MONROEVILLE, Pa. — After an overwhelming vote here over the weekend by the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that created the second schism with the national church since the 2003 election and consecration of an openly gay Episcopal bishop, both sides were hoping for a simple resolution. "If the national church would stay out of it, we could work it out," said the Rev. Jonathan Millard, who favored secession and led the convention on Saturday. "And I think 90 percent of the churches here would agree with me." Mr. Millard was referring to that most secular of issues: resolving who ...

Ed. Note: Will San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom pull all public funding from Catholic Charities or question its status as a "non-profit" after this move to end all support of adoptions to avoid "tainting" itself by inadvertently paying for a "gay adoption?"The cultural battle over the identity of the family is taking another turn in California as the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Catholic Charities plans to cut its relationship with an adoption agency that works to place children with homosexuals. Jill Jacobs, the executive director of Family Builders by Adoption, told Our Sunday Visitor that, "the funding from Catholic Charities ...

his presidential election will rest on young people energized by Barack Obama, moms wowed by Sarah Palin, blue-collar folks swayed by Joseph Biden and veterans saluting John McCain. All of that is true, but in South Florida there's another emerging group in play: Cuban-American women. LIBERAL ON SOCIAL ISSUES Were it not for being rabidly anti-communist, the majority of us gals are ''quite liberal,'' according to a recent study published by the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. No surprise there. Since the 1990s, polls have been showing that Cuban Americans overall are more liberal ...

Pape Mbaye gets a lot of attention. Even in jaded New York, people watch the way he walks (his style defines the word sashay) and scrutinize his outfits, which on a recent afternoon featured white, low-slung capris, a black purse, eyeliner and diamond-studded jewelry. And he likes it. "I'm fabulous," he said. "I feel good." Mr. Mbaye, 24, is an entertainer from Dakar, Senegal, known there for his dancing, singing and storytelling. But while his flamboyance may be celebrated in New York, he attracted the wrong kind of attention in West Africa this year, nearly costing him his ...

Johanna Korhonen, named editor of Finnish provincial daily Lapin Kansa in early September, told the Finnish News Agency (STT) that she had been sacked because of her sexual orientation. Alma Media, the publisher of Lapin Kansa, had said in a statement it had decided to terminate Ms Korhonen's contract and restart the recruitment process immediately. "Serious lack of trust developed after the signing of the contract prevents Ms Korhonen to act as the editor-in-chief at Lapin Kansa," the statement added. Ms Korhonen said the termination was illegal and added she was mulling taking legal action against Alma Media. Ms ...

There was a special treat in store for those who went to see Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) on the big screen: prior to the film, viewers were given an exclusive sneak preview of the much-awaited film Dostana. Produced under Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and directed by his long-time assistant and friend Tarun Mansukhani, the film stars the original Dhoom hunk John Abraham, the dashing Abhishek Bachchan and the beautiful Priyanka Chopra. The film takes its name from the Amitabh Bachchan classic Dostana (1980) which it also borrows a similar theme from. Following the worldwide success of Kal Ho Na ...

Shaven-headed and tattooed all over with skinhead emblems and the symbols of Ulster loyalism, Sam 'Skelly' McCrory was once regarded as one of the most dangerous terrorists in Western Europe. He was the last commander of Ulster Defence Association inmates in the Maze prison and the closest confidant of Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair, who called him his 'top operator'. McCrory was also one of two UDA leaders chosen to meet Mo Mowlam 10 years ago in her talks in the Maze aimed at salvaging the loyalist ceasefires. But now McCrory has become the first paramilitary to publicly out himself ...

A scene from German filmmaker Till Kleinert's Cowboy which scooped the coveted Iris Prize award.still courtesy Iris PrizeCARDIFF, October 5, 2008 (Iris Prize)– A haunting film about a city dweller and country lad who pay a terrible price for love was named last night as the 2008 winner of the Iris Prize with its £25,000 award.At a glittering awards evening at Cardiff's Cineworld, Torchwood creator Russell T Davies announced that the international jury had selected German filmmaker Till Kleinert's Cowboy to scoop the coveted award.Accepting the award, Till said taking part in the competition and attending the three-day festival ...

New Season. No Repeats. For the first time since we went monthly back in 2001, our 17th Season will not include a single repeated episode. As part of a larger strategic move to bring new content to our viewers more often, IN THE LIFE is shifting to a 30-minute format starting with our October Season Premiere. As we have gathered information for our recent rebranding and our new strategic plan, we have heard repeatedly from members and viewers that they want new material more often and fewer repeats. There will be something new in every episode; at minimum ...

Watching the vice presidential debate, you might have gotten the impression that Sarah Palin supports civil rights for same-sex couples. During an exchange on the topic, both she and Joe Biden said they oppose gay marriage. But Biden added that he and Barack Obama favor granting gay couples many of the same benefits—hospital visitation rights, health benefits—that married couples enjoy. Palin was tougher to pin down. She clearly didn't want to appear intolerant, but neither did she want to seem to embrace gay rights. "[N]o one would ever propose, not in a McCain-Palin administration, to do ...

Although most people take getting married and renting a house or office space for granted, it might not be so easy for gays and lesbians, activists said at a forum yesterday as they called on the government to adopt bills protecting homosexuals' rights without delay. "It's been 10 years since the first gay marriage was held in public in Taipei, and we've taken to the streets to promote gay and lesbian rights several times over the past decade," Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association in Taiwan, said at the forum on gay rights held in Taipei ...

As more details of the Cabinet reshuffle are released, it has been confirmed that Nick Brown will replace Geoff Hoon as Chief Whip. Mr Brown was appointed Deputy Chief Whip by Gordon Brown in June 2007. He was the Labour government's first Chief Whip in 1997 and became Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food a year later. In 2003 he left the government. Mr Brown told PinkNews.co.uk today that he is "absolutely delighted" with his new role.   Second gay man appointed to Cabinet in reshuffle PinkNews.co.uk, UK  ...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando is expected to become the first Central Florida city to offer benefits to the partners of gay employees. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the employees will have to sign an affidavit declaring they are in a committed relationship. Orlando city commissioners are expected to approve the plan on Monday. There are currently 18 Orlando city employees who would benefit from the measure, which would cost the city about $37,000. Orlando To Issue Gay Partner Benefits Local6.com, FL - ...

Rachel Maddow is evidently getting some interesting "fan mail" over at MSNBC. According to the New York Daily News, Maddow receives letters informing her that she's gay. "Really?!" she tells Rolling Stone. "I will get to work on that." See MSNBC viewers write Maddow to inform her she's gay Gay Socialites, NY ...

Hollywood, long considered a bastion of liberal thinking, is being chided for not opening its wallet to save the right to same-sex marriage in California even as several A-list gays and lesbians rush to the altar. With a month to go before a November 4 referendum seeking to abolish the newly won right of same-sex couples to marry in California, some in the entertainment community are anxious that more of their own are not supporting gay rights by donating money to defeat the proposed ban. So far, the largest celebrity donations have come from actor Brad Pitt and director ...

A church court of Pittsburgh Presbytery ruled 9-0 that the Rev. Janet Edwards did not violate scripture or the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) when she conducted what she has always said was the marriage of two women in 2005. Since church and state define marriage as between a man and a woman, she cannot have done what she was accused of, the court ruled yesterday. "It can't be an offense to the constitution to attempt to do the impossible," said the decision, read by the Rev. Stewart Pollock, chairman of the Permanent Judicial Commission of Pittsburgh Presbytery. ...

HIV infections jumped 8-fold over the past few years in parts of China among gay and bisexual men, according to new data from southern China. Published in Nature, the study found that the proportion of HIV-positive women of child-bearing age doubled in the past 10 years and researchers warned the disease was moving from high-risk communities into the wider population. There were an estimated 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases in China as of October 2007, up 8 percent compared to 2006, it said. Some 38 percent of cases were attributed to heterosexual contact, more than triple the 11 percent in 2005. ...

Blogger Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, details an e-mail from conservative Christian activist Colleen Holmes, director of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, in which she allegedly lays out a strategy to "recruit" members of the military to share "horror stories" about gays in the armed services. "Social conservatives, who, as Holmes acknowledges, care first about the moral and religious implications of gay service and only incidentally about the national security implications of kicking out highly trained, mission-critical specialists, have turned to PR gimmicks to make their case," Frank writes. ...

The Washington Post is urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take immediate steps to end "a de facto form of discrimination" and rewrite its policies to allow HIV-positive foreigners to visit or immigrate to the U.S. The ban was lifted this year as part of Congress' reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, but the law still requires HHS to revise its policies for the change to take effect in practice. The Washington Post ...

Chuck Wolfe, president-CEO of the Victory Fund, chats about the group's candidate roster with HRC President Joe Solmonese on "The Agenda." Also taking part in the conversation is Lupe Valdez, the out sheriff of Texas' Dallas County who is running for re-election. Read more and listen to the clips at HRC Back Story. ...