A Minneapolis bus driver who complained about an ad that features the local GLBT magazine Lavender will not have to drive any bus that carries the ad, the Star Tribune reported. However, Amalgamated Transit Unit Local 1005 President Michelle Somers did not agree with the move, saying that 'if you start saying this or that ad is inappropriate, you're offending other people, and that can create a difficult environment for people to work in.' The AP reported that Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons said it is unlikely that the company likely would make the same decision again.
Michael Sandy, who was attacked by a group of men in Brooklyn in what people are calling a hate crime, was laid to rest after his family removed him from life support, NY1.com stated. John Fox, 19, and Ilya Shurov, 20, are facing murder and manslaughter charges as well as assault and robbery as a hate crime. A third suspect, 16-year-old Gary Timmins, is facing only assault and robbery charges.
In New York City, two undercover police officers arrested Tyrone George, 20, on hate-crime charges because he assumed the cops were gay and proceeded to threaten and harass them, Advocate.com reported. George allegedly approached the cops sitting on a bench in Union Square Park and screamed that he hated 'homos' and 'faggots,' eventually spitting on the sergeant's foot.
In Providence, R.I., David St. Michel and his partner claimed they were attacked and that police were lax in assisting them, according to TurnTo10.com . Police are looking for suspects and are conducting an internal investigation into how the incident was handled. They added that if St. Michel's claims about the attackers are correct, the incident would be a hate crime.
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, has angrily responded to 'Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination,' a group of proposed guidelines drawn up by The Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 'There's plenty to be offended by in the new Catholic Church guidelines, [ such as ] the bishops [ trying ] to sound more compassionate by writing that even though the Catholic Church believes 'the homosexual orientation is objectively disordered,' that doesn't mean 'the person as a whole is disordered,'' Foreman asserted.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has called allegations from a gay-rights activist that he's had gay relationships 'completely ridiculous,' the Spokesman-Review reported. Mike Rogers, who is behind BlogActive.com, published the allegations on his Web site and repeated them on the Ed Schultz show, a syndicated liberal radio talk show.
In Maine, Kelly Jo Cookson, a former Brewer High School softball coach, has filed the state's first lawsuit alleging sexual orientation discrimination, according to The Washington Blade. Cookson, who claims that she was let go from her job because she is a lesbian, is suing the Brewer School Department and Superintendent Daniel Lee.
