GLBT DIGEST - July 27, 2008

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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
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-Amendment could lead to tragedy
Mathew Staver, president of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, represents agroup of Californians described as "extremists" who want to go beyondbanning same-sex marriage to "strip away gay rights" of any kind in theGolden State. He also authored Florida's Amendment 2, the November ballotmeasure that would alter our state's constitution to define marriage asbetween only a man and a woman and ban its "substantial equivalent."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-forum27buttesbjul27,0,735097.story


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
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-We're losing the ability to think
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@miamiherald.com
I love comic books. For 41 years, I've studied them, collected them, written and read exhaustively about them. So I hope you'll agree I'm qualified to judge the merits of a comic book created by one Brent Rinehart as a tool in his campaign for reelection as a commissioner of Oklahoma County, Okla. It is really, really bad. You may see for yourself by clicking the link to be found at www.anorak.co.ukanorak-in-new-york/185867.html. Now, you may think my less than glowing appraisal stems from its rank anti-gay bigotry, including a depiction of a gay man with horns. Or from the artwork, which looks like something scrawled by a gifted 6-year-old. Well, yes. But here's the main reason Rinehart's work offends: It is astonishingly stupid. Voters should support him because an angel does? His opponents are in league with Satan? Old Scratch is working to ''get kids to believe homosexuality is normal'' and Rinehart is their only defense? And I haven't even mentioned the creative punctuations and multiple misspellings.
http://www.miamiherald.com/285/story/618348.html


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
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-Villaraigosa pulls out of SF gay rights event
Protests over transgender inclusion fueled decision
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pulled out as keynote speaker for a gay rights group's fundraising event scheduled for Saturday night following intense lobbying from transgender activists angry over the group's stand on a federal gay rights bill. [...] The Human Rights Campaign is one of the nation's most prominent gay rights organizations and the Washington-based group already has given over $500,000 to defeat the same-sex marriage measure. But many transgender activists and their allies have been angry at the group since the fall, when its leaders agreed to support a federal job discrimination ban that protected gays, lesbians and bisexuals - but not transgender people.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=19977


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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
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-Gay Travelers is More Luxury and Less Clothes
An increasing number of gay baby boomers are packing lighter these days, as the appeal of luxury boutique travel and clothing-optional vacations has developed into a fast-growing niche market. For some, clothing-optional vacations are about getting closer to nature, while for others it is an opportunity to experience a renewed sense of freedom. Nude travel has become a $440 million industry - more than double what it was ten years ago, according the American Association for Nude Recreation. The business has increasingly gone upscale, trading rustic nudist camps for luxury resorts and cruises.

-Colorado: Teen's Killing a Hate Crime, Police Searching For Her Car
The murder of 18-year-old Angie Zapata - who's birth name was Justin Angie and lived as a woman - was probably a hate crime, said a spokesperson for the Zapata family. Police believe the suspect has stolen Zapata's car, a dark forest green 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser with Colorado license plate number 441-ORN. There is a hubcap missing on the front passenger-side tire, and there is paint missing on the front bumper on the driver's side, under the headlight.

-Nike to Drop Ads Some See as Homophobic
Nike said Friday it will pull its ads for its Hyperdunk basketball shoes after some critics said they fed the homophobia of some viewers. Nike defended the ads earlier but said it would withdraw the ads critics found offensive as quickly as possible "to underline our ongoing commitment to supporting diversity in sport and the workplace."

-Pa. Justices Strike Down LGBT Hate-Crimes Law
Citing a technicality, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down 2002 changes to the state's hate crimes law that added sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ancestry and disability. The changes to the Ethnic Intimidation and Institutional Vandalism Act had been added at short notice to a bill that made it a crime to destroy crops, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The state legislature passed the bill, and it was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mark Schweiker.

-South Florida Outreach Programs Battle AIDS One Fight at a Time
At a recent HIV and AIDS testing site at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, only five people showed up. While the low turnout may be disappointing, leaders of AIDS organizations say they don't gauge their successes by individual battles. They are looking at the bigger picture. Twenty years after the discovery first AIDS diagnosis, organizations continue to face a formidable foe in South Florida, home to the third-largest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the United States.

-New Book Sheds Light on Gay Life in the Muslim World
Following thirty-three people in twenty-two countries, Afdhere Jama paints a complicated picture in "Illegal Citizens", subtitled "Queer Lives in the Muslim World." "I set out to tell the stories of people suffering everywhere," says Jama, who is the editor of Huriyah, a queer Muslim magazine. "Instead, I was confronted with diverse lives including happy ones--sometimes in places I never imagined."


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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
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-"Finnish Lutheran dean consecrates second same-sex union"
Liisa Tuovinen, a Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church dean, told her superiors at the diocese on Wednesday that she had consecrated a same-sex union. Bishop Mikko Heikka said the Espoo diocese would take action only if the a complaint was lodged before the cathedral chapter. In 2007, the Helsinki cathedral chapter chose to took no action after Dean Tuovinen consecrated a same-sex union, regarding the consecration as an act of pastoral care instead of an official church ceremony.


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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
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-Churches with new gay bishops could be expelled from Anglican Communion
Liberal churches could be expelled from the Anglican Communion unless they respect a ban on gay bishops, the Lambeth Conference will be told.


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Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
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-Gay rights groups slam media over bias
Jakarta: Gay groups, human rights and women groups protested at media bias putting homosexuality in a negative light through association with and negative reporting of a serial murder case allegedly committed by Verry Idham Henryansyah. "Much of the murder coverage focused on the homosexuality of the alleged perpetrator and not on the crimes. I am gay, but I don't kill people," Hartoyo, an activist at Our Voice, an NGO that supports homosexual and bisexual males, told reporters here on Thursday.


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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

-Are gay men wealthier than straight men?
According to a new national survey conducted online by Harris Interactive, nearly half (48%) of gay and lesbian adults report they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends. This is compared to only 38 percent of heterosexual adults. Taking a look only at gay men in the sample: More than half (53%) report they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends, compared to fewer than one-third (30%) of heterosexual men. Nearly half (49%) report they tend to upgrade to the latest model or version of a product, compared to 35 percent of heterosexual men. Apparently, the image of gay affluence lives on. But what do these spending habits reveal? Are gay men wealthier than straight men? Or do they just have the queer eye for shopping?
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/07/are_gay_men_wealthier_than_straight_men.php

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