Lesbian police officer loses round
A Santa Clara County, Calif., judge has reversed a $945,000 jury award for lesbian police officer Dawn Goodman, who said she was discriminated against, reports AP.
Goodman sued the San Jose Police Department, saying her supervisor didn't address some of her concerns. Jurors had sided with Goodman 10-2. But Superior Court Judge William F. Martin cited jury misconduct and insufficient evidence, and ordered a new trial, AP reported.
Bridgestone/Firestone markets to gays
Bridgestone/Firestone, in a further expansion of its diversity marketing, announced a commitment to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. BFS' efforts to reach the community will include online, television and print advertising, in addition to grassroots marketing support at various regional events.
"We recognize the importance of diversity and are extremely pleased to include the gay and lesbian community in our marketing efforts. We are also proud to be the first tire company with a national marketing effort directed toward this important segment," said Internet & Diversity Marketing Manager Michael Fluck.
Following a highly successful online test campaign with PlanetOut.com and Gay.com, BFS has entered into a sponsorship agreement with these sites through 2002. In addition to online advertising, BFS will participate in various events throughout 2002 with Gay.com and PlanetOut.
BFS also announced a history of donations by the Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund and BFS to charities that address issues important to the gay/lesbian community as well as the public at large, including HIV/AIDS, equal rights, and breast cancer.
REPS: 'SURVIVOR' Should include gays
Congressman Barney Frank said a bipartisan group of 45 U.S. Representatives has sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft urging him to adopt a broad interpretation in deciding who would be eligible as "survivors" of people killed in the mass murders of Sept. 11.
The House Members urged that functional criteria be applied in deciding who qualifies as a survivor, counting such factors as shared residence, shared living expenses, common membership in a health plan, etc.
GLSEN TALLIES 1,000 GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCES
Two years after California students filed a lawsuit against the Orange Unified School District to allow their gay-straight alliance to meet, more than 1,000 such clubs exist in secondary schools across the country, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN. The number of student clubs that have registered in GLSEN's student organizing program has risen by over a third since that time, when there were 600.
Since the skirmish, the right of students to form GSAs has been proven secure under the federal Equal Access Act. Nonetheless, GLSEN officials say that the GSA movement faces three major challenges.
... Despite rapid growth, GSAs exist only in approximately 1 of 15 high schools;
... Existing GSAs routinely experience a lack of institutional support, and often report hostility or resistance from administrators and other faculty; and
... Student leaders continue to articulate a need for more resources and support. Libraries are generally lacking inclusive materials and the clubs are often isolated.
UTAH SPENT QUARTER MILLION TO FIGHT GAYS
A long, expensive court battle against student-run groups intended to support gay youth and their friends has ended for the state of Utah, which spent a quarter million dollars defending a Salt Lake City school board ban, the students' lawyers said.
The battle ultimately did nothing to deter students from organizing the support groups, known as gay/straight alliances. Among the hundreds around the country, there is at least one group supporting gay students at every public high school in Salt Lake City.
The three legal organizations that represented the students in their suit against the Salt Lake school board, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, last week accepted the final court-ordered payment for attorneys fees, closing the last chapter on a struggle whose cost to the state, counting its own legal expenses and its payments to the students' lawyers, totaled about $250,000.
When students at Salt Lake's East High tried to organize a gay/straight alliance in 1996, the school board officially banned all non-curricular clubs in an effort to stop them. A federal judge ruled that the school district violated the Equal Access Act in 1998 by allowing some non-curricular clubs to meet, but prohibiting the Gay/Straight Alliance from meeting. In a subsequent lawsuit, a second federal judge ruled that the school district also violated the First Amendment in 2000 by attempting to ban a gay-themed curricular club. In the wake of these decisions, school officials agreed to rescind their anti-gay policy in the fall of 2000. The court ordered the state to pay attorneys' fees.
Ft. Wayne gays get protections
The Fort Wayne, Ind., City Council has made this the largest city in Indiana to include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination law. After four months of debate on the issue, the council voted in favor of an ordinance, reports AP.
GAY A TOP PROF
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education has named four college and university professors as winners of the 2001 U.S. Professors of the Year award. Among the winners is Dr. Cornelius Carter, associate professor of dance at the University of Alabama ( Tuscaloosa, Ala. ) , an openly gay African-American professor.
Methodist Church CLERGY WORK FOR CHANGES
The Clergy Alliance of Reconciling Ministries Network convened in Washington, D.C., to organize the newest branch of resistance to the United Methodist Church's discriminatory practices. Following on the heels of the Judicial Council ruling [ against the appointment of self-avowed homosexuals in good standing as clergy ] , the 25 United Methodist clergy in attendance detailed their mission, designated coordinators, and issued a statement requesting review and revision of the JC ruling.