Gay/Lesbian News

Muslim leaders in Kenya's North Eastern Province have resolved to campaign against the promotion of condoms as a means of preventing HIV.

The decision was made after a recent meeting on the theme of "Islam and Health", attended by more than 60 Muslim scholars and teachers in the provincial capital of Garissa.

"A lot of money is being wasted to poison our community ... a huge amount of money is spent on buying condoms, buying immorality," Sheikh Mohamud Ali, of Garissa district, told IRIN/PlusNews.

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NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today launched a new version of its Get Busy, Get Equal online activist toolkit, www.aclu.org/getequal. Get Busy, Get Equal now incorporates new technology to make it easier for LGBT people to work for change in their communities. The website offers tools for ending gay and transgender discrimination, making schools safe, and winning recognition for LGBT relationships.

“Partly because of all the awful anti-marriage initiatives of the past few years, Americans are aware of and talking about LGBT issues more than they ever have before. We need to take advantage of that and make the case that the only fair treatment for LGBT people is equal treatment,” said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU LGBT Project. “There is no better way to move people than to have conversations between LGBT people and other Americans. And there may be no better way to make those conversations happen than to work together on proposing nondiscrimination laws or domestic partnership policies in towns, cities and counties, or even in workplaces.”

The new toolkit includes a blog to give users insight into how to make local change a reality. It also includes a five-day-a-week roundup of LGBT news from across the nation. Short videos of ACLU clients that users can share with friends and family members put a human face on the issues and help spark meaningful conversations about what it means to face discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBT Project staff will record podcasts to give users an insider perspective on what is happening in the movement. MORE

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A global gay marketing agency stresses the importance of staff training to leading travel industry brands. The agency has created new a online training, accreditation and marketing system called GayComfort™.

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The University of Toledo confirmed yesterday that an administrator who wrote a column critical of gay rights for a local publication has been fired.

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The show [only available on DVD] is called Dottie's Magic Pockets . It's about a stay-at-home mom, who happens to be lesbian. She gets kind of sad when her family members leave the house for school and work during the day, so she creates a fantasy world for herself - inhabited by magic glitter and talking walls!

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How has online dating technology changed in recent years? Actually, online dating is in about the same place that it has been in for the last three years. One of the things I'd like to see is more technology being applied to personality profiling. In this area there are four companies worth mentioning: Perfectmatch.com; eHarmony.com; Chemistry.com; and True.com.

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Western governments are spending mind-boggling sums treating HIV-positive patients in the developing world. But would they save more lives by concentrating on prevention? Decca Aitkenhead meets the outspoken expert who says that liberal fears of appearing judgmental are blinding us to the truth about the disease. Her book, The Wisdom of Whores, published this week, condemns the global strategy for Aids as an ill-conceived waste of money which is not saving but costing lives. "HIV is mostly about people doing stupid things in the pursuit of pleasure or money," declares the cover on a proof copy of the book. "We're just not allowed to say so." She suspects she will never work in the Aids industry again for saying so. "But it's true." See 'People do stupid things - that's what spreads HIV'

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Settlement negotiations between former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and his estranged wife have broken down. more

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HE decision last month by Brisbane's Anglican Church Grammar School - commonly known as Churchie - to ban same-sex partners from attending a year 12 formal raises two important questions: The first is whether the all-boy school was right to do so; the second, did this amount to discrimination? In response to the first question, the school's headmaster, Jonathan Hensman was unambiguous: "The senior dinner dance is an opportunity for our young men to escort young women in a formal school environment. We don't intend to change our practice. The answer to the second . . .

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With its television revenue down $2.8 million already this year, Playboy Enterprises plans to offer 20 hours of softcore gay male programming to Time Warner Cable subscribers, XBIZ.com reports . more

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