news
National Coming Out Day is Oct. 11. This
year’s theme is “Talk About It.” Hundreds of
people across the country are working with the
Human Rights Campaign to tell the stories of
queers to the nation every day.
In addition, Equality Forum, in collaboration
with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network, has distributed a publication on queer
history to more than 3,000 high school Gay
Straight Alliances. “We have a responsibility to
provide the next generation with the informa
tion about our civil rights and its elders,” execu
tive director Malcom Lizin noted.
To order a resource kit that includes guides to
coming out, posters, balloons and more, visit
tinyurl.com/bvkw8.
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1 I ril 1U . H
Be the future
Naturopathic
Physician.
Acupuncturist
Oakland artist Weston Takeshi Teruya created this
poster commemorating the life of Gwen Araujo.
Keith Haring’s famous image still stands as
the symbol for National Coming Out Day.
S eminaries T argeted
for
G ay S weep
Catholic seminaries will soon be reviewed
for evidence of homosexuality for kith teachers
and students, according to a document from the
Vatican given to The New York Tunes. The
United States has 229 such facilities.
This investigation follows the sex abuse
scandal that rocked the church in 2002, in
which about 80 percent of the victims were
young men and boys, but fails to take into
account that coerced sex is an abuse of power
foremost, and only secondly of sex. A dispropor
tionate percentage of boys may have been
abused because priests were more likely to have
access to male targets—like altar boys or junior
seminarians—than to girls.
Estimates about the number of gay priests
range widely, from 10 percent to 60 percent.
H ouse E xtends P rotections
for Q ueers
The House of Representatives voted
Sept. 14 to amend the Children’s Safety Act
by adding what has been known as the Local
Law Enforcement Enhancement Hate Crimes
Prevention Act.
If enacted into law, the amendment’s provi
sions would extend existing federal hate crime
laws that already cover crimes motivated by
race, color, national origin and religion to
include crimes based on actual or perceived gen
der, sexual orientation, disability and gender
identity, including gender-related characteris
tics. The gender identity/characteristics lan
guage was added just this year to make clear that
the legislation applied to hate crimes against
transgender people.
The vote was 223-199, with 30 Republicans
supporting the amendment. The full bill later
passed the House overwhelmingly. *
T ask F orce D isappointed
A bout R oberts C onfirmation
The U.S. Senate voted Sept. 29 to confirm
the nomination of Judge John Roberts as chief
justice of the United States.
Eleanor D. Acheson, director of public poli
cy and government affairs for the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, notes in a statement:
“The U.S. Senate today voted to confirm the
nomination of John Roberts for chief justice of
the United States without reviewing materials
that constitute the most critical and telling part
of his record and without getting meaningful
answers about his views on critical legal and
constitutional principles. This is beyond
disappointing—it is outrageous.
“The Bush administration flatly refused to
produce critical documents from Judge
Roberts’ tenure in the solicitor general’s office,
materials that have been produced in earlier
judicial confirmation proceedings under both
Democratic and Republican administrations.
Seemingly oblivious to this precedent or the
interests of the American people, the Senate
failed to stand up to the administration and
effectively relinquished its constitutional
‘advise and consent’ responsibilities. The Sen
ate compounded this default by not holding
Roberts’ nomination until he fully answered
all the questions asked.”
Honoring the
healing power of
nature.
SPART
National College of Naturopathic Medicine
C aravan to A ssist P eople with HIV
D isplaced by K atrina
Thousands of people living with HIV/A1DS
are preparing to travel across the United States
in 10 activist caravans this month, stopping in
more than 150 cities across the country to tell
local and national leaders: “We have the tools to
stop AIDS. Now it’s up to you to make those
tools available worldwide.” The caravans will
converge in Washington, D.C., from Nov. 5 to 8
for four days of prayer, lawmaker visits, protests
and a March to End AIDS.
The caravans are part of the Campaign to
End AIDS, a new national coalition endorsed
by more than 400 organizations. C2EA brings
together longtime HIV-positive people and vet
erans of the AIDS activist grouy ACT UP with
more recently diagnosed Americans—many of
them women, African Americans, Southerners
and churchgoers. Together, they’re demanding
that governments fund treatment worldwide,
promote science-based prevention and protect
the rights of people with HIV/AIDS.
C2EA planned to launch its caravans in
September, but the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina forced organizers to postpone. They are
intent on bringing relief to the 8,000 people
with HIV affected by that tragic event. Half of
the money raised at C2EA events nationwide
will go to Gulf Coast residents with HIV/AIDS.
“The people hardest hit by Katrina—poor
people and African Americans—are also the
people hardest hit by this disease,” says C2EA
organizer Judith Dillard of Fort Worth, Texas.
“We won’t leave them behind." JH
Compiled by S arah D ougher
Service where
"Family’' matterò!
Jay Mortensen
Home Loan Consultait