In New Mexico, five people have pleaded not guilty in the attacks on a 21-year-old Santa Fe man and his boyfriend, 365Gay.com reported. David Trinidad, Joseph Cano, Gabriel Maturin, Jonathan Valdez, and Paul Montoya entered their pleas before District Judge Stephen Pfeffer. James Maestas and Joshua Stockham were allegedly beaten by the suspects in what prosecutors believe is the first time that the state's new hate-crime enhancements have been sought where the victims are gay.
In Virginia, the governor endorsed a legislative measure that allows insurers and businesses to extend health-insurance coverage to gay couples, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. With the governor's signature, the legislation becomes law July 1. It makes Virginia the last state to prohibit businesses [ that are not self-insured ] from offering coverage to unrelated children, grandchildren, elderly relatives, friends and other members of a household.
The Mautner Project, a support organization for lesbians who suffer from cancer, expressed its outrage at what it called the 'discriminatory dismissal' of a lesbian who tried to use a pool for rehabilitative therapy at the Charles T. Sitrin Health Care Center in Utica, N.Y. In a statement, the Project reported that officials connected with the center claimed that the couple behaved 'inappropriately' by supposedly 'kissing' at the pool facility. The release also said that such discriminatory behavior prevents lesbians from getting the 'rehabilitative and restorative healthcare that is available to other Americans.' In addition, the Project expressed its support of a lawsuit that the ACLU has filed against the center.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced in a statement that it has hired Russell Roybal as director of its new Movement Building Department. Roybal is an experienced fundraiser and trainer who was on staff at the Denver-based Gill Foundation for the past six years as director of training and capacity building.
A judge has ruled that Ohio's new constitutional ban on gay marriage prohibits filing domestic violence charges against unmarried people, according to CBS11TV.com . The ruling by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman changed a felony domestic violence charge against Frederick Burk to a misdemeanor assault charge. Burk is accused of slapping and pushing his live-in girlfriend during an argument over a pack of cigarettes. A second judge has reportedly made a similar ruling. Gay activists had warned that the law would hurt heterosexual couples as well.
A gay student has slapped New York City with a civil-rights lawsuit, claiming a school safety officer called him a 'boy or whatever it is that you are,' the New York Post reported. José Ramos, who attended Unity High School in the SoHo district, charged that safety agent Tiffany Delin would not let him leave his class to participate in a student council event Oct. 17, 2003, even though Ramos said he had received permission to participate in 'Hispanic Day.' Ramos is seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages, alleging unlawful detention and anti-gay discrimination.
Utah has banned Internet porn, according to 365Gay.com . The state's governor, Jon Huntsman, has signed a bill that requires Utah's service providers to offer customers a way to block adult sites. The bill goes into effect immediately.
The Student Activities Office of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College recently denied United in Diversity, a proposed student-run gay-straight alliance, official campus club recognition for the second consecutive year, according to the schools' newspaper, the Observer. However, the 2004-'05 Saint Mary's Board of Governance approved the Straight and Gay Alliance of Saint Mary's as a recognized club.
Syracuse University's University Senate voted to approve recommendations proposed by the Senate Committee on LGBT Concerns regarding military recruitment and the ROTC program, according to the Daily Orange, the school's newspaper.
Martina Navratilova is becoming a spokeswoman for Olivia, a travel company that creates vacations for gay women, The New York Times reported. Navratilova's one-year contract, which is valued in six figures, follows Olivia's signing of golfer Rosie Jones, who announced that she was gay in an article in the Times.
