The successful Winter Party, a circuit party that brings thousands of gay men from around the world to Miami each year, has been sold to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), reports the Miami Herald. The Party’s original organizers are broke and the organization is about to be dissolved. NGLTF executive director Matt Foreman said his group will take only about one-third of the profits generated from the event while the remaining two-thirds will stay in the Miami-Dade community along with the projected million dollars infused into the local economy from eventgoers each year.
A man charged with the murder of a gay man in Fulton County, Ga., was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, reports AP. James Lee Shaw, 39, claimed he killed his co-worker after the man tried to rape him in the bathroom. Shaw’s attorneys claimed the incident recalled flashbacks from Shaw’s childhood molestation. District Attorney Paul Howard said he’s ‘sick’ of gay panic defense strategies. Three years ago a 21-year-old was acquitted of killing a Fulton County Assistant District Attorney because the accused claimed the murder was caused after he was forced to commit gay sex acts at gunpoint.
About 150 people held a candlelight vigil last week in Mobile, Ala., for gay teenager Scotty Joe Weaver, who was brutally murdered three weeks ago, reports Planet Out. Weaver, 18, of Bay Minette, northeast of Mobile, was tied up, robbed, beaten, strangled and cut by his mobile home housemates, then set afire in the woods along a dirt road eight miles away. His severely burned, decomposed body was found four days later, on July 22, Planet Out reported. The number and location of wounds ‘indicates more than a mere robbery’ one source said.
A conservative Democrat in South Carolina is causing a stir among liberal voters and Political Action Committees (PACs), reports the Blade. Inez Tenenbaum is supported by the Emily’s List PAC and reportedly received as much as $350,000 in contributions from the group. Emily’s List is a group that supports pro-choice female candidates. The problem, say some, is that Tenenbaum is a supporter of the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) that would ban gay marriage and the candidate refused to answer a Planned Parenthood questionnaire detailing her beliefs on reproductive rights. A spokesman for Planned Parenthood said gay rights and reproductive rights boil down to the right to privacy. A spokesman for Emily’s List said the two issues are distinctly different and her group will continue to focus only on a candidate’s stance on abortion rights.
‘Lez’ is inappropriate in scrabble, according to the Scrabble Association, reports AP. At the National Scrabble Championship held in New Orleans last Thursday, champion Trey Wright played the word ‘lez’ which is on a list of inappropriate words because the championship was being taped for airing on ESPN. Network officials said the word was OK, but after an emergency meeting of Scrabble officials the tournament was rolled back and Wright played a new word.
Three men and a boy accused of rape and assault of a gay man were arrested in Texas last week, reports Planet Out. Three men in their early 20s and a boy, 16, allegedly took part in luring a 32-year-old man to his home after a night at a gay bar. Once home, the man was reportedly choked, had a glass broken over his head, and made to sodomize himself with an object while the attackers yelled gay slurs and read bible passages. Two men were charged with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
Researchers at National Taiwan University say that introducing anti-HIV drugs to those in the early stages of infection, is a good combatant against the spread of the virus, reports BBC. The study, reported in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, analyzed the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in Taiwan. The country began offering anti-HIV drugs free of charge to infected residents in 1997. Since then, the infection rate for HIV was cut in half while the spread of other STDs increased, suggesting that the drugs prevented the spread, not a change in behavior.
Gay couples may now register their relationships in Miami Beach, Fla., reports the Miami Herald. Last month city officials unanimously approved the registry that gives benefits like hospital visitation and emergency medical notification to registered partners. Any gay couple, residents or not, may register in Miami Beach.
The American Bar Association (ABA) ethics committee is debating whether judges should be allowed to participate in anti-gay groups, reports AP. The ABA currently prohibits judges from joining organizations that discriminate based on race or gender. State and federal courts usually adopt the ABA codes of conduct with a few changes. The leader of the ABA commission said the group does not want judges to be seen as bigots.
A farmer in Conway, Ark., who admitted to spreading three tons of manure along the route of a gay parade pleaded innocent last week, saying he was exercising his constitutional right to free speech, reports Associated Press.