Two transgender murder cases remain unsolved
The summer of 2003 was a violent one for Houston transgenders
By BINNIE FISHER
When transgender activist Paige Mahogany tells prostitutes that the streets can be a deathtrap, she has recent history to back up her statements.

When Vanessa Edwards Foster goes to Washington D.C. this month to lobby for transgender inclusion in hate crimes legislation and tells senators and house members that it’s a matter of life and death, she can point to that same history.

The summer of 2003 was a violent one for transgender persons in Houston. By the end of the summer, two transgender persons had been murdered. Their cases remain unsolved.


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Md. lawmaker sabotages hate crimes bill
Equality Maryland hints at lawsuit demanding marriage
By JOE CREA
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland lawmakers killed two pro-gay measures in the final hours of this year’s legislative session, prompting a pledge from state activists to investigate filing a lawsuit seeking marriage rights for gays.

Conservative Republican state Sen. Alex Mooney (R-Frederick) succeeded in killing an expanded hate crimes bill by adding amendments to the measure that sought to protect an array of other groups, including nurses, veterans and lawyers. Critics decried Mooney’s failed amendments as making a “mockery” of the hate crimes bill.

“For someone who has publicly proclaimed his status as a survivor of domestic violence, I think it is shocking and appalling that he could be so uncaring about the violence we face,” said gay Del. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County).

“He relishes the chance to play the spoiler because he thinks he’s being so smart by putting his perceived opponents on the hotseat by throwing these outrageous amendments protecting teachers, nurses, lawyers and veterans. And no one in the Senate challenged him by saying, ‘You know what senator, show me one case where a veteran was tracked down and beaten solely on the basis that they were a veteran.’”


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Quiet ministers' actions speak loudly
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press
POUGHKEEPSIE -- They speak softly. One quotes Camus from the pulpit, the other cites Tolkien. They are in their 60s. One is straight, the other gay.
Unitarian Universalist ministers Dawn Sangrey and Kay Greenleaf might seem like unlikely symbols in the fight over gay marriage. Yet criminal charges against the ministers for marrying gay couples in New Paltz last month place the two quiet women in the middle of the clamorous debate in a way they never quite intended.

"I said to myself, 'What are they going to do to two little old lady ministers?' " Greenleaf recalled.

The two women appear to be the first clergy nationwide to be prosecuted for marrying gay couples, according to advocates. They are accused of solemnizing marriages without a license -- the same charges brought against New Paltz Mayor Jason West for performing same-sex marriages.