amnesty slams 'zim attacks'
By News24.com


May 10, 2005: London - Amnesty International on Tuesday called on the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to stop harassing human rights campaigners, a group it said had been under "sustained attack" in recent years.

Amended civil code excludes sex change
(Vietnam)


The revised draft only allows “re-definition of sex in case of congenital defects,” said Le Quang Binh, a National Assembly deputy on the second day of the one-month session in Hanoi.

According to the opinions of many deputies and the public, having a sex change is not common in Vietnam, he said. Furthermore, it is not suitable for Vietnamese culture and traditions.

But it should be noted that the absence of regulations about the issue does not mean that the issue is banned in Vietnam. “If anyone wants to change their sex, they can do it. I think it does not go against the law,” he said.

Luederitz Stoning Suspect in Court
The Namibian (Windhoek)
Windhoek


A SEXUAL motive may be behind the fatal stoning of an 18-year-old person at Luederitz at the end of last week.

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the incident.

The Police, through its spokesperson Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, reported yesterday that it was suspected that Nolan Jansen, who was stoned to death at Luederitz early on Friday morning, might have been the victim of a rape attempt, too.

Amulungu pointed out that Jansen had been male - and not a woman, as had been reported in yesterday's edition of The Namibian after the initially reported that the name of the killed person was Noleen Jansen.

Apparently Jansen had been born as a hermaphrodite - having been born with both female and male genitalia - but he grew up as a male, the officer reported.

Transsexual parishioner denied facilities


OKLAHOMA CITY - There is a plea from an Oklahoma church member who says she is thinking of suing the church she loves. She claims that church officials are refusing to let her use the same women's bathroom that all the other

are you getting worried yet!!! you should!!


ACLU Challenges N.C. Cohabitation Law
Woman Fired for Living With Boyfriend
By Steve Hartsoe
Associated Press


RALEIGH, N.C., May 9 -- There are about 144,000 unmarried couples living together in North Carolina, and they are all breaking the law -- a statute that has been on the books since 1805.

Oklahoma House Passes Gay Book Ban
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff


(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a resolution that would ban books on gay families from the children's sections of public libraries.

California assembly committee rejects ban on gay marriage


A California assembly committee on Tuesday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and strip away a long list of rights granted to domestic partners in recent years.

War crimes in Iraq? U.S. must pay
By John Catalinotto


Belgian doctors carried out five operations on a young Iraqi woman to repair leg wounds caused by a U.S. cluster bomb. Wanting to add some justice to this humanitarian act, the doctors handed a bill for 51,570 euros ($66,650) to the U.S. Embassy in Brussels on April 28.

Harry Hay tried to 'close chapter' on his gayness
Lesbian, gay, bi and trans pride series part 33
By Leslie Feinberg


In 1938, Harry Hay—only a decade away from launching the first mass political movement for homosexual emancipation in the United States—married a woman comrade in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

Since the CPUSA at that time did not allow openly homosexual members, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that Hay, a member of the CPUSA, felt so isolated as a gay man that he married merely in order to hide his sexuality inside the organization.

But Hay knew he wasn’t the only gay party member. He wrote, “I knew a number of Black and white men from the performing arts in the Communist Party who were gay, but the Party didn’t seem to suspect. I realized that since they weren’t that unnoticeable, certain Party people saw the necessity of tolerating and covering for them.” (Stuart Timmons, “The Trouble with Harry Hay”)

Bay Area: May 20 - Reclaim the Streets against the G8!    


Our everyday lives are fucking boring. From where we work to when we sleep, when we go to school and where we play, every aspect of our lives is beyond our control. We are given false choices about everything - Coke or Pepsi, Republican or Democrat, waiter or janitor - either way we're choking down chemicals, living by someone else’s laws, and selling ourselves into slavery to make someone else rich. The real decisions which affect our lives have been made for us - only collective resistance can take back control of our lives and bring us back to life!

Smoking Gun Memo?
Iraq Bombshell Goes Mostly Unreported in US Media
Media Advisory


Journalists typically condemn attempts to force their colleagues to disclose anonymous sources, saying that subpoenaing reporters will discourage efforts to expose government wrongdoing. But such warnings seem like mere self-congratulation when clear evidence of wrongdoing emerges, with no anonymous sources required-- and major news outlets virtually ignore it.

A leaked document that appeared in a British newspaper offered clear new evidence that U.S. intelligence was shaped to support the drive for war. Though the information rocked British Prime Minister Tony Blair's re-election campaign when it was revealed, it has received little attention in the U.S. press.

Killers of Gwen Araujo to be tried again


For the second time in less than a year, prosecutors are gearing up to try three men accused of killing 17-year-old transgender woman Gwen Araujo, a onetime friend they bludgeoned to death after learning that she was biologically male.

Protesters Occupy University of Hawaii Admin Building



Since 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 28th, a coalition of Native Hawaiian groups, students, faculty, anti-war activists, environmentalists, and religious organizations have joined forces to occupy the University of Hawaii administration building, to demand the University cease all work on a secret Navy research project, UARC. This research is for the development of space-based laser systems, surveillance technologies, and sea-based mines.

Speech police
S.F. pulls public meeting video, citing offensive comments
By Matthew Hirsch


San Francisco officials yanked a video of a public meeting off the city's Web site, with the consent of the mayor and city attorney, because a few people in the audience made crass and demeaning remarks about a government employee.

White Supremacists, Crowd Clash in Boston
By BROOKE DONALD, Associated Press Writer


BOSTON - White supremacists clashed with an angry crowd outside Faneuil Hall, where Holocaust survivors and their families were commemorating the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.

Two people were arrested during Sunday's confrontation, officer John Boyle said. Sunday was the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

A battle for sexual rights
SIDDHARTH NARRAIN
in New Delhi


The campaign for sexual rights gets a boost with the Supreme Court taking up an appeal against a High Court order dismissing a petition challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

IN the recently released movie "My Brother Nikhil", the protagonist, Nikhil, is a homosexual man suffering from HIV/AIDS [human immunodeficiency virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome]. He is detained by the government under the Goa Public Health Act, 1985, which empowers the State government to isolate persons living with HIV/AIDS by confining them in wards and institutions for extended periods. Nikhil's sister Anu (played by Juhi Chawla) and partner Nigel, along with his lawyer, launch a campaign to free him. One evening, after campaigning all over the city for his release, Nigel comes home only to find his house ransacked and "faggot" painted across the entrance to his house.