National
National news in brief: Jan. 13
Was death of Fla. drum major result of gay bashing? FBI includes men in definition of rape, N.C. official resigns over marriage vote, and more
Fla. drum major hazing death a gay bashing?
TALLAHASSEE — A member of the prestigious Florida A&M Marching 100 drum major may have been targeted for deadly hazing because he was gay, say several friends and LGBT organizations, according to a CNN blog.
Robert Champion was severely beaten on a team bus on the way back from a football game in November as part of a ritual hazing. On Monday, family attorney Chris Chestnut revealed that several friends and family members say Champion was gay, and some believe he may have been targeted for more severe treatment than other team members.
“The civil rights community can no longer stand on the sidelines while our sons and daughters continue to suffer in silence,” said National Black Justice Coalition executive director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks in a statement calling for hate crime charges on Monday. “Mr. Champion is one of our own and his death will not be in vain.”
The family is suing the bus company that they allege ignored the attack that a medical examiner ruled a homicide.
Alan Cumming married his partner in New York on the fifth anniversary of their UK civil partnership. (photo by Christopher Macsurak via Wikimedia Commons)
FBI changes definition of ‘rape’ to include men
WASHINGTON — Until recently, the FBI only collected statistics on female victims of rape. With last week’s changes, however, the FBI will now begin including male victims of rape in those numbers.
Last week the FBI changed the definition of rape to ‘any forced penetration,’ to include male victims. This will help authorities better understand the impact of rape on victims, as well as allow the FBI to offer better resources to male victims of rape.
“If you can’t measure it accurately, you can’t monitor it, and you can’t direct appropriate resources to deal with the problem,” said Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women’s Law Project, according to USA Today.
N.C. official resigns over marriage ballot measure
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The director of elections for suburban Harnett County, N.C. resigned this week in protest of a ballot measure that asks voters to ban legal recognition of same-sex couples in that state’s constitution.
In an interview with influential LGBT blogger Pam Spaulding, former director Sherre Toler, whose county sits adjacent to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg, said she resigned after the legislature forced the ballot measure, saying “I cannot and will not be a party to such actions.”
“Discrimination is discrimination in whatever form it takes,” Toler responded when asked whether or not her analogy of comparing the amendment to voting on interracial marriage was a fair comparison.
Toler expressed hope for the defeat of the amendment and called on other elections officials to follow her lead.
Mizrahi, Cumming each celebrate weddings
NEW YORK — Fashion designer Issac Mizrahi married Brad Goresky, his partner of six years, in New York recently.
“We didn’t want to get married until they said we could in New York,” the Project Runway star told an ecstatic Wendy Williams last week. “We were terrified, so we decided to elope in City Hall.”
Meanwhile, also in New York, Broadway star Alan Cumming married his partner Grant Shaffer on the fifth anniversary of their U.K. civil union, choosing the Soho Grand Hotel over City Hall.
“I just got married!!!!!” the star tweeted over the weekend. “On the 5th anniversary of our wedding in London Grant and I tied the knot again in NYC!!! #eatmericksantorum.”
Two icons of HIV/AIDS activism die
This week, the HIV/AIDS advocacy community lost two major players from the movement.
Unitarian Universalist minister Robert Franke, who in 2009 fought his eviction from a Little Rock retirement community after they discovered he was HIV positive, died Monday at 78. The retired university provost brought attention to issues faced by HIV-positive seniors, a growing demographic as advancements in treatments are made. With the help of Lambda Legal, Franke settled with the company late in 2010.
In addition, Chicago ACT-UP icon Frank Sieple passed away suddenly last week, according to veteran gay journalist Rex Wockner. He was 51.
“I was questioning authority when I was 14,” Sieple told Wockner in an Advocate interview in 1990. “I realized I needed to speak out in the streets if I wanted to see change in my lifetime.”
“We know there are drugs to prolong lives and the knowledge out there to find a cure.”
Federal Government
US Census Bureau testing survey on LGBTQ households
Agency proposing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity
The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking public comment on a proposed test of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the American Community Survey. The test would begin this summer and continue into next year.
The Census Bureau published the request as a Federal Register notice. In its press release the agency noted that the ACS is an ongoing survey that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data. It allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
As part of the process for adding new questions to the ACS, the Census Bureau tests potential questions to evaluate the quality of the data collected.
The Census Bureau proposes testing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to meet the needs of other federal agencies that have expressed interest in or have identified legal uses for the information, such as enforcing civil rights and equal employment measures.
The test would follow the protocols of the actual ACS — with one person asked to respond to the survey on behalf of the entire household. These particular questions are asked about people 15 years of age or older. Households are invited to respond to the survey online, by paper questionnaire or by phone.
The current Federal Register notice gives the public a final opportunity to provide feedback before the Census Bureau submits its recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The public may provide feedback through May 30 online.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
In a statement shared via the Human Rights Campaign, Shepard said, “This unexpected honor has been very humbling for me, Dennis, and our family. What makes us proud is knowing our President and our nation share our lifelong commitment to making this world a safer, more loving, more respectful, and more peaceful place for everyone.
“I am grateful to everyone whose love and support for our work through the years has sustained me.
“If I had the power to change one thing, I can only dream of the example that Matt’s life and purpose would have shown, had he lived. This honor reminds the world that his life, and every life, is precious.”
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with the Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
“Judy Shepard has been a champion for equality and President Biden’s choice to honor her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a testament to what she’s done to be a force of good in the world,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
“A mother who turned unspeakable grief over the loss of her son into a decades-long fight against anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and violence, Judy continues to make a lasting impact in the lives of the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.
“It is because of her advocacy that the first federal hate crimes legislation became law and that countless life-saving trainings, resources and conversations about equality and acceptance are provided each year by the Matthew Shepard Foundation,” Robinson said. “We are honored that Judy is a member of the HRC family and know that her work to create a more inclusive and just world will only continue.”
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality — about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
“It is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.”
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