Queer Community Seeing Red Over Blood-Donation Policy


BURLINGTON -- A gay man who is HIV-negative, practices safe sex, and has been in a monogamous relationship for 20 years is ineligible for life to give blood to the American Red Cross. But a heterosexual man who’s had unprotected sex with dozens of women in the last year can donate blood every eight weeks. The policy makes the blood of LGBT activists boil at the University of Vermont; they’re asking the administration to stop the Red Cross from holding blood drives on campus until the policy is changed.

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Rally supports gay student expelled from Ky. school


WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — About 50 students from across the state rallied here Wednesday to mark what one speaker called a gay-rights “turning point” in Kentucky.

The crowd included more than a dozen students from the University of the Cumberlands, which Tuesday agreed to let a gay student it had expelled finish classes for the semester.

“I respect the school for making that decision and realizing that everyone needs an education,” said Melissa Bond, 21, a Cumberlands senior from Cincinnati.
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Israeli Supreme Court to hear ‘gay marriage’ case

 
JERUSALEM (BP)–Israel’s Supreme Court has announced it will hear a “gay marriage” case in May, raising the possibility that the land where Christ once walked will recognize “marriage” between homosexuals.

The announcement, reported first by the homosexual news service 365Gay, comes as more and more countries worldwide redefine marriage. Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized “gay marriage,” and South Africa is expected to follow suit this year. Oral arguments before the Israeli court will take place May 28, according to the news service.

The Israel case involves a handful of homosexual couples who were “married” in Canada and returned to Israel, where they filed suit to have their “marriages” recognized there. The couples’ attorney apparently is asking only that out-of-country “gay marriages” be recognized, and not that Israel itself grant licenses to homosexual couples. Nevertheless, that would be a significant liberalization of its marriage law – and a very significant win for homosexuals in the Holy Land. Marriage law in Israel is defined by Orthodox Jewish law.

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Nepal's gay community joins anti-king protests


KATHMANDU: With the protests against King Gyanendra's absolute reign snowballing in Nepal, the kingdom's homosexual community has pledged solidarity with the protesters.

Blue Diamond Society, the only gay rights organisation in the country, said it was joining the "historic democratic movement" for ousting the "autocratic" government of Gyanendra.

As the anti-king demonstrations and a nationwide shutdown called to force the monarch to relinquish power entered the 14th day on Wednesday, homosexuals and trans-genders as well as office bearers of Blue Diamond Society here donned black arm bands to protest against the "black reign of the king".

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Mich. transsexual murdered in motel

Autopsy results confirmed that a 31-year-old Michigan transsexual found Tuesday in a Motel 6 in Elk Grove Village was a homicide victim.
Krystal Heskin, 31, of the 6800 block of Meadow Ave. in Warren, Mich., died as a result of craniocerebral injuries and blunt force trauma to the head, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said after an autopsy on Wednesday. Heskin was pronounced dead at 12:40 a.m. Tuesday at the Stein Institute, according to a an office spokeswoman.