Exemption for Religious Foes Of Gay Marriage Debated

As a growing number of states legalize same-sex marriage, there is growing attention on exemptions for religious institutions and individuals who find the concept morally objectionable and religiously untenable. This week, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) said he would sign legislation to make his state the sixth to legalize gay marriage if the legislature ensured religious protections.

Vermont and Connecticut have enacted laws that exempt clergy from performing same-sex marriages and give religious groups the right to refuse their facilities for same-sex marriage celebrations and allow them to refuse to provide insurance benefits to same-sex partners.

With those exemptions, said George Washington University constitutional law professor Ira Lupu on the legal blog Concurring Opinions, “religious conservatives and secular progressives now have the opportunity to reach political bargains.”

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The gay condom debate

To wear or not to wear? The condom debate among gay men, especially in Washington, D.C., where HIV cases are alarmingly high, is especially important.

Gay men do not need condoms for their primary use – birth control – but still need them to protect against sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

An estimated one in 20 adults in D.C. is affected with HIV and 37 percent of cases affect sexually active gay men, according to the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which provides HIV testing.

While some gay men do not use condoms because it “feels better” or “feels more natural,” other gay men in the D.C. community are speaking out and promoting safe sex.

Michael Komo, president of GW’s Allied in Pride, is taking steps forward in promoting condom use among gay men.

“There is no reason for two people who are sexually active with one another to not use condoms,” Komo said. “We need to do everything as a community in order to promote safe sex.”

While he promotes condom use, Komo also suggests sexually active gay men get tested for HIV every six months.

“My philosophy is that it is better to be safe than sorry. I have done everything in my power to promote sex safe,” said Komo. “I am a huge advocate for using protection. I think that there will always be a debate, whether it be among gay men or straight partners, about whether or not to use a condom during sex.”

GW’s Allied in Pride office provides free condoms.

“We want people to protect themselves if they are having sex,” Komo said. “There is no reason for people to not be safe. (Condoms) take very little effort to use. We always have and always will advocate for practicing safe sex.”

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Larry Kramer Blasts Yale’s ‘Conspiracy of Silence’ on Gay History

When more than 300 Yale alumni and their guests arrived at Yale for the University’s first-ever lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender alumni reunion this weekend, they found not only camaraderie, but also controversy.

The first-ever recipient of the GALA Lifetime Achievement Award, gay activist Larry Kramer ’57, harshly rebuked the University for its treatment of gay history as an academic field during the three-day reunion, which was jointly organized by the LGBT alumni association Yale GALA and the Association of Yale Alumni. At a dinner ceremony Saturday, Kramer said the University has wrongly relegated the study of gay history to LGBT studies, arguing that there is a significant semantic difference between gay “history” and gay “studies.”

Declaring that queer and gender theories are “relatively useless,” Kramer — who was among the first to call for action against the AIDS crisis — said gay history has been “hijacked” by queer theorists.

Kramer and Yale have clashed before; in the mid-nineties, Yale rejected a sizable gift from Kramer to create either an endowed chair in gay and lesbian studies or a student center for gay students. In 2001, Kramer’s brother, Arthur Kramer ’49, gave a $1 million gift in Larry’s name to found the Larry Kramer Initiative for Gay and Lesbian Studies, which was closed after five years when the gift was spent.

In order to demonstrate the importance of gay history, Kramer declared that he believes many prominent American historical figures were gay, including George Washington, the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth.

The study of gay history is therefore important as a means of promoting acceptance for LGBT individuals, Kramer said.

“The plague of AIDS was allowed to happen because most of the world hates us,” he said. “They don’t know we’re related to Washington and Lincoln.”

While alumni sat attentively throughout the speech and gave Kramer a standing ovation, some said afterwards that they were standing not necessarily out of agreement with Kramer, but rather out of respect for his activism in the wake of AIDS.

“He’s been a provocateur all of his career, since the AIDS crisis,” said Ken Demario ’64. “I don’t know if this was an appropriate forum for as nasty a broadside as his was against the University.”

In a brief interview after the speech, Provost Peter Salovey said he agreed that the study of LGBT history is important.

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Washington is ready for 44

(Washington) At 11:30, Barrack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States in a ceremony dating back to George Washington, who took the oath of office in New York, then the capital of a new nation.

Obama comes to office with the highest approval ratings of any President in history. …

Gay Chicago celebrates history as Obama becomes the 44th President

At 11:05 a.m. Chicago time, Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office to become the country’s first African-American president in a ceremony dating back to George Washington.

“We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America,’ Obama told the enthusiastic crowd. ”America is ready to lead once more.”

An estimated 2 million people, the largest inauguration audience, crowded the National Mall to witness Obama’s swearing in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, using the same Bible that Lincoln used at his own swearing in on March 4, 1861.

“The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
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