City gender law thrown out
Lehigh County judge says Allentown's gay-rights ordinance violated a state statute in giving businesses more duties. Ruling affects only the city.
By Debbie Garlicki
and Daryl Nerl Of The Morning Call

A Lehigh County judge on Monday invalidated part of Allentown's ordinance that expanded anti-discrimination protections to people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Judge Alan M. Black acknowledged that many private employers and government entities have adopted regulations prohibiting discrimination based on sexual identity.

''However, it is not for this court to decide whether such legislation is desirable or beneficial or in the public interest,'' Black wrote. ''That decision is to be made by the appropriate branch of government.''

Black said a section of the Home Rule Act, which governs Allentown, prevents the city from requiring businesses, occupations and employers not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.


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Sprout case faces first public hearing
By Sharon Steed | Contributing writer


This evening will be the first public hearing on the case of Sprout v. Carle Hospital. Lynn Sprout, a lesbian, claims her former employer, Carle, discriminated against her when they fired her.
Sprout, a former pediatric nurse manager, came out as a lesbian in 2002 to her boss Ramona

Cheek, vice president of patient care at Carle. Sprout said she did so in hopes of gaining sympathy when taking leave to care for her dying partner of 18 years, Linda Schurvinske. Instead, she said she was met with scrutiny, and 180 days after she came out was terminated from her job in May 2002.

Kathy Howell, director of Human Resources at Carle, told the Daily Illini in January that she didn't think Sprout was discriminated against after she came out to her boss. Even though Sprout passed her 90-day probation period, Howell said she was "terminated solely on the basis of her performance."

According to Vacellia Clark, the Urbana Human Relations Director, the case has left her hands and is now up to the Urbana Human Rights Commission.


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Gay activists dispute Statscan survey
Canadian Press

Ottawa — For the first time in its history, Statistics Canada has released a survey on the sexual orientation of Canadians, but some members of the gay community contend that the numbers are dramatically lower than the truth.

Figures from the Canadian Community Health Survey released Tuesday said that 1 per cent of Canadians identified themselves as homosexual, while 0.7 per cent said they were bisexual.

“What's clear is that there is under-reporting,” said Laurie Arron, director of advocacy for the gay-rights group Egale.

He said the number of gay people in society is generally considered to be somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent.


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City theatres discontinue screening of Girlfriend
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


PUNE: Following an "appeal" by the Shiv Sena to theatre owners in the city to stop screening the movie Girlfriend , which portrays a lesbian relationship between Isha Koppikar and Amrita Arora, theatre operators have stopped screening the movie with effect from Monday. The movie was released last Friday.
 
The Sena has launched a nation-wide protest against the movie. The theatres which have stopped screening the movie include: Inox, City Pride, E-Square, Neelayam and Apollo. Paul Pinto, general manager, E-Square, confirmed that the theatre had stopped screening the movie after the Sena's "request" on Monday. Refunds will be given on tickets which were booked in advance, he added. Pinto recalled that the cinema halls had, in the past, stopped screenings of Ek Chhoti Si Love Story and Oops after the Sena objected to them. Inox employees, too, said the theatre had stopped screening the movie from Monday.