Transgender substitute teacher hired; no audience comment

LITTLE EGG HARBOR — There was no public outcry this time.

Lily McBeth was one of several substitute teachers the Pinelands Regional Board of Education voted to hire Thursday night. None of the handful of local residents who attended the meeting spoke on the hiring of the 72-year-old transgender Little Egg Harbor woman.

It was a marked contrast to the scene at an Eagleswood Board of Education meeting last winter, where dozens of residents, both supporters and opponents of McBeth working in the district, turned out to speak after she was hired as a substitute there. The Eagleswood board did not back down from its decision to rehire McBeth, who had substituted at the elementary district before having a sex-change operation more than a year ago.

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Gay Iranian to be deported

A gay Iranian is to be deported from Sweden back to his homeland, a migration court in Stockholm decided on Friday. 

Gay rights group RFSL has condemned the decision, saying that the man could be executed on his return.
"They're choosing to send people back and just hope that things go well, and that they're not executed," said RFSL's chairman Sören Andersson to The Local.
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Man blames college attack on gay bias


MADISON, Wis. -- A former University of Wisconsin-Platteville student has filed a second lawsuit alleging he was attacked outside a restaurant because he is gay.

Brett Timmerman's lawsuit, filed in Grant County Circuit Court under Wisconsin's hate crimes law, seeks unspecified damages for emotional distress and attorney fees. A district court judge dismissed a federal suit in March.

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Church stand on gay priests made Tutu ashamed to be Anglican


JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in the first authorized biography of the Nobel Peace laureate, said he was ashamed of his Anglican Church’s conservative position that rejected gay priests. Excerpts from the book, “Rabble-rouser for Peace” by his former press secretary John Allen, were scheduled to appear in South Africa on Sept. 22 and the biography was scheduled for release in time for Tutu’s 75th birthday on Oct. 7. The retired archbishop was critical of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for bowing on the gay priest issue to conservative elements, particularly African bishops, in the 77-million member Anglican Church that includes Episcopalians in the United States. In a 1998 letter to Williams’ predecessor, Archbishop George Carey, Tutu wrote he was “ashamed to be Anglican.” It came after the Lambeth Conference of Bishops rejected the ordination of practicing homosexuals saying their sexual relations were “incompatible with scripture.”

UA sets bar for transgender access rights


The UA allows transgendered people to use the restrooms with which they best identify, making it one of the most inclusive campuses in the country, a UA official said.

According to a policy issued by the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office in June, the UA "allows individuals to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity."


The "Statement on Restroom Access" is based on the UA's policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity, according to the statement.

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Canadian Lawmaker Wants Gay Rights Tied To Foreign Policy


(Ottawa) A Canadian member of parliament is calling for the adoption of the Declaration of Montreal to be enshrined in the country's foreign policy. The declaration was prepared this summer at an international LGBT rights conference tied to the first Outgames in Montreal.

Although document's principals are already part of Canadian law  - equal rights, abolition of anti-gay sex laws, and equal marriage - New Democratic Party MP says Canada should be promoting those values in its foreign affairs.

Bill Siksay (pictured), the NDP spokesperson on LGBT issues, has filed a motion in the House of Commons calling on the government to implement the declaration. 

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Transgender residents may get new birth certificates


Transgender New Yorkers may soon be able to get new birth certificates that accurately reflect their current sexual identity.
Under the proposed new plan, new birth certificates would only indicate a person's current sexual identity.

New York City's board of health is expected to decide today whether or not to put the proposal up for public comment.

Transgender people have long complained about having a hard time doing things that require a birth certificate.

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L. A. Gay Center Sues IRS Over Delay in Producing Documents
Group Says Records of Decades-Old Conflict Would Show Agency’s ‘Shameful History’

 
The L.A. Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center yesterday sued the Internal Revenue Service in federal court over documents it is seeking from the agency pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

The complaint alleges that the IRS, refusing to respond to the center’s March 2005 Freedom of Information Act request, has been improperly withholding records pertaining to the center’s 1971 application for tax exempt status under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 501(c)(3).


“This lawsuit has been filed after the unsuccessful efforts of The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center…to uncover information about a shameful chapter in the history of the IRS that the IRS does not want to be made public,” the complaint says.

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Gay Welsh youth vulnerable


There are 3,500 lesbian, gay and bisexual youths aged 15 to 25 living in and around Cardiff currently suffering from inadequate services, warns the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT).

The warning comes from a report entitled ‘Starting Out’ published today by the THT which is concerned Welsh gay people are putting their sexual health at risk due to a lack of support.

In 2004 there were over 2,000 new cases of chlamydia diagnosed within Wales, whilst HIV/AIDS infection rates are increasing nationwide.

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Govt working to repeal law against homosexuality


The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is working with the home ministry to repeal Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that outlaws homosexuality.

"We have already held two meetings with the Ministry of Home about repealing the section," said Additional Secretary and Director General of National AIDS Control Organisation Sujatha Rao on Tuesday at the end of a four-day conference on Men who have Sex with Men and HIV in Asia and the Pacific.

The move comes days after some eminent persons including author Vikram Seth, film-maker Shyam Benegal and writer Arundhati Roy wrote an open letter asking the government to strike down the IPC section