Senate adopts amendments to hate crimes measure

The U.S. Senate has adopted a hate crimes measure as part of the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill — and with it, amendments introduced by an opponent of hate crimes legislation.

Adopted on July 16 by unanimous consent after cloture was invoked, 63-28, the hate crimes measure was altered by four amendments. All four amendments were approved Monday.

See Senate adopts amendments to hate crimes measure

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Ga. Supreme Court rules against ban against allowing kids around father’s gay friends

The Georgia Supreme Court tossed out part of a Fayette County court’s decision that kept a divorced gay father from allowing his children to interact with his gay friends, according to a ruling today from the state Supreme Court.

In the ruling, Justice Robert Benham wrote the high court acknowledges that trial courts have the discretion to “limit a parent’s exposure of the children to certain people, if it can be shown that the children would be adversely affected.”

In this case, the Supreme Court justices rejected Fayette County Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards’ ban on having the gay father bring his gay friends around his children. Edwards has been nominated to fill the a seat on the state Supreme Court after Chief Justice Leah Sears steps down at the end of June.

“The blanket prohibition against exposure of the children to members of the gay and lesbian community who are acquainted with husband is another matter,” says today’s opinion. “There is no evidence in the record before us that any member of the excluded community has engaged in inappropriate conduct in the presence of the children or that the children would be adversely affected by exposure to any member of that community.”

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Study: Bans on gay marriage lead to rise in HIV infections

Gay marriage bans can be tied to a rise in HIV infections, according to a new study by economists at Atlanta’s Emory University.
“In the first study of the impact of social tolerance levels toward gays in the United States on the HIV transmission rate, the researchers estimated that a constitutional ban on gay marriage raises the rate by four cases per 100,000 people,” the university announced in a press release today.
“We found the effects of tolerance for gays on HIV to be statistically significant and robust — they hold up under a range of empirical models,” said Hugo Mialon, an assistant professor of economics.
Andrew Francis, also an assistant professor of economics, cited the gay marriage debate currently sweeping the nation. See Study: Bans on gay marriage lead to rise in HIV infections
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More anti-gay attacks on Ga. universities

The furor over “queer theory” and other reseach at Georgia’s public colleges and univesities has grown since this week’s issue of Southern Voice went to press, and shows disturbing signs of developing into a full-fledged witch hunt.

What started with comments from state Rep. Calvin Hill (see my editorial on that here) now includes Rep. Charlice Byrd, who spoke from the General Assembly well late this week to denounce “a major misuse of the state university system’s budget.”

“Did you know that the state universities offer such special interest classes and expertise on “Male prostitution”, “Queer Theory,” and “Oral Sex”? Yes, ladies and gentlemen… you heard right,” Byrd said, repeating Hill’s misunderstanding of topics listed in an “expert guide” distributed by Georgia State University.

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