GLSEN ( the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network ) has launched its GLSEN's 25 Days for Safer Schools back-to-school initiative, according to a press release. As part of the effort, GLSEN will highlight a different educational resource each day for 25 consecutive school days through Sept. 29. In addition to celebrating back-to-school season, the 25 days that began Aug. 25 are a nod to GLSEN's upcoming 25th anniversary in 2015. For more information about GLSEN's 25 Days for Safer Schools, visit www.glsen.org/backtoschool.
In Ohio, medically necessary transgender procedures will be covered under the City of Cincinnati's health insurance starting next year, Cincinnati.com reported. "Since I've been here I've worked to make this city as competitive and inclusive as possible," said Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach, the city's first openly gay person in that position. "This is a another step in that direction." Cincinnati would be the first city in Ohio to offer transgender procedures in its health benefits, according to statewide advocacy group TransOhio.
Philadelphia AIDS Thrift ( PAT ) has signed a two-year lease to take over the recently shuttered LGBT bookstore Giovanni's Room, according to PhillyMag.com . The new business—to be called Philly AIDS Thrift @ Giovanni's Room—will open Oct. 10, and will house books along with second-hand clothing, furniture and jewelry. Giovanni's Room, which was the country's oldest LGBT bookstore, closed in May.
On Aug. 20, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to delay an appeals court ruling striking down Virginia's marriage-equality ban. The nation's highest court, in McQuigg v. Bostic, granted a request from a county clerk in northern Virginia to delay a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that would have allowed for same-sex couples to marry beginning Aug. 21. The state would have also had to start recognizing same-sex marriages from out of state if the Supreme Court had denied the request.
A federal judge, on Aug. 21, declared Florida's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, joining state judges in four counties who have issue pro-marriage equality rulings. Bill Clinton appointee U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled that the ban added to Florida's constitution by voters in 2008 violates the 14th Amendment's guarantees of equal protection and due process, The Huffington Post noted. Hinkle also issued a stay delaying the effect of his order, meaning no marriage licenses will be immediately issued for same-sex couples.
A New York couple has been ordered to pay $13,000 in fines and restitution for refusing to host a same-sex couple's wedding at their 100-acre upstate farm, LGBTQ Nation reported. Jennifer and Melisa McCarthy filed the complaint in 2012 against the Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, New York, after being refused because of the owners' religious beliefs. Judge Migdalia Pares fined Liberty Ridge Farm $10,000 for violating the state's non-discrimination law, and ordered Gifford to pay an additional $3,000 to the couple for "mental anguish each suffered as a result of respondents' unlawfully discriminatory conduct."
Detroit police say that they have identified a person of interest in three related hate crimes against trans individuals, but no one is in custody yet.According to ABC 7 Detroit, a trans person was shot and killed Aug. 15. The shooter drove off but crashed into another car, escaping by foot. They left their gun behind. Police said the person was targeted for being transgender. Another trans individual was shot a few days before that, as was another Aug. 17. Those shootings were not fatal.
Three retired U.S. military general officers, including the former chief medical officer of the U.S. Army, issued a joint statement concluding that the military's ban on transgender service could be eliminated in a straightforward manner that is consistent with military readiness and core values. Their statement accompanies the release of a new study, "Report of the Planning Commission on Transgender Military Service," which finds that allowing transgender personnel to serve in the military "is administratively feasible and will not be burdensome or complicated," and provides a detailed roadmap for the policy change. The report is at http://www.palmcenter.org/files/Report%20of%20Planning%20Commission%20on%20Transgender%20Military%20Service.pdf.
A police officer who pushed openly gay CNN journalist Don Lemon on live television in Ferguson, Missouri, has been relieved of duty following the discovery of a videotaped speech in which he criticized President Obama, Muslims and gays in the military, The Huffington Post reported. St. Louis County cop Dan Page, a 35-year police veteran, also denounced hate crime laws and boasted of killings he claimed to have committed in the remarks delivered to a group called the Oath Keepers of St. Louis and St. Charles. "Policemen are very cynical. I know I am," Page said from a podium on the video. "I hate everybody. I'm into diversity. I kill everybody."
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ( VA ) is being sued over its refusal to grant spousal benefits to same-sex military couples in states where these marriages are not recognized, EDGE Boston reported. the American Military Partner Association ( AMPA ) with legal counsels Lambda Legal and Morrison and Foerster LLP, filed suit against the VA on Monday, August 18 in the Federal Circuit Court.
A Republican group tied to hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer plans to spend at least $2 million up to Election Day to boost Congressional candidates who share its views in favor of gay rights, USA Today reported. American Unity plans to back seven congressional candidates ahead of November's elections and could add more to the roster; among the candidates is Richard Tisei, an openly gay Republican making his second bid for a U.S. House seat in Massachusetts.
A poll concluded that a majority of Republicans say the sexual orientation of a Congressional candidate would not impact their vote, Metro Weekly noted. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans who responded to a McClatchy-Marist poll said it wouldn't make any difference one way or another if they heard a well-qualified candidate for Congress happened to be gay. However, the poll also indicated the GOP continues to lag behind a majority of U.S. residents in its embrace of LGBT equality.
After battling with a New Jersey school district, a transgender girl will be able to attend the middle school as herself, according to SDGLN.com . School officials from Middletown Township Public Schools told Rachel Pepe, a 13-year-old transgender girl, that she would only be able to attend school if she appeared and acted like a boy. However, after working with several LGBT groups, including Garden State Equality, Thorne Middle School will allow Pepe to attend the school of her choice as her true self.
The T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research has announced legendary music icon Yoko Ono Lennon as the presenter of the Spirit of Excellence Award at the organization's Oct. 21 gala in New York City, according to a press release. Hamish Dodds, CEO of Hard Rock International, will receive the award. Past honorees include former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Quincy Jones and Katie Couric.
In California, Greater Palm Springs Pride announced the recipients of its 2014 Pride Honors Awards. ( The awards will be presented at a ceremony Oct. 10 at the Hyatt Palm Springs. ) Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to trans-rights advocate Shannon Price Minter and businesswoman pioneer Mariah Hansen, while the 2014 Organization of the Year is The Desert Rose Playhouse.
The Connecticut-based Jim Collins Foundation has named five new members to its board of directions, including Louisiana Tech University psychology/behavioral sciences professor lore m. dickey and Anne L. Koch, D.M.D., founder and past director of the Postdoctoral Endodontics Program at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, according to a press release. The foundation is a non-profit organization that funds gender-confirming surgeries for transgender people.
The Williams Institute reported that 22 percent of U.S. workers are covered by the Department of Labor's announcement that it will interpret prohibitions on sex discrimination in Executive Order 11246 ( EO 11246 ) to include discrimination based on gender identity and transgender status. As a result, federal contractors must take steps to protect transgender and other workers from gender identity discrimination, including through outreach, recruitment, as well as employee and management development and training. The Labor Department's new directive is at www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/directives/dir2014_02.html .
National LGBT publication Advocate magazine has announced its 2014 "40 Under 40" list. Among those on the list are trans activist Janet Mock, ESPN writer Kate Fagan, trans model Carmen Carrera, singers Mary Lambert and Tyler Glenn, actress Ellen Page, scientist Jack Andraka and advocate Omar Sharif Jr. Honorees are in categories "The Networkers," "The Messengers," "The Fighters" and "The Entertainers."
Congress-edits, a dedicated Twitter feed that posts when an IP address associated with Congressional office buildings edits Wikipedia, uncovered a case involving transgender actress Laverne Cox, Vox.com noted. The edit removed a reference to cast member Laverne Cox as "a real transgender woman" and referred to her instead as "a real man pretending to be a woman," linking to a transphobic article in National Review about Cox. The user also claimed to be a Congressional staff member, and said in a Wikipedia talk that certain of the website's articles are "too pro-trans." After the change was discovered, the IP address was banned from Wikipedia editing for a month.
In Oregon, the Health Evidence Review Commission, a 13-member board charged with setting state health plan priorities, has added transgender protections to the program, according to OregonLive.com . The decision means that people seeking treatment for gender dysphoria—a condition in which a person does not feel that his, her or their gender identity conforms with the birth gender—can now receive treatment under the Oregon Health Plan. Key new additions to the coverage include hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery.
The mother and brother of Tyler Clementi—the 18-year-old Rutgers University student who committed suicide in 2010 after his roommate publicized details of his relationship with another man—have received a gay-pride award, the Associated Press reported. Jane and James Clementi received the award from New Jersey's Essex County as part of its LGBTQ Pride Month celebration. Jane Clementi says her family wants to make sure there are "no other Tylers in this world" and create a "culture shift toward kindness."
Police in San Francisco released a video of a person of interest in the homicide of Bryan Higgins/Feather Lynn, Gay Star News noted. The 31-year-Higgins, a gay man, was discovered in the Castro District outside of a church without identification. The Aug. 10 attack resulted in a brain aneurysm that left him on life support; he was taken off support Aug. 14.
Kentucky's Ark Encounter won't open until 2016, but the theme park is already making headlines for reportedly requiring prospective employees to agree to a "statement of faith" that excludes homosexuality, among other stipulations, The Huffington Post reported. Kentucky Paleontological Society President Daniel Phelps wrote in an op-ed that the park "is likely to discriminate against non-Christians" and that job applicants have to sign a requirement that they agree with the organization's "statement of faith." The centerpiece of the park will reportedly be a full-size, all-wood replica of Noah's ark that "should become the largest timber-frame structure" in the country, according to the site.
In Indiana, two Mennonite conferences plan to review the credentials of a Goshen pastor who presided over the marriage of a same-sex couple in violation of the religion's rules, according to WLKY.com . Assembly Mennonite Church Pastor Karl Shelly said he performed the service in May after determining he believes same-sex unions merit equal standing with opposite-sex ones. Shelly's credentials will be reviewed by the Indiana-Michigan and Central District conferences that oversee the Assembly Mennonite Church.
Gallup released a new study authored by Williams Distinguished Scholar Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law showing that LGBT individuals, particularly women, are less likely to be thriving across a range of measures of their health and well-being, according to a press release. For example, the analyses show that nearly four in 10 non-LGBT adults ( 39 percent ) indicated that they were thriving in their financial lives compared to less than three in 10 LGBT adults ( 29 percent ). The study shows that these differences persist even when demographic and geographic characteristics ( gender, age, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, state of residence and population density ) are taken into account.
In addition, Gallup released another study—and this one shows that LGBT adults are more likely than their non-LGBT counterparts to lack health insurance coverage ( 17.6 percent vs. 13.2 percent, respectively ). The study considered change in healthcare coverage in the last quarter of 2013 and second quarter of 2014, which roughly represent the periods before and after open enrollment associated with Affordable Care Act ( ACA ), known as Obamacare. Since the fourth quarter of 2013, the percentage of uninsured LGBT adults fell 4.4 percentage points, compared to a 3.5-point drop among non-LGBT Americans.
Gay bathhouses that once remained in the shadows to stay in business are now seeking attention to keep their doors open, USA Today reported. Some are doing aggressive online advertising and community outreach, while others tout their upscale amenities like plush towels and marble baths. In the heyday of bathhouses in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the United States; today, there are fewer than 70.
