I
continued from previous page
like other forms of hatred, are not wel
come in the U.K.”
In the last weekend in February, the
Westboro Baptist Church was due to
picket another production of “The
Laramie Project,” the widely acclaimed
documentary play about the brutal
murder of gay student Matthew
Shepard.
The production was being staged at
the Per/orming Arts Center at
Dominican University in River Forest, a
suburb of Chicago. Students at the uni
versity had vowed to stage a “silent”
counter-protest.
“[All the students] have been sick
since they first heard about the Phelps’
plans and saw their website to check it
out. They couldn’t beUeve the hateful talk
on it,” a spokesperson told UK Gay News
by email.
The Westboro Baptist Church congre
gation is made-up from the extended
Phelps family — Fred Phelps has 12 chil
dren who are all adults. The group is
based in Topeka, Kan.
In addition to their notorious pickets
at productions of “The Laramie Project,”
they also demonstrate at funerals of those
who die from AIDS. The church’s most
infamous demonstrations are at funerals
of military personnel who have been
killed while serving their country in Iraq
and Afghanistan. .
— by Andy Harley. UKGayNews.org.uk
3T1
National News
by David Stout Q-Notes staff
Mayor sued for anti-gay bias
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Lambda Legal has
joined a First Amendment lawsuit filed by
Central Alabama Pride (CAP) against Mayor
Larry Langford, who interfered with the
group’s right to free speech last summer when
he directed city work
ers to treat CAP differ
ently than other
groups are treated.
CAP has held a gay
pride parade through
the streets of
Birmingham every
year since 1987, and its
Pride banners have
been displayed on city
poles in accordance
with municipal policy
that extends this
opportunity to a vari
ety of organizations
when they have events
taking place in the city. However, in May of
2008, the mayor announced that he would nei
ther sign a proclamation nor provide a permit
for gay pride based on his rehgious beliefs that
do not “condone that lifestyle choice.”
Obama selects his AIDS Czar
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack
Obama has tapped Jeffrey S. Crowley to head
the Office of National AIDS Policy. Crowley, a
Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown
Center for Lesbian
Rights (NCLR) Legal
Director Shannon
Price Minter
University’s Health Policy Institute and an
openly gay man, will coordinate the federal
government’s efforts on HIV/AIDS policy and
will help guide the administration’s develop
ment of disability policies. Prior to his time at
Georgetown, Mr. Crowley served as the Deputy
Executive Director for Programs at the National
Association of People with A'lDS, overseeing the
organization’s public education, community
development and training activities.
Lawyer awarded for marriage win
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — National
Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Legal
Director Shannon Price Minter and San
Francisco Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese
M. Stewart have been recognized as Attorneys
of the Year by California Lawyer magazine.
Stewart and Minter were recognized for their
achievements in the fight for marriage equali
ty in California. Minter has guided NCLR’s liti
gation and program work for over 10 years. He
has been lead counsel'in dozens of ground
breaking legal victories, including the
California gay marriage case.
Gay immigration bill reintroduced
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gay and civil
rights groups applauded the reintroduction of
the Uniting American Families Act, which
would grant binational same-sex couples
equal treatment under immigration laws by
allowing them to sponsor their partner for
immigration purposes. The bill'is sponsored
by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Task Force Action
Fund, a longtime supporter of the measure, is
working closely with Immigration Equality
and other ally organizations to garner con
gressional and presidential support for the
legislation.
Dad fights court’s gay restriction,
ATLANTA, Ga. — In a case currently
before the Georgia Supreme Court, gay dad
Eric Mongerson is disputing a child custody
agreement restriction which prohibits him
from “exposing his children to his homosexual
partners and friends.” “The Court should do
what it always does in divorce cases with cus
tody issues, which is to focus on the needs of
the children — placing a blanket ban on‘expo
sure’ to gay people hardly helps a gay dad
maintain his relationship with his children,”
said Beth Littrell, Staff Attorney in Lambda
Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in
Atlanta. “What the ban does do is perpetuate
prejudice and stigma against an entire group
of people based solely on their sexual orienta
tion, and that is just plain wrong.”
Family court must decide custody
DETROIT, Mich. — The Michigan State
Court of Appeals has held that a Michigan
family court cannot refuse to hear a child cus
tody case simply because it involves children
whose parents are lesbians and the state has a
constitutional amendment barring recogni
tion of same-sex relationships. The adoption
was completed when then-couple Diane
Giancaspro and Lisa Ann Congleton lived in
Illinois. They spUt after moving to Michigan.
The faniily court’s ruling left both party’s
parental rights unenforceable in Michigan,
calling into question whether the children
were effectively orphans in the state. >
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