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Portugal set to legalize gay marriage! (from Yahoo! News): Catholic Portugal, traditionally one of Europe's most socially conservative countries, is expected to approve the legalisation of gay marriage on Friday with a minimum of fuss.

With the governing Socialists and other left-wing parties enjoying a strong majority, the new law is likely to sail through the first reading debate and gain final approval before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI, due in Portugal in May.

In contrast to Spain, where the lead-up to the legalisation of gay marriage in 2005 brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets, the bill in Portugal has provoked only muted opposition even from the right.

While normally vocal on the role of marriage and the family in society, the Catholic Church has refused to mobilise on a subject which, according to Lisbon's Cardinal Patriarch Jose Policarpo, is "parliament's responsibility".

"I think the Portuguese people have learnt one of the fundamental tenets of democracy: respect for the rights of the individual," Miguel Vale de Almeida, Portugal's first openly-gay lawmaker who was elected in September, told AFP.

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Very Interesting Interview with Amanda Simpson (2008): If you have time, give this a look. I'm really glad that Amanda's appointment has not only forced the recognition of transphobia in more conservative American populations, but also within our own queer community. It's vital that we be aware.

We Want You

Hey readers,

I hope you’ve all had a relaxing winter break, whatever you’ve been up to and wherever you’ve spent it. This post is to let everyone know about an exciting event coming up for the triangle area LGBTQA community this spring semester, something that I hope you’ll all be interested in participating in.

The weekend of February 12-14 will see the first Spring LGBT and Ally retreat held at Campus Chestnut Ridge in Efland, North Carolina. Any student from Duke, UNC and NCSU is warmly invited to attend.

You may be wondering what a retreat like this entails and what sorts of activities are planned. Essentially, this retreat is about empowering students and building a sense of community. We want to help foster leaders on each campus and strengthen the ties between the LGBTQA students of the three colleges. To that end, we have a variety of awesome programming planned, including a low-ropes course, a hayride and numerous team-building group activities, facilitated by the staff of each of the LGBT centers. The philosophy behind this retreat is that we can accomplish more through collaboration, networking, pooling resources and co-hosting events. To this end, we want to bring students from the three colleges together and facilitate this cooperation. Our ultimate goals are to build a stronger LGBTQA community and to equip students with confidence and identity.

We want your help to make this retreat the best it possibly can be. We truly hope that students will feel invested in the retreat and excited about the possibilities. We’ve already spoken with a number of students about this, but what we really want are your comments, thoughts and ideas. What would truly make this retreat amazing for you? What would you hope to get out of it? What issues and activities do you think absolutely need to be included in the weekend? Is there something that you’ve participated in some other event like this that really worked well? We really value your feedback – though we already have the basic activities framework for the weekend, what we’re looking for now is what you, the community hope to gain from this event. All feedback is welcome, either through the comments section at the bottom of this article, or through emailing Alex Kilkka kilkka@email.unc.edu or me, at oww@duke.edu. If you want to get involved and play an important role in planning and coordinating this retreat, please let us know, we’d love to have your opinions, insight and ideas.

Additionally, there will be an info session about the retreat on the first Thursday back of school at UNC, for all those interested. We’ll also be starting the process for signing up for the retreat soon. For more information, visit the Facebook page for the event.

This retreat is going to be a fantastic opportunity to engage in some really meaningful community building and empowerment. It will also be a great chance to meet new friends, hang with old ones and relax away from the stress of classes and assignments. We’re really excited and we hope you all are too. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Can’t wait to see you all there and enjoy the rest of winter break!