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Today’s Top Headlines

Citibank Apologizes for Blocking Funds of Gay Social Networking Site
Uganda’s Gays Fight Back Against Crackdown
Austin Civic Leaders Rally Against Attack on Gay Men

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Two Austin City Council members joined Equality Texas on Thursday to speak out against hate crime after a reported attack on two gay men this past weekend. The assault has drawn attention because the victims, Matthew Morgan and Emmanuel Winston , said their attackers used slurs related to their sexual orientation during the attack. “This has to stop,” Chuck Smith, deputy director of gay rights advocacy group Equality Texas , said during Thursday’s news conference at City Hall.

Read the full story from the Austin American Statesman.

Citibank apologized Thursday evening to a gay social-networking service that claimed bank employees had blocked its account for “objectionable content” on the site. In a statement, the bank said it “sincerely apologizes to [Jason] Goldberg for this misunderstanding. This situation had nothing to do with the content of his web site and any comments by our staff to the contrary were incorrect; we are reviewing what happened.” But questions remain about the bank’s policies; Deal Journal reported last week that a business selling underwear online was denied a Citi account because of the bank’s concerns about content.

Read the full story from the Wall Street Journal.

Even as Uganda’s parliament considers the Anti-Homosexuality Bill — which calls for the death penalty for some gay acts — a group of about 100 Ugandan gays and lesbians held a secret meeting to determine how to stand up for their rights. The clandestine conference was held a hotel function room in downtown Kampala last week and was titled “Standing on the side of Love, Re-imagining Valentine’s Day.” Organized by the Rev. Mark Kiyimba of the Ugandan Unitarian Universalist Church, and financially supported by the Austria Foundation, the meeting was a strategy session to discuss how to respond to the bill. The participants resolved to petition the Ugandan Speaker of Parliament to scrap the bill and to instead move to decriminalize homosexuality.

Read the full story from the Huffington Post.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Australian Senate Rejects Gay Marriage Bill
UK Prime Minister Pledges to Stand With Gay People
US Defense Chiefs Voice Concerns Over Lifting Gay Ban
HUD Seeks Help with Anti-Gay Discrimination Study

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The Australian Senate has comprehensively defeated a bid to legalise gay marriage, although a third of the senators did not turn up for the vote. Before the gay pride Mardi Gras in Sydney this weekend, the bill was rejected by 45 votes to five, with only the Greens voting to liberalise the marriage laws. But some of the senators who were absent from the chamber are uncomfortable with their party’s official policies opposing a move to let gay couples marry.

Read the full story from The Age.

Gordon Brown has pledged to stand with gay people until justice was achieved. The prime minister said progress had been made because the Government had “fought together” with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. But he promised not to give up on the campaign. “Tonight we reaffirm our commitment, my commitment, the commitment of the Government to standing with you all until the full range of gay rights are achieved,” he said. “When we started as a Government on this journey, people said the dreams that we had together were impossible.”

Read the full story from UKPA.

The US Army and Air Force chiefs voiced doubts Tuesday about lifting a ban on gays serving openly in the military, saying now was not the time to make the change in the midst of two wars. The comments by the US Army’s top-ranking officer, General George Casey, and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, reflected apprehension among some senior officers after President Barack Obama urged an end to the ban last month.

Read the full story from AFP.

When federal officials studied housing discrimination based on race, the setup was simple: They sent in testers of different backgrounds and gauged how landlords and real estate agents treated people of color compared with whites. As the government prepares a first-ever study of housing discrimination against gays, however, the issue is more complex. How do you design a study to make an applicant’s sexual orientation or gender identity as obvious as race and color?

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Maryland to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages Performed Elsewhere
Marine Corps: Study Gay Ban But Don’t Hurt Force
Clay Aiken to Give Speech in N.C. About Gay Rights
Hate Crime Charges in Beating of Gay Man on Chicago Train

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Attorneys for three Evanston men charged with a hate crime for beating up a gay man on the CTA argued that the man was targeted for intervening in another fight — and not because of his sexual orientation. For at least a few minutes this afternoon, a Cook County judge agreed the case wasn’t an example of a hate crime — as Cook County prosecutors had contended. But an exasperated Assistant State’s Attorney Erin Antonietti repeated how Sean Little, Kevin McAndrew and Benjamin Eder taunted Daniel Hauff with the slur “faggot” and asked him whether they’d get AIDS due to his sexual orientation in the Jan. 10 incident. Judge Ramon Ocasio III then reversed his decision to drop hate crime charges.

Read the full story from the Chicago Sun Times.

The Marine Corps commandant said Wednesday that the ability of U.S. troops to fight and win wars must trump other concerns as the nation considers whether to let gays to serve openly in the military. In testimony before a House committee, Gen. James Conway said he supports a Pentagon assessment to determine how to lift the ban. But he also suggested that civil rights ultimately would have to take a back seat if it meant tampering with the military’s ability to protect the country. “That’s what they have been built to do under the current construct and I would argue that we’ve done a pretty good job bringing that to pass,” he told the House Armed Services Committee.

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

More than a year after disclosing he is gay, Clay Aiken is speaking before a gay-rights event in his hometown. Aiken will deliver a speech about gay rights this weekend at the Human Rights Campaign Carolinas gala in Raleigh, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday. Actress Meredith Baxter, who recently said she is a lesbian, also will deliver a speech.

Read the full story from USA Today.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) said Wednesday that effective immediately, and until challenged in court, the state recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and that Maryland agencies should begin affording out-of-state gay couples all the rights they have been awarded in other places. “State agencies in Maryland will recognize out-of-state gay marriages as of right now,” Gansler said at a news conference explaining the effect of a long-awaited opinion he released Wednesday morning.

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Quebec Group Files Complaint Over Anti-Gay Olympics Comments
Senior Anglican Bishops Want Gay Weddings in Churches
West Virginia House Republicans Plan to Force Vote on Gay Marriage
Missouri University Board Member Resigns After Gay Slur

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