In Lakeland, Fla., Paul Day and Christopher Robertson returned home from errands to find their house in Kings Manor Mobile Home Park torched and the words 'Die Fag' spray-painted on the front steps, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Officials believe the case to be one of arson with burglary.
Bill Lockyer, California's Attorney General has approved a proposed amendment to the state's constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, according to 365Gay.com . The proposed amendment can now be printed on petitions for circulation. To qualify for the June 2006 ballot, proponents need to gather almost one million signatures. The measure is one of three ballot initiatives to prohibit gay marriage that is in development. However, 365Gay.com also reported that VoteYesMarriage, a conservative group, is preparing to sue Lockyer over the measure. The group is angry at the title and and wording Lockyer's office is using in the summary of the initiative.
Lambda Legal named the New York State Department of Civil Service as a defendant in its case against Uniondale Union Free School District for refusing to extend spousal medical benefits to a retired gay couple who were legally married in Canada last year. Alphonso David, staff attorney at Lambda Legal and lead attorney on the case, said that ' [ t ] he law in New York clearly provides that marriages that are validly performed in other jurisdictions, including Canada, must be respected in New York.'
HRC noted the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. HRC president Joe Solmonese said the act 'is enormously important to people with HIV/AIDS, as the Supreme Court has confirmed. ... Had it not been for that narrow Supreme Court decision, millions would be unprotected from discrimination.'
One of the nation's leading outdoor advertising companies removed a provocative billboard for a gay company in Boston while it continues to run a separate campaign on a dozen billboards in metro Atlanta for a gay-rights group, according to the Southern Voice. A billboard featuring two shirtless men draped in an American flag for a Gay.com ad was removed by Clear Channel after complaints from a conservative group, according to the Boston Globe. The Atlanta campaign, by Georgia Equality, is stalled in its second phase because Lamar Advertising ( the country's No. 3 billboard company ) won't sell outdoor billboards to the group.
Beginning this fall, University of Arizona employees in same-sex domestic partnerships —and their families—will get extended rights on campus, the Tucson Citizen reported. The university has begun a program granting couples that sign the city's domestic-partner registry the same reduced tuition rates as married heterosexual couples.
Connecticut's decision to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples is being used in a lawsuit that seeks to force the state to allow gay couples full marriage rights, the Associated Press noted. Eight couples argued in a brief in New Haven Superior Court that if the state is willing to grant same-sex couples all of the legal rights and privileges of marriage, it has no reason to prohibit them from actually marrying.
AIDS activists say that after three more men were reported to be infected with a drug-resistant strain of HIV, there is still no reason to conclude that a more treacherous strain of the disease exists, according to PlanetOut. A panic began in February, when it was announced that a New York gay man who used crystal meth had developed full-blown AIDS in a matter of months.
The Human Rights Campaign praised Raytheon for adding gender identity and expression to its equal opportunity policy. Raytheon becomes the first aerospace and defense giant to rank 100 percent in HRC's Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies on how they treat LGBT employees and investors.
Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking benefits for the domestic partners of gay and lesbian state workers, 365Gay.com reported. The move comes just days after Lautenschlager was criticized by conservatives for appearing at a gay pride rally in Madison.
Maine's chief elections officer said that voters will decide in November whether to repeal the state's newly enacted gay-rights law, according to Associated Press. The law would protect people from sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit.
Gay and lesbian Catholics in the U.S. and Canada condemned Cardinal Marc Ouellet's statement to the Canadian Senate that the church will refuse to baptize the children of gay and lesbian parents, according to a statement from Dignity USA. 'It's so disappointing when our church leaders fail to understand church teachings,' said Debbie Weill, executive director of DignityUSA.
Two lesbian former New York's Columbia University employees lost a summary judgment motion in federal court in a sex discrimination suit against their former supervisor, a gay man, Ethan Hanabury, the Gay City News reported. United States Judge Denise Cote found that there was no evidence of sex bias because Hanabury's motivation for allegedly treating them differently was their sexual orientation, not their gender.
The Utah State Tax Commission has ruled that it will approve three personalized license plates with gay-positive messages after an earlier denial of the plates was appealed by the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) of Utah. The organization's release also reported that the decision is a first for the commission, which had never approved a personalized plate containing the word 'gay.'
One of three men accused of killing a 17-year-old Newark, Calif., transgender nearly three years ago testified he participated in the attack after learning Gwen Araujo was not a woman, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Jose Merel, 25, said he was disgusted when friends revealed Araujo, who called herself Lida and with whom Merel had had anal sex, was biologically male.
Prior to its Gay Pride Weekend, San Diego weathered controversy regarding two workers with the event who were listed as convicted sex offenders. In a statement, San Diego LGBT Pride said that it it has decided 'to accept the resignations of the members who have become the focus of this issue,' and that its board of directors 'will continue to address its policies regarding screening for all staff and volunteers ... .'
In New Jersey, Garden State Equality and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey have called on Trenton officials to investigate lewdness arrests made in the Palisades Interstate Park by police and the harsh sentences given to gay and bisexual men who were convicted of or pleaded guilty to lewdness, the Gay City News reported.
Gay-rights advocates and members of the Anti-Defamation League attended a Broward County ( Fla. ) School Board meeting to confront the district about comments its Diversity Committee members made about a children's video. Stratton Pollitzer of Equality Florida helped organize South Florida's lesbian and gay community when he heard some committee members worry that the We Are Family video would lead to conversations about same-sex couples.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter, novelist, and biographer Gavin Lambert died on July 17 in Los Angeles, according to GLBTQ.com . He wrote screenplays for such films as Sons and Lovers ( 1960 ) , The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone ( 1961 ) , and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden ( 1977 ) .
A biography of Jimi Hendrix claims that the legendary musician pretended to be gay so he would be discharged from the army, the BBC reported. Hendrix said he left the 101st Airborne Division at age 19 in 1962 after being injured on a parachute jump. However, the book Room Full of Mirrors says army records show he was discharged for 'homosexual tendencies'.
