NEA BACKS DOWN
Rather than vote on a controversial measure that would encourage schools to develop materials supporting GLBT students and staff, the National Education Association said they would instead form a task force to explore the issue "in a holistic, reasoned way'' before taking any further action, reports the Associated Press.
The Gay and Lesbian Caucus actually recommended the resolution be dropped, after about 600 protesters picketed the NEA meeting in Los Angeles.
NEA President Bob Chase denounced the protest as "demagoguery,'' that ignores the needs of GLBT children, AP said.
YOUTH ARRESTED IN COLO. TEEN MURDER
Two weeks after the body of gay 16-year-old Navajo high school student Fred Martinez was discovered near Cortez, Colo., the Montezuma County Sheriff's office arrested Shaun Murphy, 18, of Farmington, N.M.
Reports from the sheriff's office and local media indicate that Martinez, a freshman who disappeared June 16, was bludgeoned with a blunt object and died from that beating and possibly from exposure. On July 2, the sheriff's office declared Martinez's death a homicide and has been investigating the crime in conjunction with other law enforcement entities.
While Martinez's murder has not been declared a hate crime, the sheriff has not ruled out the possibility that he was targeted for violence because of his sexual orientation, gender identity or race.
The Four Corners Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Diversity, in coalition with the Colorado Anti-Violence Program, the Durango, Colo., PFLAG chapter and others, is working to provide assistance and support to investigators and the media.
On June 21, Martinez was found in a canyon south of Cortez. Police are investigating whether the young Navajo's race or sexual orientation may have played a role in his death. According to the Durango Herald, Martinez was frequently harassed because of his feminine appearance. The taunts caused him to transfer to an adult-education school program in February.
"He came to the adult-ed. because it was a learning environment where he felt safer," Barbara Burroughs, one of Martinez' teachers told the newspaper. "He was being harassed, and you don't want to go to school every day if you're going to be harassed."
MORE CENSUS NEWS
The U.S. Census Bureau has released more figures detailing the increased number of same-sex, unmarried partners. The newest statistics cover the states of Colorado, Maryland, Oregon, North Dakota and New Mexico. Visit the NGLTF at www.ngltf.org/issues/census2000.htm
On July 11, figures will be released for Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Utah and Washington. States scheduled for release July 18 are Arizona, Maine, South Carolina and West Virginia. States scheduled for release July 25 are Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.
Court: trans covered in laws
A New Jersey appeals court said transsexuals and others with gender issues are covered by state laws against discrimination, reports AP.
This appears to be the first case to allow lawsuits under "sexual identity" claims, said Matt Coles, director of the ACLU's Gay and Lesbian Rights Project
The ruling was in a case brought by a doctor fired after he started dressing as a woman.
ACLU ASSISTS IN SUIT OVER SON'S MURDER
A federal judge in Texas improperly dismissed a lawsuit brought against the City of Houston by a woman whose son was murdered by his ex-lover, the American Civil Liberties Union charged in papers filed at the federal appeals court in New Orleans.
The judge ruled that the woman could not sue the city for police spurning repeated requests for protection because lesbians and gay men are not entitled to protection from discrimination.
Marc Kajs was shot and killed in the heavily gay Montrose neighborhood of Houston in 1998, after repeatedly seeking help from the police because his ex-lover was harassing and threatening him.
Kajs' mother, Gloria Swidriski, filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Houston, noting that her son's ex-lover would not have been able to carry a concealed firearm if police had treated her son's complaints seriously.
The U.S. District Court in Houston dismissed Swidriski's lawsuit in April, saying in part that lesbians and gay men are not a "protected class," and thus are not entitled to make claims under the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Swidriski is appealing the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where the ACLU filed a brief.
VICTORY IN MINN. OVER SODOMY LAW
A state district judge in Minnesota has ruled that a recent decision striking down the state's sodomy law applies to every adult. The decision means that Minnesota is the third state this year ( joining Arizona and Arkansas ) to move away from laws that have been used against GLBTs.
Military's Ouster of Gays Rose 17 %
The number of gays discharged from the military rose by 17 percent in 2000 and was the highest total since the Clinton administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy began in 1994, The New York Times reports.
The increase over 1999 came despite the approval in 2000 of a Pentagon strategy to eliminate harassment against gay servicemembers and foster a climate of "mutual respect"—provided that the service members did not declare their sexual orientation or engage in homosexual activity, The Times said.
The number of discharges from the Army more than doubled, to 573, while those at the Air Force were halved, to 177.
In all, the Defense Department discharged 1,212 men and women, up from 1,034 the previous year, the paper said.
PROF. WINS LAWSUIT
A jury has found in favor of a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater professor who claimed school officials retaliated after he complained about sex discrimination, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Steven Albrechtsen was awarded $250,000 for emotional distress and $43,840 for lost income. Federal jurors determined officials retaliated against Albrechtsen but did not discriminate against him, the paper said. Albrechtsen claimed lesbians who were running his department treated him unfairly because he is a heterosexual man.
