Sirdeaner Walker—the mother of Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old who committed suicide in April after constant anti-gay bullying at school—testified in front of the House Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities in order to support the Safe Schools Improvement Act, according to a Southern Voice item. Walker said, in part, "What could make a child his age despair so much that he would take his own life? That question haunts me to this day, and I will probably never know the answer."
Now that the U.S. Census Bureau is apparently including same-sex married couples in its 2010 survey, certain logistical problems have developed, according to USA Today. Among the dilemmas are changing the software that processes census questionnaires and dealing with the fact that information used by all federal agencies would have to be reclassified. Six states currently allow same-sex marriage.
Anti-same-sex marriage group Stand for Marriage Maine has reportedly collected more than 55,000 signatures in an effort to overturn the state's legalization of gay marriage, Advocate.com reported. The secretary of state has to certify the signatures before a referendum can go on the ballot.
The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas can continue to hold protests at soldiers' funerals after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to listen to an appeal, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Groups from the church have been demonstrating at military funerals around the country, saying that God is punishing America by killing soldiers because the country is permissive regarding homosexuality. The court did not take up a case that sought to enforce a Missouri law that would regulate such demonstrations.
Okla Rep. Sally Kern is now courting controversy by pushing what she has called a "Proclamation for Morality," according to an Examiner.com item. The proclamation puts same-sex marriage on the same level as "abortion, pornography, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, and child abuse"—and blames all for the current state of the economy. Last year, gay-rights groups criticized Kern after a YouTube video of her aired that had Kern saying, "according to God's word, [ homosexuality ] is not the right kind of lifestyle. It has deadly consequences for those people involved in it."
The National Center for Lesbian Rights ( NCLR ) has released a new publication to help LGBT elders, as well as their families and caregivers, deal with legal issues, according to a press release. Planning with Purpose: Legal Basics for LGBT Elders provides basic information about select areas of the law that are important to LGBT elders, based on NCLR's experience advocating for LGBT elders. To download a pdf of Planning with Purpose, visit www.nclrights.org/elderlaw.
In New York, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers has announced that its first annual LGBT Center Awareness Day will take place Sept. 15, complete with a launch of a new Web site at MyCenterLink.org and an updated online LGBT community-center directory, according to a press release. The theme of this year's LGBT Center Awareness Day is "My Community Center Changed My Life," showcasing the vital role that community centers play in the health, empowerment and unity of all LGBT communities.
Twenty-six AIDS activists were arrested after chaining themselves to each other in the Capitol Rotunda July 9, according to RollCall.com . The group was protesting President Barack Obama's failure to void a ban on funding needle-exchange programs. The activists—who came from various groups—were yelling "clean needles save lives" while being handcuffed.
The Log Cabin Republicans can move forward with its lawsuit challenging "Don't Ask, Don't Tell ( DADT ) ," according to an organizational press release. Last month, Judge Virginia A. Phillips of the Central District of California denied the U.S. government's attempt to dismiss the group's suit that labels DADT as unconstitutional. Log Cabin Republicans spokesman Charles T. Moran said, "We are confident that the ruling from Judge Phillips gives us ample space to make our arguments in ways that other legal challenges against 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' have not been able to."
Lesbian writer Mary Wilbon died June 26 after a short illness, according to OutInJersey.net . She was the author of two acclaimed mysteries, Naughty Little Secrets and One Last Kiss, and was passionate about actress Greta Garbo, pets and her politics, KensingtonBooks.com stated. Wilbon wanted donations sent to the Human Rights Campaign and local chapters of the ASPCA.
In South Carolina, Stephen Andrew Moller has been released from prison early after serving a year for killing Sean Kennedy, a gay man, according to WYFF4.com . Moller was convicted of manslaughter in June 2008 after Kennedy fell and hit his head on the pavement while Moller attacked him, causing a fatal brain injury. In a statement, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said, "To release a man just one year after his sentencing in this heinous crime and to inform the victim's mother through an automated recording is despicable."
In Maine, a lower-court jury will now determine if high school softball coach Kelly Jo Cookson was fired because she is a lesbian, according to Advocate.com . Cookson alleges that the Brewer School District fired her because of her sexual orientation while District Superintendent Daniel Lee contends that she was let go because she was involved in hazing and did not provide "a balanced sports program for the team." Skip Estes, a heterosexual male, replaced Cookson.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has been sworn in, and said that he is ready to get on with business, according to USA Today. Franken told the media that he wants to be known as the senator from Minnesota, not the 60th Democratic vote in the Senate. Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling that made Franken the winner over Norm Coleman.
