Jarrett Barrios—the chief executive of the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts who oversaw relief efforts after the Boston Marathon bombings—will step down March 3 to take over the outfit's Los Angeles region, according to The Boston Globe. Barrios, a onetime head of GLAAD who resigned in 2011 after a controversy involving AT&T, took the helm of the Eastern Massachusetts division that same year after serving for nearly a decade in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate.
Jewlyes Gutierrez, a 16-year-old transgender student who claims fellow students have bullied her for years, now faces criminal charges over a fight that left the other three teens simply suspended, The New York Daily News reported. Cellphone video capturing the resulting Nov. 15 fight shows four girls scratching and pulling each other's hair before Gutierrez is seen trying to run away. Charles Ramsey, the school district's president, slammed the criminal charge against only Gutierrez as completely biased and absurd.
A couple in California, where their upcoming marriage will be legal, say a caterer denied them service because they're gay, according to Advocate.com . On Nov. 26, 2013, Kama Kaina contacted Janet Zimmerman Catering with a request to cater his wedding to his longtime partner, Mathew Rivera. Zimmerman initally agreed but reportedly changed her mind because of her "Christian beliefs."
The Colorado legislature opened recently with two gay lawmakers—House Speaker Mark Ferrandino and Senate President Pro Tem Lucia Guzman—leading their chambers, according to The Denver Post. It marked the first time that any state legislature has had two gays in the top spots in both chambers, Ferrandino said. Another historical note involving Colorado: Sen. Peter Groff and Rep. Terrance Carroll, the only two Blacks in the legislature in 2009, both led their respective chambers in the same building the Ku Klux Klan once controlled.
Gay-rights advocates Earl Fowlkes and Clarence Fluker were among 15 people Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray sworn in as members of the D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission, according to The Washington Blade. Gray said the commission was created to help the city plan and organize events to commemorate the life and accomplishments of King on the occasion of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, which is celebrated this year Jan. 20.
Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has stated her opposition to a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a heterosexual union in the state, according to On Top Magazine. Speaking to reporters, Martinez said that she won't endorse the legislation. She said, ""I think what I said before was that yes, the people should have decided on it, but the Supreme Court has decided. And it's now the law of the land."
State Del. Jon Cardin ( D-Baltimore County ) has introduced a bill that would ban "ex-gay" conversion therapy to minors in Maryland, according to The Washington Blade. The original version of House Bill 91 only includes sexual orientation, but Cardin's legislative director Josh Greenfield said it will be amended to include gender identity and expression. State Sen. Rich Madaleno ( D-Montgomery County ) is expected to introduce the measure in the Senate.
A federal judge struck down Oklahoma's gay-marriage ban on Jan. 14, ruling that it violates the U.S. Constitution, the Associated Press reported. U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern handed down the ruling in a lawsuit that two same-sex couples filed. Kern immediately stayed his ruling pending appeals, meaning same-sex marriages won't happen in Oklahoma right away.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Jan. 10 the federal government will recognize the same-sex marriages performed in Utah before the U.S. Supreme Court called a halt to them Jan. 6, according to SFGate.com . Utah's governor said he would not recognize the marriages, 1,360 of which were performed after a lower court judge ruled Utah's ban on the marriages unconstitutional.
In Missouri, a former St. Louis police officer has been charged with harassing a transgender male, according to STLToday.com . Jeffrey Michael Leveque, 45, faces a single count of "harassment motivated by discrimination to frighten or disturb another person," a felony. He is accused of yelling anti-gay slurs and posting on Craigslist a photo of the person's home and gay pride flag. The transgender male is referred in court papers only as "K.E."
A part-time musical coach at a Catholic school in Washington state said she is engaged to her same-sex partner—but is nervous how school leaders will handle the news after they forced out a vice principal who married his partner, according to the Associated Press. Stephanie Merrow, who was hired for a second time to choreograph a musical at Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, said she got engaged shortly after the departure of vice principal Mark Zmuda.
The U.S. Dept. of Education and Dept. of Justice Jan. 8 released groundbreaking federal guidance to assist schools in making their disciplinary practices—which research shows disproportionately impacts youth of color and LGBT youth—less discriminatory while encouraging positive interventions over student push-out or removal, according to a press release. The guidelines, however, do not specifically reference LGBT youth. Last year GLSEN met with the departments to urge them to include LGBT-specific language to address the particular challenges LGBT youth face.
In Georgia, a lesbian who is Fulton County's top judge won't seek re-election this fall, finally settling on a long-contemplated retirement and part-time move to another country, according to Project Q Atlanta. Fulton Superior Court Chief Judge Cynthia Wright told the Daily Report that she is stepping down this year and may complete her term. Wright was publicly outed in 2003 when her then-partner shot her twice in the driveway of their Morningside home.
A gay Atlanta business owner whose clients include gay porn stars and studios, and who was feared missing since late October, is alive and getting his affairs back in order after a legal ordeal kept him in a Barbados jail cell for two months, Project Q Atlanta noted. Mark Wilson says he returned to the United States through Savannah, Ga., on Jan. 8, ending an expected quick trip to the island nation for his birthday on Oct. 30 that turned into a 67-day journey. Wilson owns Great Atlantic Media, a web-hosting company that caters to clients in the gay-porn industry.
President Obama has nominated Deborah L. Birx as ambassador-at-large and coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally, Department of State, according to a press release. Birx is the firector of the Division of Global HIV/AIDS in the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ), a position she has held since 2009. Concurrently, Dr. Birx has served as adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina since 2012, a consultant to Walter Reed Army Medical Center since 1989, and an assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences since 1985.
Newly inaugurated Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe kept his campaign promise from last year when he was inaugurated Jan. 11, issuing an executive order banning anti-LGBT discrimination as one of his first official acts, according to The Washington Blade. The executive order bans discrimination against state employees on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. McAuliffe repeatedly promised during his campaign against then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that this would be the first executive order he would sign as governor.
A longtime editor of an Atlanta music and culture magazine ignited a controversy when he dismissed popular lesbian chef Ria Pell, who died in November, as an unhealthy lesbian celebrated in the year's "Most Overdone Memorial," according to Project Q Atlanta. Jeff Clark, editor of Stomp & Stammer, wrote of Pell, "She was also unhealthy and met with an early death. Had she not been a lesbian—had she been a straight woman or man—we would have seen a fraction of the reaction. Instead, she was unrealistically elevated into something she wasn't: a symbolic figure." Several hundred people have joined Boycott Stomp And Stammer And All Who Advertise There, a Facebook group created in reaction to Clark's description.
The New Black—a documentary that follows African-American advocates on both sides of the 2012 campaign for Maryland's Question 6, a referendum launched by opponents of the state's same-sex marriage bill—has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary ( Theatrical ), according to the L.A. Times. Chicagoan Yvonne Welbon, a lesbian, is one of the film's producers; Yoruba Richen was another producer, as well as the writer and director. The awards will air Feb. 22.
The effort to repeal, through a ballot initiative, the California's School Success and Opportunity Act—a bill that affords certain rights to transgender students—is moving forward, according to Advocate.com . Gov. Jerry Brown signed the measure into law last year; however, a coalition of anti-LGBT groups immediately began the process of collecting signatures that would put a repeal measure on the November 2014 ballot. California county clerks have until Feb. 24 to verify all signatures.
Seventy-eight-year-old gay vegan bodybuilder Jim Morris stars in a brand-new PETA campaign that proclaims, "Think Before You Eat," according to a press release. Morris joins a growing list of top athletes and other celebrities—including drag icon Sharon Needles, Mac Danzig, "Sexiest Vegan Next Door" Zachary Koval, Joan Jett, Forest Whitaker, Paul McCartney and Angela Simmons—who have teamed with PETA to promote meat-free meals.
Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen told Larry King that he feels the Bible says homosexuality is a sin—but he doesn't want to preach about it, according to The Huffington Post. Osteen, who leads Lakewood Church in Houston, told King, "I believe that scripture says that it's a sin but I always follow that up by saying you know what, we're not against anybody." When King asked, "How can it be if we don't know what causes it? You don't know why you're a heterosexual," Osteen replied, "There's a lot of things, Larry, that I don't understand—so I just don't want to preach on it, preach about it."
On Jan. 13, embattled New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed 12 bills into law and vetoed 10 others—including a bill that would allow transgender individuals to amend their birth certificates, according to MSNBC. In a statement, Christie said, "Under the proposal before me, however, the sponsors seek to alter the amended birth certificate application process without maintaining appropriate safeguards. Consequently, further consideration is necessary to determine whether to make such significant changes to State law concerning the issuance of vital records." Several LGBTQ groups issued statements criticizing Christie's move.
The nonpartisan Tax Foundation has released a summary of each state's guidance to same-sex couples on filing income taxes, according to a press release. Gay and lesbian couples holding a valid marriage certificate from a state that recognizes same-sex marriage will be able to file a joint federal tax return for tax year 2013. Twenty-two states do not recognize same-sex marriage while requiring taxpayers to reference their federal return when filing state income tax. See http://taxfoundation.org/article/states-provide-income-tax-filing-guidance-same-sex-couples.
Pro-LGBT group Truth Wins Out ( TWO ) praised New York State Assemblymember Deborah Glick and state Sens. Brad Hoylman and Michael Gianaris for introducing joint bills banning reparative ( or "ex-gay" ) therapy for minors, according to a media release. Executive Director Wayne Besen said, "We applaud these New York lawmakers for standing up for science and quality mental health care by working to eliminate these harmful practices for the good of the citizens they were elected to represent, and especially for the kids of New York." Empire State Pride Agenda is leading the charge to make the bill law.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE )—the world's largest professional body of engineers, with more than 425,000 members in more than 160 countries, including both academia and industry—is publishing its new Code of Ethics. That code, for the first time, is LGBT-inclusive, according to a Huffington Post op-ed that Gender Rights Maryland Executive Director Dina Beyer wrote. The campaign to make this happen was spearheaded and coordinated by two trans women: Lynn Conway, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Emerita, at the University of Michigan; and Leandra Vicci, lecturer and director of the applied engineering laboratory in the department of computer science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Signaling a shift for the organization after the passage of same-sex marriage, Equality Illinois has released a guide that helps transgender Illinoisans navigate name changes and gender marker revisions on state documents. The organization announced the 44-page "Guide to Name and Gender Marker Changes" in a media statement Jan. 7. The guide covers documentation change including Illinois driver's licenses, birth certificates, social security cards and passports.
Citing dissatisfaction with big-government conservatives and discrimination within the Republican Party, Jimmy LaSalvia—co-founder of arch-conservative Republican gay organization GOProud—announced that he has changed his voter registration to independent, according to Edge Boston. On his blog, LaSalvia stated, in part, "I just don't agree with the big-government 'conservatives' who run the party now. ... The other reason I am leaving is the tolerance of bigotry in the GOP. The current leadership lacks the courage to stand up to it—I'm not sure they ever will."
