Nashville, TN is actually a nice medium pace city where it's not to fast or too slow and if you think Nashville is all about country music, think again! In its own way, it's kind of hip. You have your urbanites, the affluent, the very affluent and then your granola bars eating people. The people in Antioch are "Bruce Wayne" type of characters; mild mannered but educated and affluent.

Nashville reminds me of Atlanta, GA., somewhat spread out, hilly with a rugged terrain. There's not as much to do in Nashville as in Atlanta. The potential is there; however, the residents are oppose to making it another Atlanta. The weather I found to be mild and tempered compared to the hot sticky climate I'm use to.

Antioch is where a lot of SGL people live and fellowship. As with other cities there's no 'black' club per se', the brother's usually fellowship with each other at their homes and entertain at homes, some have pools and hot tubs which makes for a good conversation piece.

The last part of the trip was with my friend and his partner. They were  invited to a mutual friend's house for drinks, which we already were doing with our guest. The firned has a pool. This was the highlight of my trip. I enjoyed meeting new brothers and fellowshipping with them and of course enjoying the pool. We made introductions, talked and drank which was cool. The above picture is of the gathering of brother, the host is NOT pictured because of who he is and the work he does.

Stonewall said it had yet to set up an action plan, but that it would initially focus on recruitment and retention of military personnel.

Stonewall brought legal action that removed a military ban on gays in 2000.

Tolerance and trust

The Army is the 400th member of Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme, and the final branch of the military to join.

General Dannatt said: "One of the Army's six Core Values is 'Respect for Others' and it is therefore our absolute duty to treat our fellow soldiers as we would wish to be treated ourselves.

"Discrimination against those in the Army who are lesbian, gay and bisexual does not give them a chance to contribute or to play a full part in the teams that are vital for our success on operations."

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THERE were no half-naked dancers, pink floats, or sailor boys locked in clinches; but India’s gay-pride parade was ground-breaking enough without them. Several hundred men and women, waving rainbow flags, danced, stamped and sang their way through the city centres of Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata (Calcutta) on June 29th—the first such national event in this conservative country. The parade was lent a uniquely Indian flavour by flamboyant cross-dressing hijras, known as eunuchs, although many modern hijras are gay men who feel alienated by mainstream society. Though hijras, once trusted courtiers of the Mughal emperors, have a well-established identity in India, gay men and women do not; indeed the practice of homosexuality is illegal, punishable with ten years’ imprisonment.

Many of those who paraded under heavy monsoon clouds in Delhi said one of their main motives was to campaign for the repeal of that law, Section 377 of India’s penal code, which deems homosexuality an “unnatural sexual offence” alongside bestiality. They say the section, drawn up 150 years ago by the British, is today routinely used by the police to harass and blackmail homosexuals, even if few are arrested. Delhi’s High Court is currently weighing a petition against Section 377 brought by an umbrella group of Indian NGOs. “I feel we’re living under the shadow of the Victorians,” shuddered one young man, as beside him a group of hijras in hot pink saris broke into Bollywood-style pelvic thrusts. He might have added that he was also living under the shadow of his mother, who, he feared, would soon start introducing him to suitable girls. “I suppose then I will have to come out.”

Despite a burgeoning gay scene in India’s big cities, many Indian homosexuals worry more about exposure to their families and colleagues than about the law. “My brother knows; my mother doesn’t,” says Pankash, a 23-year-old year-old student who likes to be known as Tina when he goes on dates dressed as his glamorous alter ego. Though he was not incognito on Sunday, many of his fellow paraders were. Waving placards with slogans such as “Gay and loving it”, many still wore paper masks, lest they were “outed” on television

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Michael Heath, The Christian Civic League of Maine

Michael Heath from The Christian Civic League of Maine said the evangelical group that led the push is pulling out.

Heath said the group collected only a third of the number of voters' signatures it wanted during the June 10th primaries and failed to draw the volunteer support it had hoped for.

Besides wiping Maine's law protecting gays from discrimination off the books, the initiative sought to bar the use of state funds by the attorney general's office for its civil rights teams and reaffirm Maine's law that restricts marriages to one man and one woman.

Looks like someone forgot to tell these people to start small when fighting against civil rights. Maybe they should start by protesting a Gay Pride or something.

The school board of Columbia will meet in the city Irmo to vote whether or not the formation of this club is helping gay youth that have been displaced or is it an area where immoral sexual ambiguity can run rampant.

Both sides have voiced there opinions and are prepared to take this issue to the school board meetings where their voices can be heard.

The opposition wants a ban on Gay-Straight Alliances all together. They claim that a high school is no place where students should have to deal with sex, especially not in a conservative state where abstinence is promoted.

The supporters of Gay-Straight Alliances say that such organizations likes theirs provides a group where Gay Youth can feel supported and accepted. Feeling accepted in high school is needed just about every high school student but it is especially needed for gay students.

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After California struck down the marriage ban in California, gay rushed to get in line to tie the knot. But something went wrong paperwork was a little slow and sometimes stagnate.

The reason why is because at least 14 employees who raised religious objections to performing same-sex weddings had been picking and choosing between marriage applicants.

Clerk Greg Smith had told workers earlier that those who object on religious grounds wouldn't have to perform the ceremonies, but 14 employees refused which, held up work in the office. Even though 30 employees say they performed wedding with no issue it still effected the work flow of the office.

The Blade has learned that Smith's office says in an e-mail to the 14 workers that refusal "would unfairly burden other employees and would directly compromise the services we provide to the public."

Employees who refused to perform gay wedding ceremonies at the San Diego County Clerk's Office are facing reassignment within the department or even the county. The 14 were told from the beginning that there would be a chance they would be reassigned if any employee refused to marry anyone on the basis of sexual orientation.

"The president must unequivocally disavow the threat of arrests and violence, and work to change the law so that rights are respected," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch.

"Neither religion nor culture can justify calls to mob violence and murder," she added.

Homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment in Gambia, and two Spanish tourists faced this possibility recently when they were accused of making homosexual advances to taxi drivers.

They were reportedly then released.

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Scott Long, director of HRW's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Programme said: "It is very dangerous when political leaders turn to homophobic statements to try to drum up political support. When statements like this are made, violence often follows - sometimes immediately and sometimes further down the line. It makes people think these are people that it is safe to attack," Long told IRIN in a telephone interview from New York.

In the letter to President Jammeh, HRW's Juliana Cano Nieto, a researcher with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Programme said, "Neither religion nor culture can justify calls to mob violence and murder."

Terror

According to reports of President Jammeh's comments quoted by HRW, he gave homosexuals 24 hours to leave the country and threatened to seek out and arrest gays and expel them from their homes. According to the BBC the President also vowed to "cut off the head" of any homosexual, and to impose stricter laws banning homosexuality.

The Gambian newspaper the Daily Observer quoted him as saying: "We are in a Muslim dominated country and I will not and shall never accept such individuals [homosexuals] in this country."

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Correspondents say a crackdown on homosexuals could hit The Gambia's vital tourism industry.

Mr Jammeh's statements have been condemned by gay rights activists but the AP news agency says it was backed by the country's Supreme Islamic Council, which said the president had taken a "principled stand".

Correspondents say a number of homosexual men have fled to The Gambia from neighbouring Senegal after a crackdown there following arrests at a "gay wedding" in February.

Both countries are predominantly Muslim and President Jammeh cultivates an image of being a devout Muslim.

Homosexual sex is illegal in The Gambia, where those convicted of consensual homosexual acts face jail terms of up to 14 years, reports say.

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