GLBT DIGEST - October 11, 2008

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

-Gay Marriage Is Ruled Legal in Connecticut
A divided state Supreme Court struck down a civil union law, making the state the third to legalize same-sex marriage. [...] The ruling, which cannot be appealed and is to take effect on Oct. 28, held that a state law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples, and a civil union law intended to provide all the rights and privileges of marriage to same-sex couples, violated the constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11marriage.html?hp

-Separate Is Not Equal
The Connecticut Supreme Court ended a serious injustice within its own borders by ruling that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/opinion/11sat4.html?ref=opinion


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Wyo. town reflects 10 years after Shepard's murder
A decade after a gay college student was beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead, many in this small college town are still struggling with the aftermath of a crime that triggered nationwide sympathy and brought a re-examination of attitudes toward gays. Ten years ago, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and left in the cold by two men he met in a bar. Residents were shaken by the brutality of the crime, and the media descended on the town trying to explain why it happened.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/721085.html


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

-Coming out would have positive or no impact, say nearly 9 of 10 heterosexuals
New online study also shows nearly 7 out 10 heterosexuals said they prefer an individual be open and honest about being gay, rather than feel the need to hide their orientation
According to a new national survey, nearly nine out of 10 (87%) heterosexuals said that if someone were to come out to them as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, it would have a positive or no impact on how they would view gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people. The survey also revealed that two out of three (67%) heterosexual adults agree that if someone they knew is gay or lesbian, they'd want that individual to be open and honest with them about it, rather than feel the need to hide who he or she really is. The new nationwide survey of 2,455 U.S. adults, (ages 18 and over), of whom 287 self identified as gay or lesbian (which includes an oversample of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults), was conducted online between September 15-22, 2008, by Harris Interactive, a global market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the GLBT market.

-$300,000 award to bullied gay and lesbian high school students upheld Lambda Legal news release:
'My experience at Poway was just three years of my life I'd love to forget'(San Diego) In a 3-0 decision, the California Court of Appeal (Fourth District) today upheld a jury decision that found that Poway Unified School District officials took minimal or no action at all when two Poway High School students were subjected to relentless harassment because they are gay and lesbian. The ruling upheld an award of $300,000 to Megan Donovan and Joey Ramelli under the state education code. "We're pleased the court today recognized that every student has a right to feel safe and protected at school," said Lambda Legal Senior Staff Attorney Brian Chase. "Unfortunately, what happened to Megan and Joey is far from uncommon. We hope this lawsuit and the attention it has generated will remind school officials everywhere that parents expect their kids to be safe from bullying and violence during school hours."

-Averting crisis: Mitchell Gold on growing up gay in America
Decades before Mitchell Gold became a famous furniture mogul, he considered ways to kill himself. ''I debated how to do it. An overdose of sleeping pills seemed somewhat painless,'' Gold writes in his new book, Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America. ``I considered other tactics -- driving a car off a cliff, running in front of a train, jumping off a building -- but I knew I didn't have the guts.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/story/720107.html


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

-In SNL, veritas
In the last few weeks I've become seriously convinced that Saturday Night Live could help sway this presidential election. For one thing, it has crystallized Sarah Palin's foreign-policy experience in a simple phrase: "I can see Russia from my house." She didn't quite say that, of course, but it's
close enough - not to mention funny, and memorable.
http://www.365gay.com/opinion/in-snl-veritas/


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

-Gay Man's Killer Gets Four Life Sentences
Darrell Lynn Madden was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison on Thursday after admitting to killing a 62-year-old gay man in Oklahoma City last year, reports The Oklahoman. In a plea deal made with prosecutors, Madden, 38, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and slaying Steven Domer. He earned two additional like terms for assaulting and spitting on Oklahoma County jail guards.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid63421.asp

- Connecticut Marriage Ruling Shifts Focus to California, Prop. 8
While LGBT citizens and supporters were rejoicing at the Connecticut supreme court's Friday decision to legalize same-sex marriage, others were already weighing what effect the ruling might have on this year's marriage amendment battles in California, Arizona, and Florida as well as the presidential election. While LGBT citizens and supporters were rejoicing at the Connecticut supreme court's Friday decision to legalize same-sex marriage, others were already weighing what effect the ruling might have on this year's marriage amendment battles in California, Arizona, and Florida as well as the presidential election.
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid63491.asp

-Protesters Descend on Kentucky McDonald's
A McDonald's restaurant in Louisville, Ky., at which gay customers were harassed and insulted for their orientation was visited by dozens of protesters on Friday. Carrying signs saying "Homophobia Served Here" and "NOT Lovin' It," the protesters called for McDonald's to treat all customers fairly. The group was responding to an alleged incident on July 26 in which two men -- Ryan Marlatt and Teddy Eggers -- and three other friends were waiting for their food at McDonald's when they claim employees referred to them as "faggots." Marlatt and Eggers asked for the cost of their meals to be refunded by a manager, but the men say the manager refused. Following the incident, Marlatt and Eggers said they tried unsuccessfully to contact the estaurant's general manager and the McDonald's corporate office in Illinois.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid63490.asp

-Mormons Raise $8.4 Million for Prop. 8
A coalition of Mormon churches is raising funds and mobilizing members in support of the California ballot initiative that would amend the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Senior elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints broadcast a call to Mormons on Wednesday night to increase efforts to volunteer and donate funds to the fight, the Associated Press reports. The hourlong message went out to churches in Utah, Hawaii, and Idaho as well as California.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid63457.asp


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

-No on 8 needs $10 million; 'Our lead is gone'
Link: Bay Area Reporter
With the campaign to defeat anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 behind in money and in two recent polls, Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors declared Tuesday, "We are going to lose this election if we don't raise the money we need to stay on the airwaves." No on 8 senior strategist Steve Smith who, along with Kors, was speaking on a conference call with LGBT media, said the campaign needs to raise at least $10 million before the November 4 election. That money is crucial to reach voters through TV ads.


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

-"Hampered struggle against neo-Nazis"
BELGRADE -- Human and Minority Rights Minister Svetozar Ciplic says that state has mechanisms to outlaw the work of neo-Nazi organizations. The problem, Ciplic says, is enforcement. The minister supports the Interior Minister (MUP) Ivica Dacic's call to citizens not to organize a rally on Saturday so as to avoid clashes and jeopardizing the lives of innocent people.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=10&dd=10&nav_id=54128


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Forwarded from Leon VanDyke

-UK to Get Its First Gay History Museum
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/features/a-matter-of-gay-pride-britain-is-to-have-its-first-museum-on-the-history-of-homosexuality-955390.html


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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

-Will Gay Marriage Help McCain?
Now that same-sex love is legal in California, should Obama brace for a ballot backlash?
In February 2004, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom began officiating same-sex weddings on the steps of City Hall. Over the next month, more than 4,000 couples tied the knot in defiance of a state referendum that had banned gay marriage in California in 2000. Newsom says he challenged the law out of a sense of "moral obligation." But his move awakened a sense of moral outrage among Republicans, who raced to put anti-gay-marriage initiatives on the ballot in 11 states. After John Kerry lost in November, some Democrats suggested that the specter of gay marriage had thrown the contest to George W. Bush. "I believe it did energize a very conservative vote," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said immediately after the election. "It gave them a position to rally around. The whole issue has just been too much, too fast, too soon."
http://www.motherjones.com

-GLAAD Announces Partnership with National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
GLAAD is proud to announce its partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Academy for Leadership in Action at this year's National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. This year's conference is taking place in the "mile high" city, Denver, Colorado, from January 28 through February 1, 2009. We cordially invite you to join us at the conference and to be a part of this incredibly exciting skill building and learning opportunity.
www.glaad.org

-CT: High Court Grants Marriage Rights For Same-Sex Couples
The state Supreme Court's 4-3 decision Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry swept through the state with the force of a cultural tidal wave.
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hcu-gaymarriage-1010,0,7812756.story

-AK paper: McCain/Palin reply on gay proclamation
Good story today from Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News on their blog, all about Palin rejecting a request to endorse National Coming Out Day:
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/10/ak-paper-mccainpalin-reply-on-gay.html

-UK: Gay student hanged himself after anonymous phone taunts about his sexuality
A teenager killed himself after a string of anonymous and abusive phone calls about his sexuality. The calls began after Lee Simpson revealed in a letter to his family and friends that he was gay. Months later the 18-year-old student was found hanged at home in Blackley. His father, John Simpson, 50, believes that the calls taunting Lee plagued him and he could no longer cope with the harassment. 'It happened just before he died,' said Mr Simpson. 'I never expected him to do what he did but those calls definitely didn't help him. I think they pushed him over the edge.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1075716/Gay-student-hanged-anonymous-phone-taunts-sexuality.html

-PA: Courts: Gay plant worker looks to appeals court to condemn harassment
For years, Brian Prowel says, his coworkers tormented him for being effeminate, for not being like all the other guys at his Butler plant. Not true, says his former employer: Prowel was frequently abused by his coworkers ... but only because he's gay. And that, unsavory as it may sound, is not against the law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly prohibits employment discrimination based on sex. It does not, however, extend to sexual orientation -- rendering that sort of discrimination illegal is up to states and municipalities. Some do, and some don't. The case, an appeal of which is now being decided in federal court, has attracted interest from civil-rights activists, who say it has a potential to redefine how the courts apply anti-discrimination law. Twenty-one women's groups from around the country have signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief. Setting precedent for gender-presentation discrimination, they say, will pave the way for women in traditionally male fields to be protected against gendered harassment. And having harassment-free access to male-oriented high-paying jobs could go a long way toward addressing the pay gap.
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=53365

-Coming Out Would Have Positive or No Impact on Nearly 9 out of 10 Heterosexuals
New online study also shows nearly 7 out 10 heterosexuals said they prefer an individual be open and honest about being gay, rather than feel the need to hide their orientation
Washington, DC - October 10, 2008 - According to a new national survey, nearly nine out of 10 (87%) of heterosexuals said that if someone were to come out to them as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, it would have a positive or no impact on how they would view gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people. The survey also revealed that two out of three (67%)heterosexual adults agree that if someone they knew is gay or lesbian, they'd want that individual to be open and honest with them about it, rather than feel the need to hide who he or she really is. The new nationwide survey of 2,455 U.S. adults, (ages 18 and over), of whom 287 self identified as gay or lesbian (which includes an oversample of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults), was conducted online between September 15-22, 2008, by Harris Interactive, a global market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the GLBT market.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/index.asp


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Lambda Legal
http://www.lambdalegal.org/
-Sex Sting Exposes Police Bias
Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit against a Tennessee town after its police department and police chief released photos of 40 men following a public sex sting operation. The Johnson City Police Department (JCPD), acting drastically outside of normal procedure, released the arrest photographs of Kenneth Giles and 39 other men because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. The local news ran the story prominently along with the pictures and addresses of the men involved, and since the arrests, one man has committed suicide and several others have lost their jobs, including Giles. We argue that the JCPD violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by singling out these men for harsher treatment by making their images available to the media.
http://www.lambdalegal.org/news/pr/lambda-legal-files-federal-lawsuit-in-tenn.html

-Perilous Health Care Proposal
Lambda Legal and the National Coalition for LGBT Health, along with other health advocacy and medical care groups, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding proposed expansions to federal rules that pose a risk of increased discrimination against LGBT and HIV-positive patients.
http://www.lambdalegal.org/news/pr/lambda-legal-hiv-and-medical.html

-Working together
To help meet our financial goals during this tough economic time, Lambda Legal Board Member Curt Kirschner has pledged to match all donations from new members between now and October 31st.
http://www.lambdalegal.org/


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