GLBT DIGEST - February 18, 2009

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

-Film Examines a Newark Hate Crime
By Sewell Chan
A documentary recounts the 2003 killing of Sakia Gunn, 15, a lesbian high school student in Newark. In 2003, Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old lesbian high school student, was fatally stabbed in downtown Newark by a man who had approached her in the street and made sexual advances to her and her friends, which they declined. The case, which was prosecuted as a hate crime, drew widespread attention in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, though considerably less news coverage than that of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old gay college student who was abducted, beaten, tied to a pole and left to freeze to death in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/

-A few days ago I was rewatching "Paris Is Burning," one of my all-time favorite films. For the uninitiated, it's a 1991 documentary by Jennie Livingston about the drag balls in the Harlem of the late 1980s, which were celebrated mostly by marginalized African-American and Latino gay and transgendered communities. "Paris Is Burning" brought vogueing, a series of elaborate dance moves based on poses borrowed from fashion magazines, to the mainstream. (Madonna cashed in on the movement with her hit "Vogue.") As the movie ended with Willi Ninja, the mother of the House of Ninja, announcing that he had purchased a Jean-Paul Gaultier earring and was taking Paris by storm, it occurred to me that Beyoncé should be practicing her vogueing moves.
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/is-beyonce-the-new-willi-ninja/?scp=7&sq=gay&st=cse

-Arts, Briefly: No Teenage 'Rent' at California School
Compiled by Dave Itzkoff
A high school in Newport Beach, Calif., has become the latest to cancel a student production of "Rent," though the reasons for its cancellation remain murky, The Orange County Register reported. Corona del Mar High School was scheduled to perform the school edition of "Rent," an edited version of the Jonathan Larson musical about downtown Manhattanites living with the specter of AIDS, on April 23. Ronald K. Martin, the school's drama instructor, said the production was canceled by the principal, Fal Asrani, who objected to its gay characters. Ms. Asrani told The Register that Mr. Martin stopped the show because there was not enough time to revise the script. Mr. Martin said that was not true, adding that scripts for the play had not yet been ordered. In December Rowlett High School in Rowlett, Tex., canceled its planned production of "Rent" after parents and community members objected to the content of the show, though its cast members performed a version of the show at nearby Southern Methodist University.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/arts/18arts-NOTEENAGEREN_BRF.html?scp=6&sq=gay&st=cse


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

-Be Suspicious of Religious Authorities Telling You What the Bible Says
I have done Bible studies with battered women for decades. In book chapters and articles, I have written about what I have learned from them about how to read the Bible with new eyes. Religious authorities are often NOT helpful in reading the Bible, especially for those whom the church hierarchy considers suspect: women, gay people, African Americans have all been in this category for far too long.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/susan_brooks_thistlethwaite/2009/02/be_suspicious_of_religious_aut.html

-O'Malley, Death Penalty & Maryland's Cultural Divide
Looking for a state divided against itself? In this part of the country, Virginia's the usual go-to place for such culture wars; the commonwealth's politicians have been going at each other over God, guns and gays for decades, and things have gotten so bad that folks all over the state grumble about secession.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2009/02/omalley_death_penalty_maryland.html

-Religion news in brief
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, who leads a small congregation in suburban Chicago, will become the second woman to head the rabbinical assembly of Judaism's liberal Reform movement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021801483_2.html


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

-Civil rights activist Mary Frances Berry talks about civil rights in Boca
By DAVE ROSSMAN
Civil rights activist Mary Frances Berry spoke at Florida Atlantic University last week as part of the Alan B. Larkin Symposium on the American presidency. Berry served on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission for presidents Carter through Clinton, and her discussion centered on civil rights during the Reagan presidency.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/bocaraton/forum/sfl-flbrfbocatology0218wbffeb18,0,7770158.story

-North Miami mayor enters primary race for U.S. Senate
Being openly gay is just a 'side note,' Burns says
By Anthony Man
Facing term limits that prevent him from running again to lead his city, North Miami Mayor Ken Burns announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbburns0218sbfeb18,0,3126526.story


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

-Jury: San Diego firefighters were harassed in gay parade
A jury determined Tuesday that four San Diego firefighters were sexually harassed for being ordered to participate in a gay pride parade and awarded them combined damages of $34,300. The firefighters - Alex Kane, Chad Allison, Capt. John Ghiotto and Capt. Jason Hewitt - claimed they were subjected to sexually charged conduct and lewd comments while riding a fire engine in the July 2007 parade, which drew about 150,000 spectators.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/


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

-Burundi rejects proposal to criminalise homosexual relations
The Senate of Burundi today rejected a proposed amendment to the new draft of the criminal code that would have criminalised homosexual conduct for the first time.

-Georgia court tells gay dad he cannnot "expose" kids to homosexuals
A gay man in the US state of Georgia is disputing a child custody agreement restriction which prohibits him from "exposing his children to his homosexual partners and friends."

-Lesbian entertainer to perform at prestigious White House event
A comedian who publicly came out last year has been asked to appear at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

-Leading novelist pulls out of Dubai book festival in protest at gay censorship
Novelist Margaret Atwood has announced she will not attend the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature in Dubai after organisers decided to ban the launch of a book with a gay character.

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Daily Queer News
www.dailyqueernews.com
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Utah Legislature Snuffs Out Final Gay-Rights Bill
Rosemary Winters | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Legislature dealt a final blow Wednesday to the Common Ground Initiative, possibly the most expansive push for legal protections for gay and transgender Utahns in state history. A House committee rejected Rep. Jennifer Seelig's HB160, which would have offered two, unmarried cohabiting adults - including same-sex couples - rights of inheritance and medical decision making for one another. But the initiative is not dead, said Mike Thompson, executive director of Equality Utah, the advocacy group leading the charge. Democratic lawmakers have vowed to bring back their bills, with some variations, next year. "The majority of Utahns support these basic protections," Thompson said, referring to recent polls. The effort also included laws that would have made it illegal to fire someone for being gay and allow same-sex couples the right to sue in the event one partner suffers a wrongful death. "We are not giving up on these issues," Thompson said. "The Common Ground Initiative is not a 2009 legislative agenda." Link

-WV Video: Armed and Disgusting
Good As You
We're not sure what it would take for us to graphically depict our families as existing behind an assassin's scope. Even with the constant attacks that the "pro-family" community wages against us, our minds still don't draw a direct comparison between the far-right's biased pushes and a brain-shattering bullet. So when making political videos in which we lash out against those same pushes, we never stop and say, "Hey - wouldn't it be cool if we put a shotgun's sight lines right on top of the daughter of two gay dudes, implying that our political opponents want to murder the pre-adolescent? " We both value life and condemn murder a little too much to trivialize either in such a disgusting fashion. Unfortunately, as you'll see at the :57 mark of this newly surfaced video, our opposition fails to have this same ethical problem: Read more


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

-UK ID Card Plans Put Transgender People in Danger, Say Greens
BRIGHTON, February 17, 2009 - Brighton Green Party councillor Vicky Wakefield-Jarret has today warned that Government's proposals for ID cards risk increasing transphobia, and could pose a threat to the safety of transgender people. "Greens have long been opposed to ID cards," said Ms. Wakefield-Jarret, councillor for the Hanover & Elm Grove ward. "Not only are they hugely expensive and a bureaucratic nightmare, they could prove damaging to community relations and run the risk of huge civil liberties abuses.
http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/09/Feb/1701.htm

-Luxembourg To Become Sixth State To Recognise IDAHO Day
Today, Mr Jean Huss, a Member of Parliament in Luxembourg introduced a motion to recognize the "International Day Against Homophobia" (IDAHO) as part of its official calendar. The motion will be discussed at the Parliament between the different political groups during the next meetings and a vote is expected to take place by the end of April. The IDAHO is celebrated every year on May 17 to mark the day when in 1990 the World Health Organization decided to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. Today, more than 50 countries around the world contribute to make this event a success every May 17th. Norway: Islamic Council rejects Qaradawi. The Islamic Council of Norway distanced itself from the head of the European Fatwa Council, Egyptian-born Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who said that "The Holocaust was a divine punishment for the Jews". "If it's such that Yusuf Al Qardawi honors the Holocaust, I think it's unacceptable from somebody who is an important religious reference for many Muslims. The Islamic Council of Norway will take up this issue with other scholars who sit in the European Council for Fatwa and Research," says the head of the Islamic Council of Norway (IRN) Senaid Kobilica.

-Iranian, Pegah Emambakhsh Has Finally Been Granted Permanent Asylum in the United Kingdom
http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/pegah-emambakhsh-has-finally-been-granted-permanent-asylum-in-the-united-kingdom/


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