Rand Paul will have an out gay man as challenger in his U.S. Senate re-election campaign in Kentucky, with Lexington mayor Jim Gray announcing a bid for the seat, Advocate.com noted. (Paul was running simultaneous races for president and re-election as senator until he dropped his presidential bid Feb. 3.) Running for both was immediately a line of attack for Gray, who said Paul "puts himself and his own ambitions above Kentucky. My dad taught me that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason."
A state senator introduced a bill to include sexual orientation, gender identity and other categories of people in Utah's hate-crimes law, Deseret News reported. Republican Sen. Steve Urquhart's bill, SB107, would more clearly define a hate crime as an offense against a person or person's property based on a belief or perception about their ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion or sexual orientation. Current law doesn't identify specific groups, and prosecutors rarely use it.
Only the Democratic presidential candidates—Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley ( who has since dropped out of the race ) and Bernie Sanders—responded to Gay Men's Health Crisis' ( GMHC's ) survey asking about their plans to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic, according to a press release. "While we are extremely disappointed that not a single Republican candidate submitted a response to the presidential survey on HIV and AIDS, we are heartened that those who did respond have thoughtful plans on how we end the epidemic," said GMHC CEO Kelsey Louie. The responses are at http://gmhc.org/about-us/publications/presidential-report-2016.
The former CEO of Rentboy.com, Jeffrey Hurant, 51, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn on a charge of promoting prostitution, as well as two other money-laundering charges, according to LGBTQ Nation. In August 2015, Hurant and six of his employees were arrested during a sting operation in Manhattan conducted by Homeland Security with help from the NYPD. The case has sparked outrage from gay-rights advocates due to the targeted nature of the crackdown.
Jessica Taylor, a transgender pilot for a Denver-based regional airline, won a big fight with the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) on behalf of people just like her, Minnesota Public Radio reported. The FAA will no longer consider gender identity dysphoria in the category of a mental illness—which required pilots to undergo testing to convince federal officials a pilot is medically fit and stable enough to fly. Under the new policy, a transgender pilot submits to a medical exam by a locally certified doctor as any other pilot and, if they pass, gets the medical certificate on the spot.
The Huffington Post has relaunched HuffPost Gay Voices as HuffPost Queer Voices. According to a press release, "a lot has changed since [the Gay Voices launch in 2011]—from marriage equality sweeping the nation and parts of the world to Laverne Cox gracing the cover of Time magazine to Miley Cyrus coming out as pansexual—and we believe that this is an especially critical time for queer people and the queer movement to regroup and redefine its mission in the wake of these incredible, once unimaginable changes to the political and cultural landscape."
The D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board voted unanimously to designate a row house on Capitol Hill used in the early 1970s as headquarters for a lesbian feminist group called the Furies Collective as a historic landmark on the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites, The Washington Blade reported. The seven-member board approved the historic designation for the Furies house in a resolution that also calls for forwarding the nomination of the house to the National Park Service for consideration of listing it on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ten New York City gay and lesbian state and city Democratic elected officials formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, The New York Daily News reported. Among those backing Clinton are state Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat and the state's only openly gay senator, as well as Assembly members Deborah Glick ( D-Manhattan ), Daniel O'Donnell ( D-Manhattan ), Harry Bronson ( D-Rochester ), and Matthew Titone ( D-Staten Island ). City Council members James Vacca, who recently came out as gay, Daniel Dromm, Corey Johnson, Rosie Mendez, and Jimmy Van Bramer are also endorsing her.
The Greene County Republican Party Central Committee passed on endorsing Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, voting instead to back the campaign of Don Eckhart, a Christian conservative opposed to marriage equality, On Top Magazine noted. In 2013, Portman announced that he supports his gay son's right to marry, infuriating conservatives such as Phil Burress, head of Citizens for Community Values, who vowed to derail his reelection to the Senate.
Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker has a new job with Harvard University, ABC13.com reported. Parker has been named a resident fellow for the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She will lead weekly study groups for a semester.
Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star was defaced with a swastika, TheWrap reported. On Jan. 29, a Reddit user uploaded the image of the star, located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, with the swastika sprayed on backward; the following day, the star was clean. The presidential candidate and Apprentice host received the star in 2007.
The confirmation hearing for Eric Fanning as Army secretary was as smooth as it was relatively brief, clocking in at just more than an hour, The Washington Blade noted. In his opening statement, Fanning emphasized his experience in both Congress and the Obama administration, saying he's eager to obtain confirmation to work on behalf of the more than 1 million Americans serving in the Army. If confirmed, Fanning would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate as civilian head of a military department.
A 26-year-old man got 20 years in prison for attacking a transgender woman with a plexiglass two-by-four that caused permanent brain damage, according to Courthouse News. Mashawn Sonds of Brooklyn was convicted in December of first-degree assault as a hate crime for attacking 29-year-old Kimball Hartman in October 2014 while she and a gay male friend were walking down the sidewalk at night in the Bushwick neighborhood.
Freedom to Marry launched a new website that will serve as a central resource for telling the story of the marriage movement while providing lessons and materials for other organizations, movements and causes, a press release stated. The new legacy website, FreedomToMarry.org, was created in partnership with Blue State Digital. Among other things, the site shows a detailed chronology of the work in each state toward winning the freedom to marry as well as personal stories from people who were part of the movement.
After a county clerk in Kentucky spent five days in jail last year for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a Republican lawmaker in Virginia is pushing legislation aimed at protecting local elected officials who object to certain marriages on moral or religious grounds, LGBTQ Nation noted. Republican Sen. Charles Carrico of Galax—whose southwestern district borders Kentucky—said many of his constituents were concerned about what happened to Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and asked him to help Virginia officials who are put in the same position. Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe has already vowed to veto the bill if it passes the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
An 82-year-old Ohio veteran has received an honorable discharge a half-century after the Army kicked him out for being gay, according to LGBTQ Nation. Columbus resident Donald Hallman requested a reversal of his 1955 "undesirably" discharged status after President Obama repealed the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in 2010. Hallman served from 1953 to 1955 and was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany.
Preachers claim in court that last year's landmark Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling requires that no marriage licenses be issued in Tennessee until a new statute is passed, Courthouse News reported. George Grant, Larry Tomczak and Lyndon Allen are ministers at churches in middle Tennessee, according to a lawsuit they filed Jan. 21 against Elaine Anderson, clerk of Williamson County. The plaintiffs claim that the Tennessee General Assembly is the only authority in the matter.
North Carolina's largest school system may ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation—but it isn't going as far as some activists want to also protect the rights of transgender employees, The News & Observer reported. The Wake County school board's policy committee reviewed changes to the employment policy that would expand job protections to include barring discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation, genetic information or military affiliation. However, the new policy doesn't say it will extend equal employment opportunities and benefits regardless of a person's gender identity or gender expression.
A judicial commission has found that an Oregon judge who has refused to perform same-sex marriages and has drawn a formal ethics complaint for many other issues should lose his job, Reuters reported. The Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability found that Marion County Circuit Court Judge Vance Day engaged in the "discriminatory" practice of instructing his staff to screen marriage applicants for same-sex couples and for refusing to perform the marriages and referring them to other judges. Among other things, the commission found that Day allowed a veteran with a felony to handle a firearm, and solicited and collected money from lawyers who appeared before him.
In Nashville, a father was jailed after allegedly becoming "enraged" at his daughter after "coming out" and chasing family members with a knife, Fox17.com noted. According to the police affidavit, Ike Wright was intoxicated and became enraged at his daughter when he found out she was a lesbian. An argument followed and resulted in Wright taking out a knife and waving it at his daughter, her girlfriend and his son.
Gay freeskier Gus Kenworthy has inspired a journalist to come out of the closet. In a column entitled "I Am Gus," Aspen Daily News columnist Wendle Whiting wrote, in part, "Today begins the rest of my journey. I simply cannot count down any more lonely days to the final mile of my trip." Regarding Kenworthy, Whiting penned, "A fellow Coloradan from a mountain town, his story was relatable and much of what he said then, and since, resonated with me. ... He's shown class, composure and bravery with his very public coming out, but mainly he's shown that he's just a normal guy."
The Leadership Conference Education Fund has released its report "Striking a Balance: Advancing Civil and Human Rights While Preserving Religious Liberty." A press release stated that the report shows "how the religious arguments commonly used today against LGBT equality have been used to oppose the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage and equality, racial integration, inter-racial marriage, immigration, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the right to collectively bargain." It's at http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/2016/religious-liberty-report-WEB.pdf.
The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) Foundation announced that celebrity trainer and best-selling author Bob Harper—best known for his role on NBC's hit show The Biggest Loser—will be honored at HRC's national Time to THRIVE conference in February, a press release stated. The HRC Foundation also announced that featured speakers at the third annual event, scheduled for Feb. 12-14 near Dallas, include YouTube star Brendan Jordan. HRC Foundation's Time to THRIVE conference is held in partnership with the National Education Association and the American Counseling Association.
Anti-gay pastor James David Manning may be about to lose his church, according to LGBTQ Nation. His Harlem church, Atlah Worldwide Church, is scheduled for a public-foreclosure auction after the pastor failed to pay back more than $1 million in debts. The church has drawn attention to itself over the past year or so for posting signs that say things like "Jesus would stone homos" or "Harlem is a sodomite-free zone."
In Los Angeles, Circus Disco was recently closed and hundreds of new apartments are being planned in its place, part of a sweeping plan to redevelop the Hollywood site, The L.A. Times noted. But historic preservationists say they have struck a deal with the developers, one that could recognize the club's history without halting plans for new housing, shops and restaurants. Under the agreement, real estate developer AvalonBay Communities has promised to spare many of the remaining features of the old disco—including its dance floor, neon ceiling lights and a clown entrance—and incorporate them into the project.
The Roosterfish—a funky gay bar that has been a landmark on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Los Angeles for almost four decades—will permanently close its doors in May, an LAWeekly.com item noted. The closure leaves L.A.'s beachside LGBTQ community without a dedicated gay bar for the first time since the 1940s. ( An even older gay bar in Pacific Palisades, the Friendship, closed in 2005. ) The Roosterfish was founded in 1979 by Walter Schneider and B. M. "Alex" Alexander, who were also behind one of West Hollywood's first gay bars, the Gallery Room.
