GLBT DIGEST - October 21, 2008

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

-The Right to Know, Then to Say 'No'
Terminally ill patients in California are the first in the nation to have a legal right to information from their doctors, upon request, about end-of-life options, including hospice, palliative care, refusing or withdrawing life-prolonging treatments, and making the choice to refuse food and hydration.
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/the-right-to-know-then-to-say-no/?scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse


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

-Biden opposes Calif. gay marriage ban; Palin calls for federal amendment
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin says she supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a break with John McCain who has said he believes states should be left to define what marriage is.
http://www.365gay.com/news/biden-opposes-calif-gay-marriage-ban-palin-calls-for-federal-amendment/

-Withers: Prop 8, Obama, California, and race
Anyone remember the Rev. Donnie McClurkin fiasco last fall? McClurkin is a gospel singer of note who has called being gay "a curse"; last year McClurkin was the headliner performer in Barack Obama's "Embrace the Change" musical tour that played in various venues in South Carolina.
http://www.365gay.com/blog/102108-prop-8-ca-and-race/

-Male calendar maker has BYU diploma yanked
Brigham Young University has yanked the diploma of a man who created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries and was later excommunicated from the church. Chad Hardy of Las Vegas attended graduation ceremonies Aug. 15 after finishing up his last four units of study online in June. But on July 13, in between completing his studies and the graduation ceremony, he was excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
http://www.365gay.com/news/male-calendar-maker-has-byu-diploma-yanked/

-African AIDS leader wins $5 million prize
(London) He took an AIDS test publicly despite a deep stigma in Africa against the disease. He pressed to cut the prevalence of mothers passing the HIV virus onto their babies. He fought to make more anti-retroviral drugs available. Festus Gontebanye Mogae, the former president of Botswana, was honored Monday with a multimillion-dollar leadership prize for his campaign to tackle one of the world's highest HIV infection rates.
http://www.365gay.com/news/african-aids-leader-wins-5-million-prize/

-Report: Gay hate crimes triple in Scotland
(Edinburgh, Scotland) An examination of police complaints across Scotland reveals a tripling of hate crimes against members of the LGBT community, The Daily Record newspaper reported Monday. The paper said that the situation may be worse than what it uncovered. A spokesperson for one police force admitted to The Record that it does not keep records on crimes based on the victim's sexuality.
http://www.365gay.com/news/report-gay-hate-crimes-triple-in-scotland/


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

-Kansas Black Gay Couple Receives Death Threats
A black gay couple reportedly received death threats since moving into a new apartment complex in Overland Park, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, two weeks ago. The couple said they received a flier on their front door and on their car window with pictures of several Ku Klux Klan members and the words "Nigger Fags Leave or Die" written above it, according to KCTV News. The unidentified couple said they had never experienced this sort of problem before, but one of the men said in the report that they "may have to move again." Overland Park police said they are investigating the case but have no leads. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid64078.asp


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

-Commentary: Do Mormons Deserve Equal Protection Under the Law?
Link: Huffington Post
by Rick Jacobs
We take for granted that this nation was founded to allow for equality and acceptance of religious observation and belief, provided the government stays out of religion and religion stays out of government. Jews gained from that "tolerance" as much as anyone. And by the way, so did Mormons, who were chased across the country by Christians who found their latter-day teachings heretical, cultish and worthy of death. Why are Mormons, some fundamentalist Christians and apparently the Roman Catholic Church arrayed to attack my rights? How do I in any way undermine any of the beliefs or institutions of those religions? I feel laid bare that people I do not know can vote secretly to remove my rights. This is, unfortunately, reminiscent of Nazi Germany's Nuremberg Laws that led to Kristallnacht, that horrible event 70 years ago next month that resulted in the burning of over 200 synagogues and countless other Jewish-owned establishments. The Nazis stripped rights from Jews piecemeal until finally Jews lost the right to eat and then to live.

-CA: Proposition 8 and the quiet governor
Link: Los Angeles Times
Back in April, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed to fight any attempt to pass a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. "I will always be there to fight against that because it should never happen," he told the Log Cabin Republicans at their San Diego convention -- a month before the state Supreme Court recognized the right of gays and lesbians to marry. And after that ruling, the governor again promised to oppose the effort to take away that right -- now known as Proposition 8. But Schwarzenegger has been awfully quiet about an issue that could use his visible presence. Not that he has switched camps. He just hasn't been showing up to remind Californians that they generally champion expansive civil rights, not the elimination of such rights. He hasn't been around to reassure voters that their churches won't have to conduct same-sex marriages and their preschoolers won't have to attend gay weddings.

-Commentary: Mohler Misstates Christian Support for Same-Sex Couples
Link: Box Turtle Bulletin
by Timothy Kincaid
In second part of his series about same-sex marriage, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary seeks to make two points. The first is a rather bold assertion that only a small minority of Christians see room within Scripture to allow for a cultural recognition of same-sex unions. The second is that only a small portion of the world's nations offer such recognition. He presents each as evidence of the other.

-Commentary: "Don't take it so personally"
Link: Daddy, Papa and Me
"Don't take it so personally." That is what a man said to me the other day. He, and what looked like his teenage son, were passing out flyers and wearing t-shirts that declared "one man + one woman = marriage" in front of the grocery store in the Sunset district of San Francisco. He was working for the California constitutional amendment that would take away the rights and protections of my family. My 6-year-old daughter was at soccer practice, so I thought I'd get in some grocery shopping done during the time. As I was pushing my cart out the door, the man approached me. At first I just put up my hand, looked away and say "No!"


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

-Gays are "recruiting" claims Ugandan paper
The gay community in Uganda is recruiting new members, according to a leading newspaper in the East African nation. "Recruitment is reportedly highest in secondary schools and in prisons," reports The Independent.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9356.html

-Nigerian ambassador to EU pressured over treatment of gay Christians
Members of the European Parliament have drawn attention to the harassment faced by people working for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in Nigeria. MEPs from the Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights have written to the Ambassador Usman A Baraya at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the EU.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9354.html

-Trans trucker awarded £20,000 by employment tribunal
A transsexual who was hounded out of her job as a trucker after she began her transition from her former male gender has been awarded damages by an employment tribunal. Vikki-Marie Gaynor, 37, from Wallasey in Wirral, will get £20,000 following her successful claims of sexual discrimination against Exel Europe, part of delivery giant DHL, and recruitment agency Blue Arrow.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9353.html

-Catholic adoption agency's plan to discriminate rejected
The Charity Commission has ruled that a Roman Catholic-run adoption agency cannot change the purpose for which it was created in order to avoid dealing with homosexual couples. The Sexual Orientation Regulations 2007 outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services, including adoption.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9346.html

-Abortion dominates debate as lesbian fertility rights come before Commons
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is back before MPs this week. If it passes the Commons without amendments on Wednesday it will become law. In May MPs voted to remove the requirement for doctors to consider the need for a father when assessing women for ferility treatments as part of the bill.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9344.html

-Ugandan lesbian granted asylum in UK
A judge has ruled that a lesbian woman from Uganda may remain in the UK. Prossy Kakooza, 26, fled her homeland after her family found her in bed with her partner and marched both women naked to the police station where Ms Kakooza was raped and tortured by police officers.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9343.html

-Experts predict sharp rise in HIV infections among Hong Kong gays
One third of men who have sex with men could be infected with HIV unless prevention measures work, according to experts in Hong Kong. There have been sharp rises in the number of men getting the virus through gay sex.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9342.html


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

-Mary Cheney, Partner Attend White House Dinner
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade | Oct 14, 11:59 AM
Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary Cheney, and her domestic partner, Heather Poe, were on the official guest list for a White House state dinner Monday in honor of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The guest list released by the White House indicates that Mary Cheney and Poe attended the dinner with Vice President Cheney and his wife, Lynne Cheney, along with the vice president's other daughter, Elizabeth Cheney. Although gay activists were likely to be pleased that an out lesbian couple participated in an official White House dinner, some activists might question the way the guest list identified Poe. The wives or husbands of dozens of U.S. government officials and diplomats attending the dinner, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi, were identified as a "spouse." Read more

-Biblical Homosexuality and New Testament Homosexuality: Issues for Many
People
News Blaze
It's not shocking to most people that the media has the power to influence American culture. In fact, studies show people are more influenced by the media than most other outlets, including their friends and co-workers. Thus, it should come as no surprise the media also influences homosexuality in America. Considering the power of the outlet, ex-gay activist Anthony Falzarano and his supporters are speaking out against the political gay agenda in America. Anthony not only speaks out against homosexuality but has committed his life's work to attacking the political gay agenda in this country. Mr. Falzarano lived as a gay man for nine years and speaks of the glamour, thrill and excitement associated with the culture in his new book "And Such Were Some of You". However, after meeting another Christian struggling with his sexuality Falzarano realized through Christ he could choose not to be gay. While this may seem impossible to many people in America (due to the political and media influence) Falzarano testifies the power of God delivered him from homosexuality. He notes his unusual journey out of the homosexual world and into the world of Jesus Christ in an exciting and inspiring way. Read more


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

-"MEPs asking Nigerian government to intervene against harassment of LGBT activists."
On 17 October the European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights sent a letter to the Ambassador Usman A. Baraya at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the EU. "We have to react to continued and life-threatening media harassment of human rights defenders taking place in Nigeria," said Michael Cashman, President of the Intergroup. "Media outlets in the country have been inciting hatred against human rights activists of the NGO House of Rainbow in Lagos and many of them are scared for their lives and hiding or have left the country. That is unacceptable and the government must intervene". MEPs are reminding in the letter to the embassy that under the Revised Cotonou Agreement of 2005, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is obliged to protect and respect the human rights of every citizen of Nigeria without discrimination of any kind. Please find the full text of the letter at www.lgbt-ep.eu


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Forwarded from Michael Emanuel Rajner
merajner@gmail.com
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article

-Senator Joe Lieberman more clueless and misguied than McCain on HIV/AIDS?
by Michael Emanuel Rajner
Several months ago, Waymon Hudson asked me to contribute to the Bilerico Project as a person living with AIDS. Over the past few months I have struggled immensely to find the time, but after losing my voice at a community event posted below in Pompano Beach where Florida State Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff and United States Senator Joe Lieberman spoke, I forced myself to make the time and share the experience.
http://florida.bilerico.com/2008/10/us_senator_joe_lieberman_more_clueless_t.php#more


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From Southern Poverty Law Center
http://www.splcenter.org/

-KKK: Inside American Terror
National Geographic Channel
Recently, I sat down with SPLC Intelligence Project Director Mark Potok and a team from the National Geographic Channel to discuss the inner workings of modern Ku Klux Klan groups, including the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), one of the largest and most violent in the country. As you know, the IKA is the target of our current efforts to put another hate group out of business. We'll be in a Kentucky courtroom next month trying our case against the IKA, whose members viciously beat teenager Jordan Gruver. The National Geographic special includes interviews with IKA leader Ron Edwards and many of the Klan members and leaders we monitor. You'll also get an insider's look at the IKA compound and the violence these men and women embrace. Tune in to the National Geographic Channel, Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m. ET and see just how important your support is in our fight against injustice and bigotry.
http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=339&splcnewsletter=dnewsgen-102108


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