White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett recently posted a blog entry entitled "Thank You, Edie Windsor," according to WhiteHouse.gov . Windsor filed the case United States v. Windsor because she to pay nearly $400,000 in federal estate taxes after her wife, Thea Spyer, passed away in 2007. ( The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in her favor, invalidating part of the Defense of Marriage Act. ) Obama called Windsor from Air Force One to congratulate her on her victory, and he recently invited her to the France State Dinner and the Oval Office to thank her in person.
To protest Russia's anti-LGBT propaganda law, Nir Zilberman—the owner of West Hollywood sportswear store LA Jock—has displayed a mannequin in his storefront window dressed in a concentration camp uniform with an upside-down pink triangle on its chest, according to Buzzfeed. Zilberman, the son of two Holocaust survivors, said he's "sorry that a lot of Russian Jews got offended" by the display, but he does not regret his decision to put up the display. Zilberman has also posted a video about his protest and the mannequin on Facebook.
In a ruling that could open the door to gay marriage in Kentucky, a federal judge struck down the state's ban on recognizing valid same-sex marriages performed in other states, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law, according to Courier-Journal.com . U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II joined nine other federal and state courts in invalidating such bans. In ruling, Heyburn said, "It is clear that Kentucky's laws treat gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them."
A federal judge in Norfolk, Va., struck down the state's ban on same-sex couples marrying but stayed the execution of her order that it stop enforcing the law, pending appeal to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Judge Arenda Wright Allen ( an Obama appointee ) opened her 41-page decision with a quote from a book by Mildred Loving, the African-American woman who won a lawsuit striking down bans against interracial couples marrying. The case, Bostic v. Virginia, was argued by Ted Olson, David Boies and a team supported by the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which pressed the successful challenge against California's statewide ban, Proposition 8.
The Transportation Security Administration ( TSA ) will allow same-sex couples to undergo pre-flight security screenings together in response to two recent incidents with American Airlines personnel at a Colombian airport, according to The Washington Blade. Hunter Carter—a prominent marriage-equality advocate in Latin America who said American Airlines personnel at the airport in Medellin separated him and his husband, Cesar Zapata, as they tried to check into their Miami-bound flight on Jan. 18—received an e-mail from Alec Bramlett, senior litigation attorney for the airline. Bramlett mentioned the TSA policy change, which the agency confirmed to the publication.
A decision by Washington, D.C., Police Chief Cathy Lanier to indefinitely reassign members of the department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit ( GLLU ) to street patrol duties in the Sixth and Seventh Police Districts is reportedly hindering their ability to respond to LGBT-related calls throughout the city, according to The Washington Blade. The GLLU's four active officers previously assigned to the unit's headquarters office in Dupont Circle have most recently been assigned to patrol a single location deemed a high-crime area, and must obtain permission to answer a GLLU call outside that location.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit in state court on behalf of eight same-sex couples who are seeking recognition for their legal out-of-state marriages, according to a press release. The couples reside in St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield. The lawsuit does not seek a repeal of Missouri's ban on marriage for same-sex couples within the state.
In Illinois, one of two men charged with beating up and stabbing a Cook County prosecutor who had come to the defense of a gay couple being harassed on the lakefront was sentenced to four years in prison, according to The Chicago Tribune. Luis Cotto, 24, had previously pled guilty to aggravated battery in the Chicago attack on the off-duty prosecutor, who suffered cuts—including one that needed 40 stitches. Co-defendant Edgar Diaz's next court date is March 7.
A man arrested in the death of Clarksdale, Miss., mayoral candidate Marco McMillian has been indicted on a charge of murder, according to SFGate.com . ( The Washington Post had reported that McMillian was gay. ) The circuit clerk's office said that Lawrence Reed was indicted Feb. 11 by a grand jury in Quitman County. Prosecutors say phone records indicate McMillian and Reed knew each other before the aspiring politician's nude, battered body was found Feb. 27, 2013.
In Oklahoma, state Sen. Al McAffrey ( D-Oklahoma City ) plans to run for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. James Lankford, according to an LGBTQ Nation item. A U.S. Navy veteran and former Oklahoma City police officer, McAffrey was the first openly gay person elected to the Oklahoma Legislature when he won his state House seat in 2006. McAffrey will be forced to give up his Senate seat in order to run for the U.S. House.
The Kansas House has approved a bill aimed at keeping individuals, groups and businesses from being compelled to help with same-sex weddings, according to KMBC.com . The House's 72-49 vote Wednesday sends the measure to the Senate. Supporters describe it as a religious freedom measure, while opponents contend it will encourage discrimination against gays and lesbians.
In Ohio, a wrestler at Kent State University was suspended indefinitely for a series of anti-gay tweets, including referring to Missouri football player Michael Sam as "that fag," LGBTQ Nation reported. "I can't even watch Sports Center today cause all they are talking about is Marcus Smart or that fag from Mizzou…" tweeted Sam Wheeler, a 20-year-old redshirt sophomore. Wheeler has since deleted the tweets and his Twitter account, @sam_wheeler34, has been deactivated.
Investigators are again reaching out to the public for help in finding missing Florida State University ( FSU ) student Ryan Uhre, according to WTXL.com . Friends of Uhre reported him missing Feb. 7, nearly a week after he was last seen Feb. 2 leaving a bar. A SouthFloridaGayNews.com op-ed states that the 23-year-old Uhre—who was last enrolled as a psychology major at FSU in fall 2013, and had not yet graduated—is gay, adding that he "came out to his gay high school teacher a few years ago when he was living in South Florida."
The Center for Black Equity and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health are collaborating on a new research project to study reasons for increased risk of HIV infection among African-American men who have sex with men ( MSM ), according to a press release. The project, funded by a $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ), will seek to enroll nearly 6,000 African-American MSM who attend Black gay-pride events in large cities nationwide.
The civil-rights group Southern Poverty Law Center has sued Alabama on behalf of a gay man challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage, arguing he should be able to claim the estate of his husband who died in a car crash, according to Reuters. Paul Hard, an associate professor at a university in Montgomery, is seeking to be recognized as the beneficiary of proceeds in a wrongful death case, but Alabama does not recognize him as a surviving spouse. The couple married in Cape Cod, Mass., in 2011, and Hard was listed as the sole beneficiary of Fancher's estate in his will.
Indiana lawmakers effectively killed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have prohibited marriage equality, or any form of legal relationship recognition for same-sex couples, according to Advocate.com . The State Senate passed an amended version of House Joint Resolution 3 without reinstating the language banning civil unions or similar legal relationships that the House removed last month. Indiana residents will not see the constitutional amendment on the state ballot in November.
Facebook has expanded the way users can identify their genders on their profiles, according to a press release. The need for the social-media giant's change is bolstered by a new report on gender-expansive youth—or young respondents who identified as transgender or chose "other" and wrote in their own terms—that the Human Rights Campaign Foundation published in partnership with Gender Spectrum. In a survey of 10,000 LGBT youth, nearly 10 percent of respondents fall into the "gender-expansive" grouping.
Gay Men's Health Crisis ( GMHC ) praised the announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio capping rent contributions for 10,000 low-income New Yorkers living with AIDS at 30 percent of their income, a longstanding policy goal of GMHC's Action Center. GMHC Interim CEO Janet Weinberg said in a statement, "The 30 percent rent cap is long overdue. Housing is health care. The only way we can expect people living with HIV/AIDS to stay healthy is by ensuring that their housing is secure and safe." One Action Center member, James Lister, said he "had to pay upwards of 80 percent of my fixed income towards rent."
Chelsea Clinton, former first daughter and current vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, delivered special remarks Feb. 16 at "Time to THRIVE," the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's first national conference addressing safety, inclusion and well-being for LGBTQ youth, according to a press release. "Time to THRIVE," held in Las Vegas, brought together a wide range of youth-service professionals to discuss the most recent best practices for serving LGBTQ youth and their families in schools, community centers, healthcare systems and beyond.
Lambda Legal has filed administrative complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights against two additional Louisiana health insurers ( Louisiana Health Cooperative, Inc. and Vantage Health Plan, Inc. ) that are adopting BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana's ( BCBS's ) approach and are no longer accepting federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program ( RWHAP ) third-party premium subsidies for low-income Louisianans living with HIV, according to a press release. RWHAP is a federal program through which the federal government functions as a payer of last resort, making grants to states, cities and nonprofit organizations to help low-income individuals living with HIV purchase health insurance they could not otherwise afford.
In Texas, WFAA sports director Dale Hansen has been stunned that his defense of newly out football player Michael Sam has gone viral, according to DallasNews.com . On Feb. 10, Hansen gave a two-minute 15-second speech chastising Sam's naysayers; since then, the video has had almost 2 million views on YouTube, and Ellen DeGeneres and Piers Morgan has asked him to be on their shows.
Texas state senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis ( D ) backed gay marriage in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News editorial board, according to a Huffington Post item. Davis called on her gubernatorial opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott, to stop defending Texas' ban on gay marriage. Davis was thrust into the national spotlight last year when she staged a 13-hour filibuster in the Texas Senate in an attempt to fight a package of abortion regulations that included a 20-week ban, according to CBS News.
Amid a wave of court decisions striking down anti-gay marriage laws in states, Texas Republican Ted Cruz introduced a bill to the U.S. Senate to amend federal law "with regard to the definition of 'marriage' and 'spouse' for Federal purposes and to ensure respect for State regulation of marriage," according to The Huffington Post. The bill's authors contend the measure "will ensure the federal government gives the same deference to the 33 states that define marriage as the union between one man and one woman as it does to the 17 states that have chosen to recognize same-sex unions."
Researchers from Northwestern University say that they've found two components of DNA that play a part in determining if a male will be gay, the Guardian reported Feb. 14. The findings, presented at the annual meeting American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago Feb. 13, suggest that genetics do have a significant role in determining sexual orientation, at least for men. The work has not yet been published, nor do the researchers precisely know how significant the link is.
Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney dismissed the argument that fellow Republicans are political losers in their opposition to same-sex marriage, despite growing public opinion and recent court rulings in favor of them, according to Fox News. On NBC's Meet the Press, Romney said, "I think you stand for various principles. You communicate those to the American people, and they either support those or not." In recent weeks, federal judges in Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia have struck down bans on same-sex marriage.
The West Hollywood City Council has responded to growing criticism over the removal of a rainbow flag from atop City Hall by agreeing to a compromise, The L.A. Times reported. The rainbow flag, which was raised above West Hollywood City Hall in June, will stay down. However, the city will hang a new City of West Hollywood flag that incorporates rainbow colors into the city logo, which is a rough geographic outline of the city.
Penn Medicine: University of Pennsylvania Health System recently launched a multidisciplinary program focused on investigating and improving the health of the LGBT community, according to The Philadelphia Gay News. With its Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health, Penn joins just a handful of similarly situated programs across the nation. The program will focus on five key areas—climate, education, research, patient care and outreach—and will be implemented in the Perelman School of Medicine, Penn School of Nursing, Penn School of Dental Medicine and the Center for Public Health Initiatives.
Kaitlyn Hunt—the Florida woman who was arrested at 18 for having a sexual relationship with her 14-year-old girlfriend—has reportedly moved on with 27-year-old Latasha Thomas, according to The New York Daily News. "Now I just want to put it all behind me," the 19-year-old told ABC News' Matt Gutman. "I want to stay out of trouble. I want to do the right thing, and then get it over with, so I can move on with my life." However, Thomas has had her own brushes with the law, including a 2012 arrest for domestic battery by strangulation.
The Indiana Senate approved a proposed amendment to the state's constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage; however, more steps are required before it goes to voters in 2016, according to The Chicago Tribune. The Indiana Senate approved the proposed ban by a vote of 32-17, following approval in the House of Representatives last month. But under state law, both chambers must approve the measure again, with the same language, in the next legislative session in 2015 or 2016 in order for the proposal to go before voters in 2016.
The National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender ( LGBT ) Bar Association will present the Out & Proud Corporate Counsel Award to Fabio Silva, vice president and general counsel of Fab.com, on Thursday, Feb. 27, at a reception in New York, according to a press release. Silva began his career working at Crowell & Moring and Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where he organized LGBT mentoring events and served on the firms' diversity committees. He later moved in-house at Burberry.
The body of missing Florida State University student Ryan Uhre was found in a building in downtown Tallahassee Feb. 18, more than two weeks after he disappeared, according to NBC Miami. Tallahassee Police spokesman Dave Northway said the cause of death was unknown but that there was no suspicion of foul play. A SouthFloridaGayNews.com op-ed by Norm Kent stated that the 23-year-old Uhre—who was last enrolled as a psychology major at FSU in fall 2013, and had not yet graduated—was gay, adding that he "came out to his gay high school teacher a few years ago when he was living in South Florida." However, Uhre's sexual orientation was not widely known.
The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) released a statement praising Hattiesburg, Miss., for unanimously passing an LGBT-rights ordinance. HRC President Chad Griffin said, "While we still have work ahead of us, there's no question that equality is marching forward and attitudes are changing in Mississippi faster than we've seen ever before." Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPress added, "We draw our strength from our diversity—our different backgrounds, our different talents, our different passions. I'd like to thank the city council for joining me ... in making this very important resolution a reality."
Attorneys for Gov. Rick Snyder have asked a federal judge to continue Michigan's ban on domestic-partner benefits for same-sex couples who work for state and local governments, according to MLive.com . The motion asks Judge David Lawson to rule in favor of the state in a lawsuit that five same-sex couples filed. The motion argues that the 2011 law banning the benefits "eliminates local government programs that are irrational and unfair" and promotes "financially sound" local agencies.
