Source

Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill repealing a 95-year-old statute that had prevented gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts, according to Boston.com. “It’s a good day,” said Patrick, declaring that the repeal will “confirm a simple truth: that is, in Massachusetts, equal means equal.”

Massachusetts will “continue to lead the way as a national leader” and affirm “all people come before their government as equals,” Patrick said in a bill-signing ceremony at the State House’s Grand Staircase. Gay marriage “is still troubling for some of our citizens,” he said, “but it is still the law.” Patrick, who turned 52 today, also called the bill “a great birthday present.” 

Marc Solomon, executive director of MassEquality, a gay-rights organization, said, “This is really a new day. We welcome everyone from New York to come here and get married. We think it’s a shame people can’t get married in their own states.”

The repeal took effect immediately, making Massachusetts the second state after California to allow same-sex couples to marry, regardless of residence. It opened the borders for potentially thousands of nonresident same-sex couples. That includes an estimated 49,000 couples from New York, where Governor David Paterson has instructed state agencies to recognize and grant benefits to gay couples who marry elsewhere, even though the Empire State does not authorize same-sex marriages.

The law specifically barred out-of-state residents from marrying here if the marriage would be considered void in their home state. The origins of the law could be traced to the national backlash over the interracial marriage of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson. At the time, 30 of 48 states banned interracial marriage, and many other states, including Massachusetts, enacted provisions that would keep interracial couples from crossing borders to marry in their jurisdiction. The law remained on the books but fell into obscurity until gay marriage became legalized in Massachusetts, and Governor Mitt Romney cited the law as a means to prevent Massachusetts from becoming what he called “the Las Vegas of gay marriage.”

Unlike past same-sex marriage debates, the repeal of the 1913 law did not draw protesters to the State House. Advocates cited the absence of demonstrations as a sign that same-sex marriage has become an accepted fact of life in Massachusetts, after lawmakers in a joint session last year rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. The repeal passed swiftly in the Senate earlier this month on a unanimous voice vote. The House voted 118 to 35 to pass the repeal bill on Tuesday after a 45-minute floor debate.

Supporters called the 1913 law a vestige of racist opposition to interracial marriage, while opponents argued for keeping it in deference to the rights of other states to set marriage laws. Several representatives called for keeping the law on the books because they said it would create legal chaos for other states that would be forced to consider same-sex marriage or resolve disputes among couples who marry in Massachusetts but want benefits, or to divorce, back home.

source

New York City’s Museum of Sex is set to debut The Sex Lives of Animals - a celebration of the diversity of animal sexual behavior. Direct from Stanford University, this emergent research has resulted in new interpretations, delving into the possible evolutionary benefits of non-reproductive sex, for both individuals and social groups.

Set to debut in this exhibition are life-sized animal sculptures custom-made by Rune Olsen. Composed of the “social materials” of newspaper and tape, these pieces explore the physical world with the immediacy and expressiveness of hand drawing. Through the incorporation of human-like glass eyes, the distance between human and animal vanishes, seducing the viewer into a direct interaction with the gaze of the animal.

In this “new natural history” the Museum of Sex is presenting an uncensored story of the natural world, moving animal sexuality beyond the confines of reproduction and mating, towards discussions of orientation and cognition. By exploring the most intimate part of life, where it is often said we are most animal like, we can appreciate the significance of research on animal sexuality and, perhaps, extrapolate these concepts to larger issues regarding sexuality in general.

THe exhibit begins July 24, 2008 and continues into Spring, 2009. To know more about the exhibit, visit the Museum of Sex. 

Source

The Lesbos residents, who appealed to Athens court in an attempt to ban the word lesbian, lost their bid. The residents claimed that as the island’s inhabitants, they were the only true Lesbians. They sought an injunction against the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece (OLKE), from using the word ‘lesbian’ in their title in a sexual context.

“Today’s decision is unacceptable and an insult to the people of Lesbos and their three thousand year long history”, said Mr Dimitris Lambrou, the primary complainant. “The decision means that we will appeal instantly to a higher court and, at the appropriate time, to the European Court of Human Rights”.

The islanders said they did not mind if lesbians use the terms “female homosexuals” or “gay women” to describe their sexual preferences, but insisted that using the name of the island and its people was a violation of their right to a national and regional identity.

But the court ruled that the word lesbian in its adopted Greek and international sexual context does not offend or threaten the individual, collective or human rights of the island’s residents.

“The controversial words at stake should not be seen as an insult to an individual’s personality, nationality or social standing, and should not be taken as an individual or collective insult the people of Lesbos,” said Judge Maria Petsali.

After the decision was handed down, Mr Lambrou said: “The decision by the court will not stop the effort of hundreds of thousands of Lesbian islanders to fight for the right to maintain their name separately from a that of a sexual deviation. It is a misguided ruling, so we have decided to take the matter to the highest courts both in Greece and Europe”.

During earlier proceedings, he explained that it was not his intention to affect homosexual rights.
“They can do what they want with their bodies. And they can call themselves what they want, but not lesbians,” he said.

Evangelia Vlami, a lesbian activist, told the court: “Claiming that the word insults their history is racist and ridiculous,” she told the court. “It is a word that has evolved harmlessly from history and mythology and under no circumstances is intended to offend the islanders or those many people around the world who originate from this island”.

“After all,” she added, “‘Siamese twins is an internationally accepted term, and nobody thought of arguing that this term insults the people of Siam”.

Source: The Telegraph

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the nation’s law barring HIV-positive visitors from traveling to the United States, according to The Advocate. Democratic senator John Kerry and Republican senator Gordon Smith attached the repeal to legislation reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The PEPFAR bill was approved by a vote of 80–16 and now moves to a committee in the Senate before being sent to the president.

“We applaud the Senate for rejecting this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States,” said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese in an HRC press release. “We call on the leaders of the House and Senate to retain the Kerry-Smith provision in conference and ensure it is included in the final legislation sent to the president’s desk.”

The majority of California voters oppose Proposition 8, a proposed amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the state, the Associated Press reported Friday.

According to the AP, the newly released California Field Poll survey found that 51% of voters will likely vote against Prop. 8, while 42% of voters support the proposed amendment. Democrats and Republican voters were starkly split on the issue, with 63% of Democrats indicating they would vote down the measure and 68% of Republicans saying they would vote for it. Independents rejected the ban 66% to 27%. The poll, conducted by Field Research Corp., randomly surveyed 672 likely voters during the week of July 8–14.

The survey shows a change from 2000, when 61% of voters were in favor of Proposition 22, an amendment that supported the state’s 1978 ban on same-sex marriage.

The 1978 ban was overturned in May of this year, making same-sex marriages legal in the state of California. Proposition 8 was constructed in response to the new ruling. 

Source: The Advocate

The Associated Press reports that the Massachusetts Senate voted Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law used to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying in the state. The law prohibits couples from obtaining marriage licenses if they couldn’t legally wed in their home states.

The House is expected to vote on the repeal later this week. Gov. Deval Patrick, whose 18-year-old daughter announced publicly last month that she is a lesbian, would have 10 days to sign it. Patrick, a Democrat, said the 95-year-old statute also carries a racist taint.

The law dates to a time when the majority of states outlawed interracial marriages. Critics said the law was designed to smooth relations with those states. Massachusetts has allowed interracial marriages since 1843.

Dianne Wilkerson, the Massachusetts Senate’s lone black member, said the vote was long overdue. She called the law “evil.” ”This is one of the most pernicious statutes on our books,” said Wilkerson, a Democrat. “This bill puts the final nail in the coffin of those dark days.”

Opponents of gay marriage said the 1913 statute is needed to ensure Massachusetts respects the marriage laws of other states. They said it will also help prevent same-sex couples from entering into marriages and then returning to states that have already passed laws or amended their constitutions to bar gay marriages.

“The Massachusetts Senate has no right to infringe on the internal issues of how other states define marriage, but that’s exactly what they voted today to do,” said Kris Mineau of Massachusetts Family Institute.

The law was rarely enforced until Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2003 that the state could no longer bar gay couples from marrying. Romney, then eyeing a run for president, ordered city and town clerks to enforce the statute, although some town clerks balked.

Eight gay couples from surrounding states challenged the 1913 law in court and in 2006 the same court that allowed gay marriage refused to toss out the law.

An analysis released by Massachusetts’ Office of Housing and Economic Development found repealing the law would draw thousands of couples to the state, boosting the economy by $111 million, creating 330 jobs and generating $5 million in taxes and fees over three years. The study assumes New York would provide the largest number of gay couples — more than 21,000 couples — with New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine bringing the total to more than 30,000 in the first three years after the ban was lifted.

Source

The Associated Press reports that the Italian government was ordered to pay euro100,000 to a gay man who received a driver’s license for the disabled after he declared his sexual orientation on an official form, the man and a gay-rights group said Monday.

Danilo Giuffrida, 27, said he told officials about his homosexuality when he took a physical after being called up in 2000 for Italy’s mandatory year of military service, which has since been abolished. Giuffrida told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his hometown, Catania, that he had hoped to avoid service and keep working to help support his family. Giuffrida was disqualified for psychological reasons.

“It’s the old assumption that if one is homosexual then he is also psychologically disturbed,” said Aurelio Mancuso, president the main Italian gay rights group, Arcigay. 

Giuffrida’s lawyer, Giuseppe Lipera, said a military official sent his client’s paperwork to motor-vehicle officials in Catania, who changed his standard driver’s license to one for the disabled. Giuffrida said the disabled license must be renewed every year instead of every 10 years, as is the case for standard licenses.

“Some overzealous officer took upon himself the task of sending the paperwork” to the motor vehicle office, Lipera said. “Evidently, they thought that his sexual preferences were a mental disorder.”

A judge in Catania, Sicily, ordered the transport and defense ministries to pay damages to Giuffrida in a ruling handed down last week. The ministries issued no immediate comment Monday and the court that issued the ruling was closed.

Arcigay praised the court ruling and said it hoped the case would raise awareness about discrimination. ”In Italy, we still need to understand that differences among people make a country richer, not poorer,” Giuffrida said. He did not say if his standard license had been restored.

He said that he will use some of the money to buy a car.

Resident standing inside Carmen’s Place, where attack happened.

NY1 reports that four teenaged boys were arrested for attacking the director and several residents of a transgender center in Astoria Tuesday.

Father Louis Braxton, Jr., who leads the transgender center “Carmen’s Place” in Astoria, Queens, says he was trying to defend a group of transgender teens who were being assaulted Monday night when four teenaged boys attacked him with belts and paint cans.

“I was standing right here looking that way and they kind hit me from behind,” said Braxton, who says the incident happened in front of the shelter where he and the transgender teens live. “I have a couple of knots on my head right now and a fat lip.”

Braxton said the boys struck him after yelling anti-gay slurs at the transgender teens, who were horsing around outside the shelter.

Carmen’s Place has been a safe haven for transgender and gay youth for about three years.

“When they said what they said, I was shocked,” said victim Alessandra Carver. “I was like, ‘You feel good about what you’re saying?’ and then that’s when he was like, ‘Why you talking?’ So he went there and took a trash can and hit me with the thing upside with one of them.”

Police say four teenagers were arrested for their role in the attack — 17-year-old Tyreek Childs, 16-year-old Travaughn Payne, 17-year-old Shara Mozie and a minor whose name has not been released.

The teens have been charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Police say they are still trying to determine whether or not they will be charged with a hate crime.

In the meantime, Braxton and the transgender teens say the attack left them feeling unsafe at their shelter, and they are now looking for a new location.

Gay sergeant Darren Manzella was recently discharged for speaking out openly about being gay

Congress should repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center reported in 365Gay.com.

The study was conducted by four retired military officers, including the three-star Air Force lieutenant general who in early 1993 was tasked with implementing President Clinton’s policy that the military stop questioning recruits on their sexual orientation.

“Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion,” the officers state.

To support its contention, the panel points to the British and Israeli militaries, where it says gay people serve openly without hurting the effectiveness of combat operations. Undermining unit cohesion was a determining factor when Congress passed the 1993 law, intended to keep the military from asking recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members can’t say they are gay or bisexual, engage in homosexual activity or marry a member of the same sex.

The study was sponsored by the Michael D. Palm Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which said it picked the panel members to portray a bipartisan representation of the different service branches. According to its Web site, the Palm Center “is committed to keeping researchers, journalists and the general public informed of the latest developments in the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy debate.”

Two of the officers have endorsed Democratic candidates since leaving the military - Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, who supports Barack Obama, and Marine Corps Gen. Hugh Aitken, who backed Clinton in 1996.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Minter Alexander, a Republican, was assigned in 1993 to a high-level panel established by the Defense Department to examine the issue of gays in the military. At one point, he signed an order that prohibited the military from asking a recruit’s sexual orientation.

Alexander said at the time he was simply trying to carry out the president’s orders and not take a position. But he now believes the law should be repealed because it assumes the existence of gays in the military is disruptive to units even though cultural attitudes are changing.

Further, the Defense Department and not Congress should be in charge of regulating sexual misconduct within the military, he said. “Who else can better judge whether it’s a threat to good order and discipline?” Alexander asked.

Navy Vice Adm. Jack Shanahan said he had no opinion on the issue when he joined the panel, having never confronted it in his 35-year military career. A self-described Republican who opposes the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war, Shanahan said he was struck by the loss of personal integrity required by individuals to carry out “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“Everyone was living a big lie - the homosexuals were trying to hide their sexual orientation and the commanders were looking the other way because they didn’t want to disrupt operations by trying to enforce the law,” he said.

Alan Harper

Church of Ireland primate Alan Harper has controversially acknowledged that a time may come when homosexual unions are officially sanctioned within his denomination, according to the Belfast Telegraph. The Archbishop of Armagh also called for Anglicans over the world to return to the core principles of the faith in order to resolve the ongoing controversy over gay marriages.

Addressing the Anglicans in World Mission conference in Swanwick, England, Archbishop Harper said if evidence came to light that homosexuality is biologically predetermined then the church would have to reflect that fact.

“It has not yet been conclusively shown that for some males and some females homosexuality and homosexual acts are natural rather than unnatural,” the Archbishop told the conference.

“If such comes to be shown, it will be necessary to acknowledge the full implications of that new aspect of the truth, and that insight applied to establish and acknowledge what may be a new status for homosexual relationships within the life of the Church.”

The Church of Ireland leader’s remarks come in the wake of the recent controversial comments by the Assembly’s health committee chair and born again Christian Iris Robinson who claimed that gay sex was a sin and an abomination.

In recent years the Anglican church has been riven with division on the issue of gay marriage and the ordination of women priests.