Mayor Jason West, who commanded international attention by conducting same-sex marriages in New Paltz Village ( N.Y. ) last year, will be involved in the first annual New Paltz LGBTQ Pride March & Festival June 12. West was recently charged with 24 misdemeanors for his role in the marriages and faces a court trial and possible prosecution this fall, Capital News 9 reported.
In New York, a man harassed two marchers during Staten Island's first gay pride parade, according to the New York Daily News. John Alla, 22, of New Dorp Beach, S.I., was arrested after knocking the hats off two female saxophone players and yelling homophobic slurs at them during the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade and Festival. Alla was charged with aggravated harassment after the incident.
The Navajo Nation's Tribal Council gathered enough votes to override a veto on a law that bans same-sex marriage on the nation's largest Indian reservation, according to KOLD-TV. The council voted 62-to-14 to override the decision by Navajo President Joe Shirley Junior to veto the Dine Marriage Act. Gay activists were disappointed.
In response to a January amendment to the Indiana Constitution banning same-sex marriages, some Indiana residents formed the Rock Indiana Campaign for Equality and began a $2 bill campaign in protest of the resolution they say is unconstitutional, according to the Indiana Daily Student. Rock Indiana hopes people will use $2 bills to pay for anything they purchase.