From the BBC:

The Pope’s chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.

Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.

Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.

The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.

The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article ‘Aliens Are My Brother’.

…

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.

Asked about the Catholic Church’s condemnation four centuries ago of the Italian astronomer and physicist, Galileo, Father Funes diplomatically says mistakes were made, but it is time to turn the page and look towards the future.

Science and religion need each other, and many astronomers believe in God, he assures readers.

To strengthen its scientific credentials, the Vatican is organising a conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin. (article here)

…

The Hostess: How nice of the Vatican to accept the idea of life on other planets, but still not accept the love between two women or two men.

The next Main Line LGBT Happy Hour will be on Wednesday, May 21, at 7:00 PM, at Bordeaux (formerly the New Orleans Cafe), which is at 1 West State Street in Media.

We hope to see lots of people there!

Also, if anyone has any ideas, suggestions, etc. for upcoming happy hours, drop us a line!

mainlinelgbt@gmail.com

From the BBC:

If last week’s victory was a squeak, this week’s was a roar. A two-to-one win over Barack Obama in a state which - as Senator Clinton has frequently reminded her supporters - no successful Democratic candidate for the White House has lost in nearly a century. And that includes, of course, her husband, Bill.

Her most recent reminder came in a victory speech that was more defiant in tone than the one she had given in Indianapolis last week.

Standing alone on stage, she used the kind of metaphors that might be expected in the Mountain State. The people of West Virginia, she said, knew about “the rough roads to the top of the mountain”.

…

For me last night, it was the phone ringing and a call from a friend about something completely different. We had been chatting it up for a while, and I finally said sheepishly…”Listen…sorry about the ‘end game’ posts I’ve been putting on the blog about Hillary”. She was in fact one of the few people I had told I was voting for Clinton in the PA. primary…she had voted for Hillary also. She laughed and said although she cringed when she read them, she knew that I was all about the Democratic Party…

We went on to talk about getting together soon and that was it, but it got me thinking…

Very recently my mother told me, “Your father was a Yellow Dog Democrat…he’d vote for the devil himself if he was a Democrat.” I knew Dad was stubborn…I just thought he was a stubborn Republican.

What I realized from last night is that I’m a Yellow Dog Democrat also, and what my friend helped me realize also, is that not everyone will think in terms of “The Party”, but in terms of the two individuals running for president. So with this serious win in West Virginia, Clinton supporters have voiced their continued support for the candidate that they think will be the best.

As I listened to Clinton’s speech I heard three things…1) That she wants everyone in the country to have a chance to vote. 2) She will fully support the nominee for president…whomever that may be. 3) Lastly, and most importantly for me, she said that she thought “Our Party” can withstand this competition for the nominee.

I’ll take her at her word…and I’ll take Obama at his word…and I’ll vote Democrat in November.

p.s. Let’s go drinking soon, “C”. First one’s one me…

From MSNBC New York:

It’s called the Healthcare Equality Index, and just over half of 88 hospitals got top marks under this new rating system created by the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, which hope the standards will result in more compassionate treatment of gay and lesbian patients.

Policies addressed in the ratings include patient nondiscrimination, visitation and decision-making rights for partners, diversity training for staff, and nondiscriminatory employment practices.

The hospitals participated voluntarily, and the groups behind the report said there will be no effort to rate hospitals which don’t want to respond. Instead, they hope many hospitals will strive for high ratings as the survey recurs annually.

Some responses to the new survey came from hospital networks. Kaiser Permanente, answering on behalf of 31 hospitals in California and Hawaii, said all met the survey’s 10 criteria. They were among 45 hospitals in all with top marks.

University Hospitals of Cleveland, representing 10 Ohio hospitals, said they fully met only two criteria — domestic partner benefits for employees and a patient nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation.

The HRC and the medical association said their goal is to highlight hospitals with high rankings and induce others to abandon inequitable practices.

The healthcare index includes recommendations for hospitals, starting with the forms filled out by patients. It recommends that “transgender” be an option for gender and that relationship status include the term “partnered” as well as “single,” “married,” “divorced” and “widowed.” (full article here)

HRC’s website page (here) on the Healthcare Equality Index, has a link to the index where you can check by state which hospitals participated.

…

On a local note, I checked Pennsylvania and found only one (Pennsylvania Hospital) listed. I’m not sure why more weren’t listed, but I know that the Mainline Heath System, which hospitals include: Lankenau, Bryn Mawr, and Paoli have non-LGBT discrimination policies in place, and that last fall, a representative from the Bryson Institute met with the Mainline Health System’s Diversity Committee and gave a seminar about LGBT issues regarding patients and employees. So, just because a hospital isn’t on the list, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s behind in LGBT concerns.

…

Stir’s website

From PinkNews.co.uk:

One of the stars of hit comedy The Office, has said he is convinced there are many high-profile Hollywood celebrities who are gay, and he can’t understand why they do not come out.

“The funny thing about the acting business is that there are more poofs in it than you can have hot dinners thrown at you,” said Martin Freeman, who played Tim in The Office.

“But no one is out. It’s not so bad here, but in Hollywood …”Why don’t they just admit it?

“In this so-called liberal industry, no one has the guts to come out because of the box office, but someone has to be first in the firing line.” Mr Freeman, who has graduated to big screen success after establishing himself on TV, made his comments just weeks after the star of a US hit show revealed his is gay.

The actor has been linked in the press withPrison Break star Wentworth Miller.

…

Despite an increasing number of Hollywood actors deciding to come out, most decide to keep secret about their sexuality fearing that it would ruin their career.

In the last year some younger Hollywood actors, such as Grey’s Anatomy star TR Knight andDoogie Howser MD star Neil Patrick Harris, have found themselves effectively outed by gossip websites, among them Perez Hilton.

…

Lesbian icon Jodie Foster recently took the symbolic step of publicly acknowledging her long-term female partner.

…

Mr Freeman’s comments were echoed those of British actor Sir Ian Mc Kellen, who last year slammed Hollywood producers for encouraging gay actors and actresses to hide their sexuality.

“With all that liberal attitude, you have a local industry which is saying to local people who live in the area, ‘When you come to work, you are not gay,’” Sir Ian said.

“And I think to myself, ‘Can people whose minds work like that make good films? And if at the heart of Hollywood there is that lie, how many other lies are there?’”

Another UK-based gay actor, John Barrowman, has said his sexuality did not influence the kind of roles he got offered as an actor and believes it is “just sad” that someone would deny their sexuality to the world.

“If it (being gay) has been a problem, no-one ever told me so. I know people who lie about being gay because they think it will affect their work chances. That is just sad,” he told The Stage in January.

Actor Rupert Everett claimed in his memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, that he lost jobs on About a Boy and Basic Instinct 2 because he’s openly gay.

Howard Bragman, CEO of American PR company Fifteen Minutes, explained in Out magazine that he believes there are four kinds of gay men in Hollywood:

“There’s the openly gay; the gay and everybody knows it but nobody talks about it; the married, closeted gay who doesn’t talk about it; and the screaming ‘I’ll sue you if you say I’m gay’ person.” (read the full article here)

…

From the BBC: McCain Aides quit over Burma ties (full article)

Douglas Goodyear, who had been chosen to run the 2008 Republican convention, said he was resigning “so as not to become a distraction in this campaign”.

Both Mr Goodyear and the second aide to resign this weekend, Doug Davenport, worked for the lobbying firm DCI, the former as its chief executive.

Newsweek magazine revealed on Saturday that DCI was paid more than $300,000 (£150,000) by Burma’s military leadership for lobbying work to improve its image in the US.

The BBC’s Jamie Coomarasamy in Washington says the prominent role of lobbyists in Mr McCain’s campaign was already controversial, given Mr McCain’s frequent pledges to fight against the influence of special interests in Washington.

That two of those lobbyists were linked to a special interest currently facing worldwide condemnation should give cause for reflection within Mr McCain’s inner circle, the BBC correspondent adds.

There has been international outcry over the Burmese authorities’ response to Cyclone Nargis. The US State Department has previously criticised Burma over its human rights record.

From The International Herald Tribune: McCain Allies Tout Blue Collar Strategy (full article)

An adviser to John McCain says if he takes 20 percent of the Democratic blue-collar vote nationally, he wins the presidency.

The remark by Charlie Black, quoted in The Christian Science Monitor, comes across as hasty since McCain people are also saying that once Barack Obama secures the nomination, he’ll get up to a 10-point bump in head-on-head polls. That’s a hit the Republicans acknowledge they can’t begin to absorb until September.

From Washington (AFP): Republicans Train Sights on Obama (full article)

As the Democratic primary contest heads to its climax, the Republicans are firing the opening shots of an election barrage to come against their probable White House opponent, Barack Obama.
Republican John McCain and his colleagues already see Hillary Clinton’s campaign as mortally wounded, and are busy shaping their anti-Obama offensive in terms of national security, taxes and experience.
Mitt Romney, who was beaten by McCain in the Republican nominating race, said that for all his soaring oratory, Obama could not be trusted with the world’s most powerful job.
“He has not accomplished anything during his life, in terms of legislation or leading an enterprise or making a business work or a city work or a state work,” the former Massachusetts governor told CNN.
“He really has very little experience and the presidency of the United States is not an internship,” Romney said.
The Republican Party of President George W. Bush is portraying McCain as a grizzled veteran in contrast to Obama, the 46-year-old freshman senator from Illinois.
While each pledges a respectful campaign should they wrap up their parties’ nominations, the two senators are already at each other’s throats.
McCain last week said that Hamas, through a spokesman for the militant Palestinian movement, had declared its support for an Obama presidency. “I guarantee they’re not going to endorse me,” he said.
Obama shot back at the Republican’s “smear,” which he called “offensive,” as the two waged a war of words over Iraq and which candidate was the best bet to prosecute the “war on terror” and protect Israel.
The Republican’s campaign took furious objection to Obama’s statement that with his Hamas remarks, McCain was “losing his bearings.”