In response to a question asked by Martha Raddatz on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that medical regulations barring transgender people from serving in the military "continually should be reviewed," according to a press release from the pro-LGBT military group SPART*A. SPART*A Policy Director and former Army Captain Allyson Robinson expressed thanks for Hagel's reaction, adding, "An estimated fifteen thousand transgender service members currently serve in constant fear and stress: people like Petty Officer Landon Wilson, just back from Afghanistan, who served with distinction until being drummed out simply because of who he is."
American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken has won the Democratic nomination for Congress in North Carolina, according to MSNBC. After the untimely death of Keith Crisco, 71, Aiken's Democratic opponent, the Board of Elections posted its official count in the Democratic primary for the state's Second Congressional District: As of May 13, Aiken maintained his lead over Crisco, 11,678 votes ( 40.86 percent ) to 11,288 ( 39.49 percent ). It was a difference of 390 votes in a race originally deemed too close to call.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale has ruled Idaho's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, opening the door for gay and lesbian couples to begin marrying as soon as May 16, The Idaho Statesman reported. Idaho's laws wrongly stigmatize gay and lesbian couples and relegate their families to second-class status without sufficient reason, Dale said. Four Idaho couples in November filed the lawsuit against the governor and Ada County Clerk Chris Rich challenging the marriage ban. Gov. Butch Otter filed a pre-emptive motion requesting an immediate stay should the state lose earlier on May 12.
A Republican candidate for the North Carolina Senate—who is campaigning on a platform in support of his state's ban on same-sex marriage—has been outed as a former female impersonator and drag-show emcee, according to Gay Star News. Former club owner Randy Duggins told the Winston-Salem Journal that Steve Wile, 34—a real estate agent in Belews Creek, North Carolina—worked at Club Odyssey until 2010 under the name "Mona Sinclair." In 2012, Wiles advocated for passage of North Carolina's constitutional amendment defining marriage as a between a man and a woman.
U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Mark Udall introduced legislation to amend the federal code to ensure all lawfully married same-sex couples will receive Social Security spousal benefits, according to a press release. Since the Supreme Court decision last June in Windsor v. U.S. striking down a key section of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA ), the Obama Administration has proceeded in implementing the decision across the federal government.
An Arkansas clerk has issued the state's first gay-marriage license, breaking a barrier that voters put in place with a constitutional amendment a decade ago, according to USA Today. Carroll County Deputy Clerk Jane Osborn issued a license May 10 to Kristin Seaton and Jennifer Rambo of Fort Smith. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled May 9 that Arkansas' 2004 voter-approved amendment to the state constitution violates the rights of gay couples, the Associated Press noted. He did not put his ruling on hold, as some judges in other states have done.
King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu was appointed to the Washington state Supreme Court—becoming the first openly gay justice, as well as the first Asian-American, to serve on the state's high court, SeattleTimes.com reported. Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Yu, 56, one of 19 applicants for the seat being vacated by Justice James Johnson. Former Gov. Gary Locke appointed Yu to the King County Superior Court in 2000; she earlier served as deputy chief of staff to the late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng.
A legal challenge to Virginia's same-sex marriage ban went before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals May 13, resulting in a split court that could very well end up striking down the ban, according to TheWire.com . Virginia's attorney general has declined to defend his state's ban after determining that it is unconstitutional. Instead, Norfolk circuit clerk George Schaefer III is defending the state law, joined by another circuit clerk and the state's registrar of vital records.
Five gay couples filed a lawsuit challenging Alaska's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, according to ABC News. The Alaska lawsuit, filed in federal court in Anchorage, lists as plaintiffs four couples who were married outside Alaska and one unmarried couple. The Alaska lawsuit was filed three days after a county circuit judge in Arkansas tossed out the 2004 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, along with a 1997 state law.
In Philadelphia, city officials have agreed to pay $382,500 to settle the federal anti-bias lawsuit that transgender city worker Bobbie E. Burnett filed, according to Philadelphia Gay News. The settlement was reached April 29, after the involvement of U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Strawbridge, and the city is expected to pay the money by July 31. Burnett, a city library assistant, filed suit in 2009, claiming pervasive anti-LGBT workplace bias.
The South Carolina Senate's budget-writing committee has rejected an effort to punish two South Carolina universities for assigning gay-themed books to freshmen, according to LGBTQ Nation. Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler on Wednesday recommended adopting the House's proposed $70,000 cuts; however, the Senate Finance Committee rejected that proposal 11 votes to seven. College of Charleston was to be penalized for assigning students to read Fun Home, a book by Alison Bechdel that describes her childhood with a closeted gay father and her own coming out as a lesbian. USC Upstate was to lose $17,000 for assigning "Out Loud:The Best of Rainbow Radio," a book about South Carolina's first gay and lesbian radio show.
The Illinois Senate Education Committee passed a bill May 13 that further enhances the state's previous standards in curbing school bullying. The bill, HB 5707, which state Rep. Kelly Cassidy introduced in the House and which state Sen. Heather Steans sponsored in the Senate, requires schools to have an anti-bullying policy, investigate bullying cases and report back on all incidents yearly. The bill passed the committee 10 votes to four, and now heads to the full Senate. HB 5707 passed the House in April with a bipartisan 64-43 vote.
A federal judge and a U.S. appeals court have rejected a Tennessee man's motion to intervene in two cases challenging same-sex marriage bans in Florida and Utah by seeking to marry his "porn-filled Apple computer," according to LGBTQ Nation. Nashville attorney and combat veteran Mark "Chris" Sevier filed the motion to intervene in the cases on behalf of "other minority sexual orientation groups." Sevier said that if same-sex couples "have the right to marry their object of sexual desire, even if they lack corresponding sexual parts, then I should have the right to marry my preferred sexual object."
An anti-gay Tennessee state lawmaker who has spent much of his legislative career sponsoring anti-LGBT bills has likened the insurance requirement under President Barack Obama's health care law to the forced deportation of Jews during the Holocaust, LGBTQ Nation reported. State Sen. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville wrote the comment in a post titled "Thought of the Day," drawing swift condemnation from leaders of both parties in Tennessee. Campfield has repeatedly sought to ban teaching about gay issues in public schools through his failed "Don't Say Gay" legislation. In 2012, he drew fire after telling a satellite radio host that HIV and AIDS originated from a man having sex with a monkey and that it was nearly "impossible" for AIDS to be contracted through heterosexual sex.
GayDestinationWeddings.com, part of the Destination Weddings Travel Group, has announced its first-ever "Pin It to Win It" contest and giveaway, according to a press release. Contestants are invited to create a Pinterest board filled with their favorite travel and romance inspiration to win a seven-night stay for two at the adults-only Occidental Grand Papagayo in Costa Rica. Couples must first follow the GayDestinationWeddings.com Pinterest page and then email a link to their finished board to contest@gaydestinationweddings.com; the deadline is May 20.
Police are investigating the murder of a Philadelphia man they say met his killer using the gay hook-up app Grindr, according to LGBTQ Nation. Dino Dizdarevic, a 25-year-old chemical engineer, was found by a passerby at the bottom of a fire escape in an overgrown lot in Chester, Pa. Police say he had been beaten and strangled to death. On April 30, Dizdarevic told his boyfriend, Nick McBee, with whom he was in an open relationship, he was driving to Chester, Pennsylvania, to meet a man he'd met on Grindr.
In Mississippi, the Bay St. Louis City Council unanimously passed a measure recognizing the dignity and worth of all city residents, including LGBT people, according to SunHerald.com . Bay St. Louis becomes the sixth Mississippi city—after Starkville, Hattiesburg, Greenville, Magnolia and Oxford—to pass a pro-LGBT measure. "As an elected official, we should not and must not discriminate against anyone," said Ward 5 Councilman Joey Boudin, who made the motion.
A South Dakota state lawmaker and local pastor, who has previously said "gay sex" is "a one-way alley for the garbage truck," now says it's more like "eight of your friends that you're in love" taking "a dump in your bed" and then sleeping "in it all year long," according to LGBTQ Nation. GOP Rep. Steve Hickey—a pastor at the Church at the Gate in Sioux Falls and who has co-sponsored a number of anti-gay measures in the state House—is on a campaign to warn the public of the dangers of anal sex ( between two men ), and that homosexuality has been "the downfall of past civilizations."
As the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviews an Oklahoma lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex unions, a new statewide television ad sponsored by national advocacy group Freedom to Marry aired in the state, The Huffington Post reported. The weeklong commercial featured retired Army colonel and Purple Heart recipient Ed Cuyler and his wife Robbie advocating on behalf of their lesbian daughter Deedra, who married her partner Amber in Massachusetts in 2011. Under Oklahoma's 2004 constitutional amendment banning the recognition of same-sex marriages performed legally in other states, Deedra is unable to add Amber to her health insurance policy despite having worked at the Lawton Goodyear tire factory for almost 25 years.
Ninety-eight percent of the country's largest companies now ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and nearly 85 percent prohibit bias based on gender identity, according to a new study from UCLA's Williams Institute. The study also finds that 86 percent of the top 50 federal contractors bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and over 60 percent prohibit bias based on gender identity. The full report is at http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/SOGIpolicies-update-May-2014.pdf.
Jack Conway announced that he will pursue the Democratic nomination and open seat for governor of Kentucky in November 2015, according to a Human Rights Campaign release. The Democratic state attorney general and 2010 U.S. Senate candidate made national headlines in March when he announced that he would not appeal a ruling that forced Kentucky to recognize out of state same-sex marriages.
Vocativ reported that virologists at the University of Missouri announced that the hunch of workers at the Yamasa Corporation ( one of Japan's oldest soy sauce brewers ) was correct: A flavor-enhancer found exclusively in soy sauce—called EFdA—happens to be 70 times more potent than Tenofovir, one of the most commonly used HIV treatments on the market. One of the major problems with current HIV drug treatments, including Tenofovir, is that patients develop a deep resistance to the drug's effects. However, study author Dr. Stefan Sarafianos said that EFdA "is less likely to cause resistance in HIV patients because it is more readily activated and is less quickly broken down by the body as similar existing drugs."
For about half a decade, bisexual advocates have been fighting to get Google Inc. to untangle the word "bisexual" from its complex predictive algorithm, according to International Business Times. Currently, those who type that word into a search box see the autocomplete suggestions disappear—just as they would for any number of offensive slurs or four-letter expletives. ( However, this does not happen for "lesbian" or "transgender." ) Bisexual-rights advocates say that this hurdle makes the bi community invisible.
Lawmakers have rejected a measure that would have made it illegal to refuse to sell or lease property to same-sex couples in Louisiana solely because they are gay—the latest setback for groups trying to advance gay-rights legislation in the state, according to SeattlePI.com . Three Democrats joined nine Republicans on the House Commerce Committee in rejecting the measure 12-3. The committee had previously rejected a similar proposal from Rep. Jared Brossett, D-New Orleans, seeking to protect gays from housing discrimination.
School district administrators outed a transgender child in Raytown, Missouri, to her entire elementary school, Advocate.com reported. Parents of students at Robinson Elementary School received a letter Friday informing them that one of the students, formerly known as Adam, is transgender and would be returning to school as a girl who wanted to be known by a different name. A number of district parents seemed to support the trans student.
The United Methodist Church has dropped charges against Rev. Sara Thompson Tweedy, who is married to another woman, according to Advocate.com . The complaint ( charging Tweedy as a "self-avowed practicing homosexual" ) was filed in March 2013; however, Bishop Martin McLee, who was charged with handling the petition, decided not to press charges. Tweedy, who is on staff at a church in White Plains, N.Y., said the denomination's decision respected the spirit of Methodist teaching, rather than its specific prohibitions, as well as her own openness about her sexuality.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore claimed that same-sex marriage violates the nation's founding principles as he called for a new Constitution that reflects the "reverent morality" of "God's institution" during a speech, The Huffington Post reported. In the speech to Washington state's 28th District Republican Club, Moore discussed his proposal to amend the Constitution to define marriage exclusively as a male-female union, which he assured the group is a small step toward rewriting the Constitution altogether.
Zach Phelps-Roper, the 23-year-old grandson of late Westboro Baptist Church ( WBC ) founder Fred Phelps, has left the church after 20 years of anti-gay preaching and picketing, LGBTQ Nation noted. Phelps-Roper left the WBC compound in Topeka in February, and since then has reportedly embraced a new message of empathy and unconditional love. He is the fourth of his 10 siblings to leave the church, home of the "God Hates Fags" movement now led in part by his mother Shirley Phelps-Roper, who is Fred's daughter.
U.S. District Judge Richard Young has ruled that Indiana must indefinitely recognize one same-sex couple's out-of-state marriage, USA Today reported. U.S. District Judge Richard Young's decision extended a temporary restraining order he handed down last month. So Amy Sandler and Niki Quasney, both 37, are the only same-sex couple to have their marriage legally recognized in Indiana.
The editor of a small Iowa newspaper has been let go after calling for a "fight" against LGBT people, Advocate.com reported. Bob Eschliman was fired from the Newton Daily News after writing on his personal blog that people "must fight" what he dubbed "the Gaystapo" and "the enemy." John Rung, president of Newton Daily News parent company Shaw Media, wrote a letter in the paper explaining that while Eschliman is protected by the First Amendment to express his feelings freely, the newspaper has "a right to select an editor who we believe best represents our company and best serves the interests of our readers."
In Alabama, longtime lesbian couple Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand is claiming in a federal lawsuit that the state used its unconstitutional "Sanctity Laws" to deny legally married women the right to adopt one of the women's biological child, according to Courthouse News Service. Searcy and McKeand have been a couple for 14 years and were married in California in 2008. Their son, co-plaintiff K.S., was born to McKeand in 2005.
After New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton announced that police will no longer use possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution in particular circumstances, Lambda Legal Deputy Legal Director Hayley Gorenberg issued a statement praising the development. "This is a great step in the right direction and will move New York City toward allowing condoms to be used for their real intent: to protect health," said Gorenberg. "We urge Commissioner Bratton to remove all uses of condoms as evidence of sex work in any setting—including trafficking—because using condoms as evidence can motivate human traffickers to keep the people they traffick from using condoms at all."
A veteran Roman Catholic schoolteacher in Cincinnati, Ohio, whose son is gay is quitting in protest of a new contract that specifies violations of church doctrine, according to a Columbus Dispatch item. Molly Shumate is the first known teacher among the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's more than 2,200 educators to refuse to sign the new contract, which specifies violations of Catholic doctrine that could put teachers out of a job. Said violations include "homosexual lifestyles," abortion, artificial insemination and public support for any of those causes.
