Mexico City, MEXICO (AP)

Puerto Rico’s all-time top-selling artist Ricky Martin defended the right of gay pop stars to come out of the closet as he toured Mexico and geared up for his “Black and White” tour across the United States.

In an interview, Martin said he felt solidarity with Mexican Christian Sanchez, a singer of the group RBD who recently publicly said he is gay.

“Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say,” Martin said.

Christian “has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength.”

Puerto Rican news media have long speculated Martin is gay but he has avoided commenting on the topic.

Martin said his foundation People for Children, which helps exploited children worldwide, inspires him in his song writing.

“When you start to work with social problems, it gets the attention of the media and people think it’s a farce,” he said.

“It’s a spiritual search. The philanthropic work helps me write music and the music helps me in the philanthropic work.”

The singer, named Person of the Year in 2006 by the Latin Recording Academy, said it is great that more celebrities are working with charities.

“If this is a fashion, then I hope a lot more fashions like this come along,” he said.

Martin plans to tour in the United States from California to Miami in April and May.

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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MONTREAUX, Switzerland, March 28 (UPI)

The World Health Organization, following a conference in Switzerland, says male circumcision should be seen as a means of reducing the risk of HIV infection. After meeting with representatives of the UNAIDS Secretariat in Switzerland earlier this month, WHO officials recommended that male circumcision be considered as an effective source in the battle against the spread of HIV, Medical News Today said. Countries with high rates of heterosexual HIV infection and low rates of male circumcision now have an additional intervention which can reduce the risk of HIV infection in heterosexual men, WHO official Dr. Kevin De Cock said. Scaling up male circumcision in such countries will result in immediate benefit to individuals. The group’s decision was based on findings from three recent medical trials in Africa, that found that the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men decreased by 60 percent when circumcision occurred. Medical News Today said that currently only 30 percent of the world’s men, approximately 665 million in total, are already circumcised.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

 

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WHO Says Circumcision May Reduce HIV Risk
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Today’s Headlines
NH House Rejects Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage
Gender-Based Violence Claims Life of Another Young Person of Color
Liberal Group Challenges Backers of OH Marriage Amendment

Cincinnati, OH (AP)

A liberal advocacy group asked the state’s elections chief Wednesday to investigate whether backers of a 2004 gay marriage ban properly reported all the money they received and spent during the campaign.

Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group behind the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, immediately dismissed the claims by ProgressOhio.org as unfounded.

The constitutional amendment the group backed, which passed overwhelmingly, was credited with turning out Christian conservative voters who tipped the state’s presidential results to President Bush.

In a letter to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, ProgressOhio executive director Brian Rothenberg said the numbers didn’t add up in a review the group conducted of campaign finance reports for various entities linked to the 2004 marriage campaign.

CCV Action, a nonprofit 501(c)4 arm of Citizens for Community Values, reported giving $1.4 million to the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage in one report, $667,000 in another report, and $42,286 in another, Rothenberg said.

CCV vice president David Miller said the allegations are based on inaccurate and incomplete information reviewed by ProgressOhio.

“Their research is just absolutely ridiculous. We’ve done everything perfect,” he said.

Miller said one political action committee whose records ProgressOhio reviewed didn’t even exist in 2004, and that spending associated with the amendment was reported on an array of different forms required by the state attorney general, secretary of state and IRS.

“It’s like this guy just dug through a Dumpster and thinks he found the pieces to the puzzle - and they’re not there,” Miller said. “I’d be embarrassed.”

Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for Brunner, said she was aware of the ProgressOhio letter and was reviewing their claims Wednesday.

Miller argued that Brunner would have to recuse herself from any investigation that might ensue as a result of the letter, because of her earlier involvement as a lawyer representing CCV opponents in an Ohio Elections Commission complaint against the group.

Rothenberg said it could be suggested that former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell had a conflict of interest with regard to the group also - since he acted as a public spokesman for the gay marriage amendment - and the group was trying to have it both ways.

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 28, 2007)

Gender-based violence has claimed the life of another young person of color. Ruby Ordenana, also know as Ruby Rodriguez, a 27-year-old Latina transgender woman was found strangled with knife-like cuts and scars on her arms in the early morning hours of March 16 in San Francisco’s Mission District.

“Ruby’s murder is not an exception. Gender non-conforming young people – who have often been shut out of employment, housing, and safe environments because of their gender identity or expression – are dying at a rate of about one every three months,” said Riki Wilchins, Executive Director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC). “We mourn the tragic loss of yet another young life.”

Ruby’s body was found in the same area where another transgender woman was beaten and raped last summer. According to friends, Ruby, a Nicaraguan immigrant who was involved in sex work, was pulling her life together and attending support groups and English language classes.

Since 1995, over 50 young people aged 30 and under have been violently murdered by assailants who targeted them because they did not fit stereotypes of masculinity or femininity. In December 2006,GenderPAC released the groundbreaking human rights report “50 Under 30: Masculinity and the War on America’s Youth” to document this tide of fatal violence and the key demographics of its victims and their assailants.

In the course of the year that the report was researched and published, three additional murders of victims that fit the “50 Under 30” profile were reported in Memphis, Phoenix and Nicetown (PA).

“These young victims were almost all Black or Latina, transgender or gay, biologically male, and murdered in attacks of extraordinary violence,” added Wilchins. “Ruby’s murder fits this sad pattern.”

If the investigation of Ordenana’s murder follows the profile of victims in the “50 Under 30” report, it is most likely to go unsolved. 54% of the deaths documented in the report remain unsolved, as compared with 31% for all homicides nationally.

Ordenana’s murder came the same week as the introduction of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA) into Congress, the long-awaited bill that would give the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The LLEHCPA is necessary in moving our country toward a society where hate crimes are unacceptable, and where everyone’s most basic human rights are protected: life, liberty, and the expression of self without fear of violence,” said Wilchins. “We urge Congress to remember its commitment to protect all Americans from bias-motivated violence, and to remember Ruby Ordenana, by supporting this bill.”

Murder cases in the “50 Under 30″ report that were classified as hate crimes were solved nearly one-and-a-half times more often than those that were not. 72% of the report’s cases were not so classified, despite the extremely violent nature of the crimes (many deaths combined stabbing, beating, strangling and shooting).

The annual FBI Hate Crimes Statistics report documents assaults motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability. According to the “50 Under 30” report, if murders based on the victim’s gender identity or expression were included in the data, they would outweigh every other category except race.

The “50 Under 30” report is available online at www.gpac.org/press to assist reporters and policy-makers in identifying victims from their regions. http://www.gpac.org/workplace/2007lobbyday.html

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About GenderPAC

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) works to ensure that classrooms, communities, and workplaces are safe places for every person regardless of whether they fit stereotypes for masculinity and femininity. For more information visit www.gpac.org.

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This press release was provided by http://www.witeckcombs.com.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP)

The New Hampshire House soundly defeated a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday to allow marriage only between one man and one woman. Same-sex marriage opponents fought hard for the amendment but failed to get a majority. The House voted 233-124 to kill the amendment. Supporters argued that the people had a right to vote. Windham Republican Anthony DiFruscia said lawmakers wouldn’t be bigots to support putting the amendment on the ballot. But Nashua Democrat Bette Lasky said the constitution should never be amended to restrict rights. Plymouth Democrat Carole Estes recounted her years as a young, black woman treated as a second-class citizen in the South. In urging the amendment’s defeat, she said it was ironic she now was being asked to vote to discriminate against others.

ROME, March 27 (UPI)

A bill giving rights to Italy’s cohabitating couples would undermine the sacred bond of marriage and harm society, the new head of Italy’s bishops said. Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco said the Catholic Church is doing its duty, not interfering with national politics, by objecting to the Dico bill, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Tuesday. The legislation would allow straight or gay couples to register their unions and then be eligible for some financial, inheritance and next-of-kin rights, ANSA said. On Monday, Bagnasco opened his first session of the bishops’ council, during which participants planned to write guidelines for Catholic politicians on how to act on the Dico bill. Some lawmakers have described such behavior as interference, ANSA reported. How can the insistent remarks of the pope and bishops on this subject be interpreted as an abuse, or as illicit interference, or as indelicate or even disproportionate acts? Bagnasco said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

WARSAW, Poland, March 27 (UPI)

Poland’s ombudsman for children’s rights has prepared a list of professions for which homosexuals are deemed unsuitable, the Polish daily Dziennik reported. Ombudsman Eva Sovinyska prepared the list of professions, mainly those that have contact with children, and asked the government to impose a strict ban on homosexuals doing those jobs, the Serbian news agency Beta reported Tuesday. Homosexuals would not be acceptable to work as teachers, and sport and art instructors in schools and similar educational institutions. Sovinyska has support from the Roman Catholic nationalist League of Polish families, the report said. Joana Kluzsik Rostovska, deputy Polish minister for labor and social issues, said the list would violate the principle of equality and civil liberties, Dziennik said. In Brussels, European parliamentarians said last week they would investigate Poland’s reported government plan to ban debate on homosexuality in schools and universities. If teachers violated the rules, they could be fired, fined or jailed. EU parliamentarians voiced their concern of how such a bill could be compatible with European standards.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

NEW HAVEN (AP)

The director of a museum where “The Stepford Wives” was filmed is alleging that her gay colleagues created a hostile work environment, including one who poked her in the eye and another who showed her graphic pictures from a gay Web site.

Marjorie St. Aubyn, executive director of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk, says the incidents were part of a campaign to force her to resign. She also said her car was vandalized and she was threatened with poisoning.

St. Aubyn filed a discrimination complaint last month. The museum’s board voted this month not to renew her contract, which ends Saturday.

“What appears to have happened is that once my client had some problems with one of the gay members of the staff, they all took umbrage at it,” Craig Dickinson, St. Aubyn’s attorney, said Monday. “It got very ugly.”

Christopher Cooke, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, denied the allegations.

“I am stunned by these things,” Cooke said. “I have no knowledge of any of this being true.”

Cooke said the decision not to renew St. Aubyn’s contract was not related to her discrimination complaint. He declined to say how he voted, but said the decision apparently stemmed from St. Aubyn’s lack of experience as a curator at a time when the museum plans renovations.

Experts say such a complaint is unusual.

“I think it tells us no person is immune and it’s everyone’s responsibility to be mindful of the work environment,” said Paula Brantner, program director at Workplace Fairness, a nonprofit group that promotes employee rights.

St. Aubyn, a heterosexual who became executive director of the 62-room Victorian mansion in 2001, filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities alleging age, gender and “sexual preference” discrimination.

St. Aubyn, 60, says she did a good job, attracting “The Stepford Wives” and other projects to film the site and boost its revenue. The “Stepford Wives” remake, starring Nicole Kidman, was filmed partly at the mansion in 2003.

But she says the museum took no action after one colleague showed her the graphic photos and the other assaulted her by poking her in the eye with his finger.

Telephone messages were left for her colleagues.

St. Aubyn accused Cooke of threatening to fire her if she did not withdraw the assault charges.

Cooke said St. Aubyn filed a police report three months after the alleged assault. He said the case apparently was dismissed, but Dickinson says it’s pending.

“I did not interfere with any prosecution,” Cooke said. “That’s an absolute lie.”

Dickinson said his client is seeking compensation. He said he believes the complaint played a role in the board’s decision not to retain her.

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

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP)

Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued in an effort to end the payments.

But the ex-wife’s attorneys argued Tuesday that the operation doesn’t alter the agreement.

Less than a week after commissioners in nearby Largo drew national attention by firing the city manager after he announced he was a transsexual, lawyers for Roach and his ex-wife grappled in another transsexual rights case that delves into relatively uncharted legal territory.

Only a 2004 Ohio case has addressed whether or not a transsexual can still collect alimony after a sex change, those involved say.

“There is not a lot out there to help us,” Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold said.

Roach and his wife, Julia, divorced in 2004 after 18 years of marriage. The 48-year-old utility worker agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony. Since then, Julia Roach, 55, had a sex change and legally changed her name to Julio Roberto Silverwolf.

“It’s illegal for a man to marry a man and it should likewise be illegal for a man to pay alimony to a man,” said John McGuire, one of Roach’s attorneys. “When she changed to man, I believe she terminated that alimony.”

Silverwolf did not appear in court Tuesday and has declined to talk about the divorce. His lawyer, Gregory Nevins, said the language of the divorce decree is clear and firm - Roach agreed to pay alimony until his ex-wife dies or remarries.

“Those two things haven’t happened,” said Nevins, a senior staff attorney with the national gay rights group Lambda Legal.

Arnold found fault with several of Roach’s legal arguments and noted that appeals courts have declined to legally recognize a sex change in Florida when it comes to marriage. The appellate court “is telling us you are what you are when you are born,” Arnold said.

An Ohio appeals court ruled in September 2004 that a Montgomery County man must continue to pay alimony to his transsexual ex-wife because her sex change wasn’t reason enough to violate the agreement.

Roach, who has since remarried, said he has been unable to convince state and federal lawmakers to tackle the issue. He said he will continue to fight.

The case is the second transsexual rights showdown in Pinellas County in less than a week. On Friday, city commissioners voted 5-2 to fire Largo’s city manager, Steve Stanton, after he announced he was a transsexual.

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

 

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Man Says Sex Change Should End Alimony
Museum Director Says Gay Co-Workers Created Hostile Workplace
Poland Ombudsman Against Homosexuals
Catholic Bishops Fight Cohabitation Bill

 

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Gays Demand Marriage Rights From Legislature
Americans More Accepting of Openly Gay Athletes
Rival Gay Groups Hosting Competing Parties

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., March 26 (UPI)

More than 15,000 gay women are gathering in Palm Springs, Calif., this week for the start of two competing events. The Girl Bar Dinah Shore Week and Club Skirts’ The Dinah begin on Wednesday, the (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise said Monday. The rival parties came into being after the promotion team for the annual Dinah Shore event split after 2005. Organizers say the attraction of big-name entertainers to the weeklong festivities could bring attendance approaching that of the city’s more well-known gay men’s White Party, which is expected to draw about 20,000 attendees in early April. Celebrity performers at the Dinah Shore parties include actress Carmen Electra, singer India.Arie, Lucy Lawless of Xena: Warrior Princess, comedian Sandra Bernhard and various TV actors. Getting really big names, that didn’t really start till last year, said Sandy Sachs, co-founder of Girl Bar Dinah Shore Week. Mariah Hanson, owner of Club Skirts and Dinah Shore founder, said the gathering really took off two years ago after it was featured on Showtime’s The L Word.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (March 26, 2007)

In a recent national survey by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive®, nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of heterosexual adults say they would not change their feelings toward a ‘favorite’ male professional athlete if the athlete revealed he is gay. This represents an increase from 66 percent in August 2002, when heterosexual adults were asked the same survey question.

In contrast, when asked how they think ‘other sports fans would feel’ toward an openly gay sports figure, 72 percent believe that ‘others’ would have less favorable opinions. This measure, however, has decreased from 2002, when nearly 80 percent revealed that they felt ‘others’ would have a less favorable opinion.

These are some of the highlights of a nationwide survey of 2,510 U.S. adults conducted online between March 6 and 16, 2007 by Harris Interactive, a worldwide market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the GLBT market.

”Openly gay and lesbian athletes have become far more visible in the nation’s major media with the ’coming out’ of WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes and the very recent publication of the New York Times best-seller “Man in the Middle” by former NBA pro, John Amaechi,” said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications. “Not only does public acceptance of gay athletes seem to be on the rise, but there’s slight progress in feelings that others are becoming more accepting as well.”

Methodology

This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive in collaboration with Witeck-Combs Communications within the United States between March 6 and 14, 2007 among 2,510 adults (aged 18 and over) of whom 2,037 indicated they are heterosexual. Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, nonresponse (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite “margin of error” for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,510 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/-2 percentage points. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
EDITOR / REPORTER’S NOTE: For more information and for tables that accompany the news release please visit http://www.witeckcombs.com/news/client_press_releases.html 

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This press release was provided by http://www.witeckcombs.com and can be downloaded in its entirety as a PDF at http://www.witeckcombs.com/news/releases/20070326_gay_athletes.pdf