GLBT DIGEST - September 16, 2008

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

-Editorial: Family Values
Gov. David Paterson of New York did the right, fair and legally sound thing this year when he directed state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the state. So we were heartened by the recent ruling by a state trial judge that upheld Mr. Paterson's executive order. Gay couples still may not marry in New York. But the judge's decision follows a string of rulings that same-sex couples married elsewhere have a right to have their marital status honored in New York.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16tue3.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse&oref=slogin


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Ruling Inspires New Hope For Transgender People
To Allyson Robinson, it means accompanying her young children to public restrooms in Montgomery County without worrying that someone will call the police. For Colleen Fay, it brings the hope that the next time she applies for a driver's license she won't be badgered about her previous life as a man. And for Chloe Schwenke, it means other people like her will be able to enjoy the job security she has found in her international development work in the District. With the decision by Maryland's highest court last week to block a referendum petition, Montgomery County's law banning discrimination against transgender people takes effect immediately.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402195.\html


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Steve Rothaus
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:

-LGBT town hall forum at University of Mississippi to precede firstpresidential debate
In advance of the first 2008 Presidential Debates taking place at the University of Mississippi, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocates will be participating in a Town Hall Forum organized by the Gay Straight Alliance at the University of Mississippi.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/


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

-Cathcart: We can't let them win
Marriage equality is spreading across the country - and yet we are in the fight of our lives. While we are opening the doors to opportunity and fairness, people who cling to prejudice and hate are desperately trying to slam them closed. We can't let them win.
http://www.365gay.com/opinion/cathcart-we-cant-let-them-win/

-Withers: Team McCain needs to drop its sexism line
There is nothing that kills more brain cells than umbrage expressed by a political campaign (even more than watching the reality show Sunset Tan). Once a McCain representative called the Tina Frey/Amy Poehler Saturday Night Live skit sexist it was time to make a personal plea to the McCain campaign:please, o please, do us all a favor and cease and desist from using the word sexism between now and November 4.
http://www.365gay.com/blog/091608-mccain-rep-calls-tina-fey-sexist/

-Biden: McCain is an ex-reformer turned Rove disciple
The once independent-minded John McCain has adopted the serve-the-rich policies of President Bush and the divisive tactics of ex-Bush strategist Karl Rove, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Monday during a campaign stop in Michigan.
http://www.365gay.com/news/biden-mccain-is-an-ex-reformer-turned-rove-disciple/

-Canada now more conservative nation, PM says
(Ottawa) Canadians have shifted to the right and made the country more conservative since he's been in politics, Stephen Harper contended on the weekend. But the prime minister also said that his Conservative party has simultaneously shifted more to the center of the political spectrum and he warned that it must remain there if it wants to continue governing.
http://www.365gay.com/news/canada-now-more-conservative-nation-pm-says/


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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Mary Cheney Makes Big Donation to No on Prop. 8
Mary Cheney, the gay daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has declared that she is a Republican against California's Proposition 8 by donating $3,000 to oppose the November ballot measure, which if it passes would rescind marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Mary Cheney worked for her father during the Bush-Cheney 2004 reelection campaign.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid61518.asp

-Church Music Director Sacked for Being Gay
The music director of a Wisconsin Catholic church has been fired for living "an openly gay life," reports the Wisconsin State Journal. Charles Philyaw had worked as director of music liturgy for the St. Andrew Catholic Church in Verona since 2004, eventually directing the church choir, leading the liturgy committee, and playing for multiple masses on a weekly basis.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid61511.asp

-Two Thirds of Young Americans Favor Marriage Equality
A new poll shows Americans are split as to whether governments should recognize gay marriage, but a majority say same-sex couples should have legal recognition, the Associated Press reported Monday. The poll was conducted by the AP in conjunction with the National Constitution Center.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid61508.asp

-Little Britain Hops the Pond
Matt Lucas and David Walliams bring their smash U.K. comedy show to the United States, mixing new characters with beloved old favorites. Is America ready for "the only gay in the village"?
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid61280.asp

-Wilson Cruz to Host Lambda Legal Liberty Awards
Gay rights advocacy group Lambda Legal will present its 16th Annual Liberty Awards on Thursday, October 2, at the Director's Guild of America in Los Angeles. This year's honorees are actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who has devoted her life to fighting HIV/AIDS; the law firm of Heller Ehrman, which served as co-counsel in the landmark California supreme court case legalizing same-sex marriage; and lawyer David Codell, who as co-counsel with Lambda Legal represented Equality California and numerous same-sex couples in the historic marriage case.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid61515.asp


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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/Lesbian: Joan Rivers supports gay marriage; donates to defeat proposition 8
It's wonderful. It really gives you someone who's got your back. It really gives you something you don't have when you just live with someone. It's that great, final commitment, and it's amazing - when it's a good marriage. And when it's a bad marriage, as I've always joked, I say, "Why shouldn't the gays be allowed to suffer the same as the straights?" There is nothing like saying, "I commit to you." Two of my friends were the first gay couple to be married here in Devon [England], and they did it very quietly on the first day marriage was allowed. They were number one in line at the registry; and in this day and age, how nice it is to have a partner. I love my gay friends who have been together 20, 30 years. My decorator and his partner have been together 51 years. That's just great. That's a commitment.
http://www.topix.net/news/gay/2008/09/joan-rivers-supports-gay-marriage-donates-to-defeat-proposition-8

-Gay-Friendly Outreach Goes High-Tech
By Deb Price
Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, urges viewers to "vote no" on a proposed amendment to Florida's Constitution that would prohibit legal recognition of any coupled relationship other than heterosexual marriage. Pointing out that he's a Florida property owner and part-time resident, Bond adds that his respected civil-rights organization opposes the ban because: "It's divisive. It's harmful. It does not bring people together."
http://nationalgaynews.com/content/view/4195/176/


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

-Op-ED: Gay Marriage? Not in the South
Link: USA Today
Excerpt: Ironically, Southern states were the main battleground in another fight for civil rights 40 years ago. Well before her death in 2006, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, an Alabama native and the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., began speaking out for gay rights and same-sex marriage. Few acknowledge this part of her legacy. "Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union," she said during a speech at the Richard Stockon College of New Jersey in 2004. "A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing, and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."

-Lawmakers See Progress Toward Gay Marriage Equality
Link: New York Sun
Excerpt: City lawmakers are raising their voices in support of gay marriage, joining hundreds of New Yorkers yesterday in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to boost awareness about the issue. The marchers wore stickers bearing an equal sign, and the crowd cheered as lawmakers talked up the prospect of legal gay marriage in New York State. Speakers at the event included Comptroller William Thompson Jr., Manhattan's president, Scott Stringer, and the city's first gay City Council speaker, Christine Quinn. "I don't think we are that far away," Mr. Thompson said at a rally in City Hall Park before the march.


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

-Hotel fined after cancelling gay-friendly events
The Eyre Square Hotel in Galway has been ordered to pay ?3,000 (£2,393) to two gay men by an Equality Tribunal. Peter McGuffin and Enda Harte had organised a gay-friendly social event at the hotel for 5th June 2005, the Irish Times reports.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9011.html

-Beano editor reveals changes to avoid depicting "gay bashing"
Euan Kerr, editor of popular children's comic The Beano, has revealed in a new book that the behaviour of its main character was changed due to accusations of encouraging homophobic bullying. Mr Kerr edited the comic from 1984 to 2006.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9000.html


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

-Gay and lesbian couples stage 'wedding march' across Brooklyn Bridge
By Stephanie Gaskell | DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Gay and lesbian couples marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Sunday for the fifth year - vowing not to give up until they can marry in New York. "Wedding March" protesters hoofed it across the bridge to urge the state Legislature to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage. A gay marriage bill cleared the Assembly, but it hasn't been put to a vote in the GOP-run state Senate.

-GA: AIDS Survival Project Closing Doors
By DYANA BAGBY | Southern Voice
More than 20 years after it first opened to serve people with AIDS in the metro Atlanta area and beyond, the grassroots organization AIDS Survival Project is set to close its doors in June 2009 due to waning funding. The organization announced the closure today. The closing of ASP, founded in 1986, will take place in two parts, officials said in a press release. Most services will cease at the end of this year, Dec. 31, and most staff will also leave at the end of the year. Remaining open until the end of June 2009 will be ASP's Counseling, Testing & Referral Center

-Christian Singer Ray Boltz Admits He's Gay
By Ann Turner | Gay Wired
Christian gospel singer Roy Boltz has come out of the closet to announce he is gay in an interview with the Washington Blade. The contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter said he has struggled with the truth of his sexual orientation for over 30 years. Boltz told the Blade he came out to his family and friends in 2004, including his four children and now ex-wife. The Dove Award-winning singer, who as sold over four million records, said he simply could no longer avoid the truth that he was gay. In a message posted on his website, Boltz says he was afraid that if people "knew who I really was, I would never be accepted."


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

-Family Values
Gov. David Paterson, and a trial judge who upheld his decision, did the right thing by recognizing same-sex marriages performed outside the state. [...] New York's Democratic-controlled Assembly has passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry here. New York's Senate, which has long been under Republican control, must also do the right thing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16tue3.html?ref=opinion


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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

-Bondage lovers lead happy lives: Study
An unusual sex survey has found that Australians who enjoy bondage and discipline are not damaged or dangerous, and might even be happier than those who practise "normal" sex. he research showed two per cent of adult Australians regularly partake in sadomasochism and dominance and submission-type sexual role play. And contrary to commonly-held stereotypes, they are not doing so in reaction to sexual abuse or because they are "sexually deficient" in some way, according the study of 20,000 Australians by public health researchers at the University of NSW.
http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/08/25/Bondage_leads_to_a_happy_life_Study

-Is Pornography Adultery?
The marriage of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook collapsed the old-fashioned way in 2006, when she discovered that he was sleeping with his 18-year-old assistant. But their divorce trial this summer was a distinctly Internet-age affair. Having insisted on keeping the proceedings open to the media, Brinkley and her lawyers served up a long list of juicy allegations about Cook's taste in online porn: the $3,000 a month he dropped on adult Web sites, the nude photos he posted online, the user names he favored ("happyladdie2002," for instance, and "wannaseeall") while surfing swinger sites, even the videos he supposedly made of himself masturbating.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200810/adultery-porn

-Appellate Court Upsets Gay Bias Jury Award to Reported Leonard Bernstein Lover
A divided Appellate Term panel in Manhattan last week threw out a $1.4 million award to a former official of New York University Medical Center who claimed he was fired in 1997 after being identified in a book as a lover of composer Leonard Bernstein.The two-judge majority found the hospital's evidence that the firing of the official, Mark A. Taylor, was prompted by budgetary and administrative concerns so strong that "no valid line of reasoning" could have led a jury to conclude he was fired because of his sexual orientation. But in a dissent, Justice William J. Davis wrote there was "ample evidence" that Taylor's sexual orientation was the "determining factor" in the decision to terminate him.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424508993&pos=ataglance


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Soulforce
http://www.soulforce.org/
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article

-Seven Straight Nights Spotlights Straight Allies Across the Country
http://www.sevenstraightnights.org/

-Our Family Matters Conference, October 22-25, 2008 in Nashville
http://www.ourfamilymatters.org/

-Correction to Equality Ride Route
http://www.soulforce.org/equalityride

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