In Brief

TOP RABBINICAL SCHOOL ACCEPTS GAYS

The pre-eminent conservative Jewish Theological Seminary in New York has moved to accept openly gay and lesbian candidates for ordination. Chancellor-elect Arnold Eisen said he believes Jewish law allows for and mandates revision of the legal limitations placed upon homosexual activity, and that his decision reaffirms the character of the centrist movement. Last year the Committee of Jewish Law and Standards voted to allow seminaries to decide on their own whether to admit openly gay students, but also allowed synagogues to reject gay and lesbian clergy.

JURISTS SET NEW PRINCIPLES FOR GAY RIGHTS

The International Commission of Jurists and International Service for Human Rights this week launched a new set of principles on the application of international human rights law to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Yogyakarta Principles were prepared by a group of international human rights experts including Australia’s the Hon. Elizabeth Evatt in response to abuses against gay, lesbian and transgender people such as extrajudicial executions, violence and torture. The principles include binding legal standards and recommendations to signing states and to the UN human rights system.

MCCAIN’S MYSPACE FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Unauthorised use of hosted images on presidential candidate John McCain’s MySpace page caused a stir this week when the image owner replaced them with a message of support for gay marriage. Unbeknownst to McCain’s staff, the image owner Mike Davidson updated the candidate’s profile to say, Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage -¦ particularly marriage between passionate females. Davidson said he wasn’t trying to make a political statement, just prank a politician who was disingenuously using MySpace to connect with younger audiences. Rather than abortion or the Iraq war, gay marriage seemed like more of a non-lethal subject to centre the prank around.

SOME MEN OPENS IN NEW YORK

Five decades of gay life are explored in Terrence McNally’s latest play, Some Men, which opened in New York this week. The plays opens with two men exchanging wedding vows, as their guests then chart their own stories of loves, lives and liberation. Basically, Some Men is all the events in the past 50 years that have led to same-sex marriage, McNally told Playbill.com.