GLAAD UPDATE: Episcopal Leaders Say ‘No’ to Defectors and ‘Yes’ to Gay People

December 08, 2008

The head of the Episcopal Church announced that defectors from the denomination, who broke away because of the ordination of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson, are no longer members of the Episcopal Church. Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori took a stand after leaders in the breakaway dioceses announced that they would form a rival denomination and seek official standing with the worldwide Anglican Communion. Many members in the offending dioceses of Pittsburgh; Fort Worth; Quincy, Ill; and San Joaquin chose not to defect and their congregations are being reorganized.

On the following day Bishop Jefferts-Schori was present as the Los Angeles Diocese voted to lift the moratorium on the ordination of gay bishops imposed last summer by the international Anglican Church at their once-per-decade Lambeth Conference in England. Later, the Bishop of the Los Angeles Diocese also announced that blessing of gay couples is an official rite of the diocese — it had already been practiced by many priests.

Related Media Coverage:

Los Angeles Times – December 5, 2008
“Episcopal Church leaders says those who defected ‘are no longer Episcopalians’”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-episcopal5-2008dec05,0,7356324.story

San Bernardino County – December 6, 2008
“At Riverside convention Episcopalians say no to ban on gay bishops”
http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_episcopal07.41dc34d.html

Los Angeles Times – December 8, 2008
“Episcopal Diocese of L.A. officially condones the blessing of gay unions”
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-episcopal8-2008dec08,0,7919724.story

Media Contact:

Adam Bass, Media Field Strategist – West
Phone: (323) 634-2018
Email: bass@glaad.org

~~~
Please CLICK HERE for the original posting.
~~~

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR OTHER NEWS LINK SITES:
On WordPress: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9 |||
On Blogger: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9

Dallas Voice: Tragedy of the closet; cop’s secret gay love affair and tragic death

FROM THE DALLAS VOICE:

As murder retrial gets under way, story of a clandestine gay love affair and a young man’s tragic death should serve as a cautionary tale

By Hardy Haberman

For some people, being “in the closet” is a personal hell. But it often affects others, too.

Take the case of Steven Rios, a married police officer from Columbia, Mo.

According to prosecutors, Officer Rios, when faced with the possibility of having his gay relationship revealed to his wife and family, decided to reach into his closet and pull out a knife — a knife he used to slash the throat of Jesse Valencia, a 23-year-old student attending college at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Officer Rios began the relationship with Valencia in 2004 when he arrested the student for interfering with a police call about a loud party. Rios told the court that their sexual relationship began that very night.

Rios was convicted of the murder three years ago, but an appeals court ordered a retrial, saying the trial court allowed inadmissible hearsay testimony the first time around.

The new trial began Monday, Dec. 1, and Rios faces a mandatory sentence of life without parole if he is convicted. Court officials said they expect the trial to end by Friday, Dec. 5.

The story is a graphic example of how the closet can kill. It should be a wake-up call for every LGBT person that is trying to hide their sexual orientation.

~~~
For the entire post, please CLICK HERE.
~~~

NOTICE: This posting is meant as a courtesy to the LGBT community at large to direct individuals to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender items of interest. We do not post full articles, so if you wish to read an entire story you should follow the link to its original author/publisher. We in no way, stated or unstated, claim to be the authors of any content posted here unless we say so explicitly. All content should be considered intellectual property of the original publisher, and should not be redistributed without full back-links and proper citations.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR OTHER NEWS LINK SITES:
On WordPress: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9 |||
On Blogger: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9

Col. Springs Gazette: More Coloradoans embracing gay unions, warming to gay issues

FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE:

By Bill Reed

Two years ago, by a 57 percent to 43 percent margin, Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. At the same time, they also defeated a measure to allow civil unions.

Now, according to a survey released Thursday, more Coloradans appear to be embracing ideas such as civil unions and gay marriage.

A slim majority of Coloradans support gay marriage and four-fifths support gay civil unions, according to the survey commissioned by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in California, and conducted Nov. 10-16 by Harris Interactive with 502 Colorado residents.

GLAAD conducted a national poll, but Colorado was the only state the group polled separately. Even though California’s Proposition 8 to outlaw gay marriage is more timely, having passed in the November election, the group felt that Colorado’s history on gay issues and its being home to two opposing forces on the issue – Focus on the Family and the Gill Foundation – made this the best crucible for their research.

GLAAD’s leaders seemed pleased with the results.

“Visibility is leading to the conversation, and the conversation with family and friends is giving people a better understanding about gay and lesbian people,” said Neil Giuliano, president of GLAAD. “And they understand we need legal protections just like everyone else.”

~ ~ ~
For the entire post, please CLICK HERE.
~ ~ ~

NOTICE: This posting is meant as a courtesy to the LGBT community at large to direct individuals to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender items of interest. We do not post full articles, so if you wish to read an entire story you should follow the link to its original author/publisher. We in no way, stated or unstated, claim to be the authors of any content posted here unless we say so explicitly. All content should be considered intellectual property of the original publisher, and should not be redistributed without full back-links and proper citations.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR OTHER NEWS LINK SITES:
On WordPress: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9 |||
On Blogger: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9

Gay City News: NYC’s war on porn shops claiming gay and bisexual victims

FROM THE GAY CITY NEWS:

By Duncan Osborne

Questionable Prostitution Charges Rock Video Stores

The city’s continuing war on porn shops has claimed gay and bisexual men as victims as nearly 50 of them have been arrested on questionable prostitution charges in seven Manhattan porn shops over the past four years.

And in lawsuits brought against six of those businesses, the city has cited those prostitution arrests as the primary justification for trying to shut those shops down.

“It seems as though there is a pattern of arresting innocent men in an effort to try and close these places down,” said Robert Pinter, a 52-year-old massage therapist who was among 12 men arrested this year in Blue Door Video on First Avenue in the East Village. “It’s extremely troubling that the police have so little regard for the gay citizens of New York that they use them as pawns to try and close these porn shops down.”

The city sued Blue Door in June after ten men were arrested for prostitution there. The business paid a $2,500 fine and installed video cameras to monitor the premises. Since then, Pinter and a 42-year-old man were arrested, and the city is now seeking to close the shop. Pinter denies that he engaged in prostitution and forcefully disputed the account of a policeman involved in his arrest.

The 42-year-old man is contesting his case while the rest pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and received small fines and minor sentences. Those arrest records will eventually be sealed, which suggests they had not been arrested before. For most defendants, such deals are the quickest and easiest way to make the cases end.

Also this year, police arrested four men at BH Connections at 557 Eighth Avenue, two men at the DVD & Video Center at 218 West 35th Street, and six men at Gotham City at 687 Eighth Avenue. All the men were charged with prostitution.

The city sued these three Midtown West businesses. In an agreement with the city, the DVD & Video Center was closed in July while the other two remain open. The men were not named in those suits, so Gay City News was unable to determine the disposition of these 12 cases.

In October, one man was arrested outside the Rainbow Store at 207 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea after allegedly agreeing, inside the store, to have sex for $60 with an undercover officer from the Manhattan South vice squad who made some of the arrests in Blue Door. That man pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Rainbow Store has not been sued by the city.

~ ~ ~
For the entire post, please CLICK HERE.
~ ~ ~

NOTICE: This posting is meant as a courtesy to the LGBT community at large to direct individuals to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender items of interest. We do not post full articles, so if you wish to read an entire story you should follow the link to its original author/publisher. We in no way, stated or unstated, claim to be the authors of any content posted here unless we say so explicitly. All content should be considered intellectual property of the original publisher, and should not be redistributed without full back-links and proper citations.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR OTHER NEWS LINK SITES:
On WordPress: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9 |||
On Blogger: 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 ||| 5 ||| 6 ||| 7 ||| 8 ||| 9