welcome to g. bush's amrika-


MIAMI BEACH
Man sexually assaulted on way home
A man was beaten and sexually assaulted by a man who shouted antigay slurs at him. Police are treating the Sunday morning incident as a hate crime.
BY CASEY WOODS


A man dressed as a belly dancer for Halloween festivities was sexually assaulted by another man early Sunday morning after the victim left a South Beach nightclub.

The attacker, along with two other men, first yelled anti-gay slurs and beat the victim before attacking him. Police are treating the incident as a hate crime as well as a sexual battery.

The victim was walking home at 4:45 a.m. from the nightclub Twist, 1057 Washington Ave., when the three men began to taunt him at 11th Street and Jefferson Avenue.


They began to punch him in the stomach and the head, forcing him to the ground, then one of the men sexually assaulted him as the others looked on, police said.


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Federal Lawsuit Filed To Overturn Oklahoma's Newest Constitutional Amendment Banning Same Sex Marriages


Oklahoma's ban on gay marriage is only a couple of days old and the amendment is already being challenged.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure on Tuesday. Now, four women have filed a federal lawsuit in Tulsa trying to do away with the measure.

6 in the morning reporter Omar Villafranca says it was a controversial issue before it passed and now that its law, it's still raising eyebrows.

The four women who filed the suit claim the state's same-sex marriage ban violates their civil rights. The lawsuit says Broken Arrow residents Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin have been living in a committed relationship for eight years. Tulsans Susan Barton and Gay Phillips entered into a civil union in Vermont three years ago.


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Steve Duin
Reconciliation is a myth, not a strategy


Sue for peace? Retreat and surrender? Kneel before the victorious president and kiss his ring? Concede that George W. Bush was right -- about the war in Iraq, tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the burgeoning deficit -- all along?

Are you kidding me? Are there serious Democrats who believe that's an option? Are there passionate liberals who can veer from "regime change" to "reconciliation" in the blink of an eye?


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Ithacans Protest Iraq War
Arthur Lee / Sun Staff


Last night at about 6 p.m. a crowd of Ithacans marched down State Street, waving signs, banners and flags as they banged pots, pans and any other percussion instruments they could find to protest the continued presence of American soldiers in Iraq.

The march began on the Commons, circled around downtown and then returned to its starting place via West State Street.

The protesters claimed allegiance with various local organizations and causes, and cited the Iraq war, political injustices and the election in general as the targets of their protest. Participants said they would have been out protesting regardless of the outcome of the election, since both major presidential candidates initially supported the war


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Protest erupts downtown over U.S. election
CHRIS CUDUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat


Five people were arrested yesterday, including a UA student, during a post-election protest, in which people marched from De Anza Park, North Speedway Boulevard and North Stone Avenue, to the Federal Building, 300 W. Congress St.

Organized by the Tucson Chapter of the Nation Lawyers Guild, Refuse and Resist, Food Not Bombs and Dry River Collective, the march called for action to protect peace, freedom and security in America.


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Blogger gets night visit from US Secret Service
Blog, blog. Who's there? Ann. Ann who? Ann who's asking?
By Wil Harris


A WRITER on popular blog-site LiveJournal has posted of her nightmare ordeal with the US Secret Service, an event spurred by a posting she made to her blog criticising George Bush prior to the Presidential Election earlier this week.

Whilst the offending post has been removed - to spare other users further Federal interference, according to author 'anniesj' - you can see her account of events in full, which has been left as a word to the wise.

Secret Service came a-knockin' on Annie at 9:45 PM, but arrived quickly at the conclusion that she wasn't a threat to National Security, more a chick living at home with her mum. Nonetheless, they made sure she got a file at the FBI including her photo, email, and medical records. I guess those boys really like to give the full service.


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Laws faces legal action over gay slur


A gay activist is considering legal action after broadcaster John Laws called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy frontman Carson Kressley a "pillow biter" on his radio show.

Gary Burns, who has already launched another case against Laws, claimed he was deeply offended about remarks made by the presenter on his 2UE morning show on Wednesday.

Mr Burns said he felt the comments stereotyped homosexuals in an offensive way, and he indicated he would take Laws' comments before the anti-discrimination Act.

Laws made the remarks while discussing the Melbourne Cup's Fashions on the Field contest, which was judged by Kressley.


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Effect of gay marriage ban uncertain; Cleveland Hts. law appears unaffected
Martin Stolz
Plain Dealer Reporter


Cleveland Heights' domestic partnership registry and benefits program for gay city workers are safe from Ohio's sweeping constitutional amendment banning gay marriages and civil unions, officials say.

But the fallout elsewhere in Ohio from voters' overwhelming approval Tuesday of Issue 1 is far from certain.
 
Gov. Bob Taft, who opposed the measure along with other Republicans, said Wednesday it was "unclear, very ambiguous."

The amendment defines a marriage only as a "union between one man and one woman." Voters approved it by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent, but the measure appeared headed for court challenges. The part of the amendment that worries Taft most bans Ohio municipalities and townships from creating or recognizing the "legal status" of any union other than a man and woman.


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Courts Are Poised to Take a Hard Right Term
Conservatives say the president should use his victory to push for changes on social issues. A Supreme Court vacancy is likely.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — President Bush's victory, propelled by socially conservative voters, gives him a historic opportunity to move the federal courts to the right on issues such as religion, abortion and gay rights.

In his first term, Bush had no chance to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. And Senate Democrats — led by Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who lost his reelection bid Tuesday — blocked some of the president's most conservative nominees to the U.S. courts of appeal.

Now, however, a reelected Bush is likely to have a chance soon to nominate a new chief justice of the Supreme Court. And he can send more conservative judicial nominees to the Senate with reasonable confidence that a strong Republican majority will confirm them.

Already on Wednesday, conservative activists and anti-abortion leaders were encouraging Bush to use his mandate to seek fundamental changes in the law, including reversing the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.


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Political Protests
By Christine Horner


Downtown Eugene - President Bush claimed a re-election mandate today with 59 million Americans chosing him over Senator John Kerry.

In the wake of Bush's re-election hundreds of Kerry supporters rallied in Downtown Eugene and Portland.

Late this afternoon an estimated 500 people gathered at the federal courthouse in Downtown Eugene.

Activists say this rally wasn't organized to be a Bush bashing session but a forum to vent emotions in a positive manne


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Passage of Prop 2 may spur legal fight
MSU, U-M and WSU say they will continue to provide same-sex benefits
By Joel Kurth / The Detroit News


Michigan’s passage of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages could prompt a legal fight with the state’s public universities over benefits to same-sex couples.

A day after voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, officials from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University confirmed they’ll continue providing insurance and other benefits to partners of gay employees


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Gay exodus to Canada
The U.S. election & gay marriage bans spur action


We noticed it as soon as we opened our email inbox the morning after the U.S. election: more than the usual amount of inquires from Americans asking for information about marriage and immigration in Canada.

Coincidence? We thought not, so we wrote back, and asked others, to see if some of the people would be willing to share their story.


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'No such thing as gay people,' Article 8 says at Tufts
By Mary Murray/ For the Journal


"There is no such thing as gay people," said Brian Camenker to a group of about 70 Tuft students at a forum titled "Homosexuality and Society" Wednesday night.

     Camenker, the opening speaker at the forum, is the founder of two conservative groups that are against same-sex marriage: the Article 8 Alliance and the Parent's Rights Coalition.

     The forum, sponsored by the Tufts Republicans, was held six days before voters decided between Democratic incumbent Vincent Ciampa and Carl Sciortino for the 34th Middlesex District state representative seat. In a close race, Sciortino, who is a Tufts alumnus and same-sex marriage advocate, beat Ciampa in the democratic primary.


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PSNI reports surge in racist and homophobic crime
online.ie


Police in the North have reported a significant increase in incidents of racist and homophobic crime.

The PSNI said a total of 299 racial incidents and 53 homophobic incidents were reported in the first six months of this year.

This compares with 180 racial incidents and 36 homophobic incidents in the same period last year.

The PSNI said it believed one reason for the increase was that victims were now more prepared to come forward and report them.


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EU gay rights row set to re-ignite
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


Days after the incoming commissioner for justice was forced to withdraw over anti-gay comments, the row over gay rights across the European Union is set to flame up once again.

This time, the row is set to include member states, rather than the European Commission, after Slovakia distanced itself from the rest of the union over same-sex relationships.

The country has decided that a new document aiming to harmonise family law in the EU will lead to it being forced to adopt either civil unions or full marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples.

Consequently it has argued for an exemption that will allow it to block legal recognition of same-sex relationships from other parts of the EU, and perhaps set its own gay rights agenda back by years.


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US groups set to sue over state's marriage ban
Jen Christensen, Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network


The state of Georgia's anti-gay marriage amendment, overwhelmingly passed by voters on Tuesday, could be one of the first to face a court challenge.

Eleven states passed amendments to their constitutions that defined marriage to exclude gay couples or disallow civil unions.

American legal experts said depending on how the amendments are written, many more lawsuits could soon follow -- particularly in the states of Michigan, Ohio and Mississippi.

Georgia's voters supported the anti-gay marriage amendment 3 to 1. With 97 percent of the precincts counted, the amendment to the state Constitution passed with 77 percent of the vote, or 2,195,960 votes, as compared to 667,730, or 23 percent of Georgians who voted against the amendment.


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Bush's 2nd Term Gay Agenda
by Doreen Brandt 365Gay.com Washington Bureau


(Washington) As George W. Bush delivered his acceptance speech Wednesday in Washington he seemingly held out an olive branch to Democrats, but elsewhere in the Administration the signs of a second Bush term were far more ominous.

Buoyed by a decisive win and a Congress more firmly in GOP control, Bush is prepared to further advance social conservatism. On the Hill Republicans were warning Democrats it would be unhealthy to oppose them, pointing to the crushing defeat suffered by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota.

In particular, Republican leaders warned not to think of any more filibusters of Bush nominations, especially for the bench.  Democrats managed talk down several Bush judicial nominations of extreme conservative judges during the President's first term.

The warning comes as speculation mounts that William Rehnquist is preparing to resign as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  At least three other justices are also said to be considering retirement.


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Mianne bags Tour card
Sportal


Australia's Mianne Bagger has become the first transsexual ever to win a card on a major professional golf tour.

Bagger signed for a 77 in her final round of European Tour school qualifying in Italy and it was enough for her to secure 10th place overall and a permanent place on the Tour.

"It's been a long week and tough for many reasons, but I'm naturally delighted to be able to finally fulfil my childhood ambition," she told BBC Online..

The 37-year-old made headlines when she took part in her first professional tournament at this year's Australian Open in Sydney.