A heterosexual high school student in Wyoming is fighting a school policy banning same-sex couples from attending dances, reports the Billings Gazette. Amanda Blair tried to attend her homecoming dance this fall with a female friend. She said she wanted to make gay couples feel welcome to do the same. At the request of school officials, sheriff's deputies met the couple at the door and escorted them out of the dance. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is helping the girl overturn the school policy, citing a 1980 federal case outlining that schools have a responsibility not only to allow same-sex couples to attend school functions, but to provide for the basic safety of those couples.
Supporters of a lesbian nurse in Urbana, Ill., marched last week to protest the woman's firing, reports the Daily Illini. Lynn Sprout was fired from her job at Carle Foundation Hospital after taking numerous days off to care for her dying lesbian lover of 18 years. When Sprout heard rumors that she may be fired for missing days, she says she came out to her boss and explained that her lover was dying of non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. She was fired 160 days later. The federal Family Medical Leave Act protects people from being fired for caring for their married partners, but does not protect unmarried couples. Sprout is awaiting a January hearing before the Urbana Human Relations Commission.
Transgender athletes who have undergone gender reassignment surgery will be eligible to compete in the Olympics, according to AP. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) met last month with medical experts to discuss the new guidelines. Details are still being worked out, but IOC officials say they likely will have a post-op waiting period before transgender athletes may compete.
TV and radio talk show host Sean Hannity has thrown his support behind those who want to stop gay marriage, reports the Arizona Republic. Hannity, who hosts a popular cable talk show and a daily radio show aired in Chicago on WLS, vowed to help raise $10 million to promote a U.S. Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. Hannity raised close to $1 million this weekend at a $1,000-a-plate breakfast in Mesa, Ariz.
In Lansing, Mich., the National Association for the Advancement of Transgendered People (NAATP) is asking that City Council members pass a local nondiscrimination policy, similar to that in East Lansing.
Elizabeth Taylor came out in support of her friend, Michael Jackson, this weekend, reports UPI. Taylor said Jackson is "absolutely innocent" of the charges that he molested a 12-year-old cancer patient. Police allegedly came away from the raid of Jackson's Neverland Ranch with videotapes and letters characterized as love letters to the 12-year-old. The boy, nicknamed "Rubba" because of a game Jackson taught the boy to play, allegedly told therapists and later the police, of his abuse.
VH1 honored the Fab 5 (of Queer Eye fame) with the "Biggest Gay Hero of ?" award this weekend. Gay icon Liza Minnelli presented the award. The mainstream awards show also honored Ashton Kutcher for "Big Stylin ?" and the Dixie Chicks for "Big Quote ?." The show airs on VH1 this Sunday at 8 p.m.
A transgender woman in Allentown, Pa., has filed a complaint with the city's Human Relations Commission alleging that she was fired because of her gender, reports AP. Gwen Greenberg, 53, was director of the podiatric surgical residency program at St. Luke's Hospital-Allentown for 13 years while living as a man. Two weeks after telling her boss she would be living as a woman, she was told her contract as director would be terminated. She continues to teach podiatry at the hospital.
The Arizona Republic reports that a gay Phoenix couple will ask the state's Supreme Court to overturn Arizona's ban on same-sex marriages. Attorney Michael S. Ryan said Harold Donald Standhardt and Tod Alan Keltner are pressing the high court to overturn an Oct. 8 ruling by the Court of Appeals.
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