The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS ) released the 2015 annual report of the HHS LGBT Issues Coordinating Committee, according to the Center for American Progress. "LGBT Health and Well-being: HHS Issues Coordinating Committee 2015 Report" documents the department's work over the past year and its commitments for 2016. The report documents major steps HHS has taken over the past year, including establishing explicit nondiscrimination protections in health care, combatting conversion therapy and enhancing data-collection efforts. The report is at www.hhs.gov/programs/topic-sites/lgbt/reports/health-objectives-2015.html .
Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Democrat, introduced a congressional resolution that seeks to designate June 26 as "LGBT Equality Day," according to On Top Magazine. More than 90 House Democrats have backed the resolution. Three landmark gay rights rulings were handed down by the Supreme Court on the day selected, including Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down sodomy laws in 2003; Windsor v. United States, which stuck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013; and Obergefell v. Hodges, which found that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry in 2015.
Cincinnati council members voted seven to two to outlaw the practice known as "conversion therapy," according to the Associated Press. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that nearly two dozen pastors and other people packed in to council chambers to unsuccessfully oppose the move. But council voted to prohibit therapy by health professionals designed to change sexual orientation or gender identity, imposing a $200-a-day fine on violators.
Retired U.S. Rep. Barney Frank has insisted that there is nothing wrong with a politician accepting campaign donations from financial-services companies—nor is there a problem if a politician worked for such companies either before or after that person served in public office, according to NationalMortgageProfessional.com . In a column published on Politico, Frank held himself and his Dodd-Frank co-author, former Sen. Chris Dodd, as examples of elected officials who accepted donations from financial-services companies. He added that he solicited fees from financial entities since his retirement in 2012, and is now serving as a director for Signature Bank.
Prominent LGBT-rights advocate George Zander—who resided in Palm Springs, California—has died at 71, according to The Huffington Post. Zander served as a regional field manager for the LGBT rights group Equality California, and his death came just more than a month after he and his husband, Chris Zander, were attacked outside a nightclub by men yelling gay slurs. Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a statement that "George was an incredible leader who used his passion, energy, and innumerable talents to fight for equality and justice for all. He devoted his life to making our world a better and fairer place, and in turn inspired many others to do the same."
A Christian university in Tennessee has been granted a federal exemption to ban gay and trans students, and others that it feels doesn't fit in with its faith-based outlook on life, Gay Star News reported. Dr. Randall O'Brien, president of Carson-Newman University, has said that he applied for Title IX exemption for the Southern Baptist institute in Jefferson City because his attorney advised him to do so. As well as LGBT students, the exemption allows the school to exclude unwed mothers, students who are pregnant or women who have had abortions.
In related news, a northern Indiana school is among the more than two dozen religiously affiliated colleges nationwide to receive exemptions from a federal law that protects LGBT students and employees from discrimination, according to The Associated Press. Bethel College President Gregg Chenoweth told the South Bend Tribune that the waiver doesn't mean people who have same-sex attractions are prohibited from attending or graduating from the Christian school in Mishawaka—but they must be celibate. Bethel employees are required to sign a covenant of lifestyle that they will adhere to the college's Christian standards, including not engaging in premarital or extramarital sex.
The Nebraska School Activities Association has proposed a draft policy that would put the initial decision to let transgender students in high school sports in the hands of parents and local school districts, the Associated Press reported. The draft policy, which advanced Dec. 9, says parents and the student would have to notify the school if the student identifies with a gender different from what is listed on a birth certificate. The school can then decide whether to pursue a waiver from the association.
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt is offering up to $1 million to anyone who can prove that a top adviser to Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson is guilty of male-on-male sexual harassment, The Huffington Post noted. In an open letter published in The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Flynt vows to fork over between "$50,000 and $1 million" to anyone with proof that the long-standing claims against Armstrong Williams, who is also a conservative radio personality, are true. In 1998, Williams was accused of sexual harassment by his former personal trainer, Stephen Gregory, on more than 50 separate incidents.
Luis A. Berrios III has said he was brutalized by Philadelphia police during a domestic disturbance five years ago, and he's requesting a new trial to hold the officers accountable, according to the Philadelphia Gay News. Berrios has claimed that, in 2010, officers became violent toward him and his then-lover, hurled anti-LGBT slurs at them and arrested them on bogus charges. But on Nov. 4, after two hours of deliberations, the jury cleared both officers of any wrongdoing. In his Nov. 30 appeal, Berrios contended that U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski improperly prevented jurors from fully considering the alleged anti-LGBT bias of the officers.
The trial began for Kathryn Knott, the young woman accused of participating in a violent attack on a gay couple in Philadelphia last year, according to LGBTQ Nation. Knott faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, conspiracy and reckless endangerment. Her friends Philip Williams and Kevin Harrigan both apologized, and admitted their roles in the beating. Earlier this year, they both pled guilty to assault and conspiracy charges, agreeing to pay fines and participate in 200 hours of community service at an LGBTQ organization.
A Texas judge ruled that the state must pay $605,000 in attorney's fees on behalf of two couples who had been fighting for marriage equality prior to national recognition, Advocate.com reported. Cleopatra DeLeon and her partner Nicole Dimetman joined Mark Phariss and his partner Victor Holmes in suing the state of Texas in 2013 for its ban on same-sex marriage. The couples could not be considered legally wed until the Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, allowing for nationwide marriage equality. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sided with the couples on July 7.
History has been made with the choice of openly gay Connecticut State Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald as the 2016 grand marshal of the Stamford St. Patrick's Day parade next March 6, IrishCentral.com noted. Significantly, the Catholic Church has given its seal of approval to the decision by parade organizers. McDonald has clashed with the Catholic Church in Connecticut before, in 2009, when he was a state senator. He proposed a controversial bill to regulate the church's finances, removing parish priests and bishops from their oversight positions and delegating the power to a lay board.
A federal judge has ruled that former government employee Edward Horvath cannot collect nearly a decade's worth of insurance that an agency refused to give husband Richard Neidich before a landmark Supreme Court decision, according to Courthouse News Service. Horvath married Neidich on June 25, 2004, about a month after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. After an extensive legal fight, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in favor of former U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta and Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, saying Horvath's claims are barred by the six-year statute of limitations.
A gay couple who sued the state of Michigan for recognition of their out-of-state marriage cannot recoup legal fees after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban, MLive.com reported. U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist ruled that the U.S. Supreme Court's action in another case rendered Bruce Morgan and Brian Merucci's case moot. Morgan and Merucci, an East Grand Rapids couple married in December 2013 in New York, sought $30,000 in legal fees, as the prevailing party in the lawsuit. Their case had been on hold until the Supreme Court ruled in June, in unrelated cases, that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.
In Alaska, opponents of Anchorage's LGBT non-discrimination law may need to get more specific in their ballot language seeking repeal, the Associated Press reported. City attorneys approved the referendum effort while nixing language that asked whether Anchorage Ordinance 96 shall remain law. City attorney Bill Falsey wrote in a memo that the language didn't accurately describe what the law does, and City Clerk Barbara Jones said petitioners have to sign off on the new language in order to begin collecting signatures.
In California, outgoing Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus said he plans to continue the community policing he's become known for when he becomes the chief of the Tucson, Arizona, police force early in 2016, The Bay Area Reporter noted. The openly gay Magnus, 55, has become known for several milestones since he took office in 2006. Crime rates in the East Bay city have dropped, and he also garnered attention last December when he and others from his department stood with people protesting national incidents of police brutality and held a sign that said, "Black Lives Matter." Magnus' last day in Richmond hasn't been set, but he said it would likely be mid-January.
YouTube personality Kyle Kittleson is shaking up the LGBT blogosphere by expressing his support for Donald Trump, according to The Huffington Post. In a five-minute video, the Los Angeles-based Kittleson said he plans to vote for Trump, whom he praises as a "slightly crazy uncle who's a little behind the times, but still knows what's best." Kittleson—who previously worked as a marine mammal trainer at SeaWorld Orlando and hopes to host a television show focused on animals—may even donate money to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, citing the Republican's stances on infrastructure, immigration and LGBT equality.
The equality group One Iowa condemned Drury Inn & Suites after the ACLU released the audio from a 911 call the establishment's owner made on July 13. In the audio, the manager asks to run the names of both Meghan Taylor and a friend accompanying her—both African-American trans woman—through the police database due to their appearance, speculating that the two are engaged in prostitution. In a statement, One Iowa Executive Director Donna Red Wing said, "It is my opinion that Meagan Taylor, an African-American transgender woman, was targeted by the general manager of Drury Inn & Suites in West Des Moines because of ignorance, bias and stereotype."
The Department of Health and Human Services partnered with an advocacy organization that is asking gay men to send selfies from the gym to promote Obamacare, FreeBeacon.com reported. "As part of LGBT Week of Action from Dec. 7-11, Out2Enroll and other organizations will hold enrollment activities and provide in-person assistance across the country," the department said. One social-media campaign started by the agency's main partner, "Out2Enroll," is #HealthySelfie. "We've showed [sic] you ours, now you show us yours," the group's Facebook post reads, featuring mostly images of men at the gym.
Rumors of Houston Mayor Annise Parker's next step have begun circulating in recent weeks, but the term-limited Parker made one thing clear, BizJournals.com noted. Parker, who was inaccurately reported to have accepted a teaching job at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, issued a statement denying the claims. In the last few months, Parker, an out lesbian, has gained attention for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which failed to pass in last month's election. During her tenure, Parker also was named one of the top 10 mayors of the world for 2014.
GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz received an endorsement from a leading organization against marriage rights for same-sex couples, which, upon announcing its support, called him "a proven champion for marriage and religious freedom, The Washington Blade reported. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said in a statement his group is backing the candidate based on his commitments and actions on the campaign trail.
In Dallas, 16 beneficiaries shared in a $1,030,000 distribution from the 34th Annual Black Tie Dinner, according to a press release. Checks were presented by Black Tie Dinner board members to community leaders of 16
North Texas LGBT-supportive beneficiaries and Black Tie's national beneficiary, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Black Tie Dinner is the largest formal seated dinner of its kind in the country, in terms of both attendance and charitable contributions. This year, approximately 3,000 guests attended an event featuring famed marriage-equality plaintiff Jim Obergerfell.
In Minnesota, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office has charged a St. Paul man with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct after he allegedly locked up a young man in his basement and sexually assaulted him for days, CBS Minnesota reported. Court documents say 55-year-old Wilbert Glover came up behind a 19-year-old man on a north Minneapolis street and strangled him until he passed out. Glover then allegedly took him to his home in St. Paul, chained him to a metal bar attached to a concrete wall in his basement and repeatedly raped him for four days. Glover had been convicted in 1987 for attempted murder and kidnapping in Illinois.
A 46-year-old transgender woman has left behind her former life—including a wife and seven children—to live as a 6-year-old girl with two adoptive "parents," LGBTQ Nation reported. Stefonknee ( pronounced Stephanie ) Wolschtt has said she does not "want to be an adult right now." Her new identity expression was too much for Stefonkee's wife of 23 years, who reportedly told her to "stop being trans or leave."
Former gay-porn star Bo Dean has been paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in the chest during an argument with a friend, Gay Star News noted. The incident occurred Nov. 28 in New Orleans; Dean remained in critical condition, at last check. A GoFundMe page has been set up on his behalf.
In November, the founders of gay-dating app Hornet made an interesting choice for the site of their latest billboard—the Milkwaukee Theater, host of the fourth Republican presidential debate, Newsweek noted. The company's billboard featured a cartoon elephant chatting with a unicorn who is draped in an American flag. "Open to debate?," the elephant asks the unicorn. Founded in 2010 by gay-rights activists that include CEO Sean Howell, Hornet—a competitor to apps like Tinder and Grindr—reportedly has 7 million users worldwide.
Nordstrom is putting people in the holiday spirit with "The Homecoming," a new commercial starring a handsome gay couple and their dog, The Huffington Post noted. Set to the tune of Tom Rosenthal's "Go Solo," the new ad shows two men sharing a tender embrace and quick kiss after one returns home after presumably some time away. "Home is the heart of the holiday season," Nordstrom officials wrote on their official YouTube page. As LGBTQ Nation pointed out, the men in the commercial are a real-life engaged couple.
