**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.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061301970_pf.html
Despite retired Gen. Colin Powell's assertion that "gays and lesbians shouldbe llowed to have maximum access to all aspects of society," he continuesto support he military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, saying: "I willnot second-guess the ommanders who are serving now" ["Powell Calls forClosure of Military Prison at Guantanamo," news story, June 11].
I am disappointed in Gen. Powell's lack of leadership on this issue. Ourgovernment has a constitutional duty to protect the liberty of citizens. Themilitary, an extension of our government, exists to help defend thatliberty, and yet we don't include all of our own service people under thisprotection of liberty.
How can the thousands of honorably serving gay soldiers, sailors, airmen andMarines ever trust commanders who are bound to operate under such adiscriminatory policy? Gen. Powell knows that military commanders mustfollow the orders of their civilian leaders. Many in the military leadershiponce did not like being ordered to integrate, but the government said theyhad to.
It is time for Gen. Powell to stand up and tell Congress that "don't ask,don't tell" is no longer an appropriate policy and that all service membersshould be treated equally.
BARBARA GLAKAS
Herndon
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-yn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061301088_pf.html
Late Gain For Sex Ed Committee
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 14, 2007; GZ09
The addition of one bit of guidance for teachers to the new sex educationlessons for Montgomery County public schools was a small 11th-hour victoryfor members of a citizens advisory committee who had felt shut out of theeducational process they were empaneled to advise.
Superintendent Jerry D. Weast on Monday told school board members that hisstaff would add a brief passage to the new sex education lessons that alsoinstruct teachers on how to answer a specific question if asked by astudent: "Is homosexuality an illness?" The answer: It is not, according tothe American Psychiatric Association.
Board members Tuesday approved the lessons, with that addition, effectivelyexpanding the two 45-minute lessons from a six-school pilot program to fullimplementation in eighth- and 10th-grade health classes this fall.
The last-minute tweak was a concession to the advisory committee, and itmight have helped Weast and his staff keep control of the curriculum.
Members of the committee, a group representing parents, educators and avariety of other stakeholders, lobbied Weast and board members intenselylate last week to make additions to the lessons, which they said offeredstudents too little information to counter misconceptions abouthomosexuality and homosexuals, such as whether sexual orientation is achoice and whether homosexuals can lead happy lives.
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washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061302012_pf.html
A Questionable Nominee
A prospective surgeon general's 1991 paper on gay men haunts him in 2007,and deservedly so.
Thursday, June 14, 2007; A26
PRESIDENT BUSH has nominated Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr. to be the nextsurgeon general of the United States. His would be the leading voice onhealth issues in the nation, and as such, he would be looked to for unbiasedinformation grounded in sound science and tailored to the common good.That's why a 1991 paper written by Dr. Holsinger titled "Pathophysiology ofMale Homosexuality" has raised red flags.
Dr. Holsinger has had a distinguished career. From 1969 to 1994 he worked inthe Department of Veterans Affairs, rising to undersecretary for health in1992. From 1994 to 2003, Dr. Holsinger was chancellor of the University ofKentucky Medical Center. He was appointed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) in 2003as Kentucky's chief of health and family services, a post he held untilDecember 2005 when he returned to the University of Kentucky. But hisactivity in the United Methodist Church has earned him the ire of gay groupsacross the country.
As a member of the church's Judicial Council, Dr. Holsinger voted with themajority to boot a lesbian from her post as a minister and to allowministers to deny church membership to gay men and lesbians. It is not ourplace to tell religions what their beliefs should or should not be. But thatstricture does not apply when bigotry masquerades as science. Dr. Holsingerprepared "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality" for the Committee to StudyHomosexuality of the United Methodist Church, which was discussing whetherto end the church's stance of not condoning homosexuality. Pathophysiologywas defined as "abnormal function."
The six pages of prurient fascination with what Dr. Holsinger believes isgay sex paint all gay men as promiscuous beings who are riddled with diseasebecause of various sex acts (described in detail) that are in the extremefor both homosexuals and heterosexuals. To prove his argument that gay sexwas unhealthy and unnatural, Dr. Holsinger wrote, "In fact, the logicalcomplementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culturethat it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipefittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon whichone interlocks within the other." Is he a doctor or the ACE Hardware man?
Christina Pearson, spokeswoman at the Department of Health and HumanServices, said, "Dr. Holsinger remains focused on addressing the health ofall in need, including gay and lesbian populations, consistent with soundscience and the best medical practices." Senators who will meet with Dr.Holsinger when he makes the rounds on Capitol Hill this month need todetermine -- at a minimum -- whether his judgment of sound science and bestmedical practices has improved since 1991.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.southflorida.com/news/chi-mcgreeveyjun14,0,1921425,print.story?coll=sfla-entertainment-headlines
From the Chicago Tribune
NATION
N.J.'s gay ex-gov trashes wife
Associated Press
June 14 2007
TRENTON, N.J. -- Former Gov. James McGreevey said he's not to blame for poorsales of his estranged wife's book.
In a letter to the family court judge handling his divorce, he attributed"the failure of her book" in part to "her awful appearance on the Oprah Show... appearing in an inappropriate and ill-fitting ball gown with a plungingneckline."
McGreevey, 49, who announced in 2004 that he was gay, also said her book was"poorly written" and "dull."
The letter was sent as Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy mulls over whetherDina Matos McGreevey can continue to claim that McGreevey libeled anddefamed her when he called her homophobic.
Matos McGreevey contends McGreevey's characterization of her caused her tolose sales in the gay community and she wants him to pay her damages.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-agiuliani14jun14,0,1611256,print.story
Giuliani outlines his 12 top campaign promises
Iraq, guns and gay marriage not included in his speech
BY Tom Brune
Newsday
June 14, 2007
BEDFORD, N.H. · Rudy Giuliani rolled out a list of 12 campaign promises aspart of an agenda-setting strategy for his Republican presidential campaigntoday, but he did not mention Iraq, gun control and gay marriage.
In a speech at Old Bedford Town Hall on Tuesday, Giuliani hit on many of hisfamiliar campaign themes, including fighting terrorism, basing health careon free market principles and taming Washington.
He put a new emphasis on education, calling for vouchers to give parents ofpublic school pupils the same kinds of choices of where to send theirchildren as parents of college-bound students.
And Giuliani listed many issues dear to the right such as tax cuts,increasing the size of the military and fighting child pornography, settingout his conservative markers at a time when polls show former Tennessee Sen.Fred Thompson luring away much conservative support.
"It's a group of promises that this campaign is going to be about and myadministration will be about," Giuliani said.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/889/v-print/story/139162.html
Posted on Thu, Jun. 14, 2007
Military officers now targets on Hill
By ANNE FLAHERTY
A Democratic challenge to Gen. Peter Pace indicates that uniformed officersno longer are exempt from the partisan fire on Capitol Hill once reservedfor civilian policymakers.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the stunning announcementthat he would not recommend Pace to serve a second two-year term as thechairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Marine Corps four-star generalhad not been a target previously of Democrats' ire on the war, but Gatessaid lawmakers made it clear the confirmation process would be ugly.
"It would be a backward looking and very contentious process," Gates said ata Pentagon news conference.
The announcement was a surprise, particularly because the Senate in recentmonths confirmed other military officers with close ties to the Iraq warwith little fuss.
In January, Senate Democrats helped confirm Gen. David Petraeus to take overthe Iraq war despite their opposition to Petraeus' recommendation that theU.S. send thousands more combat troops into Iraq. The following month,Democrats endorsed Gen. George Casey as Army chief of staff after he led theIraq war for 2 1/2 years.
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NationalGayNews.com
http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/44524707
Beenie Man backs homosexuals
06/13/2007 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dotmusic
Beenie Man and Sizzla are among the reggae acts to sign a deal welcoming allpeople to enjoy their music without fear of violence.
The agreement has been struck through the pioneering work of gay-rightsactivist Peter Tatchell and his Stop Murder Music campaign.
However, although a number of outspoken stars have backed the ReggaeCompassionate Act, a string of others have not.
The act states they "respect and uphold the rights of all individuals tolive without violence due to their religion, sexual orientation, race,ethnicity or gender.
"There's no space in the music community for hatred and prejudice, includingno place for racism, violence, sexism or homophobia.
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NationalGayNews.com
http://baywindows.com/ME2/Audiences/Segments/Publications/Print.asp?Module=Publications::Article&id=3292F0D356D04ADF8550DAB91B5645E7
Issue Date: 6/14/2007, Posted On: 6/14/2007
Lawmakers withdraw support for anti-gay proposal
Ethan Jacobs
ejacobs@baywindows.com
A bill sponsored by the anti-gay group MassResistance to restrict discussionof LGBT issues in schools has lost the support of nearly half itsco-sponsors after a campaign by the group KnowThyNeighbor.org and itssupporters asking lawmakers to reject the bill. In an unexpected twist, someof the co-sponsors who withdrew told Bay Windows that their decision was nota change of heart; they claimed that they never agreed to co-sponsor thelegislation in the first place, and they were uncertain how their name wasadded to the co-sponsor list to begin with.
Kevin Shea, chief of staff for Rep. Paul Donato (D-Medford), said Donatoonly learned his name was on the co-sponsor list for Senate Bill 321 afterreceiving a call from a constituent who opposed the bill.
"He discovered that when somebody said to him, what's with S.321, and helooked at it and said, this isn't what he discussed with anybody," saidShea. He said prior to the bill's filing Donato had met with supporters ofMassResistance in his district who urged him to support the bill, but hemade no commitment to support it. And while Donato, a supporter of theconstitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, does not have a strongpro-gay voting record, Shea said after reading S.321 Donato has come out inopposition to the bill.
"He does not support that bill. It's a lot more than just a consent bill. It'sbeyond the pale," said Shea.
Indeed, the MassResistance bill goes much farther than the current state lawallowing parents to opt their children out of sex education classes. Itrequires schools to obtain written permission from parents to include theirchildren in any discussions of "alternative sexual behavior," which isdefined to include anything even remotely associated with LGBT issues.
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NationalGayNews.com
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/print_512519.html
Pa. bill to guide gay hiring has 'better' chance
By Brad Bumsted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
Thursday, June 14, 2007
HARRISBURG -- Gays would be protected against discrimination in employmentand housing under legislation introduced Wednesday by state Rep. DanFrankel.
Frankel, a Squirrel Hill Democrat, insisted the bill has a better chance nowthan during the past two legislative sessions when it failed to garnerenough support.
What's different is that House Democrats now control the agenda, Frankel andother lawmakers said.
"What a difference a year makes," said Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia,a supporter of Frankel's bill. Last year, when Republicans controlled theHouse, the issue up for consideration was a ban on gay marriages, she said.
Josephs, chair of the House State Government Committee, pledged to holdhearings on Frankel's bill.
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NationalGayNews.com
http://local.lancasteronline.com/6/205619
Gay pride festival canceled
By LORI VAN INGEN, Staff
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Jun 14, 2007 12:55 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA
There will be no Lancaster Pride Arts and Entertainment Festival this year.
Organizers were forced to cancel the June 23 festival after learningMillersville University wouldn't allow the event to be held on its campus.
Phil Riordan, interim vice president for student affairs at MillersvilleUniversity, said "there never was a formal agreement, no signed paperwork,for the use of our facilities or services."
A June 8 Intelligencer Journal article reported festival organizers hadchanged the venue from Binns Park to the university campus after the cityhad rejected their event application due to an incomplete application andfailure to pay fees by the application deadline.
Riordan said a student who is part of MU Allies (the campus' gay-straightgroup) and also part of the pride festival steering committee tried toreserve a space on campus for a comedian at 7 p.m.
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NationalGayNews.com
http://www.ebar.com/common/inc/article_print.php?sec=news&article=1908
'Fag Bash' party draws complaints
by Matthew S. Bajko
m.bajko@ebar.com
It was meant to spice up the city's gay nightlife options and reclaim ananti-gay slur, but the promoters of the June 1 "Fag Bash" party stirred upmore than just electroclash and 1980s new-wave pop hits.
The party's name and poster imagery of two closed fists on a blackbackground elicited complaints. Promoters DJ Jeff Johnson and Kurt Coopersaid some people questioned their use of the word "fag" and thought it wasinappropriate.
"I have had a couple friends who said, 'I don't like that name.' Others saidthey loved the name," said Johnson, adding he has long thought the namewould be perfect for a dance party. "I intended it to spark some reactionand make people wake up and take notice."
Notice some did. One critic left an anonymous letter with the Bay AreaReporter about the poster images. The B.A.R. ran two ads promoting the partyheld at The Cat Club on Folsom Street featuring special guest DJ ReedMcGowan.
"I can't believe that you would call a club 'FAG BASH' - it's so wrong andin bad taste as to defy description," said part of the letter written on theback of one of the posters and left at the B.A.R.'s office.
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NationalGayNews.com
Thursday, 14 June 2007 08:28
A Plea For Help For Iraqi Gays
http://nationalgaynews.com/files/rice.pdf
Click here to download a scan (in PDF) of the original letter sent by BarneyFrank and Tammy Baldwin to Condoleezza Rice to stop the hate crimes in Iraq.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid46300.asp
June 14, 2007
Lawmakers who legalized gay unions contemplate same for prostitution inMexico City
The leftist party that has already legalized gay unions and abortion inMexico City said it wants to make prostitution legal in the capital of thisoverwhelmingly Roman Catholic country.
Mexico City legislator Juan Bustos of the leftist Democratic RevolutionParty, who submitted the bill on Tuesday, said the move is necessary toprotect prostitutes from abuse and regulate the sex industry.
Corrupt police frequently use the current law not to arrest sex workers butas a threat to shake them down for bribes or sexual favors.
''These are issues that we are going to bring forward as part of a politicalplatform, because we feel it is part of our duty to society,'' Bustos saidWednesday.
However, he expects opposition. Spokesmen for the Roman Catholic church,which led marches against the abortion bill approved in April, were notimmediately available for comment.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid46299.asp
June 14, 2007
Baptist global warming resolution sparks debate
Southern Baptists approved a resolution on global warming Wednesday thatquestions the prevailing scientific belief that humans are largely to blamefor the phenomenon and also warns that increased regulation of greenhousegases will hurt the poor.
The global warming debate has split evangelicals, with some not onlypressing the issue but arguing humans bear most of the responsibility forthe problem because of greenhouse gas emissions. Other evangelicals saytalking about the issue at all diminishes their influence over moretraditional culture war issues such as abortion, gay marriage and judicialappointments.
The SBC resolution, approved near the end of the denomination's annualmeeting, acknowledges a rise in global temperatures. But it rejectsgovernment-mandated limits on carbon-dioxide and other emissions as ''verydangerous'' because they might not make much difference and could lead to''major economic hardships'' worldwide.
Originally, the measure also backed more government-funded research intoglobal warming's causes and alternative energies to oil. But the resolutionwas amended to drop that language, in part over concerns that it wouldendorse strong government engagement in the issue.
The two-day annual meeting of the nation's largest Protestant denomination,which boasts 16.3 million members, ended Wednesday night. The gathering washighlighted by new steps to prevent child sexual abuse, calls for unity toreverse stagnant membership and a struggle over defining Baptist identity.About 8,500 ''messengers,'' or delegates, registered to attend.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid46193.asp
June 14, 2007
New poll shows same-sex marriage not an issue for Republicans in NewHampshire
The results of a new CNN poll of likely Republican primary voters releasedthis week showed "gay marriage" barely registers on the Republican radar asan important issue to be considered in the 2008 election.
The poll asked likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, "In youropinion, which one issue is most important to your vote in the presidentialprimary?" The results of the survey showed the crowning issue for Republicanvoters in the state is the Iraq war followed by illegal immigration and theeconomy. Same-sex marriage ranked 17 on a list of 20 potential answers; 19and 20 were "other" and "no opinion" respectively.
"This poll of Republican voters confirms what many of us in the GOP alreadyknew-the GOP primary election should focus on the issues rank-and-fileRepublicans care about and same-sex marriage isn't one of them," said LogCabin Republicans President Patrick Sammon. "Republican candidates shouldfocus on issues that unite our Party, instead of using marriage as a wedgeissue in this campaign."
"This poll sends a loud and clear message to Republican candidates," saidSammon. "Our Party is hungry for leadership on the big issues of the daysuch as the war in Iraq, reforming immigration, homeland security, andkeeping our economy strong. If we are going to keep the White House in2008, we must focus on these issues instead of getting bogged down by thepolitics of division." The poll was conducted by the University of NewHampshire Survey Center for CNN and WMUR in New Hampshire. (The Advocate)
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365gay.com
http://365gay.com/opinion/besen/besen.htm
Israel's Tragic Miscalculation
by Wayne Besen
The Israeli Knesset is about to make a tragic mistake with far-reachingconsequences if it votes to ban Gay Pride rallies. This anti-democraticaction will alienate secular Jews - gay and straight - worldwide and forcestalwart defenders of Israel to rethink their allegiance. American Jewsoverwhelmingly reject the intolerance of our homegrown Christian Right, sothe notion that we will blindly support Jewish Pat Robertsons in Jerusalemis a dangerous miscalculation.
Recently, the Knesset proposed one amendment that would empower theJerusalem mayor to prohibit Gay Pride and other parades based on religioussensitivities or alleged threats to public order. A first reading of thisbill passed 40-23. In a second, more far-reaching bill, the Shas Partycalled for a ban on all pride parades throughout the country. This measure -which threatens freedom of speech and assembly - was approved by a vote of41-21.
According to Ynet News, final passage of the bills requires two more votes -which are unlikely to come prior to the June 21 Pride march in Jerusalem.Last year, authorities did not sanction the rally, claiming that they couldn't guarantee the safety of Pride marchers. The event was finally moved to analternative, secured indoor location after right-wing zealots threatenedparticipants.
This year, march organizers again have been met with threats of violence andintimidation by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who seem like Jewish versions of FredPhelps. One extremist group even put a hex on would-be participants and thepolice.
"To all those involved, sinners in spirit, and whoever helps and protectsthem, may they feel a curse on their souls, may it plague them, and may evilpursue them; they will not be [acquitted] of their transgressions fromheavenly judgment," reads the curse from Eda Haredit rabbis.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061407mcg.htm
McGreevey Divorce Battle Turns Nastier
by The Associated Press
Posted: June 14, 2007 - 9:00 am ET
(Trenton, New Jersey) The estranged wife of former Gov. James E. McGreeveyclaims that his accusations of homophobia have hurt her book sales. Heblames her taste in clothing.
Dina Matos McGreevey, who is in the midst of a bitter divorce from theformer governor, has charged in court papers that his comments calling herhomophobic harmed the sales of her recently released memoir.
But in a letter to a family court judge, McGreevey blamed his wife's May 1interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," citing "her awful appearance" in "aninappropriate and ill-fitting ballgown with a plunging neckline."
He also called her book "poorly written" and "dull" and derided as"unbelievable" her assertion that she didn't know he was gay, according to astory posted online by The Star-Ledger of Newark.
The letter was sent as Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy considered whetherMatos McGreevey can claim that her former husband libeled and defamed herwhen he called her homophobic.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061407washington.htm
Behind The Scenes In The Isaiah Washington Firing
by The Associated Press
Posted: June 14, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Los Angeles, California) Starring on one of TV's hottest series is anactor's dream, and Isaiah Washington fought hard to keep his role as Dr.Preston Burke on ``Grey's Anatomy.''
But after twice using an anti- gay slur, Washington was doomed to lose thebiggest role of his career because of timing, a track record of volatilebehavior and pressure within the industry.
While series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes wept when she goton the phone last Thursday to tell Washington he was out (story), thedecision was a coolly calculated move by Rhimes' bosses at the network andABC Television Studios.
His ``pattern of behavior'' represented a potential liability that was toomuch risk for the Walt Disney Co.-owned companies, a source close to theproduction said. The source was not authorized to comment publicly and spokeon condition of anonymity.
The operation to remove Washington, 43, was quick and neat. The studiodeclined to exercise his contract option for another season _ Washingtonwould have earned about US$2.7 million in salary _ and he was dumped shortlyafter the May finale.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061407iraq.htm
Rice Pressed On Iraqi Treatment Of Gays
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: June 14, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Washington) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is being urged toinvestigate reports that LGBT Iraqis are being rounded up by militias on thestreets of Baghdad and murdered.
In a letter to Rice the two openly gay members of Congress - Rep BarneyFrank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) - cite a human rights reportissued by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq that says fromNovember 1 to December 31, 2006 there were open and violent campaignsagainst LGBT
Iraqis.
"According to news reports, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the chiefspiritual leader of Iraqi Shia Muslims, issued a 'fatwa,' orreligiously-inspired legal pronouncement, in October 2005 calling for deathfor all gays and lesbians in 'the most severe way possible,'" the lettersays.
"While the fatwa was eventually removed from Sistani's website last May, itwas never revoked, and the decree has led to the deployment of anti-gaydeath squads by the military arm of the Supreme Council for the Islamicrevolution in Iraq, the Badr Corps. As a result, violence against gay Iraqissurged in 2006," the letter goes on to say.
It also refers to a speech made by the leader of an exiled Iraqi LGBT rightsgroup in London who said that hundreds of gay men and women have beenmurdered by the militias and the US-led coalition is doing little to stopthe killings. (story)
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Subject: SAVE Holds "Marriage Amendment" Meeting in Fort Lauderdale
SAVE Announces Campaign Update on so-called "Marrige Amendment"
Saturday, June 16 ~ 10 a.m. to 4 p.m
Sunshine Cathedral
1480 SW 9th Ave ~ Fort Lauderdale
Reservations needed -- call 305-751-7283
In response to Florida4Marriage's attempt to pass the so-called "Marriage Amendment, an anti-gay ballot initiative, SAVE is sending out a call to interested individuals to attend a Campaign Update in Broward on Saturday, June 16th. The update is a working meeting for everyone interested in taking a role in the campaign. Working with Pride South Florida and other organizations SAVE is using its experience in grass-roots and political organizing to mobilize all fair-minded people to defeat this ballot initiative. "We need to turn out 400,000 voters in 2008's presidential election to ensure we get the 40% of the vote we need to win" says Kirk Arthur, SAVE's Field Director.
"It's a math game, we only need 40% to win, but until we get some new polling data, who knows if we would win today" says Arthur. These initiatives have passed in 22 other states and only been defeated in 1. What is the newest twist in this battle for marriage equality? The LGBT community is aware, and organizing a year and a half ahead of time. Attendance is limited. RSVP is required. Please Contact Kirk Arthur at 305-751-7283 or kirk@savedade.org
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http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070605/NEWS01/306050006
Associated Press article showing what can happen in Florida if the amendment is passed
Ann Arbor school district joins Kalamazoo in ending gay partner health benefits
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. - The City of Kalamazoo no longer will offer health insurance benefits to the partners of gay workers, becoming Michigan's first public employer to take away existing benefits in the wake of a 2004 ban against gay marriage.
Kalamazoo City Manager Kenneth Collard confirmed Monday that the city will eliminate domestic partner benefits for four non-unionized employees effective June 30. He cited a May 23 order from the Michigan Supreme Court.
Also Monday, the Ann Arbor school district said it will not include domestic partner benefits in future union labor contracts. About 15 employees will not lose those benefits now, though they will end when existing contracts expire, The Ann Arbor News reported.
Some public employers have said they will not take away domestic partner benefits until the case is decided once and for all.
The appeals court in February said Michigan's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment against gay marriage also bars domestic partner benefits for the same-sex partners of public employees.
Kalamazoo has been at the center of the dispute over same-sex benefits in Michigan.
In March 2005, Republican Attorney General Mike Cox interpreted the city's domestic partner policy as violating the constitutional amendment, prompting a lawsuit by a Washington-based AFL-CIO group called National Pride at Work and others. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm supports providing the benefits.
Up to 20 public universities, community colleges, school districts and local governments in Michigan have same-sex benefits policies. Universities, which employ most of those affected, argue that not being able to offer the benefits will hurt recruitment of faculty and staff.
At least 375 university and government employees in Michigan have partners who qualify for same-sex benefits
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Stonewall Library & Archives to host acclaimed author Felice Picano
ACCLAIMED AUTHOR FELICE PICANO TO APPEAR AT STONEWALL LIBRARY & ARCHIVES ONTHURSDAY, JUNE 28
On Thursday, June 28th 2007 at 7:00 pm, at Stonewall Library & Archives,acclaimed author Felice Picano will be speaking and signing copies of hisnew book "Tales: From a Distant Planet."
Felice Picano's first book was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Sincethen he has published twenty volumes of fiction, poetry, memoirs, and more.Considered a founder of modern gay literature along with the six othermembers of the Violet Quill Club, Picano also founded two publishingcompanies: the Sea Horse Press and Gay Presses of New York. Among his manyaward-winning books, are the novels, LIKE PEOPLE IN HISTORY and THE BOOK OFLIES. Picano, with Charles Silverstein, also authored THE NEW JOY OF GAYSEX.
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http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/06/14/religion
June 14
Students and Faith
Whether the source is God and Man at Yale or any number of more recentstudies, the conflict between a college education and the faith thatstudents bring to campus (secular campuses at least) is well accepted. Themore you pursue a higher education, the more likely you are to abandon yourfaith - at least that's what conventional wisdom holds.
"Actually we've just been wrong about this for quite a while," said Mark D.Regnerus, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas atAustin and one of the authors of a new study that suggests students whoattend and graduate from college are more likely than others to hold on totheir faith.
It's not that colleges necessarily encourage faith, he said, but for all thetalk about how intellectuals are out to destroy students' relationships totheir religions and God, the main obstacles to such relationships have to dowith maturing and how young people spend their time. "Some kids were boundto lose [their faith] anyway and they do," Regnerus said. But the evidencesuggests that college isn't responsible.
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An update report about the birthday party in Esfahan
Translated by Ramin
http://www.irqo.net/IRQO/English/pages/067.htm
Eighty seven young men were arrested and beaten by police at a birthday partyin Esfahan around 10:00 pm on May 10th, 2007. The police force while holdingshooting camera accompanied by four clergymen first entered the second floorof the home where the family members were gathered and arrested some of themin addition to a child. They were released the day after. Then they went tothe third floor where the party guests were gathered, turned off the lights,shot fake gunshots, forced everyone to lie on the ground, began beating themand walked over them. Then the police dragged either head-bags or theirblouses over the guests' heads, forced them to go to the street and pushedthem under baton impact into a protected car.
Despite the low capacity of this car (usually b/w 15-20 persons), the policestacked all 87 men in one car. The people who were witnessing the event on the treet reported that the clothes of the arrested men were torn and their faces were bleeding. One of the guests jumped out of the 3rd floor window and nowneeds operation on his two broken legs. Based on the received information,they were transferred to the Esfahan Dastgerd jail and were exposed to severe pressure and torture. The crime of the arrestees is not declared yet and nocondemnation is issued so far.
This attack is another example of the organized human rights violation and itis following the recent attacks to the women and workers movements which wereseverely condemned by the human right defending organizations as obvious casesof violating personal rights, privacy and individual freedom.
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Reggae stars renounce homophobia
Beenie Man, Sizzla & Capleton sign deal
Historic agreement to stop "murder music"
London - 13 June 2007
Three of the world's top reggae / dancehall singers have renouncedhomophobia and condemned violence against lesbians and gay men.
Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton had previously released anti-gay hatesongs, including incitements to murder lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransgender people.
They have now signed up to the Reggae Compassionate Act (copy below),in a deal brokered with top reggae promoters and Stop Murder Musicactivists.
The agreement follows the three-year-long Stop Murder Music campaign,which resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of the singers'concerts and sponsorship deals, causing them income losses estimatedin excess of five million dollars.
"The Reggae Compassionate Act is a big breakthrough," said PeterTatchell, of the British gay human rights group OutRage!. Mr Tatchellis coordinator of the worldwide Stop Murder Music campaign. He helpednegotiate the deal with the three singers.
"The singers' rejection of homophobia and sexism is an importantmilestone. We rejoice at their new commitment to music withoutprejudice," said Mr Tatchell.
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
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Russia: Gay Rights Under Attack
Attacks and Police Collusion Show Liberties Rollback
(Moscow, June 14, 2007) - The violent attacks on peaceful gay pride demonstrators in Moscow in late May show the rollback of respect for human rights in Russia, Human Rights Watch and the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe) said in a briefing paper released today.
Instead of protecting human rights and gay advocates who tried to assemble, Moscow police colluded with skinheads to break up the Gay Pride demonstration. The two organizations documented the violence and urged legal protections for freedom of assembly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
"When LGBT people tried to assemble on the Moscow streets, some 20 ended up in jail cells," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, who witnessed the events in Moscow first-hand. "The violence and the arrests reveal how comprehensive the threats to basic freedoms are in Russia today."
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http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=45489>
Surgeon General Nominee Could Face Confirmation Fight Over Concerns FromGay-Rights Groups
James Holsinger, a Kentucky cardiologist who President Bush last monthnominated as the next surgeon general, might "be headed for a nominationfight," after lawmakers and gay and lesbian advocacy groups raised concernabout his position on gay-rights issues, CQ Today reports (Armstrong, CQToday, 6/8). According to some gay rights groups, Holsinger in 1991 wrote ina report for a United Methodist committee that gay sex is unnatural andpotentially leads to serious health issues (Alonso-Zaldivar,
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http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/home.html>
New study shows rates of hate crimes against LGBT community similar to ratesagainst groups protected by federal hate crimes laws
http://www.law.ucla.edu/users/williamsinstitute/publications/Comparison%20of%20Hate%20Crime%20Formatted.pdf
By Rebecca Stotzer
June 2007
This report by Williams Institute Policy Fellow Rebecca Stotzer comparesvictimization rates for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, who are notcurrently covered by federal hate crime laws, with groups who are covered.Results indicate that the hate crime rate against lesbian, gay, and bisexualindividuals is comparable to the rate of hate crimes against alreadyprotected groups. While the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programsreports an average of 213 hate crimes per year against LGB people, thefederal government has no system in place for documenting or collectingthese statistics. This study indicates a need for including gender identityin hate crime tracking laws, and extending legislative protection tolesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
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20070613163156.DC19E73770@hibiscus.onlinepolicy.net>
COMMENTARY
Don't Ask, Who Cares
By BOB BARR
Last week's forum of 10 Republican presidential hopefuls offered the countrysome troubling insight into the thinking of leading GOP candidates. Inparticular, the five who responded to questions about the Clinton-era "don'task, don't tell" policy governing military service by gays and lesbiansshowed a disturbing move away from conservative principles, in favor of whatsmells strongly of political expediency or timidity.
As a conservative Republican member of Congress from 1995 to 2003, I washardly a card-carrying member of the gay-rights lobby. I opposed then, andcontinue to oppose, same-sex marriage, or the designation of gays as aconstitutionally protected minority class. Service in the armed forces isanother matter. The bottom line here is that, with nearly a decade and ahalf of the hybrid "don't ask, don't tell" policy to guide us, I have becomedeeply impressed with the growing weight of credible military opinion whichconcludes that allowing gays to serve openly in the military does not poseinsurmountable problems for the good order and discipline of the services.
Asked about reconsideration of the don't ask, don't tell policy in favor ofa more open and honest approach, the simplistic responses by severalRepublican presidential candidates left me -- and I suspect many others --questioning whether those candidates really even understood the issue, orwere simply pandering to the perceived "conservative base." The fact is,equal treatment of gay and lesbian service members is about as conservativea position as one cares to articulate.
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http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2007/06/12/6
Girls, 14, ejected from Ore. bus for kissing
Planet Out, Tuesday, June 12, 2007 / 05:15 PM
SUMMARY: A Portland, Ore., driver throws a teen lesbian couple off a citybus, calling them "sickos," after another passenger complains about theirPDA.
A teen lesbian couple and their parents may file a complaint with thePortland, Ore., transit agency after the girls were kicked off a bus formaking a public display of affection.
Maika Rich and Jocelyn O'Neal, both 14, told KATU-TV that they were on a busheaded to the Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center on June 8 when afemale passenger complained to the driver that they had been kissing. Thedriver told them to stop, calling them "sickos."
Maika said she gave Jocelyn a hug because the girl looked upset about theexchange, KATU reported. At that point, the driver stopped the bus andordered them off.
Maika's mother, Ronnda Zezula, later complained, telling the station shedidn't believe straight teens -- or gay adults -- would have been treatedthe same way.
A spokesperson for Portland's TriMet transit system said the agency has apolicy to never eject an underage or vulnerable person from a bus.Authorities are investigating the incident. (The Advocate)
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http://www.planetout.com/news/article-print.html?2007/06/12/2
Rabbis put curse on Jerusalem Pride
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 / 10:50 AM
SUMMARY: Ultra-Orthodox rabbis from the Eda Haredit sect, in addition totheir curse, plan a huge anti-gay rally to disrupt the event set for June21.
A group of ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews is attempting to thwart a gay rightsrally in Jerusalem, planned for June 21, by placing a curse on Prideparticipants. The group is also promi! sing a huge anti-Pride rally.
A group of rabbis from the Eda Haredit sect published a warning Sundaysaying, "To all those involved, sinners in spirit, and whoever helps andprotects them, may they feel a curse on their souls, may it plague them andmay evil pursue them; they will not be requited of their transgressions fromheavenly judgment."
The letter further threatened: "Know what happened to the evil persons whowere cursed, and thus feel in your souls that your end will be bitter."
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http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2007/06/virginia_suprem.html
Virginia Supreme Court Sets 18 Age of Consent for Sodomy
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, Leonard Link, June 11,2007
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Texas Homosexual Conduct Act inLawrence v. Texas (2003), Virginia legislators considered a proposal toreform that state's sodomy law so that it would not raise constitutional DueProcess questions, but the proposal was rejected. As a result, Virginiacourts faced with sodomy prosecutions have had to figure out the extent towhich their sodomy statute has been rendered unenforceable as a result ofthe Lawrence decision.
In a ruling announced on June 8 in an opinion by Justice Donald W. Lemons,the court unanimously affirmed the conviction of William S. McDonald onsodomy charges, rejecting McDonald's argument that his conduct was protectedunder Lawrence because the teenage girls with whom he enjoyed oral sex were16 and 17 years old. (At the time of the incidents charged against him,McDonald was in his mid-50s.) Pointing to the state's "carnal knowledge"statute, he argued that the age of consent for sex in Virginia is 15, butthe trial judge rejected that defense, referring to the girls as "juveniles"and maintaining that sodomy between an adult and juveniles was illegal.
The Virginia Supreme Court's response to McDonald's appeal, was that the ageof consent for other kinds of sexual activity was irrelevant for purposes ofa Virginia sodomy prosecution. Simply put, the sodomy statute, which on itsface allows no consent defense regardless of the age of the parties, isapplicable up to the limits consistent with the Supreme Court's ruling inLawrence v. Texas.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060701453.html
New Sex-Ed Curriculum Is Urged for All Schools
Lessons Cover Homosexuality, Condoms
By Daniel de Vise, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, June 8, 2007; B02
Montgomery County schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast recommendedyesterday that new health lessons on sexual orientation and condom use beexpanded to all middle and high schools in the fall with only minorrevisions, based on the results of field tests at six schools this spring.
The lessons are the fruit of five years of debate on how, if at all,homosexuality should be addressed in sex-education classes. Approved inJanuary and piloted in March, the teaching materials will reach all eighth-and 10th-grade health classrooms in the fall if Weast's recommendations areadopted Tuesday by the school board.
In a memo delivered yesterday to board members, Weast wrote that studentsand teachers seemed mostly satisfied with the lessons. He suggested nochange to their content.
Board members will have to weigh conflicting recommendations. Weast wantsthe lessons to go forward essentially as written, but a citizens advisorycommittee wants board members to add passages stating that mainstreammedical and mental health organizations have concluded that homosexuality isneither a disease nor a mental illness.
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Gay Rights Groups Take Heart In Ruling That Struck Down Bans On Interracial
Marriage
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: June 12, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET
(Washington) LGBT civil rights groups marked the 40th anniversary of theSupreme Court ruling that struck down state laws banning interracialmarriage saying that ultimately bans on same-sex marriage also will be ruledunconstitutional.
The case, called Loving v. Virginia, began when Richard and MildredLoving, an interracial couple, were arrested in Virginia after they returnedfrom their wedding in Washington, DC.
They were sentenced to one year in prison.
The Lovings appealed the conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,which struck down restrictions on who could marry whom.
On June 12, 1967, the Court ruled that: "The freedom to marry has longbeen recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderlypursuit of happiness by free men."
Tuesday on Capitol Hill gay rights, civil rights groups and Rep TammyBaldwin (D-WI) held a news conference to point out the similarities betweenthe fight to end the prohibition of interracial marriage and the one againstbans on same-sex marriage.
The National Black Justice Coalition also unveiled a video available onYouTube featuring interracial couples pointing out that the interracial banswere "bigotry often justified disguised as religious truth." (The videointerviewed integrated couples Julian Bond & Pamela Horowitz, the Lovings,and a lesbian couple http://youtube.com/NBJCDC )
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Russian activists begin effort to keep gays out of Moscow park
The Associated Press / International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/12/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Anti-Gay-Campaign.php
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
MOSCOW: Activists from nationalist and Russian Orthodox groups on Tuesdaylaunched a campaign to keep homosexuals away from a Moscow park they say isa popular meeting place for gays and lesbians, Russian media reported.
The campaign reflects confidence among anti-liberal activists that they willface no opposition from authorities in Russia, which liberals accuse oftolerating nationalist and extreme-right activists while taking measures tosilence Kremlin critics.
About 50 people from several organizations converged on the small park incentral Moscow near offices of President Vladimir Putin's administration,the Interfax news agency and Ekho Moskvy radio reported. Several prayed at amonument honoring 19th century Russian military heroes, led by a RussianOrthodox priest, Ekho Moskvy reported.
Interfax quoted a spokeswoman for a Russian Orthodox youth activist groupcalled Georgiyevtsy, Diana Romanovskaya, as saying the park is frequented bypeople "who boldly demonstrate their nontraditional (sexual) orientation,persuading everyone that it is normal. We believe that it is a vice and wantto remove all this from this site, which is sacred to Russians."
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Thursday, June 14, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
GLBT DIGEST June 12, 2007
**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.
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WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102046_pf.html
Blood Brothers
The FDA should treat high-risk blood donors, gay or straight, equally.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007; A24
UNDER A 24-year-old FDA policy, men who have had gay sex, even once, since1977 are barred from donating blood for the rest of their lives. America'stop blood collection organizations, such as the American Red Cross, askedthe FDA to reconsider the ban last year, but the FDA reiterated the policyin a Web site posting last month.
The FDA says it is just being zealous about the safety of the U.S. bloodsupply, as men who've had sex with other men are much more likely than thegeneral population to have HIV-AIDS. All donated blood is tested twice.However, according to FDA experts, the majority of HIV-infected bloodtransfusions, which occur about 12 times per year, are not attributable tofalse negatives on these tests. They happen because of human or computererror, such as when personnel accidentally use the wrong donation. The FDAsays that allowing men who've had gay sex to donate blood would increase thenumber of accidental transfusions of HIV-infected blood, even if testing issupposed to weed out tainted blood.
Yet this donation policy is considerably stricter than that for at-riskheterosexual groups: A heterosexual who has had sex with a known carrier ofHIV, for example, must wait just a year before being able to donate blood.And so, despite the FDA's protestations, the appearance of prejudicepersists. Each year, healthy gay men are turned away, and college and highschool campuses around the country cancel blood drives to avoid endorsing anevent that appears discriminatory. This modestly threatens local bloodsupply in the short term and may prevent youths nationwide from developingthe habit of giving blood in the long term, as 85 percent of donations comefrom repeat donors.
The FDA should not do anything to jeopardize the safety of the U.S. bloodsupply. But the agency appears to have no evidence to justify itsdifferential treatment of at-risk categories.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-na-poll12jun12,0,2794334,print.story
THE TIMES/BLOOMBERG POLL
Giuliani retains GOP lead for presidential nomination as Fred Thompson gains
A Times/Bloomberg Poll shows conservatives embracing the former Tennesseesenator, who has yet to enter the race. Clinton still leads Democrats, buttrails Giuliani.
By Michael Finnegan
Times Staff Writer
June 12, 2007
WASHINGTON - Republicans antsy for a conservative standard-bearer in thepresidential race have begun to rally behind Fred Thompson, propelling theformer Tennessee senator to within hailing distance of the lead for theparty's nomination, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found.
Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani holds first place in the survey,with upport from 27% of the Republicans and independents who said they planto vote in the party's 2008 primaries.
But Thompson, an actor who played a prosecutor on NBC's "Law & Order," runsjust behind, with 21%. Indications are he will join the race within the nextmonth.
The two other major GOP contenders, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, fall well short of the leaders and are in abattle for third place. McCain was backed by 12% of those polled, Romney by10%. The rest of the crowded field is mired in single digits.
Among the Democratic candidates, the race remains little changed from aTimes/Bloomberg poll in April.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/776/v-print/story/136416.html
Posted on Mon, Jun. 11, 2007
Maupin novel revisits aging `Tales' crew
By RACHEL KONRAD
Stretched out on a sofa next to his Australian shepherd, Sophie, ArmisteadMaupin says he never intended to write another installment of his popular"Tales of the City" series.
But thankfully for fans worldwide, Maupin's newest book, "Michael TolliverLives," revisits many of the same larger-than-life characters that propelled"Tales" from a weekly San Francisco Chronicle column to six books and aShowtime mini-soap opera.
The book debuts Tuesday, when Maupin kicks off a tour and Mayor Gavin Newsomdeclares "Michael Tolliver Day" in San Francisco.
Instead of randy hippies who smoke joints, as they did when the series beganin 1976, the aging lefties of "Michael Tolliver Lives" pop joint andarthritis pills. Instead of plotting nightly sexual conquests, as they didas 20-something singles, many profess shock at the level of promiscuousnesspracticed by today's youth.
The book - which would certainly earn the literary equivalent of an Rrating - centers on Michael Tolliver, the endearing Southern gay man whocame to San Francisco in 1971 and lived at 28 Barbary Lane. Now Michael isin his mid-50s, a mildly arthritic and HIV-positive landscape architectmarried to Ben, a handsome furniture designer and yogi 21 years younger.
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The National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1
Tuesday, 12 June 2007 08:27
LGBT Protest on Gracie Mansion
Heritage of Pride, the producers of New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexualand Transgender (LGBT) Pride Events will be protesting in front of GracieMansion during Mayor Bloomberg's annual LGBT reception on Tuesday, June 12,at 5:30 p.m.
This action is to voice the disappointment and outrage felt by the LGBTCommunity because of the permit denial by the Mayor's Office for there-envisioned Pride street festival, know as PRIDEfest. All are encouragedto join us.
Gracie Mansion is located in Carl Schurz Park East End Avenue and 88thStreet in Manhattan
For more information on this matter, visit the website, HOPinc.org. You mayalso download the PDF Action Alert.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid45941.asp
June 12, 2007
Attackers stone Romanian gay rights march
Police used tear gas against protesters who hurled stones at the annual gayrights parade in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, Saturday, officials said.
About 100 people were detained for throwing stones and fireworks at policeand about 400 participants in the gay rights march, said Christian Ciocan, apolice spokesman. Police responded with tear gas. Nobody was injured, hesaid.
''We regret that our opponents use violence.... Police only did their job toprotect an authorized march,'' said Florin Buhuceanu, one of the organizersof the gay rights march. ''It is our right to express our beliefs, and wewill not renounce in the face of violence.''
Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001.
On Tuesday two men leaving a Bucharest cinema that hosts the annual ''GayFest'' festival were beaten by eight attackers. Police stopped the attackand arrested several people. (AP)
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061107lewis.htm
Former UN AIDS Envoy Slams G-8 As Morally Bankrupt
by The Canadian Press
Posted: June 11, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Vancouver, British Columbia) The former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS inAfrica is accusing the G-8 of abandoning its commitments to health andsocial equality in Africa, suggesting its leaders are having trouble findingtheir moral compass.
The leaders of the world's top industrialized nations have reneged onpromises to have-not nations, particularly those in Africa, to help improvethe health, social and equality conditions in those countries, said CanadianStephen Lewis.
Last week, at a summit in Heiligendam, Germany, the G-8 leaders announced aUS $60-billion commitment to fight disease in Africa, but Lewis said thatfunding did not come with a timeline.
Lewis said the leaders only committed the funds `over the coming years.'
``What in the world does that mean?'' Lewis asked.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/nyregion/12nyc.html
June 12, 2007
NYC
The Sexually Exploited Ask for Change: Help, Not Jail
By CLYDE HABERMAN
She identified herself as Patrice Waters, 18 years old. The name, sheallowed later, was an invention to protect herself. But the age was genuine,she said, and so was her story. They're what matter most.
Growing up in Brooklyn, she was mistreated badly. "At 12, I ran away," shesaid. "I got raped. I felt alone. I started in the life when I was 14."
"The life" was the world of a street hustler. Some life. "I thought that mypimp was going to protect me," she said. "All he did was abuse me."
That was the extent of her story, a skeletal account that begged fordetails. But it was enough to get the point. This young woman had done a lotof living in her 18 years, not much of it good.
It was the same deal with Tyesha Smith, 17: fake name, all-too-real story,about a drug addict mother in the Bronx who died when Tyesha was 12. Thenext major figure in the girl's life was a pimp. "He forced me into thegame," she said.
The game. The life. Call it what you will. It is sexual exploitation ofchildren too wounded and too vulnerable to protect themselves.
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From Paul Harris - The Independent
Wilton Manors, Florida
In less than two weeks time - Sunday, June 24 - the Stonewall StreetFestival will be held again on Wilton Drive, when it will be blocked off totraffic. Thousands of people will come out to take in the stalls and watchthe entertainment. "The Independent," South Florida's leading gay newspaperwhich is normally published bi-weekly, will be bringing out a special issuefor that week which will be hitting the streets on Wednesday and Thursday,June 20 and 21, as well as being distributed at the festival on the dayitself.
We are offering gay-friendly businesses and organizations that serve theGLBT population the opportunity of advertising in that edition at HALF thenormal price. We are doing this as a way of introducing the paper as a wayof reaching future clients and customers to local businesses who up untilnow may not have seriously explored the gay press as a way to generate newleads. It also allows us to reward existing clients of "The Independent" and"Buzz" with a one-off advertisement at half-price as a way of thanking themfor their support over the years. For voluntary and sporting organizationsit offers them the opportunity of reaching potential new members andsupporters.
As you know Broward County has an enormous gay population. According to onestudy the zip code 33305 has the highest concentration of gay residents outof EVERY SINGLE zip code in the US with only two exceptions! Three of thefive people (the four commissioners and mayor) who run Wilton Manors aregay. In Oakland Park the figure is two out of five.
There is no better way of saying to potential future gay clients andcustomers that you want their business than to advertise in "TheIndependent." It says - "We want to work with you. We value yourpresence. We will treat you with the same respect as we do ALL our clientsand customers."
If you would like to be in the special "Stonewall Street Festival" editionof "The Independent" please either call me on 954 536 7786 any time - likeyou, I work seven days a week! - or alternatively e-mail me atPHARRIS@OurIndy.com with the number I should call you at, and the best timeto call. If you are already working with someone from either "Buzz" r "TheIndependent" please let them know that you want to take advantage of thespecial offer of the half-priced advertisement in the special issue.
I look forward to working with you to help you get all the business that youwant - including that of your gay neighbors.
With best wishes,
Paul Harris
Publisher
The Independent
954 536 7786
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Record Breaking Nine EQCA-Sponsored LGBT Rights Bills Pass First LegislativeChamber
Legislation Giving Same-Sex Couples Option to Marry, Eight Other Measures
Move Toward Final Legislative Action
SACRAMENTO - Equality California's entire 2007 legislative package hascleared the first major hurdle in the Legislature. All nine EQCA-sponsoredmeasures have passed either the Assembly or the Senate. This marks the mostlesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights bills to ever pass theCalifornia Assembly or the Senate in a single calendar year.
All bills being considered by the Legislature were required to pass theirhouse of origin by June 8 in order to be sent to the second house forfurther consideration and an additional round of crucial votes later thissummer.
"By passing all nine EQCA-sponsored bills, the Assembly and the Senate arestanding up for fairness and equality under the law for the LGBT communityand all Californians," said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. "The numberof proactive LGBT rights bills passed this year is monumental anddemonstrates the political gains we have made in California over the lastseveral years."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.soulforce.org/sendstudio/users/link.php?LinkID=2074&UserID=35882&Newsletter=182&List=3&LinkType=Send
Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference This Month
Recent events, including the nomination of James Holsinger for United StatesSurgeon General, have brought national attention to the continued growth of"ex-gay" ministries.
This summer, Soulforce invites YOU to participate in a powerful andunprecedented action to resist the ex-gay movement. On June 29 - July 1,concerned citizens, clergy, and mental health professionals will cometogether with ex-gay survivors in Irvine, California to strengthen ourcommunity, reflect on our experiences, and strategize about effective waysto resist the ex-gay movement in the future.
Perhaps most importantly, we will provide a bold and loving presence tocounter the Exodus International Freedom Conference, which will be in Irvinethat same weekend to promote the false message that gay, lesbian, bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people are disordered, sinful, and in need of change.
The Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference is for everyone, not just survivors ofex-gay ministries. The conference will help attendees become a powerfulforce for social justice by creating a more honest picture of ex-gayprograms, revealing the societal pressures that influence people to seekchange, and exposing the cynical exploitation of ex-gay "change" stories forpolitical purposes.
To launch the conference, Soulforce is pleased to announce a pressconference on Wednesday, June 27, featuring Michael Bussee, co-founder ofExodus International, Darlene Bogle, a former director and speaker forExodus, and Jeremy Marks, founder of Courage UK. Michael, Darlene, andJeremy, who are now all welcoming and affirming, will share their deepconcern about the ex-gay programs they once helped create and operate.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Czechs Back Civil Unions, Not Same-Sex Marriage June 11, 2007
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16072
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the Czech Republic believe gayand lesbian couples should be allowed to form registered partnerships,according to a poll by CVVM. 69 per cent of respondents agree with thisconcept, up seven points in two years.
Still, 57 per cent of respondents are opposed to allowing same-sex couplesto get married, and 67 per cent reject the possibility of gay and lesbianpartners adopting children.
In 2005, both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved a bill thatsought to allow same-sex couples in the Czech Republic to form registeredpartnerships. In February 2006, Czech president Vaclav Klaus vetoed thelegislation. In March, the legislative branch overrode the veto. Thelaw-which provides inheritance, alimony and hospital rights to same-sexpartners-came into effect in July.
Former tennis champion Martina Navratilova-who was born in Czechoslovakiabut has been a U.S. citizen since 1981-discussed the current state ofaffairs, saying, "Even the Czech Republic now has same-sex unions. I havemore rights there than in the U.S."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-ex-gay_hamilljun11,1,1902137.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
chicagotribune.com
NATION
Therapy aims to make 'ex-gays'
Backers say regimen, often religious-based, growing in popularity; criticssay it's harmful, amounts to self-hatred
By Sean D. Hamill
Special to the Tribune
June 11, 2007
GIBSONIA, Pa. -- Proponents say participation is surging in thecontroversial, often religious-based therapy that many call the "ex-gaymovement."
Christian therapist Warren Throckmorton points to a patient named Jeff as anexample of success for this therapy.
Jeff, 41, who asked that his last name not be used, said his life has alwaysbeen centered on family, church and work as a college administrator outsidePittsburgh. But every few months, to satisfy an urge that would well upinside him, it was all about gay bathhouses, clubs and anonymous sex withmen.
After a nearly lifelong struggle between his Christian beliefs and hishomosexual urges, Jeff believes he has finally conformed his life with hisvalues after 20 months of religious-tinged treatment that some callconversion, sexual reorientation or reparative therapy.
All the major medical and mental health organizations see such therapy aspotentially harmful and recommend against it. The gay and lesbian communitydenounces it as self-hatred. And even the most thorough studies say just afraction of the people who enter such treatment truly change theirorientation.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.alternet.org/sex/53700/
Now the Democrats Are Funding Abstinence?
By James Wagoner, TomPaine.com
Posted on June 11, 2007, Printed on June 11, 2007
Back in November of 2006, after the Democrats won control of the House, whatkind of odds do you think you would have gotten on the following scenario:With the Democrats in control, the appropriations cycle begins and the firstbig policy step the Democrats take on domestic reproductive health is topush through a 30 percent increase in abstinence-only-until-marriageprograms that prohibit information about condoms and birth control. Oh, andby the way, that increase (to $140 million) is larger than any put forwardin the last three years of the Republican-led Congress.
"Huh?" you might ask.
Now, let me make the scenario even better -- or worse. What if you were toldthat just six weeks before the Appropriations Committee met, a major 10-yearevaluation that Congress itself had mandated was released showing thatabstinence-only programs had no impact on teen behavior? On top of that,what if you were told that the Society of Adolescent Medicine had released areport in 2006 stating that abstinence-only-programs "threaten fundamentalhuman rights to health, information and life?"
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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=
WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102046_pf.html
Blood Brothers
The FDA should treat high-risk blood donors, gay or straight, equally.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007; A24
UNDER A 24-year-old FDA policy, men who have had gay sex, even once, since1977 are barred from donating blood for the rest of their lives. America'stop blood collection organizations, such as the American Red Cross, askedthe FDA to reconsider the ban last year, but the FDA reiterated the policyin a Web site posting last month.
The FDA says it is just being zealous about the safety of the U.S. bloodsupply, as men who've had sex with other men are much more likely than thegeneral population to have HIV-AIDS. All donated blood is tested twice.However, according to FDA experts, the majority of HIV-infected bloodtransfusions, which occur about 12 times per year, are not attributable tofalse negatives on these tests. They happen because of human or computererror, such as when personnel accidentally use the wrong donation. The FDAsays that allowing men who've had gay sex to donate blood would increase thenumber of accidental transfusions of HIV-infected blood, even if testing issupposed to weed out tainted blood.
Yet this donation policy is considerably stricter than that for at-riskheterosexual groups: A heterosexual who has had sex with a known carrier ofHIV, for example, must wait just a year before being able to donate blood.And so, despite the FDA's protestations, the appearance of prejudicepersists. Each year, healthy gay men are turned away, and college and highschool campuses around the country cancel blood drives to avoid endorsing anevent that appears discriminatory. This modestly threatens local bloodsupply in the short term and may prevent youths nationwide from developingthe habit of giving blood in the long term, as 85 percent of donations comefrom repeat donors.
The FDA should not do anything to jeopardize the safety of the U.S. bloodsupply. But the agency appears to have no evidence to justify itsdifferential treatment of at-risk categories.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-na-poll12jun12,0,2794334,print.story
THE TIMES/BLOOMBERG POLL
Giuliani retains GOP lead for presidential nomination as Fred Thompson gains
A Times/Bloomberg Poll shows conservatives embracing the former Tennesseesenator, who has yet to enter the race. Clinton still leads Democrats, buttrails Giuliani.
By Michael Finnegan
Times Staff Writer
June 12, 2007
WASHINGTON - Republicans antsy for a conservative standard-bearer in thepresidential race have begun to rally behind Fred Thompson, propelling theformer Tennessee senator to within hailing distance of the lead for theparty's nomination, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found.
Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani holds first place in the survey,with upport from 27% of the Republicans and independents who said they planto vote in the party's 2008 primaries.
But Thompson, an actor who played a prosecutor on NBC's "Law & Order," runsjust behind, with 21%. Indications are he will join the race within the nextmonth.
The two other major GOP contenders, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, fall well short of the leaders and are in abattle for third place. McCain was backed by 12% of those polled, Romney by10%. The rest of the crowded field is mired in single digits.
Among the Democratic candidates, the race remains little changed from aTimes/Bloomberg poll in April.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/776/v-print/story/136416.html
Posted on Mon, Jun. 11, 2007
Maupin novel revisits aging `Tales' crew
By RACHEL KONRAD
Stretched out on a sofa next to his Australian shepherd, Sophie, ArmisteadMaupin says he never intended to write another installment of his popular"Tales of the City" series.
But thankfully for fans worldwide, Maupin's newest book, "Michael TolliverLives," revisits many of the same larger-than-life characters that propelled"Tales" from a weekly San Francisco Chronicle column to six books and aShowtime mini-soap opera.
The book debuts Tuesday, when Maupin kicks off a tour and Mayor Gavin Newsomdeclares "Michael Tolliver Day" in San Francisco.
Instead of randy hippies who smoke joints, as they did when the series beganin 1976, the aging lefties of "Michael Tolliver Lives" pop joint andarthritis pills. Instead of plotting nightly sexual conquests, as they didas 20-something singles, many profess shock at the level of promiscuousnesspracticed by today's youth.
The book - which would certainly earn the literary equivalent of an Rrating - centers on Michael Tolliver, the endearing Southern gay man whocame to San Francisco in 1971 and lived at 28 Barbary Lane. Now Michael isin his mid-50s, a mildly arthritic and HIV-positive landscape architectmarried to Ben, a handsome furniture designer and yogi 21 years younger.
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The National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1
Tuesday, 12 June 2007 08:27
LGBT Protest on Gracie Mansion
Heritage of Pride, the producers of New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexualand Transgender (LGBT) Pride Events will be protesting in front of GracieMansion during Mayor Bloomberg's annual LGBT reception on Tuesday, June 12,at 5:30 p.m.
This action is to voice the disappointment and outrage felt by the LGBTCommunity because of the permit denial by the Mayor's Office for there-envisioned Pride street festival, know as PRIDEfest. All are encouragedto join us.
Gracie Mansion is located in Carl Schurz Park East End Avenue and 88thStreet in Manhattan
For more information on this matter, visit the website, HOPinc.org. You mayalso download the PDF Action Alert.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid45941.asp
June 12, 2007
Attackers stone Romanian gay rights march
Police used tear gas against protesters who hurled stones at the annual gayrights parade in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, Saturday, officials said.
About 100 people were detained for throwing stones and fireworks at policeand about 400 participants in the gay rights march, said Christian Ciocan, apolice spokesman. Police responded with tear gas. Nobody was injured, hesaid.
''We regret that our opponents use violence.... Police only did their job toprotect an authorized march,'' said Florin Buhuceanu, one of the organizersof the gay rights march. ''It is our right to express our beliefs, and wewill not renounce in the face of violence.''
Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001.
On Tuesday two men leaving a Bucharest cinema that hosts the annual ''GayFest'' festival were beaten by eight attackers. Police stopped the attackand arrested several people. (AP)
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061107lewis.htm
Former UN AIDS Envoy Slams G-8 As Morally Bankrupt
by The Canadian Press
Posted: June 11, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Vancouver, British Columbia) The former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS inAfrica is accusing the G-8 of abandoning its commitments to health andsocial equality in Africa, suggesting its leaders are having trouble findingtheir moral compass.
The leaders of the world's top industrialized nations have reneged onpromises to have-not nations, particularly those in Africa, to help improvethe health, social and equality conditions in those countries, said CanadianStephen Lewis.
Last week, at a summit in Heiligendam, Germany, the G-8 leaders announced aUS $60-billion commitment to fight disease in Africa, but Lewis said thatfunding did not come with a timeline.
Lewis said the leaders only committed the funds `over the coming years.'
``What in the world does that mean?'' Lewis asked.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/nyregion/12nyc.html
June 12, 2007
NYC
The Sexually Exploited Ask for Change: Help, Not Jail
By CLYDE HABERMAN
She identified herself as Patrice Waters, 18 years old. The name, sheallowed later, was an invention to protect herself. But the age was genuine,she said, and so was her story. They're what matter most.
Growing up in Brooklyn, she was mistreated badly. "At 12, I ran away," shesaid. "I got raped. I felt alone. I started in the life when I was 14."
"The life" was the world of a street hustler. Some life. "I thought that mypimp was going to protect me," she said. "All he did was abuse me."
That was the extent of her story, a skeletal account that begged fordetails. But it was enough to get the point. This young woman had done a lotof living in her 18 years, not much of it good.
It was the same deal with Tyesha Smith, 17: fake name, all-too-real story,about a drug addict mother in the Bronx who died when Tyesha was 12. Thenext major figure in the girl's life was a pimp. "He forced me into thegame," she said.
The game. The life. Call it what you will. It is sexual exploitation ofchildren too wounded and too vulnerable to protect themselves.
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From Paul Harris - The Independent
Wilton Manors, Florida
In less than two weeks time - Sunday, June 24 - the Stonewall StreetFestival will be held again on Wilton Drive, when it will be blocked off totraffic. Thousands of people will come out to take in the stalls and watchthe entertainment. "The Independent," South Florida's leading gay newspaperwhich is normally published bi-weekly, will be bringing out a special issuefor that week which will be hitting the streets on Wednesday and Thursday,June 20 and 21, as well as being distributed at the festival on the dayitself.
We are offering gay-friendly businesses and organizations that serve theGLBT population the opportunity of advertising in that edition at HALF thenormal price. We are doing this as a way of introducing the paper as a wayof reaching future clients and customers to local businesses who up untilnow may not have seriously explored the gay press as a way to generate newleads. It also allows us to reward existing clients of "The Independent" and"Buzz" with a one-off advertisement at half-price as a way of thanking themfor their support over the years. For voluntary and sporting organizationsit offers them the opportunity of reaching potential new members andsupporters.
As you know Broward County has an enormous gay population. According to onestudy the zip code 33305 has the highest concentration of gay residents outof EVERY SINGLE zip code in the US with only two exceptions! Three of thefive people (the four commissioners and mayor) who run Wilton Manors aregay. In Oakland Park the figure is two out of five.
There is no better way of saying to potential future gay clients andcustomers that you want their business than to advertise in "TheIndependent." It says - "We want to work with you. We value yourpresence. We will treat you with the same respect as we do ALL our clientsand customers."
If you would like to be in the special "Stonewall Street Festival" editionof "The Independent" please either call me on 954 536 7786 any time - likeyou, I work seven days a week! - or alternatively e-mail me atPHARRIS@OurIndy.com with the number I should call you at, and the best timeto call. If you are already working with someone from either "Buzz" r "TheIndependent" please let them know that you want to take advantage of thespecial offer of the half-priced advertisement in the special issue.
I look forward to working with you to help you get all the business that youwant - including that of your gay neighbors.
With best wishes,
Paul Harris
Publisher
The Independent
954 536 7786
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Record Breaking Nine EQCA-Sponsored LGBT Rights Bills Pass First LegislativeChamber
Legislation Giving Same-Sex Couples Option to Marry, Eight Other Measures
Move Toward Final Legislative Action
SACRAMENTO - Equality California's entire 2007 legislative package hascleared the first major hurdle in the Legislature. All nine EQCA-sponsoredmeasures have passed either the Assembly or the Senate. This marks the mostlesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights bills to ever pass theCalifornia Assembly or the Senate in a single calendar year.
All bills being considered by the Legislature were required to pass theirhouse of origin by June 8 in order to be sent to the second house forfurther consideration and an additional round of crucial votes later thissummer.
"By passing all nine EQCA-sponsored bills, the Assembly and the Senate arestanding up for fairness and equality under the law for the LGBT communityand all Californians," said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. "The numberof proactive LGBT rights bills passed this year is monumental anddemonstrates the political gains we have made in California over the lastseveral years."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.soulforce.org/sendstudio/users/link.php?LinkID=2074&UserID=35882&Newsletter=182&List=3&LinkType=Send
Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference This Month
Recent events, including the nomination of James Holsinger for United StatesSurgeon General, have brought national attention to the continued growth of"ex-gay" ministries.
This summer, Soulforce invites YOU to participate in a powerful andunprecedented action to resist the ex-gay movement. On June 29 - July 1,concerned citizens, clergy, and mental health professionals will cometogether with ex-gay survivors in Irvine, California to strengthen ourcommunity, reflect on our experiences, and strategize about effective waysto resist the ex-gay movement in the future.
Perhaps most importantly, we will provide a bold and loving presence tocounter the Exodus International Freedom Conference, which will be in Irvinethat same weekend to promote the false message that gay, lesbian, bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people are disordered, sinful, and in need of change.
The Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference is for everyone, not just survivors ofex-gay ministries. The conference will help attendees become a powerfulforce for social justice by creating a more honest picture of ex-gayprograms, revealing the societal pressures that influence people to seekchange, and exposing the cynical exploitation of ex-gay "change" stories forpolitical purposes.
To launch the conference, Soulforce is pleased to announce a pressconference on Wednesday, June 27, featuring Michael Bussee, co-founder ofExodus International, Darlene Bogle, a former director and speaker forExodus, and Jeremy Marks, founder of Courage UK. Michael, Darlene, andJeremy, who are now all welcoming and affirming, will share their deepconcern about the ex-gay programs they once helped create and operate.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Czechs Back Civil Unions, Not Same-Sex Marriage June 11, 2007
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16072
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the Czech Republic believe gayand lesbian couples should be allowed to form registered partnerships,according to a poll by CVVM. 69 per cent of respondents agree with thisconcept, up seven points in two years.
Still, 57 per cent of respondents are opposed to allowing same-sex couplesto get married, and 67 per cent reject the possibility of gay and lesbianpartners adopting children.
In 2005, both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved a bill thatsought to allow same-sex couples in the Czech Republic to form registeredpartnerships. In February 2006, Czech president Vaclav Klaus vetoed thelegislation. In March, the legislative branch overrode the veto. Thelaw-which provides inheritance, alimony and hospital rights to same-sexpartners-came into effect in July.
Former tennis champion Martina Navratilova-who was born in Czechoslovakiabut has been a U.S. citizen since 1981-discussed the current state ofaffairs, saying, "Even the Czech Republic now has same-sex unions. I havemore rights there than in the U.S."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-ex-gay_hamilljun11,1,1902137.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
chicagotribune.com
NATION
Therapy aims to make 'ex-gays'
Backers say regimen, often religious-based, growing in popularity; criticssay it's harmful, amounts to self-hatred
By Sean D. Hamill
Special to the Tribune
June 11, 2007
GIBSONIA, Pa. -- Proponents say participation is surging in thecontroversial, often religious-based therapy that many call the "ex-gaymovement."
Christian therapist Warren Throckmorton points to a patient named Jeff as anexample of success for this therapy.
Jeff, 41, who asked that his last name not be used, said his life has alwaysbeen centered on family, church and work as a college administrator outsidePittsburgh. But every few months, to satisfy an urge that would well upinside him, it was all about gay bathhouses, clubs and anonymous sex withmen.
After a nearly lifelong struggle between his Christian beliefs and hishomosexual urges, Jeff believes he has finally conformed his life with hisvalues after 20 months of religious-tinged treatment that some callconversion, sexual reorientation or reparative therapy.
All the major medical and mental health organizations see such therapy aspotentially harmful and recommend against it. The gay and lesbian communitydenounces it as self-hatred. And even the most thorough studies say just afraction of the people who enter such treatment truly change theirorientation.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.alternet.org/sex/53700/
Now the Democrats Are Funding Abstinence?
By James Wagoner, TomPaine.com
Posted on June 11, 2007, Printed on June 11, 2007
Back in November of 2006, after the Democrats won control of the House, whatkind of odds do you think you would have gotten on the following scenario:With the Democrats in control, the appropriations cycle begins and the firstbig policy step the Democrats take on domestic reproductive health is topush through a 30 percent increase in abstinence-only-until-marriageprograms that prohibit information about condoms and birth control. Oh, andby the way, that increase (to $140 million) is larger than any put forwardin the last three years of the Republican-led Congress.
"Huh?" you might ask.
Now, let me make the scenario even better -- or worse. What if you were toldthat just six weeks before the Appropriations Committee met, a major 10-yearevaluation that Congress itself had mandated was released showing thatabstinence-only programs had no impact on teen behavior? On top of that,what if you were told that the Society of Adolescent Medicine had released areport in 2006 stating that abstinence-only-programs "threaten fundamentalhuman rights to health, information and life?"
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Monday, June 11, 2007
GLBT DIGEST June 11, 2007
**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.
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http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070611/OPINION03/706110304
The Detroit News
Deb Price
Gay-friendly states influence presidential race
At the recent Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer started a question about rights for gay couples by noting that the state's governor had just a few days earlier signed civil unions into law.
At the mention of the new milestone, the New Hampshire audience clapped wildly, so much so that clock-minder Blitzer felt compelled to shush them by aying, "Let's try to keep the applause down."
Trying to keep the applause down for support for gay rights may prove to be a bit of a challenge, given the much-changed calendar for the 2008 presidential primary/caucus season.
While many dates are still in flux, it's clear that New Hampshire and Iowa will be joined at the front end of the contest by several other gay-friendly states. Presidential wannabes who back gay rights are finding they're in sync with the very states they are stumping in.
That's new, and it hints at the welcome changes ahead in the presidential-picking season for those of us who're gay and for our friends.
After all, at this time four years ago when Democrats were jockeying for the chance to take on President Bush, Massachusetts' top court had yet to even issue its groundbreaking ruling saying gay couples must be allowed to marry, and only tiny Vermont had civil unions.
Key states await
Let's take a quick peek at some key 2008 states: Starting with Iowa, still
expected to kick off the candidate culling on Jan. 14, Gov. Chet Culver signed a bill May 25 to prohibit job and other discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Twenty states now ban anti-gay job bias, including primary and caucus heavy hitters like California, Nevada, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire.
Even on gay parenting, America is growing up. Want proof? The White House's Web site features a photo of Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife proudly showing off their new grandbaby, Samuel, above a wonderfully accurate caption: "His parents are the Cheneys' daughter Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe." (To see this historic photo, Google "Cheney + grandchild photo.")
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/opinion/l11civil.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
June 11, 2007
Unions, Civil and Religious (2 Letters)
To the Editor:
In "The Inadequacy of Civil Unions" (editorial, June 7) you claim that "inestablishing civil unions two years ago, Connecticut lawmakers created aseparate and inherently inferior institution that continues to deny gaycouples the equality they seek and deserve."
The solution: get the state out of the marrying business.
What the government should be conferring upon its citizens (regardless ofgender choice), is civil union with all of the legal rights that thisconveys. The spiritual blessings of marriage, when desired, should beconveyed by the clergy, using whatever criteria their religious persuasionconsiders appropriate.
Then there wouldn't be a second class of citizens, and churches wouldn't beobligated to violate what it regards as sacred law, to convey deserved legalrights.
Ross S. Basch
New York, June 7, 2007
.
To the Editor:
I long for the day that the citizens of this country finally agree that allforms of discrimination is wrong - morally and legally.
The bogus arguments against gay marriage are not even worth repeating. Icertainly don't believe that my marriage would somehow be degraded if gaysmarried.
I have one question for those who are against gay marriages: What benefitsaccrue to our society from a policy that makes others unhappy?
The real answer is none.
Salvatore J. Bommarito
New York, June 7, 2007
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/us/11legislature.html?pagewanted=print
June 11, 2007
States Finding Fiscal Surprise: A Cash Surplus
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
State lawmakers across the country, their coffers unexpectedly full of cash,have been handing out tax cuts, spending money on fixing roads, schools andpublic buildings, and socking something away for less fruitful years.
Budget surpluses have largely stemmed from higher than expected taxcollections - corporate tax revenues alone were 11 percent higher thanbudget estimates - and booming local economies. There has also been somerelief in Medicaid spending, which fell from an 11 percent annual growthrate to something closer to 7 percent in the past few years.
More than 40 states have found themselves with more money than they plannedas they wound down their regular sessions. Governors in 23 of those statesproposed tax cuts, and a majority of states with surpluses chose to shore uptheir roads, schools and rainy day funds. For example, lawmakers in Utahagreed to a $1 billion bond act to fix state roads and add lane miles, whilein Idaho state spending on education outpaced that on Medicaid for the firsttime in 20 years.
The extra cash over the last two budget sessions (many states work on atwo-year cycle) is at the highest level since 2000, state budget expertssay. States, burned by several years of shortfalls, kept their estimates oftotal revenues on the conservative side and are now reaping plenty.
"Because states cut back so in the early part of the decade," said RayScheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association,"they put off maintenance, they put off building, things like that, so theyare beginning to do some one-time spending."
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WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000958_pf.html
Don't Ask the Republicans
Candidates for president get it all wrong on gays in the military.
Monday, June 11, 2007; A16
WHEN IT CAME to answering questions in the New Hampshire debates last weekabout the Defense Department's wrongheaded "don't ask, don't tell" policy ongays in the military, all the Democratic candidates for president got itright: The policy should be scrapped. What was appalling was the responsefrom the Republican contenders. If they didn't try to avoid the question bysteering the conversation to the Iraq war or immigration, they praised thepolicy and engaged in tired explanations for why gays and lesbians shouldnot openly serve their country.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, after trying unsuccessfully tochange the subject the conversation to immigration, said that "you don'tpunish people for their attitudes; you punish them if their behavior createsa problem." Yes, people should be punished for bad behavior. But they shouldnot be discharged for who they are. Former New York mayor Rudolph W.Giuliani declared, "At a time of war, you don't make fundamental changeslike this." Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney agreed. "This is notthe time to put in place a major change, a social experiment, in the middleof a war going on," he said. And Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) pronounced: "Thepolicy is working."
No. It's not working. It's harming people who want to honorably serve theircountry, and it's harming the country they want to serve.
"Don't ask, don't tell" was a messy compromise that President Bill Clintonsigned into law in 1993 to quell a rebellion among military brass andCongress over his effort to keep a campaign promise to end the ban on gaysin the military. As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) said in theDemocrats' ebate, "It was a transition policy." While the Republicancandidates used the war in Iraq as an excuse for inaction on this issue, Ms.Clinton poignantly used the war to show how the policy is hurting ourtroops. "We've had Arabic linguists discharged under 'don't ask, don't tell'when we are, unfortunately, so short of having people who speak the verylanguage that our men and women in uniform have to understand in the streetsof Baghdad," she said. Since 1993, more than 11,000 people, including 58Arabic linguists, have been drummed out of the armed forces just for beinggay.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who was in Congress during the battlethat brought about "don't ask, don't tell," said, "This is ridiculous. . . .This is not a rational policy." Considering that gays and lesbians areserving openly in 24 countries, including staunch allies Israel, Australiaand Britain, Mr. Biden is absolutely right.
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washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061001266_pf.html
Street Fest Lets Gays Revel in Freedom
Rural Couples Enjoy Openness Among City Peers
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 11, 2007; B08
Among the tight T-shirts, the leather vests and rainbow-colored mohawks atthe District's gay pride street festival yesterday, a couple of guyswandered down Pennsylvania Avenue in matching Dallas Cowboys T-shirts andkhaki cargo shorts.
Where they live -- in Winchester, Va., less than two hours' drive -- "youhave to keep quiet, try not to draw any attention to yourself," said DavidMauk, 36.
"We can't do this," he added, holding up the clasped hand of his partner,Jeremy Mullens, 29.
That's why the couple and hundreds of other small-town gay Americans headedto the District for the 32nd annual Capital Pride street festival. Thecelebration culminated a week of events that included a ladies dance, a promfor youth, a transgender dinner and dance and a Mr. and Ms. Capital PrideLeather competition.
Since the first gay rights rallies were organized to commemorate the 1969Stonewall riots, sparked when police raided a gay bar in New York'sGreenwich Village, gay pride events have proliferated in cities large andsmall throughout the country.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-aparade11jun11,0,5321542,print.story
Sao Paulo gay pride parade draws more than 3 million
By Stan Lehman
The Associated Press
June 11, 2007
SAO PAULO, Brazil · Millions packed the streets of Sao Paulo for whatorganizers said was the world's largest gay pride parade, dancing and wavingrainbow flags in a carnival-like atmosphere to condemn homophobia, racismand sexism.
At least 3 million filled the canyon-like Paulista Avenue, organizers said,surpassing last year's count of 2.5 million. The larger count was confirmedby a police spokesman who is not authorized to be quoted by name underdepartment rules.
"This is the biggest parade on the planet," Tourism Minister Marta Suplicysaid. "Our city is showing, once again, its respect for diversity."
In comparison, recent gay pride parades in New York and San Francisco havedrawn tens of thousands, and world gay pride day celebrations in Berlin in2004 attracted between 200,000 and 500,000 participants.
Parade organizer Nelson Matias Pereira said this year's participants areappealing for a "world where racism, sexism and homophobia, in all theirforms, no longer exist."
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The Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-apowell11jun11,0,3398031,print.story
Powell backs closing prison for detainees
By Paul Richter
Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2007
WASHINGTON · Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called Sunday for theclosing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a rethinking of the"don't ask, don't tell" policy he authored as head of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff. The public comments represent Powell's effort to further distancehimself from the Bush administration he once served.
A key architect of the Pentagon's policy on homosexual troops, Powell saidthe country "is moving away" from the attitudes about gay people it had in1993, when the policy was adopted. But he stopped short of calling for aredesign while the country is "at war."
Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Powell urged that the military commissionsystem for accused terrorists be scrapped and detainees at Guantanamo betaken to the United States and handled through the federal justice system.The United States continues to hold about 380 persons in the detentioncenter, despite the complaints of human-rights advocates and other foreignand domestic critics. Their continued imprisonment there, he said, has"shaken the belief of the world in America's justice system."
Responding to defenders of the system who are reluctant to allow detaineesaccess to lawyers and judicial protections, Powell said, "So what? Let them... America, unfortunately, has 2 million people in jail, all of whom hadlawyers and access to writs of habeas corpus ... We can handle bad people inour system."
With authoritarian world leaders citing Guantanamo to "hide their ownmisdeeds," he said, Guantanamo "is causing us far more damage than any goodwe get from it."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cdems11jun11,0,6850681,print.story
Florida Democrats, meeting in Hollywood, make plans to woo Hispanic voters
By Anthony Man
Political Writer
June 11, 2007
HOLLYWOOD · No longer willing to write off Hispanics on the assumption thatthey're automatically Republican voters, Florida Democrats are increasinglycourting them as a promising source of support.
"We're not going to cede one Hispanic vote," said U.S. Rep. Debbie WassermanSchultz, D-Weston, one of dozens of elected officials at a weekendDemocratic Party conference at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.
Invigorating the party's efforts to court Hispanic voters could yield apowerful advantage for Democrats, but Wasserman Schultz said Hispanic votersoften get too little attention in South Florida campaigns.
"People automatically think Republican and they're totally wrong," she said."In election after election in South Florida, Hispanics are the swing votethat makes the difference."
State Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, agreed. "They will go `Viva Bush' oneyear and they will go viva someone else another year."
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NationalGayNews.com
http://nationalgaynews.com/content/view/799/176/
Monday, 11 June 2007 09:00
The OutField
by Dan Woog
Outward Bound courses are intense. During nine days in the wilderness,teenagers can learn more about themselves and the world than in a decade ofschool. That's particularly true when the program includes leadership anddiversity training, like those with instructor Kaki Flynn.
So the out lesbian - a former University of North Carolina rower, and highschool track and cross country captain - was surprised when, on the finalday of a course in the summer of 2006, a "Take a Stand" exercise stirred upa welter of antigay feelings.
In this exercise, Flynn and other leaders offered a variety of statements.After each, participants placed themselves on a continuum, ranging from"strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Topics included women's rights, themilitary, and this: "Gay people should be married and have children."
Five of the 12 teenagers disagreed with that statement. "These are kids whogo back and become leaders in their schools, and on their teams," Flynnsays. "I told them I was hurt. They said they liked me, but I was'different' from other gay people."
A few months ago, a boy who had strongly disagreed that gays should marrye-mailed Flynn. He said he missed her and everyone on the course. Hementioned his MySpace page, so she checked it out. It was festooned withrainbows and gay references.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid45869.asp
June 09, 2007
Task Force urges Congress to abandon abstinence-only sex education
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is urging Congress to removeabstinence-only funding from the Labor Health and Human ServicesAppropriation Bill, according to a press release sent Friday. The bill is tobe voted on next week by the House Appropriations Committee.
While the legislation includes much-needed increases in funding for HIV/AIDSprevention, runaway and homeless youth, and domestic violence programs, italso includes large increases in abstinence-only funding for the CommunityBased Abstinence Education program, the government's largest abstinence-onlyfunding program.
Several studies have shown abstinence-only sex education to be largelyineffective. In a study posted by the National Campaign to Prevent TeenPregnancy, over 60% of men and women have had sexual intercourse by their18th birthday. In 2005 a report released by the National Center for HealthStatistics showed that just over half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19have engaged in oral sex.
"It is appalling that anyone would even consider increasing funds for athoroughly debunked and harmful program like abstinence-only education,"Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,explained in the press release.
Abstinence-only sex education often omits information on safer-sexpractices; instead, it urges teenagers to wait until marriage to have sexualintercourse. According to the press release, this approach tends toincorporate religious doctrine, inaccurate medical information, andstereotypes about the LGBT community. It completely fails to address theneeds of gay and lesbian teenagers.
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365gay.com
http://365gay.com/opinion/libby/libby.htm
Marriage Dollars and Sense
by Libby Post
The French philosopher Voltaire said "When it is a question of money,everybody is of the same religion." If that were true in 21st centuryAmerica, all the controversy about same-sex marriage would be a thing of thepast, because there's money to be made when we say, "I do."
New York City Comptroller William Thompson issued a study this week entitledLove Counts: The Economic Benefits of Marriage Equality for New York. In ithe concluded that the economic windfall for the state and the city in thefirst three years after Governor Spitzer's proposed same-sex marriage billbecomes law is quite substantial-to the tune of $184 million.
The potential greenbacks would come primarily from the spending of in andout of state gays who have their weddings here as well as the bucks theirout of town guests will part with to help celebrate the love of theirlesbian and gay friends.
So how many weddings are we talking about? Well, the Comptroller used theexperience of Massachusetts where approximately 51 percent of the same-sexcouples had nuptials. According to the U.S. Census, there were 50,854same-sex couples living in New York State in 2005. 23,321 were in New YorkCity. So we're talking a little over 25,000 couples across the state sayingI do.
Couple the money they'll be spending on their weddings with the cash 56,000out of state couples who come to New York to get married will be laying out,we're talking about $184 million coming into the state's economy over athree year period-that's nothing to sneeze at.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061007romania.htm
Attackers Stone Romania Gay Rights March
by The Associated Press
Posted: June 10, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET
(Bucharest) Police used tear gas against protesters who hurled stones at theannual gay rights parade in the Romanian capital Saturday, officials said.
About 100 people were detained for throwing stones and fireworks at policeand about 400 participants in the gay rights march, said Christian Ciocan, apolice spokesman. Police responded with tear gas. Nobody was injured, hesaid.
"We regret that our opponents use violence ... Police only did their job toprotect an authorized march," said Florin Buhuceanu, one of the organizersof the gay rights march. "It is our right to express our beliefs and we willnot renounce in the face of violence."
Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001.
On Tuesday, two men leaving a Bucharest cinema that hosts the annual "GayFest" festival were beaten by eight attackers. Police stopped the attack andarrested several people.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061107brownback.htm
Brownback: No Surrender On Opposing Gay Marriage, Abortion
by The Associated Press
Posted: June 11, 2007 - 8:30 am ET
(Taylors, South Carolina) Sen. Sam Brownback, campaigning for presidentbefore the National Catholic Men's Conference over the weekend, questionedwhether rape victims should get abortions.
"Rape is terrible. Rape is awful. Is it made any better by killing aninnocent child? Does it solve the problem for the woman that's been raped?"the Kansas Republican asked at the St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers gathering.
"We need to protect innocent life. Period," Brownback said, bringing thecrowd of about 500 to its feet.
Brownback also talked about keeping marriage between a man and a woman,saying nations that have allowed same-sex marriages were engaging in badsocial experiments, with bad results.
He also encouraged married couples to stay together, saying studies haveshown that if couples weather hard times for five years, their marriagestend to last. After five years, "people are happier than those who have hada divorce," Brownback said.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Principal Moscow Gay Pride Organiser Alekseev Also Guilty
Fined, but plans to appeal â?" to European Court if necessary
The main organiser of Moscow Gay Pride was today found guilty of disobeyingpolice officers while breaching traffic rules on May 27 as he and otheractivists, including European parliamentarians tried to deliver a petitionto Moscow City Hall signed by around 50 Members of the European Parliament.
Nikolai Alekseev was fined 1,000 roubles (£20, Ë?29, $39), the same asco-organiser and leader of the â?oRussian Radicalsâ? movement NikolaiKhramov when he was found guilty yesterday in the same court.
After the hearing, Mr. Alekseev vowed that he would not pay the fine andwould be launching an appeal to the Moscow Tverskoy District Court.
â?oThe court session looked like a farce,â? he said. â?oThe judge refusedto admit photo and video evidence proving that we had not disturbed law andorder.â?
He said he considered his detention, during the May 27 action in support ofthe rights of sex minorities, was illegal. Mr. Alekseev â?" along with Mr.Khramov and another Gay Pride organiser â?" was kept in police custody for24 hours before being brought to court where he was released.
On May 28 the judge considered witness evidence by European politicians.But this was not taken into account in todayâ?Ts hearing.
Two police officers testified in court on the circumstances of Mr.Alekseevâ?Ts detention.
However, Mr. Alekseev claimed that â?onone of the officers were, in fact,involved in my detention, which, he pointed out, can be proven withphotographic evidenceâ?.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.afa.net/aatemplate/images/bottom.jpg>
June 8, 2007
Boycott helps drop Ford sales 6.8% in May
General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota sales increase during same period
For the 13th month out of the last 15, the boycott of Ford Motor Company byAFA and other pro-family groups has helped cause Ford to lose sales. Salesdropped 6.8% during May when compared with May 2006.
The drop came as sales for GM [up 9.6%], Chrysler [up 4.3%] and Toyota [up14%] were all increasing. Of the big four, only Ford showed a loss.
AFA has identified Ford as a leading corporate promoter of homosexualmarriage and the homosexual agenda. For more information on Ford'spromotion of the homosexual lifestyle, click here
Even while losing billions of dollars and laying off of thousands ofemployees, Ford continues to financially support various homosexual groups.
Despite the effectiveness of the boycott, the mainstream media has refusedto cover the story. Had homosexuals been boycotting Ford, the boycott wouldhave been given extensive play in the mainstream media.
Because the mainstream media refuses to cover the boycott, AFA is askingthat individuals forward this e-mail to friends and family.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
[euro-queer] Russia: Moscow gay parade organizers left thecourtroom in protest
Moscow gay parade organizers left the courtroom in protest
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3176
Moscow, June 9, Interfax - The organizers of a failed gay parade in Moscowleft the courtroom in protest on Saturday as the administrative punishmentfor one of the parade organizers, Nikolay Alexeyev, was being considered.
"It was some sort of farce in the courtroom. The judge rejected all ourrequests that photo and video documents showing that we did not violatepublic order be attached to the case, and said there was enough otherevidence in the case," Alexeyev said to Interfax.
Two police officers testified in court on the circumstances of Alexeyev'sdetention, Alexeyev said. He, however, claimed that "none of them in factwas involved in my detention," which, he said, can be proven withphotographic evidence.
Also on Friday another organizer of the event, Nikolay Khramov, the leaderof the Russian Radical organization, was found guilty and fined 1,000rubles.
The gay parade organizers were accused of resisting the police.
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Forwarded from EuroQueer Groups
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
Dear all:
Just back from Bucharest. There is plenty of news items on this years pride, byt in Romanian. :)
A counter march took part in the morning of Saturday with some 300 people,extreme right, neo-nazis and Orthodox priests together screaming "no tofaggots" and carrying homophobic slogans. They were met on the way of the march by left activists (not ACCEPT) with posters saying "All Different - All Equal".
This is where the clashes occured.
The march itself started at 17:00, and some 400 participants took part, LGBT and their supporters, protected by some 800 policemen. It lasted for 1,5 hours, and attempts were made by extreme right to "intervene" in the march and attack the participants. But the police did a very professional work, and being in themarch one could only hear the incidents and not see them. The participantswere guarded by tall iron police trucks on one side, which, being literally half ameter behind each other, formed a protection fence, behind which most of theviolence occured. And hundreds of policemen stood on the other side of themarch, also forming a "live fence of protection". Knowing that most of theattacks on the LGBT community happened last year in the metro stations afterthe end of the march, the police was heavily present there, and beforealloing pride participants to get down into the metro, "cleared" it from neo-nazisandensured safety. As of the end of Sunday, no reports of attacks on prideparticipants after the march were received.
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Forwarded from EuroQueer Groups
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09656251.htm
Protesters clash with police at Romania gay parade
BUCHAREST, June 9 (Reuters) - Romanian riot police detained dozens ofmilitant protesters on Saturday as hundreds tried to violently break up agay rights march in the capital, Bucharest.
Around 500 gay activists marched through the city to demonstrate againstdiscrimination in this essentially conservative country and to call for thelegalisation of same-sex marriages.
Police fired tear gas to hold the protesters at bay after hundreds threwstones and attempted to break through protective cordons manned by 700officers.
Gays are viewed with hostility by much of the public as many people in thecountry of 22 million largely accept the powerful Orthodox church's view ofhomosexuality as a sin and a disease.
"No one was hurt during the parade, we detained dozens of violent (any-gay)
protesters," police spokesman Christian Ciocan told Reuters.
"We deeply regret that our opponents use violent ways to express themselves.Our march was peaceful," Florin Buhuceanu, one of the parade organisers toldRealitatea TV.
Although homosexuality is legal in Romania, which joined the European Unionthis year, thousands were jailed during the communist era after a 1968 ban.
Hundreds more were sent to prison after the 1989 bloody revolution whichousted Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
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Forwarded from EuroQueer Groups
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
Activists demand legal recognition of same sex couples
08/06/2007 - 17:35:08
Gay rights activists marked the beginning of Dublin's Pride festival bydemanding the next government prioritise legislation recognising same sexcouples.
The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) said the election manifestos ofall parties included commitments to giving legal recognition to same sexpartnerships.
As talks continue over the formation of a new government for the 30th DáilGLEN was among the groups lobbying to have its concerns forced to the top ofthe agenda.
"The Programme for a new government provides a key opportunity to act onthis consensus for change" said GLEN's Eoin Collins.
"The Government Working Group on Domestic Partnership (the Colley Group) asidentified the way forward, coming out strongly for equality based legalrecognition of same-sex couples.
"GLEN urges all parties to support the implementation of the Colley WorkingGroup report in the next programme for government and to enact legislationat the earliest opportunity."
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COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD AWARDS A JOHN C. GRAVES CHARITABLE FUND
GRANT TO GLSEN SOUTH FLORIDA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contacts:
Donald Cavanaugh 561-582-0971
dcavanaugh@glsensouthflorida.org
Chip Arndt PR Director
305.895.9466 x113
chip@arndtstrategies.com
Fort Lauderdale /Miami, Florida (May 20, 2007 ) -- GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) South Florida has received a grant of $10,000 from the John C. Graves Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward to support its Safe School Project.
"We are thrilled to receive this generous gift from the John C. Graves Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward," said GLSEN South Florida executive director, Robert Loupo. "We are expanding the Safe School Project into Broward and this money will help improve the lives of hundreds of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) youth."
According to Loupo, the Safe Schools Project is a four-pronged program designed to help make schools safer for all students, with special attention to the issues facing sexual minorities in the schools. "We train educators, empower youth, educate the public and maintain a continuous feedback loop to refine and improve our programs," he said.
"We are pleased to be able to help expand the fine work GLSEN South Florida has been doing for years," said Carl Trough a trustee for the John C. Graves haritable Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward. "We know how difficult it can be for gay kids in schools and other environments and the work GLSEN South Florida does is so important to helping make things better for them. As a long time close friend of John's I know that he'd be pleased with our support for this project considering his background as an openly gay man and an educator."
GLSEN South Florida continues its history of 16 years helping make South Florida schools safer for all students, faculty and staff regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, real or perceived. For more information visit www.glsensouthflorida.org.
The Community Foundation of Broward's mission is to provide leadership on community solutions, and foster philanthropy that connects people who care with causes that matter. A public organization with more than $70 million in assets, it has allocated $30 million to the community since its founding in 1984. For Good. For Ever. For more information please visit ww.cfbroward.org.
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070611/OPINION03/706110304
The Detroit News
Deb Price
Gay-friendly states influence presidential race
At the recent Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer started a question about rights for gay couples by noting that the state's governor had just a few days earlier signed civil unions into law.
At the mention of the new milestone, the New Hampshire audience clapped wildly, so much so that clock-minder Blitzer felt compelled to shush them by aying, "Let's try to keep the applause down."
Trying to keep the applause down for support for gay rights may prove to be a bit of a challenge, given the much-changed calendar for the 2008 presidential primary/caucus season.
While many dates are still in flux, it's clear that New Hampshire and Iowa will be joined at the front end of the contest by several other gay-friendly states. Presidential wannabes who back gay rights are finding they're in sync with the very states they are stumping in.
That's new, and it hints at the welcome changes ahead in the presidential-picking season for those of us who're gay and for our friends.
After all, at this time four years ago when Democrats were jockeying for the chance to take on President Bush, Massachusetts' top court had yet to even issue its groundbreaking ruling saying gay couples must be allowed to marry, and only tiny Vermont had civil unions.
Key states await
Let's take a quick peek at some key 2008 states: Starting with Iowa, still
expected to kick off the candidate culling on Jan. 14, Gov. Chet Culver signed a bill May 25 to prohibit job and other discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Twenty states now ban anti-gay job bias, including primary and caucus heavy hitters like California, Nevada, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire.
Even on gay parenting, America is growing up. Want proof? The White House's Web site features a photo of Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife proudly showing off their new grandbaby, Samuel, above a wonderfully accurate caption: "His parents are the Cheneys' daughter Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe." (To see this historic photo, Google "Cheney + grandchild photo.")
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/opinion/l11civil.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
June 11, 2007
Unions, Civil and Religious (2 Letters)
To the Editor:
In "The Inadequacy of Civil Unions" (editorial, June 7) you claim that "inestablishing civil unions two years ago, Connecticut lawmakers created aseparate and inherently inferior institution that continues to deny gaycouples the equality they seek and deserve."
The solution: get the state out of the marrying business.
What the government should be conferring upon its citizens (regardless ofgender choice), is civil union with all of the legal rights that thisconveys. The spiritual blessings of marriage, when desired, should beconveyed by the clergy, using whatever criteria their religious persuasionconsiders appropriate.
Then there wouldn't be a second class of citizens, and churches wouldn't beobligated to violate what it regards as sacred law, to convey deserved legalrights.
Ross S. Basch
New York, June 7, 2007
.
To the Editor:
I long for the day that the citizens of this country finally agree that allforms of discrimination is wrong - morally and legally.
The bogus arguments against gay marriage are not even worth repeating. Icertainly don't believe that my marriage would somehow be degraded if gaysmarried.
I have one question for those who are against gay marriages: What benefitsaccrue to our society from a policy that makes others unhappy?
The real answer is none.
Salvatore J. Bommarito
New York, June 7, 2007
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/us/11legislature.html?pagewanted=print
June 11, 2007
States Finding Fiscal Surprise: A Cash Surplus
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
State lawmakers across the country, their coffers unexpectedly full of cash,have been handing out tax cuts, spending money on fixing roads, schools andpublic buildings, and socking something away for less fruitful years.
Budget surpluses have largely stemmed from higher than expected taxcollections - corporate tax revenues alone were 11 percent higher thanbudget estimates - and booming local economies. There has also been somerelief in Medicaid spending, which fell from an 11 percent annual growthrate to something closer to 7 percent in the past few years.
More than 40 states have found themselves with more money than they plannedas they wound down their regular sessions. Governors in 23 of those statesproposed tax cuts, and a majority of states with surpluses chose to shore uptheir roads, schools and rainy day funds. For example, lawmakers in Utahagreed to a $1 billion bond act to fix state roads and add lane miles, whilein Idaho state spending on education outpaced that on Medicaid for the firsttime in 20 years.
The extra cash over the last two budget sessions (many states work on atwo-year cycle) is at the highest level since 2000, state budget expertssay. States, burned by several years of shortfalls, kept their estimates oftotal revenues on the conservative side and are now reaping plenty.
"Because states cut back so in the early part of the decade," said RayScheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association,"they put off maintenance, they put off building, things like that, so theyare beginning to do some one-time spending."
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WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000958_pf.html
Don't Ask the Republicans
Candidates for president get it all wrong on gays in the military.
Monday, June 11, 2007; A16
WHEN IT CAME to answering questions in the New Hampshire debates last weekabout the Defense Department's wrongheaded "don't ask, don't tell" policy ongays in the military, all the Democratic candidates for president got itright: The policy should be scrapped. What was appalling was the responsefrom the Republican contenders. If they didn't try to avoid the question bysteering the conversation to the Iraq war or immigration, they praised thepolicy and engaged in tired explanations for why gays and lesbians shouldnot openly serve their country.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, after trying unsuccessfully tochange the subject the conversation to immigration, said that "you don'tpunish people for their attitudes; you punish them if their behavior createsa problem." Yes, people should be punished for bad behavior. But they shouldnot be discharged for who they are. Former New York mayor Rudolph W.Giuliani declared, "At a time of war, you don't make fundamental changeslike this." Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney agreed. "This is notthe time to put in place a major change, a social experiment, in the middleof a war going on," he said. And Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) pronounced: "Thepolicy is working."
No. It's not working. It's harming people who want to honorably serve theircountry, and it's harming the country they want to serve.
"Don't ask, don't tell" was a messy compromise that President Bill Clintonsigned into law in 1993 to quell a rebellion among military brass andCongress over his effort to keep a campaign promise to end the ban on gaysin the military. As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) said in theDemocrats' ebate, "It was a transition policy." While the Republicancandidates used the war in Iraq as an excuse for inaction on this issue, Ms.Clinton poignantly used the war to show how the policy is hurting ourtroops. "We've had Arabic linguists discharged under 'don't ask, don't tell'when we are, unfortunately, so short of having people who speak the verylanguage that our men and women in uniform have to understand in the streetsof Baghdad," she said. Since 1993, more than 11,000 people, including 58Arabic linguists, have been drummed out of the armed forces just for beinggay.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who was in Congress during the battlethat brought about "don't ask, don't tell," said, "This is ridiculous. . . .This is not a rational policy." Considering that gays and lesbians areserving openly in 24 countries, including staunch allies Israel, Australiaand Britain, Mr. Biden is absolutely right.
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washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061001266_pf.html
Street Fest Lets Gays Revel in Freedom
Rural Couples Enjoy Openness Among City Peers
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 11, 2007; B08
Among the tight T-shirts, the leather vests and rainbow-colored mohawks atthe District's gay pride street festival yesterday, a couple of guyswandered down Pennsylvania Avenue in matching Dallas Cowboys T-shirts andkhaki cargo shorts.
Where they live -- in Winchester, Va., less than two hours' drive -- "youhave to keep quiet, try not to draw any attention to yourself," said DavidMauk, 36.
"We can't do this," he added, holding up the clasped hand of his partner,Jeremy Mullens, 29.
That's why the couple and hundreds of other small-town gay Americans headedto the District for the 32nd annual Capital Pride street festival. Thecelebration culminated a week of events that included a ladies dance, a promfor youth, a transgender dinner and dance and a Mr. and Ms. Capital PrideLeather competition.
Since the first gay rights rallies were organized to commemorate the 1969Stonewall riots, sparked when police raided a gay bar in New York'sGreenwich Village, gay pride events have proliferated in cities large andsmall throughout the country.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-aparade11jun11,0,5321542,print.story
Sao Paulo gay pride parade draws more than 3 million
By Stan Lehman
The Associated Press
June 11, 2007
SAO PAULO, Brazil · Millions packed the streets of Sao Paulo for whatorganizers said was the world's largest gay pride parade, dancing and wavingrainbow flags in a carnival-like atmosphere to condemn homophobia, racismand sexism.
At least 3 million filled the canyon-like Paulista Avenue, organizers said,surpassing last year's count of 2.5 million. The larger count was confirmedby a police spokesman who is not authorized to be quoted by name underdepartment rules.
"This is the biggest parade on the planet," Tourism Minister Marta Suplicysaid. "Our city is showing, once again, its respect for diversity."
In comparison, recent gay pride parades in New York and San Francisco havedrawn tens of thousands, and world gay pride day celebrations in Berlin in2004 attracted between 200,000 and 500,000 participants.
Parade organizer Nelson Matias Pereira said this year's participants areappealing for a "world where racism, sexism and homophobia, in all theirforms, no longer exist."
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The Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-apowell11jun11,0,3398031,print.story
Powell backs closing prison for detainees
By Paul Richter
Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2007
WASHINGTON · Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called Sunday for theclosing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a rethinking of the"don't ask, don't tell" policy he authored as head of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff. The public comments represent Powell's effort to further distancehimself from the Bush administration he once served.
A key architect of the Pentagon's policy on homosexual troops, Powell saidthe country "is moving away" from the attitudes about gay people it had in1993, when the policy was adopted. But he stopped short of calling for aredesign while the country is "at war."
Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Powell urged that the military commissionsystem for accused terrorists be scrapped and detainees at Guantanamo betaken to the United States and handled through the federal justice system.The United States continues to hold about 380 persons in the detentioncenter, despite the complaints of human-rights advocates and other foreignand domestic critics. Their continued imprisonment there, he said, has"shaken the belief of the world in America's justice system."
Responding to defenders of the system who are reluctant to allow detaineesaccess to lawyers and judicial protections, Powell said, "So what? Let them... America, unfortunately, has 2 million people in jail, all of whom hadlawyers and access to writs of habeas corpus ... We can handle bad people inour system."
With authoritarian world leaders citing Guantanamo to "hide their ownmisdeeds," he said, Guantanamo "is causing us far more damage than any goodwe get from it."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cdems11jun11,0,6850681,print.story
Florida Democrats, meeting in Hollywood, make plans to woo Hispanic voters
By Anthony Man
Political Writer
June 11, 2007
HOLLYWOOD · No longer willing to write off Hispanics on the assumption thatthey're automatically Republican voters, Florida Democrats are increasinglycourting them as a promising source of support.
"We're not going to cede one Hispanic vote," said U.S. Rep. Debbie WassermanSchultz, D-Weston, one of dozens of elected officials at a weekendDemocratic Party conference at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.
Invigorating the party's efforts to court Hispanic voters could yield apowerful advantage for Democrats, but Wasserman Schultz said Hispanic votersoften get too little attention in South Florida campaigns.
"People automatically think Republican and they're totally wrong," she said."In election after election in South Florida, Hispanics are the swing votethat makes the difference."
State Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, agreed. "They will go `Viva Bush' oneyear and they will go viva someone else another year."
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NationalGayNews.com
http://nationalgaynews.com/content/view/799/176/
Monday, 11 June 2007 09:00
The OutField
by Dan Woog
Outward Bound courses are intense. During nine days in the wilderness,teenagers can learn more about themselves and the world than in a decade ofschool. That's particularly true when the program includes leadership anddiversity training, like those with instructor Kaki Flynn.
So the out lesbian - a former University of North Carolina rower, and highschool track and cross country captain - was surprised when, on the finalday of a course in the summer of 2006, a "Take a Stand" exercise stirred upa welter of antigay feelings.
In this exercise, Flynn and other leaders offered a variety of statements.After each, participants placed themselves on a continuum, ranging from"strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Topics included women's rights, themilitary, and this: "Gay people should be married and have children."
Five of the 12 teenagers disagreed with that statement. "These are kids whogo back and become leaders in their schools, and on their teams," Flynnsays. "I told them I was hurt. They said they liked me, but I was'different' from other gay people."
A few months ago, a boy who had strongly disagreed that gays should marrye-mailed Flynn. He said he missed her and everyone on the course. Hementioned his MySpace page, so she checked it out. It was festooned withrainbows and gay references.
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The Advocate
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid45869.asp
June 09, 2007
Task Force urges Congress to abandon abstinence-only sex education
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is urging Congress to removeabstinence-only funding from the Labor Health and Human ServicesAppropriation Bill, according to a press release sent Friday. The bill is tobe voted on next week by the House Appropriations Committee.
While the legislation includes much-needed increases in funding for HIV/AIDSprevention, runaway and homeless youth, and domestic violence programs, italso includes large increases in abstinence-only funding for the CommunityBased Abstinence Education program, the government's largest abstinence-onlyfunding program.
Several studies have shown abstinence-only sex education to be largelyineffective. In a study posted by the National Campaign to Prevent TeenPregnancy, over 60% of men and women have had sexual intercourse by their18th birthday. In 2005 a report released by the National Center for HealthStatistics showed that just over half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19have engaged in oral sex.
"It is appalling that anyone would even consider increasing funds for athoroughly debunked and harmful program like abstinence-only education,"Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,explained in the press release.
Abstinence-only sex education often omits information on safer-sexpractices; instead, it urges teenagers to wait until marriage to have sexualintercourse. According to the press release, this approach tends toincorporate religious doctrine, inaccurate medical information, andstereotypes about the LGBT community. It completely fails to address theneeds of gay and lesbian teenagers.
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365gay.com
http://365gay.com/opinion/libby/libby.htm
Marriage Dollars and Sense
by Libby Post
The French philosopher Voltaire said "When it is a question of money,everybody is of the same religion." If that were true in 21st centuryAmerica, all the controversy about same-sex marriage would be a thing of thepast, because there's money to be made when we say, "I do."
New York City Comptroller William Thompson issued a study this week entitledLove Counts: The Economic Benefits of Marriage Equality for New York. In ithe concluded that the economic windfall for the state and the city in thefirst three years after Governor Spitzer's proposed same-sex marriage billbecomes law is quite substantial-to the tune of $184 million.
The potential greenbacks would come primarily from the spending of in andout of state gays who have their weddings here as well as the bucks theirout of town guests will part with to help celebrate the love of theirlesbian and gay friends.
So how many weddings are we talking about? Well, the Comptroller used theexperience of Massachusetts where approximately 51 percent of the same-sexcouples had nuptials. According to the U.S. Census, there were 50,854same-sex couples living in New York State in 2005. 23,321 were in New YorkCity. So we're talking a little over 25,000 couples across the state sayingI do.
Couple the money they'll be spending on their weddings with the cash 56,000out of state couples who come to New York to get married will be laying out,we're talking about $184 million coming into the state's economy over athree year period-that's nothing to sneeze at.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061007romania.htm
Attackers Stone Romania Gay Rights March
by The Associated Press
Posted: June 10, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET
(Bucharest) Police used tear gas against protesters who hurled stones at theannual gay rights parade in the Romanian capital Saturday, officials said.
About 100 people were detained for throwing stones and fireworks at policeand about 400 participants in the gay rights march, said Christian Ciocan, apolice spokesman. Police responded with tear gas. Nobody was injured, hesaid.
"We regret that our opponents use violence ... Police only did their job toprotect an authorized march," said Florin Buhuceanu, one of the organizersof the gay rights march. "It is our right to express our beliefs and we willnot renounce in the face of violence."
Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001.
On Tuesday, two men leaving a Bucharest cinema that hosts the annual "GayFest" festival were beaten by eight attackers. Police stopped the attack andarrested several people.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/061107brownback.htm
Brownback: No Surrender On Opposing Gay Marriage, Abortion
by The Associated Press
Posted: June 11, 2007 - 8:30 am ET
(Taylors, South Carolina) Sen. Sam Brownback, campaigning for presidentbefore the National Catholic Men's Conference over the weekend, questionedwhether rape victims should get abortions.
"Rape is terrible. Rape is awful. Is it made any better by killing aninnocent child? Does it solve the problem for the woman that's been raped?"the Kansas Republican asked at the St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers gathering.
"We need to protect innocent life. Period," Brownback said, bringing thecrowd of about 500 to its feet.
Brownback also talked about keeping marriage between a man and a woman,saying nations that have allowed same-sex marriages were engaging in badsocial experiments, with bad results.
He also encouraged married couples to stay together, saying studies haveshown that if couples weather hard times for five years, their marriagestend to last. After five years, "people are happier than those who have hada divorce," Brownback said.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Principal Moscow Gay Pride Organiser Alekseev Also Guilty
Fined, but plans to appeal â?" to European Court if necessary
The main organiser of Moscow Gay Pride was today found guilty of disobeyingpolice officers while breaching traffic rules on May 27 as he and otheractivists, including European parliamentarians tried to deliver a petitionto Moscow City Hall signed by around 50 Members of the European Parliament.
Nikolai Alekseev was fined 1,000 roubles (£20, Ë?29, $39), the same asco-organiser and leader of the â?oRussian Radicalsâ? movement NikolaiKhramov when he was found guilty yesterday in the same court.
After the hearing, Mr. Alekseev vowed that he would not pay the fine andwould be launching an appeal to the Moscow Tverskoy District Court.
â?oThe court session looked like a farce,â? he said. â?oThe judge refusedto admit photo and video evidence proving that we had not disturbed law andorder.â?
He said he considered his detention, during the May 27 action in support ofthe rights of sex minorities, was illegal. Mr. Alekseev â?" along with Mr.Khramov and another Gay Pride organiser â?" was kept in police custody for24 hours before being brought to court where he was released.
On May 28 the judge considered witness evidence by European politicians.But this was not taken into account in todayâ?Ts hearing.
Two police officers testified in court on the circumstances of Mr.Alekseevâ?Ts detention.
However, Mr. Alekseev claimed that â?onone of the officers were, in fact,involved in my detention, which, he pointed out, can be proven withphotographic evidenceâ?.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.afa.net/aatemplate/images/bottom.jpg>
June 8, 2007
Boycott helps drop Ford sales 6.8% in May
General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota sales increase during same period
For the 13th month out of the last 15, the boycott of Ford Motor Company byAFA and other pro-family groups has helped cause Ford to lose sales. Salesdropped 6.8% during May when compared with May 2006.
The drop came as sales for GM [up 9.6%], Chrysler [up 4.3%] and Toyota [up14%] were all increasing. Of the big four, only Ford showed a loss.
AFA has identified Ford as a leading corporate promoter of homosexualmarriage and the homosexual agenda. For more information on Ford'spromotion of the homosexual lifestyle, click here
Even while losing billions of dollars and laying off of thousands ofemployees, Ford continues to financially support various homosexual groups.
Despite the effectiveness of the boycott, the mainstream media has refusedto cover the story. Had homosexuals been boycotting Ford, the boycott wouldhave been given extensive play in the mainstream media.
Because the mainstream media refuses to cover the boycott, AFA is askingthat individuals forward this e-mail to friends and family.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
[euro-queer] Russia: Moscow gay parade organizers left thecourtroom in protest
Moscow gay parade organizers left the courtroom in protest
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3176
Moscow, June 9, Interfax - The organizers of a failed gay parade in Moscowleft the courtroom in protest on Saturday as the administrative punishmentfor one of the parade organizers, Nikolay Alexeyev, was being considered.
"It was some sort of farce in the courtroom. The judge rejected all ourrequests that photo and video documents showing that we did not violatepublic order be attached to the case, and said there was enough otherevidence in the case," Alexeyev said to Interfax.
Two police officers testified in court on the circumstances of Alexeyev'sdetention, Alexeyev said. He, however, claimed that "none of them in factwas involved in my detention," which, he said, can be proven withphotographic evidence.
Also on Friday another organizer of the event, Nikolay Khramov, the leaderof the Russian Radical organization, was found guilty and fined 1,000rubles.
The gay parade organizers were accused of resisting the police.
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Forwarded from EuroQueer Groups
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
Dear all:
Just back from Bucharest. There is plenty of news items on this years pride, byt in Romanian. :)
A counter march took part in the morning of Saturday with some 300 people,extreme right, neo-nazis and Orthodox priests together screaming "no tofaggots" and carrying homophobic slogans. They were met on the way of the march by left activists (not ACCEPT) with posters saying "All Different - All Equal".
This is where the clashes occured.
The march itself started at 17:00, and some 400 participants took part, LGBT and their supporters, protected by some 800 policemen. It lasted for 1,5 hours, and attempts were made by extreme right to "intervene" in the march and attack the participants. But the police did a very professional work, and being in themarch one could only hear the incidents and not see them. The participantswere guarded by tall iron police trucks on one side, which, being literally half ameter behind each other, formed a protection fence, behind which most of theviolence occured. And hundreds of policemen stood on the other side of themarch, also forming a "live fence of protection". Knowing that most of theattacks on the LGBT community happened last year in the metro stations afterthe end of the march, the police was heavily present there, and beforealloing pride participants to get down into the metro, "cleared" it from neo-nazisandensured safety. As of the end of Sunday, no reports of attacks on prideparticipants after the march were received.
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Forwarded from EuroQueer Groups
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09656251.htm
Protesters clash with police at Romania gay parade
BUCHAREST, June 9 (Reuters) - Romanian riot police detained dozens ofmilitant protesters on Saturday as hundreds tried to violently break up agay rights march in the capital, Bucharest.
Around 500 gay activists marched through the city to demonstrate againstdiscrimination in this essentially conservative country and to call for thelegalisation of same-sex marriages.
Police fired tear gas to hold the protesters at bay after hundreds threwstones and attempted to break through protective cordons manned by 700officers.
Gays are viewed with hostility by much of the public as many people in thecountry of 22 million largely accept the powerful Orthodox church's view ofhomosexuality as a sin and a disease.
"No one was hurt during the parade, we detained dozens of violent (any-gay)
protesters," police spokesman Christian Ciocan told Reuters.
"We deeply regret that our opponents use violent ways to express themselves.Our march was peaceful," Florin Buhuceanu, one of the parade organisers toldRealitatea TV.
Although homosexuality is legal in Romania, which joined the European Unionthis year, thousands were jailed during the communist era after a 1968 ban.
Hundreds more were sent to prison after the 1989 bloody revolution whichousted Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
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Forwarded from EuroQueer Groups
euro-queer@groups.queernet.org
Activists demand legal recognition of same sex couples
08/06/2007 - 17:35:08
Gay rights activists marked the beginning of Dublin's Pride festival bydemanding the next government prioritise legislation recognising same sexcouples.
The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) said the election manifestos ofall parties included commitments to giving legal recognition to same sexpartnerships.
As talks continue over the formation of a new government for the 30th DáilGLEN was among the groups lobbying to have its concerns forced to the top ofthe agenda.
"The Programme for a new government provides a key opportunity to act onthis consensus for change" said GLEN's Eoin Collins.
"The Government Working Group on Domestic Partnership (the Colley Group) asidentified the way forward, coming out strongly for equality based legalrecognition of same-sex couples.
"GLEN urges all parties to support the implementation of the Colley WorkingGroup report in the next programme for government and to enact legislationat the earliest opportunity."
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COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD AWARDS A JOHN C. GRAVES CHARITABLE FUND
GRANT TO GLSEN SOUTH FLORIDA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contacts:
Donald Cavanaugh 561-582-0971
dcavanaugh@glsensouthflorida.org
Chip Arndt PR Director
305.895.9466 x113
chip@arndtstrategies.com
Fort Lauderdale /Miami, Florida (May 20, 2007 ) -- GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) South Florida has received a grant of $10,000 from the John C. Graves Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward to support its Safe School Project.
"We are thrilled to receive this generous gift from the John C. Graves Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward," said GLSEN South Florida executive director, Robert Loupo. "We are expanding the Safe School Project into Broward and this money will help improve the lives of hundreds of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) youth."
According to Loupo, the Safe Schools Project is a four-pronged program designed to help make schools safer for all students, with special attention to the issues facing sexual minorities in the schools. "We train educators, empower youth, educate the public and maintain a continuous feedback loop to refine and improve our programs," he said.
"We are pleased to be able to help expand the fine work GLSEN South Florida has been doing for years," said Carl Trough a trustee for the John C. Graves haritable Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward. "We know how difficult it can be for gay kids in schools and other environments and the work GLSEN South Florida does is so important to helping make things better for them. As a long time close friend of John's I know that he'd be pleased with our support for this project considering his background as an openly gay man and an educator."
GLSEN South Florida continues its history of 16 years helping make South Florida schools safer for all students, faculty and staff regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, real or perceived. For more information visit www.glsensouthflorida.org.
The Community Foundation of Broward's mission is to provide leadership on community solutions, and foster philanthropy that connects people who care with causes that matter. A public organization with more than $70 million in assets, it has allocated $30 million to the community since its founding in 1984. For Good. For Ever. For more information please visit ww.cfbroward.org.
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article.
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