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Today’s Top Headlines

Argentine Congress Considers Same-Sex Marriage
Setback for Group Fighting Gay Marriage in Maine
Georgetown Student Attacked for Gay T-Shirt
Bea Arthur Leaves $300K to Gay Youth

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A Georgetown student says she was attacked because of the gay rights t-shirt she was wearing. Police say she was targeted because of her perceived sexual orientation. Police say it happened Tuesday night near the school’s entrance on Canal Road. The female student says two men started insulting her with derogatory comments based on her perceived sexual orientation. Then, officers say, the men took her book bag, pushed her to the ground, and then struck her with the bag. Police say the student was not seriously injured in the attack and the two suspects got away.

Read the full story from WJLA-TV.

Is Argentina ready to become Latin America’s first nation to legalize gay marriage? Gay and lesbian activists think so — and they have a growing number of supporters in Congress, which opened debate Thursday on whether to change dozens of laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. “We can’t expect social equality if the state is legitimizing inequality,” said Maria Rachid, president of the Argentine Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Federation. “We now have the social and political context necessary to change the law.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

“Golden Girls” star Bea Arthur’s generosity lives on. The actress, who died in April, included a $300,000 donation to New York’s Ali Forney Center, an organization supporting homeless LGBT youth, in her will, leaving center Executive Director Carl Siciliano overwhelmed by her kindness. Siciliano said he knew of Arthur’s plan to include the center in her will, but never knew the amount. He had been struggling to keep the doors of the shelter open. The organization assists more than 1,000 people each year, providing shelter for those who had to leave home “for being who they are,” Siciliano said.

Read the full story from CNN.

The Maine attorney general is prodding a national group that fights same-sex marriage to reveal its donors by Election Day, after a federal judge on Wednesday denied the group’s request for a restraining order. Voters will decide on Tuesday whether to repeal Maine’s law allowing same-sex marriage, a ballot question that has been the focus of a heated battle this fall. As of last Friday, the group, the National Organization for Marriage, had supplied more than half of the $2.6 million raised for the repeal effort.

Read the full story from the New York Times.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

US Slams Uganda’s New Anti-Gay Bill
First Openly Gay US Attorney Begins Job in Wash.
Kenya to Launch Gay Census

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The US embassy in Kampala said on Thursday that if Uganda’s recently tabled Anti-Homosexuality Bill became law, it would mark a major setback in the promotion of human rights. “If adopted, a bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda,” the embassy’s public affairs officer, Joann Lockard, said in an e-mail. “We urge states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention.”

Read the full story from the Independent.

The new top federal prosecutor in Seattle knows the significance her role carries for many people: She’s apparently the nation’s first openly gay U.S. attorney. But as a daughter of privilege — her dad was a powerful Democratic state senator, and she had all the benefits of a comfortable upbringing and a good education — Jenny Durkan also recalls what someone once told her: “You’re the most non-diverse diverse person I know.” “I don’t think I can fully appreciate how important it is to many people to have someone in a role like this who is gay,” Durkan said this week in an interview with The Associated Press. “The more people are able to see people in situations where pretty soon that’s an invisible characteristic, the better it is for the entire community.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Kenya is to carry out a census of its gay population in an effort to bolster the fight against HIV/Aids – despite homosexuality being against the law. Nicholas Muraguri, head of Kenya’s Aids prevention programme Nascop, told the BBC it was vital that the government reached out to the gay community. He said gay people suffered from a lack of information about the disease. But analysts say many gay people will be afraid to come forward in a country where homosexuality can result in jail.

Read the full story from the BBC.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines
Obama Signs Bill Expanding Hate Crimes Law
Six More Arrests Over Liverpool Gay Attack
Chiefs’ Larry Johnson Apologizes for Gay Slur
Spokesman Says Scientologists Aren’t Anti-Gay

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President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a law that makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The expanded federal hate crimes law was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill that Obama signed at a packed White House ceremony. The hate crimes measure was named for Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in October 1998, and James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to death in Texas the same year. Shepard’s mother, Judy, was among those at the ceremony that also included Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Attorney General Eric Holder and leading members of Congress and the Pentagon, who were on hand for the appropriations bill signing.

Read the full story from CNN.

The Church of Scientology is responding to claims that the religion is anti-gay, an allegation made by “Crash” director Paul Haggis, who is publicly denouncing the church’s practices. “I don’t want any misunderstanding,” said Tommy Davis, a spokesperson for Scientology. “The church supports civil rights for everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, race, color or creed. We are a minority, too; we understand what it’s like to be persecuted, so to the extent that anything prohibits or inhibits on civil rights, we don’t agree with it.” This sounds quite different from claims Haggis made in a letter he wrote to Davis, which opened with the following paragraph: “As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California — rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state — shames us.”

Read the full story from MSNBC.

Six more youths have been arrested over a homophobic attack on a trainee police officer in Liverpool city centre. James Parkes, 22, was assaulted by up to 20 people outside Superstar Boudoir in Stanley Street on Sunday night. He suffered multiple skull fractures and is in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital, police said. The boys, one aged 13, two aged 15 and two aged 16, were arrested overnight and bailed. Another boy, 15, was arrested earlier. Six others have been bailed.

Read the full story from the BBC.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson issued an apology Tuesday and was told to stay away from the team while the NFL and the Chiefs complete their investigation into his use of a gay slur. As Johnson was releasing his apology, a national gay rights advocacy organization called on the league and the team to take disciplinary action against the two-time Pro Bowl player. The episode began Sunday night, when Johnson questioned Coach Todd Haley’s football credentials on his Twitter account.

Read the full story from the Los Angeles Times.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Military Ready To Lift Ban On Openly Gay Service
Obama to Sign Hate Crimes Bill Wednesday
Mass. Man Says Brazilian Husband Denied US Asylum
1,000 Domestic Partnerships Certified in Nevada

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