GLBT DIGEST December 28, 2008

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

-Op-Ed Columnist: You're Likable Enough, Gay People
IN his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." We all know how that turned out. Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/opinion/28rich.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Gay&st=cse

-Chief Judge Is Retiring, Leaving Trail of Successes for Women on the Bench
By JOHN ELIGON
It was no secret that Gov. Mario M. Cuomo wanted a woman on the New York State Court of Appeals. When a seat opened in 1983, Judith S. Kaye was one of two female finalists. But the road was not exactly rising up to meet Ms. Kaye. She had no judicial experience, and a bar group - a women's group, in fact - urged the governor not to give her the job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/nyregion/28kaye.html?scp=6&sq=Gay&st=cse

-Mildred Loving | b. 1940
The Color of Love
In June 1963, Mildred Loving, the 22-year-old wife of Richard Loving, a bricklayer, sat down with a piece of lined loose-leaf paper and wrote a letter in neat script to the Washington branch of the A.C.L.U. "My husband is White," she wrote, "I am part negro, & part indian." Five years earlier, they married in Washington, she explained, but did not know that there was a law in Virginia, where they lived, against mixed marriages. Upon arriving back home, the two were jailed, tried and told to leave the state, which is how she ended up back in Washington. Her request to the A.C.L.U. was heartbreakingly humble: "We know we can't live there, but we would like to go back once and awhile to visit our families & friends." A judge had told them that if they set foot, together, in the state again, they would be jailed for one year. She hoped to hear from the lawyer there "real soon."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/magazine/28loving-t.html?sq=Gay&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=4&adxnnlx=1230472804-P1s0umPa8k6m3mFyFqPWbQ


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Spain: big pro-family rally in Madrid
By DANIEL WOOLLS
MADRID, Spain -- Tens of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122800274.html


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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Rick Warren, Obama and the Left
The left's intolerance of Rick Warren could slow Obama's progress
The most thoughtful and interesting debate of the two-year-long presidential campaign occurred last August at Saddleback Church between John McCain and Barack Obama, moderated by Saddleback pastor Rick Warren. So it is notable that President-elect Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration next month has brought forth hyperpartisan invective from the Democratic left. It has spent the past week conveying to the world its disappointment and disgust with the choice of Pastor Warren because he opposes gay marriage and abortion.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033836308436501.html


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

-Same-sex couple win birth certificate fight
By Janet McConnaughey
A same-sex couple in California has won a federal court ruling that their adopted son's Louisiana birth certificate must bear the names of both adoptive fathers. The facts are so clear that no trial is needed, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey wrote.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flatwodads1228sbdec28,0,6474573.story


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

-Jesse's Journal | In Praise of Books
By JESSE MONTEAGUDO
Recently I saw Mark Doty accept the National Book Award (NBA) in Poetry for his book Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (Harper Collins). During his acceptance speech Doty, an openly gay man, thanked his husband Paul (they were recently married in Massachusetts). Like Augusten Burroughs's memoirs, and David Sedaris's humor, Mark Doty's poetry appeals to all readers regardless of their sexual orientation. Needless to say, it is a great distinction for an openly gay poet to be honored, not as the best American gay poet, but as the best American poet period. And Doty's honor was well-deserved.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/


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

-Miami finalist for Gay Games in 2014
The 'gay Olympics' could bring thousands of people, millions of dollars to South Florida
By Dan Renzi
Is Miami ready to host the world's largest gay sporting event that will bring in an estimated 15,000 gay visitors spending beaucoup gay bucks in less that six years? The city is a finalist for the 2014 Gay Games, the largest gay and lesbian sporting event in the world. Three other cities--Boston, Cleveland, and Washington--are also finalists for the bid.
http://www.floridablade.com/blog/index.cfm#23184


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

-What you can do to help appoint a gay Secretary of the Navy
By Emma Ruby-Sachs
I just received a press release about a campaign from December 31st until January 2nd aimed at encouraging Obama to choose William White, an openly gay man.
http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-what-you-can-do-to-help-appoint-a-gay-secretary-of-the-navy/


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

-The Swedish Humanist Association, like other Humanist organizations, promotes secularism, rationalism, a non-religious life-stance and human rights. It has always fought homophobia. In recent years, it has had a major break through in public debate, and tripled its number of members, which has made it the fastest growing Humanist association in the world! Now, the SHA has collected its TV and video films and put them on its website. A couple of them are interviews with gay and lesbian persons, made by the SHA chairman, Christer Sturmark. Although most of the films are in Swedish, a few are in English. Maybe they are of some interest to you.
http://www.humanisterna.se/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=414:audio-och-video&catid=14:humanisterna&Itemid=154

-KATHMANDU: Sexual minorities mark SC verdict anniversary
"Here is something important for us parliamentarians," stressed Sunil Babu Panta, while explaining the Supreme Court ruling that ensured equal rights to sexual minorities. "The apex court has already given a ruling [to the government] to formulate appropriate laws and also bring about amendment to the existing laws so as to ensure the separate identity and rights of people with a different sexual orientation."
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=628

-Gay & Lesbian Humanist, December 2008
If you'd rather read G&LH than spend time with the in-laws, the December issue is now online. Alternatively, if you've already done the festive thing and are now stuffed with mince pies and sherry, why not take a look now!
The new issue of Gay & Lesbian Humanist is now available at http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org/ and we end the year with controversy, courtesy of the human-rights campaigner and G&LH contributor Peter Tatchell.
If you're gay and in the UK, your blood is tainted, he says. That, anyway, is the view of the organisation that spends much of its time and budget appealing for that precious commodity: blood. "We all now carry the mark of the HIV 'Anti-Christ'," writes Tatchell in our special feature on blood donation, and why gays are not allowed to donate


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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

-A New Iranian Queer Magazine
The First Issue of Neda Magazine is available online Neda is a monthly online magazine in Farsi. In this issue we published some articles about sexual orientation, Harvey Milk, 60th anniversary of UN Human rights declaration, and few community issues.
you can read online or download PDF/Word file on
www.nedamagazine.net


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Gay American Heroes Foundation Update
www.GayAmericanHeroes.com

-Dear Friends,
I'm sorry to report to you that we have had two more LGBT hate crime murders in December and now we have possibly three more. This would bring the total for LGBT hate crime murders in 2008 to 37 human beings whose lives have been stolen from all of us senselessly. This equates to one LGBT hate crime murder every 9 days in the USA in 2008. And, this number only represents those that we know about since 19 states still do not report LGBT hate crimes. Our HEROES are being stolen from us and their family and friends because of hate and those who teach and promote hate. We cannot live in fear for even one more second! Gay American Heroes is here to face head-on the ongoing violence against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people and fight those who otherwise seek to enslave us in their belief system.
So, until we, as the LGBT community, are extended the same rights, freedoms, and protections that every other American enjoys, Gay American Heroes will be united in the fight for respect, dignity, and equal protections under the law as defined in our Constitution. We will win this civil rights and human rights battle through awareness, education, perseverance for justice for all humanity. Please join us. Help Honor our Heroes and put an end to the Hate.
Show your support by going to www.GayAmericanHeroes.com and Adopting a Hero Today!
Thank you.
Scott Hall
Founder
Email GayAmericanHeroes@yahoo.com
www.GayAmericanHeroes.com

-December 18,2008 Three Black Gay Men Murdered in New Orleans, Police Hunt for Suspects
Thanks to Lisa Moore, the fab editor of black LGBT-themed Redbone Press, for the heads up. New Orleans police have identified three black men who were gunned down in a 7th Ward home. The men were apparently gay, one possibly transgender, and police "believe the three victims knew their killers." The victims were all from Mississippi and living together in a home on the 2500 block of Pauger Street. They are identified as Felix Pearson, 19; Kenneth Monroe, 27; and Darriel Wilson, 20. Nola.com reports the men were found Saturday afternoon after the building manager "said he saw the lower half of a man's body through a window and called 911."


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

-Mother admits abusing 16-year-old son for being gay
A woman in Scotland has admitted in court that she sent homophobic text messages and shouted abuse at her own child because he is gay.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10065.html


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