U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler ( D-NY ) as well as U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand ( D-NY ) and Charles Schumer ( D-NY ) introduced legislation on Dec. 10 to create the Stonewall National Historic Site, according to a press release. This site would be the nation's first national park site dedicated to LGBT history. The Stonewall National Historic Site will help preserve, protect and interpret the site of the Stonewall uprising, generally considered the start of the LGBT-rights movement in the United States.
The New York-based pro-LGBT organization Empire State Pride Agenda plans to conclude major operations next year, citing more than 100 legislative and policy victories over 25 years, according to an Associated Press item. The organization says it will identify aspects of its policy work to continue at other groups, and will maintain its political action committee to stay involved in election politics. The decision follows votes by its directors and what Pride Agenda calls securing its top remaining priority—protecting transgender New Yorkers from discrimination in regulations that Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
Nineteen groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to drug-store chain Walgreens expressing concerns about the company's plans for a Catholic hospital to run its in-store health clinics in Washington state and Oregon, according to the Associated Press. In the letter, the organizations asked if the clinics would allow access to contraception, abortion drugs and prescriptions to help terminally ill patients end their own lives, which is legal in both states. Organizations including NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Compassion & Choices and several gay-rights organizations signed the letter.
A broad range of leading adoption advocates as well as constitutional and family law scholars and experts filed friends of the court briefs in support of a lesbian mother in Alabama who is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an Alabama Supreme Court order refusing to recognize her adoption of her three children, according to a press release from National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is representing the plaintiff. Some of the groups involved in the brief include the Equality Alabama Foundation, GLAD, Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality, National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Black Justice Coalition.
Carlton Champion, 21, was sentenced to life in prison and fined $10,000 for the murder for Tyler, Texas, trans woman Ty Underwood, The Dallas Voice reported. Champion was a football player for Texas College in Tyler. He was arrested about two weeks after the murder and charged with shooting her twice. The two had been dating. Of the 27 murders of trans women of color that have been documented in the U.S. this year, this may be the only one that resulted in an arrest and conviction.
A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled that an all-girls Catholic school committed sex discrimination and sexual-orientation discrimination against a gay man when it rescinded the offer of a food-services job to him because he is married to another man, WCVB.com reported. Matt Barrett filed a discrimination suit against Fontbonne Academy after he said the school pulled a job offer after he listed his husband as his emergency contact. "Religiously-affiliated organizations do not get a free pass to discriminate against gay and lesbian people," said Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders ( GLAD ) Senior Attorney Bennett Klein in a statement. "When Fontbonne fired Matt from a job that has nothing to do with religion, and simply because he is married, they came down on the wrong side of the law."
Gay Men's Health Crisis has sent a survey to all 18 of the 2016 presidential candidates, requesting that each one respond to a list of questions related to key drivers of HIV and AIDS, and to hear their policies on ending the epidemic, according to a press release. The survey will allow the candidates to communicate his or her position on HIV and AIDS to the public. Questions were drafted based on the goals and strategies of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States: Update 2020 ( NHAS ) and New York State's Blueprint to End the AIDS Epidemic.
The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) responded to new guidance issued by the Department of Justice "designed to help law-enforcement agencies prevent gender bias in their response to sexual assault and domestic violence, highlighting the need for clear policies, robust training and responsive accountability systems," according to a press release. HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy said, "The last thing a survivor of domestic violence or sexual assault needs is to face bias due to sexual orientation or gender identity when going to the police for help. More must be done to address this challenge, but this new guidance from the Department of Justice is an important step in the right direction." The guidance is at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-guidance-identifying-and-preventing-gender-bias-law-enforcement.
State Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso ordered a New Jersey nonprofit to shut down, saying it violated consumer fraud laws for offering conversion therapy, the Associated Press reported. The granting of a permanent injunction against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, known as JONAH, was an outgrowth of a lawsuit filed against the group in 2012 by several men, and two of their mothers, claiming it engaged in fraud and made claims it couldn't back up. In June, a Hudson County jury awarded the plaintiffs about $72,000 in damages.
Logo announced its list of the Top 25 Trailblazing Companies, an index that honors the companies which serve as pioneers and advocates for the LGBT community, according to NewNowNext.com . The list evaluates companies based on their public dedication to LGBT people and issues through their advertising, communications and other visible actions. The top five companies are ( in order ) Google, Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, Marriott and Gap.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit in Minnesota State Court to challenge the coverage ban on transition-related surgery for transgender people on Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare, the state's public insurance programs for low-income residents, according to a press release. Ten states and the District of Columbia currently cover transition-related surgical care through their public health insurance programs. Transition-related surgery is also covered by Medicare.
A Hungarian man will spend 11 years in prison for luring his countrymen to the United States and forcing them to have sex with johns in the bathrooms of New York and Miami around the clock, according to an Advocate.com item. The sentencing of Andras Vass, 26, in Miami, is reportedly the first in Florida for the human trafficking of gay men. Prosecutors said Vass and two other Hungarian men awaiting trial targeted impoverished men in Hungary and enticed them to come to the United States using a website called GayRomeo.com .
The National LGBTQ Task Force is renewing its call to end the criminalization of sex work in the United States as it joins advocates across the country in taking part in actions in observance of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, according to a press release. To mark the day of action, the organization has published a Sex Worker Policy Recommendations guide for local and state advocates and lawmakers; see http://www.thetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/TF_sexworkpolicy_recommendations.pdf.
A coalition of California civil-rights and LGBT organizations said that supporters of a proposed anti-transgender ballot initiative announced that they have failed to submit the signatures necessary to qualify it for the November 2016 ballot, according to a press release. "Privacy for All"—the group behind the failed measure that's backed by the Pacific Justice Institute and other supporters of Proposition 8—needed to submit 365,880 valid signatures to the California secretary of state's office to qualify for the ballot.
Kathryn Knott—accused of participating in a violent gay-bashing in Philadelphia last year that left a gay couple unconscious—has a gay cousin who is defending her, according to NewNowNext.com . "This is a girl who loves so kindly that even my young and confused self could find comfort in her presence," 19-year-old Tim Perkins wrote on Facebook. Perkins, who attends Emory University, calls Knott "an innocent girl" and asked the jury to "please allow Kathryn to go home." Knott, 25, was charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person.
In an email sent to GayRVA, a spokesperson for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he would veto two new bills aiming to expand religious freedoms in Virginia, according to the Equality Federation Institute. "Governor McAuliffe believes legislation like this would send the wrong message to people around the globe about the climate Virginia offers businesses and families who may want to locate here," said McAuliffe spokesperson Irma Palmer about the two bills that state Sen. Charles Carrico Sr. submitted. Palmer added that McAuliffe supports same-sex marriage and believes "we need to be working to make Virginia more open and welcoming to everyone, not less. Accordingly, he would veto these bills if they pass."
More than 5,000 people have sent imprisoned WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning birthday cards for her 28th birthday using a campaign site organized by digital-rights group Fight for the Future, according to a press release. To celebrate Manning's birthday and highlight the ongoing support for her fair treatment and release, Fight for the Future launched a website, HappyBirthdayChelsea.com .
A gay-porn star who was found dead aged 25 was found to have died after huffing cleaning solvent, Gay Star News reported. Mehran Chestnut, known as King B, was found dead nude in a Hyatt Atlanta Midtown hotel room by a man he had met online Sept. 3. Chestnut had appeared in gay-porn scenes for studios like NextDoorEbony, Raging Stallion/Hard Friction and others.
A gay couple is suing the federal government after the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) denied their tax deductions for in vitro fertilization treatments and surrogacy, according to NewNowNext.com . Joseph F. Morrissey, a law professor at Stetson University, is hoping to overturn a ruling that denied him and his fiance deductions covering the conception and birth of their twin sons, who were born last year. In a lawsuit filed in Tampa, Morrissey alleged the IRS agent who denied the claim stated their sexual orientation was a "choice."
A Brooklyn woman is suing for unspecified damages after she claims a police officer called her a homophobic slur before he attacked and falsely arrested her, The Huffington Post reported. Filmmaker/bartender Stephanie Dorceant, 29, and her ex-girlfriend, Nandi Allman, filed the suit in a Brooklyn federal court—two weeks after she was cleared of assaulting the police officer.
The Rev. Peter Miqueli is being accused of stealing more than $1 million in donations in order to pay for sex and support his "rent boy" lover, according to LGBTQ Nation. He's also been accused of stealing money in order to purchase a hot tub, drugs and various sex toys. The New York Post reported that the priest allegedly had an ongoing S&M romance with Keith Crist, who insisted Miqueli call him "master" and drink his urine. Parishioners have claimed that Miqueli denied sacraments to "unworthy" parishioners, railed against gays at baptism class and yelled at the faithful on the Communion line.
Martin Shkreli—a drug-company entrepreneur previously criticized for raising the price of life-saving drugs such as those used to fight HIV and cancer—was reportedly arrested in New York on securities fraud, USA Today noted. Shkreli's detention was not related to drug prices but stems from allegations from federal prosecutors that he illegally took stock from a biotechnology company he started in 2012 to pay off unrelated debts. As CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Shkreli became the target of heavy criticism in September, when he raised the price of a drug called Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent, from $13.50 a pill to $750.
