I am getting so tired of reading about one more vigil for one more hate crime... when will it stop? when will see stand in the streets and yell enough!!!


Gay teens hold vigil for victims of hate
Group urges tolerance, inclusion to educate
By Elbert Starks III
Beacon Journal staff writer


At a Tuesday evening candlelight vigil for hate crime victims, a group of teens talked about how sexual orientation can lead to violence and harassment, but also of how inclusion and tolerance can be used to reach out and educate others.

The vigil, held at the Church of Our Saviour on Crosby Street, was part of a program titled ``Love Against Hate.'' About 50 people attended the program, now in its second year, and it featured poems, play excerpts and a song performed by members of Glamour Pride, which stands for Gay and Lesbian Adolescents Modeling Our Pride.

Erin Wyles, 24, a facilitator for Glamour Pride, said the group isn't a support group in the traditional sense, but rather a social group for youths ages 13 to 20.



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Civil rights panel's draft criticizes Bush
By Michael Janofsky
The New York Times


WASHINGTON - The report is right there on the Internet as a "highlight" on the agency home page: "U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Assails Bush Administration Record on Civil Rights."

It refers to a lengthy draft report that churns out in footnoted detail how President Bush "has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues nor taken actions that matched his words."

The draft, prepared by the commission staff, criticizes Bush for civil rights failures in education, voting, gay and lesbian issues, affirmative action, housing, environmental justice, racial profiling and hate crimes. It concludes by saying, "Failing to build on common ground, the Bush administration missed opportunities to build consensus on key civil rights issues and has instead adopted policies that divide Americans."



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below is the country king george bush has created...
don't talk, dont think and kill the queer...

Targeted as gay by attackers, teen faces surgery
Associated Press


FORT WORTH - A North Texas high school student faces reconstructive surgery after he was severely beaten at a party by attackers who believed he was a homosexual, law officers say.

The 17-year-old's injuries in Cleburne earlier this month are under investigation as a hate crime because the three attackers made slurs derogatory to homosexuals, police Sgt. Amy Knoll said Tuesday.

Three teenagers were arrested in the Oct. 3 attack, which left the Cleburne High School senior with broken bones in his face.

"We have found no other reason whatsoever for the attack other than their belief that he was a homosexual," Knoll told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Wednesday's editions.


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watch what you say and what you think!


McCarthyism Watch
Secret Service Calls on Owner of "King George" Sign
by Matthew Rothschild

 
Secret Service Calls on Owner of "King George" SignIt was August 26, and Derek Kjar, 19, was in the backyard of his home in Salt Lake City stringing up plants in his garden


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Colombia
"Scarred bodies, hidden crimes":
Sexual Violence against women in the armed conflict


INTRODUCTION

"A stick was pushed into the private parts of an 18-year-old pregnant girl and it appeared through [the abdomen]. She was torn apart. (…) They [army-backed paramilitaries] stripped the women and made them dance in front of their husbands. Several were raped. You could hear the screams coming from a ranch near El Salado [Department of Bolívar]..."(1)

"The girls spend their lives being intimidated and threatened by guerrillas and paramilitaries. They are accused of having relationships with men from the other side. Between February and March [2004] the bodies of three girls who had been raped were found in the area. They mark their territory by leaving scars on the bodies of the women. It is a terror without sound. Sometimes they punish women for wearing low-slung jeans but other times they make them wear low-cut tops and miniskirts so that they can accompany them to their parties".(2)

All the armed groups – the security forces, paramilitaries and the guerrilla – have sexually abused or exploited women, both civilians or their own combatants, in the course of Colombia's 40-year-old conflict, and sought to control the most intimate parts of their lives. By sowing terror and exploiting and manipulating women for military gain, bodies have been turned into a battleground. The serious abuses and violations committed by all the parties to the armed conflict remain hidden behind a wall of silence fuelled by discrimination and impunity. This in turn exacerbates the violence that has been the hallmark of Colombia's internal armed conflict. It is women and girls who are the hidden victims of that conflict.


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Groups talk LGBT political issues
by Emily Tan
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.

Transgender rights are a new primary battleground for LGBT groups, according to a lively discussion yesterday between students and members of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender political organizations at the Kimmel Center.

Naomi Clark, representing the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, said one of her organization's main goals is to raise awareness about transgender people's difficulties in filling out government documents like driver's licenses, which require everyone to specify a gender.



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Law School rally pushes to end JAG recruitment
BY HEATHER RICHELS
Contributing Reporter


About 50 law students and faculty gathered on the steps of the Yale Law School Tuesday afternoon to reaffirm to U.S. Department of Defense recruiters -- and the rest of the University -- that they stand by the school's decades-old non-discrimination recruitment policy.

The rally marked the 25th anniversary of the policy, which Yale suspended in 2002 to allow military recruiters on campus after the Defense Department threatened to cut over $300 million in federal funding. The University had prevented the Judge Advocate General recruiters from participating in the Law School's interviewing program because the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on sexual orientation did not comply with the University's non-discrimination recruitment policy.


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Special report: House of Commons
Yesterday in parliament
Press Association
Wednesday October 13, 2004
(near the bottom of page)


Civil partnerships
The government pledged to overturn an attempt by peers to derail legislation that would effectively legalise gay marriage. Equality minister Jacqui Smith said the Lords was aiming to "wreck" the plans when it extended new rights for same-sex couples to long-term carers and family members.

She warned that peers' amendments would make the civil partnerships bill unworkable and claimed that some of those who had backed them were anti-gay.

Alan Duncan, the only openly gay Tory MP, backed the bill from the frontbench, insisting it promoted Conservative values. He denied civil partnerships amounted to "gay marriage" or undermined marriage, insisting the two institutions were on "similar ... but parallel lines". But former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe warned that the bill was "wrong" and would undermine the uniqueness of marriage.


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GOP Senate candidate in Oklahoma speaks of 'rampant' lesbianism in schools
By: RON JENKINS - Associated Press Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Republican Senate candidate in Oklahoma warns of "rampant" lesbianism in some schools in the state in a tape released Monday by his Democratic opponent.
The remark by Republican Tom Coburn drew a skeptical response from state educators.

"I don't believe that," said Keith Ballard, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. He said the group's attorneys "haven't said anything to me about that."


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Fundamentalists Issue 'Mayday' Over Gay Marriage
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief


(Washington) A conservative Christian group is predicting tens of thousands of people will fill the National Mall in Washington on Friday to denounce gay marriage.

Called Mayday For Marriage, the demonstration is being organized by Ken Hutcherson a former NFL player turned minister and will feature a virtual who's who of anti-gay religious leaders including James Dobson of Focus on the Family, and include GOP Senate candidate from Illinois Alan Keyes.


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State files response to appeal in gay marriage lawsuit
The Associated Press - ATLANTA


The Georgia attorney general's office has filed court papers asking the state Supreme Court not to stop a Nov. 2 vote on gay marriage.

The state filed a brief Tuesday in answer to an appeal filed by the Georgia American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and Atlanta law firm of Alston and Bird last week.

That appeal was in response to a lower court's ruling that refused to stop the statewide vote on a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage


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Banning Gay Marriage 'Would Help Polygamists' 
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff


(Salt lake City, Utah)  Same-sex couples got some unexpected support Tuesday from a group that fights polygamy.  

One of the arguments used by conservative groups which support amending the Utah constitution to ban same-sex unions has been that allowing gay marriage would open the floodgates of polygamy.

The issue of multiple spouses is an area of concern in predominantly Mormon Utah. Small breakaway Mormon sects still practice polygamy despite efforts by the state to break up the practice.


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Pensions Boost Announced for Gay Couples
By Trevor Mason, Parliamentary Editor, PA News


A pensions boost for gay couples was announced tonight by the Government following cross-party pressure.

Junior Scottish minister Anne McGuire said in future same-sex couples would be able to benefit from deceased partners’ public service pensions.

The announcement, which was cheered by MPs, will put gay couples on the same footing as married couples over public service pension rights.

It came as the Civil Partnership Bill was given a second reading by 426 to 49, majority 377, in a vote forced by Tory backbench opponents to the measure.