GXR GAY NEW

Iowa’s state Senate passed a bill Monday to extend civil rights protections to gay, lesbian and transgender people in the state, despite opposition from business interests.

The bill adds the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to a list of protected characteristics under Iowa’s Civil Rights Act. Democrats have long supported expanded protections, and they now control the Senate, the House and the governor’s office.

The chamber passed Senate File 427 on a bipartisan 32-17 vote. It moves now to the state House of Representatives, where Iowa Equality board president Sandy Vopalka expects it to have a tougher time.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Matthew Titone led his victory speech last night with a one-word exclamation — a bursting firework of a word.

“History!”

As North Shore Democrats cheered on their new assemblyman and the borough’s first openly gay elected official, they heard in that opening word a long story of social progress.

Titone did not need to elaborate. As he threw up his fists, flashing cameras caught a moment that spoke for itself, and a victory that might not have been thinkable a generation ago.

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Twelve members of a gay-rights group have been arrested after staging a sit-in at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.The Soulforce activists attempted to meet with the seminary’s president, the Reverend R. Albert Mohler Junior, to demand a public apology for a recent article he wrote on homosexuality.

Mohler had asserted that gay sex would be sinful even if homosexuality was biologically based, and said he would support a hypothetical prenatal treatment to make an unborn gay baby straight.

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Bravo network’s hit show Project Runway and the independent film Quinceanera won honors at the gay media watchdog GLADD’s annual awards on Monday, but it was singer Patti LaBelle and Oscar-winning Dreamgirl Jennifer Hudson who stole the show.

R&B diva LaBelle received a special achievement award, presented by Hudson, for championing gay and lesbian rights and participation in the fight against AIDS.

“I didn’t know you were this nice,” LaBelle told Hudson at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s 18th annual media awards. “I thought you were a bitch,” she joked, noting that she had never met Hudson before their joint appearance.

LaBelle spent most of her acceptance speech praising Hudson, a losing American Idol contestant won an Oscar last month for her debut portrayal of a pop singer in the musical Dreamgirls.

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 WASHINGTON, March 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) today strongly condemned the anti-gay and racist emails sent by Army Recruiter Sergeant Marcia Ramode to Corey Andrew, a potential recruit. In her emails with Andrew, Ramode said, among other things, that Andrew, an openly gay African American man, should “go back to Africa and do your gay voodoo limbo tango and wango dance and jump around and prance and run all over the place half naked there and practice your gay morals over there…” SLDN demanded SGT Ramode’s dismissal.

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A prestigious Conservative Jewish seminary in New York has taken a step towards equality by opening its doors to gay students.

The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) announced on Monday that it would begin to accept applications from LGBT students, but that the decision was not taken lightly.The change in policy comes three months after the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards voted to allow the ordination of gays and lesbians.

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Officials in Largo, Florida again voted to dismiss city manager Steve Stanton. Stanton shot to national fame after the St. Petersburg Times revealed the fourteen year city council veteran planned to become a woman.Following the revelation, Stanton’s peers voted 5-2 to terminate his tenure. Outraged by the blatant discrimination, Stanton appealed. As part of the process, hundreds gathered Friday to either defend or denounce Stanton’s decision, including Stanton himself. He told the commission:

What I am asking for is for you to give me a chance to show you I can do the job. Dealing with Susan will be no different than dealing with Steve. Look past the gender issue and judge me as the same person I was four weeks ago.

Apparently they couldn’t, because not one of the council’s members altered their vote. Stanton’s detractors cited “trust” as an issue. Andy Guyette insisted: “Without trust, there’s no longer a foundation for any relationship.”Stanton has not yet said whether he will file a wrongful discrimination suit against the city, but he did tell reporters that he’s distraught over the decision:

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POP singer Anthony Callea has ended years of speculation by confirming he is gay.

The Australian Idol star said yesterday he has reached a point in his life where he is comfortable enough with himself to reveal his sexuality.

“Yes, I am gay,” Callea said yesterday.
“I have no issue with my sexuality now, but it’s taken time to become confident with who I am and happy with who I am. I’m looking forward to living a life with no barriers and not have to worry about saying the right thing.”

Callea, 24, said he was already planning to come out before a Sydney radio announcer accidentally did it for him earlier this month.

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CHICAGO – Chicago lawyer Coco Soodek has given $2,300 to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential primary campaign, the most allowed under federal law. But in recent days, she has questioned her contribution, just as she has questioned the candidate’s commitment to gays and lesbians.

“His inability to make strong, declarative sentences in support of our issues is disheartening and sometimes makes me question my donation,

Dozens of gay men are turning to an American IVF programme for two-father families to get around British laws that prevent surrogacy.

The programme is the first surrogacy scheme that accommodates two-father families.

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