GLBT DIGEST - September 22, 2008

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Barack Obama for President Campaign

-Encourage your Friends to Register to Vote
Think of all the people you know -- your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors. What if every one of them voted on Election Day? That's a lot of votes. But odds are, many of them aren't registered -- or aren't sure if they are. Now there's an easy way to learn your status and get registered. Our new one-stop voter registration site, VoteForChange.com, lets you do it all: check your registration status, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and find your early voting site or polling location. Take a minute today to check out VoteForChange.com, and encourage your friends and family to do the same:
http://my.barackobama.com/vfc


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

-Dear Asia Pacific Outgames Colleagues, Supporters & Friends,
As most of you would be aware, the financial outcome of the 1st Asia Pacific Outgames was such that Melbourne Outgames Inc (MOI) - the organizing entity, is in the fortunate position to be posting a surplus. Having already recognized the significant contribution of QSAM, (Sporting Directors), Host City Sporting Clubs and our Community Partners, (Midsumma, ALSO and Pride), MOI decided the most appropriate and beneficial manner to disperse the remainder of the surplus, was in the creation of the 1st Asia Pacific Outgames Legacy Fund. The Fund is a one-off fund and totals 30,000AUD, to be allocated as 4 grants of 5,000AUD and 10 grants of 1,000AUD and has been established to support projects that enhance and further sport, culture and human rights for the rainbow communities of the Asia Pacific consistent with the mission of GLISA, GLISA Asia Pacific and Outgames.
www.melbourneoutgames.org

-You will find here a link to a gay Iranian site.
http://qdailyglobal.wordpress.com/

-Campaigners have lost two gay asylum seekers to deportation over the past two days. Both are returning to unsafe situations where they are at real risk of violence, one has documented evidence of a death threat, and in both cases lawyers for the men believe the deportations are illegal. The deportations occured despite assurances from the Deputy Prime Minister to correct unfair treatment of LGBT asylum seekers. John 'Bosco' Nyombi was deported on a flight in Entebbe, Uganda on Friday evening. He has managed to briefly borrow a phone (he didn't have one) one and is now in hiding from police. Babakhan (Babi) Badalov was deported from Heathrow Airport yesterday afternoon on a British Midlands Airways (BMI) to Baku.
http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2008/09/both-bosco-and-babi-depored.html


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

-My first contact with Alireza J., a young Iranian guy, was in July this year. I was planning to write an article about the situation of the asylum seekers from Iran in the UK who fled their country because of the threat they suffer from the regime due to their sexuality. Before meeting Alireza in person, we had several chats over the phone. In all occasions he sounded really sad, deeply depressed and hopeless about getting his asylum approved, as he applied for it almost three years ago, when he arrived in England, and despite all the proof he has about the real threat for his life in case he is sent back to Iran, he had his asylum denied twice. When Alireza had his appeal denied by the court (two months after he had arrived in England), he was deprived from the financial support given to all asylum seekers by Home Office (accommodation and some money), and after that he had to live for almost 18 months on the streets, both in London and in Peterborough. Alireza told me that apart from the cold weather, the lack of food and all the basic things one needs to live properly, what he most feel sad for about that time was the fact he prostitute himself: he had sex with few English men for five, ten pounds, to have some money to eat and live.
http://www.irqo.net/IRQO/English/pages/154.htm

-"French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government pledged to use its turn in the rotating presidency of the European Union to advance universal decriminalization of homosexuality at the United Nations". How ironic it is, then, that Sarkozy was seen to be cosying up to the Pope during that arch homophobe's recent visit to France and seems intent on encouraging the French to move away from secularism and return to the Catholic fold George Broadhead
UK Pink Triangle Trust
www.pinktriangle.com

-UK: Labour reneges on gay asylum pledge
Harriet Harman fails to intervene to stop Babi Badalov's deportation
"New complaint procedure is worthless," says Tatchell "Government ministers Harriet Harman and Barbara Follett have reneged on their undertaking to intervene in cases where LGBT asylum seekers are being unfairly treated by the Home Office," said Peter Tatchell of the LGBTI human rights group OutRage! "The deportation of Babi Badalov shows that the complaints mechanism is worthless," he said.



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

-Canadian School Board Blocks Course With Gay Content
High schools in Abbotsford, British Columbia, are being blocked by the local school board from teaching a new social justice course that includes curriculum on issues dealing with everything from homophobia to animal rights, reports the Vancouver Sun.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid62063.asp


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

-A Pro-Equality US Senator from Wyoming?
Link: The Bilerico Project
Wyoming, "the Equality State," has a long tradition of individual freedom from government intrusion. And there is a candidate for US Senator there who is totally pro equality (supports all of our goals, including marriage).
His name is Nick Carter. He is also an eQualityGiving Endorsed Candidate to Fund.


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

-Two gay asylum seekers deported from UK
In the past two days two gay men who claimed their lives would be in danger if they were returned to their home countries have been forcibly repatriated.

-Out gay man becomes Lord Justice of Appeal
Barrister Sir Terence Etherton has become the first openly gay man to be sworn in as Lord Justice of Appeal.


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

-John Burnside Dies at 91; Gay Rights Activist, Teleidoscope Inventor
Los Angeles Times
John Burnside, the inventor of a kaleidoscope-like device called the teleidoscope and an early gay movement activist who was the longtime partner of the late gay rights pioneer Harry Hay, has died. He was 91. Burnside, who had recently been diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer, died Sunday at his home in San Francisco, said Joey Cain, a longtime friend.

-Reflections on the Rather Queer Politics of Gay Republicans
by Mark Henricksen | Guest Submission | HNOKC
The approaching elections are unusually polarizing. Perhaps because the presidential race remains tantalizingly close, many ordinary voters are becoming personal and strident as they confront neighbors who are likely to see the same race differently. For years, I have winced at the GOP's efforts to marginalize opponents, particularly their frequent attacks on the patriotism of those citizens who oppose Republican penchant for wars.

-'Ex-Gay' Myth Used to Keep Down Gays in Nepal
By Wayne Besen | Truth Wins Out
Once again, "ex-gay" propaganda has been used to keep gays from achieving equal rights. The New York Times reported on a gay activist in Nepal, Sunil Babu Pant, who is the only openly gay member of the newly elected Constituent Assembly. He is working to convince this conservative society that homosexuals are just like any other people. According to the article, merely a decade ago gay life was difficult in Katmandu because the police were brutal. People were driven from their homes, and others endured torture in police custody, said Pant. "I thought nothing would improve unless we organized," he said. He tried to found an advocacy group to fight for the rights of gay men, lesbians, the transgendered and others. But government officials said they would register the group only if it devoted itself to converting homosexuals into heterosexuals.

-Indian Govt May Scrap Outdated Gay Law
The Times of India
In 96 hours, the government might finally say it will scrap a 148-year-old law dating from British times, which criminalizes gay sex. It has taken eight long years and much debate for India to get to the stage of even thinking seriously about decriminalizing homosexuality. If Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code were repealed, it would be a giant leap forward for AIDS prevention in a country with one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world.

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