GLBT DIGEST - July 15, 2008

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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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-Australian court strikes ban on annoying pilgrims
SYDNEY, Australia -- A court struck down a new law Tuesday that bannedpeople from annoying participants of a Roman Catholic youth festival inAustralia that the pope plans to attend, ruling that the law restricted freespeech.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071500021.html


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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
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-Aussie Gays Win Pope Protest Battle
(Sydney, Australia) A court struck down a new law Tuesday that banned peoplefrom annoying participants of a Roman Catholic youth festival in Australiathat the pope plans to attend, ruling that the law restricted free speech.

-Mormon Excommunicated For Sexy Male Calendar
The creator of a calendar that featured shirtless Mormon missionaries wasexcommunicated Sunday after a disciplinary meeting with local church leadersin Las Vegas.

-Extra Value Meal, Please
So, I walk out of "WALL-E" vowing never again to suck down a biggie soda -not because I want to boycott pop, but because I'm repulsed at the notionthat the last of the human race was living in floating loungers and suckingits meals and numerous night and day snacks through a straw. "Never again."So much for that vow. It's two days later and I'm at the counter inMcDonald's asking for super-sized everything. I'm also telling the cashierthat I'm feasting under the Golden Arches because the American FamilyAssociation called for a boycott of the fast-food chain.
http://www.365gay.com/opinion/neff/neff.htm


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
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-Sexuality stance 'embarrasses' Anglicans
The head of the Anglican church in the US has said that her church hasembarrassed other parts of the Anglican Communion with its approach tosexuality. Speaking ahead of the Lambeth Conference, Presiding BishopKatharine Jefferts Schori defended churches that had confronted thecontroversial issue.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7506294.stm


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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
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-McCain Denounces Adoptions by Gays
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain denounced adoptionfor same-sex couples this weekend in an interview with The New York Times.McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted child, has aligned himselfwith President Bush, who vehemently opposes adoption rights for gays.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid57671.asp

- Gay Conservative Shuts Down Blog, Abandons Prop. 8
Gay conservative David Benkof has closed down his blog Gays Defend Marriage,in which he supported marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Ina statement to LGBT advocacy group Truth Wins Out the writer, formerly knownas David Bianco, said, "I no longer feel comfortable being allied with thepeople running the Prop. 8 campaign."
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid57637.asp

-Robinson Defies Orders, Attends Anglican Conference
Gene Robinson, the first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop, was barred from aonce-a-decade Anglican meeting so he wouldn't become a focus of the globalevent. Anglicans on all sides of the issue agree: The strategy hasbackfired.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid57628.asp

-Tutu Calls for Anglican Unity Amid Homosexuality Controversy
Archbishop Desmond Tutu pleaded with the Anglican Communion to show unity asit tries to reconcile the views of liberals and conservatives overhomosexuality. "The Anglican Church prides itself -- and this is one of itsgreatest attributes -- it prides itself on being the church that iscomprehensive, meaning that it includes all kinds of points of view," Tututold Sky News. "One of the sadnesses about the current crisis is that weseem to be jettisoning this wonderful inclusivity that is a characteristicof our church."
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid57647.asp


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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
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-Editorial: A long way since 1913
Other states can enforce their own laws. And if most states refuse torecognize some marriages that are legal in Massachusetts, that's their loss.While Romney sniffed at this state becoming the "Las Vegas of gay marriage,"one recent study suggests that letting same-sex couples from other statesmarry in Massachusetts would bring economic benefits of $37 million a year.But repealing the misbegotten 1913 law is the right move, even if it doesn'tyield a dime. For the measure only underscores the parallel betweeninterracial marriage and same-sex marriage. By repealing it, the Legislaturewill send a powerful message: Marriages that once seemed so threatening toso many people can become part of the social fabric over time.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/

-Wayne Besen: The 'Pro-Family' Scam
A new study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at NortheasternUniversity showed that in 2006, for the first time in U.S. history, amajority of births to women under 30 -- 50.4 percent -- were out of wedlock.New York Times columnist Bob Herbert points out that, "By comparison, whenJohn F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, just 6 percent of all birthswere to unmarried women under 30. One imagines that this report might havestartled "pro-family" organizations and they would have put their millionsof dollars towards stopping this trend. No such luck. Instead, they areinvesting huge piles of money and manpower to pass anti-gay marriageamendments in Florida, Arizona and California. The upshot for "pro-family"groups is that if heterosexuals keep screwing up marriage, by the time gaypeople finally win the right nationally, we won't want to use it."Evangelicals of the older generation have become obsessed in almost atechnical psychological sense in opposing gay rights," David Weddle, aprofessor of religion at Colorado College told the Colorado Springs Gazette."The irony is that homosexuality is not a biblical theme."
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/

-MA: Editorial--A long way since 1913
Link: Boston Globe
BY SOME odd twist of events, the best-known act of the MassachusettsLegislature of 1913 is a law denying marriage licenses to nonresidentcouples if their union would be illegal in their home states. The measurehas a miserable history. Though it resurfaced as part of the same-sexmarriage debate in 2004, its origins lie in racial discrimination. And it'sa legal anomaly; it asks public officials in Massachusetts to interpret themarriage statutes of other states.

-Commentary: "The Heterosexing of Gay America?"
Has the increased cultural visibility of LGBTs diluted the value of ourbrand? Will we lose our distinctively naughty outlaw spark on the day queerscan no longer claim oppressed minority status? Did those who threw punchesat Stonewall or stormed St. Patrick's Cathedral during the plague years ofAIDS do so to secure our precious right to tone it down, raise a family andfit in? Is normalization, assimilation or other boxy buzzwords ending in"ation" a reasonable price to pay for the things we've gained? These are allvalid, simple questions with obvious, definitive answers. . .


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

-UN under fire over treatment of gay asylum seekers
Two gay Iranian asylum seekers are being ignored by UN refugee authoritiesin Turkey because of their sexuality, claims the Iranian Queer Organisation.

-Insurance website claims gay men die younger than straights
A leading insurance comparison website has caused a storm of debate byclaiming gay men have a life expectancy 20 years shorter than heterosexualmen.

-Christian registrar who won 'gay marriage' case has illegitimate child
A civil registrar who claimed her Christian belief is so fundamental thatshe cannot not conduct civil partnerships is an unmarried single mother.

-Foreign Office issues advice to Pride travellers
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued advice for LGBT peopletravelling to gay Pride events. Holland, Denmark, and South Africa areholding major gay Pride marches later this summer.


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

-Santorum Wrong on Boy Scouts
As usual, Rick Santorum, the former U.S. Senator who was soundly defeated inthe last election by Sen. Bob Casey Jr., has gotten it all wrong. In hisJuly 3 column ("Boy Scouts could ease city woes; leave them alone"),Santorum appears to be so anxious to defend the Boy Scouts that he hasignored the sole reason they have been asked to look for a new home here inPhiladelphia. They are in violation of the law by actively discriminatingagainst individuals based upon their sexual orientation or gender identity.It is that simple.

-VIHA Survey Determines Gay Youth Face Low Self-Esteem
A recent study suggested young gay, bisexual and transgendered men inGreater Victoria have lower self-esteem than older gay men. The M-Tracksurvey, conducted by VIHA and the Public Health Agency of Canada, foundalmost 60 per cent of surveyed men aged 18 to 24 experienced verbal threatsor insults in the past year.

-Obama Campaign Furious Over Magazine Cover Depicting Him as a MuslimTerrorist
Blame sagging magazine sales and a crowded marketplace, some analystssuspect, but the current New Yorker magazine cover likening Barack Obama toa turban-wearing terrorist while he fist-bumps his gun toting wife isgetting raked over the coals by Obama supporters. The Obama campaign hascalled the caricature "tasteless and offensive," but the artist is standingby his work.

-Philippines: CBCP OKs Condoms for Married Person with HIV
Married persons infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and thosewith full-blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) will be allowedto use condoms to eliminate the risk of infecting their partners, anofficial of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.Fr. Edwin Corros, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission forPastoral Care for Migrants

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Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article

-Moscow Pride Organizer Suggests To Hold International Conference On Freedom
Of Assembly In Russia
LGBT remain the most discriminated social group in Russia
Head of LGBT Human Rights Project GayRussia.Ru and organizer of Moscow Pride
Nikolai Alekseev suggested that an international conference on freedom of
assembly should be held in Moscow. Current policy of Moscow authorities
means total prohibition of any manifestation of LGBT people and serious
breaches of the rights of other social groups including opposition
movements. The proposal was announced during the meeting with members ofGerman Bundestag and Russian human rights activists in Moscow office ofhuman rights organization "Memorial" on July 12. The delegation ofBundestag Committee for Human Rights visited Moscow in order to learn aboutsituation with human rights in Russian Federation. The meeting was attendedby members of Bundestag Volker Beck (Green), Burkhardt Mueller-Soenksen(Liberal) and Holger Haibach (Christian Democrat). The meeting was dedicatedto the problems of freedom of assemblies and associations in Russia.

-We are contacting you to request your assistance on a very urgent caseinvolving 2 gay Iranians, Reza and Kamal.
It is no secret that queer Iranians who flee to Turkey and other countriescontinue to face risks due to homophobia. This often results in depressionand post traumatic stress symptoms. Reza and Kamal, a gay Iranian couple,fled Iran 2 whole years ago, but have still not received refugee status.The common complications that queer refugees experience are escalated forthem because Kamal is seriously ill. Immediate attention by UNHCR iscritical! Please show your support by writing to the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to urge them to expedite the refugeeprocess for Reza and Kamal. There are 2 ways you can help:
http://www.irqo.net/IRQO/English/pages/145.htm


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Forwarded from Euro-Queer
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-Preaching to the converted
Gene Robinson is the Anglican church's only openly gay bishop. He wasdenied an invitation to this week's Lambeth conference but came anyway andon Sunday gave a dramatic sermon in London disrupted by heckling. What'sall the fuss about?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/15/anglicanism.gayrights


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

-Repent! Biker's blast at bishop
Bishop Robinson was heckled last night by a lone protestor as he preached asermon at St Mary's, Putney, south London. Despite a small policepresence outside the crowded church, a long-haired young man in a T-shirtand carrying a helmet joined the congregation and began shouting. Robinsonhad just criticised fear of gays in the church, saying there were moreimportant issues for Christians such as world poverty and stabbings inLondon. He said: "How sad and how discouraging" - when the man stood up andshouted: "Because of heretics like you, sir. Go back to your own church.Repent."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/14/anglicanism.religion1


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TWO - Truth Wins Out
by Wayne Besen
http://www.truthwinsout.org/

-Over the weekend, Focus on the Family's James Dobson released his pit bullsand personally attacked me. He is irate because I dared to launch a campaignto keep him out of the Radio Hall of Fame. Dobson is a venomous bigot whohas said that same-sex marriage will "destroy the earth." Clearly, he doesnot deserve to be honored and must be stopped. YOU are the only thingstanding between James Dobson and a Hall of Fame victory dance. The lastthing we want is for him to parade around on-stage with a trophy, using hisplatform to spew more bile against the GLBT community. There are four thingsyou can do TODAY to stop this troglodyte. You must act NOW, as Hall of Famevoting ends on July 15.
http://www.truthwinsout.org/dobson-petition.php

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