GLBT News

[sprhrgrl]

These pages have seen mostly happy news lately, which is good. I know that in San Diego things are going well enough that my prom-king-ism wasn't even newsworthy. Which makes me really happy.



It's sad that things are so different depending on where you are. I have a shirt that I got at a Tribe 8 show with a dyke sailor straddeling a mermaid that I've worn to school a couple of times. It's decent, just the position is rather, erm, incriminating, and I've never been given any slack for it - either at the facist big high school that I was at, or my happy supportive art school. Even in Washington, I wore six rainbow pony beads around my neck for two years and although the principal was a complete ass regarding our Gay/Straight Alliance, she said nothing about my choices in dress.

sprhrgrl.com

she's my everything

racism=sexism=homophobia

The truth shall set you free, but first it will piss you off. - Gloria Steinem

[sheila wt]

I hope this is the right place...



Really funny article about Canada's Gay Marriage Law







I'm not sure if it's so funny because of the absurd or if because it's not *that* absurd... Maybe both.

--------------------------
"She had tasted Willow on her tongue, and she had worn Willow on her skin. There wasn't a shower in the world that could have washed that away." (Terra Firma, by Tulipp)

[Kalita]

Sheila, I found it absurdly funny... does that help?



Kal

Candid Canuck

[urnofosiris]

Quote:

---

I'm not sure if it's so funny because of the absurd or if because it's not *that* absurd... Maybe both.

---

Surely both. If you would rewrite this without all the sarcasm there would be a lot of truth in it unfortunately. A great article btw, I think I actually picked up a few pointers on the effective use of sarcasm.

-------------------------


Coffee, Food, Kisses and Gay Love........Get it while you are hot

[willowntaraslovechild]

There is also a side article about how some religious groups feel.



www.suntimes.com/output/n...gay25.html

[dekalog]

TORONTO -- Five teenagers yelling anti-gay taunts attacked a

man on the outskirts of the gay village Monday, just as the city's

Pride Week began.



The Hate Crimes Unit and officers from the 51 Division of the

Toronto Police Service are investigating the incident while the

36-year-old victim remains in St Michael's Hospital with serious

injuries.



Det Jim Hogan of the Hate Crimes Unit says the victim was near

240 Wellesley St E, at Ontario St, in the late afternoon when five

teenaged males started taunting him and deriding his sexual

orientation.



The victim fled, running into a store, running out and running into

another store, where his assailants caught him. They hit him

and beat him with a metal bar and a metal mop handle.



Police arrived in the vicinity by coincidence, found the injured

victim and took him to hospital. No charges have been laid yet,

says Hogan.



Later that night 15 young men or youth attacked three cyclists.

Police believe that the first five were part of the second group. No

anti-gay statements were made during the second attack, so

Hate Crimes Unit is not investigating. The three men were also seriously injured and taken to hospital.



this is from my daily local email newsgroup - and with Pride Day coming its important to remember that we still have much to fight for.

[GiftofAmber]

When I was telling him about the Canadian courts, a friend of mine actually tried to tell me that same sex marriage was legal in California and Florida. I explained that it was "domestic partnership" not marriage, and was told that I didn't know what I was talking about. Would someone who lives in California please clarify?

[Ben Varkentine]

Article from the LA daily news that I thought Kittens might find intersting. It's the old "explotation or empowerment" question as it relates to the new Charlie's Angel's flick.



There are echoes of Buffy here too--according to this the director of Full Throttle was given specific orders by Sony to up the "lap dancing, soaping and camera following Diaz's butt" to bring in the male moviegoers (our boy numbers are up).



Which also explains why Drew Barrymore has been stressing the "no-male bashing" aspects of the film while she'd been out tubthumping.



u.dailynews.com/Stories/0...72,00.html

Ben



"Any frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always

ready to defend their most precious possession."

[sprhrgrl]

I'm wondering if I'd heard of that incident before. . . The one that dekalog mentioned. Marn is a famous member of diaryland, and she wrote this about another d-land icon, QueerScribe, who was stabbed. But when I looked over it again, it said "Late this week this very funny, smart and sexy man was stabbed over 20 times after a date went very, very wrong." So I'm thinking it might've been by the person he was out with. . .



About gay marriage vs. anything else, there's a page here on the Marriage Equality site. In case you're wondering about the "1,049 federal rights" they refer to, there's a page on that here. They spend seventy-five pages talking about the "defense" of marriage, which is sickening.

sprhrgrl.com

she's my everything

racism=sexism=homophobia

The truth shall set you free, but first it will piss you off. - Gloria Steinem

[BBOvenGuy]

The Supreme Court has just struck down the Texas sodomy law.



By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the Texas sodomy law is unconstitutional because it violates the rights of privacy and due process.



Voting with the majority were Justices JFK (who wrote the majority opinion), Souter, Ginsberg, Breyer, Stevens and O'Conner. Voting with the minority were Justices Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas.



Details can be found here.

"The first task of anyone, lest you get canceled, is to entertain people, because they ain't there for message." - Dick Wolf

[PJ]

Bob beat me to it. Here's another article. Intersting that O'Connor switched sides since the 1986 case. Previously, she had voted to uphold the "sodomy" law.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp...Jun26.html

[xita]

Oh wow that's awesome and 6-3 is a really good margin. It's about time, so our legal system has finally decided that what happens in people's bedrooms is our business. I am so relieved. It's sad that Canada is approving gay marriages and we're still fighting to not be put in jail for it. But this is a big step. I went to that site PJ and got this wisdom from scalia:

Quote:

---

"The court has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda," Scalia wrote for the three. He took the unusual step of reading his dissent from the bench.



"The court has taken sides in the culture war," Scalia said, adding that he has "nothing against homosexuals."

---

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Leora......Leora....

[Kieli]

I'm not surprised at Justice Scalia's comments. He's a well-known hard-core conservative. But I doubt that I believe his whole "I have nothing against homosexuals" line when his previous statement "The court has signed on to the homosexual agenda" clearly proves otherwise. He's a judge, for Christ's sake! Has he forgotten some of his lessons in logic he supposedly learned in law school? And where is that so-called judiciary objectivity in his opinion? I don't think I've ever read a more biased, personal judicial opinion in quite some time. I am delighted to see that O'Conner has followed Souter and Ginsberg in their opinion. Wonder what changed her mind? And I don't expect much from Justice Thomas anymore. He is just a "follow the leader" type IMHO.

Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.

[Warduke]

Wow, although the US still has a long way to go before being as cool as Canada This is a great news.

---

Lil' Trevor : Always the life of the party.

[xita]

Yeah exactly Toni, I was just going to post the first part but then I decided to post the whole thing to show his hypocrisy. Agenda is the word of the anti-homosexual activist mr. judge.



And brian, we still have celine

-----------------------------------
Leora......Leora....

[Gatito Grande]

I go to an auction---on a Thursday, oh usually-Monday-deciding S.C.---and look what happens!



Nevertheless, this is excellent news. 'Bout damn time!



Here's HRC's take on the decision:



www.hrc.org/newsreleases/...sodomy.asp



GG Finally, some freedom: now, on to equality! Out



ETA: As promised, here's a listing of events to commemorate (celebrate!) the decision, nation-wide:



www.cabn.org/DefendOurRights/

Edited by: Gatito Grande at: 6/26/03 9:59 am

[The Shadowcat]

Quite frankly, I'm shocked that it got struck down. Shocked in a good way, but still rather surprised.



It was somewhat interesting that I heard about this from the lips of my small-minded, ex-military co-worker. He read it out loud in a mocking tone as I popped in to ask about a script command. He either has balls, or is as stupid as I give him credit for. My car is imfamous at work now for the big rainbow sticker on the bumper. Whatever.



Yay for good surprises, and a light at the end of the tunnel!

[tyche]

I'm really pleased about the Supreme Court's decision. I thought you folks might want to go and vote in the San Francisco Chronicle's online poll to celebrate:

www.sfgate.com/polls/

I especially liked the 'See you at the Pride parade, Sen. Santorum' option.

Edited to add: The BBC have a page of reader reactions to the news. I sent them my opinion and they quoted me! (I'm on there as 'Mary-Jane, USA'):

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talki...023904.stm

You can also send them your opinions using the form at the link above.

Edited by: tyche at: 6/26/03 4:32 pm

[Willowlicious]

I was very happy about the ruling, though I wasn't surprised as the Court had no reason to take on the issue again unless it intended to alter its 1986 stance. I was surprised and pleased about the 6-3 margin, though, even if O'Conner did say she still "signed on" with the previous Bowers case and apparently only stuck down the Texas law because gays were barred from sexual acts that heterosexuals were not barred from, thus singling gays out. Even though she acted semi-reluctantly, it's good she provided a second reason the Texas law was unconstitutional, further underlining the insidious stupidity of it. The other Justices were smart to tie their opinions to other civil rights and privacy cases, underlining that this issue is about rights of ALL people, not just gays.



All in all, a good, if slow-in-coming, day for America.



That said, ya know, my gf and I are giving serious thought to moving to Canada. We live only 10 minutes from the Windsor border, so it wouldn't be a major relocation. However, their huge tax rate is giving me pause. Hmmm. More taxes for more rights. I'm thinking about it....



Amy

[sprhrgrl]

w00! The news is running on AOL's newsreel. . . Along with a blurb about Tomb Raider II. . .

sprhrgrl.com

she's my everything

racism=sexism=homophobia

The truth shall set you free, but first it will piss you off. - Gloria Steinem

[Patches]

This is amazing news!



Since the link is already posted, I'll just add a snip from Associated Press,

Quote:

---

Although Texas itself did not make the argument, some of the state's supporters told the justices in friend-of-the-court filings that invalidating sodomy laws could take the court down the path of allowing same-sex marriage.

---

Finally the right is, well right - of frickin' course the court should allow same-sex marriages! It's only a matter of time.

You know I've heard about people like me. But I never made the connection. They walk one road to set them free, And find they've gone the wrong direction. But there's no need for turning back 'cause all roads lead to where I stand. And I believe I'll walk them all No matter what I may have planned

[Gatito Grande]

Exactly so, Patches! Though Antonin Scalia is his usual heinous self, I believe we should absolutely take him at his word when he says (in his dissent):

Quote:

---

Today’s opinion dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned. If moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is “no legitimate state interest” for purposes of proscribing that conduct, ante, at 18; and if, as the Court coos (casting aside all pretense of neutrality), “[w]hen sexuality finds overt expression in intimate conduct with another person, the conduct can be but one element in a personal bond that is more enduring,” ante, at 6; what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising “[t]he liberty protected by the Constitution,” ibid .?

---

news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs...603opn.pdf





GG No freakin' justification at all! Out



Don't you love Scalia's distinguished legal rhetoric: "the Court coos"---WTF???



ETA: Hey Canadians: Scalia also explicitly cites Canada's brand spankin' new gay marriage (in horror, of course!), so please know that you're having an effect on the Neanderthals to the south.

Edited by: Gatito Grande at: 6/26/03 12:26 pm

[friskylez]

I am as thrilled at the rest of the kittens at the news flash we just rcvd, i have been out for 20 plus years and all i can say is that ITS ABOUT TIME



im glad i was able to see something like this in my lifetime..Hopefully the issue to be addressed next will be same sex marriage in the US...I almost cried when i read the news, what a great day for gay rights

"Life is what happens while waiting for your ship to come in"

[drlloyd11]

Scalia comes off as even more odius than usual in this regard. He is giving the same argument (word for word even) used to defend segregation in the 1960's. Then as is now, it was used for bigots to protect their positions with the veil of respectibility.



Did I mention Bush II says Scalia is the type of Justice he admires?

Edited by: drlloyd11 at: 6/26/03 1:27 pm

[Scout]

Yeah, Bush would say that.



As for Scalia, one person's "agenda" is another person's fight for justice and civil liberty.



Hard to believe in this conservative climate that we could win such a big one. Feels good to be an American.





Edited to add another good link for more info: Lambda Legal

Edited by: Scout at: 6/26/03 2:27 pm

[WebWarlock]

Here is another one.



www.msnbc.com/news/929327...2620031440



It's about time.



Warlock

-----

Web Warlock

The Other Side,
home of Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks

"So many different people to be." - Donovan - Season of the Witch

[Repost Moderator]

Originally posted by UnrealisticExpectations



CNN has a poll on the SC's decision on the sodomy law.

Vote at:



www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/...r.reports/

[Aradia785]

You mean I'm no longer commiting criminal acts in 13 states? Plus the one I reside in? DAMN! Now what will we do for fun?



Its about damn time for this. People may like to argue that "this kind of case almost never happens" (i.e., arresting gays for having sex), but it sure does happen around here. I've seen cases where people have been given longer sentances for sodomy law violations than murderers and rapists.



Ann

If I hear that Gong of Doom I will send stoned squirrels to raid your kitchen
- Lisa of Nine

Operation Free MyRack! Who wants to join the coalition of the willing?

[sheila wt]

Wow, so yesterday was my last day as an outlaw? Unbelievable.



I really, really hope this is only the first step of many towards the full recognition of our rights.

--------------------------
"She had tasted Willow on her tongue, and she had worn Willow on her skin. There wasn't a shower in the world that could have washed that away." (Terra Firma, by Tulipp)

[drlloyd11]

A small bit. The loathesome Strom Thurmond died today. He spent half his life railing against civil rights, and the other half gay rights. The Irony of it coming today is not subtle.