Equality California presented Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown with its leadership award, according to LGBTQ Nation. Presenter Robert Ross told the crowd that Brown was the first governor in the United States to appoint a gay judge, in 1979, and the first politician to "openly, powerfully and compellingly embrace gay rights" in the country. Brown praised gay-rights advocates or being on "the cutting edge" in pushing for equality over the last several decades.
Charles "Chuck" Schoenone of the six founding members of American Veterans for Equal Rights ( AVER )passed away Feb. 27 in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., at the age of 88, according to an AVER release. Schoen was a life member of AVER and is survived by his fellow U.S. Navy veteran and partner of 48 years, Jack Harris, also a life member of AVER. Schoen served in the United States Navy during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Marcel Neergard, a gay 12-year-old from Oak Ridge, Tenn., is still fighting for the right to be himself, according to Advocate.com . In a Huffington Post op-ed, Neergard shares his sometimes painful experiences of being openly gay in elementary school. The piece's title, "Different," refers to how he often feels. Neergard had previously written for the Post when he protested Republican state Rep. John Ragan's Classroom Protection Act, an updated version of the failed "Don't Say Gay" bill.
Still reeling from the demise of Arizona's "right-to-discriminate" bill, Michele Bachmann said last week that she is tired of gay people "bullying" her and the American people, according to LGBTQ Nation. The Minnesota Congresswoman told talk show host Lars Larson in an interview at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference ( CPAC ) that the gay community distorted the Arizona bill by making it about gay rightseven though the bill's sponsor himself said it was about same-sex marriage.
In Texas, James Larry Cosby, 46, has been charged with two counts of tampering with evidence in connection with the death of his daughter, Britney Cosby, and her girlfriend Crystal Jackson, both 24, according to a Huffington Post article. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office told local ABC affiliate KTRK that the alleged murders of both women appear to have taken place in James Cosby's home. Britney Cosby reportedly died from blunt force trauma, while Crystal Jackson was shot. Earlier, James Cosby spoke to KTRK in regard to his daughter's death. "You can't really put something like this into words," he said at the time.
A disgraced icon of the gay community and former San Francisco Human Rights Commission employee was sentenced to six months in county jail after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography earlier this year, CBS San Francisco reported. Larry Brinkin, 67, agreed in January to plead guilty to a felony child pornography possession charge. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped a child-porn distribution charge against him.
Chris Culliver, the San Francisco 49ers cornerback who may be best known for his anti-gay rant in the run up to the 2013 Super Bowl, has pulled an about-face, SFGate.com reported. Last year, Culliver said of gay players, "No, ain't got no gay people on the team. They gotta get up out of here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff." The backlash was swift and fierce, with the team rejecting his comments and Culliver offering an apology. He now said the has "no problem" with gay players on his team, adding that he admires the courage of out athletes Jason Collins and Michael Sam.
In New York City, Splosha combination sex shop, cafe and barhas hit a stumbling block, as Community Board 4 ( CB4 ) shot down the establishment's liquor license application, according to DNAInfo.com . Dozens of angry neighbors packed a meeting of CB4's Business Licenses and Permits Committee to oppose the license, saying they feared Splosh would host loud parties and become a magnet for prostitution. The kitchen is in the rear of the space and the tables are in the front, so the food would have to travel through the retail shoppast lube, sex toys and underwearto get to the diners, the owner's attorney said. Splosh has yet to begin serving food.
Also in New York City, Bob Madison and husband Russell Frost have announced plans to sue the city for $5�million, claiming Madison was falsely arrested on a fabricated hate-crime allegation after a quarrel with a politically connected state employee, according to The New York Post. The couple claim Willie Walker, a Black man, flew into a rage when the men complained that his workers had dumped debris in front of their building. Words were exchanged, and Madison was eventually held in the Manhattan Detention Complex downtown for 32 hours with teens who had been busted for slashing people with straight razors.
Out in Lawthe first LGBT initiative for senior leaders in the legal professionheld its inaugural summit in New York City, according to Business Wire. Out in Law was launched in February as an industry vertical of Out Leadership, an organization of senior LGBT and ally leaders in financial services. The New York University School of Law hosted the daylong summit, which explored investing in equality initiatives and provided a look at topics relevant to LGBT individuals in the legal profession.
A Long Island, N.Y., hospital is sending out more than 4,000 letters to patients recommending that they be tested for hepatitis and HIV because of the risk that they may have been exposed to the diseases via an insulin pen, according to CBS News. Letters from South Nassau Communities Hospital said patients may have received insulin from an insulin pen reservoir that could have been used more than once. Since the scare, South Nassau has implemented a hospital-wide policy that bans the use of insulin pens and now only permits single-patient-use vials to administer insulin treatments.
In the United States District Court Southern District of Indiana, Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of three same-sex couples who seek the freedom to marry in their home state of Indiana, according to a press release. Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit against Boone County Clerk Penny Bogan, Porter County Clerk Karen M. Martin, and Lake County Clerk Michael A. Brown, as well as Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller on behalf of three same-sex couples. The complaint is at www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/baskin_in_20140310_complaint-for-declaratory-and-injunctive-relief.
In Utah, a pair of state attorneys told a federal judge that same-sex couples who believe they've been harmed by the state's decision to freeze their marriage rights created the problem themselves, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Assistant Utah Attorney General Kyle J. Kaiser told U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball that couples who married after Utah's Amendment 3 was found unconstitutional on Dec. 20, 2013, knew the state was seeking to stay the ruling and planned to appeal it. In addition, Assistant Utah Attorney General Joni J. Jones told Kimball that the couples "had no rights under Utah law" until the Dec. 20 decision and once the ruling was stayed, they did not retain vested rights.
The U.S. Senate added to the increasing number of openly LGBT people on the federal judiciary by confirming out lesbian Judith Levy by a unanimous vote, The Washington Blade reported. The Senate voted to approve Levy, whom President Obama nominated in July for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, by a vote of 97-0 along with other judicial nominees. D'Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the LGBT Bar Association, commended the Senate for confirming Levy and for increasing LGBT representation on the federal judiciary.
Americans for Workplace Opportunity ( AWO ), the bipartisan campaign to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ( ENDA ) through Congress, is launching a national field and advocacy campaign to build support for ENDA in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) press release. HRC is contributing $1.3 million to the $2.2 million campaign, and is leading field efforts on the ground in 30 key Congressional districts in 21 states across the country.
Former GOP Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who lost his seat to Elizabeth Warren, has formed an exploratory committee to prepare for a Senatorial bidin New Hampshire, according to ABC News. The contest instantly becomes one of the hottest races in the country and could give Republicans one more path to winning control of the Senate. In 2010, Brown was one of six Republican U.S. senators who voted to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Windy City Times noted.
A poll shows that a majority of Arizona voters approve of Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's veto of a controversial anti-gay bill, and a plurality now believe that gay couples should be allowed to marry legally in Arizona, according to a Huffington Post article. Public Policy Polling's survey found that 66 percent of Arizona voters disapproved of the proposed law that would have allowed Arizona businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples based on the owners' religious beliefs. Moreover, 49 percent of Arizona voters approve of granting marriage rights to gay couples in the state. ( Forty-one percent are against, and 10 percent are unsure. )
In an important but narrow ruling, a U.S. district court judge in Nashville issued a preliminary injunction March 14, barring the state of Tennessee from denying recognition of marriage licenses obtained by three same-sex couples in other states, Windy City Times reported. The order applies only to these three couples and only while their lawsuit challenging the state's refusal to recognize marriage licenses obtained by same-sex couples else is pending, said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. But it represents yet another important victory for marriage equality, and another advance in a Southern state.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh did not participate in the city's annual St. Patrick's Day parade because organizers are excluding gay groups, according to the Associated Press. Before the event, Walsh said in an email he was disappointed he wouldn't participate because parade plans prevent all Boston residents from participating fully. Walsh and U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch tried to broker a deal that would have allowed a gay group to march, but the negotiations broke down.
Nate Phelpsa son of Fred Phelps Sr., the controversial leader of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansashas posted on his Facebook page that his father was excommunicated from the church in August 2013 and is "now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka," according to The Topeka Capital-Journal. Nate broke away from the church 37 years ago. Phelps Sr., an ordained minister who started Westboro Baptist Church in 1955, was known early in his legal career as an award-winning civil rights attorney. However, after his disbarment by the Kansas Supreme Court in 1979 and the surrender of his license to practice law in federal courts in 1989, Phelps became known for his crusade against gay people, marked by picket lines at events such as funerals.
GLAAD announced that the historic Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern LGBT equality movement, dropped Guinness beer from its shelves beginning March 17 following the beer company's decision to stand by its sponsorship of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade, according to a press release. The Paradethe oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day celebration in the countryprohibits LGBT families and organizations from participating. As for late March 16, Guinness announced that it would drop its sponsorship of the parade, according to CBS New York.
In a related development, media mogul Rupert Murdoch slammed Guinness' decision to pull its sponsorship of New York's St. Patrick's Day parade and urged Irish people to shun the beer maker, according to The Wrap. Murdoch, who runs News Corp. and 21st Century Fox, said gay organizations had "bullied" the company into backing out of the event and portrayed the parade's stance as one based on religious beliefs.
A high school in Sheridan, Ark., is attempting to censor the yearbook profile of a gay student because he chose to openly discuss his orientation, according to Raw Story. Sheridan High School junior Taylor Ellis was among six students slated to receive special commendation in the school's 2014 yearbook. Ellis chose to use his profile page to tell his "coming-out" story. School officials, citing possible negative repercussions against Ellis, have decided to cancel the profile feature for the six students altogether.
Wyoming's newest lawmaker, GOP state Rep. Troy Mader, is defending a book he wrote nearly three decades ago that says many gay people demand the right to have sex with children and that people with AIDS should be quarantined if they continue having sex, according to LGBTQ Nation. He told The Casper Star-Tribune that research in the book ( entitled The Death Sentence of AIDS: Vital Information For You and Your Family's Health and Safety ) is outdated, but maintained that gay individuals are more likely to be promiscuous than than straight people, and that promiscuity contributes to the spread of HIV.
An illustrated tribute of sorts to Barilla pasta has appeared in the online "Opinion" section of The New York Times, and asserts that a boycott by the gay community ended when Chairman Guido Barilla's apologized for saying that "gays can go eat another brand" of pasta, according to LGBTQ Nation. The 21-panel illustration by Nicholas Blechman, titled "Pasta Planet," documents his field trip to a Barilla factory, the world's largest dry pasta producer.
Chick-fil-A President/CEO Dan Cathy apparently laments getting the fast-food chain involved in the debate over marriage equality; however, he isn't taking back his anti-gay comments, according to a Huffington Post item. Cathy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "I think the time of truths and principles are captured and codified in God's word, and I'm just personally committed to that. I know others feel very different from that and I respect their opinion and I hope that they would be respectful of mine."
California Assemblymember Toni Atkins was elected as the new speaker on a unanimous voice vote in a floor session, becoming the first lesbian to hold that position in the state, according to Fox40.com . Atkins will gradually assume the duties of termed out Speaker John Perez, who will devote much of his time running for state controller. "The significance of our queen mother speaker passing his scepter down to Ms. Atkins is duly noted globally," joked gay Assemblymember Tom Ammiano in seconding her nomination.