Colleges grow gay-friendlier
By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY


BOSTON — Times have never been better, it seems, to be young, gay and looking to the future.

True, many gay high school students endure verbal harassment, feelings of isolation or worse. But college representatives gathered here on a recent Saturday morning offer the promise of brighter days ahead.

There's Jason Jacobson, class of '99 at Macalester College in St. Paul, who says he was "very much in the closet" in his rural Minnesota high school but blossomed in college, thanks to the supportive climate. And Sophie Woolston, a 2003 graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., says her alma mater "goes out of its way to make queer people welcome."

Officials and alumni from Tufts University in nearby Medford, Mass., the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Grinnell College in rural Grinnell, Iowa — about 80 institutions in all — tell similarly uplifting stories. Indeed, everybody appears happy at this event, the third annual college fair for kids who are exploring not only their post-high school education options but also their sexual and gender identities.


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Judge To Talk To Jurors In Transgender Killing Trial
After Nearly Nine Days Of Deliberation, Jury Sent Note To Judge


LOS ANGELES -- The judge in the trial of three men accused of killing a transgender teenager will have a talk with the jury Tuesday morning.

Jurors have spent nearly nine days deliberating, and Monday the jury sent a note to the judge. It's not clear what was in the note, but Judge Harry Sheppard and lawyers will discuss the contents of the note Tuesday.

Monday's note comes after jurors told the judge last week they were having problems reaching an agreement. They said they need more explanation on the difference between manslaughter and murder charges and wanted to rehear some testimony.


In the case, three men are accused of first-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old Eddie "Gwen" Aruajo in October of 2002.


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Gays fired at Southern Arizona bases: 62
Just-disclosed figures cover 6 years at D-M and Fort Huachuca
By Carol Ann Alaimo
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

 
At least 62 Southern Arizona service members have been fired for homosexuality in recent years under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, newly available Defense Department data show.
 
Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista discharged 51 gay and lesbian soldiers between 1998 and 2003, and 11 airmen from Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base lost their jobs because of sexual orientation during that period, according to base-by-base statistics made public for the first time Monday.
 
The information was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
 
The center released an analysis of the results Monday. It found nearly 6,300 U.S. troops worldwide were fired for sexual orientation during the six-year period, including hundreds in high-level military career fields that required years of specialized training.