GLBT DIGEST - April 10, 2009

**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:

-Delinquency and Prevention
The Senate version of a reauthorized act that strengthens protections for children who end up in custody deserves the full support of Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/opinion/10fri3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion


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

-Faith Groups Increasingly Lose Gay Rights Fights
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Faith organizations and individuals who view homosexuality as sinful and refuse to provide services to gay people are losing a growing number of legal battles that they say are costing them their religious freedom.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR2009040904063.html?hpid=topnews


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

-Longtime activist Cindy Brown is organizing Miami Beach's first Gay Pride parade and festival
By STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com
Cindy Brown's close friends and family have known her sexual orientation since she was 18. But back in the '70s during the Anita Bryant era, being a lesbian wasn't something she wanted to broadcast. In 1992, Brown joined dozens of others in successfully lobbying Miami Beach commissioners for a citywide gay-rights ordinance. After she spoke at City Hall, a news broadcast identified her as a ``lesbian gay-rights activist.'' ''I consider myself one, but at that point in my life, I wasn't ready to have it on the TV,'' Brown recalled. ``Now, I'm ready to wear it on a T-shirt.'' More


=
From Timothy J. Singer
Realtor & Associates
COLDWELL BANKER RESIDENTIAL R E, INC.
http://www.tsarealtor.com

-Offensive poll question on AOL
I am writing to bring to your attention a poll question posted on AOL's main news page by Andrew Sullivan. The question is written as follows: WILL SAME-SEX MARRIAGE REDUCE GAY PROMISCUITY? (copy below) Although written by a gay person, I think this type of wording offensive and it only perpetuates negative stereotypes promoted by the far right. As my political action organization, I am asking you to please take action and petition AOL to drop this offensive poll from its site.
Respectfully yours,
Tim Singer


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

-Wis. high court asked to review gay marriage vote
The Wisconsin Supreme Court was asked Thursday to decide whether the state's 2006 ban on gay marriage was properly put to voters. William McConkey, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science instructor, claims the referendum illegally put two issues to voters at the same time: whether to ban gay marriage and whether to outlaw civil unions. A Dane County judge dismissed the case last year, and the 66-year-old Baileys Harbor man appealed to the District 4 Court of Appeals.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=24931

-NYC officials want gay marriages in census count
Census Bureau says DOMA bars agency from recognizing same-sex marriages
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn are urging census officials to include same-sex marriages in the 2010 count.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=24924

-Nationally, gay marriage ruling puts Iowa in whole new light
By MIKE KILEN
Elsie Vega is 80 and a lesbian. "If I had a partner, I would propose to her immediately and get married," she said. Vega has endured decades of societal change regarding same-sex relationships, punctuated last week by the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling legalizing marriage. It astounds her.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090410/NEWS/904100376/1001/

-Victories in IA, VT, DC
Gay marriage in?America: the writing is on the barn wall
By WAYNE BESEN
Only ten years ago, it looked like gay people would not be able to marry until the cows came home. With an Iowa Supreme Court victory and the state legislature approving marriage in Vermont, gay couples will soon be coming home to their cows - with marriage licenses in hand. The farm teams have brought us major league victories and reinvigorated the GLBT marriage movement.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/4-9/view/editorial/5719.cfm


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

-Religious group warns of a 'gathering storm' over gay marriage
A religious anti-gay group has defended its latest television ad which claims that gay marriage interferes with the way its members live their lives.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11964.html

-Man's appeal over gay murder conviction rejected
A man who was found guilty of murdering a man he met for sex has had his appeal against the jury's verdict rejected. David Shale, now 29, and his friend Andrew Shortt, now 30, were convicted at Bristol Crown Court of murdering 46-year-old Robert Huggett in September 1999.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11965.html

-South Park lampoons Kanye West as a 'gay fish'
R'n'B star Kanye West has been called a 'gay fish' in the latest episode of lewd TV animation show, South Park. The episode, aired on 8th April, sees West being made the butt of a joke he does not understand.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11967.html

-Gays amongst those hardest hit by recession
A report out today suggests that those in minority or vulnerable groups have been hit hardest by the recession. One in four workers in companies making staff redundant believe disproportionate numbers of people in minority or vulnerable social groups have been among the first to be dismissed.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11968.html

-Rick Warren denies supporting gay marriage ban
Preacher Rick Warren, who spoke out against gay marriage, has been accused of lying after he said he had never supported Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11969.html

-Scottish LGBT organisation faces uncertain future
Staff at the Dumfries and Galloway Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender organisation may be facing redundancies after council bosses cut back on their funding.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11970.html

-Confusion grows over reports of gay executions in Iraq
Human rights organisations are working to establish whether a number of men have been executed in Iraq for being gay. Homosexuality is not illegal in Iraq but is seen as a taboo. Last week, six gay men were shot and killed in the Baghdad Shiite slum of Sadr City
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11959.html


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

-Gingrich: Iowa Ruling Shows ‘Judicial Arrogance’
SHANNON McCAFFREY | Associated Press Writer | Chicago Tribune
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage was “outrageously wrong,” but called a legislative override that made it legal in Vermont “healthier.” Gingrich, who has been mentioned as a possible Republican presidential contender in 2012, spoke after wrapping up a class he has been teaching on the judicial system at the University of Georgia’s law school. Gingrich said he sees the beginning of a “major movement” to bring the judicial branch into check in the wake of last Friday’s Iowa Supreme Court decision. The ruling said a state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection. “It’s the height of judicial arrogance,” Gingrich said. “You have seven lawyers who have decided, on their own, to fundamentally change Iowa.” Read more

-Next We Move Forward
Bo Shuff | The Bilerico Project
Within the span of five days the supporters of marriage equality have moved forward in three very different jurisdictions in very different ways. All of this progress is cause for massive celebration. Honestly I think the Iowa decision is the most impactful of the three, but I don’t want to diminish anything that has happened. The question that has to be asked is what comes next. Read more

-Unemployment Is Hitting Men Particularly Hard–and Both Sexes Are Losing Out
Betsy Reed, The Nation. Alternet
The Los Angeles Times is calling it the “he-cession.” The stark facts show that the economic crisis is hitting men particularly hard: The official male unemployment rate just spiked to 8.8 percent, while the figure for women is on a slower rise, now at 7 percent. So we can add to the old-fashioned gender gap in wages (favoring men, who make one dollar to a woman’s 80 cents for the same job), a new gender gap in unemployment, favoring women. With women working more, there has been a role reversal of sorts, but it’s hardly the kind feminists envisioned. As men lose their jobs, households are depending increasingly on the relatively meager wages of women to stay afloat. And the newly unemployed men aren’t spending their freed-up time packing lunches and schlepping the kids to soccer games. According to a recent analysis of time use data by economists Alan B. Krueger and Andreas Mueller, they’re devoting those hours to looking for new jobs — and sleeping more, and watching more TV. The picture of domestic life that emerges is not the gendered suburban dystopia of Revolutionary Road. But vestiges of that old order persist, mixing in new and potentially combustible ways with the legacy of feminism (the increased participation of women in the labor force), its unfinished business (their lower wages, and the lack of social supports for working motherhood), and the vagaries of this particular downturn, which has been especially merciless in male-dominated sectors like construction and manufacturing. Read more


=
Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-A Special Relationship
When bishops and college presidents don't get along, things can get very complicated for those leading Catholic colleges. This is the case with the four Roman Catholic colleges in the Diocese of Scranton. Bishop Joseph F. Martino has twice in recent months issued public calls asking colleges to document their practices with regard to Catholic moral teachings -- with the latest exchanges coming this week.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/10/scranton

-Diversifying Middle American Campuses
Predominantly white and conservative community college in Wyoming aims to celebrate differences in culture, ethnicity and sexual orientation where there are few.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/08/wyoming


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

-Fort Lauderdale Gay Man Appointed Interim Ambassador to India
Burleigh has over 34 years of experience with the U.S. State Department
By JAMES MICHAELS
President Obama has appointed Fort Lauderdale gay man, Ambassador Peter Burleigh, as the interim ambassador to India. Burleigh will hold the position until a permanent ambassador can be named. Burleigh has over 34 years of experience with the U.S. State Department, and is open about his sexuality. South Florida Blade interviewed Burleigh in January 2008 and he said, “Up until the 1980s, it was dangerous [to be out] because you couldn’t do foreign work without security clearance. By 1990, it was no longer a problem if you were out.”
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/4-9/news/localnews/5711.cfm

-Patti Labelle Grand Marshall at Miami Beach Pride
Icon to headline first festival on Ocean Drive
By JAMES MICHAELS
On April 18, history will be made as Miami Beach holds its first gay pride celebration on Ocean Drive. And at the festival itself, history too will be made as gay favorite Patti Labelle headlines as the Grand Marshal of the festivities. During her career, Labelle has won numerous Grammy awards and was honored with an Excellence in Media Award by Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for her life-long work for gay and lesbian rights and participation in the fight against AIDS.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/4-9/news/localnews/5714.cfm

-Wis. high court asked to review gay marriage vote
The Wisconsin Supreme Court was asked Thursday to decide whether the state's 2006 ban on gay marriage was properly put to voters. William McConkey, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science instructor, claims the referendum illegally put two issues to voters at the same time: whether to ban gay marriage and whether to outlaw civil unions. A Dane County judge dismissed the case last year, and the 66-year-old Baileys Harbor man appealed to the District 4 Court of Appeals.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=24931

-NYC officials want gay marriages in census count
Census Bureau says DOMA bars agency from recognizing same-sex marriages New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn are urging census officials to include same-sex marriages in the 2010 count.
http://www.floridablade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=24924

-Nationally, gay marriage ruling puts Iowa in whole new light
By MIKE KILEN
Elsie Vega is 80 and a lesbian. "If I had a partner, I would propose to her immediately and get married," she said. Vega has endured decades of societal change regarding same-sex relationships, punctuated last week by the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling legalizing marriage. It astounds her.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090410/NEWS/904100376/1001/

-Victories in IA, VT, DC
Gay marriage in?America: the writing is on the barn wall
By WAYNE BESEN
Only ten years ago, it looked like gay people would not be able to marry until the cows came home. With an Iowa Supreme Court victory and the state legislature approving marriage in Vermont, gay couples will soon be coming home to their cows - with marriage licenses in hand. The farm teams have brought us major league victories and reinvigorated the GLBT marriage movement.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/4-9/view/editorial/5719.cfm



=

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