There are several lawsuits regarding same-sex marriage that are pending in various states, according to EdgeBoston.com . Among the states that are weighing cases or that will soon consider them are California, Washington, New York and Iowa.
In a letter to the LGBT community, Macy's department store apologized for yanking two mannequins from a gay pride display window in Boston, according to TheBostonChannel.com . A top Macy's official stated that they were pulled because of a miscommunication—not because the store caved in to pressure from a conservative group.
Muriel Crawford, who founded Naiad Press ( an independent feminist publishing house that became A&M Press ) with her longtime partner, Anyda Marchant, passed away June 7 at her South Rehoboth, Del., home at the age of 92. Crawford and Marchant ( who passed away in January ) were a couple for 57 years. A memorial service will be held July 1 at All Saints Church in Rehoboth Beach.
Katharine Jefferts Schori, 52, was elected the 26th national presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA—and, in the process, became the first woman in Anglican history to head a national church, USA Today reported. Her selection brought cheers from 1,000 clergy and lay leaders and crowds of visitors at the governing conference's House of Deputies.
In July, LGBT individuals and families as well as straight allies will undertake a week-long justice march that will start from the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building and end at the headquarters of the conservative Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. At the end, a vigil and concert celebrating the LGBT community will take place.
The Rev. Tracey Lind, the lesbian dean of Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral, dropped her name from consideration as a bishop, according to The Plain Dealer. Lind made the decision as the Episcopal Church debated the role of gays and lesbians, saying she took action 'after struggling long and hard with myself and with what God wants of me.'
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has launched the largest-ever study of LGBT Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. The study seeks at least 500 participants to complete a confidential online survey that is available in four languages: English, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. The survey is available at www.thetaskforce.org/apisurvey.
The California Supreme Court will review the case of Guadalupe Benitez, a woman denied artificial insemination by a San Diego-area fertility clinic because she is a lesbian, PlanetOut Network reported. Briefings should be finished around the end of this year, with oral arguments to follow.
The Navy is discharging a lesbian noncommissioned officer who took part in a New York City rally for marriage equality and talked about her female partner, according to an item on Advocate.com . Rhonda Davis, a 10-year veteran, was in uniform when she gave a radio interview as she marched across the Brooklyn Bridge with hundreds of others.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) has allegedly refused to change its mind following its decision to sponsor several gay pride events after it received more than 800,000 e-mails and thousands of phone calls from supporters of the conservative American Family Association ( AFA ) , according to The Advocate. Kirk Marusak, the LGBT coordinator at EPA for the American Federation of Government Employees, told The Washington Blade that the e-mails and phone calls appear to have been triggered by an e-mail alert by the AFA's president, Donald Wildmon.
The Log Cabin Republicans have announced an event to honor California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Advocate.com reported. The event will take place just months after the governor vetoed a marriage equality bill passed by the legislature. AIDS Project Los Angeles and Equality California, which battled with him over the marriage bill, are listed as 'hosts' for the June 29 event.
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese will tour the country this summer to enlist the support of Americans in the fight for equality, according to a press release from XM satellite radio. The 'Count Me In' tour will be in Chicago on July 15-22, the same time that the Gay Games will be taking place.
In Rochester, Minn., three-quarters of Minnesota's wing of the Democratic Party, the DFL, voted to add a plank to the party platform opposing constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, 365Gay.com reported. The plank was one of 36 added to the organization's platform.
The people behind KnowThyNeighbor.org, a campaign that named supporters of a constitutional ban of gay marriage in Massachusetts, have launched a similar Web site in Florida, according to the Boston Globe. The Florida names will be available on KnowThyNeighbor.org or through a link on the church's site, christchurchofpeace.org .
PlanetOut Inc. has announced that Karen Magee is its new chief executive officer, effective July 1. Lowell Selvin will step down for medical reasons.
Judith C. Barker, an anthropology professor at the University of California-San Francisco, has co-written a report with Gilbert Herdt and Brian de Vries about the lack of social support for lesbians and gay men. Entitled 'Social Support in the Lives of Lesbians and Gay Men at Midlife and Later,' the item—which appears in the June issue of Sexuality and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC—focuses on the lifelong impact of social, political and economic stigma and discrimination in creating the situation.
New York City's The Ali Forney Center ( AFC ) , the nation's largest LGBT youth homeless services center, launched a print and outdoor advertising campaign that asks people if they would stop loving their children if they found out they were gay or lesbian. The center is offering resources to help resolve any potentially unsafe situations. ( See www.aliforneycenter.org . )
The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation ( GPTMC ) has announced partnerships with the LGBT travel companies RSVP Vacations and R Family Vacations ( the LGBT family-friendly company co-founded by Rosie O'Donnell, her wife Kelli and Gregg Kaminsky ) , marking the first time that the gay vacation companies have signed an agreement to promote a specific destination. GPTMC launched its award-winning gay-friendly tourism campaign, Philadelphia—Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay, in 2003.
Representing a 17-year-old male-to-female transgender girl, an 18-year-old lesbian and an 18-year-old boy perceived to be gay, the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) announced a $625,000 settlement in the first case in the country to specifically address the treatment of LGBT youth in juvenile facilities, according to a press release. The development ends an ACLU federal civil-rights lawsuit on behalf of the three plaintiffs, who contended that they dealt with abuse and harassment by staff and peers.
In an interview with The News & Record of Greensboro, N.C., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged people to be respectful and sensitive in the debate over gay marriage, the Associated Press reported. However, Rice, who spoke following an address to the Southern Baptist Convention, avoided a question about her own views on the issue.
With recent policy changes at Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton and Columbia, ninety percent of the country's most elite institutions of higher education have extended gender protections to students, staff and faculty, according to a press release from Gender PAC. In April, a resolution to include the terms 'gender identity' and 'gender expression' was passed by the Yale College Council; however, administrators are still examining the issue.
