PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 25 (UPI)

A U.S. researcher said he is trying to correct misinformation in newspapers and blogs about his findings in a study of what made some sheep gay. After Oregon Health and Science University researcher Charles Roselli published his study, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals initiated a campaign against the research, creating outrage from animal rights activists, gay advocates and others around the world, The New York Times said. The outrage, Roselli and his colleagues said, is based on a misinterpretation of what the work’s about. The firestorm peaked in December, when the The Sunday Times of London published an article about the study, asserting researchers said homosexuality in rams could be cured by hormone treatment. Not true, researcher said. The researchers point out that some of the material is, simply, wrong. They’ve gathered some allies, as well, in the blog world, in which one blogger ran a correction and another said said he’s been cheered by others who dropped their opposition once the facts were presented. Roselli said the idea of sexual eugenics in humans repulsed him. The goal of his research, he said, was to understand the fundamental mechanisms of sexual orientation in sheep.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

LONDON, Jan. 25 (UPI)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is backing away from a plan to exempt Catholic adoption agencies from a new law banning discrimination against gays. Blair, faced with opposition in the Cabinet and among Labor Party back-benchers, said Thursday he will announce a new proposal next week, The Daily Telegraph reported. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who heads the church in England and Wales, has said Catholic agencies might shut down if they were forced to consider homosexuals as adoptive parents. Anglican leaders have supported the Catholic Church in its bid for an exemption. Blair said he personally believes the only consideration in adoption should be the well-being of the children involved. How do we protect the principle of ending discrimination against gay people and at the same time protect those vulnerable children who at the present time are being placed through, and after-care provided by, Catholic agencies, who everyone accepts do a great job with some of the most disturbed youngsters? he asked.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

New York, January 25, 2007

No longer considered a narrow niche, corporate America is waking up to the enormous opportunity of marketing to gays and lesbians, whose buying power is set to exceed $835 billion by 2011, according to The Gay and Lesbian Market in the U.S., a new report from market research firm Packaged Facts, in collaboration with the premier gay and lesbian PR and marketing firm Witeck-Combs Communications Inc.

This year’s report pegs the 2006 buying power of gays and lesbians at $660 billion, an amount that will increase significantly as the gay and lesbian population, estimated at 15.3 million, grows to a projected 16.3 million in 2011.

Such phenomenal growth and consumer power has not gone unnoticed by major national marketers. LOGO, the new gay and lesbian cable TV outlet, has more than 80 major brands as sponsors, and advertisers are increasingly targeting gays in mainstream media, particularly online, as gays tend to have a higher proclivity towards digital entertainment than their heterosexual counterparts.

The report also tracks the exceptional visibility in the growing numbers of gay and lesbian households and families and provides a comprehensive demographic and regional profile highlighting the core nesting, consumption and travel habits of gay men, women, and couples.

“What we’re finding since our last report two years ago is a greater openness among gays and lesbians to share their consumer habits, leisure and media pursuits, and personal/social attitudes,” notes Don Montuori, the publisher of Packaged Facts. “At the same time there is a growing trend towards acceptance among the American people which is opening up greater opportunities to market to gays and lesbians in traditional and online venues.”

“As trendspotters, we see marketers hungry to acquire more appreciation of gay America’s economic standing, as well as more sophistication about what makes gay households like and unlike other households,” said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications. “This report should make a profound and timely contribution to these insights.”

Now in its 5th edition, The Gay and Lesbian Market in the U.S. provides the most in-depth psychographical look at the consumer behaviors and attitudes of gays and lesbians available. Priced at $3500, this report can be purchased directly from Packaged Facts by visiting: http://www.packagedfacts.com/Gays-Lesbian-1259124. It is also available at MarketResearch.com.

This press release was provided by http://www.witeckcombs.com/ and can be downloaded in its entirety as a PDF.

MEXICO CITY (AP) | 01/25/2007 10:21 PM

A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March that would amend the country’s constitution to guarantee the rights of transsexuals and change civil laws to ensure they can legally change their name and gender.

David Sanchez Camacho’s bill would insert a paragraph into Article Four of the Mexican Constitution stating that ”every person has the right to the recognition and free exercise of their gender identity and their gender expression.”

Article Four currently guarantees equal rights for women and men and states the rights of children and families, but it does not mention homosexuals or transsexuals. A transsexual is a person who has undergone a sex change operation or whose sexual identification does not correspond with the gender at birth.

Changes to the constitution need approval from two-thirds of both houses of Congress and two-thirds majorities in at least 16 of the 31 state legislatures.

Sanchez Camacho said he had the support of his leftist Democratic Revolution Party, which holds only about one-quarter of the seats in the lower house.

Transsexual activists said they hope other countries will present similar proposals.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
Mexico Proposes Transsexual Rights
Buying Power of U.S. Gays and Lesbians to Exceed $835 Billion by 2011
Blair Retreat on Catholic Exemption
Gay Sheep Study A Study in Media Spin

LOS ANGELES (AP) | 01/24/2007 04:34 PM

Isaiah Washington, who does the healing as a doctor on ”Grey’s Anatomy,” is the patient now.

He’s in therapy for his use of an anti-gay slur against a castmate.

”With the support of my family and friends, I have begun counseling. I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again,” Washington said in a statement Wednesday. ”I appreciate the fact that I have been given this opportunity and I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally.”

Washington took a break from filming Tuesday to meet with gay rights activists and offer help in educating the public about the cruelty of such words, an offer the activists called sincere.

Whether Washington was receiving outpatient counseling or had entered a facility was not specified, and the statement did not indicate whether he would miss work on the show.

Washington’s publicist, Kelly Mullens, declined to comment further. A call to ABC about the effect on production of the hit TV show was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes issued her own statement, at once criticizing Washington for his use of the word ”faggot” about co-star T.R. Knight and lauding Washington’s decision to seek help.

”I speak for all the executive producers here at ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ when I say that Isaiah Washington’s use of such a disturbing word was a shocking and dismaying event that insulted not only gays and lesbians everywhere, but anyone who has ever struggled for respect in a world that is not always accepting of difference,” Rhimes said.

She said she’s been working within ”the ‘Grey’s family” and with ABC and the Touchstone Television studio to address the issue ”in a way that underscores the gravity of the situation while giving us all a foundation for healing.”

”We applaud and encourage Isaiah’s realization that he needs help and his subsequent choice to seek immediate treatment for his behavioral issues,” Rhimes said.

She expressed appreciation to fans during this ‘’stressful time” and said those involved with the show would continue to ”make the best television we can.”

It was during an on-set quarrel last October with co-star Patrick Dempsey that Washington reportedly used the slur about Knight, who was not present. Although Washington apologized publicly at the time, the issue boiled up again at the Jan. 15 Golden Globes when he denied using the epithet.

After being criticized last week by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and ABC, Washington issued an apology.

He met Tuesday with the heads of GLAAD and Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, who said Washington agreed to efforts to fight bias but that no specifics were reached.

ABC and Touchstone Television are owned by Walt Disney Co.

___

On the Net:

http://www.abc.com

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) | 01/23/2007 10:34 PM

Episcopal leaders are moving to strip clergy members at breakaway conservative churches of their licenses to practice in the Diocese of Virginia.

They warn that such clergy members have six months to reverse their decision to abandon the church before they are removed from the Episcopal ministry. The breakaway churches have cited disagreements with the denomination’s liberal views on homosexuality.

Bishop Peter Lee has ”inhibited” _ or officially warned _ 21 clergy members from Virginia churches where the majority of congregants have voted in the last year to leave the Episcopal Church, the diocese said Tuesday in a statement.

Jim Pierobon, who has acted as spokesman for the breakaway churches, said he didn’t think the diocese decision would matter much.

Eleven churches in the diocese, including two of its most prominent, have voted to leave the Episcopal Church and align with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, established by the Nigerian archbishop. Four others have voted to join the Church of Uganda.

Last week, the diocese said it would take legal action to secure land and buildings from the breakaway churches, believed to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
Episcopalians Warn Dissident Clerics
‘Grey’s’ Doctor Is in Treatment

MIAMI, Jan. 23 (UPI)

Daily selenium supplements may suppress the progression of viral load in patients with HIV infection, a University of Miami study finds. Barry E. Hurwitz and colleagues conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of selenium supplements in patients with HIV. Some 262 patients took a capsule containing 200 micrograms of high-selenium yeast, and 121 took a similar capsule containing inactive yeast. The intervention resulted in no adverse events related to the study supplement, the authors write in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The two groups had similar selenium levels at the beginning of the study, but after nine months of treatment, the average change in blood selenium level was greater in the treatment group. Higher blood selenium levels predicted a decreased HIV viral load, which in turn predicted increased CD4 count — the lower the CD4 count, the more likely a patient with HIV/AIDS is to develop secondary infections or illnesses, according to Hurwitz.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

LONDON, Jan. 23 (UPI)

eaders of the Anglican Church endorse Roman Catholic adoption agencies in their bid to be exempt from British laws banning discrimination against gays. In a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, and John Sentamu, archbishop of York, argue that the country’s laws already support rights of conscience, for example by allowing doctors who oppose abortion to refuse to perform them, the BBC reported. Rights of conscience cannot be made subject to legislation, however well-meaning, the two leaders said. The issue has appears to have divided the Labor Party with Blair, who has close ties ot the Catholic Church but remains an Anglican, looking for a way out. Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, a Catholic, supports an exemption. But others say that there is no reason for an exemption in the Equality Act, which takes effect in April. We can’t have exemptions in law because it gets us into terrible precedents which can then go into other areas of law, said Angela Eagle, a Labor member of Parliament.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI)

U.S. President George Bush Tuesday hailed his AIDS relief effort as the largest international health initiative in history for a single disease. Bush pledged $15 billion over five years as part of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, $2 billion of which has been allotted through 2008. Domestically, Bush has called for routine HIV testing and an end to discrimination for those who have tested positive for the virus. In his State of the Union address, Bush called for an end to restrictions on foreigners with AIDS from entering the United States without a waiver to help them make short visits.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

 

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Today’s Headlines
Bush Hails Anti-AIDS Effort
Anglicans Back Catholics on Gay Adoption
Selenium May Suppress HIV Viral Load

BRUSSELS, Jan. 22 (UPI)
An EU commissioner says Brussels is working to persuade Libya to release five Bulgarian nurses from death row, Sofia media said. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, said the European Union also hired advisers to arrange assistance needed by families and children infected with HIV in Libya, the Bulgarian SNA reported Monday. Ferrero-Waldner said the EU will keep talking with Libya officials until the Bulgarian women and a Palestinian doctor are released from prison in Tripoli. The EU commissioner said Brussels is treating its dialogue with Libya on the issue with top priority, SNA said. On Dec. 31, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi refused to pardon the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor. Earlier in December, the medics and the doctor were sentenced by the Libyan court in Tripoli to death for deliberately infecting 400 Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in a Benghazi hospital in 1999. The six have been in Libyan prisons since 1999. Since then, 52 of the children have died of AIDS.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International  

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (UPI)

Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has agreed to meet with a U.S. gay education organization to discuss ways to educate youth about anti-gay slurs. During an on-set discussion, Washington called Grey’s’ co-star T.R. Knight a faggot.” Washington subsequently apologized. The New York-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, in a release, commended ABC and Washington for recognizing the harm of Washington’s using the slur and for meeting with GLSEN to turn the incident into an opportunity for a dialogue with youth. We would like to thank Isaiah and ABC for reaching out to GLSEN in what hopefully will be an important step in the healing process for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and all those who were offended by the remarks, said Kevin Jennings, GLSEN executive director. The meeting coincides with the organization’s No Name-Calling Week in schools. GLSEN is a national organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. We are encouraged by the apparent sincerity of Isaiah Washington’s apology and his recognition of the power of a word that, like so many others, has no place in our society, Jennings said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International  

WASHINGTON (AP) | 01/22/2007 05:32 PM

By ANDREW BRIDGES Associated Press Writer

An AIDS organization sued Pfizer Inc. on Monday over ads the group says encourage use of Viagra as a party drug. The group said recreational use of the drug furthers the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, calls Pfizer’s ads for the impotence drug false and misleading. The suit echoes allegations made in an ad campaign announced by the group last month.

The nonprofit group alleges the marketing of Viagra has fostered an increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Studies have found the drug is used _ illegally _ in conjunction with crystal methamphetamine to form a party drug ”cocktail.”

While crystal meth can heighten sexual desire, it also can impair the ability to have an erection, said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. ”In order to satisfy that heightened desire, you have to take Viagra,” Weinstein told reporters.

Pfizer denied it promotes the recreational use of its blockbuster drug. In 2005, Pfizer had $860 million in U.S. Viagra sales, according to IMS Health Inc.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks to halt the New York company from running ads like those that have promoted the drug’s use on New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl Sunday, said Tom Myers, the AIDS group’s legal counsel. The ads, which included taglines like ”Be this Sunday’s MVP” encourage recreational use, the group alleges.

The suit also seeks to force Pfizer to undertake a public information campaign on the dangers of misusing and abusing the prescription drug. Furthermore, it seeks an unspecified amount to cover an increase in treatment costs borne by the nonprofit group, which runs free treatment clinics.

Pfizer said it and a company foundation already support AIDS prevention efforts, including a three-year, $6 million project undertaken in 2003 in nine southern states.

The advertisements in question featured younger-looking men than did earlier Viagra ads that used retired Sen. Bob Dole, then in his 70s, as a pitchman. Myers said the newer ads imply the drug is meant to enhance the sexual experience and not to treat a medical condition.

A Pfizer official warned against confusing age with the degree of impotence.

”The age of the personality that’s always seen in promotional materials doesn’t necessarily depict severity,” said Dr. Ivan Levinson, senior medical director for Pfizer Urology and Sexual Health.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation also wants the Food and Drug Administration to step up its oversight of Viagra ads.

An FDA spokeswoman declined to comment.

In 2004, the FDA warned Pfizer that some television ads for Viagra made it clear the drug was for sex, but failed to note it was to treat impotence. The ads also failed to provide information on its major side effects, according to the letter.

Filing of the suit came as Pfizer announced it would cut 10,000 jobs in seeking to trim its annual costs by $2 billion.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.