Mozambique Steps Up Provision Of Aids Drugs

Maputo - More than 15 000 Mozambicans are currently receiving anti-Aids drugs, the government said on Friday, citing the rapid increase in the provision of treatment as a success for the impoverished southern African nation where more than 16 percent of adults carry the virus.
President Armando Guebuza said more united efforts to prevent and treat AIDS were necessary throughout Africa, the continent hardest hit by the pandemic.
Addressing a conference aimed at training health professionals to administer antiretroviral therapy, Guebuza said the treatment had revived hope among people who previously believed they were under a death sentence.
"One of the decisive challenges in this struggle is training because the lack of qualified human resources is sometimes an insuperable obstacle", said Guebuza.
In addition to Mozambicans, medical staff from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are attending the course, sponsored by the Italian non-governmental organization, the Sant'Egido Community.
The charity is providing antiretroviral drugs to 4 000 Mozambicans - out of a nationwide total of 15 000 receiving the therapy.
Health Minister Ivo Garrido told state radio on Friday that the number being treated had more than doubled from 7 000 last December.
"There are few African countries that have had such a rapid expansion of antiretroviral treatment", Garrido said.
He told parliament earlier this week that 16.2 percent of adults aged between 15 and 49 are infected with the HIV virus that causes Aids. In the worst hit province, Sofala, the rate is 26,5 percent.
In 2004, an estimated 1,4 million of Mozambique's 18 million population were HIV positive, according to Garrido. Of that number, 80 000 were children, 570 000 were men and 800 000 were women.
He said there were an estimated 109 000 new HIV infections last year, of which 34 000 were in girls under the age of 20. About 97 000 people died of the virus last year, including 20 000 children under the age of five.
There are now 270 000 Mozambicans under the age of 17 who have lost one or both parents to Aids.
The government says life expectancy will continue to decline if current trends continue, imposing a huge burden on a country still struggling with the legacy of colonialism and a long civil war.
Trained staff are likely to die faster than they can be trained, with Mozambique expected to lose 9 200 teachers and 6 000 health professionals to Aids by 2010.
The government has stepped up prevention efforts, distributing 25 million free condoms last year, and it has expanded counseling and voluntary testing clinics throughout the country.
from IOL

Gay Underage Sex Can't Have Harsher Penalty

Kansas cannot punish illegal underage sex more harshly if it involves homosexual conduct, the state's highest court ruled today in a case watched by national groups on both sides of the gay rights debate.
The Supreme Court sided in a unanimous decision with convicted sex offender Matthew R. Limon. In 2000, he was sentenced to 17 years and two months in prison because, at 18, he performed a sex act on a 14-year-old boy. Had one of them been a girl, Limon could have faced only 15 months behind bars.
The high court ordered Limon resentenced as if the law treated illegal gay sex and illegal straight sex the same, and it struck language from the law that resulted in the different treatment.
A lower court had said the state could justify the harsher punishment as protecting children's traditional development, fighting disease or strengthening traditional values.
Writing for the high court, Justice Marla Luckert said the Kansas law specifying harsher treatment for illegal gay sex is too broad to meet those goals.
"The statute inflicts immediate, continuing and real injuries that outrun and belie any legitimate justification that may be claimed for it," Luckert wrote. "Moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate state interest."
National health groups and the National Association of Social workers filed legal arguments supporting Limon's position. A conservative law group, Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel, helped prepare written arguments from 25 legislators in support of the law.
Both Limon and the other boy, identified only as M.A.R. in court documents, lived at a Paola group home for the developmentally disabled. In court, an official described M.A.R. as mildly mentally retarded and Limon as functioning at a slightly higher level but not as an 18-year-old.
Limon's attorneys described the relationship with the younger boy as consensual and suggested that they were adolescents experimenting with sex.
Attorney General Phill Kline's office has repeatedly described Limon as a predator, noting he had two similar, previous offenses on his criminal record. Kline contended that such a pattern of behavior warranted a tough sentence and that courts should leave sentencing policy to the Legislature.
Kline's office had no immediate comment to the ruling.
Kansas law makes any sexual activity involving a person under 16 illegal, regardless of the context.
But Limon's attorneys note that had his victim been female, the state's 1999 "Romeo and Juliet" law would have applied. It establishes lesser penalties for illegal sex when the partners' ages are within four years and one partner is younger 19 - and specifically applies only when the partners are of the opposite sex.
In today's decision, the court said the "Romeo and Juliet" law was intended to allow less harsh treatment of consensual teenage relationships. Luckert wrote that purpose wouldn't be harmed by striking the language limiting the law to only opposite-sex partners. She wrote that the language "suggests animus toward teenagers who engage in homosexual sex."
The Kansas Court of Appeals rejected Limon's appeal in 2002. The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law criminalizing gay sex and returned Limon's case to the state courts.
But in a 2-1 decision in January 2004, the Kansas Court of Appeals noted the U.S. Supreme Court case involved consenting adults and sided with the state again. Limon then appealed the Kansas Supreme Court.
from Kansas.com

The National Italian Rugby Team Poses Nude For Charity

Rome Italy- The National Italian Rugby Team composed entirely of firefighters bare all for chairty to help raise money for a worthy charity stateside. The anticipated debut premiere of the teams calendar has taken the city and Internet by storm. The Italian fire chiefs are not thrilled about the exploits of the team and have forbidden participation in promoting the calendar in Italy by the teams members.

The champion professional firefighters turn ruby players won the gold medal of their division this past July in Quebec, Canada. This Italian national rugby team are champions on the field and heroes as first responders in these times that we live. A portion of the profits from the calendar's sales have been designated towards hurricane victims stateside, chiefly of the Mississippi Delta region where the photographer Lee Andrew Giabenelli was born.

The calendar is available on Amazon.Com.

Gay Marriage Bill Dead Till '07, Says Speaker

State lawmakers will not return to the issue of gay marriage next year, when Democrats hope to retake the governorship and many legislators are up for re-election. Instead, any attempts to pass a marriage equality bill in the Statehouse will not come until 2007, said the leader of the Assembly.
Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) confirmed during an interview with the Bay Area Reporter Friday, October 14 that gay marriage will not be part of the Democrats' legislative agenda when lawmakers return in January to begin a new session.
"2007 is what we are looking at right now on reintroducing the marriage bill," said Nunez, referring to the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act introduced by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and passed by state lawmakers this summer but vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last month.
Instead, Nunez said the Democratic agenda will focus on four issues in 2006: universal healthcare for anyone under the age of 18; raising the state's minimum wage by a $1 to $7.75; investing in the state's roads, levees, and transportation networks; and universal preschool. While it will not be a part of the legislative package next year, Nunez made a promise that he will champion the issue of marriage equality in 2007, and in 2008 if needed.
"I am in the Legislature until 2008. One of the things I am committed to before I leave is we need to do right by offering people the civil rights they deserve," said Nunez, a co-author of Leno's bill this year. "I think we are going to do it. It is going to happen."
Of course, past pronouncements of the gay marriage bill being dead have proven wrong. When the state Assembly at first failed to pass the bill in June, state Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) told the San Francisco Chronicle the issue was "dead for the year." But Leno used a parliamentary procedure to revive his bill in the state Senate, and ultimately, see it to passage in the state Legislature.
When asked about the speaker's comments last week, Leno said he had yet to make a final decision on when to reintroduce his bill. But he indicated it likely would not be next year.
"The consideration of reintroducing the bill in 2006 is not a conversation I have yet personally had with the speaker. But it is certainly worth having that conversation to see what his and our caucus' thoughts would be on bringing it back knowing that this governor would veto it a second time," Leno said. "I think the singular focus in the coming year will be the defeat of proposed constitutional amendments and any thought of reintroducing the bill should be considered in light of those amendments."
A one-year reprieve in the fight to see California become the first state to allow same-sex couples to marry without a court order would come as the gay community prepares to fight attempts to ban gay marriage in the state's constitution and repeal already won domestic partnership rights in the form of ballot initiatives expected to go before voters next June and November. It also comes as the national Democratic Party sees an opportunity to win back control of both houses of Congress from Republicans, and would deprive the Republicans what has been a useful tool to rally their base and bring conservative voters to the polls.
In 2004 Leno first introduced his marriage equality bill amid the presidential battle between Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry. Some Democrats and political pundits blamed Kerry's defeat and the success of nearly a dozen constitutional amendments banning gay marriage in various states to both Leno's bill and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to order city officials to wed same-sex couples.
While California Senator Dianne Feinstein's now-infamous comment that the push for marriage equality "has been too much, too fast, too soon," won her a Pink Brink award at this year's Pride Parade, her assessment mirrored that felt by many observers of how the issue led to the Democrats' defeat last November. Nearly a year later, Nunez's take on the debate stands in stark contrast to those prior sentiments.
"We are turning the corner on the negativity the issue first brought to the progressive world," he said while sipping on a latte at a café near Fisherman's Wharf. "Everyone said in order to govern you have to get there first, then you can govern. But you have to fight for the right issues on your way there."
The debate over granting the same rights heterosexual couples receive when they marry to same-sex couples has not hurt the Democratic Party, insisted Nunez.
"This debate has been a healthy one," he said. "It is about gay and lesbian couples embracing the traditional values of marriage as more and more straight people walk away from it. People said the Democrats would lose seats over this; none of that has panned out. In fact the opposite has happened."
Not only have those lawmakers – whether in California or in Massachusetts where gay marriage is legal – who have championed marriage equality won election or retained their seats, Nunez described how he has even seen legislators adamant they would never support gay marriage change their thinking on the issue.
"I've seen Democrats go from saying, 'I am not going to do it,' to in a week, when people think about it and talk to their family about it, changing their mind. Watching that progress, seeing them change their minds, it is amazing," said Nunez.
While national Democratic leaders vary on where they stand when it comes to gay marriage – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) backs gay marriage while Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean favors civil unions – both Democratic candidates for California governor, state Controller Steve Westly and state Treasurer Phil Angelides, are in support of gay marriage. Thus, if either man were to defeat Schwarzenegger next November, and state lawmakers again passed Leno's bill in 2007, then gay marriage could conceivably be legal in the state by 2008.
Granted, voters would have to defeat both antigay marriage ballot measures next year. In California voters are increasingly signaling they support gay marriage, with one recent poll showing for the first time foes and supporters evenly split on the issue. Leno has defended his pushing the issue legislatively by arguing that in doing so, he and others are helping to educate the electorate on the need for marriage equality. With the argument next year centered on defeating the ballot measures, Leno acknowledged there would be no need to reintroduce his bill in order to keep the conversation alive.
"I am of the firm belief that if we had Democratic leadership at the higher levels embracing marriage equality as the civil rights issue as it is, we wouldn't need to operate out of a position of fear. But given we don't see that leadership, there is, in fact, potential risk by moving the issue forward proactively," said Leno. "Now, the bill, of course, served us greatly over the past two years in moving the debate forward and moving public opinion dramatically in our favor and in raising consciousness across the state. The battle to defeat the initiatives will serve us in that fashion in 2006."
from Bay Area Reporter

Massachusetts Father Won't Go To Trial In Gay Book Controversy

A Lexington Massachusetts man arrested after demanding that school officials inform him before his son's kindergarten class discussed homosexuality has reached an agreement with state prosecutors to have his case dismissed without an admission of guilt, his lawyer said yesterday.
David Parker, 42, was arrested and charged with trespassing at Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington on April 27, after he refused to leave until school officials assured him that he would be notified in advance of any teaching about homosexuality.
Parker's trial on a criminal trespassing charge is scheduled to start this morning in Concord District Court, but his lawyer, Jeffrey Denner of Boston, said the office of Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley had agreed not to pursue the case. Using a provision in state law, the judge will order the case delayed, and it will eventually be dropped, Denner said.
The procedure is different from the more commonly used ''continued without a finding," in which a defendant admits that sufficient facts exist to warrant a conviction and the case is eventually dropped, Denner said. Parker will make no admissions or plea, Denner said. ''The government does not want to go forward with this," he said.
Melissa Sherman, a spokeswoman for Coakley, declined to comment on the case before today's hearing. ''We won't comment on a proceeding that hasn't happened yet," she said.
Parker has apparently reached an agreement with state prosecutors, but Denner said his standoff with Lexington school officials continues. Lexington's superintendent of schools, Paul B. Ash, has continued to ban Parker from school property, Denner said.
School officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Parker's case, which was reported on ABC's ''World News Tonight" last night, has become a center of controversy in Lexington, where his supporters and opponents have held rallies.
from Boston.com

Gay Rights Group Can't Protest At U.S. Naval Academy

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND - A gay rights group planning to protest the military's ban on openly gay service members at the U.S. Naval Academy has been told protesters will be arrested if they step on campus.
The gay rights group, Soulforce, planned to bring about 60 protesters to the Annapolis gates of the Naval Academy Friday, with the goal of getting inside and talking to midshipmen about the military's stance on gay service members.
Naval Academy officials told the group they won't be allowed on campus, calling the protest a "disruption."
"Our policy is to decline any special interest groups from coming aboard the academy to advocate their own causes, business interests and advance personal agendas," academy spokesman Cmdr. Rod Gibbons said in a statement.
The Soulforce group vowed to walk on campus anyway, setting up a possible showdown.
"If they don't let us on campus, some of us will get arrested," said Jacob Reitan, director of Equality Ride, part of Soulforce.
"The gay and lesbian community has to show the severity of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Reitan told The (Annapolis) Capital. "We are going to come on campus; we are going to walk in ... like any normal visitor."
Soulforce organizers say they wrote to the Naval Academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, on Aug. 18, asking to meet with him, and again on Oct. 10, announcing their intent to enter the campus and discuss gay rights with midshipmen and professors.
Navy Capt. Helen F. Dunn, deputy superintendent and chief of staff, responded to last week's letter, writing, "Be advised that accessing the academy grounds for the purpose of protesting or engaging midshipmen, faculty and staff, may subject you to arrest and prosecution by the appropriate federal authorities."
Reitan said the gay rights group has a city permit to gather outside the academy's gates and that protesters will attempt to walk inside at lunchtime.
Citing security concerns, an academy spokesman declined to say if police will be on hand for the event.
One of the protesters will be Tommie Watkins, a former midshipman now living in Florida. Watkins was expelled from the Naval Academy in 1997 after being outed as gay. Watkins published a book this month, "Living Out Loud," and said there are more closeted gay and lesbian midshipmen.
"I am just one case of many," Watkins told the newspaper.
The protest is part of a series of "Equality Rides" events that Soulforce plans to organize at colleges and universities that expel students who are openly gay. The group also plans protests at the Air Force Academy, West Point and the Coast Guard Academy.
from Newsday

Bisexual Teacher Sues Former School District

MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA - A bisexual fifth-grade teacher has sued his former school district claiming that administrators harassed him and forced him to quit.
Emmit Hancock, a former teacher at Willow Oaks Elementary School in Menlo Park, sued the Ravenswood City School District last week, seeking unspecified monetary damages.
In his Oct. 13 filing in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the 27-year-old teacher said the harassment started after he told his students about his sexuality.
Hancock said he wanted to stop them from shouting gay slurs at each other on the playground. They later asked him to explain why he liked men.
"They wanted to know why, why do I love somebody of the same gender?" Hancock said. "I tried to change the subject as quickly as possible."
When parents complained, Hancock said he was told to resign.
The district's attorney said Hancock was not forced out and the district did nothing wrong. San Mateo County Counsel Tim Fox said Hancock resigned in January because his educational philosophy was at odds with what administrators wanted.
"He may think some things happened to him because he is gay," Fox said, "but, in reality, it happened for other reasons."
from The Mercury News