GLBT DIGEST - December 24, 2009

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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Rome's call: 'Come on over'
By George F. Will
Late in life, the mother of the Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J., began attending mass at a Southern California church, the congregation of which soon became Spanish-speaking. Services were conducted entirely in that language, which she could not understand, yet she happily continued attending. When her son asked why, she replied: "It is just like the Latin Mass, I don't understand a word of it. It is even better, I don't understand the homily." We have all listened to a speaker and wished: If only he were incomprehensible. As G.K. Chesterton said of Times Square, it would be beautiful if you could not read.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/23/AR2009122302396.html/

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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/
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In Love and War
Husbands and wives can now serve together in the Army. How three couples try to juggle marriage and mission in Afghanistan.
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Maybe the couple that fights together stays together. The 293rd Military Police Company is a rarity in American love and American war. Among the 150 soldiers deployed to this restive Afghan city are three married couples.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240504574585850597672412.html/

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

Video | Mexico City lawmakers approve gay marriage bill
Associated Press video: Lawmakers in Mexico City have approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. The Mayor is expected to sign it, however, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said he will challenge the bill in the courts.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/12/video-mexico-city-lawmakers-approve-gay-marriage-bill.html/

Jesse's Journal: Gay bookstores, a dying breed
BY JESSE MONTEAGUDO
Like many lesbians, gay men, bisexuals or transgender people, I came out of the closet with the help of gay books and gay bookstores. Though we didn’t have a gay bookstore in Miami when I came out in the early 1970s, I took advantage of the mail order services provided by the newly-established bookshops. My first visit to the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in Greenwich Village (1977) was like a religious pilgrimage; an experience that I repeated two years later when I first visited Lambda Rising Bookstore in DuPont Circle in Washington, DC. Both Oscar Wilde and Lambda Rising were part of a chain of independent bookshops that dotted the gay ghettoes of North America: Glad Day in Boston and Toronto, Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia, Outwrite in Atlanta, A Different Light in West Hollywood and San Francisco, Little Sister’s in Vancouver and, of course, Lambda Passages in Miami.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/12/jesses-journal-gay-bookstores-a-dying-breed.html/

Russian Orthodox Church embraces gays
Associated Press
MOSCOW -- The head of the Russian Orthodox Church says that, although the church views homosexuality as a sin, homosexuality is a personal choice. Patriarch Kirill says gays and lesbians must not be persecuted or discriminated against in any way, though the church still opposes same-sex marriages.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/12/russian-orthodox-church-embraces-gays.html/

Gender, sports issues to be explored at Florida International University conference
By LUISA YANEZ, lyanez@MiamiHerald.com
A female athlete wins an Olympic gold medal, but later a sexual verification test detects she has the testosterone levels of a man. What action does the International Olympic Committee take?
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/12/gender-sports-issues-to-be-explored-at-florida-international-university-conference.html/

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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
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Rabbi: `This place really embraces change'
A young female rabbi is making her mark at one of South Florida's largest synagogues.
BY TANIA VALDEMORO
Miami Herald reporter Tania Valdemoro sat down this week with Rabbi Rachel Greengrass, the newest rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest. Greengrass, 29, is originally from Fort Wayne, Ind. She was ordained as a rabbi on May 4, 2008, at Hebrew Union College in New York City, where she earned master's degrees in Hebrew Literature and Religious Education.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/pinecrest/story/1395544.html/

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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
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George Bush's PBS Show
By Michelle Garcia
The George W. Bush Institute will coproduce a show on public television, hosted by its executive director, Ambassador James Glassman, according to The Huffington Post.
http://www.advocate.com//News/Daily_News/2009/12/23/George_Bushs_PBS_Show/

Georgia Newspaper Goes After 'Keith' Jennings
By Neal Broverman
The Augusta [Ga.] Chronicle published an editorial Monday claiming the U.S. Department of Education's gay assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools encouraged underage sex and molestation — all while calling him by the wrong name. The newspaper said that Kevin Jennings — whom it referred to as Keith — promoted underage sex with books recommended by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, a group that Jennings founded and headed. GLSEN, which works to stop school bullying of gay students, does recommend books, and some did have passages of a sexual nature, but all of GLSEN's recommended reading materials come with warnings for parents or guardians. It's also not clear if Jennings himself vetted the individual books.
http://www.advocate.com//News/Daily_News/2009/12/23/Georgia_Newspaper_Goes_After_Keith_Jennings/

Uganda Media Reports on Gay 'Death' Bill
By Neal Broverman
Local reports from Uganda have surfaced on the nation's proposed antihomosexuality bill, which, if passed, could impose the death penalty or a life sentence on those convicted of engaging in gay sex.
http://www.advocate.com//News/Daily_News/2009/12/23/Uganda_Media_Reports_on_Gay_Death_Bill/

Which State is the Most Religious?
By Neal Broverman
Religion has not loosened its grip on the South — a new poll finds that the most religious states remain those below the Mason-Dixon Line, with Mississippi leading the pack. A Pew Forum study asked respondents whether religion is important in their lives, and 82% percent of Mississipians said yes. Following Mississippi were Alabama and Arkansas (both at 74%), Louisiana (72%), Tennessee (71%), and South Carolina (70%). The New England states of Vermont and New Hampshire (each at 36%) were the least religious; both states allow same-sex marriage.
http://www.advocate.com//News/Daily_News/2009/12/23/Which_State_is_the_Most_Religious_/

Economy Crushes Homophobia in Sports Project
By Michelle Garcia
The director of an initiative to fight homophobia in women's sports has seen her position eliminated because of economic troubles. Pat Griffin, the project director of It Takes a Team, announced on her blog on Tuesday that she would leave her post at the end of her contract in January.
http://www.advocate.com//News/Daily_News/2009/12/23/Economy_Crushes_Homophobia_in_Sports_Project/

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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
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PR advisor Max Clifford repeats warnings over 'vicious' homophobic football fans
PR guru Max Clifford has reiterated his advice to gay footballers to stay in the closet, saying the sport is "steeped in homophobia". He made his comments just after Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas came out but said he could not imagine a premiership footballer doing the same.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/23/pr-advisor-max-clifford-repeats-warnings-over-vicious-homophobic-football-fans/

Club drug ban comes into force today
From today, 'legal highs' such as GBL, BZP and Spice will become Class C drugs. GBL (gamma-butaryl lactone), which is said to be popular on the gay club scene, is a liquid used in paint stripper and nail varnish remover.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/23/club-drug-ban-comes-into-force-today/

Katy Perry in trouble over 'transphobic' tweet
Katy Perry has been accused of transphobia after using Twitter to mock a photo of trans man. The singer, who found fame with her faux-lesbian hit I Kissed A Girl, posted a photo of a naked man with a beard, hairy chest and breasts.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/23/katy-perry-in-trouble-over-transphobic-tweet/

Head of Russian Orthodox Church condemns discrimination against gays
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has said that although homosexuality is still a sin, gay people must not be discriminated against.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/23/head-of-russian-orthodox-church-condemns-discrimination-against-gays/

Lithuanian parliament revises 'gay ban' law
Lithuania has revised a controversial law banning the "promotion" of homosexuality. The country's parliament voted 58-4, with 25 abstentions, to amend the law. It prohibited the "public dissemination" of any materials which could be seen to promote homosexuality.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/23/lithuanian-parliament-revises-gay-ban-law/

Archbishop of York speaks out on Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill
Archbishop of York John Sentamu, who was born in Uganda, has condemned the country's plans to introduce the death penalty of life imprisonment for gays. Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme this morning, he criticised the "victimising" language in the bill and said the communion was "committed" to listening to the experiences of gay people.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/24/archbishop-of-york-speaks-out-on-ugandas-anti-homosexuality-bill/

God Hates Fags church hates Lady Gaga
Westboro Baptist Church has announced it will picket a January gig by gay-friendly singer Lady Gaga. The church, best known for its slogan of God Hates Fags, said in a press release it would protest outside a St Louis concert on January 7th.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/24/god-hates-fags-church-hates-lady-gaga/

Ethics minister says Uganda's death penalty for gays will be ditched
The Ugandan minister for ethics and integrity has suggested that the country will ditch its plans to execute gays in favour of life imprisonment. James Nsaba Buturo said this would allow authorities to rehabilitate gays.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/24/ethics-minister-says-ugandas-death-penalty-for-gays-will-be-ditched/

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Daily Queer News
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/
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How does your ‘Garden’ grow?
by Joey DiGuglielmo
A local gay arts group and its recreation of Edith Beale’s 1978 cabaret act is becoming the show that won’t die. After two performances in Washington last year and another planned for this weekend, “After the Garden” is going to New York next week for a trial run. “After the Garden: Edith Beale Live at Reno Sweeney” is a tribute to the late Beale (”Little Edie,” who was immortalized with her mother in the freak show 1975 documentary “Grey Gardens”). A year after her mother (”Big Edie,” aunt of Jackie O) died, Little Edie performed a one-week engagement to raise enough money to pay back taxes on the rundown family home. Theater vet Gerald Duval was summoned to help Beale create her act, which has gone down in history as one of those pop culture curiosities, like the “Star Wars Holiday Special,” whose cult status has far outlived its initial appeal.
http://dcagenda.com/2009/12/23/how-does-your-garden-grow/

Favorite Christmas Specials, Anyone?
by: Louise
Mine. Right Here. I utter love that TNT runs this for a solid 24 hours on Christmas Day and know every word by heart...
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14581/favorite-christmas-specials-anyone/

2009 STORIES OF THE YEAR: NO. 3 Iowa first in Midwest to grant gay marriage rights
By Bret Hayworth - bhayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
Iowa ushered in same-sex marriage in April, becoming the only Heartland state to grant gay and lesbian couples the legal right to wed.
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/article_d1634c5e-bceb-5217-a015-ea5acbc91eee.html/

Supreme Court increases suspension for homophobic Murcia judge up to 10 years
By m.p
Judge Calamita was originally suspended for 2 years for maliciously delaying a lesbian adoption. The Murcia judge who was suspended by the Murcia High Court for maliciously delaying the adoption by a lesbian woman of her partner’s child has had his appeal against the court’s turned down by Spain’s highest court.
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_24455.shtml/

Timetables: Trains, Gender, Empathy
Filed by: Paige Schilt
Last Christmas, we decided to splurge and spend a few nights at a fancy beach resort. From the moment the clerk ushered us into the "VIP check-in room," I knew we were in for an adventure. Our five-year-old, Waylon, plunged head first into a butter-colored club chair. "Honey, please keep your shoes off the furniture," I said, feeling my class insecurities creep up like a slow and annoying blush. "But, Mama, I'm a seal," he informed me, resting his front flippers on the marble floor. I scanned the clerk's face, hoping for the knowing look that tells you you're in the presence of Family. Nary a blip on the old gaydar. His eyes were resolutely glued to his computer screen.
http://www.bilerico.com/2009/12/timetables_trains_gender_empathy.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BilericoProject+%28The+Bilerico+Project%29/

Just say no to the Salvation Army's red bucket
Filed by: Alex Blaze
It's that time of year again. Actually, it probably started a while ago for those of you in the US, but it's good to remember each year why lots of LGBT folks don't donate to the Red Bucket. From Lisa Neff: But I do not. I do not ring the bell for the Salvation Army. I do not donate to the Salvation Army, because the Salvation Army discriminates against gays and lesbians in employment, works to defeat civil rights measures that protect gays and lesbians and promotes position that gay relationships "do not conform to God's will for society."
http://www.bilerico.com/2009/12/just_say_no_to_the_salvation_armys_red_bucket.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BilericoProject+%28The+Bilerico+Project%29/

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The Pride Center @ Equality Park
http://www.glccsf.org/
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Transitions

The GLCC/Pride Center - Wilton Manors, FL - has moved out of our old Andrews Avenue location to our new location on Dixie Highway. Our board, staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly for the last couple of weeks to make this all happen. Please click here to view pictures of the move
http://www.glccsf.org/

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