Gay Rights

CAIRO - While many of their compatriots savor a new political era, gays in Egypt and Tunisia aren't sharing the joy, according to activists who wonder whether the two revolutions could make things worse for an already marginalized community. In both countries, gays and their allies worry that conservative Islamists, whose credo includes firm condemnation of homosexuality, could increase their influence in elections later this year. "Our struggle goes on - it gets more and more difficult," Tunisian gay-rights and HIV/AIDS activist Hassen Hanini wrote to the Associated Press in an e-mail.

ONE DAY in April 1972, Jeanne Manford received a call from the hospital. Her 21-year-old son, Morty, had been beaten at a Hilton Hotel in New York City. Witnesses later testified that his alleged attacker punched, stomped and kicked him as he lay on an escalator. Morty Manford was gay. He had gone to the Hilton with other activists to storm a glitzy banquet attended by public officials and reporters in protest against what he viewed as the rampant bigotry and wanton neglect of gay rights.

Outraged gay-rights groups yesterday called on Senate Republicans to consider removing Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) from his leadership post after comments in which he compared gay sex to incest. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay advocacy group, and several Pennsylvania-based gay-rights organizations said Santorum's remarks, concerning a challenge to a Texas sodomy law under review by the Supreme Court, were an affront to millions of Americans. "It is stunning, stunning in its insensitivity," said David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.

A university class from the Midwest passed through Philadelphia yesterday on a two-week tour of historic sites in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equal-rights movement. When their red-and-white bus, adorned with the University of Wisconsin badger mascot, pulled up in front of Independence Hall, Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, had a surprise for them. He passed out hand-drawn picket signs, and asked the class to reenact the nation's first gay-rights protest, which was staged on that site in 1965.

Polanski attends Swiss jazz festival MONTREUX, Switzerland - Roman Polanski has made his first public appearance since being released from house arrest last week, attending the Montreux Jazz Festival on Saturday to watch his wife perform on stage. The 76-year-old film director arrived at the Lake Geneva festival Saturday evening in an SUV with tinted windows. Security personnel protected him from a crush of photographers. Polanski's wife, the actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner, performed shortly after his arrival.

Legalizing same-sex marriage is the first priority for legislative leaders in Trenton this session, which they made clear by numbering the bill "1" in both the Assembly and the Senate. A majority of New Jersey residents support gay marriage, but residents are far more concerned about the sluggish economy and unemployment, polls show. So why is the Democratic-led Legislature pushing the issue now, when Republican Gov. Christie has said he opposes same-sex marriage and could veto the bill?

ALMOST TWO years ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Court cleared the way for lesbian and gay couples in the state to marry, ruling that no constitutionally adequate reason denied them that right. The decision drew considerable public criticism. Accepting same-sex marriage is a test of America's guarantees of justice and equality. Notwithstanding affirmative action and abortion, the leading edge of civil-rights law involves gays and lesbians. As with abortion, privacy rights underpin the acceptance of homosexuality.

Do adults have the legal right in this country to engage in private, consensual sex? Do the states have the right to police bedrooms and arrest individuals for sexual infractions? Is there one legal standard of privacy for heterosexuals and another for homosexuals? Today the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear arguments in a case that should provide the answers - answers that clearly should be yes to the first and no to the latter two. The case, Bowers vs. Hardwick, originated in Georgia when an Atlanta police officer, serving an unrelated warrant (which, the officer was unaware, was obsolete)

The U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling striking down Colorado's anti-gay-rights Amendment 2 isn't that big a deal - although a ruling to the contrary would have been. In upholding the Colorado Supreme Court, the high court majority basically decided that you can't be kept from going to court to try to protect your rights just because you belong to a certain group of human beings. That's not a sure shield against discrimination on sexual orientation. Amendment 2, which was enacted by ballot initiative, repealed state and local laws in Colorado barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

A headline in the recent profile of Bill Devlin in the Philadelphia Gay News caught the nature of his bipolar approach neatly: "Christian fights gay rights with lawsuit and love," it said. The article summarized Devlin's leadership of the campaign against the domestic partners ordinance passed by City Council, including his lawsuit challenging it. It recounted his belief that homosexuality is unnatural and that the domestic partners legislation dilutes the meaning of marriage. And it told of his willingness to talk about the matter with gays, sometimes over dinner in his home (or theirs)

  Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and niece of former President Fidel Castro, told a Philadelphia gay-rights conference Saturday of her efforts to promote equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Cubans. Castro, who was to receive an award Saturday night for her advocacy, also defended her country's government, which has been accused of repressing political dissent. "There is not any government or any country who has the right to impose or make decisions to the other ones regarding the human-rights area," she said.

NOTHING makes 150 years fall away quite like seeing the blood of Abraham Lincoln. Visiting a friend in rural northeastern Pennsylvania a few years back, I was ushered to the local historical society in the town of Milford. A dark patch on the 36-star wool flag displayed there is a stark reminder of the first assassination of a U.S. president, whose head it cradled after he was shot at Ford's Theatre. The stain is also somber testimony to the fact that the struggle for equality that he came to personify remains a mission unfinished.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court jumped into a historic debate on gay rights Tuesday that could soon lead to resumption of same-sex marriage in California, but the justices signaled they may not be ready for a major national ruling on whether America's gays and lesbians have a right to marry. The court's first major examination of gay rights in 10 years continues Wednesday, when the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded married heterosexuals.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Obama to rights for gay couples. Obama raised expectations among opponents of the Proposition 8 ban when he declared in last month's inaugural address that gays and lesbians must be "treated like anyone else under the law. " The administration has until Feb. 28 to intervene in the case by filing a "friend of the court" brief.

I am reasonably certain that when most parents signed their little guys up for scouting, their good intentions mirrored my own. It was an excellent early social opportunity, and our boys would learn valuable skills - fire-starting, knot-tying, good-deed doing. The pack meetings were fun. We saw our neighbors; our boy saw his classmates. The opportunities to get involved in a meaningful way were plentiful. It was as wholesome an activity as we could possibly want. And then, for us, it wasn't.

Any credible account of the career of U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, must acknowledge this salient fact: He is conservative. He's no maverick who challenged the beliefs of his base. He has opposed abortion rights, gay rights, and government regulation of business. The American Conservative Union gives him a lifetime score of 92.5 out of 100. Still, Chambliss now finds himself under fire from right-wing extremists in the Republican Party. So the senator will retire in 2014 rather than face a primary challenge.

NEW ORLEANS - Just when this event seemed poised to be christened the deer-antler spray Super Bowl, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver stepped in. Culliver, 24, did a radio interview with alleged comedian Artie Lange in which Culliver sounded homophobic, Culliver saying he would not want a gay teammate. Word spread in plenty of time for Thursday morning's 49ers media availability. Culliver, who had jokingly complained about being ignored by reporters earlier in the week, found himself surrounded by legions of questioners.

Mark Segal was watching television at his Philadelphia home Monday when President Obama equated the civil rights of homosexual Americans with the historic struggles of women and blacks, the first time a president had used the word gay in an inaugural address to refer to sexual orientation. Segal was mesmerized - but what really got to him was Obama's mention of Stonewall. "I just welled up and had chills going up and down my spine," Segal, a longtime activist and publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, said Tuesday.

THE SKIES were grayer this time around, as were the hairs on President Obama's head. And when the nation's 44th chief executive took the ceremonial oath of office for his second term Monday, gone for good was the 2009 version of hope wrapped inside a vague promise of "an end to the petty grievances and false promises" of U.S. politics. This year's model came with an exciting new feature: a wider field of vision. In a concise inaugural address that was arguably the best speech of his presidency, Obama offered a shockingly bold, full-throated liberal blueprint for tackling climate change, expanding gay rights and voting rights, reforming immigration and preserving Social Security.