Greens launch "gay pledges" for Euro elections
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


The Green Party has launched its campaign for the European elections, by detailing pledges it hopes will end discrimination towards LGBT people across the continent.

The campaign was opened yesterday by Dr Sarah Lucas, the Green Member of European Parliament for South East England, who said that if elected, the party will work to improve the lives of LGBT people throughout the UK, as well as Europe.

Lucas said that although the EU is a valuable source in backing LGBT rights, there is still work to be done in making sure all member states comply with pro-gay laws.

"The EU is a force for anti-discrimination and Greens have been at the forefront of spreading best practice in, for example, employment rights and policing across the EU," the MEP said at the event, which was held in Brighton.
The party will campaign:

- for all EU member states to comply with the EU directive on employment protection

- to ban homophobic and transphobic discrimination in access to goods and services such as insurance and mortgages

- for the recognition of same-sex marriages and registered partnerships across the EU

- to extend the EU definition of 'family' to include LGBT partnerships

- for all EU states to adopt best practice in policing LGBT communities


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Rounds reiterates: No gay marriages
Argus Leader

Governors answer Massachusetts query
Just because scores of gay couples are rushing to get married in Massachusetts, it doesn't mean South Dakotans can make the trip out east to do the same thing.

Governors from South Dakota and other states have asked that marriage licenses not be issued to gay couples from their states.

Gov. Mike Rounds sent a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Chief of Staff Beth Myers, requesting that Massachusetts not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples from South Dakota.

In that May 13 correspondence, Rounds was doing what governors and attorneys general from all the other states have done, according to Sarah D'Souza, a Romney spokesman.


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Suit Filed Over Transsexual's Death

PHILADELPHIA (AP) The city and the mother of a slain transsexual drag show performer have settled a federal lawsuit that alleged that police and rescue workers contributed to her death.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the wrongful death lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in September by Roslyn Wilkins, the mother of Nizah Morris, 47, who was born a man but lived as a woman.

Wilkins' attorney, Lee Carpenter, said her client was pleased with the May 11 settlement but would not be satisfied until the killer is found.

"We think that the settlement will be constructive in improving the relationship between the city and the transgender community," Carpenter said Thursday. "But we haven't lost sight of the fact that we don't know what happened to Nizah and who ended her life."



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Methodists face 'tension' on gays
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
A group of local evangelical United Methodists is organizing to make sure local church leaders follow newly tightened church laws and teachings on homosexuality and gay clergy.

The effort, led by a group of 12 pastors from across Washington, follows the recent church-trial acquittal of openly lesbian minister Karen Dammann, and the denomination's subsequent gathering in Pittsburgh, where the rules against gay clergy were tightened.

While evangelical Methodists were heartened by the Pittsburgh decisions, "we really felt the (local) conference was on a course of disobedience, in conflict with historic Christian teachings," said the Rev. Gary Starkey, pastor at Westpark United Methodist Church in Yakima.

The local conference — called the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference — encompasses Washington and northern Idaho. It is generally considered liberal and has tended to be in the minority within the larger denomination on issues regarding homosexuality