Gay spouses to get AAA discounts Florida Times-Union -

AAA Auto Club South will now allow same-sex married couples to receive spousal discounts under AAA’s Associate Membership program, a rights group that advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people announced Thursday.

The company met with members of Equality Florida on Wednesday after the group received calls from gay couples who had been denied family memberships.

“Our policy does include gay and lesbian spouses, wherever they were married. Whether in other states or countries, they qualify,” said Tom O’Brien, president and chief executive officer of AAA Auto Club South, in a statement.

Gay marriage is not legal in Florida but has been approved in other states.

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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist gives different answers on gay adoption

As a part of his statewide tour for “Explore Adoption Day,” Crist spoke to a crowded courtroom at the Duval County Courthouse about the increase in adoptions throughout the state.

Crist and other adoption advocates talked about the need for even more adoption, especially for older children who have a difficult time making it out of the system.

When he was running for governor in 2006, Crist told The St. Petersburg Times, “My position is the traditional family is the best to adopt.” He reaffirmed that statement on Wednesday in Jacksonville.

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Gay pride invitation goes sour Albany Times Union

ALBANY — A local woman whose vandalized Volkswagen launched her on a career as a gay activist welcomed nationwide as a speaker, often in conjunction with a documentary film she made about her experiences, will not be in the Capital Region for this weekend’s gay pride festival because of a dispute with event organizers.

The activist, Erin Davies, blames the Capital Pride Committee, a group of community volunteers and staffers of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council, for scuttling an Albany showing of her award-winning documentary, “Fagbug.”

Accepted at dozens of film festivals in the U.S. and abroad, the movie will be shown tonight, the date originally planned. But the screening has been moved from a 250-seat theater at the State Museum to the Photography Center of the Capital District in Troy, where it will be shown in a room that seats approximately 20.

“They tried to bribe and threaten me, but I wouldn’t let them and just found another place,” said Davies, 31. She alleges that anonymous members of the committee thought her $10 suggested ticket price for the museum screening was too high and vowed to remove the showing from Capital Pride listings unless she lowered it. Davies makes her living with paid speaking engagements and film screenings; the admission price was meant to offset some of the difference between what she normally receives for appearances and the $500 fee she had agreed to for the museum event, she said.

Organizers and other people involved in discussions with Davies dispute her account of what happened and characterize Davies as having a martyr complex that led her to exaggerate routine, if frustrating, negotiations into antagonism and personal attacks.

“We absolutely support (the screening). It’s always been one of our events,” said Nora Yates, executive director of the community council. The screening was included in printed calendars and is mentioned, with its new Troy location, on the community council’s Web site. Founded in 1970, the CDGLCC, believed to be the oldest such continuously operating group in the country, is the prime force behind the 11-day, 34-event Capital Pride 2009 observance that culminates with Sunday’s pride parade and festival in Washington Park.

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Albany Times Union

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Study says New York Latinos support gay marriage

ALBANY — The University at Albany released a study on Tuesday polling the Hispanic population of New York and surrounding states on hot political issues. The New York Latino Research and Resources Network (NYLARNet) surveyed more than 1,200 Hispanics in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Jose Cruz, director of NYLARNet, said the study found half of Latinos in those states supported gay marriage or civil unions despite only 18 percent identifying themselves as liberal.

Cruz started the project in 2004 to get a better understanding of the political temperature in the area. This is the first poll released by the research network.

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Albany Times Union

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Training on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender youths

Riverside’s Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network will host its first lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Youth in Foster Care Training from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday for foster care workers.

Renowned trainer Robert Woronoff, who will be featured at the free event hosted at the Main Library, brings more than 20 years’ experience working with and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in foster care, according to a news release. He is a former program director of the Child Welfare League of America and director of LGBTQ services and peer programs at The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston.

“We had housing programs for HIV-positive youth, and a lot of young people I was working with were not HIV positive, but they didn’t have housing,” Woronoff said in the release. “So I called up the largest child welfare organization and made them realize that young people needed housing before getting positive.”

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‘HomoRadio’ gives voice and support to Capital Region’s gay community

In 1994, Sean McLaughlin was a 15-year-old who hadn’t yet revealed to his friends and family he was gay. Although he felt alone, every Sunday he could sneak up to his bedroom, put on headphones and listen to “HomoRadio.” “Listening to the program connected me to the gay community, kept me abreast on news and gave me a lot of information,” said McLaughlin, 29. It also gave him the strength to come out to his parents and friends, and to find his place in the world. He has hosted the program for the past 11 years.

“HomoRadio” has been a bastion of the Capital Region’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community for 16 years. It stands as a rallying point for gay rights, which often seem to be under attack.

In November, for example, the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which denied same-sex couples the right to marry, spurred the gay-rights movement to action. And “HomoRadio” was there, calling for California, New York and other states to recognize the rights of gays by allowing same-sex marriage.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Sunday, the show on WRPI features activists, performers and organizers. McLaughlin often chats about the serious and silly with co-hosts Ray Werking, Heidi Davis, Ulysses D’Armis and Joe Laux. See ‘HomoRadio’ gives voice and support to Capital Region’s gay community
Albany Times Union, NY