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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/us/politics/21values.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Religious Right Divides Its Vote at Summit
By MICHAEL LUO
October 21, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - After an earnest appeal for acceptance from Rudolph W.Giuliani, Christian conservatives ended their two-day summit here Saturdaystill divided about which of the Republican presidential candidates tomarshal their collective might behind.
Mitt Romney edged out Mike Huckabee in the straw poll at the Values VoterSummit. But questions were raised about the way the voting was conducted -votes were permitted to be cast online as far back as August - and even topleaders said there did not appear to be any consensus.
"I don't think the question is anywhere close to settled," said Gary L.Bauer, an influential Christian conservative leader and former Republicancandidate himself in 2000. "I think it's going to play out over the nextseveral months."
Out of 5,775 votes cast, Mr. Romney won 27.6 percent; Mr. Huckabee, 27.1percent; Ron Paul, 15 percent; Fred D. Thompson, 9.8 percent. Mr. Giulianifinished second to last, with less than 2 percent of the vote, and SenatorJohn McCain of Arizona finished last among the nine candidates.
The Romney campaign trumpeted the victory, but there was only a smatteringof applause in the auditorium when his name was announced and the event'sorganizers cautioned against his deriving any kind of mandate from theresults. Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, delivered an addressFriday laden with policy commitments, but he faces continued skepticismabout his Mormon faith, which he addressed only in passing in his speech. Hehas also been criticized for his relatively recent conversion to an abortionopponent.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/weekinreview/21kershaw.html?ex=1193630400&en=526c8d719683a592&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERFEATURES
October 21, 2007
Ideas & Trends
Acting Like a Usual Suspect
By SARAH KERSHAW
SENATOR LARRY E. CRAIG used a dirty word as he explained last week how in June he wound up suspected of cruising for sex: profiling.
Mr. Craig said the police officer working undercover in the next stall at a Minneapolis airport bathroom had lumped him neatly into the behavioral profile of someone on the prowl: the wide stance, the toe-tapping, the upward-facing palm, the flash of a wedding ring. In the well-developed profile of how a man intending to engage in lewd conduct in that bathroom behaved, the gestures added up to a coded message.
The police were using a common tactic that has received less attention than the widely criticized practice of racial profiling (or gender, age, weight, ethnic or religious profiling, for that matter). That sort of profiling targets suspects based on their innate attributes, not on what they say or do.
But behavioral profiling, highly nuanced, draws heavily from cognitive psychology and, often, on the personal experiences with previous crimes and the subjective interpretations of the profilers.
In the crime-drama version of profiling, everyone seems to agree on the things that bad guys do. So did Hannibal Lecter teach us everything we need to know about serial killers?
Criminal justice experts say no. While we may have learned from Hollywood that serial killers are antisocial loners living in dark apartments with histories of sexual and physical abuse, each case, each criminal, each crime has its own clues and mysteries.
And the authorities are, understandably, reluctant to go public with their profiles because wily criminals always adapt. If the police are targeting Islamist terrorists at an airport by zeroing in on passengers wearing turbans, the real terrorists will quickly stop wearing turbans.
more....
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/fashion/21lance.html
A Boy-Band Grad's Next Act
By MELENA RYZIK
October 21, 2007
Lance Bass has faced his share of screaming girls - the teenyboppers,mother-daughter pairs and grown women who have followed him since he joinedthe pop band 'NSync at 16. But the fan-boys are sort of new.
"He's really cute," said Richie Tran, 35, a Manhattan doctor, recently as hewaited for Mr. Bass to appear at the stage door of "Hairspray," the Broadwayshow Mr. Bass joined in August.
"I love 'NSync, and he reminds me the most of myself," said Sean Avolio, 19,another fan. When Mr. Bass emerged to sign autographs, Mr. Avolio, anaspiring actor who lives in Harlem, was almost too nervous to talk. "Myheart is still going," he said after taking his photo with Mr. Bass.
Since the dissolution of 'NSync in 2002, Mr. Bass, 28, has mostly been inthe spotlight for nonprofessional reasons. "I'm gay," he announced on theAug. 7, 2006, cover of People magazine. That disclosure made him a rarityamong former boy-banders - a rarity even among young multiplatinum-sellingpop stars.
And it capped an already unusual career that includes Mr. Bass's attempt totravel to outer space, and coming this week, the publication of his memoir,"Out of Sync."
more . . . . .
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/20/AR2007102001164.html
In Fairfax Senate Race, Candidates Are Playing Against Stereotype
By Marc Fisher
Sunday, October 21, 2007; C01
Let's play Know Your Political Parties. Identify the party of this real-lifecandidate for state Senate in Fairfax County:
This candidate stresses her support for tough gun controls. She's endorsedby the state's gay-rights lobby. Unlike her opponent, she favors amoratorium on executions. She's the choice of the teachers association. Shewants to put more restrictions on development, while her opponent favorsmore density around Metro stations. On illegal immigration, she sayspoliticians hot for a crackdown are "demagoguing this to death and creatingan atmosphere of hate."
Too easy, right? What an obvious Democrat, what a predictable lib.
Sorry. That's Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, the Fairfax Republican. Yes,Republican.
In a district that, even more than the rest of Fairfax, is trendingDemocratic, Devolites Davis is positioning herself to the left of herchallenger, former delegate Chap Petersen. So commuters who see big roadsidesigns touting one candidate as "Teacher-Endorsed" and the other as"Police-Endorsed" may be excused for drawing the wrong conclusions about thecontenders' parties.
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-ralph21nboct21,0,2123964.column
Study sees disconnect for Latino parents, gays
Ralph De La Cruz
Lifestyle Columnist
October 21, 2007
The non-profit Mental Health America recently released results of a surveythat was supposed to show how Latino parents feel toward bullying and sexualorientation.
Instead it illustrates how we fool ourselves.
The survey found that 95 percent of Latino parents believe it's importantthat their children get information about sexual orientation directly fromthem.
Ninety-five percent. You couldn't get 95 percent of folks to agree they lovetheir mothers. It's about as close as you can get to statistical unanimity.
And yet, much of the survey is a paint-by-numbers example of why we Latinoparents might not be up to the task:
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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History here in North Carolina! Chapel Hill resident Jim Neal, an investmentbanker and former Democratic presidential fundraiser, is running for theDemocratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2008, and he hopes to unseat thehorrid Elizabeth "Do-Nothing" Dole. The big news is that he is running asan out gay man, something he announced Saturday in an online forum atBlueNC. It came about when someone registered on the site and just asked theBig Question: "I've heard you're gay."
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Imagine a little boy who lives with parents who love him. At dinnertime, oneparent is cooking in the kitchen and the other is at the table making a mockairplane out of a fork and some spaghetti. This picture-perfect scenariocould be a reality for more children living in foster care if couples whopass the rigorous adoption standards are no longer barred due to theirsexual orientation. The number of families made up of same-sex parents andadopted children has reached new heights. Social conservatives clinging tothe old concept of the nuclear family should not squelch this trend. A March2007 report compiled by the Urban Institute and the Williams Institute atUniversity of California at Los Angeles School of Law reports that 65,000adopted children live with same-sex parents in the United States. Thoughthis number has grown considerably from previous years, too many limitationsstill exist for gay couples wanting to adopt.
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New Hampshire: It's part wedding expo, part political rally. It's the SameLove, Same Rights Mobile Marriage Summit, and it's coming Sunday to theSheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth. "It was meant to get the gay andlesbian community to connect with gay-friendly businesses," said AmandaHager, event coordinator. "But it has grown from there. We just felt therewasn't a whole lot going on in the community as far as working towardmarriage equality. It's something we want to see in our lifetime." Theevent, which is sponsored by the Sheraton and other local gay-friendlybusinesses, will feature vendors that are looking to get their namesrecognized in the gay community and hopefully boost business.
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If you believe the headlines, schism is imminent in one of the oldestChristian denominations because the American branch of the church, caught upin the latest civil rights movement, approved an openly gay man as bishop.Not so, said that bishop, who was in Honolulu this week, giving a smallaudience at St. Clement's Episcopal Church some political, philosophical andpastoral insights into the issue that put the U.S. Episcopal Church at oddswith some other branches of the worldwide Anglican Communion. "I don't thinkthere are many bishops in the Episcopal Church who believe that 20 yearsfrom now we won't have an authorized same-sex blessing, and that the issueof an openly gay bishop won't be an issue any more," said Bishop V. GeneRobinson, head of the New Hampshire Episcopal Diocese. About 60 members ofthe Hawaii Episcopal Diocese and a few from other denominations attended hisunpublicized appearance at a meeting of Integrity, an organization forhomosexual Episcopalians.
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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/10/102007potter.htm
J. K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character
by The Associated Press
Posted: October 20, 2007 - 8:00 am ET
(New York City) Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore,master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author ofthe mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the belovedcharacter Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.
After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the DeathlyHallows," she took questions from audience members.
She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."
"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.
She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival GellertGrindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and badwizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said ofDumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly letdown."
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After Elton.com
http://www.afterelton.com/bgwe/10-19-07
Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (October 19, 2007)
by Michael Jensen, Editor
October 18, 2007
YEAH, BUT THEIR FOOD IS STILL LOUSY AND IT RAINS ALL THE TIME
As someone whose job it is to cover how gay and bisexual men are covered inthe popular culture, it's sometimes hard not to feel jealous over how gayissues are handled in the U.K. (And that's not even considering the factthey have civil unions.)
That point was driven home this past week when the nominees for Britain'sNational Television Awards were announced. The best comparison for those inthe U.S. would be to the People's Choice Awards as opposed to the Emmys.Like the PCAs, the NTAs are voted on by the general public. And the generalpublic in the U.K. seems to love their gays.
Up for Most Popular Actor is the out Antony Cotton for his role as the gaybarman Sean Tully on Coronation Street. Cotton actually won Most PopularNewcomer for the same part back in 2005. Cotton has all sorts of good newsof late as his talk show The Antony Cotton Show, after a five week run, didwell enough in the ratings to get a second go.
Also nominated for Most Popular Actor is James Sutton who plays gay teenJohn Paul in sudser Hollyoaks. It was nice to see Sutton (below, right) getnominated for his work on Hollyoaks in a storyline not completely unlikewhat has unfolded on As the World Turns with Luke and Noah. Sutton truly hasbeen terrific in the part and best of all, he has seemed much morecomfortable with the storyline than did his co-star Guy Barnett (below,left) who said some not entirely flattering things about playing gay.
Both Hollyoaks and Coronation Street are up for Most Popular Serial Dramaand Graham Norton is also nominated for Most Popular EntertainmentPresenter.
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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/entertainment/news-gossip/101907ngoz.htm
Melissa to Perform at Nobel Ceremony
by Bjoern H. Amland, the Associated Press
Melissa Etheridge, Alicia Keys and Annie Lennox are among the artists whowill perform at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Norway, organizerssaid Thursday.
The Dec. 11 concert will also feature performances by Earth Wind & Fire,Colombian singer Juanes and Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall,organizers told The Associated Press.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize went to former Vice President Al Gore and theU.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their efforts to helpspread awareness about man-made global warming.
Organizers said Gore invited Etheridge to perform at the concert, which isheld a day after the award ceremony in Oslo. Each year, peace laureates aregiven the opportunity to invite one artist of their choice.
Etheridge won an Academy Award this year for the song "I need to wake up,"which featured in Gore's environmental documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."The American singer recently released her ninth studio album, "TheAwakening."
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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/10/101907va.htm
Vatican Nixes Groundbreaking Meeting Between Italian Bishop, Gay Activists
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: October 19, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Rome) The Vatican pressured an Italian bishop to cancel a meeting he hadset up with the country's largest LGBT civil rights group a Rome newspaperreported Friday.
Bishop Franco Agostinelli of Grosseto was to have met with members of thegroup Arcigay on October 17. It would have been the first ever meetingbetween a high ranking official of the Church and gay activists in Italy.
The newspaper Il Giornale says that when it learned of the meeting throughthe media the Vatican told Agostinelli to cancel.
The bishop says only that once the meeting became public knowledge he wasconcerned that what was intended to be a "quiet conversation" to open adialogue with Arcigay would be interpreted as "recognition" by the Church ofthe group.
News of the intended meeting leaked out days after the Vatican suspended anofficial of the Holy See after he was shown on television making sexualadvances to a young man.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Fort Lauderdale Ranks 5th in Gay & Lesbian Destinations: The Fort Lauderdale area is the fifth-most popular destination nationwide for gay and lesbiantravelers, surpassed only by much bigger cities: New York City; Las Vegas;San Francisco and the Los Angeles area, according to the latest annual Gay &Lesbian Tourism Survey released by gay travel specialists CommunityMarketing Inc. of San Francisco.
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Group Collects For Homeless Gay Teens Students and staff members at JohnBurroughs High School have given the clothes off their backs this month foryoung people at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. The clothing drive,which has garnered hundreds of shoes, socks, shirts, bottoms and tops sincethe end of September, was started by students in the school's Gay/StraightAlliance club.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/issue_story_ektid49819.asp
Halloween: Is the Party Over?
Once a place for gays to parade the outlandish and the outrageous, Halloweenstreet parties have been overrun by college kids and gangbangers,appropriated by stroller-pushing moms and out-of-towners, and regulated byangry residents and city officials. Have we lost Halloween forever?
By Will Doig
From The Advocate
November 6, 2007
"i remember the year i noticed the shift," says Jeanne Fleming, a longtimeorganizer of New York City's Village Halloween Parade. The year was 1989.Downtown Manhattan was a gritty, crime-ridden outpost of artists, homos,junkies, and freaks. So perhaps it's fitting that Fleming's epiphany came inthe form of passing garbage trucks.
"We had sanitation trucks as part of the parade," she recalls. "They weremirrored on all sides -- an artist would cover them with Mylar, and seven ofthem would drive through and do this fantastic choreographed routine."Watching the trucks go by and getting a good look at the crowds reflected inthe trucks' sides, Fleming suddenly realized: Oh, my God, I'm running astraight event. How did that happen?
She wasn't alone. Across the country Halloween festival organizers werecoming to the same realization: Their local gayborhood parties wereattracting an annual pilgrimage of heterosexuals -- college kids in peacoats, suburban Republicans, teens from the rough side of town. Theyarrived, costume-free, to get drunk, climb lampposts, whoop and gawk, takepictures, and, occasionally, harass.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
e.com/2007/10-19/view/columns/11425.cfm
Strictly in and honestly out
A new strategy for repealing discriminatory `Don't Ask, Don't Tell'policy.
By Christopher Neff
Oct. 19, 2007
I HAVE BEEN struck by the changes that I have seen on the issueof "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" over the past year and the unprecedentedshift in attention it has garnered during the recent presidentialdebates, newspaper op-eds and television interviews.
There does seem to be a consensus for a new level of debate on thisissue, yet the question remains: How will the gay community ofactive duty service members, veterans, organizations and citizensalign itself? Is just saying we want equality now enough to topplethe Pentagon, the White House and Congress? I suggest that thismoment provides an opportunity to "put up or shut up" by ourcommunity and call the bluff of politicians and the Pentagon.
This is the perfect opportunity for a strict, simple and new bill inCongress that reasserts military codes of conduct and establishesclear non-discrimination for statements of homosexuality whileacknowledging that the responsibilities of military service areunique. After working the past five years professionally to lift theban and getting the support of Flag Officers on this concept, Isubmit the following outline as a new legislative angle for therepeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell":
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Harry Potter gay revelation unlikely to thrill religious right
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5966
Ekklesia
By staff writers
20 Oct 2007
Hard-line Christian groups anxious that mild-mannered Harry Potter is anoccult conspiracy are unlikely to be reassured by the revelation that one ofits key characters is gay - but equalities campaigners wish that it had beenmade explicit in the books.
Multi-million pound best-selling Potter author JK Rowling revealed thatHogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore is gay to a packed house in NewYork's Carnegie Hall this weekend, as part of her American book tour.
She took questions from the audience and was asked, following endlessspeculation on fan sites, whether Dumbledore had found "true love" before hedied in the sixth book in the series.
"Dumbledore is gay," Rowling replied. She added that he was smitten withrival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and evilwizards long ago.
The surprised New York audience applauded the news.
"I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy,"Rowling laughed. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent... Dumbledorewas horribly, terribly let down" and his love for Grindelwald was his "greattragedy".
The religious right, which has already accused the books of promotingwitchcraft among children - an idea that Rowling, who has had links with theEpiscopal Church in Scotland, has described as "preposterous" - is likely tobe furious at the news.
more....
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Lesbian Coaches Confront Bias in RecruitingGame
By Viv Bernstein - WeNews correspondent
(WOMENSENEWS)--Lea Robinson remembers the firsttime she heard the question. As a youngassistant coach for a women's collegebasketball team, she was in the home of a highschool student-athlete she was recruiting whena parent asked if there were any lesbians onher team or staff.
"I wasn't out at the time," Robinson said. "SoI think I responded to it by saying, 'That'snot something we're concerned with. Everyone'swelcome.'"
The recruit chose not to go to Robinson'sschool.
It was the first hint that Robinson's ownsexual orientation or that of team membersmight be used against her, but it wasn't thelast. The question would come up again.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=tb48mHXR5yWrMgyBBxDR9nxqx9DJwgqQ
Nerds! Get Your Nerds!
By ANDREA L. FOSTER
At a time when the most popular guy on campus is as likely to be a computergeek as a jock, a planned "nerd auction" is sure to be a big moneymaker thismonth at Washington State University.
Male members of the university's Linux Users Group will auction themselvesoff to interested buyers - presumably women - who will get homework help,computer help, or a date.
"Everybody is incredibly excited about this," says Ben Ford, a graduatestudent and one of the organizers. Proceeds will go to scholarships forwomen interested in taking computer-science classes at the university and tothe six sororities sponsoring the event.
Of about 100 computer-science majors at Washington State, 19 are women, acommon situation at colleges nationwide.
Women from the sponsoring sororities will prepare the nerds for the auctionblock with head-to-toe makeovers - a process that will be documented onvideo and posted on YouTube.
end....
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/us/21portland.html
Not All Are Pleased at Plan to Offer Birth Control at Maine Middle School
By KATIE ZEZIMA
October 21, 2007
PORTLAND, Me., Oct. 19 - Carissa Porcaro, a student at King Middle Schoolhere, did not hide her feelings about the Portland school board's decisionto let the independently operated clinic at her school provide girls accessto prescription contraceptives.
Wearing a sticker with the words "I'm against giving out birth control"written in black marker, Carissa, 13, said she did not think the schoolshould make the drugs available. Her mother disagrees.
"She thinks it's really good," Carissa said after school on Friday. "I thinkit's stupid because what people are saying is that it's O.K. to be sexuallyactive."
Two days after the school committee voted 7 to 2 in favor of addingprescription contraceptives to the services offered at the health clinic,the issue continues to draw fervent support and ardent opposition in thiscity of 64,000, the largest in Maine.
"I think it's a great idea," said Cathleen Allen, whose son is enrolled atKing. "Someone is finally advocating for these students to take care ofthemselves."
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