The American Family Association has sued to stop Michigan State University from offering health insurance to the partners of gay workers and asserted that the school is violating a 2004 amendment to the state constitution, the Associated Press reported. An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said that the situation is moot because the state appeals court already will decide on the issue.
The Miami Beach Bruthaz 2006 conference will take place Thurs.-Sun., July 20-23 to confront issues involving gay and straight Black men, including being on the 'down low.' Speakers will include author J.L. King and Cleo Manago, the founder of Black Men's Xchange. E-mail miamibeachbruthaz@yahoo.com .
Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) released a statement praising the facts that most Fortune 500 companies offer domestic-partner health insurance benefits, that 86 percent of them have sexual orientation non-discrimination policies and that the number of companies with similar gender identity clauses has increased tenfold since 2001. HRC President Joe Solmonese said, in part, that ' [ t ] his isn't a Democratic or a Republican issue. It's an issue of basic fairness and good business.'
'The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-Being of Children,' a study published in the July issue of Pediatrics, reveals that marriage can help children being raised by gay or lesbian parents. The conclusion supports the position of members of Pro-Family Pediatricians, a national coalition of more than 1,000 pediatricians.
The District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit has won an Innovations in American Government Award worth $100,000, according to U.S. Newswire. One twist the unit employs is using GLBT and allied volunteers to help guide and operate it, freeing department personnel for other work and educating them.
The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce ( NGLCC ) , Merrill Lynch and The Hartford's Retirement Plans Group have announced plans to start retirement options for LGBT business owners, their employees and their families, according to an NGLCC release.
'Party bisexual,' a new term that describes people who act out bisexual urges while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, is drawing criticism and raves, The Washington Blade reported. However, Dr. Paula C. RodrÃguez Rust, author of Bisexuality in the United States, suggested that the term could help society understand bisexuality.
True Azimuth, LLC, will hold an adventure-based course for gay couples on Thurs.-Sat., Aug. 31-Sept. 1, in the mountains of Vermont. The course is limited to six couples. E-mail bjstephens@TrueAzimuth.biz or see NavigatingTogether.info .
A poll indicates that almost two-thirds of New Jersey residents support allowing civil unions for same-sex couples, while half think gay marriage should be legal in the state, the Associated Press reported. The latest poll comes as the state Supreme Court considers a case in which seven gay couples have sued for the right to marry.
In Idaho, controversy around two books in the Nampa Public Library—The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex—are complicating the city's effort to raise money for a new building, the Idaho Press-Tribune reported. Canyon County businessman Larry Knapp stated that he and several others will withhold their contributions because the library board has voted to keep the books, although they have been placed out of the reach of children. However, Fox News reported that Randy Jackson, a Nampa resident, checked out The Joy of Gay Sex and has no intentions of returning it.
In Tennessee, Soulforce, an LGBT-rights group, has placed 16 billboards in and around Nashville, the hometown of Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, condemning his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, according to Out in Knoxville. The billboards are the organization's first jump into the same-sex marriage fight.
A new report from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy ( which is affiliated with the UCLA School of Law ) has identified four ways in which the United States is noncompliant with the United Nations Human Rights Committee's antidiscrimination standards. The methods of noncompliance—which the report says harms many gay and lesbian Americans—include the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, which prohibits openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals from serving in the armed forces.
In Arizona, foes of the state's proposed same-sex constitutional marriage ban sued to keep it off the Nov. 7 ballot, Gay.com reported. The plaintiffs, who are five heterosexual couples, contend that the measure would deprive them of domestic-partner status they currently receive.
The publisher of EXP Magazine, Jeff Balk, is working to save the gay publication after a Delaware radio talk show host exposed his criminal record, the Washington Blade noted. Balk, 48, spent seven years in jail in Missouri after being convicted in 1988 of sodomy and 11 counts of deviant sexual assault.
In Provincetown, Mass., town leaders met to discuss slurs and bigotry that are allegedly stemming from gay people, according to The Boston Globe. Police claim to have logged complaints of straight people being called 'breeders' by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend and Jamaican workers reportedly being called racial slurs, among other items.
In New York, The Ali Forney Center, the country's largest LGBT youth homeless services center, has launched an advertising campaign that asks: 'Would you stop loving your child if you found out they were gay or lesbian?' The ads will run in Latino and African-American media as well as Caribbean papers.
The National Stonewall Democrats announced that Jo Wyrick, the gay partisan organization's interim head, will be its new executive director, the Washington Blade reported. Wyrick, the first woman to lead the organization, has led the group since the previous executive director, Eric Stern, stepped down in April, citing health reasons. Stern is a cancer survivor.
