Police: Northern Ireland attack was homophobic
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


Police are appealing for information after a man was stabbed and beaten in his home during what they believe was a homophobic attack.

The 20-year-old Londonderry man was attacked after inviting some people back to his home in the Corrody Road area. Police say that a row broke out, which resulted in the unnamed man receiving his injuries.

Although he was hospitalised, his injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

Police have arrested one man, but are looking for more witnesses at the attack, which took place at 7am on Saturday morning.


The report is the latest in a string of attacks on gay men in the Londonderry area, as well as Northern Ireland as a whole.


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Foes of gay marriage wage untraditional fight
Supporters of a constitutional state ban gather signatures at churches, raising questions about religious political activity
JAMES MAYER


With four weeks left, supporters of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage are relying on churches and mailed-in petitions to gather the 100,840 valid signatures they need to make the November ballot.

The mostly behind-doors campaign is taking place after Sunday church services and in the homes, workplaces and neighborhoods of supporters. It's a departure from the traditional approach of collecting signatures in heavily trafficked public places.

And that makes it harder for opponents to be there to persuade people not to sign. That's significant, because it's easier and cheaper for opponents to attack a measure before it gets on the ballot than it is to defeat it at the polls.

There have been no reports of violations of signature-gathering rules, but opponents say they are working on filing complaints.



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Who's unfriendlier to gays?
Apparently, that's the candidate who should win


It's amazing to consider what passes for an attack ad these days. Consider a recent salvo from Bob Schaffer, who has been desperately trying to save his U.S. Senate campaign from being stopped by a silver bullet.

In a recent mass-mailing flier, former Congressman Schaffer notes that the Coors Brewing Co. was labeled by a magazine article as "'one of the most GAY FRIENDLY companies in the nation' for granting benefits to SAME-SEX couples."

The magazine didn't put the operative words in all-caps. The Schaffer team did that for maximum effect, and, no doubt, reading comprehension.

The target of Schaffer's salvo was Peter Coors, chairman of the brewing company that bears his family name. And though businessman Coors recognizes the legitimacy of same-sex couples, candidate Coors says marriage "is between a man and woman. I oppose the activist judges who try to change the traditional definition of marriage."


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(this is probably a trans murder, but is not being reported as one...)

After new start, man goes missing
By Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff  

When Cameron Wideman III was 12 a repeat sex offender raped him. Afterward, his mother said, he became a magnet for danger. He was arrested several times on prostitution charges. He battled cocaine addiction on and off for years. He started crossdressing and staying out all night at age 16.

Madeline Wideman worried about her son's streetwalking, and told him so. Whenever he was beaten up, she said, she took care of him.

But after years of self-destructive habits, life started to turn around for the 29-year-old Medford man when he moved into a safe house three months ago. The counselors enrolled him in a vocational program and began to rebuild his fragile self-esteem, family members said.

Wideman stopped hustling. He was hired to be a medical assistant. After years of bouncing from relatives' couches to shelters because he was unemployed and impoverished, Wideman was scheduled to start work last Tuesday.


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Canada expelled for affirming gay unions
Conservatives irate over wording. Disagreement over same-sex marriage could turn Anglicanism into 2 rival churches
 
Jonathan Petre And Jonathan Wynne-Jones
London Daily Telegraph


Conservative archbishops representing more than half of worldwide Anglicanism demanded the expulsion of the Canadian Church yesterday for describing homosexual relationships as holy.

In a significant blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, traditionalist leaders lambasted the Canadian general synod for affirming that same-sex unions had "integrity and sanctity."

They said the Canadians should be ejected, along with the liberal American Episcopal Church, which backed the consecration of Anglicanism's first openly-gay bishop last year.

Their intervention has badly damaged efforts by Williams and other Anglican leaders to broker peace between the factions on homosexuality.


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Transgendered woman sues former employer
By AVIVA L. BRANDT
The Associated Press


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Rachel Vanderthorne is secure in her womanhood, even though she was legally a man as recently as two years ago.

"I was born a girl, but I had boy stuff," Vanderthorne said, referring to her male genitalia. "I want to be accepted as who I am. It's a struggle, but I'm signed on for the duration."

Vanderthorne, 47, was an auto transmission specialist for 18 years until she was injured on the job. She then was retrained to be a customer service representative in auto dealerships' service departments.

She discovered she was good at working with customers, as good as she had been working on cars, and said she often set records for the number of repair orders she wrote.


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All-party backing for gay museum
Tania Branigan
The Guardian

All the main mayoral candidates in London are backing proposals to open a gay museum recognising and celebrating Britain's "secret history" of homosexuality.

Ken Livingstone, the current mayor, and his Conservative and Liberal Democrat challengers have pledged support for a permanent institution, including everything from early accounts of "molly houses" - the gay bars of the 18th century - to banners and T-shirts from the recent campaign against Section 28.

"I'm afraid whoever you elect, you're going to get it. What's not to like?" asked Steve Norris, the Tory candidate, admitting he "stole" the idea from the Green party's Darren Johnson, who included it in his gay-friendly manifesto for London.

"It's part of the way in which we show London to be a welcoming and enjoyable society.