Saturday, May 24, 2008

GLBT DIGEST May 24, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-California rewrites marriage forms for gays
Current one-page form uses 'bride' and 'groom'
You have to figure "bride" and "groom" are out.
So, what will the California marriage license look like in the new era ofsame-sex marriages? Will it list "Partner A" and "Partner B"? "Intended No.1" and "Intended No. 2"? Or will it contain just blank spaces for thebetrothed?
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18488

-Gay marriage opponents seek five-month delay
Alliance Defense Fund wants ruling stayed until Nov.
A conservative legal group asked the California Supreme Court on Thursday tostay its decision legalizing same-sex marriage until voters got a chance toweigh in on the issue.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18515

-DeGeneres needles McCain on gay marriage
'Agreements' preferable, McCain says
Republican John McCain says same-sex couples should be allowed to enter intolegal agreements for insurance and other purposes, but he opposes gaymarriage and believes in "the unique status of marriage between and man anda woman."
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18475

-Clovis High yearbook features gays
Editor-in-chief wanted to show diversity
Clovis High School students are defending the decision to publish photos andinterviews with gay couples in the yearbook.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18516

-Gambia gay death threat condemned
Gay rights activists have condemned Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's threatto behead homosexuals.
Last week he told a political rally that gay people had 24 hours to leavethe country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7416536.stm

-TIMES / KTLA POLL
Times Poll: Californians narrowly reject gay marriage
Voters also back a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex unions,a new Times/KTLA survey shows.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll23-2008may23,0,2084360.story

-Facing hate crime in Turkey
A report by Human Rights Watch says gay and transgender people in Turkey aresubject to "endemic abuses", and calls on the government to act to protectthem. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford met some of the victims.
"This is my first photograph as a transsexual," a woman tells me, in herflat in back-street Istanbul.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7416369.stm

-Md. governor signs two gay bills
New rights, tax breaks effective July 1
Despite the objections of some religious leaders, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has signed into law two bills that grant gays hospitalization rights and taxbreaks.
http://washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18498

-GLBT Democrats nab delegate seats
Party makes gay 'quota' but rattles gay caucus leaders
On May 17 the Florida Democratic Party State Executive Committee met inTampa to elect the final 40 members of the state's 242 -member contingent ofdelegates and alternates to the national Democratic convention in August.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-22/news/localnews/4687.cfm

-Friend or Foe?
FRIEND OF THE WEEK
Save Dade
When the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners opened the vote on thecounty domestic partnership registry, it seemed like it was a sure thingfrom the start. Bruno Barriero, Chairman of the Board, opened his remarksto the group by acknowledging this policy was a "long time coming," hesmacked down efforts to postpone the vote, and along with seven of hisfellow Board members, he pushed through the policy even while proudlytelling the chambers he was doing so as a Republican.

FOE OF THE WEEK
Natacha Seijas, Joe Martinez, Javier Souto, José "Pepe" Diaz
The four Commissioners who voted against the domestic partnership registrytried to say the right things. Saying the policy was "unfair" because itdidn't go further to grant health insurance to, say, single parents orgrandparents raising their grandchildren, they said they were voting againstthe measure because they thought it was important to have "compassion."
It's a dangerous road politicians take, when they put politically-correctlanguage on public record to hide their own malicious actions. If you're abigot, admit it!
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-22/view/friendfoe/4693.cfm


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

-S.F. City Hall Unveils Harvey Milk Tribute
On what would have been the slain rights leader's 78th birthday, the city ofSan Francisco unveiled a monumental statue of former city supervisor HarveyMilk in the rotunda of City Hall.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid54853.asp

-Ernst & Young Kicks Off Pride With Christine Quinn
Ernst & Young hosted a speaker event at its New York City office Tuesdaynight with New York City council speaker Christine Quinn. The event servedas a jump start to Pride Month for Ernst & Young's LGBT Employee Group,bEYond. In attendance was Christine Crespo, the company's LGBTAInclusiveness Strategy Leader.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid54839.asp


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

-Texans Could Play Big Role in California Amendment Battle
Texas residents need to get ready for a bitter, expensive fight - eventhough it's occurring several states away, according to the state's LGBTactivists. The expected ballot referendum in California in November todetermine if the state Supreme Court's recent decision legalizing same-sexmarriage will be invalidated will affect Texas and every other state, saidPaul Scott, executive director of Equality Texas.

-Ft. Lauderdale's Royal Palms Resort Named 2008 Best Gay Resort By Planetout"Opening the first upscale B&B exclusively for gay travelers, Richard Grayand the Royal Palms has helped put Fort Lauderdale on the gay map, " says EdSalvato, editor-in-chief for PlanetOut "The Royal Palms continues toreinvent itself offering luxurious touches, both small and large to enticethe ever-more-demanding gay visitor. Not only is it a 2008 PlanetOut TravelAward winner, it's also a personal favorite."

-D.C. Black Pride: Past, Present & Future
As a founding member of Black Pride D.C., I always feel nostalgic andreflective this time of year as thousands of black gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender men, women, youth and their families travel to the nation'scapital for Memorial Day weekend. In 1990, the creation of Black Pride D.C.was a direct response to an urgent need to raise funds for black LGBTorganizations, specifically to those that served individuals affected byHIV/AIDS. In addition, there was a need for us to become more visible, vocaland proud of who we were as a people.

-Taxing Questions
There is no doubt that the ruling in California is a great step for the gayand lesbian community. It is likely just a matter of time - five years,perhaps 10 years - before much of the nation follows in California's andMassachusetts' footsteps. Until then, the California ruling does one thingfor certain: It creates more confusion for the gay and lesbian community andthe advisers who serve us when it comes to putting together financial andestate plans.

-Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition Issues Summary of 2008Legislative Session
The second session of the 105th Tennessee General Assembly adjourned onWednesday, May 21, 2008. During the session, the Tennessee TransgenderPolitical Coalition (TTPC) tracked 125 bills and was active lobbying on anumber of issues. Education: TTPC worked against a bill which would havebanned public school teachers from discussing sexual diversity. The HouseK-12 Subcommittee sent the bill to the Tennessee Department of Education forstudy. We were part of a broad coalition of opponents which included theAmerican Civil Liberties Union and the Tennessee Equality Project. TTPC alsosupported Safe School and anti-gang bills and which should provide moreprotection for GLBT youth against harassment and bullying.

-St. Paul Saints' 'Bobblefoot' Lampoons Larry Craig
While not saying it directly, the St. Paul Saints are having fun with IdahoSen. Larry Craig's incident at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport by offering abathroom-stall "bobblefoot" giveaway for the first 2,500 fans at Sunday'sgame at Midway Stadium against Fort Worth.

-Hospital Worker: I Performed Oral Sex on Patient
A Mount Sinai Medical Center employee surrendered Wednesday after police sayhe performed oral sex on a male patient who was just waking up fromanesthesia following surgery. Pedro J. Gonzalez, 27, of Hialeah, confessedand was charged with sexual battery, Miami Beach police said. Gonzalez,whose job is to transport patients within the hospital, was immediatelyfired after the April 30 incident.

-A Place to Call Home
Two weeks before opening the District's first transitional home for homelessGLBT youth, Brian Watson is working on only four hours of sleep, consumed byall the work yet to be done on the house, as well as by how much informationto share. ''At first I was hesitant,'' admitted Watson, the director ofprograms at Transgender Health Empowerment (THE) and president of the D.C.Coalition of Black LGBT Men and Women, of officially announcing the openingdate of the Wanda Alston House at THE's pageant fundraiser, May 18, thenight before speaking with Metro Weekly. ''But now it's really comingtogether.''

-The Guys Next Door
LATER this year Harvey Stern plans to marry another man in Palm Springs townhall. A wedding strikes him as the appropriate way to solemnise a 25-yearrelationship-and besides, it is about time his straight friends gave himsome presents. Does he think that local people will be alarmed by theprospect of a gay wedding? Not really, he says. Anybody who has lived inPalm Springs for the past few years is probably expecting it.

-First Ever Gay March Held in Ankara
A little bit of gay history was made in the Turkish capital on Saturdayafternoon. Over 100 gay men and women, bisexuals and transgender peopleassembled in front of the human rights monument in Yuksel Street for a marchto Parliament on International Day Against Homophobia jointly organised byKaos Gay and Lesbian Association and Pink Life LGBTT Association. Joininglocal activists were Michael Cashman MRP, the president of the EuropeanParliament's all-party Intertroup for gay and lesbian rights, and Dutchfeminist and author Anja Meulenbelt.


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

-Marriage has not suffered in Massachusetts since marriage equality wasaffirmed in 2004. In fact, the commonwealth has the lowest divorce rate inthe nation. How does that factoid fit into the man/woman marriage crowd'sscreeching proclamations that if a woman is allowed to marry a woman, thegood old traditional American way of life is going to be ripped apart? TheCalifornia high court's enlightened vote makes the Washington state SupremeCourt's affirmation of a ban on same-sex marriage two years ago feel morelike a throwback ruling to a time of prehistoric social norms.

-So says Save California, an anti-gay group that is calling asking itsupporters to call county clerks and demand that they refuse to issuemarriage licenses to gay couples. From their website:
Ask your county clerk if they were a Nazi officer during WWII and had beenordered to gas the Jews, would they? At the Nuremberg trials, they wouldhave been convicted of murder for following this immoral order. ... Nice.


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

-Russian Health Ministry ends ban on gay blood
The Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development has repealed the banon blood donations by homosexual people, it emerged last night.

-UK is "committed to promoting LGBT rights overseas"
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has confirmed that it will engage withforeign governments about the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transpeople.

-EU must insist Turkey "respect LGBT people's basic rights"
A leading human rights group has produced a report documenting "long andcontinuing history of violence and abuse based on sexual orientation andgender identity" in Turkey.

-Polish Catholics fund treatment centre to 'cure' homosexuals
The Roman Catholic Church has helped set up a rehabilitation centre inPoland that attempts to 'cure' homosexuality.

-Homophobic abuse fails to disrupt gay football final
Manchester United may be celebrating their win on penalties at last night'sChampion's League Final, but another team from the city also went home withsilverwear earlier this month.

-Christian registrars "terrified" of civil partnerships
A council registrar has told an employment tribunal that some Christians arebeing "accommodated" and therefore allowed to opt out of performing civilpartnerships for gay couples.

-Court ruling allows legal challenge to US gay military ban
A US federal court of appeal has reinstated a lawsuit by a decorated AirForce nurse who is suing after she was discharged for being a lesbian.

-Tabloids speculate about Jodie Foster's "other woman"
Oscar winning actress Jodie Foster had another woman lined up when she andher partner of 14 years, Cydney Bernard, called it quits.


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

-Germany: Tribute to Nazis' Gay Victims
A memorial dedicated to gay men and lesbians persecuted and killed underthe Nazis will be inaugurated on May 27, the Lesbian and Gay Federation inGermany said. The $935,000 monument, designed by Michael Elmgreen ofDenmark and Ingar Dragset of Norway, will be in Berlin on the edge of itsTiergarten park and near the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Itfeatures a concrete slab with a window that will allow visitors to view alooped video that will alternate every two years between a clip of menkissing and a clip of women kissing. Germany's culture minister, BerndNeumann, and Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit, who is gay, are expected toattend the ceremony.

-Amnesty International
Your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and challenges are required!
Amnesty International is in the process of reviewing and developing itshuman rights strategies and activist tactics for the coming years. Our hopeis that your visions will make their impact felt on this process and itsoutcomes. Through an online questionnaire, Amnesty International iscurrently seeking many different perspectives and soliciting the views ofhuman rights defenders, human rights activists and people concerned abouthuman rights on the central human rights challenges we are all confrontingand on what Amnesty International's role and focus should be in helpingconfront some of these challenges. This is the first time that AI has issuedsuch a broad invitation. We would like to encourge you complete thisquestionnaire so that your understanding of the world and of AmnestyInternational's potential help structure this strategic process. We feel itis very important for your voices to be heard on issues that you have raisedwith us directly and in discussion on these listservs including:
sexual rights, including LGBT rights reproductive rights gender and human rights human rights defenders freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly intersectionality / multiple discriminations intersections between civil and political and economic, social and cultural rights tensions between sexual rights and freedom of religion or belief accountability of non-state actorsUN advocacysocial movements... and any other issues that come to your minds.
It would be good if you could also share your reflections on thequestionnaire, and whether the grouping of different issues is helpful togiving your views and constructing strategic work around them. Do you thinkthat your major concerns are well identified? The questionnaire isaccessible at:
English https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ndsqPa3WTEZXisktTq8O1g_3d_3d


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From Marc Adams
Executive Director, HeartStrong
http://www.mtdn.com/heartstrong

What does actress Jessica Biel have in common with HeartStrong? It's herwebsite for her organization, Make the Difference Now. Through Jessica'swebsite you can make a donation to HeartStrong to help us raise money forgeneral expenses or to specifically help HeartStrong to raise money forits new Outreach/Educational Team vehicle.
Find out more by going to HeartStrong's page on Jessica's site athttp://www.mtdn.com/heartstrong You will find everything you need tohelp us with this important and immense project.
You should know that ALL of the funds donated to HeartStrong throughJessica's site go directly to HeartStrong. Make The Difference Now doesnot take any money for helping you to help us.
Check out the HeartStrong page and help us raise much needed funds!


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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

-This Week in Washington Blade!
http://www.washblade.com/

-What's 'normal' sex? Shrinks seek definition
Controversy erupts over creation of psychiatric rule book's new edition
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24664654/from/ET/

-A Week Later in California, What's Next?
Huffington Post
Evan Wolfson discusses how the CA Supreme Court not only did the rightthing, it did its job -- upholding the Constitution, and now equality mustbe defended.
http://freedomtomarry.c.topica.com/maalD5GabHtNbaLp7XmcaeQCPT/>

-Thong-Clad Protesters Stripped of Civil Rights Suit
A group of young men who stripped down to thong underwear and formed aroadside pyramid to stage a protest when President George W. Bush wasvisiting Lancaster County in July 2004 have lost their bid to revive a civilrights suit against the Pennsylvania state troopers who arrested them.
The protesters claimed in the suit that they were attempting to recreate oneof the infamous photographs of abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, andthat their simulation of nudity was therefore essential to their message.
But U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond dismissed the suit in March 2006,finding that the troopers had probable cause to arrest the protesters for"open lewdness" because they "appeared to be entirely naked" and there wereyoung children in the vicinity.
As a result, Diamond concluded in his opinion in Egolf v. Witmer that thetroopers had not violated the protesters' First Amendment rights. But evenif they had, Diamond said, the four troopers named in the suit wouldnonetheless be entitled to "qualified immunity" because there is no "clearlyestablished" right to employ simulated nudity in a political protest.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421637055&pos=ataglance>
&pos=ataglance

-Morehouse College faces its own bias -- against gays
The 'Morehouse man' is a paragon of virtue and strength, a leader destinedfor great things. But can he also be gay? Michael Brewer, a senior atMorehouse College, was strolling purposefully around this storied campus ona hot spring day, his heavy frame dripping sweat, his hands clutching asmall stack of fliers. "No more hate," the fliers read, in a stylishtypeface. "No more discrimination. No more." "What's up, brother?" Brewersaid in a lilting, cheerful voice as he approached a fellow student in adark business suit. "Take one of these, if you will." The young man gavethe flier a glance. It was promoting what was perhaps the most ambitiousweek of gay rights events in the history of Morehouse, the only historicallyblack all-male school in America. "What the hell is this?" he said under hisbreath. He laughed and threw it in the trash.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-morehouse22-2008may22,0,1504077.story

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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS May 24, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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

-Editorial: The Failures of Thabo Mbeki
Crackpot and dangerous theories on AIDS. Extreme and widening levels ofincome inequality. Enabling Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and only belatedlytrying to halt mob atrocities against desperate Zimbabwean and other Africanimmigrants. This is the legacy of South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, whohas one more year in his second term.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/opinion/24sat1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

-Editorial: Sen. McCain's Agents of Intolerance
It took a long time for him to do it, but Senator John McCain has finallyrejected the endorsements of two evangelical ministers - one whose bizarreand hate-filled sermons deeply offended both Catholics and Jews and theother who has used his pulpit to attack Muslims.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/opinion/24sat2.html?ref=opinion

-The Invisible War
Landing in Seattle after a long flight from Texas, I was about to join theexit scrum when the pilot informed us there were five soldiers on board,ending a three-day odyssey home from Iraq. Could we let them pass?
What followed was prolonged applause by all, and a startling reminder tosome - oh, are we still at war?
http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/the-invisible-war/index.html?ref=opinion

-270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push
In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants weresentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpackingplant with false documents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/us/24immig.html?hp

-Clinton Remark on Robert Kennedy's Killing Stirs Uproar
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominatingcontest on Friday by pointing out that her husband had not wrapped up thenomination until June 1992, adding, "We all remember Bobby Kennedy wasassassinated in June in California."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/us/politics/24clinton.html?hp

-Zimbabwe Rival Is a Flawed but Enduring Leader
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, the chief rival of Zimbabwe's authoritarian president,Robert Mugabe, drove up to a Harare police station last year to check ondozens of his supporters inside on their bellies, being kicked, clobberedand stomped.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/world/africa/24zimbabwe.html?hp


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

-The Wisdom In Talking
As President Bush commemorated Israel's 60th anniversary by attacking BarackObama from overseas, here at home he found an all-too-frequent ally: JohnMcCain.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302170.html

-America's Other Housing Crisis
There's a housing crisis in America -- but it doesn't have anything to dowith the thousands who have been forced from their over-leveraged residencesor the steps Congress has taken to help those caught in the subprimedebacle. This crisis doesn't generate many headlines, but it threatensAmericans nationwide.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302168.html

-N.Y. Planning Special Ambulance To Recover Organs
In the hope of saving the lives of more people waiting for transplants, NewYork City is working on a plan to deploy a special ambulance to collect thebodies of people who have died suddenly from heart attacks, accidents andother emergencies and try to preserve their organs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052303006.html?hpid=topnews


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

-MEXICO: Mexican abuse law not being enforced
A law passed more than a year ago has done little to curb the abuse thatMexican women suffer every day at the hands of their spouses.
Martha couldn't take the beatings anymore. She visited local police threetimes last year to report that her husband was punching her in the stomachso hard she could barely breathe. Each time, the police told her they coulddo nothing unless she returned with cuts and bruises.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/545286.html

-CAMPAIGN 2008 | CUBA POLICY
Obama urges direct diplomacy with Cuba, Latin America
In a bold and politically risky move, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama calledfor ''direct diplomacy'' with communist Cuba when he addressed a prominentCuban-American organization Friday in a bid to woo a Republican-leaningconstituency that is one of the keys to presidential victory in the state.
http://www.miamiherald.com/979/story/544728.html

-CAMPAIGN 2008 | ISRAEL
Obama tries to ease Jewish voters' angst
Barack Obama affirmed his solidarity with Israel to more than 700 voters ata Conservative Boca Raton synagogue.
Reaching out to a group whose support will be crucial to a victory inNovember, Barack Obama ventured into Florida's Jewish community for thefirst time Thursday, fielding questions for an hour at a Conservativesynagogue to deflect Republican attacks on his support of Israel.
http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/543919.html


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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Obama's talk with The Palm Beach Post
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama spent time with The Palm BeachPost this morning, talking about the impact of the Florida's primary on hisrace with Hillary Clinton, whether to seat the state's convention delegatesand what a national catastrophe fund should look like.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2008/05/23/0523barackobamainterview.html


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Biden comes out punching
JOE BIDEN is mad as - well, mad as a compulsively collegial US senator, onewho is on a first-name basis with seemingly everyone in Washington, can be.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/23/biden_comes_out_punching/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z

-Rove subpoenaed by House panel
Testimony sought in Justice inquiry
The House Judiciary Committee yesterday subpoenaed President Bush's formerchief political adviser, Karl Rove, to testify about whether the White Houseimproperly meddled with the Justice Department.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/05/23/rove_subpoenaed_by_house_panel/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z

-Potential running mates for Obama
Those familiar with Barack Obama's thinking on whom he might select as arunning mate are not speaking publicly -- or privately, for that matter.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidentialnomination, has not been ruled in or out.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-veepbox23-2008may23,0,6236348.story?track=rss

-OPINION: Republicans and Our Enemies
On Wednesday, Joe Lieberman wrote on this page that the Democratic Party heand I grew up in has drifted far from the foreign policy espoused byFranklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121150000249615875.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

-Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent JakeTapper
Obama Proposes 'Team of Rivals' Cabinet
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/obama-proposes.html

-Dems need Hillary to hold Latino vote
I give up. Hillary Clinton is not going to divide my family anymore. Nearlyall my relatives support her, and I have abandoned my attempt to sell themon Barack Obama. My family, like most Hispanics, will not consider analternative candidate until Clinton is officially out of the race. I have toadmit Clinton's popularity with Latinos is impressive. Throughout theprimaries, Hispanics have favored her roughly 2-1, and she could not havewon Texas and California without us. Her standing in our community is akinto that of her husband's among blacks when he was president.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/05/dems-need-hilla.html

-Arbiters of Clinton's Fate?
Hillary Clinton is talking as if the battle over seating disputeddelegations from Florida and Michigan at the Democratic National Conventionis the greatest crisis for democracy since the 2000 Florida recount.
Her rhetoric flies in the face of intensive efforts by members of theparty's rules committee to settle the delegate battle with a compromise thatwould probably guarantee the nomination for Barack Obama. Ending thestruggle quickly depends on whether the committee's peacemakers succeed intheir work.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203017.html?hpid=opinionsbox1?hpid=opinionsbox1

-Obama would take California in November, Times/KTLA poll finds
Clinton would also defeat McCain in the fall, but by a smaller margin. Thesurvey comes less than four months after Obama's loss in the state primary.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-poll24-2008may24,0,6353526.story

-McCain struggles on cusp of general election
Once optimistic about John McCain's prospects for the fall general election,Republicans are increasingly concerned that he could wind up badlyoutgunned, saddled with serious deficiencies of money, organization andpartisan intensity against the likely Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10550.html


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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-The Online Mall
A new Pew Internet Project study finds that going online helps people sortthrough product choices, but it is not the place where people usually closethe deal for housing, cell phones or even music. Read more

-Global Watch
Tracking China's Earthquake on TV and the Web
In dispatches from Beijing, Pew Internet senior research fellow DeborahFallows follows the course of coverage of the disaster in the Chinese media.
In the days immediately following the quake, TV coverage showed anunprecedented lack of censorship, but soon reverted to its familiar role asthe voice of the government. Meanwhile the internet has progressively becomea more wild-west version of itself, with a virtual explosion of contentranging from the informative to the heart-breaking. Read more

-The Plight of Iraq's Religious Minorities
Since 2003, sectarian violence, ambiguous legal protections for religiousfreedom, and other factors have contributed to a deteriorating situation forChristians and other small religious sects. Read more

-Research Roundup
Latest Findings on Cell Phones and Polling
The Pew Research Center has been studying the challenge to survey researchposed by the growing number of wireless-only households. Scott Keeter, Pew'sDirector of Survey Research, provides a summary of its latest findings. Readmore

-Muslim American Dataset Now Available
The dataset from the first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of MuslimAmericans is now available to scholars for secondary analysis. The survey,conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2007 among this rare, dispersed, andhighly diverse population, included 1,050 adult Muslim Americans, and wasconducted in English, Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu. It examined the political andsocial values, religious beliefs and practices, and life experiences ofMuslims living in the U.S. today. Download the dataset

-Election '08
Cable's Constant Campaign Coverage Out of Sync With Public News Interest
While much of the public focused on disasters in China and Burma, cable newsfocused on the campaign almost to the exclusion of other top news stories.
Also, though well covered, awareness of John Edwards' endorsement of Obamawas relatively low. Read more

-Religion and Progressive Politics
Directors of two progressive religious organizations and a political science professor discuss the origins of the "religious left" movement and how itmight influence this year's election. Read more

-Edwards Rewrites the Election Storyline
In embracing Barack Obama less than 24 hours after Hillary Clinton's big winin West Virginia, former Democratic contender John Edwards diverted mediaattention away from discussion of renewed Clinton momentum and helpedrefocused the narrative on Obama's apparent inevitability. Read more

-Around the Nation
Oh Say, Is that Star-Spangled Banner Made in the U.S.A.?
It was seeing foreign-made American flags at a veteran's memorial ceremonythat inspired a West Virginia legislator to proposed a bill requiring thatall flags purchased with state funds be made in America. He's not alone. Read more

-Daily Number
26% - McCain's Age a Problem?
When asked earlier this year, a quarter of registered voters (26%) said theythink John McCain is too old to be president, and this proportion rises tonearly a third (32%) when voters are informed that he is currently 71 yearsold. To address this concern his campaign decided this week to make hismedical records publicly available. Check back every weekday for anothernumber in the news. Read more


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Listen to Focus on the Family's restroom predator ad.
http://extras.denverpost.com/audio/predator.mp3

=

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#####

FLORIDA DIGEST May 24, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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Adriane Reesey to Speak
Candidate for Broward County Elections Supervisor
South Florida International Press Club
Miami Shores Country Club
10000 Biscayne Blvd., Miami Shores
LUNCH AT NOON -
Wednesday, JUNE 4, 2008
PRESS CLUB MEETING OPEN TO PUBLIC
An Expert Discusses Public Service
Our speaker: Dr. Adriane Reesey knows how the election process inFlorida works and is an expert on the criminal justice system. She iscurrently a candidate for Broward County Elections Supervisor. She holds aPh.D. in Business Administration, a Masters in Criminal Justice
Administration, and Bachelors and Associates degrees in Criminal Justice.
She is a United States Army Veteran.
RSVP to Ron Levitt 954-349-2596 / 305 775-2689 or Andy Alpers 305
596-4228 or
by E-mail to rlanetwork@aol.com
LUNCH MEMBERS, $20 GUESTS $25


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Please click link below to view photos of The Dolphin Democrats 2008
Presidential Reception taken by Steven Shires 954-881-3117
http://www.photoshow.com/members/shirespics/all/JD9qT6ke


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Ft. Lauderdale: New Exhibition Explores Early History of Gay America
Stonewall Library & Archives' new exhibition "Out of the Shadows: GayAmerica from Kinsey to Stonewall" opens at the Broward Main Library onWednesday, June 4. The exhibition is Stonewall's latest examination of gayand lesbian history and it will be on view until June 28. Admission to theexhibition is free and open to the public.
The exhibition opening reception, free and open to the public, will takeplace Wednesday, June 4, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Broward Main Library,Gallery Six, in conjunction with ArtsUnited's United and Proud artexhibition.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots--an event commonlycited as the beginning of the gay rights movement-- the 22-panel exhibitionwill use period photographs, archival documents, and artifacts to look atwhat might be described as the pre-history of the gay and lesbian rightsmovement. Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article.
For further information about the exhibition, please contact:
Jack Rutland, Executive Director
Stonewall Library & Archives
954-763-8565
jack-rutland@stonewall-library.org


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Mark LaFontaine for Florida State House District #92
I'm excited about two developments that just occurred, and I wanted you toknow right away.
First, my campaign was endorsed by the Victory Fund! This is a majordevelopment, and underscores that we're on the right track. As you know,the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is the nation's largest GLBT political actioncommittee and the only national organization dedicated to increasing thenumber of openly GLBT elected officials at all levels of government. Inendorsing my campaign, the Victory Fund cites my accounting background,which will appeal to voters concerned about Florida 's budget problems, andmy Coast Guard service, which underscores my commitment to Florida 's 1.8million veterans. Second, we've had a groundswell of support for my bid toqualify for the ballot by petition. We turned in 694 valid petitions by thedeadline, when only 615 were needed. You did it - THANKS! Because of you,we're on our way to making Florida history. Please help keep the momentumgoing by clicking HERE to contribute. Or learn more about me and my agendafor Florida by clicking HERE. Thank you for all your support!
PS: We've got a number of events coming up, and if you'd like to attendclick HERE or call 954-651-3147. Or if you can't attend but want to helpanyway click HERE to contribute.
http://www.marklafontaine.com/party/


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From Paul Hyman - Executive Director
GAY & lESBIAN COMMUNITY CENTER (GLCC)
The GLCC Board of Directors is pleased to announce receipt of loancommitment from the prestigious banking institution, Northern Trust, tofinance the purchase of the property being referred to as "The Campus".
This remarkable property, located at 2040 North Dixie Highway in WiltonManors, Florida will be the new home for the GLCC (Gay and Lesbian CommunityCenter of South Florida) and is now scheduled to close on June 27, 2008.
Loan commitment and completion of thorough inspections by the GLCC mark theend of the "due diligence" period in the contract and sends a clear signalthe GLCC is proceeding to close on the purchase of this property. Thishistoric transaction and contract is being managed on behalf of the GLCC byattorney William Karney, of Moraitis, Cofar, Karney and Moraitis on apro-bono basis, as a service to our LGBT community. The GLCC recognizes andthanks the efforts of its Finance and Building Committee members,particularly Nicole Mannarino, GLCC Treasurer; Tyler Healis, GLCC BuildingCommittee Chair; and Dale Russell GLCC Board Member and our lead pro-bonorealtor on the project whose Century 21 Hansen Realty commission will bedonated to the GLCC. This project has required a tremendous amount of timeand effort on the part of a dedicated team, which will have a profound andpositive impact on our community for years to come. The seller and currentowner of the GLCC's future Wilton Manors home is operating a "federallymandated secured facility". The seller's security process prevents thepublic from visiting the property prior to closing, without prior approval.
Please respect the seller's need for security and do not trespass-- forproperty tour information please contact
Paul Hyman, GLCC Executive Director
954-463-9005 or phyman@glccsf.org.
Gay & Lesbian Community Center
1717 N. Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
www.glccsf.org


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The Florida Democratic Party 2008 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the party'sannual fundraising event, is scheduled for June 14, 2008 at The WestinDiplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida. Additional information onthe JJ can be found by clicking here. The FDP has just release updatedhotel information which can be found by clicking here.
http://www.fladems.com/page/content/jj08-index/


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

-Arena crowd in Sunrise cheers Obama's talk of unity
Capping a whirlwind 24 hours of fundraising and wooing key constituenciesacross vote-rich South Florida, Barack Obama on Friday pumped up an alreadyenthusiastic crowd at a massive rally with calls for change, some criticismof John McCain, and a promise to return.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/elections/sfl-flbobama0524sbmay24,0,2073344.story

-Broward County named NFL headquarters for 2010 Super Bowl
Broward County is hoping for its largest economic windfall ever from theSuper Bowl when it returns to South Florida in 2010, because for the firsttime, the NFL headquarters and media center are expected to be in FortLauderdale rather than Miami.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzsuper0524sbmay24,0,2258312.story



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

-REAL ESTATE: Home costs hit levels of 2004
Median home sale prices in South Florida fell to 2004 levels in April,tickling the interest of more buyers, who are -- finally -- starting tobite, real estate agents said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/545289.html

-FLORIDA: High court in Crist's hands
Gov. Charlie Crist will get a remarkable chance to overhaul the stateSupreme Court, which in recent years has ruled on ballot recounts, privateschool vouchers and the fate of Terri Schiavo.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/545235.html

-Justice resigns, letting Crist overhaul court
In a decision that will allow Gov. Charlie Crist to remake the state'shighest court, state Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Bell announced Fridaythat he will step down in October and return to his home of Pensacola.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/544318.html


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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Our view: New G.I. Bill
Bush should prove he 'supports the troops' by backing bill to hike higher-edbenefits
Mr. President, back the new G.I. Bill.
That should be the loud demand of every American after the Senate Thursdayoverwhelmingly approved a $165 billion funding bill for the Iraq andAfghanistan wars that includes a new G.I. Bill.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080524/OPINION/805240313/1004/opinion&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

-Drilling off Florida's coast won't break oil addiction
"Start drilling." Put those oil rigs off the protected beaches of Floridaand in the preserved wilds of Alaska. In essence, that is what WashingtonPost columnist Robert J. Samuelson urged in his April 30 column.
Drilling, right away, in environmentally protected areas was a centerpieceof Mr. Samuelson's solution to rising gasoline prices. To oppose drilling inprotected areas, he said, is "sheer stupidity" and "prejudice against oilcompanies." That's the same thing the oil companies say. They cling to theirown long-term remedy that would expose Florida's beach-and-tourism-driveneconomy to ruination.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/05/24/saturdaywebletters_0524.html


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Religious Group Questions Fla. Judicial Ethics Code
Conservative advocacy group challenges rule requiring judges to recuse ifthey took position on an issue in campaign
Today, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear a case that testshow far states may go in telling judicial candidates how to deal with publicinterest group questionnaires they receive during campaigns.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421638792


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Join the Fairness for All Families Coalition and Equality Florida atPride Festivals across the State!

North Florida Click HERE to sign up!
-Jacksonville First Coast Pride
Contact Alain Raymond for more information: alain@eqfl.org
-St. Augustine Pride
September 27
St. Augustine Beach Ampitheater
-Gainesville Pridefest
October 18
Gainesville's Downtown Plaza

Panhandle of Florida Click HERE to sign up!
-Tallahassee Pridefest
June 14
11 am-6 pm - Downtown Park Avenue

West Central Florida Click HERE to sign up!
-St. Petersburg Pride
June 28
Downtown St. Petersburg (Central Avenue)

East-Central Florida Click HERE to sign up!
-Gay Days Orlando
June 3-5
-Ocala Pride
October 4-5
11am-5pm at the Hilton, Ocala

South Florida Click HERE to sign up!
-Key West Pridefest
Week June 7
(various events)
-Stonewall Street Festival
June 22
Wilton Drive

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FLORIDA PRIDE EVENTS PLEASE CONTACT:
Alain Raymond
Field Organizer - North Florida
Fairness for All Families Campaign
904-807-5928

=

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#####

Thursday, May 22, 2008

GLBT DIGEST May 22, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Irmo High principal announces resignation over Gay-Straight Alliance
The Irmo High School Principal's announced resignation over a controversialstudent group is already drawing national attention.
Principal Eddie Walker told WIS News 10 his resignation won't take effectuntil June, 2009 - the end of the 2008-2009 school year.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8356379

-David Mixner's life in Clinton, gay politics
When David Mixner met Bill Clinton in 1969, they were both anti-waridealists who wanted to change America. They both came from small towns;
both grew up lower middle class or poor but managed to transcend theexpectations of their economic class. They were born three days apart.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/19/DDTP10NTCC.DTL&feed=rss.gay

-Polk County files response in same-sex marriage case
Lambda Legal filed lawsuit in 2005
More legal documents have been filed in a lawsuit that challenges Iowa's banon gay marriage.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18462

-Court reinstates nurse's suit over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Major suing Air Force for discharge after 18 years
Federal appeals court judges have reinstated a lawsuit brought against theAir Force by a flight nurse forced out of her job for being gay.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18466

-Misunderstanding marriage in California
CALIFORNIA'S voters, unlike their counterparts in Massachusetts, will havethe last word on what marriage means in their state. When the highest courtin Massachusetts conjured up a constitutional right to same-sex marriage,170,000 Bay State voters petitioned for an amendment to the stateconstitution that would restore the age-old definition. Their effort died onthe vine when the Legislature derailed the measure before it could reach theballot.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/05/21/misunderstanding_marriage_in_california/

-Congratulations California! Go Buckeyes!
Four years after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's gay marriage block partygot shut down by a very testy legislature, the California Supreme Courtlifted the ban on gay marriage statewide. Woo Hoo! Make some noise! Tiestrings of tin cans on injustice's gas guzzling bumper as it lumbers out oftown.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-clinton/congratulations-californi_b_102428.html

-Shit's in the PI
Yesterday the Seattle P-I ran an opinion piece about Supreme Court ofCalifornia's ruling on gay marriage. The piece was by David Benkof and itargued, amongst other things, that gays and lesbians "shouldn't becelebrating" this historic victory in California. Why? Because the decisionharms people of faith. Says Benkof:
Because there certainly are harms-to religious liberty, to give just oneexample. For the past two weeks, I have been contacting "marriage equality"leaders all over California to ask about the impact of redefining marriageon religious freedom. All, including several prominent lesbian and gaylegislators and other leaders, have refused to disclose their opinions, somerepeatedly.
http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/shits_in_the_pi_11


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

-Oregon Plaintiffs Lose Appeal to Overturn Antimarriage Amendment
The Oregon court of appeals rejected arguments to overturn a 2004 ballotmeasure that amended the state's constitution to exclude gays and lesbiansfrom marriage.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid54726.asp

-HRC Pledges $500,000 to Protect Marriage Equality in California
The Human Rights Campaign has pledged $500,000 to Equality for All toprotect the California court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage frombeing overturned by a constitutional amendment in November. This is anaddition to the $100,000 contribution the Human Rights Campaign made toEquality for All earlier this year.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid54720.asp


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

-Qrew Chicago: That's Row Biz
A group of fairly inexperienced rowers, all interested in competing in the2006 Gay Games in Chicago, founded Qrew Chicago in 2005. They ultimatelybraved the heat and humidity on that July race day, which hovered near 100degrees with 100 percent humidity-not to mention the anti-gay group that wasopposed to holding the Gay Games' rowing event in suburban Crystal Lake.


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

-Republican John McCain says same-sex couples should be allowed to enterinto legal agreements for insurance and other purposes, but he opposes gaymarriage and believes in "the unique status of marriage between and man anda woman." "And I know that we have a respectful disagreement on thatissue," the likely Republican presidential nominee said in an interview toair Thursday on "The Ellen DeGeneres show." McCain, who also opposes anamendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex unions, said people should beencouraged to enter into legal agreements, particularly for insurance andother areas where decisions need to be made.

-I wish I had clocked the minutes between the time that the Californiamarriage decision was announced, and the time that the liberal punditocracybegan whining about it. Yikes, those commitment-crazy gay people are goingto lose the election for the Democrats yet again! This kneejerk complaintis more than a little annoying, for several reasons. First is its sheercynicism. Let's remember, please, that we are discussing real people'sfamily lives. Would any Democrat complain out loud (or in print) about a winfor some other presumptively Democratic constituency--labor, poor people,African Americans, Jews--without even pretending to be glad their lives arebetter and that the world is now more fair?


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

-European Parliament demands US reconsider HIV ban
An amendment urging the European Commission to raise the issue of peoplewith HIV being exempted from entry into the US visa waiver programme hasbeen passed by MEPs.

-Christian groups halt gay rights event in Ukraine
LGBT groups in the Ukraine were prevented from marking the International DayAgainst Homophobia (IDAHO) last week after a last minute intervention bylocal religious groups.

-Foreign Office instructs embassies to push LGBT rights
The British government has adopted an official programme to support thehuman rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people in other countries.


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

-Gay human rights activists in San Francisco staged a speak out at theRussian consulate on May 16, in conjunction with IDAHO events around theplanet. Before showing up at the consulate, we sent emails to thestaff explaining why we were coming -- to press the government to grantparade permits to Moscow's gay pride event. We buzzed the security intercomand requested that an official come speak with us, and a man who gave hisname as Sergei stepped onto the sidewalk and accepted copies of recent newsstories about gay Russians' efforts to organize a peaceful march.

-JoJo Jako Yakob update
The gay Syrian refugee JoJo Jako Yakob is currently in legal limbo followinga 'sympathetic' Immigration Tribunal hearing. JoJo, 19, fled his homelandtwo years ago after being arrested, shot and beaten before being tortured ina Syrian jail when he was caught distributing anti-government leaflets. Hesuffered daily beatings when prison guards realised he was gay. One beatingleft him in a coma for 20 days. Campaigners, who include The Scotsmannewspaper and MSPs. have publicised how the Home Office offered Jojo £46 togo home, sent him a weekly letter asking his permission to be "repatriated"back to Syria and locked him up in a Young Offenders Institution. At TheTribunal, the Home Office called JoJo a liar, said that he was not gay andthat he had not been tortured,. The Tribunal judges rejected this, saying"we believe he is gay". Campaigners described the judges as "sympathetic".

-A crack in the UK's asylum edifice
It's very hard for most British gay men and lesbians to imagine what it's like to grow up in a country like Iran.
To fear what you are and to have to act with care 24 hours a day, lest your family finds out and perhaps takes your life in a so-called 'honour killing,' or the state discovers you and tortures you. So trying to understand the sheer torture of your boyfriend being discovered and executed, seeking safety from what you know is your certain, similar fate, in what you'd always thought was the 'civilised' West - and being disbelieved and rejected - is beyond most of us. Imagine how much harder this would be when you are still a teenager. Most of us couldn't begin to.
But this has been the life experience of Mehdi Kazemi, still only 19 years old.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7710.html


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

-Federal court rules against military gays policy
The military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay, a
federal appeals court ruled in the case of a decorated flight nurse who suedthe Air Force over her dismissal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/889/story/542228.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

-Hunter College just released the results of a comprehensive study, toutedby the institution as the most comprehensive study of lesbian, gay andbisexual attitudes and behavior to date. When the results went public,the headline news was that its finding that roughly 2.9% of Americans arelesbian, gay or bisexual While instinctively, that number feels low to me(I believe that my kids might argue, in the context of that stat, that Iknow all the gay people in America) But this is not the finding of mostinterest to me Or the most disturbing one. Respondents to the survey whoidentified as gay were tested on their knowledge regarding the law as itrelates to their rights ... Read the rest at HuffingtonPost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-garry-/we-dont-know-what-we-dont_b_102923.html

-Serbian Association of Medical Doctors: Homosexualityis not a Disease
A letter from the Psychiatric Section of the Serbian Association of MedicalDoctors, send to Labris - lesbian human rights organization upon requestthat this domestic institution confirm the official position the WorldHealth Organization has held for 18 years, stated that "homosexuality is nota disease." Apropos 17th May, the world Anti-Homophobia day, and within the"Are you homophobic?" campaign, Labris - lesbian human right organizationaddressed the Serbian Association of Medical Doctors, as well as to theSerbian Medical Chamber and the future Minister of Health, requesting thatthey confirm the position that homosexuality is not a disease immediatelyupon accepting the office. Labris - lesbian human right organization hasalso encouraged the person who will head this ministry in the futuregovernment to invite the Serbian Medical Chamber to include in its ethicalcodex statement that sexual orientation is a personal affection which cannotbe used to discriminate persons using medical services.

=

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#####

NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS May 22, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

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

-McCain Looks to Fill Ticket, and 3 Hopefuls Step Up
Senator John McCain of Arizona is set to meet with at least three potentialrunning mates at a gathering at his ranch this weekend in Arizona,suggesting that he is stepping up his search for a vice-presidentialcandidate as the Democratic contest heads toward a conclusion, according toRepublicans familiar with Mr. McCain's plans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/politics/22veep.html?hp

-News Analysis: Advice From White House Is Not Always Followed
Israel, America's staunchest ally in the Middle East, just became the latestexample of a country that has decided it is better to deal with its foesthan to ignore them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/washington/22assess.html?hp

-Editorial: What the F.B.I. Agents Saw
Does this sound familiar? Muslim men are stripped in front of female guardsand sexually humiliated. A prisoner is made to wear a dog's collar andleash, another is hooded with women's underwear. Others are shackled instress positions for hours, held in isolation for months, and threatenedwith attack dogs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/opinion/22thu1.html?ref=opinion

-Senators Sharply Question Oil Officials
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee vented their fury over highgasoline prices at executives of the nation's five largest oil companies onWednesday, grilling the oilmen over their multimillion-dollar pay packagesand warning them that Congress was intent on taking action that couldinclude a new tax on so-called windfall profits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/business/22oil.html

-Clinton Signals She May Carry Fight to Convention
A day after Senator Barack Obama gathered a majority of pledged delegates inthe Democratic presidential nominating contest, Senator Hillary RodhamClinton defiantly sent out new signals Wednesday that she might take herfight for the nomination all the way to the party's convention in August.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/politics/22florida.html

-Theme Persists: Obama Outraises Clinton
Though Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton raised an impressive $21 million inApril, her campaign ended the month $20 million in debt and with SenatorBarack Obama more than $30 million ahead of her in cash on hand for theprimary season, according to their latest campaign finance reports.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/politics/22donate.html

-Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking
For years, smokers have been exhorted to take the initiative and quit: use anicotine patch, chew nicotine gum, take a prescription medication that canhelp, call a help line, just say no. But a new study finds that stopping isseldom an individual decision.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/science/22smoke.html

-Fear of Troop Exodus Fuels Debate on G.I. Bill
Ever since the G.I.'s came home from World War II, it has been the nation'spolicy to reward war veterans with college education. Now, a bipartisanproposal to expand that benefit significantly for today's veterans hasencountered a new complication: the military still needs its fighting menand women in uniform, not in classrooms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/washington/22soldiers.html


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

-Middle Class Jitters
We middle-class Americans are in a funk. "The overarching economic narrativeof the 2008 campaign is the idea that life for the middle class has grownmore difficult," writes Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Center, whichrecently published a massive report on middle-class anxieties. By itssurvey, more than half of Americans believe they either have not moved aheadin the past five years (25 percent) or have fallen behind (31 percent). Pewpronounces this "the most downbeat short-term assessment of personal
progress in nearly half a century."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102427.html

-Pasture of Plenty
You thought you knew how bad the farm bill was.
"LIFE IS LIKE a box of chocolates," Forrest Gump's mother used to say. "Younever know what you're going to get." The same could be said of federalagricultural legislation. Arcane and often irrational, its subsidyprovisions can be difficult to understand and, sometimes, even difficult toidentify. Even after Congress passed a subsidy-riddled 673-page farm billlast week, with a price tag conservatively set at $289 billion, it was notentirely clear just how big a burden lawmakers had imposed on taxpayers.
Now, however, the fine print is coming into focus, and -- surprise! -- thebill could authorize up to $16 billion more in crop subsidies thanpreviously projected, according to the Agriculture Department.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102519.html

-Safeguarding Children
The Supreme Court upholds a carefully crafted law targeting childpornographers.
THE FIGHT against child pornography got a welcome boost this week when theSupreme Court upheld a law that makes it illegal for anyone to peddle orsolicit explicit images of real children.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102585.html

-McCain Stakes His Turf
When one of the Democratic Party's most astute strategists criticized JohnMcCain this week for attacking Barack Obama's desire to engage IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I asked what the Republican presidentialcandidate ought to talk about in this campaign. "Health care and theeconomy," he replied. That is a sure formula for a Democratic victory, butit is one that McCain's campaign rejects.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102425.html

-Interrogation Tactics Were Challenged at White House
Five years ago, as troubling reports emerged about the treatment ofdetainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a career lawyer at the Justice Departmentbegan a long and relatively lonely campaign to alert top Bush dministrationofficials to a strategy he considered "wrongheaded."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102668.html?hpid=topnews


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

-CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY
Pundits long on rhetoric, short on the facts
Don't read this column yet. by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
First, I want you to do something. Google ''Chris Matthews + Kevin James.''
This will bring up video of the latter, a conservative L.A. radio pundit,being questioned by the former last week on MSNBC's Hardball. You must seethis video.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/541056.html

-CELEBRITY ROUNDUP
Boy band backer gets 25 years for financial scam
The man who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync has been sentenced to 25years in prison on four federal charges.
http://www.miamiherald.com/358/story/542432.html

=

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#####

FLORIDA DIGEST May 22, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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

-Many Florida Jews Express Doubts on Obama
At the Aberdeen Golf and Country Club on Sunday, the fountains wereburbling, the man-made lakes were shining, and Shirley Weitz and RuthGrossman were debating why Jews in this gated neighborhood of airyretirement homes feel so much trepidation about Senator Barack Obama.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/politics/22jewish.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-New Florida Law Allows Low-Cost Health Policies
With considerable fanfare, Gov. Charlie Crist traveled the length of hisstate on Wednesday to sign a bill aimed at providing low-cost healthcoverage to the uninsured by allowing the sale of stripped-down insurancepolicies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/22crist.html


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

-Newsweek says our schools are pretty good
ISSUE: Six area schools in Newsweek top 100.
Maybe things aren't quite as bad with Florida schools as most people think.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-editgsschoolsratedpnmay22,0,6204603.story


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

-Clinton in Boca: Count Florida's votes
In a late-game visit to Florida, with her campaign running on politicalfumes, Sen. Hillary Clinton warned Wednesday that if votes from Florida andMichigan are not counted the Democratic Party will pay the price in theNovember election.
http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/541946.html

-Obama rallies raucous crowd in Tampa
How does a presidential candidate make up for snubbing, disparaging andbeing downright rude to the nation's largest battleground state for ninelong months?
http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/541872.html

-EDUCATION: Broward third-graders lift FCAT reading scores
Despite overall gains, more than 3,000 Broward kids face returning to thirdgrade after failing the FCAT reading section
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/542381.html

-THIRD-GRADE FCAT TESTS: 5,820 Dade students could fail third grade
Although scores improved, up to 5,820 Miami-Dade students may not bepromoted because they failed the test
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/542401.html

-Dade School Board votes not to cut top salaries
Members of the Miami-Dade School Board early Thursday rejected a proposal tocut the salaries of the district's administrators.
The 5-4 vote came after 2:30 a.m.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/542795.html

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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

GLBT DIGEST May 21, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


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

-A Jihad for Love (2007)
Torn by the Contradictions of Being Gay and Muslim
Sad to say, "A Jihad for Love" is not a sequel to the pornographic satire"The Raspberry Reich" (2004), in which pseudo-revolutionaries exhort theircomely comrades to "join the homosexual intifada!" It is, rather morearduously, a dispatch from the outer limits of marginalization: adocumentary on devout Muslims struggling with their homosexuality.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/movies/21jiha.html?scp=2&sq=gay&st=nyt


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

-Van Sant keeps creative balance with 'Paranoid Park'
Van Sant himself views Paranoid Park as a transitional film, moving him onceagain toward the mainstream. The director is currently shooting Milk, abiography of openly gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who wasgunned down by a disgruntled ex-supervisor in 1978. The biopic, due to openthrough Focus Features next year, stars Sean Penn as the title character,with a supporting cast featuring Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin and James Franco.
It is almost certain to guarantee him safe passage back into the realm ofthe commercial.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/events/sfl-paranoid-latsbmay21,0,744370.story


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

-MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COMMISSION
Dade approves domestic-partner benefits
A County Commission vote gives unmarried couples -- gay or straight -- theright to visit partners in jail or the hospital.
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/540911.html

-Jamaica PM criticized for comment about gays
Gay activists in Jamaica condemned the prime minister on Tuesday for sayinghe would not allow gays in his Cabinet.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding told BBC television he has the right to makethat decision and to form a Cabinet that represents the Jamaican people.
http://www.miamiherald.com/942/story/541375.html

-RICK KUSHMAN: How TV can reflect society's tolerance
If you want a sense of the kind of open-mindedness you can see on network TVthese days, ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" is a good place to start.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/tv/story/541485.html


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

-Federal Anti-Gay Amendment Returns In Wake Of Calif. Ruling
Republican Congressman Paul Broun has announced plans to reintroduce anamendment to the US Constitution to bar same-sex marriage.

-Gay Servicemembers Warned About Calif. Same-Sex Marriages
An organization that advocates for gays in the military is warningservicemembers that if they take advantage same-sex marriage in Californiathey risk being drummed out of the armed services.

-Gay Iran Teen Wins UK Asylum
Britain has announced that it is granting asylum to a gay Iranian teenagerwho fears that he could face execution if forced to return to his homeland.

-Gay Man Elected Portland, Oregon Mayor
Portland, Oregon City Commissioner Sam Adams had little difficulty winningPortland's mayoral race Tuesday, becoming the first openly gay mayor everelected to lead one of the 30 largest U.S. cities.

-Obama Readying Team For General Election
Barack Obama is quietly planning to take over the Democratic NationalCommittee and assemble a multistate team for the general election, thelatest sign that he is putting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and thenomination fight behind him.

-Obama Moves To Brink Of Nomination
Barack Obama stepped to the brink of victory in the Democratic presidentialrace Tuesday night, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Oregon primaryand moving within 100 delegates of the total needed to claim the prize atthe party convention this summer.

-Report: Anti-LGBT Violence Up 24%
A report released Tuesday shows that violent attacks on members of the LGBTcommunity nationwide grew by 24 percent in 2007 over the previous year.

-Judge Reopens Student Gay Club Lawsuit
A federal judge has reopened a lawsuit that seeks to allow the establishmentof a Gay-Straight Alliance at Okeechobee High School.

-Civil Unions Come Into Effect In Australian Capital Territory
Same-sex couples began arriving at the Registrar General's office Tuesday asthe civil union law in the Australian Capital Territory came into effect.


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Md. high court ends child visitation for lesbian
Ruling could be 'disastrous' for same-sex couples
Eight months after it ruled against same-sex marriage, Maryland's high courthas dealt gay residents another blow.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18443

-New law aims to stop schoolyard bullying of gays
Maryland becomes 11th state to enact such a measure
Stephanie Kreps says some people are surprised to learn the extent to whichgay students are bullied in Montgomery County schools.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18441

-UK: Gay bar row over 'straight' sign
A complaint has been made to police over a banner declaring a former gay barin Sunderland city centre has now gone "straight".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wear/7413347.stm

-SMYAL loses grant money, staff
D.C. gay youth group remains committed to programs
The Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) is facing financialsetbacks and staff turnover, prompting some of those familiar with theorganization to conclude that it no longer has adequate resources to conductits mission.
http://www.washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18445

-Calif. Assembly passes bill marking Harvey Milk's birthday
With Senate approval, May 22 would become day of significanceThe California Assembly passed a bill Monday marking the birthday of thelate pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18434

-Ex-Gay Torture Chambers In Ecuador
Andrés Duque at Babbleando has provided some valuable translations from twonewspaper articles from Ecuador chronicling ex-gay and ex-transgenderministries in that country. According to El Universo, there are more than140 such unlicensed treatment centers operating throughout Ecuador.
Operating under the guise of alcohol and drug rehab centers, theseministries engage in barbaric practices which are nothing short of torture.
One transgender "client" describes her experience:
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/05/21/2056


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

-Portland, Ore., Becomes Largest U.S. City With Gay Mayor
Portland, Ore., is now the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor withthe election Tuesday of city commissioner Sam Adams to the post. Themayor-elect avoids a November runoff race by having won 58% of the vote,according to the Associated Press.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid54709.asp

-Jamaican Prime Minister Criticized For Comment About Gays
Gay activists in Jamaica condemned the prime minister on Tuesday for sayinghe would not allow gays in his Cabinet.
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid54701.asp

-Wedding Jitters
Will the California supreme court decision legalizing same-sex marriagebecome a wedge issue in this year's presidential race, just as the similarMassachusetts ruling did in 2004? Lambda Legal attorney Robert Schulzeexamines the positions Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain havetaken regarding the federal Defense of Marriage Act and how it might allplay out this fall.
http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid54595.asp

-Ready Or Not, LGBT Clinton Supporters Move Toward Obama
As many diehard LGBT Clinton fans conclude that Hillary's bid is over, aboutto be over, or should be over, they are making peace with an Obamanomination.
While the 2008 presidential election long ago deflated confidence inpredictions, many observers agree that one thing seems reasonably clear nowas the long, competitive Democratic primary season draws to a close: HillaryClinton's window is closing fast if it hasn't already shut.
http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid54649.asp


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

-Lawyer Who Accused National Gay News Found Guilty of Bar Violations
The Broward Review reported this morning that Jack Thompson, the CoralGables lawyer who accused the National Gay News.com site last year of beinga porn-to-kids publication, and charged Publisher Norm Kent with illegallydistributing pornography, has been found guilty of numerous Florida Bar ruleviolations- including fraud and deceit- by his trial judge. He will besentenced by the Supreme Court of the State of Florida on June 4, 2008.

-Concerned Women of America Insult Ellen's Gay Wedding
In the aftermath of California's historic Supreme Court ruling on gaymarriage, talk show host Ellen Degeneres announced to a packed studioaudience of her daytime gab fest that she would, at long last, marry herlongtime partner Portia De Rossi.

-Schwules Museum / Gay Museum
Berlin's Schwules Museum, established in the late 1980s, is a privateinstitution dedicated to preserving, exhibiting, and discovering homosexualhistory, art, and culture. Located in the Kreuzberg district of former WestBerlin, long the center of gay life in the city, the museum is composed ofthree main divisions: archives, library, and exhibitions.

-Lenore Troia and Laura Wood Hosts Benefit in Key West For Christina'sCourage
Key West's own Lenore Troia and New England's Laura Wood will perform at awomen's dance party to benefit Christina's Courage on Saturday, May 24, 2008at Pearl's Rainbow. The hotel for women is eager to support Christina'sCourage, which is a new center that provides medical care for victims ofsexual abuse.

-Rowe in the Running For Gay Athlete of the Year
Triathlete Kate Rowe is one of three finalists in the Athlete of the Yearcompetition held by American GLBT sporting publication Sports Out Loud. As aboard member for the Federation of Gay Games, champion triathlete andgeneral advocate for the sporting way of life, Rowe says that winning thetitle would not just be an accolade for her, but for alternative lifestyleswithin the GLBT community. It was the 1994 Gay Games that reinvigorated Rowe's
passion for sport.

-Former Rep. Bob Allen Challenges Conviction on Soliciting Prostitute
A former Republican lawmaker will be in court to challenge his conviction onsoliciting a prostitute in central Florida. Bob Allen's lawyers are expectedto ask a panel of three Brevard County Circuit Court judges Wednesday tothrow out his conviction on grounds that he didn't get a fair trial.
Authorities say Allen agreed to pay $20 to perform oral sex on an undercoverpolice officer in a men's restroom at a Titusville park last year. Allenmaintains his innocence.

-No Runoff Adams is Portland's Next Mayor
Sam Adams, a child of poverty, an openly gay man and a self-professed policywonk, will be Portland's next mayor. The city commissioner soundly defeated12 other candidates Tuesday to assume the top office in the city and one ofthe tallest bully pulpits in the Pacific Northwest. He captured 58 percentof the vote to avoid a November runoff against travel agency owner ShoDozono. Adams, 44, won by stressing specifics: He promised to work withschool leaders to cut the dropout rate, make Portland a leader inenvironmentally friendly businesses and use the Portland Streetcar andbetter planning to spur urban renewal.

-Delhi HC to Take Up PIL on Gay Rights
In a tony neighbourhood in Andheri, Rahul, a 25-year-old IT professional,shares an apartment with Brian (27), who works at a multi-national bank. Forthe last two years, their landlord and neighbours know them as perfectroommates, but to friends and a few family members they are a gay couple. Ina country where homosexual acts are punishable with life imprisonment, fewlike Rahul and Brian manage to make a home for themselves. A public interestlitigation being heard in Delhi HC this week seeking to decriminalisehomosexuality is being watc-hed with bated breaths by the lesbian and gaycommunity.

-Minnesota Governor Veto's Domestic Partner Benefits
Advocates for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender Minnesotans arespeaking out against Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a domestic partner bill. Itwould have allowed local governments to offer domestic partner benefits,such as health care and dental insurance, to their employees. OutFrontMinnesota Policy Director, Monica Meyer, says the measure passed the Houseand Senate with bi-partisan support.

-Hate Crimes Against GLBT People Up 133%
Violent crimes against Michiganders because of their sexual orientationjumped 133% last year, according to a report released today by theDetroit-based Triangle Foundation. In 2007, there were 226 reported casesinvolving violence or violent threats against gay, lesbian, bisexual, ortransgendered people, the report said. Out of those cases, two were murders,46 were assaults and 101 of them involved intimidation or harassment, thereport said. There were 97 reported incidents in 2006.

-President Plans to Kill Off Every Single Homosexual
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh says he will "cut off the head" of anyhomosexual caught in his country. Addressing supporters at the end of hismeet the farmers tour here Sunday, Jammeh also ordered any hotel or motelhousing homosexuals to close down, adding that owners of such facilitieswould also be in trouble.

-Miami-Dade Approves Domestic-Partner Benefits
Unmarried couples in Miami-Dade won the right to hospital and jailvisitation on Tuesday, following an 8-4 vote by the County Commission, andcounty employees will be able to buy health coverage for their partners.
Couples will be able to register their partnerships with the county'sConsumer Services Department by late August. The system is open tounmarried, nonrelated couples -- gay or straight -- who are at least 18 andlive together. ''It's a matter of compassion, a matter of correcting aninjustice, a matter of moving forward as a progressive county,'' saidCommissioner Katy Sorenson.

-Coming to Grips With Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Pastor Gregory L. Waybright struggled from the pulpit Sunday to reconcilethe laws of God with the laws of man. Though he wanted his church "to be awelcoming and loving house," he told worshipers at Lake Avenue Church inPasadena, the California Supreme Court's decision last week to legalize gaymarriage in California "is a contradiction of what God's word says."


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

-California Gay Marriage Decision and McCain's Campaign
In the wake of the California Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling, religiousright organizations from coast to coast are whipping out their "activistjudges" talking points and launching campaigns to make gay marriageunconstitutional at the state and federal level. Even before the decisioncame down, the straight-talking John McCain was, as Jeffrey Toobin put it,blowing "a dog whistle for the right" -- employing carefully coded languagein a speech about the evils of judges making decisions the right disagreeswith. The dogs started barking immediately.

-What Happened to the Evangelical Manifesto?
Remember the Evangelical Manifesto -- just two weeks old now -- and its aimto fight the stereotype that all evangelicals are singularly obsessed withabortion and gay marriage? The outcry over the California Supreme Court'sdecision, though, demonstrated that, in many evangelical quarters, opposinggay marriage remains a central political goal. Even The Rev. SamuelRodriguez, one of the original signers of the Manifesto, was among the firstto condemn the California decision. Rodriguez's California-based NationalHispanic Christian Leadership Conference, claims to represent 18,000congregations and 15 million Hispanic evangelicals and is at the forefrontof advocating for a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage. Rodriguezhimself serves as an advisory board member to the Alliance for Marriage,which calls on both parties to include a plank in their platforms advocatingfor a federal gay marriage ban. Rodriguez, who has been critical of thereligious right for its divisive political rhetoric, nonetheless blames gaymarriage for many of America's social ills. "For several decades, Americahas been wandering in a wilderness of social problems caused by familydisintegration. Tragically, as bad as our current situation may be, today'sdecision by the Court can only make the situation dramatically worse."

-An organization that advocates for gays in the military is warningservicemembers that if they take advantage same-sex marriage in Californiathey risk being drummed out of the armed services. Last week the CaliforniaSupreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the same fundamental right tomarry as heterosexual couples under the California State Constitution. Butthe Servicemembers Legal Defense Network says that under "Don't Ask, Don'tTell" members of the military face dismissal if they marry a person of thesame sex.

-Republican Congressman Paul Broun (pictured) has announced plans toreintroduce an amendment to the US Constitution to bar same-sex marriage.
Broun (R-Ga) said the California Supreme Court ruling recognizing same-sexmarriage has made it an imperative to reign in what he called "activistjudges". [...] Republicans have been trying to amend the Constitution since 2004, as a result of; the Massachusetts high court ruling that legalized gay marriage there. Despite GOP control of Congress and support from President Bush, a proposed amendment failed to garner enough votes to succeed in either 2004 or 2006.

-[Editor's note: Jasmyne Cannick here continues her criticism of LGBTmarriage equality organizations for inadequate recognition that AfricanAmerican support for marriage equality requires reciprocity on matters ofinterest to African Americans.] As The Times' story "Coming to grips withsame-sex marriage ruling" shows, with the mainstream media, there seems tobe no real interest in thinking outside the box that has been drawn for themby certain gay groups. That is why we see the same faces and hear the samevoices on all things gay. The same organizations are looked to as theauthoritative representation of the gay community similar to the way thatRev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson are looked to when blacks are upset.
And even though Los Angeles is home to a plethora of respected black clergythat is affirming of lesbians and gays -- including Agape InternationalSpiritual Center's Rev. Michael Beckwith, Rev. Eric Lee of the SouthernChristian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles and civil rights iconRev. James Lawson -- those voices are almost never chosen to represent thevoice of reason and African Americans on gay issues. No, we've got to beportrayed as being negative, helping to fuel the notion that blacks arehomophobic.

-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes gay marriage will become an economic boonin California.
In the wake of the state Supreme Court's recent legalization of gaymarriage, the Republican governor said Tuesday in San Francisco he wants gaycouples to flock to California for wedded bliss.
"You know, I'm wishing everyone good luck with their marriages and I hopethat California's economy is booming because everyone is going to come hereand get married," said Schwarzenegger, prompting laughs and applause.

-San Diego County Clerk Gregory Smith said Tuesday that he is consideringexcusing clerks who have a personal objection to same-sex marriages fromofficiating at the ceremonies. [...] Smith said he met Tuesday with hisclerks and told them they have until the end of the month to discuss anyreligious or moral objections they may have. He said they would be given theopportunity to discuss the matter privately with county human resourcesofficials. Last week, Smith made similar comments to the Los Angeles Times.
Those comments prompted criticism from Los Angeles City Attorney RockyDelgadillo, who wrote a letter to Secretary of State Debra Bowen. "It is myopinion that county clerks have no legal standing to grant county employeesthe authority or ability to choose which marriages they wish not toofficiate at, based on their personal views or biases," Delgadillo wrote inthe letter to Bowen dated Monday.


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

-Poland seen as "a country of homophobes and Teletubbies specialists"
The Prime Minister of Poland has spoken out about his country's image abroadunder the Presidency of Lech Kaczynski. Last week Human Rights Watchinducted the President into their annual "Hall of Shame."

-MEPs demand comprehensive discrimination legislation
The European Parliament yesterday voted to adopt a report by a West MidlandsMEP calling for protection for gay and lesbian people from discrimination.

-MPs clash over fathers, lesbians, and what people in the pub think isnatural
In the Commons yesterday afternoon former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smithproposed an amendment to retain the requirement for doctors to consider theneed for a father when assessing women for fertility treatment.

-MPs vote to abolish 'need for a father'
The House of Commons has voted to remove the requirement for doctors toconsider the need for a father when assessing women for ferility treatments.

-Danes protest against gay hate music on Freewebs.com
Online music stores are selling so-called Murder Music despite protests fromgay rights activists. Martin Adelskov complained to Freewebs.com andIndietitan.com after coming across hate-filled content.

-Handbook on transgender children released
For parents and professionals alike, raising a transgender child can beconfusing and challenging. A new book published in the US tackles the issuesthousands of families face.


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

- INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
New Delhi High Court Hears Case Against Sodomy Law
BACKGROUND
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) penalizes "voluntary carnalintercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal."
Punishment includes 10 years to life in prison and/or a fine. Part ofBritish colonial law enacted in the 1860s, Section 377 was intended tocriminalize "all unnatural acts ranging from consensual same-sex sexualactivity between adults, or even oral sex between a married heterosexualcouple, are offenses, though the pervasive homophobia in our [Indian]society ensures that only the first is ever prosecuted."1

-The international spotlight has again been turned on Jamaica and thecontroversial issue of homophobia.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding who is in the United Kingdom (UK) on anofficial visit was grilled on the topic when he appeared on the top-ratedBBC television talk show "Hard Talk" Monday night. Mr. Golding wasquestioned about Jamaica's reputation of being the most homophobic countryin the world and the administration' s response to the matter. He made itclear that while each Jamaican should have the right to privacy and equalitybefore the law, the Government would not bow to international pressure forthe recognition of gay rights. "Jamaica is not going allow values to beimposed on it from outside. We're going to have to determine that ourselvesand we're going to have to determine to what extent those values will adaptover time to change, change in perception, change in understanding as to howpeople live." Mr. Golding said Jamaica's standards and morals will bedefined or determined by lobby groups that are far away from Jamaica. Nohomosexuals in the House Questioned about statements he made in the pastthat homosexuals would not be allowed to serve in his Cabinet, Mr. Goldinginsisted that he would not change that view. "That's a decision that I made... that every Prime Minister makes. A Prime Minister must decide what hefeels will represent to the Jamaican people a Cabinet of Ministers who willbe able to discharge their responsibilities without fear, without favour,without intimidation. That's a choice that I had and I made that choice,"said Prime Minister Goldin. Mr. Golding who is on a one-week visit to the UKis to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday. He is scheduled toreturn to Jamaica on Sunday.

-"Intergroup welcomes Mehdi Kazemi´s asylum in the UK."
19 years old gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi has been granted asylum in the UK. TheLGBT Intergroup congratulates Mehdi and wishes him a happy life in Europe.
"I wish to congratulate The Home Office and Government of the United Kingdomon the decision that I always knew in my heart they would take," saidMichael Cashman, President of the Intergroup. "Mehdi´s case[1] clearly showsthat NGOs and governments must work together to ensure that LGBT people areproperly protected and dealt with in asylum cases."


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

-In the name of Moscow Pride Organizing Committee I would like to thank allof you in Mexico, Chicago, San Francisco and New York for taking part insolidarity actions with Moscow Pride and Russian LGBT community. It was veryimportant for us here in Russia. Only together we can change things in thisworld and get respect for who we are. Once again thank you all and youshould know that you can always rely on us here in Moscow for solidarity.
Nikolai Alekseev - GayRussia.Ru

-I wanted to share with you this link to our coverage of our action in frontof the Russian Embassy in Mexico City yesterday. It was a wonderfulcommunity event, and the president of Mexico City Pride and other prominentlocal activists gave official statements of solidarity with the Community inRussia, and we delivered our letter to the Vice-Consul who came out toreceive it. (we were not allowed to enter at all actually). Many media inMexico City and some international newsagencies covered the activity, andrepresentatives of 9 local LGBT organisations and groups were present. Incontinuation, Enkidu Magazine, Musas de Metal and Grupo Palomilla Gay had ameeting with ILGA-LAC where we discussed the possibility for futureactivities in solidarity with Rusia, Belarus and Poland both on NationalMexican level and on the Latin American Level. This link takes you to ourarticle about yesterday with many photos:
http://www.enkidumagazine.com/cultura/comunidad/art/c_00005.htm

-ALL AFRICA : The gay and lesbian community in Central and West Africacelebrated the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) with variousactivities. Initiated after the General Assembly of the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders18 years ago, IDAHO aims to fight for the recognition of equal rights forlesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. This boldaction, taken by WHO, does not seem to have translated in equal rights forLGBTI communities since LGBTI people continue to suffer prejudice anddiscrimination in the world, largely in Africa.

-I am delighted to direct you to the website of upcoming "CopenhagenOutgames 2009".
Please check this website: http://www.copenhagen2009.org for more
information.


=
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

-After six years in the making, Parvez Sharma's film, A Jihad for Love, willmake it's US Theatrical debut on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 in New York, whereit will be playing at the IFC Center for the next two weeks. Co-producedwith Sandi Dubowski (remember his remarkable Trembling Before G-d?), Parveztells the stories of lesbian and gay Muslims, unmediated by Western thoughtand influence. PLEASE go see it now! It is an essential film for all of uswho care to engage in the world and to know more ab out it from an LGBT perspective. For those of you not in New York, there is a screening schedule you can get to from the attached notice. Thank you Parvez and Sandi for your unrelenting dedication to telling our stories.

-Pa. Justices Hear Arguments Over 'Control' of Images in Child Porn Case
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court justices considered whether a person looking ata book in a library is analogous to a person downloading files from theInternet and whether, in either circumstance, the person is in "control" ofthe material. The comparison came during arguments in Commonwealth v.Diodoro, in which a Delaware County man is challenging his conviction ofsexual abuse of children by possession and control of child pornography. Thearguments were held in Harrisburg on Wednesday.

-The LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index is the most comprehensive nationalbenchmarking tool for colleges and universities to measure campus climateand to create safer, more welcoming environments for lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender (LGBT) people. The American College Personnel Association(ACPA), the leading international association for college administrators,educators and senior officers, recently honored the LGBT-Friendly CampusClimate Index with the "Innovative Response to Social Justice" award throughthe Commission for Social Justice Educators.

-Critics Slam Boston Doctor Who Offers Sex Change Treatment to Kids
Boston's Children's Hospital bills itself as the hospital for children - andnow it's also the hospital for children who want a sex change, a proceduresome critics are calling "barbaric." Dr. Norman Spack, a pediatricspecialist at the hospital, has launched a clinic for transgendered kids -boys who feel like girls, girls who want to be boys - and he's opening hisdoors to patients as young as 7. Spack offers his younger patientscounseling and drugs that delay the onset of puberty. The drugs stop thenatural flood of hormones that would make it difficult to have a sexalteration later in life, allowing patients more time to decide whether theywant to make the change. Spack also offers some teenagers hormone therapy,a drastic step that changes the way they grow and develop. While the effectsof drug treatments can be stopped, long-term hormone therapy can beirreversible, causing permanent infertility in both sexes.

-Supreme Court, in Williams Case, ImplicatesAshcroft v. Free Speech Decision
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Supreme Court dropped a mini-bombshell today when itannounced that it was overturning the Eleventh Circuit's acquittal ofMichael Williams on charges of pandering child pornography under the PROTECTAct. But if there's one thing adult industry members should have learned bynow, it's that when it comes to sexually explicit material (among otherspeech concerns), Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is not to be trusted.
So when Justice Scalia claims that his decision little impacts (if it doesat all) Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, wise court watchers will takethat with a grain or two of salt. The 2002 Ashcroft case struck downportions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act which criminalized materialdepicting adults which "appears to be" or is "advertised, promoted,presented, described, or distributed in such a manner that conveys theimpression" of minors involved in the sexually explicit conduct.


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Anything But Straight by Wayne Besen
'I Don't Exist': The Fall of Dr. Warren Throckmorton
A few years back, Warren Throckmorton, an erstwhile psychologist andfull-time blogger from a tiny Christian school, filmed a noxious "ex-gay"video, "I Do Exist." The documentary begins at New York's porn palaces on8th Avenue - with the seedy atmosphere shot deliberately to signify gaylife. Not long into the video, we were introduced to a nutty exorcist who isknown to extract demons from the anuses of gay men. In his typical slipperyway, the public relations conscious Throckmorton fails to identify the womanas an exorcist (as she was identified in two other movies, "One Nation UnderGod" and "Chasing the Devil," with apparently less truth challengedproducers")
http://www.waynebesen.com/2008/05/i-dont-exist-fall-of-dr-warren.html


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Mark's List
Save The Date: St. Petersburg Pride 2008
St Pete Pride and Street Festival is billed as the largest Gay and LesbianPride celebration in Florida. Attendance at the June 2008 event is expectedto exceed 80,000 people. Last year's attendance topped 70,000. Thisspectacular event includes a Street Festival in St Pete's beautiful downtownthat has spectacular views of Tampa Bay and the world famous St PetersburgPier. Don't miss this incredible annual event.
For more information, use the link in the "Events Sponsored by Mark's List"box the right.
Traveling to St Petersburg from outside of Bay Area? For hotel reservations,use the following link: http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/gay_hotels.htm

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