GLBT DIGEST November 22, 2008

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

-Letters: Is Gay Marriage a First Amendment Issue?
Re "Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage" (front page, Nov. 15):
The involvement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in supporting Proposition 8 in California was an illustration of the influence of a church seeking to encourage the State of California to discriminate. If 30 years ago, when the Mormons denied men of African descent the right to be ordained to their priesthood, the state had intervened, challenging church-sponsored racial discrimination, the state would have been accused of violating the separation of church and state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/opinion/lweb22gay.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse

-Gay-Rights Advocates Use Web to Organize Global Rally
The Internet played an unprecedented role in rallying voters during this year's election. In the aftermath of the election, Web 2.0 tools are continuing to play a role in other causes, astonishing long-time advocates with the power and speed with which it gets their message out. The latest example is a series of international protests scheduled for Saturday in opposition to California's Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban that passed on Nov. 4. Join the Impact, a Web site built the morning of Friday, Nov. 7, has rallied hundreds of thousands of people who are gathering this weekend in eight countries, 50 states and 300 cities.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/gay-rights-activists-use-web-to-organize-global-rally/?scp=3&sq=gay&st=cse


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

-4 sex-trafficking suspects arrested in South Florida
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, in coordinated South Florida raids, arrested four suspected sex traffickers and rescued nine trafficking victims who had been forced into prostitution in several brothels, federal authorities said late Friday. Officials said actions occurred in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In a statement, authorities identified the four suspects arrested Wednesday as Arturo Rojas-Gonzalez, Elodia Capilla-Diego, Fidel Gutierrez-Gonzalez and Rosalio Valdez-Nava.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/783002.html


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South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Day of Protest for equal rights
Protestors rally in South Florida against GLBT discrimination
Hundreds of voices thundered "Equal Rights" in unison Saturday, the sound bouncing off the walls of Miami City Hall. The chants and fervent speeches occasionally overpowered blaring car horns from passing motorists in support of same-sex equality rights. In Fort Lauderdale, local activist Bishop SF Mahee led a procession of hundreds from City Hall to Broward Boulevard, singing "We Shall Overcome," as dozens of demonstrators carried a nearly block-long rainbow flag.
http://www.floridablade.com/2008/11-20/news/localnews/5280.cfm

-Check out protest photos here!
Galleries for Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Lake Worth
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#22583

-Rally seeks enhanced AIDS fight
Obama's election gives activists 'a lot of hope'
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=22568


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

-Obama caving on Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
This is what I was worried about. According to the Washington Times, Obama's
team is saying that even ASKING for a repeal of the ban on open gays in the military may not happen until 2010. First, he wants to build consensus. Fair enough.
http://www.365gay.com/blog/vanasco-obama-caving-on-dont-ask-dont-tell/

-Report: HIV/AIDS spreading fast in Russia
Russia's anti-AIDS coordinator says the number of registered HIV cases is growing 10 percent a year despite increased government funding.
http://www.365gay.com/news/report-hivaids-spreading-fast-in-russia/

-Canadian province contacts more than 1000 people who may be infected by dirty syringes
(Edmonton, Alberta) Alberta Health says it has contacted more than 1,000 people who may have been infected by the re-use of single-use syringes in the High Prairie area.
http://www.365gay.com/news/canadian-province-contacts-more-than-1000-people-who-may-be-infected-by-dirty-syringes/

-Hundreds in Chile not told of positive HIV tests
Chile is scrambling to reach people who could be unknowingly spreading AIDS.
Health Minister Alvaro Erazo told legislators that public health services failed to tell 512 people that they had tested positive for HIV.
http://www.365gay.com/news/hundreds-in-chile-not-told-of-positive-hiv-tests/

-HIV tests not yet as routine as cholesterol checks
Two years after the government urged making HIV tests as common as cholesterol checks, there are small gains but still one in five people infected with the AIDS virus doesn't know it, scientists say.
http://www.365gay.com/news/hiv-tests-not-yet-as-routine-as-cholesterol-checks/


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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Many With HIV Unaware
In 2006, nearly 25 percent of the 60,000-plus Americans who had newly contracted the HIV virus were not aware of it, and thus weren't getting treatment or protecting their sexual partners. Today it's 21 percent -- an improvement, but nowhere near enough, said speakers at an HIV/AIDS conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. ''It's crucial to understand how important routine HIV testing is at every level of American society so everyone knows their status; it's the first step in controlling the HIV epidemic,'' said Dr. Veronica Miller, executive director of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research. Read More...
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/


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

-Analyzing the Two Key Arguments in the California Supreme Court Case
Regarding the Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Prop 8
This week, the California Supreme Court decided to hear a case posing two important questions. The first is whether the voter-adopted state constitutional ban on gay marriage passed in the November election, Proposition 8, was validly enacted. The second is - assuming Proposition 8 was indeed validly enacted - what is the status of the same-sex marriages that were entered into between the California Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling last spring and the enactment of Prop. 8? (As readers will recall, the court had previously ruled in May 2008 that the then-existing statutory ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution.) In a series of columns beginning with this one, I will take up these complex questions in detail.

-The Dismal Gay Legacy of the George W. Bush Years
By Duane Wells | Gaywired
"As we respect someone's rights and profess tolerance, we shouldn't change-or have to change-our basic views on the sanctity of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. It's very important that we protect marriage as an institution, between a man and a woman. I proposed a constitutional amendment. I was worried that activist judges are defining the definition of marriage, and the surest way to protect marriage between a man and woman is to amend the Constitution."
President George W. Bush, Bush-Kerry debate, Tempe AZ Oct 13, 2004

-Boyzone Video's "Deadly Message" of Gay Equality Upsets Presbyterian Minister
By Tony Grew | Pink News
The decision of a boyband to give its gay member a male love interest in their latest video has provoked comment from the somewhat unlikely source of an obscure Northern Ireland preacher. Reverend David McCullough, minister of Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church, turned his hand to video reviewing in the town's local paper and gave a full account of the limited boy-on-boy action on show. He expressed his concerns about the influence Boyzone's latest video could have on the world's youth.


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