In the News

1/20/2008

"One image encapsulates the chaos of the summer morning five months ago when gay marriage was legal — briefly — in Polk County.

"A crowd of 30, mostly reporters and photographers, encircles two young men under a maple tree. Sean Fritz, bearded and dripping sweat, throws his arms around the tall, redheaded Tim McQuillan. With a kiss, their marriage is sealed - and so is their position as the unlikely poster children of gay marriage in Iowa.

1/18/2008

"A transgender woman who wants to change her legal name from 'Donald' to 'Daunn' asked the state Supreme Court Thursday to order Will County's chief judge to waive about $450 in court fees because of her low income.

"The legal filing by Daunn Turner, 52, of Lockport contended Will County Chief Judge Stephen White rejected the request by declaring, 'I am not spending the county's money on something like this.'

"But in a telephone interview Thursday, Turner said she sought the name change to 'reflect my identity.'

12/12/2007

"Lambda Legal released a press release of a new lawsuit, filed in the Northern District Court of Indiana regarding West Side High School (Gary, Indiana) violated Kevin "K.K." Logan's First Amendment rights when it barred him from his prom for wearing a dress.

11/28/2007

"How did Flor Bermudez, once a middle-class teenager from an educated family in Mexico City, trade in her desire to be a doctor and become a seasoned advocate for the underdog?

"The answer is she immigrated to the United States and, for the first time, experienced discrimination and the difficulties that arise when you are on the outside looking in. 'It has been difficult,' she says. But there is no turning back.

10/24/2007

"To the sound of thunderous applause the Ithaca City School District's board of education unanimously voted late Tuesday to rescind a challenge of the state's human rights law.

"The vote clears the way for a hearing to be held in the claim of Amelia Kearney, who alleges the district failed to promptly and effectively protect her daughter from racial harassment by other students during the 2005-06 school year.

10/23/2007

"Dexter Colston landed in the foster care system when he was about 13 after his mother rejected him because he is gay.

"He bounced through a couple dozen foster care facilities where adults couldn't relate to him and other children could be brutal.

"...Many gay foster teenagers never find a good home.

"...During the past five years, gay rights and child welfare groups have researched the experience of gay foster youth. What they found was horrific.

10/17/2007

"October was supposed to be a triumph for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, thanks to the recent passage of a comprehensive hate crimes bill in both houses of Congress and what was expected to be a historic vote on HR 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, in the House.

"But instead, a debate over whether rights for transgenders should be included in ENDA is opening the possibility for a profound shift in the gay movement.

10/19/2007

10/15/2007

"...Ed Swaya and Greg Hampel, who went through a wedding ceremony in 1999, filled out the paperwork to get the document but received a certificate back from the Health Department that listed Hampel as the father, but left off Swaya's name, he said.

"'It said they couldn't establish maternity for Mr. Swaya, so they left my name off the birth certificate," Swaya said. "They didn't want to put two men's names on the birth certificate.'

10/11/2007

"LGBT organizations and community activists continued to rally after last week's bruising intra-community battle over whether to seek a vote on a version of ENDA that includes only sexual orientation protection or insist that the legislation retain its protection for people based on gender identity.