Marilyn Maneely, the plaintiff in a landmark New Jersey gay marriage case, died at age 55 of Lou Gehrig's disease, according to the Associated Press. Maneely passed away at home with her partner, Diane Marini, and her children at her side. Maneely and Marini were one of seven same-sex couples who sued the state in 2002 for the right to marry; the case is headed for the state Supreme Court.
Theodore Sarbin, a social psychologist whose 1988 study for the Department of Defense asked for the repeal of the military's gay ban, died Aug. 31 at the age of 94, according to a news release from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Along with Kenneth Karols, Sarbin examined the role of lesbians, gays and bisexuals in the Armed Forces in the 1988 report, 'Nonconforming Sexual Orientations and Military Suitability,' for the Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center. The report concluded that LGB servicemembers were as capable of military service as their heterosexual counterparts—and it urged the Pentagon to reconsider its gay ban.
The U.S. Federal Court of Claims began hearing arguments in the case of former Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Loomis, who was discharged under the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel in 1997. According to a release from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Loomis, a former lieutenant colonel, lost retirement benefits when he was discharged just five days prior to his eligibility for retirement from the Army. His suit, Loomis v. United States, seeks reinstatement of those benefits and challenges the constitutionality of the ban.
A record 460 ( 92 percent ) of Fortune 500 companies include gay and lesbian employees in their nondiscrimination policies, according to a report from Equality Forum, a national LGBT-rights organization. Equality Forum began contacting the companies in 2003, when 323 companies ( 65 percent ) explicitly offered workplace protection to their gay and lesbian workers.
Lambda Legal announced a lawsuit it filed with the Superior Court of New Jersey in Monmouth County on behalf of Nancy Wadington, a lesbian student who was allegedly verbally and physically attacked for two and a half years in Holmdel High School. According to a Lambda Legal statement, the school administration failed to take effective action when the abuse was brought to its attention.
