The app Grindr—which allows men to meet other men locally—has reached more than 4 million users worldwide, according to a press release. There will soon be a new version of the app that promises better functionality, a new slide-screen menu and an optimized interface. Joel Simkhai, founder and CEO of Grindr said, "The new Grindr continues our commitment to innovation and our belief in leveraging location-based technologies to help gay men find one another."
Florida's lieutenant governor, Jennifer Carroll, denied having a clandestine lesbian affair at work, adding that "Black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that," according to Advocate.com . Carroll, a Christian conservative, was accused in a court document of being caught in "a compromising position" with a travel aide. Additionally, she cited being married for 29 years as evidence she couldn't be in a lesbian affair.
In Arizona, a gay appointee to the Arizona Tourism Advisory Council stepped down in response to Gov. Jan Brewer's legal battle against healthcare benefits for same-sex partners of state employees, according to Advocate.com . Edwin Leslie, a hospitality-management company owner, sent a two-page letter to the Republican governor, arguing that her stance hurts the tourism economy and conflicts with her "reiteration that all Americans are entitled to the same 'inalienable rights.'" Brewer asked the Supreme Court to review an appellate-court decision that stopped a law that would've eliminated those benefits.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh said that various leaders at Penn State University, including the late football coach Joe Paterno, covered up Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children for years to save the school's reputation, according to a Chicago Tribune item. Their failure to stop Sandusky allowed the former assistant coach to continue luring boys for more than a decade. Sandusky, 68, was recently convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sent a letter to the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum and the Mississippi attorney general demanding that the museum change its policy of refusing to rent facilities to same-sex couples for commitment and wedding ceremonies or face a federal lawsuit, a press release noted. The museum refused to rent to lesbian couple Ceara and Emily Sturgis. Museum reps have until July 25 to advise the SPLC and its clients of their intention.
In California, domestic partners Jeremy Smythe and Daniel Soto reported being verbally harassed and physically threatened at a Lowe's home-improvement store, according to Advocate.com . Smythe and Soto said that a cashier threatened Smythe and hurled anti-gay slurs at him after Smythe initially wanted to talk about a problem with a leaf blower. The couple was granted temporary restraining orders against employees involved in the incident.
In Utah, police have solved the case of a gay Salt Lake City man who was stabbed to death 30 years ago, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. On May 16, 1982, police found Dennis Piernick, 39, dead with multiple stab wounds to the head and neck in his apartment. Last year, a new detective on the case learned of a confession made long ago; however, main suspect Rodney VanKomen, 47, died in a car accident seven years ago.
The Palette Fund, True Colors Fund and the Williams Institute released a comprehensive report on LGBT youth homelessness, according to a press release. Among other things, the report shows that nearly all homeless youth service providers serve LGBT youth. Additionally, 94 percent of respondents from agencies reported working with LGBT youth, with providers indicating that 30 percent of their clients identified as gay or lesbian, 9 percent identified as bisexual and 1 percent as transgender (for a total LGBT population served of 40 percent). See http://fortytonone.org/resources/serving-our-youth.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Truvada as the first HIV-prevention pill, according to CBS News. Gilead Sciences' Truvada has been taken by HIV-positive people over 12 in conjunction with other antiretroviral drugs since the FDA first approved it eight years ago. The newest approval applies in combination with safer-sex practices for preventative use in healthy individuals who are at a high risk for HIV or who may have sex with HIV-positive people.
In California, a lesbian couple filed a class-action federal lawsuit to stop the deportation of same-sex spouses, Advocate.com reported. The suit, filed on behalf of Philippines citizen Jane DeLeon, adds to the list of recent cases backing immigrants in same-sex marriages whose legal status is nullified by the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA prevents the federal government from recognizing DeLeon's marriage to Irma Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen.
Former Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) head Kevin Jennings has been named executive director of the Arcus Foundation, a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues, according to a press release. Jennings, who will join Arcus in September, is currently CEO of Be the Change, Inc. In a separate statement, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said, "Jon Stryker and the Arcus Foundation board of directors have chosen a skilled and accomplished leader in Kevin Jennings."
In Minnesota, legal/business-information/media giant Thomson Reuters said that a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage would be bad for business, according to the Huffington Post. The state already has a law against marriage equality, but conservatives say the amendment is necessary as ban. Spokesman John Shaughnessy said Thomson Reuters, headquartered in New York City, has almost 8,000 employees in Minnesota; he added that the amendment "would limit our ability to recruit and retain top talent."
In Kentucky, lesbian couple Cheri Chenault and Destiny Keith were reportedly ordered to leave a park because of their sexual orientation, according to the Huffington Post. Chenault and Keith were in Richmond's E.C. Million Memorial Park to take photos ahead of the birth of their baby boy. After they kissed for a photo, a park gatekeeper told them (as well as their photographer, Jessica Miller-Poole, and her husband) they were being inappropriate and had to leave.
The Right Rev. Mark J. Lawrence—bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—criticized the national church's approval of services blessing same-sex relationships, UPI.com reported. In a letter to his congregations in the Lowcountry region, Lawrence wrote that "the actions taken mark a significant and distressing departure from the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this church has received them." The 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church recently endorsed a liturgy that can now be used for blessings of same-sex relationships in the U.S. Episcopal Church.
Opponents of a law that requires California public schools to cover the contributions of LGBT people have again failed to qualify a ballot measure that would have overturned the criterion, according to MercuryNews.com . The "Stop SB48" campaign did not gather enough signatures by the July 16 deadline to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot.
In Georgia, three young men were sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years of probation for the videotaped beating of gay man Brandon White, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Y'all are the ultimate bullies, and you bullied somebody and you hurt him," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jackson Bedford said to the defendants. A fourth suspect, Javaris Bradford, 24, who reportedly taped the beating, remains at large.
The San Francisco AIDS Walk, held July 15, raised more than $2.6 million, according to the Huffington Post. Approximately 20,000 people gathered in Golden Gate Park to help the fight against HIV/AIDS. "AIDS Walk San Francisco embodies the true spirit of our city with thousands of people from all walks of life coming together for a singular purpose: to make a real difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said Mayor Ed Lee.
In reaction to a petition campaign asking him to speak out against the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA's) current ban on gay scouts and gay scout leaders, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, an executive board member with the Scouts, has announced that he not only supports an end to the ban but will also commit to ending it, according to a Change.org press release. An AT&T spokesperson for Stephenson told the LGBT publication the Dallas Voice that the entrepreneur will work alongside Ernst & Young CEO James Turley, another BSA board member, to help change the policy.
In a new interview, Chick-fil-A Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy said that the company is indeed anti-gay, according to an Advocate.com item. He told the Baptist Press his goal is to operate the fast-food chain "on Biblical principles." When asked if his company had an established position against marriage equality, Cathy replied, "guilty as charged." He added, "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."
