U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen have condemned a letter by Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon that takes on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," according to Advocate.com . In a letter to Stars and Stripes newspaper, Mixon wrote, "I suspect many service members, their families, veterans and citizens are wondering what to do to stop this ill-advised repeal of a policy that has achieved a balance between a citizen's desire to serve and acceptable conduct." Gates and Mullen called Mixon's letter "inappropriate."
In California, Fresno City College administrators will take action against instructor Bradley Lopez, who students said used the Bible to make anti-gay comments in his health sciences class, according to SDGLN.com . Among other things, Lopez told his students that homosexuality is a mental disorder that warrants psychotherapy; he also used the Bible to explain Jesus' genetic composition and the theory of climate change. Christopher Villa, vice president of student services, issued a report that said, in part, "Instructors are not required to hide their own religious belief or non-belief, but they may not engage in religious indoctrination as Dr. Lopez did here."
Also in California, administrators have proposed changes in admissions policies to increase enrollment of minorities after several homophobic and racist incidents recently occurred at state universities, according to an Advocate.com item. Among other incidents, an anti-gay slogan was spray-painted on the University of California at Davis gay and lesbian facility. The policy change would need the system's faculty senate to approve it.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ) has launched a new Web site, portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/LGBT_Discrimination_Study, to let people comment on the design of a groundbreaking study that will look at housing bias based on gender identity and sexual discrimination, according to a HUD news release. HUD recently hosted town-hall meetings in Chicago, San Francisco and New York City to get feedback on this very topic.
In Georgia, the parents of high school student Derrick Martin, 18, have kicked him out of the family house after he received media attention for planning to take his boyfriend to the prom, according to an On Top Magazine item. Martin requested permission to bring his same-sex date to the April 17 event, and the school consented. Martin now reportedly lives with a friend.
In Portland, Ore., a civil trial has started that accuses the Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ) of knowingly keeping child molesters as leaders for decades, according to OregonLive.com . The $14 million suit, brought by local attorney Kelly Clark on behalf of an anonymous victim, focuses on former assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes, who was convicted of molesting almost two dozen boys—most of them Scouts. BSA attorney Charles T. Smith planned to call experts who would state that sexual abuse is a societal problem, not one confined to the Scouts.
Constance McMillen—who has been banned from her Mississippi school's high-school prom for wanting to take her girlfriend to the event—has been invited to a California school's prom, Advocate.com reported. Sarah Schwartz of Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, Calif., sent McMillen and her girlfriend an invitation. The Tamalpais prom will take place May 16; McMillen has not yet replied.
In California, a committee of the San Francisco board of supervisors voted to recommend a $157,000 loan to the city's LGBT community center to bail it out, according to KCBS.com . The center opened almost a decade ago, in large part because of $5.7 million from the city; however, the facility is behind on its mortgage. In considering the loan approval, the committee weighed a number of concerns, including a possible deluge of requests from other nonprofit organizations.
In New York, Matthew Blesso, Andrew Kirtzman and Seth Weissman ( doing business as FIP Ventures ) have bought the business district in the gay summer community known as Fire Island Pines for $17 million, according to Advocate.com . Among the assets FIP purchased are the Hotel Ciel, the Pavilion nightclub and the Blue Whale restaurant. A spokesperson said that FIP would update "some resources that have been undervalued and underused."
Newly discovered documents show that officials at the Vatican, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, did not defrock the now-deceased Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, a Milwaukee, Wis., priest who allegedly molested as many as 200 deaf boys, according to Advocate.com . The documents, which the New York Times obtained, are exhibits in a lawsuit brought by five men against Milwaukee's archdiocese. A Vatican spokesman called the situation "tragic" but said the pope's residence did not receive the case until 1996; Murphy was at a school for deaf children during the years 1950 to 1974.
The YMCA of Northwest North Carolina has turned away Mark Maxwell and Timothy Young, a same-sex couple with two adopted children who tried to enroll, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. The facility is the only large metropolitan YMCA in the state to refuse gay and lesbian couples who attempt to join as a family. A YMCA spokesman said that the club is due to review its policy, which happens every four years; the last review happened in 2006.
Approximately one out of every seven gay men in Washington, D.C., has HIV, according to a Washington Post item. In a study of 500 gay men in the area, more than 40 percent did not know their status before the research, and about one in three men did not know their last partner's status. However, the figures are even more stunning in other cities—including Baltimore, Md., where 40 percent of the gay men are HIV-positive.
PFLAG ( Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays ) National has named Liza Minnelli the second recipient of its Straight for Equality in Entertainment Award, which honors allies of the LGBT community, according to the New York Times. Minnelli and her mother, Judy Garland, have long been considered gay icons. Minnelli will receive her award May 1 at the New York Marriott Marquis.
