Embattled U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal offered his resignation in the wake of a scandal involving an article in Rolling Stone Magazine, according to an Advocate.com item. In the article, entitled "The Runaway General," journalist Michael Hastings asked McChrystal's aide who the general was meeting for dinner; the aide responded, "Some French minister. It's fucking gay." McChrystal also called his first meeting with President Barack Obama "disappointing," and also takes swipes at Vice President Joe Biden, among others.
In New York City, all six Manhattan branches of Whole Foods Market recently launched food drives to support the Keith Haring Food Pantry Program at Gay Men's Health Crisis ( GMHC ) , the nation's oldest HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care-services provider, according to a press release. "Whole Foods Market is demonstrating a strong commitment to serving those living with HIV/AIDS in New York City," said Marjorie Hill, Ph.D., CEO of GMHC. "This food drive will mean a further solution to hunger, a healthier life, and overall improved well-being." The vast majority of GMHC's clients live at or below the poverty level, with almost 80 percent earning less than $10,000 annually.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty has lost the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club's mayoral endorsement to city council chair Vincent Gray. With 63 percent of the vote, the LGBT organization favored Gray over Fenty, who signed D.C.'s marriage-equality measure into law last year, according to Advocate.com . The club seem to dislike Fenty's heavy use of notes while speaking before the organization's members.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has voted to keep its policy of banning men from donating blood if they have had sex with another man since 1977, according to WGNTV.com . The policy was instituted in the 1980s when the HIV/AIDS epidemic erupted; however, tests now detect HIV in donated blood. Gay-rights advocates contend that the ban is discriminatory.
The gay community has reacted strongly to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch's comment that "gays and lesbians don't pay tithing, their religion is politics," according to the Los Angeles Times. For example, a writer from the LezGetReal blog wrote that Hatch needed to "stop acting like a homophobic moron" if he wanted the LGBT community's financial support. Hatch recently told the Salt Lake City Tribune that he meant that gays "don't just stand on the side; they actually support their Democratic candidates with their money."
In Tennessee, the University of Memphis' recreation center must revamp its family-passes policy because of lesbian couple Edie and Tamar Love, according to an Advocate.com item. When the partners wanted to have their four children use the facility's pool, officials told them that they needed to provide legal documents to confirm their familial status. When they eventually produced a domestic-partnership document from Arkansas, the center then said it only accepted marriage licenses. After a public backlash, the university announced that it will change its policy.
A study, conducted by political-science professor Patrick Egan and commissioned by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, revealed that voters do not change their minds about marriage equality during an election campaign, according to SFAppeal.com . The study analyzed more than 100 polls taken in the half-year before votes on marriage-equality and domestic-partnership ballot measures during 1998-2009. In response to the result, National Center of Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell said, "Clearly, the time to change hearts, minds and votes to support equality is before a campaign starts."
Blake Adkins and Kevin Novotny will not face expulsion for vandalizing a Southern Oregon University dorm with anti-gay insults, according to Advocate.com . The two vandalized a floor in the gender-neutral dorm where many gay students live; as a result, the pair has to volunteer at the school's Queer Resource Center, Women's Resource Center and Multicultural Center as well as attend a gay-rights meeting. Adkins and Novotny claimed they did not know gay students lived on the floor they sullied.
In California, the Palm Springs Police Department has started an internal investigation after an officer made an anti-gay slur during an undercover sex-sting operation last year, according to KPSPlocal2.com . Police Chief David Dominguez—who would not identify the officer—said that the police department initially received "complaints about illegal sexual activity in public, activity which is against the law that I witnessed myself." During the sting, 24 men were arrested; they are charged with lewd conduct and misdemeanor indecent exposure.
In Minnesota, the state's GOP party is speaking out against openly gay Republican state Sen. Paul Koering, who recently had dinner with 20-year-old porn star Brandon Wilde, according to Advocate.com . GOP Party Chair Tony Sutton said in a statement that " [ i ] nstead of focusing his efforts on job creation and the betterment of Senate District 12, Paul Koering has demonstrated incredibly poor judgment by spending time with an escort and pornographic film star;" Sutton then threw his support behind Paul Gazelka, Koering's primary-election opponent. ( The election takes place Aug. 10. ) Wilde's mother is a constituent in Koering's district.
In Maine, transwoman Brianna Freeman is suing Realty Resources Hospitality—the owner of the Denny's franchise in Auburn—for discrimination. Freeman claims that she had been using the women's restroom at the restaurant for a year before being banned from it in 2007. Freeman feels that she would be "at physical risk" using the men's room but the eatery sees Freeman as a man. Realty's attorney, Patrick Mellor, said, "Denny's took the appropriate step and asked the plaintiff, whose legal name is Bruce Freeman and who was described as the sex of male at birth, to use the men's restroom."
In Texas, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority ( DART ) is the subject of outrage in the local LGBT community because of a change in its employment policy, according to Advocate.com . The new policy reads, "DART is committed to hiring, promoting and retaining the best qualified persons in all positions and, except to the extent permitted by federal and/or Texas law, DART will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law." LGBT individuals are balking at the word "except" because state law allows sexual orientation- and gender identity-based hiring bias and firing.
Florida Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist answered questions involving same-sex issues in an interview with Time magazine, according to Advocate.com . In talking about same-sex marriage, Crist—who was a Republican when he became governor but is now running as an independent—said he still believes that marriage is strictly for heterosexuals, but he is fine with couples who wish to cohabit or enter civil unions. Regarding Florida's gay-adoption ban, he said that "a live and let live attitude" is best.
In New York, housekeeper Agnes Cybulska is suing her employer, heiress Dana Hammond, for allegedly demanding that Cybulska take an HIV test—and have negative results—before starting work, according to Advocate.com . Cybulska answered a Craigslist ad an agency posted that asked for an "experienced executive Polish housekeeper." In her second interview with Hammond, the prospective employer reportedly wanted Cybulska to take the test—something she had supposedly required everyone on her domestic staff to do. Cybulska's suit alleges, among other things, that the testing criterion violates the city's human-rights law.
Tech giant Apple has reversed itself after it blocked certain parts of an iPad graphic-novel adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, according to a TechCrunch.com item. The application was initially banned from the App Store until the novel's author blocked out scenes of men kissing each other as well as men's buttocks. Since then, Apple changed its decision; rep Trudy Miller said, "We made a mistake. When the art panel edits of the Ulysses Seen app [ which Apple also blocked ] and the graphic novel adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest app were brought to our attention, we offered the developers the opportunity to resubmit their original drawings and update their apps."
Columbia Law School's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic has won asylum for a gay man who feared persecution based on his sexual orientation if had to return to his native Uzbekistan, according to a press release. The unidentified man said, "In Uzbekistan, I lived with terror every day. I was arrested and abused by the police for having an intimate relationship with another man. Even after I escaped the country, the police have tried to track me down at my parents' home, and I know if I had to return, my life would be in danger." In Uzbekistan, a central Asian republic, homosexuality is illegal, with offenders sentenced to up to three years in prison.
White House officials said June 21 that President Barack Obama will expand the rights of gay and lesbian workers by letting them take medical leave to care for their partners' sick or newborn children, the New York Times reported. A 1993 statute allows employees who work in companies with at least 50 workers to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for spouses' children or newborns. The Human Rights Campaign helped the administration craft the family-leave policy. The Department of Labor set forth the policy June 23.
Openly gay Maryland state Sen. Richard S. Madeleno, Jr., was among those President Barack Obama's Father's Day mentoring barbecue, according to an Advocate.com item. Madeleno—who has two adopted children—was one of many fathers at the event, where leaders from different fields had dinner and listened to a speech from the chief executive.
World news:
In Switzerland, authorities are investigating an acupuncturist who allegedly intentionally infected at least 15 individuals with HIV, according to Business Week. Thus far, 19 HIV-positive people have been found to have been in contact with the unidentified acupuncturist. The infections reportedly took place during 2001-2005.
In Northern Ireland, an unidentified special-needs teacher settled a sexuality-based discrimination case with the South Eastern Education and Library Board, according to BBC News. The teacher, 37, alleged that the principal and vice-principal at Tor Bank School bullied and harassed her after finding out she is a lesbian. The school board agreed to pay the equivalent of $22,000 U.S.
In India, Hyderabad's Indian Institute of Technology has allegedly fired faculty member Ashley Tellis because of his gay-rights activism, according to Forestlaneshul.com . Sources said that Tellis—who had taught there for more than two decades—was let go due to "unlawful behavior" and "deviant mischief." Tellis has filed an application seeking the specific reasons for his firing.
In Canada, Lee and Susan Molnar have closed their British Columbia bed-and-breakfast because they felt they would have to "violate their religious beliefs" and accommodate LGBT individuals, according to EDGE Boston. After rejecting a same-sex couple, the Molnars found themselves in a "firestorm." The Molnars' lawyer, Ronald Smith, said, "They're a lovely couple. They don't want to be thought of as discriminating, but they're Christians who don't feel they can violate their religious beliefs."
In England, Mark Carter—a police officer and 2006 Mr. Gay U.K.—is being charged with several offenses, including the rape of another man, related to a situation that occurred last year. Carter, 27, appeared at Leeds magistrates' court to face accusations of one rape, three sexual assaults and an attempted sexual assault. Carter is out on bail and will appear at Leeds Crown Court June 29.
