THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

A class-action suit claims an Atlanta doctor sent unencrypted "HIV/AIDS Patient Lists" to a "gay-oriented" magazine, disclosing 379 patients' names and HIV status, according to Courthouse News Service. Lead plaintiff John Doe sued Pride Medical Services, three doctor/owners, a pharmacist and another part-owner of the clinic, in Fulton County State Court. Doe claims that defendant Dr. Lee R. Anisman, Pride Medical's senior physician and majority owner, emailed the list to the magazine twice.

Fox News anchor Clayton Morris cleared the air on Fox & Friends, apologizing for an offensive comment he made in a Valentine's Day segment, Advocate.com noted. While discussing Facebook's new gender options, Morris jokingly told co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck he had changed his gender to "intersex." Tucker Carlson, who also co-hosts the show, later mocked the term as well, stating, "intersex, whatever that means." Morris told viewers he regretted the "offhanded comment," adding that he made "a pretty ignorant statement."

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has come out in support of gay marriage, according to CBS Denver. The emocrat has been a vocal backer of gay rights but generally stopped short of formally endorsing same-sex marriage. However, he recently provided a statement in support of a gay-rights group that kicked off a campaign to bring marriage equality to Colorado. In 2006, Colorado voters banned same-sex marriage.

In California, a transgender teen who said he was beaten and sexually assaulted in a California high school bathroom recanted the story, according to LGBTQ Nation. The 15-year-old student at Hercules Middle/High School "admitted he fabricated the whole story" during an interview with a detective. The teen, who is biologically female but identifies as male, may be charged with making a false criminal report.

The Chicagoland LGBTQ Services Directory ( www.chicagolgbtservices.org ) has launched as the first comprehensive, searchable website of such resources for LGBTQ people in Chicago and its near suburbs. The LGBTQ Mental Health and Inclusion Center at the Adler School of Professional Psychology created and maintains the directory. The ever-growing directory launches with more than 250 services specific to LGBTQ people, from basic needs such as employment and shelter to social resources, mental health treatment and legal support provided by more than 130 agencies.

Reuters reported that a strategy to genetically modify cells from people infected with HIV could become a way to control the virus without using antiviral drugs, according to results from an early-stage trial. Data from the small study of the Sangamo BioSciences therapy, known by the code name SB-728-T, were issued in the New England Journal of Medicine, the first publication of data from a human trial of a technology called "gene editing."

In New York City, approximately 50 LGBTI activists protested outside the Ugandan Consulate on March 5 for more than an hour criticizing President Yoweri Museveni's Feb. 24 passage of three measures: the Anti-Homosexuality Law, Anti-Pornography Law and Public Order Management Law, according to a press release. Members of ACT UP New York, Queer Nation, Health GAP, LGBT Faith Leaders of African Descent and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition carried signs that read "Hate is the new colonialism, "Fight real issues not the people," and "God loves Ugandan gays." In addition, a 20-foot long rainbow banner reading "Boycott homophobia" was draped along the gates outside the consulate.

Four same-sex couples and Wyoming Equality filed a lawsuit in state court in Cheyenne challenging Wyoming's laws that ban same-sex couples from marrying and refuse to recognize the legal marriages of same-sex couples who married in other states, according to a National Center for Lesbian Rights press release. The couples include a university professor, a major in the Army Reserve, a sheepherder and an attorney; many of the plaintiffs were born and raised in Wyoming.

GetEQUAL Mississippi—a statewide grassroots social justice organization working toward the full equality of LGBT Mississippians—issued a "travel alert" to any LGBT person planning travel to the the state, according to a press release. This alert has been issued based on the fact that Mississippi is on the cusp of passing Senate Bill 2681, the so-called "Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act," through the House, and then sending it to the governor for signature or veto. The alert advises LGBT out-of-towners to avoid traveling alone in the state and to only stay at hotels that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, among other tips.

Transgender athlete Chloie Johnson is suing CrossFit over not allowing her to compete as a woman in the CrossFit Games, Jezebel.com reported. In the $2.5-million lawsuit against the company, she says that since she has undergone GRS ( gender-reassignment surgery ) and is recognized as a woman in her home state of California, she should be allowed to compete as a woman. CrossFit responded, in part, "The fundamental, ineluctable fact is that a male competitor who has a sex-reassignment procedure still has a genetic makeup that confers a physical and physiological advantage over women."

In Santa Fe, N.M., Javier Gonzales defeated his two opponents to become the city's first openly gay mayor, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican. Gonzales—a 47-year-old vice president of a commercial real estate firm—will preside over a City Council on which two of the eight members are openly gay women: mayoral opponent Patti Bushee and newly elected Signe Lindell. The three-way race—the first Santa Fe mayoral contest in which the campaigns were publicly funded—had grown increasingly divisive as election day neared, since Gonzales had the help of outside groups despite running his own publicly financed campaign.

Lambda Literary Foundation, in partnership with the Gay/Straight Educators Alliance and the National Council of Teachers of English, announced a new pilot program aimed at including LGBT issues and texts in English studies and English language arts classrooms, according to a press release. LGBT Writers in Schools will connect authors with classrooms via free Skype or in-class visits to discuss the author's work and LGBT issues. The program is designed for teachers of upper level high school classes, universities and colleges. See www.lambdaliterary.org .

Police are looking for an unidentified male suspect who allegedly targeted and attacked a gay New Jersey man inside a New York City subway station on March 2, according to Gay City News. J.P. Masterson, 39, was waiting inside the station with his partner when the suspect approached them and asked if they were gay. When they attempted to ignore him and walk away, the suspect allegedly punched Masterson in the face—breaking his nose, his left eye socket and several other bones. Masterson and his partner, Peter Moore, had just celebrated their 10th anniversary together with dinner and a Broadway show.

The Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel decision in SmithKline Beecham v. Abbott Laboratories will remain binding precedent in the Ninth Circuit after the losing side, Abbott, declined to petition the Ninth Circuit for rehearing, according to Equality on Trial. The case involved a prospective juror who was struck from the jury pool when he revealed that he's gay, in a case related to HIV medications. That move was challenged under the theory that an individual can't be removed from a jury because of his or her sexual orientation.

Four Indiana same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit March 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to challenge the state law banning marriage equality, according to the Indianapolis Star. Two of the couples—Melissa Love and Erin Brock of Jeffersonville, and Michael Drury and Lane Stumler of New Albany—want to get married in Indiana. The two other couples—Jo Ann Dale and Carol Uebelhoer of Otisco, and Jennifer Redmond and Jana Kohorst of Jeffersonville—were married in other states and want their marriages recognized in Indiana.

The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) Foundation, the educational arm of HRC, has released a state-by-state report detailing LGBT-related legislation in 2013, according to a press release. The report indicates that the majority of pro-LGBT legislation came in the form of marriage-equality legislation. Other areas of the report deal with anti-discrimination, hate-crime, school, and health and safety measures. See www.hrc.org/statetostate.

Chicago's Boystown may undergo a big upgrade that could include anything from a series of new restaurants to unique and innovative lighting displays as officials plan to transform North Halsted Street, according to ChicagoPride.com . It's being dubbed the Northalsted 2020 Development Plan, a vision for what the future of the Lakeview community could look like.

A Texas school district agreed to pay $77,500 to settle a privacy suit filed by a mom who claimed two high school softball coaches outed her daughter as a lesbian, according to Courthouse News Service. Barbara Wyatt sued the Kilgore Independent School District and two coaches from Kilgore High School in 2010, and said she didn't know that her daughter, now 21, was a lesbian until the coaches confronted her about the alleged relationship.

The Fifth Circuit has ruled that a Texas school district is not liable for a bullied fourth grader's tragic suicide in the school nurse's bathroom, Courthouse News reported. Montana Lance was just 9 years old when he hanged himself with his belt in a bathroom of the school nurse's office in 2010. Students allegedly bullied the learning disabled Montana since kindergarten, repeatedly calling him "gay" because his speech impairment gave him a lisp. Lance's parents claimed the school district "fostered a climate where bullying and harassment was rampant and when it occurred, did not know how to respond."

The city council in Kansas City, Mo., voted in favor of a resolution calling for an end to statewide discrimination against the LGBT community by supporting the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act ( MONA ), according to LGBTQ Nation. Councilman-at-Large Scott Wagner introduced the measure, which was approved unanimously. If passed, MONA would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri's Human Rights Statute, which already protects other categories such as race, biological sex and familial status.

In Washington state, a gay vice principal who was forced out of his job at Eastside Catholic School filed a discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit against the school and church, the Associated Press reported. Lawyers for the church and school planned to respond immediately with a motion arguing King County Superior Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case without violating the First Amendment. The case has stirred debate at the school and in front of the Seattle Archdiocese and has led to several online petitions arguing for reinstatement of the popular teacher.

Former Puerto Rico state Sen. Roberto Arango has publicly announced he's gay, On Top Magazine reported. In a radio interview with Noti UNO, Arango insisted that he had not been asked whether he's gay; when asked if he is, he simply said, "Yes." In resigning from his post three years ago in the wake of a gay sex scandal, Arango—a Republican with a record of supporting anti-gay legislation—blamed his enemies for his downfall and stated that he was taking nude photos of himself to document his weight loss.

In Philadelphia, a former altar boy says he thought a Roman Catholic priest molested him as a boy as punishment for being gay, according to MyFoxPhilly.com . The man, now 26, says he tried to hang himself at age 11 as he struggled with guilt after the 1997 encounter. His testimony came in the sexual-assault trial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick, who has been suspended from ministry since 2011 over a less serious complaint.

Notre Dame tennis player Matt Dooley has also come out of the closet—and said the hardest person to tell he was gay was himself, according to the Associated Press. "Saying gay for the first time was extremely tough, almost choking, because you know your life will never be the same. That was the hardest part, to move forward from there," the 22-year-old senior said. Dooley added that he has received "overwhelmingly positive" feedback since disclosing publicly in an article posted on Outsports.com that he is gay.

At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference ( CPAC ), Fox News commentator and author Oliver North called on the Republican Party to oppose gay marriage like abolitionists opposed slavery, according to On Top Magazine. North—a former United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel—added that topics like marriage and religious freedoms "are deeply moral and spiritual issues and they should be a part of America's elections." In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed North, now 70, deputy-director of the National Security Council, according to Biography.com . North was later implicated in the Iran-Contra affair, but by 1990 he was cleared of all charges.

Panache Beverages' WÃ"dka vodka has released another in a series of eyebrow-raising outdoor advertising campaigns—and this one is a pro-gay ad, according to a press release. This time, the brand takes aim at the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church with an add showing two men kissing and the words "E-Quality, Westboro Baptist Pricing," with the phrase "God Loves Us" below the smooching men.

In Port Bolivar, Texas, authorities believe a Black lesbian couple was murdered, according to KTRK.com . Crystal Jackson, 24, was a mother to a 5-year-old girl. Her girlfriend Brittany Cosby was also 24, and they were a couple for two years. Jackson was a security guard, and Cosby worked at Starbucks. Their bodies were found next to a convenience-store dumpster. Investigators are looking for Cosby's vehicle, a silver 2006 Kia Sorrento with paper tags.

The Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) released a new YouTube video designed to provide useful tax tips to married same-sex couples, according to a press release. The video ( which is fewer than two minutes long ) is the latest addition to an online library featuring short IRS instructional videos covering more than 100 topics ranging from tips for victims of identity theft to taking advantage of the new simplified home office deduction. These videos have been viewed more than 7 million times. See IRS.gov .

At a joint press conference on March 10, United Methodist Bishop Martin McLee and Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree announced that the church was dropping the case against Ogletree for officiating at his son's wedding, according to a press release. Furthermore, McLee said in his statement, "I call for and commit to cessation of trials," the first time ever a sitting United Methodist bishop has categorically declared he will not prosecute pastors for ministering to LGBTQ people. Ogletree's case began in October 2012, when a complaint was filed against him after his son's wedding was listed in the New York Times wedding announcements.

A federal appeals court has scheduled May arguments on Virginia's constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, according to NBC29.com . The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals outlined a schedule that will expedite the case to the Richmond court, with briefs scheduled for later this month. The 4th Circuit will hear appeals of a federal judge's ruling declaring the state's ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional.

In a related matter, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted the motion to intervene in Bostic v. Rainey that Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia had filed on behalf of a class of all Virginia's same-sex couples, according to a press release. The class is simultaneously challenging the state's marriage ban in its own case, Harris v. Rainey. "We are pleased the court granted our motion to intervene because the Bostic appeal could decide the fate of not only both couples involved, but also the entire class of more than 14,000 same-sex couples in Virginia whom we represent," said Greg Nevins, Counsel in Lambda Legal's Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit set April 9 for oral arguments in Sevcik v. Sandoval, a lawsuit challenging Nevada's marriage ban, according to a Lambda Legal press release. In Sevcik, Lambda Legal—joined by pro bono co-counsel from O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Snell & Wilmer LLP—represents eight same-sex couples challenging Nevada's law banning marriage for same-sex couples. The lawsuit argues that barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

Scientists have claimed that two children with HIV who were treated immediately after birth have no signs of the virus nine and 23 months later, Bloomberg reported. The findings from the two children are spurring doctors in Canada, South Africa and the United States to try to replicate the results, starting a study in 54 babies. However, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Deborah Persaud has said that "[t]he only way we can prove that we've accomplished remission in these kids is taking them off treatment, and that's not without risks."

The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments on whether it should uphold the conviction of a man with HIV who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for not telling a partner he carried the virus when they had sex, according to ThOnline.com . The court agreed in January to hear Nick Rhoades' case after the Iowa Court of Appeals upheld his conviction in October. That court concluded Rhoades had violated the state's HIV transmission law because he didn't disclose that he was infected, even though his partner ( a man ) did not acquire the virus.