Focus On The Rainbow

The Palm Center has announced plans to convene a Washington, D.C. summit of officials and experts from military forces that allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly, including the Israel Defense Force and NATO member militaries. The summit, which is planned for early spring, will focus on the implementation of personnel policies for openly gay troops. British and Israeli experts have confirmed their participation.

“As military and political leaders anticipate the end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the lessons from the twenty-five foreign forces that allow open gay service are instructive,” stated Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center. Belkin cited three questions that generally dominate the comparison: Did the decision to allow open gay service undermine military readiness? How was implementation managed? To what extent can lessons from abroad help U.S. officials plan for an inclusive policy?

In 1993, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) submitted a report to Congress regarding gays and lesbians in foreign militaries. It assessed the impact of open service on military readiness, finding that, “Military officials in all four countries said that the presence of homosexuals in the military is not an issue and has not created problems in the functioning of military units.” A 1993 report by the RAND Corporation reached a similar conclusion.

During last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Maine Senator Susan Collins asked if any NATO partners had reported difficulties since their implementation of open service. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had spoken to many NATO allies and they reported “no impact” on military performance.

Palm Center scholars have published several journal articles and book chapters on gays and lesbians in the Israeli, British, Canadian and Australian Forces. A 2000 Palm Center conference at the Commonwealth Club included officials and experts from a number of foreign militaries that allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly.

Next week, the Palm Center plans to release a new, 150-page study on the status of gays and lesbians in foreign military forces around the world. The study will include the first-ever in-depth analysis of gays and lesbians in the South African Defence Force, which dropped its ban in 1998.

Source – PR Newswire/Palm Center

SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL BOARD WEIGHS COSTLY EXPANSION FOR LGBT STUDENTS

With everything from art classes, summer school and jobs on the chopping block this year, the San Francisco school board will decide this week whether to greatly expand school services, support and instruction on issues of sexual orientation.

The decision could cost the school district, which is facing a $113 million budget shortfall over the next two years, at least $120,000 a year – enough cash to cover the salaries of two classroom teachers.

The school board is expected to vote Tuesday on the fiscally controversial resolution calling for San Francisco Unified to add a new full-time staffer to manage “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning” youth issues in the district’s Student Support Services Department. – Source – San Francisco Chronicle

NEW JERSEY GAY RIGHTS GROUP TO CURTAIL POLITICAL DONATIONS

New Jersey’s largest gay rights group is suspending donations to political parties after feeling spurned by Democratic lawmakers who failed to pass a gay marriage bill.

Garden State Equality is also asking its 65,000 members not to contribute to parties.

The group has not said it will refrain from donating to individual candidates. – Source – WCBS-TV

CBS’ SUPERBOWL COVERAGE SETS RECORD TV RATING

Sunday’s Super Bowl was the most-watched program in TV history.

An estimated 106.5 million viewers tuned in to CBS to watch the New Orleans Saints’  nail-bitting 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts, according to Nielsen.

That tops the previous record of 105.97 million for the 1983 finale of “M*A*S*H,” which until Sunday stood as the most-watched program of any kind. – Source – The Daily News

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RHODE ISLAND CANDIDATES PROMISE SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Three candidates running for Rhode Island governor are promising to sign a gay marriage bill should it reach their desk if they are elected.

Marriage Equality Rhode Island solicited the promise from Attorney General Patrick Lynch and General Treasurer Frank Caprio, both Democrats, and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, an independent.

The candidates have been invited to make their promise public at a Statehouse rally on March 3. – Source – Boston Globe

CHILDREN RAISED BY LESBIANS DO JUST FINE

Children raised by lesbian parents fare as well as they would in heterosexual households, new research suggests.

The finding, which comes from a review of essentially all studies on the topic of same-sex parents and the health of their children, helps to tease out politics and science on this highly divisive issue. In general, kids in both heterosexual and lesbian households had similar levels of academic achievement, number of friends and overall well-being.

Whether or not kids from homosexual households are more likely to have a non-heterosexual orientation is still unknown. But if there is a genetic component to sexual orientation, it would make sense that kids born to a lesbian mom, say, would be more likely than other kids to be homosexual, scientists say. – Source – Live Science

BRITISH TORY CAUGHT ON TAPE MAKING HOMOPHOBIC REMARKS

In a filmed recording of the meeting at Brentwood council, Cllr Parker appears to contribute to a conversation about consultations with homosexuals and domestic violence victims by saying: “The scream team will be conversing with the queen team.”

The remark drove Cllr Karen Chilvers, a Liberal Democrat, to make a formal complaint about Cllr Parker, who may now be called before the council standards committee.

Cllr Parker, who has served as a Conservative councillor for four years, originally defended the comment by saying it was the sort of “joke” often heard on television comedy shows such as Mock the Week. – Source – The Telegraph

GAY MAN MURDERED BECAUSE OF “GAY PANIC”

Rodney Greenland, 47, stabbed 36-year-old Simon Amers to death after Mr Amers stroked his leg, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Mr Amers was found naked and face down in a pool of blood in his flat, prosecutors said.

The men had both been drinking in Ipswich when they met in a pub late at night before going back to Mr Amers’s flat on July 27 last year, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson said Greenland told police the men had agreed to go back to Mr Amers’s flat for a drink. – Source - London Evening Standard

GAYS AND LESBIANS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO MARCH IN RUSSIA

Gay men and women should be allowed to hold public marches in Russia, St. Petersburg’s new ombudsman said Monday.

Alexey Kozyrev, a playwright, said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations  in 1948 gives everyone the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

“If you have the right, then why not stage a (gay rights) parade?” Kozyrev told RIA Novosti. – Source - UPI

IT’S TUESDAY … GET OVER TO DENNY’S !

From the UK gay rights group Outrage! :

The Football Association has cancelled this week’s launch of its long awaited anti-homophobia video, pleading that it needs to review its strategy on tackling anti-gay prejudice and how the video fits into its overall campaign.   

The cancellation coincides with criticism and unease over the video’s use of stridently homophobic language in a bid to expose and shame bigots.

Produced by top award-winning advertising agency, Ogilvy, the video was due to have been launched by the FA at Wembley Stadium this Thursday, 11 February.

The last minute “postponement” has caused consternation among football and gay groups who were backing the project, including the football diversity and equality campaign, Kick It Out, and gay rights group OutRage!.

The FA’s anti-homophobia video project was proposed by Peter Tatchell of OutRage! over two years ago, as a way of challenging prejudice on the pitch and on the terraces. The Football Association agreed the proposal and Kick It Out was delegated to produce it.  

“This last minute cancellation is a big disappointment. It has thrown the Football Association’s commitment to tackling homophobia into disarray,” said Peter Tatchell of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights group, OutRage!

“Contrary to what the FA is now saying, the video and strategy was agreed nearly two years ago. This postponement comes on top of the FA’s dissolution of the broad-based Tackling Homophobia Working Group. Set up several years ago, the group had helped push forward many of the FA’s constructive initiatives to rid football of homophobia.

“The FA has now reconstituted the Working Group with a hand-picked, much smaller and less representative number of members. It no longer includes all interested stakeholders. Many relevant LGBT groups are not included.

“I always wanted an MTV-style video, with an appealing, uplifting, positive message, featuring top players and a good music track. Sadly, the FA never seriously attempted to get top players to participate.

“The video agreed by the Football Association and Kick It Out features strong homophobic language. The main character, a youngish man, abuses a newspaper seller, tube train passenger and an office worker with anti-gay taunts. The video finishes with him shouting homophobic abuse at a football match. The captions make the point that since homophobia is not acceptable at work, it should not be be acceptable on the terraces either.  

“I don’t object to the use of anti-gay abuse to make a point. The shock value is likely to give the video the impact and controversy necessary to generate publicity and debate. It will get people talking, which is a good thing. But it was a mistake to not involve LGBT organisations in planning the video script.

“The ad agency’s advice was that shock tactics were the most effective psychological device to expose and shame bigoted fans into stopping their homophobia. They are professionals and experts in these matters,” said Mr Tatchell.

Gay former NBA basketball star John Amaechi has also criticised the video against homophobia. See his blog here:  
http://amaechiperformance. blogspot.com/2010/02/strategy. html

Peter Tatchell occasionally shares his editorial pieces here on Focus On The Rainbow

“We live in the state [Massachusetts] where the right has existed for the longest, and we have not made a decision to get married. This spring, we will have been together for 11 years, and our relationship is serious and happy, mature, monogamous. We like having the right, and we think that everybody should have the right, but we’re making our own decision about whether we should exercise it.”

“We both have really rich family lives with our extended families, and neither one of us has ever wanted to have kids.”

Read the full interview at USA WEEKEND.

Scott Fujita is known for many things — being a “big white guy with the Japanese last name.” as he says; his dedication to charities and community service; and, more recently, his unapologetic views on gay rights.

Fujita made waves in October when he backed Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo’s support for gay marriage. Now, with the spotlight on him for this Sunday’s Super Bowl, the 30-year-old linebacker isn’t backing down.

Earlier this week, Fujita talked to The Advocate about getting more pro athletes to open up about gay rights, and the possibility of alienating people by being so outspoken.

Read the full interview at The Advocate

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE “OUTS” PROP 8 JUDGE WALKER

The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay.

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise – or advertise – his orientation. – Source – San Francisco Chronicle

NOT YOUR DAD’S NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

MALAWI MAN ARRESTED FOR PUTTING UP PRO-GAY RIGHTS POSTERS

Malawian police have arrested a man for allegedly putting up posters supporting homosexuality, which is illegal in the southern African nation.

Peter Sawali was charged last week with conduct likely to cause breach of peace, said police spokesman Davie Chingwalu.

Sawali, 21, was putting up posters that read, “Gay rights are human rights,” on a busy road in the city of Blantyre, the spokesman said.

“All these countries want to impose their culture on us, but homosexuality is a crime, according to the penal code in Malawi,” he said. Those found guilty of homosexuality in Malawi face a maximum of 14 years in jail. – Source – CNN

EXCOMMUNICATED PRIEST TO WED PARTNER IN IRELAND

Bishop Pat Buckley says he is looking forward to his forthcoming civil partnership next week with his Filipino partner Eduardo Yango.

The self-styled cleric told the Belfast Telegraph that he is tying the knot with his lover during a “simple” ceremony at Larne Borough Council on Monday before heading to his home for a religious service in The Oratory, where he has blessed gay and lesbian unions in his private independent chapel for over 22 years.

I am looking forward to Monday very much,” said Bishop Buckley, who was suspended as a Catholic priest in 1986 and was excommunicated in 1998 following his unlawful ordination as a bishop. – Source – Belfast Telegraph

DEADLY EXPLOSION HERE IN CONNECTICUT KILLS AT LEAST 5 WITH MANY INJURED

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IS TOKYO’S GAY DISTRICT HEADING TOWARDS EXTINCTION ?

It is, in many ways, very Japanese: discreet, compartmentalised; fastidiously careful about order and details. Live and let live as long as the outward appearance of things is maintained. “This is a country that happily lives with contradictions,” says Taq Otsuka, author of several books on Japan’s gay scene. “It has its one way of doing things that people sometimes don’t understand.” Thus, Tokyo, a city with a reputation as one of the most uptight, buttoned-down capitals, also boasts, in its Shinjuku district, one of the world’s densest and most diverse concentration of gay bars and clubs: the Ni-chome (pronounced “nee-chomay”) area. – Source - The Independent

DID HIGH SCHOOL DISCRIMATE AGAINST GAY TEEN CHEERLEADER ?

NBC Nightly News Sunday Edition On Explosion In Connecticut

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All workers have been accounted for in this newest report

January 5 -  February 3, 2010 Ranking Reort

Top 20 CT/Hearst newspaper website blogs ranking

5 – Political Capitol  (staff writer covers Hartford CT and politics)

8 – Ken Dixon’s Blog-O-Rama (staff writer covers politics)

12 – Focus On The Rainbow (non-staff contributor)

All three blogs appear on the four websites of the CT/Hearst newspapers