Five years after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, the local Episcopal bishop yesterday gave permission for priests in Eastern Massachusetts to officiate at same-sex weddings. The decision by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw III was immediately welcomed by advocates of gay rights in the Episcopal Church, who have chafed at local rules that allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, but not sign the documents that would solemnize their marriages. The decision is likely to exacerbate tensions in the Episcopal Church and the global denomination to which it belongs, the Anglican Communion, which has faced significant division in the wake of the election of an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Read the full story from the Boston Globe.

A Chinese city with one of the nation’s highest rates of AIDS has opened a government-funded gay bar in an outreach effort that has stirred debate over the use of taxpayers’ money. The health department in Dali, a picturesque city on a lake in southwestern Yunnan province, funded the bar to reach out to China’s increasingly open gay community. Dali is one of the 10 cities in China most affected by AIDS. Same-sex transmission accounts for about one-third of new HIV infections in China, the minister of health said this month.

Read the full story from Reuters.

Reporting from Atlanta – A neck-and-neck mayoral runoff pitting a black man against a white woman has spurred some intense discussions about race and politics in the South’s most important city. But in recent days, the two campaigns have also turned their attention to a demographic beyond race that may ultimately sway Tuesday’s election: the gay vote. The support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community has been a coveted political prize for some time in Atlanta, a bastion of live-and-let-live progressivism in the heart of the more censorious Bible Belt.

Read the full story from the LA Times.

Til death do us part? The vow would really hold true in California if a Sacramento Web designer gets his way. In a movement that seems ripped from the pages of Comedy Central writers, John Marcotte wants to put a measure on the ballot next year to ban divorce in California. The effort is meant to be a satirical statement after California voters outlawed gay marriage in 2008, largely on the argument that a ban is needed to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage. If that’s the case, then Marcotte reasons voters should have no problem banning divorce.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

 

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Australian Government Allows Gay Unions in Capital Territory
Thousands Hold Vigil for Murdered Gay Teen in Puerto Rico
California Mayor Apologizes for Remark About Gays
Thailand Looks to Limit Sex Change Surgery

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Thailand has issued rules making sex change surgery more difficult — including a requirement that potential candidates cross-dress for a year — over fears that some patients are rushing into the operation, a medical association said Thursday. Transsexuals and transgender men are a common sight in Thailand, appearing on soap operas and working at all levels of Bangkok society, from department store cosmetics counters and popular restaurants to corporate offices and red-light districts. A national transgender beauty pageant draws thousands to the beachside town of Pattaya every year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

The Federal Government has backed down to allow same-sex couples in Canberra to have legally-binding ceremonies, after the ACT Government agreed to minor amendments to recently-introduced laws. ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell declared the Commonwealth’s concession yesterday as a significant win for same-sex couples in the ACT, but the proposed amendments must now win the Greens’ support if they are to pass in the Legislative Assembly next month.

Read the full story from the Canberra Times.

Thousands of people marched through Puerto Rico’s capital on Wednesday, celebrating the life of a gay teenager whose dismembered, burned body was found dumped along a road in a small mountain town. The crowd, many of them carrying candles as a breezy dusk settled over San Juan, were also demanding that authorities invoke a law for the first time covering crimes based on sexual orientation in the U.S. territory.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

A Northern California mayor is apologizing for comments he made to The New York Times that gays will not go to heaven. Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis issued a prepared statement Tuesday saying he seeks to represent all city residents, not just a faction. The controversial remark was published Friday in an article about the divide between the city’s gay and evangelical Christian residents. The mayor, an evangelical, told the newspaper gays are “committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

 

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First Australian Gay Couple Ties the Knot
Mexico City Lawmaker Proposes Gay Marriage
Hospital Employees Deny Anti-Gay Bias
Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Causes Commonwealth Uproar

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Three Jackson employees gave their side of a case that spawned anti-gay discrimination accusations. In a case that for two years has reverberated nationwide with accusations of anti-gay bias at Jackson Memorial, nurse Natalee Wrisk retains a vivid memory: examining the chart at the bedside of Lisa Marie Pond, a 39-year-old woman who was close to death, unconscious and on a ventilator. The chart showed that Pond’s partner, Janice Langbehn, had power of attorney to make medical decisions on her behalf. The nurse had been in a same-sex relationship for nine years at that point, she said, and when she saw the chart she realized she didn’t have such a document drawn up for herself — and she should have.

Read the full story from the Miami Herald.

The Commonwealth convenes for a summit this week amid growing furor over a proposed law that would impose life imprisonment on homosexuals in Uganda, whose President is chairing the gathering. The law, proceeding through Uganda’s Parliament and supported by some of its top leaders, would imprison anyone who knows of the existence of a gay or lesbian and fails to inform the police within 24 hours. It requires the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” – defined as any sexual act between gays or lesbians in which one person has the HIV virus.

Read the full story from the Globe and Mail.

A lawmaker in Mexico’s capital has proposed changing the city’s civil code to allow gay marriages. Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church opposes the proposal. The church defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as does current law. Lawmaker David Razu says the changes he is proposing would give same-sex couples the same rights heterosexual couples have regarding social security and other benefits. The local legislature sent the measure to committees for consideration Tuesday. No date was set for a vote.

Read the full story from FOX News.

Australia’s first legally binding civil partnership ceremony has been held in Canberra. The Legislative Assembly passed a Greens bill earlier this month allowing gay couples to recognise their relationship with a legal ceremony. Warren McGaw and Chris Rumble – who have been together for nearly 20 years – celebrated their civil partnership at the Old Parliament House rose gardens this afternoon. They say they are excited to be the first couple to take advantage of the legislation.

Read the full story from ABC News.

 

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Atlanta Police Department Sued Over Raid
NJ Democrats Back Off Bid to Legalize Gay Marriage
Openly Gay Republican Picked for GOP Ticket in MA Gov.’s Race

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