GLBT DIGEST - January 12, 2010

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

Couples Testify in California Gay Marriage Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Testimony in a groundbreaking legal challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban resumes Tuesday with testimony from two Ivy League historians who will discuss the nation's experience with matrimony and anti-gay discrimination. The trial, which began Monday, is the first in a federal court to decide the constitutionality of state bans on gay marriage. Regardless of the outcome, the case is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it could lead to laws that restrict marriage to a man and a woman being upheld or abolished nationwide.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/12/us/AP-US-Gay-Marriage-Trial.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=gay&st=cse/


Personal Focus as Same-Sex-Marriage Trial Opens in California
By JESSE McKINLEY
It was not the type of question that one usually hears from lawyers in federal court. “What does it mean,” Theodore B. Olson asked his client, Kristin M. Perry, “to be a lesbian?” Mr. Olson’s question came during one of several attention-grabbing moments on the first day of the trial here on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. It is a case that is expected to feature three weeks of evidence, experts and — if Monday was an indication — emotionally charged testimony on everything from the nature of gay sexuality to the nature of a romantic same-sex marriage proposal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/us/12prop8.html?scp=2&sq=gay&st=cse/

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


Supreme Court blocks YouTube broadcast of gay-marriage trial
Webcast blocked in gay-marriage trial
The Supreme Court on Monday morning temporarily blocked a federal judge in San Francisco from posting to YouTube proceedings from a trial that will determine whether a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The stay, sought by opponents of gay marriage, will expire Wednesday. The court said it will permit justices "further consideration." The trial began Monday with opening arguments from both sides and testimony from one of the men suing to overturn the ban. Justice Stephen G. Breyer was the only justice to object to the stay. He said the court's standards for issuing a stay were not met because there is not a likelihood of "irreparable harm" if the proceedings were available on the Internet. Two San Francisco area couples are asking Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker to rule that same-sex marriage is a right under the Constitution and that it was violated last year when California voters passed Proposition 8, a ballot measure restricting matrimony to two members of the opposite sex.
-- Robert Barnes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011103425.html/

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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

Pope Speaks on Creation
A WSJ NEWS ROUNDUP
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict linked the Catholic Church's opposition to gay marriage to concern about the environment, suggesting that laws undermining "the differences between the sexes" were threats to creation. He issued the admonition in a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican, an annual appointment during which the pontiff reflects on issues the Vatican wants to highlight to the diplomatic corps. The main theme of the address was the environment and the protection of creation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126324799904725207.html/

Prop 8. Trial Opens With Emotional but Uncontroversial Testimony
By Ashby Jones
On Monday, one of the more controversial and high-profile trials to hit the federal courts in some time opened with the presentation of some uncontroversial evidence, testimony meant to show that gay people, yes, exist, and feel discriminated against. The testimony of two lesbians and one gay man took up most of the opening day of a bench trial before San Francisco federal judge Vaughn Walker. The trial is the first in any federal court over same-sex marriage, and is the first step in a case that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the NYT story; here for the SF Chron story. Click here, also, for previous LB coverage.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/01/12/prop-8-trial-opens-with-emotional-but-uncontroversial-testimony/

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

In Calif, couples testify about emotional ordeal of state's gay marriage ban
By LISA LEFF, PAUL ELIAS
Testimony in a groundbreaking legal challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban resumes Tuesday with testimony from two Ivy League historians who will discuss the nation's experience with matrimony and anti-gay discrimination.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-gay-marriage-trial,0,4299426.story/


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

Cameras roll in California’s Prop 8 trial, but tapes' release blocked until final Supreme Court decision
By Susan Ferris, Sacramento Bee
A federal trial on California's Proposition 8 began Monday after the chief judge explained that the U.S. Supreme Court had blocked the delayed release of tapes of the trial until a definitive decision Wednesday afternoon from the high court.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2010/01/cameras-roll-in-californias-prop-8-trial-but-tapes-release-blocked-until-final-supreme-court-decision.html/

Obituary: Nightlife legend Gilbert L. Stafford brought style, class to the doors that mattered
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER, ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
Gilbert L. Stafford, gentleman guardian of the velvet rope at the hottest clubs on both coasts, held the power of social-death-by-denial over aspiring partyers. He wielded it mercifully, dismissing the unworthy with constructive criticism such as: ``Honey, you are not getting in with those shoes.''
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2010/01/obituary-nightlife-legend-gilbert-l-stafford-brought-style-class-to-the-doors-that-mattered.html/

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

Day One: Prop 8 trial saw some humor, lots of heart
By Lisa Keen
The trial to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court got underway Monday in San Francisco, but the opening acts were upstaged in Washington, D.C. just minutes before the proceeding began.
http://www.365gay.com/news/day-one-prop-8-trial-saw-some-humor-lots-of-heart/

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

Bloody Bar Killing Remains a Mystery
By Neal Broverman
The murder of a 39-year-old gay man remains unsolved two weeks after he was found stabbed to death at the southern Louisiana bar where he worked. The local gay community has been rocked by the Christmas killing of Robert LeCompte, reports HoumaToday.com. LeCompte was a bartender at the Drama Club bar, a popular gay spot in Houma, 60 miles southwest of New Orleans.
http://www.advocate.com//News/Daily_News/2010/01/11/Bloody_Bar_Killing_Remains_a_Mystery/

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

Gay Muslims made homeless by family violence
By Poonam Taneja
A UK charity is dealing with an increasing number of young gay Muslims becoming homeless after fleeing forced marriages and so-called honour violence. During a weekly drop-in group held by the Albert Kennedy Trust in London, Suni, a 20-year-old London student, helps himself to a warm mince pie and a steaming cup of coffee.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8446458.stm/

Medical marijuana on verge of becoming legal in N.J.
By MICHAEL SYMONS
A plan to allow marijuana to be prescribed in New Jersey for medicinal purposes is on the verge of becoming law, following votes in both houses of the Legislature on the last day of its two-year session Monday. The Assembly voted 48-14 in favor of the bill — meaning that 14 lawmakers who attended the session skipped the vote. The Senate voted for the bill 25-13, meaning the proposal gained three votes since an initial version was approved last February.
http://www.app.com/article/20100111/NEWS0301/1120315/-1/nletter01?source=nletter-news/


Does Harold Ford Think The LGBT Community Is Stupid?
By Harold Ford
Well, we knew it would only take a couple of days before Harold Ford shouted to the skies "Praise Jesus, I am for gay marriage." After all, he is running in New York for United States Senate and not Tennessee. His proclamation on the Today Show that he now supports marriage equality was the least shocking news of the week. Now with that one sweeping statement, the LGBT community is expected to run to him, embrace him and put down the welcome mat.
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/01/does-harold-ford-think-the-lgbt-community-is-stupid.html#more/

Cliff Kincaid, Brit Hume, and the descent of Christianity
by: Alvin McEwen
Cliff Kincaid and AIM (Accuracy in Media) continues its descent into abject lunacy. Last week, Kincaid claimed that the outrage over Uganda's anti gay bill is really a conspiracy to protect the position of Obama appointee Kevin Jennings. This week, he goes beyond the pale by actually defending the bill in a bizarre paranoid rant:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14799/cliff-kincaid-britt-hume-and-the-descent-of-christianity/

Ted Olson, four plaintiffs in Fed Prop 8 case to appear on Today, 7AM ET/PT
by: Pam Spaulding
The Blend has confirmed that Ted Olsen and the four plaintiffs (Kris Perry & Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo) will be on in the first half hour (7:00AM ET/PT- 7:30AM ET/PT) of the The Today Show. After the appearance, the video will be available on the American Foundation for Equal Rights website. http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/media/videos/

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14798/ted-olson-four-plaintiffs-in-fed-prop-8-case-to-appear-on-today-7am-et/

The gays endanger the human race
Filed by: Alex Blaze
"To carry our reflection further, we must remember that the problem of the environment is complex; one might compare it to a multifaceted prism.
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/01/the_gays_endanger_the_human_race.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BilericoProject+%28The+Bilerico+Project%29/

Here's to you, Iris Robinson
Filed by: Alex Blaze
If a romance novelist put together a story about a middle-aged woman who has an affair with a 19-year-old and named the protagonist "Iris Robinson," they'd be told that the name is just over-the-top. Same with Beau Breedlove last year. But reality is (allowed to be) stranger than fiction. And this joke writes itself.
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/01/heres_to_you_iris_robinson.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BilericoProject+%28The+Bilerico+Project%29/

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