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NEWS & LETTERS, February 2008 - March 2008Queer NotesBy Elise From Italy to Uganda, from Estonia to Thailand, from Illinois to Texas, concerts, vigils, workshops and other observances were held Dec. 1 to mark World AIDS Day. Victims of HIV/AIDS were remembered, while many observers also advocated for governments to do more to help the victims of AIDS and find a cure. --from the World AIDS Campaign * * * On Dec. 31, the National Black Justice Coalition held a march in Chicago out of concern over the recent murders of two African-American gay activists. Larry Bland, a security guard, and Donald Young, a church choir director and teacher, were both found dead in their South Side homes. It is feared that the city of Chicago and the police are not doing enough to investigate the murders. New Year's Eve 2007 saw six men shot at a party attended largely by gay men in a private South Side home, a case which is still unsolved. * * * Late last year in Ireland, more than 200 protesters demonstrated against the Irish Parliament's narrow rejection of a Labor Party-backed civil union bill. Even though government-backed civil partnership legislation will be considered, protesters insisted, rightly so, on legal equality for same-sex couples. * * * When high school student Bethany Laccone wore a lesbian themed T-shirt to school, she didn't think she'd be requested by school officials to cover it up. I.C. Norcom High School Principal Lynn Briley, in Virginia, apologized to Ms. Laccone, and Norcom administrators removed all notes of the incident from her record and said that such censorship will not take place in future. It is heartening to note that Ms. Laccone did not face censorship at nearby Woodrow Wilson High School, where she attends most of her classes. |
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