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Today’s Top Headlines

Iowa Legislative Leaders Vow No Action on Gay Marriage
Alameda School Board Adopts Respect-Gays Class
Aviator Hopes Gay Ban Will End Soon Enough for Him
Gay Man Beaten at Ohio Bar

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Same-sex marriage will not be an issue in next year’s legislative session, said the highest-ranking Democrats from both chambers of the Iowa legislature. “Our goal is, hopefully for a long time, to do nothing on this issue,” Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, said. “To let people know that on April 3 there was a ruling, and on April 27 there were a lot of people who said the end of the world was coming. Well, it’s a month later, and the sun is still shining, the grass is still green and people are enjoying their lives and living in more dignity because of what’s happened.”

Read the full story from the Iowa Independent.

Warren County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a disturbing attack that left a young man bloodied, his nose shattered. Investigators want to know if it is a hate crime. The victim is gay. The assault happened at a Maineville Bar. Local 12 reporter Shawn Ley shows us why this investigation is far from over. Ronnie Robertson’s nose is broken, he has deep cuts and scratches around his eyes and cheeks. The 31 year old Mainville man is openly gay, his friends saying he’s regretting not going to a gay bar Tuesday night.

Read the full story form LOCAL12.com.

The Alameda school board narrowly adopted an elementary school anti-bully curriculum Tuesday night intended to teach respect for gay and lesbian families and students. Cheers erupted in Alameda City Hall as the school board completed its 3-2 vote, becoming one of only a handful of Bay Area school districts – including those in San Francisco, Hayward and San Leandro – to specifically mention respect for lesbians and gays in its curriculum. Teachers will begin to use the words “lesbian” and “gay” in fourth-grade classes.

Read the full story from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Barack Obama’s campaign promise to scrap the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy gave Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach hope. Now the aviator is wondering if the president will deliver in time to save his 18-year Air Force career. The winner of nine air medals for distinguished service in flight, including one for heroism the night U.S. forces captured Baghdad International Airport in 2003, Fehrenbach is in the process of getting kicked out of the military a year after an acquaintance told his bosses he was gay. He thought he could hang on until the government eliminated the military’s policy forcing gays and lesbians to keep their sexual orientation secret, but now he isn’t so sure.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

 

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Today’s Top Five Headlines

Gay Groups Say Federal Marriage Lawsuit Premature
Murder and Torture of Iraqi Gay Men Continues
Group Aims to Block D.C. Marriage Bill
Episcopal Church Ousts 61 Clergy In Gay Bishop Dispute
Openly Gay Teen Voted Prom Queen

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National leaders of the Episcopal Church have ousted 61 clergy who aligned with a former bishop in California when he broke with the national church in a dispute over the Bible and homosexuality. Former Bishop John-David Schofield led the Diocese of San Joaquin to become the first full diocese to secede from the U.S. denomination in 2007. Four years earlier, Episcopalians consecrated their first openly gay bishop, setting off a wide-ranging debate within the church and upsetting conservative congregations. Schofield ultimately was removed as head of the diocese and barred from performing any religious rites. He maintains he is an Anglican bishop under the worldwide church.

Read the full story from Huffington Post.

Gay rights advocates Wednesday blasted two veteran attorneys for filing a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, saying the move is premature and could be disastrous for the marriage movement. While they knew of the objections, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies – who opposed each other during the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election case – filed the suit Friday in San Francisco on behalf of two same-sex couples who wanted to be married but were denied because of Prop. 8.

Read the full story from the San Francisco Chronicle.

A coalition of ministers and same-sex marriage opponents formally requested a citywide referendum yesterday to block the District from recognizing gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions, setting the stage for a heated legal and political battle over the issue this summer. In paperwork filed with the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, the group Stand 4 Marriage D.C. said it wants to begin the process of collecting about 21,000 signatures needed to overturn the bill that the D.C. Council overwhelmingly approved this month recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. That bill is tentatively scheduled to take effect in July.

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

Two gay men were killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, and police confirmed they found the bodies of four more men, all killed during a 10-day period after an unknown Shiite militia group urged a crackdown on homosexuals in the country. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs believes as many as 30 people have been killed during the last three months because they were — or were perceived to be — gay. In a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the human rights group Amnesty International called for “urgent and concerted action” to end the violence against the gay community, the group reported on its Web site.

Read the full story from ABC.

An openly gay man was voted prom queen at Los Angeles’ Fairfax High School in a campaign that began as a stunt but ended up spurring discussion on campus about gender roles and teen popularity. Sergio Garcia, 18, was crowned queen Saturday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. In his tiara and charcoal-gray tuxedo, Garcia said he felt invincible. A few days earlier, he gave a speech that won over some cynics and led to an ovation and his unlikely victory. He says fliers about the prom didn’t say the queen had to be a girl. He adds that he doesn’t wish to be a girl, he just wants to be himself.

Read the full story from the Silicon Valley Mercury News.

 

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Today’s Top Five Headlines

Prop. 8 to be Challenged in Federal Court
NH Lawmakers Negotiating Gay Marriage Changes
Thousands Protest Prop. 8 Ruling
Majority of RI Voters Favor Gay Marriage Law
Scottish Church Approves Gay Moratorium

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A survey has found that more than half of Rhode Island voters favor a law allowing gay marriage. A Brown University poll released Wednesday shows 60 percent of registered voters in the state said they would support a law allowing gay couples to marry. Thirty-one percent said they were opposed. Bills to legalize gay marriage in the state are before legislative committees in both the House and Senate.

Read the full story from the Guardian.

The Church of Scotland has approved a two-year moratorium on homosexual ministers and a ban on open discussion of the issue. The vote Monday night came two days after the church’s General Assembly approved the admission of an openly gay minister by a 326-267 vote, The Times of London reported. The moratorium does not affect Scott Rennie’s appointment to Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen.

Read the full story from UPI.

From near death to revival, a plan to legalize gay marriage in New Hampshire just won’t go away. The state Senate agreed Wednesday to negotiate a compromise with the House on protections for religious institutions and their workers that Gov. John Lynch says he must have to sign a gay marriage bill. Last week, the House fell two votes short of passing the protections. Opponents are lobbying Lynch to veto gay marriage if the bill reaches him.

Read the full story from FOX44.