Ousted former Rockford, Ill., music director Bill Stein has landed on his feet. After Holy Family Catholic Church fired him for being gay, he was offered a post with Court Street United Methodist Church. He will soon be their director of music ministries, reports the Rockford Register Star.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has re-confirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage. While the first-term governor does back state legislation barring discrimination against gays, he said he believes marriage is for a man and a woman. He was also clear on this during his campaign for the state’s top post, including in interviews with Windy City Times.
The Human Rights Campaign celebrated the passage of California Assembly Bill 196, a measure introduced by Assemblymember Mark Leno that adds gender identity, appearance and behavior to the state laws prohibiting discrimination in employment and housing. Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, signed A.B. 196 into law on Aug. 2, 2003, making California the fourth state in the nation to prohibit such discrimination in housing and the workplace.In a memo issued Aug. 6, anti-gay religious activist Jerry Falwell said he will be working around the clock against same-sex marriage:
‘I am dedicating my talents, time and energies over the next few years to the passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which will protect the traditional family from its enemies who wish to legalize same-sex marriage and other diverse ‘family’ forms. I have just created a special Web site (www.onemanonewoman.com), whereby one million American are being recruited to sign a Federal Marriage Amendment Petition which will be forwarded to all 535 members of Congress and to President Bush. My line in the sand has been drawn! I am turning to our nation’s past to show how a constitutional amendment can salvage traditional marriage in America. Those who are gearing up for battle in the traditional marriage debate may examine our nation’s history to learn how a Constitutional Amendment is needed to permanently make safe the tradition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.’
An events coordinator at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library may talk about gay issues at work, reports the Capitol Journal. Bonnie Cuevas, 54, was allegedly reprimanded when she spent time talking on the phone about the historic Lawrence v. Texas ruling that struck down the Texas anti-gay sodomy law. Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union asked for clarification from library lawyers and were told Cuevas would be allowed to talk about issues surrounding homosexuality and her gay son, so long as the conversations do not disrupt her work.
Oregon’s top court has its first openly gay justice. Rives Kistler was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court last week after justice Susan Leeson resigned, according to The Advocate. Kistler previously served on the court of appeals and was the state’s assistant attorney general. Some women’s groups are reportedly disappointed because the appointment makes Oregon one of only two states that have all-male supreme courts.
Most New Yorkers with multiple sex partners do not know their HIV status and nearly half have not used condoms, reports AFP. A report from the New York City Health Department titled, ‘Sex in the City: More HIV Testing Needed,’ suggests that two-thirds of people at high risk for HIV infection have not been tested recently. The department estimates nearly 100,000 HIV-positive New Yorkers; 25-percent of those, the report estimates, do not know they have the virus.
Members of the conservative American Family Association of Michigan are trying again to squash a University of Michigan course called ‘How to Be Gay: Homosexuality and Initiation,’ reports the State News. The class is offered by the English department and discusses how gay people shape their identity. Openly gay professor David Halperin teaches the course. He said it is not about recruitment and that no one from the AFAM has attempted to ask him about course content in the three years the course has been offered.
Social Service workers in Pennsylvania may now use sick time to care for their domestic partners, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The four-year pact with 13,000 state social service workers took effect July 1. The pact allows gay and lesbian employees to use sick time to care for their domestic partners or their children. The new agreement also allows these employees the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts for bereavement and benefits offered under the Family Medical Leave Act.
A U.S. District Judge in San Diego, Calif., threw another blow to the Boy Scouts of America, reports Worldnet Daily. Judge Napoleon Jones, Jr., sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and a lesbian and agnostic couple in ruling that the Boy Scouts is a religious organization and should not be given a long-term lease on city property for nearly no payment. The Desert Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts has leased the piece of land in question for $1 per year since 1957. Jones ruled that the exclusive nature of the contract with a religious organization was illegal. The city may appeal the decision.
The American Bar Association tackled the issue of second-parent adoptions this week, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The nation’s largest legal group was expected to vote on a resolution that would encourage state legislatures to pass laws that would protect children with same-sex parents.
A lesbian couple from New York is suing their doctor and hospital for discrimination, reports the New York Post. Mercedes Candelaria Garcia said she went to the doctor to complain about an infection in her finger. When her doctor suggested she take a pregnancy test, Garcia told the doctor she was gay. Garcia alleges the doctor lectured her about the bible and abruptly ended the appointment. Garcia was given a full examination that revealed a benign lump in her breast.
A gay man from Ringwood, New Jersey, will spend up to 28 years in jail for the murder of a teenage boy, reports NorthJersey.com. Cole Dykstra, 26, lived with Arthur Trussell, 16, and his family in New Jersey. Dykstra accepted a plea agreement of aggravated manslaughter. Dykstra was convicted of killing Trussell in the family home after Trussell went out on a date with a girl. News Tips? RaphaelNews@aol.com