Outrage That Rings False
By Hilary Rosen


Nicolle Devenish, communications director for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said Thursday that John Kerry will pay a heavy political price for what he did. Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife, said, "This is a bad man."

The crime? John Kerry in the final presidential debate suggested that we are all God's children and used Mary Cheney as an example of a healthy gay person loved by her family.

The response from the Cheneys and the Bush campaign has been blatantly political. In fact, it is they who are using Mary Cheney -- using her now to score points against Kerry and John Edwards over an issue on which they themselves are guilty of the wrongs that Kerry and Edwards are fighting against. Even after almost 30 years in Washington, I am surprised by the overwhelming hypocrisy and meanness of the Bush reelection campaign.

Let's review the facts. Before the election season, this administration opposed every initiative to offer equality for gay men and lesbians. Indeed, it has gone out of its way to be punitive, with such actions as the Office of Personnel Management's announcement that the federal government has no intention of honoring the Clinton administration's order to add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination rules in the federal government.


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NGOs call for equality and social justice
by Charlotte Bonavia, di-ve news



Reclaim the World Activity in Freedom Square
VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) -- Seventeen non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on Saturday organised a Reclaim the World activity at Freedom Square, Valletta.

The NGOs included Moviment Graffiti, Nature Trust, Malta Gay Rights Movement, Malta Council of Disabled Persons, The Arts Collective, Gaia Foundation and Third World Group.

Moviment Graffitti stated that there should be global resistance against global dominance and endorses the "Think-Global-Act-Local concept". Thus this would help in the plea for the globalisation of justice and against the division between the rich and the poor.


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SAN FRANCISCO
Gay-nuptials foes win right to defend state law
Ruling allows groups to join suit of attorney general
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer


Two groups opposed to same-sex marriage won permission from a San Francisco judge Friday to join in the defense of the state law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer was a victory for the Campaign for California Families and the Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund, who say Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a supporter of gay rights, can't be trusted to vigorously defend the law against constitutional challenges currently in the court.

Twelve same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco sued to challenge the marriage law after a California Supreme Court ruling in August that voided nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages performed at San Francisco City Hall in February and March. The marriages were authorized by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who contended the state law banning such unions -- which was passed by the California Legislature in 1977 and reaffirmed in 2000 by voters' approval of Proposition 22 -- was unconstitutional


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HIV rate soaring among Latinos
Cases of the virus among Hispanics are being diagnosed at twice the rate as those among African-Americans.
BY CHRISTINA M. WOODS
The Wichita Eagle


HIV infections among Latinos are outpacing all other ethnic groups, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported Friday.

New cases among Hispanics are being diagnosed at twice the rate of African-Americans, the health department found, and the HIV infection rate among Hispanics is more than four times that of Caucasians


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Cross-dresser alleges bias by feds
IRS agent Edwards F. Snarski II challenges his prosecution on charges of fradulently obtaining loans.
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER


SCRANTON - An Internal Revenue agent charged with identity fraud is seeking to have the charges dismissed, arguing he was unfairly targeted for prosecution because he is a cross-dresser who plans to have a sex change operation.

Edward F. Snarski II says the U.S. Attorney's Office undertook his prosecution because the IRS "did not want a transsexual as an employee." He is asking a judge to dismiss the case based on legal doctrine known as "vindictive and selective" prosecution.