Monday 31 October 2011

New poll finds support for gay marriage law

"A new statewide poll by the University of Washington Center for Survey Research found most voters would support a state gay marriage law if it's approved by the Legislature.


Of voters surveyed, 55 percent indicated they would uphold a Legislature-approved same-sex marriage law if it were challenged by referendum. The poll found 38 percent would oppose the law and 7 percent were undecided.

However, additional questions in the poll found that 44 percent of voters surveyed said gays and lesbians should have the same legal right as straight couples to marry; and 22 percent said they should have the same legal rights as married couples, but it should not be called marriage.

State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, have said they're considering a push for gay marriage in the next regular session in January. Both men have worked on gay rights issues for years and have been building incrementally toward gay marriage.



'via Blog this'
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Thousands March in Taiwan Gay Rights Parade


Thousands of gay rights supporters have marched through Taiwan’s capital, calling for increased tolerance and the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation.

The Saturday event is the ninth annual gay rights parade in Taipei, which has one of Asia’s most vibrant gay communities.

The parade has attracted gays from around the world, with many marchers dressing up as prom queens, zombies or sumo wrestlers.

About a dozen men and women marched behind a Malaysian flag, deploring the absence of gay rights in the mostly Muslim country.

Ming Yueh of Kuala Lumpur said, "We hope to learn from Taiwan so we can help our friends back home."

Parade organizers called for legislation to wipe out deep-rooted gay discrimination in Asian cultures."

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Sunday 30 October 2011

U.K. to Block Aid to Countries That Persecute Gays, Christians

 The U.K. will block development aid to countries that persecute Christians, gays and lesbians, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

African leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia, which started Oct. 28, were told in bilateral meetings that U.K. aid will be dependent on them improving human rights and equality, Cameron said in an interview with BBC TV’s Andrew Marr show.

“We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights and that includes how people treat gay and lesbian people,” Cameron said, according to a transcript of the interview. “British aid should have more strings attached in terms of ‘do you persecute people for their faith or their Christianity or do you persecute people for their sexuality?’ We don’t think that’s acceptable."
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Tsvangirai still standing firm on gay rights



Zimbabwe MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has defended his stance on homosexuals saying their rights need to be respected and protected.
Addressing thousands of villagers at a rally at Pashu Growth Point in Binga yesterday, Tsvangirai said no-one should be persecuted for being a homosexual.
President Robert Mugabe has described homosexuals as worse than pigs and dogs.
ZANU PF has gone on overdrive, attacking the Prime Minister for his remarks during an interview with the BBC over the rights of gays.
“I am not gay,” Tsvangirai said.
“I am not going to prosecute anyone who is gay. I will protect their rights. I will not persecute them.
“It is shocking that ZANU PF want to pursue issues which are not useful which do not bring bread and butter to the table, “said Tsvangirai."

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Saturday 29 October 2011

Rutgers-Eagleton: 52% of NJ voters support same-sex marriage | Politicker NJ

Fifty-two percent of New Jersey voters believe same-sex marriages should be legal, according to today's Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.

Support for legalizing gay marriage jumps to 61 percent when the issue is framed in terms of “marriage equality,” the favored description of advocates for same-sex couples.

Almost four-in-10 respondents (39 percent) oppose legalizing gay marriage while 9 percent are unsure. Twenty-seven percent are against marriage equality, while 3 percent are unfamiliar with the term and 9 percent have no opinion."

Friday 28 October 2011

Gay adoption: New York leads way, but Gillibrand pushing for national reform

Gay adoption: New York leads way, but Gillibrand pushing for national reform:



"New York's junior senator is pushing federal legislation to lift the ban on gay couples and individuals adopting children.

Between New York's same-sex marriage act and the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the momentum is there for the needed reform, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said.

"This legislation would open thousands of new foster and adoptive homes to children ensuring they are raised in loving families," Gillibrand said of her "Every Child Deserves a Family Act.""

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Gay troops to file suit challenging Defense of Marriage Act

"Gay and lesbian troops and veterans plan to file suit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the federal ban on gay marriage and federal policy that defines a spouse as a person of the opposite sex.

Casey and Shannon McClaughlin, and family 
The suit comes five weeks after the Pentagon ended its ban on gays in the military.

Lawyers plan to file suit in federal district court in Boston, the same court that ruled last year that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because the law interferes with a state’s right to define marriage. The decision in on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit."

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Wednesday 26 October 2011

Transgender children welcomed by the Girl Scouts of America

Children rejecting the sex they were born with is becoming a source of advocacy among mental health professionals
Transgender child, Roberto Montoyo
"The Girl Scouts of America has released a statement that welcomes boys into the organization as a growing number of transgender boys have shown an interest in joining. The statement comes after a 7 year old Colorado boy, Bobby Montoya, went their local Girl Scout registration and was was denied by a troop leader because of his gender. Montoya’s mother, Felisha Archuleta, says that Bobby prefers living as a girl and wanted to follow in his sister’s footsteps and join the Girl Scouts."

Young Bobby told 9 News that he felt like the denial was denying him of his chosen gender and made him feel bad.

Girl Scouts of Colorado quickly retracted the troop leaders denial and released the following statement:

“Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout. Our requests for support of transgender kids have grown, and Girl Scouts of Colorado is working to best support these children, their families and the volunteers who serve them…”
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Brazil Supreme Court confirms Gay Marriage

 Technically, Argentina is the only Latin American country with legislation to recognize same-sex marriages, but in Brazil, the courts have in effect provided for full marriage equality without legislative approval. The Supreme Court has previously confirmed that same-couples have the right to legal recognition for civil unions, and some state courts have confirmed that these civil unions may be converted into full marriages. In a new decision, the Supreme Court has confirmed this.


In June, a state court judge ruled that two men could legally change their civil union into a full marriage.
It was in May that Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that gay civil unions could be recognized. But the top court stopped short of recognizing full marriages.
Since then, several couples have petitioned to have their civil unions recognized as full marriages. Some of those have been approved at lower courts, others blocked.
Tuesday’s ruling by the Supreme Appeals Court overturned two lower court’s ruling against the women.
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Tuesday 25 October 2011

LGBT Rights to be Embedded in Zimbabwe Constitution?

Could Zimbabwe really be the second African country to build LGBT protection into it's constitution? Zimbabwe, where the tyrant Robert Mugabe has earned the enmity of Peter Tatchell for his vehement  hostility to gay men and lesbians?

At first sight, it seems unlikely, but it may well be realistic. Since the last stolen and hotly disputed election, Zimbabwe has been governed by an uneasy national unity government, with Mugabe as executive president, and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister, while the politicians, assisted by neighbouring South Africa, are involved in protracted negotiations over a new constitution.  Mugabe is known to be ailing, and fresh elections under a new constitution must be held within a year or two. Mugabe cannot continue in office too much longer: whether from human mortality or democratic process, he is clearly in the departure lounge. It is too soon to predict with confidence who will replace him as the next head honcho, but it could well be Tsvangirai. 

Twenty years ago, South Africans were engaged in similar negotiations between political foes over a new, democratic election. The document that emerged was the first in the world to build LGBT protections into a bill of rights. In Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai has now reversed his own long-standing antipathy to homosexuals, and stated that he supports the principle of equality, and freedom from discrimination, for all.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reversed his position on gay rights, saying he now wants them enshrined in a new constitution.
He told the BBC that gay rights were a "human right" that conservative Zimbabweans should respect.
Last year, Mr Tsvangirai joined President Robert Mugabe in opposing homosexuality.
The fractious coalition formed by the two leaders has promised political reforms ahead of next year's elections.
Zimbabwe is in the process of drafting a new constitution, which will be put to a referendum ahead of the elections.
Homosexual acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe, as in most African countries where many people view homosexuality as un-Christian and un-African."
-full report, and video interview, at BBC News
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Emma Stebbins (1815 - 1882 ), US Sculptor and lesbian pioneer.

b. September 1, 1815
d. October 25, 1882

Stebbins was among the first notable American woman sculptors.  who lived openly as a lesbian in nineteenth century Rome.



After she moved to Rome she studied under John Gibson an English neoclassicist working there at that time. In Rome she fell in love with actress Charlotte Saunders Cushman, and quickly became involved in the bohemian and feminist lesbian lifestyle, which was more tolerated there than it would have been back in New York.

Cushman was confident, strong, and charismatic, and recently recovering from a break up following a ten-year relationship with the actress Matilda Hays. Cushman and Stebbins began traveling together, immediately taking a trip to Naples. Upon their return, they began spending time in a circle that included African American/Native American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, many celebrities, and fellow lesbians that included Harriet Hosmer.

Stebbins best known work is the Angel of the Waters (1873), also known as Bethesda Fountain, located on the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, New York. 'Angel of the Waters'  was created to celebrate the clean healthful water from New York's Croton Aqueduct, completed in 1842, with an oblique reference to the biblical "healing waters of Bethesda." The fountain complex is widely considered to be one of the great works of nineteenth century American sculpture.



Her bronze statue of educator Horace Mann was installed outside the State House in Boston in 1865.


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Chely Wright (1970 – ) US Singer, LGBT activist.

American country music artist and, starting in 2010, gay rights activist. On the strength of her debut album in 
b. Ocober 25, 1970.

In 1994, the Academy of Country Music (ACM) named her Top New Female Vocalist in 1995. Wright became the first major country music performer to publicly come out as gay. In television appearances and an autobiography, she cited among her reasons for publicizing her homosexuality a concern with bullying and hate crimes toward gays, particularly gay teenagers, and the damage to her life caused by "lying and hiding".



Born in Kansas City, Wright grew up in a musical family. As a toddler, Wright would sit in a great-grandmother's lap and rest her own hands on the great-grandmother's hands as the woman played piano. Also in these years, she began to seek out adult audiences to sing for. 

The summer before her senior year of high school, she worked as a performing musician at the Ozark Jubilee, a long running country music show in Branson, Missouri. In 1989, taking the advice of her grandfather, she auditioned and landed a position in a musical production at a  theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, starting the job straight out of high school. She attained her first recording contract in 1993, when Harold Shedd signed her to Mercury/Polygram, and her first album was released in 1994
.
Wright's first Top 40 country hit came in 1997 with "Shut Up and Drive". Two years later, her fourth album yielded her first number one single, the title track, "Single White Female". Overall, Wright has released seven studio albums on various labels, and has charted more than fifteen singles on the country charts.

Awareness of her orientation towards women, and the "hiding and lies", came early. At the beginning of third grade, Wright realized she was in love with her schoolteacher. Although at that young age she lacked sexual awareness, this crush made her realize that she had an attraction to women that she knew to be culturally taboo. Not only did she share the belief that her sexual orientation was immoral, she also believed that it would kill her career hopes for her audiences to know about it. From early childhood, she therefore built up resolve to never confide the secret of her nature to anyone, let alone pursue romantic love with women.

Despite her resolution against having sex with women, by her early 30s Wright had had sexual relationships with two women. At age 19, there was  an affair with a girl of the same age that lasted the better part of a year. Then from 1993 to about 2004, Wright maintained a committed relationship with a woman she describes as "the love of my life", a woman she met shortly after winning her first recording contract. Even though during their final five years they lived together, they both remained closeted, which contributed to suffered numerous breakups followed by reconciliations.

In the last months of 2000, Wright embarked on an affair with fellow country music singer Brad Paisley. Although she felt no sexual attraction to Paisley, as to all men, she recounts why Paisley was the man she decided to have a relationship with, "I figured if I’m gonna live a less than satisfied life, this is the guy I could live my life with. If I’m gonna be with a boy, this is the boy." Her actions were further fueled by the fact that she held him in high esteem and great affection in every way other than sexual attraction.

In the end, she abandoned the belief that being gay is immoral and deviant:
"I hear the word 'tolerance'—that some people are trying to teach people to be tolerant of gays. I'm not satisfied with that word. I am gay, and I am not seeking to be 'tolerated'. One tolerates a toothache, rush-hour traffic, an annoying neighbor with a cluttered yard. I am not a negative to be tolerated."
Between 2004 and 2006, Wright came out to members of her immediate family and to a few of her close friends. It was not until 2007 that she decided to come out publicly, and spent the next three years writing her autobiography and orchestrating the coming out. Among the reasons she has given for wanting to come out to the public are to free herself from the burdens of living a lie, to lend support to gay children and teenagers, and to counter the belief that gays are wicked and defective. On May 3, 2010, People magazine reported that Wright had come out publicly.Wright is the first major country music artist to come out as gay.

On April 6, 2011, Wright's publicist announced that the singer was engaged to LGBT rights advocate Lauren Blitzer. The couple married on August 20 in a private ceremony on a country estate in Connecticut. Wright and Blitzer were married by both a rabbi and a reverend.

Philanthropy

Wright is the founder of the charities, "Reading, Writing, and Rhythm" (RW&R), which is devoted to musical education in America's schools and helps supply musical instruments and equipment, and "The Like Me Organization"to provide assistance, resources, and education to LGBT individuals and their family and friends.

In 2001, Wright was given the "Stand Up For Music Award" MENC: The National Association for Music Education.
In 2003, she was named "Woman of the Year" by the American Legion Auxiliary and "Kansan of the Year" for her career achievements, her charity work and her support of the U.S. armed forces.
In 2010, Wright was named the National Spokesperson for the organization GLSEN. Wright was named one of Out magazine's annual 100 People of the Year.

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David Furnish (1962 – ) Canadian, Film director and partner to Elton John

b. October 25th, 1962

Canadian/British filmmaker, former advertising executive, and now a film director and producer most known for his documentary "Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras". He is the civil partner of British entertainer Elton John.



Born inOntario, Canada, Furnish Honours Business Administration undergraduate degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in 1985. He was recruited by the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, eventually transferred to the London, England, office and was appointed to their Board.

A mutual friend of Furnish and Elton John left a message for Furnish inviting him to a dinner party at John's house on October 30, 1993. Initially fearing that the dinner would be unpleasant, or that John would be boring, he instead found John to be interesting and engaging. Both were attracted to each other; John asked for his phone number and the two had a private dinner the following night. 

Furnish resigned from his position in 1994 after finding it increasingly difficult to balance the position's demands with the demands of his new life with John.

With a keen interest in film, Furnish enrolled in courses at the British Film Institute. He is currently co-chief of Rocket Pictures along with John.

Furnish is a contributing editor for Tatler magazine and also is a regular columnist for Interview and GQ. He currently serves on the board of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, attending fundraisers and other events in support of that cause.

When Furnish and John entered into a civil partnership in Windsor, Berkshire  on the first day that civil partnerships could be performed in England, 21 December 2005, it was widely reported in the press as the first high-profile, society "gay wedding".  The couple's relationship has continued to make news with the birth of a son, Zachary (born on 25 December 2010 in California via a surrogate mother) which has made them the best known British gay fathers, as well as the most-recognizable gay couple.

Fenton Johnson, Writer

Fenton Johnson is the author of two novels, Crossing the River and Scissors, Paper, Rock, as well as Geography of the Heart: A Memoir and Keeping Faith: A Skeptic’s Journey among Christian and Buddhist Monks, a meditation on what it means for a skeptic to have and keep faith. He has contributed stories and cover essays to Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, and many literary quarterlies, and received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and more. He is on the faculty of the creative writing program at the University of Arizona.




His most recent book Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey draws on time spent living as a member of the monastic communities of the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky and the San Francisco Zen Center as a means to examining what it means to a skeptic to have and keep faith. Keeping Faith weaves frank conversations with Trappist and Buddhist monks with a history of the contemplative life and meditations from Johnson’s experience of the virtue we call faith. It received the 2004 Kentucky Literary Award for Nonfiction and the 2004 Lambda Literary Award for best GLBT creative nonfiction.

Johnson has served as a contributor to Harper's Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, and many literary quarterlies, and has received numerous literary awards, among them a James Michener Fellowship from the Iowa Writers Workshop and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both fiction and creative nonfiction. His writing also received a Northern California Book Reviewers nomination for best fiction (for Scissors, Paper, Rock, Washington Square Press) and the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Awards for best creative nonfiction (for Geography of the Heart, Scribner). He contributes occasional commentaries to National Public Radio and has written the narration for several award-winning public television documentaries and personal films. He serves on the faculty of the creative writing program at the University of Arizona and is currently completing The Man Who Loved Birds: A Novel and is a 2007 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow.

He has received awards from the Wallace Stegner and James Michener Fellowships in Fiction and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both fiction and creative nonfiction. He has also received a Kentucky Literary Award, two Lambda Literary Awards for best creative nonfiction, as well as the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award for best gay/lesbian nonfiction. He received a 2007 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation to support completion of his third novel and to begin research and writing on a nonfiction project.

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Fenton Johnson, Writer

Fenton Johnson is the author of two novels, Crossing the River and Scissors, Paper, Rock, as well as Geography of the Heart: A Memoir and Keeping Faith: A Skeptic’s Journey among Christian and Buddhist Monks, a meditation on what it means for a skeptic to have and keep faith. He has contributed stories and cover essays to Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, and many literary quarterlies, and received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and more. He is on the faculty of the creative writing program at the University of Arizona.




His most recent book Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey draws on time spent living as a member of the monastic communities of the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky and the San Francisco Zen Center as a means to examining what it means to a skeptic to have and keep faith. Keeping Faith weaves frank conversations with Trappist and Buddhist monks with a history of the contemplative life and meditations from Johnson’s experience of the virtue we call faith. It received the 2004 Kentucky Literary Award for Nonfiction and the 2004 Lambda Literary Award for best GLBT creative nonfiction.

Johnson has served as a contributor to Harper's Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, and many literary quarterlies, and has received numerous literary awards, among them a James Michener Fellowship from the Iowa Writers Workshop and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both fiction and creative nonfiction. His writing also received a Northern California Book Reviewers nomination for best fiction (for Scissors, Paper, Rock, Washington Square Press) and the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Awards for best creative nonfiction (for Geography of the Heart, Scribner). He contributes occasional commentaries to National Public Radio and has written the narration for several award-winning public television documentaries and personal films. He serves on the faculty of the creative writing program at the University of Arizona and is currently completing The Man Who Loved Birds: A Novel and is a 2007 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow.

He has received awards from the Wallace Stegner and James Michener Fellowships in Fiction and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both fiction and creative nonfiction. He has also received a Kentucky Literary Award, two Lambda Literary Awards for best creative nonfiction, as well as the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award for best gay/lesbian nonfiction. He received a 2007 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation to support completion of his third novel and to begin research and writing on a nonfiction project.

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David McReynolds (1929 - ). Political activist, and first gay presidential candidate.

b. October 25, 1929

American democratic socialist and pacifist activist who described himself as "a peace movement bureaucrat" during his 40-year career with Liberation magazine and the War Resisters League. He was the first openly gay man to run for President of the United States.


Born in Los Angeles, in 1951 he joined the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and in 1953 he graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science. Between 1957 and 1960, McReynolds worked for the editorial board of the left-wing magazine Liberation. McReynolds is openly gay and wrote his first article about living as a gay man in 1969.

He was staunchly anti-war and a draft resister, and in 1960 joined the staff of the War Resisters League (WRL), where he remained until his retirement in 1999. On November 6, 1965, he was one of five men who publicly burned their draft cards at an anti-war demonstration at Union Square in New York.

In his political career, McReynolds ran for Congress from Lower Manhattan twice and for President twice. In 1958 he ran as a write-in SPA candidate and then in 1968 as a Peace and Freedom Party candidate for Congress in the 19th district.  In 1980, he ran for President of the United States as the SPUSA candidate, and again for President as the SPUSA candidate in 2000. In both 1980 and 2000, McReynolds received the endorsement and ballot line of the Liberty Union Party in Vermont. In 2004, he ran on the Green Party ticket for the New York Senate, running an anti-war campaign against Democratic incumbent Chuck Schumer. 
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Monday 24 October 2011

Gay / Lesbian Church Weddings for Denmark, 2012.

Denmark was the first country in the world to provide near-marriage for same-sex couples, in a system of registered partnerships that were widely described as "gay marriage". The only surprise in the announcement that like their Scandinavian neighbours Sweden Norway and Iceland they are to extend this to full marriage is that it has taken them so long. (Finland also has plans for full marriage equality).


The real interest here, is that this legislation explicitly includes gay church weddings, as there are already in Sweden and Iceland, with the approval of the dominant Lutheran Church in those countries.
Denmark is the latest European nation to announce plans to introduce gay marriage, with same-sex couples to be allowed to marry on Church of Denmark premises.
The Danish coalition Government’s church minister, Manu Sareen, told local newspaper Jyllands-Posten that gay men and women will soon be able to marry when legislation is introduced early next year.
“I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I’ll be standing out there throwing rice,” he said.
“I have many friends who are homosexuals and can’t get married. They love their partners the same way heterosexuals do, but they don’t have the right to live it out in the same way. That’s really problematic.”
Denmark was the first country in the world to allow gay civil partnerships with legislation in 1989. Public polls suggest around 69-percent of the population supports same-sex marriage according, The Copenhagen Post reports.
The first same-sex weddings could take place as early as March, 2012 after the legislation is passed.
One of the people who participated in Denmark's first near-marriage ceremonies was a minister of religion. For the most part, European Lutherans do not have a problem with partnered gay or lesbian clergy, and most Danes will take this in their stride. Still, there will be some opposition.
....marriage equality in Denmark isn’t welcome by all with some religious leaders opposing the plans fearing it will cause a spilt in the Church of Denmark. Henrik Hojlund, of the Evangelical Lutheran Network, said gay marriage would be “fatal” for the Church and told the same newspaper “The Church of Denmark is being secularised right up to the alter in a desperate and mistaken attempt to meet modern people halfway.”
ATV Today


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Saturday 22 October 2011

Gay marriage in Hawaii nears majority support

"Nearly half of Hawaiian voters support marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples, according to a new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling. The poll found that 49 percent of voters support the legalization of same-sex marriages, while only 40 percent oppose the measure. Eleven percent of respondents were undecided.
Hawaii was the first state to enter the gay marriage fray when a constitutional amendment was passed in 1998 defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. However, the Hawaii Legislature passed a bill earlier this year making it the seventh state to legalize civil unions."

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Botswana Leader Wants Homosexuality Decriminalized

The former President of Botswana has called for his country to decriminalize homosexuality and prostitution in an effort to slow down the spread of the HIV virus.


Festus Mogae, who leads the government-supported AIDS Council, told BBC that it is difficult to encourage safe sex in a country where homosexuality and prostitution are illegal.

"I don't understand it [homosexuality]. I am a heterosexual," he told BBC. "I look at women. I don't look at other men. But there are men who look at other men. These are citizens.""After serving two terms in office, Mogae stepped down in 2008 and is widely admired across Africa. Under his administration, Botswana became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to make anti=retroviral drugs widely available.Nonetheless, Mogae’s views are likely to be shunned. A government spokesman told BBC that homosexuality and prostitution would remain illegal practices until the state officials conducted a thorough study on whether changes to the law were necessary.

Friday 21 October 2011

Number of gay couples who adopt tripled over last decade

The number of gays and lesbians adopting children has nearly tripled in the last decade despite discriminatory rules in many states, according to an analysis of recent population trends.
"It's a stratospheric increase. It's like going from zero to 60," said Miami attorney Elizabeth Schwartz, who has coordinated more than 100 adoptions for gay and lesbian families in the last year. "I think many really dreamed of doing this but it wasn't something they ever thought would become a reality."

About 21,740 same-sex couples had adopted children in 2009, up from 6,477 in 2000, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. About 32,571 adopted children were living with same-sex couples in 2009, up from 8,310 in 2000. The figures are an analysis of newly released Census Bureau estimates.
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Peter Mandelson, U.K. politician

b. October 21, 1953

Former secretary of state for Trade and Industry, former European Commissioner.



Born in London, a grandson of Lord Morrison, a former Labour cabinet minister. He was educated at Hendon Senior High School and St. Catherine's in Oxford, where he read politics, philosophy and economics. After university he worked for Trade Union Congress and was a Councillor for the London borough of Lambeth before becoming Labour MP for Hartlepool in 1992. He became an opposition whip.

Before the 1997 general election, at which the Labour Party swept to power, he had been one of the most prominent organisers of the reconstruction of the Labour Party and was extremely close to the leader of the party, Tony Blair. After the election he became Minister without Portfolio and was the most senior and influential of a small number of gay Labour Party politicians, though he has never officially declared his sexuality.

In 1998 he was targeted in the tabloid media's attack on a "gay mafia" within government, In the following year he resigned from his ministerial position after the revelation he had received a secret loan from another MP, but remained a prominent politician, and was appointed secretary of state for Northern Ireland in 1999.

In October 1998, during his first period in the Cabinet, Mandelson was the centre of media attention when Matthew Parris (openly gay former MP and then Parliamentary sketch writer of The Times) mentioned during a live interview on Newsnight, in the wake of the resignation of Ron Davies, that "Peter Mandelson is certainly gay".

In 2000, Mandelson publicly recognised his relationship with long-time partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva by allowing photographs of them together. (da Silva is Brazilian born but was naturalized as a British citizen around the end of August 2005).

Coming out publicly did not harm his political career. On 22 November 2004, Mandelson became Britain's European Commissioner for Trade. On 3 October 2008, as part of Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle, it was announced that Mandelson would return to government in the re-drawn post Business Secretary, and would be made a life peer, entitling him to a seat in the House of Lords. Gordon Brown cited that he needed "serious people" for "serious times" and that Peter Mandelson would deliver the experience the country needed to pull it through its economic crisis.

By 2010, he could claim, in an interview with The Times, that he was a "good role model" for gay men, because of the success he had achieved in public life.

In a video interview with The Times, Lord Mandelson was questioned about his position as ''the most powerful gay man in the country'' when he was first secretary of state and effective number two in Mr Brown's administration.
He replied: ''I would hate to think that I take a stand because I have one sexuality, or one sexual orientation.''I think it's important that people should be able to get to the top of politics – or whatever profession they aspire to travel to the top of – irrespective of what they are.''I think I'm actually quite a good role model for people who, without any fuss or bother, without any self-consciousness or inverse or other discrimination, (are) able to make it in politics, to make it in public life, to make it to the top places in government of our country.


Source:
Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, from WWII to Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001


Wikipedia
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Star Trek's Spock admits he's gay

Zachery Quinto has come out of the closet in an interview with New York magazine.



Quinto, who played Sylar in cancelled television series Heroes and Spock in the recent big screen reboot of Star Trek, admitted he was gay when asked about his role in recent stage play Angels in America.

"At the same time, as a gay man, it made me feel like there's still so much work to be done, and there's still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed," he said in comments reported widely by mainstream media."

- NZ Herald News:
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Marriage Update, Australia: Opinion poll favourable, Gillard to allow conscience vote

Numerous polls have shown that Australians support legal recognition for same -sex marriage, by a wide margin. A new poll goes one step further than simply counting heads, and attempts to assess the impact on voting patters for the Australian Labour Party, if it endorses support for equality at its December conference.  
"Labor could expect a five per cent swing in its favour if it supports gay marriage, a new poll suggests.A Galaxy poll, commissioned by lobby group Australian Marriage Equality (AME), found almost half of Australian Greens voters and a third of young voters would be more likely to vote for the ALP if it allowed same-sex couples to marry.The ALP's national conference is due to debate changing party policy in December, but Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the legal definition of marriage - being between a man and a woman - should not be changed."

Meanwhile, it is reported that Prime Minister Julia Gillard, while not holding back her personal opposition to marriage equality, is about to reverse her position on a parliamentary vote. She is now expected to permit a conscience vote.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's free vote on gay marriage 
JULIA Gillard is set for a reversal on gay marriage, with government sources claiming she would announce within weeks a conscience vote on the issue. Government sources said the Prime Minister would state her position ahead of the Labor Party's national conference in December.
It could come as early as Monday or after the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth finishes at the end of next week, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Left wing and some Right-wing MPs who are delegates to the Labor conference will push for a reversal of the party's platform, which currently opposes gay marriage." 
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Doeschka Meijsing, Dutch writer.

b. October 21, 1947

Dutch writer, born in Eindhoven.


She writes stories, poems, essays and novels. She debuted in 1974 with "The Roosters and other stories. For "Tiger, Tiger!" (1980) she received the Multatuli Prize. "The Second Man" (2000) was nominated for the AKO Literature and represented Meijsing's breakthrough to the general public. Her novel "Chemicals 100%" (2002) was nominated for the Libris Literature Prize, and can be seen as a prelude to "Murder", her share of the acclaimed novel, "Murder & Manslaughter" (2005), which she wrote with her brother Geerten. In 2007 she published a small novel "The First years", and in 2008 there followed her acclaimed best-seller "About Love" that was awarded the the F. Bordewijk Prize, the Opzij Literature Prize and the AKO Literature Prize. Doeschka Meijsing has an impressive body of work to her credit in 1997 was awarded the Annie Roman Prize.





  • 1974 - De hanen en andere verhalen
  • 1976 - Robinson
  • 1977 - De kat achterna
  • 1980 - Tijger, tijger!
  • 1982 - Utopia of De geschiedenissen van Thomas
  • 1982 - Zwaluwen en Augustein
  • 1985 - Ik ben niet in Haarlem geboren
  • 1986 - Paard Heer Mantel
  • 1987 - Beer en Jager
  • 1988 - Hoe verliefd is de toeschouwer?
  • 1990 - De beproeving
  • 1992 - Vuur en zijde
  • 1994 - Beste vriend
  • 1996 - De angstige waakhond
  • 1996 - De weg naar Caviano
  • 2000 - De tweede man
  • 2002 - 100% chemie
  • 2005 - Moord en doodslag
  • 2008 - Over de liefde


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Thursday 20 October 2011

Growing Catholic Acceptance Of Gay Relationships, LGBT Equality

New research finds US Catholics view gay relationships as morally acceptable. Furthermore,  Catholic support is higher, and is growing faster, than in the American population as a whole.
Two Gallup polls released in the last two days show once again that public acceptance of gay relationships and LGBT equality is continuing to grow - and  US Catholics, unlike their bishops, are more supportive than others.  The graph below shows a clear trend over the past 10 years: acceptance is increasing steadily, and has now crossed the 50% threshold, while opposition is eroding just as steadily.
2001-2010 Trend: Perceived Moral Acceptability of Gay/Lesbian Relations
As we have seen in previous polls, Catholic support for acceptance is stronger than that of Protestants. and also stronger than that of the country at large. What I have not seen before though, is that Catholic support is also growing faster.
Percentage Calling Gay/Lesbian Relations Morally Acceptable, by Politics, Religion
Support for full marriage equality is not as strong , not growing as quickly, and not as pronounced among Catholics. Still, at 48% of US Catholics supporting gay marriage, this is stronger than the country as a whole (overall, 44% of Americans are in favour, up from 40% in 2009, and also in 2oo8.)
Notably, 81% of Americans who claim no religious affiliation favor legal same-sex marriage. That compares to 48% support among Catholics and 33% among Protestants (including those who identify as Christian but do not specify a particular Christian denomination).
I will enjoy digging further into the history of these annual Gallup reports, and if I turn up anything of further interest - you'll be the first to know.
Read more at Gallup, on LGBT acceptance, and on Gay Marriage.
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Robert Biedroń, Poland's first openly gay MP

b April 13, 1976 in Krosno, Poland


Robert Biedroń is a Polish LGBT activist and politician. He was previously a member of Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland and the Democratic Left Alliance, but is now a member of Palikot's Movement. He is also the board member of the Polish Campaign Against Homophobia.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Sejm (Polish parliament) in 2005 (from Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej), the Democratic Left Alliance, the main left wing party. In the October 2011 parliamentary elections he was elected to Sejm (Polish Parliament) getting 16,919 votes in Gdynia district, from Palikot's Movement list. He is thus the first openly gay Member of Parliament in Poland.

Palikot's Movement is a new, progressive party known for its liberal views including supporting LGBT rights, abortion, and legalizing "soft drugs", which gained 40 seats in the Sejm, making it the third largest party.
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DOD Allows Same-Sex Couple To Attend Family Event

"“The Department of Defense has clarified regulations that will allow Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan of the New Hampshire National Guard to bring her same-sex partner to a yellow ribbon family reintegration event in North Conway this weekend,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen just announced in a press release. Shaheen had written a letter urging Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to review the military’s regulations prohibiting same-sex couples from attending such events. “This is terrific news for Charlie Morgan and her family,” said Shaheen. “But this is just one small part of a much larger problem. We have a fundamental inequity in our policy, which has created two classes of soldiers. It isn’t fair and it has to end.” Indeed, while gays and lesbians can now serve openly, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act still denies same-sex couples and their families access to federal benefits."
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Wednesday 19 October 2011

Gay Marriage In The Military? SLDN Prepares For Next Fight


"With “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” relegated to the dustbin of history, the largest group representing gay troops is gunning for gay marriage.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) plans to file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as it relates to gay and lesbian service members.Since 1996, federal agencies and the military have been barred from recognizing the legal marriages of gay couples because of DOMA, which defines marriage as a heterosexual union.SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis told The Huffington Post that his group will argue that DOMA violates gay military couples' Fifth Amendment right to due process."

Tuesday 18 October 2011

18 October:Martina Navratilova, Tennis Champion

b. October 18, 1956

Martina Navratilova has won 168 singles tennis titles, more than any other tennis player in history, male or female. She has won 58 Grand Slam tournaments, including a record nine Wimbledon singles titles.

"The moment I stepped onto that crunchy red clay, felt the grit under my sneakers, felt the joy of smacking a ball over the net, I knew I was in the right place."



Navratilova knew from an early age that she wanted to be a tennis player. At 16, she turned pro and two years later, she defected from her native Czechoslovakia to the United States. In 1981 she became an American citizen.

Uzi Even: Scientist, Politician, Military Officer, Israeli equality pioneer

b. 18 October 1940

Professor Uzi Even (Hebrew: עוזי אבן) is an Israeli professor of chemistry in Tel Aviv University and a former politician, who has made several landmark contributions to gay equality in Israel.


In the military:

In 1993 he told the Knesset that the IDF, where he served as a Lieutenant Colonel, had sacked him and removed his security clearance after they discovered he was gay. His testimony led to Yitzhak Rabin's government changing the law and regulations to allow homosexuals to serve in the army in any position, including one requiring high security clearance.

In employment:

In 1995 he successfully challenged his employer, Tel Aviv University, for spousal rights for his partner.

In politics:

A member of Meretz, he narrowly missed out on being elected to the fifteenth Knesset in 1999, but as the next placed candidate on the party's list, he became an MK when Amnon Rubinstein resigned in 2002, making him the first openly homosexual member of the Knesset.

In 2006, Even announced he was leaving Meretz and joining the Labor Party, feeling comfortable doing so after he noticed that Labor promised equality to all citizens in its election manifesto.

A member of Meretz, he narrowly missed out on being elected to the fifteenth Knesset in 1999, but as the next placed candidate on the party's list, he became an MK when Amnon Rubinstein resigned in 2002, making him the first openly homosexual member of the Knesset.

In family law:

On March 10, 2009, the Tel Aviv family court ruled that Even and his nowadays ex-partner, Amit Kama, can legally adopt their 30-year-old foster son, Yossi Even-Kama, making them the first same-sex male couple in Israel whose right of adoption has been legally acknowledged.
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