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Prop 8 opponents set wedding date; trans teacher's return
National roundup: Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Andrew Davis, Windy City Times
2014-04-15

This article shared 7359 times since Tue Apr 15, 2014
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Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo—two of the plaintiffs in the historic Supreme Court case Hollingsworth v. Perry, which led to the overturning of California's Proposition 8—announced the date for their wedding celebration, according to a press release. The couple's marriage celebration will take place June 28, and will be hosted by Hilton Hotels & Resorts at the The Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills. Attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, who argued Katami and Zarrillo's case in front of the Supreme Court, will officiate the ceremony.

In Lumberton, Texas, a transgender substitute teacher who was told not return to her classes after parents complained that she was a "distraction" has been reinstated, according to LGBTQ Nation. Laura Jane Klug said she has been "reinstalled" on the Lumberton Independent School District's substitutive teacher roll following a school board meeting. Klug said she has always conducted herself in a professional manner and "would never discuss" her identity in school or with students.

OkCupid had recently asked Firefox users to stop using the search engine because Mozilla's head at the time was Brandon Eich, who once contributed to an anti-gay campaign. However, according to Mother Jones, OkCupid co-founder/CEO Sam Yagan ( who also heads Match.com ) once donated to an anti-gay candidate. Specifically, Yagan donated $500 to Rep. Chris Cannon ( R-Utah ) in 2004; during his time as congressman from 1997 to 2009, Cannon voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, among other things. Yagan later said in a statement, "I accept responsibility for not knowing where he stood on gay rights in particular; I unequivocally support marriage equality and I would not make that contribution again today."

A Canadian man visiting Philadelphia for an education conference says he was sexually assaulted, beaten and robbed after meeting another man on the gay hookup app Grindr, according to LGBTQ Nation. The victim, 34, told WCAU-TV that he invited the suspect to his hotel room after connecting with him over Grindr. When the suspect arrived, the man says he was held up at gunpoint and sexually assaulted. Detectives believe 26-year-old Douglas Spady, a.k.a. Douglas Casey, is the suspect.

In Ohio, at least 17 taxi drivers have dropped out of a dedicated cab service at Cleveland's airport because they don't want to drive vehicles with signs promoting the upcoming Gay Games, LGBTQ Nation reported. Most of the drivers are Muslim and have cited religious objections. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport hosts a dedicated service in which three local cab companies use special vehicles and preset rates. The ninth Gay Games, featuring competitions in 36 sports, is scheduled for Aug. 9-16 in Cleveland and Akron.

U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister, R-La.—a married freshman Republican congressman who campaigned on his Christian, conservative values—apologized after surveillance video purportedly showed him in a lengthy lip lock with a married female staffer, CBS News reported. McAllister stirred controversy recently when he brought Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson as his State of the Union guest despite backlash surrounding an elder Robertson's disparaging remarks about same-sex marriage. Among other things, McAllister opposes abortion and gay marriage, and has said welfare recipients shouldn't make more than they could get from minimum-wage jobs, according to TheHayride.com .

A Portland, Ore.,-based comics publisher announced April 8 that it is severing its relationship with Pleasant Prairie, Wis.-based Uline Corp. because of the office supply company's CEO's political ties. In a letter posted online, officials from Oni Press said they quickly decided to no longer purchase supplies from Uline when they heard about CEO Richard Uihlein's contributions to Family-PAC, which actively campaigned against marriage equality in Illinois.

Derrick Gordon, a sophomore starter for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team, stepped forward as the first openly gay player in Division I men's college basketball, sharing his story with ESPN and Outsports. The 22-year-old shooting guard came out to his family, coaches and teammates in just a few days at the beginning of April. GLAAD and the You Can Play Project—one of North America's leading organizations dedicated to ensuring equality in sports—were among those praising Gordon's decision.

A South Carolina court has rejected a motion by the state Department of Social Services and two hospitals to delay a case charging that they performed a medically unnecessary gender-assignment surgery on a 16-month-old child, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center press release. The recent 5th Judicial Circuit Court decision means the defendants will now have to answer for their decision to castrate the child known as M.C. without any medical necessity. The plaintiffs are claiming medical malpractice, negligence and gross negligence.

In New Jersey, a 24-year-old openly gay Newark teacher has announced his candidacy for the city's Central Ward council seat, according to the Newark Patch. Czezre Adams has received 467 signed petitions to earn a spot on the May 13 ballot; a certified candidate needs 327 such documents. Adams, a teacher at Louise A. Spencer Elementary School, earned his bachelor's degree in social sciences at Virginia Union University, where he was the first president of the university's Young Democrats of America chapter.

In North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union; the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation; and the law firms of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Ellis & Winters LLP filed a new case in federal court on behalf of three married, same-sex couples seeking state recognition of their marriages, according to a press release. The ACLU also sought immediate relief on behalf of one of the couples in the existing Fisher-Borne et al. v. Smith case who have a young child who is being denied medical care because North Carolina neither recognizes his mothers' marriage nor allows both mothers to adopt their child and establish a legal relationship.

A federal court in Indiana ordered the state to recognize immediately the marriage of a lesbian couple in Munster, according to a Lambda Legal press release. Lambda Legal filed suit on behalf of Amy Sandler, Niki Quasney and their two children, seeking immediate relief from Indiana's ban on marriage for same-sex couples as Quasney battles stage-four cancer. Quasney wants to be recognized as married in her home state while she is still alive, and cannot wait any longer for the protections of marriage.

President Barack Obama embraced Lyndon B. Johnson's civil-rights legacy in a speech that credited the former president with helping to open the doors to equality for countless Americans, including those who are LGBT, according to Metro Weekly. "Because of the civil-rights movement, because of the laws President Johnson signed, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody—not all at once, but they swung open," Obama said. "Not just Blacks and whites, but also women and Latinos; and Asians and Native Americans; and gay Americans and Americans with a disability." Obama spoke at the Civil Rights Summit at Johnson's presidential library in Austin marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act.

After a difficult five years shepherding President Obama's signature health care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tendered her resignation, according to USA Today. Obama accepted the resignation and intends to announce that he will nominate his Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell to replace Sebelius. In recent months, Sebelius has faced heavy scrutiny after the troubled launch of the federal online marketplace, and has been deluged with Republican attacks over the costs of the Affordable Care Act.

The LGBT group GLMA ( formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Medication Association ) issued a statement regarding the resignation of US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The press release noted several of her accomplishments, including LGBT inclusion in HealthyPeople 2020 and the Affordable Care Act. GLMA President Hector Vargas added, "Sebelius's vision of quality healthcare for all is fully inclusive of the LGBT community, and GLMA is deeply appreciative to her for her vision."

After 22 years on the Oklahoma City Police Department preceded by a tour in Desert Storm in the U.S. Army, MSgt. Paula Sophia retired April 8 in order to run for House District 88 on the Democratic ticket, according to a press release. It's the same area she patrolled as an officer until her resignation. Sophia will face several opponents in the June 24 primary, which will be followed by the general election on Nov. 4.

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown—who once represented Massachusetts—officially entered the Senate race in New Hampshire against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, announcing his run to a group of supporters at a hotel Portsmouth, N.H., according to MSNBC. Touting himself as "a true independent voice," Brown cast his lot against what he called "the liberal out-of-touch Obama-Shaheen agenda." In 2012, Brown ( a Republican who voted against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ) lost to progressive icon Elizabeth Warren in 2012 in the most expensive Senate race ever fought.

For the first time in Connecticut prison history, a transgender juvenile is being detained at an adult prison, according to WNPR.org . The juvenile was sent to York Correctional Institution in Niantic after a judge transferred custody of the teen from the state Department of Children and Families. Advocates for the 16-year-old said she's not dangerous, and that a prison setting is not in her best interests.

Nationally-known LGBT military activist Sean Sala has accepted the position to lead a national coalition to continue the call for the commissioning of the first U.S. warship named after the late civil-rights leader Harvey Milk, according to a media release. During his time in the Navy, Milk served as a commissioned officer and a diver. Sala will be working with The International Imperial Court Council, the LGBT Historic Task Force and The Harvey Milk Foundation on this project along with a list of honorary co-chairs.

A Brooklyn playwright won't be coming out on stage—thanks to South Carolina lawmakers who misunderstood her same-sex satire as an attempt to convert college students to homosexuality, according to The New York Daily News. Leigh Hendrix was scheduled to perform her jokey "How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less" at a University of South Carolina-Upstate's symposium, until politicians called the play a form of gay "recruiting."

Jumping ship from its previous host ( the U.S.S. Intrepid ), The 11th Annual Jeffrey Fashion Cares—the annual fundraising event benefiting HIV and AIDS research as well as the LGBTQ community—was held at The 69th Armory in New York City, according to HIV Plus Magazine. Jeffrey Fashion Cares benefited Hetrick Martin Institute ( which serves LGBT youth ), Lambda Legal, AIDS Community Research Initiative of America & the Point Foundation, the New York Daily News noted. High-fashions designer labels such as Lanvin, Dolce & Gabbana, and Givenchy dressed male models. Anna Wintour and Diane von Furstenberg were among the attendees.

Chick-fil-A plans to open about 100 restaurants this year, with a large number in New York City, but some gay-rights advocates are wary of the popular fast-food chain's arrival, according to 630WPRO.com . Nathan Schaefer, executive director of the LGBT nonprofit Empire State Pride Agenda, said he hopes Chick-fil-A's proposed presence in New York "illuminates for them how diversity and inclusion are necessary guiding principles to running a successful business." Schaefer was referring to 2012 statements from Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy that mentioned "the biblical definition of the family unit."

A gay Republican and former opera singer hopes to unseat a Democrat incumbent on his way to becoming the first openly gay man elected to the Georgia House, according to Project Q Atlanta. Christopher Deraney is running in District 78, which leans Democratic. Deraney announced his campaign in October, but his fundraising has lagged. He raised $975 in the campaign disclosure filing period ending March 31 and recently had just $231 on hand; opponent state Rep. Demetrius Douglas had more than $11,000 on hand.

A study revealed that establishing same-sex marriage in Colorado would generate $50 million in spending to the state economy and $3.7 million in state and local tax revenue, KWGN.com reported. The study from the Williams Institute, a national think tank at the UCLA School of Law, looked at 2010 U.S. Census data on the number of gay and lesbian couples living in Colorado and estimates that 50 percent—roughly 6,200 couples—would choose to marry in the first three years.

Hundreds of thousands of students at more than 8,000 schools took part in the 19th annual GLSEN Day of Silence on April 11 to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools, according to a press release. GLSEN's Day of Silence is a student-led event modeled after peaceful and non-violent protests throughout history. The action was created by students at the University of Virginia in 1996, inspired by former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and a class he teaches on the history of the civil-rights movement.

The United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women ( OVW ) released guidance on a series of frequently asked questions ( FAQs ) about the new nondiscrimination grant condition within the Violence Against Women Act ( VAWA ) Reauthorization of 2013 to protect LGBTQ survivors from discrimination, according to a press release. VAWA, first signed into law in 1994, is the nation's response to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, dating violence and stalking.

A baby in Tennessee made history: Emilia Maria Jesty was the first child born in the state to have a woman listed on the birth certificate as her "father," according to Reuters. The marital status of the baby's parents was the subject of a flurry of court filings up to a few days before her birth. Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty were wed in New York, a state that recognizes gay marriage, and moved to Tennessee, which does not. It is possible a ruling against the couple could void Emilia's birth certificate and require that it be reissued with only Tanco listed.

A Louisiana House committee narrowly agreed to advance a bill that would repeal an unconstitutional state law prohibiting intercourse between two people of the same sex, according to the Associated Press. The criminal justice committee voted nine to six for the measure by Baton Rouge Rep. Patricia Smith, over the objections of conservative and religious groups. The next stop for the measure is the House floor.

More than 50 supporters rallied in front of the Phoenix Court house April 11 in support of Arizona State University student and anti-1062 activist Monica Jones, who was found guilty of what has been called "walking while trans," according to a press release. Jones was facing charges of "manifestation of intent to prostitute." Jones has remained adamant about her innocence, and that sex workers need rights, not arrests. Jones stated after the verdict, "As an African-American and as a woman, the justice system has failed me."

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said same-sex couples have the same right to marry as interracial heterosexual couples in papers urging an appellate court to uphold a judge's ruling that the state's gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional, according to LGBTQ Nation. Herring is backing two same-sex couples who filed a lawsuit challenging state laws and a constitutional provision barring gay marriage in Virginia and denying recognition of such unions performed in other states. Herring said that U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen was correct in citing the Supreme Court's 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision—which invalidated state interracial marriage bans—as a basis for striking down a prohibition against same-sex marriage.

The National LGBT Bar Association has launched an online reporting tool to combat Mississippi's so-called "Religious Freedom Restoration Act," according to a press release. The Act, which the state's governor signed earlier this month, bans the government from putting a substantial burden on the practice of religion, but can lead to state-sanctioned discrimination against the LGBT community. The LGBT Bar is working with local law student OUTlaw groups to gather personal instances in which LGBT individuals have experienced discrimination due to the new legislation. Individuals are encouraged to log onto LGBTBar.org/what-we-do/programs/MS and report their experiences.

A debate has taken place among gay men, AIDS activists and health professionals over the HIV drug Truvada potential for protecting uninfected men who engage in gay sex without using condoms, according to USA Today. Many doctors and activists see immense promise for such preventive use of the drug, while others say such efforts are reckless, tempting some condom users to abandon that layer of protection.

In Ohio, a man who was caring for his disabled younger brother was sentenced yesterday to two and a half years in prison for punching him and threatening to slice off his genitals to "push the gay out of him," The Columbus Dispatch reported. Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge Chris A. Martin sentenced Lawrence L. Featheroff, 38, to 30 months after Featheroff admitted to abusing Jason A. Meyers, 26. Featheroff, of Lancaster, pled guilty to attempted complicity to commit felonious assault and abduction, both third-degree felonies.

A Williams Institute study shows that an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would lift at least 20,000 people in same-sex couples out of poverty, according to a press release. Williams Distinguished Scholar M.V. Lee Badgett said, "For example, the poverty rate for women in same-sex couples would fall from 7.9 percent to 5.9 percent with a $10.10 minimum wage." The full study is available at http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/min-wage-simulation-april-2014.pdf.

The Nevada Republican Party removed opposition to abortion and gay marriage from its platform as state convention delegates instead focused on judging fellow Republicans on their worthiness to serve in office and adherence to GOP values, according to the Associated Press. The vote mirrors that of the Clark County ( Nev. ) GOP, which voted earlier to remove platform language defining marriage as between a man and a woman as well as statements opposing abortion.

U.S. Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning—charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website—will serve as an honorary grand marshal in this year's San Francisco Pride parade, the AP reported. Parade organizer Gary Virginia said that Manning, who is transgender, was chosen to make amends for a controversy last year. Manning was named an honorary grand marshal ahead of the 2013 parade, but had the honor revoked. Virginia apologized, saying that decision was mishandled. Manning reportedly thanked Pride organizers for the honor from Fort Leavenworth ( Kan. ) military prison.

OUT announced the 8th Annual Power 50 list, the brand's annual ranking of the most influential LGBT voices in American culture, according to a press release. Ellen DeGeneres, who was number two last year, returned to the top spot on the list. Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker ( No. 23 ), the granddaughter to the founder of the Hyatt hotel chain, is the first transgender woman to make the Power 50. Other notable Power 50 rookies include news anchor Don Lemon ( 27 ), actress Ellen Page ( 29 ), basketball player Brittney Griner ( 31 ), People and Entertainment Weekly editorial director Jess Cagle ( 33 ) and lawyer Roberta Kaplan ( 47 ). Apple CEO Tim Cook and cable-news figure Rachel Maddow are numbers two and three on this year's list, respectively.


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