(Dublin) The Republic of Ireland may follow the United Kingdom in legalizing same-sex relationships.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell met with LGBT community leaders in Dublin following the first civil partnership ceremonies in the UK and announced a the creation of a government committee to examine ways of recognizing gay unions.

McDowell said that the working group would look at various options and make recommendations to the government in March.

"Our view is that the center of gravity in Ireland has shifted," said McDowell. "Irish people know that being fair to everyone in the community is good for the community."

This week's meeting between the minister and the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) was the latest of a series of discussions over the past few months.

"We are arguing for equality of rights and responsibilities in relationships, we are arguing for civil marriages," said Kieran Rose, GLEN chairperson. "This is the last measure to finally declare lesbians and gay men are full and equal citizens in Ireland," he said.

A little background - QueerAtlanta was my first group founded Mar 15, 2001 after I saw a need for an online group in Atlanta to share news, events and opinions - mostly mine. Many people have posted over the years and I am very proud of this group being listed all over the Internet and mentioned in several newspapers - including Southern Voice.

We will be reaching 1000 members in 2006 and I want to see the group expand by adding more editors and updating the calendar more frequently. Calendars also have a reminder feature making it easy to inform the community of upcoming events - and even can be set for recurring items like meeting or support groups.

Just to share - my pet peeve over the years is people using "GLBT" over "LGBT." My preference is "LGBT" and if you search Google and Yahoo! for the terms you will see "LGBT" is the move dominant term - but it seems to be controversial with some people. I have backed off a little on this and would prefer to see "LGBT" on this list but will be open to groups using "GLBT" in their name. It is more of an editorial standard many news organizations and professional groups use. Adding letters to the name falls under the same issue.

Oddly enough, I created the additional groups over the last few years and was surprised to see QueerGulfCoast explode to 612 members since Oct 5, 2003. I didn't really promote the group but I was living in the area for awhile.

So look for some exciting new changes coming and a few new projects that tie into these groups - and get involved.

And don't forget there is a DIGEST version for people getting too many emails. Just go under "Edit Membership" under Yahoo! Groups or "Unsubscribe or change membership" under Google Groups.

Email me to be an editor or to add your events and meetings..

Cheers!

Tom Dempsey
Owner - QueerNetwork