lgbtQnews

pSource: a href="http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2010/01/14/news/news02-01-14-10.txt"Logan Herald Journal/a, a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/23/AR2010012301385.html"Associated Press/a, a href="http://qsaltlake.com/index.php?option=com_contentamp;view=articleamp;id=1288:8-the-mormon-proposition-an-interview-with-director-reed-cowanamp;catid=43:featureamp;Itemid=4"QSaltLake/a, a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wirestory?id=9650413amp;page=2"Associated Press/a, a href="http://www.mormonproposition.com/"8:The Mormon Proposition/a emfilm website,/em a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14260222"Salt Lake Tribune/a/p div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/d19245be74b9_11831/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/d19245be74b9_11831/image_thumb.png" width="244" height="198" //a In a still released by em8:TMP/em producers, a gay couple kiss during a Prop 8 protest at Temple Square in Salt Lake City/div pA film that has generated the most buzz from Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah is one that has a unique local focus in that ski resort. And it's a documentary rather than a feature film. em[See a trailer for the film at the a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/film-on-mormon-campaign-for-prop-8-opens-with-sellout-in-park-city-utah.aspx#filmtrailer"end of this post/a]/em/p pem8: The Mormon Proposition/em (aka em8:TMP/em) premiered today at the festival. It’s been included in several Sundance must-see lists including one from a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2010/01/20/sundance.five.films.cnn"CNN entertainment reporter/a JD Cargill. It’s sold out for five screenings at the festival, the Logan, Utah a href="http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2010/01/14/news/news02-01-14-10.txt"emHerald Journal/em reports/a. That makes the documentary film even more popular than some of the much-hyped feature films at the festival. /p pDespite rumors of protests against the film by anti-gay protesters, it opened quietly today before what a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9650413"Associated Press reporter Jennifer Dobner describes/a as “a friendly audience”./p pThe only visible protests came from a couple of dozen pro-marriage-equality demonstrators who shouted “Separate church from 8” outside the theater where the film was shown, Dobner reports./p pThe film argues that the Mormon church’s dominant efforts in the campaign to pass Prop 8 in California is just part of a decades-long political campaign by the church to deny basic rights to LGBT people./p pa href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14260222"emSalt Lake Tribune/em reports/a that the 600 people in the audience for the initial screening gave the film’s creator Reed Cowan “two sustained standing ovations”. /p pIn a December press release 8:TMP’s promoters said of their film, “It is to Mormons and their anti-gay allies what emFahrenheit 9-11/em was to the Bush Administration.”/p pThe film was made by Utah native and one-time Mormon missionary Reed Cowan and by Steven Greenstreet—also a former Mormon. It has garnered significant pre-opening press coverage for the documentary film, including an Associated Press feature, that’s been published by a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/23/AR2010012301385.html"emWashington Post/em/a, a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;ct2=us%2F1_0_s_0_0_tamp;usg=AFQjCNHV1fuDactDQlNlb-dMLeJ2R5FsuQamp;sig2=hs96pJ9bhFWGj-xlG1heXgamp;cid=8797490564059amp;ei=duRbS-j6LZT6lQTk0qSeAQamp;rt=MORE_COVERAGEamp;vm=STANDARDamp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sltrib.com%2Fnews%2Fci_14254844"emSalt Lake Tribune/em/a, a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;ct2=us%2F0_0_s_0_0_tamp;usg=AFQjCNFad-umt48c6Xgl5yB7_e0ljDs7qQamp;sig2=9te5TVhnn8sDQVhWS54HmAamp;cid=8797490564059amp;ei=Q-RbS-DQLobOlQT1kbaeAQamp;rt=SEARCHamp;vm=STANDARDamp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FEntertainment%2FwireStory%3Fid%3D9643209"ABCNews.com/a and other AP subscribers./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/film-on-mormon-campaign-for-prop-8-opens-with-sellout-in-park-city-utah.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/RuMMXGB1IjA" height="1" width="1"/

pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/fb17f547824a_B643/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 4px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/fb17f547824a_B643/image_thumb.png" width="240" height="172" //a It’s taken the producers a bit longer than indicated last week, but, according to a report from NPR, the first episode of the Prop 8 trial reenactment will be available Monday em[Hear the report by KQED’s Rob Schmitz at the a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/video-prop-8-trial-reenactment-video-released_BYV.aspx#nprreport"end of this post/a]/em. All of the first day—seven hours—will be made available at a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/MarriageTrial"this YouTube channel/a, Schmitz reports. (Expect to see selected highlight clips offered by other YouTube users.)/p pProducers John Ireland and John Ainsworth have released this trailer to show the format they’re using for the video. The reenactment copies the four-frame style that Chief Judge Vaughn Walker had approved for use with video of the actual trial:/p pa href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=RQRi2Tp8OjA" title="Youtube video"Watch video at YouTube/a/p pThe reenactment is using professional actors. Where possible, roles are being cast with actors who look much like the real people portrayed. Ireland and Ainsworth hint in Schmitz’s report that there might even be some famous-name actors taking part in the project before it’s done./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/video-prop-8-trial-reenactment-video-released_BYV.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/vDmIep3QbUw" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/dd54cb26592a_626B/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/dd54cb26592a_626B/image_thumb.png" width="244" height="184" //a Hawaii state capitol, Honolulu/div pHawaii’s state Senate on Friday decisively passed a civil unions bill on a 18-7 vote. /p pDozens of marriage equality advocates in the Senate gallery, wearing rainbow-colored lei, exploded with joy and relief after the vote, while religious conservatives who oppose the measure, wearing white shirts, filed silently out of the chamber, a href="http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100123/NEWS01/1230329/Hawaii+Senate+passes+civil-unions+bill++18-7"emHonolulu Advertiser/em reports/a./p p“We’re very pleased that the Hawaii State Senate took action and passed the civil unions bill today,” a title="link: Equality Hawaii website" href="http://equalityhawaii.org/"Equality Hawaii/a co-chairwoman Tambry Young said in a written statement. “The Senate acted with great courage, conviction and integrity. They did the right thing for all of Hawaii's families.”/p pThe bill would allow both same-sex and heterosexual couples to enter into civil unions which would offer the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage under state law./p pPrior the vote, the measure drew heated debate by senators on both sides of the issue, a href="http://www.kitv.com/news/22316840/detail.html"KITV reports/a. Several supporters of the bill described civil unions as part of the same long path toward equality as voting rights were for women and civil rights were for blacks./p pState Sen. Rosalyn Baker, D-5th (W. Maui, S. Maui), spoke of the separation of church and state and said many of the same arguments used in the past to deny the vote to women and civil rights to blacks are now being used against civil unions, the emAdvertiser/em reports./p p“I see nothing in this measure that denies, hurts or harms traditional marriage,” Baker said. “I see nothing that takes away from those values or tells other people you can’t do them.”/p pBut a state senator who helped lead Hawaii’s campaign against marriage equality in the 90s claimed that what he called “immutable characteristics” such as sex or skin color should not be compared to sexual orientation./p pSen. Mike Gabbard, D-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele) said he’s opposed to civil unions because they would be “functionally” the same as marriage under state law./p p“Marriage is not just a word, it is the foundation, it is the bedrock of our society. It is the cornerstone of civilization and it impacts every one of our lives,” he said, adding that gay and lesbian people should be blocked from that edifice, or anything similar to it./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/hawaii-senate-passes-civil-unions-bill_BYN.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/ipoU6iBI8CM" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 164px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/54af06afbdb9_4BB4/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/54af06afbdb9_4BB4/image_thumb.png" width="164" height="166" //a Lindsay Harmon says she may never get full vision back in her right eye after she was stabbed outside a Buffalo gay bar/div pPolice in Buffalo, NY have charged Suzanne-Deanna Grover, 21, with second-degree assault and a bias-motivated crime in connection with a New Year’s Day fight outside a Main Street nightclub, a href="http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/932324.html"emBuffalo News/em reports/a./p pThe emNews/em and other media quote police sources who say Grover admitted to stabbing Lindsay C. Harmon, 29. But Grover claimed she acted in self-defense after Harmon’s group had attacked her verbally and physically./p pHarmon's right eyelid and eyeball were severely cut in the attack. Harmon underwent surgery and is now recovering at home. She told WIVB TV that doctors have said she may never have full vision in her right eye. em[see clip at end of post]/em/p pAbout 200 people packed a meeting hall Wednesday to raise money for Harmon and to call for improvements in public safety, a href="http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=73778amp;catid=37"WGRZ reports/a. At a smaller Friday night meeting, members of Buffalo’s LGBT community expressed relief that an arrest had finally been made in the case, a href="http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=73824amp;provider=gnews"WGRZ reports/a./p pKitty Lambert, president of a href="http://www.outspokenforequality.org/"strongOutspoken For Equality/strong/a said she was particularly pleased that a hate crimes enhancement had been added to the charges./p p“It’s extremely important,” Lambert said of the hate-crimes charge, “because as long as these kinds of assaults continue without being prosecuted as hate crimes it makes us easy targets. They (perpetrators) don't have any fear of any hate crime enhancement.”/p pLaw enforcement said Friday that it took them three weeks to make an arrest in the case because witnesses have given police conflicting versions of events preceding the stabbing, the emNews/em reports./p pThe case will be presented to a grand jury which will decide whether to sustain the current charges, file more serious or less serious charges, or even dismiss the case, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said Friday. /p p“This is the kind of case where every piece of evidence we have is going to go to the grand jury,” Sedita said. “This is going to be a full-fledged investigation.”/p pem[See WIVB-TV report after the break]/em/p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/woman-charged-with-hate-crime-assault-in-buffalo-attack_BYN.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/jql_F_VFfZA" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 164px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/3ae7e276580b_B751/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/3ae7e276580b_B751/image_thumb.png" width="164" height="133" //a Blake Hayes emvia /ema href="http://blakehayes.com/"emBlakeHayes.com/em/a/div p#160;#160; emstrong:::/strong/em A decorated strongAir Force/strong expert in bomb defusing is the prime suspect in a September gay-bashing incident outside a bar in strongNew York City/strong’s strongHell’s Kitchen/strong neighborhood. NYPD’s strongHate Crimes Task Force/strong identified Air Force Staff Sgt. strongBenjamin Ford/strong as the suspect in the Sept. 26 attack. Surveillance video shows Ford attacking three men, a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/01/22/2010-01-22_hero_air_force_bomb_expert_benjamin_ford_accused_in_west_side_gay_bashing_tracke.html#ixzz0dNSsOyW7"emNew York Daily News/em reports/a. Ford, who is stationed at a base outside of London, was in New York with a unit charged with protecting President#160; Obama and other world leaders who were speaking at the UN. When questioned in London, Ford admitted to NYPD investigators that he’d been in a fight, but claimed the other men started it. Entertainment reporter and strongWPLJ-FM/strong radio personality a title="link: Blake Hayes website and blog" href="http://blakehayes.com/"strongBlake Hayes/strong/a was one of the men. Hayes told the emDaily News/em that Ford flicked a cigarette at him and two friends as they walked by the bar. The group exchanged insults with Ford, Hayes said, but Ford exploded and pushed Hayes and punched one of his friends in the face. “Die of AIDS, you f------ queers,” Ford allegedly yelled at the trio before going back into the bar. “On paper, he’s a hero,” Hayes said of Ford. “But when it comes to what happened ... he deserves to be punished.” NYC prosecutors will allow the military to try Ford, according to the emDaily News/em./pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/iouLwxRzaCA" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 164px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/4875229542bf_A134/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/4875229542bf_A134/image_thumb.png" width="164" height="228" //a Indiana state capitol, Indianapolis emFlickr /ema href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/david-hilgart/4149715096/in/photostream/"emphoto by D.Hilgart/em/a/div pLegislators in both Indiana and New Hampshire this week heard testimony on proposed measures that would constitutionally ban marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. /p pAfter a two-hour hearing in Indianapolis, a senate panel on Wednesday approved a resolution that could eventually place on the ballot a proposed amendment to ban marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples./p pThe Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-4 along party lines to recommend the amendment to the full Senate, which could vote on it next week, a href="http://www.wibc.com/news/Story.aspx?id=1186869"WIBC FM reports/a. /p pA resolution calling for a vote on the proposed amendment would have to pass in this year’s session of the legislature and pass again next year before the proposal would be put on the ballot./p pIn New Hampshire, a house committee heard testimony from opponents of the marriage equality law that passed last year and took effect Jan. 1. They asked the committee to repeal the law and put a proposed amendment banning marriage equality on the ballot./p pNeither the New Hampshire nor the Indiana measure is considered likely to pass. In New Hampshire, Democrats are now firmly in control of both houses of the legislature and “appear eager to dispose of controversial measures early in the session to avoid lingering debate in an election year”, a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100121/NEWS01/1210343/1037/NEWS04"according to Associated Press reporter Norma Love/a. In Indiana, House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend) has repeatedly said amending the state's constitution is unnecessary because Indiana law already prohibits same-sex marriage./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/indiana-and-nh-legislators-hear-testimony-on-marriage-equality-bans_BYN.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/T63coKONFAo" height="1" width="1"/

pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/113cb2509b86_8D37/image.png"img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 4px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/113cb2509b86_8D37/image_thumb.png" width="164" height="125" //a#160;#160;#160; strongem:::/em/strong A pastor from strongAmarillo, Texas/strong has launched a website calling for an economic boycott of strongHouston/strong to punish its citizens “for voting in an openly homosexual mayor and for allowing the largest Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in the United States”, a href="http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/01/boycott_houston.php"emHouston Press/em reports/a. In the mission statement on his website, a href="http://www.boycotthouston.com/"BoycottHouston.com/a, Pastor strongDavid H. Grisham/strong, who identifies himself as webmaster of RepentAmarillo.com says, “Both of these actions are an abomination in the eyes of Godstrong…” /strongA a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=449797225264"Facebook group/a called strongBoycott Boycott Houston/strong has been created in response to the call. Its mission statement: “Committed to showing Houston isn’t as backwards as a lot of other places in the state. We are a blue island surrounded by a sea of red. Houstonians are progressive. Deal with it.”strong#160;/strongGrisham told emHouston Press/em, “The election of an [openly] homosexual person to a major public office brings with it a radical homosexual agenda. That in and of itself makes a statement.” He said he wants the mayor “get saved and come to Jesus Christ”. Mayor strongAnnise Parker/strong did not appear to be too worried about the boycott threat. strong“/strongI trust that the citizens of Amarillo will make their own decisions about visiting us here in Houston,” Parker said, a href="http://www.khou.com/home/Amarillo-Pastor-Boycott-Houston-82199637.html"according to KHOU/a. “I'll simply continue to do my best to make sure that Houston is a great place to do business in and a great place to visit.quot;/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/y1GVtLazEtE" height="1" width="1"/

pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/c2a50bf36fb5_1155E/image.png"img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 4px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/c2a50bf36fb5_1155E/image_thumb.png" width="124" height="127" //a#160;#160;#160; strongem:::/em/strong strongIdaho/strong’s only out gay legislator, Sen. strongNicole LeFavour/strong (D-Boise), will try again this year to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s human rights law, which currently bans discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations on the basis of race, religion, and disability. LeFavour announced on a a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=infoamp;gid=203151042899"Facebook page/a set up#160; for the law that the bill will have 20 co-sponsors when it is introduced. The bill would allow the state’s strongHuman Rights Commission/strong to investigate and mediate complaints of discrimination. When the same bill was introduced one year ago in the state senate, it wasn’t even given a public hearing by the strongSenate State Affairs Committee/strong, which voted 4-2 to kill the bill as soon as it was introduced. LeFavour was allowed to speak in favor of the bill before the committee, a href="http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/feb/21/gay-rights-push-fails/"emSpokesman Review/em reported/a, but her impassioned plea didn’t move her fellow senators. She said that many employers and many individuals believe that it’s OK to discriminate against LGBT people because the law is silent on the matter.#160; “By our silence, we condone it,” she said. Since then, the Facebook page and a a href="http://www.4idaho.org/HumanRights/"website for “Human Rights for All”/a has encouraged supporters of the anti-discrimination measure to speak up with letters to the editors of state newspapers, and personal lobbying of legislators./pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/t60KEjrBUy0" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/538c7e49bce0_C358/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/538c7e49bce0_C358/image_thumb.png" width="244" height="176" //a Sacha Roiz (left) plays Sam Adama in the new SyFy series Caprica which premiers Friday. Polly Walker plays high-school headmistress Sister Clarice/div pNBC Universal’s SyFy cable channel launches its eagerly anticipated emCaprica/em series tomorrow at 9pm. The new show is a prequel to the channel’s complex, dark, and challenging series, emBattlestar Galactica/em, which ended its short run on the channel#160; last year. /p pThe series also promises to introduce something that’s rarely been seen in TV and movie science fiction shows: gay (or at least gay-like) characters. /p pIn a href="http://www.afterelton.com/people/2010/01/jane-espenson"an interview with emAfterElton/em/a, one of emCaprica/em’s executive producers, Jane Espenson, says that one of the shows major characters is gay. “[I]t had always seemed an omission to me from our world,” Espenson says of the character’s sexuality. (emAfterElton/em identifies the character, but warns that in doing so it is giving away some plot points of the show that viewers might not want to know beforehand.)/p pBut Esperson explains that she and the other writers on the show have avoided using the term “gay” or anything like it./p blockquote p“I think that’s a word from our world,” [Esperson told emAfterElton/em], “and I feel like in this world [of Caprica], it wouldn't be a word. People fall in love with who they fall in love with. Why do you have to have a different word for who they fall in love with?/p /blockquote pAnd relationships in emCaprica/em take a far more prominent role in the new series than they were given in emBattlestar/em, according to critics who have seen the first episodes./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/tv-a-gay-like-character-is-among-promises-for-caprica_BYS.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/7Lfi0DuOjds" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/1f6277af0b3c_8721/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/1f6277af0b3c_8721/image_thumb.png" width="244" height="315" //a In a video supplied by Westboro Baptist Church a young woman dances an Irish jig on the Irish flag emvia /ema href="http://www.irishcentral.com/news/God-hates-Ireland-claims-Kansas-Church-82241432.html"emIrishCentral.com/em/a/div pWestboro Baptist Church, the insanely homophobic Topeka, Kan based church group, has launched a dedicated website proclaiming the hatred of its god for the whole country of Ireland, a href="http://www.irishcentral.com/news/God-hates-Ireland-claims-Kansas-Church-82241432.html"IrishCentral.com has noticed/a./p pAlthough Ireland gets its own “godhates…” url, there is nothing else unique about the Kansas church’s proclamation of hatred toward the Emerald Isle. The Ireland site is just one chapter in a larger site called “GodHatesTheWorld.com” through which the church offers its brand of “Christian” condemnation for most of the world’s countries, with the others “coming soon”. Although most of the countries don’t get a dedicated url like the one for the Ireland site, each of the 53 countries is condemned in a series of pages using the same format as the Ireland site. /p pAt the site, GodHatesIreland.com, the church proclaims, “Ireland has absolutely failed its duty to God. It has been wholly given over to the idea that it is okay to be a filthy fag. They have allowed their fags to establish themselves at every level of society, especially in the government.”/p pFrom that site, Westboro links to its “GodHatesFags.com” site which it calls, “The main web site of the most controversial church in the world – Westboro Baptist Church”./p pemIrishCentral/em’s reporter, Cahir O’Doherty, was brave enough to watch one of the videos offered by the church on the Ireland page:/p blockquote pIn the video on the website, young church members are pictured jumping up and down on the Irish flag and screaming obscenities about Ireland. /p pOne young woman appears to be dancing an Irish jig on the flag, while another sings about spitting on it./p /blockquote pA map on the main page of the “GodHatesTheWorld” site, leads to dedicated “GodHates” pages for 53 different countries so far, including Haiti. Like fellow nominal Baptist Pat Robertson, Westboro calls calls this month’s earthquake in Haiti, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, a “righteous judgment of God”. /p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/wingnuts-church-says-god-hates-the-world-including-haiti_BYW.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/OVDY30CdKFU" height="1" width="1"/

p#160;#160; ::: The approval percentage for Washington’s a title="see lgbtQnews stories" href="http://lgbtqnews.com/?tag=/referendum+71"strongReferendum 71/strong/a has reached nearly strong52 percent/strong in the latest figures from the a href="http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results.aspx?RaceTypeCode=Mamp;JurisdictionTypeID=-2amp;ElectionID=32amp;ViewMode=Results"secretary of state’s office/a, which were released at 4:43 pm PST. The approval rate in strongSeattle/King County/strong jumped from 65.91 percent in this morning’s count to 66.59 percent in the late afternoon tally. The overall approval rate from all state voters is now 51.83 percent. The counties with the lowest approval rate are grouped in the southeast corner of the state. Voters in strongAdams/strong and strongLincoln/strong counties are rejecting the domestic partnership law by 73-26 percent. strongGarfield/strong County voters rejected it by a staggering 77-23 percent. Fortunately, however, there are a total of only 7351 combined votes from those three counties, compared with 303,528 total votes so far from King County./pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/N3qUOx2vfbY" height="1" width="1"/

#160;#160; ::: At a press conference tomorrow, Forth Worth Police Chief strongJeff Halstead/strong will announce the results of a long-anticipated internal investigation by his department of a June raid on strongRainbow Lounge/strong, a gay club in Fort Worth, a police spokesman confirmed today. One man was hospitalized with serious head trauma suffered during the raid. Witnesses said he was thrown to the ground by officers. But ema href="http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-beat/Cops-Report-No-Excessive-Force-in-Rainbow-Lounge-Raid-69077832.html"NBC-DFW reports/a/em that the police department’s 1000-page report concludes that Fort Worth’s officers did not use excessive force or violate other operational policies. The report faults officers only for failing to file a timely report on the incident, according to emNBC-DFW/em reporter strongScott Gordon/strong. It remains unclear whether the police department would be releasing the actual report Thursday or just a summary of its findings, a title="Fort Worth Star Telegram reports" href="http://www.star-telegram.com/fortworth/story/1736123.html"emFort Worth Star Telegram/em reports/a. Halstead is expected to announce if any officers will be disciplined because of the raid, but NBC-DFW reports that the chief has told city officials none of the officers will be fired. A leader of one of the most vocal gay groups protesting the raid said a written reprimand or short suspension would be “a slap on the wrist.” Separately, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), whose officers also participated in the raid, is expected to release a 74-page report on its internal use-of-force investigation into the June 28 incident. Two TABC officers were fired after a preliminary TABC investigation.#160; pSource: a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/fortworth/story/1736123.html"Fort Worth police, TABC to release Rainbow Lounge reports | Fort Worth | Star-Telegram.com/a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/NEB_JAw1qoQ" height="1" width="1"/

pAs only he can, Stephen Colbert, gives the Report treatment to the a title="see lgbtQnews summary" href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/salt-lake-gay-kiss-arrest-report_BYN.aspx"July detention/a by Mormon church security guards of a gay couple, Derek Jones and Matt Aune, who were charged with “criminal trespass” after they shared a kiss on the cheek while they walked through a generally public plaza in Salt Lake City which is owned by the church./p pWith videos to demonstrate clearly what the guards emmight/em have been thinking when they spotted Jones and Aune on their security cams, Colbert tells the couple, “You were on their property and you made it hard when they tried to get you off.”/p pNo, Colbert explains, they weren’t arrested for being emgay/em. Not at all. Why, look at this video of a boy and girl kissing passionately on the plaza. Surely, they too are about to get arrested. Any time now. Ok. Well, nevermind./p phttp://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/(0)/Nailed 'Em - Mormon Church Trespassing /p pSource: a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/254666/november-03-2009/nailed--em---mormon-church-trespassing"Nailed 'Em - Mormon Church Trespassing | November 3, 2009 | ColbertNation.com/a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/zW7nDeD9LhE" height="1" width="1"/

pWhile voters in Maine rejected a law offering full equality in marriage rights to gay and lesbian Mainers, voters on the opposite side of the continent appeared to give tenuous support to a measure that would give slightly more limited rights to gay and lesbian Washingtonians./p pThe measure in Washington – Referendum 71 – had an ever-so-tenuous lead Wednesday afternoon, with late-arriving mail-in ballots still to be counted. Just 51.03 percent of the state’s voters chose to “Approve” a law passed by the legislature last winter that stops just short of granting marriage to to the state’s registered domestic partners, who can be same-sex couples, or heterosexual partners where one partner is at least 62-years-old./p pThe law mandates that “state-registered domestic partners shall be treated the same as married spouses”, but specifically denies the term “marriage” to them. Among the rights and responsibilities afforded to partners by the law is the right to use sick leave to care for a domestic partner, and rights related to adoption, child custody, and child support./p pMore than 12,000 people in Washington state are registered as domestic partners. If it had passed, Referendum 71 would not have done away with the underlying domestic partnership law, but would have limited it to a narrow set of rights and responsibilities. /p pAs of the 1:32 pm tally a href="http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results.aspx?RaceTypeCode=Mamp;JurisdictionTypeID=-2amp;ElectionID=32amp;ViewMode=Results"from the secretary of state’s office/a, 511,651 voters have chosen to approve the law while 490,948 voted to reject it. But because 98 percent of the state’s voters now cast their votes with mail-in ballots, votes are still arriving at county election offices. Votes will continue to be counted as long as ballots were postmarked before last night at midnight./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/razor-thin-margin-still-favors-partner-rights-in-WA_BYN.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/GiXhqg2HSgY" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/Kalamazoovotersapproveantidiscrimina.com_941D/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/Kalamazoovotersapproveantidiscrimina.com_941D/image_thumb.png" width="244" height="208" //a Andrea Siferd, 26, left, was one of dozens of exuberant One Kalamazoo supporters who cheered news that the city’s anti-discrimination measure had passed emphoto: /ema title="Kalamazoo Gazette" href="http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/11/anti-discrimination_ordinance_1.html"emKalamazoo Gazette/em/a/div pThrough a decisive vote in favor of the anti-bias measure, Kalamazoo last night became the 16th city in Michigan to adopt an ordinance protecting its gay, lesbian, and transgender citizens from discrimination./p pIt’s a vote that adds a pleasing chapter to a long history of activism in cities throughout the country over anti-discrimination measures./p pKalamazoo’s ordinance was adopted this summer by a unanimous vote of the city commission, but did not take effect because a group of right-wing activists collected enough signatures on petitions to force the measure to a public referendum./p pThe voters weighed in last night as strongly as the city commission had. They voted 7,671 to 4,731 to pass the ordinance, a title="Kalamazoo Gazette reports" href="http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/11/anti-discrimination_ordinance_1.html"emKalamazoo Gazette/em reports/a./p pAnti-discrimination measures like the one passed last night in Kalamazoo had been a focus of right-wing attacks on LGBT equal rights in the 1970’s, especially after a former beauty-queen contestant, Anita Bryant, led a successful 1977 effort to repeal an anti-discrimination ordinance in Miami./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/kalamazoo-voters-resoundingly-support-equal-rights_BYN.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/tJrmOD2X7ds" height="1" width="1"/

pThe defenders of marriage equality in Maine last night were downcast as they left a hotel ballroom where hundreds had gathered to watch election returns trickle in last night./p pWith 96 percent of the state’s precincts counted this morning, 52.77 percent voted to overturn the marriage equality law, according to the widely-watched unofficial tally by a href="http://www.bangordailynews.com/electionresults.html"Bangor Daily News/a. 47.23 percent voted to support it./p pVoters had overturned a law passed by the legislature last spring that would have granted equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. The law never took effect because of the referendum campaign./p pBy the time the last stragglers left the ballroom last night, it was clear that voters had once again chosen to strip rights from some of the state’s citizens. Most of those in the ballroom had volunteered to work on the campaign. They’d spent hours calling people, or knocking on doors. Before the votes were counted, campaign workers expressed confidence that Maine would be unique, that the voters of the flinty New England state would become the first to uphold the rights of fellow LGBT citizens./p pAt some points during the night, the crowd was exuberant as partial vote totals showed a surge of support for the marriage equality law. Strong support was provided by voters in Portland – Maine’s largest city – where 73 percent voted against Question 1 (which is the way of voting emfor/em the marriage law). The measure also garnered majority support in Bangor and from some other key cities. /p pBut the tide turned as votes from rural counties were reported late in the evening./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/downcast-crowd-helpless-as-maine-voters-strip-rights_BYN.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/Ru8WiZKNi98" height="1" width="1"/

pem[see a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/election-notes-updated-regularly_BYB.aspx#kalamazoo"strongVictory in Kalamazoo/strong/a below]/em/p pstrong10:17 PST:/strong/p pAdam Bink (who was live-blogging from the a title="Link: No on 1 campaign website" href="http://www.protectmaineequality.org/index.cfm"No on 1: Protect Maine Equality/a election night location) also reported in Update 43:/p blockquote pAfter talking with some people here, based on projections from the campaign and looking at the rural numbers starting to trickle in, there is a very, very good chance of a recount, and we're making preparations for that./p /blockquote pstrongMaine/strong does allow absentee ballots to be mailed until election day, but Bink does not offer any estimate on how many are expected by the campaign./p pstrong10:00 PST:/strong/p pWith strong86% of precincts/strong reporting in strongMaine/strong, opponents of marriage equality have increased their lead, making hopes for marriage there seem dim:/p pstrong52.74% vote to reject the equality law/strong. 47.26% vote to uphold it, a href="http://www.bangordailynews.com/electionresults.html"emBangor News/em reports/a. That’s a difference of 27,551 votes in the small state./p pa href="http://www.openleft.com/diary/15830/maine-election-results-thread-2"Adam Bink reports/a that some hope remains:/p blockquote pThe No On 1 campaign manager, Jesse Connolly, just went down with us to the ballroom and announced that the race is too close to call and they are still counting. The counting could continue well into the morning. There will be no concession or declaration of victory, it appears, tonight. Things are extremely tight and no news media so far has called the race either./p /blockquote pstrong9:48 PST:/strong/p p(took a Kathy Griffin break)/p pJust realized that “percent reporting” is another victim of mail-in voting. They don’t count anymore by precincts, and that’s where the reporting percentage comes from./p pWhat they could do, however, is present an estimated percentage of the “ballots on hand” that have been counted so far./p p(Of course, they would have no way to estimate how many might not be “on hand” because they’re still in the mail.)/p pThe secretary of state hasn’t updated its site. I believe they’ve closed down counts until 8 am tomorrow morning. (At least, that’s what’s happening in King County.)/p pstrong9:14 PST:/strong/p pstrong51.13% of Washington voters/strong now shown supporting domestic partnerships./p pWith results that tight, it’s unlikely that a final result will be available tonight. Mail ballots (which is the only way 98% of voters can vote now) will trickle in for the rest of the week./p pKing County support is now at 65%, but Pierce County (with limited votes counted so far) is opposed with 51.05% voting to reject the law./p pSnohomish County is still just barely in favor at 51.45%./p pIn the east, Spokane county (the largest county on that side of the state) is voting to reject by 60.26%./p pstrong9:00 PST:/strong/p pWith 77% reporting, marriage equality now trailing in Maine: 51.83% Yes (reject equality) 48.17 No. a href="http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/"emPortland Press Herald/em/a./p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/election-notes-updated-regularly_BYB.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/653LX0UQYlk" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/INTHELIFEADOPTIONINFLORIDA_D7A9/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/INTHELIFEADOPTIONINFLORIDA_D7A9/image_thumb.png" width="244" height="214" //a Martin Gill/div pAccording to all the social workers and psychologists they’ve let into their home, Martin Gill and his partner are great parents to the two boys they’ve raised for the past five years./p pGill wants to adopt the children, but the state of Florida officially prohibits it, and is fighting Gill’s proposed adoption in court. em(See /ema href="http://lgbtqnews.com/?tag=/martin+gill"emlgbtQnews articles/em/aem on the case.)/em/p pThe PBS LGBT program emIn The Life/em offers a superb web-only video a href="http://www.inthelifetv.org/html/other/education_action_1902.html"recap of the case/a. em(Video a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/video-pbs-show-profiles-florida-gay-fathers-legal-fight-adoption_BYV.aspx#video"embedded below/a/emem/emem.)/em/p pThe video includes a touching interview with Martin Gill./p pLeslie Cooper, an ACLU attorney who works on the case, tells emIn The Life/em that the state of Florida “trotted out every negative stereotype about gay people and gay parents that you’ve ever heard and some additional ones.”/p pCooper and her legal team countered with fact-based testimony. “We put on a largely expert case,” Cooper recalls, “as well as testimony from everyone involved in the children’s case who evaluated their well-being and their needs.”/p pa href="http://lgbtqnews.com/gaynews/video-pbs-show-profiles-florida-gay-fathers-legal-fight-adoption_BYV.aspx#continue"More.../a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/NW41b_1NtEg" height="1" width="1"/

p#160;#160; ::: A Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to marry a couple because the bride was white and groom was black resigned Tuesday, a title="Associated Press reports" href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_z-Zo4fvJEf2TK1LCiiPIe9NDwD9BOB3SG1"Associated Press reports/a. strongKeith Bardwell/strong refused to marry strongBeth Humphrey/strong and strongTerence McKay/strong because they are of different races. The story caused a national controversy after Humphrey and McKay took their complaints to the media. Bardwell then said in interviews that he has always refused to marry bi-racial couples, referring them to other JPs. He said he believes such marriages cause harm to the couples’ children. Gov. strongBobby Jindal/strong (R-LA), Sen. strongMary Landrieu/strong (D-LA) and Rep. strongCharlie Melancon/strong (D-LA) all quickly condemned the action, a href="http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/la-justice-of-the-peace-who-wouldnt-marry-interracial-couple-resigns.php?ref=mp"TPM reports/a. But Bardwell defended himself for weeks in TV and print interviews and refused to step down. He didn’t explain in a statement why he’d now decided to leave the post./p pSource: a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_z-Zo4fvJEf2TK1LCiiPIe9NDwD9BOB3SG1"The Associated Press: AP: La. justice quits after interracial wed flap/a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/EQi9-6shAcM" height="1" width="1"/

div style="width: 468px" class="caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_thumb.png" width="468" height="310" //a br /Some of the festival-goers at Copacabana use a giant rainbow flag as an umbrella emphoto via /ema title="Made In Brazil" href="http://madeinbrazil.typepad.com/madeinbrazil/2009/11/1-million-people-celebrate-pride-under-the-rain-in-rio.html"emMade In Brazil/em/a/div div style="width: 164px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_3.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_thumb_3.png" width="164" height="202" //a a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_4.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_thumb_4.png" width="164" height="214" //a a title="via Made In Brazil" href="http://madeinbrazil.typepad.com/madeinbrazil/2009/11/1-million-people-celebrate-pride-under-the-rain-in-rio.html"emvia Made In Brazil/em/a/div div style="width: 244px" class="image-on-right caption-text"a href="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_5.png"img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lgbtqnews.com/qpics/gaynews-images/MadeinBrazil1MillionPeopleCelebratePride_981E/image_thumb_5.png" width="244" height="335" //a iphoto by a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28241051@N08/"Marina Rodinsky/a a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28241051@N08/4065789669/sizes/o/"via Flickr/a/i/div pDespite a persistent light drizzle, over a million people congregated near Copacabana for Rio de Janeiro’s glittering 14th Annual Gay Pride Parade, a title="Made In Brazil blog reports" href="http://madeinbrazil.typepad.com/madeinbrazil/2009/11/1-million-people-celebrate-pride-under-the-rain-in-rio.html"emMade In Brazil/em blog reports/a. /p pAlthough they might easily have been lost among the festive costumes, politicians were on hand to assure parade-goers that LGBT rights would be enhanced and protected:/p blockquote pFrom the top of one of the sixteen floats, the state governor Sérgio Cabral affirmed that quot;Rio will always be on the forefront of civil rights in Brazil,quot; and said that he was sorry for the fact that there are still politicians fighting against gay rights: quot;People need to understand that if a man loves another man, that is their business and no one else's.quot; /p pRio's mayor Eduardo Paes guaranteed that the parade will receive more incentive from the government next year, when it celebrates its 15th anniversary. According to newspaper ema href="http://odia.terra.com.br/portal/rio/html/2009/11/parada_gay_ganhara_mais_recursos_no_proximo_ano_43937.html"O Dia/a/em, the investment for 2010 may be of up to R$ 800,000, which is a significant number when you consider that the city spent a mere R$ 100,000 in the event this year. Just so you know, it is estimated that the parade brought in over R$ 45 million in revenue to the city last year. /p /blockquote pThe Nov. 1 parade on Avenida Atlântica#160; in Copacabana was the culminating event of a href="http://rio.gaypridebrazil.org/events/index.asp"month of LGBT pride activities/a and parties. October is designated Gay Pride Month in Rio. /p pSource: a href="http://madeinbrazil.typepad.com/madeinbrazil/2009/11/1-million-people-celebrate-pride-under-the-rain-in-rio.html"Made in Brazil: 1 Million People Celebrate Pride Under The Rain In Rio/a/pimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lgbtQnews/~4/0z1VHGrZA4Q" height="1" width="1"/