A new and first-of-its-kind study reports that gay and bisexual teenagers are twice as likely to be suicidal than straight teens.
PlanetOut.com Network reports that the research shows 15 percent of gay students considered or attempted suicide as opposed to seven percent of straight kids.
University of California-Davis Professor Stephen Russell looked at a study of 12,000 7th-12th graders nationwide. The study also states 7 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls report same-sex attractions.
The article says other research shows gay teens at a higher risk for depression and alcohol and drug abuse.
In another story relating to gay teenagers, WebMD Medical states, "Matthew Shepard is just one prominent example of many thousands of school-aged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans who say their daily lives are carried out under a cloud of fear and violence."
Osterweil continues by describing a report to the non-profit group Human Rights Watch of a Nevada teen surrounded by six fellow students in a parking lot. The kids threw a lasso around him and said, "let's tie the faggot to the back of the truck."
ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY AFRAID OF GAYS
A South Dakota gay and lesbian group may file a lawsuit after not being allowed to pick up litter under that state's Adopt-a-Highway program.
According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, the Sioux Empire Gay and Lesbian Coalition's application is being denied by the Department of Transportation because it is an advocacy group. Gov. Bill Janklow says he will review the entire program and may cancel it due to threats of litigation. "It's got nothing to do with my personal feelings about anybody's lifestyle," he said.
SEGLC President Barb Himmel-Roberts says other groups like 4-H and Boy Scouts will look down upon them if the program is cancelled. "It's really to bad that the governor would foster an atmosphere of hate by doing this."
The American Civil Liberties Union may also participate in filing suit, and says the state cannot pick and choose among groups.
AIDS FRAUD CHARGES
Three people are being indicted by a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury for fraudulent claims of AIDS medication reimbursements.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Timothy Staggs, 37, of Chicago, Kevin Molloy, 49, of Dania, Fla., and Elizabeth Weinberg, 56, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., are being charged with conspiring to submit fraudulent claims totalling more than $500,000 under high-risk state subsidized health plans.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois oversees and administers state subsidized health plans. The indictment says Weinberg used to work at Blue Cross and managed the state plans. State prosecutors say Between 1996 and 1999 she allowed both Molloy's and Staggs' claims for reimbursement to pass through even though, according to the indictment, employees informed her the invoices were irregular.
OHIO LAW TARGETS GAYS FOR SOLICITING
A decision is expected in the next few months as to whether or not an Ohio importuning law is just.
An article written by Erick Trickey on Clevescene.com says the 28-year-old state law makes it a crime for a person to ask another person, of the same gender, for sex in an offensive manner. If found guilty, a person can be jailed for six months.
In May an Ohio appeals court upheld the law in a case where a man served the full prison term for making an advancement to a jogger. But the court also asked the State Supreme court to reconsider the statute.
The article states that Lambda Legal Defense attorney Heather Sawyer believes the law makes gays and lesbians second-class citizens in Ohio. Sawyer also says Ohio police in past cases "engage in friendly conversation with a gay man, and when the man asks for sexual activity, he gets charged with a crime."
VA. GAY BASH ATTACK
A recent Roanoke ( Va. ) Times article reports a 'Gay Bash' attack on Aug. 1 at a Metropolitan Community Church in Roanoke. The paper reported that Rev. Catherine Houchins was hit in the face when she tried to call authorities to report an attack on two members of the church. A 28-year-old and a 36-year-old, both men, were entering their vehicle in the church lot when three men approached them. Police and Houchins say the 28-year-old was knocked down and the other man was hit in the face when he tried to intervene.
BALDWIN, ROMERO TO KEYNOTE CREATING CHANGE PLENARIES
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Anthony D. Romero, the newly appointed executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, will be among the keynote speakers at the 14th Creating Change conference Nov. 7-11 in Milwaukee. Creating Change is sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation.
Creating Change also will feature more than 140 workshops, seminars, caucuses and networking meetings. Nearly 2,500 people—activists, organizers, students, elected and appointed officials, leaders of GLBT groups and GLBT allies—are expected to attend.
For more info on Creating Change or to register, www.creatingchange.org
POLL: SOLDIERS LESS ANTI-GAY
The growing visibility of gays and lesbians in a variety of American institutions has helped to reduce opposition to permitting them to serve in the military, according to scholars and pollsters who study the topic. The release of a new batch of surveys and academic studies offers fresh evidence that Americans' attitudes toward gay service members are changing.
For the first time, polls now show a majority of Americans in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in the military. In a new study to be published this fall by MIT Press, two military sociologists report that 56% of the general public responded affirmatively to a survey asking if they thought gay men and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces. Ever since "don't ask, don't tell" introduced a distinction between serving openly and serving in the closet, all subsequent polls have shown public support for letting gays serve, but only if they kept their sexual orientation private.
"The military is a reflection of the society it exists to defend," says Loyola University Chicago Professor John Allen Williams, co-author of the MIT study, "and American society is becoming more tolerant of different lifestyle choices. Sooner or later these changes will filter into the military. They will not be without problems, and it will be up to people of good will to work them out." The second co-author of the MIT study is UCLA Professor Laura Miller.
In a related trend, anti-gay sentiment within the military has declined over the last decade. A March, 2000 study by Major John W. Bicknell of the Naval Postgraduate School found that between 1994 and 1999, the percentage of U.S. Navy officers who "feel uncomfortable in the presence of homosexuals" decreased from 57.8% to 36.4%. According to another poll, since 1992 the percentage of U.S. Army men who "strongly oppose" gays serving in uniform dropped nearly in half, from 67% to 37%. The percentage of army women "strongly opposed" to gay troops fell from 32% to 16%.
Armando Estrada, a psychologist at the University of Texas, measured male Marines' attitudes toward homosexuals in a 1999 study and found that on a scale of 0 to 100, the Marines' average score was 47.52.
New polling data also indicate that Republicans have demonstrated a growing acceptance of gays and lesbians in the military. Early this summer, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a study that analyzed 2000 National Election Survey data. The study, which polled 1,807 adults during the fall of 2000, shows that 65.7% of Republicans now support the right of gays and lesbians to serve in the military, up from the 57% of self-described "conservatives" who favored gay troops in 1996.
The Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military is an official research unit of the University of California, Santa Barbara. See www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu
WOMAN CAN HYPHENATE NAME
An AP story out of Trenton New Jersey reports a woman victorious in her efforts to have her partner's last name hyphenated to hers.
The article says name changes are blocked if a person is proved to be avoiding prosecution debt or committing fraud but Jill Bacharach says, "I wasn't in any of those categories."
A lower court judge originally ruled that her name change would create a false impression of marriage. Judge Donald Collester, who reversed the decision, said, "The legitimacy of such relationships is well-established."
A Call To Action by
The Rev. Elder Perry
"I am joining hands with the al-Fatiha Foundation, Amnesty International, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to designate Aug. 15 as an "International Day of Mourning and Solidarity," said MCC founder Rev. Elder Troy Perry last week.
"People of conscience around the world have been shocked at the treatment of 54 men arrested by the Egyptian government May 11, solely because of their sexual orientation," Perry said. "These men have been detained in prison since their arrest, officially charged with 'immoral behavior' and 'contempt of [ Moslem ] religion.' Their trials are slated to resume in Cairo on Aug. 15."
Letters should be addressed to:
Counsellor Maher 'Abd al-Wahid, Public Prosecutor, Dar al-Qadha al-'Ali Ramses Street, Cairo, Egypt.
Fax: + 202 577 47 16
Salutation: Dear Public Prosecutor
