Could 2008 be the year of pro-gay moderates battling for the White House? Some political observers are predicting just such a scenario, as Democratic and Republican centrists surge in early presidential polls. Leading contenders on both sides, such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), support civil unions and [...]
Barack Obama, the lanky and charismatic U.S. senator from Illinois, is a national, if not global, phenomenon. He is being touted as the miracle elixir for a nation divided along the fault lines of race, religion, and class. And also a nation divided along the battle lines of Red State versus Blue State. Obama delivered [...]
In an unprecedented ruling, Israel’s supreme court ordered the government Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad. The lone dissenter on the seven-judge panel is an observant Jew, highlighting the controversy the decision is likely to touch off among ultra-Orthodox Jews and other deeply conservative groups in Israel.
D and I saw comedian Kate Clinton last night in West Palm Beach. She was great! Comedian Kate Clinton is hitting the road for her 25th anniversary tour. The 50-city tour, called “It’s Come to This,” is a celebration of all of her years of being a comedian. The tour has not only been an [...]
High schools across San Francisco soon will no longer have Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs after officials decided to eliminate them because of the Pentagon’s ”don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gay service members. The Board of Education voted 4-2 late Tuesday to phase out the JROTC from schools over the next two years, [...]
“As a lesbian, as a woman, as a Jew, and simply as a human being, I have the right to live my life as a lesbian in Jerusalem, openly in my city, close to my family, my friends, my neighbors, and my work mates.” —Elena Canetti of the gay rights group Jerusalem Open House
Gay leaders on Thursday canceled a scheduled pride parade in Jerusalem amid security concerns and pressure from fundamentalist religious leaders who called the public display in the holy city offensive. The parade, scheduled for Friday, drew opposition from Jews, Christians, and Muslims, while hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews vented their disapproval by clashing with police and [...]
Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Bucking a strong national trend by refusing to change its constitution to define marriage as a one-man, one-woman institution.
Israel’s attorney general refused to ban a gay pride parade in Jerusalem despite threats of violence from ultra-Orthodox Jews, instructing police and gay activists to try to work out a compromise, the police commander said Sunday. A Justice Ministry statement said Attorney General Meni Mazuz ordered police to meet with gay activists ”to work out [...]
The president of the PlanetOut Inc. division that owns The Advocate was asked to stop kissing his partner by an angry cab driver. Has this ever happened to you? As The Advocate was preparing its special report on “covering”—the pressure to downplay our gay identities in public—a New York taxi ride turned into a upsetting [...]