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Katrina: Now It's Personal September 2, 2005 All right. Now it's personal. I'm from Louisiana, as you may know. I lived and worked for 14 years in New Orleans, and spent all of those years as a NOW activist. The flood pictures that have been, well, flooding my TV and newspapers the past few days are almost more than I can bear. Like many of you, I am flooded with emotions - worry, hope, grief, and now, anger. And now they're using government resources to direct cash contributions to Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing, which is one of the top three...

A groundbreaking movie about forbidden love between two cowboys in the American West, "Brokeback Mountain" by Taiwan-born director Ang Lee, has conquered critics at the 62nd Venice international film festival even before its world premiere. Featuring strong performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the leading roles, the film is a sensitive study of the homosexual relationship between two cowboys who meet while working on a ranch in 1963. "There's never been a homosexual cowboy movie," producer James Schamus told a press conference in Venice Friday. But Lee was quick to explain that the theme of his film was...

Authorities say an undercover sting at the Tuxachanie Hiking Trail has scared away men suspected of gathering there for sex. That doesn't mean they won't turn up in another area of the DeSoto National Forest. But if they do, federal law enforcement agencies are on the lookout, said Ron Smith, acting district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service. And so are Harrison County deputies who will continue to check the area. Smith, in a meeting Thursday with Sheriff George H. Payne Jr., credited deputies with a sting in early June that resulted in six men's arrests on charges of indecent...

They are among the most maligned groups in society, but when it comes to discrimination, many say, gays can give as good as they get. A city investigation of S.F. Badlands, one of the largest and most popular bars in the heart of the Castro neighborhood, has added evidence to that argument. In April, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the bar discriminated against African American customers and job applicants. That finding, which is vigorously disputed by the bar's owner, is elevating the murmurs of racism in the gay community to a national discussion. National gay media have...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Two legislative committees on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages and strip away a long list of rights granted to domestic partners in recent years. The Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees both rejected an amendment offered by Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes, who claimed the proposal would strengthen the intent of voters who approved a ballot measure five years ago that prevents the state from recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere. Other laws bar same-sex marriages from taking place in California. Conservative groups immediately said they would try to gather the nearly 600,000 signatures required...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - About 500 people braved cold temperatures and light snow Sunday to protest a conservative Christian group's campaign against gay rights and same-sex marriage. The protesters gathered in front of the Focus on the Family campus, holding rainbow flags, multicolored balloons and signs reading "God Loves Justice" and "Love Thy Neighbor." An American Indian group played drums and some protesters sang "We Shall Overcome." Focus on the Family, founded and led by James Dobson, has vigorously opposed gay rights and same-sex marriages, urging voters during last year's election to vote for President Bush and in favor of...

(South Windsor-WTNH, Apr. 15, 2005 10:55 PM) _ Some students in South Windsor don't agree with gay marriage and they sported t-shirts showing others how they feel. But when they wore those shirts to school, the trouble really started. by News Channel 8's Bob Wilson Because of their religious convictions they believe gay marriage is wrong. So four students at the South Windsor High School wore t-shirts saying "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." "We wore them to protest a gay straight alliance rally that they had on Tuesday where they wore signs," said sophomore David Grimaldi. "They had...

SWANSEA -- Case High School sophomore Chris Carreiro says he and his friends often use the word "gay" as a synonym for "stupid" or "lame." "I have to say, I use it a lot," he says. "All my friends do ... I do see where gay people could get offended by it, but there's no ... homosexual thing implied." Carreiro says he never gave the word much thought, until recently. Now, he says, his use of the word has earned him a one-day suspension from school. He claims that when he told a guidance counselor that a teacher was "being...

Moves are underway for the creation of an independent GLBT state off the coast of Australia, with plans for the new nation to demand recognition before the United Nations. Gay and lesbian activists formed the “Gay & Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands” in June last year after the Australian government passed legislation banning same-sex marriage and stripping same-sex couples of civil rights. The activists are now working on a submission to present to the United Nations that will bring Australia before the International Court of Justice, in order to compel the country to recognize the new state as...

Sweat trickles down the face of a man busking in a steamy town square. Buenos Aires is now relatively cheap to visit A young woman paints the final brushstrokes of a summertime cityscape. Gaggles of children giggle by the lakeside in a gloriously green park. This is Buenos Aires: So pretty, so elegant and so European that it has often been described as the "Paris of South America". Before Argentina's economic crisis struck in 2001, Buenos Aires was probably the most expensive city in South America: $1 bought you one peso. Now it gets you three, allowing visitors to experience...

NEW YORK -- Gay pride parade-goers danced down Fifth Avenue and waved rainbow flags Sunday in celebration of a movement that has made huge strides this year with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. "Even 10 years ago I would have said that's the wrong issue," said Ed Glorius, arms entwined around his partner, Dwight Pollard, whom he married in an unofficial ceremony at a Manhattan restaurant last week. "And now I feel very differently." While Massachusetts became the only U.S. state to legally recognize gay marriages following a ruling by its Supreme Judicial Court last November, gay pride...

UCSB Offers New Queer Studies Minor By Jason La - Staff Writer Wednesday May 19, 2004 A new minor in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer studies was recently added to the academic pool at UCSB. The university officially sanctioned the LGBTQ minor last week, and students can sign up for it immediately. Overseen by the Women's Studies program, the minor's required classes range from women's studies courses to English classes. Erin Pullin, UCSB alumna and assistant to the director of the Resource Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity, was a student organizer who worked to get a LGBTQ...

<p>San Jose became the first city in California to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, although the decision only applies to municipal workers.</p> <p>The city council defied objections from conservatives and voted 8-1 Tuesday to pass a motion that could provide more comprehensive health and retirement benefits to partners and family members of gay and lesbian city workers who get married in San Francisco or other cities that allow same-sex marriages.</p>

QUEERLY BELOVEDD.A.: I'll arrest same-sex weddersSays homosexuals purporting to be 'married' committing frauds Posted: March 4, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A district attorney running for Pennsylvania attorney general is vowing to arrest anyone associated with same-sex weddings. "There should be no Rosie O'Donnell weddings in Pennsylvania, and there won't be if I'm the attorney general," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Even though same-sex marriages are currently illegal in the Keystone State and there haven't been any homosexual couples forthcoming to seek a marriage license, Castor issued a letter to the local reigster of wills...

GRAVOIS MILLS, Mo. (BP)--The Federal Bureau of Investigation has refused to investigate threats made by homosexual activists against a Missouri Baptist Convention church in the Lake of the Ozarks area, The Pathway convention newsjournal has learned. Ted Haynes, who has pastored First Baptist Church in Gravois Mills the last eight years, said he was treated rudely by an FBI worker when he attempted to report the threats against his church, obscene phone messages and the defacing of his church's sign along Missouri Highway 5 about eight miles south of Versailles. Jeff Lanza, an FBI spokesman in Kansas City, said it...

<p>In early May, support for legal relations reached a high of 60%-35%.</p> <p>The shift in attitudes occurs as gay issues have been in the news. In recent weeks, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas anti-sodomy law, a Canadian court decision allowed gay couples to marry in Ontario, and Wal-Mart expanded anti-discrimination protection to gay workers.</p>

U.S. Supreme Court rewrites Constitution and 3,000 years of history WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today rewrote the U.S. Constitution and 3,000 years of legal history by striking down the Texas sodomy law in a 6-3 decision. The court overrode the Constitution, the history of American law, and its own precedent by declaring in Lawrence v. Texas that there is a right to privacy to protect private, adult consensual sexual activity. Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority, and only Justices Scalia and Thomas and Chief Justice Rhenquist dissented. The majority reasoned, unbelievably, that because of the trend in state...

SCOTUS sided with the perverts.

Time To Act Gay Rights Group Tells NFL by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com Newscenter in Washington Posted: November 21, 2002 12:07 a.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT (Washington, D.C.) The Human Rights Campaign Wednesday urged the National Football League to finally address the problem of homophobia in the NFL. The recent coming out of former NFL player Esera Tuaolo highlights the need for the NFL to take steps to deal with this issue, says HRC. Executive Director Elizabeth Birch said in a letter to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue that the time to act is now. Birch called on Tagliabue to make it clear that the...