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
Sovo.com
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New England economy could see gay-marriage boost
The expansion of legal gay marriage across New England could deliver an economic windfall by attracting a youthful “creative class” of workers to a region with an aging population.
In the past year, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine have joined Massachusetts, which in 2004 became the first U.S. state to allow same-sex weddings, in blessing gay and lesbian weddings.
That makes the region the first in the United States where same-sex couples can move from one state to another while retaining marriage benefits.
New arrivals include John Visser and Nick Keffer, who recently moved to Hartford, Connecticut, from Raleigh, North Carolina. They plan to wed later this month.
“The sole, only reason why we moved was because it was now legal for us to get married here,” said Visser, 42. “No other reason whatsoever other than marriage equality. We were perfectly happy in North Carolina.”
New England has long burnished an image of tolerance. Early European settlers in the 17th-century escaped religious persecution, although they imposed their own stern doctrines and sometimes expelled dissenters. Later, the region led the right for the abolition of black slavery.
Five out of the region’s six states now endorse gay weddings after New Hampshire legalized same-sex marriage on Wednesday, leaving Rhode Island as the sole holdout.
The spread of gay marriage could serve as a recruiting tool for universities, health care companies and financial services firms that dominate the region’s economy, experts said.
“It will be a selling point when it comes to trying to lure people with same-sex partners who are being wooed for a job,” said M.V. Lee Badgett, a University of Massachusetts economist See New England economy could see gay-marriage boost
Reuters
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Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality, says poll
Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance towards homosexual acts compared to their counterparts in France and Germany, according to a survey published today.
The Gallup poll features the results of telephone and face-to-face interviews with Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK, France and Germany and is designed to measure global attitudes towards people from different faith traditions.
It shows that British Muslims hold more conservative opinions towards homosexual acts, abortion, viewing pornography, suicide and sex outside marriage than European Muslims, polling markedly lower when asked if they believed these things were morally acceptable.
The most dramatic contrast was found in attitudes towards homosexuality. None of the 500 British Muslims interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable. 1,001 non-Muslim Britons were interviewed.
By comparison, 35% of French Muslims found homosexual acts to be acceptable. A question on pornography also elicited different reactions, with French and German Muslims more likely than British Muslims to believe that watching or reading pornography was morally acceptable. See Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality, says poll
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The impact of ‘Christian’ homophobia: New Research Reveals Young Americans Losing Their Religion In Staggering Numbers
New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church — or to participate in any form of organized religion — than their parents and grandparents.
“It’s a huge change,” says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research.
Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the “nones”) has been very small — hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of “nones” has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans.
Putnam calls this a “stunning development.” He gave reporters a first glimpse of his data Tuesday at a conference on religion organized by the Pew Forum on Faith in Public Life.
The research will be included in a forthcoming book, called “American Grace.”
This trend started in the 1990s and continues through today. It includes people in both Generation X and Y.
While these young “nones” may not belong to a church, they are not necessarily atheists.
“Many of them are people who would otherwise be in church,” Putnam said. “They have the same attitidues and values as people who are in church, but they grew up in a period in which being religious meant being politically conservative, especially on social issues.”
Putnam says that in the past two decades, many young people began to view organized religion as a source of “intolerance and rigidity and doctrinaire political views,” and therefore stopped going to church.
This movement away from organized religion, says Putnam, may have enormous consequences for American culture and politics for years to come.
“That is the future of America,” he says. “Their views and their habits religiously are going to persist and have a huge effect on the future.”
See New Research Reveals Young Americans Losing Their Religion In Staggering Numbers
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Anti-Gay Bullying At Some Kennewick Schools. School Leaders Working on Changes
KENNEWICK, Wash.– Anti-gay bullying in school for some students is a daily battle. One student at Kamiakin High describes what it’s like through her eyes. “I know friends that have gotten serious threats and they either go home for a few days, or transfer schools,” said Taylor Pack, a student. Pack says her and others have asked school staff to start a Gay Straight Alliance on campus, but were told it wouldn’t be well received. Kennewick staff know it’s a problem they need to address. “Kids are experiencing rejection for no good reason and I think we have work to do to fix that,” said Wendy London, a member of the Kennewick School Board. That’s why about two weeks ago London attended a meeting at the Vista Youth Center. There she heard feedback from students like Taylor. It was a first for London and may also be the first step toward change. “We are concerned about student safety and we can’t address policy unless we have information about what’s actually going on in our schools,” said London. London says while there may be some resistance at first, no tolerance for bullying policies are among some of the changes she hopes to see in the future.
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Indian River insists it supports gay students
Indian River Central School District officials are defending the way their schools support students after a federal gay-bias lawsuit was lodged against the district and several employees Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims that district employees wouldn’t allow former student Charles P. Pratt, 20, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in 2004 and that Superintendent James Kettrick, who was the high school principal at the time, “displayed utter and willful indifference” to the harassment Mr. Pratt said he was subjected to at school.
“The Indian River Central School District has, as a matter of practice and policy, promoted tolerance and inclusiveness in all of its schools,” a statement released Thursday reads. “We have support groups to assist students with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to religious issues, racial tension, sexual orientation, socio-economic difficulties, and any other type of bias or discrimination.”
See Indian River insists it supports gay students
WatertownDailyTimes.com
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Indian River insists it supports gay students
Indian River Central School District officials are defending the way their schools support students after a federal gay-bias lawsuit was lodged against the district and several employees Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims that district employees wouldn’t allow former student Charles P. Pratt, 20, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in 2004 and that Superintendent James Kettrick, who was the high school principal at the time, “displayed utter and willful indifference” to the harassment Mr. Pratt said he was subjected to at school.
“The Indian River Central School District has, as a matter of practice and policy, promoted tolerance and inclusiveness in all of its schools,” a statement released Thursday reads. “We have support groups to assist students with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to religious issues, racial tension, sexual orientation, socio-economic difficulties, and any other type of bias or discrimination.”
See Indian River insists it supports gay students
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Judge: Gay student club can’t be banned
(Jacksonville, Florida) A federal judge has ruled that a student club that promotes tolerance for gays at a north Florida high school must be allowed to meet.
U.S. District Judge Henry Adams issued the decision Wednesday in a case involving two students from Yullee High School near Jacksonville.
Adams ordered a local …
‘Sir, are you queer?’
‘I used to think gay people were wrong when I was young. I had that stereotype, and I’d say ‘you’re gay’, not in a good way, like it was, you know, eurghh,” says 17-year-old Moe Salim, an A-level student at Welling school in Bexley. “Now, I’d think, why would anyone say that? It’s really unnecessary. I’m black, and if someone said to me ‘you’re a nigger’, well, it’s the same.”
“I’ve got a family member who is [gay], and I hear people talking about it like it’s a bad thing and I go mad,” says his classmate Charlotte Baterip, 17. “People still use the word ‘gay’ as an insult.”
Last December, both sixth-form students helped their drama teacher, Ian Elmslie, organise a school-wide campaign to raise awareness of homophobic bullying. Hearing their invited guest, Sir Ian McKellen, speak to the entire school at a morning assembly gave, they agree, an extraordinary insight into the way society has related to gay people over the years.
“You learned that there’s still so much prejudice against it. You could see everyone in assembly thinking hard,” says sixth-former Chelsea Fulbrook, 16.
Elmslie, who says he was asked, “Sir, are you queer?” on his first day at Welling school, has worked to encourage not just tolerance, but “acceptance and appreciation” of gay people within and outside the school community ever since. See
‘Sir, are you queer?’
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2 Fla. students challenge school ruling on gay club
(Jacksonville, Florida) An attorney for two gay students at a north Florida high school told a federal judge Thursday they should be allowed to form a campus club promoting tolerance toward gays, despite a school prohibition.
But a lawyer for the Nassau County School Board said the group’s name, Gay-Straight Alliance, …
