GLBT DIGEST December 24, 2008

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

-On Politics: For Now, Obama Proves to Be Elusive Target for G.O.P.
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
It's not so easy being the loyal opposition these days. Almost two months after Barack Obama's election, Republicans are struggling to figure out how - or even whether - to challenge or criticize him as he prepares to assume the presidency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/us/politics/24web-nagourney.html?scp=4&sq=gay&st=cse


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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Gay enthusiasm fades after 'double punch'
By David Crary
Gay-rights activists are more wary about the Obama presidency after what one called a "double punch to the gut." The first blow was the choice of a pastor they consider hostile for a prime inauguration role. The second was dashed hopes for the first openly gay Cabinet member.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flaobamagays1224sbdec24,0,7651933.story


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

-What God would want
The Dec. 19 letter Traditional marriage supports discrimination against gays and says that, ``The Bible does not tolerate homosexual relationships. Our Lord loves the people, but abhors the behavior, rescuing them from it.'' However, the Bible was written almost 2,000 years ago when Earth and civilization were dramatically different. The Bible also promotes or condones animal sacrifice and slavery, but humans have concluded that those practices are morally wrong and have tried to abolish them. The Bible speaks of kings, pharaohs and emperors. Where do we see democracy referred to in the Bible? We don't, yet don't we all agree that, even though there are problems in a democratic form of government, it beats anything else?
The Bible quotes God as telling us, ''Go forth and multiply.'' God says this before the flood and again afterward. But now there are 6.5 billion people on the planet and there are severe problems in providing the basics of food, housing and safety of life. Humans aren't doing much to control overpopulation. Wouldn't it be most merciful of God to create more homosexuals as a way to prevent overpopulation and ``thin the herd?''
Throughout the history of humankind, we have changed well-established practices and beliefs for the greater good. Different leaders have either brought us the word of God or their own enlightened beliefs to guide society in a new and better direction. I believe that God is telling us that ``All men and women are to be treated equally.''
BRAD WATSON, North Miami Beach
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters/story/823478.html


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Lambda Legal
http://lambdalegal.org/
This holiday season, Lambda Legal is proud to share with you two victories on behalf of same-sex parents and their children.
After legally adopting their Louisiana-born son in the state of New York, Oren Adar and his partner Mickey Smith applied for a new birth certificate for their child, only to be told by the Louisiana state registrar that they could not be issued a birth certificate because the state does not recognize adoption by unmarried parents. We made the case on their behalf, citing the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which requires states to respect court judgments - including adoption decrees - that are lawfully obtained in other states. On Tuesday, a U.S. District Judge ruled against the Louisiana registrar and ordered her to issue a new birth certificate identifying both men as the boy's parents. Adar, who now lives with Smith and their son in San Diego said, "As an adopted child myself, I understand the need to feel like you belong." In Ohio, we successfully represented a non-biological mother who sought shared custody after her ex-partner barred her from seeing the couple's daughter. After a trial, the court found our client's testimony "very credible," and concluded that the couple had a binding understanding that they would act as co-parents for the child. As a result, our client can continue to be her daughter's mother. Lambda Legal's work to protect LGBT families began in the 1970s when we helped a lesbian foster mother retain custody of her foster children and a gay father obtain visitation rights with his children. Our work continues to strengthen rights for same-sex parents because we understand that intimate and enduring relationships are important to everyone. Victories like these for families all over the country are possible because of the generosity of our members. Please consider making a special year-end gift today to support this important work. From all of us at Lambda Legal, we wish you, your families and your loved ones a safe and happy holiday!


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

-Pope is wrong on "gay threat" to human survival
Gay sexuality is a part of human ecology
by Peter Tatchell
"By choosing to highlight homosexuality instead of hunger, war and homelessness, the Pope has lost his moral bearings and sense of priorities." said Peter Tatchell of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender humanrights group OutRage! He was responding the Pope's bizarre claim that saving humanity from homosexual and transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
http://www.petertatchell.net/

-Uganda: Victory for Human Rights
In a surprising victory for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, Ugandan Justice Stella Arach yesterday issued a ruling in favor of LGBT activists and human rights defenders Victor Mukasa and Oyo Yvonne in their suit against the Attorney General of Uganda related to an illegal raid on Mukasa's home. Speaking to a courtroom packed with Ugandan, Kenyan, and Rwandan LGBT activists, the judge cited constitutional violations of the rights to privacy, property and the fundamental rights of women. The ruling is likely to become a landmark case in a country that currently criminalizes homosexuality and has repeatedly made efforts to silence sexual rights activists.


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

-Gays outraged by pope's 'homophobic attack'
A suggestion by Pope Benedict XVI that homosexuality is as much of a threat to the survival of the human race as climate change sparked outrage among gay rights campaigners on Tuesday. "It's the latest homophobic attack by this pope," said Gustav Hofer, co-director of a documentary on the life of a gay couple in Italy called
"Suddenly Last Winter". "The Vatican talks about homosexuality or transsexuality as if it were a whim, never as suffering," Hofer told AFP, adding that the Roman Catholic Church "reduces sexual orientation to the sexual act as if it had nothing to do with a person's identity."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hAbL28TVkVsC_ZP1Vdg7hlW8gPDw


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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

-Mike Rogers on Hardball re: Rick Warren
Mike Rogers makes mincemeat out of Warren defender's argument on Hardball On Hardball Monday night (hosted tonight by the insufferable Mike Barnicle, who believes all the LGBTs and allies who are mad at Rick Warren live in only five cities), friend of the Blend Mike Rogers of PageOneQ.com and BlogActive took the debate chair against the Rev. Eugene Rivers and shot down the feeble defense of Warren. Rivers unconvincingly attempted to say that Warren isn't a divisive figure and that LGBT anger is a "pseudo-controversy." Mike Rogers disarmed Rivers by citing the fact that the Saddleback Church web site removed its anti-gay language as a result of the controversy, and thus it was an admission by Warren that he was in fact affected by the protests by those "angry gays" and allies who objected to his selection to deliver the invocation at the Obama inauguration. Beautiful.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8771

The YouTube Mike Rogers video can be found at: [It's worth watching]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk18tzZv34U


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Forwarded from Steve Krantz
stevek@bipedinfo.com
PFLAG Director, Southern Pacific Region, and National Board Member,
http://www.pflag.org
Jews for Marriage Equality Founder, http://www.jewsformarriageequality.org

-An Open Letter to Barack Obama
by American Citizen, Sam Borelli
Dear President-elect Obama,
I would like for you to imagine the following scenario. In 1978, Harvey Milk, although injured, survives the assassination attempt by Dan White. He then goes on to become a U.S. Senator representing the great state of California. Harvey quickly becomes a popular and effective Senator. A decade later, 1988, and President Ronald Reagan is wrapping up his second term. Vice President George Bush is the Republican nominee for President.
For various reasons, many of the leading Democratic candidates (Joe Biden, Gary Hart) are forced to drop out of the race, leaving one candidate standing. A candidate with an amazing ability to reach out to all Americans, and a proven campaign track-record, that candidate is Harvey Milk. And in no short order this country has its first openly-gay Democratic nominee for President. [...] An announcement is made that former Alabama Governor George Wallace has been invited to give the invocation at the inauguration. Yes, the Governor that "Stood in the Schoolhouse Doors" defying local, state and national law enforcement to deny American-born children their right to equal education is now playing a key role in the transition to the Era of Hope. http://walkingweho.wordpress.com/


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Truth Wins Out - TWO
by Wayne Besen
http://www.truthwinsout.org/

-Buy Melissa Etheridge A Newspaper Subscription For Christmas
It was hard to read.
Pop star Melissa Etheridge wrote a column in The Huffington Post defending pastor Rick Warren. Warren complimented her music and then she swooned - giving him a pass on his anti-gay rhetoric. The cunning preacher flattered her, she thought, but really flattened her - and the poor crooner had no idea what hit her. In reading her well intentioned piece, I was most troubled that Melissa had not heard of Rick Warren before this dust up. He had only been on the cover of every major US news magazine. A forest worth of news stories have been written. He has been featured on every major TV show. His book has sold 20 million copies. This is not exactly a mystery man.
http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/please-buy-melissa-etheridge-a-newspaper-for-christmas/


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

-Christmas in the Gay Family
Frank Martin Gill won lawsuit against Florida, defeated gay adoption ban
By Dan Renzi
As the national media focused on Propisition 8 in California, One of the biggest legal victories for the GLBT community in the U.S. came quietly, here in Florida: Frank Martin Gill, an openly-gay foster parent in Miami, won his lawsuit against the State of Florida's ban on gay parent adoptions. The judge in the case said the law was "unconstitutional" and there was "no rational basis" for forbidding gay parents to legally adopt their children.
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#23172


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

-27,000 Urge Mormons to Support Civil Unions in Utah
More than 27,000 letters have been sent to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquarters in Salt Lake City urging the church to publicly support gay rights bills Utah legislators are expected to consider in 2009.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69439.asp

-Warren's Church Erases Antigay Language From Website
As the flap over President-elect Barack Obama's choosing Pastor Rick Warren to conduct the invocation at his inauguration continues, it seems that Warren's church has taken steps to cover up its homophobic stance.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69443.asp


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

-Free Presbyterian minister backs Pope and claims we are all born straight
A preacher from a church that refers to the Pope as the Anti-Christ has backed his stance on homosexuality and claimed all people are born heterosexual. Rev David McIlveen is the leader of Sandown Free Presbyterian Chuch in Belfast.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10064.html


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