Mardi Gras Style Support

Last night in Detroit, board member Adam Taylor, was a volunteer on hand supporting the fundraiser So We Think We Can Party, at the Roostertrail in Detroit. The event started at 7pm and went until 11pm, with a roughly 350 supporters coming in the theme of Madri Gras outfits. People in attendance ranged greatly. Openly gay City Councilmen Charles Pugh was there, ACLU lawyers, triangle and Michigan equality board members, volunteers, community members and even campaign staffer Patrick McAlvey, who is a openly gay man and working for Virg for Governor.

Patrick statement for attendance was to mark the merger of the two state wide LBGT non profits Triangle Foundation and Michigan Equality. He stated: Excited about the merger of Michigan Equality & Triangle Foundation – it’s time for Michigan’s LGBT community to have a unified, state-wide voice!

More at: Michigan Democratic Party LGBTA Caucus!

Instructor Accused of Anti-Gay Bias

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint with Fresno City College, charging that a health instructor is giving religious instruction with an anti-gay bias, in violation of the separation of church and state. The instructor could not be reached for comment and the college says only that it is investigating. The ACLU’s letter says that the instructor, Bradley Lopez, regularly uses the Bible as a text on health issues, called homosexuality an illness for which recommended treatments include counseling and hormones, cited the Bible to explain why abortion should be viewed as murder, and told students that abortion is the leading cause of death in the United States.

More at: Inside Higher Ed!

Federal Court Upholds Ten Commandments Display

It looks like the religious right’s claws are in a little deeper than I thought…and perhaps it’s time for a “tea-party” to build a wall of separation of church and state!

From Atheist News and Views:

Last week the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision in ACLU of Kentucky v. Grayson County, Kentucky, overturning a district court’s holding that a Ten Commandments display in a county courthouse violated the Establishment Clause. The Appeals Court’s decision is the latest in a string of judicial opinions effecting a major shift in American church-state jurisprudence.

The majority in Grayson focused on the context of the Ten Commandments display, emphasizing that it appeared alongside eight other documents, purportedly installed in the courthouse to illustrate the documents’ historical legalimportance. Alongside the Ten Commandments, the display included the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Star Spangled Banner, among other documents. The majority concluded that the ACLU had failed to prove that the county had a primarily religious purpose in approving the display, and that an objective observer would not view the display as a government endorsement of religion.

In her lone dissent, Judge Karen Nelson Moore stated that the County’s asserted purpose for posting the display – “that the Display was posted for educational or historical reasons – is a sham and should be rejected.” She concluded that the display, in the context of the record of its adoption by the county, unmistakably sent a message of endorsement of religion. Judge Moore cited the minutes from a Grayson County Fiscal Court meeting, in which a local reverend, Chester Shartzer, asked the county to place “the Ten Commandments” in county buildings; Reverend Shartzer’s statement that “the Civil Liberties [sic] will look more favorable [sic] toward [hanging the Ten Commandments] if they were hanging in a grouping with other historical documents”; and “an extensive commentary by the Reverend Shartzer about the need for the Display,” the contents of which the Fiscal Court failed to record. According to Judge Moore, this record shows that the additional eight documents in the display are mere window dressing, placed to convey the illusion that the county’s predominant purpose in erecting the Ten Commandments display was secular.

More here!

Does Your State Protect GLBT Students from Bullying?

Does your state protect GLBT students from anti-gay bullying at school? If it is like 42 American states, it doesn’t! According to the ACLU,

“Just as the school year ended, Oregon passed a law adding sexual orientation and gender identity/expression to its anti-bullying law, becoming the seventh state to specifically protect LGBT students from harassment. One month later, North Carolina became the eighth state to do so, when Governor Beverly Purdue signed that state’s first anti-bullying law. The Minnesota legislature passed a similar bill, but it was vetoed by Governor Tim Pawlenty, who had previously said he would sign it. The New York Assembly passed LGBT-specific anti-bullying legislation, but the bill died in the Senate. Bills were also introduced in Arizona, Michigan, Missouri and Virginia.”

More at: Ellen’s GLBT Teens Blog!

Charleston, S.C. Passes Pro-Gay Rights Law

The South Carolina city of Charleston became the second in the state to approve GLBT anti-discrimination protections.

Columbus had approved such measures previously. Charleston both widened the scope of its existing anti-discrimination law regarding housing, and added a new ordinance to prevent discrimination in public accommodation that covered the civil rights spectrum, from age and race to gender identity and sexual orientation, reported local news station WCBD, an NBC affiliate, on Nov. 24.

The news station reported that the ordinances were brought to the city’s mayor. Joseph P. Riley, last summer by a group of local GLBT equality and human rights organizations, including the South Carolina chapters of the Stonewall Democrats and the Log Cabin Republicans, the American Civil Liberties Union, and South Carolina Equality. The article noted that those organizations had also promoted similar protections in Columbus.

“It’s a step forward in the right direction in making sure that we are not discriminating against anyone,” said Council Member Gary White.

More at: Edge Boston!

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