U.S. Army recuiter Sgt. Marcia Ramode has been suspended for sending anti-gay and racist e-mails to a job-seeker, according to The Chicago Tribune. When Ramode initially contacted Corey Andrew Powell, a copywriter who had posted his resume on CareerBuilder.com, he responded that he was openly gay. Then the two exchanged e-mails, with one of Ramode's allegedly stating, 'You head off to gay land of people who have no morals, and get rid of yourself. Personally I think being gay is disgusting and immoral.' Ramode is currently under investigation.
Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, the new Massachusette Senate president, favors rejecting a law that prohibits most same-sex couples from marrying in the state, according to The Boston Globe. The statute in question is a 1913 law that prevents out-of-state couples who would not be permitted to wed in their resident states from getting married in Massachusetts.
In Indiana, the state's House rules subcommittee has rejected a proposal that would place a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, according to Gay.com . The vote was a deadlock at 5-5, with the five voting against the proposal being Democrats. However, Democrat Dennie Oxley, D-English, did vote in favor of the measure.
In Everett, Wash., the supposed 17-year-old boyfriend of a 14-year-old girl has turned out to be a 30-year-old woman, NBC5.com reported. Authorities said that Lorelei Corpuz posed as a teenaged orphan to gain the girl's family's trust; then, Corpuz allegedly assaulted the teen. The victim said that she never viewed Corpuz's private parts and thought she was a male.
New Hampshire could become the fourth state to recognize civil unions. By a vote of 243-129, the State House passed a measure that would give same-sex couples the same rights as opposite-sex married couples. The measure will now move on to the State Senate.
In Wyoming, lesbian couple Lynne Huskinson and Leah Vader have been denied Communion by their parish church for speaking out against an anti-same-sex bill, according to 10News.com . The couple, who got married in Canada last year, sent a letter criticizing the measure to their state lawmaker; they were then interviewed on Ash Wednesday and were photographed with the ash on their foreheads. Rev. Cliff Jacobsen, the couple's parish priest said, 'The sin is one thing. It's a very different thing to go public with that sin.'
Several people have started, among other things, a scholarship fund and an art exhibit to focus attention on anti-gay hate crimes, according to Gay.com . One of the projects is the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund and Web site ( www.rashawnbrazell.com ) , which remembers a 19-year-old bisexual man whose body parts were found in garbage bags scattered around his neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Walt Disney will now allow same-sex couples to take part in its Fairy Tale Wedding program, according to CNNMoney.com . Previously, Disney let gay couples organize their own ceremonies at meeting rooms at its resorts, but had only allowed heterosexual couples to use the Fairy Tale package and use locations at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
It's going to be a boy for Mary Cheney and Heather Poe, according to an Advocate.com item. During an interview with ABC News Radio, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Mary's father, relayed the news. The child will be Dick Cheney's sixth grandchild.
New York City has given away 5 million condoms in the first month of a distribution initiative, according to Advocate.com . The distribution is part of a project to cut down on the rates of STDs . The initial success has led Mayor Michael Bloomberg to call the new official condom a 'sensation.'
It's a cut to the quick as New York City health advocates consider a push for men who are at a high risk for AIDS to get circumcised, the Associated Press reported. The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is questioning agencies, and is even considering making the procedure free to those who do not have health insurance.
In Florida, the Sixth Circuit Court has turned back an attempt by a man to stop paying alimony because his ex-wife is now male, according to a Lambda Legal press release. Lawrence Roach tried to appeal paying alimony because his former wife, Julia Roach, is now Julio Silverwolf. The court ordered the payments to continue; however, Silverwolf would not be recognized as a man under state law.
A survey of U.S. gay men presented at the 14th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections reveals that gay men born in the 1970s knew they were gay and came out earlie than gay men of previous generations, Advocate.com reported. The survey also found that younger gay men were more likely to have started their sexual adventures by having oral rather than anal sex.
In Ohio, Steven Cole, 46, a volunteer firefighter, is facing charges after a complaint about him wearing a string bikini and a blonde wig in a park, Advocate.com reported. Cole—who is married with three children—said to authorities that he was on his way to a gay bar to compete for $10,000. Also, Cole's blood-alcohol level was allegedly 0.174, more than twice the state's legal limit.
In a legal brief, the city of San Francisco has urged the California Supreme Court to recognize same-sex marriage, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Lawyers for the city filed a strongly-worded document that compared the fight for marriage to civil-rights battles. In 2004, the city performed 4,000 same-sex weddings that the state's high court later nullified.
In a defeat for AIDS activists who also advocated for privacy, the names of HIV-infected people will be tracked in all 50 states by year's end, according to The Washington Blade. The last states not practicing names-based reporting—Vermont, Maryland and Hawaii—are moving to do so. Federal funds ( or the possible lack thereof ) have been a primary motivator in getting some states, including Illinois, to switch.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based organization Campus Pride has announced what it calls the first summer leadership camp for the nation's LGBTA college students. The camp will take place July 24-29 at Towson State University in Towson, Md. For more info, see www.campuspride.org or e-mail info@campuspride.org .
The lesbian travel company Olivia has named American as its official airline, according to an American press release. American, recently ranked in a study as the nation's 'gay-friendliest' airline, will promote fares for those looking to fly to an Olivia cruise or resort.
In Michigan, Julie Nemecek—a transgender professor who was fired from Spring Arbor University, a Christian school where she worked—has settled a complaint with the school, 365Gay.com reported. Although specifics were not released, Nemecek, 55, said that she will no longer work at the university.
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have discovered a weak spot in the AIDS virus, according to Advocate.com . Unlike the rest of the mutating virus, one key part on HIV's surface can be penetrated by the HIV-fighting antibody b12.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty's recent pro-abstinence speech has many of the city's AIDS and gay-rights advocates concerned. In a statement promoting March 10-17 as Abstinence Awareness Week in the city, Fenty—who says that he supports gay marriage—said in part, 'increas [ ing ] awareness that abstinence from sex outside of marriage is a desirable choice for individuals to make.'
In California, hundreds of the gay and lesbian couples who were the first to receive marriage licenses in the country gathered at San Francisco City Hall to mark the third anniversary, 365Gay.com reported. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said that it is only a matter of time before same-sex marriage becomes legal throughout the country, citing that Spain, Canada and South Africa all have legalized same-sex marriage since 2004.
