Actor/singer Ricky Martin hosted a fundraiser for President Obama May 14, days after the chief executive endorsed same-sex marriage, USA Today reported. Martin announced plans to hold the eventattended by 200 people who paid at least $5,000 eachlong before Obama stated his view. At the event, Obama said that marriage for all adult couples "strengthens families," and also suggested patrons watch the Broadway show Evita, which stars Martin as Che. Martin had previously supported George W. Bush, but split over the Iraq War.
In Manhattan, Jamie Ardigo, a gay man, is suing entrepreneur J. Christopher Burch for wrongful termination and sex discrimination, ABC News reported. Ardigo claims that Burch fired him because he objected to his boss' alleged bias against hiring straight people. Ardigo said that, at a meeting, Burch stated he hired only gay men because they were productive and because he trusted them. Ardigo is seeking $1 million in damages.
Florida Congressman Allen West said that sexual orientation-based discrimination doesn't happen, according to Advocate.com . In an interview with ThinkProgress, West was asked if he would support "a law that says that it's illegal to hire or fire people because they're gay." West said, "That don't happen out here in the United States of America." Last year, West made waves when he compared being gay to selecting ice cream.
The New York Court of Appeals ruled May 8 that viewing child pornography online is not a crime, according to MSNBC.com . The ruling came in the case of Marist College professor James D. Kent, whose work computer had more than a hundred images in its Internet cache. Writing for the majority of four of the six justices, Senior Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote, "Merely viewing Web images of child pornography does not, absent other proof, constitute either possession or procurement within the meaning of our Penal Law. Rather, some affirmative act is required (printing, saving, downloading, etc.) to show that defendant, in fact, exercised dominion and control over the images that were on his screen."
In Indianapolis, gay student Darnell "Dynasty" Young has been expelled for firing a stun gun in the air when bullies threatened him, according to MSNBC.com . School administrators said that Young, a junior at Arsenal Technical High School, may return to school in the district Jan. 7, 2013. Young, 17, said bullies harass him on a daily basis; the hounding escalated April 16, 2012, when some students surrounded him and threatened to beat him up. Young's mother, Chelisa Grimes, had given him the stun gun for protection, saying officials weren't doing enough to protect him.
At a star-studded campaign fundraiser at actor George Clooney's home held May 10, President Barack Obama called his May 9 endorsement of same-sex marriage a "logical extension" of his vision for the country, Reuters reported. Approximately 150 peopleincluding entertainers Tobey Maguire, Barbra Streisand and Salma Hayekpaid $40,000 each to attend the event.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson praised President Obama's decision to support same-sex marriage, comparing the battle for such unions to the fight against slavery and laws meant to ban interracial marriage, according to the L.A. Times. "This is a bold step in the right direction for equal protection under the law for all citizens," Jackson said. However, he added that he wished Obama had gone further and advocated federal protection on the issue.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) recently announced a $20,000 grant for Equality Pennsylvania (EQPA), according to the Philadelphia Gay News. EQPA Executive Director Ted Martin said the funding will be utilized to advance the agency's political efforts, among other initiatives. The grant matches funding the union originally provided last year, which Martin said was used to launch EQPA's political branch.
In California, the San Diego City Council unanimously voted to give final approval to rename a street after the late gay-rights figure Harvey Milk, according to a San Diego Pride press release. San Diego now becomes the first city in the country to have a street named for Milk. "A year ago, a group of community leaders came together around the notion the time had come to honor an LGBT civil-rights leader in San Diego the same way we have given honor to other civil-rights leaders such as Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr," said Dwayne Crenshaw, San Diego LGBT Pride executive director. The street will be unveiled May 22.
Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney apologized for a series of high school pranksincluding one that some consider to be gay-bashing, the New York Daily News reported. While at a Michigan prep school in 1965, Romney pulled out scissors and cut fellow student John Lauber's hair while Romney had other students pin Lauber down. (Lauber had bleached-blond hair that hung over one eye; he later came out as gay.) Romney said he doesn't recall the incident but added, "I certainly don't believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual."
In Washington, D.C., now-former American University student government president Tim McBride came out April 30 as transgender woman Sarah McBride, according to WashingtonCityPaper.com . In stepping down from office, McBride wrote in an op-ed for the student paper The Eagle, "I wrestled with the idea that my dream and my identity seemed mutually exclusive; I had to pick. So I picked what I thought was easier and wouldn't disappoint people." McBride, a junior, said that the reactions have been very positive for the most part.
In Iowa, a dispute over the presentation of a gay teen's scholarship has been resolved, Advocate.com reported. Administrators at Prince of Peace Catholic School in Clinton had refused to allow the scholarship's sponsor, the Eychaner Foundation, to present it to senior Keaton Fuller at the May 20 ceremony. Now, the diocesan superintendent of schools will read a script prepared by the foundation, and Fuller (who's receiving $40,000 toward his schooling at the University of Iowa) will receive a trophy in the form of an eagle statue.
In Arkansas, investigators say they haven't stopped searching for the killer of 25-year-old transgender woman Marcel Camero Tye, who was murdered more than a year ago, according to Advocate.com . Tye was found on Highway 334 in St. Francis County; she had been shot to death and probably dragged beneath a vehicle as the killer left the scene. Sheriff Bobby May told TV station KTHV that the FBI said the murder was not a hate crime, and added that all the evidence the police department has gathered has led nowhere.
A USA Today article focuses on the legal obstacles Naples, Fla., lesbian couple Laura Cavin and Sheri Green faces. The couple has 1-year-old quadrupletsand, thanks to modern medicine, each of them carried two of them (although, biologically they are all Green's children). However, they each must adopt the other two to each have legal custody of all four. Florida ended its 33-year-old ban on same-sex adoption in 2010; until the adoptions are approved, Cavin and Green must deal with insurance and other issues.
James Alesi, one of the four New York state Senate Republicans who voted for the state's gay-marriage bill last year will not seek re-election this fall, the New York Daily News reported. He believes that his vote would've seriously hurt his chances in a GOP primary, saying the backing of the bill cost him the support of local Republican and conservative parties. The marriage-equality measure passed 33-29 in the Senate last year.
A new report in Raw Story questions the ethics of Eric Fehrnstrom, a top aide to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Advocate.com reported. In 1992, Fehrnstrom outed Republican Althea Garrison as transgender, effectively ending the career of someone who'd been elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Recently, Fehrnstrom gained notoriety for comparing Romney's views to an Etch-a-Sketch.
Transgender student Jennifer Braly is suing the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith after school officials banned her from giving any more guest lectures on gender dysphoria, Advocate.com reported. Several professors have supported Braly, 36with one even cancelling her class instead of having it without Braly lecturing. The university posted a statement on its website that read, in part, "the cancellation of the class had absolutely nothing to do with the subject or the student's status."
A bipartisan group of senators wrote to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and ranking member Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., calling on them to hold a hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), S.811, according to a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) press release. "What matters in the workplace is how you do your job but unfortunately no federal law bans workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "We encourage the Senate HELP Committee to schedule a hearing on this critical bill."
New York City's Ali Forney Center (AFC)the nation's largest organization working on behalf of LGBT runaway and homeless youthwill celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, according to a press release. Executive Director Carl Siciliano founded AFC in 2002, taking its name and inspiration from Ali Forney, a homeless youth and LGBT and HIV-prevention advocate who was murdered on the streets of New York in 1997. Among other accomplishments, AFC received a $300,000 donation from actress Bea Arthur's will in 2009, leading to the the Bea Arthur Residence, which provides housing to 12 youths at a time.
A new CBS News/New York Times poll shows that despite the attention President Obama garnered regarding his position on marriage equality, only 7 percent of registered voters see it as the top concern in November's election, Fox News reported. Sixty-two percent of those who responded listed the economy as their most important issue, with 39 percent saying it has stayed the same under Obama. The survey also showed presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney leading Obama 46 to 43 percent.
A Colorado legislative committee has defeated a civil-unions bill, Reuters reported. The bill's death came at the start of a special legislative session ordered by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper to push for the measure. The Colorado bill had cleared the state Senate and seemed headed for possible passage in the House; however, GOP leaders kept it from reaching the floor for a final vote.
Zoe Dunningthe first and only openly gay person on active duty during "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and a big name in the repeal of the measureis running for Democratic County Central Committee 2012, 17th Assembly District, in San Francisco. The vote will take place June 5.
Speaking of Dunning, she was among those who testified during a forum where people debated naming a military ship after the late gay-rights leader Harvey Milk, according to SFGate.com . Criticsincluding City Supervisor Christina Olague and a contingent from a San Francisco gay Democrat club named after Milksay that Milk would not want to be associated with such a vessel. However, Dunning and others such as Supervisor Scott Wiener feel it would be an honor that would have global reach. Milk was a Navy officer during the Korean War.
Bristol Palin has received death wishes over a blog she posted mocking Obama's stance on marriage equality, the Huffington Post reported. Palin criticized Obama for being influenced by his wife and daughters in supporting same-sex marriage. However, in a new post, Palin reveals comments from people, including, "You all, including your son, deserve a slow, painful and miserable death. ... May death be upon you." She responded by defending her position and saying that bullying doesn't work.
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has declared that the state will recognize all same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, Advocate.com reported. The development gives gay and lesbian couples all the same rights as opposite-sex couplesincluding both members of the couple being on a child's birth certificate, and spouses of employees covered by insurance companies regulated in Rhode Island being entitled to health and life insurance benefits.
The chief of staff for longtime Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, has been placed on leave after the Washington Blade inquired about an email he wrote disparaging a gay staff member. The publication started asking questions after Murat Gokcigdem wrote an email in 2010 about gay staffer Christopher Crowe, who had sought a position in the Treasury Department. Gokcigdem's email stated that other LGBT people helped Crowe in the hiring process because he wasn't qualified otherwise. (Crowe later died of a staph infection at age 29.)
Transgender woman Lorena Escalera, 25, was killed in a three-alarm fire that engulfed a complex in Brooklyn, according to Advocate.com . Escalera, nicknamed the "Puerto Rican Beyonce," was a performer with the House of Xtravaganza, and had the stage name La'reina Xtravaganza. It took several dozen firefighters to battle the blaze, and investigators have called the fire suspicious.
Columbia Law School's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic sent letters to all New York state senators and assembly members urging support for a bill that would ban the use of condoms as evidence in prostitution cases, according to a press release. The letters say the measure addresses a growing public health crisis in the state: Prosecutors' use of condoms as evidence leads many New Yorkersespecially those at heightened risk for prostitution arrestsnot to carry condoms at all. The bill (S.323/A.1008) is currently with the Rules Committee.