Gay, transgender community critiques task force proposals
Transgender issues prove hot-button topic at meeting
By Ekjyot Saini, Daily Staff Reporter


“We’re on a journey … the closer we get to the end, the heavier our legs get to make those final steps,” said Vice President of Student Affairs E. Royster Harper last night while delivering to a group of concerned University and community members the first report regarding the progress of the Transgender, Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Task Force


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Assembly votes against Mich. gay marriage ban
By Leslie Rott, Daily Staff Reporter


The Michigan Student Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution to oppose Proposal 2, which seeks to prevent same-sex marriages and unions in Michigan, at last night’s MSA meeting.

The debate among MSA members on whether to come out in opposition to the proposal was heated and divided.

Many of the members were against formally opposing the proposal because they felt that it is not MSA’s place to tell students what to think, although they did not advocate voting for the proposal.

However, most members agreed that MSA should formally speak out against Proposal 2.



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Gay rights produces further conflict in third Senate debate


Alan Keyes and Barack Obama both oppose gay marriage, but the issue produced some of the most confrontational moments of the third and final debate of their battle for the Senate.

The two also clashed on education and the proper role of government in a discussion that stuck to the issues but still managed to evoke harsh words from both men.

Obama criticized Keyes' argument that the children of gay couples, if born from artificial means and kept in the dark about their biological parents, could later end up unknowingly having sex with a relative. Calling it "a vicious attack," he claimed the argument was a subtle attempt to link homosexuality with incest


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Coventry's gays quizzed on city's future
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


The lesbian and gay community in Coventry is to be asked about the city's current state and it's potential future, as the local council works to better serve its minority communities.

According to the local press, Coventry City Council will be launching the project tomorrow by distributing questionnaires at local gay bar Rainbows.


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Hasty gay parade dwarfs homophobic preachers
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


A parade celebrating diversity in Bournemouth that was hastily arranged in response to a right wing Christian event dwarfed its anti-gay rivals this weekend, with high numbers turning out to show support.

The event, organised by local LGBT group Bourne Free, followed the planning of a day to support the recently deceased Harry Hammond. Hammond died earlier this year, just before he was due to challenge a fine he received for homophobic preaching in the town.


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Dec. 22 date set for same-sex marriage ban case
By Thomas Peele


SAN FRANCISCO -How many lawyers does it take to schedule a hearing?

In the case of same-sex marriage in California, 12. Thirteen if you count one on speaker phone.

After two hours of wrangling with more than a dozen lawyers Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer set a Dec. 22 date for arguments in a trial to decide whether California's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.

Kramer rejected same-sex marriage opponents' requests for a postponement to January. "We're going to have a hearing this year on the question of whether the state (ban on same-sex marriages) is constitutional."


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Student pushes for gay frat
by James Daniel
Staff Writer


When the Princeton Review names New York University one of the most accepting schools for gay and lesbian students in the country each year, not many people are surprised.

For Matt Maggiacomo, the age-old conception of fraternities as bastions of straight male exclusivity is totally out. Maggiacomo, a CAS sophomore, is making plans to start a chapter of a national gay fraternity at NYU.

Maggiacomo wants to start a colony of Delta Lambda Phi, a group that fully espouses the Greek traditions of mainstream fraternities, but which is oriented to gay, bisexual and "progressive" straight men.


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Anti-gay group stirs moral debates at ECC
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz Daily Herald Staff Writer


The simple information booth was supposed to provoke thought about the medical and sociological implications of homosexuality.

It didn't have a chance -- not on a Tuesday afternoon in The Hub, a snack bar at Elgin Community College.

Amid a stream of students as diverse in ethnicity, religion and age as ECC provides, the booth lit a firestorm of debate on the First Amendment, the Bible, bias and, of course, the nature of homosexuality.

Two men representing Downers Grove-based Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment gave out fliers making claims about the negative consequences of being gay


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Gays hope to sway close elections
By Cheryl Wetzstein
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


Homosexual voters are expected to flock to the polls on Tuesday in a bid to tip as many close elections as they can to the Democrats, with presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry likely to get 90 percent of their vote.

    What's missing in some quarters, however, is an emotional outpouring for Mr. Kerry.
    "The real question in my mind is what happens after the election," said Andy Thayer, an activist with DontAmend.com, a group that is fighting bans on homosexual "marriage."


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Troubled SoCal religious network cancels live 'Praise-a-thons'
ASSOCIATED PRESS


LOS ANGELES – The world's largest Christian broadcasting network, whose founder reportedly sought to cover up a homosexual affair with a former employee, has dropped plans for its live telethon next week and instead will show 40 hours of telethon reruns.


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Candidate's Sexual Orientation At Center Of N.C. Senate Race


Wilmington, N.C. -- A Republican state senator ran newspaper ads this week pointing out that his Democratic opponent would be the first openly gay legislator in North Carolina history, adding fuel to an already contentious race.

The ad by the campaign of Woody White included a letter from New Hanover County GOP Chairman Charlton Allen. It noted that Julia Boseman accepted thousands of dollars in donations from out-of-state gay and lesbian groups and individuals.


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EU Crisis Over Anti-Gay Politician Averted 
by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief


(Strasbourg, France) Incoming European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso retreated Wednesday, avoiding a showdown with Parliament that would have seen his whole commission rejected.

Barroso has steadfastly refused to replace anti-gay Italian Rocco Buttiglione as European Justice Commissioner, a role comparable to a cabinet position.  


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Gay couples win equal pension rights
Paul Eastham, Daily Mail


SAME-SEX partners were last night handed the same legal rights as married couples over company pensions.

For the first time, homosexuals will be able to pass the right to continue receiving the payments to their survivor.

The change was announced in the Commons by Trade Minister Jacqui Smith in the latest Government move to give gays full legal rights.

Under the change, a member of a gay couple who pays into an occupational pension scheme will be able to insist that on their death the cash should go to their 'spouse'.


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Openly gay Methodist minister to stand church trial
BY DAVID O'REILLY
Knight Ridder Newspapers


PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - The Rev. Elizabeth Stroud, a Philadelphia-area pastor in open relationship with another woman, will face a church trial Dec. 1 that will decide if her relationship violates the laws of the United Methodist Church.

The trial, which will be open to the public, is the first for the mainline denomination since a lesbian pastor in Washington was acquitted in March and allowed to maintain her post.

Stroud, 34, has been associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown since 1999. In April 2003, she told her congregation she was a lesbian living in a "covenanted relationship," effectively inviting a trial.


"I knew when I preached that sermon that this day might well come," Stroud said in a phone interview Tuesday. "I'm spiritually and mentally as prepared as I can be."