Two Dozen Gay Rights Protesters Arrested At BYU

Two dozen gay-rights activists were arrested Tuesday and cited for trespassing on the campus at Brigham Young University while protesting what they consider discrimination by campus officials. 

The protest was organized by Soulforce, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender group that is taking part in a nationwide tour of schools it believes discriminate against gays. Five protesters were arrested and cited for trespassing Monday.

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Gay protection left out of new anti-discrimination policy
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Ernie Fletcher eliminated a policy Tuesday that protects gay state employees or job applicants from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

He replaced the 2003 employment policy of his predecessor, former Gov. Paul Patton, with an executive order that bans employment discrimination because of “race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, veteran status and disability.”

It makes no mention of sexual orientation

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Gay marriage foes urge lawmakers to put proposed ban on ballot
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer  


BOSTON --Paul McMahon met Ralph Hodgdon in New York's Central Park on a May Sunday in 1955, and the couple quickly moved in together. Nearly 50 years later the two waited outside Cambridge City Hall on another May morning to become one of the first gay couples in Massachusetts to obtain a marriage certificate.

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Michigan Gay Couples Have No Right To Health Benefits Appeals Court Told
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Lansing, Michigan) The Michigan Court of Appeals was told Tuesday that the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage bars publicly funded entities, including the state, cities, and universities from providing health insurance and other benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees.
Michigan voters in 2004 amended the state constitution say the union between a man and a woman "shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose."



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Church that wouldn't accept transsexual denied future clients

ST. FRANCIS, Minn. A Minnesota county is refusing to send any more clients to a church that denied care to a transsexual.
The Anoka County Social Services Department had sent disabled senior citizens and other vulnerable adults who need care during the day to Trinity Lutheran Church -- in St. Francis.

But the church turned away a client who had undergone surgery to be changed from a man into a woman. Associate Pastor John Maxfield says that's "contrary to God's revealed will."


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Brethren in poll ads row

TASMANIA'S anti-discrimination watchdog has decided to investigate claims that state election ads placed by religious group Exclusive Brethren breached anti-discrimination laws.

Transgender rights advocate Martine Delaney claims the ads breached the laws by declaring that transgender and intersex human rights would "ruin families and society".
"It's high time a stand was taken against political parties and interest groups who demonise minorities during election campaigns," she said.