Rosie O'Donnell is joining Queer as Folk—but for only three episodes next season. The former talk show host was offered a permanent gig on QAF, but turned it down, saying that it would take her away from her family too long. O'Donnell married longtime partner Kelli Carpenter in San Francisco in February; they have four children.
In Minnesota, the organizer of the Twin Cities' annual Gay Pride event filed a discrimination complaint against the Star Tribune newspaper with the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights. The Star-Tribune itself reported that GLBT/Pride Twin Cities contends that the publication improperly refused to run an advertisement for the June event that showed two men kissing. The group said in a statement that it had been unable to resolve the issue with the newspaper's management and that it had 'no choice but to file a discrimination complaint ... to force the business and policymakers at the Star Tribune to account for its actions.'
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation released a new report that examines all GLBT-related state legislation in 2004. The 13 states that passed anti-marriage constitutional amendments this year have been well reported, but this new report—'Equality from State to State'—points out the 15 amendments that were defeated in state legislatures in 2004. Moreover, this report discusses the almost 200 bills that did not deal with marriage but nonetheless affect the GLBT community and their families.
Needless restrictions on condoms and HIV/AIDS information are undermining the global fight against the epidemic, Human Rights Watch charged in a paper. The 30-page briefing paper, located at hrw.org/backgrounder/hivaids/condoms1204, documents censorship of information about condoms in government-funded programs, myths about condoms spread by religious leaders, and restrictions on condoms in numerous countries.
Based on voting records for 2004, more than half of California legislators have shown 100 percent support for the rights of LGBT people, according to an Equality California ( EQCA ) press release. Sixty four out of 120 legislators and Gov. Schwarzenegger scored 100 percent on EQCA's 2004 Legislative Scorecard, which evaluated these elected officials on EQCA-sponsored legislation.
A scientific poll by Benenson Strategy Group and published in the December issue of GQ found that 2 percent of 1,000 American men questioned said they were gay but 23 percent of unmarried men said that they have had gay sex. An additional 8 percent of unmarried men said they fantasize about having gay sex. Twenty-two percent of those quizzed would be flattered if another man propositioned them and 27 percent said they have gay friends.
A study published in the December 15 edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases reveals that nearly 60 percent of urban HIV-negative gay men in the Untied States have anal infections of human papillomavirus ( HPV ) , a sexually transmitted virus that can cause anal and genital warts and, in some cases, lead to anal cancer, The Advocate reported.
While Americans wage a battle over gay marriage, the results of the first study on same-sex couples in civil unions indicate domestic peace and harmony. The Psychology Today survey, which compared men and women in civil unions with their married heterosexual siblings ( as well as with gays and lesbians not in civil unions ) , found that gays in civil unions reported a much more equitable division of labor and child care than did their heterosexual counterparts.
Three transsexuals who won a token $1 victory in a discrimination case against a Toys 'R' Us store in Brooklyn are entitled to more in legal fees, the state's top court ruled. The New York Post reported that the pre-operative transsexuals won the landmark case after charging that they had been harassed and threatened with bats while shopping at the Toys 'R' Us store on Bay Parkway in 2000. They also were awarded $193,551 in legal fees. However, the toy company appealed, questioning whether attorneys' fees could be given in cases that result in nominal monetary damages.
A former president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association has been named president and chief executive officer of another prominent medical organization, according to the latter group's press release. Dr. Saul Levin has elected to the offices of the Medical Education for South African Blacks group, which has merged its United States and South African boards and which has relocated its offices to Washington, D.C. Levin, a graduate of South Africa's Witwatersrand Medical School and America's Harvard University, will lead a major fundraising effort effort in both countries.
