Queer Anti-Smoking T-Shirts Get Students Suspended
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Salt Lake City, Utah) The American Civil Liberties Union is telling a Salt Lake City high school principal to butt out of the lives of gay students after the teens were punished for wearing "Queers Kick Ash" t-shirts to school.
School officials also threatened to ban the school's gay-straight alliance, and dozens of students wore the t-shirts today in protest.

The t-shirts draw attention to the high rate of gay teen smoking.
Last Thursday, three Hillcrest High School students who wore the shirts were punished by Assistant Principal David Breen, who told them that the shirts were inappropriate and that he disapproved of the word "queer." Two gay male students were given three options: taking the shirts off, turning them inside out, or suspension. One turned his shirt inside out and was allowed to stay at school; the other refused and was suspended. A heterosexual girl who wore the same shirt was given an additional fourth option of being sent home for the day without suspension, which she accepted.
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Fatal bashing of transvestite brings life term

Lawyers acting for a man convicted of murdering a South Auckland cross-dresser yesterday failed in a bid to get him a sentence of less than life imprisonment.

Joseph Tua Coleman, known as Bucket, was found guilty by a jury in the High Court at Auckland in March of murdering glue-sniffing George (Georgie Girl) Matehaere in December 2002.

Defence counsel Steve Bonnar and Anna Johns said that life imprisonment would be "manifestly unjust" given the circumstances of the case.
But Crown prosecutor Mark Davies argued that life was the appropriate sentence, and his view was upheld by the trial judge, Justice Barry Paterson.

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Same-sex marriage in election spotlight
Candidates’ views could influence voters’ choice
Gannett News Service

Paul Churchyard of Allouez takes a dim view of government efforts to monkey with marriage.

“Quite frankly, my marriage is none of (anybody’s) business,” said Churchyard, 39, a native of England. “I think that (President) Bush wants to dictate what marriage should or should not be.” But Stevi Mock, 20, of Green Bay draws the line at gay marriage.

“I personally don’t view (same-sex marriage as) right,” Mock said. “I have nothing against people that have that lifestyle, but I just don’t agree with it.”


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Pro-gay declaration by clergy gains more support
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic

Neither Methodist policy nor Catholic defections are curbing clergy enthusiasm for the pro-gay Phoenix Declaration.

Although five Catholic priests have followed Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted's order that they remove their names, no other clergy member has withdrawn. On the contrary, the publicity surrounding the Catholic situation is resulting in additional signatures on the statement, said the Rev. David Felten, secretary of the No Longer Silent group that drafted the declaration last year.

The Rev. John Cunningham of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, who is under investigation for celebrating Mass with a Protestant minister, was the latest Catholic priest to remove his name. Four other Catholic priests have remained on the list.

The majority of the 120 declaration signers represent denominations that cannot require clergy members to drop off, usually because the bishop or denominational leader does not possess official authority.