Yale puts focus on its gay past
BY KIM MARTINEAU
The Hartford Courant

HARTFORD, Conn. - (KRT) - John Sterling never called himself gay. But the lifelong bachelor and lawyer for the Rockefellers did have a name for the lifestyle he fervently embraced: a "blessed state of singleness."

When he died in 1918, Sterling endowed a shrine for learning at his alma mater, Yale University - a great cathedral-like library. Privately, Sterling also endowed a monument to the unmarried. In his will, he invited his sister and his lifelong partner, William Bloss, to share his mausoleum - but only if they remained single.

The untold biography of John Sterling, a distinguished 1864 alumnus, is revealed in an intriguing exhibit now on display - of all places - at the Sterling Memorial Library.

"The Pink and the Blue: Lesbian and Gay Life at Yale and Connecticut: 1642-2004" marks the first time that an institution of Yale's caliber has opened the door on its gay past. Here, under the leaded-glass windows of the Gothic library, inside the carved cabinets, is a yellowed photograph of young Sterling studying in a paisley-printed robe, as his roommate gazes longingly across the table. An excerpt from Sterling's diary trails off just as a romantic theme emerges: "today I slept with Jim Mitchell an ..."


The exhibit can be viewed at Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room until May 14.
It can also be viewed online at: www.yale.edu/lesbiangay.

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Police to learn ruling on transsexual in force

LONDON Police chiefs in northern England will learn Thursday whether they have won a challenge to a court ruling that they were wrong to refuse to recruit a male-to-female transsexual.

.Five judges in the House of Lords, Britain's highest court, will rule on whether police acted unlawfully in rejecting her application to become a policewoman because she was born a man.

.The transsexual, who was not named, won a landmark Court of Appeal ruling in November 2002 that West Yorkshire Police were guilty of sex discrimination. The force said that as a transsexual, and legally a man, she could not conduct intimate body searches of women in custody. The case has implications for transsexuals applying for all jobs where physical contact is necessary.