sounds the amrika...

Malaysian court quashes gender-bender bid


Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian transsexual who underwent surgery to change from a woman to a man has failed in her bid to be legally registered as a male, official media reported on Thursday.

Wong Chiou Yoong, 33, underwent a sex change operation in 2002 and has tried since then to be registered as a male in all her identification papers.

However, a court from northern Perak state threw out Wong's case on Thursday, saying the country's law did not recognise transsexuals and therefore the court did not have jurisdiction to rule on the matter.  

The High Court judge said that although there were similar cases in Singapore, Australia and Britain, he had to dismiss the case as Malaysia does not have proper legislation to try people who have undergone sex change procedures


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The Election Of Homophobia And Misogyny
It Is Time To Confront Theocratic Bigotry Head On
by Vijay Prashad


Four years ago, Bush's Brain Karl Rove swore that he would not rest until the four million Evangelicals who did not vote then would turn out yesterday. And they did. They came in droves. They told those who did the exit polls that the issue that brought them to the franchise was not their own unemployment or under employment, or even the loss of their family members in a war of choice. They came to vote for "moral values."
 
After Rove told participants at an American Enterprise Institute seminar in 2001 that the goal of the Bush re-election campaign would be to make sure that all 19 million Evangelical Christians voted, his team hired Ralph Reed to take charge of the effort. Reed, the veteran of the Christian Coalition, mobilized his contacts and his good looks and went after the withheld votes.  
 
The effort began to pay off by the summer of 2004 when the National Association of Evangelicals released a report, For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility. "Because Jesus is Lord over every aspect of life," the report argued, Evangelicals should take an interest in public policy and vote to enforce their "values" over the polity. There are two sections of the document that are helpful guides to "moral values": (1) "Christian citizens of the United States must keep their eyes open to the potentially self-destructive tendencies of our society and our government... We work to nurture family life and protect children," and (2) "We work to protect the sanctity of human life and to safeguard its nature." In other words, the report highlighted the twin "moral values" of anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion, of the preservation marriage as a heterosexual institution and of the prevention of women to determine the fate of their bodies.



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Hate Crime
While Tucson has a progressive reputation, the 2002 death of Philip Walsted serves as a reminder that anti-gay hatred remains
By SAXON BURNS


It has been nearly 900 days since Jonathan’s 24-year-old partner, Philip Walsted, was bludgeoned to death in a pitch-dark side street off Tucson's Fourth Avenue. And in early 2005, the self-proclaimed white separatist accused of killing him is scheduled to stand trial.

Fearing retaliation by sympathizers of the suspected killer, Jonathan asked that his last name and the details of his current whereabouts not be used in this story. He's not only gay, but Jewish--a double whammy, he said.

Talking over the phone from the East Coast apartment he just moved into, he gives the impression that he's a realist, a self-assured man who, at 48, has the means and experience needed to overcome life's most savage moments.

But when asked about the days following Walsted's murder, Jonathan's voice, normally resounding with conviction, trails off as if his throat has tightened. It brings back painful memories and a wave of anger.


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4 lawmakers to offer gay-friendly proposals
Associated Press


HELENA - Four Democratic lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday calling for the creation of civil unions and other pro-gay laws, one day after 66 percent of Montanans voted to constitutionally ban gay marriage in the state.

But supporters of the newly passed ban say the bills are merely steps on the path to the legalization of gay marriage.

The four proposed bills will, for sure, be hotly debated during the 2005 Legislature. The bills call for Vermont-style civil unions, next-of-kin partner rights and changes to both the Montana Human Rights Act and the state's hate crimes law to include sexual orientation.

"Culture warriors have won this battle," said Karl Olson, executive director of Montana PRIDE, in response to the state's new ban on gay marriage. "But we are undaunted. We are upbeat."