Focus On The Rainbow

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NO DISCO PARTY ON GOOD FRIDAY IN CORNWALL ENGLAND

The event’s organiser, Jason Hudson, wanted to book the Miners’ and Mechanics Institute building in St Agnes, Cornwall, on April 2, under the name Gay Pride Productions.

He said he was initially told he could use the venue in the former tin mining village but the booking was later cancelled by the chairman of the committee as it was “unsuitable” for the hall.

Mr Hudson, from St Agnes, who expected the event to attract 300 guests, said: “I was told it wasn’t the right kind of event – but salsa and aerobics are, I suppose? The bar is empty most nights and I explained this would attract custom. I feel this is discrimination.”

Mr Hudson, who is married with children, added: “I have a lot of gay friends in the area and they told me they have nowhere to go.”

In a statement, Dawn Brown, the Institute’s chairman, rejected any suggestion the committee was anti-homosexual.

“I admit I had personal reservations as the date is Good Friday,” she said.

“Although the strict licensing hours which applied on Good Friday have been relaxed in our increasingly secular society, the sensitivities remain, and St Agnes has a large and active Christian community whom I would not wish to upset.

“We want to create a family-centred venue. We don’t want the bar full one night if it drives away custom the rest of the week.” – Source – Telegraph

ARE GAYS AND LESBIANS EXCLUDED FROM CLINICAL TRIALS ?

Concerns about gay discrimination expanded from matrimony or the military to a new corner of society this week: clinical trials for medical treatment.

Experts at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia worry that doctors may needlessly exclude gay men and lesbians from clinical trials that investigate a range of topics from cancer to diabetes and depression.

A study of 243 clinical trials related to couples and sexual function after various medical treatments showed that 37 trials explicitly excluded people in same-sex relationships, according to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday.

“The National Institutes of Health guidelines really require scientists to have sound scientific reasoning for why they need to restrict the study to one ethnic group or sex,” said Brian L. Egleston, lead author on the paper and an assistant research professor at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. “But there’s not this same level of oversight when it comes to gay and lesbian patients.”

Doctors wanting to test a new drug or treatment often use age, behavior, disease or sex to narrow down which people can participate in clinical trials. It’s a crucial step to make sure the drug is tested only on those who could benefit and that outside diseases or behaviors don’t complicate the experiment.

“It’s not unusual in studies to decide who your target population is and exclude people who are not in this target population,” said Susan Cochran, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health. Cochran was not involved with the study.

“The bigger problem is if everyone just decides they’re going to exclude sexual minorities,” she said. “Then their health issues are never dealt with.” – Source – Read the full article at ABC News

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY OBJECTS TO ELECTION OF LESBIAN BISHOP

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s office yesterday described the election of an openly lesbian bishop in the United States as “regrettable” and warned that it could further threaten the unity of the Anglican Communion.

The London office of Dr Rowan Williams responded to the election of Canon Mary Glasspool to a suffragan see in Los Angeles by warning of “important implications”. The statement from Lambeth Palace said that further consultations would now take place and regretted that calls for restraint had not been heeded.

The Episcopal News Service reported that Canon Glasspool, who held from the start that her sexuality was not an issue, had received the necessary consents from bishops and standing committees in the US for her consecration by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to go ahead in May.

Her election comes after that of the Anglican Communion’s first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, whose election in 2003 took the worldwide Church to the brink of schism, where it remains. Both Bishop Robinson and Bishop-elect Glasspool have been with their current partners for many years.

Her election was strongly opposed by conservatives and is expected to exacerbate tensions and imperil the success of the new Covenant process, intended to find a basis of common doctrine and practice for the entire Church.

Canon Kendall Harmon, a conservative blogger, said: “I’m very sad but I’m not surprised. It represents not simply a decision or a single act but a habit and therefore a pattern and therefore a chosen direction, without question.” Source – TimesOnline

METLIFE STUDIES LGBT BOOMERS

LGBT Baby Boomers have withstood many years of discrimination and say their approach to retirement and aging has been shaped by these experiences. “Still Out, Still Aging: The MetLife Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Baby Boomers,” conducted with the American Society on Aging (ASA) and its constituent group, the LGBT Aging Issues Network (LAIN), shows LGBT Boomers will approach retirement differently than the general population and most will delay retirement until they are 70. Largely single and living alone, they will rely more on close friends than family for support as they age.

“Boomers in the LGBT population, born between 1946 and 1964, advanced the gay rights movement,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. “Born into a generation known for social activism, they were activists on a personal mission, forced to fight discrimination in school, in the workplace, in government, in society and among their own families. The result is a cohort of strong individuals who will continue to blaze trails as older Americans.”- Read the full study here 

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THE RIGHT FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS TO MARRY IN NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY CONTINUES

Gay rights activists are renewing their fight to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, hoping a mix of moneyed supporters and celebrity star power will tilt the scales in their favor.

A group called Fight Back New York, created with money from software entrepreneur and openly gay philanthropist Tim Gill, is pledging to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get pro-gay marriage candidates elected to the state Senate in November’s elections.

Advocates aim to bring the issue of same-sex marriage to the Senate floor as early as next year. The legislature voted three months ago to reject a similar bill.

“There is definitely a theme of punishment in our work,” said spokesman Alex Navarro-McKay. The group would target some of the eight Democrats who helped defeat the bill, he said. All 30 Republicans and eight Democrats voted no, defeating the bill 38 to 24. – Source – Reuters

New Jersey gays rights advocates, with the help of New York-based Lambda Legal, are going back to the New Jersey Supreme Court in order to fight for the right to marry in the Garden State.

Lambda Legal and Garden State Equality have scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning in Trenton to announce their action.

It comes barely two months after a stinging defeat in the New Jersey State Senate, when several legislators apparently backtracked on earlier promises and failed to pass a Marriage Equality law.

The advocates are prepared for a tough battle. “It’s hard to tell [how long this will take],” said Lambda Legal spokeswoman Lisa Hardaway in New York.

But the organization will be building on a 2006 decision by New Jersey’s highest court that ordered legislators to pass either a Marriage Equality law or an equivalent Civil Union law that gave gays identical rights. Legislators chose civil union.

Ever since, gay marriage advocates have argued civil union doesn’t work, that it’s not recognized by hospitals, doctors and employers. And in fact, several senators who voted against gay marriage in January admitted that it might not work, but they weren’t willing to go with a law that used the word ‘marriage.’

So now it turns to New Jersey’s Supremes. – Source – NBC4 New York

THREE MEN INDICTED ON CHARGE OF HATE CRIME IN ATTACK OF GAY MAN

Three north suburban men were indicted Wednesday for allegedly harassing and attacking a gay man on a CTA train in January.

Kevin McAndrew and Benjamin Eder, both 23, and Sean Little, 21, all of Evanston, originally faced misdemeanor battery charges stemming from the Jan. 10 incident. 

On Wednesday, the three men were each indicted on one count of hate crime and two counts of aggravated battery, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin. The men will appear for arraignment on March 26.

Little, Eder and McAndrew were riding the CTA Red Line train when Little allegedly began verbally harassing and shoving a gay youth, according to a release from the attorney for Daniel Hauff, a Rogers Park man who tried to intervene.

At that point, Little allegedly began directing anti-gay slurs at Hauff and pushed him. Eder and McAndrew, who had been watching, joined in the assault, calling Hauff a “stupid faggot” and all three began punching Hauff’s face, bloodying him in front of train passengers, according to the release.

Chicago police say the three men “made disparaging comments” to the 33-year-old Hauff, taunted him and punched him on the train at the Argyle station in Uptown.

Another man tried to help and numerous other passengers pushed the train’s emergency button, the release said. A witness confirmed Little had been harassing and shoving a young man for being homosexual.

If convicted, the men face a maximum of five years in prison each.

Source – Chicago Sun-Times/WBBM-TV

CATHOLIC ADOPTION AGENCY IN THE UK CAN TURN DOWN GAY ADOPTION

 TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE BEING ERODED BY SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

English law no longer has a clear concept of marriage, a leading family lawyer has said.

Baroness Deech, the chairman of the Bar Standards Board, also believes that human rights law could soon be used to legalise full homosexual marriage.

She said the traditional Christian image of a lifelong union of man and woman is no longer accurate because of the changing nature of relationships and the introduction of legal rights for same-sex couples.

Lady Deech said she believes that human rights law may soon rule that it is discriminatory to ban homosexuals from marrying in the same way that heterosexual couples do.

But she added that some differences between civil partnerships and marriages should be preserved, and criticised recent Labour laws that allow same-sex couples to be named on birth certificates with no mention of a father.

Source – Daily Mail

PAYROLL ERRORS CAN COST SAME-SEX COUPLES THOUSANDS IN TAX MONEY

Filing your own tax returns is confusing enough. But the process can be even more bewildering for gay and lesbian couples in civil unions and marriages. This is doubly true when their own employers aren’t clear on how differences between state and federal tax codes affect their withholdings.

For the last decade, the payroll system for the Vermont State Colleges wasn’t accounting for the fact that some of its 2000 employees are gay or lesbian and provide their partners with health care benefits. Twenty-nine former and current Vermont State Colleges staffers were notified in a February 16 letter from the chancellor’s office that the automated payroll system wasn’t set up properly to process contributions to their partners’ medical and dental policies as a pre-tax withholding.

Those letters were followed shortly thereafter by checks to reimburse them for the state taxes the couples improperly paid during the years their partners received VSC health and dental insurance benefits.

Under Vermont’s civil-union law, which took effect on July 1, 2000, any employment benefit afforded to same-sex partners in a civil union must be treated the same way as those given to heterosexual couples. Vermont’s gay-marriage law, enacted last year, included the same requirement. And, under Vermont’s tax code, health benefits provided to spouses and dependents are treated as nontaxable income.

“We made a mistake,” says VSC chancellor Tim Donovan. “We wish that it hadn’t happened, but we’re glad someone found it.” – Source – 7 Days/Vermont’s Independent Voice

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Integrity joins with the Diocese of Los Angeles in celebrating today’s announcement that sufficient consents have been received from both Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to the election of the Reverend Canon Mary Glasspool as a bishop suffragan. We look forward to the May 15th ordination service where Canons Bruce and Glasspool will become the 16th and 17th women bishops in the history of the Episcopal Church and to the work and witness they will offer on behalf of the gospel, not only for the Diocese of Los Angeles but for the whole church.

“Integrity continues in its commitment to turn the resolutions of General Convention into realities on the ground for Episcopalians in every diocese,” said the Reverend David Norgard, Integrity President. “Today’s affirmation of the election of a superbly qualified candidate as a bishop in the Episcopal Church is good news not just for those who work for the fuller inclusion of the LGBT baptized, but for the whole church.”

“Today the Episcopal Church said ‘Amen’ to what the Holy Spirit did in Los Angeles in December when we elected Mary Glasspool,” said the Reverend Susan Russell, chair of the Diocesan Program Group on LGBT Ministry and Integrity’s immediate past president.. “I’ve never been prouder to be an Episcopalian or a daughter of the Diocese of Los Angeles–where we are ready to turn this election into an opportunity for evangelism.”

“Integrity is part of a nationwide campaign called ‘Believe Out Loud’–resourcing congregations to explicitly welcome LGBT people into their work and witness” said Louise Brooks, Integrity’s Communication Director and a resident of the Diocese of Los Angeles.  “We are proud to be partners with those across this church and across the country committed to working on both national and local levels for full inclusion. And we believe the election of Mary Glasspool will be an inspiration, not just to those working in our churches, but to those standing outside of them wondering if they are truly welcome. The answer is, “Yes–come and see!”

“As openly gay and lesbian people become a common and unremarkable aspect of the cultural landscape,” said Norgard, “more and more bishops will ordain LGBT persons, more vestries will elect them to serve as rectors, more congregations will elect them to vestries, and most importantly, altar guilds will be setting up weddings for two grooms or two brides. We are past the turning point and the forecast for full inclusion in the Episcopal Church is brighter than ever before.”

The ordination service for the new bishops suffragan will be held on Saturday, May 15, 2010 beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach CA.

In a mayoral election missed by many in the media, including admittingly this writer too, an election was held on Tuesday for mayor in Gainesville, Florida among five contenders including the winner Craig Lowe who is openly gay.

Lowe won with 40.13 percent of the vote with his nearest competitor Don Marsh coming in with 29.17 percent which will now come down to a runoff.

In the April 13 runoff, for the mayor’s office, it will be the case of polar opposites – Marsh a married, right-leaning window cleaner and Lowe an openly gay, left-leaning city commissioner – who now have another four weeks of campaigning before Round 2.

This election just as in the election for mayor last year in Houston wasn’t without anti-gay controversy what with anti-gay fliers being handed out in an attempt to beat Lowe in the voter’s booth.

The pink fliers sarcastically suggest Lowe, who is openly gay, will work to get: “Gays in Women’s Restrooms,” “Gay Marriage,” “Gay Public Sex Education,” “Gay Oriented Churches,” “Gay Communities,” “Gay Civil Rights” and “Gay Parades.”

“Please help to make this town more like San Francisco, CA,” the flier reads. “Don’t let Traditional Value Activists use scare tactics against you!”

Lowe, a city commissioner, said in an interview that he was told the fliers had been put on cars at a Baptist church Sunday and some had been placed on cars along Main Street. It was not clear who was distributing them.

“When someone poses as operating on your campaign’s behalf and is doing so in a manner to damage the campaign, I think that’s something that is very disturbing in the electoral process,” Lowe said.

Source – The Gainesville Sun – election and fliers

The Tribeca Film Festival co-founded by Robert De Niro has announced its 2010 program, which includes several films with themes rooted heavily in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues premiere at the Festival, which runs April 21 – May 2.

Arias with a Twist: The Docufantasy follows performance artists Joey Arias (openly gay New York City-based drag artist) and Basil Twist (recognized puppeteer) along with those who have inspired their growth. Similarly, the life of 1970s fashion icon and gay man Roy Halston Frowick will be revealed in Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston, which will be making its world debut at the Festival. The Other City is a powerful documentary on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C. that follows a number of individuals devoting their lives to the cause or suffering from it. One of its lead protagonists is a young, gay male who is in the final stages of his AIDS plight and has lost the ability to do anything on his own. It is a truly heart-wrenching tale that brings light to this sub-community in the nation’s capital. At the other end of the spectrum, the comedic and lighthearted Spork follows a teen hermaphrodite with the same name that you’ll grow to love.

Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston, directed by Whitney Smith. (USA) – World Premiere. A glowing, prismatic portrait of the rise and fall of America’s first celebrity designer– Halston–the man who became a household name by bringing style into every American household. Dressing the world’s most famous and glamorous women for over two decades, Halston was synonymous with Fashion in the 1970’s, and was also the emperor of NY city nightlife, which he ruled from his throne at the legendary Studio 54. Interviews with friends, associates, witnesses, and survivors, (including Liza Minnelli, Diane Von Furstenberg, Andre Leon Talley, Anjelica Huston, Bob Colacello and  Billy Joel, among many others) round out this glittering evocation of the man who defined the most beautiful–and decadent– era of recent  memory. Cast: Liza Minelli, Andre Leon Talley, Diane Von Furstenberg, Billy Joel, Bob Colacello, Angelica Huston, Pat Cleveland, Cathy Horyn, Chris Makos

Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti), directed by Ferzan Ozpetek, written by Ivan Cotroneo and Ferzan Ozpetek. (Italy) – North American Premiere. Ferzan Ozpetek (Facing Windows, A Perfect Day) sets this playful family comedy in the picturesque city of Lecce in the deep south of Italy. Tomasso, a reluctant soon-to-be-partner in his wealthy family’s pasta business, has plans to come out—and hopefully get out of his familial obligation. But when his plans are thwarted by his brother, Tomasso gets stuck on the path that he was desperately trying to avoid. In Italian with English subtitles.

Arias With A Twist: The Docufantasy, directed by Bobby Sheehan (USA) – North American Premiere. More than just an exploration of the lives and art of two artists: legendary performance artist Joey Arias and internationally renowned puppeteer Basil Twist.  This documentary is a love letter to the creative spirit.  We explore the history, process and the need to create as Arias and Twist come together to create and perform the avant-garde and ground breaking theatrical show “Arias With A Twist”.  We follow the show on its world tour, while we meet the many collaborators who have contributed to their singular vision- artists such as Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Klaus Nomi, Thierry Manfred Mugler, Jim Henson, Ruben & Isabel Toledo, Keith Haring, John Sex, Ann Magnuson, Divine, Grace Jones, Elvira, Pee-Wee Herman, Kenny Scharf, Michael Musto, Kim Hastreiter Michael Halsband and countless others.  Arias transformation as an artist, singer and performer is explored in the film and never before seen footage of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and other downtown superstars help to illuminate his artistic evolution.  This is a film that will not inspire it will allow people to dream, and is a love letter to the creative spirit of these extraordinary men. Cast: Joey Arias, Basil Twist, Ann Magnuson, Kenny Scharf, Oscar Eustis, Cheryl Henson, Kim Hastereiter, Michael Musto, Thierry Mugler

Elvis e Madona (Elvis and Madona), directed by Marcelo Laffitte. (Brazil) – North American Premiere. A romantic comedy featuring a lesbian biker Elvis (Simone Spoladore) and a transvestite Madona (Igor Cotrim), showing the trajectory of two characters who are running after their dreams and life’s projects. Elvis, born 25 years ago as Elvira, is a beautiful and solitary woman. The rebel daughter of a traditional family from the country-side, Elvis is in Rio to pursue her dream of being a photographer in a big newspaper. Meanwhile, as her family is broke, Elvis take a job as a delivery “boy” at the Mozzarella&Co pizzeria. The transvestite Madona, whose real name is Adailton, is 35 years old and her big dream is to put up a show in a theater, which she has saved money working many years at Diva, a famous and sophisticated hair-salon in Copacabana, and doing performance in the Rio’s night life. In her first day of work, exactly in her first delivery, Elvis is going to deliver Madona’s order, whom is receiving her occasional lover John Tripod (Sergio Bezerra). But John has a bad intention: steal all the saving money that Madona has kept all along her life to produce her show. So, soon after the villain left with the travesty’s money, Elvis arrives at Madona’s home and meet her completely desperate. From this unusual encounter, the life of this two characters inter-twine. And from there emerge a curious situation which transforms itself in desire, passion and love. Cast: Simone Spoladore, Igor Cotrim, Sergio Bezerra, Maite Proenca, Jose Wilker, Wendell Bendelack 

The Other City, directed by Susan Koch. (USA) – World Premiere. In every city, there’s another city that people rarely ever see. But this other city isn’t just anywhere — it’s in the capital of the most powerful country in the world. This is a story about sex and drugs, homelessness and health care. About politics and ideology, corruption and bureaucracy. About an epidemic that grew out of control while few people paid any attention or cared. This is a story about people who live in the shadow of the Capitol but remain almost invisible to the lawmakers and lobbyists who work there. This is the story of “The Other City” — Washington to most, “D.C.” to its residents — a city that boasts a higher rate of HIV/AIDS than Port-au-Prince, Haiti and some countries in Africa. Told through intimate, character-driven stories, and with unprecedented access to those living on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic, this documentary offers a raw, personal look at the “two Washingtons” — one that is affluent and powerful, the other that is overwhelmingly poor and powerless. And while Washington D.C. has highest rates in the U.S., there are other cities across America that are also dealing with epidemic-like numbers. With a disease that knows no borders, “The Other City” will resonate with a worldwide audience and speak to the disparities and inequities that exist in cities all over the world.

Spork, directed by J.B. Ghuman. (USA) – World Premiere. With her mother buried in back of their trailer, Spork, an awkward fourteen-year-old hermaphrodite, is raised by her older white trash brother, Spit.  When Tootsie Roll, Spork’s black booty-dancing neighbor, injures herself and loses her place in the junior high talent show, Spork opts to take her place in order to win the cash prize.  It’s her fondest hope to use her winnings to give herself a Swan-like makeover. With her archrival, Betsy Byotch, competing against her, Spork recruits the help of fellow junior high outcasts Chunk, a fat boyish Asian girl, and Charlie, an effeminate possibly gay boy, to help train for the competition. In the end, Spork finds everything she’s looking for and more in the most unlikely of places. Within herself. This black comedy and its cast of misfits are sure to prove that anyone can fit in as long as you make a place for yourself. Cast: Savannah Stehlin, Sydney Park, Rachel Fox, Michael Arnold, Oana Gregory

Ticked Off Trannies With Knives, directed by Israel Luna. (USA) – World Premiere. A group of transgender women are violently beaten and left for dead. After regaining their consciousness the violated vixens turn deadly divas and with their newfound confidence and courage, slice their way to vengeance. An homage to the exploitation/revenge films of the 70’s and 80’s, this film sets out to create a new and unique genre called “Transploitation.” Loaded with titillating dialog, bodacious bods and extreme violence, this revenge-fantasy proves that it takes more than balls to get even. Cast: Krystal Summers, Erica Andrews, Kelexis Davenport, Jenna Skyy, Willam Belli

You can find more information plus all the films which will be featured at the Tribeca Film Festival by going here.