The Ohio legislature passed the state's Defense of Marriage Act, reports the Marion Star. Gov. Bob Taft has promised to sign the bill that goes farther than some other states in limiting the rights of gay couples. The Ohio bill will not only ban gay couples from marrying, but it will prevent state agencies from extending benefits to the gay partners of employees. The University of Ohio said the legislation would make them a less attractive employer.
Voters in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, support gay unions: 50,000 voters in the town made national history by approving a domestic-partner registry by means of the ballot box, reports AP. The registry took effect this week. Nearly 100 couples were expected to take home a notarized application that legally means little.
Meanwhile, a Republican-sponsored bill that could create a state constitutional amendment in Arizona is dead in the water, according to 365gay.com . Arizona state Rep. Mark Anderson chairs the family services committee. Anderson, also a Republican, refused to hold hearings on the bill saying he prefers a federal Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage.
Ocean County, New Jersey, prosecutors say the man charged with two murders of gay men may be responsible for at least three other murders, reports WNBC. Assistant Prosecutor William J. Heisler said the other out-of-state murders bore striking resemblances to the murders Richard Rogers is accused of committing.
Some of the nation's most accomplished performers, artists and celebrities are joining a nationwide campaign against Cirque du Soleil for firing a gymnast because he has HIV, Lambda Legal said. Increasing protests and public opposition to Cirque du Soleil stem from a federal discrimination complaint Lambda filed against Cirque on behalf of Matthew Cusick.
Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group that pitches reparative therapy as a way to leave homosexuality, will try to get federal funding for their faith-based services, reports The Advocate. Focus on the Family representatives are scheduled to testify at the House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources. The committee is expected to hold a hearing Friday to address the issue of faith-based funding initiatives.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) joined a coalition of law schools, professors and legal organizations in asking the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a 1996 law granting the Department of Defense unfettered access to university students. The groups have argued that the law, known as the Solomon Amendment, forces universities to violate non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. Within the last year, Defense Department officials began more rigorously enforcing the law. The Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights (FAIR) and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) have filed suit, saying the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members is incompatible with university policies prohibiting campus recruiting by employers who discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
Boys born with a genital disorder, cloacal-exstrophy, will fare better when raised as boys than when raised as girls, according to a new study from Johns-Hopkins, reports Reuters. The disorder, affecting about 1 in 400,000 boys, results in a small or absent penis. In the study, boys were given female hormones and raised female. The researchers say most of the genetically male subjects chose to live as males.
Democratic Presidential candidate Wesley Clark told The Advocate he would not automatically get rid of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy in the military. Clark, who says he supports states' rights to determine their own definition of marriage, said he'd ask the military to fix their own problem in relation to gays in the military.
Anglicans hoping to defeat or avoid the Church move toward acceptance of gay bishops met in Texas to form an alternative 'church within a church,' reports AP. The new Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes represents about 10 percent of the national Church's members. One of the goals of the organization is reportedly to support conservatives in churches run by liberals.
The Tompkins County, New York, legislature is poised to add gender identity to the list of people protected from discrimination, reports the Ithaca Journal. The Government Operations Committee voted to include the new language. A public hearing will likely be scheduled for February.
An appeals court agreed with a lower court that a gay man was entrapped into buying drugs because the undercover detective was too good looking, reports AP. Julio Blanco, 37, said he is a lonely gay man and thought the attractive detective wanted to have a sexual relationship when the detective asked if Blanco liked to 'party.' Fort Lauderdale police Detective Mike Nahum asked Blanco for drugs three times with no success. Eventually, according to court papers, Blanco agreed to buy methamphetamines for the officer.
A longtime police officer in Philadelphia is preparing for gender reassignment surgery, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Heladio Gonzalez, 57, works at the police academy and will reportedly begin living as a woman prior to her scheduled surgery next year. A department spokesperson said the police commissioner fully supports Gonazalez's decision.
The former keyboardist for the '70s band Jethro Tull has undergone gender reassignment, reports UPI. Dee Palmer, 66, is poised to release her first solo album. She told the Mirror that she was not able to follow her desires until her wife died.
Parents Families and Friends of Gays and Lesbians will offer its first large-scale national scholarships this year, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. High school seniors who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender or who are strong advocates of GLBT rights can earn one of 23 college scholarships from $1,000 to $2,500 each. For more information visit pflag.org .
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