage amendment in 2004.Instead, the group this month struggled to turn in slightly more than theminimum 61,974 required for initiated acts and is already preparing for asecond go-round on the assumption that the initial submission isn't likelyto have enough valid signatures.

-CA: Opinion--"Why Prop. 8 is a losing proposition"
Link: Los Angeles Times by Arnold Steinberg
In March 2000, Californians passed Proposition 22, making the Defense ofMarriage Act law: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid orrecognized in California." Now comes Proposition 8, the California MarriageProtection Act, on the Nov. 4 ballot. This too reads: "Only marriage betweena man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Proposition 22was an "initiative statute"; Proposition 8 is an "initiative constitutionalamendment." In 2000, Proposition 22 won, 61.4% to 38.6%, victorious in 52 of58 counties. Proposition 8 is most likely going down to defeat in November.All because the folks who brought you Proposition 22 miscalculated in 2000,and now, with Proposition 8, they've compounded their error.


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

-120,000 march in Vienna Rainbow Parade for gay rights
About 120,000 people in colourful and often scanty dress took part inVienna's annual Rainbow Parade on Saturday to call for equal rights for gaysand lesbians, organisers said. Thirty-degree heat and sunny weather ensuredrecord attendance for the 13th edition of the march, which like almost all other events this year inAustria had a football theme, even two weeks after the end of Euro 2008.
http://news.theage.com.au/world/120000-march-in-vienna-rainbow-parade-for-gay-rights-20080713-3e94.html


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Forwarded from Bill Sterling
whsterling1@yahoo.com

-Gay online soap opera has a serious message
Funded largely by West Hollywood, the racy Web show promotes safe sex at atime when diagnoses of AIDS and HIV are rising. The target is men too youngto recall the disease's early devastation. A young, muscled man named Edgaris flat on his back under a tree, clad only in camouflage-print underwear.The sun is well above the apartment buildings of West Hollywood.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outthere11-2008jul11,0,5892506.story

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