Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.; and former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R-Wyo. have said that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' should not be enforced. Responding to Marine Gen. Peter Pace's comments supporting the policy, Richardson told the Associated Press in part, 'I voted against it when I served in Congress. People should not be judged based on their sexual orientation.'
Openly gay former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey is seeking custody of his five-year-old daughter as well as child support from Dina Matos, his estranged wife, the Associated Press reported. McGreevey, who lives with his partner, Mark O'Donnell, stunned many in 2004 when he came out and resigned. Following last year's release of McGreevey's book, The Confession, Matos will be out with Silent Partner this spring.
In Hawaii, the state House passed a domestic-partner benefits bill for state and county workers by a vote of 34 to 6, 365Gay.com reported. The measure comes on the heels of the state legislature rejecting a proposed civil-union bill for same-sex couples.
Southern Baptist leader The Rev. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., has come under fire for advocating treating a fetus to change his or her sexual orientation, 365Gay.com . Several gay-rights groups criticized Mohler's thinking; Harry Knox, a spokesman on religious issues for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group said that ' [ Mohler is ] more than willing to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how he responds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about not tinkering with the unborn.' Conservatives are also riled because Mohler also said that research supports a biological basis for homosexuality.
Although several newspapers and over a dozen advertisers have dropped conservative pundit Ann Coulter after she recently referred to presidential candidate John Edwards as a 'faggot,' Crown Publishing Group plans to release her next book—If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans—in October, according to All Headline News. An official with Crown, a division of Random House, has said that Coulter's marketability is still viable despite her latest comments.
Former Repubican U.S. House Speaker and possible presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has admitted that he was having an extramartial affair while attempting to have then-President Bill Clinton impeached, 365Gay.com reported. The admission by Gingrich—who, incidentally, is against same-sex marriage—came during an interview with Focus on the Family's James Dobson.
Tax documents show that Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) paid former Executive Director Cheryl Jacques over $150,000 last year, even though she left the organization in 2004, according to the Washington Blade. ( HRC also said that it cost $26.4 million to purchase and redo its headquarters. ) Jacques left suddenly in 2004 after serving for almost a year.
The University of Judaism in Los Angeles' Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies has accepted its first out gay and lesbian applicants since conservative Judaism relaxed its view on the ordination of gays, according to Advocate.com . ( This coming fall, a gay man and a lesbian will enroll at the school. ) Pinknews.co.uk reported that in 1992 Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, the school's dean, wrote a pro-gay paper that, among other things, supported lifting the ban on gay sex.
