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  • Friday, May 16

    Although court in WA denied equality to gay couples, activists cheered by CA ruling

    Source: Seattle Times , Seattle Post-Intelligencer CA marriage case Seattle -- Activists in Washington cheered Thursday's decision by California's highest court to grant full equality in marriage to all couples in that state, but were also heartened by the slow but steady progress toward equality since this state's highest court ruled that gay and lesbian couples are not entitled to full equality. "This is huge. California is really going to change the landscape," said Joshua Friedes, advocacy director for Equal Rights Washington, a group that lobbies for marriage equality...
  • Friday, May 16

    Sally Kern denounces workplace fairness lobbying

    Source: KOCO-TV , Tulsa World Kern's anti-gay rant OKLAHOMA CITY -- State Rep. Sally Kern has been out of the news lately, but decided to refresh her anti-gay image Thursday with a press release and interviews criticizing a lobby day for workplace fairness. She objected that "radical homosexual rights groups'' that planned a national day on Thursday to promote workplace fairness based on job performance. Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said Oklahomans who support what she calls "traditional families" need to get more involved in policy fights "or we will cede the victory...
  • Tuesday, May 13

    Moldovan police stand by and watch as thugs attack gay pride participants

    Source: UK Gay News , UK Gay News Chisinau, Moldova -- Chisinau police stood aside and let extremist religious groups, members of the neo-fascist movement, “New Right”, and legionnaires prevent Sunday’s gay pride observance from going ahead, UK Gay News reports. Large, aggressive and well-coordinated groups blocked a bus carrying gay pride participants. They then forced open the door the door of the bus before violently trying to break the windows. According to Pride organizers at GenderDoc-M, the protestors even tried to tamper with the engine. As the thugs were physically attacking the bus, they...
  • Tuesday, May 13

    Bakker and Family Outing group meet Osteen whose church says we're sinners

    Source: Christian Post , Soulforce press release Houston -- Jay Bakker, a New York City pastor and supporter of gay rights, met privately with Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church to talk about faith and sexuality issues. Son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay and a group of gays and lesbians attended one of Lakewood Church's worship services in an effort to change the influential pastor's view on gays and lesbians. Osteen welcomed the group, according to Christian Post , but "did not affirm homosexuality." The visit was the first of six megachurch stops in a campaign for tolerance called...
    Posted May 13 2008, 01:36 PM by NewsEditor with | with no comments
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  • Tuesday, May 13

    HRC and LGBT medical group release hospital rating survey

    Source: HRC press release , Associated Press Washington, DC -- Calling it "first step toward establishing a nationwide set of standards to reduce discrimination and ensure quality hospital-based health care," two LGBT advocacy groups yesterday released a report that rates hospitals on a set of standards of patient care for lesbian, gay, bi, or transgender Americans. The report was compiled by Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC), the nation’s LGBT civil rights organization, and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association , the nation's largest association of GLBT healthcare professionals...
  • Saturday, May 10

    Pride celebrations become protests in Moldova as mayor again bans events

    Source: UK Gay News CHISINAU, Moldova -- Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca has, once again, banned the Gay Pride parade in the Moldovan capital. The parade, part of a week-long "Rainbow over the Dniester" observance is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 10, UK Gay News reports. But Pride organisers, GenderDoc-M, say that the mayor has no power to ban the planned march. According to the new Moldovan law on public demonstrations, local authorities have no right to prohibit such an event, GenderDoc-M says. If the authorities have proof that there could be serious trouble at an event like Gay Pride...
  • Thursday, May 08

    Jay Bakker wants Joel Osteen's church to meet with gay parents; Church wants to 'agree to disagree'

    Source: Houston Chronicle , Proud Parenting , Soulforce press release At a press conference in Houston Wednesday, Jay Bakker, a New York City pastor, issued an open invitation to families from Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church - the largest church in the U.S. -- to share a picnic with LGBT families in Houston’s Levy Park on Saturday, May 10, 2008. The son of evangelical Tammy Faye Bakker Messner hopes to spend his first Mother's Day weekend since her death at a picnic in Houston with members of Osteen's church and members of Houston's LGBT community. The proposed picnic is part of a...
  • Wednesday, May 07

    Lesbian couple guilty of trespass for staging protest of marriage inequality

    Source: Denver Post , KMGH-TV , Rocky Mountain News Denver -- A lesbian couple who staged a sit-in at the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office after being denied a marriage license was found guilty today of trespassing. Denver County Judge James Breese sentenced Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder to 28 hours of community service each and ordered each to pay $41 in court costs, according to the Denver Post . (Other media outlets give slightly different figures for the fines.) The six-woman jury deliberated less than an hour before announcing the guilty verdict. Prosecutors argued that the couple...
  • Wednesday, May 07

    A snapshot of gay life in Kenya, where being gay is a crime

    Source: ABC News (US) ABC News photo by Tony Karuma It's far from a comprehensive portrait, but ABC News (US) offers a few snapshots of gay life in a country where being gay is illegal -- Kenya. As part of a series on nightlife around the world, ABC's Dana Hughes reports from the the country's vibrant and cosmopolitan capital of Nairobi. Hughes reports that the city has a wide array of clubs for both locals and tourists -- everything from upscale all-night dance clubs to dives where locals gather to talk politics. What it doesn't have is a gay club. The closest things come are a...
  • Sunday, May 04

    Advocates frustrated by lack of gay-rights progress in Maryland

    Source: Baltimore Sun Gay and lesbian activists thought they had a friend in Maryland governor Martin O'Malley. As a progressive mayor in Baltimore, O'Malley attended gay pride parades and signed into law a measure to protect transgender people from discrimination. When he ran for governor, he said he supported civil unions and wanted to extend benefits to same-sex partners of state employees, as he had done for city workers. But two years into O'Malley's first term in Annapolis, neither has happened. He largely stayed out of the debate over legal recognition for same-sex unions...
  • Thursday, May 01

    Gay activist joins Nepal's parliament in historic shift

    Source: Times of India , AFP , IANS via Thaindian.com The wind of change that swept through Nepal in the form of a historic election this month, dethroned its king, once revered as god, and instead gave power to the former Maoist guerrillas, will also see a fresh social revolution with the first gay representative being nominated to the new constituent assembly, reports Times of India . "We have chosen Sunil Babu Pant as our candidate to ensure the rights of gay and other minority groups," Ganesh Shah, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United), told AFP. Shah’s CPN-U...
  • Wednesday, April 30

    Students in Federal Way inspired to Silence, partly because of Mount Si protest

    Source: Federal Way Mirror Hutch v. Mount Si Federal Way, Wash. -- Sometimes silence speaks quite loudly. Students at Federal Way High School, as well as more than 200 high schools throughout the state, participated in the National Day of Silence event on April 25. Both gay and straight students banded together to raise awareness of the bullying and harassment that gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual students often face. They made their statement by going all day without speaking, instead signing their names to a list of supporters and passing out cards describing their cause. A student leader...
  • Tuesday, April 29

    Forum hears call for gay-friendly retirement homes and religions

    Source: news.com.au , ABC News (Australia) Sydney -- For many people, growing old is a difficult process. But a forum in Sydney Monday night heard it is particularly hard for members of the gay and lesbian community. The AIDS Council of New South Wales says older gays and lesbians are probably the most invisible and least cared for of all senior groups, suffering discrimination on many fronts. Outspoken High Court judge Michael Kirby said at the forum that a major part of the problem can be traced to churches whose teachings continue to be a cause of hatred and prejudice against the gay community...
  • Tuesday, April 29

    Gay NY couple lobbies with civil disobediance for marriage equality

    Source: Newsday , 1010 WINS , WABC News , Gay Financial Network Dan Pinello and Lee Nissensohn asked for a marriage license, but were given trespassing tickets WINS photo by Mona Rivera Frustrated by lack of progress on a marriage equality bill in the state legislature, a gay New York couple turned to act of civil disobedience. They refused to leave the Oyster Bay, N.Y., town clerk's office on Long Island Monday until they were given a marriage license. Although the state of New York doesn't issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the protesters, Dan Pinello, 58, and Lee Nissensohn...
  • Sunday, April 27

    Gay rights bill fails in Florida legislature

    Source: Express Gay News An anti-discrimination bill that would have added sexual orientation as a protected class under the Florida Civil Rights Act was brought to a halt in the Florida Senate on April 23. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Deutch (D. Delray Beach), had a breakthrough moment earlier this month when Sen. Jeff Atwater (R. North Palm Beach) agreed to co-sponsor it. Atwater, the bill’s first Republican sponsor, was influential in getting the bill heard in the Senate’s Commerce Committee on April 8. The bill passed the committee with a 7-1 vote, but it wasn't scheduled for another...
    Posted Apr 27 2008, 10:48 AM by NewsEditor with | with no comments
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  • Saturday, April 26

    Day of Silence becomes a quiet lesson for 1000s throughout US

    Source: Providence Journal , Arizona Republic , Rochester Democrat and Chronicle , Modesto Bee , Seattle Times , Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum The school's namesake peak overlooks the entrance to Mount Si High in Snoqualmie, WA. Only about 100 anti-gay demonstrators showed up at the school Friday, despite a month of promotion of the demonstration by national anti-gay groups. seaQwa photo: Robin Evans Throughout the country yesterday, tens of thousands of students at thousands of schools quietly observed a day dedicated to tolerance and respect. A few of the students who participated in yesterday's...
  • Friday, April 25

    Obit: Pittsburgh's Randy Forrester was eloquent, tireless advocate for gay, lesbian rights

    Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette Randal G. "Randy" Forrester was 16 when he came out as a gay man to his parents, and likewise was open about his sexuality with his friends and classmates. That was in 1963, when society's attitudes about homosexuality were in the Stone Age compared to today, and it illustrated Mr. Forrester's honesty and bravery. Those attributes, along with intelligence, passion and a sense of humor, would serve him well over the next four decades as he worked tirelessly as a pioneering crusader for the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community...
    Posted Apr 25 2008, 07:12 PM by NewsEditor with | with no comments
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  • Friday, April 25

    Students are silent, but adults get vocal at Mount Si protest/counter-protest

    Source: MyNorthwest.com KIRO Newsradio , Qblog , Seattle Times , KING5 News SNOQUALMIE, Wash. -- Ken Hutcherson called last week for 1,000 to join him for a protest outside Mount Si High School this morning. He objects to a student-led observance called " Day of Silence " that's designed to raise awareness of anti-gay bullying. The numbers that heeded his call were far lower according to all estimates. Associated Press put the count at "about 250 protesters and counter-protesters," but it's number appears to be generous by more than two times. AP's story emphasizes...
  • Friday, April 25

    Activists say prosecutors ignore gay angle in Newark shootings

    Source: Washington Blade , Associated Press via Newsday Two teens charged with murder in the slaying of three college students in a Newark schoolyard last summer made their first appearance in adult court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the youths and four other suspects could get life terms for the execution-style shootings that brought outrage and scrutiny to a city struggling to shake its reputation for violence. A fourth student survived. One of four college students shot execution style in a Newark, N.J., schoolyard in August 2007, the day before they planned to attend a...
  • Friday, April 25

    Mount Si ex-student among activists supporting school's silent students

    Source: Seattle Times , KIRO Newsradio Seattle Times catches up with the controversy that a Redmond pastor has worked to create at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie by interviewing former student Neil Lequia. As a gay-rights activist, he's helping to organize a news conference in support of students participating in the national Day of Silence, an event meant to highlight the silence gay students say they often must maintain at school, the Times reports. As a gay teenager growing up in the Snoqualmie Valley, he remembers "the bullies," popular, athletic boys vamping in the hall and...
  • Thursday, April 24

    Day of Silence at Mount Si likely to be anything but quiet

    Source: Qblog , Snoqualmie Valley Record Hutch: Qblog , Qnews As some parents prepare to protest outside Mount Si High School on the Day of Silence, school administrators are assuring the community that the event, scheduled for Friday, April 25, will not endanger the school's learning environment. School administrators have said the Day of Silence falls within students' right to free speech, and learning will not be interrupted. According to the event website, the National Day of Silence , to be observed tomorrow at Mount Si and thousands of other schools around the country, " brings...
  • Wednesday, April 23

    Moscow mayor again bans gay observance during May Day

    Source: AFP , GayRussia.ru press release MOSCOW (AFP) — The Moscow mayor's office said on Wednesday it would not allow gay pride marches -- previously broken up by ultra-nationalists -- to take place on this year's May Day holiday. The announcement came as a gay rights leader said he planned events throughout May to highlight the repression of sexual minorities in Russia. "The council will act decisively and uncompromisingly to prevent attempts to hold such events because society is overwhelmingly opposed to the gay lifestyle and philosophy," council spokesman Sergei Tsoi was...
  • Wednesday, April 23

    GLAAD pulls out of event at hotel owned by anti-equality backer

    Source: San Diego Union Tribune , GLAAD press release GLAAD -- the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation -- won't participate in a scheduled "Pride Rocks" event at a hotel in San Diego this summer because the hotel's owner is helping fund an initiative to limit marriage rights in California. GLAAD said it will continue to participate in “Pride Rocks” events at other Hyatt hotels nationwide, but not at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego which is owned by developer Doug Manchester. Manchester contributed $125,000 to a drive to put a same-sex-marriage ban before voters...
  • Wednesday, April 23

    Anti-bullying protest draws organized opposition in Texas suburb

    Source: Houston Chronicle The Houston Chronicle reports that suburban school districts in the area have been fielding a flurry of calls recently from parents concerned about the anti-bullying observance, Day of Silence . The report suggests that the calls are part of an organized campaign to stop the anti-bullying protest. This week, Alton Frailey, superintendent of Katy's school district, let all teachers know that -- though no one asked his district to participate in the silent protest -- if someone did, "my answer is no." His districtwide e-mail on the subject, which confused and...
  • Tuesday, April 22

    Calif. gay marriage foes say they have signatures for Nov. ballot

    Source: Associated Press via San Francisco Chronicle , Deb Price via AlterNet The sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage in California claimed Monday to have gathered enough signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. A coalition of religious groups called Protect Marriage collected more than 1.1 million signatures in support of the amendment, said Brian Brown, executive director of the California office of the National Organization for Marriage. The initiative needs 694,354 signatures, or 8 percent of the votes cast in the last governor's...
  • Monday, April 21

    Michigan's major LGBT rights group opening first field office

    Source: Grand Rapids Press , Between the Lines , Triangle press release GRAND RAPIDS -- As the Triangle Foundation prepares for an open house Tuesday, one local politician says there are two ways of looking at the location of a gay-rights organization in West Michigan. "It's unfortunate to me that an organization like Triangle feels it needs to be here," said East Grand Rapids Mayor Cindy Bartman, noting that Triangle Foundation works to stop violence against gays. The other way of seeing things is more hopeful. "West Michigan is at least willing to open the conversation we need...
  • Monday, April 21

    Right wing groups try to silence the Day of Silence

    by Robin Evans Tens of thousands of students at colleges, high schools, and some middle schools are expected to participate this Friday, April 25, in an observance of the National Day of Silence . Now in its twelfth year, the observance is meant to "bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment on campus, " but the goal of day is to make schools safer for all students, not just LGBTQ students. The local observances of Day of Silence are usually organized by students in each school, but are supported and encouraged by Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ( GLSEN...
  • Sunday, April 20

    Memorial to victims of gay hate crimes to be displayed in Florida capitol

    Source: Express Gay News , Miami Herald , Bay News 9 Gay American Heroes , the new traveling monument that memorializes gay men and women who have been killed due to homophobic violence, is scheduled to be displayed in the Florida Capitol Rotunda April 28. According to organizers, the exhibit marks the first time a gay-friendly display will be exhibited inside the hall that overlooks the entrance to the chambers of the Florida House of Representatives and Senate. The date of the exhibit, April 28, also marks the birthday of Ryan Skipper, a gay college student who was murdered last year in Polk...
  • Friday, April 18

    Hundreds rally in St. Paul for LGBT rights legislation

    Source: KARE TV , KAAL TV , KSTP TV St.Paul -- Over 1000 people rallied on the Minnesota Capitol lawn Thursday for what organizers are calling the country's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender lobby day. According to KSTP TV, people from more than 110 Minnesota towns and cities attended the rally. Supporters at the OutFront Minnesota's justFair Lobby Day hoped to send a strong message to lawmakers and the governor to support GLBT-friendly legislation. Citizen lobbyists were particularly interested in a bill aimed at giving more rights to domestic partners. The bill would allow...
  • Friday, April 18

    Lance Bass urges students to speak out with Day of Silence

    Source: Associated Press via CNN , E! Online King shooting Lance Bass doesn't want others to stay silent as he did. He wants the youth of America to get in sync with sexual tolerance. So he's made a public service announcement for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The erstwhile 'N Syncer filmed the announcement to urge students to stop the bullying, harassment and discrimination occurring in schools. [See YouTube video of the announcement at the bottom of this post.] "Everyday, thousands of students are silenced," Bass says in the spot. "They're...
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