Sex change leads to lawsuit against UTA
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune

    A former bus driver who was born a man but is becoming a woman sued the Utah Transit Authority on Friday, claiming the agency fired him because he failed to conform to stereotypical male behavior.

    Krystal S. Etsitty, who was born a biological male named Michael R. Etsitty and is planning to undergo a sex change operation, contends UTA officials said they had to let him go because he looked like a female and they were afraid of what the public and other employees would think.

    In addition, they expressed concerns about which restroom he would use, Etsitty alleges in his lawsuit.

    The legal action, which was filed in U.S. District Court and accuses the UTA of sex stereotyping and gender discrimination, seeks unspecified damages. It uses male pronouns because the claims are based on Etsitty's biological sex.


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Gay marriage vote may tip Michigan for president
By Ted Roelofs
The Grand Rapids Press


If Michigan's presidential race is as tight as it seems, a looming battle over gay marriage could give Republicans a crucial edge.

Foes of gay marriage expect to turn in 400,000 signatures Monday -- likely enough to force a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

And that, political analysts say, could stir up the evangelical GOP base just enough to boost President Bush in his race with presumptive Democratic foe John Kerry.

"It could get people to the polls who would not otherwise come to the polls, particularly those who tend to be emotional," said Bill Rustem of Public Sector Consultants in Lansing.


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Gay activists form political movement, plan talks with governor hopefuls


The Homosexual Political Group of Thailand (HPGT), the first political movement for Thai gays and lesbians, will hold a series of meetings with gubernatorial contenders, asking them to make space for homosexual issues in their campaigns.

The first of these meetings will be tomorrow, with massage-parlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit, followed by a session with Democratic candidate Apirak Kosayodhin on Wednesday.

The HPGT was officially formed last week and includes many homosexual networks such as the Lesla group, the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, the Sapaan group, Bangkok Rainbow and the Bangkok Gay Festival. The movement aims to improve homosexual rights in society and develop into a voice for homosexuals in the political arena.

After Natee Teerarojjanapongs announced his entry into the Senate race, many homosexual organisations banded together to support and further the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transvestite political movement.


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British Isles: GTR web site record month
Posted by: gayteens  on Saturday, July 03, 2004 - 05:17 PM


For the second month in a row web traffic to the site reaches an all time high.
The gayteens.org site recorded double traffic in June 2004 with an average of 800+ visitors daily. On the 30th June 980 visitors were recorded. On the 31 May 1080 the highest recorded daily visits.

We have decided to step up our promotion and target our schools and colleges this month with global coverage we hope with members efforts our poster campaign reaches more teens in need.

Please print off a A4 poster and letter and stick it in a large envelope and send it to your old school, college or even the local library. Find out your colleges and schools in your area and help promote the site so that we can help others.

Spain's gays march to new tune
  - (SA)  
 

Madrid, Spain - This year's Gay Pride march through downtown Madrid was expected to draw hundreds of thousands on Saturday as homosexuals celebrated the new Socialist government's promises to legalize same-sex marriages.

Madrid's predominantly gay neighborhood of Chueca prepared for the annual celebration by draping rainbow flags outside windows and decorating streets and windows.

The Socialists ousted the conservative Popular Party in general elections in March and promised sweeping changes in Spain's social laws, including making abortions and divorce easier to legally obtain.

Last week, Parliament urged the government to amend the country's civil code to permit same-sex marriages. Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said legislators will start reforming articles in the code as early as September, and that gay marriage could become a reality early next year

Bias against gays lingers in schools
By ANDREW MOLLISON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON — The sixth-grade boy with a crush on silver-haired Mona Mendoza came up to her after the physical education class at a Seattle middle school and told her, "Miss Mendoza, I have a problem. I hear you are a lesbian."

"Well, I am," she recalled telling him.

"But, Miss Mendoza, my Dad told me that if you were a lesbian, you'd be fired."

"If I lived in some places, that would be true. But not in Seattle, because it's in our (union) contract," she replied. "Yes, I am a teacher, and yes, I am a lesbian."

That drew smiles from the teachers at a workshop here on how to improve the education and safety of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual staff, students and their supporters, especially those who are also racial or ethnic minorities, or poor.


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School board to consider anti-discrimination policy
By: JOANNA CORMAN - (CA)

MURRIETA ---- Nearly a year after a series of race-related attacks at a high school, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District is considering a policy that would define different types of discrimination against students and give them a procedure spelling out how the district would respond to complaints of harassment.

The district has had a policy addressing discrimination against employees since its inception in 1990, but never one focusing on students, said Alan Young, the district's director of student support.

The school board first considered a "student nondiscrimination and harassment" policy along with two similar ones, in December. But the policies were tabled for revisions, partly in response to an investigation by the federal Office for Civil Rights.

The agency is investigating a claim filed by Crystal Farr and Chris Goulding, a Murrieta couple whose teenage son, Sam Farr, was the victim of a racially motivated attack at Murrieta Valley High last August.


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(check-out the homophobia bias in the title of the article)

Gays try to find their place in sports world
Mixed signals given by athletes regarding others' sexual preference
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:39 a.m. ET July 03, 2004

ATLANTA - Rosie Jones walked off the green, signed a few autographs and pondered the reaction.

No boos. No taunts. No under-the-breath putdowns.

Nothing but encouragement. “Go get ’em, Rosie!” one fan shouted.

Surprising?

“Kind of,” Jones conceded. “I didn’t really think people would treat me bad, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I guess people have respect for my game.”


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NEA groups protest award to gay studies activist
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


Leaders of two groups within the National Education Association objected yesterday to plans of union leaders to confer a human rights award tonight on the founder of a homosexual network in schools.

    Heads of the NEA Republican Educators Caucus and NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus formally protested plans to give the award to Kevin Jennings of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), whose stated goals "extend to incorporating homosexual concepts into all curriculum."

    NEA President Reg Weaver was given a tape recording of a GLSEN conference in 2000 at Tufts University, where Mr. Jennings was keynote speaker and Massachusetts Department of Education HIV/AIDS coordinators discussed with teenage students ways to perform various homosexual acts.

    The recording, made by a participant and publicly distributed, caused a public outcry and led to the dismissal of state education department employees and the state-funded GLSEN contractor.


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Presbyterian vote rejects gay ordination
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) legislative assembly narrowly rejected a measure Friday to allow regional governing bodies to ordain gay clergy and lay officers.

Under the 259-255 vote, the current interpretation of church law forbidding the ordination of gay clergy will remain binding on the church, including on the regional bodies, known as presbyteries.

Conservative Presbyterians had warned that a vote for gay ordination at the denomination's national meeting could cause the largest split in the church since the Civil War, when slavery split the church into Northern and Southern factions.

Opponents of the proposal said a network of 1,300 congregations with 450,000 members was poised to break away. The network, called the Confessing Church Movement, holds as a central doctrine the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman


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London hosts annual gay/lesbian festival


London, England, Jul. 3 (UPI) -- London police were prepared for tens of thousands of people to participant Saturday in the city's annual Gay Pride parade and festival, the BBC reported.

The event was to start with a parade from Hyde Park to Victoria Embankment, followed by a rally in Trafalgar Square and a music festival in Finsbury Park.


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Thousands expected at Dublin's Gay Pride
From:ireland.com
Saturday, 3rd July, 2004
 
 
Thousands of people are expected in Dublin city centre today for the annual Dublin Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Pride Parade.

The parade, which will include floats and street theatre, will assemble at Parnell Square North at 1.45 p.m. and move off at approximately 2.15 p.m. Up to 5,000 are expected to attend the event.

MARINE DIES AFTER ACTION IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE 7/3/2004

Eunuchs in Bangalore protest against police atrocities
Bangalore
 
Hundreds of eunuchs and human rights activists took to the streets in Bangalore on Friday to protest against the alleged atrocities committed by policemen against a eunuch. Bangalore cops had allegedly molested Kokila, a eunuch who went to lodge a complaint with police after she was gangraped by 10 men, last month. Elavarthi Manohar, founder of Sangama, an NGO fighting for the cause of minority groups, said the government should take immediate action against the four policemen who tortured Kokila, and demanded their suspension. "Today we are protesting against the police who have tortured Kokila, a bisexual woman. We are demanding that the four policemen who are involved in the torture and sexual abuse of her should be immediately suspended. This is our demand," said Manohar.

Manohar also demanded the government repeal Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, which disqualifies intercourse against the order of nature, and grant womanhood status to the Hijras.

Meanwhile, federal crime branch authorities are investigating the allegations of torture made by Kokila.

Eunuchs, known as "hijras", are males castrated at puberty but are normally referred in India as "she"


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Kennedy asks appeals court to invalidate recess appointment
MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward Kennedy is trying for the third time to persuade the colleagues of federal appellate Judge William Pryor to bump him from the bench.

The Massachusetts Democrat is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to rule that President Bush's appointment of Pryor, a former Alabama attorney general, in February during a congressional recess was unconstitutional.

"Immediate consideration of this issue is critical: Judge Pryor has already sat or is scheduled to sit on over 60 cases, all of which may have to be reheard and re-decided if his appointment is ultimately adjudged invalid," Kennedy said in a brief filed in a case about police immunity from lawsuits.

He plans to mount a similar argument in another case that has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Kennedy aide James Flug said


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Gay rights worker praises trial judge
Prison term for killers is welcomed


An Ulster judge was praised today for his handling of a brutal "gay bashing" murder case.

The comments came from the head of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association after two teenagers were jailed yesterday for the savage killing of Co Armagh man Ian Flanagan.

Mr Flanagan, originally from Keady in Armagh, was beaten with a wheel brace and stabbed with a knife by two thugs who set out to attack and rob a gay man because they calculated the crime would not be reported to police.

After the killing in south Belfast, the pair were seen covered in blood and laughing.


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Gay churchman's job offer withdrawn

A cathedral verger had a job offer retracted shortly after it was revealed that he lived with his homosexual partner, it was claimed today.

Lee Taylor, a verger at England's Southwark Cathedral in London, applied for the position of assistant verger at St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire in May this year.

He claimed he was offered the job verbally by the Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Rev Wyn Evans, but the offer was rescinded when Mr Taylor said his live-in partner would be joining him, The Times newspaper reported.

“I went from feeling successful when they offered me the job to feeling very unworthy,” he told the paper.


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Could openly gay service members eventually fight in Iraq?

If the United States were to reenact the draft for the first time since the Vietnam War--in order to ease the strain on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan--openly gay men and lesbians would likely be required to serve whether they wanted to or not, military experts tell Advocate.com.

The Defense Department is certainly feeling the burden of fighting two wars. This week it reassigned 5,700 additional soldiers to National Guard and Reserve units to be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. And lawmakers, such as Republican senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, continue to call for the draft to be reinstated. New York Democratic representative Charles Rangel argues that it would produce a more demographically balanced force and introduced a bill last year that would require mandatory service for all draft-age American men and women. South Carolina Democratic senator Ernest Hollings has introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

A.J. Rogue, national president of American Veterans for Equal Rights, agrees. "The recalling of reservists and retirees is the first step in reinstating the draft. What makes it easy is the fact that young males and females are now required to register," he says. "This makes it really easy to get the draft going again--it's just a simple matter of notifying everyone registered."

If those efforts are successful, the Defense Department would have to determine how to mesh "don't ask, don't tell" with the draft for the first time in its history. Most likely, in 2004 gay men and lesbians would be bound for boot camp.

Local Activists Defeat Effort to Overturn New Mexico Gay Rights Law


Washington, D.C. July 2 - Yesterday, opponents of a 2003 New Mexico law protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals from discrimination announced they had given up trying to place a referendum on the November ballot to overturn that law. A well-organized statewide campaign by New Mexico LGBT activists is credited with defeating this anti-gay attack. As a result, New Mexico became the first state this year to thwart efforts to put an anti-gay measure on the November ballot by voter initiative.

"Thanks to the extraordinary work of Basic Rights New Mexico, the people of New Mexico will not have to endure the ugly and divisive anti-gay onslaught facing so many other states this election cycle," said Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We are proud and honored to have worked with so many LGBT New Mexicans in this winning effort."

"This is a great day not only for LGBT people in New Mexico, but for all of the people of the state," said Linda Siegle, Campaign Committee Member for Basic Rights New Mexico. "It's wonderful to live in a state where people simply refused to support taking away basic protections from a minority."

Last April, New Mexico became the 14th state to extend non-discrimination protections to gay people and the third state to also cover transgender people. Immediately after the measure was signed into law by Gov. Bill Richardson (D), conservative groups announced they would seek to overturn the law by ballot initiative. To get the repeal on the ballot in November 2004, they needed to gather approximately 50,000 valid signatures by today, July 2.

County executive seeks to amend civil rights laws
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter


King County Executive Ron Sims yesterday sent a package of legislative amendments to the County Council that would expand local nondiscrimination laws to the smallest employers in unincorporated areas.

Sims' proposal would forbid discrimination by employers with as few as one employee. County code currently protects employees and potential employees of the county, county contractors and private employers with eight or more employees.

County Council members Dow Constantine, Bob Ferguson and Larry Gossett, all Seattle Democrats, signed on as sponsors of the amendments, which for the first time would ban discrimination on the basis of gender orientation — protecting "transgender individuals" or people who have a gender identification that may differ from their biological gender.

"I am particularly glad that we are finally opening our courts to sexual minorities who are discriminated against," Constantine said. "Our system of justice and our community will be the stronger for it." Existing law prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of race, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Sims' proposal also would:


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New Law Prompts Feeling of Betrayal
Same-Sex Marriages, Unions Have No Legal Status in State
By Michael N. Graff
The Winchester Star


At face value, Judy Hoff has built a beautiful life in Virginia. With a home in the Shenandoah Valley, an ever-progressing career, and a loving partner, Hoff seemingly has many of life’s simple satisfactions. But after 25 years in the state, she says Thursday was the day Virginia turned its back on her.

Like many other same-sex union supporters in the state, Hoff is furious over a new Virginia law that denies same-sex couples the privileges that come with marriage — even if another state’s law validates that marriage.

Hoff, a 57-year-old school programs coordinator at Blandy Experimental Farm, stands less than two weeks away from completing her master’s degree in environmental education from Shenandoah University.


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Pro-Gay Movement Gathers Steam in India
Rahul Verma
OneWorld South Asia


NEW DELHI, July 2 (OneWorld) - Ahead of a court hearing on a petition to abolish laws criminalizing homosexuality Monday, rights activists in India are also pressuring the government to give citizens the right to choose their partners.

Voices Against 377 - a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) working for the rights of children, women and gay rights groups - has asked the federal Minister for Law and Justice Hansraj Bharadwaj to protect those being discriminated against because of their sexuality.

"We hope the new leadership will stand up to the expectations of the people and demonstrate, in no uncertain terms, its stated commitment to protecting the rights of marginalized sections of society, not in the least those whose very existence has been criminalized by law," states a letter sent to the minister Thursday.

Voices against 377 - which includes groups such as Amnesty International, Prism, women's group Jagori and the New Delhi-based Talking about Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI) - was formed in the aftermath of the Lucknow incident.

"We wanted a joint platform to help us raise our voices together," asserts Ponni, a New Delhi student and a member of Voices Against 377.


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ACLU hits Virginia civil-union ban
By Christina Bellantoni
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia announced yesterday that it will challenge a new state law that bans civil unions.

    "This is one of the most reprehensible acts of the Virginia General Assembly in years," said Kent Willis, the Virginia ACLU's executive director, calling the law "mean-spirited and morally indefensible."

    The ACLU and many legal experts say the law is poorly written and could be used to prevent same-sex business partners or family members from entering into contracts such as buying property or medical directives.

    The law, which went into effect yesterday, amends the state's Affirmation of Marriage Act to prohibit recognition of same-sex unions performed in other states.

    It states: "A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited."

PM says gov't will not change anti-homosexual laws
Observer Reporter
PRIME Minister PJ Patterson made clear again this week that his government would not be forced into changing Jamaica's anti-homosexual laws because of agitation by the gay movement in England.


"We stopped being a British colony," Patterson told reporters Tuesday, when asked about the campaign by OutRage, the UK gay organisation.

OutRage and the human rights group Amnesty International have cast the recent murder in Kingston of Jamaica's leading gay rights activist Brian Williamson as a hate crime.

They also claimed that anti-gay killings are common in Jamaica and get little attention from the police, an argument rejected by the Jamaican authorities.

But OutRage, which has led a campaign to ban Jamaican dancehall DJs whose lyrics they consider gay-bashing and homophobic, has also pushed for Jamaica to remove its law against buggery.


~

Gay bashing victim fights back in Chelsea
Folsom Street East celebrant is attacked; police response criticized
By CYD ZEIGLER JR.


Brooklyn’s John Solis, 39, was enjoying the debut of Folsom Street East at its new location in front of the Eagle on 28th Street at 10th Avenue on June 20. The event was moved there due to the closing of the Lure bar last year.

Solis left Folsom Street East with a friend sometime around 9:30 p.m. They were walking east on 28th Street from 10th Avenue when they approached about 15 young black men, ranging from late teens to early 20s, hanging around the park.

Because “everyone comes to Folsom Street East dressed as the Village People,” Solis said, the young men were verbally harassing many of the men as they were leaving the event. Solis’ outfit, accented with a leather cowboy hat, was tame compared to others.

Solis said he did not pay much attention to the young men until one of them sprayed water on him with a bottle. One of the young men then called him a “homo.” Solis turned around and began question the young men. According to Solis, two of them lifted sticks that looked like they would be used for stickball and began swinging at Solis.


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New Suit Filed In Florida For Gay Marriage Rights
by Fidel Ortega
365Gay.com Newscenter
Miami Bureau


(West Palm Beach, Florida) Ten West Palm Beach couples are suing a local court clerk for refusing to issue marriage licenses to them.

The suit asks the court to rule "that the right to marry is fundamental and that any restrictions on fundamental rights are presumed unconstitutional." It names 15th District Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy H. Wilken as a defendant.

Wilken refused to issue the licenses citing the 1997 Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman."

Among the plaintiffs are the subjects of the award-winning documentary "Ruthie & Connie: Every Room in the House." Ruth Berman and Connie Kurtz sued the New York City board of education in 1988 for domestic partner benefits, winning the case five years later. The couple moved to West Palm Beach last year.


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Church opposes gay marriage ban


(Springfield-AP) -- Gay marriage continues to be a divisive issue in Missouri politics.

A question on the August third ballot will give residents of the Show-me State a chance to vote on whether the state constitution should essentially ban gay marriages.

One church in Springfield has gone on record as opposing the amendment. The National Avenue Christian Church says it hopes to get people in Springfield talking about the issue.

Many Missouri churches have gone on record as supporting the amendment.


But leaders of the National Avenue Christian Church say it's one thing for churches to oppose gay marriage, but it's another to legislate against it.


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Ono gives equality a chance
World peace will always be job-one, but Yoko Ono is taking on a new cause, marriage equality for same-sex couples.


Legendary pop culture icon Yoko Ono shows no signs of slowing down. At age 71, she is enjoying a career renaissance with remixes of her classic “Hell In Paradise” hitting the top ten of the Billboard Club Play Chart.

Later this summer, the human rights advocate plans to release the controversial song, “Every Man/Every Woman,” which is a daring statement that tackles the gay marriage issue head-on.

The first thing Yoko Ono asked me when we spoke for an exclusive interview was to pray with her for world peace. Ever since her relationship with John Lennon in the late sixties, she has become a spokesperson for the peace movement. Her request seemed bizarre at first, but Ono’s relentless devotion to her ideals deserves nothing but praise.

Ono is now determined to take a stand in the national debate about equal rights for gays and lesbians in her ongoing pursuit of peace and justice. “A lot of people are testy and angry about the situation in the world and they’re trying to find a scapegoat,” argued a feisty Ono. “The result is that people focus on things that really are not an issue, like civil rights for gays.”


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GOP adopts weaker FMA resolution
Catania meets McAuliffe, will work to defeat Bush
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.


The D.C. Republican Committee voted unanimously on June 22 to recommend that the Republican Party’s national platform refrain from calling for a constitutional amendment “regarding the family and marriage.”

Brian Pruitt, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., a gay group, called the recommendation a “strong statement” by the GOP panel against a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

But local gay Republican activists who were unable to persuade the committee to pass a more strongly worded resolution condemning a constitutional amendment on gay marriage said the committee’s recommendation did not go far enough.

“District of Columbia Republicans respect and appreciate the diversity of the American family,” the DCRC stated in its marriage recommendation, which was part of a series of platform recommendations on a variety of issues.


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Signatures offered in bid to ban same-sex unions in state charter
BY LAURA KELLAMS

Supporters of an Arkansas constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex unions said they submitted to the state Thursday more than double the petition signatures needed to get the proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Leaders of the Arkansas Marriage Amendment Committee said they handed over petitions signed by 200,693 Arkansans, which they say is a strong sign that voters will approve the measure if given the chance this fall.

Jerry Cox, the committee president, said the proposed amendment defining marriage as "consisting only of the union of one man and one woman" would put the state’s existing law banning gay marriage out of the reach of state courts. "Unless we pass this amendment, Arkansas will continue to be vulnerable to state court challenges seeking to legalize samesex marriages," Cox said at the state Capitol. "Either the people of Arkansas will define marriage at the ballot box, or the court will do it for us."

For the measure to qualify for the ballot, the committee needs Secretary of State Charlie Daniels to validate 80,570 of the signers as registered voters


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Outing rumor sparks panic on Capitol Hill
Closeted staffers scrambling in wake of activist campaign
By ADRIAN BRUNE


WASHINGTON — Their center of operations occupies not one, but two top-floor apartments located directly across from each other in a nondescript Adams Morgan high-rise, where the two friends and activists have both lived for years.

Their information comes to them via a network of insiders, mostly planted at various gay and lesbian bars across Washington. And their modus operandi for fighting a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage consists of well-placed phone calls to closeted congressional aides who work for members supportive of the amendment, declaring their intent to publicly reveal the aides’ sexual orientation.

From that high-rise, with a view of the nation’s epicenter of public policy, the ongoing outing campaign loosely headed by gay activists Michael Rogers and John Aravosis evoked panic and precaution behind the Capitol’s closed doors last week, signifying the resurrected, yet still controversial, tactic’s scope and impact.

The reactions on the Hill came in various formats: e-mails from staffers of prominent gay advocacy groups to anonymous lists of Hill employees warning them of impending outings; admonitions against the practice in public forums and on television; and meetings between Senate chiefs of staff and aides that reaffirmed office nondiscrimination or zero-tolerance policies.


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As Pentagon Calls to Duty Inactive Reserve Specialists, Trained Lesbian & Gay Personnel Continue to be Fired, Says SLDN


WASHINGTON, July 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As military leaders begin re-calling to duty thousands of inactive reserve specialists, lesbian, gay and bisexual service members trained in the same fields continue to be fired simply because of their sexual orientation.

"Army officials on Wednesday announced that 5,674 former soldiers -- mostly people who recently left the service and have up-to-date skills in military policing, engineering, logistics, medicine or transportation -- will be assigned to National Guard and Reserve units that are scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan," the Associated Press reported on June 29th. Sources also report that some veterans specializing in combat operations, mechanical fields and legal affairs will also be recalled. This is the first activation of the inactive reserves since the first Persian Gulf war.

According to Pentagon data, the military has discharged almost ten thousand service members for being gay during the past decade.

"The Pentagon is sacrificing national priorities for federal discrimination," said C. Dixon Osburn, Executive Director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). "This administration's continued refusal to accept the talents of Americans who want to serve is irresponsible and has dire consequences. Repealing the gay ban is essential to preserving the fighting ability of our armed forces."


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Judge's comments on gays protected
By TRACY DASH


A George County Justice Court judge who publicly expressed his opinions about homosexuals will not be sanctioned because his comments are protected by the First Amendment, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

In a 5-2 decision, Mississippi's high court chose not to sanction Judge Connie Glenn Wilkerson for saying "gays and lesbians should be put in some type of mental institute... " Wilkerson made the statements in a March 2002 letter to the editor of the George County Times.

Wilkerson could not be reached Thursday for comment. However, he said in 2002 that the letter represented his feelings as a human, not as a judge.

Wilkerson, who has served as a justice court judge for eight years, said in 2002 the letter was in response to a national news story published in The Mississippi Press about a lesbian suing the owners of a dog that attacked and killed her partner. He said he was expressing his opinion about a California law that grants partners the same right to sue as spouses or family members.



~

Conservative Pak a minefield for gay lovers
Press Trust of India/Agence France-Presse


Islamabad,: Aamir is in love and wants to marry, but Pakistan is not among the places where gay marriages are legal. As in other conservative Muslim nations, the Koran’s condemnation of homosexuality makes it a crime.

Death by stoning is one of the punishments suggested in Pakistan's religiously influenced legal code for anyone caught in a homosexual act.

But Pakistani society's strict gender segregation and cultural taboo on discussions about sex mean that same-gender sexual activity has become an open secret.

It was common at Aamir's all-male high school. "It's not considered homosexual. It's just considered a fun thing and doing the best with what you have," the 23-year-old told AFP.


~

Conservatives issue warning over gays

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Conservatives in the Presbyterian Church warned that a vote in favor of gay ordination at the national legislative assembly this week could cause the largest schism in the church since the Civil War.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national assembly is scheduled to vote today on a measure that would allow individual presbyteries to dismiss an interpretation of church law that forbids gay clergy and lay officers. Opponents of gay ordination liken it to eliminating the case law that supports the Constitution.



~

Poll: Canadians Overwhelmingly Support Gay Marriage
by Jack Siu
365Gay.com Newscenter
Toronto Bureau


(Toronto, Ontario)  A new survey shows that support for same-sex marriage continues to grow in Canada and for the first time an overwhelming majority supports the idea.

The poll, for Research and Information on Canada and Environics showed that 57% of Canadians favor equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, 38% are opposed.

A September 2003 Environics poll showed that Canadians were equally divided on the issue with 48% in favor of equal marriage and 47% opposed.

The new survey was conducted last weekend, just before Canadians went to the polls to elect a new national government.


~

Gay priest installed as Dean


Gay clergyman Dr Jeffrey John is being installed as the new Dean of St Albans amid protests from conservatives within the Church of England. 

About 2,000 people are expected to attend the service in the cathedral in which he will formally become rector of the parish of St Albans Abbey and Dean of St Albans Cathedral.

Dr John will be led to his "stall" or seat in the cathedral by the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Christopher Herbert, to mark his new position as dean of the cathedral.

The lay and clergy members of the chapter of the cathedral will also join together to present Dr John with the dean's red velvet embroidered cope.


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Anger over Lord's link between gay men and child abuse
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


A member of the House of Lords has angered the gay community by drawing links between sexual diversity and child abuse during the Third Reading of the Civil Partnership bill.

The comments came from Lord Maginnis of Drumglass as the peers discussed the bill in light of the protests surrounding the recent support for an amendment that many claim would destroy the bill and make it "unworkable".

The Tory backed amendment suggested extending the bill from the recognition of same-sex couples, to also include siblings and carers. It has been the subject of fierce debate in the house - and within the gay community - with opposing sides arguing over whether the extension would be detrimental to the bill's effectiveness.

The peer originally behind the amendment, Baroness O'Cathain, had also previously raised an issue of whether Northern Ireland should be included in the bill, claiming the region has too few same-sex couples for it to be an issue.


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Appeals court tosses out order in lesbian custody case


An appeals court threw out a lower court order Thursday that barred a woman who left a lesbian relationship from teaching her adopted daughter anything that might be considered "homophobic."

The ruling by the Colorado court of appeals did not settle the case but instead sent it back to the lower court to determine whether antihomosexual religious instruction by one adoptive parent violates the First Amendment rights of the other.

The ruling came in a custody case that has drawn national attention from conservative groups and led to an unsuccessful attempt to impeach the Denver district judge who issued the order. Judge John W. Coughlin granted joint custody of the girl to Cheryl Clark, who had raised her with Elsey McLeod until Clark converted to Christianity and left the relationship.

The appeals court upheld the lower court's decision to grant McLeod joint custody, even though the adoption papers list only Clark as the adoptive parent. The appeals court said McLeod has become the child's "psychological parent" and that ending or curtailing visitation would put the girl at risk of "emotional harm."

MARINE DIES OF WOUNDS IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE 7/2/2004
MARINE KILLED IN ACTION IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE 7/1/2004

Ruling in Chile forces gay parents to choose between the closet, parenting rights
BY KEVIN G. HALL
Knight Ridder Newspapers

SANTIAGO, Chile - (KRT) - Judge Karen Atala had the love of her three daughters and commanded the respect of Chilean lawyers arguing cases in her courtroom. Now, all across the deeply conservative Andean nation, she's known simply as "the lesbian judge."

Atala became an unwitting public figure and international gay-rights symbol when Chile's Supreme Court, in a controversial 3-2 decision May 31, overruled two lower courts and awarded custody of her children to her ex-husband, Jaime Lopez.

The small-town judge wasn't an alcoholic, promiscuous or a negligent mother - reasons Chilean courts usually place children in the custody of their fathers. Atala's "grave" mothering mistake was admitting she's a lesbian who took a partner.

In South America's most conservative nation, the court ruling sought to bolster the Roman Catholic Church's definition of traditional families. Monsignor Cristian Contreras, an auxiliary bishop in Santiago, praised the "commonsense" approach of the judges.

some shameless self promotion and I am sure one hell of a book...


Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action
Edited by Anne Waldman and Lisa Birman

As cultural absurdities, apathy-inspiring ambient noise, and political and ecological disasters threaten the 21st-century world, art’s role in engaging society and coalescing dissent becomes more apparent and more urgent. Civil Disobediences offers a manual for understanding poetry’s history and enacting its ultimate power to dismantle and recreate political and cultural realities.

Composed of essays, lectures, and teaching materials by leading contemporary poets and scholars, this anthology explores the craft of poetry as well as the history of poetic/political action in the US and abroad, the development of ancient and modern poetic forms, the legacy of world-renowned poets, and the intersections between poetry and spirituality. It also provides concrete advice about bringing poetry into your local community and ensuring that “poetry is news that stays news.”

Contributors: Helen Adam, Ammiel Alcalay, Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Lisa Birman, Robin Blaser, Reed Bye, Jack Collom, Robert Creeley, Beverly Dahlen, Samuel R. Delany, Steve Dickison, Robert Duncan, Michael du Plessis, kari edwards, Marlowe Fawcett, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Gilbert, Allen Ginsberg, James Grauerholz, Barbara Guest, Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Anselm Hollo, Laird Hunt, Robert Hunter, Pierre Joris, Joanne Kyger, Laura Mullen, Eileen Myles, Kai Nieminen, Alice Notley, Akilah Oliver, Douglas Oliver, Michael Ondaatje, James Oughton, Max Regan, Sonia Sanchez, Edward Sanders, Eleni Sikelianos, Gary Snyder, Cole Swensen, Arthur Sze, Steven Taylor, Roberto Tejada, Lorenzo Thomas, Anne Waldman, Peter Warshall, Peter Lamborn Wilson

Araujo name change request granted
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer


A court commissioner has granted a Newark mother's request to posthumously change the name of a slain transgender teen from Eddie Araujo Jr. to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, her family announced this morning.

The order by Alameda County Superior Court Commissioner Thomas Surh was issued June 23 -- one day after the murder trial of three men accused of killing Araujo ended in a mistrial -- though Araujo's family did not learn of Surh's decision until later.

Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, had requested the name change at a hearing on May 25. In a statement, Guerrero said she was "elated." Surh agreed to her request.

"It is one of my regrets that I didn't call my daughter Gwen more while she was alive," Guerrero said in the statement. "Having this order granted helps me to put that regret to rest."


~

Discrimination is still legal


Q: A friend of mine told me about a job at Agave Restaurant on Woodward and Canfield. My friend told me he was looking for cooks and told me to ask for Matt. I was told to come over to Agave at 2:00 p.m. When I arrived over to the job, I asked for Matt. Matt came out and saw that I was a transgender. He told me that he could not give me the job because he has an open kitchenÑand that I could not dress like a woman.

Jody, I live as a woman. What does he mean! I want to know what to do about this. I don't want him to get away with this. How can he just outright discriminate? I am a transgender and proud of who I am. Who can I go to in order to see what I can do about this? It is all right for me to go and spend my money there, but it is not all right for me to work there. Agave discriminates against Transgenders!

Walking Tall

A: I'm not sure what you legally can do about it. You would have to consult a lawyer. However, this letter tells your story and will reach a lot of people. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I asked a staff member of Between The Lines (since I'm not from the Detroit area) about this restaurant. He said that all he knew was that it was "gay friendly," but not lgbt owned. I guess it is " lgb" friendly, but the "t" seems to be missing in Agave's case, at least for employment opportunities.

Araujo name change request granted
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer


A court commissioner has granted a Newark mother's request to posthumously change the name of a slain transgender teen from Eddie Araujo Jr. to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, her family announced this morning.

The order by Alameda County Superior Court Commissioner Thomas Surh was issued June 23 -- one day after the murder trial of three men accused of killing Araujo ended in a mistrial -- though Araujo's family did not learn of Surh's decision until later.

Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, had requested the name change at a hearing on May 25. In a statement, Guerrero said she was "elated." Surh agreed to her request.

"It is one of my regrets that I didn't call my daughter Gwen more while she was alive," Guerrero said in the statement. "Having this order granted helps me to put that regret to rest."


~

Discrimination is still legal


Q: A friend of mine told me about a job at Agave Restaurant on Woodward and Canfield. My friend told me he was looking for cooks and told me to ask for Matt. I was told to come over to Agave at 2:00 p.m. When I arrived over to the job, I asked for Matt. Matt came out and saw that I was a transgender. He told me that he could not give me the job because he has an open kitchenÑand that I could not dress like a woman.

Jody, I live as a woman. What does he mean! I want to know what to do about this. I don't want him to get away with this. How can he just outright discriminate? I am a transgender and proud of who I am. Who can I go to in order to see what I can do about this? It is all right for me to go and spend my money there, but it is not all right for me to work there. Agave discriminates against Transgenders!

Walking Tall

A: I'm not sure what you legally can do about it. You would have to consult a lawyer. However, this letter tells your story and will reach a lot of people. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I asked a staff member of Between The Lines (since I'm not from the Detroit area) about this restaurant. He said that all he knew was that it was "gay friendly," but not lgbt owned. I guess it is " lgb" friendly, but the "t" seems to be missing in Agave's case, at least for employment opportunities.

Araujo name change request granted
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer


A court commissioner has granted a Newark mother's request to posthumously change the name of a slain transgender teen from Eddie Araujo Jr. to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, her family announced this morning.

The order by Alameda County Superior Court Commissioner Thomas Surh was issued June 23 -- one day after the murder trial of three men accused of killing Araujo ended in a mistrial -- though Araujo's family did not learn of Surh's decision until later.

Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, had requested the name change at a hearing on May 25. In a statement, Guerrero said she was "elated." Surh agreed to her request.

"It is one of my regrets that I didn't call my daughter Gwen more while she was alive," Guerrero said in the statement. "Having this order granted helps me to put that regret to rest."


~

Discrimination is still legal


Q: A friend of mine told me about a job at Agave Restaurant on Woodward and Canfield. My friend told me he was looking for cooks and told me to ask for Matt. I was told to come over to Agave at 2:00 p.m. When I arrived over to the job, I asked for Matt. Matt came out and saw that I was a transgender. He told me that he could not give me the job because he has an open kitchenÑand that I could not dress like a woman.

Jody, I live as a woman. What does he mean! I want to know what to do about this. I don't want him to get away with this. How can he just outright discriminate? I am a transgender and proud of who I am. Who can I go to in order to see what I can do about this? It is all right for me to go and spend my money there, but it is not all right for me to work there. Agave discriminates against Transgenders!

Walking Tall

A: I'm not sure what you legally can do about it. You would have to consult a lawyer. However, this letter tells your story and will reach a lot of people. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I asked a staff member of Between The Lines (since I'm not from the Detroit area) about this restaurant. He said that all he knew was that it was "gay friendly," but not lgbt owned. I guess it is " lgb" friendly, but the "t" seems to be missing in Agave's case, at least for employment opportunities.

Apartheid and homophobia -- both crimes against humanity

By Archbishop Desmond Tutu

A student once asked me if I could have one wish granted to reverse an injustice, what would it be? I had to ask for two. One is for world leaders to forgive the debts of developing nations which hold them in such thrall. The other is for the world to end the persecution of people because of their sexual orientation, which is every bit as unjust as that crime against humanity, apartheid.

This is a matter of ordinary justice. We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about -- our very skins. It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination which homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups. And I am proud that in South Africa, when we won the chance to build our own new constitution, the human rights of all have been explicitly enshrined in our laws. My hope is that, one day, this will be the case all over the world and that all will have equal rights.

For me, this struggle is a seamless rope. Opposing apartheid was a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination against women is a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a matter of justice.

It is also a matter of love. Every human being is precious. We are all, all of us, part of God's family. We all must be allowed to love each other with honour.

~

New York Judge Called To Toss Gay Marriage Ban
by Beth Shapiro
365Gay.com Newscenter
New York Bureau


(New York City) Saying that "tradition" is not a valid reason to prevent same-sex couples from marrying, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today formally asked a New York judge to strike down the state's ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

In an 83-page motion filed with a state trial court in Albany, 13 same-sex couples asked the court to rule that excluding them and others from marriage violates the state constitution. The couples also said that preventing them from marrying denies them equal protection of the law and denies them the fundamental right to marry.

"The state's main defense of this law is that it upholds tradition," said James Esseks, Litigation Director of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "But tradition can never be enough reason to deny people the protection of the law. If it were, we would still treat women as the property of their husbands, still insist that people whose marriages had
failed could not remarry, and still allow the state to tell married couples that they can't use contraceptives."

"Marriage is about love and commitment," Esseks said. "If two people make the commitment to build a life together, they deserve the protection of the marriage laws."

War President, indeed


When President Bush calls himself a "war President" he's talking about his so-called war on terror, but he could just as easily be talking about the war against LGBT Americans that is raging in this country. It is a war he condones, an attack on a group of citizens that is politically expedient for him.

Right now in Michigan, anti-gay petitioners are claiming to have the required number of signatures to get one of the most divisive, mean-spirited, and damaging ballot measures the LGBT community has ever been up against on the Nov. ballot. At issue is whether or not to amend the Michigan Constitution to ban not only marriage for same-sex couples, but to also ban civil unions and strip LGBT families of domestic partner benefits. Bush and his supporters couldn't be happier. For him, it means higher numbers at the polls, same-sex couples and LGBT families be damned.

After all, we're not his base. Our families have become political cannon fodder for a campaign that relies on the public mistaking support of Bush and his policies with patriotism; a public willing to sacrifice civil liberties under the guise of safety; a public that does not pay attention or ask hard questions.

Thankfully, there are some people who are paying attention, and who are outraged at what they see.

~

Red contingent joins parade


Dan Margolis

For the first time the Communist Party USA and the Young Communist League had an official contingent in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trangender Pride March. The CPUSA/YCL contingent was led by a large black pickup truck draped with pink banners reading: “Dump Bush! An injury to one is an injury to all.”

Harlem YCL leader Estevan Nembhard said, “All along the route, people were applauding for us when they saw our banner. We started chants and the crowd chanted with us, and at other times, the crowd started chants for us. They chanted ‘Dump Bush!’ when they saw our banner.”

“This is a struggle that is important to us,” said Jessie Marshall, YCL national co-coordinator. “We’re not going to let Bush or anyone else use it as a way to divide us from other young people. This is about beating Bush first, but for us it’s also about building up unity among all young people.”

Protesters rally against new antigay Virginia law

Gay activists rallied in cities across Virginia to protest a new law that critics say could nullify legal contracts between same-sex couples. The state law, which goes into effect July 1, prohibits civil unions, partnership contracts, or other arrangements "purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage."

Critics say it could be used to nullify medical directives, wills, joint bank accounts, and other agreements between gay couples. "[The law] clearly states that gay and lesbian people in this state should not feel welcome," said Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia, the state's largest gay rights organization. "It seeks to strip the only tool that gay and lesbian couples have to protect their families."

Mason spoke at a rally in Richmond on Wednesday that drew more than 400 gay activists and supporters to the capitol grounds. Simultaneous rallies were held in Norfolk, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Fairfax, Staunton, and Roanoke, drawing more than 1,000 people.

Virginia attorney general Jerry Kilgore has said the law provides a needed safeguard for the institution of marriage and does not deprive anyone of rights to enter into contracts such as wills or other agreements between gay couples. But Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, issued a statement condemning the law, which he refused to sign. "This law raises serious constitutional issues, and it places Virginia outside the mainstream of other states when it comes to respecting individual liberty," he said.

~

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSES DOMESTIC PARTNER EQUAL INSURANCE BILL
Equality California Sponsored AB 2208 Now Moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee

SACRAMENTO – Late yesterday, the California State Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Insurance Equality Act (AB 2208) by Assemblymember Kehoe (D-San Diego) on a 5-1 vote. This bill, sponsored by Equality

California and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, will amend the Insurance and the Health & Safety Codes to prohibit insurance providers from issuing policies or plans – including health, life, auto, renters and homeowners insurance, among others – that discriminate against registered domestic partners.

“The Insurance Equality Act is an important bill that deserves to become law,” said Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe. “I am confident that registered domestic partners will soon have full and equal access to insurance.”
AB 2208 is supported by a coalition of labor, civil rights, and LGBT organizations. After passing the Assembly, its continued success bodes well for final passage by the legislature and the Governor’s signature.

“We are really grateful to Assemblywoman Kehoe for her leadership on this issue,” stated Geoffrey Kors, Executive Director of Equality California. “Until the day we can legally marry, legislation like this will be necessary to protect our families from discrimination.”
~

Prison For Teens In Gay Slaying
by Peter Moore
365Gay.com Newscenter
London Bureau

(Belfast, Northern Ireland) Two Belfast teenagers have been sent to prison for the brutal killing of a 30 year old man in what the judge said was an unprovoked attack simply because of the man's perceived sexuality.

Ian Flanagan, 30, was battered with a car jack and then stabbed with a kitchen knife in a Belfast gay cruising park on 7 September 2002.

During their trial Raymond Taylor, 19, and 16-year-old Trevor Peel had claimed that Flanagan had tried to proposition them. The prosecution maintained that the pair had specifically gone to the park to find a gay man to beat and rob

A gas station attendant testified that a short time after the murder, the pair went to his filling station. He told the court that the teen's clothes were spattered with the blood and they were laughing.

another stupid day in amika.. another hate filled day in amika.. another typical day in amika.....

IF you do not act, donate money... write your representatives, go out and protest, stop participating in any group, organization, or intuition that does not give full rights to queers; you are then complicit in the hate that is filling this country.... you are complicit in apartheid....


Law threatens gays' rights, advocates say
Forum crowd overflows meeting room
By Maria Longley/staff
mlongley@newsleader.com
Casey Templeton/The News Leader


STAUNTON -- Virginia's Marriage Affirmation Act did not rescind contractual arrangements between people of the same sex at the stroke of midnight.

But a judge could broadly interpret the law, which took affect today, if a legal contract between two same-sex people is challenged in court, gay rights advocates said at an informational forum at Staunton City Hall Wednesday.

So broadly, that the judge could void a person's advance medical directive, will or custody arrangement, said panelists.

"Your legal documents are still valid," said Cathy Leitner, an attorney who specializes in estate planning and partnership contracts. "But (the Marriage Affirmation Act) is one more way to challenge those documents."


~

(UK)Gender Recognition Act Gains Royal Assent
By Political Staff, PA News


A measure which will enable an estimated 5,000 transsexuals to have secret changes made to their birth certificates gained Royal Assent today.

The Gender Recognition Act will also allow them to marry in their acquired gender. Churches will have the right to refuse to conduct such a marriage.

The Act will also allow sports governing bodies to make special rules for transsexual competitors.

The proposed gender recognition, to be authorised by a panel of legal and medical experts, would not require that applicants had undergone a sex change operation.


~

India News > Activists demand gay rights, law repeal
New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) :


Scores of gay rights activists marched here Thursday demanding the removal of a colonial law which makes homosexuality illegal.

Shouting slogans and waving banners, dozens of gays, lesbians and transvestites walked around the Jantar Mantar observatory - built by astronomer-prince Jai Singh in 1710 - demanding a change in section 377 in the Indian Penal Code.

The section bans homosexual activity, calling it "against the order of nature" and makes it punishable by a fine and a prison sentence up to 10 years.

"Isn't it high time the government looked around and realized that gays and lesbians exist? You cannot wish us away," said Akshay, who works for a Delhi-based advocacy group, Prism.


~

this is what homophobia does... and this is what is does everyday....


Columbia policeman charged in slaying of college student
SCOTT CHARTON
Associated Press


COLUMBIA, MO. - A former Columbia police officer was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the slaying of a University of Missouri-Columbia student with whom he acknowledged a homosexual relationship.

Steve A. Rios, 27, was also charged with armed criminal action in the June 5 slaying of Jesse James Valencia, 23.

Columbia Police Investigator Mike Martin said in a statement that Rios was arrested and is in custody. He said authorities would have no further statements until a 1 p.m. news conference in Columbia.

Rios' attorney, Rusty Antel of Columbia, did not immediately return a call Thursday morning from The Associated Press.


~

Germany proposes adoption rights for gays


BERLIN – Three years after it moved to bring gay relationships into line with married couples, Germany's centre-left coalition government has stepped up efforts to improve homosexual rights.

This week Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrat-led Government unveiled legislation that would permit a homosexual to co-adopt the child of a gay partner.
The legislation, which faces an uphill battle for enactment in the conservative-controlled upper house of parliament, stops short of allowing gay couples to adopt children.

Instead, it would permit a parent who already has a child to offer that child for "co-adoption" by his or her gay partner. The gay partnership would have to be registered with local authorities under terms of a 2001 law granting homosexual couples limited legal rights.


~

Desmond Tutu: "Homophobia as unjust as apartheid"
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town and one of the men widely believed to have helped end South Africa's racial segregation, has restated his support for gay rights, claiming homophobia is "every bit unjust" as apartheid.

The comments come on the eve of the publication of a new Amnesty International book, Sex, Love and Homophobia, which is being launched this evening in London. Tutu wrote the introduction to the book, calling for more action to be done to fight anti-gay discrimination; a "matter of ordinary justice".

"We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about — our very skins," he wrote in The Times today, adding that he will continue to fight despite - and perhaps because of - his religious faith.

"It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups."


~

Gays Group Condemned for Targeting Partnerships Opponent
By Amanda Brown and Anthony Looch, Lords staff, PA News


A gay and lesbian rights campaign group was today branded “disgraceful,” for targeting a Conservative opponent of the Government’s so-called “gay weddings” Bill.

Liberal Democrat Lord Lester of Herne Hill warned the House of Lords that he “deplored” Stonewall and its stand over Baroness O’Cathain, who last week led a successful rebellion in the Lords effectively making the Civil Partnership Bill unworkable.

The row erupted today during the final third reading stage of the legislation – which is intended to allow same sex couples the same tax and pension rights as married heterosexuals.

But Lady O’Cathain, who said the Bill undermined marriage and was “discriminatory and unjust”, persuaded the House last week, by 148 votes to 130 majority 18, to widen it to allow family carers who live together to share the same benefits.


~

Gay marriage ban issue could make ballot
Gambling expansion proposal also may go to voters.
By TIM MARTIN
Associated Press Writer


LANSING -- Michigan voters might get to decide gay marriage and gambling expansion issues in the November election, but they won't get to weigh in on ending the state's 158-year-old ban on the death penalty or the future of affirmative action.

The deadline for groups to file ballot initiative petitions with state election officials is Monday. They must have at least 317,757 valid signatures to get on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Opponents of gay marriage hope to file 400,000 petition signatures on Monday. If state election officials approve the petitions, voters will get to decide whether to change the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

"You never can be absolutely sure, but it looks good," said Marlene Elwell, director of Citizens for the Protection of Marriage. "I see no reason why we wouldn't make it."


~

County moves forward on domestic partner registry


A public hearing on creating a domestic partner registry in the county will be scheduled later this summer.

The Thurston County Commission met Wednesday to discuss the issue and heard new details about how the registry would work.

Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater already have such registries, and the county's proposal closely mirrors the cities' policies.

The county registry fee would be $25, the same amount charged in Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater.


~

Domestic partners study requested
Presbyterians ask if health benefits will cover them
By PETER SMITH
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal


RICHMOND, Va. — Presbyterians voted yesterday to request a feasibility study into whether to provide health insurance and other benefits to "domestic partners in long-term committed relationships" with church employees.

The General Assembly, the main legislative body of the Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), voted 328-173 to request the study from the denomination's Board of Pensions, which administers benefits.



~

Queer Festival Brings Heartfelt Discussion
By Bridget O°ØBrien and Yang Jun
Contributing Writer, Staff Intern

The 2004 Queer Culture Festival, held in Seoul last month, may have passed by without too much notice with so many other matters taking the limelight, but there was enough activity to ensure a more progressive outlook for Korea°Øs diverse community and the future of gay marriage in the country.

While some people still flatly reject homosexuality in Korea, leaders of local homosexual organizations have addressed the issue by holding unprecedented debates on same-sex marriage. In more comfortable arrangements, the festival organizers felt film viewings would allow the gentler introduction of discussion and change.


~

Herriman blocks booth opposing amendment
By Rebecca Walsh
The Salt Lake Tribune

    Fort Herriman Days was supposed to be a celebration of the best of patriotic, small-town America -- complete with cotton candy and fireworks.
  
  But free speech was another matter entirely.
  
  Herriman Mayor J. Lynn Crane balked at allowing a group opposing a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to pass out literature from a booth at the city's founders day party last Saturday. But Crane's decision may put the 5-year-old city on shaky legal ground.
  
  "If you open a public forum, you can't pick and choose who gets to be there," said Scott McCoy, director of the Don't Amend Alliance political issues committee. "We basically were discriminated against because of who we are and our position."
   
Crane is out of town camping with his family all week and could not be reached for comment. City receptionist Lynda White served as his proxy last Friday, passing on the bad news to leaders of Don't Amend.


~

New state law called a motivator for gay community
Activists and supporters gather in Norfolk to protest an amended anti-gay-marriage law going into effect today.
BY LAUREN WILLIAMS


NORFOLK -- Hampton Roads residents filled the sidewalks behind Waterside Marketplace on Wednesday to protest a new Virginia law, effective today, that bans same-sex couples from contractual arrangements that grant privileges associated with marriage.

Gays, lesbians and their supporters signed petitions from Equality Virginia denouncing the law and a possible amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban gay marriage. They also heard from speakers from across Hampton Roads who opposed the state law.

Keith Flippan, one of the event organizers, told the crowd that the rally was an example of how powerful a motivator the law had been to the gay community.

"Why we're here is because - look at us - we've found our voice," Flippan said to a cheering crowd. "Citizens of Hampton Roads are willing to stand up and say, 'You know what? We're not going to be ashamed of who we are.' "


~

Activists Protest Anti-Gay Marriage Law
By JUSTIN BERGMAN
Associated Press Writer


RICHMOND, Va. -- Gay activists rallied in major cities statewide to protest a new law that critics said could nullify legal contracts between same-sex couples.

The state law, which goes into effect Thursday, prohibits civil unions, partnership contracts or other arrangements "purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage."

Critics said it could be used to nullify medical directives, wills, joint bank accounts and other agreements between gay couples.

"(The law) clearly states that gay and lesbian people in this state should not feel welcome," said Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia, the state's largest gay rights organization. "It seeks to strip the only tool that gay and lesbian couples have to protect their families."


~

Anti-Gay Amendment Dies In North Carolina


(Raleigh, North Carolina) A last ditch effort to force a vote on a proposed amendment to the North Carolina Constitution has failed. Senate Republicans came up two signatures short of forcing the issue out of committee and onto the Senate floor.

Thirty signatures are needed to force a rules vote. Senate Minority Leader Jim Forrester (R-Gaston) was able to muster only 28 signatures - all of the Senate's 23 Republicans and five Democrats. Democrats hold 27 of 50 Senate seats.

"I don't think there's any more that we can do," he told reporters. "We gave them every opportunity to help prevent the destruction of the institution of marriage," he said of Democrats that the GOP hoped would join them in pressing the measure.

Forrester sent certified letters containing the petition to all Democrats in the Senate asking them to sign. With this year's legislative session winding down, Forrester set Tuesday as the deadline for senators to sign up.


~

Group plans to monitor churches to watch for campaigning from pulpit

A group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state plans to send volunteers to Johnson County, Kan., church services starting in July to make sure there's no election-year campaigning from the pulpit.

About 100 ministers representing Johnson County churches attended a meeting earlier this month at First Family Church in Overland Park, where the Reverend Jerry Johnston urged them to help oust Kansas lawmakers who voted against a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. "God calls a minister to speak on moral issues," said Johnston, who believes churches need to get more involved in politics.

But Internal Revenue Service rules forbid tax-exempt groups such as religious organizations from participating in political campaigns for or against a candidate.

Now a Johnson County-based group called the Mainstream Coalition, headed by Caroline McKnight, is sending letters to more than 400 churches in the county reminding them of the IRS rules on campaigning. McKnight said Johnston and other ministers need to keep partisan politics out of their sermons. "His job is to lead his flock by setting an example...not by bringing the smoke-filled room into his sanctuary," McKnight said.

SOLDIER KILLED, TWO WOUNDED IN IED ATTACK 7/1/2004
TASK FORCE 1ST ARMORED DIVISION SOLDIER DIES, FOUR OTHERS INJURED IN VEHICLE ACC 6/30/2004

B&B owner keeps 'no gays' stance
JOHN ROSS

A GUEST house owner was unrepentant last night despite being dropped by VisitScotland for refusing a gay couple a room and branding them "sexual deviants".

The tourism body took action against Tom Forrest, the proprietor of the Cromasaig guest house in Wester Ross, who told Stephen Nock and his partner they could not stay in a double room.

VisitScotland has withdrawn the premises from its quality assurance scheme and its website for his "appalling treatment" of the couple.

A VisitScotland spokesman said: "We have given Mr Forrest the opportunity to assure us that he will not offend potential guests in the future but he has refused to do this.

Hundreds rally to protest Virginia anti-gay law
By JUSTIN BERGMAN
Associated Press Writer


RICHMOND, Va. -- Holding multicolored balloons and waving rainbow flags, hundreds of people in cities across the state rallied Wednesday to protest the passage of an anti-gay law that critics say could interfere with legal contracts between same-sex couples.

The state law, which goes into effect Thursday, prohibits civil unions, partnership contracts or other arrangements "purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage." Some legal scholars and gay activists say it could be interpreted to nullify medical directives, wills, joint bank accounts and other partnership agreements between same-sex couples.

"(The law) clearly states that gay and lesbian people in this state should not feel welcome," Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia, the state's largest gay rights organization, said at the Richmond rally. "It seeks to strip the only tool that gay and lesbian couples have to protect their families."

The rally drew a lively crowd of more than 400 gay activists and their supporters to the Capitol grounds. Some peddled T-shirts reading "Virginia is for Lovers. *Some restrictions apply," while others held signs denouncing the bill's sponsor, Republican Del. Robert Marshall.

Hundreds rally to protest Virginia anti-gay law
By JUSTIN BERGMAN
Associated Press Writer


RICHMOND, Va. -- Holding multicolored balloons and waving rainbow flags, hundreds of people in cities across the state rallied Wednesday to protest the passage of an anti-gay law that critics say could interfere with legal contracts between same-sex couples.

The state law, which goes into effect Thursday, prohibits civil unions, partnership contracts or other arrangements "purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage." Some legal scholars and gay activists say it could be interpreted to nullify medical directives, wills, joint bank accounts and other partnership agreements between same-sex couples.

"(The law) clearly states that gay and lesbian people in this state should not feel welcome," Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia, the state's largest gay rights organization, said at the Richmond rally. "It seeks to strip the only tool that gay and lesbian couples have to protect their families."

The rally drew a lively crowd of more than 400 gay activists and their supporters to the Capitol grounds. Some peddled T-shirts reading "Virginia is for Lovers. *Some restrictions apply," while others held signs denouncing the bill's sponsor, Republican Del. Robert Marshall.

Protests Planned As Virginia Gay Unions Ban Goes Into Effect
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff


(Richmond, Virginia) A law described as the most virulently anti-gay law in the US goes into effect Thursday and gay civil rights groups in the planning statewide demonstrations.

The law will prevent the state from recognizing gay marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships and block any "contract or other arrangement" same-sex couples may enter into.

An attempt by Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner to soften the impact by removing sections nullifying contracts was overridden by the legislature.

Virginia already has a so-called Affirmation of Marriage Act that was passed in 1997 denying same-sex couples the right to marry, but the sponsor of the new law, Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) said it did not go far enough.

Justice postponed
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

In Newark, Calif., the jury in the Gwen Araujo trial has hung, leaving it to the district attorney to retry the three men accused of killing her. The argument made by the defense of two of these men was simple: What reasonable person wouldn't murder this young woman if they found out she had male genitalia?

I attended some of this trial, and as a transgender woman myself, it was often difficult to sit in that courtroom and listen to Gwen continue to be mistreated. She was an object of scorn at times, stripped of her preferred identity by defense and prosecution alike, left to face the final ridicule of having those who killed her defended because, it was argued, an "average, ordinary, reasonable person" would have killed her.

I fail to see how a murder that went on for three to four hours could be seen as reasonable. Nor does it take into account that at least one witness to this crime, Paul Merel, did do the reasonable thing the night Gwen was killed. He left the house, fearing for his own safety around Jaron Nabors, Jason Cazares, Michael Magidson and his own brother, Jose. This seems far more reasonable to me than hitting a person with a soup can and a skillet, kicking her in the face so hard you leave an indentation in the wall behind her head and strangling her with a length of rope.

To the jury's credit, many of them rejected the defense's claim, at least as far as calling this a manslaughter case versus murder. But the so-called "trans panic" argument the defense put forward may well have been one of the stumbling blocks that caused the jury to derail.

Conservatives urge Anglicans to shun gay bishop, Episcopal Church


Undated-AP -- Continued division in the Episcopal church over openly gay clergy and same-sex blessings.
Conservatives have told an emergency commission that global Anglicanism should shun both New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson and the denomination unless things change.

Those proposals were presented this month to the Lambeth Commission -- a group of church leaders charged with finding a way to preserve the World Anglican Communion despite the deep rift over homosexuality.

The panel holds one more meeting in September, then must report to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the other 37 Anglican primates.

The fight for gay rights is far from won
By Shahar Ilan

One reason for the absence of many members of the homosexual community from the Gay Pride parade, reported Itay Katz on Friday, was a pervading feeling that most of the community's greatest social battles have already been won. That is based on a number of victories in the courts and society's wide acceptance of same-sex couples.

However, a claim filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) in March in the Labor Court, which did not receive much attention, demonstrates just how unfounded that perception of battles won can be. ACRI's legal adviser, attorney Dan Yakir, says the legal achievements of the gay and lesbian community are only partial. Some were mandated by lower courts and others were won outside the courtroom. Consequently, they are not locked into binding and precedent setting legal standards.

"There is a lot of unresolved discrimination and a law needs to be passed." Beyond that, each specific case commits only the organization that is directly concerned. For example, in June 2001, the Tel Aviv Labor Court decided that a same-sex couple was entitled to a survivor's pension from the Mivtahim insurance fund. However, this was a decision made by a lower court, and consequently does not represent a precedent - it is doubtful if all the other pension funds will consider themselves obliged to follow it.

If, for example, there were at least the feeling that the civil service recognized single-sex partners as the equivalent of a common-law wife or husband, and entitled them to rights equivalent to those of heterosexual partners, it would be one thing. The fact is, there is still a long way to go.

Gay marriage opponents turn in signatures
They collect a record number of signatures on a petition for a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in Oregon
PETER WONG
Statesman Journal


Advocates submitted more than 244,000 petition signatures today on behalf of a state constitutional ban on marriage by same-sex couples.

An official said the total submitted to the Oregon Elections Division is the the most ever for a single ballot measure. To qualify for the Nov. 2 general election, it will require 100,840 valid signatures.

The Defense of Marriage Coalition submitted the signatures two days in advance of Friday's deadline for initiative petitions. Signatures for up to a half-dozen more may be filed in the next two days.

The measure would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and could make invalid the 3,022 licenses that Multnomah County issued to same-sex couples between March 3 and April 20. Those licenses are on hold while a challenge to Oregon's 1862 marriage law is pending in the Court of Appeals.

Gay marriage ban proposal could make November ballot

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan voters might get to decide gay marriage and gambling expansion issues in the November election, but they won't get to weigh in on ending the state's 158-year-old ban on the death penalty or the future of affirmative action.

The deadline for groups to file ballot initiative petitions with state election officials is Monday. They must have at least 317,757 valid signatures to get on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Opponents of gay marriage hope to file 400,000 petition signatures on Monday. If state election officials approve the petitions, voters will get to decide whether to change the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

"You never can be absolutely sure, but it looks good," said Marlene Elwell, director of Citizens for the Protection of Marriage. "I see no reason why we wouldn't make it."

Gay Marriage To Be Legal In Spain In 2005
by The Associated Press


(Madrid) Spain's Parliament may approve same-sex marriages early next year, Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said on Wednesday.

He spoke a day after lawmakers took a first step in that direction, approving a nonbinding resolution urging the Socialist government to amend Spain's civil code to permit gay marriage.

Lopez Aguilar said legislators will start reforming articles in the code as early as September, and that gay marriage could become a reality early next year.

"It's a challenge that this government wants to undertake, to remove a border of inequality," Lopez Aguilar said after meeting with representatives of gay and lesbian groups. "It is a fair cause that doesn't offend anyone."

Sexual orientation discrimination in new member states


ILGA-Europe launches today Meeting the challenges of accession, a report highlighting sexual orientation discrimination that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people face in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. This report illustrates with percentages and quotes from LGB people the extent of discrimination in the family, in health services, in education, in the workplace, in housing, in the army and in the church. Those range from direct and indirect discrimination to harassment and physical violence.

To prevent discrimination and violence, many people tend to conceal their sexual orientation. Concealment is particularly frequent in the public sphere i.e. in the workplace, in health care and housing, in the church or in the streets. Furthermore, to bring to an end the ongoing violence and discrimination experienced, a majority of respondents consider emigration to countries perceived to be more tolerant. 

The ultimate aim of the report is to place the fight against discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation at the core of the “acquis communautaires” and to reinforce the instruments dealing with discrimination. To achieve this, the report puts forward some recommendations to the new member states and to the EU institutions. At national level, these recommendations concern primarily a general ban of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation coupled with the establishment of equality bodies to monitor and prevent discrimination. At EU level, the Commission needs to ensure that the framework directive is implemented properly and that legislation and policies go beyond the field of employment to extend to access to goods, facilities and services as it is the case for race anti-discrimination.


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Maybe later: YTG won't license gay marriage


WHITEHORSE - The Yukon government say a same-sex marriage should go ahead as planned next month – without a marriage licence.

Rob Edge and Stephen Dunbar want to wed in the YukonCourt documents filed in the YTG's defense promise a license could be issued retroactively if and when the courts legalize same-sex marriage.

But the government says Stephen Dunbar and Rob Edge will not get a marriage licence until the Supreme court orders it, or until Parliament redefines marriage to include same-sex couples.

It's not the response Dunbar had hoped for.

"What he's saying in his affidavit is he would make it retroactive ... should the Supreme Court rule in favour [of same-sex marriage]," he says. "That's unacceptable. Our marriage is July 17th. I don't think any of the Supreme Court or their lawyers had to wait for their marriage licences. There's no reason why we should have to wait."


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Has Gay Man's Killer Struck Again? 
by Steph Smith
365Gay.com Newscenter
Chicago Bureau


(Chicago Illinois) The discovery of a man's body in a North Side apartment just blocks from where two gay men were found murdered over the past year has Chicago's gay community concerned a serial killer is preying on the area.

Forest Cowley, 44, was found in his one-bedroom apartment after neighbors complained of a bad odor emanating from the unit. A police source said Cowley appeared to have been bludgeoned to death.

Cowley was last seen June 12.  He is descried as a quiet but friendly man by neighbors in the building in the heart of Chicago's North Side's gay and lesbian community.

Police said there is nothing at this time to link Cowley's death to the March murder of Kevin Clewer just two blocks away. Last August, the body of theater director Brad Nelson Winters was found stabbed in his apartment 12 blocks south. Neither of those killings has been solved.

by By Elizabeth Cline
Transmale Nation
Remaking manhood in the genderqueer generation


digital call to action spread on friendster.com last month, and a crowd of tranny boys descended on the East Village gay dive the Boiler Room. It was the very first Manhunt, a party for transmen and their admirers.

When several dozen genderqueers crashed the place, a few of the bar's gay patrons threw a tantrum. They tried desperately to sort out who was a dyke and who was a dude by rating the tranny boys—with their flat chests, short hair, and male posturing—according to who still "looked like girls." But eventually, these hecklers were outnumbered by some of New York's au courant gender outlaws, a mix of young masculine-identified dykes, bois, and trans guys clamoring for a space of their own. By the end of the night, the trans folks and the gay guys had made peace, and Riley MacLeod, a 22-year-old, gay-identified tranny boy, even stole a kiss from the bartender.

Just a few years ago, the transmale community was still underground, connecting with each other in group therapy and chat rooms. How things have changed. Some of the city's hottest queer parties are fundraisers for chest-reconstruction surgery, tagged with names like "Take My Breasts Away." Ethan Carter's Trans*Am party has gotten so popular it has outgrown its digs at the lesbian watering hole Meow Mix, and Manhunt plans to carry on through the summer.


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Transgender official thanks community
Councilman(person) appreciative toward Rapid City during group's protest
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


RAPID CITY - Tom Murphy, the Rapid City councilman who has said he plans to have a sex-change operation, praised the community for its support during two days of protests from members of an out-of-state church who called him an ''abomination'' in the eyes of God.

''I was very proud of Rapid City in the way people conducted themselves,'' said Murphy. ''They showed they were independent thinkers and don't like what this group represents.''

Followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., carried pickets outside local churches on Sunday and demonstrated on Monday near Sen. Tom Daschle's office and in front of city hall.

''I think Rapid City actually won out on hate,'' Murphy said a few hours after the picketers left town, taking their ''God Hates Fags'' signs with them.


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Transsexual eyes Tour
By Claire Middleton in Zandvoort, Holland 


Mianne Bagger, the transsexual who competed at the Australian Women's Open in March, wants to play on the Ladies' European Tour next season and has written to chief executive Ian Randell asking that the rule stating players must be female at birth be changed.


Bagger, 37, has also contacted the tours in America and Australia saying that now the International Olympic Committee have decreed transsexuals can compete at the Olympics, it is time golf followed suit.

"It was indicated to me that the Ladies' European Tour would consider changing the condition once the IOC had made their rule change official," she wrote. "I have been waiting for news but there does not seem do be an intention unless they are specifically prompted."

Bagger has been a spectator at the KLM Dutch Open here because the Telia Tour in Sweden - where there is no "female at birth" criteria - did not have an event. Her aim is to play in the European Tour's qualifying school at the end of the season.