THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The White House has announced the nomination of Alison J. Nathan, an out lesbian, for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. "Alison Nathan is a distinguished individual who has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to justice throughout her career," said President Obama in a statement. "I am grateful for her decision to serve the American people from the District Court bench."

The New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) issued a statement saying that violence and discrimination against LGBT people in Haiti has increased since the January 2010 earthquake. Conservative religious leaders in Haiti even blame LGBTs for the earthquake, leading to increased stigma and violence. "UN Agencies, private organizations, and governments must recognize the horrible impact of the Haiti disaster on LGBT people," said Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC's executive director. "While the needs of some marginalized groups are at least acknowledged, LGBT people are completely ignored."

Daniel Hernandez, Jr., the openly gay student intern credited with saving the life of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., after the Jan. 8 shooting attack in Tucson, Ariz., will speak as a guest keynote and receive an honorary National Voice & Action Leadership Award at Camp Pride ( www.campuspride.org/camppride/ ) on July 19-July 24 in Nashville, Tenn., according to a press release. The award highlights the work of undergraduate college students who are creating positive change for LGBT and ally issues within their communities.

In California, San Francisco's iconic A Different Light Bookstore is apparently closing, according to BayCitizen.org . "Everything must go" signs were spotted in the store—a prime indicator of impending closure. A Different Light has been the gathering place for the Bay Area's gay literati for decades, and the company was first established in 1979. The store's owner, Bill Barker, said in 2009 after closing the West Hollywood branch that he had no intention of closing the San Francisco store.

In Los Angeles, Beth Chayim Chadashim synagogue (BCC), whose Hebrew name translates as "House of New Life," is moving into a new building two blocks west of the modest storefront space that has been the congregation's home since 1977, according to a press release. The new building was once a home to a church led by singer/actress Della Reese. BCC was founded in 1972 as the world's first "gay synagogue" by a handful of gay and lesbian Jews who were encouraged by the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the then-fledgling, first gay and lesbian Christian congregation, Metropolitan Community Church.

LGBT activists are campaigning for the U.S. Postal Service to issue a stamp honoring the late gay politician Harvey Milk. David Mixner, one of the activists, said that Milk "would get that twisted smile of his and say, 'Hell, imagine all those straights having to lick my backside to send a piece of mail.'" Others involved in the campaign include Milk associate Cleve Jones; Milk's nephew, Stuart Milk; California assembly speaker John Pérez; screenwriter Dustin Lance Black; and the Rev. Troy Perry.

In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick has named Barbara Lenk to the state supreme court, making her the first openly gay individual in that role, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gov. William Weld appointed Lenk to the state superior court in 1993, and she wsa named to the appeals court in 1995. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders issued a statement saying, "We applaud Gov. Patrick for his continued commitment to creating a bench that truly reflects the diverse communities of this state."

It turns out that John Joe Thomas—who stoned a mentally disabled senior citizen, Murray Seidman, to death—was a Mormon priest, according to an Advocate.com item. After becoming a priest, Thomas baptized and later befriended Seidman. Thomas claimed the killed Seidman because the Old Testament urged him to do so after the victim allegedly made sexual advances toward Thomas.

Possible Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has downplayed the money he directed to the American Family Association (AFA) to help oust three Iowa judges who ruled for marriage equality, according to Advocate.com . Gingrich is honorary chair of the conservative group ReAL Action, which gave $125,000 to AFA Action. In an interview with Igor Volsky of The Wonk Room, Gingrich denied that AFA is a hate group, saying that it is a "Christian" organization.

In Washington, D.C., Susan Burns attempted to ruin a Paul Gauguin painting at the National Gallery because the work showed two topless women together, Advocate.com reported. The painting, Two Tahitian Women, is valued at $80 million. Burns, 53, of Alexandria, Va. was charged with attempted theft in the second degree; she told an investigator, "He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it's very homosexual."

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has ruled that a landlord must pay $25,000 for trying to force an HIV-positive tenant to move or get rid of his emotional-support dog, according to Advocate.com . The attorney for the tenant, Richard Blake, said that a doctor suggested the dog to help Blake battle depression. Blake got Kayla, a boxer mix, and his mood and health began to improve.

The National Senior Citizens Law Center has released a groundbreaking report entitled "LGBT Older Adults in Long-Term Care Facilities: Stories from the Field," according to a press release. The center worked on the report with several other groups, including Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Among the findings was that a majority of LGBT older adults believe that staff of long-term care facilities would discriminate against an LGBT elder who was open about his or her sexual orientation. See www.LGBTLongTermCare.org for survey results.

Servicemembers United—the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans—has filed an amicus curiae brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as the court decides whether to reinstate an injunction barring enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), according to a press release. The case in question, Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America, resulted in District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruling that DADT is unconstitutional and enforced an injunction barring enforcement of the law, but that injunction was stayed pending appeal by the Justice Department.

Gary J. Gates, a scholar at the UCLA School of Law, said that research shows that about 9 million U.S. adults are LGBT, according to AmericanBankingNews.com . His research indicates about 3.5 percent of the U.S. population is LGBT, with about 700,000 individuals being transgender. Another result was that almost 26 million U.S. residents have been attracted to someone of the same gender.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida has been named as the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), with President Obama selecting her to lead the party's fundraising and organizational efforts heading into the 2012 election cycle, according to the New York Times. Wasserman Schultz, 44, succeeds Tim Kaine, who recently announced that he is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia. Also, Wasserman Schultz supports marriage equality.

Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled that the California initiative Prop 8 is unconstitutional, said he never thought his own orientation was a reason to recuse himself from the case, according to Advocate.com . Walker said that certain attributes (such as race, religion or sexual orientation) should not influence the ability to preside over a case. In the interview with Reuters, Walker also acknowledged he is gay, and said he has been in a decade-long relationship with a doctor.

In Maryland, the state Senate's rules committee has allowed a transgender non-discrimination measure to advance through the normal legislative process instead of letting it die in committee, according to LGBTQNation.com . House Bill 235, the Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Act, would prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals in the areas of employment, housing and credit. HB 235 now heads to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, where it is expected to pass.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that a law voters passed that limits foster care and adoption to married couples and single people—thereby excluding people who live together in a sexual relationship outside of marriage—is unconstitutional, according to the Washington Times. Associate Justice Robert L. Brown wrote "sexual cohabitors have the right to engage in private, consensual, noncommercial intimacy in the privacy of their homes," adding that the law violates the right to said privacy.

In Pennsylvania, two men were attacked at Swarthmore College in an apparent gay-bashing, according to GaySocialites.com . The attack happened on Mertz Field, where the two men were being intimate; they were then punched and kicked by a group of high-school-aged students, including one girl. Swarthmore Dean of Students Elizabeth Braun said, "While it still isn't clear what prompted the assault on our student and his friend, it does appear that homophobia could have been a factor in the attack."

Also in Pennsylvania, a transgender woman accused of killing her boyfriend in Point Breeze once was a co-defendant in another murder case last year, according to Philly.com . Alonzo Simmons, 29, fatally stabbed boyfriend Angel Brown, 27, on April 3; court records showed that Simmons was on trial in 2010, along with a prostitute who allegedly killed a man at an Old City hotel.

A spokesman for the food conglomerate ConAgra has apologized for online Manwich spots that featured men being attacked after talking about hair, shoes and the theater, according to Advocate.com . The three videos—which have been pulled from YouTube but can still be seen on some websites—show three men talking about the previously mentioned subjects before someone grabs their sandwiches and smacks them in the faces with them.

In Wisconsin, 17-year-old Madison Metro bus passenger Jayvon R. Flemming has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly punching another rider because of the victim's sexual orientation, according to Madison.com . Flemming and two others teased the victim about being gay before Flemming punched him as they left the bus. Flemming had lived in the same foster home as the alleged victim in 2009.

In Delaware, John Buchheit of Delaware City is believed to be the first out gay mayor elected in his state, according to Advocate.com . Buchheit received 198 votes while incumbent Mayor John Martin received 168. Buchheit is a registered independent and restaurant owner with his partner, Dale Slotter. Delaware City is a town of approximately 1,700 residents.

In his just-released biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, African American historian/social critic Manning Marable claims, among other things, that Malcolm had a same-sex relationship with a white businessman, according to the Huffington Post. Malcolm's same-sex dalliances are not new, however—in the 1991 biography Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America, Bruce Perry wrote that, in his 20s, Malcolm had sex with gay men for money and that he had a relationship with a transvestite named Willie Mae.

In Michigan, Jackson County and city officials have defended their choice to hire Crystal Dixon, a human-resources director who was fired from her previous job in Ohio for writing an anti-gay column, according to Advocate.com . Dixon wrote that gay rights are not civil rights because gays have the ability to choose their lifestyle. Jackson Mayor Karen Dunigan—who did not sit on the six-member interview panel—said that she trusted the hiring decision.

In Illlinois, James Cappleman became only the second out gay individual on Chicago's City Council when he defeated Molly Phelan 55 percent to 45 percent in a runoff election April 5 to take over the 46th Ward. (Tom Tunney, alderman of the 44th Ward, is the first.) The 46th Ward race became increasingly negative over the weeks, with some community members accusing Phelan of employing flyers with anti-gay undertones against her opponent.

Also in Illinois, an appellate court has ruled that Wal-Mart did not discriminate against an employee's religious freedoms when the company fired her for making anti-gay remarks to a co-worker, the Huffington Post reported. In 2005, Tanisha Matthews told a lesbian co-worker that God does not accept gays, among other things. The Joliet store dismissed Matthews for violating the company's anti-discrimination policy.

In North Carolina, an anti-gay constitutional amendment that could do away with same-sex marriage has been filed in the state House, according to Q Notes. The amendment reads, "Marriage is the union of one man and one woman at one time. No other relationship shall be recognized as a valid marriage by the State." (A similar, more severe, version was introduced in the state Senate in February.) LGBT advocates with the group Equality North Carolina say marriage—already denied to same-sex couples by state law—is not the only right that could be banned by the proposed Senate version.

Conservative pundit Glenn Beck is ending his show on the Fox News Channel later this year in the wake of plummeting ratings and an advertiser boycott, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The show debuted in 2009 to huge ratings. However, Beck alienated viewers and advertisers with increasing controversial views, including one claim that President Obama is a racist. On his Daily Show, Jon Stewart said of Fox and Beck, "They dropped his ass." He then proceeded to spoof Beck—which he has done constantly over the past two years.

Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) announced the launch of a new caregiving portal on the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging website, www.lgbtagingcenter.org, according to a press release. The site, introduced in October 2010, will evolve over time as a centralized clearinghouse of online resources that span the many issues affecting LGBT older adults nationwide. Michael Adams, executive director of SAGE, said, "It is clear that one of the best ways for the Resource Center to support LGBT older adults is to provide an LGBT-affirming space where people going through the difficult time of caring for a loved one can receive essential information and support."

Servicemembers United, the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, issued a statement on the White House's refusal to allow a civilian representative of gay and lesbian military families to be present at First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden's "Military Families Initiative" kick-off event at the White House, held April 12. The statement read, in part, "We have been trying for nearly two weeks to get just one spot for one of our community's representatives at this event. The First Lady's office has used the continued enforcement of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' as an excuse to exclude us, even though they know that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' does not apply to the civilians who work at their advocacy and service organizations."

Transgender woman Brittany Novotny has been elected president of the Young Democrats of Oklahoma, according to Advocate.com . Novotny—who once challenged anti-gay Oklahoma politician Sally Kern (and won almost 35 percent of the vote in an unsuccessful bid to unseat her)—is the first transgender person elected to head a Young Democrats organization.

The U.S. Navy will not discharge Petty Officer Second Class Stephen Jones, a sailor who fell asleep in the same bed as a colleague, according to Advocate.com . Jones, stationed in Charleston, S.C., fell asleep in the same bed as Petty Officer Bryan McGee after the two watched television. Jones' roommate found them together; both Jones and McGee said they were clothed and had not engaged in any sexual conduct.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) released the full text of letters sent recently to Gov. Haley Barbour and former Govs. Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty—three possible 2012 presidential candidates who have voiced support for "repealing the repeal" of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, according to a press release. "Perhaps since you were not in Congress during the past few years, you did not follow the debate about whether to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" wrote SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis in the letters. "This isn't—and never has been—a partisan political issue."

The Republican National Committee (RNC) website that targeted LGBT American families and patriots, "Hope Isn't Hiring," has disappeared, according to a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) press release. The link for the old website, www.hopeisnthiring.com, now redirects to www.gop.com . Additionally, a link to the hate site from the RNC homepage goes nowhere. Recently, HRC President Joe Solmonese wrote a letter to RNC Chair Reince Priebus condemning the site.

In Maryland, the state Senate has sent the Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Act back to committee—in effect, killing it, according to Advocate.com . Senators voted 27-20 to recommit the bill to the judicial proceedings committee, which had advanced the measure by a 7-4 vote. The measure had previously passed through the house of delegates by an 86-52 vote.

In Florida, Miami Shores Village Council candidate Jesse Walters, who's openly gay, filed a police report after campaign signs were defaced with anti-gay slurs, NBC Miami reported. Walters said that flyers depicting him, his partner of 23 years and their 15-month-old daughter may have angered someone.

In New Jersey, transgender employee El'Jai Devoureau has filed a lawsuit against the drug-treatment center that fired him, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The center questioned Devoureau, 39, about his gender almost immediately after he started his position, which involved overseeing urine tests administered to men. The case challenges an employer's right to terminate transgender candidates for positions that the law says may be gender-specific—and this type of case is believed to be a first in the state.

In Texas, the ACLU has alleged that Goose Creek Consolidated School District is engaging in "viewpoint-based censorship" against LGBT-themed websites, according to MyFoxHouston.com . ACLU's reaction came from a Goose Creek Memorial High student's research for a news story about Chick-Fil-A donating to anti-gay organizations. The student's search wsa stonewalled when several sites appearing on Google News were blocked by the district. The ACLU claims the district is violating free-speech rights as well as the Equal Access Act.

A group of conservatives feels that the word "gay" should no longer be used, Newser.com reported. At the Awakening Conference at Virginia's Liberty University, Young Conservatives of California Chair Ryan Sorba said that using the word was conceding ground, adding, "Gay identity does not exist." Alternatives for the word "gay" that were tossed about at the conference included "sodomy," "anti-Christian" and "same-sex intercourse."

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will tape a show with Oprah Winfrey April 27 in Chicago, according to a Chicago Tribune item. The Obamas' appearance will air May 2, approximately three weeks before Winfrey's show ends May 25. Winfrey endorsed Obama for president in 2008—her first public backing of a candidate.