Washington, D.C.'s, LGBT health center is changing its name, website and logo, according to Advocate.com . Once known as the Whitman-Walker Clinic, the facility will alter its name to Whitman-Walker Health. The health center is named for gay writer Walt Whitman—who was a health worker during the Civil War—and 19th-century feminist doctor Mary Edwards Walker. The 33-year-old facility is operating at a profit, unlike some comparable institutions around the country.
In the wake of Nevada's John Ensign resigning from the U.S. Senate, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval is replacing Ensign with Dean Heller—who is even more conservative than his predecessor, Advocate.com reported. Heller is a Mormon who is against marriage equality, voted against renewable energy credits and wants to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and National Public Radio.
Professor Rachel Tudor will be let go from Southeastern Oklahoma State University May 31 for her gender identity, Advocate.com reported. Tudor has been approved for tenure twice in the last two years by the Faculty Appeals Committee, but the administration prevented her from obtaining tenure. Tudor has brought her case to the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission, U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Also, there is an online petition aimed at saving Tudor's job at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-rachel-tudor.
In New Mexico, the school board in Clovis has voted to ban all extracurricular clubs from meeting during school hours after a gay-straight alliance applied to become a club, according to Reuters. School officials said that the alliance's application and the board's review of school policies were coincidental. However, Micah McCoy, communications specialist for the ACLU of New Mexico, said, "his sort of tactic has been used in the past by school districts to discourage gay-straight clubs from forming. A lot of alarm bells went off when we saw this."
Bradley Milam is the first full-time staffer for Fairness West Virginia, a pro-LGBT group founded two years ago, SundayGazetteMail.com reported. After graduating from Yale University with a history degree, he worked as a paralegal at a small criminal-defense firm in New York. Milam said that one of his biggest challenges as program director is to show state leaders that rural communities have a stake in gay-rights issues.
Feminist science-fiction writer/scholar Joanna Russ died April 29 at the age of 74, according to LocusMag.com . Born Feb. 22, 1937 in New York City, she attended Cornell University, graduating in 1957 with an English degree, and earned a MFA from Yale Drama School in 1960. She was best known for The Female Man (1975) but also penned works such as What Are We Fighting For?: Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of Feminism (1997) and The Zanzibar Cat (1983).
In South Carolina, five men have been arrested and charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after allegedly brutally beating a gay Rock Hill teen, according to the Charlotte Observer. Joshua Esskew was beaten April 9 outside a convenience store; video showed what appeared to be a gang assault. The five suspects—Cortezio Laquise Douglas, 21; Lortarius Anthony Duncan, 22; LaJames Mitchell, 22; Darenco Markie Wilmore, 21; and Bobby Wilson, 20—could be imprisoned for up to 20 years each if convicted.
In Minnesota, a state Senate committee passed a measure April 29 that would ask residents to vote on prohibiting same-sex marriage next year, according to the Star-Tribune. The bill is likely to pass both the Senate and House, which Republicans control. The chief Senate sponsor of the bill, Republican Sen. Warren Limmer, said a recent lawsuit challenging the state law banning same-sex marriage made this latest measure necessary.
In New York City, shop owner Karen Paperno said that she has been receiving threatening calls since offering a 10-percent discount to lesbian mothers, according to Advocate.com . Paperno, who is not lesbian, said callers have talked to her about issues such as sexism and the sanctity of marriage. Even though she has said she's afraid, Paperno is not relinquishing the discount.
Tony Award-winning choreographer and 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient Bill T. Jones is the latest voice to join the Human Rights Campaign in its "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" campaign. In a new video, Jones acknowledges that marriage is a fundamental right and says, "In our society, there are no second class citizens." Jones joins a phalanx of other celebrities who have participated in the campaign, including actress Lucy Liu; former New York City Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins; actor Christopher Meloni; and chef Mario Batali.
The U.S. Olympic Committee has named gold medalist—and outspoken same-sex marriage opponent—Peter Vidmar, 49, as its chief of mission for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, according to Advocate.com . Vidmar, a Mormon, donated $2,000 in '08 to help pass California's Proposition 8, saying, "It's good for our society to stay with a traditional definition of marriage." Vidmar, a former gymnast, won two gold medal and one silver medal in the 1984 Olympics.
University of Wisconsin at Madison associate professor of anthropology John Hawks is disputing the discovery of the so-called "gay caveman," according to LGBTWeekly.com . When a male skeleton was found buried in a manner usually reserved for women at a dig site in the Czech Republic, some archaeologists thought that the man might have been gay. In a blog, Hawks posted, "Dudes! I could be wrong, but I think that to have a 'gay caveman,' you need a skeleton that is both gay and a caveman," saying later on CNN that there isn't enough evidence to prove the skeleton's sexuality.
In Elmira, N.Y., authorities have ruled out hate as a motive in the murder of gay bar owner Clinton "Billy" Lewis, according to Advocate.com . Louis Duffy, 20, an acquaintance of Lewis, 53, confessed to the shooting. Duffy has been charged with second-degree murder.
Renowned fashion designer and gay-rights activist Marc Jacobs and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) unveiled a window display at the designer's Bleecker St. store in Manhattan to promote HRC's "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign," according to an HRC press release. The window display depicts a springtime wedding scene with text from Marc Jacobs and HRC inviting New Yorkers to "Support New York Marriage Equality." Jacobs has been a longtime supporter of the Human Rights Campaign, recently designing a T-shirt to bring attention to the unfair tax burden placed on same-sex couples who are not legally allowed to marry.
White House executive pastry chef Bill Yossess, 57, recently married his partner, special-education teacher/reading specialist Charlie Fabella, Jr., 38, in Washington, D.C., according to the New York Times. With a culinary résumé that includes stints at New York elite restaurants Tavern on the Green and Montrachet, Yosses' responsibilities in the Obama administration include beekeeping and tending the White House garden.
The Humane Society of the United States has increased the reward for the person(s) responsible for an anti-gay hate crime that resulted in the deaths of eight horses in Ohio, according to Advocate.com . The society is offering an additional $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist; the Blue Ribbon Arson Committee has already offered $5,000. Brent Whitehouse, who is gay, found all of his horses (including a week-old colt) engulfed in flames, and found "Fags are freaks" painted on the side of his barn.
May's J. Crew catalog features gay designer Somsack Sikhounmuong and his boyfriend, Micah, with the caption "Happy Together," according to Advocate.com . The feature follows a recent controversy over an Internet newsletter in which the company president Jenna Lyons' son was shown with his toenails painted pink.
In Oklahoma, state Rep. Sally Kern tearfully voted for her own reprimand on the house floor after making controversial statements about women and people of color concerning an affirmative-action measure, according to NewsOK.com . During a debate, Kern—who unapologetically made anti-gay statements in 2008—said minorities and women earn less than men because they don't work as hard and have less initiative. Rep. Mike Shelton, one of four Blacks in the 101-member House, made the motion to reprimand Kern, who apologized.
