New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the state to outlaw discrimination against transgender people, saying gender identity and expression should be included in the state's civil-rights law alongside race, religion and disability, the Associated Press reported. In a letter to the Empire State Pride Agenda, Cuomo said transgender people face significant discrimination, citing surveys that show three-fourths of transgender New Yorkers experience workplace harassment or mistreatment. Cuomo said that if he is elected to a second term this fall, he will push to outlaw discrimination based on a person's gender identity or expression in the areas of housing, employment and public accommodations.
The Fayetteville, Arkansas, City Council has approved an anti-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation and gender identity and expression by a vote of six to two, according to The Washington Blade. "The idea that I could lose my home because someone finds out that I'm gay is why … we need to push this through as quickly as possible," said resident Nathan Southerland-Kordsmeier. Michelle Duggar of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, which profiles her family who lives in nearby Tontitown, recorded a robocall that urged Fayetteville residents to publicly oppose the proposed ordinance. The ordinance will take effect Sept. 20.
Point Foundation co-founder Carl Strickland has died in a boating accident at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Frontiers LA reported. Strickland and his partner of 17 years, Bruce Lindstrom, created the Point Foundation in 2001 as a means to provide scholarship funds to LGBT students. Since its inception, Point has provided more than $15 million in the education and support of its scholars. The organization will hold its Voices on Point concert and dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on Sept. 13; honoree Diane Warren is slated to attend.
A former trainee manager at Little Caesars pizza in California sued the company for discrimination, accusing the Detroit-based chain of denying employees health insurance benefits for their legally wed same-sex spouses, Reuters reported. Frank Bernard, 47, said he quit his job after Little Caesars refused to extend coverage to his husband of six years. The lawsuit names Little Caesars Enterprises and its parent company, Ilitch Holdings, as defendants, accusing them of discriminating against Bernard on the basis of his sexual orientation, in violation of California law.
The owners of a lodge in central Minnesota have agreed to pick up the tab for the wedding and reception of a same-sex couple they initially turned away, according to the Associated Press. Cole Frey, 20, and Adam Block, 18, have settled their discrimination complaint filed with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights against the owners of Rice Creek Hunting and Recreation, Inc., which operates a lodge used for weddings in Little Falls. Rice Creek employees initially told the couple the date for their wedding and reception was open, but then changed their minds.
The United States Conference on AIDS ( USCA ) will take place in San Diego, California, on Oct. 2-5, according to a press release. Featured speakers include Dr. Laura Cheever, who is associate administrator at the Health Resources and Services Administration ( HRSA ); CDC National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention Director Dr. Jono Mermin ( and successor Dr. Eugene McCray ); and White House Office on National AIDS Policy ( ONAP ) Director Douglas Brooks, the first Black gay man living openly with HIV to hold that position.
Lambda Legal has launched its newest section of the Know Your Rights information hub, as "Know Your Rights Workplace" provides information for LGBT and HIV-positive people who face discrimination at work, according to a press release. Some of the issues the workplace hub tackles include pro-LGBT laws, job searches, immigrant rights, unions and spousal/partner benefits. This is the third Know Your Rights hub Lambda Legal has launched joining "Know Your Rights: Teens and Young Adults" and "Know Your Rights: Transgender." See http://www.lambdalegal.org/know-your-rights/workplace.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs ( NCAVP ) issued a release reflecting the members' sadness by report of the torture and homicide of 8-year old Gabriel Fernandez in Los Angeles. Media reported that Pearl Fernandez, Gabriel's mother, and her boyfriend Sauro Aguirre subjected Gabriel to severe child abuse as well as neglect, torture and frequent beatings that resulted in his death in part because he played with dolls. NCAVP's Research and Education Coordinator at the New York City Anti-Violence Project Osman Ahmed said, "While we know that violence against LGBTQ people is all too common, the killing of an eight year old because he did not conform to societal gender norms shines a glaring light on the way a culture of violence affects our communities, even in our homes."
In Mississippi, the National Center for Lesbian Rights ( NCLR ) helped file a complaint with the DeSoto County sheriff's department on behalf of a former student of Bethel Baptist School in Walls who says he was sexually abused for three years by a teacher attempting to "cure" his sexual orientation, according to a press release. A former student, now 32, alleges that shortly after coming out in 1996, his parents turned to the local church, which ran a school it promised could "cure" their son. A teacher allegedly began subjecting White to weekly "counseling" sessions in which he regularly raped and sexually assaulted the teenager to convince him that being gay was more painful than suppressing his sexual orientation.
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project released a video of Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox reading a letter from transgender inmate Synthia China Blast—but Cox has distanced herself from the inmate because of the crimes Blast has committed, according to Advocate.com . Blast's letter addressed common issues faced by trans inmates, such as being placed in solitary confinement. However, after Cox learned that Blast and Carlos Franco were found guilty in 1996 of the 1993 rape and murder of 13-year-old Ebony Williams, she asked the law project to remove the video.
A man who had been accused of intentionally choking to death another man in San Francisco's Buena Vista Park in 2011 was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; however, jurors acquitted David Munoz Diaz of the more serious charge of second-degree murder, The Bay Area Reporter noted. Diaz, 25, was also found guilty of arson, mutilating human remains, and destroying evidence in the death of Freddy Canul-Arguello, 23, whose charred, partially clothed body was found in the park near a recycling bin June 10, 2011.
Also in San Francisco, a man who police said was beaten and left for dead in San Francisco's Castro District has been taken off of life support, according to NBC Philadelphia. Police are now searching for the person responsible for killing Bryan Higgins, who passersby discovered on the corner of Church and Duboce streets. Higgins, 31, also went by the name Feather Lyn. He was a member of the Radical Faeries, a movement of gay men searching for a spiritual dimension to their sexuality.
The three couples challenging Utah's ban on same-sex marriage asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept the state's request to hear the case, Deseret News reported. Attorneys for the couples have said that even though they won at the district and appellate court levels, they intended to support the state's petition because the issue needs to be settled nationwide. The state argues that ruling deprives Utah voters of their right to define marriage as they overwhelmingly did in passing Amendment 3 in 2004.
A gay Chicago couple is continuing their fight against a cab company after they claim a driver tried to kick them out of his taxi for kissing in the backseat, NBC Chicago reported. The Illinois Department of Human Rights dismissed Matthew McCrea and Steven White's original complaint against Sun Taxi back in October because the department said it had no jurisdiction over corporate entities. The couple has now filed a lawsuit, with Lambda Legal's Christopher Clark representing them.
Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie Evans was among the more than 100 people who were arrested outside the White House recently during a protest in support of immigration reform, The Washington Blade reported. Evans and thousands of others who marched from the headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier in the day specifically urged the Obama administration to grant visas to undocumented immigrants with children who are living in the United States. The advocates also called upon the White House to stop deporting undocumented children who have fled violence in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala in recent months.
President George W. Bush's Office of Special Counsel head Scott Bloch filed his third RICO complaint in as many years, again claiming that Bush administration officials, Congressman Tom Davis and others conspired to boot him out of office with a bogus criminal investigation to hide their own corruption and misuse of power at the highest levels of government, Courthouse News Service reported. Bloch was appointed special counsel for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in 2004 and immediately became controversial, removing sexual orientation from the office's list of protected classes from workplace discrimination. Bloch pled guilty to criminal contempt of Congress in 2010 and was sentenced to one day in jail after he hired Geeks on Call to erase data from federal computers.
In Florida, Charlie Crist overwhelmingly earned the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Scott in his effort to return to the governor's mansion, LGBTQ Nation reported. Crist easily defeated former state Sen. Nan Rich while Scott coasted in his own primary toward a general election matching the state's last two Republican governors. Crist ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent in 2010, and is now a Democrat. Crist has the endorsement of Equality Florida, the state's largest LGBT-rights advocacy organization.
The fifth incarnation of Oakland ( Calif. ) Pride took place Aug. 31 and, to mark the occasion, the organization held its first parade, according to The Bay Area Reporter. Oakland Pride is a nonprofit organization that works with Oakland and neighboring East Bay communities to ensure equal rights to the LGBTQ community. SFGate.com reported that leather groups were banned from the parade, but there were pony rides, antique fire engines and singer/drummer Sheila E.; organization president Carlos Uribe said, "We had some leather groups from San Francisco who wanted to come, and we politely declined. We want to keep this G-rated."
A Slate advice columnist has compared bisexuality to attraction to stuffed animals, and told married bisexuals to stay in the closet, Pink News reported. Advice columnist Emily Yoffe—who writes the Dear Prudence section—told a married bisexual woman to stay in the closet because coming out would be "irrelevant." Condemning the column, GLAAD's Alexandra Bolles wrote, "It is disappointing that well-known and renowned advice column such as Dear Prudence is perpetuating the unhealthy invalidations that create social, emotional and political hurdles for the bi community."
The Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition ( PSEC ) announced that it is the recipient of a major national grant, Philadelphia Gay News reported. PSEC, a statewide LGBT student organization, received a $100,000 grant from Queer Youth Fund ( QYF ) of the Liberty Hill Foundation, the only national grant program that specifically supports the work of LGBT youth-led organizations. PSEC is the first Pennsylvania grantee to be awarded the QYF, which was founded in 2003 and is in its last year.
A same-sex couple in Detroit have asked their local post office to investigate why they aren't receiving mail—as they believe it's because the mailman learned they are gay, Advocate.com reported. James Lawson and his husband, Theodore Washington, say they are the only family living on Prevost Street, on the city's west side. However, even after the couple got help from the mayor's office to clean up their previously littered block, they reportedly still haven't received mail in three weeks. "I'm not getting my medications, I'm missing doctor's appointments [and] government appointments, and it's frustrating," Lawson said.
In Georgia, a senior sheriff's department commander in metro Atlanta was arrested after allegedly sexting with an undercover police officer he thought was a 14-year-old male, according to Project Q Atlanta. David McCart, 53, was charged with electronic pornography and child exploitation after a two-month investigation by DeKalb police and the FBI. Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer has fired McCart, who was a captain in the department and once served as chief deputy, the agency's second highest-ranking commander.
In the two months since CNN anchor Richard Quest confirmed to viewers that he is gay, his work as a business reporter has improved, Quest told a group of LGBT media professionals at the annual National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association gathering in Chicago, according to Advocate.com . Quest said his worst fears—that he would lose credibility with viewers or the respect of his colleagues—"never materialized." In fact, Quest said the quality of his work has improved since coming out because he's honest about who he is.
Chelsea Clinton is saying goodbye to her NBC News gig—and an eye-popping $600,000 paycheck, The New York Daily News reported. The 34-year-old mom-to-be revealed she's giving up her special-correspondent gig "to continue focusing on my work at the Clinton Foundation and as ( my husband ) Marc and I look forward to welcoming our first child." Clinton joined NBC News as a full-time special correspondent in 2011.
