By Karen Ocamb

Gay-Bashed NYC Performer Addresses Rally

A week after becoming the victim of a June 10 alleged hate crime, famed New York City singer and drag performer Kevin Aviance addressed a rally against anti-gay violence in the West Village.

“You can't keep a good queen down," said Aviance, 38, his jaw still wired shut and his broken leg in a brace. "We can't fight any of these people with arms and bullets and drama. We have to fight all these people with love, every single day."

Aviance was walking from a gay bar when the suspects first threw things at him, then punched and kicked him while shouting anti-gay slurs. Police later arrested four men ages 16-20. The cousin of one suspect told Eyewitness News, “They had no idea he was gay and he had came on to my friend."

Several hundred people marched and rallied June 17 to protest the attack against Aviance and a recent police report of 23 anti-gay crimes this year, up from 18 reported the same time last year, according to NY1 News. Aviance's publicist Len Evans told reporters that Aviance was "dressed like a boy" when he was attacked in front of numerous passers-by who did not offer help.

POWER UP Honors 10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz

POWER UP, a nonprofit lesbian-oriented entertainment funding and mentoring organization, announced their 2006 List of 10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz. They are Curve Magazine Executive Editor Diane Anderson-Minshall; Executive Vice President of Marketing and Promotions FX Networks Stephanie Gibbons; actress Cherry Jones; here! Networks Vice President of Original Programming Meredith Kadlec; Dina LaPolt, entertainment attorney at LaPolt Law, P.C.; Tommy Boy Head of International A&R, Marketing and New Media Rosie Lopez; Outfest Senior Director of Programming and Operations Kirsten Schaffer; actor/producer/model Jenny Shimizu; Berkeley-based entrepreneur/activist Lisa Thomas; and writer/editor/entrepreneur Sarah Warn. The honors will be presented at the Nov. 12 gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Episcopalians Elect Pro-Gay Woman, Seek “Restraint” on Gay Bishops

After a tumultuous nine-days in Columbus, Ohio, delegates to the Episcopal General Convention shocked many by electing a woman to serve as their presiding bishop and passed a resolution that may avoid a split threatened by American and international conservatives still angry over the 2003 consecration of openly gay New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. arm of the 77-million worldwide Anglican Communion.

On June 21, the delegates passed a non-binding resolution brokered by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the Anglican Communion. The resolution calls on church leaders to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration" of candidates for bishop "whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church." A proposed temporary moratorium on gay bishops was never put to a vote.

Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who will assume office as presiding bishop in November, told the delegates that she didn't like the resolution, according to AP. "I am fully committed to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians in this church," but the resolution could buy time to find a "common mind."

Several U.S. churches have already aligned themselves with anti-gay world Anglican churches. The Anglican Communion Network (an association of 10 conservative Episcopal dioceses and more than 900 parishes) will decide at the end of July whether to split from the Episcopal Church, AP reports.

Robinson, however, affirmed that gays and lesbians are staying. "We have never threatened to leave this church and we're not threatening to do so now," he said. "We love this church and we love the God that we worship in and through the church."

Father Ian Elliott Davies, the openly gay rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hollywood, is “really, really thrilled” by Schori's election which, he told IN Los Angeles magazine, caught the conservatives “off-balance.” He also said that Williams, Schori, and out-going Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold “are trying very hard to be inclusive” while at the same time trying not to “snub or be mean” to the conservatives. “Those of us who are affirming and loving believe that God graces and embraces everyone. We need to be really patient… We believe in the Anglican Church, which never rejects people. The important thing is love. And they know where the boundaries are. But if they want to split off, that will be a very painful and sad day.”

Like the Episcopal Church, delegates to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national assembly in Birmingham, Ala., also wrestled with gay issues. On June 20 they passed legislation to keep a church law limiting sexual relations to man-woman marriage, but gives local congregations some flexibility when choosing gay clergy and lay officers. Before the 298-221 vote, 10 conservative Presbyterian groups have warned that approval of the "local option" would "promote schism by permitting the disregard of clear standards of Scripture," AP reported.

The national assembly also voted 381-117 to declare that "viable unborn babies—those well-developed enough to survive outside the womb if delivered—ought to be preserved and cared for and not aborted," according to AP. They also passed a resolution urging federal legislation that supports marijuana use for medical purposes, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Congressmembers Ask Pentagon to Review Homosexuality-As-Mental-Disorder Instruction

Nine members of Congress, led by Massachusetts Rep. Marty Meehan, sent a letter on June 20 to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld requesting a review of a Pentagon Instruction classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder, along with mental retardation, impulse control disorders and personality disorders. Researchers at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara recently discovered the document. It was re-certified as "current" in 2003, though the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses over 30 years ago.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin told The Associated Press that the policy document is under review. Despite the war in Iraq and retention problems, the Pentagon discharged 726 military members under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as of last Sept. 30, reports AP. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) puts the total at 742 for FY 2005, up from 668 discharges in FY2004.

Military psychologists and chaplains "may be hampered by confusing and conflicting [Department of Defense] recommendations," CSSMM Director Dr. Aaron Belkin noted on their Web site www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu. New research indicates that some military chaplains practice "reparative therapy" on gay troops. "This is exactly what you'd expect would happen when an institution is so out of touch with evidence about mental health," Belkin said. "This misclassification reflects an orientation of neglect regarding gays in the military that's hurting our troops and straining our mission."

Nationwide Anti-Discrimination Campaign Begins

It started with full-page ads in the Indianapolis Star asking, "Would Jesus Discriminate?" Next came yard signs and 25,000 door hangers (one of which led to a lesbian's Indianapolis home being defaced with a swastika), and eventually billboards, bearing the same message—all inviting people to a town hall meeting.

The ads, hangers, and billboards are part of a $100,000 media campaign to launch a national effort to lower hostility and tension around homosexuality and religion—and to initiate a dialogue that can lead to greater understanding on the subject.

The campaign is a joint project of openly-gay East Coast business leader Mitchell Gold, founder of Faith In America, and Dr. Cindi Love, a former senior executive with the Toro Corporation and currently executive director of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC)—the world's largest gay and lesbian church group with gay congregations in 26 countries. Openly gay Rev. Jeff Miner, senior pastor of the predominantly gay Jesus MCC in Indianapolis is also conducting the campaign in Indianapolis.

As of June 23, 2006, 11:06 a.m:

U.S. Deaths in Iraq: 2,515 (pending DoD confirmation-www.casualities.org)

Iraqi Security Forces and Civilians: (Jan-June, 2006) – 5, 522

Cost of War: $290,635,000,000 (and counting-www.nationalpriorities.org)

National Debt: $8,395,612,884,832.48 (and counting-
www.brillig.com/debt_clock)

U.S. Trade Deficit: $358,374,000,000 (and counting-www.americaneconomicalert.org/ticker_home.asp)