GLBT DIGEST - July 29, 2008

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

-Hate for Liberals and Gay People Drove Gunman, Police Say
A man who the police say entered a Unitarian Universalist church inKnoxville, Tenn., on Sunday and shot eight people, killing two, wasmotivated by a hatred for liberals and gay people, Chief Sterling P. Owen IVof the Knoxville Police Department said Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/us/29knox.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse&oref=slogin


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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-Another Blow To Justice
Another stunning report has documented the bold and illegal influence ofpolitics at the Justice Department over the past eight years. For decades,Republican and Democratic attorneys general had protected from politicalinfluence the hiring of career prosecutors and administrative judges. Therewas an unbroken rule, embodied in law, regulation and department policy,that no political questions would be asked of those who wanted to serve incareer -- as opposed to political -- positions in the department. Wedemanded of our Justice Department, in its core prosecutorial andadjudicative functions, that it be separate from politics. Until the Bushadministration.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072802467.html


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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 | Electing our own
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund (www.VictoryFund.org) is a political actioncommittee (PAC) created to elect openly lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransgender people to public office in the United States. Since 1991, theVictory Fund - to quote the not always reliable but mostly usefulWikipedia - "provides strategic, technical and financial support to openlygay and lesbian [and bi and trans] candidates and officials across theUnited States, helping them win elections at local, state and federallevels." In 2006, the Victory Fund endorsed 88 candidates, of which 67 wontheir respective elections.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2008/07/jesses-journal.html


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

-Justice Dept. official engaged in anti-gay bias
Goodling targeted rumored lesbian: report
A former Justice Department official violated federal non-discriminationlaws by denying a job extension for a department attorney and by attemptingto block the attorney from obtaining two other department positions becauseshe believed the attorney was a lesbian, according to findings of aninternal DOJ investigation.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=20009

-Mayor asked to support GLBT community
In the fallout of Sunday's fatal shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is being asked toacknowledge the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.The church, which provides several GLBT support groups and ministries, wastargeted in part due to such advocacy, according to the police statementsabout suspect Jim David Adkisson's motivation for the attack that left twopeople dead and seven others injured. The FBI is involved in the case andconsidering adding possible federal hate crime charges against him.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/mayor-asked-support-glbt-community/?partner=yahoo_headlines

-Lesbian couple married in Canada win health benefits in U.S.
An American lesbian couple married in Canada has won a landmark case againsta New York insurance company over spousal health care benefits.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=c7338769-4b61-4cab-b8a2-c8801fbc78f6


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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-McCain Pushes Calif On Offshore Oil, Hedges On Gay Marriage Ban
Republican John McCain said Monday that drilling for oil off the U.S. coastis an essential part of any plan to lower gas prices and reduce dependenceon foreign sources, and he criticized Democrat Barack Obama for opposing it.
http://www.365gay.com/news/072908-mccain-oil/

-AIDS Marathon Swim Raises $30,000
(Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island) After just under 15 hours ofswimming in 19-degree water, a Nova Scotia woman completed a marathon swimon the weekend that took her from Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick andback, all in less than a day.
http://www.365gay.com/news/072808-aids-swim/

-Mormons Postpone Meeting with LDS Gays
A face-to-face meeting between representatives of gay Mormons and churchleaders that was to have taken place next month has been indefinitelypostponed by the head of the LDS branch that had agreed to it. Latter DaySaints President Thomas S. Monson agreed to a meeting in April with leadersof Affirmation, an organization for LGBT members of the LDS church, FredRiley, commissioner of family services for the LDS, and Harold C. Brown, theagency's past commissioner. Affirmation had sought such a meeting forseveral years. It was to have taken place Aug. 11.
http://www.365gay.com/news/072808-mormons/

-Protests Mark HRC Gala
The cracks that developed in LGBT solidarity over the past year were nevermore evident than on the weekend when transgender rights supporters picketeda gala in San Francisco hosted by the national Human Rights Campaign.
http://www.365gay.com/news/072808-hrc-gala/


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Detroit News
http://detnews.com/

-Help military by letting gays serve openly
by Deb Price
On Sept. 11, 2001, Navy Capt. Joan Darrah's weekly intelligence briefingturned out to be anything but routine: She and her colleagues watched CNN'scoverage of terrorist-hijacked planes ramming into the World Trade Center.The meeting ended, the closeted lesbian captain left the Pentagon, andAmerican Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building. Seven people died inthe place where she'd been minutes earlier.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080728/OPINION03/807280317/1272/OPINION01


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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 Couple in Hate Crime
A male gay couple were stabbed and robbed during Stockholm's EuroPridefestival in what police described Monday as a hate crime. "Two homosexualmen were stopped by three men and were asked directions. The three askedthem about their sexuality and then stole their mobile phones and money. Oneof them was then stabbed in the stomach," Stockholm police spokesperson ToweHaegg said.

-Lesbian Basketball Coaches Call Foul
In a case that highlights what some describe as an anti-lesbian bias incollege sports, two former Mesa College athletic department employees aresuing their former employer for discrimination. Lorri Sulpizio, Mesa'swomen's basketball coach, and Cathy Bass, director of basketball operations,are registered domestic partners who were both fired in April of 2007. Afternearly a decade with the college, the two were dismissed shortly after alocal news story pictured them together and identified them as lesbians.

-Seattle to Host 2008 Gay Softball World Series
One of the largest sporting events ever in Puget Sound
The Amateur Sports Alliance of North America (ASANA) and the North AmericanGay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA) are joining forces with the EmeraldCity Softball Association Series 2008 Committee to host the 32nd GaySoftball World Series. It will be held in Seattle, WA August 25-30. Nearly4,000 American and Canadian athletes and fans representing 179 teams willgather in Seattle to take part in and enjoy the competition. The teams willplay games at five King County softball complexes to award national
champions in eight divisions

-Bay Area Sports Teams Reach
Out to Non-Traditional Groups
One afternoon during a recent football season, 49ers owner John York walkedinto Mix, a San Francisco gay bar. In the Castro, often described as thegayest neighborhood in America, the NFL owner turned heads, even though he'dbeen there before. York has been going to the Castro since 2003 with wifeand co-owner Denise DeBartolo York to promote the 49ers, part of a concertedstrategy to reach gay and lesbian fans.

-Will Gays' Boycott Turn the Tables?
Boycotts are older than the nation itself, but during the past decade,they've become the weapon of choice for conservative Christians engaged inthe nation's raging culture wars. They've used the boycott to try toinflict economic damage against corporate giants that they believe arebecoming too cozy with the gay and lesbian community, including Ford, Disneyand McDonald's.


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

-Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Get AIDS
(UWIRE.com) This story was written by Othman O'Malley, Daily Illini | CBSNews
If you've tuned in to C-SPAN recently you may have caught a glimpse of aninteresting hearing. It involved bands of violent lesbians, "forcedcohabitation" with gay men, the spread of AIDS and "skin to skin" contact.Oh my! What on earth was the topic of this discussion, and why was it beingconducted in the hallowed confines of the people's Congress? No, it wasn'tSen. Larry Craig's last conversation with Pastor Haggard. It was a HouseArmed Services personnel subcommittee hearing on "Don't ask, don't tell."

-Will Pride Destroy America?
Genesis 36 in the Bible deals entirely with the family of Esau, which becamethe nation of Edom. Although it may be rather boring to the average personto read about all the names from that Middle East era, our military today isnow engaged there and Saddam Hussein was used as the excuse. I wish someonewould explain the real reason, which is sin by Abraham and Sarah. Godpromised Abraham a son but when his wife Sarah didn't conceive immediately,she convinced Abraham to sleep with her handmaiden, Hagar. Hagar gave birthto Ishmael, who now represents the radical Arabs and after Sarah later gavebirth to Isaac who represents the Israelites, America's ally, Sarahconvinced Abraham to kick Hagar and Ishmael out. The descendants of thesehalf brothers hate each other. Isaac married and his wife gave birth to Esauand Jacob. Isaac's first born, Esau, was promised a special blessing utJacob and his mother deceived old, blind Isaac while Esau was out huntingone day, and Isaac ended up giving he blessing to momma's boy, Jacob. I'm noBible scholar and I hope I got the story correct, but the whole pisode willremind readers how sin and deception cause nations problems today includingAmerica, the country ounded by divine providence.

-Tatchell Claims Protestant Icon William the Orange was Bisexual
Pink News
Northern Ireland Protestants who are anti-gay are hypocrites because KingWilliam of Orange had male lovers, a leading gay rights activist hasclaimed. Speaking in Belfast, Peter Tatchell claimed that DemocraticUnionist politicians such as Iris Robinson are victimising gay people in theprovince. His claims about King William are particularly insulting toProtestants, who revere him as the saviour of Protestantism in Ireland. Hisdefeat of King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is commemoratedby Northern Ireland Protestants with parades on the 12th July.

-Newsweek on Lawrence King: News or Not?
By Cathy Renna | The Bilerico Project
This week's cover story in Newsweek - which we should all recognize is aHUGE deal given the elections, economy and other issues happening in theworld - is focused on the two intersecting LGBT issues: the plummeting ageof coming out and the horrific murder of Lawrence King. While nowhere nearperfect (what journalism is?), this feature tries to explore larger issuesrelated to the coming out experience for the current generation ofteenagers. "Young, Gay and Murdered" is quite the provocative title but Ibelieve that the writers and Newsweek were thoughtful and well intentionedin writing this piece. You may not agree. The reality around this articleis this: it had been in the works for a long time, partly because it beganas a piece about the lower age of coming out. Full disclosure: I was workingwith this reporter on behalf of Dr. Caitlin Ryan, whose Family AcceptanceProject is conducting groundbreaking research on LGBT youth and coming out.I also helped the reporter find several young people with a variety ofcoming out experiences via other clients. Then, in 2005, Time magazine cameout with a cover story on gay youth and the piece was delayed.

-Cuba: Celebration of Advancing Gay Rights
Marcel Hatch | Green Leaf Online
Several hundred Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people andtheir friends converged at the Mi Cayito section of Guanabo Beach east ofHavana on June 14, to celebrate newfound pride and launch "Together with You". Together with You is a grassroots initiative to prevent the spreadof AIDS among men through sex with other men and has government support.According to the United Nations, Cuba has one of the lowest HIV/AIDS ratesin the world with a 0.1% infection rate. In contrast, the US rate is sixtimes greater. In Cuba, HIV treatment, related drugs, medicines and careare free. While the nation has the goal of developing a vaccine and cure forthe disease, it seeks to combat more infections now through awareness,education, support and prevention.

-Cobert Takes on the Anglican Church Schism: Homo-sect-ual
Because we have to laugh sometimes. The Colbert Report tackles the schism inthe Anglican Church. Stephen asks Laurie Goodstein why Anglicans can't justordain gay priests and then not talk about it - like the Catholics.

-Report Warns of AIDS 'Crisis' Across South
By Alex Johnson | MSNBC
AIDS specialists are calling for a fundamental rethinking of HIV policyafter a new report showed that infection with the virus was risingdramatically in the South even as it dropped everywhere else in the country.The warning, issued this week by the Southern AIDS Coalition, a nonprofitpartnership of government and private-sector programs based in Birmingham,Ala., concluded that AIDS was creating a health disaster in the South. AIDSdeaths fell or held steady in other parts of the country from 2001 to 2006,the last year for which complete figures were available, but they rose bymore than 10 percent in the South, according to the report, titled "SouthernStates Manifesto 2008."

-Purpose Driven Politics: Rick Warren's Civil Service
By Bill Berkowitz | Religion Dispatch
On August 16, an Olympic Games-fatigued American public will turn itsattention toward Lake Forest, California, where Rick Warren, the pastor ofSaddleback Church, and author of the mega-bestseller The Purpose-DrivenLife, will host both presumptive presidential nominees, Sen. Barack Obama(D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). While the Saddleback Civil Forum onLeadership and Compassion will not be a debate-interviews will be doneseparately and in succession-and the two men are scheduled to meet onlybriefly, this will be the first time Sens. Obama and McCain have shared astage during the campaign. "This is a critical time for our nation and theAmerican people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart-withoutinterruption-in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha'questions that typically produce heat instead of light," Warren said in apress release. This is not the first time Warren has brought Obama toSaddleback. In December 2006, Obama and the ultra-conservative Sen. SamBrownback (R-KS) appeared at Warren's annual AIDS conference.

-Trans Formed: To Be Homeless & Transgender
By Lydie Raschka |Special to The Washington Post
T he night my church opened its 10-bed homeless shelter for18-to-24-year-olds, I volunteered to supervise them. A novice to any kind ofshelter experience, I was nervous as I dragged my red cart with pillow andblanket to the church, and grateful that Mina, an elegant, 70-somethingsocial worker, also would be there. Six young people arrived in a clump at10 p.m., clutching pillows and belongings and, in one case, a teddy bear.They came from Sylvia's Place, an overcrowded downtown shelter. One woman,wearing a do-rag under a baseball cap, surprised me with a quick hug. In thecoming months, she would outline the danger she felt in our relativelysafe-seeming Manhattan neighborhood, how every time she walked outside she'dhear some comment, how she was hit in the face just waiting for the bus.But that night we didn't talk much. I fussed around, putting out food andsetting up beds. After midnight, when everyone else was asleep, Mina wrappedherself in a blanket and propped herself on a chair against the wall. Istayed awake in the kitchen, by the light, reading. The next morning we wokeeveryone at 8 and ushered them out, still groggy, into the icy February air.I walked home past restaurants that looked newly exclusive and out of reach.Overwhelmed by the luxury of it all, I crawled under my thick yellow duvetand slept.

-Christian Camps Raise More Questions Than Answers
Casey Welsch | Daily Nebraskan
God has been around for a long time, more than 13.73 billion years somewould say. For eons, he has controlled the all life in the cosmos, which isjust what some would say.Christianity has been around for a long time. About2,000 years some would say. For slightly less time than that, it has beenthe dominant religion on Earth, shaping the course of human history anddevelopment for better some would say, and for worse, others would say.Five Star Bible Camp in Fairbury has been around for 12 years. A long timesome would say. Not long enough others would say. The product of a dreamthat a man named Ivan Zimmerman had, the annual camp is and always has been100 percent free and open to all pre-K through 12th grade youth. I've beenaround for 19 years. Not long some would say. Long enough I would say. I'vebeen involved with Five Star Bible Camp for all 12 of its years, since I wasan 8-year-old camper there in its inaugural year. It has been as much a partof my life as a family member, teacher or friend.


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

-29 executions in Iran
Film in Persian - Shows the faces of the gay men:
http://www.iran-resist.org/article4663


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

-Euro-Letter
Euroletter is ILGA-Europe's monthly electronic bulletin containg politicaland legal information relevant to LGBT people in Europe.
http://www.ilga-europe.org/europe/publications/euro_letter


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

-Research Participation Request - Lesbians
My name is Ryan Anne Cheperka and I am a counseling psychology graduatestudent at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. I am currently workingon my master's thesis, chaired by Dr. Ann R. Fischer, and would like to askfor your help as I examine self-identified lesbian women's attitudes aboutrelationships and about bisexual women. Participation in this study isvoluntary and you may withdraw at any time. Completion of the survey willtake approximately 5 to 10 minutes and your responses will remainconfidential. [...] If you would like to participate in this study pleasevisit the following website:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ETbDB4BLGgzSg4l1C9Z_2bYQ_3d_3d.


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Palm Beach County Human Rights Council
www.pbchrc.org
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Northwest Florida Daily News
PONCE DE LEON, FL: Principal thrashed for 'crusade' against homosexuality
Federal judge's written opinion is released two months after student winsfree-speech case
Principal David Davis led a "relentless crusade" against homosexuality atPonce de Leon High School, a federal judge said in court documents filedThursday. It cost the school district $325,000, but the court's fullopinion was not released until this week. It thrashed Davis, who has sincebeen replaced as principal. "Davis embarked on what can only becharacterized as a witch hunt," wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak, whoblasted him for his "morality assemblies" and misunderstanding of the FirstAmendment.

The opinion came more than two months after Heather Gillman and the AmericanCivil Liberties Union won a free-speech lawsuit against the Holmes CountySchool Board - which actually was Davis' complicit "alter ego," Smoak wrote.Gillman and the ACLU claimed Davis violated her rights by silencing allpro-gay messages. Students had begun showing support following the tauntingof a gay student at school. In response to the taunting incident, Davis toldthe gay student it wasn't right for her to be homosexual and held a moralityassembly, according to testimony.

Then, after an investigation into the "secret society" of gay pride atschool, Davis suspended several students for supporting the girl. He toldone suspended student's mother "he could secretly send her daughter off to aprivate Christian school" and said "if there was a man in your house ... youwouldn't be having any of these gay issues," according to the court. Davisbanned rainbows, pink triangles and a number of what he called sexuallysuggestive slogans. The slogans included "I Support Gays" and "God Loves MeJust the Way I Am." But Smoak noted that Davis did not ban severalmagazines in the school's library - Cosmogirl, Woman's Day and others - thatcontained articles about sex and dating.

He also did not punish a boy for making explicit sexual advances toward agirl - an incident that occurred the same month as the morality assembly,according to testimony. Davis hushed Gillman and others "because of hisanimosity toward students who were homosexual and his relentless crusade toextinguish the speech supporting them," Smoak wrote. Join the PBCHRCmailing list
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101791463376


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JESSE'S JOURNAL
by Jesse Monteagudo
jessemonteagudo@aol.com
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article

-Electing Our Own
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund (www.VictoryFund.org) is a political actioncommittee (PAC) created to elect openly lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransgender people to public office in the United States. Since 1991, theVictory Fund - to quote the not always reliable but mostly usefulWikipedia - "provides strategic, technical and financial support to openlygay and lesbian [and bi and trans] candidates and officials across theUnited States, helping them win elections at local, state and federallevels." In 2006, the Victory Fund endorsed 88 candidates, of which 67 wontheir respective elections. According to the Fund's Web site (stating theobvious), "It takes courage and determination [and money] to run for officeand even more to run as an openly LGBT candidate. . . . At the Victory Fund,we understand these challenges, and we set the bar high, both for ourcandidates and for our organization." Candidates endorsed by the Fundreceive "sophisticated, intensive candidate and campaign training;" "one-on-one strategic and technical support;" "vetted and highly qualifiedcampaign consultants;" and, last but certainly not least, "financial supportfrom both our PAC and our diverse network of LGBT donors." To qualify, acandidate must have a realistic chance of being elected and fill out atleast two very detailed applications, which allows the Fund to determinewhether or not s/he deserves its support. Many applicants do not make itthrough this strenuous process.


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Same Sex Marriage
http://www.samesexmarriage.typepad.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Editorial: "It's Time to Call Out Anti-Gay Author of 'Ender's Game'"
According to science fiction author Orson Scott Card (pictured above),recent court decisions in Massachusetts and California recognizing same-sexmarriage mean "the end of democracy in America." As such, he advocatestaking down our government "by whatever means is made possible ornecessary." It's all there in a truly frightful - and brazenly dishonest -essay that Card published in last Thursday's edition of the Mormon Times. Ican't think the last time I've read something so offensive and bigotedwritten by a major media figure. Overthrowing the government because ofsame-sex marriage? As far as I know, even Pat Robertson doesn't advocatethis. We're talking Fred Phelps territory here.

-MI: "Triangle Foundation calls Spectrum Health's apology to gay couple a'great first step'"
A lesbian couple is pleased with Spectrum Health's apology for a doctor whoallegedly lectured them against gay marriage, but say they are concerned itmight happen again. "I want to see that something has been done to be surethis doesn't happen on a continuing basis," said Kent County residentAshleigh Haberman, who complained with her partner in June about thebehavior of an urgent care physician in Cutlerville. "We are not just goingto sit by and let them slap this doctor on the hand and say, 'Sorry.' Iwould like to see Spectrum take this a little bit more seriously."

-NH: "State has seen just 430 civil unions"; many waiting for marriage
Civil unions have been legal in New Hampshire since Jan. 1, but same-sexcouples haven't exactly been flocking to town halls to formalize theirrelationships. As of Friday, just 430 civil unions have been filed,according to officials at the state's Department of Vital Records. Twentyof those 400-plus couples were united in a public ceremony on the Statehousesteps when the clock struck midnight Jan. 1, but there's hardly been a rushon ceremonies since.

-"McCain's Family Values: Let Children Suffer, Don't Let Gays Adopt"
Link: Towleroad
John McCain would rather children suffer without families rather than have gay parents adopt them. In an interview with George Stephanopolous on This Week, McCain, who recently said he was against gay adoption, then backtracked on it, is now back to his original position. [...]

STEPHANOPOULOS: What is your position on gay adoption? You told the "New York Times" you were against it, even in cases where the children couldn't find another home. But then your staff backtracked a bit. What is your position?

MCCAIN: My position is, it's not the reason why I'm running for president of the United States. And I think that two parent families are best for America.

-US complaints lead to Mr T ad being pulled from UK screens
An advertising campaign featuring A-Team star Mr T has been withdrawn afterconcerns it may be offensive to gay men. In the ad Mr T calls a speed walkerin tight shorts "a disgrace to the man race."

-Gay civil rights group urges President Bush to overturn HIV+ ban
An American group that defends the civil rights of LGBT people and thoseliving with HIV has urged President George W Bush to end the ban on visitorsand immigrants who are HIV+.

-Unionist politicians warned of consequences of homophobia
Gay right activist Peter Tatchell's visit to Belfast continues to generateheadlines, with claims that Democratic Unionist politicians are contributingto a culture of homophobia.

-Video: Andrew and George may reform Wham! for one last gig
Camp pop band Wham! are set for a one off reunion, according to reports. Thegroup, made up of Andrew Ridgley and gay artist George Michael, formed in1981.

-Cyber centre for LGBT silver surfers opens in New York
SAGE, the world's oldest and largest non-profit agency dedicated to servingand advocating for LGBT older people, has opened a fully-equipped CyberCentre at their offices in New York City.

-Madrid Pride organisers face lawsuit for "hate speech"
A "pro-family" activist group in Spain has filed charges against theorganisers of the 2008 Madrid Gay Pride march. HazteOir accused them ofmaking hateful statements against Catholics.

-India's "unnatural sex" law should be revised says High Court judge
The Bombay High Court said last week that the controversial Section 377 ofIndian Penal Code that deals with unnatural sex needs revision.

-Ugandan police accused of torturing gay activist
A leading gay rights organisation has said that a Ugandan human rightsactivist was tortured by police.

-South African gays protest against homophobic journalist
A columnist for South Africa's fastest growing newspaper, Sunday Sun, hascaused protests after the July 20th publication of his controversial article'"Call me names, but gay is NOT okay.".

-Bahraini MP calls for gay crackdown to begin
A set of proposals approved by Bahrain's parliament targeting homosexualactivity in the country should be implemented, according to a politician inthe Gulf state.

-Russian prosecutors decline to take action against homophobic governor
The State Office of Public Prosecutor of the Russian Federation has decidednot to start criminal proceedings against the Governor of the Tambov region.

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