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Equality California Urges Governor to Sign Harvey Milk Day Bill into Law
San Francisco – Today President Obama announced that he will honor assassinated civil rights leader Harvey Milk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor recognizing significant contributions to the nation and the world. The President will also honor Senator Edward Kennedy and tennis legend Billie Jean King, an open lesbian and longtime champion for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, with the Medal of Freedom on August 12.
"President Obama understands that Harvey Milk's legacy reaches far beyond San Francisco, and that his story is an inspiration to everyone who believes in equality and fairness," said Geoff Kors, Equality California (EQCA) executive director. "Harvey Milk risked everything to change the course of history and to secure many of the civil rights and protections we enjoy today. In light of Harvey Milk receiving this incredible honor, we urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the Harvey Milk bill into law as a tribute to Harvey Milk's courageous work to end discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."
Last year, EQCA sponsored the first bill in the country to officially honor Milk, the nation's first openly gay man elected to major political office, but the Governor vetoed it. Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced the Harvey Milk Day bill, sponsored by EQCA, again this year. The legislation would require the governor to annually proclaim May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, designating it as a "day of special significance," to recognize Milk's work to secure equal protections.
Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org
NEW YORK, NY - - - The Issues Magazine launched "Our Genders, Our Rights," its Summer 2009 edition. A unique combination of articles, poetry, art and videos focus on a topic that is both utterly fundamental and wildly revolutionary: gender norms and gender identity.
Top writers discuss sex-selection abortion, gender expression, "Intersex" self-identification and a first-hand account of forced sex roles inside a polygamist compound in Texas.
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Merle Hoffman's editorial, "Selecting The Same Sex," provides philosophical and personal insights into the issue of sex-selection abortion.
"There is one place where the definition of gender remains binary -- in the womb. When it comes to sonograms, amniocentesis and standard pre-natal testing, there are no nuances. Here, the pronouncement, 'It's a girl,' can translate into fierce and instant parental rejection. The fact is that when the issue is 'sex selection abortion,' the same sex is always being selected -- female." For Hoffman, this issue highlights questions of ethics, human rights and the moral autonomy of women.
"It's about separating the chooser from the choice," writes Hoffman.
In "Busting Bogus Biology and Beliefs" Mahin Hassibi notes: "For centuries, social constructs held that women owed allegiance and obedience to their husbands; children were the property of their fathers, who owned the children's mothers." Today, Hassibi says, discoveries in biology and reproductive technology may soon trump historical and cultural restrictions that wrongly limited women's lives.
"My children would have undoubtedly been among the 439 seized in the raid," writes Carolyn Jessop of the sweep through the polygamist compound. In, "American Taliban: Sect Controls Women's Destinies," Jessop gives an inside view of the abuse, misogyny and control of women's bodies that continues today.
Writers also plunge into transgender concerns. "Asylum Pitfalls May Await the Transgender Applicant" by Victoria Neilson discusses the difficult process for trans applicants in the U.S. Eleanor Bader's "Trans Health Care Is a Life and Death Matter" describes a pioneering feminist health program for trans patients in the South.
Photographic performer Tammy Rae Carland visualizes gender fluidity as the featured artist, and art editor Linda Stein conducts an interview with Elizabeth Sackler, whose passion for feminist art resulted in a new center at the Brooklyn Museum.
ABOUT US
On The Issues Magazine (www.ontheissuesmagazine.com) is a progressive, feminist, quarterly online magazine. Read more at the site -- free and with archives from 1983. Merle Hoffman is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.
A House subcommittee today advanced a bill to provide health and retirement benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees.
The bill, HR 2517, passed the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia on a party-line vote.
Democrats said the bill is needed to eliminate an inequality that drives some talented employees away from the government. Gay and lesbian employees currently cannot cover their domestic partners under their health insurance or provide an annuity for their partners after they die, even if they are legally married in states that recognize gay marriage. Supporters of the new bill say the current policy places an undue financial burden on as many as 34,000 gay and lesbian federal employees in domestic partnerships, who have to maintain separate health plans to keep both partners covered.
President Obama, attempting to spotlight those who have acted as "agents of change," today announced that he will bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, on a cast of living and deceased figures widely known in politics, the arts and sciences, sports and social movements.
The 16 honorees named by the White House today include Harvey Milk, the San Francisco city supervisor who led an early movement for gay rights in public life and was assassinated. They include the late Republican Congressman Jack Kemp, a football legend as well, and the ailing Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The president's choices, who will be honored at a White House ceremony Aug. 12, include American civil-rights activist the Rev. Joseph Lowery and South African freedom fighter Desmond Tutu. They include a pioneer in sports for women, tennis star Billie Jean King, and the first woman on the Supreme Court, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
They include actor Sidney Poitier and singer Chita Rivera. See
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today launched a national, grassroots campaign called "No Excuses" to demand action from Congress on key issues of equality. Designed to take advantage of the congressional summer recess, when members are in their local offices and meeting with constituents, "No Excuses" will mobilize HRC's 750,000 members and their allies to meet directly with lawmakers and push for federal legislative change. Members and supporters can get involved by visiting: http://noexcuses.hrc.org.
"While we salute and acknowledge the heroic members of Congress who have worked tirelessly on our behalf, far too many have dragged their feet on basic matters of fairness and equality that have lingered too long and hurt too many LGBT people and their families," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Yes, there are many challenges facing this Congress and this president. But LGBT people often face additional hardship protecting their families, their loved ones and their jobs, and too few in Congress are willing to champion these issues of basic fairness. Now, more than ever, members of the LGBT community need to make their voices heard face-to-face and in the districts where they live."
Using innovative online tools, one-on-one trainings and staff and volunteer follow-through, HRC members will press lawmakers to end discrimination in the military, treat all legally married couples equally, pass immigration reform that recognizes and honors LGBT families, outlaw workplace discrimination for LGBT employees, and treat all federal employees' compensation equally.
The interactive "No Excuses" website allows supporters to download a meeting toolkit, schedule a meeting and report back on how it went. To take action, visit: http://noexcuses.hrc.org.
The in-district meetings will focus on the following key legislative priorities in the 111th Congress:
--Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies legally married lesbian and gay couples more than 1,000 federal protections;
--Prohibit workplace discrimination for the LGBT community by passing an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA);
--Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to ensure that service members who contribute to our nation's security are no longer summarily discharged for who they are;
--Pass immigration reform that recognizes permanent same-sex couples and ends the painful separation of families;
--And provide health benefits equally to the nearly 3 million federal government employees, including same-sex domestic partners.
Simon Karlinsky, an openly gay distinguished professor in the Slavic Languages and Literatures Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert on the history of homosexuality in Russia, died July 5 due to congestive heart failure. He was 84.
Mr. Karlinsky's death was announced by his husband, Peter Carleton. The couple lived in Kensignton.
For more than 30 years Mr. Karlinsky taught at UC Berkeley. He was an author and editor of books on Gogol, Nabokov and Chekov, and an internationally known expert on the history of homosexuality in Russia.
He was born on September 22, 1924 in the city of Harbin, a Russian cultural outpost in Manchuria (now China).
Photo: Simmering passion: EastEnders characters Christian Clarke and Syed Masoor get physical. Photograph: BBC
Pav Akhtar is not usually a fan of soaps. But the 30-year-old local councillor and Unison worker has been paying special attention since EastEnders introduced its first gay Muslim character. Akhtar, the chair of Imaan, an organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, advised the BBC on the storyline in the hope that the character of Syed Masood would help tackle the double discrimination of homophobia and Islamophobia that many gay Muslims face.
The Muslim theologian Amanullah De Sondy said recently that the vast majority of Muslims were "deeply homophobic", and a survey carried out this summer among British Muslims reported that 0% of those questioned thought homosexuality was "morally acceptable". Yet, so far, the taboo-busting EastEnders storyline has not sparked the expected deluge of complaints – in fact, the soap's first gay Muslim kiss attracted a healthy 7.9 million viewers. But what is it like being gay and Muslim in the UK today?
Javaid, 34
It's good that a soap opera is tackling this. The EastEnders storyline may cause a bit of outrage, but anything that gets people talking can only be a good thing. I don't think we should sweep everything under the carpet – people should be challenged. My family are liberal Muslims and I think coming out to them has been no different than if I was Jewish or Christian. But although I am out to my immediate family, I'm not out to my community, so I don't want to identify myself fully. I couldn't reconcile my sexuality with their teachings, and so I lost my faith.
I was religious up to my mid-teens, but once I started to understand my sexuality, I became confused. My understanding was that in Islam homosexuality was seen in the same way as adultery. That sends a message that being gay is something to be ashamed of and not socially acceptable. It was really upsetting and I would pray to Allah to turn me straight. At that point, if I could have done anything to make myself straight I would have done.
When my parents found out, my father did not really understand. But he tried hard to learn. The debate about lowering the age of consent was going on at the time, and he would cut out articles and videotape TV programmes to show me when I came home. He even went to a gay bookshop and bought a book about being the parent of a gay son. It really meant a lot to me. My mum was very different. She is a practising Muslim and has been to hajj twice. She cried for about three days when I told her. That was 15 years ago and I still can't talk to her openly about it. I want to, but I can't do it yet.
Farzana Fiaz, 37 Journalist
I don't know about this report that said 0% of British Muslims believed being gay was acceptable. That has not been my experience or the experience of my friends. But I think Muslims do find the concept of having an identity based around sexuality an alien concept. I'm out to all of my friends and most people who know me, but despite being chair of an organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, I have never identified myself in interviews before because I have tried to be respectful of my family's religious and cultural sensibilities. But recently I was outed by a relative to family members both in the UK and in Pakistan. Now I realise I don't want to give anyone that kind of power over me again.
I was brought up with a narrow interpretation of Islam from a traditional, working-class Pakistani perspective and believed, like everyone else, that being gay was wrong. I suppose this is still the dominant Muslim interpretation, but it's not the only one. It was a very difficult time when I realised I was mostly gay in my early 20s; that it wasn't just a passing phase. I had something of a nervous breakdown: I couldn't stop crying for days, I had nightmares, I couldn't sleep alone, I thought I was going to hell for feeling the way I did. I didn't know any gay Muslims, or gay Asians even, so I couldn't discuss the religious side with anyone.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 28 Politico.comhas announced the publication of a new Palm Center report on efforts by gay and gay-friendly activists, journalists and others to block consideration of an executive order suspending "don't ask, don't tell." The new report, "A Self-Inflicted Wound: How and Why Gays Give the White House a Free Pass on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'" was written by Palm Center director Aaron Belkin.
"Some members of our community have been circulating misleading arguments which ended up as talking points for the President of the United States," Belkin said. "It is not our job to provide Washington with reasons to continue to discriminate."
Yesterday, a working group including former Congressman Marty Meehan and two retired Generals released a statement correcting misleading and inaccurate claims about "don't ask, don't tell" that are addressed in today's report.
The Palm Center is a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Center uses rigorous social science to inform public discussions of controversial social issues, enabling policy outcomes to be informed more by evidence than by emotion. Its data-driven approach is premised on the notion that the public makes wise choices on social issues when high-quality information is available. For more information, visithttp://www.palmcenter.org/
Chris Prevatt of TheLiberalOCblogged and tweeted from a LGBT Leadership Summit in San Bernardino aimed at repealing Prop 8 and restoring marriage equality for all Californians. The gathering revealed a schism within the movement between activists who want to get a Prop 8 counter measure on the 2010 ballot and a leadership that, staring down the political realities, sees 2012 as a more likely year such a measure would pass.
The meeting itself was a disaster. The agenda was not distributed in advance and the 2010 activists in particular wanted the agenda to include a decision regarding whether the repeal of Prop 8 should be sought in 2010 or 2012. They were not at all interested in hearing about the results of the "Get Engaged" tours or the opinions of experts. They simply wanted an up or down vote, since they focused considerable effort on turning out supporters of 2010 to the summit.
At several points during the meeting the assembly could not agree to process for discussion of the process to be used to repeal Prop 8. There was discussion at one point as to whether or not to allow online participants to vote in the process discussion. The difference in the vote on allowing votes from online participants to be considered was 8 votes, resulting in online participants votes not considered.
A impromptu straw poll later revealed there was 2 to 1 support at the summit for plowing ahead with a 2010 measure--despite serious questions raised about funding and the liklihood of another defeat at the popular polls, Prevatt reported. See
World Outgames 2 kicks off a week-long festival of sports, conferences and parties in Copenhagen this weekend, and tight budget monitoring and scaled back operations make it safe to predict the sporting event will not be a financial fiasco on par with World Outgames 1, which three years ago ended in Montreal with a loss of several million dollars.
But speculation is growing that there will be no World Outgames 3.
LGBT sports blogs have been filled in recent weeks with calls for the World Outgames to disband. The official final report for this year’s event acknowledges the tough sell organizers faced in a divided LGBT sports market.
The rival Federation of Gay Games was asked by Copenhagen organizers to conduct a panel discussion during the Outgames on the future of the LGBT sports calendar and was reportedly shocked by the heavy interest expressed by others to attend. And an independent public blog devoted solely to the topic of the future of LGBT sports was launched just this week. See
Health care reform legislation will help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans in the same ways that it would help all Americans. Expanded access to meaningful health insurance coverage, effective preventive care, and delivery system reform provide same benefits regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
But LGBT people often face additional barriers to coverage and care due to ongoing stigma and policies that do not fully recognize their identities. The Department of Health and Human Services recognized these disparities in the 1990s during their 10-year plan for improving the nation’s health—Healthy People 2010, and commissioned a companion document specifically on LGBT issues.
Health care reform offers an opportunity to address these disparities. The National Coalition for LGBT Health has developed a set of principles for policymakers to incorporate into legislation in order to ensure equity for LGBT Americans. These principles recognize that issues for the LGBT community often combine with those faced by other communities, so that a Spanish-speaking lesbian woman or African-American transgender person often faces negative health outcomes faced by multiple communities. This brief aims to draw out a few of these key principles, including the need to measure and address LGBT health disparities, ways to expand meaningful insurance coverage, the need for cultural competency, and privacy issues in health IT.
The decision by the diocese of Niagara to offer same-sex blessings has drawn mixed reactions from Anglicans in Canada.
Similarly, backlash over the recent decision by the Episcopal Church (TEC) to affirm the openness of “any ordained ministry” to gay and lesbian people and to develop more liturgical resources for same-sex blessings reflects the continuing deep divide over sexuality in the Anglican Communion.
“As a bishop, I cannot recognize the legitimacy of what Niagara is doing,” said Bishop Bill Anderson of the diocese of Caledonia. “I sadly conclude that Niagara has chosen to walk apart, and is therefore in a state of impaired communion.”
In an interview, Bishop Anderson said “bishops simply do not have the spiritual, theological or canonical authority to change the teaching of the church at the local level, however much their diocesan synods may do so.” He added that this point was “clearly articulated” by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the decennial gathering the world’s Anglican bishops.
The diocesan bishop of Niagara, Michael Bird, has responded by saying, “I understand that it’s a difficult situation for other bishops and I respect those sentiments. I will do everything in my power to reach out to anyone.” Bishop Bird said his diocese’s decision does not contravene the 2007 General Synod resolution that declared blessing rites for gay couples are “not in conflict” with core church doctrine, but still did not affirm the dioceses' authority to offer them. The authorization of the blessing was “not done out of any lack of respect or sense of importance that we hold for General Synod,” said Bishop Bird.
He noted that a majority of the chancellors (legal advisors) of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, to which Niagara belongs, are of the opinion that General synod “failed to act in terms of the motions that were passed and that then opened up the ability for dioceses to make their own decisions in terms of how they would act on this matter.”
The bishop of New Westminster, Michael Ingham, whose diocese authorized same-sex blessings in 2002, defended Niagara’s decision, saying “I think the bishop and the diocese have followed a very careful process to ensure that the steps they’re taking are the wishes of their synod and people, and are cognizant of the situation in the Anglican Church of Canada and the worldwide Anglican Communion.”
Archdeacon Charlie Masters, a former priest in the diocese of Niagara and now, executive director of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), said he was “not surprised” by the decision. “It’s something that I think most people have been expecting since then,” said Masters, whose group is composed of congregations and individuals that have left the Anglican Church of Canada largely because of their opposition to same-sex blessings. “Having said that, it’s still a shock and it’s disappointing...,” he added.
The decisions in Canada and the U.S. confirm that there is a profound rift in the Anglican Communion, said Mr. Masters. “The fabric has been torn at its deepest level.” Mr. Masters, is also general secretary of Common Cause Partnership, a group that created the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). ACNA wants to be recognized as a separate Anglican province in North America.
Bishop Donald Harvey, a former bishop of the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland who has since left the Canadian church and is now moderator of ANiC, wondered whether Bishop Bird and the Niagara diocese would be censured or disciplined for their action. “I would be very interested to see how the primate reacts to this,” he said in an interview. “When Malcolm Harding (a former bishop in the diocese of Brandon) and I decided that we could no longer stay, the primate and the four metropolitans (senior bishops) wrote a stinging letter…saying that our ministry was invalid…I’m just wondering if the primate and the four metropolitans would be as quick to act now and send out a similar pastoral letter to the church lamenting what Niagara has done. I’m just thinking, ‘what sauce is for the goose is sauce for the gander.’”
(Editor’s Note: Comments from Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, to follow.)
Archbishop Caleb Lawrence, metropolitan (senior bishop) of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario (to which the diocese of Niagara belongs), said the provincial house of bishops has “given strong attention to maintain and develop a space where the bishops, who represent a diversity as wide as is found across the national house, can be open and transparently honest with one another.”
He added that the provincial house has also acknowledged that “we now live in a church in which the presence and active involvement of those of gay and lesbian orientation is a reality.” At its last meeting in October, the Canadian house of bishops said a “large majority” of its members could affirm “a continued commitment to the greatest extent possible” to a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions. But it acknowledged that this would pose difficulty for some dioceses “that in conscience have made decisions on these matters.”
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has withheld comment on recent developments in the North American churches. However, at the start of the Episcopal Church (TEC) General Convention, Archbishop Williams said in a homily, “I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart.”
Mr. Masters said the decision by TEC “underlines the legitimacy and … the need” for Common Cause Partnership since TEC has taken matters into its own hands.
Bishop Anderson concurred, saying “Niagara has widened the rift within the Anglican Church of Canada that began when the diocese of New Westminster authorized the blessings.” He also referred to a statement made by the Church of England’s Durham bishop, Nicholas Thomas Wright, that declared that by its recent actions, TEC was “rejecting the two things the Archbishop of Canterbury has named as the pathways to the future,” namely, the Windsor Report and proposed Anglican Covenant. (The Windsor Report, published in 2004 by the Lambeth Commission, offers prescriptions for arresting the possible disintegration of the Communion.)
Bishop Ingham, who has represented the Anglican Church of Canada at The Episcopal Church’s governing bodies, disagreed. “There’s hardly a church in our communion that is more sensitive to Anglican Communion feelings [than TEC],” he said. “The decisions that they have taken are a real effort to balance both their autonomy and their interdependence with the rest of the world.”
He also disagreed that TEC’s recent decision meant that it had lifted its moratorium on the consecration of bishops in same-sex partnerships. “It does not mean that consent will immediately be given to any candidate in an episcopal election who is in a same-sex relationship,” he said. “I think it would be truer to say that they will look at each situation on a case-by-case basis and they will neither be an automatic agreement with the diocesan decision, nor will there be an automatic rejection of a diocesan decision based on sexual orientation or agenda.”
Love blooms at a home for destitute women in a remote Indian village.
On the terrace, two women embrace, aware that society will never accept their relationship. After all, they are living in India in the early 1980s.
The scene is from Jabbar Patel’s “Umbartha” (The Threshold), released in 1982, at a time when words like homosexual or lesbian were not part of the average Indian’s vocabulary.
Earlier this month, a Delhi High Court ruling overturning a British colonial era law banning homosexual sex put the spotlight on the issue.
Almost three decades after “Umbartha”, when homosexuality is at the centre of a social debate, director Patel is surprised his film was cleared by the censor board without a cut.
On Christmas Eve in 2007, the State of West Virginia bestowed upon Kathryn Kutil and Cheryl Hess of Oak Hill a relative rarity in the foster-care system: a newborn. The baby girl, TiCasey, was born on Dec. 8 to a longtime drug addict, father unknown, and entered the world with cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines in her bloodstream. For two weeks after delivery, she went through withdrawal, unable to sleep and crying incessantly. When not being held by a hospital nurse, she was put in special rocking machines to help relieve her pain. Still suffering from tremors and extended crying jags, TiCasey arrived at Kutil and Hess’s home, where she was met by five other foster children all clamoring to hold her.
Over the previous two years, the couple fostered a total of 18 kids between the ages of 1 and 16; all had endured some form of abuse or neglect. While not quite a “blank slate,” TiCasey (her middle name — all except one of the children mentioned in this article are identified by their middle names to protect their privacy) was as close as most foster parents get to a child whose grim history might conceivably be overcome in a loving home. “We were just so overjoyed,” Hess recalled. “We were in disbelief that we had this beautiful redheaded baby — because you never think you’re going to get one.”
Despite three weeks of little sleep, Kutil and Hess knew they wanted to adopt TiCasey. “We were in love with her from the get-go,” Hess said. “She was this really special little being.” But it wasn’t up to them. Shortly after she was brought to their home, TiCasey’s court-appointed attorney, Thomas K. Fast, came to make a routine visit. Fast’s behavior struck Kutil and Hess as distressingly unusual. He declined offers to take off his coat or to hold the baby, Kutil says, and, by her clock, left after just seven minutes.
Fast then filed a motion with the circuit court in Fayetteville to order the Department of Health and Human Resources (the D.H.H.R.) to “remove child from physical placement in homosexual home.” The motion described the Kutil-Hess household as “comfortable and physically safe for the infant” where TiCasey “seemed to be doing well.” It then stated that children reared by homosexuals were more likely to be sexually or otherwise abused and to become homosexual themselves.
Kutil and Hess were stunned. They had been upfront with the local D.H.H.R. about their relationship, and it had never been a problem with their other foster children. Was it somehow O.K. for a lesbian couple to care for older kids no one else would take in but not for a newborn whom another set of more “deserving” parents might want?
While the laws surrounding same-sex marriage are clear-cut, the laws regarding same-sex parenthood are often murky or nonexistent. “Gay parenthood is much more porous,” says Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Equality Council, a Washington-based advocacy group. Albeit with less fanfare than in recent marriage rulings, several states have sought to limit same-sex foster care and adoption. Last year, Arkansas passed a ballot initiative prohibiting adoption by unmarried couples, which effectively makes it impossible for gay parents to adopt jointly. Utah and Michigan have similar laws; Mississippi and Florida ban adoption by same-sex couples outright. But for the most part, Chrisler says, “parenting law is determined by case law rather than legislation. It’s state by state, county by county, courtroom by courtroom.” See The Battle Over a BabyNew York Times
The internationally acclaimed medical journal The Lancet Monday published the first scientific study showing that male homosexuals are more often than not infected with HIV than the general adult population in sub-Saharan Africa. With their presence in the African society sometimes denied and sometimes ostracized by society, these men are forgotten during HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns.
A British study has shown that gay men are more affected by the AIDS virus than the general adult population. Monday, the British medical journal The Lancet published a report entitled "Men who have sex with men and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa." The study was conducted by researchers from Oxford University, under the supervision of Dr. Adrian D. Smith. The researchers examined all available AIDS related studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa to analyze the spread of the virus among gay men in Africa. Only fourteen of 118 studies used evoked male homosexuality.
Contrary to the United States and Europe where special attention is given to the prevention and treatment of AIDS among homosexuals, the African continent has long overlooked the importance of Homosexuals in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Results vary from one country to another. In some regions, gay men are ten times more affected with HIV/AIDS than the general adult population. According to the study, this phenomenon can be explained by the lack of knowledge on how HIV is transmitted.
When prevention campaigns began in the 80’s, emphasis was only placed on sexual transmission from man to woman and contamination at birth. Oral and anal sex are often not regarded as sexual practices as they do not lead to reproduction. Unaware of their risky sexual practices, many do not believe that protection is necessary. Intravenous drug use was also ignored by prevention campaigns. The impact of contamination among homosexuals is high considering that gay men sometimes have several partners. On a continent where marriage is mostly an obligation, some homosexuals get married to women, thus contributing, in some cases, to the spread of the virus without being aware.
Homosexuals excommunicated in most African countries
Gays who display their sexual orientation often face rejection from their families, public humiliation or even mockery from some medical staff. In 31 sub-Saharan African countries, homosexuality is illegal and is punishable by death in four of them. It is therefore difficult to reach these populations for prevention campaigns or provide care.
Only last January, Senegalese authorities sentenced nine homosexual activists in the fight against AIDS to eight years imprisonment because of their sexual preference. They were accused of "indecent acts and acts against nature." Human Rights Watch, an association for the defense of human rights, expressed their concerns: these convictions drive homosexuals further underground and hinder their access to the care they need. It may also hamper the militants who are fighting against AIDS or even scientists because of the fear of being victimised, i.e; discriminated against or abused.
During the early research on HIV in the 80’s, gays hid their sexuality, making it difficult to study their case. But recent anthropological studies have shown that homosexuality exists in every facet of the African society. With these reports, an improvement in the fight against AIDS among gay men in Africa is expected, despite an all too difficult record. The report recommends adapting campaigns from the United States or Europe to the gay populations in Africa to help stem the HIV/AIDS scourge.
Conservative politicians across Germany have lashed out at Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries' repeated demand that laws be changed to give homosexual couples the right to adopt children.
Christine Haderthauer, the minister for social affairs in the state of Bavaria, rejected the idea, telling the German daily Passauer Neue Presse that the goal of the adoption process is to find children an optimal family, and not the other way around.
Haderthauer was not the only one giving interviews to newspapers following Thursday's announcement. Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy head of the Christian Democrats (CDU) parliamentary group, sharply criticized the justice minister's demand.
"It has always been our belief that children are best off being raised by a man and a woman," he told the Ruhr Nachrichten, adding that there was no reason for them, not even when it came to adoption rights, to make civil unions equal to traditional marriages.
Adoption law favors married couples
When heterosexual couples in Germany tie the knot, they get married. When homosexual couples go to the justice of the peace, they enter into civil unions. What may seem to be a word game has far-reaching consequences.
As it is, gays and lesbians are allowed to adopt children in Germany, but only as individuals, not as a couple. That right is reserved for married couples, which means homosexuals, even if they have a civil union, are often passed over by agencies looking to place children in stable, loving homes.
Same-sex tango dancing is among the disciplines in a 9-day homosexual sporting event in the Danish capital that organisers said aims to boost tolerance.
Around 5,500 athletes from 98 nations are expected to take part in the second World Outgames from July 25 to Aug. 2, the organisers said.
"This is about more than sports. This is about human rights and the right to engage in sports without being discriminated against," Copenhagen's culture mayor Pia Allerslev said in a press briefing earlier this week.
A petition that asks the Mormon church to reconsider its policies and political activism related to gay rights has gathered more than 1,360 signatures since it began circulating in June.
The Committee for Reconciliation plans to deliver the petition to leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in November. The petition is posted on the Web site LDSapology.com.
"The head of the newly established Anglican Church in North America released an open letter to the entire Anglican Communion, contrasting the recent actions of his orthodox body to that of The Episcopal Church."
Except that the "newly established Anglican Church in North America " is Anglican in name only: it has not been recognized as a separate province or church by the Anglican Communion.
GLBT individuals and families in Charlotte, NC, are getting set to cap off Pride week over the weekend of July 25 and 26, with a Saturday, June 25 festival set to offer crowds live entertainment, fun for the kids, and vendors’ booths.
There will also be an athletic event--the "Front Runner’s Pride Run"--as well as a dance party dedicated to alcohol-free partying.
More high-minded events are also scheduled as well: an art auction, a discussion on coming out at work, a seminar on the topic of life as a transgendered individual.
It’s all part of this year’s week-long "Out is In" celebration of GLBT Pride, an occasion for safe and happy congregation and outreach, reported a July 24 article on the weekend’s events carried by the Charlotte Observer.
But the event has been targeted for a massive, organized counter-event called "God Has A Better Way," reported the Christian Web site MetroCatholic in a July 24 article.
Framed as a respectful but uncompromising counter-event, the anti-gay rally purports to lay down some essential ground rules, the MetroCatholic article reports.
Organizer Michael Brown was quoted in the article as saying, "We have great love for the gay and lesbian community, and have always treated them with dignity and respect; at the same time, we take strong exception to the gay activist agenda and will be sending a message to the city and the nation that God Has a Better Way." See
