Activists condemn tobacco industry’s targeting of gay community


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Judy Shepard says anti-hate crime action needed in area
Her son, Matthew, was robbed, beaten and killed in 1998 in Wyoming because he was gay.

By KRISTIN FINAN
For The Evening Sun -
Maryann Dellinger said the issue really hit home one afternoon last August.

She was driving on Route 30 when another car came crashing into her.

When the driver exited, he pointed to a rainbow sticker on the back of her vehicle and said the sight of it had angered him.


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Transgenders Lead Contingent of Supporters for Lobby Days
By Jone Devlin
Local transgender activists are gearing up to converge on Capitol Hill, April 29-30 to lobby Congress for transgender inclusion in, and passage of hate crimes and employment rights legislation.
The event is Lobby Days 2004, and is sponsored by the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), the country’s largest and most active organization advocating for the rights of transgender Americans at federal, state, and local levels. Vanessa Edwards Foster, Houston chair of NTAC, has been preparing for Lobby Days for months now, a task that has been both daunting, and, at times, very emotional.


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Sandoval County clerk accepts judge for hearing
Sandoval County Clerk Victoria Dunlap and the state attorney general's office have agreed on which judge should preside over a hearing on a restraining order blocking her from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.


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Report shows gay couples face serious pocketbook inequities
Paper by NGLTF Policy Institute gives dollars-and-cents picture of penalties due to inability to marry
By David Webb
Committed gay and lesbian couples face substantial economic penalties because they cannot marry, according to a report released this week by the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
The report, Economic Benefits of Marriage, zeroes in on several Massachusetts gay and lesbian couples. It compares them to similarly-positioned married couples, and shows the economic loss the gay couples suffer because they are unable to file joint federal and state income tax returns and are ineligible for joint Social Security benefits.
The study also examines how the state’s estate tax laws and worker’s compensation benefits discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.