NY MAN DIES AFTER ATTACK
Edgar Garzon, 35, who was beaten after leaving a gay bar in New York, has died from severe head injuries. Police are investigating the attack on as a possible hate crime.
Gay activists raised nearly $3,000 in reward money for tips leading to an arrest, and a candlelight march was held from the bar to the scene of the attack.
The assault occurred after Garzon, a native of Colombia who worked as a theatre set designer, left the Friends Tavern, according to media reports. Two men pulled up in a red car, attacked and then fled. Garzon was taken to hospital with a fractured skull. He remained in a coma until he died.
Kansas man killed
Gary D. Raynal, 44, whose body was found in late August under an apartment deck in Leawood, had been tortured and severely beaten by at least two people, police told the Kansas City Star. His sister, Sandra Sheppard, said she thinks he was killed because he was
gay. Sheppard said police told her Raynal's ear had been burned, and he might have been strangled.
STUDY: FOREIGN EXPERIENCES WITH GAY TROOPS RELEVANT
A new study to be published argues that foreign military experiences are relevant for determining what would happen if the U.S. Congress rescinded the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy. The study will be published in "Armed Forces and Society," a scholarly journal that is the official publication of the Inter-University Seminar, an academic network of military sociologists.
None of the 23 nations that permit gay soldiers to serve openly has reported problems. But experts who oppose lifting the American gay ban offer three reasons why foreign military experiences are irrelevant for determining what would happen if known gays were allowed to serve in the U.S. forces. The new study uses data from Israel to assess these three arguments.
The study, titled "Homosexuality and the Israel Defense Forces; Did Lifting the Gay Ban Undermine Military Performance?" was written by Aaron Belkin and Melissa Levitt. Belkin is Director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military ( CSSMM ) at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Levitt is Adjunct Professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University.
First, opponents of gays and lesbians in the military say that foreign experiences are irrelevant for determining what would happen if the U.S lifted its ban because, even where legal, few gays actually come out of the closet in combat units of overseas militaries. Next, opponents of gays and lesbians in the military say that foreign experiences are irrelevant because gays and lesbians receive special treatment in overseas militaries. Based on their interviews and literature review, Belkin and Levitt found that despite the lack of perfectly equal treatment in all cases, most Israeli gay and lesbian soldiers are treated the same as their heterosexual peers most of the time. And, they found no evidence that rare cases of differential treatment undermined performance, cohesion, or morale.
Finally, opponents of gays in the military say that foreign experiences are irrelevant because of the uniqueness of American culture as well as U.S. military culture.
GLAAD PARTNERS WITH LATINOS The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation released a media resource kit in celebration of Latino Heritage Month in September. The kit will be posted on GLAAD's Web site, and sent to several LGBT newspapers.
For more information or to see the "Latino Heritage Month LGBT Media Resource Kit," visit www.glaad.org .
IGLSS Web Accessibility
The Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies has created a parallel web site to its main site that is accessible to those using specialized browsers for the visually impaired.
IGLSS is a non-profit, independent think tank based in Amherst, Mass. See www.iglss.org .
Anniversary Memorial for Danny Lee Overstreet
CHOOSING NOT TO FORGET is the theme for memorials marking the first anniversary of the Back Street Cafe shootings that occurred in Roanoke, Va., Sept. 22, 2000.
Sullivan changes roles
Gay conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan is losing his post as the "TRB" columnist in The New Republic, according to The New York Times. Sullivan will continue to write longer articles as a senior editor.
Sullivan said on his Web site, www.andrewsullivan.com: "I'm sad to say that last week turns out to have been my last TRB column. I had a year's contract and my editor, Peter Beinart, told me last week that my time is up, and he now wants to write it himself. I don't have much to say except I am very sad not to be able to continue, but that I had a blast and am glad to have been allowed to write openly and honestly for a year - even when the column often tilted against the current of the magazine."
