07.31.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 1:16 pm by pikapp44
The opening ceremonies for the World Outgames in Montreal begin on Saturday. But preliminary events, including a human rights conference, have been under way in the city since Wednesday.
From the moment you land in Montreal’s airport and pick up your luggage in the rainbow-swathed baggage retrieval area, you know the Outgames have arrived. The first few days of this multicultural and multinational event featured a human rights conference run in conjunction with the International Lesbian and Gay Association.
The opening gala was headlined by a speech by United Nations high commissioner for human rights Louise Arbour. The next morning opened with a series of speeches by Canadian Olympic-medal swimmer Mark Tewksbury, Muslim-Canadian author Irshad Manji, and others. The 1,500 attendees and speakers came from over 110 countries, including far-flung locations such as Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Cameroon, South Africa, and Pakistan.
A final Montreal resolution on LGBT civil rights will be presented to the United Nations, the European Union, and the Canadian parliament.
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07.30.06
Posted in Gay Portal at 10:23 am by pikapp44
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced July 19 it’s awarding $287 million in grants over five years to create an international network of scientists to speed up the development of an AIDS vaccine.
The collaboration is critical to making HIV vaccine development more efficient, said the Gates Foundation’s Dr. Nicholas Hellmann. “Unfortunately, developing an effective HIV vaccine has proven to be tremendously difficult, and despite the committed efforts of many researchers around the world, progress simply has not been fast enough.” Hellmann acknowledged that an effective vaccine may still be 10 years away.
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07.27.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 1:45 pm by pikapp44
TEN rebel firefighters who refused to carry out duties at a gay pride march will have to wait until next month to hear their fate, their union claims.
The group, from the Cowcaddens station, had been due to face a disciplinary hearing at Strathclyde Fire and Rescue yesterday.
They were reported by senior officers for disobeying orders after refusing to hand out fire safety leaflets among thousands of revellers at the Pride Scotia march in Glasgow last month.
SNP MSP Fergus Ewing said it was “unbelievable” that the firefighters were facing disciplinary proceedings over the matter.
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07.26.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 12:34 pm by pikapp44
Lance Bass, one of five members of the multimillion record–selling pop group ‘N Sync, has come out as gay. Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl are in a “very stable” relationship.
Bass says he hid his sexuality and declined even to act on it because he feared disclosure would hamper ‘N Sync’s success and thus harm the group’s other four members. “I had four other guys’ careers in my hand,” said Bass, “and I knew that if I ever acted on [my sexuality] or even said [it], it would overpower everything.”
‘N Sync has not recorded or appeared as a group since 2002. That year Bass famously negotiated with the Russian space agency to buy passage on a space flight to the international space station—a deal that fell through when the Russians pulled out. Bass now produces television and film projects; he and Fatone are developing an Odd Couple–like sitcom in which Bass’s character would be gay, Bass told People.
“The thing is, I’m not ashamed,” said Bass, who had already come out to band mates, friends, and what People termed “his shocked family.” “That’s the one thing I want to say…. I’m more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole life. I’m just happy.”
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07.25.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 1:18 pm by pikapp44
After a mixed bag of news of late for same-sex marriage supporters, three national gay rights groups are launching a $250,000 ad campaign today declaring their commitment to achieving marriage equality. The ads will run in 50 publications around the country, from The New York Times to Houston’s gay weekly, and are endorsed by 11 religious leaders and nine mayors, the Associated Press reports.
The campaign’s organizers—the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and Freedom to Marry—say it’s the largest-ever print-advertising buy by the gay rights lobby. It comes after recent legal setbacks in New York and Georgia, where the highest courts in each state ruled against marriage equality, but also after both houses of Congress voted down the proposed federal marriage amendment.
“From coast to coast, millions of people and hundreds of organizations are working to protect gay and lesbian families by ending their exclusion from marriage,” read the ads, which feature photographs of five same-sex couples who’ve been together for as long as 53 years. “Along the way, there will be advances and setbacks, but we will not stop until every American family is treated fairly, with dignity and equality under the law.”
“This is a long-term conversation,” Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, told the AP. “Our job is to make sure people hear about gay families and why marriage matters, and not be drowned out by the horse race of the moment.”
Added Neil Giuliano, GLAAD’s executive director: “This clearly shows a maturing of the movement, broadening the base in our quest for equality. It shows we have the capacity to speak loudly and strongly nationwide.”
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07.24.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 1:27 pm by pikapp44
Recruiting efforts by large law firms for gay attorneys are on the rise. A robust legal market and declining law-school enrollment numbers are just part of the reason many large law firms are now searching out gay and minority attorneys.
According to the Law School Admission Council, 4.6% fewer students applied to law schools in 2005 than in the previous year. That drop in enrollment and pressure from corporate clients to diversify their staffs has sent large firms scrambling for new talent.
The National Law Journal reports that many large firms have started outreach and benefits programs to gay attorneys. A 2005 survey by the Journal found that among the nation’s 20 largest law firms, only five reported having any gay lawyers at all.
Historically, large law firms have a reputation for rigidity and a conservative atmosphere, two elements that advocates say make being out in the workplace difficult.
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07.20.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 2:29 pm by pikapp44
Officials in Missouri announced Tuesday that they have lifted regulations that automatically prevented gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents. But a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Social Services said it might still be difficult for gays to become foster parents despite the ban’s lifting.
Deborah Scott said her department will consider the biological parents’ preferences and also take into account the abuse and neglect that occurred to the child. She said that might sway the state’s decision to put a child with gay or lesbian foster parents that, in her words, “would be confusing or add trauma to an already abused or neglected child.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri told reporters it questions that reasoning and asked the state for additional information. A spokesman for Gov. Matt Blunt said the governor “still believes gay foster homes aren’t the best place for foster children,” adding that the department shouldn’t intentionally discriminate against people solely because of their sexual orientation.
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07.18.06
Posted in D's Thoughts, Gay Rights at 4:08 pm by pikapp44
A day after calling gays “the wrong kind of people,” Kentucky state senator Richard Roeding continued his verbal barrage against gays, calling the Republican political group Log Cabin Republicans “a bunch of queers.” After learning that the state Log Cabin chapter had called for his resignation, the Northern Kentucky Republican used the derogatory term to describe the group in an interview with The Cincinnati Post.
Log Cabin called for Roeding’s resignation after he said that the University of Louisville was wrong to offer health benefits to gay and lesbian domestic partners as a way to make the university competitive and attract talent. “I don’t want to entice any of these people into our state,” Roeding told The Louisville Courier-Journal in a story published Friday. “Those are the wrong kind of people.”
After hearing of Roeding’s “queers” remark, state senate president David Williams called Roeding, who then apologized to Williams for using the term. No word on whether he planned to apologize to the Log Cabin Republicans—or to gay Kentuckians.
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Posted in Gay Rights at 3:40 pm by pikapp44
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a proposed U.S. constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, ending for another year a congressional debate that supporters of the ban hope will still reverberate in this fall’s mid-term elections. The 236–187 vote for the proposal to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman was 47 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment.
“The overwhelming majority of the American people support traditional marriage,” said Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Republican from Colorado, sponsor of the amendment.
The measure is “all for the purpose of pandering to a narrow political base.” said Rep. Tammy Baldwin, an openly gay Democrat from Wisconsin. “This hateful and unnecessary amendment is unworthy of our great Constitution.”
The White House, in a statement Tuesday, urged passage of the measure. “When activist judges insist on redefining the fundamental institution of marriage for their states or potentially for the entire country, the only alternative left to make the people’s voice heard is an amendment of the Constitution.”
The U.S. Constitution has been amended only 27 times, including the 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights. In addition to two-thirds congressional approval, a proposed amendment must be ratified by three fourths of the states.
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07.15.06
Posted in Gay Portal at 8:35 am by pikapp44
The first phase of the Connecticut freedom-to-marry case ended with a lower-court defeat for the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and their plaintiff couples.
GLAD pledged to appeal, as expected, to the Connecticut Supreme Court. There, the justices will have the same question to address — not the usual checklist of benefits denied, but the definition of equality itself and the extent to which same-sex couples can be sidelined into a unique institution that lacks the social and historical richness of marriage.
In 2005, the year after GLAD filed its lawsuit, the Connecticut legislature enacted a civil-union law that provides complete parity for committed same-sex couples under state law. Similar to the law in Vermont, the civil-union statute states that parties to a civil union:
“Shall have all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law, whether derived from the general statutes, administrative regulations or court rules, policy, common law or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in a marriage, which is defined as the union of one man and one woman.”
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