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I would like suggestions on this column: The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, recently voted to encourage schools to work hard to protect homosexual students from harassment and other things that lead to a bad learning environment. It sounds like a great thing, but I have problems with it. As part of the proposal, the NEA will work to provide factual materials about homosexuality to schools for student consumption. Now, I highly doubt one of the facts that will be presented is that members of the same gender are not able to procreate. It is pretty clear ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's largest teachers union will ask school districts to protect homosexual students and staff by adopting policies that punish harassment and discrimination. Under a plan adopted Friday by the National Education Association's board of directors, schools also will be encouraged to develop factual materials for classroom discussions on homosexuality. All staff and students will be encouraged to speak up when they see or experience discrimination based on sexual orientation. "I think it's a pretty clear signal that the organization recognizes there are some pretty serious needs for gay and lesbian children in school - and employees," ...

EX-PRESIDENT FORD SUPPORTS GAY-RIGHTS LOBBY WASHINGTON, DC, Feb 8, 02 (CWNews.com) -- Former US President Gerald Ford has lent his public support an organization pushing for equal legal treatment of homosexual couples. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Ford agreed to join the advisory board of the Republican Unity Coalition, a group devoted to promoting gay rights within the Republican party. Ford became President after the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 and served out the remainder of Nixon's term before losing the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter.

Gay Priest In Spain Urges Tolerance Friday February 8, 2002 8:30 PM MADRID, Spain (AP) - The first priest in Spanish history to openly acknowledge living an active homosexual life vowed Friday to fight to make the Roman Catholic Church abandon its ``caveman mentality'' and accept gays and lesbians in the pews and on the pulpit. But the Rev. Jose Mantero first had to defend himself against what he described as a smear campaign by prelates and conservative opinion makers since his confession scandalized the church and catapulted him to stardom in Spain. ``Being gay not only is not ...

Rabbi Says Gays Should Die Thursday, 7th February 2002 A leading Jewish cleric has called for homosexuals to be killed. The statements have come in the week that members of leading lesbian and gay groups are to meet Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon. Rabbi David Batzri told the Israeli Ma`ariv newspaper that homosexuals should be “put to death” according to Jewish religious law. Batzri added: "Homosexuals and lesbians are not only a sickness, they are an abomination which should be removed from every city in the country, also from those districts where they feel protected, like in Tel Aviv." Batzri’s ...

Charles Francis, a homosexual activist and friend of President George W. Bush, regularly briefs Bush senior advisor Karl Rove on his group’s effort to end the GOP’s opposition to homosexuality, according to a National Journal report. Francis heads the Republican Unity Coalition (RUC), a year-old organization that seeks to make homosexuality a “non-issue” in the Republican Party. The RUC has the backing of several prominent Republicans and Bush backers — including senior White House aide Mary Matalin, who is pictured prominently on the group’s Web site attending a 2000 fund-raiser for the Coalition. Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (Wyoming) has ...

The owner of the controversial usQueers.com website that called for a "slow, painful death" for well-known pro-family advocates was sentenced in San Diego County Superior Court to five days in jail and three years' probation on a kidnapping charge. usQueers.com webmaster Bruce Allan Ross was convicted of taking David Powell, a minister at First Southern Baptist Church in San Diego, hostage last June 18. During the incident, Ross displayed a jagged bottom of a glass bottle, threatened to hurt Powell and also threatened to commit suicide by cutting the artery in his own neck, according to a June 19 ...

Children raised by gay couples will suffer serious problems in later life, a study into parenting has found. The biggest investigation into same-sex parenting to be published in Europe claims children brought up by gay couples are more likely to experiment with homosexual behaviour and be confused about their sexuality. The best way to bring up a child is within a traditional marriage, the study by sociologist Patricia Morgan concludes. The launch this week of her book, Children As Trophies?, which contains the claims, comes as the Government is poised to change adoption laws and allow unmarried couples to adopt ...

Bless my gay stars! You've heard by now that Rosie O'Donnell is coming out in her memoirs, which at this point might be as shocking as Kid Rock being straight, but it's still an important step worthy of breaking out our finest diet sodas. For years, I've critiqued Rosie's ambiguous single-mom act and dissed her for claiming she wanted to protect her private life, while publicly detailing every burp and doodoo of her kids. At the height of her subterfuge—enforced by her higher-ups, for all I know—Rosie gushed over Tom Cruise in between indulging in coy, pronoun-free banter with her ...

MONDAY FEBRUARY 04 2002 Spaniards back openly gay priest FROM STEPHEN BURGEN IN BARCELONA A PRIEST has announced in a gay magazine that he is an active homosexual. Father José Mantero has won widespread support from his flock, but his bishop said that “necessary measures” would be taken. Father Mantero, 39, parish priest of Nuestra Señora del Reposo in Valverde del Camino, near the southern port of Huelva, said: “I give thanks to God for being gay. I am not exactly celibate.” A priest for ten years, he said it was his faith and love of the Church that impelled ...

CLICK HERE to FReep the poll, "Can gay couples make good adoptive parents?"

You know you’re a bigot if -- You think the malcontents who kicked the crap out of the British and gave birth to America were heroic and deserve to be remembered as such. Correct thinking people know they only did this so they could quit talking with that wimpy accent and be first in line at rap concerts.You know you’re a bigot if -- You think Al Sharpton is the "Reverand" at the Church Of Mo Better Den Thou and you wonder just exactly what it is Jesse Jackson does for a living. Correct thinking people know it’s not polite ...

Scout leader charged with child sex abuse By SUSAN PALMER The Register-Guard  Recommend this story to others.   SPRINGFIELD - A Springfield man who worked with children as a Scout leader and through his sports trading card shop remained in jail Monday on charges that he sexually abused five young boys. Steven Jeremy Freeman, 36, of Springfield, faces five counts of first-degree sodomy and one count of first-degree sex abuse. He met some of the boys - ages 7 to 10 - through his shop, others through Scouting and some through both, Springfield police Capt. Rich Harrison said. Freeman was arrested ...

Second in a three-part series When Richard Riordan makes a speech, chances are he'll weave in a quote from 12th-century Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides. But quiz him on whether California abortion law should be changed -- as reporters did recently before he spoke to a Republican women's group -- and his response lacks the detail you might expect from someone who can quote medieval scholars at will. "I don't know the answer to that," the former Los Angeles mayor said. "I should understand, but I don't. But I will." It turns out that very little about Riordan, a lawyer, venture ...

"ADULT CONTENT" by Cindy Furnare The term "adult content" should bring to mind an informative document of substance. Unfortunately, just like the word "gay" has been perverted; so has the term "adult content." Truly it is disgusting to be bombarded by "adult content" e- mails which you would NEVER sign up for. There is nothing "adult" about these "adult content" e-mails. As a matter of fact, the term "sick and perverted" accurately describes these "adult content" e-mails. Well, the internet search engines which include "adult content" are not any better. Perverts on the internet are not behaving like "adults" and ...

Why I Believe Predestination Okay, I did not used to believe predestination. I used to believe free will and did not know any better. When I first heard of predestination, I was horrified and actually angry. It seemed like it made God into some horrible monster. After a lot of study though, I had to change my mind and I now embrace predestination, often resulting in having to defend it to shocked Christian friends. Hopefully, this defense will help others understand my thinking. First, if free will is accurate, why hasn’t an Almighty God been able to convince everyone to ...

The Petition to New York City regarding the Firefighter Memorial protesting the originally proposed Ground Zero Flag Raising Statue and seeking that the as yet unstated plans for a memorial be non-political and historically correct, has surpassed the 250,000 signature mark. It now stands at: 250,650 Signatures The First 120,000 signatures have been sent to New York firefighters for delivery to the Mayor's Office. The next 130,000 signatures will be on their way as soon as they are extracted, printed and bound. We will keep doing this until it is clear that plans for the memorial are not politcally driven ...

What Feels Good? I'll Tell You What Doesn't! By Deborah Venable 02.17.02 Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy! It just doesn’t make sense any more, so let’s dispense with it and get about the business we should have been doing all this time while the morally corrupt and mentally challenged had their way with us. My sensibilities have been insulted long enough, so I’m claiming all my rights to this political correctness stuff in one fell swoop. I resent the following list of infringements on my sensibilities. To heck with the Constitution, nobody cares about infringements on that anyway, so ...

<p>BERKELEY, Calif.  — A male sexuality class at University of California, Berkeley has been suspended after reports of lurid extracurricular activities surfaced late last week in the student newspaper.</p> <p>The suspension of the class, run by students and sponsored by the university, was announced Friday. Students who had taken part in the two-unit course told the Daily Californian that several of their classmates were involved in an orgy at a class party and that another group of students chose to go to a strip club for their final project.</p>

Andrew Sullivan-hating Michelangelo Signorile, who for some reason gets to write frontpage stories for the right-leaning New York Press, falls into the condescending liberal trap when discussing Alan Keyes talk show, using the A-word to describe an intelligent black man. First it was Clarence Thomas, now it's Keyes: Keyes, who has twice run in Republican presidential primaries, each night unfurls a smorgasbord of ideological, far-right ideas. He’s a lot smarter than Pat Robertson, and a lot more articulate than Jerry Falwell. In other words, he talks good for someone of that color! People for the American Way did this to ...