Transgender Twin Offers New Insight
Identical Female Twins Become Sister and Brother
(  ABCNEWS)

 While many people would assume that identical twins are exactly alike, Liana and Juan Barbachano are showing the world that in some cases, they couldn't be more different

Juan Barbachano was actually born as Juanita. She and Liana were like two peas in a pod until Juanita began to realize that she and her twin sister felt very differently about themselves. When the two played house, Juanita always wanted to be the daddy, never the mommy. And when Juanita went to bed on Christmas Eve, she wished Santa would help her wake up as a boy.


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Gays can't be expected to change, experts say
But they indicate sexual identification may differ at times
By Doug Smeath
Deseret Morning News


      Some gays and lesbians may change their self-identification at various points throughout their lives. Others cannot. The bottom line, a panel of researchers said Saturday, is that no one can — or should — be expected to.

      The panel was part of a national conference of Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays being held in Salt Lake City this weekend. On Saturday, the panel discussed the question of so-called reparative therapy, which purports to help people change from homosexual to heterosexual.


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HIV-AIDS awareness campaign held in Trinco prison
[TamilNet,]


Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) Sunday held HIV/AIDS awareness campaign for the inmates of Trincomalee prison as statistical data pointing to prison as potential environment for spreading of AIDs. A play prepared by the SLRC to educate prisoners was staged in the Trincomalee jail, sources said.


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U.S. Anglican Leader Says Gay Union Ban Unlikely
Reuters


LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Anglicans in the United States said Sunday he thought a ban on the blessing of same-sex marriages was unlikely as the Anglican Church struggles to resolve a potential schism over homosexuality.

Frank Griswold said bishops would meet in January to consider the conclusions of a report last week into a crisis between liberals and conservatives sparked by the ordination in the United States last year of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson.

The so-called Windsor report urged liberal north Americans to ban same-sex marriages and the consecration of gay bishops.


"Probably in an appropriate way pastoral care will be extended to gay and lesbian people," Griswold told BBC television in reference to the blessing of gay relationships.


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Suicide attempts among
Filipino gays on the rise


Suicides among the third-sex population in the Philippines have increased dramatically lately.

Dr. Corazon Raymundo, project coordinator of the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Studies (YAFSS), said local adolescent medicine experts are seeing an increase in suicide incidents among Filipino gays and lesbians.

“Among practitioners, we cannot deny the fact that there has been a continuing rise in suicide incidents among gays and lesbians in the country,” she noted.

Local experts believe the trend could be blamed on the conservative Filipino culture that impels families to prohibit their homosexual children from “coming out of the closet.” This conservatism clashes with the increasing liberalism in society, particularly in the expression of one’s sexuality.


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Families of gays, lesbians share tales of hate, hope
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune


This is why they have come: to hear Pat and Wally Kutteles retell the story of how their son was beaten to death by fellow soldiers who suspected he might be gay.

   And to hear of their efforts to change the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which they blame for their loss - and to join forces to work for social acceptance.

   The listeners have come for this: to offer support as a young man openly shares his anguish at being shut out by his father and his partner's parents.


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Gay nups OK to DA
Backs clerics' right to perform unions


When an upstate prosecutor decided last March to arrest the mayor of New Paltz for marrying homosexuals, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau declined to prosecute Manhattan ministers for defiantly doing the same on the steps of City Hall, saying that's a matter for the courts to decide.

Now he has gone one step further on the hot-button political issue and endorsed same-sex marriages.

"I said I had no objection to them. That's a matter for individual determination," Morgenthau said last week in recalling an answer he gave to gay rights activist Andy Humm at a recent awards dinner of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays


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Use of Dr. King's image "shameful"
By Christopher Smitherman, Cincinnati City Council Member
Guest columnist

Throughout the City of Cincinnati generally and within African-American neighborhoods specifically, one finds campaign literature that link the image of a young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the No on 3 campaign.

The campaign literature is designed to make the reader believe that Dr. King, Mrs. Coretta Scott King and The King Center do not support the repeal of Article XII. In fact, Mrs. King and The King Center do support the repeal of Article XII.

The King Center went further and stated that connecting Dr. King to No on 3 is "shameful."

I have spoken with Mr. Lynn Cothren, personal assistant to Coretta Scott King for more than 21 years. Mr. Cothren shared with me that Mrs. King does not support any type of discrimination. Furthermore, as a representative of The King Center, Mr. Cothren stated that no one from the political action committee contacted them for permission to use Dr. King's image on any literature.