06.10.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 4:17 pm by pikapp44
A dozen LGBT students at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, including student Andy Swenson, have formed an informal gay-straight alliance on campus, Newsweek reports.
Swenson and others are bent on gaining official club status for their GSA, but that may be harder than it sounds. Bethel University is a college founded on strict evangelical Christian theology. A spokeswoman from the college explained to Newsweek that “a student group can’t conflict with our mission or core values.”
Bethel U isn’t the only university taking matters into their own hands. According to Newsweek, the penalties for “homosexual activities” at Southern Baptist Union University in Jackson, Tennessee include a fine, community service, counseling, probation, and parental notification.
The hope for Swenson and others like him lies in activist groups like Soulforce, which travels the nation working with Christian and gay students to combat homophobia on college campuses. According to the LGBT group it is committed to “cutting off homophobia at its source – religious bigotry.”
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06.05.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 1:15 pm by pikapp44
Former Georgia senator Sam Nunn, who was one of the primary lawmakers involved in the passage of the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, on Tuesday called on the government to review the law. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is widely seen by gays as infringing on their right to free expression.
As reported in the Journal Constitution, Nunn added, “People don’t understand that that was the beginning point. We basically made it possible for people to serve honorably in the military without lying on the application.”
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06.04.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 6:42 pm by pikapp44
Same-sex marriages in California can begin this month, declared the state’s supreme court on Wednesday.
In a 4-3 vote, the justices rejected a request by conservative groups to stay their May 15 ruling legalizing same-sex marriages until voters have a chance to vote on their legality in the November election, reported the Los Angeles Times. With the court’s refusal to stay its ruling, California counties can begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning June 17.
An initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage — and nullify the court’s decision — has qualified for the November ballot, California’s secretary of state announced Monday.
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06.03.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 11:59 am by pikapp44
M.V. Lee Badgett, research director at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law, estimates that gay weddings could add $370 million to the state economy over the next three years, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.
Wedding planners, bakers, florists, caterers, and hotels have already noticed an uptick in business since the California supreme court’s May 15 decision to overturn a state ban on gay marriage.
The estimate is based on the assumption that about half of California’s 92,000 same-sex couples will get married and that those couples will spend approximately $8,040 on their weddings.
The $370 million figure is a rough estimate since no one can accurately predict how many gay couples will actually tie the knot nor how much couples will spend on their weddings.
The figure could be smaller since the supreme court ruling could be nullified. State officials are currently verifying petition signatures for a proposed November 4 ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.
If the supreme court does not stay its ruling, California counties can begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning June 17.
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