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

The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) Foundation has published "Health Disparities Among Bisexual People," a report based on the most recent and reliable data available on bisexual health and released in partnership with the Bisexual Resource Center, BiNet USA, and the Bisexual Organizing Project, a press release stated. Among the results is that bisexual women have higher rates of cancer than the general population of women, higher rates of heart disease and obesity than heterosexual women. See http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/health-disparities-among-bisexual-people.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke in Virginia at the conservative institution Liberty University, according to CNN. Sanders staunchly defended abortion rights to a capacity crowd of nearly 12,000, while speaking bluntly about the country's "racist" past. He didn't hide from the hot-button issues of same-sex marriage and abortion rights, which he laid out at the onset of his speech by saying, "We disagree about those issues." Sanders, who is Jewish, ventured onto traditionally Republican territory—the evangelical university founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell—on Rosh Ha-Shanah in an attempt to showcase that his economic message could cut across party lines.

The family of Robert Champion—the Florida A&M University drum major killed in a hazing ritual in Orlando—settled a lawsuit against the university, accepting $1.1 million and an apology, The Orlando Sentinel reported. The university will pay $300,000 through the Florida Department of Financial Services, and the Rosen Plaza hotel will pay $800,000 to the drum major's estate. Champion, 26, died Nov. 19, 2011, after the hazing that followed a performance at the Citrus Bowl that was part of the Florida Classic weekend. Champion was gay, but defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed no band members said in depositions that Champion's sexual orientation played a role in the hazing, CBS Miami reported.

Three longtime LGBT legal activists will be honored by the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with its third annual Stonewall Award during a ceremony on Feb. 6, 2016, at the ABA Midyear Meeting in San Diego, a press release stated. They include Thomas Fitzpatrick, the first openly gay person to be elected to the ABA Board of Governors; Abby Rubenfeld, who filed the Tennessee lawsuit in 2013 that led the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage in June; and Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom to Marry.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in Kentucky District Court asserting that the Rowan County clerk's office has failed to comply with orders that directed deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses without interference by Clerk Kim Davis, a press release stated. The motion argues that the significant alteration of licenses at the direction of Davis—having a deputy sign them as a notary public rather than as a deputy clerk, removing any reference to the Rowan County clerk's office, and stating that they are issued pursuant to court order—violates the court's September 3 order directing Ms. Davis and her deputies to issue licenses and its September 8 order that released Ms. Davis from jail under the condition that she not interfere with the process.

President Obama promoted Amanda Simpson from executive director of the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives to deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Operational Energy, LGBTQ Nation reported. In 2010, she made history as the first openly trans woman to be appointed by the Obama ( or any ) administration. Simpson's promotion occurred the same day as news that Obama will nominate Pentagon official Eric Fanning to lead the Army, potentially making him the first openly gay civilian secretary of a military service.

The United States military sued another denial in response to Chelsea Manning's ongoing request for permission to follow female grooming standards—including growing her hair—while serving a 35-year prison sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, according to an ACLU press release. "Even though the military agrees that allowing Chelsea to grow her hair is a critical part of her treatment plan, they continue to deny her basic human and constitutional rights," said Chase Strangio, attorney in the ACLU's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show tonight, according to TheVerge.com . While it started out as little more than an iPhone 6S showcase, the interview eventually touched on more personal things, such as Cook's feelings on recent Steve Jobs movies and his own decision last year to publicly come out as gay. "Where I value my privacy significantly, I figured I was valuing it too far above what I could do for other people," Cook said about revealing his sexual orientation. "And so it wasn't a revelation for a lot of people that I work with, but it was maybe for the broader world—and I felt a tremendous responsibility to do it."

Sister Jeannine Gramick—a Catholic nun who pioneered ministry, advocacy and outreach to the LGBT community more than 40 years ago in Philadelphia—will be back in her hometown this week for the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis' visit to the city, a New Ways Ministry press release noted. She will be attending the World Meeting of Families but will be taking a short side-trip to Washington, D.C., to greet the pope at President Obama's White House reception, and to take part in a Mass led by the pope at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) President Chad Griffin issued an open letter to Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, calling on him to rescind his 5,000-percent price increase for Daraprim, a drug used to treat people with compromised immune systems, including those living with HIV. "Your greed in raising the single-pill price from less than $15 to more than $750 is unconscionable," Griffin writes, in part. "It immediately puts at risk scores of medically vulnerable people, including those living with HIV, and women who are pregnant. Medical organizations have estimated that this predatory move could increase the average cost per year for an adult patient reliant on the drug to more than $630,000." Shkreli has said the price hike "is not excessive at all."

LGBT groups and allies criticized members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs for rejecting two amendments to a veterans' benefits bill that would have helped LGBT former servicemembers and their families, Metro Weekly reported. One of the amendments, introduced by Rep. Dina Titus ( D-Nev. ), would have eliminated language defining a person's spouse as a person "of the opposite sex" in order to ensure that all veterans are receiving spousal benefits, regardless of sexual orientation. The other, offered by Mark Takano ( D-Calif. ), would have added LGBT veterans to the representation on the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans, in order to ensure issues affecting LGBT veterans are heard and addressed.

A Dallas man received 10 years probation for causing the death of a transgender woman he had been dating, prompting outcries from her family and galvanizing a campaign to seek "Justice for Janette," The Dallas Morning News reported. Jonathan Stuart Kenney, 29, was living with 43-year-old Janette Tovar in October 2012 when he slammed her head against concrete and she died of blunt force trauma. He pled guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for 10 years deferred adjudication, a type of probation.

One of two south Texas men indicted on federal hate-crime charges for the March 2012 torture of a gay African-American man in Corpus Christi has pled guilty, according to Click2Houston.com . Ramiro Serrata Jr. pled guilty in federal court in Corpus Christi to single counts of conspiracy to commit hate crimes and a hate-crime violation based on sexual orientation. Serrata faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing Dec. 9. Still awaiting trial on related charges is 32-year-old Jimmy Garza Jr.

The Human Rights Campaign announced that Jim Obergefell, the named plaintiff of the U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell, et al. v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, will deliver a speech at the 2015 Chicago Gala Dinner and Silent Auction on Saturday, Oct. 17, according to a press release. Obergefell will join nearly 700 attendees at the Hilton Chicago. The annual HRC Chicago Gala Dinner and Silent Auction is one of the largest LGBT fundraising events in the Midwest.

An openly gay Oklahoma City University ( OCU ) freshman, who was kicked out of his own home, is finding help from around the country, News9.com reported. His family disapproved and refused to help him financially after coming out as gay. To make up for what a scholarship and financial aid couldn't cover, OCU graduate Lyndi Wright started a GoFundMe account for student Joel so he could come to Oklahoma for school and follow his Broadway dreams.

A U.S. district court judge ruled that a transgender woman fired because of her gender transition may sue her former employer for sex discrimination under federal law, an ACLU press release stated. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas denied H&H Electric's motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Patricia Dawson, a transgender woman and licensed electrician in Arkansas, who was fired by the company after she transitioned from male to female. Dawson's gender transition was part of her treatment for gender dysphoria. Dawson's claim asserts that H&H Electric violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by firing her because of her sex and because she was perceived to fail to conform to sex stereotypes.

The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) responded to comments from Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush defending Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis, who not only refused to follow the rule of law and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but also refused to permit her deputies to issue marriage licenses. In a statement, HRC Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof said, "Our next president should defend the Constitutional rights of all Americans, including LGBT people, and fight for full federal equality. Instead, Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee continued down the wrong path by saying they want to encourage government officials who deny LGBT Americans their constitutional right to equal treatment under the law."

A major Boston hospital has denied an appeal of a doctor's expulsion after he posted some statements about gay and lesbian sexual behavior, BizPacReview.com reported. Dr. Paul Church, a Harvard-trained urologist who has been on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for nearly 30 years, was expelled from the hospital in June for posting medical concerns about the consequences of same-sex behavior. The hospital stated that Church's concerns constituted "discrimination," "harassment," and "unprofessional conduct," although it did not dispute the veracity of his statements.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced that he is dropping out of the presidential race so that voters can focus on a smaller number of candidates and a "positive, conservative" alternative to current Republican front-runner Donald Trump can rise to the top, USA Today reported. "This is fundamentally important to the future of the party, and more importantly to the future of our country," he said at a press conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Walker encouraged others in the Republican field, which now stands at 15 candidates with his departure, to consider dropping out of the race as well so that more voters could coalesce around a viable candidate.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have received an $8.4-million grant from the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) to conduct research to improve HIV care and prevention in a study focusing on Black, Latino and multiracial gay and bisexual young men—a group at the highest risk for contracting HIV, Business Wire reported. The Healthy Young Men's Study will investigate use of the latest technologies and biomedical interventions to help prevent new HIV infections in highly impacted communities, and improve health outcomes for young men living with HIV.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders ( GLAD ) filed a claim with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination ( MCAD ), charging that Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company discriminated when it denied a gay man long-term care insurance because he is taking Truvada, according to a press release. Truvada, a form of PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication prescribed to HIV-negative people to prevent the transmission of HIV. This is the first lawsuit in the country challenging discrimination against a person on PrEP.

A North Carolina bar owner is defending her decision to ask a gay couple to leave after they kissed while watching a band perform, Raw Story reported. Dustin Baker and Andrew Deras said the owner of Louie's Sports Pub in Fayetteville confronted them, saying their public display of affection made other patrons feel uncomfortable. Pam Griffin, who owns the bar, said she received eight or nine complaints and approached the couple with a security guard. The couple claims Griffin was rude and threatened them, but the bar insists she was calm—and she claims the men flipped her off and French-kissed in front of her.

The state wants a southern Oregon homeowners association to pay more than $45,000 in compensation to a gay couple who allegedly were barred from moving in because of their sexual orientation, OregonLive.com reported. On top of that, the state also seeks $22,000 in fines from the Hawthorne Gardens Homeowners Association in Medford, claiming that its board of directors refused to allow Donald English and Bill Templeman to buy ownership rights and move into one of the community's apartments.

A Phoenix coalition of businesses and organizations that promotes diversity, inclusion and equality announced the 2015 honorees for the fifth annual Spotlight on Success Local Heroes Awards, BizJournals.com noted. ONE Community will present this year's Change Agent Award to Bryce and Sara Cook for their work alongside their two gay children to educate Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints community members. The awards ceremony will take place Oct. 16 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, sheratonphoenixdowntown.com .

Florida's court clerks are going to start using new marriage and divorce forms that no longer use the words "husband" and "wife"—instead, they will read "spouse," according to the Associated Press. Florida's ban on same-sex marriage ended in January, but it wasn't until June that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the country. Clerks will start using the revised forms Oct. 1.

A Missouri teen made history as a Kansas City high school's first-ever transgender homecoming queen, Landon Patterson, People.com reported. During the Oak Park High School homecoming game, the announcer named Patterson as the school's 2015-2016 homecoming queen; the crowd erupted in applause as Patterson's name was announced. "Right now, I feel complete. I feel like that princess," Patterson told reporters afterward.

After receiving a letter from Lambda Legal, Chesnee High School Principal Thomas Ezell agreed to allow student Brianna Popour to wear a T-shirt bearing the message "Nobody Knows I'm A Lesbian," according to a press release. The openly lesbian senior was removed from class in the South Carolina school and sent home for wearing the T-shirt recently. The full letter is at http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/ltr_chs_20150917_brianna-popour.

A teenager in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was arrested for having nude pictures of himself on his cellphone, NewNowNext.com reported. The 17-year-old was 16 when he took the photos. The images were discovered during an unrelated search of his phone, and led to the boy being charged with possessing child pornography—an offense that carries a 10-year prison term and registration as a sex offender.

Chicago's Center on Halsted announced that it is looking for volunteers to serve as Scout leaders and mentors in what is to be the first partnership between an LGBT community center and the Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ). "We're embarking on a new groundbreaking endeavor and that's very exciting," said Julie Walther, chief program officer at Center on Halsted, in a statement. "We are entering our third year of Girl Scouts here at Center on Halsted and with this policy change, we're ready to welcome the Boy Scouts, too. It's important for us as an organization to be those agents of change and lead the way in creating inclusive communities."

Three of the seven members of a suburban St. Louis school board have resigned amid a debate over a transgender high school student's request to be allowed to use the girls' bathrooms, the Associated Press reported. During a special meeting of the Hillsboro R-3 school board, the four remaining members accepted the resignations of the board's president, John Stewart; its vice president, Dan McCarthy; and its director, Charles "Bo" Harrison. Lila Perry, 17, was born male but identifies as female and wears a long wig and a skirt to school; she has said she wants to be treated like other female students.

The National LGBTQ Task Force has announced that Emmy Award-winning actor and comedian Leslie Jordan—best known for his role as Beverley Leslie on Will & Grace—will be the master of ceremonies at this year's National LGBTQ Task Force Gala: Miami, according to a press release. Now in its 19th year, the annual fundraising gala is set to take place at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel on Saturday, Oct. 24. Attorney Mary L. Bonauto, one of the leading architects of the U.S. Supreme Court marriage-equality victory, and local community leader Juan Bosco Talavera will be honored at this year's gala.

Tide has already made one commercial featuring a gay couple—it's been airing in Canada, as Procter & Gamble considers bringing it to the United States, Ad Week reported. Now, an ad for Tide to Go about same-sex marriage has gone viral, garnering more than 400,000 views on Facebook—but the spot is actually spec work from Tiny Giant director Mark Nickelsburg, meaning it actually hasn't hit the air.

In a press release, The National LGBTQ Task Force congratulated the International Imperial Court System on its 50th anniversary. The Court System, one of the nation's oldest LGBTQ community-service organizations, will be hosting its Golden Jubilee Gala State Dinner at the Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 23. Each local chapter of the court system elects a royal court, and members volunteer their time on a wide array of community-service projects.

The online site for the Disney Store has removed "for girls" and "for boys" labels from its costumes, instead characterizing their Halloween offerings as simply "for kids," People noted. The Disney Store isn't the first major retailer to get rid of gender labels on its products; in August, Target announced that it would be phasing out gender-based labeling from its stores, particularly in departments like toys and bedding.