Two parents? Too perplexing
Member of Springs school board drops plan due to 'heat'
By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News


COLORADO SPRINGS - An El Paso School District 11 board member on Friday withdrew his proposed resolution calling for the district to promote "stable, heterosexual, two-parent families" after it stirred a storm of controversy.

"I'm withdrawing it. It's drawing too much heat," board member Willie Breazell said of the resolution he proposed at Wednesday night's board meeting.



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Allentown to appeal ruling on gender law
Decision raises stakes in case that could have effect across the state.
By Scott Kraus
Of The Morning Call

Allentown will appeal the Lehigh County Court ruling that struck down its ordinance protecting citizens against housing and employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Philadelphia attorney Daniel J. Anders, who has represented the city in the case at no charge, said Friday the city solicitor authorized him to take the case to Commonwealth Court.

The appeal must be filed by late July, and once it is, the ordinance will remain in effect until a decision is rendered, Anders said.

Judge Alan M. Black ruled Monday that under the state Home Rule Charter Act, which governs Allentown, the city can't require businesses, occupations and employers not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.


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'Lesbians want space, not publicity'
BACHI KARKARIA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Let us call her Anamika. She does not want us to reveal her identity, and hers is "the love that dares not speak its name". Still. She is 40, middle-class, intensely political about gender, and articulate to match. But, no, she does not sport a moustache or biceps.

She doesn't eat men for breakfast, or proposition the nearest woman. All that's different about Anamika is her sexual orientation. Different, not "abnormal" or "perverted", and definitely not "un-Indian".

Her advocacy group, "Prism", speaks for the rights of all categories of marginalised sexuality. On Friday, it issued a press release against the controversial "Girlfriend" and the goons who vandalised the cinema-halls.

"Both are equally homophobic. Razdan pathologises lesbianism, tracing it to child sex abuse, instead of simply accepting it. In this he is no different from those who, threatened by anything outside the mainstream, demonise it."


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Grants available for LGBT community projects
REGISTER-PAJARONIAN STAFF REPORT


The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, through its Diversity Partnership, is offering grants to local nonprofit organizations and community groups serving the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community.

All organizations proposing to serve the needs of the LGBT community in greater Santa Cruz County are encouraged to apply. Proposals must be received by the Community Foundation by 5 p.m. on Sept. 3.

The grants, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, may be used to support projects that promote awareness of the respect for LGBT individuals, improve access to services or enhance or sustain services.

Interested applicants are encouraged to attend one of two free information sessions to learn more about the application process. Sessions will be held at the Community Foundation on June 29 and July 7, from 6-7:30 p.m. on both days. To confirm a space, call 477-0800, ext. 217.


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Hundreds set for rainbow parade


Hundreds of gay men and women are set to take to the streets of Glasgow for the city's 10th annual Pride parade.

The parade - first staged in June 1995 - will start in Blythswood Square and rally through the city centre.

Participants will carry banners in support of unity, inclusion and awareness of sexual and gender diversity.

Politicians and community activists are among those due to take part in the Pride Scotia event.


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Inquiry into sex change specialist
David Batty
The Guardian

Britain's best-known expert on transsexualism is to face a serious professional misconduct hearing after claims that he has repeatedly put his patients' health at risk, the Guardian has learned.

Consultant psychiatrist Russell Reid, a specialist in gender identity disorders, allegedly breached standards of care by inappropriately prescribing sex-changing hormones to patients and referring them for genital surgery without adequate assessment.

The General Medical Council has confirmed Dr Reid will face a charge of serious professional misconduct over the allegations, which were brought by four doctors at Charing Cross hospital in west London and some of his former patients.

The doctors include three of the UK's most senior psychiatrists in the field - Donald Montgomery, James Barrett, and Richard Green. Dr Barrett yesterday called for Dr Reid to resign from the Royal College of Psychiatrists working party on gender identity disorders: "It would seem sensible for him to resign until the inquiry is concluded, because if he is found to be deficient in his own standards of practice it might invalidate whatever conclusions the college arrives at."


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 Church’s anti-gay unions banner stolen, vandalized
TRACY KENNEDY , Register Citizen Staff


NORFOLK - When a banner promoting heterosexual marriage was cut up after 15 days of hanging outside the Immaculate Conception Church in Norfolk last month, Father John Ahern said he wasn’t upset, just a little annoyed.

He ordered an identical banner to replace the one that read "Defend Marriage Now" in black lettering on a white background. He hung it up on Wednesday.

On Friday he found the banner in tatters and spray-painted. The words "Defend" and "Marriage" were cut out.

"I really don’t understand it," he said. "It makes me really angry and frustrated that someone has done this."


The priest filed a complaint with the State Police Troop L barracks, he said. The banner is also under attack from town officials.