In New York, the head of a leading gay-rights group has begun criticizing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's position on same-sex marriage and encouraging the gay community to stop giving money to her re-election campaign, according to The New York Times. Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, said Clinton was 'a complete disappointment,' taking issue with her opposition to same-sex marriage and her support for the Defense of Marriage Act. According to the article, Clinton supports same-sex civil unions but opposes gay marriage.
Some fellow conservatives are criticizing Focus on the Family founder James Dobson for supporting proposed Colorado legislation to give same-sex couples limited legal protections, according to the Associated Press. The proposal would allow any two people who cannot marry to register for rights to hospital visits, making medical decisions for each other and property transfers.
Utah's House of Representatives approved HB327, legislation that would block any local government or university from subsidizing health insurance to anyone but public employees' spouses or dependent children, thereby blocking out gays. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the bill still needs the support of the Senate and the signature of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. before becoming law.
President Bush has appointed a Baptist minister who advocates a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS ( PACHA ) , the Washington Blade reported. In a yet-to-be-announced move, Bush named Rev. Herbert Lusk, a former Philadelphia Eagles football star and current pastor of Philadelphia's Greater Exodus Baptist Church, as one of five new members of PACHA.
In Iowa, Governor Tom Vilsack attended a conference at Drake University to talk about the harassment LGBT students face in school, according to RadioIowa.com . Vilsack has been pressuring the legislature to pass a bill that would force Iowa schools to write anti-bullying policies that would prohibit harassment against gay students.
New research puts a spin on the debate concerning the origins of sexual orientation, suggesting that the genetics of mothers of multiple gay sons act differently than those of other women, Forbes.com reported. Scientists found that almost one-fourth of the mothers who had more than one gay son processed X chromosomes in their bodies in the same way; normally, women randomly process the chromosomes in one of two ways.
Steps to pass laws or secure November ballot initiatives to prevent gays and lesbians from adopting children are underway in at least 16 states, USA Today reported. Some states have various twists on bans; for example, Florida has banned all gays and lesbians from adopting since 1977, although they can be foster parents.
Rev. Al Sharpton recently talked with Cleo Manago and the Black Men's Xchange ( BMX ) —an organization of same-gender-loving and bisexual Black men—and heterosexual allies, according to BMX. Sharpton discussed his interest in working with the BMX to fight anti-gay attitudes in the Black community.
