Tag Archives: LGBT rights

UK Conservatives Go Gay: Tories Throw Giant Gay Club Night

The party of Margaret Thatcher wooed LGBT support yesterday by throwing a massive gay club night in Manchester, where the Tories are holding their annual party conference. “Party with your fellow conservatives” read the poster. Skin-tight T-shirts, posters of semi-naked men and buckets of condoms on the tables. This was not a typical fringe event at the Conservative party conference. …

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PhoboQuotable – James Bowman

“If reason were to be readmitted to the debate, we might find something in the history of military honor to justify the principle now enshrined in the law decreeing that “homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” We know that soldiering–I mean not training or support or peacekeeping or any of the myriad other things soldiers do, but facing enemy bullets–is …

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The High Cost Of Being A Gay Couple

Today’s New York Times features a fascinating breakdown of the added costs that gay couples bear as incomplete and unrecognized members of society. The authors created a hypothetical gay couple and enlisted tax, insurance, and financial planning experts to run many scenarios on how much more it costs to be a gay couple in the United States. Our goal was …

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Illinois Senate Introduces Marriage Bill

Yesterday Illinois state Sen. Heather Stearns introduced a marriage equality bill. Via Equality Illinois: “This is not an issue of sacred versus secular – there are plenty of synagogues and churches that both recognize and perform same-sex marriages,” said Bernard Cherkasov, Chief Executive Officer of Equality Illinois. “Rather, marriage is a civil right – plain and simple. The state cannot …

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Barney Frank At ENDA Hearings

Barney Frank spoke as bluntly as always at yesterday’s House ENDA hearings. Watch this. Good As You has many more clips.

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HomoQuotable – Larry Kramer

“We get what we fight for. And we are not fighting. Every single one of us is not fighting. They fight better than we do. There is a concerted and never ending vein of hate in this country and in this world dedicated to keeping us in our place. It is evil to force people to be what we are …

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Poll: Approve R-71 Winning 51-44, Voter Turnout Will Be Crucial

A just-released poll shows that support for maintaining Washington state’s domestic partners law is ahead by 51-44. But gay organizers are concerned. When voters are read the exact ballot language, 51 percent approve referendum 71 and 44 percent reject referendum 71. The discrepancy may because this new poll looks only at voters likely to cast ballots in the 2009 off …

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How The Freepers See America

From the Free Republic post on the ENDA hearings. The post quotes a blog called The Last Crusade: The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is designed to make homosexuals, bisexuals, drag queens, cross-dressers and transsexuals into federally-protected minority groups. Once enacted, the latest legislation from the Obama Administration will produce the following results: A. Businesses, as well as local, state, and federal …

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ENDA Hearing Live Stream

The ENDA hearings begin today in the U.S. House. View the proceedings live here. UPDATE: C-SPAN is not yet covering the hearings on the above link. I’m hunting for another video source. Follow along with the NGLTF’s executive director Rea Carey, who is live-Tweeting from the U.S. Capitol. UPDATE II: Watch it live here right now.

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Tomorrow: House ENDA Hearings

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) begins hearings tomorrow in the U.S. House. The House Education & Labor Committee will hear testimony on ENDA on Sept. 23, according to committee spokesperson Aaron Albright. He said witnesses had not yet been finalized for the hearing and a subsequent markup for the legislation hasn’t been scheduled. Albright said the hearing “will be the …

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Photo Of The Day

(Via- Dan Savage)

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EU Condemns Lithuania’s Anti-Gay Law

Yesterday the European Union approved a resolution condemning Lithuania’s new outlawing of any mention of homosexuality in public schools or media “accessible by young people.” The law, titled ‘Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information’, includes “the propaganda of homosexuality [or] bisexuality” as a detrimental factor on young people. It has been compared to …

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Serbia To Try Gay Pride Again, Extremists Promise Violence

Serbia’s last gay Pride event was in 2001, when extremists attacked participants with stones and rioted around a student center where gays had taken refuge. Subsequent attempts to restage a parade failed. But this weekend, Belgrade will try again. Orthodox Bishop Amfilohije has already warned Serbians that the event will be a “parade of shame” adding that “gay and lesbian …

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OH: House Passes Major LGBT Rights Bill

Ohio’s House of Representatives has passed a sweeping gay rights law that would provide LGBT residents with discrimination protections in employment, housing, and public accommodations. It is the first time in history that an LGBT rights law has passed in either chamber of Ohio’s legislature, a state where an anti-marriage equality law passed easily at the ballot in 2004. Law …

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Indonesia: Stonings For Adultery, Public Lashings And Prison For Homosexuals

Weeks before they will be ousted for a more moderate government, lawmakers in the Indonesian province of Aceh have unanimously approved a law dictating the stoning to death of adulterers and the public lashings and imprisonment of gays. People found “guilty” of homosexuality are now subject to eight years in prison. Human rights groups immediately denounced the vote. The incoming …

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WA: Attorney General To Appeal Decision To Cloak Names Of R-71 Signers

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna says he will file an appeal to the decision of a federal judge to cloak the names of those who signed the anti-gay Referendum 71, which would repeal the state’s new domestic partners law. Yesterday federal judge Ben Settle said that people have the right to participate anonymously in the political process. This ain’t …

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Cops Raid Atlanta Eagle, Arrest Employees, Patrons Claim Harassment

Last night Atlanta police raided the popular Eagle nightclub, arresting several employees and angering patrons who claim they are being harassed. About ten police cars and about 15 cops raided the bar, allegedly looking for drugs. However, the police were said to have ordered all patrons to get on the ground–including patrons who were just dancing or standing at the …

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Uruguay Legalizes Gay Adoption

Uruguay lawmakers have approved the bill legalizing adoption by same-sex couples. The bill was first proposed last month to great objections by local Catholic leaders. Lawmakers voted Wednesday to extend adoption rights to gay couples in Uruguay, the latest measure to relax laws on homosexuality that has drawn criticism from church leaders in the country, which is predominantly Roman Catholic. …

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BREAKING: Nation’s Most Infamous Anti-Gay Bigot Doesn’t Like Being Called An Anti-Gay Bigot, It’s Not “Neighborly”

NOM founder Maggie Gallagher thinks LGBT people are being just downright “unneighborly” when we vigorously protest our legalized oppression at the hands of the Christian right. Why, we should all be politely tipping our hats as Maggie sneers, “Shut up and eat your nothing!” “Here’s the truth: You will now be called a hater and a bigot merely for standing …

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Indian Gov’t To Support Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

Two months ago, the Indian High Court issued a landmark ruling that rolled back British colonial-era laws against homosexuality. Today the Indian government said they will let the ruling stand. The government will not oppose the Delhi High Court judgment which legalised homosexual acts between consenting adults, official documents show. The note, likely to be put up before the Union …

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