Hawaii To Pay $625,000 To Mistreated Gay Teens In Prison System 

(Honolulu, Hawaii) In the first case in the country to specifically address the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in juvenile facilities, the state of Hawaii will by pay $625,000 to end a federal lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of three LGBT young people.

The agreement was announced Thursday by the ACLU.

In March a federal judge found that conditions at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility are dangerous, that harassment is pervasive, and that the facility is "in a state of chaos."

Judge Seabright said the case was "replete with documents and testimonial evidence demonstrating verbal harassment and abuse'' of inmates by prison officials.


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HPD officer recounts long battle with gender identity


Sgt. Jack Oliver, the Houston police officer preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery, says the reaction from colleagues has been mostly positive since coming out to the department last week.

Oliver, 49, a deputy day sergeant at the Fondren substation, greeted the media Wednesday wearing a woman's pinstripe suit, lipstick, blush and pumps.HPD officer recounts long battle with gender identity

Sgt. Jack Oliver, the Houston police officer preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery, says the reaction from colleagues has been mostly positive since coming out to the department last week.

Oliver, 49, a deputy day sergeant at the Fondren substation, greeted the media Wednesday wearing a woman's pinstripe suit, lipstick, blush and pumps.

It's a look fellow officers won't see at work until the sergeant officially becomes "Julia Christine" Oliver after a legal name change, Oliver's attorney said.

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Hate forces gay Dutch envoy from Estonia


In a move that highlights the intolerance found in some Baltic states, the Dutch ambassador to Estonia has demanded a transfer, citing consistent racist and homophobic abuse.

Hans Glaubitz was reportedly harassed and insulted often while in public with his boyfriend, Raul Garcia Lao, who is black and Cuban.

"It is not very nice to be regularly abused by drunken skinheads as a 'nigger' and to be continuously gawped at as if you have just stepped out of a UFO," Glaubitz told Dutch newspapers. "Estonian society is far from ready to accept two men, especially if one is black."

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Library fire destroys gay books

Chicago police are investigating a fire in a Chicago Public Library branch on the North Side that damaged about 100 books, most of them in the gay and lesbian collection.

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Judges demand gay rights


THE nation's judges have intervened in the debate over the legal recognition of gay marriage, calling for new pension rights for the partners of homosexual federal judges.

The Judicial Conference of Australia, which represents all judges, wants gay partners to inherit judicial pensions after the death of federal judges.
This would give the surviving gay partners the same pension rights as widows and widowers.
They would receive a lifetime pension worth 62.5 per cent of the pension that is payable to retired judges.