GLBT DIGEST - July 09, 2009

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

State Suit Challenges U.S. Defense of Marriage Act
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
The Massachusetts attorney general, Martha Coakley, sued the federal government Wednesday to overturn a section of the law denying federal benefits to spouses in same-sex marriages.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/us/09massachusetts.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse

Do Women Like Men Quite That Cleanshaven?
By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS
AMERICAN women didn’t shave their armpits en masse until the 1920s, after a perfect storm of sleeveless dresses and a barrage of advertisements by depilatory makers characterized underarm hair as ugly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/fashion/09Skin.html?scp=3&sq=gay&st=cse


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

OPM 'Wholeheartedly' Endorses Benefits for Same-Sex Partners
By Joe Davidson
In case there was any lingering doubt from last fall about the government's position on providing full domestic benefits for same-sex partners of federal workers, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry erased them yesterday. The White House and OPM, he said at the top of his statement to a House hearing, "wholeheartedly endorse passage" of legislation that would provide them with health and retirement coverage.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070804066.html

Brüno's Wild Pride
Homophobic Antics Bare Universal Truths
By Hank Stuever
Amid the screams of shock and laughter at a packed preview screening of "Brüno" Tuesday night, one could also detect slight sighs of relief.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070804111.html

Gay legal groups want in on Calif court case
By LISA LEFF
Three gay-friendly legal groups have asked to be part of a federal lawsuit challenging California's same-sex marriage ban - a request that drew an icy reception from the activists behind the case. After publicly questioning the wisdom of the suit and then submitting papers in support of it, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights said they want to represent gay community groups in the proceedings.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070804484.html

India Supreme Court steps into gay sex law dispute
By VIJAY JOSHI
NEW DELHI -- India's Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a petition from a Hindu astrologer who is seeking to annul a recent landmark ruling that decriminalized gay sex.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070900923.html

O'Malley Says Md. Should Recognize Rights of Gay Couples Married Elsewhere
By Maryland Notebook
During a radio show this week, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) suggested he was open to recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states -- something he's never said publicly -- with several caveats. "If a person has those rights under another state . . . I think we probably should respect those rights," O'Malley said during an appearance Monday on WTOP radio's "Ask the Governor."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070702501.html


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

Task Force Action Fund urges for passage of Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force news release:
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund has submitted testimony to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, which today held a hearing on the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009. The Task Force Action Fund urges passage of this important legislation.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/07/task-force-action-fund-urges-for-passage-of-domestic-partnership-benefits-and-obligations-act.html

Transgender 'pumping party' felon Donnie Hendrix back in a silicone sting
Six years after her conviction in the death of a woman at an illegal Miramar silicone 'pumping party,' Donnie Hendrix is accused of setting up shop again
BY DAVID SMILEY
Standing before a Broward judge in 2003, Donnie ''Viva'' Hendrix said through pouty lips that she wanted to be a ''poster child'' for the dangers of illegal silicone injections. She may get her wish.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/07/pumping-party-felon-back-in-a-silicone-sting.html


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

Gay legal groups want in on Calif court case
By LISA LEFF
Three gay-friendly legal groups have asked to be part of a federal lawsuit challenging California's same-sex marriage ban - a request that drew an icy reception from the activists behind the case. After publicly questioning the wisdom of the suit and then submitting papers in support of it, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights said they want to represent gay community groups in the proceedings.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/1133765.html


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

El Paso: Two gay men kicked out of Chico's Tacos restaurant for kissing (5:07 a.m.)
By Andrew Kreighbaum and Darren Meritz / For the Sun-News
Two gay men kissed at a Chico's Tacos restaurant, prompting guards to eject them and a police officer to endorse their ouster. Civil-rights lawyers say the security staff was out of line. Police, though, contend that a business such as a restaurant can refuse service to anybody, any time. In all, five men were ordered to leave the restaurant. They say they were forced out by homophobic guards.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_12792370?source=most_viewed


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

55K Signatures Against Maine Marriage
A group attempting to overturn Maine's legalization of same-sex marriage said Wednesday that it has collected the signatures necessary to get the issue on the ballot for the November election.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid96781.asp


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

Mother's letter inspires gay marriage protest outside Irish parliament
A letter sent to the Irish justice minister by the mother of a gay son has inspired a protest today outside the Irish parliament for gay marriage.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-13167.html

Guru challenges Indian ruling on gay sex, saying homosexuality 'can be cured by yoga'
A recent judgement by the Delhi high court that homosexuality should be decriminalised is being challenged. Swami Baba Ramdev, a yoga guru, filed the challenge saying homosexuality was a "disease" and could be cured by yoga.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-13173.html

Exclusive: Anti-cruising website publishes uncensored photos of faces and car registrations
The Information Commissioner is to investigate an anti-cruising website after an exclusive report by PinkNews.co.uk. The website, set up to raise awareness of the "disgusting" practice of gay men meeting for sex, publishes uncensored images of car registration plates and faces of men allegedly involved.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-13168.html


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

Another Horrific Tale of “Ex-Gay” Conversion…and How the Internet is Helping Fight Back
Waymon Hudson | Bilerico Project
The request to join a new group came through my Facebook page. The group was called “Friends of Bryce“, which could have been anything, but had a note attached that said “Please Help.” Bryce 1.jpgWhen I clicked over to the group, an all too familiar tale unfolded. Bryce Faulkner, a young gay man from Arkansas, had gone missing after his parents had discovered he was gay. They had gotten into their college-aged son’s email account and discovered messages between Bryce and his boyfriend. The parents then gave Bryce an ultimatum- enter an extensive and severe “therapy” program or lose all their support for college and living expenses. For a young man from a conservative small town whose entire life, including his job, was tied to his parents, who had nowhere to go and no one to turn to, there really was no choice. Bryce was sent to 14 week long conversion therapy camp and has not been heard from again. Read more
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/news/8489/

Why the FBI Squelched an Investigation of a Post-9/11 Meeting Between White Supremacists and Islamic Extremists
Mark Levine, AlterNet
The recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum serves as a stark reminder to us all that murderous racial and religious hatred still endures in America. One would expect the FBI to infiltrate and prosecute individuals and organizations that threaten domestic terrorist acts. But as this investigative report details, the large FBI bureaucracy, from the bottom to the very top, may well be more concerned with covering up its agents’ own illegal misconduct that it is with actually protecting Americans from terrorist attack. Read more
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/news/8486/

PA: Beyond Gay & Lesbian
LAUREN F. FRIEDMAN | Philadelphia Daily News | Philly.com
friedml@phillynews.com 215-854-5991
WHEN THE Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival premiered 15 years ago, “Will and Grace” wasn’t on TV, “Brokeback Mountain” hadn’t won an Oscar, and gay marriage was legal in exactly zero states. Pretty soon though, the community that had at first embraced the festival had a problem. “People complained that it was the ‘gay and lesbian’ film festival instead of the GLBT film festival,” said Raymond Murray, citing the acronym that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Murray, who founded the festival back in 1995 and remains its artistic director today, is vigilant about selecting a range of films that represent the diversity of the community, but he was reluctant to begin adding letters onto what was already a somewhat unwieldy name. Read more
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/news/8485/

Murphy Takes Up Overturn of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Joelle Farrell | Inquirer Staff Writer | Philadelphia Inquirer | Philly.com
U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, an Iraq War veteran, is taking the lead in Congress to repeal a law that bars openly gay people from serving in the military. At a news conference in Washington today, the Bucks County Democrat plans to announce a renewed effort to overturn the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The law, enacted in 1993 during President Bill Clinton’s first term, has led to the discharge of nearly 13,000 gay service members. Read more
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/news/8484/

AK: Assembly Hears Another Round of Gay Rights Testimony
DON HUNTER | dhunter@adn.com | Anchorage Daily News
The Anchorage Assembly worked its way through another round of public testimony Tuesday night on the controversial proposal to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and Assemblyman Matt Claman barely got the three votes he needed to introduce the idea of putting the question on the ballot at next spring’s city election. Claman’s latest move, which is a separate effort from the proposed ordinance that has been getting public comment for weeks now, would ask voters to change the city’s charter to add sexual orientation to the list of characteristics protected under the charter’s bill of rights and equal protection sections. It will need support from eight of the 11 Assembly members to reach the ballot, but Claman conceded he had a hard time even finding a third vote just to set it for a public hearing. Claman originally said he thought sending the question to voters might short-circuit the Assembly’s protracted consideration of three related versions of the anti-discrimination ordinance this summer. Tuesday night, however, he said he now expects the Assembly to conclude public hearings on the anti-discrimination ordinances and vote on them. Read more
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/news/8483/


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