Most Straight Americans Want Gays Treated Equally
As part of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays' (PFLAG's) new campaign, Straight for Equality, the group commissioned an online Harris Poll of straight Americans. According to the survey, 56% of respondents thought people should be more supportive of gays and lesbians (60% of respondents in the 18-44 age range).
Straight for Equality "is reaching out to straight people -- who don't have an immediate relative who is gay or lesbian -- to start speaking up," said PFLAG spokeswoman Jean-Marie Navetta.
The PFLAG National Convention is set for October 11-14 in McLean, Va.
GLBT History Month Continues
Check out the 31 icons at glbthistorymonth.com.
"If we do not take the responsibility of teaching our history, no one else will," said Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum, which developed the month-long educational tool.
NYT: Senior LGBT Livingslide show
Gay and lesbian seniors face special challenges when they come to live in retirement communities and nursing homes. To address the problems of closetednes, staff attitudes and resident isolation, LGBT Aging Projects in New York, Chicago and other major cities are conducting sensitivity training for long-term care providers.
This and more from the October 9 New York Times article.
Really, Senator Craig?
Here's Saturday Night Live's (Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler) take on Sen. Larry Craig's refusal to resign as he had promised.
College Bits
Some Mizzou students and Columbia, Mo., businesses were displeased to hear of a book review about interracial gay adoption that referred to the two male parents as "freaks." The review appeared in Booze News, a satirical publication available at several upper Midwest universities.
Campus Pride launched its LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index in late September. The index is a tool for assisting campuses in learning ways to improve their LGBT campus life. The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) received four out of five stars, and the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) received two and a half stars.
The University of Kansas will offer WS 396: LGBT Cultures in the United States during its spring 2008 semester. The course will explore the experiences of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Milton Wendland is to be the instructor.
Lesbian GI's Death Mysterious
"If something happens to me in Afghanistan, don't let it go without an investigation." These were some of the last words Massachusetts Army National Guard Specialist Ciara Durkin shared with her Quincy, Mass., family. Durkin's body was found September 27 shot once in the head near a church at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. "I discovered some things I don't like and I made some enemies because of it," Durkin told her sister.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) is calling for an investigation.
Arkansas Gay Adoption Ban Advances
On October 4, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel approved the title of a constitutional amendment initiative that aims to ban lesbians and gays from adopting children, or serving as foster parents in the Mid-South state. The Family Council of Arkansas Action Committee must collect about 62,000 signatures, and submit them by next July 7. The initiative would prohibit unmarried couples, including both same-sex and opposite-sex coupes, from adopting children or serving as foster parents.
Dating Women is a Lot Like Patent Law
Kansas City patent attorney Lana Knedlik performs her song Bar Date below. In Bar Date, Knedlik uses patent law terminology to describe the process of dating women.
Click here for the lyrics.
"Iran So Far Away"Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg envisions Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "very hairy Jake Gyllenhaal" in this SNL short:
Transgender Inclusion Stripped from ENDA
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will be split in two. The transgender-inclusive bill is no more. Citing insufficient support for the trans portion of ENDA, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) made the decision to withdraw transgender protections into a new bill that will be known as GENDA (Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act); he is planning to introduce both bills into the House Education and Labor Committee on October 2.
UPDATE: ENDA is put on hold after several LGBT groups object to trans exclusion.
Tango Tops List of Most Challenged Books
The American Library Association's (ALA) Banned Books Week runs from September 29 to October 6 this year. Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign that highlights book bans, attempted book bans and book censorship in various venues. As usual, books with LGBT themes made the list, with the same-gender parent tale And Tango Makes Three topping the 2006 most challenged lineup.
Matthew Shepard Bill Passes Senate
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 ( or Matthew Shepard Act) passed the Senate (60-39) on September 27. To attempt to avert a promised presidential veto, chief sponsor Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) appended the act onto the Defense Department Reauthorization Bill that the president desperately wants approved.
The entire Defense Department Reauthorization Bill, with the hate crimes provision attached, passed the Senate on October 2. Having already successfully moved through the House, the bill now heads to a conference committee for reconciliation.
Senators Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) voted against the amendment. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) voted in favor of it.
The Advocate Asked Five Mayors
In its September 25 issue, The Advocate asked the mayors of five American cities "Why should young gay professionals move to your city?"
Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser's response focused on the cost of housing, mentioning nothing about the LGBT community. Tony's Kansas City has more.
Iran Has No Gays
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed an audience at Columbia University on September 24. A question about gay rights was put to the leader, and Ahmadinejad replied, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you that we have it."
The audience then laughed incredulously, and booed in response.
The director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, Scott Long, said Iranians arrested on suspicion of being gay are routinely tortured.
According to reports from the Iranian government, it executes its citizens for the morality violation of being homosexual.
Check the three-part CBC documentary, Out in Iran.
To read the September 28, 2007 NewsBriefs, go to NewsBriefs - September 28, 2007.
GLBT History Month Continues
Check out the 31 icons at 
NYT: Senior LGBT Living
College Bits
Some Mizzou students and Columbia, Mo., businesses were displeased to hear of a book review about interracial gay adoption that referred to the two male parents as "freaks." The review appeared in 
Lesbian GI's Death Mysterious
"If something happens to me in Afghanistan, don't let it go without an investigation." These were some of the last words Massachusetts Army National Guard Specialist Ciara Durkin shared with her Quincy, Mass., family. 
Arkansas Gay Adoption Ban Advances
On October 4, 
"Iran So Far Away"
Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg envisions Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "very hairy Jake Gyllenhaal" in this SNL short:
Transgender Inclusion Stripped from ENDA
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will be split in two. The transgender-inclusive bill is no more. Citing insufficient support for the trans portion of ENDA, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) made the decision to 
Tango Tops List of Most Challenged Books
The American Library Association's (ALA) 
The Advocate Asked Five Mayors
In its 
Iran Has No Gays
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed an audience at Columbia University on September 24. A question about gay rights was put to the leader, and Ahmadinejad replied, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you that we have it."
The audience then laughed incredulously, and booed in response.
The director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, Scott Long, said Iranians arrested on suspicion of being gay are routinely tortured.
According to reports from the Iranian government, it executes its citizens for the morality violation of being homosexual.
Check the three-part CBC documentary, 