Phelps family storms Brooklyn

Protests against gays, Jews are said to be not “anti-Jewish or anti-gay” by hateful church.

Texas liquor board fires 3 over raid on gay bar

(Fort Worth, Texas) Texas’ liquor board fired two agents and a supervisor, disciplined two other supervisors and changed several policies in the wake of a raid at a gay bar that left a customer seriously injured and led to protests, officials announced Friday.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said agent Christopher …

Madonna has birthday in Poland amid protests

(Warsaw, Poland) Polish fans joined together in song to wish Madonna a happy birthday at a concert in Warsaw Saturday evening – just hours before she turned 51.

In a break between two songs, a fan held up a sign wishing her a happy birthday and audience members sang, “may you …

Prosecutors drop case against gay couple accused of trespassing on LDS property

Prosecutors won’t pursue a case against two men accused of trespassing on LDS Church property earlier this month.

An LDS Church security guard detained a gay couple on Salt Lake City’s Main Street Plaza on July 9 after observing the pair “kissing and hugging,” according to a police report.

Derek Jones and Matt Aune were cited for trespassing after refusing to leave. The incident led to two kiss-in protests against the church in Salt Lake City and one in San Diego.

Aune has said the couple’s display of affection was modest, but officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the plaza, released a statement that the two men were “much more involved” than a “simple kiss on the cheek.” It said the couple “engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol.”

In a statement released Wednesday, Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill said the trespassing case against Jones and Aune has been dropped.

Gill said despite that Main Street Plaza is owned by the church, there “continues to be a mistaken belief by many visitors that there is a public right of way.”

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Backers of Gay Marriage Rethink California Push

LOS ANGELES — Discouraged by stubborn poll numbers and pessimistic political consultants, major financial backers of same-sex marriage are cautioning gay rights groups to delay a campaign to overturn California’s ban on such unions until at least 2012.

Earlier this year, many supporters of same-sex marriage seemed eager to mount a 2010 campaign to overturn Proposition 8, which was passed by California voters in November and defined marriage as “between a man and a woman.”

But the timing of another campaign has since been questioned by several of the movement’s big donors, including David Bohnett, a millionaire philanthropist and technology entrepreneur who gave more than $1 million to the unsuccessful campaign to defeat Proposition 8.

“In conversations with a number of my fellow major No on 8 donors,” Mr. Bohnett said in an e-mail message, “I find that they share my sentiment: namely, that we will step up to the plate — with resources and talent — when the time is right.”

“The only thing worse than losing in 2008,” he added, “would be to lose again in 2010.”

The issue of when to go back to the polls was also the central topic at a contentious “leadership summit” held Saturday at a church in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, where about 200 gay rights advocates gathered to discuss their next step. It was the second large meeting of gay leaders since late May when the California Supreme Court ruled against a legal challenge to Proposition 8, which passed with 52 percent of the vote.

Shortly after the court’s decision, officials at Equality California, one of the largest gay rights groups in California, issued an online plea for donations for a possible 2010 campaign, citing a need to capitalize on anger over the decision and on the seeming momentum from the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in several other states.

But that thinking has apparently evolved.

Marc Solomon, marriage director for Equality California, said he spent June and early July asking the opinions of nearly two dozen California political consultants and pollsters and had been surprised by the almost unanimous opinion that a 2010 race was a bad idea.

“I expected having watched the protests and the real pain that the L.G.B.T. community had experienced that there would be some real measurable remorse in the electorate,” Mr. Solomon said, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “But if you look at the poll numbers since November, they really haven’t moved at all.”

A major factor in any California balloting, of course, is money; campaigns here are remarkably expensive, with a number of costly media markets. The Proposition 8 campaign, for example, cost more than $80 million, with opponents spending some $43 million.

Sarah Callahan, ch

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Transgender teaching sub won’t return in NJ

Lily McBeth, a substitute teacher from Little Egg Harbor Township, became a national symbol of acceptance for transgender Americans in 2006 when the Eagleswood and Pinelands Regional school districts kept her on the job despite protests from some parents.

But McBeth said the number of teaching assignments she got from both school districts dwindled from 10 to 20 calls when she was William McBeth to just one or two calls per semester. McBeth sent a letter to Eagleswood Township officials stating that she will not return in the fall and she plans to send a similar notice to the Pinelands Regional School District.

“I’m trying to get out with grace and dignity,” McBeth, 74, said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s just a shame the school district – they had an opportunity … to teach the students and the staff something about tolerance and diversity, and they look good for putting me back on the list. But what they did with me once I got on the list was hang me out to dry.”

McBeth added that she wants to keep her decision to leave “calm and peaceful.”

“I’m not interested in stirring up a hornet’s nest,” she said.

McBeth, who grew up in Atlantic City, had gender-reassignment surgery in 2005.

Detlef Kern, superintendent of Pinelands Regional, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday.

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Press of Atlantic City

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For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death

NOTE: This is the second of two parts, the first, on the election revolt, was on EDGE in June.

The international media clamor surrounding last month’s Iranian election, which saw the contentious re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad result in weeks of protests, demonstrations and violence, may have died down, but the unstable atmosphere lives on for residents of the Islamic republic.

They continue to face major restrictions on free speech and threats to their safety if they choose to speak out. And they will not soon forget the street violence that resulted in the death, imprisonment and harassment of many protesters, activists and journalists–all part of the worst unrest the country has seen in thirty years.

This is particularly true for gay and lesbian Iranians, both those who remain inside the country and those who have escaped. They are familiar with oppressive treatment from their government, one which continues to outlaw homosexuality and crack down against any outward display of queerness. The first story (published here June 30, 2009,) examined the environment facing the Iranian queer community, particularly in light of the government’s attempts to silence any post-election voices of dissent.

Building from that story, we now take a look at the climate facing queer Iranians who have fled the country with the hopes of seeking asylum in the West. Forced, in many cases, to leave behind their families, friends and the culture of their blood, their dreams of living in freedom still face a number of challenges.

When gay Iranian refugees and asylum seekers leave, they are sent to live temporarily to a number of a different places, though most end up in small Turkish towns known as “satellite cities,” far from the larger cities like Ankara or Istanbul. They file a request to be granted official refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in order to legally move West, and then they wait. In many cases, that waiting period can last up to three years, a time during which employment is difficult to find and harassment is not unusual.
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Hindu guru claims homosexuality can be ‘cured’ by yoga

The world’s most popular Hindu guru, Swami “Baba” Ramdev, has claimed homosexuality can be “cured” by yoga in a petition to India’s Supreme Court.

The television guru whose yoga programmes are watched by an estimated 85 million people throughout the world, made the claim in an appeal to the overturn a ruling last week which legalised homosexuality.

He has warned he will launch nationwide protests if the ruling is not struck down and said all of India’s main religions regarded homosexual acts as sins.

In his petition, he argued that homosexuality was a curable disease and that sufferers could seek a cure.

“It can be treated like any other congenital defect. Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayam and other meditation techniques,” he said.

Pranayam are a series of breathing exercises which include hyperventilation, a slow release of breath while chanting “Om”.

His followers have said there are particular yoga positions which also help prevent sexual urges.

The overturning of India’s law criminalising homosexuality was welcomed by India’s gay community and by campaigners, including several leading designers and Bollywood stars.

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Pastor who opposes homosexuality may get Chicago City Council seat

he amens in full force, the choir in full throated glory, Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus takes the pulpit at New Life Covenant Church to urge his congregation to dream big.

“Because we can change a life, we can change a community,” he preaches. “Because we can change a community, we can change a city.”

The sermon sounds like a campaign speech, fitting because De Jesus, one of Chicago’s most influential Latino pastors, is making a controversial leap into politics as the choice of outgoing Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) to be his replacement on the City Council.

But, in a complicated blending of morality and politics, the pastor’s possible appointment has drawn protests from gay activists who object to other rhetoric used in De Jesus’ church that they say is not as uplifting — messages equating homosexuality with drug addiction and other social ills.
The activists call De Jesus “homophobic.” They worry that his appointment would give him the ability to control funds for agencies that serve gay clients and a platform to shape broader debates such as same-sex marriage.

De Jesus says that he has never preached hatred of gay people and that his church’s opposition to homosexuality is rooted in a literal interpretation of the Bible.
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Chicago Tribune

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Gay Men Kissing Ousted From Chico’s Tacos in Texas

The Chico’s Tacos restaurant chain in El Paso Texas doesn’t like homosexuals eating their fast-food tacos and the police agree reasoning, that a business can refuse service to anyone it wants, despite the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

When two men briefly kissed at the popular taco chain, bigotry, homophobia and ignorance of the law came out in full force, beginning with the security guards’ hurling anti-gay slurs at the men and ending with the El Paso Police ordering the men to leave the restaurant or face a “homosexual conduct” citation.

The incident has garnered national attention and the taco chain faces a growing movement by gay rights activists to boycott the restaurant, with protests planned at the restaurant’s multiple El Paso locations.

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