Sears pulls ads from Dr. Laura radio show
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Monday praised Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s announcement that it will no longer sponsor programming featuring controversial talk-show host Laura Schlessinger.
"GLAAD applauds Sears, Roebuck and Co. for its decision to not associate its brand with Schlessinger's defamatory attacks," said Cathy Renna, GLAAD's director of regional media and community relations.
Sears joins a long list of sponsors— including Procter & Gamble, Xerox, AT&T, Toys "R" Us, SkyTel, Kraft, General Foods, TCF Bank and Geico Insurance—that have withdrawn their advertising support from Schlessinger's programming.
Hate crime charge added
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Raymond C. Walton, 33, of Barron, Wisc., a man charged with helping murder a 22-year-old hearing-impaired, mentally disabled man, is now accused of a hate crime.
Prosecutors contend Raymond C. Walton, 33, of Barron, helped beat Michael J. Hatch to death with a tire iron Oct. 20 because Walton thought Hatch was gay. Authorities say Walton and Corey L. Kralewski, 21, killed Hatch and left his body in a rural Barron County cornfield. The three men, and a friend, Mary Reed, had spent the evening together in several bars, where Kralewski played pool with Hatch, whom he knew from high school, the paper said.
Later, the group left the pool hall and drove to a field, where Reed told authorities she sat in her truck while Kralewski and Walton beat Hatch with a tire iron, the Tribune said.
Another Methodist minister a step nearer to trial
The Omaha World Herald reports that Nebraska's United Methodists are readying themselves to put another of their pastors on trial for performing a same-sex ceremony.
The Rev. Mark Kemling of Omaha said a complaint had been filed against him for presiding at a June 3 union for two men.
Reno steps in to join harassment lawsuit
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has filed a motion seeking to join a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former Pleasant Hill High School student in Kansas City, Mo., who alleges he was harassed because people thought he was gay.
The lawsuit alleges that the student was taunted and beaten by classmates, and that school officials did nothing to stop the harassment. Reno filed the motion to join the federal lawsuit last week, agreeing with the contention that school officials did nothing to help the boy, the Dispatch reported.
Lawyers for Lambda Legal Defense said they knew of no other instance in which the Justice Department has intervened in a school sexual harassment case involving gays or students perceived as gay.
The student, who has since left the public school system, is seeking $10.3 million in damages.
Gephardt addresses lesbian and gay officials
House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., will deliver the keynote address to more than 30 openly gay and lesbian elected officials from throughout the U.S. at a benefit for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Sunday, Aug. 13 at the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood. David Mixner, Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, and others are also expected.
See www.victoryfund.org or call ( 202 ) 842-8679.
HRC endorses Hillary Clinton for U.S. Senate
On July 27, the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for U.S. Senate from New York, citing her leadership and commitment to gay and lesbian issues as first lady and as a Senate candidate.
HRC said Clinton has pledged to cosponsor the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
HRC also noted that while in the House of Representatives, her opponent, Rick Lazio, failed to cosponsor the HCPA as well as ENDA, only changing his stance against federal hate-crimes legislation after launching his Senate race.
Senate gives aid to poor countries to fight AIDS
Last week, legislation passed the U.S. Senate committing $600 million in aid for fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa and developing countries elsewhere, reports AP.
On a voice vote, the Senate approved authorizing $300 million in each of the next two years for AIDS prevention and treatment and also for the care of AIDS orphans in developing countries.
The bill also authorizes $120 million over the next two years for treating and controlling tuberculosis in poor countries, AP said.
Lesbian mother appeals to U.S. Supreme Court
The Associated Press reports that a lesbian mother of twins is going to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep her former partner away from her children. Last April, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the former partner had a right to visitation with the children because she had functioned as a parent for two years.
Gay-rights organizations had hailed the New Jersey case as a breakthrough because the state court had concluded both lesbians had equal status as parents under law, AP said.
Pro-union Republicans under threat in Vermont
Reuters news agency reports that some Republicans may have signed their political death warrant when they voted earlier this year in support of Vermont's first-in-the-nation law recognizing "civil unions" between same-sex partners.
More than half of the 15 Republicans in the state's House who voted for the measure are being challenged in their party's Sept. 12 primary, and three of those facing opposition are members of the chamber's Judiciary Committee—which wrote the legislation extending marriage-like rights and benefits to same-sex couples, Reuters reported.
Idaho to censor Public Television
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Idaho Legislature this year appropriated $100,000 to battle the state's image as a refuge for bigots.
But the paper speculates that whatever public relations repairs the Department of Commerce can make with the money may be undermined by the legislature's plan to censor Idaho Public Television.
The state's $1.4 million appropriation for public TV in fiscal 2001 came with restrictions that require a schedule to be submitted in advance to the Idaho Board of Education, which decides which programs air.
The move is due to pressure from the Idaho Christian Coalition and the Idaho Family Forum, which objected to a pro-gay program, It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, the paper reported. If the school board begins censoring programs, says the paper, the ACLU could challenge the action in court, which might lead lawmakers to follow the state Republican Party's advice and kill all funding for public TV.
Iowa State University's could get same-sex health benefits
In Cedar Falls, Iowa, the state Board of Regents recently OK'd extending healthcare coverage to Iowa State University's same-sex domestic partners, reports The Ames Tribune.
Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, estimated it would cost ISU an additional $11,000 a year to cover four gay or lesbian employees at ISU.
Woman in line to be 1st lesbian in Georgia House
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that when DeKalb County voters recently voted for Karla Drenner in House District 66 they may have made Georgia history by electing the first openly gay or lesbian member of the state legislature.
With no Republicans running in November, Drenner, a Democrat, is almost guaranteed a House seat. Drenner defeated incumbent June Hegstrom, with 52 percent of the vote to Hegstrom's 48 percent.
Suspects admit plan to 'off' gay man
The Associated Press reports that two suspects in the apparent death of an Ohio medical consultant said they planned to "off" him moments before he disappeared last December, a witness said.
Robert Petrick, 35, of Bentleyville, Washington County, Pa., testified that when he later saw Alexander Martos and Gregory Modery, Martos said, "I put a bullet between his eyes," and Modery said, "Poor Ira" as he shaped his hand to look like a gun.
Communication workers get domestic-partnership benefits
The Communications Workers of America have successfully negotiated a national program to extend domestic-partner benefits to thousands of GTE employees effective Jan. 1, 2001.
See details at the AFL-CIO Pride At Work webpage, www.prideatwork.org .
United Way takes aim at Boy Scouts
In a policy aimed at the Boy Scouts, a United Way board in Rhode Island announced it would no longer fund organizations that discriminate for any reason, including sexual orientation, reports United Press International.
The policy takes effect in January, and could deprive the state's Narragansett Council of Boy Scouts of $200,000; money that funded Scout Reach, a program bringing 6,900 inner-city youths into scouting.
The United Way charity is one of the first to challenge the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Boy Scouts, as a private organization, could ban gay leaders, UPI said.
Regional gay advocacy groups look to the future
After a four-day meeting in New Orleans, the Federation of Statewide LGBT Advocacy Organizations, a network of autonomous state/territory organizations committed to working together and with national and local groups to strengthen statewide LGBT advocacy organizing, is implementing a new strategic plan to drive the organization forward in its goals, reports GLAAD.
"One of things we focused on was reassigning the organization's regions, so now there are eight that match up regions with similar interest and makeup," said Anne Shelly, Federation co-chair and executive director of the Arkansas Equality Network,
HRC unveils new report on 'Ex-Gay' ministries
The Human Rights Campaign recently released a new report that reveals the grave psychological damage done to many people who go through the "ex-gay" ministries and "reparative" therapy. "Finally Free: How Love and Self-Acceptance Saved Us From the Ex-gay Ministries," features the personal stories of people who have survived the "ex-gay" ministries and have come forward to expose the harm done by these groups.
"Finally Free" was released at a press conference in San Diego, the city where Exodus International—the largest "ex-gay" organization—is hosting their annual conference.
For more information visit www.hrc.org
New poll on lesbian and gay voting trends
In the latest Election 2000 survey by Witeck-Combs Communications/Harris Interactive, a total of 13,141 respondents, both heterosexual and GLBT, of whom 790 self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered individuals, were asked a series of questions.
If the Presidential election were held today between George W. Bush and Al Gore, who would you most likely vote for? Gay and lesbian only voters were 83% for Gore and 16% for Bush, with 1% undecided.
For the complete survey visit the website www.witeckcombs.com
U. of Hawaii drop football team's rainbow logo
The Associated Press reports that the rainbow was the symbol of the University of Hawaii football team for 77 years, until recently when they dropped the name and logo, after the student newspaper ridiculed the name rainbow and linked it to gays. The team has been renamed from Rainbow Warriors to Warriors.
Now the University is being accused of being homophobic by local gay and lesbian groups. Football coach June Jones, who pushed the logo change, was unavailable for comment, AP said.
Lesian history exhibit
After finding an old photograph of 11 women dressed as men, Betsy Levine, a San Francisco librarian, discovered there was a group of women in New Haven who would get together and dress in men's clothes, reports The San Francisco Examiner.
Levine recently donated a copy to artists Kim Anno of Berkeley and E.G. Crichton and they began collecting lesbian memorabilia for their "Lost and Found: A Museum of Lesbian Memory"; and exhibition to be displayed at the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at San Francisco's Main Library.
E-mail lesbianmemories@yahoo.com or call ( 510 ) 268-1256.
5th GLBT Family Week
Hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents and their children are in Provincetown, Mass., this week for the fifth annual GLBT Family Week.
The Family Pride Coalition, a national network of GLBT parents and parenting groups, and COLAGE ( Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere ) co-sponsored event, which features more than 50 events, workshops and activities.
