lgbtQnews

Item: UK’s Stonewall honors Boyzone, Rennie, and more

newseditor — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:54:55 -0800

::: Stonewall, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the UK, handed out its fourth annual awards this weekend at a London gala hosted by fashion guru Gok Wan. The Irish pop group Boyzone was honored as Entertainers of the Year. The award was accepted by Andrew Cowles, the widower of Boyzone band member Stephen Gately who died this summer in a tragic accident. Making his first public appearance since the singer’s death, Cowles was sometimes near tears as told the gathered celebrities, politicians, sportspeople, and writers, “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Stephen Gately’s husband. When Boyzone did their video a year ago, it featured Stephen with another man. It wasn’t a press stunt – they wanted to show Stephen as he was. The other guys just respected Stephen and my – our – relationship.” The Hero of the Year award went to Reverend Scott Rennie, the Church of Scotland’s first openly gay minister, whose investiture was greeted by fierce right-wing opposition last summer. On the opposite scale the group’s Bigot of the Year dishonor was bestowed, in absentia, to Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir, whose shockingly insensitive article on Gately’s death sparked widespread outrage. She had to share the indignity with a priest who spouted off lies about child abuse on a popular BBC program.

Source: Music - News - Boyzone honoured by gay rights group - Digital Spy

CDC panel finds little evidence to support abstinence-only sex-ed

newseditor — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:29:08 -0800

Palin baby-dad Levi Johnson via Flickr

A panel of public health professionals who studied reams of data on the effectiveness of sex-education in classrooms concludes that so-called comprehensive programs are effective.

The panel, appointed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), analyzed 62 studies and 83 study arms that evaluated comprehensive sexual-education programs, WebMD reports. Its members concluded that sex education programs that include both information about condoms and about delaying sexual initiation are effective because they:

Reduce the number of teens who have sex,
Reduce the frequency of sexual activity in teens who have sex,
Reduce the number of sex partners in teens who have sex,
Reduce sexually transmitted infections, including HIV transmission,
Increase use of condoms and other methods of birth control.

In what was, essentially, a split decision, the a majority of panel members recommended adoption of comprehensive programs, which are also called risk-reduction programs.

“The task force recommends group-based comprehensive risk reduction delivered to adolescents to promote behaviors that prevent or reduce the risk of pregnancy, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections,” panel members wrote.

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City GOP decries inclusive Fort Worth policies

newseditor — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:54:50 -0800

A task force appointed in the wake of the violent Stonewall-Day police raid at the Rainbow Lounge, a Fort Worth gay bar, recommended that the city adopt policies that would make it more inclusive for LGBT citizens.

The group recommended that the Fort Worth adopt policies similar to those already in effect in Dallas, Austin, and El Paso, but the city’s official GOP group is rallying conservatives to oppose the policies.

Fort Worth Star Telegram reports:

The proposals include extending domestic-partner benefits to gay couples, considering a company’s record on gay and lesbian issues when approving tax breaks, and including gender reassignment surgery in the city health insurance plan. City employees would also receive training on dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

But the Tarrant County Republican Party Web has urged its minions to show up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting when councilors are scheduled to vote on the first of the proposals, an anti-discrimination ordinance to prohibit bias against people based on gender expression.

A posting on the GOP website questioned whether the domestic-partner provision is legal in Texas, according to the Star Telegram.

The chair of the city’s Human Rights Commission, on the other hand, said passing the proposals is the “right thing to do”.

“What better way to ensure that Fort Worth remains an open and inclusive community … than to prohibit discrimination based on transgender, gender identity, or gender expression?” said Estrus Tucker, who is also a minister.

Source: Conservatives cry foul over Fort Worth policy proposals that are gay-friendly | Local News | St...

Another weird Haggard switch – is he or isn’t he starting a church?

robinev — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:01:18 -0800

Ex-Gay Watch, the blog that’s always so good about tracking such things, reports today, “Ted Haggard, the evangelical pastor exposed in 2006 as a homosexual and adulterer, has started a regular prayer meeting in his Colorado home.”

But, of course, as with all things involving the ex-“with issues”-gay ex-pastor and ex-leader of the national evangelical movement, the story is ever so much more complicated.

Just as Haggard admitted a short time ago that he’s not really “completely heterosexual”, so too, he now says that he’s not really starting a church.

In a Sept. 30 post in a Colorado Springs Gazette-linked blog called The Pulpit, blogger Mark Barna sent along word from Haggard himself that he – at that moment, at least – had no plans to start a “church”, or even a “home church”.

In the post, Barna quotes Haggard: “We have no plans to start a new church, but (Gail and I) do consider it from time to time. We are regularly asked by people to start one, and that is flattering.”

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My Twitter #FollowFriday #lists. Please follow

robinev — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:19:37 -0800

I doubt there’s anyone who’s likely to see this post on a news-blog that doesn’t already know all about Twitter, but in just in case there are a few, skip down to my own little intro to the service and recommendation that you give it a try.

There’s a tradition on Twitter, as regular users probably know, to list each Friday at least some of the other Tweeters that a person follows. (The posts are usually given the hash-tag #FF or #FollowFriday.)

I’ve never been very good about doing those things because I’m just never sure who to include and who to exclude.

I’d be sure to include @Ameriqueer (from blog of that name, but he posts so much more on Twitter), @QueerjohnPA, @rodmccullom (from Rod2.0 blog), @jfburroway (from BoxTurtleBulletin blog) , and @JoeMyGod (blog) because I find their posts ever helpful in identifying all the things I haven’t been able to cover here on lgbtQnews. (And, believe me, I understand there’s much I don’t cover.)

But here’s the problem: There are so many others on my follow-list that I also deeply appreciate, so if I don’t include them in a #FF post, am I dissing them? I dunno.

A new feature on Twitter now comes to the rescue: #lists.

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No ‘excessive force’ at Rainbow Lounge, official reports say

newseditor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:45:32 -0800

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead announced at a Thursday press conference that an internal department investigation has concluded that his officers did not use “excessive force” during a June raid at a Fort Worth gay club, the Rainbow Lounge.

LGBT advocates quickly renewed calls for an independent investigation.

The raid was conducted by Fort Worth police officers and agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) on June 28, the 40th anniversary of the eerily similar police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

Witnesses said dozens of Rainbow Lounge patrons were put in restraints and forced to stand in the parking lot. Seven bar patrons were arrested, and witnesses said one man had his head slammed into a door or onto the floor by agents. Chad Gibson, 26, was hospitalized with a brain injury and released a week later.

“What the community perceives as excessive force is different from a departmental standard where you’re going to impact somebody’s career,” the chief said at the press conference.

Halstead said Fort Worth police officers used only the minimum force necessary during the raid and did not use any of their weapons, Dallas Morning News reports.

He said three officers would get three-day suspensions for violations of department rules.

He said he had voluntarily turned over the entire investigation to the US Justice Department three weeks ago for its review, Fort Worth Star Telegram reports.

Separately, TABC also released a separate 74-page report on findings from its own internal use-of-force investigation Thursday.

It concluded that the two state agents who assisted police in the bar check did not use excessive force, nor did they target the Rainbow Lounge because it is a gay bar.

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Man charged in LI hate crime says ‘God made me hate gay people’

newseditor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:12:10 -0800

Robert Bellamy

A man who was arrested on Long Island and charged with beating up two men he thought were gay told police, “God made me hate gay people," court records show.

Robert Bellamy, 26, and two accomplices shouted anti-gay slurs at two men last weekend before beating the men, police say. The victims were reportedly walking home from a Halloween party. One of the victims was dressed in women’s clothing.

Bellamy was charged Thursday in a Nassau County court with robbery as a hate crime and two counts of assault as a hate crime.

His two alleged accomplices are still being sought by police.

Prior to the assault, the three assailant had encountered at least one of the two victims at a convenience store in the Lakeview neighborhood, where they “focused in” on the man, Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said at a Thursday press conference. They then “began to harass … verbally and physically by pushing him” and calling him the anti-gay slur.

“They perceived him to be homosexual,” Mulvey said.

County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who stood with Mulvey at the press conference, noted that a victim’s actual sexual orientation is “irrelevant” to prosecute under hate crimes law, Newsday reports.

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Election note: Ref 71 finally called ‘approved’ by AP

newseditor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:25:00 -0800

Although it’s been obvious for a day or so, Associated Press is now calling Referendum 71 approved.

From the brief item by AP’s Rachel La Corte:

Washington state voters have approved the state’s new “everything but marriage” law, marking a significant expansion of rights for gay couples who are registered as domestic partners. …

With about 69 percent of the expected vote counted Thursday in unofficial returns, R-71 was leading 52 percent to 48 percent.

In the secretary of state’s 4:30 update, the measure passed the 52 percent barrier for the first time, to stand at 52.34 percent.

King County has only 13,800 votes left to count, but several other Puget Sound counties where the measure is passing also have outstanding votes, including 45,000 in Snohomish County where R-71 approval clings to a slight lead of 51.48 percent.

Pierce County, on the other hand, still has 50,000 outstanding ballots. R-71 is being rejected there by a margin of 53-47.

Source: Local News | Gay partnership measure approved by voters | Seattle Times Newspaper

Item: NY governor calls special session; Marriage on agenda

newseditor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:33:36 -0800

::: New York Governor David Paterson today issued an official proclamation setting up special session of the legislature on Tuesday, New York Observer reports. Paterson hopes legislators will pass a $3 billion Deficit Reduction Plan, but he also called on the extraordinary session to act on bills legalizing same-sex marriage, and several other difficult issues. Whether the cantankerous legislature – and especially the Senate – will actually do any of it is questionable, but Edge Boston reports that senators might be more now be willing to consider marriage equality this time around. “The state’s main gay political group, the Empire State Pride Agenda, has been giving a full-court press to those Democrats who oppose it. At least one state senator, in the Queens borough of New York City, has reportedly been considering relenting under the barrage of criticism, and may be changing to a ‘yes’ vote,” writes Edge editor Steve Weinstein.

Source: Paterson Calls Special Session, But Will it Work? | The New York Observer

NH conservatives now hope to repeal marriage equality there

newseditor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:33:11 -0800

Fired up by the victory Tuesday for the anti-gay campaign in Maine, a group of conservative legislators and activists in New Hampshire are planning to attack that state’s marriage equality law, which – like Maine’s was passed by the legislature last spring.

Legislators are considering two related bills that might be introduced next year, Foster’s Daily Democrat reports:

One would repeal the law Gov. John Lynch signed in June and re-establish civil unions; the other is a constitutional amendment that would charge voters with deciding if “the state shall only recognize the union of one man and one woman as marriage.”

Neither bill is given much chance of success next year, but they indicate how the Maine vote has re-energized right wing forces even in New England.

Behind the repeal push in the House are Rep. Jordan Ulery, R-Hudson, and four other bill sponsors.

“The issue was brought forth against the will of the majority of people, by a minority of people who confuse the issue by saying it was an equal-rights issue,” he said.

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