TOP6NEWS - Date 7.12.05

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1-NEWS: Canadian Human Rights tribunal hears complaint: schools not offering GLBT balance
2-NEWS: Canadian Senate called back on Monday
3-NEWS: Rosie O'Donnell organizes Canadian ssm cruise
4-NEWS: Brazilian court oks ss adoption
5-NEWS: 1st ssm is performed in Spain
6-NEWS: Sperm donor meets his daughter (2 parts)
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1-NEWS: Canadian Human Rights tribunal hears complaint: schools not offering GLBT balance

LAWYER: Don't allow parents to let their kids opt out of program Andy Ivens The Province
July 10, 2005 A Vancouver couple fighting for gay rights in B.C. schools are finally getting their complaint about the school curriculum heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
Murray and Peter Corren launched the complaint against the Ministry of Education in 1999.
The case opens on Monday.
The Correns' lawyer, Tim Timberg, criticized the ministry for failing to address issues of inclusiveness and equality.
"The failure to adequately address issues of sexual orientation creates an adverse effect on queer students, teachers and their families because they're just not addressed in the curriculum," said Timberg.

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2-NEWS: Canadian Senate called back on Monday

By STEPHANIE RUBEC, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, Sun Media OTTAWA -- Senators have been ordered back to Ottawa next week in a bid to pass into law the controversial bill legalizing same-sex marriage and a $4.6-billion amendment to the budget.
Senate Government Leader Jack Austin has instructed the Upper Chamber to reconvene Monday at 6 p.m. when it's expected the two bills currently being hashed over at committees will be called for a final vote and royal assent.
Austin has advised Senators they should expect to sit until July 21 -- the longest session since 1988.

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3-NEWS: Rosie O'Donnell organizes Canadian ssm cruise

Atlantic Canada Bureau Chief
Posted: July 12, 2005  11:00 am ET
(Halifax, Nova Scotia) The cruise ship Norwegian Dawn sailed into Halifax harbor early this morning - on board 2,200 gays, lesbians and their families - to take part in what is being described as a gay wedding blitz.
Ten couples began walking down the gangplank to the wedding march shortly after 7:30 ET. On Pier 21, one by one, each of the couples was married.
Leading the guests were Rosie O'Donnell and her wife Kelli. The O'Donnells and their partner Gregg Kaminsky, own R Family Vacations which organized the cruise. Rosie and Kelli O'Donnell were married last year in San Francisco. (story) Their marriage and those of thousands of other same-sex couples were later invalidated by the California Supreme Court.  The issue of gay marriage is currently being waged in the courts and the California legislature.

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4-NEWS: Brazilian court oks ss adoption

Brazil Court OKs Gay Adoption
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: July 11, 2005  9:00 pm ET
Sao Paulo, Brazil) A judge in Sao Paulo has ruled that there is no valid reason for denying a same-sex couple the right to adopt children. It is believed the case is the first in Brazil where a gay couple has been allowed to jointly adopt a child.
Vasco Pereira da Gama, 33, and Dorival Pereira de Carvalho, 41, have been fighting for the right adopt for five months. The couple has been together for 13 years and owns a model agency and beauty salon according to Radio Brazil.
The men met with a psychologist, social assistants and a public prosecutor before going to court.

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5-NEWS: 1st ssm is performed in Spain

Law grants them full recognition
By Associated Press  |  July 12, 2005
MADRID -- Two men who have been together for 30 years got married yesterday, becoming the first couple to wed under Spain's new law allowing same-sex marriages.
The ceremony took place in Tres Cantos, a town outside Madrid.
The law took effect eight days ago, making Spain the third country in the world to grant full legal recognition to same-sex couples. The others are the Netherlands and Belgium. Similar legislation is pending in Canada.

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6-NEWS: Sperm donor meets his daughter (2 parts)

1984: Why Mike Became a Sperm Donor
Follow the deliberations of one young man in the first of a three-part series I imagine the conception occurred on November 10, 1984. Let me start from the beginning.

There was a young 26-year-old man named Michael who was working diligently at his desk in downtown Oakland, California in a typical eight story office building on a breezy autumn day. His daydreaming mind began to wander about his life during a break time period in his workday. What could he do to make a mark in life? Is this job all there was to life?

He pondered the current year of 1984 and the infamous book by George Orwell entitled "1984" where he tried to depict a totalitarian state. Many things have been written in that futuristic book that did come true in this new up and coming world of technological advancement. Michael was even amazed that he was in front of a computer monitor for eight hours a day already. Machines were making their mark.

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