Gays and Lesbians to Withhold $1.4 Billion From US Economy During October 8 Economic Boycott


ATLANTA, Aug. 25, 2004 -- The U.S. lesbian and gay population spends an average of $1.4 billion each day, totaling $500 billion a year, and Boycott For Equality is organizing a one-day nation-wide economic 'walkout' on October 8, 2004 to make that point clear.

The one-day event is designed to highlight the contribution that lesbians and gays make to the domestic economy and tax base, at the same time they are denied the full legal protections and civil liberties afforded heterosexual Americans.

"We want to remind those in our nation who don't always see the impact of our community in terms of dollars and cents that we do have real market power," said Boycott for Equality Co-Founder Dale Duncan. "We were inspired by Don't Amend Founder Robin Tyler's famous quip, 'If being gay is a disease, let's all call in sick to work' and decided to put those words into action."

Up to twenty-seven million Americans identify as being primarily lesbian or gay, yet no Federal law provides protection from discrimination in the workplace and many State and Federal laws prohibit access to the rights and responsibilities of marriage.



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Anarchist vows Bronx cheers for delegates
By Stephen McKinley


Jamie Moran, an Irish-American anarchist, says the Republican delegates coming to New York City for the 2004 Republican National Convention shouldn't expect a New York Irish welcome.

"They are going to see protestors everywhere," said Moran, who believes that New Yorkers, overwhelmingly left-leaning, will give the Republicans' Manhattan project a clear Bronx cheer.

"A lot of people who don't identify as activists or protestors will come out," Moran continued. "[The Republicans] should not be scared -- they should just be told that their agenda is crap.


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PFLAG Applauds Vice President Cheney's Honesty and Support for Daughter and Fairness For All

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), our nations premier Family voice for equality, applauds Vice President Cheney's honesty yesterday as a welcome and refreshing break from the harsh discriminatory posturing of the Bush administration that is trying to win an election on the backs of families across our nation.

"Dick Cheney, as father of a lesbian daughter demonstrated what we at PFLAG have known for a long time -- our family and friends are solid citizens and are worthy of full equal legal standing and respect in all aspects of life," emphasized PFLAG's Executive Director Ron Schlittler, "For that moment, the vice president shared his personal understanding that gay and lesbian Americans are real people with real families, and who have as valid a claim to the freedoms and promises of our great country


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Gay Movement Emerges in India
Morning Edition audio
Aug. 25, 2004


Gay men in India are using the Internet to organize social events in safe places and keep each other informed. But the country's young gay movement faces many barriers: homosexuality remains illegal, and people with AIDS are stigmatized. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports


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Anti-Obscenity Group Swears At Gay Leader


The nation’s most visible anti-obscenity organization uses internal foul language to describe Michigan’s most visible gay activist. The American Family Association (AFA) is most known for its anti-gay activism and opposition to “indecency”. AFA has called for boycotts on nearly every popular television program over the past twenty years, sometimes for no other reason than the fact that lead characters live together without being married.


AFA also opposes obscenity, indecency and other forms of foul language. Which is why it was surprising for Jeffrey Montgomery, the Executive Director of Triangle Foundation, a gay rights group, to get an email addressing him as “Dear F*ckhead.”


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Gay group protests over Mobo list


Gay rights group Outrage! has condemned the Music of Black Origin (Mobo) Awards for nominating two artists whose songs include homophobic lyrics.

Elephant Man and Vybz Cartel are both up for best reggae single. The awards take place in London on 30 September.

A Mobo spokeswoman said homophobic songs like Elephant Man's We Nuh Like Gay were from "years ago" and they have "changed their music since then".

But Outrage! said they will try to stop the awards being screened on the BBC.


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Gay Rights Groups To Announce Suit
By DANIELA ALTIMARI, The Hartford Courant


The gay rights group whose landmark victory in Massachusetts led that state's legislature to legalize same-sex marriage has turned its sights on Connecticut.

Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a New England-based civil rights group, and the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union plan to file a lawsuit in Connecticut challenging the constitutionality of the state's marriage laws, which exclude same-sex couples. The two groups will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hartford.

The move marks a dramatic shift in strategy for Connecticut gay rights activists. In the past, activists have pushed for changes in the General Assembly, not the courts.

Gay rights activists in Connecticut, led by the coalition Love Makes a Family, won a measure of legal recognition two years ago, when same-sex couples were granted a limited bundle of rights. Just last February, state Rep. Michael Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat and co-chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee, predicted that Connecticut will become the first state legislature to approve gay marriage without a court order.