Just when you thought it was safe to go back in, German researchers found that most condoms contain a substance known to cause cancer, reports Deutsche Welle. Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Institute found the carcinogen N-Nitrosamine in almost all of the condoms it tested. The chemical, which helps improve elasticity, is not released until it comes into contact with bodily fluids. The FDA regulates the carcinogen's levels in rubber baby bottle nipples, but has no regulation for cosmetics and condoms.
In the fight against gay marriage, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seems to have won a battle, reports the Globe. Provincetown caved to pressure from the executive branch and stopped issuing licenses to gay couples who may reside outside Massachusetts. Romney asked the state's Attorney General (AG) to enforce an interpretation of a 1913 law that forbids the state from marrying people whose marriage would not be recognized in their home state. Romney asked AGs from all 50 states if such marriages would be legal in their respective states. New York AG Eliot Spitz responded in the affirmative. The 1913 law was created to stop interracial marriage but is being used now to stop same-sex marriages. Provincetown and other cities stopped issuing the controversial licenses when AG Thomas F. Reilly threatened legal action.
The D.C. Republican Delegation was shaken a bit when an openly gay delegate was decertified because he spoke out against George Bush's push for a Constitutional Amendment to ban same-sex marriage, reports the Washington Post. D.C. Councilmember David A. Catania said he left the local party because of the disagreement. Catania reportedly raised more than $50,000 for the Bush campaign but said he could not support the president after he embraced the Amendment. Catania was replaced by gay Republican Carl Schmid.
Republicans in the Arizona senate are fighting over whether they should support a federal Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, reports the East Valley Tribune. Senate president pro tem Carolyn Allen resigned her high-powered post after senate president Ken Bennett called for a vote on a bill supporting the measure. Allen, who helped create the 1996 state ban on gay marriage, said Bennett's roll-call vote was an attempt to embarrass moderate Republicans who did not agree with a federal ban.
The Arizona Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling allowing a ban on gay marriage, reports AP. The Court of Appeals ruled in October that there is no fundamental right to marriage and that a ban is not discriminatory. The state supreme court rejected without comment an appeal from the gay couple who filed the original case.
The family of Gwen Araujo, the transgender teen murdered in California last year, has asked a court for a posthumous legal name change, reports AP. Araujo's mother said she will always know her daughter as Gwen. The judge in the case said the request was novel and that he would make a ruling in about a month.
A 2003 graduate of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania says the University should not have edited a picture they used when featuring him on the cover of a commencement brochure, reports the Daily Pennsylvanian. Arshad Hasan wore both a black tassel and a rainbow tassel, distributed by the campus LGBT group, in the picture, but the university digitally removed the rainbow tassel. Hasan says the university apologized 'vaguely' in a voicemail message. The school says they removed the rainbow tassel to present standard graduation regalia. Hasan doubts that reason, stating that he had two other pieces of apparel that deviated from the standard.
Middle school may not be a safe place to be gay or even thought to be gay. Two 12-year-old students in Ecorse, Mich., entered a bloody fight over who was gay, reports the Detroit Free Press. Both students reportedly called the other gay before the teacher told them they did not know what it meant to be gay. Next, one of the boys—a 5-foot-6 boy weighing 190 pounds—slammed the 90-pound boy into a chalkboard and then onto the floor. The smaller boy ended up in the hospital in serious condition from a cut to head.
Seriously dude, it's canceled. The new Fox reality show, 'Seriously dude, I' m gay,' in which straight men compete to see who can act gayer, has been axed, reports BBC. Fox caused a stir with TV reporters when it announced the show. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation expressed concerns after seeing an advance copy. Fox canceled the show for 'creative reasons.'
Rosie O'Donnell is poised to start a new magazine. This time, reports The New York Daily New, it's about gay parents. The new rag, tentatively titled R Family would go up against And Baby—a magazine for 'Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Alternative Families.' 'R Family' might be published by LPI media, the group that publishes the Advocate and OUT.
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