In Baltimore, an encounter inside popular lesbian bar Coconuts Café resulted in a fatal shooting, Advocate.com reported. Sctario Tia Edwards, 25, was shot and beaten with a metal pipe outside the club after an earlier altercation on the dance floor, and died from her injuries. Two other women were also shot, but survived.
The Army discharged at least 11 soldiers in January for violating the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, according to Advocate.com . These were the last to be discharged during the watch of the Bush administration. Recently, both the Philippines and Argentina announced they were allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military.
Aid for AIDS, one of California's oldest continuously operating AIDS service organizations has merged with Serra Ancillary Care Corporation ( doing business as The Serra Project ) , a 21-year-old non-profit that also helps HIV/AIDS-impacted families, according to an Aid for AIDS press release. The merged organization—which will continue to maintain both operating names under the corporate umbrella name of Serra Ancillary Care Corporation—will have an annual budget of $8.1 million.
More than 60 co-organizers have registered for the May 3 March for Equality on Philadelphia's Independence Mall, according to an organizational press release. Among the organizations that have registered for the event, which will be led by gay pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz, are the South Carolina Pride Alliance, Ally Action and the Trans-Health Information Project.
In New York, Brooklyn jurors convicted Omar Willock, 18, of viciously stabbing to death 20-year-old Roberto Duncanson, a gay man Willock said flirted with him, according to the New York Daily News. Willock was initially facing murder as a hate crime, but that charge was dropped. Willock faces as much as 25 years to life for killing Duncanson, who was apparently drunk at the time.
Bruce McKinney, who had gathered LGBT-related documents for more than 35 years, recently donated his collection to the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, according to Kansas.com . McKinney, of Wichita, Kan., chose the library because of the history of Lawrence, where the school is located; the town was the first in the state to have a gay organization.
Edinboro ( Penn. ) University wrestler Paul Donahoe recently lost in the final of the 125-pound class of the NCAA's wrestling championships, to Troy Nickerson of Cornell in St. Louis, Outsports.com reported. Donohoe made news by being kicked off the University of Nebraska wrestling team after it was discovered he exposed himself on a gay porn Web site.
Former minister Ted Haggard has said he wanted his wife to divorce him after his sex scandal with male escort Mike Jones but she refused, the Associated Press reported. Haggard made the comments in a two-part episode of the syndicated TV show Divorce Court broadcast April 1-2.
Steve Schmidt, a former campaign advisor for then-presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, has publicly stated his support for same-sex marriage and a more inclusive Republican Party, according to 365Gay.com . Schmidt said in an interview with the Washington Blade that his views on gay rights were influenced by his lesbian sister and the difficulties and the discrimination she faces. McCain's daughter, Meghan, has also declared that she believes in same-sex marriage.
Same-sex dating has made its way to iPhones with the launch of Grindr ( iTunes Link ) , one of the first iPhone applications geared towards gay and bisexual men, according to the Washington Post. Grindr presents users with a list of nearby strangers. From here, users can strike up real-time chats and, if there is chemistry, can choose to reveal their exact locations.
The Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly, a local chapter of the conservative GOP activist group California Republican Assembly, plans to host author Scott Lively—who wrote a book that claims gays largely orchestrated the Holocaust—on April 3, according to Tips-Q.com . Recently, Lively flew to Uganda, where he argued that gays should undergo conversion therapy as an alternative to that country's current punishment, imprisonment.
Southern Connecticut State University English professor Corinne Blackmer has been the target of several incidents of anti-gay harassment and vandalism, according to Rep-am.com . The harassment stepped up, she said, when she and her lesbian partner had their car egged in front of their New Haven home. Federal agents are now involved in the investigation.
The publication of gay magazine Genre will be suspended due to the ongoing recession, according to AllHeadlineNews.com . CEO David Unger has said that the monthly magazine is taking a respite. Genre was launched in 1991 as a quarterly magazine focused on LGBT life.
ReportDiscriminationOnline.org—a Web site used to report and track hate crimes and discrimination—has been launched, according to a press release. Not only can people make anonymous reports of what they have experienced, but others can search for those accounts as well. The site also includes a page of resources.
In Ohio, the parents of 17-year-old Eric Mohat have filed a federal lawsuit, saying that anti-gay bullying contributed to their son's suicide, according to 365Gay.com . The lawsuit names the Mentor ( Ohio ) school district; administrators Jacqueline A. Hoynes and Joseph Spiccia; and math teacher Thomas M. Horvath. However, instead of seeking punitive damages, the parents want the school district to recognize the suicide as the result of homophobia and to start an anti-bullying program to prevent other similar tragedies.
The West Virginia Senate has approved a bill that would protect state citizens from sexual-orientation discrimination, WTRF.com reported. The legislation must still be approved by the House, where it did not pass last year.
Delta Lambda Phi National Social Fraternity—the nation's oldest and largest fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men—will hold its first-ever National Day of Service April 14, according to an organizational press release. All chapters and colonies of Delta Lambda will hold concurrent service projects built around the theme of LGBT youth suicide prevention. See www.dlp.org for more information.
The annual gay extravaganza known as Jeffrey Sanker's White Party willhold its 20th anniversary the weekend of April 10 in Palm Springs, Calif., according to the Los Angeles Times. About 30,000 attendees are expected to the event, which features singer Lady Gaga as the headliner. Sanker eventually moved to Palm Springs after leaving New York City in 1987, having worked at now-classic clubs such as Studio 54, the Limelight and the Palladium.
The New Hampshire House has killed an anti-discrimination measure that would have protected trans individuals, according to the Associated Press. Opponents of the bill, led by the Republican Party, had called it the "bathroom bill" because they argued it would open all bathrooms to men and women. They said that women and children could be put at risk if men were allowed into women's bathrooms.
Judge Judith Sheindlin ( "Judge Judy" ) told CNN's Larry King that she "was saddened by the vote" last year regarding Prop 8, according to GayNZ.com . She added, "I was as saddened by the vote here in California as I was in the state of Arkansas." In Arkansas, voters supported a measure banning unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children.
The Board of Film Independent, the not-for-profit organization that produces both the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Spirit Awards, has named Rebecca Yeldham as its new director, according to On Top Magazine. The previous director, Richard Raddon, was ousted after it was revealed that he had given $1,500 to the Yes-on-8 campaign, which supported the anti-same-sex marriage measure Prop 8.
In Michigan, a lawsuit has been filed that challenges the state's ban on funeral protests, according to the Associated Press. The ACLU filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of 64-year-old Army veteran Lewis Lowden and his late wife, Jean; during the funeral processional, they were arrested for being in a van that had signs criticizing then-President George Bush. The federal government and at least 37 states have funeral-protest laws in response to the anti-gay Kansas preacher the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church's picketing of military funerals.
Lesbian travel company Sweet and Southwest Airlines launched a new marketing partnership where Southwest will serve as the exclusive domestic airline of the Sweet Caribbean Cruise, Nov. 8-15, according to a press release.
Harry Knox, director of the Human Rights Campaign's Religion and Faith Program, is among the additional members named to President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, according to a White House press release. The council is part of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and is composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. Each member of the council is appointed to a one-year term.
