Survivors of the Pulse Nightclub massacre who were treated at two Orlando, Florida, hospitals will not be billed for their medical care, ABC News reported. Orlando Health, the healthcare network that includes Orlando Regional Medical Center, said in a statement to ABC News, "Orlando Health has not sent any hospital or medical bills directly to Pulse patients and we don't intend to pursue reimbursement of medical costs from them." Orlando Regional Hospital treated 44 patients of the June 12 terror attack, during which a gunman slaughtered 49 people at Pulse Nightclub—the largest mass killing in U.S. history.
Pride Fund to End Gun Violence PAC announced its first candidate endorsement since its formation in the wake of the Orlando Pulse nightclub mass shooting, a press release stated. The organization is endorsing Democratic candidate Stephanie Murphy in Florida's 7th Congressional District race. Murphy is challenging incumbent Republican John Mica, who holds an "A+" rating from the National Rifle Association.
The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Hillary Clinton—the first time the organization has endorsed a candidate for president, a press release stated. Clinton responded, "I am honored to have earned the first-ever endorsement of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. ... As President, I'll keep fighting for equality and opportunity for LGBT Americans by passing the Equality Act. And I want to be the small business president and make things easier for small businesses every step of the way. ... I am proud to stand with the NGLCC in this election and every day."
Jackie Biskupski, the out mayor of Salt Lake City, married her partner at a private ceremony officiated by their longtime friend, Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, LGBTQ Nation reported. The ceremony was held at the Log Haven Restaurant in Salt Lake City on Aug. 14; the next day, Biskupski shared a message for friends and followers on Facebook: "We have always been bonded by love, but now we are joined by law."
The California Legislature has passed AJR 45—a resolution authored by Assemblyman David Chiu ( D-San Francisco ) and sponsored by Equality California—calling on Congress to pass the federal Equality Act, a press release stated. The Equality Act updates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit and the jury system.
Thanks to Golden Girls star Bea Arthur, homeless LGBT New Yorkers will have a warm place to stay come winter, USA Today noted. The Bea Arthur Residence is an 18-bed shelter that will serve LGBT youth in New York City's East Village, scheduled to open by February. In addition to beds, the Bea Arthur Residence will provide counseling and case-management services to the city's LGBT youth, DNAInfo reports. Arthur was a longtime supporter of the Ali Forney Center, the nonprofit helping to open the new shelter, bequeathing $300,000 to the center after her death in 2009.
A California bakery faced a backlash after creating a custom cake of a Ken doll wearing a pink dress and jewelry made out of frosting that some have interpreted as transgender, The Huffington Post reported. Marlene Goetzeler, who is the co-owner of Freeport Bakery in Sacramento, said she wasn't prepared for the heat she and her colleagues received after she posted a photo of the cake, which was produced for a customer's birthday, on the company's official Facebook page.
Well-known author Stephen King called Maine Gov. Paul LePage ( R ) a "bigot, homophobe and a racist" after a week in which the governor made several inflammatory remarks, The Huffington Post noted. King, who is a longtime Maine resident, sent the tweet after the governor used a homophobic slur against a Democratic lawmaker because he believed the man had called him a racist. Last year, LePage accused King of leaving the state to avoid taxes—a claim that wasn't true.
After writing a series of increasingly chilling Facebook posts, a Broadway dancer named Marcus Bellamy has been charged with the murder of boyfriend Bernardo Almonte, Queerty reported. The 32-year-old performer, who appeared in the beleaguered production Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, confessed to beating and strangling Almonte to death, saying he "did it for love." "Forgive me," the post reads. "I did it because I love you. I love you all. I loved him also. He told me love and hate are the same emotion."
The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) Foundation and Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center with special expertise in LGBTQ and HIV-related care, released "Safer Sex for Trans Bodies," a comprehensive sexual health guide for transgender and gender-expansive people and their partners, a press release noted. This first-of-its kind resource was drafted by HRC and Whitman-Walker Health in consultation with Casa Ruby, Trans United Fund, and TransLatin@ Coalition, and was made possible with support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. See HRC.org/resources/safer-sex-for-trans-bodies.
In Richmond, Virginia, John Murphy has been in a legal fight after being fired from a Catholic-run elderly care facility after he started working there in the spring of 2015, The New Civil Rights Movement noted. Murphy worked at The St. Francis Home ( Catholic diocese of Richmond ), and is an openly gay man who's been legally married to his partner of 30 years, Jerry Carter, since 2008. According to the Times-Dispatch, the Richmond Catholic Diocese is aware of the lawsuit and sent a statement acknowledging the case saying the non-profit "declines any other comment about the matter at this time."
A federal court granted a request to stop the University of North Carolina from enforcing HB2—the state law that bans many transgender people from restrooms that match their gender identity—against three transgender individuals who are challenging the law in court, according to a joint press release from Lambda Legal, ACLU of North Carolina and the ACLU. The ACLU and Lambda Legal lawsuit, Carcano v. McCrory, was filed days after HB2 was passed and signed. In the lawsuit, the groups argue that through the law, North Carolina sends a purposeful message that LGBT people are second-class citizens who are undeserving of the privacy, respect, and protections afforded others in the state.
In a related development, the University of Vermont has canceled a women's basketball game at North Carolina, scheduled for Dec. 28, due to concern over the state's HB2, CBS News noted. It's not the first cancellation because of HB2, known commonly as the "Bathroom Bill," with the news following the NBA's decision to pull the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte and Albany's decision to cancel a men's basketball game at Duke University. The law, which Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called "embarrassing," has also led to non-sports cancellation, including Nick Jonas/Demi Lovato, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam concerts.
A report has exposed the secret, underground LGBTQ community at Mormon-run Brigham Young University in Utah, and reveals how the school's "honor code " office can fail the victims of gay rape, an LGBTQ Nation item noted. Several current and former BYU students told The Salt Lake Tribune that rape victims who come forward are themselves investigated for potential punishment. The newspaper profiled six LGBTQ students who said they were assaulted on the campus of the flagship school of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the Tribune, BYU's Honor Code prohibits same-sex behavior, defined as "not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings."
A judge sentenced a Georgia man to 40 years in prison for throwing scalding water on a gay couple sleeping in an apartment, leaving them with severe burns that required surgery, an LGBTQ Nation item stated. Jurors deliberated for about 90 minutes before finding Martin Blackwell, 48, guilty of eight counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault in the February attack on Anthony Gooden and Marquez Tolbert. Georgia doesn't have a hate-crime law.; the FBI said in March that it had opened a hate-crime investigation, but spokesman Kevin Rowson said recently that the agency isn't commenting on that probe.
A controversial new report from two Johns Hopkins University psychiatrists say there is insufficient evidence to conclude people are born with heterosexual, same-sex or bisexual attractions, Newsmax reported. "The understanding of sexual orientation as an innate, biologically fixed property of human beings—the idea that people are 'born that way'—is not supported by scientific evidence," Drs. Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh conclude in their new study, "Sexuality and Gender." In addition, studies comparing brain structures of transgender and cisgender individuals supposedly demonstrate "weak correlations between brain structure and cross-gender identification."
The Iowa Board of Psychology unanimously voted down a proposal to ban gay conversion therapy in its administrative rules, WHOtv.com noted. Board members all expressed support for banning the controversial therapy method, but said the place to do so isn't through a professional board, but rather through the state legislature. Advocates say they understand the board's decision and are shifting their focus to state lawmakers in the coming 2017 legislative session.
A judge is allowing a lawsuit alleging a Roman Catholic school in New Jersey fired an employee because she's married to a woman to move forward, according to ABC News. Attorneys for Kate Drumgoole say Paramus Catholic High School violated the state's anti-discrimination law when it fired her as dean of guidance and head coach of the basketball team in January after learning she was married to a woman. The school says Drumgoole was fired because she's in a same-sex marriage, not because she's lesbian.
The National LGBTQ Task Force issued a press release urging changes that would bring Black women's pay into line with what white men make doing equivalent jobs. The call was made on Black Women's Equal Pay Day ( Aug. 23 ). "It's high time black women employees were paid the same day's pay for the same day's work of white men employees. Black women make 63 cents for every dollar a white man makes—meaning Black women have to work 208 extra days to earn what a white man makes in a year," said Task Force Deputy Executive Director Russell Roybal.
A veteran north Georgia attorney remained in jail after a judge ruled he was too much of a risk to be released on bond, Fox5Atlanta.com noted. The decision came after prosecutors revealed purchases attorney Mark Miller allegedly made using his clients' money, including $100 reportedly at HelixStudios.com, a gay-porn website. Pickens County investigators say additional charges are possible.
Police in Salem, Massachusetts, are investigating the detonation of an explosive placed inside a news box for an LGBT newspaper as a possible hate crime, NBC News reported. The explosion of the Rainbow Times box shook the downtown area and was heard up to a mile away. Mayor Kim Driscoll, who is featured on the cover of the August edition, called the incident a "cowardly act."
Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado will be voting for the first time in the United States in November ( having gotten her citizenship ), and she's taking the chance to vote against Donald Trump, NBC News noted. Machado won Miss Universe while representing Venezuela in 1996, a beauty pageant owned—and formerly judged—by Republican presidential candidate Trump. After her victory, she claims Trump referred to her as "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping." Machado's Instagram account shows she supports Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, explaining why she supports working mothers and a female candidate.
