2015Place.com: Gay News Magazine Headlines (T24T-2)

Feature Story: Elections are natural emotional rollercoasters, plunging from heady heights to profound lows. For the GBLT community, 2008 was particularly high -- and painfully low. Even as Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency -- and with more the two-thirds of gays and lesbians voting for him -- Florida and Arizona voters approved amendments banning same-sex marriage and Arkansas took the retrograde step of effectively barring adoption and foster-parenting by gays and lesbians. ...more

Gauge: Us Helping Us, People Into Living Inc., will soon mark 20 years of working to prevent HIV infections among black gay and bisexual men, and caring for those who are infected. An anniversary banquet on Nov. 21 marks the day the organization incorporated in 1985. ''We started out because there was so much stigma and fear associated with HIV/AIDS,'' says Ron Simmons, UHU's current CEO and part of the organization since the early 1990s. He recalls UHU's birth at a legendary D.C. nightspot. ''So many black, HIV-positive men had nowhere to turn -- particularly those who wanted a sense of hope. In 1985, your doctor told you that you had AIDS and you're going to be dead in eight months, there's nothing you can do. We were the organization telling people they could live with this disease. Rainey Cheeks started it at The Clubhouse. Initially, it was just trying to do little things like fundraisers to help pay people's rent. This was years before Obama. Racism was quite real. Black gay men received support from each other.'' ...more

Gauge: On election night, Nov. 4, Steven Kensinger and Zack Pesavento were just like so many other Washingtonians who poured out onto District streets to celebrate the news that Barack Obama had been declared winner of the presidential contest. What set them apart as they joined the throngs marching to the White House was their flag: stars and stripes for America, rainbow colors for the GLBT community. Among the crowds, their festive flag generated plenty of positive response, prompting photo requests and high-fives. Leaving the rally, they faced a different reaction. Walking north on 16th Street NW, a stranger grabbed their flag and ran off. Catching up to the stranger in an effort to retrieve their flag, they say he then hit and choked Kensinger. Kensinger and Pesavento (left) during an attack caught on camera by WJLA ''He was really aggressive and was not going to let up,'' says Kensinger. Footage of the attack was caught on tape by ABC News cameras and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) responded, charging the alleged assailant with simple assault. The couple, both 22, say they will press charges. ...more

'Never give up'
Protesters hit the streets as Prop 8 challenged in court
By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade | Nov. 13 at 2:23 PM Nov. 13 at 2:23 PM
The passage of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California has sparked a national firestorm leading to protests in several cities where thousands of people have expressed their anger over the elimination of marriage rights in the Golden State.

After the measure passed last week, protesters came together Nov. 5 in West Hollywood, the gay neighborhood of Los Angeles, blocking traffic. Other protests followed there over the weekend and in San Diego and San Francisco.

More than 2,000 protesters also gathered in Salt Lake City on Nov. 7 to protest the Mormon church’s efforts in passing the initiative, which included an estimated $20 million i ...

Doctors say marrow transplant may have cured AIDS
Patient is 20 months free of virus
BERLIN (AP) | Nov. 13 at 12:23 PM Nov. 13 at 12:23 PM
An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

While researchers — and the doctors themselves — caution that the case might be no more than a fluke, others say it may inspire a greater interest in gene therapy to fight the disease that claims 2 million lives each year. The virus has infected 33 million people worldwide.

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Log Cabin president announces resignation
Sammon to step down in January
By JOSHUA LYNSEN, Washington Blade | Nov. 13 at 12:08 PM Nov. 13 at 12:08 PM
Patrick Sammon, president of the national gay partisan group Log Cabin Republicans, has announced plans to leave the organization.

Sammon said in a statement released Thursday that he would step down at the end of January. Sammon, a former television news reporter, became president of Log Cabin in December 2006.

“After five years at this organization and more than two years heading Log Cabin, I am ready to tackle new challenges,” he said. “I’ll be doing documentary filmmaking, which is what I did before joining Log Cabin’s staff.”

Sammon joined the staff of Liberty Education Forum, the Log Cabin educational arm, ...

A web site developed by a San Francisco man, www.stop8.org, has been revamped to be “a hub of information about the fight for equality.” “There’s been a huge groundswell of support since the election, and now’s a crucial time to show our friends and families how they can help,” Matt Baume, the man behind the Web [...]

Oscar Nunez, who’s straight but plays the gay character Oscar Martinez on NBC’s “The Office,” called the Bay Area Reporter Tuesday, November 11 to talk about Prop 8 and suggested the measure’s opponents should try to gain support by helping other communities. For example, the Cuban-born Nunez said, same-sex marriage supporters could organize events such as [...]

A protest march against Proposition 8 will take place in San Francisco Friday, November 7, according to www.protest8.blogspot.com. The march will start at 5:30 p.m. at Market and Seventh streets and end at Dolores Park.

Gay rights organizations in California may take the issue of gay marriage back to the voters in just two years if legal challenges to the ban fail to reverse the outcome of the Proposition 8 vote, reports the Associated Press. Three separate lawsuits have been filed with the stateâ€™s supreme court arguing that a simple majority of voters alone do not have the legal authority to change the constitution to restrict the rights of a minority group.

Los Angeles Film Festival director Richard Raddon turned up on the secretary of state's donation list as having given money to Yes on 8, backing the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage throughout the state.

Duanna Johnson, a transgender woman who was suing the city of Memphis, Tenn., for alleged civil rights violations, was shot and killed execution-style on November 9, according to WPTY News.

More than 250,000 GLBT people and allies have pledged to fight for equality Nov. 15. In the days after California banned same-sex marriage with the passing of the controversial Proposition 8, tens of thousands of GLBT people and their supports took to...

by Malcolm Lazin Executive Director of Equality Forum A great paradox of the 2008 federal election in which the first African American was elected President is that three hree states passed referenda to amend their respective...

Ga. Supreme Court co-hosts national marriage summit
Event features debate over gay marriage
By LAURA DOUGLAS-BROWN | Nov. 13 at 1:38 PM Nov. 13 at 1:38 PM
Whether gay couples should be allowed to legally marry will be a topic of debate next week when the Georgia Supreme Court partners with the Institute for American Values to sponsor a national summit on marriage.

The event, set for Nov. 19-20, is the first time a commission of a state Supreme Court has co-hosted such an event, according to a press release from the court. The summit is co-sponsored by the high court's Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law.

The Institute for American Values is a private, non-profit think tank dedicated to "strengthening families and civil society in the ...