KKK To Protest Gay Marriage in Iowa

To be fair, I was unable to find verification on this story from Davenport, Iowa's KWQC-TV. Seems the KKK has plans to protest gay marriage in Des Moines in January.

Barney Frank on the Senate hate crime measure

A hate crimes bill, which has passed the Senate three times before, is now stalled because of disagreements over extending specific protections for gender identity, according to Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.). The report from washingtonblade.com. The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), includes protection based on sexual orientation and real or perceived gender. Unlike the House version, there is no explicit language calling for transgender crime victims to be included.

PM Tony Blair on celebrating Civil Partnership Act

"I am proud it was this Labour Government that has brought in these modernising and fair measures - and I can't imagine that any government will reverse them." You can read the full statement at the online edition of Britian's The Independent. You know Dubya and the boys would never show support like this.

John Stewart's Latest "Gaywatch"

The Daily Show's John Stewart made another hilarious foray into his "Gaywatch" segments on Tuesday. This time he took on Ford's recent cave-in to the American Family Association's threatened boycott (now, perhaps, withdrawn) demanding that Ford remove it's advertising in GLBT publications. To be fair, it appears now, according to AMERICAblog, that Ford has reconsidered it's position. At any rate, Crooks And Liars has a link to the Stewart video. Available in two flavors - wmv or qt, depending on your preference.

"Porn" statue is back on display

We mentioned here in November the naked statue in San Francisco that the police called "pornographic" and required the shop owner to cover up. The Bay Area Reporter says the statue has now been uncovered to reveal its true beauty. The story is here - a warning: the story contains a probably-not-safe-for-work, kids or prudes photo.

Too Fun To Be Missed - Part 2

Again today, not exactly news but funny anyway. Found on the always interesting neatorama.com. Go there for the full-size pic.

Too Fun To Be Missed

While not strictly news, this posting on the wonderful Joe. My. God. blog is a fabulously funny line-up of great movie lines referred to as "Gay Men's 100 All Time Favorite Movie Quotes". The must-read addition is the "comments" section at the bottom of the post, featuring several dozen of the most appropriate (and UNappropriate) movie lines to use when you just have to say something. Personal favorite - "It looks like a penis, only smaller."

Girl can sue school for telling mom she's gay

A federal judge ruled that a lesbian student can sue her school district and her principal for revealing her homosexuality to her mother. “This is the first court ruling we’re aware of where a judge has recognized that a student has a right not to have her sexual orientation disclosed to her parents, even if she is out of the closet at school,” said Christine Sun, an ACLU attorney who brought the case. More from MSNBC.com.

Seminary doors closed to ‘real’ homosexuals

In the new language of the Vatican, homosexuality is a “tendency.” The church doesn’t define tendency, nor does it say whether such a tendency is biological. Voluntary or not, it marks a man permanently. Ironically, the only exemptions are offered to men who were not “real” homosexuals but “transitory” ones. An opinion column by Ellen Goodman as published in the Dec. 3 edition of the Quad-City Times.

Government site for HIV+ Veterans

HIV-positive veterans, their healthcare providers, and the general public now have a Veterans web site , which is designed as an informational and educational resource on HIV and AIDS, according to a University of California-San Francisco ( UCSF ) news release. The site is the product of collaboration between the Public Health Strategic Health Care Group in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Center for HIV Information at UCSF.

Three clicks donates a dollar to AIDS⁄HIV research.

From digg.com: "Click the title, click where you live, click why you want them to donate. They're giving up to $100,000, but only if you click on it! They're over 1/3 of the way there!" The site is lighttounite.com. It takes only 30 seconds of your time. You give up no information. It's the easiest thing you can do to commemorate World Aids Day.

Illinois may see gay marriage fight

"Illinois does not want to be the last state in the union to do this," said David Smith, director of Protect Marriage Illinois, a Chicago-area group organizing the petition drive to gather about a half-million signatures to get the question of gay marriage on the ballot next year. But gay rights activists predicted the effort won't get past the first procedural hurdle in politically moderate Illinois. Organizers are collecting signatures around the state to put on the November 2006 ballot an advisory referendum asking for an addition to the state constitution. The addition would read: "To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, a marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state." The story from Kevin McDermott the of St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Springfield, IL., bureau.

Illinois' New Sexual Orientation Protections

Beginning January 1st, The Illinois Human Rights Act is amended to include sexual orientation in its list of individual protections. The amendment ..."[secures] for all individuals within Illinois the freedom from discrimination against any individual because of his or her race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental handicap, military status, sexual orientation, or unfavorable discharge from military service in connection with employment, real estate transactions, access to financial credit, and the availability of public accommodations." The entire amendment is at the web site of the Illinois General Assembly.

Focus on Family to Distribute Balls

Focus on the Family plans to distribute 5,000 stress balls during Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, part of an effort to reach more people during the holidays with its faith-based advice on everything from eating disorders to depression and sex. For example, the information on talking to teens about homosexuality includes an article debunking the idea that people are born gay. The story from the Associated Press as published at The Washingtonblade.com.

CNN's Rick Sanchez: Thanksgiving Turkey

The always entertaining Malcontent writes "If this had happened on Fox News, the howls of protest would be deafening. But alas, it was on the "favored" network of the liberal elite." He's referring to this posting on the Manhattan Offender.

"Rainbow Vision" for Gay Retirees

Joy Silver is working to create a retirement facility--not only for herself but also for hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people who eventually will move into a soon-to-open community dubbed RainbowVision on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
The Chicago Tribune's national correspondent Kirsten Scharnberg has the details.

Judge releases Mayor West's gay-themed computer data

A judge on Thursday granted a newspaper's request to make public the gay-themed contents of Spokane Mayor James West's city-owned laptop computer, but prevented the release of 3,300 pictures from a gay-oriented Web site. West is the subject of a Dec. 6 recall election because of a sex scandal involving gay men, and several news organizations have demanded the release of the contents of West's computer under the state's Open Public Records Act. The story from Seattlepi.com. May contain a pop-up.

Fox New enters Brown's Sex Power God party

Brown U.'s annual Sex Power God tradition made national news Monday night when Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" aired footage of Saturday's party taped by a producer who attended the Queer Alliance event but did not identify himself at the time. Between images of grinding undergrads in their underwear, producer Jesse Watters described the event as "pure debauchery." Here's the story from the online edition of The Brown Daily Herald.

'Gay' Out of Fashion

According to a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, the word 'gay' no longer pertains to both men and women. Here's the article from the UK's Rainbownetwork.com.

Iowa gay students harassed says survey

The Iowa Pride Network has published the results of their 2005 "School Climate Survey". Researchers studied "the level of homophobia, racism and gender-bias our kids face everyday in their schools across Iowa". This page has links for both the summary report and the complete report in pdf format.