In response to right-wing pundit Ann Coulter referring to presidential candidate John Edwards as a 'faggot,' several newspapers have dropped her syndicated column, according to ABC News. ( In addition, three major companies—Verizon, NetBank and Sallie Mae—requested that their ads be pulled from her Web site, CNN reported. ) Tennessee's The Mountain Press, The Oakland Press in Michigan and Pennsylvania's Lancaster New Era are among the publications that have stopped running Coulter's column. Coulter has been heavily criticized for using the gay slur about Edwards at the American Conservative Union's Political Action Conference. Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes her column, does not plan to drop it.
Conservative TV guest and former gay-porn star Marine Cpl. Matt Sanchez answered questions on the Internet regarding his past and about colleague Ann Coulter, according to PlanetOut.com . Talking about his pornographic past, Sanchez, a Columbia University student, said 'I've moved forward a lot and this past stuff is not something I want to drag into my future.' Sanchez, who also insisted that he is not gay, said that 'I, personally, wouldn't have used the word 'faggot' in public like that. That said, Ann made a joke and that's just what she does. I wouldn't want her right to speak breached in any way.'
Anti-gay Baptist minister Lonnie Latham has been found not guilty of propositioning an undercover police officer, the Associated Press reported. Latham was arrested on Jan. 3, 2006, outside the Habana Inn,which identified itself as a gay resort on its Web site, in Oklahoma City for alleging asking a policeman to come up to his hotel for oral sex. Mack Martin, Latham's lawyer, argued that two consenting adults can engage in private same-sex acts.
In Utah, legislators rejected a measure that would repeal sodomy for same-sex couples, KUTV.com reported. The state's statute bans oral and anal sex; the bill never received a public hearing. However, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that states can't tell consenting adults what to do in their own homes.
The theme of this year's National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which took place on March 10, was 'Taking Action to Save Our Lives.' Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institutes of Health, thanked everyone involved in the effort to save lives and said that 'this day provides an opportunity for everyone, particularly women and girls, to take action and advance education, prevention and treatment efforts, to be tested for HIV and to consider participating in an HIV/AIDS clinical trial.'
In San Francisco, accused stalker Han Shin, 42, has been ordered to keep at least 100 yards from Mayor Gavin Newsom, NBC11.com . According to court documents, the man took pictures of Newsom from the waist down and grabbed the mayor. According to Examiner.com, Shin even infiltrated Newsom's apartment building, and has said that he had sex with Newsom.
A military jury has sentenced Air Force Capt. Devery L. Taylor to 50 years in prison for the rapes of four men and the attempted rapes of two others, according to Advocate.com . Taylor was found guilty of all charges against him for drugging and kidnapping military personnel and others he met in bars. Taylor, who was dismissed from the Air Force, will not be eligible for parole for 20 years.
The Rockway Institute, a think tank funded in part by The Gill Foundation, has brought together scientists and other professionals to counter anti-gay opinions and attitudes, according to a press release from the organization. According to the Web site ( rockway.alliant.edu ) , 'a primary goal is to convey accurate scientific and professional information about LGBT issues to the media, legislatures and the courts.'
The Washington State Senate passed a measure ( by a vote of 28-19 ) that would create a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples, according to 365Gay.com . The measure would allow couples who register to, among other things, have inheritance rights to partner property and the right to visit partners in the hospital. It now goes to the state's House of Representatives, where half of the members have become co-sponsors.
In Hawaii, a measure that advocated civil unions for same-sex partners was heard but ultimately defeated by the state's House Judiciary Committee, according to Gay.com . More than 100 people packed the hearing, and at least 400 submitted testimony. However, the committee eventually decided not to vote on the issue, essentially killing it.
The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop, recently appeared on a live Webcast to ask members to scale back their support for gays to allow the denomination to stay in the world Anglican fellowship, Advocate.com reported. Schori, who actually supports ordaining gays with partners, is seeking compromise.
Boston Celtics radio analyst and former NBA player Cedric Maxwell has apologized for saying that a female referee should 'go back to the kitchen' after one of her calls, according to Advocate.com . Maxwell, making the comment during a recent Celtics victory over the Houston Rockets, said, 'Go in there and make me some bacon and eggs, would you?' in reference to referee Violet Palmer.