May 2010

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Antony Grey

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An Amazing Escape

Arresting the Pope

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Priestly Abuse

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Big Gay Flashmob

Exit Strategy

House of Homophobia

Kampania Przeciw Homofobii

Vote seXuality

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Steven Dean

’Toons

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Gaytheist

The Gaytheist list is an uncensored discussion group for gay and gay-friendly straight atheists, agnostics and freethinkers who want to discuss matters of interest. Gaytheist encourages free debate on all subjects loosely related to being gay and/or being a nonbeliever.

If you want to comment on what’s happening in the world of religion, especially as it affects gay people (but you don’t have to restrict yourself too harshly!), or point us to an interesting article, or you have an opinion on a news story or event, we’d all love to hear your views.

This discussion list is brought to you by the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT), the people who produce Gay & Lesbian Humanist and the Pink Triangle blog.

Guidelines

We don’t have rules here, just a few guidelines, which we’re sure you would agree with, anyway, since they are just common sense.

The following are inappropriate for posting to this and most other lists: material that is defamatory or otherwise unlawful; commercial advertising; copyright material without the consent of the copyright owner (except for brief extracts); personal correspondence without the consent of the author.

Apart from the exceptions noted above, there are no formal restrictions on content that is appropriate for posting to the Gaytheist list, although clearly the list will work best if the general focus is on topics of concern to the members it serves. These might include, but are not restricted to, themes such as:
 

• comment or feedback on items published in any journal
   

• discussion on what the wider gay atheist community is doing, or could do, or should do
   

• news items or action alerts of special relevance
   

• discussion of lesbian/gay/bisexual issues from a humanist perspective
   

• discussion of humanist issues from a lesbian/gay/bisexual perspective
   

• discussion of other issues from any of these perspectives
   

This list allows you to post messages with attachments, including messages in HTML format.

Please be aware (whether you post messages or simply read the list) that this means that malware such as viruses can be transmitted in messages sent via the list, although the risk is low if posters act responsibly and keep their systems clear of infection. Malware can be embedded in HTML messages even with no visible attachments. Some years ago it was possible to activate a worm just by opening such a message in Outlook Express, but Microsoft subsequently plugged that loophole, and worms that exploit it are no longer prevalent.

Ensure (as you should anyway) that your system is protected:

• antivirus software installed and active at all times [A highly recommended and FREE antivirus software is AVG, which you can download by clicking here – Ed.]
   

• virus definitions kept constantly up to date
   

• scanning of all incoming and outgoing email switched on
   

• firewall software installed and active at all times
   

• web browser security set to an adequate level

It’s good practice to post plain-text messages in plain-text format. The same message in HTML format is typically twice the size and can be very much larger, depending on which mail client you use to create the message. Microsoft Outlook (but not Outlook Express) is a particular culprit in this respect.

If you routinely send messages in HTML format, please consider using plain-text format instead when you aren’t actually using rich-text features (such as bold, italics, underlining, colour, multiple fonts or different font sizes).

Try to avoid posting attachments of types that can contain malware. This includes executable files and Word documents among others. If you do have good reason to post such a file, run a virus scan on it first to check that it’s clean.

Try to avoid posting excessively large attachments, especially where the material is available (or can be made available) on the Web. In that case it’s better to post a link with a short description instead.

Netiquette

If you’re new to mailing lists, you may find it helpful to read one of the many guides to netiquette, the set of guidelines that has grown up among the Internet community over many years to help make electronic communication a productive and enjoyable experience for all concerned. Try one of these for starters:

• Netiquette Guidelines, by Sally Hambridge
   

• A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community, by Chuq Von Rospach. Although, strictly, this refers to Usenet newsgroups, many of the principles are relevant to mailing lists, too.
   

Other information
 

Gaytheist group email addresses:
 

• to subscribe, mail: gaytheist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
   

• to unsubscribe, mail: gaytheist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
   

• the list owner is at: gaytheist-owner@yahoogroups.com
   

Your message will be forwarded automatically to everyone who is currently subscribed to the list (apart from those who have switched off message forwarding). It will also be stored in an archive available via the Yahoo! Groups website to new subscribers who join the list later and want to catch up on past messages. This archive is accessible only to members of the list. As an additional security measure, email addresses are masked out in the archive.

– Thanks to Brett Humphreys
for drawing up these guidelines.