The City Council of Casper, Wyo., voted 5-4 to remove a Ten Commandments monument from a public Park, reports AP. The move was sparked by a loophole in a law that would allow anti-gay Fred Phelps to also put a monument of Matthew Shepard in hell. The City Council unanimously rejected the placement of the anti-Shepard monument in City Park. Mayor Barb Peryam said the city will not put their Ten Commandments monument in 'cold storage,' but will put it in a spot where it gets more use. Phelps and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, have vowed, separately, to fight the city.
365Gay.com reports that a 16-year-old Pennsylvania boywho killed his brother with a claw hammer and a wooden club was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. The prosecutor said Ian Bishop hated his 18-year-old brother Adam because of his sexuality. Bishop also was angry the day of the killing because Adam had sided with their parents to keep Ian from his girlfriend, 365Gay.com said.
Teens approve of marriages between people of different races, ethnicities, and religions, according to a recent Gallup Youth Survey, but are considerably less approving when it comes to the subject of gay marriages. Less than half of teens said they approve of marriage between homosexuals. But there are some interesting differences, the most remarkable being that girls are almost twice as likely as boys to support gay marriage. While almost 9 in 10 teenagers overall approve of marriage between Blacks and whites, support is slightly higher among young women than it is among young men: 91% of girls approve of marriage between Blacks and whites, compared to 82% of boys who approve. There are no significant gender differences in teenage attitudes toward marriage between Jews and non-Jews or Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Marriage between homosexuals, however, is an issue that elicits remarkably different views between young men and women. A majority of girls—56%—approve of gay marriage, compared to only 30% of boys who approve. Church attendance has an important impact on the level of teen approval. Less than a third (29%) of teens who attend church approve of gay marriage, compared to 53% of those who do not attend church and approve. Churchgoing and non-churchgoing teens do not differ in their levels of approval about the other types of marriages tested. Teens between the ages of 13 and 15 are slightly more likely than 16- and 17-year-olds to approve of marriage between Jews and non-Jews (97% versus 89%) and between homosexuals (45% versus 38%).
A new report finding a majority of adoption agencies accept applications from gay men and lesbians is welcome news and confirms that most agencies are placing the welfare of children first, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's FamilyNet project said. The report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute found 60 percent of the country's adoption agencies accept applications from gay and lesbian couples. Forty percent of U.S. agencies have already placed children in homes with gay or lesbian parents. Only seven states and the District of Columbia guarantee second-parent adoption, either through law or high court rulings. The report also found that the agencies most likely to place children with gay parents are public, secular private, Jewish- and Lutheran-affiliated agencies, and those focusing on special needs and international adoption. 'We started out near zero, and just within the last decade we're up to 60 percent,' Institute Executive Director Adam Pertman said. 'The reality on the ground is way outpacing the policy debate.'
The executive order of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano that bans discrimination of state employees on the basis of sexual orientation, will stand, according to the Arizona Republic. State lawmakers opposing the move asked the Arizona supreme court to intervene, saying that the governor's actions were unconstitutional and beyond her power. The court, last week, refused to hear the case, effectively allowing the ban on discrimination to remain.
A man charged with sodomy in a Virginia mall will go to trial despite the pleadings of the man's attorney that Virginia's sodomy law is void after the Lawrence v. Texas ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, reports the Norfolk-Virginia Pilot. Joel D. Singson was accused of soliciting an undercover male police officer for in a bathroom stall in a Sears store. Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. said the Supreme Court ruling applied only to sodomy in private places, not in public.
A gay University of Iowa freshman found his dorm room door vandalized with anti-gay remarks, reports the Iowa City Press-Citizen. But the odd part of the story, he says, is that anti-gay Fred Phelps, who picketed the student's high school graduation, has offered $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the vandals. Julius Carter was the recipient of a Matthew Shepard scholarship.
The head of the Maryland Democratic Party is clarifying his support for domestic-partner benefits for state employees, according to the Washington Times. Isiah 'Ike' Leggett reportedly told the Times last week that people living in non-married partnerships should have greater protections than exist now. He clarified his position by saying that the Democratic Party has taken no stance on gay marriage or civil unions. Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said he'd veto any attempts by the Democratic Party to give DP benefits to state employees.
A rescue shelter in Charlotte, No. Carolina, said they'd welcome donations of food and other items from the local Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), but does not want any of the predominately gay-membership of the church to come to the shelter to serve food, reports the Charlotte Observer. Rev. Tony Marciano II told the Observer, 'We cannot endorse a church that openly teaches that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle.' MCC's Rev. Mick Hinson said he's outraged, but will still encourage his congregants to support the mission in other ways.
A senior strategist at the Human Rights Campaign left his post to lead Sen. Ted Kennedy's communications department, reports Planet Out. David Smith left HRC after nine years. Current HRC
Two men who were ousted from their church choir in New York City say they were booted not for being gay, but for being public about their gay wedding. While they claim their local church made no complaints about their sexuality until the couple's wedding was featured in newspaper articles, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York told AP, '[I]f there is the possibility of what we call scandal, and there would be a possibility that the teachings of the church would be questioned or people could believe that the teachings of the church on a certain matter had changed or were unimportant, a pastor has not only the right but the obligation to act.' This summer, the Church reaffirmed its stance against homosexuality calling it evil.
