Calendar 

• Every first, third and fourth Wednesday of the month UCAN Support Group
• Every Wednesday 5PM Stonewall Youth Support Group
• Every Thursday M-Powerment Core Group Meeting 6PM-8PM
• Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month from 3:30 to 4:30pm in the afternoon, the Rainbow Youth of Mason County Youth Group that meets in Shelton.
• March 11th, Sunday at 2 pm PFLAG Olympia. This month's program will We will be watching and discussing " We Are GLBTQ. "Best video in recent memory"
• March 16th at 11:30 am the HIV/AIDS Consortia meeting
• March 18th at 2 pm, UCAN hosts their Client Advisory Committee meeting 

Britain Bans Gay
Party Drug

(London) It's generic name is ketamine, but in the clubs it's known as Special K or just K, and it is become the party drug of choice for thousands of young gay men throughout the UK and the United States.

Plea Bargain In Transsexual's Slaying
(New Haven, Connecticut) A man who pleaded guilty in Superior Court to killing a transsexual woman and setting fire to the crime scene in 2003 faces thirty years in prison. 

Gays Get New Rights Today
(Washington) LGBT communities in several states today gain new rights - from transgender protections, to same-sex couple property rights, to gay civil rights. 

Pope Closes Year With Attack On Gay Families
(Vatican City) Pope Benedict XVI remembered his predecessor Saturday night and again stressed the importance of a family based on marriage "in the life of the church and of society." 

'Filthy Dyke' Wins Wrongful Dismissal Case
(London) When a customer became irate after store worker Caroline Gardener said they were out of lime cordial and began hurling abuse at her, culminating in him calling her a "filthy dyke" Gardener saw red.

Gay Rights Fellowship To Advance LGBT Issues In S. Florida
(Miami, Florida) The ACLU of Florida has created a new fellowship to set the course for battling a proposed amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state and to develop policies to reverse Florida's sweeping ban on gay adoption.

2007 is a big year of change for Capital City Pride. Thanks to new grants and strong support from our long-time funders, we have been able to revamp our web-site, diversify our promotions, hire staff and expand to two days of Pride activities. ...more

Research Project Needs Participants

My name is Melanie Morrison and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Saskatchewan. I am also the Co-Chair of the Canadian Psychological Association?s Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity  

Along with Rebecca Quaale, we are currently conducting a study looking at sexual minorities' exposure to prejudice and discrimination and how this can affect health and well-being. As you may be aware, there is a dearth of research actually documenting the experiences of sexual minority persons and how this influences their health. ...more

On Monday February 26th a crowd estimated at 2,000 gathered on the steps of the State Capitol to rally in support of LGBT civil rights. This rally was co-organized by the Religious Coalition for Equality (RCE) and Equal Rights Washington (ERW) who are jointly leading the fight to help legislators understand that people of faith, straight and gay, support civil rights for LGBT individuals and families, including marriage equality. ...more

Queers for Economic Justice

The Immigrant Rights Project at Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ). QEJ is an organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming (LGBTQ) people committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation. QUJ is in the process of contacting LGBTQ groups across the United States to raise awareness of issues facing LGBTQ immigrants. QEJ recognizes that there is a marked lack of LGBTQ voices in the current immigration debate. Congress and the nation are presently looking toward measures of immigration reform and we recognize that several agencies are working organizationally to influence the outcome of these reforms. ...more

Parents coming out - Three stories from PFLAG parents
By Alec Clayton

Coming out to parents can be the most difficult thing a gay or lesbian child can do. Many a child has been disowned and kicked out of the house, others have faced denial or ridicule or attempts to force an impossible change of orientation. Even among more accepting parents there is often a long and painful period of adjustment. But as almost any PFLAG parent can tell you, the rewards of going through that adjustment period are rewarding beyond belief. ...more

In "Straight Answers: Exposing the Myths and Facts About Homosexuality," James Dobson's Focus on the Family organization counters eight supposed myths promoted by the homosexual community. Six of the supposed myths - that homosexuals are born gay, homosexuality is not changeable, the Bible does not condemn homosexuality, how many homosexuals there are in society, that homosexual relationships are no different than heterosexual ones, and that lesbian relationships are as unhealthy and life-threatening as gay male relationships - have been dealt with in previous months of the Rainbow Journal Olympia. Two additional supposed gay "myths" are: "AIDS is as much of a risk for heterosexuals as it is for homosexuals" and "homosexuals are normal, healthy, everyday people."  ...more

A BETTER END-GAME STRATEGY
By Dennis Cavalier

It used to be true that after a diagnosis of H.I.V./A.I.D.S. people gave up any hope for a future. Everybody spent their last dime on what happiness they believed their money could bring, in an effort to ease out of this life in "comfort." Decades later, this proved to have been one of the most ill-advised moves. ...more

GUILT!!!
by Bob Withrow

It is said that there is one difference between Catholics and Jews: Jews were born with guilt, while Catholics learned it from the nuns. Queers have certainly been burdened with it from day one and we have raised it to the level of high art. It is the mother of all words, and its daughter, shame, is not to far behind. A friend of mine was telling me he was visiting one of those chat rooms when someone wanted to go "private" with him. "Private" means to talk on the computer without the world listening in. It seems the poor fellow wanted to go on and on about sex and the resultant guilt. My friend was wondering what kind of kinky, animal driven sex was soooo bad that this poor, tortured soul was driven to the wall with guilt. The truth finally came out.......masturbation. Often seen as simply a physical release by many straights, masturbation has also become high art among most gays. ...more