In South Carolina, one of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's challengers in June's GOP primary has called the incumbent "ambiguously gay," according to The State. Dave Feliciano of Spartanburg said during a press conference, "It's about time that South Carolina [says], 'Hey, we're tired of the ambiguously gay senator from South Carolina. We're ready for a new leader to merge the Republican Party." Feliciano is a former police officer with no political experience.
Some Firefox users are furious over the promotion to CEO of Brendan Eich to lead Mozilla, the company that makes the world's second-most popular Internet desktop browser, Firefox, The New Civil Rights Movement reported. Eich actually co-founded Mozilla, but made headlines when it was reported he had donated $1,000 to support California's anti-gay Prop 8 in 2008. Married gay couple Hampton and Michael Catlin, the co-founders of the software manufacturer Rarebit, have published a notice on their company's website announcing a boycott of Firefox, including removing their apps from Firefox's marketplace.
President Obama appointed as his new AIDS czar Douglas Brooks, an activist on health care policy who has been living with HIV for more than 20 years, according to The Washington Times. Brooks has served most recently as senior vice president at Boston's Justice Resource Institute, a nonprofit that provides outreach mental health treatment and services people with HIV/AIDS. A licensed social worker, Brooks replaces Dr. Grant Colfax, who served in the post for two years.
A West Virginia school district is investigating a high school teacher over a Facebook post in which he appears to be mocking a planned meeting of the school's gay-straight alliance, LGBTQ Nation reported. David Foggin, a science teacher at Parkersburg South high school, ignited the controversy with a post that read, "Rally around them and show ur ( sic ) support. We are also considering a drunks-t totaller( sic ) club, drugged/sober club, smokeless tobacco vs smokes club, street racing, and deer poaching clubs." The post generated hundreds of comments, with some supporting Foggin and others accusing him of bullying.
The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr.—who founded a Kansas church widely known for its protests at military funerals and anti-gay sentiments—has died, according to several media sources in Kansas, where Phelps' church is based; he was 84. Members of his Westboro church, based in Topeka, Kan., frequently protest at funerals of soldiers with signs containing messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "Thank God for 9/11," claiming the deaths are God's punishment for immorality as well as tolerance of homosexuality and abortion in the United States.
A 46-year-old woman in Houston, Texas, has contracted HIV from her long-term lesbian lover, On Top Magazine reported. According to the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, the case is the first to be recorded among gay women. The unidentified woman's status changed in the summer of 2012, which led to a nearly two-year investigation in which other forms of transmission were ruled out.
In Ohio, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's new annual contract for teachers lists examples of "conduct or lifestyle which would reflect discredit on or cause scandal to the school or be in contradiction to Catholic doctrine or morals," according to Catholic Culture. The new contract wording comes nine months after a jury found that the archdiocese illegally discriminated against a woman who was dismissed from her post as a teacher after she conceived a child using in vitro fertilization. In a statement, Human Rights Campaign said that "the 'morality clause' ... takes anti-LGBT discrimination to a new level."
PFLAG National—the nation's largest organization for families, friends, and allies of LGBT people—will honor actress Ally Sheedy with the Straight for Equality in Entertainment award at the sixth annual Straight for Equality Awards Gala on April 10 in New York City, according to a press release. Straight for Equality—a national outreach and education project PFLAG National crated—"focuses on the next generation of straight allies joining together with LGBT people in the effort to achieve equality for all."
Rivendell Media has released its popular, annual Gay Press Report to reveal that spending in the "Gay Press" for 2013 is at a record high of $381.4 million, up 18.2 percent from 2012, according to a press release. Spending and circulation in LGBT print media increased 2013, with circulation and readership up 15.1 percent.
In Massachusetts, a lawsuit that claims the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester refused to sell a Northbridge mansion to James Fairbanks and Alain Beret—a gay couple who wanted to host weddings at the property—has received the support of the the state's attorney general, Martha Coakler, according to MassLive.com . Coakley's office said it filed a brief in Worcester District Court, arguing that anti-discrimination laws should apply to religious institutions.
Entertainers from the all-male revue Thunder from Down Under confronted a man in their Las Vegas dressing room who appeared to be helping himself to their belongings, CNN reported. Police said they forced him into a courtyard at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino, where the man's handgun went off. One of the entertainers suffered injuries from gunpowder residue. Police said the suspect appeared to be intoxicated and on methamphetamine.
A bill that would have added protections to religious freedom in Maine —most of which opponents said already exist—failed in the House of Representatives, which means essentially that the measure is dead, according to the Maine Sun Journal. The House voted 89-52 against the bill. Most Democrats and all four independents opposed the bill, while a majority of Republicans supported it.
Nearly 200 lawmakers signed a letter to President Obama urging him to use executive authority to ban workplace discrimination against LGBT employees of federal contractors, according to The Huffington Post. Not a single Republican in the House or Senate signed the letter to Obama, which Sens. Jeff Merkley ( D-Ore. ), Tammy Baldwin ( D-Wis. ) and Tom Harkin ( D-Iowa ) organized, along with the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House. More surprisingly, there were also 58 Democrats who didn't sign ( including one independent senator who caucuses with the party ).
Same-sex couples rushed to Michigan county clerk's offices March 22 to get married a day after a judge overturned the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage—and several hundred managed to do so before an appeals court reinstituted the ban, at least temporarily, The Boston Herald reported. The order by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati came after Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 51, of Lansing, were the first to arrive at the Ingham County Courthouse in the central Michigan city of Mason. The court's order for the reinstituted ban was posted just a few hours after it told the winning side to respond to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's request for a stay by noon on March 25.
Some of Florida's largest employers added their names to the Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce, urging passage of a bipartisan bill that would ban anti-gay and gender-based discrimination, according to an Equality Florida press release. Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg, Winn-Dixie Stores in Jacksonville, On Top of the World Communities in Ocala and the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce joined the coalition. They join other major Florida employers such as Home Shopping Network, University of North Florida, Walt Disney World Resorts and Wells Fargo.
A North Texas man is facing federal hate-crime charges after authorities say he severely beat a gay man he met through an online service, according to KEYETV.com . A federal criminal complaint alleges 19-year-old Brice Johnson invited the victim to his home in Springtown, about 25 miles northwest of Fort Worth. The victim—identified in court documents only as A.K.—was beaten and thrown in the trunk of a car because of his sexual orientation. He suffered multiple fractures and was hospitalized for 10 days.
Speaking to more than 1,000 LGBT-rights supporters at the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) Los Angeles gala on March 22, Vice President Joe Biden said the United States will be a world leader in the fight for LGBT equality, according to an HRC press release. His keynote address, which lasted 28 minutes, outlined the administration's commitment to stand up for the human rights of LGBT people around the world. Biden also issued an emphatic demand for Congress to pass ENDA ( the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ) now.
A right-wing conservative group is criticizing a Nabisco "Wholesome" graham-cracker commercial for both Honey Maid and Teddy Grahams that features a paid of gay fathers with their children, according to a NewsOK item. The group One Million Moms—best known for its failed boycott of JC Penney after the retail chain hired Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson in 2012—claims members are "highly offended" by Nabisco's "disrespect of millions of American families by supporting the homosexual agenda."
The superintendent of Arkansas' Sheridan School District defended the decision of school officials to ban publication in Sheridan High School's yearbook of a profile of a gay student, Taylor Ellis, that would have included his coming-out story, The Arkansas News reported. After officials decided to scrap all seven profiles, Sheridan School District Superintendent Brenda Haynes said, "We must make decisions that lead in the proper direction for all of our students and for our community. We must not make decisions based on demands by any special interest group."
An honors-caliber college student who recently disclosed publicly that he is gay said he was denied readmission to a northern Missouri Baptist school because of that declaration, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Chase Martinson, 20, spent his first two years at Hannibal-LaGrange University; he temporarily withdrew in October due to illness but hoped to return this fall. He received a letter denying him admission, and the note alludes to a school morals clause that forbids homosexuality as a "misuse of God's gift." The student conduct code also forbids incest, adultery and fornication.
Two days before 18-year-old Ben Cowburn committed suicide in 2010 by drug overdose, he told friends he was feeling "belittled and humiliated" at the hands of a male television comedian. According to Queerty, an official judicial inquest has now been made into the circumstances behind the death. The inquest ( which keeps the comic's name private for now ) is looking into everything, including the comedian allegedly persuading Cowburn to strip in front of a group of men, and how the comic would reportedly creep into the victim's bed at night for sex.
For the first time, an LGBT community group was allowed to march openly in Charlotte, N.C.'s, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Q Notes reported. The Charlotte Pride Band was the only LGBT group to march in the parade this year, carrying a rainbow flag with their organization's banner. Previous parade policies and practices had allowed LGBT groups but forbade rainbow flags; past LGBT groups also had the words "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender" or "LGBT" stripped out of their organization biographies.
The openly gay speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, Gordon Fox, abruptly resigned his leadership position March 22 following a police raid on his home the day before for a criminal investigation, according to Keen News Services. The Providence Journal reported that federal and state police agents with search warrants entered Fox's home and State House office, and took away "boxes of evidence." Fox has twice been ordered to pay civil fines to the state ethics commission.
GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Leslea Newman and Candlewick Press announced the release of new classroom curriculum titled "He Continues to Make a Difference: Commemorating the Life of Matthew Shepard," according to a press release. Based on the story of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in 1998, the curriculum will offer guidelines for teachers to incorporate themes of empathy and social justice into their lesson plans, support LGBT students in the classroom and introduce LGBT-inclusive materials into their curricula. Visit GLSEN.org/matthewshepard.
Registration is open for the first-ever national "HIV is Not a Crime" conference, according to a press release. This event aims to unite and train advocates living with HIV and allies from across the country in the effort to end the criminalization of people with HIV. The gathering will be held June 2-5 at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Registration and scholarship information can be found at www.HIVIsNotACrime.com; scholarship applications must be submitted by April 7.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights ( OCR ) released the first comprehensive look at civil-rights data from every public school in the country in nearly 15 years, according to a media release. Among the key findings are that about 40 percent of public school districts do not offer preschool, and where it is available, it is mostly part-day only; and that although Black students represent 18 percent of preschool enrollment but 42 percent of students who have been suspended once, and 48 percent of the students suspended more than once.
The Associated Press apologized for calling the Brooklyn Nets' new jerseys "gay" instead of gray, according to an Advocate.com item. Deadspin first took note of the error, which The Advocate noted was unfortunate given that the NBA's first openly gay player in history, Jason Collins, now plays for the Nets. Meanwhile, Collins recently revealed that he's already endured actual antigay harassment while on the court, with a slur thrown by an opposing player who Collins opted not to identify.
LGBT media-advocacy organization GLAAD announced it will honor Jennifer Lopez at the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on April 12, according to a press release. Lopez will receive GLAAD's Vanguard Award, which is presented to artists and media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lGBT community. Past recipients include Antonio Banderas, Kristin Chenoweth, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Sharon Stone and Elizabeth Taylor, among others.
Upon seeing anti-gay signs ( including "Jesus would stone homos" ) go up on The ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church in Harlem, a woman named Jennifer Louise Lopez decided to go to the church's front door and inform a member she was there for her stoning, according to The Huffington Post. "I saw your sign and I'm here for my stoning; I'm a lesbian," Lopez informed the man in a video Lopez posted on her Facebook page. The man who answered the door ultimately told Lopez that he doesn't have any stones but she should come back the next day.
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the nation's largest resource for out LGBT individuals in politics, endorsed 21 candidates for public office, according to a press release. Among said candidates are Congressional candidate Marc Pocan ( Wisconsin ); Montana state Senate candidate Diane Sands; and John Turner McClelland, candidate for president of the board of directors of the Denton County ( Texas ) Fresh Water Supply District. For the 2014 cycle Victory has endorsed 92 out LGBT candidates.
A Christian school in Virginia has removed an 8-year-old who cut her hair short and dressed in boy's clothes, because her gender expression isn't "Biblical," according to Pink News. Forest, Va.-based Timberlake Christian School told Sunnie Kahle's grandparents that unless she conforms to "Biblical standards" for gender, she will be refused readmission next year. The school also says that the child is in violation of the school's rules, which ban "condoning sexual immorality, practicing a homosexual lifestyle or alternative gender identity," referencing specific Bible verses.
In an effort to encourage "unity" among its church partners, the U.S. part of the highly influential evangelical Christian relief and development ministry World Vision has announced it will permit Christians in legal same-sex marriages to be employed, according to WND.com . In an interview with Christianity Today, Richard Stearns, president of the U.S. branch, called it a "very narrow policy change" that should be regarded as "symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity." The U.S. branch, based in Federal Way, Wash., has about 1,100 workers.
