E. Lynn Harris Made Sexuality A Bestseller
Author E. Lynn Harris, best known for his novels portraying black male characters conflicted with their sexuality, died Friday in Los Angeles at age 54. Host Michel Martin offers a remembrance of the bestselling author, who talked about his writing as a guest on Tell Me More. See E. Lynn Harris Made Sexuality A Bestseller
NPR
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Chicago HIV report sparks reaction
The Chicago Public Health Department’s alarming report, released Friday, that suggests the HIV infection rate among gay men in Chicago is nearly 20% has drawn varied responses from Chicago’s gay and lesbian community.
ChicagoPride.com surveyed a number of gay men on a busy Saturday night in Boystown.
From Waveland to Buckingham, the responses were varied with one common undertone that gay men no longer think HIV is a death sentence. And despite extensive media coverage on the recently release report, many were unaware of the report and its contents.
“I’m not at all surprised by these statistics.” Said thirty-something Al joined by Jared and Jamie outside of the Center on Halsted. “The fact that a lot of our own community members are not aware of their status is probably because of their fear of knowing.”
“We are very closeted in the U.S. regarding educating our youth,” added Jaime.
Some do not believe the numbers and conclusions published in the report.
“You can work the numbers however you want,” said Matthew a bartender at Buck’s. See Chicago HIV report sparks reaction
ChicagoPride.com –
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Pro-gay marriage group spent big in Vermont
Vermont Freedom to Marry says it spent more than $293,000 lobbying lawmakers and the public on the same-sex marriage bill that was approved by the Legislature, far outspending its opponents.
In lobbyist disclosure forms filed Monday with the Vermont Secretary of State’s office, the pro-gay marriage group reported spending about $65,000 between April 1 and June 30 — some of it in the week leading up to the Legislature’s April 7 vote.
Take It to The People, which opposed the measure, spent about $10,000 altogether but none in the reporting period.
See Pro-gay marriage group spent big in Vermont Boston Herald
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Too Gay in Amsterdam?
It’s no secret that Amsterdam is gay-friendly, but in case that slipped under anyone’s radar, Dutch tourism officials have launched a micro Web site this month proclaiming that “Everyone’s Gay in Amsterdam.”
The Web site, which is geared for American travelers, offers a “gay list” that features places like Pric, described as a “relaxed and funky gay-friendly bar” that “serves up unusual cocktails concocted by its highly-trained staff of bartenders.”
But a closer look reveals that not everyone in Amsterdam is, in fact, gay. A photograph of a seemingly happy straight couple biking along a canal? The Van Gogh Museum? A “gay locator” that doesn’t turns the entire city into an orange dot?
Turns out, “gay” doesn’t just reefer to sexual orientation, but “the attitude of the people in this grand European city,” according to the VisualMerc, a New York-based interactive agency that created the micro-site.
New York Times
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Brits showing the way for American repeal of military ban?
The cover photo of an out soldier on the British army’s official magazine is a symbol of the success of the military’s nearly decade-long policy to allow openly gay personnel, according to this article. The British military reportedly has been advising its U.S. counterparts on a strategy to repeal its own gay ban. The Independent (London)
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Should Proposition 8 recall be put to voters in 2010?
Marriage-equality advocates are split about the timing of a ballot question to overturn the California’s Proposition 8 constitutional marriage ban. Some major backers, including David Bohnett, believe it’s better to postpone a possible 2010 vote rather than risk another defeat. But an informal poll of leaders affiliated with the Courage Campaign shows support for putting the repeal question on next year’s ballot. The deadline to file the question with the state attorney general is Sept. 25. The New York Times (7/26) , San Francisco Chronicle/Politics blog (7/25)
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LGBT health survey shows trouble spots
BOSTON. The largest survey to date comparing the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to heterosexuals and non-transgender residents showed sharp health disparities.
The statistics:
In a survey of nearly 1,600 Massachusetts residents:
- Almost 31 percent of transgender citizens reported considering suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexuals and 4 percent for gay or lesbian.
- Nearly 35 percent of transgender citizens said they were threatened with physical violence during their lifetime by an intimate partner, almost three times the rate of non-transgender residents.
- Just 45 percent of bisexual women said they had never had a mammogram, below the 59 percent of heterosexuals and 58 percent of lesbians.
- Bisexuals reported the most days binge drinking, having four or five drinks in a sitting an average of nearly two times in the past 30 days. Bisexuals also reported smoking marijuana nearly twice as often as heterosexuals.
See LGBT health survey shows trouble spots
Metro.us
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Gillibrand wins Senate hearing on military policy on gays
New York‘s Sen. href=”/topics/Kirsten_Gillibrand”>Kirsten Gillibrand said Monday she had won the commitment of the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold its first hearing this fall on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military.
The announcement is unusual because Gillibrand does not sit on the panel and did not push the issue in the last Congress, when she served on the House Armed Services Committee.
But the agreement by Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) capped a campaign Gillibrand has been waging in the last few weeks to scrap or suspend the controversial policy that has led the Pentagon to discharge thousands of gays and lesbians since 1994.
See Gillibrand wins Senate hearing on military policy on gays
Newsday
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Baby boy for two gay police officers
Two gay police officers have had a baby boy after one of their sisters agreed to act as a surrogate so they could become fathers, it has been revealed.
Lorna Bradley (31) volunteered to have their baby when her brother Steven Ponder (28), a special constable, revealed a desire to start a family with Pc Ivan Sigston (43).
Both men, who live together in Southampton, Hants, were present when mother-of-three Mrs Bradley gave birth to William Campbell Ponder-Sigston last month at her home in Worthing, West Sussex.
Speaking from her terraced property yesterday Mrs Bradley declined to go into detail about the arrangement but said they knew the story might leak out.
She said: “It’s a bit shocking because we didn’t know it was going to be in the paper. We are just thinking about what we are going to do at the moment.
See Baby boy for two gay police officers
Belfast Telegraph -
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DeFrank Center’s boss knows a challenge when he sees one in San Jose
Paul Wysocki was about to show me the drop-in center for youth at the Billy DeFrank Center when the silent burglar alarm went off. Wysocki fiddled with the box to accept his code and wound up calling the alarm company, telling them all was fine. “There’s usually a little lag time before they call the police,” he explained. The situation bore more than a little irony. As interim executive director, Wysocki is sounding the public alarm for the center, San Jose‘s gathering place for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. But he has no lag time. Last week, he dispatched an e-mail that bluntly said the center would have to close its doors by Sept. 1 unless it raises $50,000. Wysocki hopes to coax backers to sign up for continuing contributions that would total $20,000 a month. “We had been talking about what we needed to do to get people’s attention,” said the red-haired 60-year-old, an exuberant and funny man who has become an expert in turning around nonprofits. “We decided we had to hit them right between the eyes.”
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