I heard about this on

I heard about this on some news station today and thought that I'd share it with all of you. It concerns the differences between credit cards and debit cards.

Some cards with Visa and MasterCard symbols are not credit cards and will have payments deducted directly from your checking account. These are debit cards. Under federal law, you do not have the right to "charge back" problem purchases to a debit card as you do with a conventional credit card. Also, if a debit card is lost or stolen, you can have unlimited liability for losses if you do not report the problem within 60 days, which is different from the $50 maximum liability on credit cards (exception: the $50 limit applies to debit cards as well as to credit cards in Massachusetts). Make sure you know what kind of card you have. If you use a credit card to make online purchases and there is a dispute about the product you bought, the charge is removed from your billing until the dispute is solved. If you use a debit card, it's up to you to get your money back since it was directly taken out of your bank account. Make sure you know your card. Is it a credit card or debit card? They can look the same.

DELAWARE - Gay rights bill wins Minner's vote. Flanked by legislators, clergy members and human-rights activists, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner urged lawmakers Thursday to pass legislation extending anti-discrimination protection to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. House Bill 99, which narrowly passed the House last year but never emerged from a Senate committee, is back for a repeat appearance in the General Assembly. Its sponsor, Rep. William A. Oberle Jr., R-Beechers Lot, said he is close to gaining sufficient votes for House passage and its chances in the Senate look good. However, he said he is not ready to bring the bill up for a vote. "I could roll the dice now ... but this is too important legislation," Oberle said. "We're building toward that magic number of 21" votes.

OTTAWA -- NDP MP Svend Robinson has accused Justice Minister Martin Cauchon of secretly working to sabotage his anti-gay-bashing bill. The pair became embroiled in two verbal dust-ups in and outside the House of Commons yesterday. Robinson insists the minister stacked the justice committee with substitute Grit MPs who have all expressed strong "homophobic" views. "It is outrageous the minister of justice is working in an unholy alliance with the Canadian Alliance to kill this bill," said Robinson, accusing Cauchon of sending in "three goons" to replace absent committee members.

Poll: 6 in 10 Americans OK gay unions. A May 2003 Gallup poll shows that a majority of adult Americans accept the idea that same-sex relations between consenting adults should be legal and that homosexuality is an acceptable way of life. Results of the poll show that the concept of legal acceptance for gay relationships has reached the 60 percent level, up from 52 percent last year and 43 percent when Gallup first began asking about homosexuality in 1977. But when it comes to the concept of comparable rights for gay couples as compared to straight married couples, opinion is evenly divided.

Although a majority of Americans have consistently opposed the total concept of "gay marriage," when asked if they favored a law that would "allow homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples," the breakdown was 49 percent in favor, 49 percent opposed. In May 2002, when asked the same question, 46 percent were in favor, while 51 percent said they were opposed.

Workplace Gains on Gay Rights Cited. Gay rights activists racked up a string of victories last year in their efforts to make it illegal to discriminate against gays at work and to encourage employers to offer health insurance to workers' same-sex domestic partners. In 2002, 15 cities and counties passed laws banning workplace discrimination against homosexuals, up from eight in 2001, according to a report to be released today by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay lobbying group. Also, 16 jurisdictions added protection on the basis of gender identity, up from five in 2001, adding coverage for people who do not conform to sexual stereotypes, such as men who are seen as not masculine enough, women deemed unfeminine or those who have changed their sexual identity. Federal anti-discrimination laws do not include sexual orientation or identity.

Tacoma gay-straight alliance gets legal nod. In concert with the American Civil Liberties Union, lawyers for the Puyallup school district in Tacoma, Wash., have advised Puyallup High School to grant a gay-straight alliance status as a full-fledged school club, reports The [Tacoma] News Tribune. The ACLU became involved last week when members of the month-old club were not allowed to pass out leaflets at the school to advertise the club. The student council will vote next Tuesday on whether to grant the alliance full-fledged club status, which would allow the club to meet at the school and publicize its meetings and activities.

Gay activists push for partner benefits. Members of the Mecklenburg Gay and Lesbian Political Action Committee continued their quest for health benefits for domestic partners of gay employees Wednesday, offering legal reasons why they believe the city has authority to give the benefits.

In a memo to City Council members last week, City Attorney Mac McCarley said the city doesn't have clear approval from the legislature to make the change, and said the city will likely be sued by taxpayers if it offers the benefits. Tom Warshauer, a 13-year city employee who is gay, said MeckPAC's request is "about the community having a sense of security. This didn't come from city employees, this came from the community saying, `We want a government to be responsive to us,' " he said. "The city's gay and lesbian employees want to know we are valued and have a future as public servants," Warshauer told a gathering of reporters Wednesday. "Everyone is glad to have us here and working hard, so long as we stay in our places and keep our mouths shut."

Hate crimes on gay youths rise. Coalition’s report from 12 cities shows hate-related incidents against gay people ages 18 years and younger rose 164 percent in 2002. Miracle Thompson, a former Greenville High School student, said fellow students used to tell him he was “too bold.” He was the only out gay student at his high school and would often take harassment not only at the hands of homophobic straight students, but others who identified as bisexual or closeted gays.

Sitting at a table in his new school, Walt Whitman Community School in Dallas, Thompson recounted one of the scariest anti-gay hate incidents he was ever involved in. Thompson was travelling to Wal Mart to pick up a friend. “I had gotten into it with this older guy earlier that day,” Thompson said. The man had been making anti-gay remarks. Thompson, 18, said when he was on an Interstate 30 service road, he saw the truck of the “older guy” approaching from behind at a high rate of speed. “He bumped the car several times,” Thompson said. The last time he bumped Thompson’s car, he “stayed on it,” pushing the car faster down the service road, Thompson said. He said he couldn’t think of anything to do but hit the brakes. Thompson said when he hit the brakes, his car spun out of control onto Interstate 30, where it was hit by “two diesels.” He was not injured, but “it was terrifying,” he said. Authorities never found the man, he said. But they later found the truck, which was apparently registered to someone else.
Talking about the Walt Whitman Community School, after seeing a documentary on it on television, I thought I would put a plug in for it since this young man attends the school. It's indeed sad that some young people have to go to a school specifically for gay and lesbian students, but I suppose that is the world we live in. Click on the school's symbol at the right to get more information about the school if you'd like to help them out.