THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' women are discharged at twice the rate of their military composition, according to information obtained by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. While women make up about 15 percent of the armed forces, they totaled 30 percent of those dismissed under the gay ban in FY2005.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is holding up renewal of the Ryan White Act—and some healthcare workers think that her expected presidential bid may have something to do with it, 365Gay.com reported. Besides reducing grants in New York State, the bill would cut federal spending in California, Florida and Illinois—states she would need to win if she seeks the presidency. Under the renewal, money lost by the four states would be sent to rural areas such as the South.

Leonard Ray Owens, 63, a Texas pastor accused of raping a church member at his house after telling her she was possessed by a lesbian demon, has been indicted, Gay.com reported. Owens, currently free on $25,000 bail, is now awaiting trial on a charge of sexual assault, a second-degree felony that could get him 2 to 20 years in prison.

Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson, a lesbian couple who entered into the country's first same-sex civil union, officially split up, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The couple, both of Brattleboro, had entered a civil union shortly after midnight on July 1, 2000, the day Vermont's pioneering law went into effect.