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A Georgia graduate student has filed a lawsuit accusing Augusta State University officials of violating her constitutional rights — she claims the school told her that her anti-gay beliefs are incompatible with the standards of her desired profession.

Jennifer Keeton, 24, who is pursuing a master’s degree in counseling, said she was ordered to undergo a re-education plan that requires her to attend “diversity sensitivity training,” complete additional remedial reading and write papers to describe their effects on her beliefs, according to the lawsuit filed last week.

“The school counseling faculty has decided that my views are not acceptable for me or to share with other students,” Keeton said in a video statement produced by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

“They have required a remediation plan in which the end result would be me altering my beliefs or being dismissed from the program.”

Keeton has said in and out class that, according to her Christian beliefs, homosexuality is immoral and a lifestyle choice.

The ADF, a legal alliance that supports religious freedom, filed the suit for Keeton in U.S. District Court in Augusta. The notoriously anti-gay ADF opposes gay marriage, gay adoption, and established an annual “Day of Truth” to counter what it calls the promotion of the homosexual agenda.

ASU officials have made no comment on the suit, but said its counselor education program is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs, and follows the American School Counselor Association’s ethical standards, which specify that counselors in training must “recognize and accept” individual differences, cultural diversity and alternative points of view.

Keeton claimed that despite her beliefs, she would still be able to counsel lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans patients.

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A federal judge on Friday issued an injunction preventing the State of Arizona from enforcing a law that would have prevented lesbian and gay state employees and their domestic partners (and the children of those partners) from receiving health benefits, referring to it as illegal discrimination.

The bill, passed by the legislature last session and signed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, eliminated coverage for non-spouse domestic partners, whether they were heterosexual or gay. The lawsuit, filed by Lambda Legal, said that heterosexual couples had the option of receiving benefits simply by getting married, but gay and lesbian couples can’t do so in Arizona.

United States District Judge John Sedwick agreed, citing the Arizona constitutional amendment that bars same-sex marriages, and said the state is making benefits for the partners of its employees available “on terms that are a legal impossibility for gay and lesbian couples.’’

The state argued, among other things, that the law saves Arizona money, to which Judge Sedwick addressed in his 33-page decision:

“Contrary to the State’s suggestion, it is not equitable to lay the burden of the State budgetary shortfall on homosexual employees, any more than on any other distinct class, such as employees with green eyes or red hair.”

He said the evidence shows that the cost of providing benefits to then partners of gay and lesbian workers is no more than 0.27 percent of total health care spending by the state. And even if cuts had to be made elsewhere, the judge said, that still doesn’t make the law right.

Arizona lawmakers included the provision to eliminate domestic partner health benefits for gay state employees as part of a last-minute budget deal signed by Brewer last September, while retaining spousal health benefits for heterosexual workers. Friday’s injunction barring enforcement of the insurance cut-off will take effect in ten days.

The State can appeal the ruling immediately to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, or proceed to defend the discriminatory budget provision on the merits in the District Court.

About 800 state employees are affected. State officials have not announced whether they will appeal the ruling.

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The UK’s Daily Mail is reporting that three Catholic priests were caught on tape having sex in Rome’s gay nightclubs.  The news has reportedly “shocked … the devoutly Catholic country”.

Video still allegedly showing a gay priest having sex in a Roman nightclub

A reporter for Panorama magazine, who works for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (who happens to own all Italian media), had a “gay accomplice” help him scope out Catholic priests in Italian gay bars.

Panorama said, “By day they are regular priests, complete with dog collar, but, at night it’s off with the cassock as they take their place as perfectly integrated members of the Italian capital’s gay scene.”

Well, all except for one, whom the magazine called Carlo, who “willingly put on his cassock to have sex with the reporter’s gay accomplice.”

Now, if you can get past your initial knee-jerk repulsion to this revelation, consider this:  The Vatican, and the Catholic Church generally, has a long history of priest pedophilia, which is illegal, and which, for the most part, has been kept secret.  The majority of priests who have admitted having sex with young boys identify as heterosexual, not homosexual. Nevertheless, Pope Benedict XVI predictably decided to scapegoat the gays, announcing a “crackdown” in 2008, or “gay witch hunt”, if you will.

So why go out to gay nightclubs with the intent to bust gay Catholic priests, who were not doing anything illegal, and weren’t doing it inside the church?

Stay with me here before you condemn me to hell for all eternity.   I’m simply saying gay priests are people, and have just as much of a right to have consensual sex as anyone else, as long as it’s legal and it doesn’t hurt anyone.

Let’s rewind a bit.  The vow of celibacy was introduced in the Church of Rome in 1079 by Pope Gregory VII, a.k.a. Hildebrand of Sovana.  It took 60 years for it to be codified.  Prior to that, Catholic priests were free to have sex, and even marry and have children. Pope Gregory was despised by by many for his overreaching of papal power.  He excommunicated Henry IV, twice no less, and was described as a “rough and violent peasant, enlisting his brute strength in the service of the monastic ideal which he embraced.”  Gregory VII was so despised, he died in exile in the small Italian town of Salerno.

Now fast-forward about 1000 years to the present.  Despite the fact that Gregory VII was reviled and exiled, the Catholic church continues to cling to his rotten-to-the-core vow of celibacy.  Granted, Catholic priests know what they’re getting into when they take the vow, but they are also human, and as such, by nature they have basic needs.  Many of them have satisfied the need for sex illegally, with children, and it’s been covered up for God knows how long by the church.  I’m guessing around 1000 years.

I’m willing to bet you that if hidden cameras were placed in every priest’s quarters and every little hidden-away spot in the Vatican, Silvio Berlusconi’s head would explode when he saw the tapes and realized the Vatican is a hotbed of gay sex.   Is it wrong when grown men have sex with children?  Yes.  Is it wrong when two consenting adults have sex? No.

So before you go condemning the priests who were caught on camera in gay nightclubs having sex, think about who the Catholic vow of celibacy came from, and just how unrealistic it is, even to men of the cloth.  Isn’t it about time the Vatican wised up and stopped pointing the finger of blame at gay men for its own pathetic failures to fight human nature?

I welcome your comments, condemnations, and prayers for my soul.

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Last week, Todd Ransom, a 28 year-old gay man from Orem, Utah, committed suicide.

While it is unclear why exactly Ransom took his life, friends report that he struggled to reconcile his sexual orientation with his Mormon upbringing.

Todd Ransom

There have been few reports of Ransom’s death in the media. Local news outlets have published only brief accounts from when Ransom’s body was discovered July 19.

But in a website memorial launched this weekend, Ransom’s family released this statement:

“Our beloved son, brother and friend took his own life at Battle Creek Canyon near Pleasant Grove, Utah after a long and painful battle with depression.

Some people have said that Todd ended his life because he was gay or felt persecuted by the LDS Church and his family, but this is not true. We loved him unconditionally. We were always there for him.

Todd attempted suicide previously and we know from that experience that his manic depression was a constant thorn in his side and that there were other factors that influenced his suicide. Todd didn’t always agree with us or want to share his life with us, but he was loved by us. That is the undeniable truth.”

Ransom’s death has fueled new debate about suicide among gay Mormons. Utah bloggers have written that this is the third gay suicide in Utah this month, all of which have been largely ignored by local news outlets. And according to the Deseret News, a LDS owned and cultured newspaper:

- Every 11 days a Utah teen commits suicide
- Utah leads the nation in suicide among men 15-24
- Utah has the 11th highest overall suicide rate in the nation
- Suicide is the #1 cause of death among Utah teens

Last year, Ransom signed up to participate in Reed Cowan’s film, 8: The Mormon Proposition, a documentary that chronicled the Mormon Church’s involvement in the passage of California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

According to Cowan, Ransom left inexplicably before he could appear in front of the camera.

A candlelight vigil for Todd Ransom was held Tuesday at the Utah state capital. (Photo via David Daniels Photography)

But the memorial website goes beyond speculation, and explains with much candor, Ransom’s life and struggles:

“Our lives changed when Todd announced to his family in 2001 that he was gay. Thus began the difficult dance that takes place between a faithful Mormon family and a much-loved son and brother who chooses to live a gay lifestyle.

It was difficult for his parents to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, and this hurt Todd in ways that his parents did not intend. On the other hand, in spite of his upbringing in the LDS Church, Todd insisted that family members affirm his sexuality in ways that put them at odds with their conscience and beliefs.

Todd was very hurt when his parents felt that they could not attend his commitment ceremony with Jake Jacquez, his partner of eight years, however he and Jake were both welcome in our home.”

Ransom was born July 11, 1982 in Princeton, New Jersey. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona and Orem, Utah. He graduated with honors from the University of Utah in May 2009, earning a BS degree in biomedical engineering.

Friends say Ransom left behind a note reading “Sunrise – Accept This Offering.”

A candlelight vigil was held last Tuesday evening on the steps of the Utah state capital. Photos at David Daniels Photography.

Ransom’s obituary here.

With thanks to Laurie Beth’s Grotto for calling our attention to the memorial website.

LGBTQ youth are more prone to depression and suicide due to bullying and discrimination in school

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As we fight for equal rights – rights to which every citizen of this nation is entitled – we should be careful not to become so engrossed in these issues that we forget where we came from, the place that shaped us into who we are and motivates us even now to defeat bigotry and hate and make this nation truly great.

It’s a reasonable argument that our collective experiences in school during our most formative years made us the fighters and advocates we are today.  So many of us remember the hostility, ridicule, discrimination, and maybe even the beatings we had to endure beginning around middle school and following us throughout high school. The sort of horrors no young person should have to endure, at the hands of bigots and bullies who were our peers and teachers alike.  How many times did we have to walk down the hall to threats of physical violence, while school personnel just stood by watching and listening, doing nothing to come to our aid?

It’s no wonder some of us, feeling completely lonely and helpless, became self-destructive and turned to drugs and alcohol as an escape, or gave up trying to excel academically.  It’s no wonder those of us who survived the ordeal spent years in psychotherapy or on anti-depressant medication to figure out who we were, or what was wrong with us, or to get the support and guidance we needed to cope with life.

Some of us never got over it, and are still psychologically trapped in high school, afraid to grow up and let go of destructive habits.  Some of us blocked it out of our minds altogether and took off for the nearest gay-friendly city right after graduation, leaving our biological families behind.

According to a 2007 survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN), 86.2 percent of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed. Over half of the students surveyed claimed they felt unsafe in schools because of their sexual orientation, while a third felt unsafe due to their gender expression.

In January, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)  introduced a bill called the Student Non Discrimination Act (SNDA) , which would make it illegal to discriminate against students based on sexual orientation, perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Every student has the right to an education free from harassment and violence,” said Polis. “Like Title VI for minorities in the ‘60s and Title IX for women in the ‘70s, my legislation puts LGBT students on an equal footing with their peers, so they can attend school and get a quality education, free from fear.”

However, by all accounts the bill is on the back burner, while debate about health care reform takes over Congress.  There are also two other gay-friendly pieces of legislation making their way through Congress – one to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the other to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to allow gay men and women to serve openly in the U.S. military.

Given all this, it’s not hard to see why the plight of gay kids is not high up on the national agenda for LGBT advocates who devote so much of their time making certain these pieces of legislation see the light of day and become reality.

But let’s not forget, there are LGBT kids out there right now who are suffering through the same hell we experienced.  Aren’t they worthy of more of our attention?  How long are we going to let this cycle continue before we do something really substantial to help them?

We should demand that school boards nationwide assure that school personnel receive education regarding the dangers facing LGBT students and show support in force for them against the school bullies and bigots.   Penalties should be tougher for those not playing by the rules.  Whatever it takes to protect our kids.  By doing so, we will help create a whole new generation of healthy, strong-minded LGBT youth who know who they are and refuse to accept discrimination in any form.

Think about it – these are the advocates, leaders, and legislators of the future.  By making them stronger, we help them break down those walls that keep us from obtaining full equal rights. Let’s not continue to allow this opportunity to escape us.

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Did you know approximately 17,000 children are being raised by LGBT parents in binational families, and those children face the very real possibility of losing a parent, or leaving the only country they have ever called home?  It’s true.  And if the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) passes without language including LGBT families, that’s exactly what might happen.

Families like Shirley Tan's (second from left) would benefit from an LGBT-inclusive UAFA

The UAFA was introduced in the House by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and in the Senate by Patrick Leahy (D-VT) this past February, and has 124 co-sponsors.  The bill will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate discrimination in immigration laws, by permitting permanent partners of US citizens and lawful permanent residents to obtain lawful permanent resident status, the same way as spouses of citizens and lawful permanent residents. It will also penalize immigration fraud in connection with permanent partnerships.

Key lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill today to rally their support for ending discrimination against LGBT binational families, including Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), who has worked tirelessly to end discrimination against all immigrant families through his inclusive Reuniting Families Act, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO).  These lawmakers called on Congress to ensure LGBT binational families are not separated or forced to live in exile.

According to the U.S. Census, there are an estimated 36,000 same-sex binational couples who could benefit from this act.  However, it has little bipartisan support.  Most Republicans believe the UAFA could open up the doors for immigration fraud, even though it would penalize those who attempt to evade immigration law, because it will be difficult or impossible for immigration officers to determine whether a partnership is long-term and permanent.  The Family Research Council criticizes the UAFA as discriminatory because the language of the bill excludes opposite-sex couples from being able to become permanent partners, so it is only applicable to LGBT individuals.

The UAFA is currently in the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law in the House, and in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.  Neither the House nor the Senate has scheduled a vote on the bill.

Refusing to be ignored, GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has teamed with the Black AIDS Institute and the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) and placed a full page ad in Monday’s Variety magazine, calling on ABC Television and its popular morning program The View, to correct a misleading quote about the spread of HIV among African Americans.

Last month, co-host Sherri Shepherd and guest host, comedian D.L. Hughley, blamed increased HIV rates among straight African American women on gay and bisexual black men men who are secretly gay, often referred to as “on the down low.”

“When you look at the prevalence of HIV in the African American community, it’s primarily young women who are getting it from men who are on the down low,” Hughley said on the June 22 broadcast.

Shepherd added, “It’s so big in the black community with women because they’re having sex with men who have been having sex with men.”

The Variety ad placement comes nearly three weeks after GLAAD issued a “Call to Action,” charging The View with perpetuating “dangerous myths,” despite evidence to the contrary from the Centers for Disease Control.

(The ad appears below; click on image to enlarge.)

Click to enlarge

After the show aired, thousands of people stood with GLAAD and demanded an apology and a correction. But so far, ABC and The View have remained silent on the issue.

“ABC and The View’s refusal to correct these inaccurate remarks comes at the expense of African American gay and bisexual men, straight African American women and millions of audience members who need facts about HIV/AIDS, not myths. It’s extremely disheartening to see a program that usually covers our community with respect, unwilling to correct this serious lapse in editorial judgment,” said Rashad Robinson, GLAAD’s Senior Director of Programs.

GLAAD has cited a 2009 interview in which a senior CDC official said that heterosexual black men with multiple sex partners — not bisexual men who secretly have sex with men — are responsible for high rates of HIV among black women.

In that interview, Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said, “We have looked to see what proportion of infections is coming from male partners who are bisexual and found there are actually relatively few.”

“More are male partners who are having female partners and are injecting drugs or using drugs or have some other risks that may put those female partners at risk of acquiring HIV,” he added.

As of late Monday, still no comment from ABC or The View.

Derrick Martin was presented with the Courage Award on June 12, 2010, from LifeWorks, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s youth mentoring program.

The gay Georgia teen who who decided to take his boyfriend to high school prom earlier this year, and was subsequently kicked out of his parent’s home, launched an outreach organization on Monday to help LGBTQ youth.

“Thanks to the kindness of strangers, I survived abandonment for the ‘crime’ of being gay and young,” said Derrick Martin, 18, in announcing the creation of Project LifeVest, an organization to assist teens who are in situations similar to his — facing abandonment, abuse, or discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“My situation and the attention it has drawn have provided me a unique perspective and opportunity that I feel I cannot pass up”, Martin said.

“Young people who, like myself, have been disadvantaged because of discrimination, hate, or ignorance need somewhere to turn for help. GLAAD was my life vest, and I plan to be a life vest to as many others as I can. I only want those who face obstacles like mine to know that they are not alone, for everyone has the right to love regardless of sexual orientation.”

In March, Martin won the approval of his school to take his then-boyfriend, Richard Goodman, to the senior prom at Bleckley County High School in Cochran, GA. His parents disapproved, and kicked him out of the family home; some classmates protested, and Martin became the object of death threats.

But when Martin’s story made national headlines, gay rights supporters from around the country came to his aid. He and Goodman attended the prom on April 17 without incident.

“If I have anything to say about it, no one else will ever have to go through what I did. Project LifeVest is my ‘give back’ for the critical help caring people around the country extended to me when I needed it.”

Martin told LGBTQ Nation that Project LifeVest is being launched using his life savings, but has plans to seek funding; the organization is also accepting donations at its website.

Martin also plans to attend Georgia Southern University in August, where he will study pre-law.

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ACME AtronOmatic, a software development company, has released their newest application, “Bandana – The Gaydar App” for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, a social networking application for the gay community.

The application uses the device’s Bluetooth radio to broadcast a signal that can be picked up by other nearby users with a similarly-equipped device. The end result turns your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch into an actual “gaydar detector” with a range of up to 100 feet.

To use the gaydar feature, the user activates their “gaydar beacon,” and whenever they walk within range of another user also running the app, the device will “ping” or vibrate (depending on the device’s volume settings) to let you know that another gay person is nearby. A quick check of the display shows the profile of the user (or users) in range.

“It’s perfect for those occasions when you’re out in a public setting, say a gym, or a grocery store, a concert … or even a subway, and you want to know if anyone else nearby is playing for your team,” according to Oscar Flemming, lead developer at ACME AtronOmatic. “Want to know if that hot guy you just passed in the airport is gay? Break out your Bandana!”

Aside from the gaydar feature, the app also supports profile browsing and private one-on-one chatting commonly found in other gay-oriented apps. “Bandana” is available for free at the iTunes App Store.

President Obama is taking another step to expand the rights of gay workers by allowing them to take family and medical leave to care for sick or newborn children of same-sex partners, administration officials annoiunced Monday.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is scheduled to make the announcement on Wednesday that will require employers to allow gay employees the same unpaid time off for family or personal matters that’s been given to heterosexual workers for almost 20 years.

The new regulations will require businesses of 50 or more employees to abide by an expanded interpretation of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period for employees to care for family members with medical needs, including childbirth. This expansion applies only to caring for children.

Earlier this month, Obama ordered government agencies to extend child care services and expanded family leave to federal workers. Obama’s order for federal employees, though, covers only benefits that can be extended under existing law, without congressional action. Legislative action would be required for a full range of health care and other benefits.

In April, Mr. Obama announced plans to grant hospital visiting rights to same-sex partners, and the Justice Department concluded that the Violence Against Women Act protects same-sex partners.

A softball coach in Memphis says she has been banned from a local church softball league because she is gay.

Jana Jacobson said officials from Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, TN, disqualified her team from competing in their adult women’s softball league because it would send a message to their congregation that they condone her “deviant” lifestyle.

Jacobson said she registered, paid the entry fee and attended an organizational meeting. Later, a church official called her seeking another meeting. At that one, officials began questioning whether she was gay. When she said she was, they told her the team could not play.

Jacobson’s team, which has both gay and straight players, had been playing only one night a week and applied to join Bellevue’s league when they learned they were admitting non-church teams.

Jim Barnwell, Bellevue’s director of communications, has said the church has no plans to comment on Jacobson’s version of events.

Will Batts, Director of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center, said he’s disappointed but not surprised at Bellevue’s decision, “I get that a private organization needs to have rules but this one seems to be based on fear and ignorance.”

The Health and Human Services Committee, in its recommendations, noted that current policy permits some potentially high-risk blood donations and prevents some possible low-risk donations. But the panel said existing research isn’t adequate to justify lifting the ban.

“This decision is outrageous, irresponsible and archaic,” Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said in a statement.

“We expect more out of this advisory committee and this administration than to uphold an unnecessarily discriminatory policy from another era.”

The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates blood donations, has final say over the blood rules. It currently forbids any man who has had sex with another man in the last 33 years from giving blood.

The FDA policy was imposed in 1985, amidst the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Experts testifying before federal health officials this week said the ban is out of step with advances in screening for HIV and other diseases.

According to Gallup:

Americans’ support for the moral acceptability of gay and lesbian relations crossed the symbolic 50% threshold in 2010. At the same time, the percentage calling these relations “morally wrong” dropped to 43%, the lowest in Gallup’s decade-long trend.

Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted each May, documents a gradual increase in public acceptance of gay relations since about 2006. However, the change is seen almost exclusively among men, and particularly men younger than 50.

The same May 3-6 Gallup poll finds the slight majority of Americans still against legalizing gay marriage; however, at 53%, the extent of that opposition is down slightly this year.

Americans remain closely divided over the factors contributing to being gay. Currently, 37% say being gay is due to upbringing and environment while 36% say it is a trait one is born with.

There is a gradual cultural shift under way in Americans’ views toward gay individuals and gay rights, reports Gallup. While public attitudes haven’t moved consistently in gays’ and lesbians’ favor every year, the general trend is clearly in that direction.

This year, the shift is apparent in a record-high level of the public seeing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable. Meanwhile, support for legalizing gay marriage, and for the legality of gay and lesbian relations more generally, is near record highs.

Haggard

Ted Haggard, the disgraced pastor who resigned from his ministry in 2006 amid an embarrassing gay sex scandal, was back in his home town Wednesday to announce he was starting a new church in Colorado Springs.

According to the AP:

Haggard said his new venture would not be a megachurch like New Life Church, the congregation he founded in 1985 and then left in 2006 after a male prostitute said Haggard paid him for sex.

Haggard said he doesn’t know how many people will attend his new church, but he said the ordeal he and his wife, Gayle, went through has prepared them to help others.

“I have an incredible heart for broken people,” he said. “I think we’re qualified to hold people’s hands” in times of trouble.

Haggard, once an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, resigned as the head of his 14,000-member megachurch and as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in 2006 when male prostitute Mike Jones said that the pastor had been paying him for sex for the last three years and had bought methamphetamines from him.

The 53-year-old married father of five, also confessed to having had an inappropriate sexual relationship with Grant Haas, a 20-year-old male volunteer, in 2006.

Earlier this year, Haggard said he had discovered in therapy that he had been abused by a man when he was a child and that therapy has cured him of his gay “compulsions.”

Haggard said his new Saint James Church will be open to everyone, Republicans and Democrats, heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.

Image: Cover from the book Gaydar

A group of Dutch researchers recently looked at whether straight and gay people focus their attention differently when faced with a problem.

A total of 42 men and women were shown pictures of outlines of large squares and rectangles, each of which was packed with smaller shapes, London’s Daily Mail reports.

Our brains are wired to take in the bigger picture, meaning that if we are shown a square filled with rectangles and asked what is inside, we can easily be fooled into saying ‘squares’.

When the men and women were asked similar questions, the heterosexuals replied more quickly but were less accurate, the journal Frontiers in Cognition reports.

The homosexuals took longer but got more answers right, particularly when asked about the smaller shapes, suggesting they were able to see the small details as well as the bigger picture.

“This is the first time that scientific proof has been found for the existence of a gaydar mechanism amongst homosexuals,” said Dr. Lorenzo Colzato of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

“This perceptual skill allows homosexuals to recognize other gay people faster and we think it’s because they are much more analytic than heterosexuals,” she added.

Jenna

On February 26, Jenna Bissell says she sat in her fifth-grade class at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School for hours with a gash on her face, dried blood between her loosened permanent teeth, cut lips and a swollen nose after she tripped on the playground.

According to Jenna, her teacher never asked about her injuries or sent her to the nurse, and instead was just told to “go clean yourself off you are gross” by her teacher.

Shannon Peterson, one of Jenna’s mothers, said she called the school after Jenna was picked up at the end of the school day by her grandmother, and had dried blood on her face.

Peterson said she talked to Jenna’s teacher, asking why she hadn’t been notified and why the girl went without treatment. Peterson said she asked, “Is this because she has two moms?” and that the teacher replied with a raised voice that yes, this was the reason and that Peterson should take her children to another school.

According to a report in the Albuquerque Journal:

Peterson said there was a pattern of tension between Bissell and her teacher, including over an assignment in which students were asked to write a book about themselves.

On one page, they were asked to write about something they did over the summer, and Bissell said she wrote about her parents’ wedding in Iowa, where gay marriage is legal.

“She threw out the whole page about where my moms got married and how beautiful it was,” Bissell said, referring to the teacher. “She said, ‘This is gross, this is horrible, you need to write about something else.’”

Officials at Rio Rancho Public Schools would not comment on specifics of the case, but said discriminating against a student because of the makeup of her family would violate district policy.

District spokeswoman Kim Vesely said “there are differing versions of what occurred,” but declined to give the district’s version. The school district also declined to assist the family with Jenna’s medical expenses.

The family has since moved Jenna to another school, and is planning to file suit for negligence and for violating their daughter’s civil rights.

A Facebook support group for Jenna has also been created.

Previously, the non-biological partner had these rights, but only if that parent legally adopted the shared child.

But the court limited its rulings, and declined to resolve two cases involving lesbian parents and instead sent both back to lower courts, saying that the question of whether nonbiological parents should be given full parental rights was up to the State Legislature.

The rulings reflect the expanding affirmation by the Court of Appeals of rights for gays and lesbians. The court has generally ruled that short of same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian couples can enjoy a broad range of legal protections.

While same-sex marriages are not legal in New York, the state does recognize same-sex unions performed in other states.

Wright's "Lifted off the Ground" cover

Country music singer Richell Rene “Chely” Wright has come out.

In an interview with People magazine, the “Shut Up and Drive” singer revealed her sexual orientation, and said she had previously resisted the urge to publicly address her homosexuality because she didn’t want to be the first country star to do so.

“There had never, ever been a country music artist who had acknowledged his or her homosexuality,” she said. “I wasn’t going to be the first.”

But now Wright has changed her tune.

“Nothing in my life has been more magical than the moment I decided to come out.”

The singer-songwriter, who has won both an Academy of Country Music and a Country Music award, will later this week release her memoir, Like Me, as well as her first album in five years, Lifted off the Ground.

Knapp

Jennifer Knapp, the former Christian music singer, whose last album “Way I Am” was released in 2001, has come out as a lesbian.

According to CNN:

After selling about a million records and winning at Christian music’s prestigious Dove Awards in 1999, the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter simply vanished in 2003 — leaving fans wondering where she had gone. There were countless theories as to why Knapp checked out, including the possibility of illness.

But this week Knapp burst back onto the music scene with news of a comeback and a coming out. Her new album will be released in May, and she has revealed that she has been in a same-sex relationship for the past eight years.

Knapp said she realizes that some fans will now view her earlier work with lyrics about inner turmoil as evidence of the struggle between her beliefs and her sexuality. But she says she has always struggled as a person of faith to be the person she wants to be, and her sexuality was only a part of that, she said.

“I would rather be judged before God as being an honest human being,” Kanpp said. “If I am in any way unpleasing in his sight, I can only hope and pray that he gives me the opportunity to find who I am supposed to be.”

The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation in a memo that was e-mailed to reporters Thursday night while he was at a fundraiser in Miami.

There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. In these hours of need and moments of pain and anxiety, all of us would hope to have a hand to hold, a shoulder on which to lean — a loved one to be there for us, as we would be there for them…

Uniquely affected are gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives — unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated.

Administration officials and gay activists, who have been quietly working together on the issue, said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, a move that covers the vast majority of the nation’s health-care institutions.

It is currently common policy in many hospitals that only those related by blood or marriage be allowed to visit patients.

The House bill as written, along with a companion piece in the state Senate, would ban the teaching or furnishing materials on human sexuality other than heterosexuality in public school grades of Kindergarten thru 8th grade, reports Out & About.

“Sexuality is a very complex issue, and some parents have different philosophies about the issue,” said Rep. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville). “We are saying that schools should remain neutral; we’re not advocating for or against the homosexual lifestyle.”

“This bill is a slap in the face of local control of education,” said Chris Sanders, board chair of the Tennessee Equality Project, who added that the bill was drawing attention away from more vital education-related issues.

A hearing and debate is scheduled for Wednesday.

Kanyon

Former WWE and WCW wrestler Chris Kanyon was found dead in his New York apartment Friday night, the victim of an apparent suicide.

Kanyon, whose real name was Christopher Klucsaritis, ended his professional wrestling career in 2004, and was the first openly gay wrestler in the WWE.

Kanyon wanted to base his character on that, but the WWE showed interest; he later claimed the WWE released him due to his coming out.

Kanyon reportedly suffered from depression and bi-polar disorder, and had frequently spoken about committing suicide.

According to reports, a pill bottle and “several notes” were found near his body.

There’s been a lot of commotion regarding Ricky Martin’s recent coming out statement on his official website. As with most things in life these days, I learned about the news on Facebook.

So, I immediately posted about the news as well and quickly joined in the jubilee of queerness and pranced about the office like a middle school-aged boy who accidently touched hands with his classroom crush. I even committed the blasphemy of comparing the news to that of Health Care Reform and the release of Apple’s iPad (insert sound of angel choir here).

And then, of course, there was the storm of cattiness that followed the news. As a queer Xicano, I admit that sarcasm is built into my genetic code. The survivor of four Christian-themed religions and 500+ years of white supremacist occupation, I find humor, irony and disbelief in most things. Still, yesterday I just wanted to celebrate.

I agree that the fact that Ricky is gay is not all that shocking. Queer men and not long speculated or asserted that he shook his bon bon far too well to be straight. Plus, for us jotos/maricones/patos, there was the added benefit of dreaming him up queer, which somehow put us that much closer to his arms.

Still, as the catty remarks continue, as people boast about how they knew and think he should have done this 10 years ago, or sassy queens dismiss the news as inconsequential, I say, look beyond our borders (geographic, cultural, and age-based) and take a minute to honor the fact that for many, Ricky’s coming out is groundbreaking, perhaps even life-saving.

So Ricky was doing more than living la vida loca; he was, in fact, a loca. To the trained eye, this is just confirmation that our gaydar runs on more than hormones and dreams.

Hormones, dreams and cattiness aside, I challenge the ungleeful remarks about Ricky’s coming out.

As with most performers who began as Spanish-language artists, Ricky began over 10 years ago. The Barbara Walters interview (assuming it was Barbara, I can never tell who is behind that cloud of light) did have me on the edge of my teenage self, hoping he’d come out and proclaim his gayness, but it wasn’t his beginning. Ricky’s career began decades ago.

Long before the Latin Explosion, which was more of a Latin Spark, Ricky had left his imprint on the Spanish pop scene of the late 80’s and early to mid-90’s. Back when Thalía and Paulina were still artists and relevant, before Gloria Trevi’s traumatic (for her and her fans) imprisonment in Brazil, and before Alejandra Guzmán would be hospitalized for too much botox on her behind, there was a cultural movement in Latin America.

As a pre-teen growing up in a rural town of 300 in northern México, Thalía, Paulina, Gloria, Alejandra and Ricky were my window into another world. Their performances pushed, albeit at times gently and censured, the boundaries of repressive cultural norms. From flowers wrapped around a microphone to songs about teen pregnancy and abortion, these young performers were resisting and embodying another realm of cultural possibilities. Ricky gave boys the excuse (and perhaps reason) to shake our hips in ways that would otherwise be condemned as obscene.

The dismissal of Ricky’s coming out seems to be rooted in an U.S.-centric perspective where we have the opportunity to stop celebrating any queer image on TV and offer our critique. There is so much gayness these days that we can spend our days and dissertations balking at how a character isn’t gay enough, is too gay, is too white, etc. And although we don’t actually have the type of representation GLAAD and I would like to see, we have a whole lot more than we did in México in 1992 (except, of course, Ricky gently caressing his long hair on stage… oh, and Locomía).

I am not critiquing the fact that we spend so much time criticizing queer portrayals in the media. To the contrary, I am celebrating the fact that we can. In fact, I’d go further and ask why queer people of color media performance and productions are so weak, lame and superficial. Having once curating a queer people of color cultural arts program, I know we can do better.

What I am critiquing is that our criticisms of Ricky’s coming out has us falling into the pitfall of imagining and defining all things queer through a U.S. lens. I even joked about the fact that he used the term “homosexual” to define himself. And now, in retrospect I find that identifying as a “fortunate homosexual” was much more powerful than a simple “gay.”

Perhaps for the jaded queen living in urban U.S., the oversaturation of gayness in the media has deemed Ricky insignificant and worthy of our dismissal. For that frightened and confused 12 year old in rural Chihuahua, it’s monumental.

My coming out process was stumped by the fact that I could not even imagine my queerness, let alone live it. At the time, the saturation of gayness was mostly strictly white. It wasn’t until queer brown men like Jaime Cortez and Emanuel Xavier fearlessly (or perhaps fearfully) exposed their work and their bodies to the sun of public criticism, that I was able to imagine myself.

Whether U.S. fags approve or not, Ricky is a prominent figure here, and more importantly, in Latino América. Ricky’s coming out makes it possible for young boys in countless homes to imagine themselves as something other than confused.

For this, I say to Ricky: gracias. And, you know where to find me.

Spahr
(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

A retired Presbyterian minister faces prosecution by her own church — for the second time in four years — for officiating the marriages of same-sex couples.

The Rev. Jane Spahr, 67, presided over 16 other same-sex unions during the five-month period in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal in California.

The Presbyterian church asserts that while the marriages may have been legal under state law, they were “expressly prohibited” by the church.

The constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) defines marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman. The church’s Supreme Judicial Council has ruled that ministers can bless same-sex unions as long as the ceremonies are not called a marriage and don’t mimic traditional weddings.

Spahr was previously acquitted by the church’s highest tribunal in 2008, capping a two-year disciplinary case.

“This is what we are called to do,” Spahr said, asserting, as she did before, that she conducted the marriages as a “matter of conscience.”

Spahr, a lesbian who lives in San Francisco, used to lead a ministry for gay Presbyterians until she retired in 2007.

“Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment. These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.”

Martin ends his post with, “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.”

Following is the full text of Martin’s post:

A few months ago I decided to write my memoirs, a project I knew was going to bring me closer to an amazing turning point in my life. From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside. Writing this account of my life, I got very close to my truth. And this is something worth celebrating.

For many years, there has been only one place where I am in touch with my emotions fearlessly and that’s the stage. Being on stage fills my soul in many ways, almost completely. It’s my vice. The music, the lights and the roar of the audience are elements that make me feel capable of anything. This rush of adrenaline is incredibly addictive. I don’t ever want to stop feeling these emotions. But it is serenity that brings me to where I’m at right now. An amazing emotional place of comprehension, reflection and enlightenment. At this moment I’m feeling the same freedom I usually feel only on stage, without a doubt, I need to share.

Many people told me: “Ricky it’s not important”, “it’s not worth it”, “all the years you’ve worked and everything you’ve built will collapse”, “many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature”. Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth. Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.

If someone asked me today, “Ricky, what are you afraid of?” I would answer “the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war…child slavery, terrorism…the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith.” But fear of my truth? Not at all! On the contrary, It fills me with strength and courage. This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment.

These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.

What will happen from now on? It doesn’t matter. I can only focus on what’s happening to me in this moment. The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today. It has been a very intense process. Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution.

I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.

– Ricky Martin, March 29, 2010