I put the below in since I was one of the advisers-.. and it was truly an honor to work with Julie, who offered so so much sensitivity to the subject matter..


A look at the National Book Awards finalists / Young People's Literature
LUNA, by Julie Anne Peters, Little, Brown, $16.95


For as long as he can remember, Liam has felt he was a girl trapped inside a boy's body. Now the high school senior, who secretly reveals his "inner female" only at night, says he's tired of deceit: It's time to set Luna free. His younger sister and sole confidante, Regan, has struggled to protect him while dealing with her own identity crisis. When Liam tells Regan he plans to shed his male shell and "transition" into Luna, she panics. How will the world respond, and can her brother cope with the psychological battery? Liam's macho father only makes matters worse. As Luna reveals herself, she's met by everything from crude hatred to cautious acceptance. The book sensitively probes not just the struggles of a transgender teen, but the degree to which society imposes traditional molds on men and women - and how far the scale can slide before an individual is ostracized. While Liam tries to figure out his identity, his stay-at-home mom trades her vacuum cleaner for a career, and he notices that his sister cares little about her appearance. Peters nudges readers to question why society delineates gender roles instead of encouraging people to remain true to themselves. "Luna" contains rough language and deals with suicide and sexuality. Best suited for mature teens.


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Very Town Needs A Queer Cop
by Sgt Judy Nosworthy


If I were in charge of a policing agency, one of my primary concerns would be to ensure that the people within the communities my agency policed were represented. In a large city such as Toronto, where I'm an officer, our employment unit is mandated to recruit within the communities tit serves, and we have liaison officers representing a number of our more visible minorities. The most recent addition to the Community Liaison Unit was the position of a glbt liaison officer in 2001.


In Toronto, where the glbt community is quite large and visible, a cash-conscious policing agency can certainly justify appointing a full-time constable to represent us. Recruitment continues to be a challenge, but I’m sure I’ll discuss that in another article.



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Bogus Fliers Circulating To Keep Voters Away From Polls
NAACP: Phony Letters, Fliers Targeting Minority Groups


WASHINGTON -- There are some nasty tricks being played on potential voters, according to lawyers with groups that are monitoring pre-election activities in a number of battleground states.

In the hotly contested state of Pennsylvania, some people have received official-looking phony letters that say because the turnout is going to be so large that only Republicans should vote Tuesday, and the Democrats should wait until Wednesday, which -- of course -- is too late.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Jerry Pappert said several senior citizens have reported that someone has been calling them and telling them their voter registration has expired and not to bother showing up at the polls Tuesday, reported WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pa.


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Misleading antigay phone calls being made to Michigan voters


Voters in Detroit and three other Michigan cities--Grand Rapids, Flint, and Pontiac--have been targeted by phone calls trying to get them to oppose Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry by falsely implying that Kerry would make same-sex marriage legal, a spokesman for Kerry's Michigan campaign said Monday. Both Kerry and his running mate, U.S. senator John Edwards, oppose same-sex marriage, maintaining that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman. Kerry has said he supports civil unions, however.

In the phone calls a young woman tells those answering the phone, "When you vote this Tuesday, remember to legalize gay marriage by supporting John Kerry. We need John Kerry in order to make gay marriage legal for our city. Gay marriage is a right we all want. It's a basic Democrat principle. It's time to move forward and be progressive. Without John Kerry, George Bush will stop gay marriage. That's why we need Kerry. So Tuesday, stand up for gay marriage by supporting John Kerry."


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Black voters against gay marriage not necessarily supporting Bush


Leaders of socially conservative but traditionally Democratic black churches are bucking the conventional wisdom that a vote against same-sex marriage will automatically be reflected at the top of the ticket.

Veteran civil rights leader the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, pastor of Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, sees no conflict in voting against gay marriage as a state issue and for Democrat John Kerry as president. Nationally, Shuttlesworth is less worried about marriage than about people who have no health insurance or cannot pay their utility bills. "To me, that's one of the biggest sins in the world," he said. "God sent Jesus to help the needy."