Washington Blade - October 6, 2006

GROVE, Okla. (AP) - The mother of a 15-year-old boy has accused the Grove School District of unjustly removing her son from school and spreading rumors that he carries the AIDS virus. Sheila Dawson, who filed a lawsuit on Sept. 16 in Delaware County District Court, said Wednesday she is leaving the Grand Lake area. Her son now attends school in Missouri and he is not HIV positive, Dawson said. "I can't even explain the scars it's leaving on my son," Dawson said. Dawson said the rumors started because school officials "believed there was a possibility my son was involved with a student who has AIDS." Dawson declined to comment on whether her son had a relationship with an AIDS-infected student. The lawsuit states the school failed to remove derogatory graffiti written about her son in the speech and drama classroom and the boys' bathroom.

Judge rules gay R.I. couple has right to marry in Mass.

BOSTON (AP) - A Superior Court judge ruled Sept. 29 that a gay couple from Rhode Island has the right to marry in Massachusetts, saying that Rhode Island laws do not expressly prohibit same-sex marriage. Wendy Becker and Mary Norton of Providence, R.I., argued that a 1913 law that forbids out-of-state residents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be permitted in their home state did not apply to them because Rhode Island does not specifically ban gay marriage. Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly agreed. "No evidence was introduced before this court of a constitutional amendment, statute, or controlling appellate decision from Rhode Island that explicitly deems void or otherwise expressly forbids same-sex marriage," he ruled. The ruling has no effect on whether Rhode Island or any other state must allow gay marriage. Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said he would not appeal Connolly's ruling, despite a request from Gov. Mitt Romney that he reconsider. Reilly said the issue was for Rhode Island to decide.

Ga. appeals court sides with lesbian mom

ATLANTA - The Georgia Court of Appeals on Sept. 27 returned primary child custody to a lesbian mother in Gwinnett County, ruling her live-in same-sex partner had no adverse effect on her 12-year-old daughter. Jack Senterfitt, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal in Atlanta, represented the lesbian mother, Victoria Moses, in court. Senterfitt praised the court's ruling in a Sept. 28 interview. "I'm glad that the court found that the mere fact of [a parent's] sexual orientation is not cause to deny or reverse custody," he said. The couple were never married, and in 2002, a court granted the mother custody of the child. In 2005, the child's father, Kelvin King, filed a petition to have custody changed and child support modified.

Court upholds Ill. school's restriction on anti-gay speech

GALESBURG, Ill. - The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed charges Sept. 19 that Carl Sandburg College violated the constitutional rights of a part-time cosmetology instructor who was told to stop talking to students about her pro-Christian and anti-homosexual beliefs. In 2002, Martha Louise Piggee gave Jason Ruel, a gay Jewish student two pamphlets that said homosexuality was sinful and instructed readers to worship with Christians, read the Bible and be baptized, the Galesburg Register-Mail reported. Ruel filed a formal complaint. A committee of college officials concluded the incident qualified as sexual harassment, then told Piggee not to try to influence students' beliefs about religious, social and sexual matters. Piggee claimed the college violated her due process rights and her constitutional rights to free speech and that the college's sexual harassment policy was not clear.

L.A. Gay Center sues IRS over delay in producing documents

LOS ANGELES - The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center sued the Internal Revenue Service on Sept. 26 to force the IRS to release documents pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request. The federal suit claims that the IRS initially denied the application from the "Gay Community Services Center" (as it was known then) made in 1971 on the unsubstantiated grounds that it was not "organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes," the organization said in a news release. The center claims it was the first organization with the word "gay" in its name to apply for non-profit status. It wasn't until August 1974, after many appeals, that the federal agency reversed course and awarded the center non-profit status.

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