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Sydney - Australia's conservative government hit out at the national broadcaster on Thursday for portraying a lesbian couple on a popular television show for pre-school children. The show Play School aired on Monday by the publicly-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) showed a story about a girl going to a fair with her two mothers. "I'm Brenna. That's me in the blue. My mums are taking me and my friend Meryn to an amusement park," the little girl says over images of her two mothers smiling and waving. The show aired just days after Prime Minister John Howard - who faces...

About 100 teenagers — armed with ear-splitting screams and hand-lettered signs — rallied Saturday in Westwood in support of marriage for same-sex couples. "It's important for everyone to be able to live the way they want to," said Kate Heller, 16, a student at Winward School in West Los Angeles. Two teens from Winward's new Gay-Straight Alliance, Sarah Freed, 17, and Joe Goldman, 14, organized the Federal Building rally, which drew students, gay and straight, from high schools across Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, along with parents, teachers and a fluffy white poodle. John Duran, mayor of West Hollywood,...

GLSEN Los Angeles Cootie Shots Companion Guide - Lesson Plans www.glsenla.org What’s With The Dress, Jack? A boy and girl play dress-up and tell stories about how the Assiniboyn, a Native-American tribe, encourage their children to wear the clothes that suit them best and play the games they most enjoy, without the limits of stereotypical gender roles. Before the Play (Activities and/or discussion questions) The teacher should solicit/ chart “boy’s” activities, things, and dress and then “girl’s” activities, things and dress. The teacher can then discuss all the student responses. Possible questions might include the following: Do you think boys...

In the past several days, the media have descended on Massachusetts like a flock of vultures on a wounded prey. The scenes inside and outside the Statehouse are described by many as "surreal." With the thousands of people and hundreds of cameras on Beacon Hill, the legislators say they have never seen or experienced anything like this before. The hoopla, of course, is about "gay" marriage. One of the greatest battles for America's future right now is being waged in Massachusetts – an outcome that will affect and possibly change our entire nation forever. Simply put, this battle is about...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A school in New York's Greenwich Village will reopen in September as America's first publicly run high school for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, officials said on Monday. Although The Harvey Milk School has been operating with two classrooms for 20 years, $3.2 million is being spent by the City to expand it to take 100 students. Named after a gay San Francisco politician assassinated in 1978, the school will be funded jointly by the city education department and a gay rights youth advocacy group. "Everybody feels that it's a good idea because some of...

<p>The city is opening a full-fledged high school for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students - the first of its kind in the nation, The Post has learned.</p> <p>Operating for two decades as a small alternative program with just two classrooms, the new Harvey Milk HS officially opens as a stand-alone public school with 100 students in September.</p>

Rights lobby kicks off election campaign By Stacy Farrah The State’s political parties will be quizzed about their commitment to gay and lesbian rights in the lead-up to next year’s NSW state election. The election may still be months away, but the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby is already investigating which candidates will support four key areas of reform. Co-convenor Somali Ghosh said the Lobby would pressure parties to secure commitments to an equal age of consent for everyone, recognition of gay and lesbian parents and changes to the way the Anti-Discrimination Act allows churches and private schools to...

Consent bill passes upper house By Jim Hanna May 27, 2003 THE age of consent for homosexual males in NSW is set to be lowered to 16 years, after a historic conscience vote in the State's Upper House tonight. At 9.24pm (AEST), the Legislative Council voted 23 to 16 to pass the bill and establish a uniform age of consent of 16 years in NSW, generating cheers and applause from a packed public gallery. Four Labor MLCs - Tony Burke, Tony Catanzariti, Tony Kelly and Eddie Obeid - voted against the bill, while two Labor MLCs - John Hatzistergos and...

Kids’ Parade’s fate discussed by all sides By Craig Gima cgima@starbulletin.com Participants and organizers of this Saturday's Kids' Parade met yesterday in a city conference room to discuss the details of an event that may not take place. The Hawaii Christian Coalition, which is organizing the parade with city help, has said it will cancel the parade if a federal judge rules today that three gay rights groups must be allowed to march in it. Members of gay rights groups denied permission to march in the parade also attended yesterday's weekly planning meeting of organizers and participants at Honolulu Hale....

I have a sneaking sympathy for Dick Gephardt. Hitherto the Democratic Party's most reliably unexciting presidential candidate, the former House minority leader went bananas the other day and said if the Supreme Court did something he didn't like he'd sign an executive order overturning it. Several conservatives did a bit of pro forma huffin' an' a-puffin' about why this makes Gephardt unfit to be president. But, speaking personally, I can't see why rule by Dick-tat would be worse in principle than the present system, whereby the nation's course for the decades ahead is effectively set by executive orders from Sandra...

Their True SelvesKade Collins, 18, was a girl who felt like a boy. Samantha Lease, 19, was a boy who felt like a girl. Then each came out as transgender and felt much better as told to Stephanie Booth Kade's story:Growing up in Tucson, I was way more masculine than other girls. As early as four, I wanted my hair cut short like a boy's. When I was five, my mom made me wear a dress on Christmas, and I cried so much that she promised I'd never have to wear another. By age six, I'd only wear boys' clothes....

WASHINGTON, June 27 — In one of the first consequences of its landmark ruling on gay rights on Thursday, the Supreme Court today set aside the lengthy prison sentence imposed on a gay Kansas teenager for having had sex with a younger boy. In a brief order with little elaboration, the court vacated the 17-year sentence imposed in 2000 on the defendant, Matthew Limon, and returned the case to the Kansas courts "for further consideration in light of Lawrence v. Texas." The case of Lawrence v. Texas, which was decided on Thursday and overturned an Texas antisodomy law, upheld the...