OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) | 02/22/2007 09:43 PM

By JEFF LATZKE Associated Press Writer

The lawyer for a former Baptist church leader who had spoken out against homosexuality said Thursday the minister has a constitutional right to solicit sex from an undercover policeman.

The Rev. Lonnie W. Latham had supported a resolution calling on gays and lesbians to reject their ‘’sinful, destructive lifestyle” before his Jan. 3, 2006, arrest outside the Habana Inn in Oklahoma City.

Authorities say he asked the undercover policeman to come up to his hotel for oral sex.

His attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts.

”Now, my client’s being prosecuted basically for having offered to engage in such an act, which basically makes it a crime to ask someone to do something that’s legal,” Martin said.

Both sides agree there was no offer of money, but prosecutor Scott Rowland said there is a ”legitimate governmental interest” in regulating offers of acts of lewdness.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has filed a brief claiming that Latham’s arrest also violated his right to free speech.

Before his arrest, Latham had spoken against same-sex marriage and in support of a Southern Baptist resolution that called upon gays and lesbians to reject their lifestyle.

He has since resigned as pastor of the South Tulsa Baptist Church and stepped down from the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, where he was one of four members from Oklahoma.

On Thursday Latham declined to talk to reporters at the non-jury trial.

Judge Roma M. McElwee said she would rule on the motion and issue a verdict in about two weeks. If convicted of the misdemeanor, Latham faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
RI AG’s Sister Weds Her Partner
Gay Marriage Critic Tried on Lewdness
Presbyterian Leaders Issue Plea to Keep Denomination Unified

WYANDOTTE, Mich., Feb. 21 (UPI)

A male race car engine builder in Michigan who lives as a woman has vowed to fight for the right to open a club for similar cross-dressers. City officials in Wyandotte, Mich., rejected Janet Law’s plans to add a cross-dressing club for men to the back of her machine shop, and Law has promised a lawsuit, the Detroit News said. Law says he endured a smear campaign from area residents after he began planning to add the club to his National Engine Machine shop, and now plans to file a discrimination suit against the city. I lead a clean, moral life and have no criminal background, said Law, whose property already acts as a cross-dressing supply store. Why am I stigmatized as a person who doesn’t have family values just because I live as a woman? City officials said plans for the club were not rejected due to its cross-dressing nature, but rather due to a lack of appropriate parking.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International  

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI)

Rather than back down on gay rights, several senior U.S. Episcopalians told The Washington Post they would welcome a rift with the global Anglican Communion. The issue is in the air since a meeting of the leaders of the communion’s 38 national churches on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A communique was issued giving the Episcopalian Church in the United States until Sept. 30 to renounce its acceptance of gay priests and same-sex marriages or face undisclosed repercussions. Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., told the Post he viewed the mandate as an opportunity rather than a burden. Yes, I would accept schism. I would be willing to accept being told I’m not in communion with places like Nigeria if it meant I could continue to be in a position of justice and morality, Charleston said. If the price I pay is that I’m not considered to be part of a flawed communion, then so be it. The U.S. church’s presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, signed the communique but has not explained her rationale to other bishops, the Post said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) |  02/21/2007 10:43 PM

By RAY HENRY Associated Press Writer

Rhode Island should recognize state employees’ gay marriages that are performed in neighboring Massachusetts and extend benefits to their partners, the state’s attorney general said in an opinion released Wednesday.

Rhode Island prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and also extends benefits such as health insurance to domestic partners of state employees, Attorney General Patrick Lynch noted in the opinion, requested by a state department.

He said that with the absence of a law banning gay marriage, there’s no strong reason to deny recognition to gay marriages performed in Massachusetts, the only state where such unions are legal.

Lynch said the advisory opinion, requested by the state Board of Governors for Higher Education, was not binding, and that the board or other agencies could disregard it.

”It’s essentially guidance. It’s my interpretation of the law,” he said.

Lynch’s letter, dated Tuesday and released Wednesday, was less equivocal. ”Rhode Island will recognize same sex marriages lawfully performed in Massachusetts as marriages in Rhode Island,” he wrote.

The board intends to follow Lynch’s opinion, spokesman Steve Maurano said Wednesday.

”I think his letter is very clear,” Maurano said.

The board sought the opinion when several gay employees requested that their files be changed to reflect their marriages in Massachusetts, Maurano said.

”It’s the truth,” said Wendy Becker, a professor at Rhode Island College and one of the employees who requested the change. ”We were married in Massachusetts and we wanted the status to be listed as something that is true.”

Michele Granda, a staff attorney for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said she expected most government agencies in Rhode Island will heed the legal advice from Lynch as the state’s top lawyer.

Rhode Island is one of a few states that neither allow nor specifically bar same-sex unions. Several legislative attempts to ban or legalize gay marriage have failed there in recent years.

A Massachusetts Superior Court justice decided last fall that Rhode Islanders are allowed to marry in that state, the only place in the country where gay marriage is allowed. Rhode Island courts, however, are in no way bound by that decision.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
NJ Gay Couples Unite in Civil Unions
RI May Recognize Gay Unions From MA
Some US Episcopalians Welcome Schism
Cross-dresser Vows to Guard His/Her Rights

ASBURY PARK, N.J. (AP) | 02/22/2007 03:57 AM

Gay couples across New Jersey began claiming the same legal rights as married couples early Thursday in ceremonies that formalized their relationships as civil unions.

The state law establishing civil unions for same-sex couples took effect Monday. But because there is a 72-hour waiting period after applying for a license, most couples had to wait until Thursday to hold civil union ceremonies.

New Jersey is the third state in the nation to offer civil unions, which offer the protections and benefits of marriage _ but not the title. Vermont and Connecticut also offer civil unions, and California offers domestic partnerships with similar benefits. Massachusetts is the only state to allow same-sex marriages.

In Asbury Park, a shore community being revitalized largely by a growing gay population, two couples were joined in ceremonies after midnight at a party sponsored by Garden State Equality, a gay rights advocacy group.

The event was part ceremony, part political rally. Two couples were read two sets of vows. The Rev. Bob Krieset asked the couples _ Thomas Mannix and Kevin Pilla, and Degn Schubert and Mark Rado _ to vow to continue fighting for the right to marry. Then Mayor Kevin Sanders led the exchange of civil union vows.

For Schubert and Rado, such ceremonies are becoming old hat. They have had seven so far, including domestic partnerships and a marriage ceremony, both in San Francisco. The state of California ordered that marriage annulled, however.

The couple wore matching suits for Thursday’s vows. Rado said the New Jersey recognition was the most important because it comes with the most protections and benefits.

”I just feel lucky that we live in New Jersey,” he said.

In Lambertville, an arts community 20 miles north of Trenton, Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey, who have been together for 20 years, also entered into a civil union shortly after midnight.

”It was something we never dreamt could happen,” Asaro said of their new benefits.

A couple also exchanged vows in the New York City suburb of South Orange. Three days earlier, Marty Finkle and Michael Plake were surrounded by two dozen friends when they submitted their civil union application.

In October, the state Supreme Court ordered New Jersey legislators to offer gay couples all the benefits of marriage, but left it up to the lawmakers what to call it. They opted for ”civil unions” in part because of opposition from legislators who objected on religious grounds to calling it ”marriage.”

The civil unions law grants same-sex couples hundreds of benefits, including the right to file state taxes jointly and inheritance and child-custody rights. Also, people in civil unions cannot be forced to testify against their partners in criminal court.

The benefits, however, are not recognized by the federal government or in most other states.

Gay rights activists say they’ll continue to push for the right to marry in New Jersey.

Opponents want to amend the state constitution to specifically ban gay marriage. Forty-five other states have either laws or amendments with such bans.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) | 02/19/2007 06:53 AM

Barbara Gittings, a gay rights activist since the late 1950s, died Sunday. She was 75.

Gittings died after a lengthy fight with breast cancer, said Mark Segal, a friend and the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News.

Gittings helped organize the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, an early lesbian rights organization, in the 1950s. During her work with that group, she met her life partner, Kay Lahusen. Gittings edited the group’s publication, The Ladder, from 1963 to 1966, and worked with Lahausen on her 1973 book, ”The Gay Crusaders.”

She first became well known to the public in 1965, when she helped organize gay-rights demonstrations at the White House and Independence Hall. In 2005, Gittings and Lahausen attended the unveiling of a state historic marker noting those demonstrations across the street from Independence Hall.

Gittings had served as head of the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force; in 2003, the association presented her its highest honor, a lifetime membership.

Gittings was also active in the campaign that led to the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to drop homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

OTTAWA, Feb. 20 (UPI)

The Canadian government and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates are committing $118 million to develop a vaccine to fight HIV/AIDS. The government is committing up to $94 million (U.S.)to the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will provide up to $24 million (U.S.), officials said in a release. This collaborative effort between Canada’s New Government and the Gates Foundation will contribute to the global effort to develop a safe, effective, affordable, and globally accessible HIV vaccine, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday. Gates, who appeared with Harper, said, The search for an HIV vaccine is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time. Canada’s important commitment will support advanced research, and help speed the development of an effective vaccine.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) | 02/20/2007 07:32 PM

Men who say they were drugged and raped by an Air Force officer lied to avoid being revealed as gay in the military, a defense attorney told a military jury Tuesday.

Capt. Devery L. Taylor, former chief of patient administration at Eglin Regional Hospital, is gay and engaged in consensual sex with the men, his civilian attorney, Martin Regan, said during opening arguments in Taylor’s court-martial.

Taylor, 38, pleaded not guilty Monday to raping four men and attempting to rape two others; prosecutor Capt. Eveylon Westbrook describes him as a serial rapist. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of all the charges against him. The charges are two counts of attempted sodomy, four counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful entry.

”This case is about homosexual activity that is not approved of by the military services in our country at this time. Every one of these individuals but one is either in the military service or wants to be in the service,” Regan said.

Under the military’s ”don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, members who are openly gay are subject to discharge.

Westbrook said Taylor met his victims in bars, spiked their drinks with the ”date-rape drug” gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.

”Each victim will tell you they felt like they were drugged before he either assaulted or attempted to assault them,” she said.

A Pensacola paramedic later testified that he and Taylor were friends and had consensual sex on a previous occasion before the two met again at a bar in July 2004. The man said that he had one beer and that Taylor then bought him a shot, which caused him to become extremely ill.

He said that he woke up in Taylor’s home and that Taylor raped him repeatedly, but that he couldn’t fight Taylor because he felt drugged.

”My brain knew what was going on, but my body just wouldn’t cooperate,” he said.

The man said he did not report the encounter to authorities until two years later, when he read a newspaper report about Taylor’s arrest.

An Air Force lieutenant who worked with Taylor at the base hospital testified about his 2004 encounter with Taylor. He said he blacked out and does not know whether he was raped. The lieutenant, who is married, said he never had consensual sex with Taylor.

Col. Thomas Cumbie, the military judge, turned down a defense request Tuesday to limit testimony about GHB. Defense attorneys said that its effects were similar to that of alcohol and that none of the victims had traces of the drug in their bodies, but Cumbie said the symptoms were common among all the victims.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) | 02/20/2007 07:09 PM

By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer

The head of the Episcopal Church asked church members for patience Tuesday after fellow Anglican leaders demanded the U.S. denomination step back from its support of gays or risk losing its full membership in the world Anglican fellowship.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement that Anglican leaders are asking all sides in the fight over the Bible and sexuality to ”forbear for a season” until the 77 million-member Anglican Communion can forge a compromise.

”Each party in this conflict is asked to consider the good faith of the other,” Jefferts Schori said. ”Each is asked to discipline itself for the sake of the greater whole.”

At the end of a summit Monday in Tanzania, which Jefferts Schori attended, Anglican leaders demanded that the Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops by Sept. 30 or risk its status in the communion.

Tension over sexuality has been simmering for years among the Anglican churches, but the Episcopal Church caused an uproar in 2003 in the communion by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence. Advocates for gay Christians say the demands amount to bigotry: Some have suggested the church should simply leave the communion.

The San Francisco-based Diocese of California, which blesses same-gender couples, said Tuesday that the church should not ”compromise the essentials of our theology or our polity.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican family, has been struggling ever since Robinson’s consecration to keep Anglicans unified.

Anglican leaders also suggested creating a special vicar for the minority of Episcopalians who reject the authority of Jefferts Schori, who supports gay relationships.

Jefferts Schori noted in her statement that the U.S. church has tended to focus on the suffering of gays and lesbians, which has been considered a rejection of traditional understanding of sexual morality in ”other parts of the global church.”

”Both parties hold positions that can be defended by appeal to our Anglican sources of authority _ Scripture, tradition and reason,” she said.

But she cautioned that a ‘’single-minded” focus from either side will ultimately hurt the church.

Already, the rift has taken a toll.

An estimated 45 U.S. parishes out of nearly 7,200 have broken away and affiliated with conservative Anglican churches overseas. Two prominent Virginia parishes, along with several smaller churches, have gone much further _ joining the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a rival U.S. church network created by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. Six U.S. dioceses have rejected Jefferts Schori’s leadership.

____

On the Net:

Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
Episcopal Leader Asks for Time
Lawyer:  Men Accusing Airman of Rape Lied
Canada Announces AIDS Vaccine Effort
Early Gay Rights Activist Dies

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) | 02/19/2007 07:49 PM

By MELISSA NELSON Associated Press Writer

An Air Force officer accused of raping four men and attempting to rape two others pleaded not guilty Monday at the opening of his court-martial.

Capt. Devery L. Taylor, former chief of patient administration at Eglin Regional Hospital, is accused of drugging and raping or trying to rape the men, four of whom were in the military, after meeting them in bars in Pensacola and on Okaloosa Island.

Taylor faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of all the charges against him: two counts of attempted sodomy, four counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful entry.

A military jury is scheduled to begin hearing testimony on Tuesday.

Prosecutors told Col. Thomas Cumbie, the military judge, that the victims described experiences similar to the effects of gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, also known as the date-rape drug.

Prosecutors said the men met Taylor at bars, had drinks and then blacked out.

Taylor’s civilian attorney, Martin Regan, said some of the men lied about consensual encounters with Taylor because they did not want to damage their military careers.

Four of the men were in the military when they met Taylor, and three still are, he said.

”Anybody on active duty is concerned about the impact that it would have on his military career,” Regan said.

Military members who acknowledge homosexual conduct are subject to disciplinary action including discharge or court-martial.

Defense attorneys asked the judge to limit testimony about GHB, saying that its effects were similar to that of alcohol and that none of the victims had traces of the drug in their bodies. Cumbie has delayed until Tuesday a ruling on testimony about the drug.

(Corrects number of alleged crimes to 4 rapes and 2 attempted rapes, and the number of servicemen to 4.)

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) | 02/19/2007 10:44 PM

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY Associated Press Writer

Anglican leaders demanded Monday that the U.S. Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops to undo the damage that North Americans have caused the Anglican family.

In a statement ending a tense six-day meeting, the leaders said that past pledges by Episcopalians for a moratorium on gay unions and consecrations have been so ambiguous that they have failed to fully mend ”broken relationships” in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church, the U.S. wing of world Anglicanism, must clarify its position by Sept. 30 or its relations with other Anglicans will remain ”damaged at best.”

”This has consequences for the full participation of the church in the life of the communion,” the leaders said.

The meeting in Tanzania was the latest of several attempts to keep Anglicans unified despite deep rifts over how they should interpret the Bible. The long-simmering debate erupted in 2003 when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Anglican traditionalists believe gay relationships violate Scripture and they have demanded that the U.S. church adhere to that teaching or face discipline.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence. They have accused theological conservatives of demanding a conformity among Anglicans that never before existed. The communion was founded in the 16th century by King Henry VIII and spread worldwide by the British Empire.

Discussions at the closed-door gathering this past week were so highly charged that drafting the final statement for the 38 Anglican provinces took hours longer than expected.

In 2005, Anglican leaders had asked the Episcopal Church to temporarily stop electing gay bishops and developing official prayer services for same-sex couples.

The top Episcopal policy making body, called General Convention, responded by asking church leaders to ”exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration” of candidates for bishop ”whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church.” The request is not binding.

On official prayer services, the convention rejected proposals for a churchwide liturgy for gay partners. However, a small number of U.S. dioceses have moved toward developing local prayers and some dioceses have allowed priests to conduct the ceremonies privately.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the communion, does not have direct authority to force a compromise. He said the requests contained in the document released Monday ”will certainly fall very short of resolving all the disputes, but will provide a way of moving forward with dignity.”

Canon Kendall Harmon of the Diocese of South Carolina, a leader among Episcopal traditionalists, said the document ”is not everything I would have wanted,” but he was encouraged that Anglican leaders ”made specific calls with specific deadlines.”

However, the advocacy group Integrity, which represents Episcopal gays and lesbians, accused the leaders of bigotry, and urged Episcopalians to lobby their bishops to reject the demands.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who supports gay relationships, said in a brief statement after she left the meeting that talks among Anglicans must continue.

The final statement from Anglican leaders expressed worry over feuding within the Episcopal Church and the wider communion. Some U.S. parishes have left the Episcopal Church to affiliate with Anglicans in Africa. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola has set up a network for conservative U.S. parishes as a rival to the Episcopal Church. Lawsuits have been filed over Virginia-area churches that joined with Akinola and want to take their property with them.

Anglican leaders called on all sides in the conflict to end their lawsuits and recommended the creation of a pastoral council and a special vicar to oversee the minority of conservative U.S. dioceses and parishes that feel they cannot accept Jefferts Schori’s leadership. Among the goals of the plan is to create an alternative so U.S. parishes stop affiliating with overseas Anglicans _ a violation of communion tradition.

Anglican leaders also released a draft set of common principles meant to allow Anglican provinces to remain independent, but recognize their actions have an impact on each other.

The proposed Anglican Covenant, which will likely be revised before it is finalized years from now, states that a church could lose full membership in ”extreme circumstances” but could take steps to regain its full member status.

___

On the Net:

The Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
Anglican Leaders Rule on Gay Bishops
FL Airman Pleads Not Guilty to Rape