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jm...I'm not shoving anything up anyone's anything! I posted links to all the gay material I put up....this is a QBID board...a stock which is gay in nature...if you feel that way why are you here? You have posted bs in so many boards here and it continues...people challenge your bs like chemist and they are thrown off...
I can clearly see this is a narrow minded managed company with no interest in equity of posting....like many companies! So I now don't expect anything different from reading your bs on every board about all these cartoon characters that I don't have a clue about and have nothing to do with stocks...and you just keep posting and no one stops you....
Does IH have a problem with gay material? Maybe using your posts remaining day after day and mine being questioned only after a few days is a good example for the gfn.com to write about to the gay community as an example of what investment boards want to see (cartoon characters) and don't want to see (a gay stock where poster is requested not to post gay material?)
just a thought
oldblue...gees do you want me to get thrown off or put in that baby pen by posting a link to a competitor site? LOL! if you go to yahoo groups and do a search on qbid you will find the board or email me at skunksyard@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to link you to it!
TLV..I didn't initiate a discussion with you....you initiated one and decide the definition of it will be your opinion only? LOL! Now....I think you need to expand your thinking to reflect what we are trying to give the Iraqi's .... freedom! LOL!
jm...let's say we have a hot wireless stock....a new startup. We all go to read articles and post everything we read...whether it's directly related to the company, related to competitors, or related to wireless market in general...
what's the difference with this?
it's gay information....something we have not had access to....from a political, legal, religious, community, media, and any other...and jm...this directly relates how this tv station will be influenced...like the guy from TWC told me...we don't market a sports station to a book worm community and I said so we wouldn't market this to Utah....
what I'm trying to say jm is this...none of us know the top 10 cities they are gearing towards...we don't have a clue...and to not be aware that the political climate from the top (gw) is stirring some anti gay marriage movement and making some unkind remarks about gays (sinners)...this influences us directly....and our investment.....
jm....in addition....we all talk with TTN at some point, some more than others.....by reading all these articles about new gay communities starting up and political/legal/religious forums etc why couldn't we as shareholders write to Frank or Tom Zamora and suggest that they forum these.....it's in our interest...but if we don't see the opportunity because we aren't aware of the changes/discussions/debates/new happenings we can't even get to that point....
this is all I was trying to do....show the actual/potential/legal/political/religious opportunities as it may relate to TTN so we could analyze the market/climate/etc and/or make suggestions to Tom Zamora et al, about programming....and I attempted to pick articles that would reflect this knowledge/effort....
jm.....we don't link to other stock technologies, why the gay market?
foxy thanks! I frequently find out of ignorance folks don't get the real issues....hey the folks who started yahoo were criticized and ridiculed....I wouldn't have minded being a believer in their venture and purchase their stock...
I would say about any stock....tell me all about it....
that's the intelligent way!
TLV..did you call on this yourself? Generally when folks want dd they do it themselves? Your question is a good one and I for one would like to see your dd as it relates to your questions and your research.
thanks
TLV...do they have a PR budget? thanks
To all: Matt has requested I not post the articles I put up here...said they were 'copy/paste'....gees he left out 'read/review for appropriateness'. I'm moving this article posting over to the yahoo qbid board...these articles are important to understand the direction that TTN will be facing, their market, their opportunities (nationally and internationally), their competitors, the legal/religious/political potential that these articles present to you and how they may relate to opportunities for TTN....
please come over and read these articles and post any others you may have.
Thanks!
jarvis...I was referring to charlie/whitenoc
Marriage = Man + Woman
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=679&ncid=742&e=2&u=/usatoday/2003080...
Marriage = Man + Woman
1 hour, 34 minutes ago Add Op/Ed - USA TODAY to My Yahoo!
By Marilyn Musgrave
Pundits across the political spectrum agree that the Massachusetts Supreme Court is on the verge of inventing a constitutional right for homosexuals to marry legally. This decision will radically redefine the meaning and benefits of marriage.
The question for the American people is whether we are willing to let the institution of marriage be redefined by a few unelected, unaccountable judges or should our strong preference to preserve traditional marriage be respected and defended.
The American people don't support homosexual marriage. Every reputable poll clearly shows that people believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. Thirty-seven states have passed "Defense of Marriage Acts" banning homosexual marriage. When put to a vote in some of our most liberal states, such as California and Hawaii, homosexual marriage has been overwhelming rejected.
Failing to convince even one state that it is good public policy to impose homosexual marriage on its citizenry, gay activists have turned to the courts to force homosexual marriage on the American people. Through legal strategies, gay activists hope to impose their newly invented "right" to homosexual marriage on every state in the nation.
That's why I've introduced the bipartisan Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA). The FMA simply states: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."
The FMA is an appropriate response seeking only to codify the traditional definition of marriage nationwide. All other family-law and marital-benefits issues will remain under the authority of each state.
USA TODAY will be happy to know that the issue of so-called civil unions will be left up to the people and their elected state legislators.
Marriage has stood for centuries as a union between one man and one woman. If marriage is to be radically redefined, the decision should, at the very least, be made by the American people and their elected representatives, not mandated by unelected, unaccountable judges.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., is lead sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.
FIRST-PERSON: The enemy, they say, is you
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=16435
FIRST-PERSON: The enemy, they say, is you
Aug 5, 2003
By Jerry Falwell
LYNCHBURG, Va. (BP)--President Bush took a bold stance in voicing his backing of traditional marriage in America on July 30.
"I think it's very important," the president said, "for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts, to be a welcoming country. On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage. And that's really where the issue is headed here in Washington, and that is the definition of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. And I think we ought to codify that one way or the other. And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that."
Following that statement, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a national homosexual-rights organization, called into question President Bush's "invocation of personal religious beliefs" in his comments opposing "marriage" for same-sex couples.
What this means is that GLAAD officials believe that personal religious beliefs should have no place in the public arena. They know that by eliminating religious ethics they can make further social inroads. Never mind that these moral guidelines have preserved the nation's moral heritage since its inception.
This reproach of traditional religious values has brought us to a turning point. Conservative people of faith -- those who embrace the Judeo-Christian doctrines of the Bible -- are considered illegitimate in the important social/political debate on homosexual marriage (and other key issues, for that matter) solely because our beliefs are founded in historic sacred teachings.
Listen to the comments of John Sonego, GLAAD's director of communications:
"It is equally important that the media carefully scrutinize and hold up for debate President Bush's invocation of religion as the fundamental rationale for his policy of excluding same-sex couples and families from the protections of marriage. By saying he has charged government attorneys to explore ways to 'codify' the 'sanctity of marriage,' and through numerous biblical references in his discussion about this issue, the president is clearly signaling his conviction that his personal religious beliefs should be the basis for governing law. In a country where the separation of church and state is a founding principle, this mix of personal beliefs and his administration's public policy needs to be examined critically by the media."
I find this statement quite alarming because Mr. Sonego is essentially calling on the nation's mainstream media to publicly censure President Bush for daring to invoke his sincerely held religious beliefs in supporting traditional marriage. Even President Clinton supported traditional marriage, signing the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In addition, 37 states have Defense of Marriage Acts that define marriage as a union exclusively between one man and one woman.
Someone should also give Mr. Sonego a history lesson to instruct him that the so-called separation of church and state is not a "founding principle" of this nation and can be found nowhere in the U.S. Constitution (the document reflecting the founding principles of our founders).
Manipulating and rewriting history has become quite fashionable these days as those who define the Constitution as a "living" document attempt to diabolically mold it so that it sanctions their ever-changing moral "standards."
Understanding their willingness to shamelessly amend our history, it's really no surprise that these careless revisionists also would stoop to aggressively disparage those who utilize religious teachings in forming their political beliefs.
It is becoming ever more clear that evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics in America are going to be further ridiculed and portrayed as dangerous "homophobes" simply because we wish to hold forth the Judeo-Christian teachings that shaped the beliefs of Washington, Madison, Franklin and most of our founders.
The 200,000 pastors of evangelical churches in this nation need to ensure that their congregants are aware of the fact that we are public enemy number one in this escalating cultural battle. And these pastors need to fervently instruct their flocks to remain socially active and politically astute as we fight together to retain moral sanity in America.
--30--
Falwell is pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., and chancellor of Liberty University.
FIRST-PERSON: Not radical enough
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=16434
FIRST-PERSON: Not radical enough
Aug 5, 2003
By Russell D. Moore
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Gay "marriage" will lead to the destruction of the traditional understanding of the American family. It will open the door to a push for legalized polygamy -- with "marriage" open to groups of people. Gay "marriage" doesn't make sense because "marriage" is, by definition, a monogamous union between a man and a woman.
Are such pronouncements from the latest fundraising letter of a pro-family organization? Are they lifted from the much-derided comments of Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum?
No, on both counts. They are from one of the nation's leading homosexual rights activists.
Judith Levine of the radical Village Voice newspaper wants full legitimization for gay and lesbian couples. Neither she nor her newspaper could be described as fans of what she derides as the "complementary-genitalia crowd." Even so, Levine is skeptical of gay "marriage." It is, she says, not radical enough.
In a recent article titled "Stop the Wedding," Levine argues that gay "marriage" legitimizes gay relationships, but at too much of a cost. Gay "marriage" proponents, she writes, "in seeking to replicate marriage clause for clause and sacrament for sacrament," may inadvertently "stall the achievement of real sexual freedom and social equality for everyone." This is because, she says, "marriage" as defined as the union between two people in a monogamous union alienates "the queerer queers of all sexual persuasions -- drag queens, club-crawlers, polyamorists, even ordinary single mothers or teenager lovers -- further to the margins."
Homosexual activists should call instead, she contends, for the complete societal destruction of marriage as a civil institution. Gay liberation could then be achieved by civil recognition of "personal partnerships" in the place of marriage. And these partnerships should be open to more than just two -- which is, after all, a relic of Christian morality.
"Because American marriage is inextricable from Christianity, it admits participants as Noah let animals onto the ark," Levine writes. "But it doesn't have to be that way. In 1972 the National Coalition of Gay Organizations demanded the 'repeal of all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit; and the extension of legal benefits to all persons who cohabit regardless of sex or numbers.'"
And such group "marriage" wouldn't hurt women or children, Levine notes. "Would polygamy invite abuse of child brides, as feminists in Muslim countries and prosecutors in Mormon Utah charge? No. Group marriage could comprise any combination of genders. Guarantees of women's and children's rights and economic well-being would be more productive than outlawing multiple marriage."
Levine's progressive critique of gay "marriage" is one to which traditionalists would do well to listen. She recognizes that the issue at stake is about "marriage" as much as it is about "gay." She recognizes that the seemingly inevitable civil recognition of gay unions is only part of the agenda of today's sexual libertarians. And she recognizes that "marriage" is more than just a social contract. It is bound up in a particular understanding of an exclusive male/female union -- a union Christians recognize as intentionally woven into the warp and woof of the created order.
And, on that, she is right.
The debate about marriage is, by definition, radical -- because it deals with the root of human society. And marriage, at root, is a man and woman, created to complement one another physically, emotionally and spiritually, abandoning all others to cleave to one another -- for life. With such the case, the gay rights movement's assault on the Constitution might win, but their assault on nature never can.
That's because gay "marriage" can never reflect the Creator's intention -- an intention written in the natural order and in human consciences and reflected in every human society since the primeval couple.
It just isn't "radical" enough.
--30--
Russell D. Moore is assistant professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He also serves as executive director of the Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement. This commentary is from Moore's new web log at www.henryinstitute.org.
Attorney Group May Endorse Gay Adoptions
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030805_1382.html
Those states California, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont guarantee that a second gay parent can petition to join an initial adoptive parent.
Attorney Group May Endorse Gay Adoptions
American Bar Association to Consider Endorsing the Right of Homosexual Couples to Adopt Children
The Associated Press
Aug. 5 —
Amid renewed debate over whether gay men and women should be allowed to marry, the nation's largest lawyers' group is considering endorsement of the related right of homosexual couples to adopt children.
The American Bar Association is expected to vote on the issue at its meeting beginning Thursday in San Francisco. Approval would put the 408,000-lawyer group on record in support of laws that allow two unmarried people of any sex to adopt as a couple.
If the ABA's governing body should approve the proposal, the organization could lobby statehouses to redraft adoption laws.
Currently, many states allow only one unmarried adult to adopt a child, even if the child will live with two adults who act as parents. The ABA position would apply to gay families and to heterosexual couples who want to adopt but not marry.
"This really is a tremendous benefit to the kid," said Paul Cates, public education director for the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "Say something happens to the adopting parent they die or something horrible happens. Then the kid is left in this state of limbo" unless the second adult raising the child also is legally a parent.
Peter LaBarbera, senior policy analyst at the Culture and Family Institute, which is affiliated with the conservative lobbying organization Concerned Women for America, said the ABA proposal puts a politically correct gay-rights agenda ahead of the best interests of children.
"I think most people, pretty much from left to right, agree children do best in married households, and certainly do better when they have a mother and a father," he said. "It doesn't make sense to encourage the formation of fatherless or motherless households."
The ABA policy would endorse laws that allow unmarried people to begin the adoption process jointly, or that allow a second, unmarried parent to become a legal parent after the initial adoption is final.
The ABA already is on record supporting the general right of gay people to adopt.
Eight states and the District of Columbia already have laws or statewide court decisions in line with the ABA proposal as it applies to homosexuals, according to statistics compiled by the gay rights organization Human Rights Campaign. Those states California, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont guarantee that a second gay parent can petition to join an initial adoptive parent.
Even without such laws, gay couples have adopted children in an additional 19 states, according to Human Rights Campaign. Permission for such adoptions often varies within a state, with some judges more likely to grant the request.
Florida expressly bans adoption by any gay person. Mississippi bans adoption by gay couples, while Utah forbids adoption by any unmarried couple, including gay couples.
Homosexuals cannot formally marry in the United States, although Vermont allows "civil unions" that give gay partners the same legal rights of marriage.
The ABA proposal does not address whether gays should be allowed to marry, a possibility raised by the Supreme Court's June ruling that it is not a crime for gay people to have sex.
Although the court's majority said it was not addressing the question of same-sex marriage, dissenters predicted the ruling will be used to try to try to win legal marriage rights for gays.
The ruling may have caused a backlash that at least temporarily reversed a gradual shift toward more public acceptance of gay rights. A poll taken by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in late June and early July found that opposition to gay legal rights had been declining in recent years. Those who strongly opposed gay marriage had declined from 41 percent in 1996 to 30 percent, and those who supported it had increased from 27 percent to 38 percent.
The ABA proposal was in the works before the high court's ruling, but if approved it could further energize gay rights efforts that have flowed from the ruling.
The Lawrence v. Texas ruling is the basis for several new legal challenges to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars openly gay people from serving in the military. Lawyers expect the ruling also will be used to challenge alleged discrimination against gays in jobs, housing and other realms.
On the Net:
American Bar Association:
Concerned Women for America:
Human Rights Campaign:
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Village Voice Media Advisory for the August 6, 2003 Issue
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030805/nytu122_1.html
The Village Voice Media Advisory for the August 6, 2003 Issue
Tuesday August 5, 1:03 pm ET
NEW YORK, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ --
Progress Fuels a Backlash: The Gathering Storm Over Gay Rights This is a moment of woe and wonder for supporters of gay rights. The Episcopalians took a big step toward electing their first openly gay bishop, braving a schism. The Massachusetts Supreme Court is about to rule on legalizing gay unions. The first LGBT high school is set to open in New York City. But there are also signs of a serious backlash. Richard Goldstein reports on the gathering storm over gay rights. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0332/goldstein.php
The Village Voice Education Supplement
Something old, something new: John Giuffo looks at the history of Columbia University as it turns a quarter-millennium old; David Ng expresses a more than academic interest in those who "pass" for others; Jessica Winter talks to master of the miscellaneous Ben Schott; Jorge Morales analyzes the new editions of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style and Jeff Byles looks for creative pointers from the Gotham Writers' Workshop. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0332/education.php
The Whistleblower at the Art Party: A Mesopotamian Mess at the Met
Is the practice of acquiring antiques outside of scholarly excavation always and inevitably a crime? Kareem Fahim weighs in on the scandals of ancient art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's current exhibit on Mesopotamian culture. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0332/fahim.php
Refuge of Scoundrels: After Criminal Charges, Claims of Mental Maladies
Was there a method to their madness? After criminal charges were filed, former Giuliani aide Russell Harding, crime boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante, and ex-school union leader Charles Hughes all claimed to be mentally ill. Tom Robbins investigates. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0332/robb.php
Jackasses: The Movie
Joy Press watches that cinematic peep show Project Greenlight with indie film producer Christine Vachon. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0332/press.php
PLUS: The Second Annual Cryogenic Baseball Quiz
You must credit The Village Voice when referring to these stories.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Village Voice
sorry for 3 posts! hey this is great stuff...
look at it this way. Right now we have these folks called gay....now where are they? where do they work? where do they live? where do they travel? where do they do general forum talks? where is their media?????, the where's and where's and where's tell us there is so much we don't know about the gay community....
now how do we know so much about other communities?
so folks....just take the responses to the where's which are identified in these articles being posted and you can see a tv station evolving around these activities
talk forums
travel forums
gay comedy
movies
political forums
it goes on and on and on...just think about it....on current
tv we have People's magazine......well heck.....think of everything you've seen on it.....can't it apply specifically to gay people's magazine???? and.....we have political debates...well heck again, can't we see a gay political debate???? and on and on
and what I like the most about this material I'm putting up is it gives us a great idea about where the potential market for TTN can be both nationally and internationally and.......what the programming opportunities are....I mean.........where have these folks been able within their community to debate the first gay bishop? gay adoptions? gay marriages? partnership benefits? partnership legal rights? gay travel hot spots?
read these articles carefully and figure where TTN can take this....how many gay politicians do we have in US? gay religious? gay teachers? gay managers? gay co workers? gay spouses?
endless! and no media up to now to show all this great stuff on.....
GO QBID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gay service organization eyes Old Town property
http://keysnews.com/278340047167853.bsp.htm
Gay service organization eyes Old Town property
BY MANDY BOLEN
keysnews.com
Click for larger view.
ROB O'NEAL/The Citizen
The Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center is currently located at Duval Square. The organization is hoping to move to 513 Truman Avenue.
KEY WEST -- The Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center, now tucked away in the charming, but pricey pedestrian mall of Duval Square, is working on becoming a homeowner.
The nonprofit community center, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in March, hopes to close on a Truman Avenue property in the coming weeks, said GLCC President Susan Kent.
The former Morrell Music building at 513 Truman Ave. is under contract with the center for $540,000, Kent said.
"We've already secured financing from private lenders for the first $500,000," she said, encouraged by the generosity of two private lenders, one of whom is the seller. "But we're trying to raise $40,000 by August 15 to complete the transaction."
"The very generous terms may allow our monthly payment to be lower than what we are currently paying in rent for the first few years," she said.
The center has previously struggled to make the $1,500 monthly rent payment in addition to the cost of utilities and salary for an administrator. It depends on fund-raisers, private donations and grants for income, as the dues for the center's 300 members are intentionally kept as low as possible, Kent said.
But the monthly payment at the new building could be offset by leasing some of the building's 900 square feet to another group.
The community center plans to begin negotiations with the Key West Business Guild to establish a lease agreement once the purchase is finalized and the center moves in. The guild specializes in marketing and visitor information for gay and lesbian tourists.
The board of the business guild voted recently to enter negotiations with the community center for a lease agreement, said Steve Smith, executive director of the Business Guild.
"We've been looking to relocating to a more accessible and visitor-friendly location," he said, referring to the guild's current second-floor office next to Bourbon Street Pub. "If things click correctly and all works right with the GLCC, we could be in the front of their building by October."
Smith added that the guild plans to provide gay and lesbian visitor services seven days a week beginning in October. Such services include information about places to stay, places to eat and answers to visitors' questions.
"This is our first step into something bigger," Kent said, adding that ownership of a property has been a long-term goal of the center since its inception. Others include a gay/lesbian museum and a general increase in programming.
The community center still plans to offer a lending library with more than 1,000 titles, an Internet cafe and a meeting room at its Truman Avenue location. For more information, or to make a donation, call 292-3223.
mbolen@keysnews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This story published on Tue, Aug 5, 2003
Gay service organization eyes Old Town property
http://keysnews.com/278340047167853.bsp.htm
Gay service organization eyes Old Town property
BY MANDY BOLEN
keysnews.com
Click for larger view.
ROB O'NEAL/The Citizen
The Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center is currently located at Duval Square. The organization is hoping to move to 513 Truman Avenue.
KEY WEST -- The Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center, now tucked away in the charming, but pricey pedestrian mall of Duval Square, is working on becoming a homeowner.
The nonprofit community center, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in March, hopes to close on a Truman Avenue property in the coming weeks, said GLCC President Susan Kent.
The former Morrell Music building at 513 Truman Ave. is under contract with the center for $540,000, Kent said.
"We've already secured financing from private lenders for the first $500,000," she said, encouraged by the generosity of two private lenders, one of whom is the seller. "But we're trying to raise $40,000 by August 15 to complete the transaction."
"The very generous terms may allow our monthly payment to be lower than what we are currently paying in rent for the first few years," she said.
The center has previously struggled to make the $1,500 monthly rent payment in addition to the cost of utilities and salary for an administrator. It depends on fund-raisers, private donations and grants for income, as the dues for the center's 300 members are intentionally kept as low as possible, Kent said.
But the monthly payment at the new building could be offset by leasing some of the building's 900 square feet to another group.
The community center plans to begin negotiations with the Key West Business Guild to establish a lease agreement once the purchase is finalized and the center moves in. The guild specializes in marketing and visitor information for gay and lesbian tourists.
The board of the business guild voted recently to enter negotiations with the community center for a lease agreement, said Steve Smith, executive director of the Business Guild.
"We've been looking to relocating to a more accessible and visitor-friendly location," he said, referring to the guild's current second-floor office next to Bourbon Street Pub. "If things click correctly and all works right with the GLCC, we could be in the front of their building by October."
Smith added that the guild plans to provide gay and lesbian visitor services seven days a week beginning in October. Such services include information about places to stay, places to eat and answers to visitors' questions.
"This is our first step into something bigger," Kent said, adding that ownership of a property has been a long-term goal of the center since its inception. Others include a gay/lesbian museum and a general increase in programming.
The community center still plans to offer a lending library with more than 1,000 titles, an Internet cafe and a meeting room at its Truman Avenue location. For more information, or to make a donation, call 292-3223.
mbolen@keysnews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This story published on Tue, Aug 5, 2003
Gay service organization eyes Old Town property
http://keysnews.com/278340047167853.bsp.htm
Gay service organization eyes Old Town property
BY MANDY BOLEN
keysnews.com
Click for larger view.
ROB O'NEAL/The Citizen
The Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center is currently located at Duval Square. The organization is hoping to move to 513 Truman Avenue.
KEY WEST -- The Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center, now tucked away in the charming, but pricey pedestrian mall of Duval Square, is working on becoming a homeowner.
The nonprofit community center, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in March, hopes to close on a Truman Avenue property in the coming weeks, said GLCC President Susan Kent.
The former Morrell Music building at 513 Truman Ave. is under contract with the center for $540,000, Kent said.
"We've already secured financing from private lenders for the first $500,000," she said, encouraged by the generosity of two private lenders, one of whom is the seller. "But we're trying to raise $40,000 by August 15 to complete the transaction."
"The very generous terms may allow our monthly payment to be lower than what we are currently paying in rent for the first few years," she said.
The center has previously struggled to make the $1,500 monthly rent payment in addition to the cost of utilities and salary for an administrator. It depends on fund-raisers, private donations and grants for income, as the dues for the center's 300 members are intentionally kept as low as possible, Kent said.
But the monthly payment at the new building could be offset by leasing some of the building's 900 square feet to another group.
The community center plans to begin negotiations with the Key West Business Guild to establish a lease agreement once the purchase is finalized and the center moves in. The guild specializes in marketing and visitor information for gay and lesbian tourists.
The board of the business guild voted recently to enter negotiations with the community center for a lease agreement, said Steve Smith, executive director of the Business Guild.
"We've been looking to relocating to a more accessible and visitor-friendly location," he said, referring to the guild's current second-floor office next to Bourbon Street Pub. "If things click correctly and all works right with the GLCC, we could be in the front of their building by October."
Smith added that the guild plans to provide gay and lesbian visitor services seven days a week beginning in October. Such services include information about places to stay, places to eat and answers to visitors' questions.
"This is our first step into something bigger," Kent said, adding that ownership of a property has been a long-term goal of the center since its inception. Others include a gay/lesbian museum and a general increase in programming.
The community center still plans to offer a lending library with more than 1,000 titles, an Internet cafe and a meeting room at its Truman Avenue location. For more information, or to make a donation, call 292-3223.
mbolen@keysnews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This story published on Tue, Aug 5, 2003
jarvis_c...sure it does. Charlie said they were waiting to announce the locations, etc....where does that differ from what WhiteNoc said?
Bush Plays Pope on Marriage Issue
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=530190
Bush Plays Pope on Marriage Issue
By Robert Scheer
(2003-08-05) I agree with the president and the pope: Marriage is a very serious endeavor, not to be trifled with. Just ask any of the tens of millions of divorced parents who are tied together for life in a precarious, often combative attempt to raise their kids well in separate households.
Done right, marriage -- or "civil unions" if the M-word is too loaded -- can be a bridge to loyalty, sexual stability, shared financial responsibility and the more efficient rearing of children. All the more reason, then, to support anybody, gay or straight, who wants to commit to a lifelong union. Whether you are united in "holy matrimony" or simply trying to build a lasting relationship should be of no concern to the state, nor should your sexual orientation.
Where I differ from the president and the pope is in defining marriage in religious terms. Under the U.S. Constitution, after all, church is clearly separated from state, and thus marriage is a civic institution not in any way requiring the participation of religious organizations. Government policies favor the family unit. If the state is offering special rights and benefits for those couples who marry, then to exclude gays is simply unconstitutional.
In Germany, France, Canada and Vermont, state-sanctioned unions help gay couples clarify the legal status and rights of their partnership in everything from bank accounts to hospital visitation to child custody. For gays seeking these rights elsewhere, this is primarily a practical struggle, and it is wrong for the president to exploit it for political purposes.
The drive for gay marriage is also an affirmation of responsible love, and it is bizarre that this honorable impulse could be blocked on the basis of someone else's religious views. The desire of two people to commit to some shared order in their lives, presumably reinforcing notions of sexual monogamy, has particular relevance in the gay community, which has paid an enormous price for promiscuity. It is also a community riven by the loss of loved ones in which a partner's rights to share in managing grief have been painfully challenged when a mate faces death.
It is one thing for the pope, a religious leader, to oppose gay marriage based on the theology that "homosexual acts go against the natural moral order." But the president of the United States, as the highest official in our secular government, is overstepping his bounds mightily when he lectures about "sin" and "the sanctity of marriage."
"I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. And I think we ought to codify that one way or another," Bush said last week, seizing upon a question about homosexuality that didn't mention marriage. "And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that."
Well, lawyers can do just about anything with the law to make their case, but it is hoped that most judges will have read the Constitution and seen that it says nothing about merging church and state.
What the president didn't mention was that the U.S. high court finally has acknowledged that homosexuality is not a threat to public order, striking down discriminatory anti-sodomy laws in Texas.
If homosexual sex is legal, it doesn't matter if our born-again president believes it's a sin on the grounds that it offends his or anyone else's interpretation of Christian Scripture.
Ironically, in the same press session in which Bush acted as if our nation is a Christian theocracy, he applauded Iraq's faltering steps toward a secular society that would break with Islamic dictates. He even mentioned the prospect of an Iraqi Thomas Jefferson emerging to show those folks how to go about building a free society.
But Jefferson was an awkward choice for Bush because he was as responsible as any of the founders for the very notion of the separation of church and state. As a public man, Jefferson even resisted identifying himself as Christian, being, as he wrote, "averse to the communication of my religious tenets to the public because it would ... seduce public opinion to erect itself into that inquisition over the rights of conscience, which the laws have so justly proscribed."
And, as the Supreme Court has clearly stated, being gay, even in Bush's home state of Texas, is one of those rights of conscience.
Copyright (c) 2003 Los Angeles Times
Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate
© Copyright 2003, Los Angeles Times
People in the News
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi...
People in the News
The Associated Press
8/5/03 1:19 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is turning its gaze toward Jay Leno.
The host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" will undergo a makeover at the hands of the "Fab 5" -- the five gay stylists who give a straight man a new look each week on the hit reality show.
They're scheduled to appear on Leno's late-night talk show Aug. 14 -- the same night NBC will re-air the second installment of the Bravo series. Then they'll come back the next night to show off the results of their work.
The trade paper Variety reported Tuesday that Leno's set also will get a new look. The New York-based cast is expected to travel to Los Angeles next week to begin shopping for furniture and other fashionable goodies.
Gay or straight, AMC film shows Hollywood can be a drag
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ss...
Gay or straight, AMC film shows Hollywood can be a drag
By LYNN ELBER
The Associated Press
8/5/03 2:08 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Given television's gay boomlet, filmmaker Jeremy Simmons' concerns about his new documentary, "The AMC Project: Gay Hollywood," appear misplaced.
"With a name like 'Gay Hollywood,' maybe not everyone will tune in," Simmons said. "Which is kind of unfortunate, because I think it appeals to much more than gay people."
Other gay-themed shows certainly have. "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" has done so well for Bravo that parent NBC has aired the makeover show once, plans to air another episode Aug. 14 -- and has arranged two "Tonight Show" appearances by the series' gay stars (Aug. 14-15) in which they spiff up Jay Leno.
Upcoming projects include the ABC fall sitcom "It's All Relative" and Showtime's lesbian drama "The L Word," coming in January.
"There are headlines about gays taking over television," said "Gay Hollywood" executive producer Randy Barbato. "Gays are not taking over television. Finally, there are some gay people and gay programs on TV."
He predicts the trend, which he considers "equalizing," will only grow.
"The media gatekeepers and the network executives have finally realized gays can make money. At the end of the day, it's always all about money."
In "Gay Hollywood," the immediate goal is securing a foothold in the industry. The film, debuting on AMC at 10 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 11, follows five openly gay men and their efforts to launch or further entertainment careers.
The final result was less "gay-centric" than he first envisioned, Simmons said in an interview.
"My reason for doing it, being gay and in Hollywood, was learning how these other guys deal with it" and whether their sexuality has helped or hurt professionally, he said.
As the project progressed, its perspective became broader.
"The title should be, 'Five Guys in Hollywood Who Happen to be Gay,"' said Barbato, who produced the documentary with Fenton Bailey (their other films include "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" and "Monica in Black and White").
Rather than a sweeping view of the gay experience in Hollywood, the film is an intimate and sometimes emotional take on how tough it is for anyone, sexual orientation aside, to make it in show business.
The men include the endearing Micah McCain, an actor who introduces himself as "a part-time drag queen. Three-quarter-time drag queen," and then, grudgingly, "Full-time drag queen."
His bravery isn't in being out, but being out on stage. He reluctantly tries to fashion himself into a standup comedian after being told it would be a smart move.
Allan Brocka is a filmmaker-writer who agrees to write and direct a risque gay romantic film, despite reservations. Writer Benjamin Morgan, actor-model Robert Laughlin and filmmaker Lance Black -- who expresses concern that he might be stereotyped by the project -- complete the group.
They don't make major leaps during the seven months of filming that ended in May, but their brushes with Hollywood are instructive for them and for viewers.
The most thoughtful and encouraging advice is delivered by writer-producer Larry Andries, whose impressive credits include "Six Feet Under" and "Boomtown."
"So many writers chase what's hot and what's new, or what the marketplace wants, and totally lose what they can uniquely bring to the marketplace, or to the page," he tells one of the men. "You can tap into something really rich and deep."
The value of networking, gay or otherwise, is called into question. Industry veterans say talent represents the ultimate trump card.
"There's no secrets. There's no 'Who you know' or 'If only I could get to this party' .... There's nothing else you can do except make that script excellent," is the counsel of sitcom producer Richard Day.
Day dismisses the idea that gays have any advantage over heterosexuals in Hollywood. Barbato concurs, but notes the industry does include a significant gay population ("There are probably a lot more gay people than in Wichita").
"Being gay in Hollywood can get you in the door in a number of places, just as being straight in Hollywood can, or Italian or Jewish," he said. "There's always the ability to tap into your community to help a little bit. But at the end of the day, it's never going to get you the gig."
Simmons considers himself lucky to be working in the new environment. "What a great time to be a gay filmmaker. You mean people will watch my shows? How exciting."
Is he concerned that TV will overdose on gay shows, as it has on reality programs and just about everything else? No, he replied, comparing the emergence of gays on TV to the visibility that blacks gradually claimed.
"Gays aren't like a pet rock, that this is our moment and then no one will ever be interested in us again."
------
On the Net:
http://www.amctv.com
http//www.bravotv.com
------
EDITOR'S NOTE -- Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber"at"ap.org
GOP Stances Upset Hispanics
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=11933
GOP Stances Upset Hispanics
August 5, 2003
Gregory Tejeda, United Press International
With the U.S. government in the hands of Republican Party officials these days, somebody needs to give the GOP a clue on how to quit offending Hispanic people.
There have been a series of issues in recent weeks that make it seem like the Republicans can do nothing right regarding Hispanics.
In the Cuban exile community, many are miffed at the way a dozen people who tried to flee Havana were turned away last month by the United States -- condemning them to time to be served in Cuban prisons.
Hispanic activists are among those convinced that the administration is mishandling the issue of whether to legalize marriage among same-sex couples, while people in Puerto Rico were pleased when federal prosecutors failed to get a conviction against two men who were facing a possible death sentence.
In San Juan, a jury last week acquitted Joel Rivera Alejandro and Hector "Gordo" Acosta Martinez of charges they kidnapped a grocer and hacked his body to pieces when the grocer's family notified police rather than pay a $1 million ransom.
Trial observers said jurors had problems with the federal charges used for prosecution, which played a factor in their decision to acquit. Justice Department officials claimed the slaying of a grocer constituted a conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce. Use of federal law allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty, getting around Puerto Rico's explicit ban on capital punishment for local crimes.
Many officials saw the Justice Department actions as an attempt by Attorney General John Ashcroft and his aides to force capital punishment into Puerto Rico, where local sentiment is against the death penalty and an execution has not taken place since 1927.
The issue is not over.
There are 57 people in Puerto Rico facing the federal death penalty. It is merely a matter of time before a case results in conviction, although Acosta's attorney, William Mathewman, says he'd like to think the acquittals are a blow to the death penalty.
The death penalty is not the only issue where the federal government has offended Hispanics.
President Bush's comments last week in favor of changes to federal law to oppose the concept of legal marriages between same-sex couples aroused the anger of the National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization.
Martin Ornelas-Quintero, the organization's director, said he thinks Bush portrayed non-heterosexuals as "second-class citizens and sinners."
"Tolerance means equality under the law," he said. "It means equal benefits for everyone, not just some."
Activists are not alone on this issue. Many elected officials of Hispanic descent say they see the issue as one of simple discrimination. More religious-minded Hispanics disagree, but Ornelas said he thinks the latter are wrongly influencing Bush.
"The president should not distort spiritual belief to support inequality," he said. "It's important that the state simply recognize same-sex couples in the same way that it recognizes opposite-sex couples. Religion is not a part of that."
Before one dismisses the Hispanic anger as just more liberal ranting, consider that the Cuban community -- which considers itself to be THE reason Bush won Florida's electoral votes AND the 2000 presidential election -- is upset about the return to Cuba of 11 men and one woman who stole a boat last month, intending to sail from Havana to Florida.
The Coast Guard intercepted them before they could reach U.S. shores, and officials with the Justice and State departments ordered their return after receiving assurances that Cuba would only imprison, and not execute, them.
The exile community believes the United States should have opposed their return under any circumstances, and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., has said people are "pained" by federal policies that ignore their concerns about negotiating, even indirectly, with the Communist government of Fidel Castro.
Even the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, told the Miami Herald he thinks the federal government acted incorrectly.
What is the Republicans' problem?
Most of it is unfamiliarity about where Hispanic people stand on issues. Surveys generally indicate anywhere from 67 percent to 75 percent of Hispanic people polled identify with the Democratic Party, and a recent New York Times/CBS poll showed 21 percent of Hispanic registered voters plan to vote for Bush in next year's election (compared to 31 percent for the as-yet-to-be-determined Democrat candidate).
Republicans are trying to reach out. As recently as last week, the Republican National Committee had a training seminar in New York to educate Hispanic people wishing to run for elective office under the GOP banner. There were similar sessions earlier this year in Philadelphia and Las Vegas.
If Republicans really want to prove their "big tent" rhetoric is true, they need to include Hispanic people among their ranks. If they're not willing to do so, then there's little chance the GOP would get any of the 45 percent of the Hispanic vote that -- as of yet -- remains uncommitted to any presidential candidate.
(Please send any comments to Greg Tejeda at gtejeda@upi.com.)
Source: Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
'Bride's' steps out: Covers gay nuptials
http://iafrica.com/loveandsex/news/259065.htm
America's oldest and most popular wedding magazine, 'Bride's', has for the first time published a full-page article on same-sex unions in its September/October issue[/b/
'Bride's' steps out: Covers gay nuptials
Posted Fri, 01 Aug 2003
America's oldest and most popular wedding magazine, 'Bride's', has for the first time published a full-page article on same-sex unions in its September/October issue.
The article, titled 'Outward Bound', includes comments from gay couples explaining why they choose to formalise their relationships, plus tips for straight readers on how to handle being invited to a gay wedding.
"Not to panic" is the first piece of advice on the list.
Established in 1934, Bride's is part of the Conde Nast stable of magazines and with a national circulation of more than 400 000 is the market leader in its category.
While avoiding any direct comment on the issue of legalising gay marriages, the article was generally sympathetic.
"Gay women are out, loud and proud about making a commitment. In other words, they're just like other couples in love," the article said.
Gay activists said the discussion of such issues in magazines like 'Bride's' with its strong middle-America readership, marked a significant step forward.
"An article like this is important on two levels," said Cathy Renna, news media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation.
"It educates the straight readers of Bride's, and demonstrates to gay and lesbian people who might be looking at these magazines that there is a level of understanding and sensitivity," Renna said.
"It's hardly a radical article, but then it doesn't have to be. The point is it increases greater understanding all around, in a cultural not a political way," she added.
The 'Bride's' article follows the decision of the New York Times in September last year to publish its first-ever, same-sex wedding announcement.
It also comes in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that knocked down laws banning gay sex.
Religious conservatives had warned that the court ruling would pave the way for legal recognition of gay and lesbian marriages.
At the moment, only one US state, Vermont, gives any legal status to same-sex partnerships, but only as a civil union which offers marriage-like status under state, not federal, law.
AFP
Gay or straight, AMC film shows Hollywood can be a drag
Activists Seek Gay Rights in Treaties
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/6461615.htm
Posted on Tue, Aug. 05, 2003
Activists Seek Gay Rights in Treaties
KIM GAMEL
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS - Gay activists demanded homosexual rights be included in international human rights treaties and asked the United Nations to provide equal benefits to same-sex couples.
Speakers at a panel discussion Monday evening organized by the U.N. alliance of gay, lesbian or bisexual employees said homosexuals have made great progress in winning equal rights and fair treatment but warned that discrimination is still widespread.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said there is strong support for adopting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender people as part of the U.N. doctrine of human rights, which sets the standards worldwide.
He also urged the 191-member world body to extend rights and benefits to same-sex couples among its own employees.
"One of the real problems in politics is if you start telling people to do something you haven't done yourself," he said.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who briefly attended the symposium at U.N. headquarters, stressed the need for more tolerance and said he had heard the "message about rights," although he did not specifically mention gays or lesbians.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said earlier Monday that Annan has met with his senior advisers on the matter but was not ready to announce a new policy.
"Member states themselves have divergent and strongly held views on this subject, so the secretary-general is carefully considering how he would move forward on this issue," Eckhard told reporters.
In April, the U.N. Human Rights Commission faced problems in discussions over its first-ever attempt to tackle the issue - a proposed resolution expressing "deep concern at the occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation."
The proposal by Brazil was backed by European countries. But the debate was postponed for a year after Muslim members of the commission said they were against any resolution containing the words "sexual orientation."
Eckhard noted that U.N. policies were based on agreement with the national laws of the staff member in question.
Amnesty International has said millions of people across the globe face imprisonment, torture, violence and discrimination because of their sexual orientation. It pointed in particular to Egypt's sentencing of 21 men to three years in prison last month on charges of practicing debauchery.
Frank, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, also criticized the Egyptian policy and warned he would move to block any attempt by the conservative country to negotiate a free trade treaty with the United States
javis_c on this post I say shutdown mode to refer to INFORMATION SHUTDOWN MODE
jarvis_c...and one other thing you will learn about me. I dd for myself. I share that dd with others. What you will learn about me is I never do other people's work for them.
Now having said that....are you sharing your dd on this board?
Thanks
Is America Ready for Same-Sex Marriage?
http://publicbroadcasting.net/wusf/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=529843
Is America Ready for Same-Sex Marriage?
Hosted by Warren Olney
SANTA MONICA, CA (2003-08-04) Belgium is about to join the Netherlands in recognizing same-sex marriage, and two provinces of Canada have already issued marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. With the US Supreme Court having declared gay sex protected by the Constitution, the issue is being raised in state courts all over the nation. Massachusetts may rule as soon as this week on complaints that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates their right to equal protection. All that has produced a massive backlash, and last week, President Bush restated his opposition to homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Is marriage a civil or religions institution? Is it about love or having babies? Will it get political mileage for Democrats or Republicans? We hear from advocates and opponents, a nationally syndicated columnist, and the Washington editor of The Nation.
You'll find detailed information on today's guests as well as links to related websites, at KCRW's To the Point.
AMC Film Chronicles Lives of Gay Actors
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/6463529.htm
AMC Film Chronicles Lives of Gay Actors
LYNN ELBER
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Given television's gay boomlet, filmmaker Jeremy Simmons' concerns about his new documentary, "The AMC Project: Gay Hollywood," appear misplaced.
"With a name like 'Gay Hollywood,' maybe not everyone will tune in," Simmons said. "Which is kind of unfortunate, because I think it appeals to much more than gay people."
Other gay-themed shows certainly have. "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" has done so well for Bravo that parent NBC has aired the makeover show once, plans to air another episode Aug. 14 - and has arranged two "Tonight Show" appearances by the series' gay stars (Aug. 14-15) in which they spiff up Jay Leno.
Upcoming projects include the ABC fall sitcom "It's All Relative" and Showtime's lesbian drama "The L Word," coming in January.
"There are headlines about gays taking over television," said "Gay Hollywood" executive producer Randy Barbato. "Gays are not taking over television. Finally, there are some gay people and gay programs on TV."
He predicts the trend, which he considers "equalizing," will only grow.
"The media gatekeepers and the network executives have finally realized gays can make money. At the end of the day, it's always all about money."
In "Gay Hollywood," the immediate goal is securing a foothold in the industry. The film, debuting on AMC at 10 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 11, follows five openly gay men and their efforts to launch or further entertainment careers.
The final result was less "gay-centric" than he first envisioned, Simmons said in an interview.
"My reason for doing it, being gay and in Hollywood, was learning how these other guys deal with it" and whether their sexuality has helped or hurt professionally, he said.
As the project progressed, its perspective became broader.
"The title should be, 'Five Guys in Hollywood Who Happen to be Gay,'" said Barbato, who produced the documentary with Fenton Bailey (their other films include "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" and "Monica in Black and White").
Rather than a sweeping view of the gay experience in Hollywood, the film is an intimate and sometimes emotional take on how tough it is for anyone, sexual orientation aside, to make it in show business.
The men include the endearing Micah McCain, an actor who introduces himself as "a part-time drag queen. Three-quarter-time drag queen," and then, grudgingly, "Full-time drag queen."
His bravery isn't in being out, but being out on stage. He reluctantly tries to fashion himself into a standup comedian after being told it would be a smart move.
Allan Brocka is a filmmaker-writer who agrees to write and direct a risque gay romantic film, despite reservations. Writer Benjamin Morgan, actor-model Robert Laughlin and filmmaker Lance Black - who expresses concern that he might be stereotyped by the project - complete the group.
They don't make major leaps during the seven months of filming that ended in May, but their brushes with Hollywood are instructive for them and for viewers.
The most thoughtful and encouraging advice is delivered by writer-producer Larry Andries, whose impressive credits include "Six Feet Under" and "Boomtown."
"So many writers chase what's hot and what's new, or what the marketplace wants, and totally lose what they can uniquely bring to the marketplace, or to the page," he tells one of the men. "You can tap into something really rich and deep."
The value of networking, gay or otherwise, is called into question. Industry veterans say talent represents the ultimate trump card.
"There's no secrets. There's no 'Who you know' or 'If only I could get to this party' .... There's nothing else you can do except make that script excellent," is the counsel of sitcom producer Richard Day.
Day dismisses the idea that gays have any advantage over heterosexuals in Hollywood. Barbato concurs, but notes the industry does include a significant gay population ("There are probably a lot more gay people than in Wichita").
"Being gay in Hollywood can get you in the door in a number of places, just as being straight in Hollywood can, or Italian or Jewish," he said. "There's always the ability to tap into your community to help a little bit. But at the end of the day, it's never going to get you the gig."
Simmons considers himself lucky to be working in the new environment. "What a great time to be a gay filmmaker. You mean people will watch my shows? How exciting."
Is he concerned that TV will overdose on gay shows, as it has on reality programs and just about everything else? No, he replied, comparing the emergence of gays on TV to the visibility that blacks gradually claimed.
"Gays aren't like a pet rock, that this is our moment and then no one will ever be interested in us again."
ON THE NET
http://www.amctv.com
http//www.bravotv.com
Cleveland Heights to vote on DP registry
http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=9499&sd=08/05/03
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cleveland Heights to vote on DP registry
The Cleveland Heights, Ohio, city council has cleared the way for voters in this Cleveland suburb to decide if unmarried partners--both gay and straight--should be given legal recognition. The council on Monday night approved putting the measure on the November 4 ballot. Backers of the domestic-partner registry had collected signatures petitioning the council on the measure. Although registries have been created by municipal councils or state legislatures elsewhere, Cleveland Heights residents would be the first to vote on the issue, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said. If the measure passes, domestic partners could use the registry to qualify for employment benefits, inheritance rights, and hospital visitation rights.
City councilman Jimmie Hicks Jr. said he will campaign against the registry and has decided to drop his Democratic Party affiliation because he believes the party is too closely aligned with gays and lesbians. "Any positive movement, in terms of acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, is a part of the homosexual agenda," Hicks said. Joseph Rothenberg, a Cleveland Heights resident, defended the registry. "I've been involved in the same relationship for 25 years, and I'd like it to be on record," he said. "Nobody's going to become gay because we have a domestic-partner registry."
To register, couples would show identification, sign a statement, and pay a fee. Last year Cleveland Heights became the first city in Ohio to offer health benefits to same-sex partners of city employees.
California high court rules in favor of second-parent adoption
http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=9497&sd=08/05/03
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
California high court rules in favor of second-parent adoption
The California supreme court ruled Monday that a birth mother could not try to prevent her lesbian former partner from adopting a child the two women had planned to raise together. Gay rights organizations immediately hailed the ruling as one that bolsters the validity of some 10,000 existing "second-parent" adoptions, cases in which a nonmarital partner adopts a birth parent's child. Such adoptions are common among gay couples who decide to raise children together but for whom marriage is not an option. "By affirming second-parent adoptions, the California supreme court remedied a terrible lower court decision that had jeopardized the security of thousands of children with same-sex parents," said Kate Kendell, director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "This decision ensures that California law strengthens, rather than destroys, family bonds."
The state's high court ruled 6-1 to overturn the appellate court's decision upholding the birth mother's right to terminate an adoption initiated by her former partner. The plaintiff in the case, a San Diego woman identified in court papers as Sharon S., is the birth mother of two children conceived through artificial insemination while she was in a committed relationship with Annette F. By mutual consent of both women, the first child, 6-year-old Zachary, was adopted by Annette F. without Sharon S. having to give up her parental rights. The couple initiated proceedings to do the same with the second child, Joshua, who is now 3 years old. But the couple's relationship turned volatile, and Annette moved out of their home in August 2000 while the adoption was pending. Sharon S. subsequently moved to terminate the family court action.
While the state's high court remanded the case on Monday to the court of appeal for further proceedings, it did not rule on whether the adoption of the younger child is in his best interest. This is often the deciding factor in many adoption cases. "We're obviously displeased with the outcome and further shocked that the court went so far as to preapprove any adoption by anyone as long as some superior court judge thinks it's in the child's best interest," said John Dodd, Sharon S.'s lawyer. Dodd said he would file for a rehearing of the constitutional issues raised in the opinion. He also blasted the ruling for leaving open the possibility of households with more than two parents. "It holds out the possibility that there could two, three, four, or 72 parents. There is no limit," Dodd said.
Attorneys for the birth mother had argued to the seven justices that there was never any law on the books authorizing such adoptions. California's adoption laws stemmed from an 80-year-old state supreme court decision that dealt with married couples, lawyers said. A San Diego family court mediator initially recommended that Sharon S. and Annette F. share custody and that Annette receive specified visitation rights. But Sharon asked the court for approval to withdraw her consent to the adoption, alleging it had no legal basis and that her permission was obtained through fraud or duress. Judges in California, the first state to permit second-parent adoptions, began approving them in 1986. New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont were next to adopt the practice. Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin forbid them.
Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar held that "second-parent adoptions offer the possibility of obtaining the security and advantages of two parents for some of California's neediest children." Werdegar also stressed the importance of providing legal protections and stability for children born to same-sex and other unmarried couples. "Unmarried couples who have brought a child into the world with the expectation that they will raise it together and who have jointly petitioned for adoption should be on notice that if they separate, the same rules concerning custody and visitation as apply to all other parents will apply to them," she wrote.
In dissent, Associate Justice Janice R. Brown criticized the majority for "trivializing family bonds" and subscribing to "the-more-parents-the-merrier view of parenthood." Brown wrote that it was wrong to approve an adoption in which the parents lived apart. "The all-encompassing nature of parenthood renders eminently reasonable any legislative provision requiring that adopting parents share a common residence with each adoptive child. Parenthood requires more than a telephone and a checkbook." Brown is reportedly on President Bush's short list of potential nominees for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Vote Set on Episcopalian Gay Bishop
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20030805/ap_on_re_us/episc...
Vote Set on Episcopalian Gay Bishop
12 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - A clergyman seeking to become the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church was apparently cleared of 11th-hour allegations of misconduct, a church spokesman said Tuesday.
The bishop leading the inquiry into the Rev. V. Gene Robinson will report later Tuesday on the results of his preliminary investigation and a vote will be taken, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said in a brief statement Tuesday.
Griswold did not comment further, but James Solheim, a church spokesman, said the vote would not have been rescheduled if Robinson hadn't been cleared of the allegations.
Robinson's spokesman, Mike Barwell, could not immediately be reached for comment
Allegations emerged Monday that Robinson had inappropriately touched a man and that he is connected to a group whose Web site can indirectly link users to pornography.
Bishop Gordon Scruton of Western Massachusetts conducted the preliminary inquiry to determine whether the claims were credible enough to warrant a full investigation.
The claims came to light just as bishops from around the country who had gathered for the church's national meeting were to start considering whether to confirm Robinson.
The gathering was thrown into turmoil after several days of intense debate over whether Robinson's election would strengthen or shatter the church. Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced father of two, has been living with his male partner for 13 years.
Robinson's supporters had called the timing of the allegations suspicious. His opponents had acknowledged they helped bring forward the Web site claim against him.
The claim of inappropriate touching was e-mailed to Vermont Bishop Thomas Ely by David Lewis of Manchester, Vt. A family friend said Tuesday that Lewis never intended the allegations to go public.
Speaking at a news conference in Manchester, Lou Midura said Lewis sent the e-mail so it could be conveyed privately to other bishops, not debated in the media. Other bishops received the e-mail as well.
Separate concerns were raised about Robinson's connection to the Web site of Outright, a secular outreach program for gay and bisexual youth that Robinson helped found.
Bishops learned of the porn link claim from David Virtue, a conservative Anglican activist and writer who has been among the harshest critics of Robinson and of Episcopal gay activists. Virtue said a bishop whom he would not identify alerted him to the link.
A member of the group's board of directors said Robinson hasn't been involved with the group for several years and had no role in developing its Web page.
The link is on an unaffiliated site that had resources for gay youth, Baxley said. That page provided resources for bisexuals that, a few links away, provided access to porn.
Robinson was elected by his diocese in June, but the church requires that a majority of convention delegates ratify his election.
On Sunday, the House of Deputies, a legislative body comprised of clergy and lay people from dioceses nationwide, approved Robinson by a 2-to-1 margin; a committee endorsed him by secret ballot Friday.
The final vote he needs is in the House of Bishops.
The American Anglican Council, which represents conservative bishops and parishes, plans a meeting in October to decide whether to break away from the church or take some other action if Robinson is seated.
Like-minded bishops in the Anglican Communion, the 77-million-member global association that includes the Episcopal Church, said they, too, will consider severing ties with the denomination if Robinson wins.
Robinson has rejected calls from conservatives that he withdraw from consideration to prevent a breakup of the church, as a gay clergyman did recently in England.
jarvis_c...
right now TTN is in a shutdown mode...have been for many months so the info is not available to us....but do not underestimate this info because it will give you, if you read it carefully, the US areas that are gay friendly (laws passed, position on gay marriage, groups speaking out) and internationally if we launch on MeTV you can see by these articles who will be our target countries....
if you know how to apply the info I send you to a business scope you will be able to analyize the data for business potential...
Queer Eye' gets rave reviews -- from straight women
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/6458541.htm
Posted on Tue, Aug. 05, 2003
`Queer Eye' gets rave reviews -- from straight women
By AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star
When the phone lines opened last Wednesday on "The Tenth Voice," KKFI's radio show for Kansas City's gay and lesbian community, guess what most callers wanted to talk about.
Was it:
(a) President Bush's declaration that homosexuals should not be allowed to marry?
(b) Word that the pope was planning to speak out against gay marriage and adoption?
(c) Those kicky new shows on the Bravo channel?
The answer, (c), may be proof of the rising profile of popular culture or the decline of civilization, take your pick. But gay viewers aren't the only ones buzzing about "Boy Meets Boy" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," which air back-to-back beginning at 8 tonight on Bravo.
"A lot of straight women I know are watching, too," said Mark Manning, host of "The Tenth Voice"on KKFI-FM (90.1).
Indeed, Bravo's ratings are soaring among adult women, the channel's target audience. Credit for that goes to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," the all-male makeover show that's been described as a cross between "Trading Spaces" and "Will & Grace."
"I told my husband that he should watch it because he might learn something," said Reuille Green, an event planner for Californos restaurant and "Queer Eye" fan.
The show's style experts, known collectively as the "Fab Five," generously dispense tips on wardrobe, grooming, food, wine, culture and home decor. Their ideas are designed with the clueless male in mind, but their practical approach and good humor appeal to female viewers as well.
After Ted Allen, the show's food and wine expert, demonstrated quick 'n' easy pizzas made with lavash (a Middle Eastern flatbread), Eileen O'Hara went online to get the recipe. O'Hara, a marketing consultant in Overland Park, said she raves about the show to other women, though she sends her 10-year-old to bed on Tuesdays "because otherwise I'd have to explain what `queer eye' means."
Word of mouth -- and a huge marketing push from Bravo -- have made "Queer Eye" the summer's hottest new show. This week alone, the Fab Five grace the cover of Entertainment Weekly and advise the readers of People.
"It's weird," said Paul Donovan of Kansas City, "but `Queer Eye' is becoming sort of a bonding experience for people of different sexualities."
Donovan, who is gay, watches Bravo's Tuesday-night lineup with friends, so they can savor "two hours of public gayness" together. The next day, the shows make for water-cooler talk between Donovan and his straight friends at work.
Not everyone is a fan. Some critics object to the show's reliance on stereotypical gay images, and its tacit assumption that gay men are innately superior to straight men in their aesthetic and culinary tastes. In a recent syndicated column, L. Brent Bozell III of the Parents Television Council referred to "Queer Eye" as the "Gay Supremacy Hour" and said the show was "drenched in references to raw, perverted homosexual sex."
Jamie Rich, director of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Westport, called "Queer Eye" a "revolutionary" program because it presents an image of gays never before seen on TV.
"Usually what happens (with gays) on television, it's who can be the most acid-tongued person -- like Sean Hayes," said Rich, referring to the actor who plays Will's wisecracking pal on "Will & Grace." By contrast, the Fab Five "are always doing something nice for people."
Well, not always: Each episode opens with the style mavens entering their subject's house and bombarding the poor fellow with catty comments.
The show's fashion cop and breakout star, Carson Kressley, specializes in rifling through closets, discarding most of what he sees (in one case emptying a basket of dirty clothes out a window) while tossing off such zingers as "Unnatural fibers are hurting you, my friend!"
By hour's end, however, they have given him a new look (oh, the wonders of exfoliation!), helped him pick out a menu and made his house presentable to members of the opposite sex.
After they leave, a camera follows the subject around to see whether he actually took their advice (usually he does) and if the women in his life were impressed (usually they are). At show's end, they raise a glass -- "Cheers, queers!" -- to their latest rehab success.
"Queer Eye," which premiered July 15, is already the highest-rated program in the 22-year history of Bravo. Its audience (2.8 million last week) continues to climb, and Bravo is re-airing the show seemingly around the clock. Which means Bravo's president, Jeff Gaspin, is almost certain to greenlight more programs that present what he calls "positive stereotypes" of gays on TV.
Some viewers might grumble that there are too many displays of the homosexual lifestyle on TV, from the sloppy kiss two men gave each other at the Tony Awards in June to the ever-increasing number of gay and lesbian TV characters. This fall, two new sitcoms, "A Minute with Stan Hooper" on Fox and "It's All Relative" on ABC, feature men in committed gay relationships.
But many of these roles are "extremely safe," said Scott Seomin of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in Hollywood. On "It's All Relative," for instance, the adopted daughter of the gay couple wants to marry the son of a blue-collar bigot modeled on Archie Bunker. But because she's grown up, we see little of her two dads' parenting skills. Seomin thinks that would be too provocative for many viewers.
That's one reason "Queer Eye" is such a breakthrough.
"It's unapologetic," Seomin said. "These are probably the most well-adjusted guys on television."
To reach Aaron Barnhart, call (816) 234-4790 or send e-mail to TVBarn.com.
Pride paraders march to anti-Catholic theme
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/story.asp?id=3F197B60-A456-4333-B213-7C108DEB4405
Pride paraders march to anti-Catholic theme
The Canadian Press
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
CREDIT: The Canadian Press
A police officer is hugged by a marcher in Montreal's parade.
ADVERTISEMENT
Tens of thousands of spectators lined Vancouver streets on Sunday to ogle scantily clad men and women, cheer their support for gay marriage and join in the festivities of the city's 25th annual pride parade.
Among the mass of people crowding the West End for the event was Vancouver police chief Jaime Graham and Mayor Larry Campbell, who turned out wearing tartan and leather.
"Oh it's great, it's huge, I love it," Campbell said. "It's beautiful weather, probably the biggest crowd that we get next to the fireworks display and diversity, complete diversity."
It was the same in Montreal, where up to 800,000 spectators watched the procession.
"The parade lets the gay and lesbian community celebrate itself," an event organizer said. "It also helps to demystify homosexuality."
Many paraders in both cities chose to wear white wedding attire -- a symbolic protest against the Vatican's denunciation of gay marriages.
"Those [church leaders] are the last people who have any moral high ground . . . to give any comment at all," said Gary, a 45-year-old heterosexual, who watched the parade with his wife.
The church's inaction in adequately addressing pedophilia by priests undermines its position opposing marriage by homosexuals, he said.
Former Catholic Louis Cyr said the church is being hypocritical.
"Luckily, [it] doesn't have the influence that it once had," he said.
© Copyright 2003 The Province
First school for gay students draws dollars and critics
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=530085
First school for gay students draws dollars and critics
Elizabeth Armstrong
(2003-08-05) Everyone was downright giddy at the Hetrick-Martin Institute when the New York Board of Education voted in June to approve a $3.2 million expansion of its Harvey Milk School, the first accredited public school in the world "devoted to educating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth."
The approval allows the school, which was founded in 1984, to increase enrollment from 50 to 170 students for the start of the 2003 school year.
While protest of the decision was expected from the Christian right, few expected such a severe backlash from within the gay community. The announcement came, after all, on the heels of one pleasant brush with the press after another.
In February, Hillary Clinton (D) of New York became the first senator to visit. In April, actress Susan Sarandon became a "principal for a day." Even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg added to the chorus, telling a
throng of reporters that the vote was "a good idea" because some gay and lesbian students are "constantly harassed and beaten in other schools."
But after the New York Post covered the expansion last week, the floodgates opened.
"For those of us who have supported gay rights, the announcement of the new high school is baffling," wrote Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School professor, in a Newsday commentary. "The city's ... solution is not to correct those failings but to remove the students, as if they are the source of the problem. The establishment of a gay high school rings of a civil rights breakthrough when it is the scourge of equal rights."
Mike Long, chairman of the Conservative Party of New York, asked the Post if there was a "different way of teaching" gay and lesbian students. "There's no reason these children should be treated separately," he said. But supporters argue that these students are already treated separately. "In a perfect world, there wouldn't be a need for HMS," responded Debra Smock, administrator for the Harvey Milk School, on the Hetrick-Martin Institute's website. "But there is a need for the school and a need for the expansion."
© Copyright 2003, Christian Science Monitor
The Marriage Quagmire
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/mcelroy/03/mcelroy080503.htm
The Marriage Quagmire
The institution of marriage is in jeopardy. But it's the politicians themselves constituting the threat.
August 5, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Wendy McElroy
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The issue of gay marriages is exploding on the federal and state levels with some politicians calling for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as "between a man and a woman." These politicians are correct about one thing: The institution of marriage is in jeopardy. But it's the politicians themselves constituting the threat.
The power of government over marriage has swollen in the past few decades. Traditionally, politicians have used various methods to control marriage, including:
They define what constitutes a marriage and criminalize or refuse to recognize other unions. For example, in 1967 16 states still had laws against interracial marriage.
They usurp rights and make their exercise dependent upon marital status. For example, it can be difficult for gays to assert inheritance rights even when a committed common law union -- a clearly implied contract -- is present.
They offer entitlements, such as welfare benefits, based on marital status. For example, the Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Promotion Act of 2002 strengthened the emphasis that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 had placed upon the promotion of marriage in state welfare programs. Government funding is government control.
The current battle over marriage can be dated back to the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which was widely considered to be an anti-gay measure. The act federally defines marriage as a heterosexual institution thus negating federal entitlements, such as veteran's benefits, to homosexual partners. It also allows states to reject recognition of same-sex marriages that might be sanctioned by the laws of another state.
Nevertheless, authority to recognize same-sex marriage still resides on the state level and some states have pushed toward legalization. The Massachusetts Supreme Court is now considering Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, a case in which gays have sued to secure legal marriage as a right. (This is different from Vermont, which recently secured the somewhat more limited civil unions.)
Journalist David Mattson explained the possible significance of Goodridge. If it succeeds, other states might "be required to provide legal recognition of these same-sex marriages under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution ..." If unsuccessful and appealed, the U.S. Supreme Court could "decide that the states must recognize these marriages, in essence changing the Massachusetts Constitution and forcing same-sex marriage on all the states."
There is reason to believe that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of Goodridge and same-sex marriage. On June 26, in a ruling on Lawrence and Garner v. Texas, the Supreme Court struck down the Texas sodomy laws that effectively banned gay sex. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia expressed his dissent and called the decision an invitation to "gay marriage," presumably because it extended due-process provisions of the 14th Amendment to cover sexual preference.
Thus, advocates of traditional marriage have sharpened their calls for an amendment that could end all debate over the constitutionality of gay marriage by embedding a heterosexual definition into the Constitution itself.
As for the opposition to an amendment from the gay rights community, it is not clear whether advocates of same-sex marriage are pursuing rights or entitlements.
The Supreme Court's ruling on Lawrence gave the gay community a rights victory by throwing the government out of their bedrooms. Yet some gay advocates are beckoning government right back in by asking for a state stamp of approval on their relationships. They want gay marriages legally sanctioned on the same level as heterosexual ones, thus allowing gays and their spouses to access massive entitlements on both the state and federal level, including eligibility for public assistance benefits.
The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders -- a powerful gay rights organization -- made this goal clear in a release concerning Goodridge. In response to the question, "Why not the civil union solution adopted by Vermont?" GLAD responded:
"Civil unions are a good first step, but they don't go far enough. ... Gay and lesbian couples want and need what everyone else has --- the right to receive the full protections bestowed by the state and federal government that come through marriage." A main difference between a marriage and a civil union is that the former has an automatic claim on various federal entitlements.
Advocates of gay marriage do not seem to be rebelling against state control; they want to be subsumed by it.
The current debate over gay marriage is a power play at the highest levels of government and the judiciary to control what should be the most personal matter between human beings: marriage.
To save its soul, marriage needs to be removed from power politics and privatized.
What constitutes a marriage should be determined by contract between the consenting adults involved, not by government. Politicians should be stripped of the power to dictate which consenting adults may marry or the terms of those marriages. The only proper concern of law should be to enforce the contract and to arbitrate any breach that occurs.
In performing this function, it should give no more weight to the sexual preference of those involved than it gives to their skin color -- that is, none at all. The only "entitlement" that should accompany marriage is the enforcement of the terms of that contract.
Wendy McElroy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wendy McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com. She is the author and editor of many books and articles, including her new anthology Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century (Ivan R. Dee/Independent Institute, 2002). She lives with her husband in Canada. Other articles by Wendy McElroy can be found in the MensNewsDaily.com archive.
Queer eye for the queer mom
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/08/05/queer_mom/index_np.html
Queer eye for the queer mom
What can Bravo's hit makeover show do for a straight man who already drinks Gewurztraminer -- or his lesbian mother who worships "The Nanny"?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Christopher Healy
Aug. 5, 2003 / When the scientists at the NIH finally discover the elusive "gay gene," they're sure to find it intimately entwined into a double helix with the chromosomes that predispose proper coordination of accessories. At least that's what TV would have us believe. This month's case in point: Bravo's overnight smash, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" -- the makeover show in which a team of five quip-spouting gay men take some poor hetero schlub and transform him into a beacon of style, taste and savoir faire that would make Rupert Everett jealous.
The show's makeover artists, or the Fab Five as they call themselves, are performing an invaluable service to heterosexual America. I, unfortunately, will never be one of their straight-to-great success stories; too many people assume I'm gay already. I own shiny shirts; I cry at chick flicks; I have a favorite kind of goat cheese. Besides, the number of Kiehl's products in my bathroom cabinet would disqualify me immediately.
My mother, however, a bona fide gay woman, is in serious need of some lesbian lessons, because she's just not doing it right. Her remember-the-'80s hair, so-long-they-look-fake fingernails, and puppy-appliqué sweatshirts are all wrong. The Fab Five may be inspiring legions of straight folks to new heights of fabulousness, but what about a woman who's already "one of them" and doesn't seem to get it at all? Where is the show for her? Where is "Dykes for Dummies"? She needs some kind of help, because in just about every possible way, despite my attraction to the opposite sex, I'm far more gay than she is.
Same-sex couples wed on Chinese Valentines
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?onNews=1&GRP=D&id=19999
Same-sex couples wed on Chinese Valentines
2003/8/5
TAIPEI, Taiwan, The China Post Staff
Two homosexual couples declared their love to each other in a joint wedding ceremony in Taichung yesterday, dubbed as the "day of lovers" by the Chinese lunar calendar.
The newly-weds included a gay couple and a pair of lesbian lovers who wished to remain anonymous for fear of publicity.
A morning ceremony saw the couples, clad in standard western wedding attire, declare their marriage vows and exchange rings before friends and reporters.
One of the gay lovers, nicknamed "Hsuan," dressed up as a bride while lesbian "Hsiao-pei (Little Pei)" attended the ceremony as her girlfriend's groom.
Hsuan, 23, said his family had no knowledge of the ceremony or the fact that he is gay. His boyfriend "Mark" had planned for both of them to show up at the wedding in tuxedos but Hsuan insisted on wearing a white gown and veil.
"I promised myself that I will do this before joining the military. It is something I will never regret," Hsuan said, adding that he hopes to expand his family by adopting children sometime soon.
Hsiao-pei and her girlfriend "Hsiao-ju (Little Ju)," both in their early twenties, said they almost canceled their wedding at the last minute after reporters for Chinese-language media organisations broke the news to the public.
They eventually chose to stick to the schedule, though, saying that marrying on the traditional "day of lovers" is too special to turn down.
The plaza where the ceremony took place and the attire of the brides and grooms were provided at a discount by local hotel operators.
Same-sex marriages are yet to be recognized in Taiwan.
[ENS] Robinson investigation to proceed
http://www.wfn.org/2003/08/msg00055.html
[ENS] Robinson investigation to proceed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From "Mika Larson" <mini_mika@earthlink.net>
Date Mon, 4 Aug 2003 20:28:47 -0400
August 4, 2003
Robinson investigation to proceed
Conservative group says bishop-elect deserves fair treatment
by David Skidmore
[ENS] The head of the American Anglican Council is giving the bishop
coadjutor-elect of New Hampshire the benefit of the doubt, as
investigations proceed into claims by a Vermont man that Canon Gene
Robinson acted inappropriately toward him at a province meeting several
years ago and reports that an organization connected to Robinson
published pornographic images on its Web site.
On Sunday night, David Lewis of Manchester, Vt., sent an e-mail to a
number of bishops, including Vermont's Bishop Thomas Ely, with his
complaints regarding Robinson, stating that at a Province I convocation
several years ago Robinson "put his hands on me inappropriately every
time I engaged him in conversation."
Lewis, who lectures and writes theatrical reviews for the Manchester
Journal, urged the bishops to deny consent to Robinson's election as
bishop coadjutor of New Hampshire, alleging Robinson "does not maintain
appropriate boundaries with men."
In statements read on the floors of both houses Monday, New Hampshire's
Bishop Douglas Theuner and Standing Committee President the Rev. Randy
Dales said they had "full confidence in the Presiding Bishop's
commitment to fully investigate these matters" and expressed "continued
confidence" in their bishop-elect. In remarks to a reporter after the
bishop's session this afternoon, Theuner said he had not been aware of
Lewis' allegations before Sunday's e-mail letter.
Bishop Gordon Scruton of Western Massachusetts has been appointed by the
Presiding Bishop to lead the investigation. Scruton, who met with the
presiding bishop and Vermont's Bishop Ely after the House of Bishop's
afternoon session, was not available to speak with reporters.
Robinson deserves chance to clear matter, conservatives say
Stating his organization had no connection with Lewis or the complaint,
AAC President the Rev. David Anderson said he would not "wish that
letter on anybody," given people's tendency to believe an allegation
even if proven unfounded.
"I don't want to see Gene elected," admitted Anderson "but he deserves a
chance to defend himself and be heard and get the truth out." If the
charges are proven false, "then he deserves his chance to have an
honest, fair vote on the house floor."
The impact of the allegations on confirmation could work both ways, said
Anderson. Those with "lingering doubts" might vote against concurrence,
while others might vote for Robinson "out of sympathy."
Anderson said he learned of the Lewis allegation around 9 a.m. Monday
when an AAC-affiliated bishop shared the e-mail sent to various bishops
by Lewis. "It left me speechless," said Anderson.
On the Web site issue - disclosed by a reporter at the Monday morning
news briefing - Anderson said he and other AAC officials discovered the
link to pornographic images while visiting the site of the Concord,
N.H., branch of Seacoast Outright, an organization supporting gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth.
On the site they discovered a link to a site called bisexuality.com and
there found a window with pornographic images.
A check of the Outright.org site for its New Hampshire branches found no
such links Monday afternoon.
Anderson said they were also concerned about the Outright site's mission
statement - which in part states its purpose is to "create safe,
positive, and affirming environments for young gay, lesbian, bisexual,
trans, and questioning people ages 22 and under."
Said Anderson: "It raised some questions in our mind about how
appropriate it was for a church leader to be advocating [this
organization]."
Web site charge debunked
In a statement released late Monday, Cathy Kidman, interim director of
the Portland branch of Outright, said they had removed a link from their
site to allthingsbi.com because that organization's site had a link to
an adult-content Web site. Thanking the media for alerting them to the
situation, Kidman said, "We do not believe the link in question is
appropriate on our Web site for the population we serve."
Kidman stressed that Robinson was not involved "at any time" in the
Portland Outright organization or its Web site. "This is clearly an
attempt to discredit his important nomination," said Kidman.
In a separate statement, Mim Eastron, executive director of the parent
organization - Seacoast Outright - said Robinson, to the best of their
knowledge, had not been involved with the Concord Outright organization
for some time. Robinson had helped found the Concord branch, said
Eastron, but has not been active for a number of years.
Eastron said a link to an adult-content Web site had been discovered on
the Concord branch's site and had been removed. "The adult site is not
something that we consider appropriate for any youth," said Eastron.
Episcopal News Service writer Richelle Thompson and Convention Daily
writer Mary Frances Schjonberg contributed to this report.