A custody battle between two mothers in Colorado is now focused on whether the custodial parent, an ex-lesbian who now considers herself Christian, may teach her adopted daughter that homosexuality is wrong. Dr. Cheryl Clark and Elsey McLeod adopted and raised their now 8-year-old daughter together until Clark found Christ. A Judge ordered shared parenting but gave Clark control over the child’s religious upbringing as long as Clark did not use anti-gay teachings. Clark is now appealing the ruling on the grounds that it violates Clark’s First Amendment right to free speech.
Massachusetts state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, tapped to be the new executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, is angering some Democrats by keeping her political post until after Jan. 1 when she officially takes her new job at HRC, reports the Boston Globe. Democratic leaders asked Jacques to resign her seat in early December—a few weeks after the legislative session ends—so her seat may be filled through the general election process. If Jacques works one day in 2004, she will receive a full year’s credit toward her pension—a fact, she says, which has no bearing on her decision. Jacques currently earns about $51,000 for her senate position. She has had run-ins with some state Dem leaders. Her new HRC post is estimated to pay between $175,000—$200,000. The Boston Globe reported: ‘Jacques has no reason to show loyalty to Senate President Robert E. Travaglini … . [She] backed a rival of Travaglini in the election for Senate president last year. Travaglini subsequently dumped her from a committee chairmanship that paid $15,000 a year above the $50,123 a year base legislative salary she makes.’
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is testing the waters by discussing the possibility of giving health benefits to the domestic partners of state workers, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Republican state Rep. Mark Gundrum said there would not be enough votes to ratify such a contract. Gundrum authored a recent bill to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman—a bill Doyle vetoed when it reached his desk. The legislature failed, by one vote, to override the Governor’s veto.
Presidential spokesman Scott McLeland was apparently taken by surprise last week as a WorldNet Daily reporter asked McLeland about a congratulatory letter sent from President Bush to the Metropolitan Community Churches, reports WorldNet Daily. The online conservative news organization asked why Bush sent a congratulatory letter to the church that performs gay union ceremonies, while coming out against gay marriage. McLeland responded that the President sends out ‘greetings’ to anyone who asks and that the letter was more of a greeting than an endorsement of beliefs.
Civil-rights demonstrations continue in Clarksville, Md., where two high school girls kissed in the lunchroom Nov. 5 to highlight anti-gay bias, reports the Baltimore Sun. The two girls, who both say they’re straight, were suspended for two days each. Friends of the high school teens then held a demonstration last week outside the school. According to observers, passers-by evenly gave the demonstrators a thumbs-up or an obscene gesture.
A gay student at a private Christian School in Jupiter, Fla., was expelled from school after telling a teacher he’s gay, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. High school senior Jeffrey Woodard filed a lawsuit against Jupiter Christian School for breach of contract because the school allegedly did not give the Woodards a reason for the expulsion. The Woodards’ attorney said the only issue discussed before the lawsuit was Jeffrey’s sexual orientation. The school now says the student was also expelled because of poor grades and late tuition payments.
The Supreme Court of North Dakota ruled in favor of a lesbian couple, overturning a 1981 ruling that has been used for the last 20 years to give custody of a child to one parent simply because the other parent was gay, reports The Advocate.
Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Tammy Faye Bakker) visited the largely gay Potter’s House Fellowship Church in Tampa, Fla., reports AP. Messner is hawking her book about her years as a televangelist with husband Jim Bakker. Messner’s book, I will Survive … and You Will Too, details her life with and without Bakker. Messner hosted a television show with a gay co-host and believes Jesus loves everyone.
Louisiana voters scoffed at the anti-gay Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal and elected Kathleen Blanco as the state’s newest Governor, reports The Advocate. Blanco met with gay groups to discuss issues during her campaign—a move Jindal said he had no time to do. The Advocate reports that Blanco’s push for women voters helped her to victory.
Developers in New Mexico are working on a new retirement community for elderly gays and lesbians in Santa Fe. KOB-TV reports that RainbowVision Properties hopes to start the physical development by the end of the year. The Los Ruederos Neighborhood Association has asked an appellate court to stop the building because, they contend, it will violate the federal Fair Housing Act.
Lawmakers in Massachusetts may join Hawaii, Alaska and other states that ban gay marriage by way of a state constitutional amendment, reports the Daily Hampshire Gazette. State legislators are expected to meet soon to vote on the proposed amendment. A case stands before the supreme judicial court now that could allow gay marriage in the state, barring a constitutional amendment. The Boston Globe reports that senate president Robert E. Travaglini said he would likely postpone the vote.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., isn’t accepting federal judicial nominee Claude Allen’s explanation of his use of the term ‘queers’ while a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms in 1984, reports AP. ‘It’s not unusual for nominees who come before us to downplay things they’ve said,’ Durbin said in an interview with The News & Observer of Raleigh. ‘But I’m afraid that Mr. Allen’s explanation of his use of the word ‘queers’ was not credible.’ Allen is nominated by President Bush to a lifetime seat on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ‘During Helms’ 1984 race for Senate in North Carolina, Allen criticized the Democratic opponent, Gov. Jim Hunt, for his connections ‘with the queers,” AP reported. Allen told the Judiciary Committee the remark ‘had referred to unusual people and was not meant to put down homosexuals—whom Helms and Allen had criticized throughout that campaign.’
The Human Rights Campaign welcomed news of Alabama Justice Roy Moore’s dismissal from the state supreme court. In a ruling last February, Moore had denied a woman custody of her three children and went on to say that homosexuality is an ‘inherent evil, and if a person openly engages in such a practice, that fact alone would render him or her an unfit parent.’ Moore recently gained national attention when he refused to follow a ruling by a federal court ordering the removal of a statue of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the state supreme court building.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joked during a Florida Cabinet meeting that the people of San Francisco may be endangered and, ‘That’s probably good news for the country,’ reported Associated Press. ‘It’s extremely insulting,’ said National Gay and Lesbian Task Force leader Matt Foreman. ‘But of course I would say that gay people in Florida are far more endangered than gay people in California.’ Bush told reporters he was just joking.
U.S. drug companies are raising prices they charge for their medications in Canada, The New York Times reports. Canadian laws put price caps on all medications sold in the country, and most drugs sell in Canada for a fraction of their U.S. price, The Advocate said. ‘Because of the lower prices, many U.S. consumers buy their prescription medications from Canadian pharmacies through online services. But Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, and Bayer have all raised the prices on at least some of the products they sell in Canada between 4% and 8% in an effort to make their drugs less appealing to U.S. consumers.’——————————————————————————–