In NYC We Have A serial KIller..He Seems to be a Cop

Echoing the popular TV show Showtime, Dexter, in which a cop leads a double life as a serial killer, New York cops think the serial killer who has murdered at least four women may be a former or current law enforcement official, the New York Times reports.

Investigators say that the killer shows a high understanding of police operations, from contacting the four prostitutes who have fallen victim to him with disposable cell phones, to making calls to a victim's home from crowded parts of New York City, where the killer would blend in on surveillance footage, even if his phone signal was pinpointed.

Over three days, police found the bodies of four women in burlap sacks along the same underbrush-covered beachside strip in Long Island. They believe all are victims of the same killer.

By Kase Wickman

http://www.rawstory.com/

This US Attorney being charged with Insider Trading Claims, he is Gay and his Firm was Biased

The associate accused of insider trading based on information obtained from three big law firms may also have made some additional money after working for a fourth.

Matthew Kluger, 50, is accused of working with two other conspirators to make $32 million in insider trading profits from information gleaned while working at three law firms: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Cravath Swaine & Moore; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

But Kluger also worked for a fourth firm—Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson—for about a year. After he was fired in 2002, he sued the firm for gay bias, according to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req). Prosecutors are investigating Kluger's work at Fried Frank, an anonymous source told the Wall Street Journal.

Kluger's bias case settled in 2004. In his complaint (PDF posted by the Wall Street Journal), Kluger alleged he was treated worse than his heterosexual peers, receiving unequal pay, benefits and work assignments. He was also admonished for “availability issues” while taking paternity leave after the birth of his adoptive twin sons, the suit claims. He sought $10 million in damages.

Above the Law noted the story and supplied more details about Kluger's personal life. He adopted three children in all, and worked as the general manager of a Toyota dealership before he went to New York University law school. His undergrad major at Cornell was hotel administration.

Debra Cassens Weiss
ABA Journal...

Jim Jordan, Ultra Conservative- Us Congressman, Both Gay Catcher & Pitcher

According to "letz get real" website there is someone one in congress both catching and pitching but with gays in..where? Denmark!? yes Denmark:

by Cynthia S. Wright

Something seems fishy in Denmark, by Denmark we mean U.S. House of Representative, Jim Jordan. The ultra conservative Republican who has earned a perfect score from the American Conservative Union seems to be

Is that how you REALLY feel, Jim?

popular in search engines today. In a span of an hour, LGR has received several search engine inquiries asking this very question concerning the seemingly happily married, father of four.

With all this activity, we at LGR are starting to wonder why a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion would be getting such inquiries – seven hits in a span of an hour – with some from as far away as New York and Jordan’s own hometown in Ohio.

Is Jordan engaging in some out-of-state travel on the weekends? Maybe this image will shed some light on the topic.

Positions seem familiar?

We don’t know but we will find out and let you all know what’s up!

Michigan Runner ok with His Sexuality

Paul Sancya / AP

Austin Hendrix is part of the Eastern Michigan track team.

BY NANCY ARMOUR

Austin Hendrix thought he would be free once he got to college.

There would be no more hiding the fact he's gay, no more denying something that is as much a part of him as the color of his eyes. He could be himself, not the muted version he'd been presenting to the world, to his friends and his teammates in Eastern Michigan's track and cross-country programs.

"I was new here. I didn't know anyone on the team, I didn't know anyone on the campus at all. So nobody knew that I was gay," said Hendrix, whose wiry frame immediately pegs him as a distance runner. "I had to make the decision on whether or not to confide in my teammates, coach, classmates, whatever, that I was gay and tell them my sexuality, or just keep it a secret.

"You want to fit in, you want to have your teammates' respect. And a lot of people are ashamed to come out because they think their teammates will think less of them."

For Hendrix, his choice of school ratcheted up the stakes. Eastern Michigan is a Mid-American Conference powerhouse in running, with 34 titles in track and another 15 in cross country. It has produced two Olympic gold medalists. The last thing Hendrix wanted was to cause tension or awkwardness in the locker room, or turn teammates against each other.

Or turn them all against him.

That nightmare scenario would be even worse in distance running, the purest, most primal of sports. There are no scrimmages or fancy drills during base training, just mileage - lots of it. Hendrix and his teammates spend one, sometimes two hours a day running through the neighborhoods and parks around Eastern Michigan, nothing to break up the monotony of their workouts besides sharing bits and pieces of their lives.

So Hendrix stepped back into the closet.

Only now it felt more like a prison.

He would remain trapped there for two long years, until his courage overcame his fear - and he discovered there'd been no reason to hide.

"You can't say that you can just forget about your sexuality. It's who you are. You're attracted to certain people," Hendrix said. "My first two years here, I thought about 'How can I come out? When should I come out?'

"Honestly, my thoughts were consumed by hiding my sexuality."

Hendrix is hardly the first athlete to face such a quandary. What makes him unusual is his willingness to talk about it.

For all of the progress gays and lesbians have made in America, from the legalization of gay marriage in five states and the District of Columbia to the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy in December, the sports world in the U.S. and abroad remains firmly closeted. Not because there are no gay or lesbian athletes, but because of the unwritten prohibition on talking about sexual orientation in sports.

The few high-profile athletes who are out have mostly been women such as Martina Navratilova in tennis, Sheryl Swoopes in the WNBA and Rosie Jones of the LPGA. Europe has seven nations where gay marriage is legal, but just two big-name male athletes who have come out: Gareth Thomas, the former Wales rugby captain, in 2009, and English cricket player Steve Davies, who announced in February he is gay.

There has yet to be an openly gay player in Major League Baseball, the NBA or NFL, and only a few have spoken publicly about their sexuality after retiring.

"You're supposed to fit this model - if you're a gay male, you're (considered) feminine, you can't be athletic," Hendrix said. "You start thinking, 'Maybe I'm the only one. I don't have anyone to look up to, maybe there's something wrong with me.' It does make it difficult. And you're surrounded by all straight men or women so you don't have anyone to really go to or confide in.

"It would just really help to know you're not alone. I think that's what it comes down to."

Hendrix, a 21-year-old fourth-year junior at Eastern Michigan, has been an athlete as far back as he can remember. He comes from a soccer family, and began playing when he was in kindergarten. He took up cross country in middle school because his friends were doing it, and realized after running track his freshman year in high school that he was pretty good.

He began coming out his junior year of high school by telling his friends, and word eventually reached his mother. Their conversation was teary but loving. Finding the words to tell his father was even more difficult and, after talking it over with his mom, Hendrix settled for a letter.

Though accepting of him, his parents were fearful of how their community would treat their only son. Their hometown of Sylvania, Ohio, is small, less than 20,000 people, and word of mouth travels fast.

"The reality is, anybody who thinks an out or gay athlete, even a very talented one at the high school level, has an equal chance of getting a scholarship at the right school or has an equal chance of getting drafted as a straight athlete are still kidding themselves," said John Amaechi, who came out after five years in the NBA with Cleveland, Orlando and Utah. "There are some people who will overlook it. But there are still some owners who are stale, male and pale, and for them, the idea of women being in the locker room is terrifying, let alone a gay person on their team."

Fear of such attitudes persuaded Hendrix to stay silent, and he buried himself in his classes and running. But he learned quickly that a half-truth is just another word for a lie.

Hendrix didn't know a day without fearing someone had found out or was about to. His running suffered and his body did, too, with an uncharacteristic string of injuries. Frustration and disappointment turned inward, gnawing away until Hendrix acknowledged the real problem.

"I got fed up with lying and hiding," he said.

No matter the reaction, it had to be better than pretending.

Two years ago, as he and his best friend on the team talked about accepting people despite their differences, Hendrix finally shared his secret. Though surprised, the teammate said it didn't change anything. That unconditional support gave Hendrix the courage to tell a few other teammates. And then a few more until the whole squad knew.

His straight roommate, James Hughes, thinks he found out on a run, but isn't quite sure of the details anymore because it was such a nonevent.

"It surprised me when I first learned it," Hughes said. "I never expected it, I didn't see it coming. And then, instantly, all I could think about was, 'I hope I never said anything to offend him."'

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/

Brazil Judge: Union Between Gays Are Stable

 

In an unprecedented decision in the region, the Black River of Justice on Thursday gave the right to a stable gay couple.

The decision is the judge of the 8th Circuit, Paulo Roberto Zaidan Maluf. In the process, the judge says gay couples have the same right to those who live a heterosexual union. He says it is still a factor of social development and recognition of human dignity.

The Secretary AJC, 45, and the banking ICF, 46, lived together for 21 years, but now will be able to register the union office.

The couple already has plans to adopt a child. But the first step after the victory in court will thank God. On day 20, A. and the partner will take a copy of the church in the basilica, in Aparecida do Norte. "We are religious and we thank you for the grace achieved," said A.

The couple met at a carnival ball. A. had separated from his wife, to whom she was married two years and had a son. "It was love at first sight. After the first meeting did not split up more, "said the secretary.

A. Since we are together and I. bought the house, motorcycle, car and other property. The desire to have a stable relationship was notarized, to ensure the safety of the couple in the future.

"We have no problems with our families. But you never know what can happen. It's not fair that one of us to be nothing in the death of a partner. All we have been conquered by two, "said A.

Contract

In Black River, 30 gay couples have civil partnership agreement, under the Gada (Group of Support to Sick of AIDS).

The document is made with notarization in the notary. "It is like a contract of sale. In a way, the document gives a security to the couple, "said Julio Cesar Figueiredo Caetano, general coordinator of Gada.

For Julio, the judge's decision will open up a precedent for other couples fight about rights in court.

"This decision is consistent with other decisions of the judiciary in relation to the same sex. This is another achievement, "said Julius.

Janaina de Paula
AthosGLS...

http://www.actup.org

Update on 5000 yr old Mummy: A Trans Farmer?

A discovery touted as a "gay caveman" has unearthed some apparently archaic views of sexuality and gender identity in the world media.

The skeleton, which dates back to about 2,500 to 2,800 B.C., was found in the outskirts of Prague. The way the body was buried on its left with the head facing west is the way a woman was laid to rest in the tradition of the tribe, Corded Ware has promoted headlines that a "gay caveman" has been discovered. Archaeologists have been quick to point out the remains are actually likely to be those of a third gender person.

"We found one very specific grave of a man lying in the position of a woman, without gender specific grave goods, neither jewelry or weapons," lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova of the Czech Archaeological Society told Press TV.

Vesinova and her colleagues told reporters that the man may have actually belonged to a "third gender".

North Carolina anthropologist Kristina Killgrove has written on her blog Bone Girl that calling the skeleton gay is an over-simplication,

"If this burial represents a transgendered individual (as well it could), that doesn't necessarily mean the person had a 'different sexual orientation ' and certainly doesn't mean that he would have considered himself (or that his culture would have considered him) 'homosexual,'" Killgrove wrote.

The 'caveman' term has also been dismissed entirely, as the skeleton is actually from the period of pre-Bronze Age farmers.

Posted in: International News
By GayNZ.com Daily News staf

Raised as a Mormon, She wound Up Coaching BYU

Mari Burningham was raised as a Mormon and wound up coaching at BYU. She long wrestled with her sexual attraction to women, married a man and tried to fit in. She writes about how she finally accepted who she was, left the church and found happiness.

By Mari Burningham
For Outsports.com

At 18 months old I could dribble a basketball with either hand and behind my back.  My mom, who was a high school coach, used to take me out at center court for halftime and let me do my thing to the cheers of the crowd.  The court and performing became my world, the one place where I felt comfortable and accepted and like I belonged to society as a whole and it started there for me at a very young age. 

As I got older, I realized that I was different because I was attracted to women, but in sports I was safe and it has always been my haven and outlet.  I knew even from a very early age that my thoughts and feelings were something to be hidden and ignored.  I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints or Mormon to most people.  I am related to something like 12 prophets of our church including Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith.  I even have an old polygamy family photo hanging on my wall. Needless to say, when you grow up reading the Book of Mormon and it is filled with your relatives, you figure out quickly that it is important to fit in and do as you should.

When I returned from playing with the USA Youth National Team in Mexico the summer before my senior year in high school (1995), I had my first real sexual experience with a woman.  She was older than me and it was extremely intense.  I felt things that I had never felt before with a man and it both scared and excited me.  For the first time being with someone didn’t feel forced or like a part I had to play.  It was a very dangerous relationship for me because I was a very well known and a public Mormon female athlete in Utah.  I was with her almost two years and the whole time I tried to convince myself that it was just her and it wouldn't happen again with another woman. 

I was recruited by more than 200 schools for both volleyball and basketball. In the end I chose UCLA, where I became a two-sport student-athlete playing volleyball and basketball.  I couldn't wait to get out of the "Mormon Bubble" and be free. 

I had teammates on my basketball team at UCLA who were openly gay, but I still wasn’t ready to come out.  It was so strange to see people open and talking about it. I secretly envied them and admired them. My time at UCLA was brief however; I transferred after one year because I didn’t want to continue to play basketball in college and wanted to just concentrate on volleyball; it was my passion and because my body couldn’t handle playing two sports in college anymore.

So I did what any good budding lesbian would do -- I transferred to Ricks College, now BYU-Idaho. When I found out it was a LDS school, I tried desperately to get out of going.  I had my endorsement meeting with my Bishop, which is required to attend, and I told him that I did all sorts of things against the Honor Code and planned on continuing to do them and he smiled and gave me the endorsement anyway, saying it would be good for me.  I was probably as mad as I’ve ever been.

At Ricks, I ended up playing briefly my first year because my legs were atrophying and I was in a lot of pain.  I had blown another disc at UCLA late in my volleyball season and had ignored it to the point of almost landing myself in a wheelchair.  The current Prophet, President Thomas Monson, was a family friend and gave me a personal blessing in his office to heal me and give me comfort.  I remember thinking that he'd touch me and know what I felt in my heart and he'd be so repulsed that he’d demand me to leave his office. But he had no idea and I must admit it was disappointing.  It would have been nice to have my deep dark secret out in the open and it would have strengthened my faith in our church that our church leaders were in tune and were instruments of the Savior here on earth. 

Instead, I walked away wondering if these were true men of God or if God just didn't care if I was gay.   So as a sophomore in college, I had my second disc fusion of L4-L5 and was out the entire year.  The next year I was so excited to play again after sitting out a year but the administration had other plans for me.  They wanted to kick me out of school for violating the Honor Code and not attending church the year before.  I begged and pleaded and with a few requirements placed on me I was allowed to stay and play.  I had to agree to go to church every Sunday and to attend all the meetings.  Our church is three of the longest hours you’ve ever endured.  I had to read my scriptures daily and follow the Honor Code.

Like everything else in my life, I dove in wholeheartedly and sought out the only return missionary I knew to assist me in my scripture studies, our assistant coach.  We read scriptures together every day and I asked many questions about what we read.  We became best friends, which turned into dating which turned into being engaged.  If I could be straight for any man it would have been him.  He was my best friend, good looking and an honorable man.

Marriage trauma

After a year of working with my bishop to make myself worthy to go to the temple, we married in July 1998 in the Salt Lake Temple just like my parents.  Before we were married we went to my hometown temple in Logan, Utah, to get my endowments.  This is where you perform sacred covenants and receive those special underwear garments.  Before you can be sealed for all time and eternity in the sealing rooms in the temple you must have your endowments ceremony done.  The inside of the temple is a very beautiful, inspiring and spiritual place.  To me it was like I’d stepped into the deepest, darkest, most foul and evil hole you can imagine.  Though everything looked as it should on the outside, what I felt while in the temple in the inside was indescribably bad.  I was having a near panic attack the entire time. I wanted to scream, tear the temple clothes from my body and never enter a temple again in my life. 

I somehow managed to make it through the ceremony and into the celestial room.  I sat there, amongst my family and my fiancé and I broke down and started to sob.  Everyone thought it was because I was so touched by getting my endowments and being moved by the spirit.  I was so scared and I felt so awful being in that place that I couldn’t take it anymore. 

It was so bad that I wasn’t going to marry my husband in the temple if I was required to go back there.  It was decided that we wouldn’t do another full session but that I would be moved directly from the temple chapel to the sealing room and directly from the sealing room to the celestial room and then out of there.  Once again, I was filled with a sense of evil and blackness just walking into the doors.  I was able to enjoy the actual sealing ceremony, but upon leaving the sealing room that awful feeling returned.  I got out of the temple and vowed never to return. 

Over the course of a few months, I spent a lot of time pondering why I had that feeling and reaction to the temple, the place where we are supposed to feel the spirit the most.  My first reaction was that I had not been truly worthy.  I quickly discounted that. I knew I had done the painstaking work and had felt ready in my heart.  I had given up all my vices and been chaste and I had worked hard to put the thought of women from my mind. 

Then I thought it was because of the strangeness of it all.  I thought it would have been more special, inspired and less like an assembly line.  When I was given my special name I found out that everyone on that day received the same special name.  How can that be special?  Then there were the secret handshakes and combinations and weird ritualistic stuff.  I had been warned and prepped for them but nothing can quite prepare you what you actually see and do.

I was disappointed because it felt like secret handshakes and combinations went against what we were taught in church in the Bible and Book of Mormon, yet we had them all.  Even my disillusionment didn’t seem to warrant the extremely intense bad feeling I had in the temple.  I inquired with President Monson about it.  I figured if anyone would be able to give me some guidance and comfort it would be him.  He asked some questions on the phone with me and then directed me to his friend, the president of the Timpanogos Temple.  I met with him one night, late, past regular hours at his office like it was a clandestine mission. 

He asked me the same questions President Monson had asked: Did anyone treat me poorly or meanly?  Did anyone touch me inappropriately?  Did anyone say anything that offended me or made me feel bad?  I answered no to all these things.  Then he told me that “this happens a lot and only to women.  We don’t know why and we can’t figure it out.”  He said that there are women who are in their late 80s and 90s who had never gone back to the temple since they first went in their late teens or early 20’s.  He said we all described basically the same things and that for those of us who felt that way we could serve our church and the Savior in other ways outside of temple work.

Off I went to BYU with my husband. I was given a basketball scholarship and played volleyball and basketball in college once again.  I kept myself very busy when I was a student-athlete at BYU.  I not only played two sports but I also volunteered for every sort of committee through the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. I also spoke at countless firesides for the youth of the church.  I was awarded the prestigious Floyd Johnson Service Award.  Everything in my life was a constant reminder of the lie I was telling myself.

It became even harder when I started to notice that there were other student-athletes like me.  Most were in denial as well and struggling to live the life we were taught we should live.  I became aware of a handful of student-athletes who were secretly participating in homosexual relationships.  Though I tried to help them according to our religious beliefs, I was secretly very envious of them and wanted desperately to do as they were doing.  It was a constant reminder of that which I longed for with every fiber of my being but denied myself so I could live up to the expectations of the church, society and the marriage I was in. 

After graduating from BYU with a degree in Sociology in 2000 I dove into coaching.  I coached as many teams as I could, I attended many local coaching clinics and spent a lot of time at coaching seminars and clinics with USA Volleyball.  I found coaching still gave me that athletic avenue where I could still be a part of sports and live in the sanctuary that sports had always been to me.  It was through my participation in sports that I had defined myself and used as my identity and in coaching I could maintain that.  I excelled and I truly loved coaching.

In 2002 I was hired as an assistant volleyball coach at BYU, a Top 20 program.  At first I was hopeful for myself and my situation.  I saw around me members of the athletic department that were also closeted.  I thought that if so many men and women could live for so long according to our religious beliefs then I would be able to as well.  It gave me hope that things would work out and that things would get easier.  I remained a faithful and devoted member.

Over the course of my two years as an assistant coach however I started to see the misery and hypocrisy of those at BYU.  I saw how living a lie was destroying their lives, their marriages, their children's lives and it started to scare me.  I saw those who were doomed to remain single and alone instead of finding love and happiness because their love and happiness would go against the church teachings.  I saw how the closeted amongst us could be the hardest on homosexuals and that was an evil that affected me to the core.

Big decision

In December 2002 my husband and I started talking about starting a family.  We agreed that we'd start trying to get pregnant the following July.  As July got closer and closer I was really forced to think about my life and what I ultimately wanted.  I had two choices -- I could get pregnant and then be a reflection of those I saw at work everyday whom I felt sorry for.  I could raise my children in a house were their parents loved each other but weren't in love with each other or I could admit to myself that I was gay and set out to live that lifestyle and see what happens.

July rolled around and I skillfully avoided my husband for a couple of weeks.  Eventually he cornered me and I was forced to tell him that I was chickening out of getting pregnant. I took a deep breath and told him it was because I was gay and I couldn't bring a child into the world because they would be able to feel that something was missing and I wanted them to grow up seeing and feeling what it was like to have two parents who were in love with each other.

It wasn't a complete bombshell for him.  I had told him that I had been with a woman for a couple of years in high school and college before we were married.  In fact, the night I told him about my lesbian relationship. he proposed to me overlooking the Provo Temple.  He was sure that if we prayed more and fasted more and talked with the Bishop that I'd be "cured" and "fixed."  I started working longer hours at work, pulling all-nighters and finding things to do just to keep myself from seeing the hurt I was causing my best friend and the man I loved. 

Days and nights passed and I was emotionally numb.  In December 2003 my life changed – she walked in the room and it was love at first sight.  I was speechless and smitten before I even knew her name.  Tasha and I became friends and again I had that old familiar feeling like I had experienced with my girlfriend in high school.  It was like my world was on fire, colors were brighter, foods tasted better. I had more energy and I felt like I floated when I walked.  I longed to see her at club practices and tournaments and I found reasons to talk to her and be near her.  Suddenly I was alive again and I knew that for the past five years I had been numb and a shell of a person.  Tasha was an openly gay coach for a local club team and so rumors once again started to fly concerning my sexual orientation. Though I wasn't acting on my feelings for her I was called into the athletic director's office at BYU and was told that I was guilty by association and that I wasn't to have anything to do with her or anyone else gay anymore.

The reality of my situation came down hard on me.  I knew I needed to get a new job.  I no longer wanted to live by the BYU Honor Code and work among the hypocrites who would condemn me or be married to a man who thought we were “happy enough” and that I could be fixed like I was broken.  I couldn't be in Utah where our church leaders had already said that it is better to be dead than gay and called homosexuals an abomination.  Against my husband’s desires, I filed for divorce, sold the house and found a new job in Southern California by July 2004.

I moved to Redlands to be the new head volleyball coach at the University of Redlands.  Tasha and I moved with our four dogs.  I left my family, my church and started to really live my life for the first time in my 26 years.  It was scary but so exhilarating. We didn't know anyone but at least we were together and were free to love how and who we wanted.  I felt like all the weight of the world had been lifted off me and I was free to live the life I wanted and not the life I was expected to live.

I'm now in my seventh year at the University of Redlands as the head volleyball coach.  My players all know that I'm gay.  I don't flaunt it but I don't hide it either.  I'm not ashamed of who I am.  I try to be a coach where my marital status, sexual orientation, blood type or eye color isn't a factor because it doesn't have anything to do with the caliber of coach that I am.

I know that there have been student-athletes in my program over the years and student-athletes from other programs on campus who may be watching me and I have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives as a role model, an example and in some cases, as the first person they have met who is gay.

I like to think that I'm a good person who does good things and that is what defines me, not my sexual orientation and who I love or how I love.  I also know that I'm not alone and that there are many coaches at every level who are gay but closeted. 

It isn't easy to be a gay coach and at times it can be scary to put yourself out there and be vulnerable. In what is still one of the most fiercely closeted professions, I hope I'll always be measured on my coaching ability and the way in which I treat those around me.

Mari Burningham, head volleyball coach at the University of Redlands in Southern California.

State Dept.Documents LGTB Abuses Around The World

Chris Johnson 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. State Department published its annual report on Friday evaluating the state of human rights overseas and revealing that LGBT abuses continue to persist in many places abroad.

Introducing the findings in a media appearance Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the report “usually generates a great deal of interest” among those following human rights and said she hopes the new report will do so again this year.

“Societies flourish when they address human rights problems instead of suppressing them,” Clinton said. “And we hope that this report will give comfort to the activists, will shine a spotlight on the abuses, and convince those in government that there are other and better ways.”

The report details the status of human rights in 194 countries over the course of 2010 and marks the 35th year in which the State Department has produced the findings, which are required by congressional mandate.

Clinton drew particular attention to the report’s identification of abuses against LGBT people overseas and said monitoring this activity is a part of the mission for the State Department.

“Because I believe, and our government believes, that gay rights are human rights, we remain extremely concerned about state-sanctioned homophobia,” Clinton said.

In addition to unveiling the report, Clinton also announced the launch of a new State Department website: humanrights.gov. The site is set to assemble reports, statements and other updates from around the world and is intended to become a depository of global human rights information.

Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, commended the State Department for publishing the findings and said the LGBT reporting “continues to be robust.”

“The introduction to the report cites an escalation of violence, persecution and discrimination against LGBT persons as one of three alarming human rights trends in the world last year,” Bromley said. “They note that this also translates into a denial of economic opportunity for many LGBT individuals.”

Bromley added the report demonstrates Clinton has made LGBT rights one of the State Department’s top priorities and said he looks forward to this continued U.S. engagement.

“That is due to the secretary’s leadership, but also to the many committed human rights officers in the State Department and in U.S. embassies around the world who are now actually meeting and interacting with LGBT human rights activists on a regular basis,” Bromley said.

The State Department details the condition of LGBT people in the countries examined in the report under the heading “Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.”

Among the abuses against LGBT people that the State Department identifies take place in countries where hostility based on sexual orientation and gender identity is well known or has been previously reported by media outlets.

In Uganda, where homosexual acts are already illegal, legislation was pending that would have instituted the death penalty for gays, although the bill reportedly has been shelved. Still, the State Department finds continued discrimination and a lack of legal protections for LGBT people.

“LGBT persons were subject to societal harassment, discrimination, intimidation, and threats to their well-being during the year,” the report states. “Individuals openly threatened members of the LGBT community and their constitutional rights during several public events.”

For example, the report cites a march that Pastor Martin Ssempa led in April against homosexuality in which participants openly threatened LGBT people.

Additionally, the State Department notes that in October a local tabloid published the names, pictures, and, in some cases, places of residence of LGBT activists under the headline “Hang Them.” According to the report, the Uganda High Court on Nov. 1 issued an injunction blocking the tabloid from publishing further information on homosexuality until the resolution of pending litigation filed by LGBT activists.

The State Department also finds continued abuses against LGBT people in Iran, where the punishment for homosexual acts is death.

The report states the country censored all materials related to LGBT issues and the Special Protection Division, a volunteer unit of the judiciary, monitored and reported “moral crimes.”

“In some cases security forces raided houses and monitored Internet sites for information on LGBT individuals,” the report states. “Those accused of sodomy often faced summary trials, and evidentiary standards were not always met.”

According the State Department, gays in Iran are sometimes “pressured” to participate in reassignment surgery “to avoid legal and social persecutions in the country.” Conditions for transgender people in Iran are seen as more favorable than they are to gays — although transgender people still face hostility.

According to the State Department, police in April found a 24-year-old transgender woman known as Mahsa strangled in her apartment. Her two brothers confessed to killing her on moral grounds.

“Although the brothers were sentenced to prison time of eight years and three years, respectively, the sentences included suspended jail time, which reduced their actual sentence in prison to three years and one year, respectively,” the report states.

The report also finds abuses against LGBT people in countries where hostility toward the LGBT community is less reported.

For example, in Honduras, the State Department says that no discriminatory law exists based on sexual orientation, but “social discrimination against persons from sexual minority communities was widespread.”

“Representatives of NGOs focusing on sexual diversity rights asserted that throughout the year security forces killed and abused their members,” the report states. “The prosecutor often encountered serious difficulties in investigating suspicious deaths of LGBT persons because the victims had concealed their identity or sexual orientation.”

Still, the report states that LGBT people in Honduras have successfully organized demonstrations against discrimination in the country. Among the events was a demonstration in Tegucigalpa to raise awareness about homophobia and a government-authorized Pride celebration at San Pedro Sula. It was not known if the police provided sufficient protection for participants at these events.

The report also identifies human rights abuses against LGBT people in places where the rights of LGBT people are sometimes seen as higher than they in the United States — such as in Western Europe, where many countries allow same-sex marriage and nationwide relationship recognition is available to LGBT people.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the report finds LGBT people enjoy protections against human rights abuses and notes that the nation’s law prohibits discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation.

The report finds that dozens of Pride celebrations took place with no interference by the authorities and local police forces are more actively aware of bias-motivated crimes against LGBT people.

“The law encourages judges to impose a greater sentence in assault cases where the victim’s sexual orientation is a motive for the hostility, and many local police forces demonstrated an increasing awareness of the problem and trained officers to identify and moderate these attacks,” the report states.

But the report notes that LGBT people in the United Kingdom aren’t completely free from human rights abuses. The State Department cites an increase in the number of forced marriages of LGBT teenagers and a recent report stating that foreign gays seeking asylum experience “significant disadvantages” because of sexual orientation.

“[NGO] Stonewall claimed that, by ‘fast tracking’ these more complex cases and denying them quickly, UKBA staff did not give applicants time to talk openly about their sexual orientation,” the State Department states.

http://www.washingtonblade.com

Scottish Parliament: Promise Gay Rights Action

The Scottish Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have made manifesto promises on marriage equality ahead of May’s election.

Labour – which is on an equal footing with the SNP in polls – says it will consult on the issue while the Lib Dems offer a firmer commitment.

Labour’s manifesto says: “We also believe that the time is now right to consult on options to provide genuine equality for same-sex couples and their families, by addressing the different status of civil partnership and marriage. We are clear – Scotland shouldn’t be left behind on these issues.”

It also pledges to deal with the issue of historical gay sex convictions for actions which are no longer crimes and “investigate the best way” to allow religious civil partnerships.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto promises that the party will “extend legal marriage to gay couples and civil partnerships to heterosexual couples”.

It adds that the party will work with Westminster to review the ban on gay men donating blood and encourage schools to do more to tackle homophobia.

The Conservative manifesto contains no mention of equality or gay rights.

The SNP is to publish its manifesto next week, with the Green party manifesto following a week later.

Tim Hopkins, of the Equality Network, welcomed the promises from Labour and the Lib Dems and said the Green manifesto was expected to show strong gay rights support.

He told PinkNews.co.uk: “We always thought it was relatively unlikely that Labour and the SNP would say they would introduce marriage equality and the best we’ve got so far from Labour is a promise to consult. But the language used – ‘genuine equality’ – is a good sign.”

Last year, in a general election PinkNews.co.uk Q&A session, SNP leader Alex Salmond did not give his views on marriage equality.

Mr Hopkins said: “The whole agenda [on marriage equality] has moved forward hugely in the last 18 months. It would be unfair to draw conclusions as to what the SNP will say in their manifesto.”

Labour and the SNP are neck-and-neck in the latest polls. Mr Hopkins said that the race was “wide open” at this point.

“From what we have seen so far, these are already the best manifestos [for gay rights] we have seen in a UK election,” he said.

But he added: “[The Conservative manifesto] is very disappointing. The word ‘equality’ doesn’t appear once in the document – and neither does ‘disability’.”

by Jessica Geen 

http://www.pinknews.co.uk

Lindsay Lohan: Charlie Sheen makes me LOL

Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan

CelebrityPhoto; Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic

 

Lindsay Lohan, who has been spending time in New York City with her family, will have to cheer from California: The actress just arrived back in Los Angeles, but has recently professed her love of Sheen. On Thursday, she Tweeted how the former Two and a Half Men star cracks her up. 

"Youre with a winner, you wont regret this"-charlie sheen as bud fox in Wall Street (winner-winning!) made me laugh lol," Lohan wrote. 


But other stars say they will try to go. TMZ reports that sundry reality stars are clamoring to get into the afterparty, which is scheduled to be held late Friday night at Dragonfly Nightclub in Carlstadt, N.J. So far, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Caroline Manzo's sons Albie and Chris have requested VIP-list status, as has an unnamed male Jersey Shore star. 

One name definitely not attending Friday's show despite being in the Big Apple: Sheen's former Two and a Half Men costar Jon Cryer. 

In fact, he's got a competing engagement, a production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, just over a mile away. Cryer costars with Neil Patrick Harris, Christina Hendricks and Stephen Colbert in the show, which has an 8 p.m. curtain Friday. 

Meanwhile, the City of New York is prepped for Sheen this time around. According to local news reports, police commissioner Ray Kelly said, "We have a big police force. We are ready for him." 

According to reports from the road, the actor has been evolving his liveViolent Torpedo of Truth show from city to city after getting a disastrous start in Detroit, where he was booed off stage. Most recently, Sheen was given a standing ovation in Cleveland Tuesday night. 

Sheen's second New York City performance is scheduled for Sunday night