Secular Society will advise in religious vs gay rights cases

by Jessica Geen 

The National Secular Society has been granted permission to intervene in four religious rights cases due to come before the European Court of Human Rights.

The body will submit legal arguments in four cases where plaintiffs are appealing against UK court decisions – two of which involve Christian employees who refused to provide services to gay people.

The other two concern workers who were barred from wearing religious symbols.

Keith Porteous Wood, the executive director of the NSS, said his organisation would focus on legal arguments, rather than expressing opinions on the cases.

In the past, the NSS has praised judgements in the case of one of the plaintiffs, Islington registrar Lillian Ladele, who said her Christian faith meant she could not carry our civil partnerships.

Mr Porteous Wood said: “These four cases have a major bearing on the extent to which employees’ manifestation of their religion can impinge on others. We want to make sure that the European court considers all aspects of the relevant law.

“The NSS submission will deal with the implications for equal treatment that would be raised by the granting of greater protection to actions motivated by religious belief than is granted to actions motivated by fundamental beliefs that happen to be non-religious in nature.

“The NSS will further focus on the degree of protection which it is necessary under the convention to afford third parties who may be subjected to a detriment which is motivated by, or a manifestation of, a religious belief.

We will also deal with the significance of a religiously neutral public space for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

“Finally, we will address the nature of the limitations prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society in the interests of the protection of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also applied to intervene in the four cases, which are likely to be heard together.

The commission stated last month that it believes ‘reasonable adjustments’ could be made for such employees in the same way that disabled people are accommodated in the workplace. This could mean allowing anti-gay Christian workers to swap shifts to avoid gay people.

After strong criticism from Stonewall, Peter Tatchell, trade unions and some MPs, the body appears to have decided not to argue for ‘reasonable adjustments’.

Former Stonewall chief executive Angela Mason, who is the body’s only LGBT commissioner, said this week that the EHRC had come to a “preliminary view” on the matter.

In response to emails from concerned PinkNews.co.uk readers, she wrote: “The commission has already decided not to put forward ‘reasonable adjustment’ arguments if we do continue with our intervention.”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/

Underage gay controversy spurs Senator David Norris to quit Irish Presidency

   I waited until the weekend to be over before reporting on David Norris. Was hopping that there was a mistake and there would be some other reports coming from Ireland that will give this story a different twist. To my disappointment such a thing this not happen. This was a "Bill Clinton' thing; except David is not Bill Clinton, because only Clinton could survive such a thing especially helped by a dogged republican congress. It's just about an older man, not ahppy with his life accomplishment, got lonely and he only found the wrong partner to share with. As a result we just lost our first highest executive in the whole Europe and the Irish Islands to have a gay executive to tell eveyone that we are just like every one. Exceptional one, dumb ones, every day ones like me. adamfoxie*
The following  was Posted by LGBT Weekly    

Senator David Norris withdrawls from Irish presidential election//Photo Source: 98FM

Openly gay Irish Senator David Norris announced Tuesday his decision to drop out of the Irish presidential race after unknown sources exposed his involvement in a controversial scandal. Prior to the withdrawal of his candidacy, Senator Norris led the polls and was on track to become the world’s first openly LGBT head of state.

According to Gay Politics, the decision to renounce his presidential bid came after details were revealed earlier this week regarding a 1998 incident in which Senator Norris’s former lover was allegedly involved with an underage boy in Israel. In attempt to lessen the charges facing his former partner, the senator wrote a letter to Israeli authorities beseeching them to show his lover leniency.

Senator Norris held a press conference Tuesday to announce his withdrawal from the election and to clarify his involvement in the scandal. “It is essential that I act decisively now to halt this negative process,” Norris said. “I do not regret supporting and seeking clemency for a friend, but I do regret giving the impression that I did not have sufficient compassion for the victim of Ezra’s crime.”

He explained that his decision to write a letter on behalf of his former lover “was out of love and concern”, and stressed that he in no way condoned his partner’s actions.

Norris added, “It is very sad that in trying to help a person I loved dearly, I made a human error.”

Walking Around without a penis/No not Transgender/ Just stupid

Phoenix ABC affiliate ABC15 decided to get to the bottom of a story involving a man who accidentally shot himself in the groin by, naturally, asking strangers completely unrelated to the story how they felt about it. The answer, shockingly, can be summed up in one word: “Uryghthhhjugh?!”

“I don’t really know what to say about that,” said one man standing in a parking lot, penis presumably intact. “That’s… Wow. I, yeah. I’m baffled right now.”

“Definitely makes me cringe,” said another gentlemen currently in possession of a groin. “Uh, without a doubt. I mean, what man wouldn’t?” Bold words.

The injured man, perhaps in a concerted effort to make his almost inevitable resulting local news report as entertaining as possible, had apparently tucked his girlfriend’s pink pistol (you guys!) into his pants. It went off, as guns do, with the bullet going through his penis and into his left leg.

“I mean, if you don’t know what you’re dealing with, don’t handle a gun,” offered a man. “It’s kinda his fault,” said another, who braced the searing rays hitting the parking lot without the aid of sunglasses, like a John Wayne for a new generation.

Have a look at the news segment, from ABC15:

Jennifer Tzar, Rolling Stones Phpher Arrested for 10 lbs./Pot in her Nest

jennifertzar.com

​By Nick Greene  http://blogs.villagevoice.com/


On Friday morning, fire marshals reportedly discovered 10 lbs. of marijuana while searching photographer Jennifer Tzar's SoHo apartment. The Daily News says that Tzar, who has been featured in Rolling Stone, Spinand LIFE, "was arrested at the scene." The search originally commenced in an effort to discover the cause of a 3-alarm fire at 68 Thompson Street, but instead it yielded a head stash weighing as much as a cesarean-delivered baby.

Jennifer Tzar's website lists her photography as "Offbeat and arresting...in the realm of magical realism, project defiance and individuality." We contacted Tzar for comment but were unable to reach her. We will update this space pending any communication.

We spoke with the Fire Department, who told us the fire resulted in 11 minor injuries, ten of which were sustained by firemen. The cause of the blaze is still undetermined.

The Fire Department had no comment on Jennifer Tzar's arrest, nor did they mention how sticky this alleged giant stash of bud is.

SoHo fire leads to discovery of 10 lbs. of weed, arrest of Rolling Stone photographer[NYDN]

[@nickgreene]

7 Cops Could Be Fired Over Lesbian's Hate Crime Attack

By Lou Chibbaro Jr.   http://www.washingtonblade.com

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier told LGBT activists that as many as seven police officers could be fired for refusing to take a report for a hate-related attack against five lesbians on July 30 near the Columbia Heights Metro station.

In a private meeting on Aug. 4 with officials of the local group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, Lanier called the conduct by the officers “lazy policing,” according A.J. Singletary, the group’s chair.

“She said they’re going to be doing a thorough investigation but that type of offense can be punishable by termination,” Singletary quoted Lanier as saying. “So she laid it on the table that it’s possible that they may be fired. That depends on what the investigation determines,” he said.

Two of the five victims in the attack told the Blade that a man repeatedly called the women “dyke bitches” before he and another man punched each of them in the face and body. The women said the anti-lesbian name-calling and the attack began after they politely spurned the men’s attempt to “flirt” with them as they walked along the 3100 block of 14th Street, N.W. at about 3 a.m.

The first suspect became enraged, the two women said, after one of the women said she was with her girlfriend, effectively identifying them as lesbians.

The police department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit did take a report of the incident three days later, on Aug. 2, after the mother of one of the women called police to complain that officers on the scene of the attack had refused to take such a report. The report lists the incident as an anti-lesbian hate crime.

Yazzmen Morse, one of the attack victims, said as many as seven police officers arrived in four police cars after a bystander observing the incident apparently called 911. Morse said the officers apprehended and detained one of the two male suspects in the case but released the man a short time later, much to the dismay of the five women.

“I was appalled when I heard about the incident and the conduct of the officers,” Lanier said in a statement she released on Aug. 5. “Obviously, this is not the kind of service that the Metropolitan Police Department provides,” she said. “I have spoken with victims in this case and I want to assure them and the public that the incident and the conduct of the officers are being investigated thoroughly.”

Singletary said Lanier also told GLOV officials at the Aug. 4 meeting that police were close to obtaining warrants for the arrest of the two suspects and that arrests would be made possibly within days.

Singletary said that while GLOV officials don’t dispute Lanier’s characterization of the officers’ conduct as lazy policing, he and former GLOV Chair Chris Farris asked Lanier to look into whether anti-gay sentiment on the part of the officers played a role in the case.

“We conveyed that we also want the investigation to consider if there’s something beyond just laziness there, if there was homophobia on the part of the responding officers and if that had something to do with this as well,” Singletary said.

Michelle Bachmann "The Barbie"

By Kase Wickman   http://www.rawstory.com

Though Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) won her first congressional race in 2006, it wasn't until the past year that she burst into the collective national consciousness. Now, the tea party darling and contender for the 2012 GOP nomination can't be avoided. This week, The New Yorker and Newsweekpublished features about the Bachmann, each showcasing very different sides of the candidate: woman of steel, and blusterer-in-chief.

Newsweek's story, "The Queen of Rage", highlights the tougher side of Bachmann as she rallies across Iowa.

“You use the word ‘anger.’ It’s not anger,” Bachmann toldNewsweek. Instead of showing "unhinged anger," she said, “people are saying the country is not working.”

Though Bachmann has gained in popularity, the movement that catapulted her to the spotlight is losing steam: A New York Times/CBS poll released this week showed that 40 percent of those surveyed have a "not favorable" view of the tea party. That negative sentiment has doubled since the question was first asked in April 2010. Bachmann herself has surged in popularity, and July poll results showed her second in the GOP field, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Bachmann insists, despite sinking popular opinion, that the tea party has the best solutions, and she stands by them.

“I do not twist in the wind,” she told Newsweek.

In the latest issue of The New Yorker, however, Ryan Lizza's "Leap of Faith" paints a different picture of Bachmann. Less tough, more Barbie — which, coincidentally, appears to be a touchstone of Bachmann's. She refers to her campaign plane as the “Barbie jet,” in homage to the doll's pink plane.

Though Barbie is nothing if not mainstream, a look back at some of Bachmann's statements about everything from evolution ("never been proven") to same-sex marriage (it will teach our children that "maybe they should try it") to swine flu (in spring 2009: “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat President, Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama—I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”) indicate that her politics are anything but.

Her campaign staff includes some ex-staffers of President George W. Bush, and her down-home folkisms are certainly reminiscent of 43.

Whether heir apparent to Bush or a new, steely breed of politician, one thing is for sure: Bachmann has claimed a stake for herself as a force to be reckoned with in the Republican primary. For the sake of, she claims, liberty.

"If there was one word on a motivation or world view, that one word would be ‘liberty,’” she told The New Yorker. “That’s what inspires me and motivates me more than anything—just the concept of freedom, liberty, what it means. Whether it’s economic liberty, religious liberty, liberty in our finances, liberty in being able to choose the profession we have. That’s what inspired my relatives to come here back in the eighteen-fifties. It was the concept of liberty. That’s what motivates me today as well."

Gay Actors Usually Got The Short End Of The Stick on Desperate Housewives

 

By Greg Hernandez  | Permalink | http://greginhollywood.com/

So it’s official: the upcoming eighth season of Desperate Housewives will be the last.

I’m always interested in what’s in store for Wisteria Lane’s main quartet of Bree, Gabby, Lynette and Susan but I’m also hoping the show’s recurring gay characters of Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom), Bob (Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Kevin Rahm) get a prominent storyline.

The truth is, show creatorMarc Cherry – who is openly gay – has mostly underused his gay characters since the early stages of season three. That’s when sociopathic gay teen Andrew Van de Kamp went from being one of the most highly-visible gay characters on television to mostly glorified extra although last season he did surface for a meaty alcoholic episode. Andrew also had a boyfriend, Dr. Alex Cominis, played byTodd Grinnell but he is not the fully-realized gay character he should be and Pyfrom is always terrific in the role.

While Andrew has his own place and no longer lives on Wisteria Lane, gay couple Bob and Lee (Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm) do live there. But they have only been mostly a minor presence since they made their debut in October 2007.Things started off promising as next door neighbor Susan (Teri Hatcher) kept trying to endear herself to the couple after getting off on the wrong foot. Things went from bad to worse when the men had a really ugly water sculpture installed in their front yard. At the end season four, they had a commitment ceremony but we never actually saw it since Gary Colewas busy shooting Justine Bateman to death and holding Dana Delaney and Marcia Cross hostage.

Rahm was very good on the CBS drama Judging Amy but Watkins, in my opinion, is the one being criminally underused. He’s that rare actor with leading man looks and terrific comic chops which he has shown on One Life to Live and on the late, great Showtime series Beggars and Choosers.

In season six, Bob and Lee became more chummy with Gaby (Eva Longoria) which made for some fun episodes and things turned serious when we learned of their struggle to have a child which eventually threatens their relationship. When Bob and Lee split, we also got a funny episode where Bob starts to spent a lot of time with Gaby’s hubby Carlos and she begins to fear that he has designs on him after Lee tells her: “Bob has always had a major crush on Carlos … Bob’s college nickname was flipper and it’s not because of his dolphin tattoo …  He takes them out drinking, gets them hammered then when they’re defenses are down, he flips them.”

Now THAT would have been a great storyline, for Carlos to maybe question his sexuality. But instead, it was all wrapped up in 60 minutes as Gaby successfully schemed to get the gay couple back together. At least they got their first make-out scene at the end of the episode.

But the same-sex action was not just reserved for the guys.

In season five, the formerly presumed-to-be straight Katherine (Dana Delaney) found herself attracted to her new tenant Robin (Julie Benz) and started having dreams about them making love.

She fought it, went to a shrink, tried to get Robin to move out. But they end up getting together and staying together.

Trouble is, their future played out off screen as both actresses left the show to do other series. Delaney is now on ABC’s Body of Proof and Benz starred last season on No Ordinary Family.

Romney Promises Judicial Litmus Test on Gay Marriage

by Jessica P

While he may have been silent during the entire debt-ceiling debacle, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been very vocal about his support of a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Romney took that support even further and signed a pledge sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage promising future support.

At first blush such an act may seem purely symbolic. But the pledge pushed by NOM goes much further than simply promising to push amending the Constitution. It includes a promise to establish a presidential commission on “religious liberty” whose sole purpose is to investigate alleged harassment of opponents of same-sex marriage and to nominate federal judges who “reject the idea that our Founding Fathers inserted a right to gay marriage into our Constitution.”

Other Republican candidates including Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann signed the pledge as well. Tim Pawlenty refused the pledge, preferring to express his “commitment to the institution of marriage” in his own words.

That the Republican party plans to campaign on wedge issues should come as no surprise. But given the dramatic increase in support nationwide for same sex marriage, this move seems especially out of touch with most American voters. It also shows a significant unwillingness to deal seriously with the economic issues facing this country.

http://www.care2.com                
 

James Franco approaches life as a feast of opportunities.

 

 

Charles Sykes / AP

James Franco approaches life as a feast of opportunities. The 33-year-old actor has appeared in superhero movies, broad comedies, socially relevant dramas, art films and a soap opera. Now he stars in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which opened Friday. We look back at some of his projects:

Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000): The cult hit TV series was an important stepping stone for Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel, who all played awkward 1970s high schoolers.

James Dean (2001): Portraying such a rebel icon is a sure way to invite abuse. But Franco captured the angst and charm of Dean and earned himself an Emmy nod.

Spider-Man (2002): As Harry Osborn, Peter Parker’s best friend, he brought depth to a supporting part and looked awfully swell on the big screen, even without the tights.

Pineapple Express (2008): He reteamed with Rogen in this comedy about a pot dealer and one of his clients who wind up being chased by hitmen.

Milk (2008): Franco did some of his most understated work as San Francisco politician Harvey Milk’s lover in this biopic of a leading figure of the gay rights movement.

127 Hours (2010): In thisgripping story of a trapped climber Franco proved he was a strong leading man.

Howl (2010): MTV called his performance as poet Allen Ginsberg “full-bodied.’’

http://www.miamiherald.com/