News, Notes, Tidbits and To Do List Index

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Don't Ask Don't Tell
Many important updates - don't miss them! Internal survey leaked; important decision in California, and much, much, more.

Letter from Parents
A compelling argument from parents of a discharged person - another who served valiantly, who happened to be gay.

Prop 8 Trial
Defenders of Prop 8 are using arguments long ago proven to be factually and historically inaccurate. While an uninformed populace may believe them - or choose to suspend disbelief in support of their own personal prejudices, we need to hope that the Court will not be so easily swayed, or mislead.  Live blogging here.  More on equal marriage rights here.

Valentine's Day
Check out our shopping sections and advertisers for GLBT positive/affirming gifts. In the interim, enjoy a note I sent to Cherry Moon Farms whose solicitation lost them my business:

 I was all set to order when I noticed you wanted me to send a
 special gift to "him" rather than "that special someone" --- my special
 someone is a woman, and I'll deal with a company which recognizes that
 possibility. Thank you.

Take Action Now - AFA Continues its Hate Campaign!
The American Family Association bought an hour of air-time on local network TV this Saturday to air a special on "the radical homosexual agenda."

Guest Feature: Not Coming Out
Ace Baxter shares why one can't always come out - and asks for your input. An except: Most people have a distinct memory of ‘finding out they were gay’ which I never had…I never really ‘found out’. I realize that’s odd, but so are most things until you understand them. I honestly believe that everything is possible, I always did, so when I heard stories where mommies and daddies loved each other, I never once doubted that mommies and mommies, or vice versa daddies and daddies could be together. I mean really, why not? As I grew up my thinking obviously did too, but the basics stayed the same. As a great person once said: I’m attracted to people, not genders.

News From Florida
Organizations United Together, a new federation of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and allied local organizations held its first meeting on Saturday, January 24, 2009, in Orlando, Florida.    Nearly 100 local leaders from across the state met to share information, network, and strategize together.

Salon Asks:
Where have all the drag queens gone? The campy spectacle has lost favor with a generation of young gay men. Can RuPaul's new reality show bring it back

Campbell's Soup's New Ad
Gays are still good business. Wildmon and the AFA are annoyed. Happy Holidays indeed!

Obama and Rick Warren
Anti-Choice and Anti-Equal rights for queers. Yuppers. That's exactly the type of change I was seeking. And people wonder why my "Clinton" bumper sticker is still on my car....a friend of mine suggests - how about the Grand Duke of the KKK for Keynote speaker. Just another point of view, right?

Snippets
Introducting "Snippets." Little things which speak for themselves.

Election 2008
Keep your eyes open as we start to take a look at the major, and minor candidates and laws we'll be voting on as we look towards 2008.  No, it's not too late to start looking at the candidates for the US Presidential election in 2008, their views on issues affecting the civil rights of gay and lesbians across the country. We'll also be looking at local races where able, along with ballot measures and other things of which nightmares (or dreams) are made.

A Blow for Equality
On December 14, 2006, the New Jersey legislature passed two bills which will help to ensure equal civil rights and liberties for its gay and lesbian residents, and also afford employment protections for any citizen with non-traditional gender identification.

Tom Cruise is Still Not Gay
I don't know about you, but I am amazed at the lengths Tom Cruise will go to establish he's not gay.

Sheryl Swoopes
WNBA star comes out - what does it mean in general, and for women's basketball?

Katrina Aid
Salvation Army continues to say, "GLBT folks, take care of yourselves."  We do have alternatives for you, however.

Military Continues to Discharge Service Members "Outed" Online
  SLDN Reports At least 10 online outings since January; group issues advice on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and the Internet.

Love In Action Co-Founder: "My Ministry Shatters Lives"
Wayne Besen, Co-founder of ministry that runs teen "ex-gay" boot camp, says group shatters lives and can cause suicide.

West Virginia Comes Through
There is cause to rejoice, the West Virginia Supreme Court awarded custody of a 5 year old boy to his biological mother's surviving "partner."

Officially Sanctioned Hatred- More Pope
The new Pope proves that a leopard never changes its homophobic spots.

Colorado Comes Through
The Colorado Legislature passes a measure that would ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees while refusing  to push forward an anti-gay amending to the state constitution.

Health Insurance Crises
Too many go without including a higher percentage of gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender adults

Rats!
MCC takes a close look at the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,  and is not happy with what it sees.

Toys R For Everybody
Toys "R" Us greatly expands its non-discrimination policies to include transgender and is on track towards providing domestic partnership benefits.

Six Feet Under: Out of Burial Site, Out of Mind?
San Diego Bishop refuses Catholic Funeral Service for Gay Club Owner, then later reverses himself but it's too little, too late.

Back to the Chapel
Marriage is back on for gay and lesbian couples in California as a Judge rules that the state definition of marriage as "a relationship between a man and a woman" is unconstitutional. 

Don't Ask Don't Tell Don't .... Oops!
More and more high ranking military voices call for an end to the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.

Silver Linings -  2004 Election Aftermath
No, the 2004 election did not bode well for us.  Tom Brokaw estimates that 43% of the American Public identify at "Evangelical Christians," while some of those include gays, lesbians, and others who would not deny equal civil rights under the law based on religious principles, that is still a sobering statistic.

FMA Defeated
The "Federal Marriage Amendment" was defeated before it could even get started. 

ELCA Office Joins Opposition To Federal Marriage Amendment
The Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington D.C., the federal public policy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined 25 other religious organizations June 3 to urge members of the U.S. Congress to reject the proposed "Federal Marriage Amendment."  The religious organizations said the proposal threatens individual civil rights and religious freedom.

Freedom Rings Some More
The Massachusetts Supreme Court points the state in the direction of equality in marriage - but what will happen next is still very much up in the air.

Achaea: Land of Dreams (but not all dreams)
Great RP game. Great world. Not perfect. Help fix it.

Let Freedom Ring
The U.S. Supreme Court finally rights a prior wrong, and kicks the state out of the bedrooms of consenting adults, in a decision that will be of great benefit to all aspects of our fight for equal civil rights.

Memo Koufax: See Cruise
My thoughts on Sandy Koufax's reaction to the suggestion that he might be gay.

The Year in Review: 2002
A review of news and other items of note from the United States, and around the world.

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