The U.S. Department of Defense has admitted, in a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee, to improper domestic spying, according to a Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN ) release. The revelation came after media reports that groups opposed to the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy were being watched—and after SLDN filed a federal lawsuit demanding information on such surveillance.
Jacob Robida, the teenager who killed a police officer and a woman days after attacking patrons in a New Bedford, Mass., gay bar, fatally shot himself in the head, as Arkansas police closed in, according to TheBostonChannel.com . Robida, 18, of New Bedford, turned the gun on himself Feb. 4 after he fatally shot a West Virginia woman who was in his car.
Lambda Legal filed its opening brief in the New York Court of Appeals to turn over the December ruling of the Appellate Division, First Department that limiting marriage to people of different sexes is not unconstitutional. That ruling reversed the trial court decision handed down in February 2005 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's top television executive, Michael Pack, has resigned after three years to return to independent film producing, according to MSNBC. The latest top-level departure comes as the corporation is beset by controversy over efforts by top executives to put more conservatives on public television and radio.
OutoftheClosetTelevision.com was the world's first gay and lesbian online television network, according to a statement on PR Newswire. The site, which had over 200,000 unique visitors in January, has been playing on home computers since 2000. The network welcomed OutZoneTV.com, a broadband channel on the Web aimed specifically at gays and lesbians, produced by The Bravo Network and PlanetOut Inc., the largest gay media company in the country.
Lambda Legal reached a settlement agreement with a restaurant that fired a man because he was HIV-positive, according to a statement from the organization. Mike and Katy's Causeway Café in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., fired Aron Pelela in October 2005. Under the agreement, the restaurant will institute a policy ensuring that the restaurant does not discriminate against people with HIV, conduct HIV-related trainings, and pay Pelela an undisclosed monetary settlement.
Jim Douglas, Vermont's governor, said he would oppose a bill introduced in the state's House of Representatives that would extend full marriage rights to gay couples, TheChamplainChannel.com noted. In 2000, Vermont was the first state to pass civil unions for same-sex couples; Douglas is not in favor of revisiting the issue.
On his MSNBC show Hardball, Chris Matthews suggested maybe liberals or gays were responsible for a series of terrible church burnings in central Alabama, reports to Openlettertochrismatthews.blogspot.com . At one point, Matthews said '... I'm thinking like that because the more liberal churches would drive some people on the right crazy and maybe a more liberal person, who's gay for example, would feel that they've been terrorized by the beliefs of another church too.'
Former New York Giants lineman Roy Simmons and celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred want an investigation into whether Simmons was denied access to the Super Bowl media center because he is gay and HIV-positive, the Associated Press reported. Simmons requested a credential for the center Feb. 2, three days before the Super Bowl, and asked for two tickets for the game. However, Allred said the NFL indicated that it would give others passes after Simmons asked for one.
In a letter to Northwest Airlines, the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) of Southern California said that the airline violated California's anti-discrimination statutes when it refused to allow a gay couple to use tickets an employee won at a holiday party, according to an ACLU statement. The ACLU sent the letter on behalf of Rob Anders, a longtime airline industry employee, who won round-trip domestic airfare on Northwest Airlines for him and a companion at his company holiday party last December. However, when he tried to redeem the tickets for himself and his registered domestic partner, Northwest allegedly refused.
