Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps has apparently saved enough money to take his family to Hawaii to picket the Supreme Court and School Board. He is also planning to come back to Illinois. They will come here next week to protest the decision by students at suburban Crete-Monee High School to vote a lesbian duo as "cutest couple." they will protest at a church Jan. 5, and at the school Jan. 6.
College-age lesbians and bisexuals are more likely to attempt suicide or use illicit drugs than their gay male counterparts, according to a recent study by Western Kentucky University. Dr. Lisa L. Lindley told Reuters Health that bisexuals engaged in risky behavior more often than both gay men and lesbians.
Newsday reports that a lesbian woman lost her appeal to avoid paying child support for the children she helped raise with her ex-lover. The two East Coast women agreed to raise children together through artificial insemination. Five children and 17 years later, the two split up. The non-biological, non-adoptive mother argued she should not have to pay child support. The appellate court disagreed.
Anti-gay high school students in Ashland, Ky., initially won their battle over the approval of a gay-straight alliance. The Gleaner reported that Boyd County School Board voted to disband all extra-curricular activities for the nearly 4,000 students in kindergarten through high school to avoid having an active gay-straight alliance. However, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that the high school council in Boyd County has now voted to allow the gay student group to continue to meet at the school. The school's site-based decision-making council rejected the recommendation to ban the clubs, which Superintendent Bill Capehart said was a way to end the controversy. The school board can attempt to overrule the council.
According to The New York Times, the evolving Girl Scouts of the USA has surpassed the anti-gay Boy Scouts of America in terms of membership and financing growth. The girls' group hit an all-time high of 2.8 million members, with 11 percent of all eligible girls enrolled. The Times writes that part of the Girl Scouts' success can be attributed to avoiding the pitfalls of discrimination as well as providing rugged activities like mountain biking that keep girls interested well into their teen years.
Colorado, the state infamous for Amendment 2--the overturned Amendment to the state constitution banning protections for homosexuals--is now under fire from within. Colorado State University officials want to change another state law that prevents the school from providing benefits to domestic partners of employees. According to the Denver Rocky Mountain News, the school Board of Regents approved the benefits in 2001 but have been unable to implement the change because of state law.
In brief…
Legislators in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Wisconsin will introduce bills to expand the rights of gay couples in 2003. * School Board officials at Rich Township will decide if the Park Forest, Ill., high school will have to remove pink triangles from doors of supportive teachers. * California teen Ashly Massey is suing school district for allegedly being punished for being a lesbian.
