News
VT U.S. Senate Hopefuls Meet the Gay Press
John Tracy and Matt Dunne Go Head to Head in Lt. Gov. Primary
Douglas Defends Transgender Rights Veto
Now Who's Turning Their Backs?
Remarks of Pres. Bush on the MPA
Gays & Lesbians Boast Political Victories
The Rest of Our World
The
Rest of Our World
It’s
Official: EU Votes No on Homophobia
Brussels - The European Parliament in June sent a strong warning to member
states which condone homophobia and racism, according to a report from
the 365gay website.
Parliament passed a resolution calling
on all EU countries to toughen their laws to deal with hate crimes. The
vote was 301 in favor to 161 against with 102 abstentions. Most of the
abstentions came from former Soviet states, the report said.
The resolution also calls on the Council
of europe to approve a proposal that has languished since 2001 that would
explicitly ban “homophobic, anti-semitic, Islamophobic and other
types of offences motivated by phobia or hatred based on ethnicity, race,
sexual orientation, religion or other irrational grounds.”
In addition, the resolution
urges, but falls short of requiring, all member states to effectively
implement anti-discrimination directives and calls for Member states which
fail to do so to be brought before the Court of Justice.
Lawmakers Protest Pentagon Calling Gays Mentally Ill
Santa Barbara, CA - Nine members of the House Armed Services Committee
have written Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld requesting a review and
update of a recently discovered military document that defines homosexuality
as a mental disorder, according to a June report by the Center for the
Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM).
The letter notes that more than thirty
years ago, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality
from its list of mental illnesses and noted that homosexuality “implies
no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social and
vocational capabilities,” the report said. The APA and the American
Psychological Association have also written the Pentagon urging it to
remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.
Nigerian Leader Denied Visa
Chicago - Due to visa problems, the scheduled June 23rd Chicago speaking
engagement by gay anglican activist Davis Mac-Iyalla of Nigeria has been
cancelled, said the Gay Liberation Network, sponsor of the event. Mac-Iyalla
was also scheduled to address the Ohio National Convention of Integrity,
the pro-gay organization of Episcopalians in the United States.
Mac-Iyalla has been the foremost leader
organizing for gay equality in Nigeria, working to stop a proposed law
which would outlaw freedom of assembly for gays and lesbians in that country
and ban their political and social organizations, punishable by long prison
sentences. Mac-Iyalla has also challenged the anti-gay political activism
of the Nigerian church’s leader, archbishop Peter Akinola who, along
with local Muslim leaders, are trying to outdo eachother in their support
of the anti-gay law, the GLN said.
Mac-Iyalla has been beaten and briefly
imprisoned by Nigerian police and slandered by Anikola, according to the
report. Mac-Iyalla is founder of Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN), an affirming
organization of gays and lesbians in the Anglican Communion.
Petitioners Demand Rights for Man Living with HIV
Washington, DC - Lambda Legal in June delivered a petition signed by 5,000
people urging Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, to repeal the federal
government’s discriminatory hiring policies and allow a qualified
man living with HIV to work as a Foreign Service Officer, Lambda Legal
said last month.
“Employers, as well as the general
public, look to the federal government to set the standard in workers’
rights,” said Hector Vargas, Deputy Director of education and Public
affairs at Lambda Legal.
“Dr. Rice has the power to set
the record straight and make clear that discrimination in the workplace
is not acceptable, starting with allowing Lorenzo Taylor, Kely Smith,
and other qualified and dedicated applicants to serve our nation in the
Foreign service.”
Task Force Hails Victory in Washington State
Washington - Opponents of a Washington state law banning discrimination
based on sexual orientation and gender identity failed to gather enough
voter signatures to force a public vote on the law, which took effect
in June. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said it applauds the
work of lGBT rights advocates, including Washington Won’t Discriminate
and equal rights Washington, and other supporters.
Voters Approve Anti-Marriage Amendment
Alabama - Alabama voters approved a state constitutional amendment yesterday
to prohibit same-sex marriage and other forms of family protections for
unmarried couples, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said last month.
Alabama is the 20th state in the past eight years to amend its constitution
for the purpose of banning same-sex marriages, the Task Force said.
The vote was 81 percent to 19 percent
(with 98 percent of precincts reporting). Voters in Alabama’s neighbor
state, Mississippi, passed a similar amendment in 2004 by an 86 percent
to 14 percent margin.
“Equality Alabama vows to continue
the long-term work of changing the hearts and minds of the people of Alabama.
More than 170,000 Alabamians voted to not add discrimination to Alabama’s
constitution and stood with us in rejecting the amendment,” said
Howard Bayless, chair of Equality Alabama.
Would Jesus Discriminate?
Indiana - First there were full-page ads in the Indianapolis Star asking,
“Would Jesus discriminate?” Then yard signs with the same
message began appearing all over Indianapolis.
Then 25,000 door hangers were distributed
with invitations to a Town Hall meeting - one of which led to a lesbian’s
Indianapolis home being defaced with a swastika.
Now, major billboards across the city
are also asking the question, “Would Jesus discriminate?”
The $100,000 media campaign
in Indianapolis is the start of a national effort to lower hostility and
tension around homosexuality and religion - and to initiate a dialogue
that can lead to greater understanding on the subject.
The campaign is a joint project of
openly gay East Coast business leader Mitchell Gold, founder of Faith
In America, and Dr. Cindi Love, a former senior executive with the Toro
Corporation and currently Executive Director of Metropolitan Community
Churches (MCC), the world’s largest gay and lesbian church group
with congregations in 26 countries.
City Must Pay LGBT Group
Jerusalem - A District Court Judge ordered that the city of Jerusalem
must pay Jerusalem Open House (JOH), Jerusalem’s leading LGBT rights
organization, 350,000 shekels, the equivalent of about us $77,000, Renna
Communications said in May.
According to the court, the city of
Jerusalem illegally discriminated against JOH when it failed to allocate
municipal funds to JOH in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Each year, the city of
Jerusalem allocates millions of shekels annually to various community
groups, according to the press release.
Out 4 Immigration Helps LGBT and HIV Positive Individuals
San Francisco - Out 4 Immigration is a new organization focused on providing
empowerment, education, information, and awareness about the immigration
issues faced by the LGBT and HIV-positive community. As these groups are
limited under current u.s. immigration law in their options to keep their
families together, Out 4 Immigration aims to make the American public
awareof these conditions and bring the issue into the current national
immigration debate. Out 4 Immigration also educates LGBT and HIV-positive
immigrants and their partners about the unique challenges created by the
law so they may better understand their rights and responsibilities and
effectively respond to current legal requirements.
Bi-national same-sex couples, where
one partner is a US citizen and the other is not, are considered “legal
strangers” under current US immigration law. Many of these bi-national
couples face extremely difficult choices when the non-US partner’s
visa runs out because the LGBT US citizen cannot sponsor their partner
for a green card.
GLISA Works to End Homophobia in Sport
Ottawa - The Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA) is
pleased to be involved in the launch of “Seeing the Invisible, Speaking
About the Unspoken,” a position paper on homophobia in sport developed
by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and
Physical Activity (CAAWs). This position paper discusses the problem of
homophobia in sport and aims to spark dialogue and action towards ending
homophobia in the Canadian sport system.
The official launch of the paper to the
Canadian sport community took place in Ottawa, Canada in May. The launch
was facilitated by Rachel Corbett, GLISA Executive Director, who is also
the author of the paper. In addition to learning more about the issue
of homophobia in sport, participants at the launch learned about resources,
tools and best practices for making their sport more welcoming for all
athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators.
Compiled this month by Editor Lynn McNicol