By a vote of 25-17, the New Mexico Senate has rejected a measure creating domestic partnerships in the state, according to KDBC.com . Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese released a statement saying, "Today's vote helps no one in the state of New Mexico. It protects no one's marriage. It grants dignity to no couple's relationship. It does nothing to ensure that all families receive the equal rights and responsibilities they deserve. But no one is giving up."
In Pennsylvania, the attorney for Harlow Cuadra, accused of killing gay-porn producer Bryan Kocis in 2006, says his client is innocent and that possibly three others—including Joseph Kerekes, Cuadra's ex-lover—murdered him, according to 365Gay.com . Attorney Joseph D'Andrea has told the jury that " [ Kerekes and Cuadra ] had a male-escort business, a male prostitution business. It was money that motivated Joseph Kerekes; he prostituted his lover Harlow to make money."
In New Jersey, Anthony Marrone was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a 2007 crime in which he choked his gay neighbor and pushed him against a wall, NJ.com reported. According to victim Richard Pallazzo, Marrone called him the "Queen of Union City." Pallazzo responded that he was, in fact, the Queen of Union City and said Marrone then grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the wall. Marrone pled guilty to bias intimidation.
An East Texas man has been ordered to stand trial in the murder of a gay man more than 37 years ago in San Diego, Calif., according to a Dallas Voice item. Gerald Dean Metcalf was arrested last year at his home after a cold-case squad matched him with evidence from the 1971 crime. Authorities say Metcalf, then 24, murdered then-27-year-old Gerald Jackson by stabbing him 61 times.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) announced support of measures before the California legislature challenging Proposition 8, according to an organizational press release. NAACP national board chair Julian Bond and President/CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous urged passage of House Resolution 5 and Senate Resolution 7, which call Prop 8 an improper and dangerous alteration of the state constitution.
A Different Light Bookstore, on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., is closing its doors after almost three decades in the business, according to Instinct magazine. The store's owner, Bill Barker, said that a street-renovation project and the burning of a nearby bar, Mickey's, contributed to the store's demise. The store's San Francisco outlet and the Web site, www.adlbooks.com, will remain open.
Four of the top professional women tennis players in the world—Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic—competed in a one-night tournament March 2 in New York City's Madison Square Garden to win the Billie Jean King Cup, the New York Times reported. In a ceremony before the final match—in which Serena defeated her sister 6-4, 6-3—former President Bill Clinton; figure skaters Sarah Hughes and Nancy Kerrigan; and race-car driver Janet Guthrie paid tribute to LGBT icon King.
The D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board voted unanimously to designate the home of veteran gay-rights advocate Frank Kameny a historic landmark, according to the Washington Blade. It marked the first time a gay-related site has been approved for landmark status in the nation's capital. Kameny, 83, who still lives in the house, has been there since 1962; he bought the home in 1984.
Neal Boulton, editor of the gay magazine Genre Magazine, is leaving the publication, according to the Washington Blade. Boulton recently sold his first book, Sex Across America, is working on a memoir and runs the Web site BastardLife.com . No replacement has been named at Genre.
In San Jose, Calif., a group of Vietnamese gays and lesbians marched for the first time in a parade to mark Tet, the lunar new year, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Thanh Do, co-chair of the Gay Vietnamese Alliance, said the call for inclusion and family acceptance at the Feb. 8 parade has a message. "You may have not have known it, but we've always been part of your community," Do said. "We're in your life. We hope that message will make it easier for young kids coming out."
In Florida, lesbian Janice Langbehn has filed a lawsuit in federal, claiming negligence and emotional distress on the part of Jackson Memorial Hospital because it would not initially allow her to visit her dying partner in the emergency ward in 2007, the Miami Herald reported. Langbehn was not allowed in until last rites were performed on Lisa Marie Pond because the hospital's emergency visitation policy iwas limited to immediate family and spouses, not partners.
Grand Rapids, Mich., television station WOOD-TV has pulled an anti-gay special by the American Family Association ( AFA ) after the Human Rights Campaign issued a national action alert, Gay.com reported. WOOD-TV had planned to air the AFA's paid special, "Speechless: Silencing Christians," which aimed to "reveal the truth about the radical homosexual agenda and its impact on the family, the nation and religious freedom."
In Wisconsin, a civil lawsuit filed in a Milwaukee U.S. District Court claims that a surgeon and medical clinic refused care to a 35-year-old female patient because she is HIV-positive, according to JusticeNewsFlash.com . Federal court documents allege that Dr. Steven M. Cahee, Agnesian HealthCare Inc. and Fond du Lac Regional Clinic refused to remove the gallbladder of a sick female prison inmate, Melody Rose, because of her seropositivity. Rose was treated at another healthcare facility.
North Miami, Fla., Mayor Kevin Burns plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Republican Mel Martinez, according to 365Gay.com . Burns, the city's first openly gay mayor, will be forced out by term limits this year, and Martinez is not planning to run for re-election. Among the others considering a run for the Senate seat is Gov. Charlie Crist.
In Atlanta, Ga., a Morehouse College student newspaper column entitled "Is Gay the Way?" has gay-rights activists accusing the writer, Gerren Gaynor, of being homophobic, the Southern Voice reported. The article, published Feb. 16 in The Maroon Tiger, discussed the concept of masculinity at the all-male historically Black college. Gerren said that the article has been misunderstood.
In Fairfax, Va., the students at George Mason University elected openly gay senior Ryan Allen homecoming queen, according to the Washington Post. Allen, who performs as a popular drag queen at local clubs, took the title of Ms. Mason over two women who competed for the crown.
In Washington, D.C., Todd Belok, a freshman at George Washington University, has been kicked out of the Navy ROTC program because he brought his boyfriend to a party, according to EDGE Boston. Belok entered the program fully aware of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy; however, he did not think that being open about his sexuality outside of the military ranks was going to get him in trouble.
In Newport Beach, Calif., Corona del Mar High School will put on a production of the play "Rent" after all, according to 365Gay.com . Earlier this month, drama advisor Ron Martin complained that principal Fal Asrani made him drop "Rent" because of its gay characters. However, in a new statement, Asrani said "I never had a problem with the play selected."
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's annual National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change is going back to Dallas in 2010, and NGLTF leaders will be in town March 9 for a planning session, the Dallas Voice reported. Almost 2,000 people attended the 2009 conference, held Jan. 28-Feb. 1 in Denver.
In Hawaii, a proposal to bring same-sex civil unions to the state has stalled in committee, but Democratic leaders plan to bring the issue to a vote of the full Senate, the Associated Press reported. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-3 Feb. 25, which is short of the majority needed to advance the bill. However, Senate leaders have said they plan to force a vote before the 25-member Senate.
