Free Republic

The Sundance Channel, in cooperation with LOGO, a homosexual-themed cable network created by VIACOM is airing an eight-part series on so-called sex change operations in September, 2005. LOGO launches on June 30. The show, “TransGeneration” will follow the lives of four sexually confused college students who believe they are the opposite sex. Each of them undergoes a so-called sex change operation. According to male-to-female transgender Denise Leclair, executive director of the International Foundation for Gender Education, he/she hopes this show “breaks down some barriers for the transgender community…. There is a lack of visible role models, and the transition is...

The Rev Debbie Gaston and Elaine Cook are among three couples set to have same sex "weddings" in Brighton on December 21. They will "marry" a second after midnight on the first day the Civil Partnership Bill legalises same sex weddings. The Rev Gaston, 46, of the Metropolitan Community Church, and Elaine, 53, have been together for 16 years and they have two children. She said: "As a vicar I obviously believe whole-heartedly in the concept of marriage and I have married more than 30 couples myself. "Elaine and I have waited many years to be able to make...

March 03, 2005 Las Vegas The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. We believe that all union members are entitled to equal rights and that all of their families should have access to benefits they need and deserve. The AFL-CIO is dedicated to fighting for those rights at the bargaining table, in the voting booth, in city halls and statehouses, and on Capitol Hill. The AFL-CIO recognizes that families come in all shapes and sizes. As our families change, our union contracts...

Thinking about getting inked? Well before you take the plunge, maybe you should take a second and try one of Pride At Work’s new temporary tattoos, just in time for Gay Pride! The message is simple, “PROUD UNION QUEER.” We’re happy to send you out a stack of tattoos for you to use in your gay pride activities or other events. Just contact Sian at the national office and she will send you out a stack. 100 temporary tattoos are only ten dollars. Please email or call Sian at slewis@aflcio.org or 202-637-3988.

GLOBE AND MAIL , 2005.05.31 JOHN IBBITSON Conservatives keep winning battles in their war on same-sex marriage Vic Toews was settling into the fifth hour of his filibuster yesterday when the Liberals conceded defeat. It was a very good day for social conservatives in Canada. Bill C-38, the legislation legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, has turned into a war of manoeuvres, with the Conservatives outmanoeuvring the Liberals at every turn. Yesterday, the Tories manoeuvred to virtually guarantee that the bill will not become law until at least October, if then. The government wants same-sex legislation passed into law as quickly as...

Both the state and the city have been pressuring national corporations to follow their sexual orientation policies. New York City and the State of New York are getting in the business of pushing social change in the nation's corporations. On May 19, Delta shareholders voted down a proposal aimed at stopping what some call "gender-identified discrimination." The proposal was backed by five pension funds operated by New York City and additional funds with the state of New York. This isn't the first time New York City has urged companies to change policies on sexual orientation and gender identity. In fact,...

If one looks for the company which has done the most to affirm and promote the homosexual lifestyle, he would be hard-pressed to find a company which has done more than Ford Motor Company. While this is hardly known to the general population, it is well known by numerous homosexual organizations. In fact, the Human Rights Campaign (a national homosexual organization whose goal is homosexual marriage) gave Ford a 100% corporate rating. Ford makes not only Ford, but also Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover. From redefining family to include homosexual marriage, to giving hundreds of thousands of...

Listening to a Democratic meeting or political rally these days can be like attending church service. At Our Lady of Perpetual Defensiveness. Forget outsourced jobs or missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The biggest red-meat Democratic applause lines lately are about moral values. "Zell Miller's talking about Republicans being the only ones with decency and morals," former U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman thundered minutes before her election as chairwoman of the Florida Democratic party earlier this month. "I want to be the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party that proves those Republicans wrong. We are the party of values. We...

Dr. Michael Newdow is at it again. The California physician and atheist whose first successful challenge against the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court, has filed a new lawsuit to achieve the same end. He called the high court's intervention a "vile abrogation of my civil rights." Continuing his eight-year battle, Dr. Newdow argues that, "No one should be made to feel like an outsider because of their religious beliefs." He may not realize it, but that's an argument those with religious beliefs would salute. Atheists don't profess religious beliefs. He...

NEWARK, N.J. -- From the moment they held hands, pledged their love and signed documents in New York registering themselves as domestic partners, Kimberly Robinson and Jeanne LoCicero considered themselves a family. And when they decided to have a baby through artificial insemination, the Essex County couple wanted the courts to consider them one as well. On Wednesday, they got their wish. In a first-of-its kind ruling in New Jersey, a judge granted LoCicero full co-parenting rights to the baby Robinson bore, without having to go through lengthy adoption proceedings. Thus, they will both be listed as parents on the...

ATLANTA - Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group approved a statement Sunday urging legal recognition of gay marriage. If approved by the association's directors in July, the measure would make the American Psychiatric Association the first major medical group to take such a stance. The statement supports same-sex marriage "in the interest of maintaining and promoting mental health." It follows a similar measure by the American Psychological Association last year, little more than three decades after that group removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. The psychiatric association's statement, approved by voice vote on the first day of...

Same Sex Marriage Bill To Be Considered 05-16-2005 1:38 PM (Providence, RI) -- A bill to allow same-sex marriage in Rhode Island will be heard on Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee. The measure removes gender-specific language from existing state laws that govern the eligibility for marriage. The bill, sponsored by Cranston Representative Art Handy, also includes language which allows religious institutions to maintain their own guidelines for marriage eligibility within their faith, and that clergy will not be obligated to officiate at civil or religious weddings. Similar legislation is currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

IT sounds like something out of the satirical journal Annals of Improbable Research: a team of Swedish neuroscientists scanned people's brains as they smelled a testosterone derivative found in men's sweat and an estrogen-like compound found in women's urine. In heterosexual men, a part of the hypothalamus (the seat of physical drives) responded to the female compound but not the male one; in heterosexual women and homosexual men, it was the other way around. But the discovery is more than just a shoo-in for that journal's annual Ig Nobel Prize - it raises provocative questions about the science and ethics...

THE screen's first official gay bar," as it was labeled by the film historian Vito Russo, appeared in the 1962 political potboiler "Advise and Consent." Its most prominent visitor was a conservative United States senator. As sheer coincidence would have it, Otto Preminger's adaptation of Allen Drury's best seller about a brutal confirmation fight was released on a sparkling new DVD last week just as the John Bolton nomination was coming to its committee vote. Like Hollywood's other riveting political movie of 1962, "The Manchurian Candidate," "Advise and Consent" is fallout from the McCarthy era: the controversial nominee for secretary...

BOSTON - Half of Americans polled say they don't want their states to recognize Massachusetts gay marriages and disapprove of same-sex couples getting married, according to a nationwide survey conducted by The Boston Globe. According to the poll, 50 percent of Americans say Massachusetts gay marriages should not be recognized in their state, with 46 percent saying they should be recognized. Massachusetts began granting same-sex marriage licenses a year ago, six months after a landmark decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court declaring the state could not bar same-sex couples from being married. Among those polled, 50 percent said they...

Anti-homophobic TV ad brings problem to light Gay Mexicans are discriminated against openly in a macho country, activists say MEXICO CITY - "You look so in love, my darling," a mother tells her son in a radio commercial that has sparked a controversy here. "I can't wait for your partner to come to dinner. What is your partner's name again?" "Oscar, Mama," a male voice replies, revealing to the listener that his lover is another man.The commercial, which has been dubbed The dinner, is part of Mexico's first-ever national campaign against homophobia, which was recently launched by the Health Ministry's...

Bay State Democrats yesterday blessed gay marriage in their party platform for the first time, but the party's top gubernatorial candidate refused to say whether he supports it. ``I think it's time to move on,'' Attorney General Tom Reilly said when asked whether he agreed with the party's new stance on the hot-button question of same-sex unions. Reilly's spokesman, David R. Guarino, refused later to clarify whether Reilly, who has been a gay marriage opponent, supports it after its legalization in Massachusetts a year ago. In his address to the Deomcratic faithful gathered here, Reilly bashed Republican Gov. Mitt Romney...

THE screen's first official gay bar," as it was labeled by the film historian Vito Russo, appeared in the 1962 political potboiler "Advise and Consent." Its most prominent visitor was a conservative United States senator. As sheer coincidence would have it, Otto Preminger's adaptation of Allen Drury's best seller about a brutal confirmation fight was released on a sparkling new DVD last week just as the John Bolton nomination was coming to its committee vote. Like Hollywood's other riveting political movie of 1962, "The Manchurian Candidate," "Advise and Consent" is fallout from the McCarthy era: the controversial nominee for secretary...

With 15 years' worth of failed gubernatorial races behind them, Massachusetts Democrats are gathering in Lowell this weekend for the party's platform convention, where prospective candidates will take center stage and the state party is expected to formally endorse same-sex marriage. ADVERTISEMENT The delegates will get to take the measure of three candidates who say they will probably seek the party's 2006 gubernatorial nomination: Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, former federal civil rights enforcer Deval Patrick, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin. Another potential candidate also emerged or perhaps reemerged this week -- US Representative Michael Capuano, who stepped...

HAGERSTOWN - The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland passed by a "substantial majority" four resolutions dealing with same-sex issues, including one that opposes any constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Episcopal Bishop Robert W. Ihloff announced the passage of the resolutions in a written statement on Tuesday. The diocese also held a press conference on the resolutions Tuesday at the Diocesan Center in Baltimore. The votes were cast during the diocese's 221st convention, which was held Friday and Saturday at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center Antietam Creek in Hagerstown. Rectors of several Episcopal churches in Washington County did not return phone...