Karl Rove, who was an advisor to former President George W. Bush, has divorced his wife of 24 years, Darby, according to FoxNews.com .A family spokesperson said that the couple "came to the decision mutually and amicably." Rove has been the subject of gay rumors for years but they have not been substantiated.
The new year has brought change to New Hampshire as the state has become the fifth to allow same-sex marriage because of a measure Gov. John Lynch signed last year, USA Today reported. Any of the state's 600-plus same-sex couples who obtained a civil union can simply convert that certificate into a marriage license.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Sharon Lubinski as a federal marshal Dec. 24, making her the first openly gay individual to achieve the position, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Lubinski, an assistant Minneapolis, Minn., police chief, said, "I'm ready to jump in. It will be the pinnacle of my career, this appointment." Sen. Amy Klobuchar first recommended Lubinski for the post last summer; President Obama nominated her in October.
The Los Angeles Police Department has ended its association with the Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ) because of BSA' policy of excluding gays, atheists and agnostics, according to EDGE Boston. However, the BSA's Explorer's Program ( which allows youths to assist the police ) is being revamped, dropping its link to the Scouts. Openly gay Police Commissioner Robert Salzman said the new program will be "as good or—I'm confident—better than the program it replaces."
Former Marine and Iraq vet Michael J. Griffin, 25, has confessed to killing Indiana University professor Don Belton, 53, after retaliating for two alleged sexual assaults Belton committed on Christmas Day, according to ABC News. However, court documents reveal that Belton wrote in his journal that he was "very happy that an individual by the name of Michael has come into his life." Griffin has been charged with murder.
In Washington, D.C., police are asking for the public's help after Anthony J. Perkins, a 29-year-old gay man, was found shot dead in his care, according to Pink News. Lt. Paul Wingate has confirmed Perkins' sexual orientation but added that there is no evidence of a hate crime.
In San Jose, Calif., 20-year-old lesbian Leticia Martinez died after being beaten and/or dragged by a car, according to EDGE Boston. Jennifer Bautista, Martinez's former girlfriend, has been arrested. However, Bautista's brothers reportedly did not care for Martinez because they felt she made their sister a lesbian. Police have said that the killing is not a hate crime.
In Louisiana, bartender Robert LeCompte was stabbed to death inside a nightspot known as The Drama Club, according to DailyComet.com . Detectives have not found a motive although Randall Chestnut, the owner of the gay-welcoming club, said that robbery fueled the killing; about $4,000 was missing from the establishment. Approximately 100 friends, relatives and acquaintances recently gathered in the club's parking lot to mourn LeCompte's passing.
Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration has postponed a policy change that would have required transgender residents to obtain a court order or amended birth certificate to alter the gender designation on driver's licenses and ID cards, the Baltimore Sun reported. Gay-rights advocates praised the delay; they support the previous policy, which lets people change the classificaiton if they provide a doctor's or psychologist's report confirming they are undergoing sexual reassignment.
Historian Harold Holzer is saying claims that former President Abraham Lincoln was gay are not true, the New York Post reported. The subject arose when a recent story about gay-rights activist Larry Kramer discussed his 4,000-page manuscript, "The American People," which claims that Lincoln, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were homosexual. Holtzer, who has written 35 books about Lincoln and the Civil War, "I had a private conversation with him [ Kramer ] . He admitted to me that he made the whole thing up. He said he made it up to raise consciousness."
In Virginia, transwoman Maria Benita Santamaria has spent more than half a year in solitary confinement because of fears she would be raped by male prisoners in the state prison, according to WJLA.com . For the past two years, Santamaria—who pled guilty to trafficking 10 pounds of methamphetamine—has been undergoing hormone treatments in advance of gender-reassignment surgery. Recently, a judge ordered that she should go to a federal facility.
In Toledo, Ohio, a fight in a gay bar resulted in a man's death, EDGE Boston reported. The fight allegedly took place on the dance floor of Caesar's Showbar; the brawl then continued outside when Marland Woods, 32, tried to protect another person. However, Woods himself was beaten after leaving the establishment. One man has been arrested in connection with the fight but no one has yet faced murder charges.
Outback Steakhouse has agreed to pay $19 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination against thousands of women, according to the Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in federal court in Colorado in 2006, said female workers could not get promoted to the profit-sharing management positions and did not receive favorable job assignments.
A new report, "A Decade of Progress on LGBT Rights," shows the significant advances LGBT people have achieved in the United States, according to a press release. Among the gains shown in the document—a joint project of the LGBT Movement Advancement Project and the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr., Fund—is that the percentage of Fortune 500 companies that ban gender-identity discrimination jumped from 0.6 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2009. See www.LGBTMap.org for more.
Atlantis Events, Inc.—the world's largest company specializing in all-gay and lesbian vacations—is offering the first-ever gay cruise to mainland China, South Korea and Japan for a special roundtrip airfare of only $399. Customers who book any outside or balcony stateroom by Jan. 12 can take advantage of this exclusive promotion. See www.AtlantisEvents.com or call 800-6-ATLANTIS.
The life story of Ellen Degeneres will be featured in an upcoming issue of Bluewater Productions' Female Force biography comic series, according to a press release. Female Force: Ellen DeGeneres, scheduled to be released in March, follows the DeGeneres from her youth in Louisiana to her current talk show. The issue, written by lesbian author Sandra C. Ruckdeschel and penciled by Pedro Ponzo, also looks into Degeneres' personal life as an out performer and a gay-rights activist.
The Human Rights Campaign is spotlighting the stark contrasts of LGBT-inclusive policies in the various industries by releasing its "Buying for Equality 2010" guide, which looks at hundreds of popular U.S. brands rated on their treatment of LGBT employees, according to a press release. Among other things, "Buying" showed that key wireless service providers AT&T and Sprint Nextel/Boost Mobile scored top marks whereas Verizon/Alltel and T-Mobile did not. Also, in the "Fun and Games" section, Microsoft ( Xbox ) scored a perfect 100 while Hasbro rated only a 50. See www.hrc.org/buyersguide for the full report.
