Lesbian

GENEVA - The United Nations yesterday endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries. The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commissioning a global report on discrimination against gays. But activists called it an important shift on an issue that has divided the global body for decades, and they credited the Obama administration's push for gay rights at home and abroad.

GENEVA - The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender people for the first time Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries. The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commissioning a global report on discrimination against gays. But activists called it an important shift on an issue that has divided the global body for decades, and they credited the Obama administration's push for gay rights at home and abroad.

DEAR ABBY: My daughter recently told us she is attracted to women. I feel she has been unduly influenced by her mentor/professor at her college, as she quoted this woman several times when she "came out. " My daughter has always been quiet and shy. She finds it difficult to make eye contact with anyone. How am I to accept this, especially since I feel her mentor took advantage of the situation? I am finding it difficult to function at all. I love my daughter very much. This just hurts.

Rosella R. Marini repeatedly revised the plans for her own funeral. But not for the music. So the South Pacific tune "A Cockeyed Optimist" will be played during her memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church in Haddonfield. "She told me it was very apropos," daughter Diane Marini says. A mother, a musician, and a teacher who later in life championed equality for gay people, Rosella died April 10. She was 94 and had lived for a decade at Cadbury in Cherry Hill, where she regularly swam and played the piano.

DEAR ABBY: I am a female high-school junior with many friends I love and a boyfriend I care for very much. A number of my friends are gay. One girl, "Belinda," is a year older than I am. She told me a couple of years ago that she is a lesbian. I have done everything I can to help her and support her. Last year, Belinda shared that she loves me more than as a friend. She would like to take me to the prom this year, and I would like to go with her. Because I am already involved in a relationship with a boy, should I not be Belinda's escort?

Miley Cyrus , only 18, appears in a video taking bong hits of salvia at her L.A.-region crib. She acts all stoned and that. Salvia is an herb legal in California, takes less than 30 secs to get you high, and is called a cross between pot and LSD, very un-similar drugs, so we're confused. Most horrifying: In the background, "Take It Easy" by the Eagles . A hers and hers year It was a big year, says the Daily Beast, for celesbians, those who play lesbians, those who have fun with supposedly lesbian behavior, and those who, like me, say they are not lesbians.

Well, that sets that to rest, don't it? Don't it? Oprah Winfrey has informed Barbara Walters that she, O, is not a lesbian. Put that in your smoke and pipe it. See, Oprah has a best bud, and business partner, and camping sidekick, Gayle King , and the nasty, catty celeb world, with all sorts of wink-wink-nudge-nudge talk, thinks they're a couple. They figure you could never have someone around that much and not be, well, you know. Stedman Graham , a man, is also around O a lot, but folks think he's just a front, a mask, a beard.

In its second year as QFest, and 16th as one of the preeminent gay and lesbian film festivals in the land, the annual summer series formerly known as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is striking new chords. Acknowledging the changes over the decade in independent gay cinema, in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement, and in the culture at large, artistic director Ray Murray, managing director Carol Coombes, and their QFest team have broadened the scope and amped up the programming.

AS REPUBLICANS question Elena Kagan 's lack of judicial experience, the latest Supreme Court nominee also faces speculation of a more personal nature. Such as: Why isn't she married? And: Is Kagan a lesbian? One line of questioning is insulting because of the insinuation that there's something wrong with a woman who doesn't marry, but the latter could matter more because of cases that might come before the highest court in the land. Let me tackle the why-isn't-she-married thing first, since this tired line is a pet peeve of mine that often comes up when a high-profile, single woman is nominated for an important position.

Justice John Paul Stevens is stepping down, and conventional wisdom is that President Obama should try to select someone Senate Republicans will not dare to filibuster - a moderate, middle-aged white man like Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit, or a thoroughly vetted appeals judge with lots of conservative friends from the University of Chicago like Judge Diane Wood. That would fit the Jimmy Carter version of Obama, which predominated until his health-care triumph shifted the comparisons over to the Lyndon Johnson column.