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BUFFALO: Lady Gaga Calls On State Senator To Change His Marriage Equality Position

Lady Gaga took a moment during Friday's concert in Buffalo to call on her fans to deluge New York state Sen. Mark Grisanti with demands that he endorse marriage equality. In 2008 Grisanti declared that he was "unalterably opposed" to gay marriage and he voted against the Senate's bill along with every other Republican. But Gaga says he's now "on the fence."
"There's a senator here in Buffalo that's on the fence about whether or not to vote for this particular bill and I would like to give you all his e-mail," Lady Gaga told the crowd in HSBC Arena. "His name is Sen. Mark Grisanti." She urged her fans to e-mail Grisanti and suggested "2,000 e-mails in his BlackBerry this evening or tomorrow" might help sway his position on marriage equality. Later, she posted this message on her Facebook page: "Buffalo, we need SEN.GRISANTI to help pass NY STATE MARRIAGE BILL e-mail grisanti@nysenate.gov #IWasBornThisWay."
Gristanti's spokesman responded to Gaga's move by announcing an upcoming meeting with a local marriage equality group. That's encouraging.
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NEW YORK: Donald Trump's Anti-Gay Comments Spawn Calls For Boycott

Days after Donald Trump announced that gay people deserve no civil rights at all, some activists are calling for a boycott of his businesses.
In New York, home to one of the largest gay and lesbian communities in the U.S., Trump's comments may end up biting him in the ass-ets. "He's an extreme bigot," says Allen Roskoff, who was the first openly gay appointed official in New York City and has served under Gov. Mario Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkins, among others." Roskoff adds: "Not only should gays be furious, we should be boycotting the products of the advertisers on his TV show" - "Celebrity Apprentice," which premiered Sunday night on NBC-TV "and certainly boycotting his casinos and hotels and apartment buildings." Noting that Trump recently switched his stance on abortion from pro-choice to pro-life, Roskoff says: "His game plan is to appeal to the extreme right." But he continues: "How he does business in New York, how he's tolerated is beyond me. I think things are going to change for him."
The above-linked article notes that Trump's daughter Ivanka has attended marriage equality fundraisers.
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New guidelines state rights for transgender prisoners


New Ministry of Justice guidelines set out rights for transgender prisoners, including what they may wear and how prison staff should treat them.

The rules, which come into force on March 14th, tell prison officers that they must allow trans prisoners to wear make-up, gender appropriate clothing and prostheses, such as bra inserts.

The document says: “An establishment must permit prisoners who consider themselves transsexual and wish to begin gender reassignment to live permanently in their acquired gender.

“Transsexual people, particularly those who have not undergone surgery or extended hormone therapy, may use various items to assist with their presentation in their acquired gender. These can range from sophisticated prostheses to padded bras.

“Regardless of their level of sophistication, access to them can only be restricted in exceptional circumstances.

“These items may only be prohibited when it can be demonstrated that they present a security risk which cannot be reasonably mitigated.”

Transgender people who are undergoing medical treatment to change sex are required to live in the sex they are changing to for a period of time. This is known as real life experience or real life test.

The guidelines say trans prisoners will be permitted to order appropriate clothes at their own expense and staff should address them by their chosen names and titles. Prison officers must currently address inmates as Mr, Miss or Ms.

Trans women who are legally recognised in their new gender must be placed in female prisons unless there are security reasons not to do so, the document says.

Those who have not yet acquired a Gender Recognition Certificate will not automatically be placed in the appropriate prison. Instead, the document says, a meeting will be held to determine where they should be placed.

Rules say: “This is a legal issue rather than an anatomical one, and under no circumstances should a physical search or examination be conducted for this purpose.”

Trans campaigners estimate that there are between 20 and 30 trans individuals in UK prisons at any time.
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Gay MEP Michael Cashman was abused as a child


Gay MEP Michael Cashman has revealed he was sexually abused as a child.

Mr Cashman, a former EastEnders actor who represents the West Midlands, said he had never spoken about the attack and had not even told his family.

Speaking to Kate Silverton on 5live yesterday, he said: “I have never spoken about this before, one night I was going home, and I was aged about eight, and this man asked me to go and help him.

“And I thought – oh typical East End – he’s going to ask me to break in somewhere for him – they used to put the kids in through the fan lights and then you’d get in and open the warehouse doors – but this man took me down into the docks, pushed me into a container, and sexually abused me. Thankfully not in a penetrative way.”

He added: “I remember going home and sitting on a chair in my mum and dad’s council flat. Not being feeling able to tell that to anyone. I think it was I knew at a very early age, probably the age of seven, that I was gay.

“And I thought maybe someone spotted this about me, maybe it is written on my forehead. And you know what, I never, ever told my mum and dad that that happened to me.”

He said he used to see the man who abused him while growing up. “I used to see him in the streets. He was a young docker. He was probably aged about 18.”

Mr Cashman said he had never discussed the incident before but was inspired to mention it by an item in the news bulletin about children’s charity Childline, which says calls have increased by almost a third in five years.

When Silverton asked his views on whether early experiences can shape sexuality, he replied: “If my sexuality has been shaped by events earlier in my life then I couldn’t be more grateful, because I have had the love – for the last 27 years – of one of the most amazing men.”

Mr Cashman’s ground-breaking portrayal of Colin Russell in EastEnders between 1986 and 1989 saw the first gay kiss in a UK soap.

After co-founding Stonewall in the 1980s, he became a Labour MEP in 1999 and is co-president of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights.
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Harry Potter actress Miriam Margolyes hates playing lesbians


Actress Miriam Margolyes says she hates playing lesbians because she fears her female co-stars will assume she fancies them.

The 69-year-old star, who played Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, said: “I don’t like playing lesbians. I am a lesbian, but I don’t like playing them.

“I loath kissing women on stage or on screen. Absolutely loathe it. And I’ll tell you why, it’s because I don’t want them to think that I fancy them.”

In 2008, the actress revealed that she regretted telling her late mother about her sexuality.

Margolyes said her mother Ruth suffered a stroke three days after her announcement in 1967.

“I now regret it because it caused the person I loved the most pain she could not bear. And I have to take the responsibility for that,” she said.

“I should have been aware that to tell her was very wrong.”
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Australian lesbian couple welcome quintuplets


A lesbian couple from Australia have become parents to quintuplets.

Melissa Keevers, 27, and Rosemary Nolan, 22, have entered the record books for the birth, as the chances of conceiving five babies without fertility treatment are 60 million to one.

The babies – named Charlie, Noah, Eireann, Evie and Abby – were born to Ms Keevers at 26 weeks by Caesarean section in January.

Twenty-five hospital staff were needed for the birth and the babies were so tiny, the couple had to wait to hold them.

Ms Keevers and Ms Nolan used a sperm donor to conceive the children. He has waived his rights to meet the babies but has been described as a 27-year-old American law student.

They already have a 18-month-old daughter, Lilly, through donor insemination.

The couple plan to use a team of helpers to assist them with looking after the quins and are appealing for donations on their website, 2 Ladies 6 Babies.

However, Ms Nolan will not legally have any parental rights over the babies and will not be able to adopt them, as per Queensland law.
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Michael Stipe: ‘I’m 80 per cent gay’


REM singer Michael Stipe says he’s 80 per cent gay but “hates” the term bisexual.

Speaking to the Observer, the 51-year-old singer said: “On a sliding scale of sexuality I’d place myself around 80-20, but I definitely prefer men to women. I had sex with, and enjoyed sex with, women until I met someone that I fell in love with, and who is now my boyfriend.”

He also revealed that he felt frightened in the 1980s by AIDS and where he fitted in.

He said: “I wasn’t troubled or confused, but I just felt there wasn’t a place for me. I hate and refuse to apply the term bisexual to myself. It doesn’t seem appropriate. It feels like just another label.

“For a time I was conflicted by how I was represented, and then AIDS came, and that’s an era that has still be to be spoken about in depth by people of my age. It was a very difficult time to be honest and frank about one’s sexuality. And a very scary time for people like myself, who were not able to be tested anonymously without some concern.”
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