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Today’s Top Headlines

Pentagon Airs Criticism of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Lesbian Denied Insemination Settles Case
Vandalized Gay Billboard to be Restored

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A Memphis gay and lesbian group said it will restore its vandalized billboard and hold a rally Sunday against the vandalism. The billboard featured ex-Marine Tim Smith, who is now a student at the University of Memphis, in his uniform with the caption, “I’m gay and I protected your freedom,” the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Monday. Smith, 27, served from 2001 -2005 and was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq, but was outed by a pastor in Falkner, Miss., who knew Smith before his enlistment and felt it was his duty to expose him, the newspaper reported.

Read the full story from UPI.

A California woman has settled a lawsuit against her former doctors who denied her artificial insemination based on her sexual orientation. Guadalupe Benitez and spouse Joanne Clark sued doctors at North Coast Women’s Medical Group in Vista for discrimination in 2001. California’s highest court last year barred the Christian doctors from invoking religious beliefs, ruling state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession.

Read the full story from USA Today.

An article in the Pentagon’s top scholarly journal calls in unambiguous terms for lifting the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, arguing that the military is essentially forcing thousands of gay men and women to lead dishonest lives in an organization that emphasizes integrity as a fundamental tenet. The article in the upcoming issue of Joint Force Quarterly, which is published for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was written by an Air Force colonel who studied the issue for months while a student at the National Defense University in Washington and who concludes that having openly gay troops in the ranks will not hurt combat readiness.

Read the full story from the Boston Globe.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Ohio Anti-Discrimination Law Doomed in Senate
Transgender Attorney to Oppose Sally Kern
Atlanta Eagle Court Case Again Postponed
Cleveland Chosen to Host 2014 Gay Games IX

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The city of Cleveland, Ohio, USA, has been chosen by the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) to host the 2014 Gay Games. The announcement by the FGG comes after a year-long site selection process that culminated in formal presentations by bidding cities to the FGG Membership Assembly meeting this week in Cologne, Germany, site of the 2010 Gay Games. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and Washington, D.C., USA were the other two finalists.

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Four Atlanta Eagle employees appeared Tuesday in Municipal Court, charged with allowing dancers to perform without a license. It’s their second appearance. And, for the second time, a judge postponed the arraignment at the request of the prosecution. WABE’s Jim Burress has more. Judge Crystal Gaines gave both sides until November 3rd to work out an agreement, or she said the case could go to trial. Alan Begner represents the bar and its employees. He tells the Southern Voice his clients have no intention on pleading guilty.

Read the full story from WABE.

A state lawmaker who described homosexuality as a greater threat to the United States than terrorism will face a transgendered attorney in her next race for the state House. Democrat Brittany Novotny announced Sunday she will try to unseat Republican Rep. Sally Kern from the House District 84 seat in northwest Oklahoma City. Kern made national headlines in 2008 when she said the “homosexual agenda” is destroying the U.S. Earlier this year, she launched a campaign for a morality proclamation that criticizes the government for drifting from traditional Christian values.

Read the full story from KFSM.

Anti-discrimination legislation that easily passed the Democratic-controlled Ohio House earlier this month has no chance of passage in the GOP-led Senate because it’s seen as “anti-business,” state senators said last week. The House’s 56-39 vote on Sept. 15 for House Bill 176 marked the first time either chamber of the Ohio General Assembly approved a bill protecting equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Ohioans. Last year, similar legislation, Senate Bill 305, died in committee.

Read the full story from Cincinnati.com.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

NYPD Launches Investigation Regarding Anti-Gay Attack
Memphis Billboard Featuring Gay Soldier Vandalized
Germany Set to Get World’s First Openly Gay Foreign Minister
Rep. Barney Frank Biography Comes Out

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A book on U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) is set to hit book stores. “Barney Frank: The Story of America’s Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman” is due out tomorrow and is based on interviews with more the 150 people, including Frank. The bio by former House staffer Stuart Weisberg traces Frank from his working-class childhood in Bayonne, N.J., to Harvard and his career in politics. It discusses Frank’s role as a prominent, openly gay congressman and the sex scandal involving a male prostitute that nearly ended his career.

Read the full story from the Boston Herald.

On the day after the election Guido Westerwelle, 47, the leader of the pro-business Free Democrats, was clearly at pains to avoid betraying any signs of triumph. His demeanour at Monday’s post-election news conference seemed aimed at allaying fears of a center-right government. The FDP was above all “a party for all people,” he said. He promised it would deliver “solid” and “thorough” work. He sounded stiff and statesmanlike — just like Angela Merkel, who declared after the election that she would be “Chancellor of all Germans.” Westerwelle is tipped to become Germany first openly gay foreign minister but he refused to answer questions about FDP cabinet posts on Monday. An English-speaking reporter asked him at Monday’s news conference to say in English what changes he would make as foreign minister.

Read the full story from Speigel.

A Memphis billboard featuring a gay soldier was ripped to shreds by vandals Friday night. The billboard was part of a campaign for National Coming Out Day, which takes place annually on October 11. The campaign’s purpose is to promote understanding of issues affecting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community in the Mid-South. The billboard located at Poplar and High near Downtown Memphis pictured a marine and read,”I’m gay and I protected your freedom.” Police have not said whether there are suspects in custody.

Read the full story from WLBT.

Yesterday we reported on an anti-gay attack that occurred in Hell’s Kitchen this past Friday night. WPLJ DJ Blake Hayes (pictured), cabaret and Broadway performer Danny Calvert, and another friend were attacked by a patron of McCoy’s bar; they claim the police officers who showed up refused to take their attacker’s information, or let them file a claim. They also expressed concern that McCoy’s bouncer (who stopped the attack) allowed the attacker back into the bar.

Read the full story from the Gothamist.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Gay Couples as Fit to Adopt as Heterosexuals
Serbia Seeks Far-Right Bans After Gay Pride Threat
ELCA Feeling Backlash From Vote on Gay Clergy
Suspect in Gay Hate-Crime Arrested at Airport

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