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HIV Increase Most Among Young Black Men (BGN)
1 Million Attend Toronto’s Gay Pride Event (BGN)
Conservative Anglicans Form New Group (BGN)
Skinheads Disrupt European Gay Events (BGN)
Arizonans to Vote on Gay Marriage Ban (BGN)
Presbyterian Group OKs Gay Clergy (BGN)
Long Beach Grunions Finishes First Place at IGLA (Gay Wired)
The Gay We Were [Pride Of Lions] (Gawker)
Transgender Rights Aired on the Hill (ABC News)
Rosie O’Donnell Laughs Off Split Report (US Weekly)
LGBT-inclusive work culture must include Generation Y (Consultant News)
Gay blood ban is lawful, says Finnish official (Pink News)
US Army discharges openly gay sergeant after TV appearance (Pink News)
Indian Cities See First Ever Gay Pride Parades (NPR)
Islanders join tens of thousands in gay parade (Staten Island Advance)
Lesbian and gay fund on the move (Philanthropy Journal)
Posh facing backlash from transsexuals (The Times of India)
Watertown settles hockey player slur lawsuit (Boston Globe)
Hundreds of thousands of people attend Manhattan’s gay march (People’s Daily)
Gay activist in Nepal campaigns against discrimination (The Christian Science Monitor)
Who’s saying what about gay and lesbian issues (Metro Weekly)
Transgender stage act seek respect (TVNZ)

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SAN JOSE, Calif., June 28 (UPI)

Some U.S. Presbyterian Church members say a move to allow the ordination of openly gay and lesbian clergy will trigger a backlash by denomination members.

The Presbyterian Church (USA), the biggest group under the U.S. Presbyterian umbrella with 2.3 million members, voted Friday to amend its constitution to allow the ordination of gay clergy, just as the church’s national governing body was deciding in San Jose, Calif., to not tamper with its own definition of marriage as being a “covenant between a woman and a man,” The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

The conflicting moves with in the same denomination illustrated the struggles mainline Protestant faiths are facing on the issue of homosexuality.

Friday’s vote, and a similar recent decision by Southern California Methodists to support same-sex unions in defiance of national leaders, has the potential to tear the religions apart and cost them some very successful congregations, a church leader told the newspaper.

“Already, many of our strongest churches, including mine, are losing members who are disgusted with a political operation that is not Christ-oriented or Scripture-oriented,” said Rev. John Huffman of the 3,100-member St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Calif.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

PHOENIX, June 28 (UPI)

Arizona voters are preparing once again to vote on whether a gay marriage ban should be added to the state’s constitution, lawmakers say.

The proposal was voted onto the November ballot by lawmakers Friday after a fiery debate on the subject divided the Senate, The Arizona Republic reported Saturday.

Democrats demonstrated obstructive tactics for hours to prevent a vote from taking place as Republicans worked to end the debate, the newspaper said.

The proposal seeks to add a ban on gay marriage to the state constitution, even though it is already against the law.

A gay legislator, Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, criticized the debate.

“I don’t think you’re afraid of judges. You’re afraid of me and my relationship,” she said to the proposal’s supporters.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

BERLIN, June 29 (UPI)

Gay Pride Day events in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria were disrupted by right-wing extremists, a German television network reported Sunday.

Deutsche Welle, without naming sources, said at least 20 people were injured at the first-ever gay pride parade in the Czech Republic when extremists attacked the event before it began. In Bulgaria, police arrested 60 skinheads who attempted to disrupt the event there, the TV network said.

Things were more peaceful in Germany, however, where the network said the 30th annual Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin attracted tens of thousands of participants and onlookers.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

JERUSALEM, June 29 (UPI) — Conservative Anglicans meeting in Jerusalem have declared a “church within the church.”

About 300 bishops and archbishops attended the Global Future of Anglicanism Conference, The Times of London reported. They object to what they see as a lax attitude toward homosexuality, an issue that came to a head when the Episcopal Church in the United States allowed the consecration of an openly gay bishop.

In a statement released Saturday, the bishops insisted the new Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is not a separate church. But they said the body would train its own priests. The group also plans to use the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Many of the dissidents are from South America and Africa. African churches are among the fastest-growing in the Anglican communion.

The bishops adopted what they called the “Jerusalem Declaration.”

“We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed,” it reads.

The bishops apparently hope to avoid a long legal battle over church property while forming a group that will, in effect, be a separate church.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TORONTO, June 30 (UPI)

The closing parade for Toronto’s 28th annual gay and lesbian pride festivities was attended by at least 1 million people, organizers said.

The downtown core was choked with men and women in wildly elaborate costumes, and in some cases, nothing but body paint, the Toronto Sun reported.

The parade wound through the city for three hours. There were no police reports of major problems, the newspaper said. For that matter, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and four other police forces had recruiting booths set up, the Sun said.

A first for this year was the inclusion of the Canadian armed forces, with about 18 soldiers, who has said they are gay, marching in the parade.

Politicians from the local up to federal level also marched, with the exception of anyone from the federal Conservative party, the Sun said.

The parade’s international grand marshal was Gareth Henry of Jamaica, who is seeking refugee status in Canada. He has told various local media he fled Jamaica because of police intimidation and says 13 of his friends have been killed there since 2004.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ATLANTA, June 30 (UPI) — The number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses from 2001 to 2006 among men who have sex with men increased 8.6 percent, U.S. health officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta conducted an analysis of trends in diagnoses of HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with men in the 33 states that have had confidential, name-based HIV case reporting since at least 2001.

From 2001-06, an estimated 214,379 people had HIV/AIDS diagnosed in the 33 states. Of these diagnoses, 46 percent were in men who have sex with men and 4 percent were in men who have sex with men who engaged in illicit injection-drug use, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said.

Among males, men who have sex with men accounted for 97,577, or 63 percent of cases. Men ages 25 to 44 years accounted for 64 percent of cases among men who have sex with men. From 2001-06, a 12.40percent increase in the number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses among all black men who have sex with men was observed; however, an increase of 93.1 percent was observed among black men who have sex with men ages 13 to 24 years.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

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Comedian Defends Lesbian Hecklers Rant (BGN)
NYC Seeks HIV-Testing of All Bronx Adults (BGN)
Obama Will Fight For Gay Equality, Wife Says (NBC 11 Bay Area)
Transgender People Fight for Equal Employment Rights (Kansas City InfoZine)
You will go to hell, preacher tells “gay” CNN presenter (Pink News)
A ‘Second-Wave’ AIDS Epidemic? (Hartford Courant)
Mormons back ban on same-sex marriage in California (Pink News)
Transgender discrimination hearing makes history (The Sacramento Bee)
Transgender rights hearing earns Andrews praise, pans (Courier-Post)
Gael Garcia Bernal – Bernal Defends Cool Gay Roles (ContactMusic)
HIV Rate Up 12 Percent Among Young Gay Men (Washington Post)
Ohio Courts Decide Two Lesbian Mom Cases (Gay City News)
Transgender Woman Barred From Restroom (Central Florida News 13)
Tassie gays welcome apology (Daily Telegraph)

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NEW YORK, June 26 (UPI)

The New York City Health Department launched a plan Thursday to have all Bronx residents tested for HIV during the next three years.

The campaign, “The Bronx Knows,” is aimed at reaching 250,000 Bronx adults who have never been tested, the agency said. The Health Department said Bronx residents will be able to go to any one of 40 locations throughout the borough for fast, free, reliable testing.

Bronx residents account for nearly one-fourth of New York City’s HIV infections and one-third of AIDS deaths each year. More than a quarter of Bronx residents who tested positive for HIV in 2006 were already sick with AIDS by the time they learned they had HIV.

The Health Department said the individuals had likely been infected for nearly a decade.

“The Bronx has the opportunity to lead the city in the fight against HIV/AIDS by being the first borough to have all residents tested,” Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden said in a statement. “This effort will set a model not only for the city but for the whole country.”

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 26 (UPI)

A Canadian comedian accused of rights abuses because he insulted two lesbians who heckled him in a Vancouver restaurant says he’s not homophobic.

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal announced it would review a complaint against Toronto’s Guy Earle based on an incident in March 2007, when Earle responded onstage to heckling by two women, The Province newspaper in Vancouver reported.

Lorna Pardy brought the matter to the tribunal, which said this week it would review the case.

In an interview with the Canwest News Service, Earle said he reacted as a performer, and not as a homophobe.

“I was very rude and visceral to them because … if you have a heckler, what you want to do is put them in their place by offending them, so I tried to hit them where it hurts and the only thing I had to key on was the fact that they were lesbians,” he said. “I don’t care if they’re lesbians, heterosexuals, homosexuals or giraffes.”

A date for the hearing wasn’t published.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We’re not gay, insist Lesbians (Stawell Times-News)
Gay Catholics Urged To Leave Church (RainbowNetwork.com)
Same-sex marriage law goes into effect (The Prague Post)
‘Gay’ for Effort (Metro Weekly)
Jackson Memorial barred lesbian from seeing dying partner (Sun-Sentinel)
Gay couples could adopt in Northern Ireland after legal ruling (Pink News)
Panel approves ordaining active gays (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Gay & Lesbian Film Festival spotlights ‘Sordid Lives’ (The Desert Sun)
Senate stalls gay-marriage amendment (Arizona Daily Star)
India’s gays set for first nationwide pride marches (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Woman part of opposition to Maine civil rights repeal (Camden Herald)
Gay-rights advocates question Oregon senator’s commitment (The Oregonian)
Gay Days at America’s Mega-churches (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
Gay-pride parade canceled at last minute (Denver Post)
Cops Get Gay Sensitivity Training (RainbowNetwork.com)
Gay challenger for Senate seat takes wider view (Boston Globe)
S.C. Black Pride holding events (The State)
BART gears up for weekend gay parade, Bay Bridge Series (BizJournals)
2nd Memphis officer fired for beating during arrest (Eyewitness News Memphis)
AIDS rates growing among drug users, gays: report (Reuters via Yahoo!7 News)
N.Y. marriage foe to exit state Senate (Planet Out via Yahoo! News)

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Gays in Italy Plan Mass Exchange of Vows (BGN)
Gay Men Tied to Population Growth (BGN)
Unsafe Sex in the City at High Rate (BGN)
Conservative Anglicans Hope to Avoid Split (BGN)
Cuba’s Gay Pride Parade Cancelled (Sun-Sentinel)
Gay acceptance irks Cuba’s Catholic Church (Gay.com)
Ken Russell’s ex-wife sues over lesbian lover’s estate (Daily Telegraph)
Gay experiences of war and conflict on show at Imperial War Museum (Pink News)
Gay marriage and the next big thing (Nuvo)
Mormons and gay marriage (The New Statesman)
The Impact of Gay Marriage Ruling on Benefits (KiplingerForecasts.com)
Irish gay group claims civil partnerships are discriminatory (Pink News)
Heinz withdraws gay advert after complaints (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Gays need straights to produce more gays (Nanaimo Daily News)
Rabbi Of Madonna’s Religion Blames Gays For Bird Flu (RainbowNetwork.com)
Gay bishop at conference (icWales)
No love for gay mayo ad on TV (New York Daily News)
Pride persists in Mich. (The State News)
My Boyfriend Almost Fathered a Lesbian Couples’ Babies?!? (The Village Voice)
Hospital Sued After Dying Lesbian’s Partner Denied Access To Her (365Gay.com)
Horny A-Gays Under Attack [Trends] (Gawker)

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JERUSALEM, June 25 (UPI) — Conservative religious leaders meeting in Israel say they hope to avoid a split in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Instead, they are working out the details of an organization that would unite Anglicans who oppose homosexual clergy, The Telegraph (Britain) reported. They say the group will develop out of existing agreements where conservative bishops in the United States have joined churches in Africa and South America.

The Gafcon Summit in Jerusalem is a conservative alternative to the Lambeth Conference, which is to be held this summer in Britain. Lambeth is held every 10 years for Anglican leaders from around the world.

Bishop Bill Atwood, an Episcopalian in Texas, was consecrated last year by the diocese of Kenya.

“Agreed principles will lead to new voluntary associations,” Atwood said . “There certainly will be new voluntary associations and those will arise out of

principles and a shared purpose and vision.”

There were already disagreements within the church over women’s ordination and other issues when the diocese of New Hampshire selected an openly gay priest, Gene Robinson, as its bishop. The U.S. General Convention ratified that decision.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

NEW YORK, June 25 (UPI)

Rates of unsafe sexual behavior, particularly among men who have sex with men, continue at a high rate in New York City, officials said.

The New York City Health Department report said that in 2006 alone, more than half of all New York City pregnancies were unplanned and more than 60,000 new sexually transmitted infections were reported — including 3,745 new HIV diagnoses.

Eleven percent of New Yorkers, about 610,000 adults, report having more than one partner in the past year, the report said. Men are three times more likely than women to report multiple partners — 17 percent versus 6 percent and young adults are four times more likely than older adults to report multiple partners.

New Yorkers with same-sex partners are three times as likely as those with opposite-sex partners to report more than one partner in the past year. Five percent of New Yorkers who are married or in steady relationships say they’ve had two or more partners in the past year.

Sixty percent of New Yorkers with multiple partners reported using a condom the last time they had sex, but the proportion is 43 percent among New Yorkers in committed relationships who have had other partners in the past year.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

PADOVA, Italy, June 24 (UPI)

talian scientists say they’ve found the same genetic factors leading to male homosexuality also lead to increased fertility in the homosexuals’ mothers.

The researchers said male homosexuality is associated with a phenomenon called sexually antagonistic selection, in which a genetic factor confers a reproductive advantage.

University of Padova Professors Andrea Camperio Ciani and Giovanni Zanzotto, along with Paolo Cermelli of the University of Torino, said the persistence of gay men in a population isn’t easily explained by Darwin’s theory of evolution, because men who possess genes predisposing them to homosexual behavior are much less likely to reproduce.

Gay men’s lower rate of reproduction would be expected to lead to their eventual disappearance from a population, the researchers said. Empirical studies, however, have revealed steady rates of gay men in populations.

The researchers screened a large set of explanatory models and eliminated those inconsistent with observed data. They concluded that male homosexuality benefits populations by promoting female fecundity. Gay men, therefore, give rise to an increase of the fecundity of the whole population, they said.

The study is reported in the online journal PLoS One.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.