The Washington, D.C, City Council passed two bills that expand benefits for registered domestic partners. The Domestic Partnership Equality Act of 2005 and the Health Care Benefits Expansion Amendment Act give domestic partners power of attorney and the ability to sue for negligence, among other things. In a statement, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said that the development 'is a step forward but we're many steps away from D.C. couples having equal protections and responsibilities.'
Kyle Lawson, a 19-year-old gay Army private who was recently attacked by a fellow soldier, was discharged from the military. Officials at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., where Lawson and his attacker were both stationed, have not said if any appropriate action has been taken to hold accountable his attacker, Private Zacharias Pierre, according to a Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN ) release. Lawson's nose was broken and he was later threatened with a knife after a friend revealed during a party in October that Lawson is gay.
SLDN has also filed a Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) request on behalf of itself and 13 other LGBT organizations, another release stated. The groups are seeking information related to the Pentagon's domestic spy program. In December, news outlets reported that Pentagon officials had been spying on what they called 'suspicious' meetings by civilian groups, including student groups opposed to the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ban. Among the organizations allegedly monitored were LGBT student groups at the State University of New York at Albany, William Patterson College and New York University Law School. Law firm Proskauer Rose LLP filed the FOIA request on SLDN's behalf.
In a historic move, the top court of the Cherokee Nation upheld a gay marriage, Reuters reported. Cherokee tribal members Kathy Reynolds and Dawn McKinley, married in May 2004 in Oklahoma, but Tribal Council members sued, saying that the marriage would hurt the Cherokees' reputation. That suit resulted in a tribal law allowing the marriage to be changed. National Center for Lesbian Rights attorney Lena Ayoub, who represented the couple, said they 'are pleased that that Court protected the fundamental principles of the Cherokee legal system.'
Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, CNN.com reported. The remarks have generated criticism from several individuals and organizations. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that the televangelist 'has a political agenda for the entire world.'
The New Jersey Senate passed broad amendments to the state's domestic-partner law that would give the surviving partner control of the estate and inheritance in the absence of a will upon a partner's death, 365Gay.com reported. In a stunning move, the legislative body's vote was unanimous: 35-0.
Massachusetts gay-marriage advocates filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Tom Reilly, seeking to block a proposed ballot question that would amend the state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage, the Associated Press reported. The suit, filed by Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, challenges a September ruling by Reilly that the repeal effort is legal.
In Washington State, a group of religious leaders rallied in favor of gay rights in Seattle to counter the efforts of anti-gay minister Ken Hutcherson and his supporters, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Hutcherson maintained that he forced corporate giant Microsoft to take gay its support of a statewide gay-rights bill after he threatened a national boycott of the company's products—an allegation Microsoft has denied, Advocate.com reported.
Gay and lesbian adults are more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to plan to spend their next vacations overseas, according to a press release from Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc. Fourteen percent ( 14% ) of gays and lesbians plan to travel to an overseas destination, compared to seven percent ( 7% ) of heterosexual adults, based on a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs.
A Southern Baptist Convention executive committee member was arrested after propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel, according to an item on ChannelOklahoma.com . Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church, was booked on a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in an act of lewdness; he was released on $500 bail.
In California, a man's body was found submerged in a bathhouse spa in Hillcrest, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The death appears to be accidental. Paramedics were called to Club San Diego after a patron got into the hot tub and stepped on the corpse.
