Bill Would Allow Gays To Sponsor Foreign Partners
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff Posted: May 8 2007
Legislation was introduced in Congress Tuesday that would allow Americans in a same-sex relationship to sponsor their "permanent partners" for legal residency in the United States, a right currently afforded only to opposite-sex couples under immigration law.

  House passes hate crime bill
Leah NylenCapital Times/Medill News Service WASHINGTON
The House passed a measure strengthening federal hate crimes penalties Thursday to include protections for sexuality, an action long championed by gay rights advocates such as Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison. The 237-180 vote split largely along party lines, and sets up another veto showdown between Democrats and President Bush. Republicans are lambasting the measure as providing special protections for gays, while omitting other groups, such as the elderly. Baldwin, a co-author of the bill who has pushed for the legislation since coming to Congress in 1999, called the measure "long overdue."

  Washington Domestic Partnership Bill Passed
365Gay.com Newscenter Staff Posted: April 19, 2007
The Washington Legislature has approved a domestic partnership bill that extends property and family rights to couples of the same sex. The 63-35 House vote sends the measure to Governor Gregoire for signing and will make Washington the eighth state in the nation to recognize domestic partnerships. "This measure will provide many vital protections to same-sex couples in committed relationships. Its passage is an exciting first step toward the ultimate goal of marriage for all couples," said ACLU Legislative Director Jennifer Shaw. The bill approved by the Legislature creates a state registry of domestic partners. This registration extends to domestic partners some of the rights enjoyed by married couples, such as the ability to make medical care decisions for a sick partner, to visit a partner in the hospital, and to inherit property without a will. The state will also recognize domestic partnerships for heterosexual couples where at least one person is 62 or older. They were included in the bill because many older couples can lose pensions and other benefits when they marry. The other states that provide legal recognition and protections for same-sex couples and their families are Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Maine and Hawaii. Massachusetts allows same-sex couples to marry.

  International Study Shows Widespread Dislike For Gay Neighbors
365Gay.com Newscenter Staff Posted: April 19, 2007
An international study of attitudes towards gays shows large number of people still do not want gay neighbors. People in Northern Ireland showed the most distain for having a gay neighbor. Thirty-six percent of those questioned said they did not want a gay or lesbian living next door. The study, "Love Thy Neighbor: How Much Bigotry is there is Western Countries" was based on statistics from the Human Beliefs and Values Survey, conducted in 24 Western countries between 1999 and 2002.

  No scientific evidence that diet supplements halt aging
By Caleb Hellerman, CNN Health, April 10, 2007
Americans spend billions of dollars a year on dietary supplements in hopes of gaining energy, warding off disease and slowing down the aging process. Yet for all the money spent, and growing interest from mainstream physicians, virtually no evidence exists that supplements can improve your health .

  Washington Passes Partnership Bill
by The Associated Press Posted: April 11, 2007 - 9:00 am ET (Olympia, Washington)
Nearly a year after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage, the state Legislature passed a measure to give gay and lesbian couples some of the rights that come with marriage. The measure passed 65-35 on Tuesday. The state Senate approved the bill last month, and it now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law.

  LGBT Groups Join Forces to Host Out & Healthy Conference and Expo
GayNZ.com News, ,April 08, 2007
The first-annual Out & Healthy National LGBT Health Conference and Expo, set for Nov. 2-3 in Washington, D.C., will offer data, case studies and dialog on the future of health care delivery and health care business opportunities within the LGBT community.

  'Some Men' looks back at gay rights struggle
By Chesley Plemmons NEWS-TIMES THEATER CRITIC, Apr 08 2007
Most social movements have defining moments. Surely none could be more disparate that those of supporters of gay rights -- riots and weddings. The fights between drag queens and the police outside the Stonewall bar in Greenwich Village in 1968 and the legalizing by some states of same-sex marriage mark pivotal turning points in the battle over equality for gays and lesbians. Time to look back, says playwright Terrence McNally in his new play, "Some Men," which just opened at the Second Stage Theatre in New York City -- time to chronicle the funny, sad, touching sometimes heroic events of the past 80 years, from closets to commitments.

  New network for lesbian and gay carers in New Zealand
GayNZ.com News, ,April 08, 2007
A new network will support lesbian and gay carers, as part of the work Carers NZ provides to support New Zealanders caring for people affected by illness and disability.

  Philipino Transvestites provide care for elderly Orthodox Jews in Israel
By Gary M. Kramer, Philidelphoa Gay News,
Gay Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann's remarkable documentary "Paper Dolls," now out on DVD, examines the fascinating subculture of Filipino transsexuals working as careers for elderly Orthodox Jews in Israel. While it seems an unusual and even unlikely arrangement, the relationships can be incredibly open and poignant.

  Gay Elders: The Second Gay Health Crisis
QueerSighted Apr 3rd 2007 by Richard Rothstein
Aging Another gay epidemic? Another gay health crisis? Haven't we suffered enough through the first one? Indeed. And the second "AIDS" epidemic of the early years of the 21st Century will make the first AIDS epidemic of the 1980s look like a bad case of the common cold.

  Save the Boom!!! Fighting for part of Laguna Beach's Gay Heritage
For over 100 years, Laguna Beach has been a welcome home to gays and lesbians. But now that legacy is at risk. In late 2005, the landmark Boom Boom Room dance club and the adjoining Coast Inn were sold to make way for an 11-room hotel and restaurant. Laguna Beach has no shortage of hotel space, but the Boom is a historical treasure. Housed inside the city's second-oldest hotel, it is the oldest gay bar in the western United States and an anchor of Laguna's gay community. If the Boom were demolished, an important local institution would be lost forever.

  Gay and gray on Barbary Lane
by Marc Breindel, Planet Out
During a dinner party scene in Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City," the gang imagines where they might retire if they can't stay on the mystical Barbary Lane. Will gay Michael "Mouse" Tolliver find a home for old queers? Would straight Mary Ann Singleton and Brian Hawkins feel at home there, too? Could Anna Madrigal ever find a welcoming community for transgender seniors? It's hard to imagine such luxuries in the 1970s world of "Tales." Things are different now.

  Gay Elders: Lives of Courage, Shattered Hearts and Crushed Souls
Posted Mar 27th 2007 9:01AM by Richard Rothstein
The bad news is that the resources, efforts and programs currently available to the gay elder community may be reaching less than one percent of a total population of somewhere between 2.8 and 3 million elderly gay Americans. Furthermore, at least two-thirds of gay and lesbian seniors live alone (twice as many as the senior heterosexual population.) And too many of the remaining 99 percent are mostly living lives of poverty, secrecy, humiliation and desperation. But who cares, right? This country is not kind to its elderly and gay elders in particular are, after all, just faggots and dykes.

 

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