A New York Times editorial calls House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to task for failing to pass the Matthew Shepard (hate crimes) Act.
Rudy Giuliani spoke about his position on gay issues yesterday on Meet the Press saying, "The way that somebody leads their life is not sinful. It is the acts that people perform that are sinful, not the orientation." Good As You has video.
Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee was standing by a statement he made 15 years ago saying that people with HIV/AIDS need to be quarantined.
Longtime LGBT activist Bob Kohler, who died last Wednesday, was celebrated in the West Village last night.
Last week we posted a story about Columbia University's evolving policies towards transgender students. The thorough and well-written story appeared in the student-run Columbia Spectator. Contrast its quality with the New York Post's Page Six write-up on the story, using expressions like "girls will be boys at Barnard College." Shameful, but not surprising.
The Dutch government is adding LGBT equality to their foreign policy, which will put needed pressure on some of the countries (mainly in Africa and Asia) that typically benefit from Dutch aid.
Queerty interviews gay travel writer Michael Luongo, who has just released a collection of essays titled "Gay Travels in the Muslim World."
Monday, December 10, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
Morning Sweep
The federal hate crimes bill has been dropped from the Department of Defense Authorization Act in the Senate, effectively killing the legislation for now.
Columbia University's newspaper writes about the problems that transgender students sometimes deal with on campus.
The Washington Blade finds that the economy is the most important issue to gay, lesbian and bisexual voters. Equal rights comes in a close second.
Gay City News takes a look at a poll that analyzes the liberal-leaning political inclinations of LGBT voters.
HIV/AIDS groups are setting the record straight on Rudy Giuliani's history dealing with HIV/AIDS issues.
Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle appeared on CBS News on Logo this week to speak about Rudy Giuliani's back-and-forth positions on important LGBT issues. (at -3:13 in the video).
Columbia University's newspaper writes about the problems that transgender students sometimes deal with on campus.
The Washington Blade finds that the economy is the most important issue to gay, lesbian and bisexual voters. Equal rights comes in a close second.
Gay City News takes a look at a poll that analyzes the liberal-leaning political inclinations of LGBT voters.
HIV/AIDS groups are setting the record straight on Rudy Giuliani's history dealing with HIV/AIDS issues.
Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle appeared on CBS News on Logo this week to speak about Rudy Giuliani's back-and-forth positions on important LGBT issues. (at -3:13 in the video).
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Morning Sweep
The Boy Scouts in Philadelphia have lost the lease on a building that they've inhabited since 1928 because of their anti-gay policies.
An Elmira-based lay preacher writes in the Elmira Star-Gazette that Christians should not be using the bible to justify their bias against gays and lesbians.
A philosophy professor at SUNY Fredonia also thinks that arguments against same-sex marriage are ridiculous.
The 21-year old gay Iranian man whose death sentence was stayed a few weeks ago by the Iranian Chief Justice was executed this morning without any warning.
The Advocate reports that Log Cabin Republicans aren't endorsing any candidates in the Republican presidential primaries.
A GQ interview provides more reasons why a Mike Huckabee presidency would be scary for LGBT people...or anyone who values separation between church and state.
Mombian provides a list of LGBT-inclusive gifts for children.
In a message to Julia Roberts (who was receiving an award from American Cinematique), George Clooney and Brad Pitt parody a certain Idaho senator.
An Elmira-based lay preacher writes in the Elmira Star-Gazette that Christians should not be using the bible to justify their bias against gays and lesbians.
A philosophy professor at SUNY Fredonia also thinks that arguments against same-sex marriage are ridiculous.
The 21-year old gay Iranian man whose death sentence was stayed a few weeks ago by the Iranian Chief Justice was executed this morning without any warning.
The Advocate reports that Log Cabin Republicans aren't endorsing any candidates in the Republican presidential primaries.
A GQ interview provides more reasons why a Mike Huckabee presidency would be scary for LGBT people...or anyone who values separation between church and state.
Mombian provides a list of LGBT-inclusive gifts for children.
In a message to Julia Roberts (who was receiving an award from American Cinematique), George Clooney and Brad Pitt parody a certain Idaho senator.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Morning Sweep
Mombian wishes us all a Happy Hanukkah.
CBS News reports on the ever-increasing support for allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military.
One of America's oldest Episcopal congregations is divided over the Episcopal diocese's recognition of same-sex marriage.
Immigration Equality's blog reports that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau will create a unit that specifically looks out for immigrants' rights--whether they are legal or not.
Towleroad has lots about Harvey Milk, including an open casting call for 18-30-year old men who may be interested in being in the upcoming Milk biopic and this nice little feature about the man who currently runs a home furnishings store in the same place that Milk and his partner once owned a camera shop.
Mayor Bloomberg on Randi Weingarten at last night's celebration of the UFT President's 50th birthday: "Like Christina Aguilera, she’s a superstar performer, like Robert Moses, she’s literally changed the lives of 8 million New Yorkers, and, like Brad Pitt she really loves beautiful women."
CBS News reports on the ever-increasing support for allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military.
One of America's oldest Episcopal congregations is divided over the Episcopal diocese's recognition of same-sex marriage.
Immigration Equality's blog reports that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau will create a unit that specifically looks out for immigrants' rights--whether they are legal or not.
Towleroad has lots about Harvey Milk, including an open casting call for 18-30-year old men who may be interested in being in the upcoming Milk biopic and this nice little feature about the man who currently runs a home furnishings store in the same place that Milk and his partner once owned a camera shop.
Mayor Bloomberg on Randi Weingarten at last night's celebration of the UFT President's 50th birthday: "Like Christina Aguilera, she’s a superstar performer, like Robert Moses, she’s literally changed the lives of 8 million New Yorkers, and, like Brad Pitt she really loves beautiful women."
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Rudy Giuliani Then and Now: Hate Crimes and Non-Discrimination
Hate Crimes
Rudy Giuliani’s reversal on the need for a federal hate crimes law is one of our biggest disappointments in where he now stands on LGBT issues as a candidate for President. In case you missed it, here’s one of his campaign operatives telling the Christian Broadcasting Network that Giuliani no longer supports passage of a federal law.
A former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a former Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department responsible for supervising all the U.S. attorney offices’ law enforcement agencies, and a Mayor who made fighting crime a centerpiece of his time in office, Giuliani’s new position on hate crimes seems antithetical to everything he stood for in the past.
We posted his 2000 press release where he announced his own hate crimes initiative, which came just a few months before New York State finally passed a statewide law. In the press conference he held (that we attended to show our support), Giuliani announced the formation of a Hate Crimes Task Force for NYC and put over $5.0 million in taxpayer dollars behind it so that the NYPD and the City’s District Attorneys would have the funding they needed to investigate and prosecute possible crimes motivated by bias. He also said, as you can read in his release, “I call upon the State Legislature and Congress to enact hate crimes legislation that recognizes the severity of hate crimes and imposes the appropriate penalties.”
Given that hate crimes legislation passed the House of Representatives this year by a vote of 237-180, the Senate by a vote of 60-39 and the White House has said it will veto the measure, this is no academic issue. It’s before our federal government right now.
Hate crimes against LGBT people continue to spike up across America and we need Republican voices speaking up on why a federal law is important, but Rudy Giuliani’s voice is no longer there because he changed his position during the heat of the campaign primary season.
What does this say about Rudy Giuliani? We’ll leave that to you to decide, but I think you can figure out what we think about it.
Non-Discrimination
While NYC already had a law banning discrimination based upon sexual orientation when Giuliani was Mayor, we did not have protections in NYC for transgender people or a statewide law addressing either sexual orientation or gender identity and expression discrimination.
As Mayor, Giuliani frequently spoke about his support for the then-pending statewide Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA). I myself heard him state his support for SONDA each time I attended his annual Pride event in June at Gracie Mansion. And you can hear a reporter and one his openly gay political appointees, Chris Lynn, talk about Giuliani’s support for SONDA and hate crimes legislation in this video clip we posted last week on YouTube.
While support for non-discrimination legislation was a major part of his schpiel on gay issues whenever he spoke to our community, support for transgender non-discrimination protections was not. He and NYC Council Speaker Vallone blocked pending legislation amending the City’s human rights law to provide protections based upon gender identity and expression. It took Bloomberg becoming Mayor for trans discrimination to be outlawed.
So where is Rudy Giuliani on pending federal non-discrimination legislation for LGBT Americans, known as ENDA, another issue that is before Congress right now?
He’s silent. Despite the many times he spoke passionately as Mayor about there being no room in NYC for discrimination and the need for a statewide non-discrimination law, he’s nowhere to be found on federal non-discrimination legislation protecting LGBT Americans.
Perhaps he'll still articulate his views on this critically important civil rights issue. We hope so. We’ll be sure and let you know if he does.
For more on Rudy Giuliani, go to “The Giuliani Files” on the Pride Agenda website.
Rudy Giuliani’s reversal on the need for a federal hate crimes law is one of our biggest disappointments in where he now stands on LGBT issues as a candidate for President. In case you missed it, here’s one of his campaign operatives telling the Christian Broadcasting Network that Giuliani no longer supports passage of a federal law.
A former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a former Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department responsible for supervising all the U.S. attorney offices’ law enforcement agencies, and a Mayor who made fighting crime a centerpiece of his time in office, Giuliani’s new position on hate crimes seems antithetical to everything he stood for in the past.
We posted his 2000 press release where he announced his own hate crimes initiative, which came just a few months before New York State finally passed a statewide law. In the press conference he held (that we attended to show our support), Giuliani announced the formation of a Hate Crimes Task Force for NYC and put over $5.0 million in taxpayer dollars behind it so that the NYPD and the City’s District Attorneys would have the funding they needed to investigate and prosecute possible crimes motivated by bias. He also said, as you can read in his release, “I call upon the State Legislature and Congress to enact hate crimes legislation that recognizes the severity of hate crimes and imposes the appropriate penalties.”
Given that hate crimes legislation passed the House of Representatives this year by a vote of 237-180, the Senate by a vote of 60-39 and the White House has said it will veto the measure, this is no academic issue. It’s before our federal government right now.
Hate crimes against LGBT people continue to spike up across America and we need Republican voices speaking up on why a federal law is important, but Rudy Giuliani’s voice is no longer there because he changed his position during the heat of the campaign primary season.
What does this say about Rudy Giuliani? We’ll leave that to you to decide, but I think you can figure out what we think about it.
Non-Discrimination
While NYC already had a law banning discrimination based upon sexual orientation when Giuliani was Mayor, we did not have protections in NYC for transgender people or a statewide law addressing either sexual orientation or gender identity and expression discrimination.
As Mayor, Giuliani frequently spoke about his support for the then-pending statewide Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA). I myself heard him state his support for SONDA each time I attended his annual Pride event in June at Gracie Mansion. And you can hear a reporter and one his openly gay political appointees, Chris Lynn, talk about Giuliani’s support for SONDA and hate crimes legislation in this video clip we posted last week on YouTube.
While support for non-discrimination legislation was a major part of his schpiel on gay issues whenever he spoke to our community, support for transgender non-discrimination protections was not. He and NYC Council Speaker Vallone blocked pending legislation amending the City’s human rights law to provide protections based upon gender identity and expression. It took Bloomberg becoming Mayor for trans discrimination to be outlawed.
So where is Rudy Giuliani on pending federal non-discrimination legislation for LGBT Americans, known as ENDA, another issue that is before Congress right now?
He’s silent. Despite the many times he spoke passionately as Mayor about there being no room in NYC for discrimination and the need for a statewide non-discrimination law, he’s nowhere to be found on federal non-discrimination legislation protecting LGBT Americans.
Perhaps he'll still articulate his views on this critically important civil rights issue. We hope so. We’ll be sure and let you know if he does.
For more on Rudy Giuliani, go to “The Giuliani Files” on the Pride Agenda website.
Morning Sweep
The New York Times new blog (run by the editorial board) called "The Board" discusses remarks given by retiring career diplomat and former Ambassador to Romania Michael Guest. Guest, who is openly gay, uses his last official moment in front of the foreign service corps to very tastefully lambaste the U.S. State Department for not recognizing same-sex couples as family.
As part of its efforts to bring in even more tourists, New York City is launching a marketing campaign directed towards LGBT travellers and their expendable incomes.
The Louisville (KY) Courier Journal reports on the exploding numbers of same-sex couples reported over the last decade in the fly-over states (anything NOT on a coast...) saying, "Now either there's been a wildly successful gay recruitment campaign, or lots more lesbian and gay couples are "coming out" on government surveys." Our money's on the latter.
A story in the Baltimore Sun today reveals that black "men who have sex with men" are twice as likely to contract HIV than white gay men.
As part of its efforts to bring in even more tourists, New York City is launching a marketing campaign directed towards LGBT travellers and their expendable incomes.
The Louisville (KY) Courier Journal reports on the exploding numbers of same-sex couples reported over the last decade in the fly-over states (anything NOT on a coast...) saying, "Now either there's been a wildly successful gay recruitment campaign, or lots more lesbian and gay couples are "coming out" on government surveys." Our money's on the latter.
A story in the Baltimore Sun today reveals that black "men who have sex with men" are twice as likely to contract HIV than white gay men.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Morning Sweep
Argentina is becoming a mecca for gay tourists, according to the New York Times.
The Times also reports that Newark, although only minutes from New York City, is not safe place for LGBT people.
The Middletown Times Herald-Record has a Q&A with Ellenville, NY native Susan Stanton--formerly Steven Stanton, the city manager of Largo, FL who made national headlines when she came out as transgender and was subsequently fired from her job.
Pam Spaulding attended the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in Las Vegas last weekend and interviewed openly lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.
Andrew Sullivan discusses repealing the highly discriminatory travel restrictions that the United States places on non-citizens with HIV/AIDS.
The Times also reports that Newark, although only minutes from New York City, is not safe place for LGBT people.
The Middletown Times Herald-Record has a Q&A with Ellenville, NY native Susan Stanton--formerly Steven Stanton, the city manager of Largo, FL who made national headlines when she came out as transgender and was subsequently fired from her job.
Pam Spaulding attended the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in Las Vegas last weekend and interviewed openly lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.
Andrew Sullivan discusses repealing the highly discriminatory travel restrictions that the United States places on non-citizens with HIV/AIDS.
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