GenQ

GLBT

Gay Republicans endorse McCain for Presidency
On Tuesday the Log Cabin Republicans endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain's bid for the presidency, after the gay Republican group refused to back President George W. Bush's bid for reelection four years ago.

"Sen. McCain is no George Bush when it comes to gay issues. We are much more optimistic and enthusiastic about Sen. McCain," Patrick Sammon, the group's president, told Reuters.

"Sen. McCain stood with us. Now we stand with him ... Sen. McCain showed courage by bucking his own party's leadership and the president -- twice voting against the amendment," the Log Cabin Republicans said.

NEW YORK - Suit against gay marriage recognition in NY thrown out
The first direct legal challenge to the New York governor's move to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, has been tossed out by a Judge who called the policy a legally allowable stand for fairness.

A gay couples choice to wed represents "a personal expression of emotional devotion, support and interdependence and a public commitment," state Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings wrote in a decision issued Tuesday. "With that validity, they expect equal treatment with other married couples."

The Christian legal organization responsible for the New York case said it would appeal, while gay-rights and civil-liberties groups hailed the ruling as strengthening legal support for same-sex couples.

NYC: Suspect confesses to gay student murder
Jeromie Cancel, 22 has confessed to the murder of a 19-year-old gay student in his Manhattan apartment at the weekend. Cancel reportedly sat down in Kevin Pravia's apartment and watched the sadistic horror movie Saw minutes after smothering the teenager in his sleep, police sources told the New York Post. Cancel told police that he watched the film early on Sunday, as the lifeless body of his victim lay in a bed nearby.

Fran Drescher's Fight to Save Gay Marriage
Fran Drescher, the former star of long-running sit-com The Nanny is co-hosting a cocktail party tomorrow night with her ex-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, in benefit of Equality California's fight to defeat Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California.

"I don't know if you realize this, but I'm a gay icon," Drescher joked. "But even if I weren't, I'm a political activist who believes in preserving the American dream which is tolerance of diversity and the separation of church and state…It's simply un-American not to be tolerant of different lifestyles. If you wanna live in a single-minded, religious-based country you're in the wrong place."

Jacobson added, "It's not about being gay or straight…If two people are in love and they want to be married, they should have the right to do this."

NEW ZEALAND - Greens speak out for LGBT students
The Green Party's spokespeople on Rainbow Issues has labelled New Zealand's education system as failing in its fundamental duty to lesbian, gay and bisexual students.

"The ham-fisted and confused attitude that some schools have taken towards school balls, bans on peer support groups, the word 'gay' being used ubiquitously as a synonym in schools for 'pathetic' and restricted access to external agencies like Rainbow Youth all suggest that something is fundamentally wrong," the Greens' LGBT candidates Kevin Hague and Linda Persson said in a statement released today.

The comments come after revelations last week that some Kiwi students have been denied the ability to take their same-sex partners to school balls unless they sign 'contracts' confirming that they are homosexual. The Human Rights Commission warned that such discrimination is unlawful.

DUBAI- Lesbian couple jailed for kissing on public beach in Dubai
The Dubai Court of Appeal has found a lesbian couple guilty of kissing on a public beach. Despite pleading not-guilty, the Appeal Court upheld the one-month jail sentence for the women, a 30-year-old Lebanese national and a 36-year-old Bulgarian.The women were charged with kissing, groping each other and indecent acts in public - the first case of its kind in the country. They will be deported after serving their jail terms.

ENTERTAINMENT

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - 'Some like it Hot' Monroe footage to be Auctioned
Amateur film footage featuring Marilyn Monroe on the set of the 1959 movie Some Like It Hot is being auctioned in Australia. The two-and-a-half minute 8mm colour film was taken by a US naval officer who was invited to the movie set after Monroe visited his base in San Diego. Still in its original Kodak box, the film was passed on to his daughter who lives in Melbourne, Australia. The footage features Monroe, co-star Tony Curtis and director Billy Wilder.

The lot, including a CD copy and a DVD copy together with the original 8mm film, will be offered for sale in Melbourne on 25 September with a pre-sale estimate of $20,000-$30,000 (£9,000-£14,000). Monroe died from a drugs overdose in August 1962 aged 36.

WHAT THA? NEWS ODDS AND ENDS

EUROPE - Virgin Mary tattoo sells for $260,000
A Swiss man has sold an elaborate Virgin Mary tattoo on his back to a German collector, with an agreement that it can be exhibited three times a year. The tattoo fetched $260,000 dollars in a deal that allows the artwork to be removed from the man's skin upon death and handed to the owner. The tattoo took 35 hours and was created by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. The tattoo will go on show for the first time next week in Singapore and Shanghai.

ENVIRONMENT

OTTAWA, CANADA - Massive Canada Arctic ice shelf breaks away
A huge 55 square km (19 SQ Miles) ice shelf in Canada's northern Arctic broke away last month and the remaining shelves have shrunk at a "massive and disturbing" rate, the latest sign of accelerating climate change in the remote region, scientists said on Tuesday.

They said the Markham Ice Shelf, one of just five remaining ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic, split away from Ellesmere Island. They also said two large chunks totaling 47 square miles had broken off the nearby Serson Ice Shelf, reducing it in size by 60 percent.

Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming.

Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario said the total amount of ice lost from the shelves along Ellesmere Island this summer totaled 83 square miles.

MIAMI, USA- Four September hurricanes - U.S. forecaster
Almost double the average Atlantic hurricane activity is expected in September constituted by four hurricanes, including two that will become major storms, the Colorado State University research team said on Tuesday.

The team cited warmer than normal sea surface temperatures, no sign of an El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific and near-record low sea level pressures in the tropical Atlantic. The seasonal outlook was issued in August, with 17 tropical storms predicted, nine of which would become hurricanes with top winds of at least 74 mph (119 km per hour).

Atlantic storm season is between June 1 and November 30 and usually peak on September 10. The average during this time is 10 tropical storms, six of which strengthen into hurricanes. Of the four hurricanes the CSU team is predicting for September, it said two were likely to be intense or "major" with winds in excess of 111 mph (170 kph).

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - Drought affecting food bowl in Australia worsens
Drought in the Murray-Darling river system, Australia's main food growing region has worsened, with water inflows over the past two years at an all-time low.

The drought will affect irrigated crops such as rice, grapes and horticulture the hardest. The rainfall is sufficient to support hopes for a strong wheat harvest, but not enough to replenish ground water, which troubles those farmers who grow fruit.

The record drought, which has gripped the country for almost a decade, is the worst in 117 years of record-keeping, with 80 percent of eucalyptus trees already dead or stressed in the region.

"It seems to me from what we've seen to date, there's no indication that it's going to end in the immediate future," said Wendy Craik, chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission which controls water use and flows in the rivers.

Tags: environment, gay marriage, LGBT, politics