Survey: GLBT POLITICAL CLOUT GROWING
GLBT voters are having a growing impact on elections around the country, both by going to the polls and by bringing gay issues to the public's attention, according to a Gill Foundation study discussed on PlanetOut this month.
The study, Out and Into the Voting Booth, was released Feb. 16, and it confirms that about 4 to 6 % of American voters identify as GLB or T.
According to the study, 92% of GLBT respondents were registered to vote, with 52% saying they voted in all elections and 34% saying they voted in most elections. Forty-three percent identify as moderate.
In November, the Gill Foundation released a report on the impact of GLBTs on their non-gay friends and relatives who vote. In a survey of 2001 people, those who knew someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual was more likely to be supportive of gay issues.
The bad news, the study says, is that apathy about public policy and the high numbers of closeted GLBTs is hurting the community's political clout. About half of the respondents said they rarely discuss politics; 72% said they talk about issues with their gay/lesbian friends; and 51% said they discuss the same issues with non-gay friends. Half of those surveyed said they are open about their sexuality, while a third said they aren't open at all.
www.gillfoundation.org/gotv2000/index.htm.
Lesbian MIT student commits suicide after breakup
A senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently committed suicide after a series of personal setbacks, including her roommate/lover's announcement that she was moving out, the Boston Globe reports.
Lucy Crespo Da Silva, 22, was a popular hockey player scheduled to graduate this spring with a degree in planetary science.
Shortly before her death, Da Silva's roommate, Janet Wu, had ended their yearlong relationship.
Institute on transgender concerns to open
The Rikki Swin Institute, Gender Education, Research, Library and Archives will open in Chicago March 22, 2001.
The opening will coincide with the International Foundation for Gender Education Annual Gender Conference in Arlington Heights the week before.
RSI was recently launched by trans person Rikki Swin as an educational and research organization.
Portland police cut Scouts
Portland, Ore., police have cut ties with its Boy Scouts-insured Explorer program because of the Scouts ban on gays, the Oregonian reports.
The Portland Police Explorers, a mentoring program for young people between the ages of 16 and 21, is now called the Police Cadet Program.
The police Explorer program was not directly affiliated with Boy Scouts, but it was insured through the Learning for Life Program—a subsidiary of the Scouts.
Marine Corps official charged in porn Web site
A Marine Corps second lieutenant based in Twentynine Palms, Calif., has been charged in connection with a gay pornography Web site that boasts the participation of naked Marines, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Douglas W. Shirer, 26, a supply officer, was nabbed after an investigation launched by an anonymous tip.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice forbids participation in pornography.
Texas House committee passes hate-crimes bill
The Texas House Committee on Judicial Affairs this week approved, 7-2, the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.
The bill passed the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, 5-1, two weeks ago.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling ( Apprendi v. New Jersey ) has forced Texas to rework its hate-crimes law.
Gay gun-toters groups
The Pink Pistols, an organization of gay gun-rights supporters founded last year in Boston, may be getting a new chapter in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh City Paper reports.
The Pink Pistols shoot together at ranges, and told the City Paper that they exist as a form of civil-rights activism. One founder wrote that they question "whether shooters and pink people should be adversarial and why."
Lesbian Mass. sen. to run for lieutenant governor
Openly lesbian Massachusetts state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham, has announced she will run for lieutenant governor next year, AP reports.
Jacques, 38, was just re-elected to her fifth term in the Senate, and announced in June of last year that she is gay. She is one of only three openly gay members of the state Legislature, and she is believed to be the first to run for statewide office.
Northampton DJs
suspended for slurs
The morning team on a Northampton, Mass., radio station was removed from the air recently for making anti-lesbian cracks against a rival station's news director, the Springfield ( Mass. ) Union-News reports.
Quinn & Cantara's suspension comes after they made an off-air call to their rival station and made anti-gay comments about its openly lesbian news director. The pair then played the call on the air.
The unauthorized taping and broadcast is a "strict violation" of Federal Communication Commission regulations, punishable by a fine, officials said.
The rival station wants the DJs to make a public apology and for their radio station to make a donation to a local GLBT charity. Neither the station nor the DJs were willing to take those actions.
