Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm joined ranks of other progressive governors in passing an executive order last week banning anti-gay discrimination in state employment, reports AP. The order covers the executive branch of Michigan's government—representing about 55,000 employees. When she ran for office in 2002, Granholm supported civil unions and extending civil-rights laws to include sexual minorities.
A Tennessee man faces federal extortion charges for allegedly blackmailing a gospel singer, reports the Knoxville News-Sentinel. FBI agents took Walbert Keither Farmer into custody after he allegedly told Kirk Talley, a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, that Farmer would tell Talley's record company that the singer was gay if Talley did not pay Farmer $14,800. Talley's affidavit stated that the Internet was the only place he felt he could meet men.
Viacom's all-gay cable network, Outlet, is back in the works, reports Reuters. Earlier this year, Showtime CEO Matt Blank announced the Showtime/MTV project was put on hold indefinitely. The revival of the channel will apparently be solely under the control of Viacom's MTV Networks division.
Gay-rights demonstration images will not be removed from a video shown at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C, according to spokespeople from the National Park Service and the Human Rights Campaign. Earlier reports in various news outlets said the gay images would be removed, reports PlanetOut.com . Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said that because of pressure from conservative groups, the National Park Service agreed to remove from the tape all scenes depicting gay- and abortion-rights rallies. But the next day they said: 'We have been assured that they are redoing the tape, but are not stripping out scenes of gay and lesbian events at the Lincoln Memorial, because to do so would be historically inaccurate,' said Winnie Stachelberg, political director at HRC.
A front-page Dec. 21 New York Times article 'presents an unbalanced and sensationalistic report on the results of a New York Times/CBS News poll about marriage rights and distorts President Bush's stance on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment,' says the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. 'Further, it fails to convey the political nuance of his views and the ramifications for the gay and lesbian community. ... The reporting by Katharine Q. Seelye and Janet Elder was rife with problems as well, including fundamental journalistic missteps rare to The New York Times. The headline 'Strong Support Is Found for Ban on Gay Marriage' blatantly mischaracterizes the polling data it purports to report. Fifty-five percent support for the anti-gay marriage amendment in this context is neither 'strong' nor indicative of the level of support necessary to pass it. ... [ It had a ] complete absence of the perspective of gay or lesbian people/couples ... .' See www.glaad.org .
Seattle's King County approved a strong new equal benefits ordinance, reports Seattle Gay News. The county already had legislation in place that required county contractors to certify that they do not discriminate based on sexual orientation. But the new ordinance requires that contractors receiving more than $25,000 from the county must also certify that they offer the same benefits to same- or opposite-sex domestic partners of employees that they offer to married partners. King County is the third municipality in the country to pass such legislation. San Francisco, Calif., and Tumwater, Wash., already have such laws.
While the charitable organizations and the Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ) are severing ties in many parts of the country, the BSA are trying to compel some organizations to continue donating. The state of Connecticut removed the BSA from a list of eligible organizations to which state employees could contribute through payroll deductions. The 2nd court of appeals upheld the state's right to do so. Last week the BSA asked the Supreme Court to review the case that the BSA says is 'a First Amendment case of national importance.'
A Palm Springs hotel catering primarily to lesbians is being sued by a California lawyer who says the hotel discriminates against men, according to the Desert Sun. Casitas Laquita is one of two hotels in the city targeting lesbians. Los Angeles residents Michael Cohn and Greg Lewis say they called the hotel twice and were refused rooms because of their gender. The proprietors of the hotel say they do not discriminate and have had male, female and transgender guests. The lawyer has a history of targeting progressive businesses with lawsuits. Openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson was named the Religion Newsmaker of the Year by the Religion Newswriters Association. More than 80 percent of those voting selected the appointment and eventual consecration of Robinson as the No. 1 story. Rounding out the top five religion stories were the war in Iraq splitting religious communities, gay marriage, a Ten Commandments monument being removed from Alabama's State Judicial Building, and the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to battle priestly sexual abuse. Prostitutes and strippers in San Francisco are asking the city's newly elected mayor to enforce labor laws that, they say, were ignored while former Mayor Willie Brown was in office, reports AFP. Dancers filed two class-action lawsuits against city strip clubs, saying that club owners often seized dancers' tips and charged illegal fees for their right to work. The suits allege these fees caused some dancers to resort to low-cost prostitution to make ends-meat. A city commissioner in the small southeastern Pennsylvania town of Upper Pottsgrove came out on the side of rights for same-sex couples in the police force, reports the Mercury. Pennsylvania now requires that municipalities purchase insurance policies that provide a $500,000 benefit to the surviving spouse and children of an officer killed in the line of duty. Commissioner Julie Gallisdorfer said the law is discriminatory. She believes the law should provide insurance for life partners of officers as well. The town solicitor informed Gallisdorfer that the city could not sue the state to change the law. He said someone adversely affected by the law would have to file a suit.
Mazda is hoping to capitalize on the now infamous Madonna-Britney Spears kiss, reports Q. The Japanese automakers paid for placement in the new Spears video the song Me Against The Music. The video begins with a cameo of the new Mazda RX8 and ends with the kiss.
A Brooklyn hospital police officer and owner of a popular gay Web site was found dead in his home, reports the New York Daily News. Nubian Knight, 37, was beaten over the head and his throat was cut after his heart stopped beating, according to reports. Nubian's sister says he may have been killed over money. A former high-profile gay journalist is hitting the national scene as an ex-gay anti-gay marriage spokesman, reports the Southern Voice. David Benkof, formerly David Bianco, founded Q-Syndicate, the nation's largest ( then ) gay-owned business providing content to gay-themed media outlets. This year Benkof came out as a straight man and said that gay sex is incompatible with his Jewish faith. Benkof will appear on Rikki Lake to explain why he thinks gay marriage is 'unholy.'
Democratic Presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich seems to have found his message. In appearances in San Francisco and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Kucinich was vocal about his stance in support of gay marriage. Kucinich is one of the few candidates who support this level of equality, while candidates like Sen. John Kerry and Howard Dean say they support civil unions. News Tips? RaphaelNews@aol.com
