Paul Nuttall

Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England between 2009 and 2019, sitting in the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group. He left UKIP in December 2018, criticising the party's association with far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and joined The Brexit Party in 2019.
Nuttall was a Conservative Party candidate in a council election in Sefton before joining UKIP in 2004. He became deputy leader of UKIP in November 2010 and the party's spokesperson for education, life skills and training in July 2014. He was elected party leader in the November 2016 leadership election. Nuttall stood unsuccessfully for UKIP six times in parliamentary elections between 2005 and 2017, of which his best result was finishing second in the 2017 Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election. He resigned as party leader after coming third in Boston and Skegness in the 2017 general election, with his party losing most of its electoral support.
A prominent eurosceptic, Nuttall has also called for the establishment of an English parliament. He favours a ban on wearing burqas in public places, has shown support for the reintroduction of the death penalty, and opposed Labour's 2015 plans to include LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in schools. He is an outspoken climate change denier.
Early life.
Born in Bootle in Merseyside, Nuttall was educated at Savio High School, a Roman Catholic school. He was raised Catholic and currently practises that faith.
He completed his A-Levels at Hugh Baird College in Bootle.
Personal life.
Nuttall was previously married and has a child from that marriage.
Involvement in football.
As a footballer, he was a member of Tranmere Rovers' youth squad in the early 1990s, although he later backtracked on claims made in one of his own press releases and UKIP campaign material that he had played professionally for the team. He completed a Higher National Diploma in sports science at North Lincolnshire College.
Historical studies.
He studied history at Edge Hill College (now Edge Hill University), graduating with a BA, and at Liverpool Hope University where he specialised in Edwardian politics and graduated with an MA.
During his time at Edge Hill, Nuttall submitted an essay about the causes of the Holocaust, in which, according to his lecturer David Renton, he "suggested that there was an argument to be made that the Jewish people had brought it on themselves", citing the writer and Holocaust denier David Irving. When Renton discussed the quotations with him, Nuttall told Renton that "he was not responsible for the citations: his girlfriend had found them on the internet".
In 2004, Nuttall started working towards a PhD in the 'History of Conservatism in Liverpool', but did not complete it.
Teaching career.
He received a Certificate in Education from the University of Central Lancashire. He lectured at Liverpool Hope University between 2004 and 2006.
Political career.
Early political career, 2002–2009.
Before joining UKIP, Nuttall was a member of the Conservative Party. In the 2002 local government elections, he stood as a Conservative candidate in Derby Ward on Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, where he came second, winning 11.4% of the vote.
In 2004, he left the Conservatives and joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He founded its South Sefton branch in 2005 in order to contest elections in north Merseyside. He was UKIP's candidate for Bootle in the 2005 general election, where he won 4.1% of the vote. At the 2008 local elections, Nuttall again stood as a candidate for Derby Ward on Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, but this time as a UKIP candidate. He won 38% of the vote, behind the Labour candidate.
In 2008, Nuttall also became the founding secretary of Young Independence, the youth wing of UKIP for under 35-year-olds. He held this position until UKIP's spring conference in 2009 when Young Independence held its first internal elections. Nuttall was appointed as chairman of UKIP in September 2008. At the time, he was also employed as a political adviser to the Independence/Democracy group in the European Parliament.
First term in the European Parliament, 2009–2014.
In the 2009 European Parliament election, Nuttall was selected to head the UKIP list for the North West England constituency. Speaking to the "Liverpool Echo", he said "The Euro-election next June will give people the chance to express their views about the European Union. It is really the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty that they have been denied. A vote for any other party is a vote for the EU. If people do not like having 80% of our legislation emanating from unelected bureaucrats in Brussels the only party to vote for is UKIP." He was subsequently elected.
Nuttall became a member of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group in the European Parliament, as well as a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and a substitute member of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT). His first speech in plenary was on 7 October 2009, on the "underhand and undemocratic way in which the incandescent light bulb has been banned across the European Union."
Nuttall opened an office for his European Parliament work in Bootle in March 2010. Nuttall again contested Bootle at the 2010 general election, coming fourth with 6.1% of the vote. In July 2010, it was found that, on average, British MEPs had the worst European Parliament attendance records, and that Nuttall, alongside David Campbell Bannerman and Godfrey Bloom, had the worst attendance records of British MEPs, with an average of below 63%. On 8 November 2010, Nuttall was confirmed by UKIP's NEC as Nigel Farage's choice for deputy leader. At the same time, he stepped down as chairman. He said, "This is a great honour which I was happy to accept, particularly at such a very exciting time for UKIP."
Following the general election, a High Court ruling found the result in Oldham East and Saddleworth null and void after Labour's Phil Woolas was found to have made false statements in campaign literature. Nuttall was selected as UKIP's candidate in the 2011 by-election held in the constituency to replace Woolas. Speaking to local media, he said that the by-election was "built on a pyramid of lies": "Whether it's Labour lying on their own election literature which has caused this sorry scenario, or whether it's the Liberal Democrats lying over tuition fees and reneging on their manifesto pledges, or whether it's the Tories lying over our relationship with the EU, or immigration, or crime." Nuttall came fourth in the election, winning 5.8% of the vote.
During the debate over a possible electoral pact between the Conservatives and UKIP, in September 2012 Nuttall said "You never say never in politics" when asked about the possibility of them working together. However, in November 2012, Nuttall said there would be "no deals with the Tories while David Cameron is leader", blaming Cameron's previous claims about the party, including that it was one of "closet racists".
In February 2013, Nuttall visited Bulgaria at the invitation of independent MEP Slavcho Binev. He visited the largest Romani quarter of Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, and later commented that such slums should not exist in Europe and that minorities should be integrated. He took part in a joint press conference with Binev, during which nationalist politician Volen Siderov interrupted proceedings to accuse UKIP of racism. This led to "an angry and rude exchange of words between him and Binev."
Nuttall predicted that the UK "will probably be out of the EU by 2020" in April 2013. His speech to UKIP's 2013 conference was praised by some, including Isabel Hardman of "The Spectator", who wrote: "Nuttall's speech was more impressive and powerful that the slightly sweaty offering his boss gave a few minutes after him. The question is whether this northern MEP can become a brand in his own right in the way that Farage has managed to."
Second term in the European Parliament, from 2014.
In 2014, Nuttall was returned to the European Parliament at the European election and is currently one of two UKIP MEPs representing the constituency of North West England. In 2015, he once again contested Bootle, and came second behind Labour, with a 10.9% vote share. In March 2017, it was reported that Nuttall had claimed excess European funding for his office in his constituency which he shared with Louise Bours.
UKIP Leadership.
He announced in July 2016 that he would not stand in the September 2016 UKIP leadership election following the resignation of Nigel Farage and that he would step down as deputy leader of the party. In October 2016, Nuttall announced that he would run in the second UKIP leadership election of 2016, triggered when Diane James, leader for 18 days after the first 2016 leadership election, announced she was to stand down.
On 28 November 2016, following the second 2016 leadership election, he became leader of UKIP with 62.2% of the vote.
Nuttall stood as a UKIP candidate for the 2017 Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election. His campaign was compromised by his various questionable claims: that he was present and "lost close personal friends" at the Hillsborough disaster, that he had a PhD, had been on the board of directors at a vocational training charity, and had been a footballer for Tranmere Rovers, all of which emerged to be untrue. He has been investigated for possibly fraudulent claims that he was living in a house in Stoke-on-Trent, which was discovered to be empty and still advertised to rent, when he filed his nomination papers. Gareth Snell of Labour won the by-election with 7,853 votes to Nuttall's 5,233, Nuttall finishing second with 24.7% of the vote.
Paul Nuttall stood in the 2017 general election, in the constituency of Boston and Skegness, but failed to win the seat. He resigned as leader the day after the election.
Political views.
In March 2015, Nuttall stated that "Twelve per cent of Catholics have already indicated that they are going to vote, or have already voted, UKIP. On moral issues, we, more than any other political party, are more in line with Catholic thought. Whether it's on gender-choice, abortion or same-sex marriage, we are absolutely 100 per cent behind the Catholic Church."
During his leadership bid in 2016, Nuttall pitched himself as the unity candidate and made Suzanne Evans co-deputy chairwoman of the party and Patrick O'Flynn his principal political adviser, both of whom have been seen as political foes of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Nuttall vowed in 2016 to "replace the Labour Party in the next five years and become the patriotic party of the working people".
Nuttall called for the establishment of an English parliament and presented UKIP's new devolution policy at its annual conference at Eastbourne in September 2011.
Influenced by his background, Nuttall has stated that there is an urgent need for a challenge in England's politics in the early 21st century to the dominance of what he has described as "cultural Marxism", which he accuses of "having changed the way we speak, and the way we think", adding: "They've made the downright nonsensical acceptable, and common sense unacceptable or politically 'incorrect'."
Abortion.
Nuttall suggested in October 2016 that the current time limit on abortion be cut down from 24 weeks to 12 weeks. He is a member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, the United Kingdom's largest anti-abortion organisation.
Islam.
Nuttall favours a ban on wearing Islamic burqas in public places, citing the use of video surveillance and security as the primary reason for this stance, and is opposed to the establishment of Sharia courts to operate alongside the UK court system. He has also accused the EU's migration laws as allowing for the "free movement of jihad".
Capital punishment.
Nuttall has supported the reintroduction of capital punishment for child murderers, serial killers, and those who kill police officers. He has signed an e-petition to this effect and has also stressed that it is UKIP's policy to put controversial policies such as capital punishment to a referendum before undertaking them.
Climate change.
A climate change denier, Nuttall has said that UKIP would ban Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" from schools, calling it "a blatant piece of propaganda".
LGBT rights.
Nuttall opposed Labour's plans to include LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in schools in 2015, stating that "Rather than helping tackle problems of domestic violence and rape in future years, as given as another woolly reason for introduction, it is going to confuse and worry these little children". Upon becoming UKIP leader, Nuttall faced criticism from "Daily Politics" presenter Jo Coburn over a lack of diversity in his appointments of only white men to prominent positions within UKIP. Nuttall accused Coburn of "splitting hairs" as "I've literally appointed three people. If you want diversity, Peter Whittle, my deputy, is an open homosexual."
Torture.
Following comments by US president Donald Trump concerning the effectiveness of torture, Nuttall said torture techniques such as waterboarding could be justified. Paraphrasing Trump, Nuttall said: "I think sometimes you have to fight fire with fire."
UKIP peerages.
In a 2016 interview with "The Sunday Telegraph", Nuttall said that it was "obscene and unfair" that no UKIP politician had been appointed to the House of Lords by the government. He promised to hold inter-party talks with Prime Minister Theresa May on the issue, saying that, if peerages were given in proportion to vote count in the 2015 general election, UKIP should have 26 lords.
2016 United States presidential election.
Before the 2016 United States presidential election, Nuttall stated repeatedly that if he were an American citizen: "I would hold my nose and vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate".
After the election he said "Neither the Brexit vote nor the Trump victory was down to emotion rather than truth. They were down to the people realising the truth that the establishment was not acting in their best interests." Nuttall was later ridiculed after mistakenly saying that Trump's love of the United Kingdom makes him an "anglophobe", a word which means the opposite. Phillip Blond said that mocking Nuttall's language in this manner was an example of "laughing at working-class misuse of language", adding that "correcting people's speech is redolent with class [and] division"; however, others such as Oliver Kamm disagreed.
Views on the NHS.
Nuttall posted on his website in June 2014 that "the very existence of the NHS stifles competition", and stated that "as long as the NHS is the 'sacred cow' of British politics, the longer the British people will suffer with a second-rate health service". This was later taken down from his website.
Upon becoming party leader, Nuttall told Andrew Marr on the "Sunday Politics" that "Maybe at some point, in years to come within this century we'll have to have this debate [over NHS privatisation], but it won't be under my leadership in UKIP". Following his 2016 UKIP leadership win, he said that his party would be "committed to keeping the NHS in public hands and free at the point of delivery".
Vladimir Putin and the Syrian civil war.
On foreign policy, Nuttall said that he was "not a fan" of Putin's "reprehensible" persecution of Russian journalists. Nuttall has also said Britain "got it wrong" in "helping the so-called rebels" in the Syrian civil war. Asked about Syrian President Bashar al-Assads barrel bombing of Syrian civilians, Nuttall said: "I wouldn't say we are some paragon of virtue when it comes to backing dictators" and that the Syrian government, which Russia is supporting militarily, is not "a threat to the globe in the way that Islamic terrorism is".
Nicola Sturgeon comments.
Nuttall drew criticism for a tweet he made in the context of the Scottish National Party wishing to vote on foxhunting legislation which affected only England and Wales. Referring to the death of Emily Davison, Nuttall said that, "Tuesday is Emmeline Pankhurst Day, and whilst I am not going to throw myself in front of a horse to make my point about British democracy on this occasion ... perhaps we should throw [Nicola] Sturgeon in front of a hunt horse as part of the commemorations." An SNP spokesperson responded, saying that "Even by UKIP's standards this is a deeply crass comment. Political debate should be conducted in a respectful manner."
Claims.
Hillsborough.
Nuttall spoke of his experience at the 1989 Hillsborough disaster on BBC Television's "Question Time" in 2015.
An article published by "The Guardian" in February 2017 questioned his presence at the disaster, stating that his school had tried to account for all pupils who had been present there, and he was not on their list. Further, a friend who had known Nuttall for over 25 years said that he had "never spoken" about Hillsborough. Nuttall said the claims were true and presented a letter of support from his father, adding in a newspaper interview that he did not like to talk about the disaster.
A 2011 article on his website quoted him saying that he had lost "close personal friends" at Hillsborough, but in a radio interview during the build-up to the 2017 Stoke by-election he stated that the article was incorrect and that of those he knew who died at Hillsborough none were close personal friends. Nuttall's press officer said she was "entirely responsible" for the posting (which was reported by the BBC) and apologised and offered her resignation. The two chairmen of UKIP's Liverpool and Merseyside branch later resigned from the party, accusing Nuttall of being "unprofessional".
Career claims.
Nuttall has been accused of fabricating parts of his career history. A profile on LinkedIn claimed that Nuttall had completed a PhD at Liverpool Hope University in 2004, although the institution did not exist as such until 2005 (it was previously the Liverpool Institute of Higher Education) and did not start awarding doctorates until 2009. In response, Nuttall said he had never claimed to have a PhD and did not know who had posted the profile.
In 2009, Nuttall's website claimed he was joining the board of the North West Training Council, a vocational training charity, but in 2017 the organisation's CEO said that Nuttall had never been invited and that his name appeared in none of their documentation.
Media.
 Nuttall was one of UKIP's media spokespeople and frequently appeared on national radio, including BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport. He has appeared several times on BBC One's "Question Time" and BBC Radio 4's "Any Questions?".
Electoral performance.
Nuttall has contested several UK and European Parliamentary elections as a UKIP candidate:
UK Parliament elections
European Parliament elections


List of HIV-positive television characters

HIV-positive characters from television shows or made-for-television movie martin.


International Railroad for Queer Refugees

The International Railroad for Queer Refugees, formerly known as the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR), is an advocacy group for LGBT rights in Iran. It was founded and is headed by Executive Director Arsham Parsi. It was set up on behalf of Iranian LGBT persons seeking safe havens both within and outside of Iran. It is the first Iranian NGO in the world, working on behalf of Iranian LGBT people around the globe.
It has its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the organization is registered as an NGO. IRQR provides assistance with asylum applications, housing, and financial assistance to those in need. It files petitions to governments on behalf of Iranian LGBTQ persons facing deportation back to Iran, where homosexuality is a criminal offense punishable by death. In August 2016, IRQR was granted charitable status by the Canada Revenue Agency. In November 2018, IRQR expanded its services to non-Iranian LGBTs and officially changed its name to the International Railroad for Queer Refugees.
IRQR documents and reports cases of torture, persecution, execution and other human rights violations that occur in Iran on a regular basis; it has helped demonstrate the situation of LGBT persons in Iran. IRQR also aims to educate people who are opposed to homosexuality due to a lack of correct information and sexual education and also to "end the current lack of self-recognition and self-confidence among queer people and to prevent frequent tragedies, such as suicide."
The organization's name is inspired by the Underground Railroad that helped African-Americans escape slavery in the 19th century.
The homepage of IRQR says:"When Iranian queer people flee persecution in Iran, they generally go to Turkey. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees interviews these refugees and decides whether their case for asylum is valid. If they are granted asylum status, the UNHCR finds a new country for each person on the base of their profile. IRQR helps these refugees through the process and, whenever possible, provides funds for safe houses from donations, since Turkey is also a homophobic and transphobic society and queer people are not physically safe there either."
In August 2008, Arsham Parsi, the IRQR's Executive Director, met with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Canadian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, regarding Iranian queer asylum seekers. Since that meeting, a number of asylum seekers have been granted refugee status or have been referred to the Canadian Embassy for their resettlement process. Furthermore, the UNHCR changed their legal interviews to an earlier date.
As of December 2015, IRQR have worked directly with 1262 LGBT refugees from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, helping them through their application process at the UNHCR and transition and settlement into Canada, the United States and other countries. The majority are from Iran; however, recently, IRQR has also offered its services to help Afghani and Syrian LGBT refugees.
IRQR has been working with refugees for almost a decade. IRQR helps them in Turkey while they are going through the stages of becoming a Convention Refugee, and meeting with the UNHCR to advocate on their behalf. Without this, many refugees would have been forced to return to Iran.
IRQR has maintained a success rate of above 80% in helping refugees through the process. Maintaining success rate above 80% annually is challenging with the significant increase in applicants since 2014; especially because the process time has changed from two to three years.
In 2015, Arsham Parsi traveled to Turkey in February and September. He met with LGBT refugees to document their situation and provide services on the ground. He met with officials at the UNHCR office in Ankara to advocate for the most vulnerable and urgent cases in order to be granted for an expedited process. Because of IRQR work and the UNHCR, many LGBT refugees were granted an earlier interview and received refugee status, meaning they could begin their journey to a new home and being free to be LGBT.
IRQR held five workshops in Denizli and Eskisehir, Turkey, in 2015 to help Iranian LGBT refugees whose cases were in process with the UNHCR.


Bob Marshall (Virginia politician)

Robert Gerald Marshall (born May 3, 1944) is an American businessman, author and former politician, who was a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 13th District. His district included portions of Prince William and Loudoun counties. He is known for his failed "bathroom bill" proposal, which would have forced people to use restrooms that correspond with the sex on their original birth certificates. In the November 7, 2017, general election, Marshall was defeated by nine percentage points by Democrat Danica Roem, the first openly transgender candidate elected to a state legislature in the United States.
In 2008, Marshall ran for the United States Senate seat being vacated by John Warner, but he finished second to Jim Gilmore by 66 votes out of over 10,000 cast at the Republican convention. In January 2012, Marshall announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb. He lost in the Republican June primary to George Allen, winning only 7 percent of the vote.
Early life, education, and business career.
Marshall received his education from Montgomery College, Belmont Abbey College, and California State University, Northridge. Before election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1991, Marshall was a staffer for the American Life League, an organization which opposes all forms of abortion and birth control. After his election, he continued to work for the organization, including a stint as executive director in the mid-1990s and now as a research consultant. He belongs to the All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, Virginia. His sister is actress Paula Marshall.
Virginia House of Delegates.
Elections.
In 1991, Marshall ran for the House of Delegates 13th District seat, which was held by Democrat Joan Munford but left open after the 1990 redistricting process which caused Munford to run in the 12th District. Marshall faced Democrat Dale Reynolds and won handily, 58%-42%. After winning the seat, Marshall was challenged and won in every election except 2003, when he ran unopposed, and 2017, which he lost to Danica Roem. He won with 66% of the vote in 1993, 80% in 1995, 85% in 1997, 61% in 1999, 63% in 2001, 55% in 2005, 58% in 2007, 61% in 2009, 60% in 2011, 51% in 2013, and 56% in 2015.
"No confidence" in House Republican leadership.
In September 2007, Marshall introduced a resolution "of no confidence in the policies of the current House of Delegates Republican Leadership as pursued from 2002 to the present". Among Marshall's complaints were that the Republican leaders were "Allowing government spending to increase at new record levels of spending" and that they were making policy decisions "in a small closed group and in a secretive manner without benefit of wide Caucus input or knowledge". For the latter, he said that the leadership, in late 2006, "prepared a transportation bill which Caucus members were expected to accept without discussion or critical input". According to some state legislators, the only vote in favor of Marshall's resolution was that of Marshall himself.
Topics of action.
Birth control.
In 1989, when Marshall was working as the research director of the American Life League, he told "The Boston Globe" that he opposes all forms of abortion and birth control that take effect after conception. "We're against the IUD and pills, too. They don't prevent ovulation and conception, they prevent implantation, which is abortion."
According to the "Globe", Marshall also "railed" against Norplant, a contraceptive not-yet-marketed at the time that is implanted under the skin and works for up to five years. "It's a real tribute to women's intelligence," Marshall told the reporter. "They feel so irresponsible they can't do something once a day?" Norplant was eventually removed from the U.S. market for "business reasons". Because of health concerns, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that women consider other forms of birth control.
When asked about abortion in the case of incest, Marshall replied that sometimes incest is voluntary. In response to abortions in the case of rape, Marshall said, "Your origins should not be held against you [referring to the victim's unborn child]. The woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman."
The measure, barring public colleges from making the morning-after pill available, went on to pass 54–46 in the House but ultimately failed in the Senate.
During the 2012 legislative session, Marshall and other Republicans supported a measure (SB484/HB462) to require women in Virginia to undergo a trans-vaginal ultrasound procedure before being allowed to have a legal abortion. Public protests about this invasive procedure caused Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell to withdraw his support for the bill. It was then amended to require only an "external" transabdominal ultrasound procedure. Critics argued it was not medically required or indicated, while other physicians and ultrasound technicians argued a trans-vaginal ultrasound is essential both before and after for an abortion to be performed safely.
Marshall was the subject of controversy in February 2010, when he made a statement regarding complications of abortion on disabled children at a press conference to oppose state funding of Planned Parenthood:
McDonnell also criticized Marshall, saying on Washington area radio station WTOP that his comments were "poor and offensive and wrong", and that "we should do everything we can for young children who are disabled and provide the best safety net we can".
Marshall initially claimed that his remarks had been misconstrued, but in a press conference on April 10, 2014, Marshall said he stood by his previous statements: "I don’t care. I mean, if I say something in public, I say it in public."
Immigration.
In September 2007, State Senator John Watkins was overwhelmingly voted the chair of Virginia Commission on Immigration, 16–3. Marshall, however, refused to give up his interim chair and "panel members had to wrestle the gavel away from Marshall". Marshall then challenged Watkins to a debate.
Homosexuality.
Marshall expressed displeasure at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's decision to fly a gay pride flag alongside the American flag to celebrate LGBT Pride Month in 2011. Marshall wrote a letter to Jeffrey M. Lacker, president of the bank, urging him to take down the flag, claiming that homosexuality "adds significantly to illness, increases health costs, promotes venereal diseases, and worsens the population imbalance relating to the number of workers supporting the beneficiaries of America’s Social Security and Medicare programs." The bank refused to remove the flag.
In May 2012, Marshall led a successful effort to defeat the nomination of openly gay prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland to a district court judgeship, who was supported by both the governor and a bipartisan judicial committee. Marshall explained that he was worried about possible bias in the case of a bar-room fight between a homosexual and a heterosexual. In a subsequent interview with CNN, he declared that "sodomy is not a civil right." In January 2013, the House of Delegates held a new vote and confirmed the nomination of Thorne-Begland for judgeship. The vote again received bipartisan support. In response to the confirmation, Marshall said, "The members who switched are going to have a hard time explaining this to the Republican base...The conservatives are not going to be very pleased about this."
In May 2014, Marshall filed paperwork for the impeachment of Virginia's Democratic attorney general Mark Herring on the grounds that Herring had refused to defend the Commonwealth's ban on same-sex marriage in federal court. The impeachment demand swiftly was rejected by his fellow Republican, Virginia Speaker of the House William J. Howell. Marshall also called for the impeachment of judges who might overturn the ban.
In January 2015, Marshall introduced Virginia House Bill 1414 which would enable refusal of service to persons based on same-sex marriage or homosexual behavior by any public or private business in some way licensed by the state. Critics suggest that the law, if enacted, could be used by hospitals to turn away patients, restaurants to refuse to serve, and to remove students from school and compared it to Jim Crow laws. The Virginia Christian Alliance emphasized its position that the bill is critical to clergy and that they "fear for their job" if the bill should fail.
Marriage.
In 2004, Marshall was the chief patron of the "Affirmation of Marriage Act" (HB751), which declared "the Commonwealth of Virginia is under no constitutional or legal obligation to recognize a marriage, civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement purporting to bestow any of the privileges or obligations of marriage under the laws of another state or territory of the United States unless such marriage conforms to the laws of this Commonwealth." The bill was introduced in January and was signed into law on April 26, 2004. HB751 extended and affirmed the existing HB1589/SB884, which had been enacted in 1997. The 1997 bills prohibited same-sex marriages and also prohibited the recognition of other states' such marriages; HB751 extended that prohibition to other legal arrangements not specifically named "marriage".
Marshall went on to sponsor the Marshall-Newman Amendment to the state constitution in 2005, which prohibited same-sex marriage as well as civil unions, domestic partnerships, and "other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage." It passed the General Assembly in 2005 (HJ 586, incorporating Marshall's HJ 584) and was approved in a 2006 voter referendum by 57% to 43%. With the ratification of the amendment, Section 15-A was added to Article I, stating "[t]hat only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions."
Speaking before an anti-abortion group in 2013, Marshall criticized the 2013 Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion which ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Marshall asserted that "For all I know, Kennedy’s a homosexual. You can’t be doing some of these things without this kind of conclusion." In 2014, Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled in "Bostic v. Schaefer" the relevant laws passed in 1997, 2004, and 2006 prohibiting same-sex marriage in Virginia were unconstitutional. In 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled the prohibition of same-sex marriage was unconstitutional in "Obergefell v. Hodges" and state legislation was subsequently introduced in 2015 and 2016 to repeal the prohibition of same-sex marriage (SB 10, HB 1395, SB 782).
Military service.
Following Congress' repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in December 2010, Marshall proposed a bill to "ban gays from openly serving in the Virginia National Guard because he is worried about service members catching sexually transmitted diseases from gay troops." According to "The Washington Post"", Marshall justified the legislation by saying: "If I needed a blood transfusion and the guy next to me had committed sodomy 14 times in the last month, I'd be worried," and "It's a distraction when I'm on the battlefield and have to concentrate on the enemy 600 yards away and I'm worried about this guy who's got eyes on me."
The Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to Marshall stating that "any attempt to exclude service members from the National Guard would be unconstitutional and ill-advised, and would certainly face a federal court challenge," and urging him to withdraw the bill. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell also announced his opposition to the bill, saying that, while he disagreed with Congress' repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: "We can't have two different systems in the federal and National Guard...Whatever the final guidelines of the Department of Defense I would expect the National Guard bureau in Virginia to adhere to those rules so we would have one set of rules for the entire military." Reacting to the proposal, Ronald Bailey of "Reason Magazine" called Marshall "excreable" and "long[ed] for that glad day when the voters of the 13th district wise up and spare us the bigoted natterings of Marshall."
Taxes.
In 2006 the General Assembly passed House Bill 3202 which authorized Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to raise revenue through regional authorities, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority respectively. Revenues raised by these authorities were intended to be used for regional transportation improvements.
Marshall was strongly critical of this legislation during floor debate. On the house floor in April 2007 he remarked, "I cannot vote for this bill because there are too many subterfuges in here trying to avoid responsibility and accountability. Members of these regional governments -- and they are regional governments -- don't even have to vote on this until December. What's interesting about December? It's a month and a half after the election. They can all promise 'I'm not going to vote to raise any taxes' and then afterward they can vote to do it."
After the bill passed over his objections, Marshall led an effort in conjunction with elected officials in Loudoun County, Virginia to have it overturned by the courts. Marshall's brief argued that the state Constitution did not authorize the establishment of unelected government bodies with the authority to impose and collect taxes. Article 7, Section 7 of the Constitution of Virginia states: "No ordinance or resolution... imposing taxes, or authorizing the borrowing of money shall be passed except by a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of all members elected to the governing body."
The Supreme Court of Virginia unanimously ruled this legislation unconstitutional on February 29, 2008, siding with Marshall.
The ruling surprised many proponents of HB3202. One newspaper describe the effect of the ruling as "hitting the General Assembly like a bomb", and the director of the Hampton Roads Regional Transportation Authority characterized the decision as "nuclear".
Bathroom bill.
Marshall introduced the "Physical Privacy Act" (HB 1612), a bill to restrict bathroom and changing facility use by transgender people in January 2017. The bill would have restricted the use of restrooms and changing facilities to the individual's sex, which the bill defined as the biological assignation at birth. In addition, the bill would have required public school principals to inform guardians of minors if the minor asked "to be recognized or treated as the opposite sex" within twenty-four hours of the request. In response, Petula Dvorak, a columnist for "The Washington Post", dubbed Marshall "[Virginia's] Minister of Private Parts", pointing to Marshall's history of proposed legislation regulating social, reproductive, and sexual issues.
Guns in schools.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Marshall proposed legislation that would require teachers or school staff to carry concealed handguns in public schools.
U.S. Senate elections.
2008.
On January 7, 2008, Marshall announced that he was running for John Warner's U.S. Senate seat. He was running against former Governor Jim Gilmore for the Republican nomination. Marshall ran well to Gilmore's right, claiming Gilmore is too soft on abortion. While Gilmore believes a woman should be able to choose whether to end her pregnancy in the first eight weeks, Marshall opposes abortion in all circumstances.
2012.
After months of speculation, on January 12, 2012, Marshall confirmed that he would enter the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Jim Webb. He formally announced his candidacy on January 16, 2012, emailing supporters saying, "I can beat Tim Kaine," the presumptive Democratic nominee for the seat. He lost in the June 12, 2012, Republican primary, coming in third out of four candidates with only 7 percent of the vote.
House of Representatives.
In February 2014, Marshall declared his candidacy for the District 10 seat in the House of Representatives being vacated by retiring Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), calling the other leading Republican challenger Barbara Comstock weak on gun rights. Comstock defeated Marshall and four other challengers in the April 2014 Republican primary with 54% of the vote. In the run-up to the election, Comstock spent $240,000, more than sixteen times the spending of Marshall, who came in second place with 28% of the vote.
Personal life.
Marshall is married to Catherine Ann Fonseca, with whom he has five children: Teresa, Christopher, Mary Clare, Joseph, and Thomas.


Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation

The Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation (GLAF) is a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. Its purpose is to increase acceptance and visibility of LGBT athletes in the professional, amateur, and recreational athletics communities.
GLAF Managing Director Noa Padowitz describes the group's objectives:
GLAF's advisory board includes many prominent gay and lesbian athletes, including tennis player Billie Jean King, former National Football League players Dave Kopay and Esera Tuaolo, former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean, Olympian gold medalists Bruce Hayes and Mark Tewksbury, and triathlete Christopher Bergland.


John Madigan (politician)

John Joseph Madigan (21 July 196616 June 2020) was an Australian blacksmith and politician. He served as a Senator for Victoria from 2011 to 2016. He was elected to the Senate at the 2010 federal election as a member of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). He resigned from the DLP to become an independent in September 2014, and later launched "John Madigan's Manufacturing and Farming Party" in 2015.
He failed to be re-elected at the 2016 double dissolution election, and the Manufacturing and Farming Party was voluntarily deregistered on 13 September 2016.
Early life.
Born into a Catholic family, Madigan belonged to a youth group run by the National Civic Council founder, B.A. Santamaria, in Melbourne. Madigan was a blacksmith and boilermaker from 1983 to 2011, self-employed in his own engineering workshop in Hepburn Springs, Victoria. He has an apprenticeship in Structural Steel Fabrication from Newport TAFE. He lived in Ballarat and was married with two children.
Politics.
Madigan served as vice-president of the Victorian DLP from 2008 to 2009 and was elected to the Senate at the 2010 election. Madigan resigned from the DLP and became an independent Senator on 4 September 2014, citing long-term internal party tensions.
2010 federal election.
Madigan won the sixth and last Victorian Senate seat at the 2010 federal election. He took office on 1 July 2011 as the first DLP senator from Victoria since Frank McManus and Jack Little, who were both defeated at the double-dissolution election in 1974. Preference counts indicated that the primary DLP vote of 2.3 percent (75,000 votes) in Victoria reached the 14.3 percent quota required by gaining One Nation, Christian Democratic and Building Australia preferences to edge out Steve Fielding of the Family First Party with a 0.2 percent lead and thus gained their preferences.
When the Australian Sex Party candidate was excluded, the DLP gained Liberal Democratic Party preferences, overtaking the third Liberal/National candidate and gaining their preferences to win the last seat.
Madigan took his seat in the Senate on 1 July 2011. The then Labor government held 31 seats, eight short of a majority, with the Greens holding nine seats, a sole balance of power position, therefore Madigan's vote was unlikely to be a decider in a Senate division because the Greens bloc paired with either Labor or the coalition was enough to win a division in the 2011–14 Senate composition.
2016 election.
Due to a double dissolution of parliament in 2016, Madigan was unable to serve his full term in parliament. The Manufacturing and Farming party supported Madigan and Mark George as Senate candidates for Victoria in the 2016 federal election. He was not re-elected, gaining 0.15% of the total Senate vote in the state. John Madigan's Manufacturing and Farming Party was voluntarily deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission on 13 September 2016.
Later years and death.
Madigan joined the Australian Country Party in September 2016.
In December 2018, Madigan announced that he had liver and bowel cancer. He died on 16 June 2020, aged 53, at a palliative care facility near his home in Hepburn Springs, Victoria. Former prime minister Tony Abbott eulogised Madigan as "a fine representative of a worthy political tradition" with an "old-fashioned sense of courtesy and respect for others".
Political views.
Madigan took a strong stance for implementing refugee and protection conventions and gambling reforms.
Madigan campaigned against wind turbines, chairing the 2015 Select Committee on Wind Turbines, advocating the removal of government incentives from the industry, and promoting the idea of "wind turbine syndrome". From 2011 onward, Madigan's chief of staff was Brendan Gullifer, a journalist and writer who has published articles against wind power.
Madigan described himself as "unashamedly pro-life". As a representative of the DLP, he opposed legislation on same-sex marriage; the sale of public infrastructure; the implementation of a carbon tax (stating "We're not in favour of a carbon tax because we believe it's a tax on people and a tax on life"); and the limiting of weekend trading hours. He addressed the Inaugural Jack Kane Dinner in July 2011, where he advocated Chifley-style protectionist economics.
In his maiden speech to the Senate, Madigan denounced Victoria's "inhumane" abortion laws and committed to help restore Australia's dwindling manufacturing sector. He called for a "good Labor government that will bring something better to the people". He said that the DLP and ALP differed in a number of ways, stating:
Madigan also praised fellow crossbench Senator Nick Xenophon in his maiden speech, saying he had "done his best to address the plight of the Australian worker and the Australian family". He shared views on gambling reform and wind turbines with Xenophon, with the pair helping to establish a Select Committee on Wind Turbines.


Paul Schenck

Paul Schenck (born 1958) is a Spiritual Integrator and pastoral counselor.
Early life and work.
Schenck was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Henry (Chaim) Schenck and Marjorie Apgar. He has two sisters, Kathleen Bauer and Colleen Tappan, and an identical twin brother, Robert, with whom he was raised in Grand Island, New York. His father was born Jewish and his mother converted to Judaism from the Catholic and Anglican (Episcopal) churches. He and his brother attended Beth El Hebrew School in nearby Niagara Falls until the sixth grade. As a teenager, Schenck turned away from Judaism, and after a period of atheism and agnosticism, he became a born-again Christian. He was married in 1977 in an interfaith ceremony in the Assembly of God (Pentecostal) church in Niagara Falls. While attending the Elim Bible Institute and College in Lima, New York, he was youth minister on Grand Island, New York, and an assistant pastor and pastor in the Town of Tonawanda, New York. Afterward, he was director of the Empire State Teen Challenge center, a faith-based residential treatment program for persons with "life-controlling problems" such as substance use and abuse, antisocial behaviors, criminal conduct, and relational conflicts. After joining the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1994, he was vicar of a mission in Virginia Beach, Virginia and later rector of a historic Anglican parish in Catonsville, Maryland.
Education and experience.
Schenck graduated from the Luther Rice University with a B.A. in biblical studies with a focus on the Old Testament in 1984. He stood his canonical examinations for ordination in the Reformed Episcopal Church at the Philadelphia Theological Seminary (the Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church) in 1995. In 2007, he received a Master Certificate in Executive Leadership from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. In 2009, he completed certification with the Pastoral Provision at Immaculate Conception Graduate School of Theology at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ and received the Certificate of Preparation for Ordination from the theological faculty there. He studied liturgical theology with Msgr. Kevin Irwin at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He received a master's degree in bioethics from the Pope John Paul II Bioethics Institute at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. In 2013, Schenck was awarded a certificate in health care ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed coursework with the Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia, where he gained the degree of Master of Science in psychology, and holds dual Doctorates in Educational Leadership and Pastoral Practice from the St. Thomas University School of Arts and Education and the Graduate Theological Foundation. He was granted the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Franciscan University. Schenck is a member of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where he completed the Master Course in bioethics taught by Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, the noted bioethicist and academic. Schenck is a registered practitioner with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), is Board Certified in Pastoral Counseling, and is listed as a pastoral psychotherapist with Psychology Today. He is currently working as a spiritual integrator at the Saint Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, as well as a private practitioner in spiritual counseling.
Between 1988 and 1992 Schenck became known as a pro-life activist, author, media commentator, and as a leader of large public demonstrations. He challenged a federal injunction prohibiting certain demonstration activity. The case, Schenck V. Pro-Choice Network (1997) was decided by the US Supreme Court, which found 8 -1 that certain restrictions against Schenck violated the First Amendment, while others were permissible in the interest of public safety. Between 1994 and 1997 Schenck was executive vice president of the American Center for Law & Justice, a public interest law firm then headed by attorney Jay Alan Sekulow. After 2016, he and his twin brother, Robert, "Rev. Rob Schenck", publicly distanced themselves from the pro-life movement. Rob Schenck published a memoir criticizing the movement for making moral compromises in exchange for political legitimacy. The Schenck brothers no longer consider themselves pro-life leaders.
Professional life.
As of 2020, Schenck is a spiritual integration therapist in private practice with clients in telehealth, clinical, and office practice. He is a member of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education in which he is a registered practitioner (#16634). He is also a member of the National Board of Pastoral Counselors, the American Counseling Association, and the Association for Transpersonal Psychology. In his Pastoral Counseling practice, he uses an eclectic approach, with the main focus in Logotherapy, developed by the renowned neuro-psychiatrist and author Dr. Viktor Frankl. Logotherapy aims to discover and apply a sense of meaning and purpose in overcoming problems in life such as substance use and abuse, relational conflicts, self-esteem, and self-care, anxiety and depression, and spiritual needs such as love, companionship, enjoyment, optimism and religious satisfaction.
He is a faculty member of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and has taught at the Elim Bible Institute, the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and Thomas More College. In 2019 ProQuest published his research in the experience and operation of sensual and emotional empathy using the seminal theoretical work of Edith Stein.
Personal life.
Schenck is married to Rebecca "Becky" Wald, an artist and gardener, and founding CEO of BookNow, an online book and media resale service. They have eight children and five grandchildren.


Marilyn Musgrave

Marilyn Neoma Musgrave (née Shuler; born January 27, 1949), American politician, is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who served from 2003 to 2009, representing the 4th District of Colorado.
Musgrave served on the Agriculture and Small Business Committees. In the 110th Congress, she served as Ranking Minority member of the Specialty Crops, Rural Development, and Foreign Agriculture subcommittee. She also served as the Region Two representative for the Republican Steering Committee. She was the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Colorado.
Musgrave lost her seat in 2008 to Democratic challenger Betsy Markey by a 56 to 44 percent margin.
Musgrave currently works for the Susan B. Anthony List, a non-profit that supports anti-abortion women in politics.
Background and early political career.
Musgrave was born Marilyn Neoma Shuler in Greeley, Colorado. She graduated from Eaton High School in 1968, and attended Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, graduating with a B.A. in social studies in 1972. Musgrave married while attending CSU. She and her husband Steve Musgrave settled in Fort Morgan, south of Greeley, where they owned and operated a bale stacking business. Musgrave also taught school. The Musgraves have four children and eight grandchildren.
Musgrave's career in elective office began in 1991, when she served one term on the Fort Morgan School Board, where she focused on changing the local sex education curriculum to abstinence-only. She was also involved in the Fort Morgan Right To Life chapter, at one time serving as its president. Musgrave was then elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives in 1992, and served there until after her successful 1998 campaign for a Colorado State Senate seat. While serving in the state senate, Musgrave was selected the Senate Republican Caucus Chairman. In 2002, Musgrave ran for the Fourth Congressional District seat being vacated by Bob Schaffer.
Musgrave is a devout Pentecostal (she is a member of the Assemblies of God), and was one of three Pentecostals serving in the 110th Congress. The others—Republicans—were Tim Johnson of Illinois and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas.
Musgrave was one of the most conservative members of the state legislature, often sparring with more socially moderate and liberal legislators. She focused her time on social issues. She staunchly opposed granting civil unions and marriage for same-sex couples. In another area she was active on small business and agricultural issues, particularly authoring bills to exempt farm equipment dealers from sales tax and lowering taxes on small business.
Election history.
2002 election.
In 2002, after Congressman Bob Schaffer retired, Musgrave ran for and won the Republican nomination to succeed him. Her opponent was businessman Jeff Bedingfield. She received a big boost in the primary when she gained the endorsements of Schaffer and former Senator William Armstrong.
In November 2002 Musgrave defeated Democratic State Senate President Stan Matsunaka 55% to 42%. She had been favored most of the way due to her large campaign war chest and the district's traditional Republican lean (it had been in Republican hands since 1973).
2004 re-election.
In 2004, Musgrave faced Matsunaka again. Matsunaka attacked Musgrave as a "one-trick pony," referring to her focus on outlawing same-sex marriage (see below). He also claimed that Musgrave neglected the 4th's needs and provided poor constituent services.
In the end, Musgrave held her seat by taking 51% of the vote to Matsunaka's 45%. Musgrave won most of the counties in this large and mostly rural district by margins of 2-to-1 or more. However, 85% of the district's vote is cast in two counties which account for only a third of its land—Larimer (home to Fort Collins) and Weld (home to Greeley). Musgrave lost Larimer County by 4,100 votes. She also lost the district's share of Boulder County, including Longmont. She was only able to hold onto her seat by winning Weld County by 15 points (almost 10,000 votes)—far larger than the overall margin of victory. She was also undoubtedly helped by George W. Bush's 58% win in the district.
While Matsunaka only entered the race in May and raised around $800,000, Musgrave was heavily targeted by a 527 group funded by Colorado activists such as Tim Gill. The ads featured an actress dressed up like Musgrave picking a corpse's pocket and stealing from a soldier in combat.
2006 re-election.
In 2006, Musgrave faced Democratic state representative Angie Paccione. Also running was Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness, who had previously considered a Republican Party primary challenge to Musgrave but later decided to become a Democrat.
The election was even tighter than the last. Musgrave won a third term by only 5,984 votes, taking 45.61% of the vote to Paccione's 43.12% and Eidsness' 11.28%. She lost Larimer County by an even larger margin than in 2004. However, Musgrave won Weld County by just under 6,700 votes/
2008 campaign.
Musgrave ran for a fourth term in the 2008 election, held on November 4, 2008. Her opponent was Betsy Markey, the regional director for Senator Ken Salazar in the 4th.
Musgrave was soundly defeated, taking only 44 percent of the vote to Markey's 56 percent—the second-largest margin of defeat for a Republican incumbent in 2008 cycle, after Florida's Tom Feeney. In a repeat of 2004 and 2006, she easily won most of the rural counties in her district while losing badly in Larimer County—this time by 32,300 votes. She lost Weld County by 5,700 votes after having carried it in her previous bids, sealing her defeat.
After her defeat, Musgrave would not comment on the election results with the media, nor would she concede the race or contact Markey to congratulate her. She later recorded a robocall for Republican Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss, saying that she was defeated by "leftist special interests" who "smothered the truth with vicious attacks and lies."
Political ideology.
The American Conservative Union ranked Musgrave as the most conservative member of the House, with a 99 lifetime rating. The National Journal ranked her as the 28th most conservative member based on her 2007 votes. Her original House Website contained the phrase, "Defending our way of life through conservative leadership." She was a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee House caucus and its "Values Action Team." In 2005, Musgrave received the "Distinguished Christian Statesman" award from D. James Kennedy's Center for Christian Statesmanship.
Other political groups that Musgrave is allied with include the National Right to Life Committee, Focus on the Family, Alliance for Marriage, the Family Research Council, the National Taxpayers Union, the Christian Coalition, and the Traditional Values Coalition. Musgrave has taken trips sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and Club for Growth.
Following her defeat in 2008, Musgrave began working for the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion organization.
Same-sex marriage.
Musgrave sponsored of the unsuccessful Federal Marriage Amendment in the 108th and 109th Congresses, originally drafted by the Alliance for Marriage. This proposed constitutional amendment would define marriage as "the union of a man and a woman" and bar any recognition of same-sex marriage or "legal incidents thereof" in the United States.
In a September 2006 speech to the Family Research Council's "Values Voters Summit", Musgrave said, "as we face the issues that we are facing today, I don't think there's anything more important out there than the marriage issue." Musgrave later distanced herself from these claims during the 2006 election.
Abortion.
Musgrave is anti-abortion, staunchly opposing elective abortion. At the national level, she has supported the Partial Birth Abortion Ban and the Child Custody Protection Act. Musgrave is an original cosponsor of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. She received the support of the Susan B. Anthony List as a candidate and now works for the organization.
Musgrave opposes public funding for embryonic stem cell research on abortion-related grounds, and was a vocal proponent of the 2005 congressional intervention into the Terri Schiavo case:
When we talk about a permanent vegetative state, I am offended by that. Terri smiles and acknowledges the people that love her when they come to see her. She cries when they leave. How heartless are we to call somebody like Terri Schiavo a vegetable? What are we thinking?<br>When we think about this case, we need to think about the message that we are sending to our children and our grandchildren. What we do in this Chamber tonight is as important as anything we have done in defending our Nation, in doing the things that we do as Members of Congress.
Musgrave weighed in on the Emergency Contraception controversy. On July 25, 2005, Musgrave criticized a witness at a congressional subcommittee hearing who had claimed she was "humiliated and discriminated against" at a pharmacist's refusal to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, claiming that it was only an issue of "inconvenience" to be denied emergency contraception. In 2003, a Musgrave submitted an amendment to the "Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act", which would have prevented distribution of contraception to runaway teen. The amendment was not part of the final legislation
Second Amendment rights.
Musgrave strongly opposes gun control and successfully passed an amendment prohibiting the enforcement of a federal requirement to sell trigger locks with all handguns. She is the founder of the 2nd Amendment Caucus and is working to protect gun manufacturers and dealers from certain types of lawsuits.
Musgrave is a close ally of the Gun Owners of America (GOA) a firearms lobbying group considered to be more strictly opposed to gun control than the National Rifle Association. Another close ally of Musgrave's from her state legislative days is Dudley Brown, who directs the Colorado wing of the GOA, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.
On September 25, 2004, Musgrave was a special guest speaker at the 19th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference awards luncheon, where she was named "Gun Rights Legislator of the Year."
Home schooling.
Musgrave advocates changing the laws to lend more support to families who home-school their children. According to her website, she believes that government intrudes too much on family affairs. Musgrave home schooled one of her children, as well.
Musgrave is closely linked to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). Also, members of Generation Joshua, an HSLDA branch that tries to involve youth in politics, were sent to Musgrave's district in the final hours of the 2006 campaign.
Workforce and economy.
Musgrave is one of the staunchest proponents of national Right to Work legislation, and was a cosponsor of The National Right to Work Act. Musgrave was heavily targeted by labor unions in the 2006 election. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation president Mark Mix held a fundraiser for Musgrave at New York's Harvard Club in 2006. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Musgrave helped lead the effort to urge President Bush to suspend "Davis-Bacon" prevailing wage protection in the Gulf Coast region. (Bush was quickly forced to rescind this suspension.)
Taxes.
Musgrave is a strong supporter of income tax cuts, and supports making the 2001 federal tax cuts permanent. She also supports the elimination of the Estate tax and has voted to reduce tariffs on imported goods.
Religion and public law.
In June 2006, Musgrave sponsored a resolution in Congress to declare 2007 as "National Year of the Bible". The resolution text requested that President Bush issue a proclamation calling on all citizens to "rediscover and apply the priceless and timeless message of the Bible" and encourage them to join the U.S. Federal government in celebrating the year with Bible "programs, ceremonies, and activities." The resolution died in committee.
In June 2005, Musgrave cited Coral Ridge Ministries founder D. James Kennedy, a minister, evangelist and Christian social conservative leader, as one of her inspirations to enter politics:
In the 2002 Republican primary debate with opponent Jeff Beddingfield in Greeley, Colorado, Musgrave stated that the First Amendment does not offer "freedom "from" religion." In a 2003 interview with "Today's Pentecostal Evangel", Musgrave explained how her religious beliefs play a key function in her public position:
The problems in our culture are just symptoms of spiritual problems in our nation. We must return to God and biblical principles for answers. There are limitations to what we can do, but I'm so thankful I have a voice and a vote.
In March 2007, Musgrave joined the Congressional Prayer Caucus, which is chaired by J. Randy Forbes. Forbes states the organization's purpose is to "build a spiritual wall around America."
In May 2007, Musgrave participated in a "Bible Reading Marathon" event on the West Front of the US Capitol.
Other issues.
Musgrave is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, she cosponsored H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. In June 2008, Musgrave voted with the House Democrats and a minority of Republicans to save energy though the use of public transportation.
Interest group ratings.
The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, the political action committee of the National Rifle Association, gives Musgrave an 'A' for her support of pro-gun issues facing Congress. The NRA-PVF states than an 'A' for Musgrave indicates that she is solidly 'pro-gun' and that she has "supported NRA positions on key votes."
The Center for Christian Statesmanship, founded by D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries, awarded Musgrave the "Distinguished Christian Statesman Award" in 2005.
The Christian Coalition has ranked Musgrave's voting record at '100%' in support of the pro-Christian Coalition legislation listed on their scorecard. The Christian Coalition was founded in 1989 by Pat Robertson and is dedicated to helping give conservative Christians a voice in their government.
Agriculture Committee.
From 2003 through 2005, $14.7 billion in crop subsidies went to the congressional districts of members on the House Committee on Agriculture, an analysis by the non-partisan Environmental Working Group found. That was 42.4% of the total subsidies. Musgrave is reported to have brought $330 million to her district.


Queer Liberaction

Queer Liberaction (QL) is a Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas-based grassroots organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The group was founded in November 2008 following the international attention surrounding California's Proposition 8, which changed that state's Constitution to deny marriage rights to any LGBT couples who are not defined as "a man and a woman", passed by a slight majority.
The organization is a proponent of same-sex marriage rights for LGBT couples, considering civil unions and domestic partnerships as less than full equality.
The organization's campaigns and actions utilize visible, confrontational styles and non-violent direct action.
Background.
Proposition 8 was the most expensive initiative in U.S. history with each side spending in excess of $35 million. California had recently allowed same-sex marriage and within six months 18,000 couples had wed. After the election, non-heterosexual marriages were immediately halted, efforts to legally challenge the proposition started and nationwide protests against the proposition's passage took place. Polls showed that regular churchgoers sided in favor of the measure by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 and made up nearly one-quarter of the voters. In addition The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), was noted for protests for its strong support both financially and in volunteers for its participation.
Founders and members of the group are inspired and influenced by the Stonewall riots in the late 1960s, the activism and organizing work of San Francisco's Castro activist Harvey Milk who was assassinated in 1978; the White Night riots in the aftermath of the Milk's murderer trial; and the HIV/AIDS activism of the 1980s and early 1990s.
QL has been more willing to challenge anti-LGBT churches and religious organizations than more established LGBT rights groups have traditionally done. First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas and various LDS churches, all of which have been outspoken in their opposition to LGBT rights, have been directly focussed on by the group.
Organization and mission.
Volunteers run the organization and the events, unlike most modern LGBT events such as pride parades, avoid heavy involvement with corporate sponsors and commercial opportunities. The group keeps most events sparse and focussed on First Amendment Free Speech issues which typically do not require permitting. QL generally organizes online with Internet services such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, e-mail, and other websites.
The group's mission statement reads, in part, "Homophobia is the foundation of queer inequality and oppression. In order to liberate ourselves from this oppression, we must directly, visbly, and publicly confront it along with organizations, institutions, groups or individuals who support or promote discrimination towards the Queer community. [...] We do not ask for equality. We demand it."
Campaigns/actions.
Named for pioneering LGBT activist and community organizer Harvey Milk, the "Milk Box" is a modern soap box placed on busy street corners for people to stand upon and voice their opinions whether in agreement or opposition to the views of QL. At first the box was placed in Oak Lawn, the traditional gay strip of Dallas, but has since been used throughout the city.
The group also stages same-sex kiss-ins in public, which is rarely seen outside the gay neighborhoods. At these events same gendered couples publicly kiss. QL staged a public same-sex marriages as part of National Freedom to Marry Day to draw attention to the fact that these marriages are not legal according to Texas law. Texas also does not offer civil unions or domestic partnerships.
Like many equal marriage rights proponents QL held protests at the post office on April 15 (U.S. tax day), to highlight the higher taxes LGBT couples incur due to their inability to legally marry.
Rainbow Lounge police raid.
Just past midnight, in the early morning hours of June 28, 2009, a newly opened gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge, in Fort Worth, Texas was raided by members of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) and the Fort Worth Police. Patrons of the bar were celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, generally considered the birth of the modern LGBT civil rights movement. Several customers were arrested for public intoxication and one customer received a severe head and brain injury while in custody. The police also claimed the customers made sexual advances and contact with them, which was disputed by all witnesses. Other customers were detained and later released without arrest. QL organized a protest at the Fort Worth Court House by 7pm the same day. The protest was covered by all local TV news shows and all local newspapers, and was reported internationally. In response to the raid, QL organized a protest, a candelight vigil for the victim, a Milk Box event, and a later more formal protest.


Eddie Cusic

Eddie Cusic (January 4, 1926 – August 11, 2015) was an American Mississippi blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His small body of recorded works includes some erroneously credited to "Eddie Quesie" and "Eddie Cusie". Cusic had musical connections with Little Milton and with James "Son" Thomas.
Life and career.
Cusic was born in Wilmot, Mississippi, due south of Leland, Mississippi, in 1926. Growing up in a farming community, he was inspired to play the blues after hearing adults playing at family gatherings. He graduated from playing the diddley bow to a Sears acoustic guitar. In the early 1950s, he formed the Rhythm Aces, a three-piece band, which played throughout the Mississippi Delta. One member of the group was Little Milton, whom Cusic taught to play the guitar. Following service in the United States Army, which began in 1952, Cusic settled in Leland and found employment as a laborer and tractor driver at Delta Branch Agricultural Research Station in Stoneville, Mississippi. When it was discovered that he was adept at working on motors, he was placed in the shop there as a mechanic, where he remained until his retirement. In the 1970s, Cusic performed with James "Son" Thomas at regular engagements. Together they recorded "Once I Had a Car", which appeared on the compilation album "Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues" (1977). He retired from full-time work in 1989, and having been urged by his good friend Thomas, Cusic returned to performing with an acoustic guitar. He appeared at the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville, Mississippi, the Sunflower River Blues Festival, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Chicago Blues Festival.
In 1998, Cusic made a "field recording" at his house in Leland and delivered versions of several blues standards in his own pure Mississippi blues styling. The recording included cover versions of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", "Big Boss Man", "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Catfish Blues". AllMusic noted that the resultant album, "I Want to Boogie", was "a strong debut that also makes the first new 'blues discovery' since the halcyon days of the 1960s". It was released by HighTone Records. A reworked version, containing several different tracks, was released in 2012, entitled "Leland Mississippi Blues".
C2C sampled the vocals from Cusic's, “You Don't Have to Go” for their 2012 track, "Down the Road".
Cusic died of prostate cancer on August 11, 2015, aged 89.


AIDS.Center

The AIDS.Center Foundation (, full name: "the Foundation in support of people who live with HIV “AIDS.Center Foundation”") is a non-profit organization established by a Russian journalist and TV presenter Anton Krasovsky and the head of the outpatient and outpatient department of the Moscow Regional AIDS Center Elena Orlova-Morozova to help people living with HIV and to fight discrimination.
History.
In 2014, the journalist Anton Krasovsky took part in the launch of the Moscow regional center campaign for prevention and control of AIDS and infectious diseases "New Generation Without HIV", in which people were urged to get tested for HIV. TV presenters Andrey Malakhov and , actresses Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Daria Melnikova, Polina Kutepova, Yuliya Snigir, , actors Artur Smolyaninov, , and singer took part in the campaign.
In February 2015, the site codice_1 was launched. Initially, it was to draw attention to the problems of the patients of the Moscow region AIDS Center, but later it became an independent awareness raising project on the HIV problem, aimed for a wide audience.
The public educational campaign "Don’t be afraid, we are with you", aiming to support people living with HIV, was launched in November 2015. It was promoted by the family of the singer and former member of the group "Chay Vdvoyom" . Its was followed by the "Do not be afraid" project, which was launched on March 1, 2016 by AIDS.Center and the TV channel Dozhd.
The Foundation in support of people who live with HIV "AIDS.Center Foundation" was established in July 2016 by Anton Krasovsky and the head of the outpatient department of the Moscow Regional AIDS Center Elena Orlova-Morozova. The Foundation's mission is to help HIV-positive people and inform the public about HIV and AIDS. In September of the same year, AIDS.Center won the award “Made in Russia - 2016” of " project" in the nomination "Social Project".
The collaboration between AIDS.Center and TV channel "Dozhd" continued in September 2016 in the "My HIV-Story" project - a series of videos in which HIV-positive people talked about the experience of accepting their diagnosis. On December 1, 2016, the Moscow Regional AIDS Center launched an advertising campaign "Do not be afraid to talk and to live", telling about the lives of people with HIV status. Videos for TV were created with the support of AIDS.Center.
The fund opened an office in "ArtPlay" space on Nizhnyaya Syromyatnicheskaya Street, 11, in February 2017. The office is also used as a public space and a venue for lectures, seminars on legal issues, discussion meetings, support groups and various events. For example, in 2017, a photo exhibition "the Brave" and a week of fast testing for HIV, coincided with the World AIDS Day, celebrated on December 1.
In December 2017, Anton Krasovsky, in an interview with "Zag", told that he has lived with HIV since 2011.
Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors of the Foundation includes four people:
Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees of the Foundation includes six people:


HIV/AIDS in Mexico

In 2016, the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in adults aged 15–49 was 0.3%, relatively low for a developing country. This low prevalence has been maintained, as in 2006, the HIV prevalence in Mexico was estimated at around 0.3% as well. The infected population is remains mainly concentrated among high risk populations, MSM, intravenous drug users, and commercial sex workers. This low national prevalence is not reflected in the high-risk populations. The prison population in Mexico, faces a fairly similar low rate of around 0.7%. Among the population of prisoners, around 2% are known to be infected with HIV. Sex workers, male and female, face an HIV prevalence of around 7%. Identifying gay men and MSM have a prevalence of 17.3%. The highest risk-factor group is identifying transgender people; about 17.4% of this population is known to be infected with HIV. Around 90% of new infections occur by sex-related methods of transmission. . Of these known infected populations, around 60% of living infected people are known to be on anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
Drivers of Transmission.
Men who have sex with men (MSM).
The AIDS epidemic is concentrated primarily among MSM, sex workers and their clients, and intravenous drug users. Results of a 2006 study by Bravo-Garcia et al. reported by UNAIDS indicate that sex between men accounts for 57 percent of the HIV infections. Mexico's National Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control (CENSIDA) estimates that HIV prevalence among MSM was 10 to 13.5 percent in 2006. Results from studies in 2006 by Gayet et al., Magis et al., and the Biological Behavioral Surveillance Survey conducted in Mexico showed that HIV prevalence rates among male sex workers were 25 percent in Monterrey, 20 percent in Guadalajara and Mexico City, and 12 percent in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl.[1]
Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs).
A gradual shift is occurring toward higher rates of infection among both injecting drug users (IDUs) and women, and rates are also rising among female sex workers (FSWs). A 2004–2006 study by Patterson et al. in 2006 showed that HIV prevalence in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, cities on the U.S. border, was 6 percent among FSWs and 16 percent among IDUs. Research by Gayet et al. in 2006 also showed that HIV prevalence among male long-distance truck drivers in Monterrey was 0.7 percent (double the estimated national adult HIV prevalence). More than one-quarter of them had paid for sex in the previous year and one-sixth of them had never used a condom. The role of IDUs in Mexico's epidemic is difficult to determine, but an association with drug use has been observed in cities along the border with the United States, where the spread of HIV through the sharing of drug-injecting equipment is of growing concern.
Population Mobility.
Population mobility is a factor in HIV/AIDS transmission in Mexico. Though the overall infection prevalence is relatively low nationwide, the prevalence of HIV in border cities is disproportionately higher. Border cities, such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez are major sites of drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and commercial sex work and tourism. About 90% of the methamphetamine and 30% of the heroin in the United States was made in Mexico and smuggled in through the border. Cross-border activity, including immigration from Central America and the influx of those returning from migrant work in the United States, has contributed to the spread of the epidemic, particularly in rural parts of the country. Mobile populations are at higher risk of HIV infection because of poverty, violence, lack of access to health services, increased risk-taking behavior, rape, loneliness, and the availability of sex workers.[2] Migrant work between the United States and Mexico has been common among Mexican workers searching for seasonal work, often in agriculture.
The wealth disparity that exists between Mexico and the United States creates an economy between the two countries in which large numbers of Mexican workers are constantly seeking work on the other side of the border due to economic and political instability in the Mexican government. In Mexico in particular, the income gap that exists between the upper and lower classes is severe, and issues of poverty plague areas throughout the country. In general, there are large concentrations of high-risk populations moving to and from the border cities of Mexico and the United States. "Tijuana and San Diego share the busiest land-border crossing in the world, with 45.9 million northbound legal border crossings in 2006 alone. Considerable bidirectional mobility exists among high-risk populations at this international border crossing."
Heterosexual Transmission.
Although the epidemic in Mexico remains concentrated, it could become generalized due to high-risk behaviors in the general population. There are signs that heterosexual transmission of HIV is increasing as more women are being infected. According to a recent population-based survey by the National Council for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, in 2001, 15 percent of married and cohabitating men reported extrarelational sex during the last year, and only 9 percent of them used a condom at last intercourse. Eighty percent of these men perceived no HIV risk from their behavior. Mexican women are at risk for HIV infection because they often are unable to negotiate condom use. In Mexican culture, "machismo" and traditional values, in which women are subservient to the men in their lives, places women in inferior positions in society. According to published research by Olivarrieta and Sotelo (1996) and others, the prevalence of domestic violence in Mexico varies between 30 and 60 percent. In this context, requesting condom use with a stable partner is perceived as a sign of infidelity and asking to use a condom can result in domestic violence.[2]
Urban Concentration.
HIV infection in Mexico is concentrated in urban areas, where more than 77 percent of the population lives. Most HIV prevention programs focus on urban populations, though there are efforts to reach out to rural, mobile, and indigenous populations.
Tuberculosis Co-infection.
The potential for HIV-tuberculosis (TB) co-infection is also a concern in Mexico, as it is in other countries. Studies have shown TB to be the second most frequent infection in AIDS patients in Mexico. It is more prevalent in urban centers among IDUs and individuals of lower socioeconomic status. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the incidence of TB is 10 per 100,000 and 1.1 percent of adults newly diagnosed with TB were found to be HIV-positive in 2006.[2] Tuberculosis co-infection is known to be the leading killer of all AIDS-related diseases in the world. (cite) Both tuberculosis and HIV suppress the immune system in complex ways that are still not completely known to the medical community. When the two infect the body together, oftentimes the infections will exacerbate each other, making treatment more complicated.
Border Cities.
Commercial Sex Workers.
According to studies, the prevalence of HIV among female sex workers (FSWs) in Mexican border cities has increased within the last decade. In a study conducted in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, 55 out of 924, 6%, female sex workers tested positive for HIV. The average age of the FSWs was 32, only about 19% spoke English, and the majority of them had little to no education. Among female sex workers in border cities, exposure to and use of intravenous drugs with clients greatly increases risk of HIV infection. "FSWs who used stimulants had greater odds of HIV infection, even if they did not inject. Injection drug use and sex work have been shown to overlap considerably in various settings".
IDUs.
Mexico's border cities account for the majority of intravenous drugs, methamphetamine and heroine, that are trafficked into the United States. Much of the cities, economy is an informal one, made up of different groups, all contributing to the drug trade. These groups include, gangs, drug dealers, corrupt police, corrupt government officials, immigrants who traffic the drugs across the border on foot, and sex workers, who by way of their clients, are indirectly involved. As a result of this informal economy dominating the cities and corrupting municipal processes, rates of intravenous drug usage is atypically high. The urban poor in Mexico is often exacerbated due to high unemployment rates and lack of stability in government resources. Involvement in the informal economy is oftentimes unavoidable for many, especially those who are impoverished. In border cities, a great majority of the urban poor is made up of men and women who were living in the United States in an undocumented state and have since been deported, sometimes multiple times, and are ostracized from their families and jobs in the United States. Many of these deportees were forced to leave the United States with little notice, without any money or belongings, and no resources or plans to rely on when they are displaced back into Mexico. As a result, many of these deportees are forced to find work wherever possible, without any resources or aid from the United States or Mexican government. Many are forced to resort to commercial sex work or drug trafficking, therefore, increasing the high risk populations that exist.
Discrimination.
Another challenge Mexico currently faces is unequal access to quality care and the need to train health workers and clinics in using antiretroviral treatment (ART).[2]The spread of HIV/AIDS in Mexico is exacerbated by stigma and discrimination (S&D), which act as a barrier to prevention, testing, and treatment. The 2001 UNGASS declaration stated that "stigma, silence, discrimination and denial, together with lack of confidentiality, weaken the prevention efforts, care and treatment." S&D occur within families, health services, the police, and the workplace. A study conducted by Infante-Xibille in 2004 of 373 health care providers in three states in Mexico described discrimination within health services. HIV testing was conducted only with perceived high-risk groups, often without informed consent. Patients with AIDS were often isolated. A 2005 five-city participatory community assessment by Colectivo Sol, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), found that some HIV hospital patients had a sign over their beds stating they were HIV-positive. There was also discrimination in the workplace. In León, Guanajuato, researchers found that seven out of 10 people in the study had lost their jobs because of their HIV status. The same study also documented evidence of discrimination that MSM experienced within their families.[2]
National response.
"Condonetas".
In response to the fact that less than 46% of men who have sex with men and less than 41% of intravenous drug users in Tijuana having reported taking an HIV test, the Federal Ministry of Health, implemented an outreach program known as "condonetas" in several cities to improve prevention tactics. "Condonetas"are mobile clinics, or vans, that drive around and hand out various resources to high risk communities to educate individuals about their risks and directly give them assistance. "Condonetas" are equipped with fast response HIV tests, condoms, clean needles, alcohol wipes, and bottles of bleach to clean the needles if they are going to be shared. These mobile clinics are brightly decorated, adorned with cartoon condoms, and loud speakers. In essence, "condonetas" are attempting to go against the conservatism of Mexican societal norms and bring sex education to the people instead of allowing them to remain uninformed and at risk. "Health officials say this year in Tijuana alone, the condonetas will hand out more than one-million condoms, and more than 50,000 clean syringes."
Government Recognition.
Mexico has a national policy on HIV/AIDS treatment and has made notable gains in providing access to ART for the infected population. Since 2003, Mexico has been providing universal access to ART through the national health system. Although the WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF report Towards Universal Access states that 76 percent of HIV-infected people who needed it were receiving ART in December 2006, the government indicates that everyone identified with advanced disease is receiving treatment. Mexico was also successful in securing the blood supply early on, and no cases of HIV have been detected recently through this mode of transmission. CENSIDA has been active since 1988 and collaborates with other government entities as well as with NGOs, including organizations of persons living with HIV/AIDS. This collaboration is a significant asset in the national response to HIV/AIDS, because a coordinated response between government and civil society has proven to be more effective than government entities acting alone.
Mexico established a national network of HIV/AIDS ambulatory health care facilities known as Centros Ambulatorios Para la Prevencion y Atencion en SIDA e ITS (CAPASITS). The CAPASITS are the result of collaboration among local governments, the national government, and NGOs and provide comprehensive community-based attention and treatment free of charge to people with HIV.
In a landmark decision in February 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the military to discharge 11 HIV-positive soldiers and deny them access to military health services. The court ruled that being HIV-positive does not in itself imply an inability to serve in the armed forces and that the military must decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not a soldier can remain in active service. The ruling establishes a precedent allowing dismissed soldiers to seek redress in federal appeals court.