Top Evangelical Steps Down Amid Gay Sex, Drug Use Claims
Colorado Springs - In a year already filled with gay sex scandals among Republicans and right-wing religious, the election eve revelations by a Denver male prostitute about Rev. Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals, lead pastor at the 14,000-member New Life Church here and one of the most visible supporters of the proposed Colorado gay marriage ban measure may be the most damning example of the hypocrisy of the so-called Religious Right.
  As of Quest’s deadline, Haggard has admitted to church elders that some of 49-year old in/out call masseur Mike Jones’ accusations made public November 1 were indeed true, adding public lying to the reports that he paid for gay sexual favors for three years and occasionally used crystal meth during those trysts. Haggard stepped down as head of the national evangelical group and as the mega-church’s pastor November 2, pending an investigation by a church panel. A day earlier Haggard, a married father of five, had told a Denver TV station that he “never had a gay relationship with anybody” and was faithful to his wife.
  Haggard’s accuser said he decided to go public because Colorado is considering an amendment to ban gay marriage. Jones said he was upset to discover that Haggard and the New Life Church oppose same-sex marriage.
  Haggard has been well-known for meeting regularly with President George W. Bush to push his evangelical agenda and was also featured in the recently released film Jesus Camp. In the film, he said that when evangelicals vote, they determine an election. After the comments gained notoriety after the film’s release, Haggard disavowed the comments.
  Despite right-wing claims that Haggard’s disgrace was “political” and timed “right before the elections,” Jones denied he was not affiliated with any political group, but admitted the pending Colorado ballot measure o ban gay marriage in Colorado was his reason for coming forward. Haggard has been one of the most outspoken opponents of gay marriage in the political fight over the amendment.
  Jones told the Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month over three years. The 49-year-old Jones said he had advertised himself as an escort and masseur on an AOL-hosted web page under the screen name Feelssogood. Jones said a man who called himself “Art” contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard. Jones said he has voice mails and other evidence to back his allegations.
  Church members also may have had previous hints of Haggard’s improprieties. After defending his pastor to the Associated Press and calling the gay sex claims “ridiculous,” church member E.J. Cox also noted, “People are always saying stuff about Pastor Ted.”
  In a follow-up interview November 3 with Denver TV station KUSA, Haggard admitted to purchasing but not using the crystal meth, getting massages from Jones but not having sex and seeking out LGBT publications for “delivery services.” Jones also played taped voice mails from Haggard on a Denver talk radio station and took an on-air polygraph test, which he failed.
  Quest will follow this story as further developments warrant. Look for follow-up information at QNU: Quest News Update on the Quest website at: www.quest-online.com

Last Minute “Vote Yes” Ad Campaign Appears
Right-Wing Group, Appling’s Lobbying Group Dump Half Million To Support Ban
Madison - Just days following the deadline for reporting contributions to be announced before the November 7 vote, a massive radio, telephone message and TV campaign supporting the proposed constitutional amendment banning civil unions and gay marriage has begun.
  A group headed by the former chairman of the state Republican Party has given $385,000 to the campaign for a ban on gay marriage and civil unions, records show. The money from Middleton-based Coalition for America’s Families is helping fund television advertisements meant to bolster conservative turnout. A large Republican turnout also could effect the campaigns for governor and a key congressional seat in northeastern Wisconsin.
  Coalition for America’s Families has been running ads attacking Democratic Governor. Jim Doyle for more than one year. It made the donation to Vote Yes for Marriage on Oct. 26, according to records filed the next day with the state Elections Board.
  Vote Yes for Marriage in turn has booked at least $266,000 in television advertisements in the Milwaukee and Green Bay markets to try to sway voters in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.
  Vote Yes For Marriage political action group helmed by Julaine Appling. Appling is also the Executive Director of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin, FRI-WI’s lobbying arm Wisconsin Family Action and also helms the Coalition To Protect Traditional Marriage.
  The group released its first ad October 30. The 30-second commercial features professional, primary grade-aged child actors on a dark soundstage mouthing comments that would appear to be far more mature then their tender years. One claims a teacher told him “Grandma, it’s okay. If grandpa was a girl, you could still be married,” and another quips “God made Adam and Eve? That’s so old-fashioned.”
The spots also attempt to re-define the issue away from the second sentence, a strategy that has been employed since mid-summer by ban opponents. “Marriage means a man and a woman,” a narrator says. “Vote yes to keep it that way.”
The commercial ignores the fact that the amendment would add two sentences to the Wisconsin Constitution, the first declaring that marriage is between one man and one woman and the the second requiring the state not to recognize similar relationships among unmarried individuals, such as civil unions.
  Coalition for America’s Families, headed by former GOP chairman Steve King, does not have to disclose its donors and can accept unlimited contributions. It attacked Doyle in a television ad last year for supporting domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian state employees.
  Additionally Vote Yes is running a series of radio ads on Christian and talk radio stations statewide claiming that failure to pass the amendment would result in “activist judges” on the state’s Supreme Court making Wisconsin like “Massachusetts and now New Jersey.”
  Wisconsin Marriage Action is sponsoring recorded phone messages by Rep. Mark Gundrum identifying himself as the “sponsor of the one man, one woman marriage amendment.” The phone messages claim the pending ACLU lawsuit by lesbian state employees in long-term, committed relationships will lead to the state’s Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage.
  Gundrum’s “robo-calls” come just a week after he appeared on Milwaukee talk show host |Charlie Sykes program complaining that the “yes” side had no funds to run any type of commercials.
  Despite the nearly half million dollars poured into the “yes” side, ban opponents have raised significantly more, Fair Wisconsin had raised $3.8 million this year, according to a report released October 30. Though most of the donations came from Wisconsin residents, other money included $300,000 from Michigan businessman Jon Stryker and $25,00 in-kind donation from pop icon Elton John. The Democratic National Party also gave $10,000. One of the largest donations of any sort was $250,000 from Milwaukee philanthropist Lynde Uihlein.
  Appling claimed the donation from Coalition for America’s Families was unexpected but “a sign that people are actually energized.”
  Using a phrase coded to perk the ears of  gospel-savvy evangelical voters, Appling also told the Associated Press: “They want to make sure everybody hears the good news about what a yes vote is and what a no vote is.They want people to understand that votes are important.”
  Ads will run disproportionately in northeast Wisconsin, a Quest review of campaign buys suggests. Republican  congressional candidate John Gard is in a tight race to represent the Green Bay area against Democrat Steve Kagen. Gard not only supported the amendment but played a key role in putting the measure on the ballot as Assembly speaker.
 Editor’s Note: Quest’s production schedule necessitates that this issue will appear statewide one day after the November 7 ballot. For detailed election results and follow-up, please check the QNU: Quest News Update page on our website: www.quest-online.com

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New Jersey Lawmakers: “Gay Marriage Will Take Time”
Trenton - Gay marriage could be a reality in New Jersey years in the future, the state’s two top lawmakers said October 31, a week following the state’s high court ruling mandating the legislature provide legal recognition same-sex couples.
  In the immediate future the Legislature will likely approve civil unions that grant committed same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, Senate President Richard Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., said in separate interviews to metro media.
  “I think the public will be all right with civil unions and I think down the road ... in another six, seven years, we may very well see gay marriage enacted in the state of New Jersey,” Codey said in an interview on WCBS radio. Codey predicted that legislation to allow civil unions would likely move by January 1.
  Roberts favors allowing gay marriage, but expects the Legislature to approve civil unions, saying that route reflects prevailing opinions among lawmakers and the public. But he said public attitudes on the subject are still evolving. “At some point down the line there will be broader support for same-sex marriage, but I don’t believe we are there yet,” Roberts said in a telephone interview with Gannett Newspapers.
  Codey, who has said he prefers civil unions to gay marriage, said the public is not ready to approve same-sex marriage. He noted that it has been less than three years since lawmakers narrowly approved a domestic partnership law that gave gay couples some, but not all, of the rights of marriage.
  “Unfortunately, full civil rights doesn’t always come at the same time and there’s hurdles,” Codey said. “But we have made significant progress, and I would just have them look forward to gay marriage sometime in the future when public opinion clearly changes.”
  Though they have little support in the state, New Jersey’s right wing was quick to respond to the ruling. Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, held a press conference in which he claimed public sentiment was going against the court’s opinion, with more Americans supporting constitutional amendments barring gay marriage. “New Jerseyans support some type of benefits (for gay couples), but they don’t support renaming or redefining marriage,” Deo said. “I don’t think that that’s going to change over time.”
  Deo believes the state should expand its existing domestic partnership law, rather than draw up rules for civil unions.
  David Buckel, the attorney for seven New Jersey couples who sued the state for the right to marry, said a civil unions bill “would create one of the largest forms of statutory discrimination ever created in the state.”
  Connecticut and Vermont allow civil unions, but Buckel said some families there feel that those arrangements carry a “label of inferiority put on them by the government.” In Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is allowed, “the sky didn’t fall,” Buckel said.
    The state Supreme Court ruled October 25 that committed gay couples must be granted the same rights as married heterosexuals, but the court left the Legislature to decide how to provide those rights.

New Study Shows Increase In U.S. Gay Population
Los Angeles - The news that same-sex couples lived in nearly every county of the United States marked one of most reported on statistics from the release of Census 2000 data. Since then, policy debates focusing on marriage and partnership rights for same-sex couples have led academics and policy-makers alike to use these data in hopes of gaining a more complete and accurate understanding of this population.
  According to a new UCLA Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation study, “the release of new data from the American Community Survey (ACS) in October 2006 offers the first opportunity to update what we have learned and to assess possible changes in the
geographic and demographic characteristics of same-sex couples.”
  According to the UCLA report, analyses of the ACS 2005 data reveal the number of same-sex couples in the U.S. grew by more than 30% from 2000 to 2005. The actual numbers counted the increase from nearly 600,000 couples in 2000 to almost 777,000 in 2005. Such an increase is five times the 6% rate of growth in the U.S. population.
  Researched speculated that “most likely as stigma associated with same-sex partnering and homosexuality in general decreases, more same-sex couples are willing to identify themselves as such on government surveys like the ACS.”
  At the state level, the largest percentage increase in the number of same-sex couples occurred throughout the Midwest, an area that had relatively low rates of these couples in Census 2000. The ten states with the largest percentage increase included Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio. In addition, Colorado and New Hampshire also ranked in the top ten in terms of percentage growth.
  The study also noted that six of the eight states with a 2006 ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage - Arizona, Colorado, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin - experienced increases in the number of same-sex couples in excess of the national rate of 30%. Wisconsin’s rate of growth was 81%, according to researchers.
  The study reported that there are an estimated 8.8 million gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) persons in the U.S. as of the end of 2005, just ten months prior to the historic addition of the 300 millionth person to the nation’s population. Among the states, California, Florida, New York, Texas, and Illinois have the largest gay populations along with the District of Columbia. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston have the largest GLB populations among metropolitan areas. Ranking states by the percentage of the adult population who are GLB, the District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine come out on top. Among large metropolitan areas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Portland, and Tampa rank in the top five in this statistic.
  The study also noted that same-sex couples are found in all Congressional districts in the U.S. The release of the 2005 ACS marks the first time that data regarding same-sex couples are available for current Congressional districts. Congressional districts with the highest number and percentage of GLB individuals in the population tend to be more urban with California’s 8th district (San Francisco) ranking first in both categories.
  Though increases and decreases in population are often understood as indicators of mobility patterns in the population, this is likely not the case for same-sex couples as the changes observed differ from broader mobility patterns in the United States, namely population movements to the South and West, researchers reported. 
  The study offered reasons for the larger than expected surge in same-sex couples. “Increases in the number of same-sex couples are more likely a result of at least two important factors,” researchers wrote, “both related to increasing acceptance of same-sex relationships within the U.S. population.”
  Researchers determined that larger portions of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals may be choosing to couple with
partners of the same sex. Also, larger numbers of same-sex couples may be willing to report the nature of their
relationship to the Census Bureau.
  “While both of these trends might be occurring, it seems likely that coupling rates of GLB individuals would not change on the order of the magnitude observed in these data over such a short period of time. Increased visibility represents the most likely scenario to explain such a rapid increase,” the study concluded.

Missouri Baptists Consider Boycott Of “Gay Friendly” Wal-Mart
Cape Girardeau - Delegates at the annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention voted November 1 to warn Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that it was considering a boycott of the company because of its “pro-homosexual support.” The 1,200 delegates, or “messengers” who represent the state’s 600,000 Southern Baptists, passed a resolution to “inform Wal-Mart of our biblical beliefs on marriage . . . and our encouragement that Wal-Mart reconsider their policy which offends so many customers.”
  In August Wal-Mart announced a partnership, including financial support, with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, joining other companies like IBM, American Airlines, Intel Corp. and American Express.
  “As a company, we are reaching out to the LGBT community as part of our ongoing commitment to nondiscrimination and diversity, just as we are reaching out to multiple other groups,” said David Tovar, director of media relations for Wal-Mart Stores. “The important point is to recognize and respect all of our associates and customers and the values they hold, both our current base and groups that we have begun working with more recently.”
  A spokesman for the Southern Baptist convention said that of the eleven state conventions that have held annual meetings so far, Missouri’s was the first he was aware of that had passed such a resolution. The 29 remaining state conventions will hold annual meetings in the next two weeks.
  The November 1 session, at Southeast Missouri State’s Show Me Center, grew heated at times when representatives from the floor of the meeting demanded that stronger language pledging a total boycott of Wal-Mart stores be inserted into the resolution.
  Convention leaders explained that the wording of the resolution was “designed from Disney language” and written in “a moral code” that Wal-Mart lawyers would understand as a warning. The “moral code” warning reads: “We encourage the 2,100 Missouri Baptist churches and their members to exercise moral stewardship regarding the businesses they patronize.”
  In 1997, the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for offering benefits to partners of gay employees. Disney never changed its policy, and the convention ended the boycott eight years later.
  The Rev. Rodney Albert, a member of the convention’s Resolution Committee, told the delegates that an “economic boycott was premature” and the body eventually adopted the less drastic resolution.
  The Missouri Baptist Convention is a fellowship of 2,000 congregations who cooperate with the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

Throat Most Common Site For Gay Male Gonorrhea
San Francisco - Gay men should have regular throat swabs to check for infection with gonorrhea, researchers recommend following a study conducted here found that 6% of gay men had the sexually transmitted infection in their throat, usually without any symptoms. The study, which is published in the November edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases also found that the throat was the most common site for gonorrhea infection in gay men and that younger age and a greater number of oral sex partners were significantly associated with gonorrhea of the throat.
  The US Centers for Disease Control reported that in 2003 the prevalence of gonorrhea among gay men was 15%. Earlier studies looking at the prevalence of pharyngeal gonorrhea – gonorrhea of the throat – among gay men have found a prevalence of between 3% and 15%. However, there are a lack of longitudinal data from an on-going cohort of gay men looking at the prevalence, incidence and risk factors for gonorrhea infection in the throat.
  Investigators from the Explore study in San Francisco performed gonorrhea tests on 603 gay men at baseline and then at six-monthly intervals. Swabs were taken from the throat, penis and rectum. The men were also asked to provide demographic information and details of their recent sexual risk behavior.
  To be included in the study, the men had to be HIV- at baseline. The mean age was 36 years, 71% were white, 72% had completed secondary education or higher, and over two-thirds had an annual income of $30,000 or more.
  At baseline, 5% had gonorrhea in the throat, and 18% of individuals had at least one episode of gonorrhea of the throat during the course of the study. Of the individuals who became HIV-positive during follow-up, 21% had at least one episode of gonorrhea of the throat.
  Overall prevalence of pharyngeal gonorrhea was 6%, compared to 2% for rectal gonorrhea and 1% for urethral gonorrhea.
  In their initial analysis, the investigators found that performing sex on a man known to be HIV+, a greater number of oral sex partners and younger age were all significantly associated with gonorrhea of the throat. A sore throat was not predictive of pharyngeal gonorrhea meaning that in most cases gonorrhea infection in the throat was asymptomatic.
  Although gonorrhea in the throat clears without treatment in 50% of cases within one week and in all cases within three months, the investigators emphasize that the high prevalence of the infection found in their study demonstrates that the throat acts as a “reservoir” for gonorrhea transmission amongst gay men. They therefore recommend that all sexually active gay men should have a throat swab to check for gonorrhea in the throat annually, and that gay men who have multiple or anonymous partners should have such swabs every three to six months.

Tennis Great Navratilova, PETA Outraged Over “Ex-Gay Sheep” Experiments
Los Angeles - Lesbian tennis star Martina Navratilova and the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are condemning hormone-altering experiments on “gay sheep” at Oregon State University and Oregon Health and Science University. The taxpayer funded experiment will attempt to manipulate sheep’s sexual orientation and make them heterosexual.
  In letters sent to the presidents of both universities, Navratilova called the project “homophobic and cruel.” She asked both presidents to end the research and redirect tax dollars to fund “a gay and lesbian community center to foster dialogue and acceptance for people of all sexual preferences.”
  The experiment, headed by OHSU’s Charles Rosselli and OSU’s Frederick Stormshak, involves drugging pregnant sheep to prevent the actions of hormones in their fetuses’ brains and cutting open the brains of rams they call “male-oriented.” This is to find the hormonal mechanisms behind homosexual tendencies so that they can be changed by an estrogen device. According to the project’s grant applications, the experimenters plan to extrapolate the test results to humans.

Study: HIV+ On Medications Can Live 24 Years
Boston - People with HIV can get 24 extra years of life from modern treatments, but at a total cost of about $618,900. That finding comes from a joint research team of researchers from Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and Boston University that analyzed the costs and benefits of modern HIV treatment. The team report appears in the in the November issue of journal Medical Care.
  According to the team, when first introduced in 1996, a combination of then-new HIV drugs increased life expectancy by four years. Now there are 24 HIV drugs on the market. The benefits are huge, but so are the costs.
  “We have been very successful in HIV treatment, extending lives by at least 24 years,” Cornell researcher Bruce R. Schackman, Ph.D. said. “As with many health care innovations, success is expensive. We have to make sure we have enough funds available so that everyone can get that life extension with the best care available.”
  Doctors don’t usually start HIV treatment right away. That’s because it takes time for the AIDS virus to wear down the immune system. Treatment usually starts when immune cells called CD4 T cells decline to a certain level - typically 350 cells per microliter of blood.
  When treatment does begin, the average monthly cost is about $2,100. The drug bills are nearly 75% of the lifetime medical expenses. Routine health monitoring and the associated blood tests also make up a significant portion of the remaining total for those who are compliant in the taking of their medications.
  Unfortunately, one in four people with HIV don’t know they’re infected. They find out only when their immune system collapses. The cost of treatment started at this late stage averages $4,700 per month. That’s because hospital costs rise to almost half the lifetime expense.
  In the last 10 years, the U.S. has tripled its spending on HIV-related medical care. Yet it’s falling behind. Future costs, Schackman and colleagues estimate, will be $12.1 billion per year. Drugs will make up 70% of the cost. “Access to HIV care may become increasingly difficult unless more government funds become available or the cost of HIV care is reduced,” Johns Hopkins researcher Richard D. Moore said in the news release announcing the study.
  Of course, the least expensive option would be to prevent the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections that occur each year in the U.S. “Successful prevention of HIV can prevent a lot of cost,” Schackman said. “There is a lot of value to programs that prevent HIV.”

“Will & Grace” Creators Working On New Gay-Straight Buddy Sitcom
Hollywood - David Kohan and Max Mutchnick have had a pilot for their as-yet-untitled show commissioned by US network CBS. Like their previous hit show, this new comedy will be about a quartet of characters: a gay writer and a straight writer, who are best friends, and their hot young assistants.
  This will mirror the real lives of Kohan, who is straight, and Mutchnick, who is gay, as they have been friends since their teen years at Beverly Hills High School.  “Will & Grace” bowed out in May after eight seasons and won a best comedy series Emmy in 2000. Other series they have formulated - including “Good Morning, Miami” and “Four Kings” - have not been as successful.

New York Post Cartoon Riles Gay Activists
New York - Gay activists are up in arms with the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid New York Post for publishing an anti-gay cartoon in reaction to the recent New Jersey ruling on same sex unions. New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled that gay couples should be equal before the law October 25, prompting the Post’s cartoonist to draw a man carrying a sheep wearing a bridal veil to get married in the state.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called the publication “repugnant” and has asked supporters to complain to the newspaper’s managing editor.
  It is the second time the Post has printed a cartoon satirizing the gay community after earlier this month printing a cartoon showing a caricature of Former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey “comforting” ousted Congressman Mark Foley with the caption, “Look on the bright side Foley, you’ll have a best selling book,” alluding to his own autobiography about coming out.
 Sean Lund, GLAAD’s director of messaging and communications strategy, said: “Twice in one month the New York Post has seen fit to publish a repugnant anti-gay cartoon. It’s unacceptable for any publication to platform this type of bigotry.”

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