Windy City Times: LGBT band to march in Obama’s inaugural parade

FROM THE WINDY CITY TIMES:

The Lesbian and Gay Band Association (LGBA) has announced that it will be included as a marching contingent in President-elect Barack Obama’s Jan. 20, 2009, inaugural parade. This is the first time that an LGBT group will be represented in a presidential inaugural parade.

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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.

GLAAD: Alaska Sen.-Elect Begich Supports Partner Benefits for Gay Couples

From the Media Center at GLAAD:

December 05, 2008

Senator-elect Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, told The New York Times that he opposes amending the Constitution to ban marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Begich also said he supports allowing same-sex couples to receive “benefits through their partners.” He is the first Alaska Democrat to win in seat in the Senate for more than three decades.

Related Media Coverage:
The New York Times—December 5, 2008
“Alaska’s New Senator Sees Change at Work”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/politics/05begich.html?scp=4&sq=same-sex&st=nyt

Media Contact:
Richard Ferraro, Director of Public Relations
Phone: (646) 871-8011
Email: ferraro@glaad.org

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GLAAD: Poll Shows Religion and Economic Status Influential Factors in Prop 8 Support

Via Press Room at GLAAD:

December 04, 2008

A new poll indicates that the religious beliefs and economic status of voters played a greater role than age and race in determining support for Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that took away marriage for same-sex couples in California. According to the poll, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, people who identified as practicing Christians were very likely to support Prop 8, as were voters who did not attend college and voters who earned less than $40,000 a year. The poll also determined that age and race, among others, were less important factors.

Related Media Coverage:
The Associated Press- December 4, 2008
“Poll: Calif. gay marriage ban driven by religion”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3Yrv2lixhDpA_1XiY2rZUm9Ol4wD94RPF600

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

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Windy City Times: Plans for LGBTA school postponed

FROM THE WINDY CITY TIMES:

By Yasmin Nair
2008-11-26

A proposal for a Chicago gay high school was abruptly taken off the agenda of the Chicago Public Schools Nov. 19 board meeting. Supporters and opponents of the proposal came to the downtown office of CPS, only to be handed a memo from The Office of New Schools informing them, “The Social Justice Solidarity High School proposal has been withdrawn from consideration during today’s Board meeting.”

Paula Gilovich, a member of the Design Team for the high school and the Education Director of About Face Theatre said that “community input after our October 8 public hearing created changes in our proposal that we were not comfortable with” and the team unanimously decided to withdraw the proposal. One of the changes was in the name of the school, which had originally been titled the Pride Campus of the Social Justice High School.

In addition, according to Gilovich, there were curriculum changes; About Face Theatre was taken out of the proposal; and language was watered down. According to her, “sexual orientation” became “orientation;” the word “identity” could not be included; and neither could “transgender,” which was changed to “appearance.”

News of the withdrawal of the proposal had gone out on e-mail the night before, according to Sam Finkelstein, a member of Gender JUST (Gender Justice United for Societal Transformation) . Finkelstein and other supporters decided to attend the meeting regardless “because we’d already done a lot of mobilizing. We don’t want CPS to define our agenda, and we needed to hold the Board of Education accountable.”

Some of the supporters who spoke out in support of the proposal felt that the design team had been forced to cave in. Roger Fraser said “I feel that there was political pressure on this design team from the mayor’s team on down to shelve it.” Andy Thayer, of Gay Liberation Network, said that “a handful of far-right anti-gay preachers worked with CPS hierarchy [ to withdraw the proposal ] . He added that “We’ve learned that some of the proponents of the Pride campus have had their jobs threatened.” According to CPS, the matter of whether or not people were threatened is under investigation.

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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.

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