Outgames international gay sport and culture event opens in Copenhagen

There will be triathlon and handball – but also bridge and line dancing. Copenhagen is preparing for thousands of gay people from dozens of nations to descend this weekend for the Outgames, a nine-day sporting and cultural olympics for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

When the 5,500 participants are introduced on a catwalk in Copenhagen’s central square today, it will kickstart nine days of sport, arts and political debates with almost 100 nations represented in more than 30 events, traditional and improvised.

But the event is about much more than podium places. The Outgames has launched itself under the banner of sport, culture and human rights. Participants from a host of cities, including Tel Aviv and Mexico City, will take over public spaces throughout Copenhagen to showcase artists and performers.

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Federal Judge Stresses Trial Record on Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban

Whatever Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker winds up deciding on Proposition 8, it’s clear he wants an airtight trial record to support it.

Holding his first hearing Thursday on the controversial measure that outlawed same-sex marriage, Walker repeatedly stressed the importance of establishing a record that will stand the test of time.

He told a packed courtroom that he was “reasonably sure” that the challenge launched by two high-profile litigators is “only touching down in this court” and merely a “prelude” for things to come.

“How we do things here,” Walker said, “is more important than what we do.”

He noted that other courts have rendered decisions on same-sex marriage without holding full trials, which he suggested was a “problem.”

Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 09-CV-2292, was filed in May by Theodore Olson, who represented George W. Bush in the landmark Bush v. Gore case, and David Boies, who represented Al Gore. Boies wasn’t present on Thursday. The suit attacks Prop 8 on equal protection and due process grounds.

Walker had already issued a tentative order allowing Prop 8 proponents to intervene and denying a preliminary injunction (pdf). He stood by both orders during Thursday’s 50-minute session.

Olson, a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington, D.C., office who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 55 times, nonetheless made a fleeting attempt to persuade Walker to change his mind on the injunction.

“Every day that Prop 8 is enforced perpetuates a tragic injustice” on gays and lesbians, he argued, saying it “brands” them as “second-class citizens, unworthy and different.”

“The Supreme Court,” Olson argued, “has held again and again and again that the right to marry is the most important relationship in life.”

Representing the Prop 8 proponents, Washington attorney Charles Cooper, who was a top Justice Department lawyer during the Reagan administration, warned that the lawsuit could “sweep away” not only Prop 8, but the definition of marriage in 43 states and the federal government.

The Cooper & Kirk partner also argued that marriage has by tradition always been the union of a man and a woman, and said that every Supreme Court case that describes marriage has noted that its central purpose is procreation.

See Federal Judge Stresses Trial Record on Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban Above the Law

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Homosexual Football Referee’s Rights Restored, But…

Football referee Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ had declared his homosexuality in order to be exempt from military service.However, according to Article 25 of Turkey’s Football Federation’s Central Referees’ Board regulations, someone who is exempt from military service for health reasons cannot become a referee.Dinçdağ explained his situation to the board, but he was not given a post.The case was leaked to the media, and although his name was not used, the details given were enough to identify him.He then decided to speak about his experiences on Habertürk’s “Tele Gol” programme, hosted by Ahmet Çakar. His face was blurred and his initials were used.During the live programme, the referee asked for the blurring to be removed and for his full name to be given.In the programme he appealed to other referees to protest against injustices.Güner: He will still face discriminationSee Homosexual Football Referee’s Rights Restored, But…Bianet
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Thousands rally in California’s heartland in support of gay marriage

Reporting from Fresno — Aiming to reach out to conservative voters, about 3,000 gay-rights supporters gathered Saturday in California’s Central Valley in a renewed campaign to win support for same-sex marriage.

Just days after the California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages, activists launched a 14 1/2 -mile march from the town of Selma to Fresno, where they rallied in front of City Hall as a peaceful campaign-styled event to win back marriage rights.

See Thousands rally in California’s heartland in support of gay marriage Los Angeles Times

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