NIn Ohio, the mayor of the state's capital city has performed several gay weddings in a ceremony outside city hall to celebrate the recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the Associated Press noted. Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman united 13 gay couples in marriage on July 11. Stonewall Columbus Executive Director Karla Rothan tells The Columbus Dispatch that Coleman has always been an advocate for gay rights and often has been involved in the city's gay-pride festival.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed a bill that will allow transgender men and women in the state to more easily change the gender on their birth certificate, LGBTQ Nation reported. The new law eliminates the requirement that someone must undergo gender-reassignment surgery before officially making the switch. Having a birth certificate that reflects transgender individuals' gender expression is critical for school transcripts, job applications, health insurance and many other aspects of life, advocates have said.
After two days since making the Chelsea Manning matching fund campaign announcement, First Look Media's Press Freedom Litigation Fund and the Freedom of the Press Foundation ( FPF ) have raised more than $125,000 and counting in donations for Chelsea's legal appeals, according to a press release. This includes more than $64,000 from individual donors as well as the $60,000 match from First Look Media's Press Freedom Litigation Fund and Glenn Greenwald. Interested persons can contribute at https://freedom.press/chelsea.
West Virginia is now letting transgender people more easily change their gender on their driver's licenses as well as wear makeup and other accessories while taking license photos, the Associated Press reported. The switch follows a similar change to the license photo policy in South Carolina, where motorists can now dress how they identify themselves in their licenses. Nationally, 15 states still require proof of surgery, a court order or a birth certificate, while four have unclear or unknown policies, said Arli Christian, of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Nearly 200 business leaders, LGBTQ activists and local community advocates joined the National LGBTQ Task Force as it presented The Miami Foundation with an annual donation that supports South Florida LGBTQ organizations, a press release stated. Russell Roybal, deputy executive director at the National LGBTQ Task Force, presented a giant check representing a donation of $262,769—the single largest donation the National LGBTQ Task Force has provided since its first major financial contribution to The Miami Foundation in 2005. The donation was made possible by proceeds from the 2015 Winter Party Festival and the National LGBTQ Task Force Gala—Miami ( formerly known as the "Miami Recognition Dinner" ).
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson ordered the state of Utah to list the names of a lesbian couple on a birth certificate as the mothers of their new baby in a ruling that lawyers said was the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, The Chicago Tribune reported. Lawyer Joshua Block, with the American Civil Liberties Union, said it was the first ruling in an assisted reproduction case since the June decision from the high court, though several similar cases have been filed around the country. Angie and Kami Roe said in their lawsuit that the state should treat married lesbian couples the same as heterosexual couples who use sperm donors to have children.
Kevin Cathcart, who has been the executive director of Lambda Legal since 1992, announced that he will retire when his current contract ends at the end of April 2016, according to a press release. Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest nonprofit legal organization working for justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and people living with HIV. When Cathcart assumed leadership of the organization, it had a staff of 21 people and offices in New York and Los Angeles. Today, there are more than 100 staff members working across the country with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas. The board co-chairs announced that the organization will conduct a search, beginning this fall, to replace Cathcart.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker didn't mince words concerning news that the Boy Scouts of America had come one step closer to ending its ban on gay adult participants, The Huffington Post reported. The GOP presidential candidate told the Independent Journal Review he favored the organization's existing policy, which allows for gay youth participants but bans those age 18 and older. "I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts," he told the publication, "and support the previous membership policy because it protected children and advanced Scout values."
A federal class-action suit alleges that Wal-Mart illegally denied insurance to the spouses of gay employees, Courthouse News Service reported. New Bedford-based Jacqueline Cote says she has worked for Wal-Mart continuously since 1999, in stores throughout Maine and Massachusetts. Cote says each time has tried to enroll her wife ( Diana Smithson, who once also worked for the chain ) in her insurance plan, Wal-Mart has turned her down. The company extended spousal health-insurance benefits to the same-sex spouses of Wal-Mart employees last year.
In Oklahoma, a 19-year-old Enid woman was charged with several felonies after she and her jailed boyfriend attempted to blackmail a gay Enid resident via Facebook, EnidNews.com reported. Haley B. Adkerson is charged with counts of blackmail, conspiracy to commit a felony and child neglect following her arrest. Adkerson is accused of blackmailing an Enid resident last week for $500 or she and her boyfriend would reveal the resident was "a homosexual."
Republicans in Virginia's legislature are considering measures meant to protect religious groups and individuals from having to perform gay weddings due to the Supreme Court's recent decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, The Christian Post reported. While the beginning of the next session of the General Assembly is still months away, GOP legislators are mulling various possible religious-liberty measures.
In Philadelphia, a Catholic school is in damage control in wake of fierce fallout from the principal's decision not to renew a religious education teacher's contract because of the teacher's same-sex marriage, PennLive.com reported. Waldron Mercy Academy principal Nell Stetser has acknowledged the entire school community "has been shaken" by the firing that has left many "hurting." Many parents have expressed anger over the firing of gay teacher Margie Winters; however, the Religious Sisters of Mercy and Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput praised Stetser's action, NBC-10 noted.
On July 20, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the Bea Arthur Residence, an 18-bed residence for homeless LGBT youth operated by the Ali Forney Center, a press release stated. In 2012, the New York City Council and the Manhattan Borough president awarded $3.3 million for the renovation of a long-vacant building that the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation Development owned. The building has now been turned over to the Ali Forney Center in partnership with Cooper Square Committee, and renovations are beginning this month.
During the ESPY awards ceremony in which Caitlyn Jenner accepting the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, Google and Airbnb both ran ads advocating for diversity and trans inclusion, Time noted. Google capitalized on the recognition of Jenner by running a two-and-a-half minute advertisement that championed transgender individuals. Airbnb, the room-sharing platform, aired a 60-minute spot during the ESPYs that's part of its "Mankind" campaign.
A traveler at a New York airport accosted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over his opposition to same-sex marriage as the politician was waiting with his family to board a flight to Austin, the Associated Press noted. The unidentified 32-year-old man first shook the governor's hand before reportedly telling him to "go to hell." The man was banned from the JetBlue flight at Kennedy International Airport, and was placed on a flight the following day.
GLSEN released "From Statehouse to Schoolhouse: Anti-Bullying Policy Efforts in U.S. States and School Districts," a report that examines anti-bullying policies in all 13,181 school districts across the country, and how state law and guidance affect policies at the district level, according to a press release. The report includes five major findings, including that LGBT-inclusive district policies have a positive effect on school climate for LGBT youth, and that only two in 10 school districts require professional development for educators on bullying. The report is at GLSEN.org/article/state-and-school-district-anti-bullying-policies.
Pulling from more than 100 individual publications, reports and surveys compiled from more than 50 leading researchers on LGBTQ issues, Our Tomorrow—a campaign to engage LGBTQ people in a national conversation about their future—released an analysis exploring the life cycles of LGBTQ people, according to a press release. Among the results are that one in four LGBTQ people report hearing overtly anti-LGBTQ jokes in the workplace, and that in the 1980s, 21 was the average age of coming out—while today, it's 16. Visit shareourtomorrow.org/learn_about_our_community/ .
A former choir director at an Ohio high school said he was "ashamed, embarrassed and disgusted" by his actions as he was sentenced to prison for soliciting sex and naked pictures from teenage boys in exchange for higher grades and other favors, the Associated Press reported. Zachary Ruppel 28, was sentenced in Franklin County Common Pleas court to two years and nine months in prison. He must also register as a sex offender every six months for the next 25 years.
A telecom executive who paid $500,000 in blackmail to a gay-porn actor will get most of his money back, MyNewsLA.com noted. Prosecutors said they managed to locate nearly $447,000 in Teofil Brank's ( real name: Jarec Wentworth ) bank accounts directly traceable to the $500,000 wire he received from the victim, Donald Burns. U.S. District Judge John Walter granted the government's forfeiture order for the full amount, finding that the money seizure represents the proceeds of Brank's crime and should be returned to Burns.
Hundreds of phallic sex toys have been seen hanging from power lines across Portland, Oregon, according to The New York Post. The large white and bright orange items appear to have been strung together in pairs, and have prompted numerous reports to the Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement. In online forums, Portland residents posted photos of the toys swaying in the wind above a number of major commercial streets, and speculated about their origins.
