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Today’s Top Headlines

Washington OKs Out-of-State Same-Sex Unions
Malaysia’s First Gay Film is a Box Office Hit
Police Release Surveillance Video Of NYC Hate Crime
Outed Gay Sailor Faces Discharge

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The NYPD have a new clue in an alleged hate crime attack on a gay man in the West Village over the weekend. Police released new surveillance video of two men beating Damian Furtch, 26, when he left a McDonald’s at West 3rd Street and Sixth Avenue. Police said two men shouted gay slurs in the 4:30 a.m. attack on Sunday. Furtch, who had just moved to New York from California, posted Facebook pictures of his injuries which include two black eyes and multiple stitches. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the attack was “upsetting” and “deeply disappointing,” especially since it happened “in a neighborhood where the LGBT civil rights movement was really born.”

Read the full story from CBS.

Malaysia’s first gay-themed movie has been a hit at the box office but an official from the conservative Islamic party Thursday called for it to be banned despite its anti-homosexual ending. “Dalam Botol” (“Inside a Bottle”) raked in one million ringgit ($330,000) in the first five days, making it a local hit, the Star daily reported, despite Malaysia’s conservative views on homosexuality. The movie, which opened on March 24, features a gay male character who has a sex-change operation to please his lover but finally regrets the procedure. It ends with him falling in love with a girl.

Read the full story from AFP.

The state Legislature has approved a measure that would make Washington the fourth in the country to recognize out-of-state domestic partnerships. On a 28-19 vote, the Washington Senate cleared the last hurdle for the bill, which now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire for a signature. Under the measure, gay marriages performed elsewhere would be recognized as domestic partnerships in Washington, as would domestic partnerships performed in other states.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Police Investigate NYC Beating As Possible Hate Crime
Log Cabin Republicans Sue for Immediate end to DADT
Report Identifies Disparities Among Gay Elderly Residents in California
Barney Frank Brings Back ENDA

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U.S. Representative Barney Frank revived a signature piece of legislation today that bars workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people, but acknowledged that the bill has little chance of passing this session. The Newton Democrat has introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act every session for decades. Today’s announcement was subdued, given the bill’s near certainty of failure. “I will acknowledge at the outset that the likelihood of the Republican Congress adopting it in the House is small, but it is still very important to have it introduced,” he said.

Read the full story from the Boston Globe.

Older lesbian, gay and bisexual California residents have higher rates of chronic diseases and mental health issues than their heterosexual peers, according to a report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The report found that older lesbian and bisexual women were more likely to put off care and that elderly gay and bisexual men had higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and psychological stress. The report says that a higher degree of cultural competency and sensitivity is needed among health care providers to improve care quality for older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults.

Read the full story from the California Health Line.

Gay rights advocates on Monday filed a challenge to a request by the Obama administration to keep the repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in place while the Pentagon prepares for an end to the ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the military. In a brief filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, lawyers for gay political group Log Cabin Republicans said keeping the policy in place was “absurd.” At issue is the constitutionality of Congress allowing the policy to stay in effect to give the Pentagon time to train troops and take other steps outlined in December when lawmakers repealed the 1993 law that put the ban in place. Under the new policy, the restrictions remain until the Pentagon certifies that the change won’t damage combat readiness.

Read the full story from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Police are looking for two men in a possible anti-gay hate crime in the beating of a man outside of a Greenwich Village McDonald’s last weekend. Police said two men shouted gay slurs while beating Damian Furtch, 26, outside the fast food restaurant on West Third Street and Sixth Avenue around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Furtch, who had just moved to New York from California, posted Facebook pictures of his injuries which include two black eyes and multiple stitches.

Read the full story from CBS.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Indiana Senate Approves Banning Gay Marriage
Opposing Same-Sex Marriage May Cost People Jobs
US Puts Hold on Gay Couple Visa Cases
RI Attorney General Files Civil Rights Complaint

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Rhode Island’s attorney general has filed a civil rights complaint against a Johnston man who he says repeatedly hurled homophobic and racist epithets at a gay neighbor and a neighbor with a bi-racial child. The complaint, filed Monday, alleges that Vincent Smith’s behavior drove Jennifer Piscione — a single mother — to move out of her condo in January 2010. The complaint also says that Smith made homophobic remarks to Roger DiTusa, a gay neighbor, on about two dozen occasions over the course of two years. It says Smith was arrested in March for smashing the sliding glass door in DiTusa’s condominium.

Read the full story from the Boston Herald.

The U.S. government will no longer automatically deny applications for immigration benefits for same-sex couples, opting to put them on hold until it gets some legal advice on the Obama administration’s decision to stop defending the law that prohibits gay marriage. The decision to put off deciding the fate of applications for immigration benefits from gays and lesbians married to U.S. citizens is not a change in policy, said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Until USCIS announced the temporary change, applications for immigration benefits for foreign nationals married to a U.S. citizen of the same gender were automatically denied because the Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal.

At the “Rediscover God in America” fundraiser for hate group-associated Florida Family Policy Council Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, soon-to-be presidential candidate Mike Huckabee spoke against same-sex marriage and told the audience that “marriage still means that a man marries a woman” and claimed that sticking to that belief may cost some people their jobs. Saying, “Will it [supporting only traditional marriage] perhaps even cost me my job? Possibly,” while encouraging his audience to stand firm, Huckabee urged them to become “spiritual warriors.”

Read the full story from The New Civil Rights Movement.

The Indiana Senate approved a proposed amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions this afternoon by a vote of 40-10. If the General Assembly passes the measure again in 2013 or 2014, it would go to the voters in 2014, before the state constitution can be amended. The Indiana House already approved the measure. Democratic Sen. Tim Lanane of Anderson argued that attitudes toward same-sex marriages are rapidly changing and the amendment would make it difficult for future changes in state law.

Read the full story from IndyStar.com.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

NYC Transgender People Sue Over Excessive Name Change Requirements
Magazine Launch for Gay Soldiers Announced
WWE Announcer Apologizes for Gay Slur
Illinois Sheriff Admits Ethnic, Anti-Gay Slur on Facebook

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