Wendy Jo Smith wanted to be a singer and performer from a young age but she never imagined that her party girl alter ego, Wendy Ho, would be her ticket to success. Six years ago, Smith took the stage at a Broadway director’s New York City party for an impromptu performance as the fabulously flamboyant…
Two East County men received jail terms last week for beating Jacob Harshbarger in a North Park alley on Halloween 2010, but both of them will be released from jail within two months with credit for time served. Christopher Matthew Blount, 23, of El Cajon, was sentenced to one year in jail, but he received…
The Human Rights Campaign, San Diego’s third annual Bowling for Equality fundraiser, held last Saturday at the Kearny Mesa Bowl, is being called “by far our most successful” by the event’s organizers. “We are honored that over 200 bowlers and 26 businesses and organizations chose to partner with HRC in the fight for equality,” said…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Democratic congressman Jerrold Nadler is to re-introduce a bill to overturn the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act this week. After the Obama administration said last week it would no longer defend the law, Nadler, a representative for New York, is calling on other politicians to support his Respect for Marriage Act. Last…
OKLAHOMA – The head of an Oklahoma LGBT center has been charged with one count of forcible sodomy and two counts of making lewd proposals to a child. Nathan Bowen, 32, is the president of the Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays community center in Enid, Oklahoma. Investigators say Bowen admitted he had…
MINNESOTA – After months of national protests from some of the largest LGBT organizations, it was Lady Gaga that finally convinced Target to change how it determines which organizations receive its charitable donations. Target, which has 1,743 stores across the country, donated $150,000 of corporate funds to support political action group, Minnesota Forward, who had…
HAWAII – Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie has signed same-sex civil unions into law. Hawaii will start civil unions Jan. 1, 2012, making it the seventh state to permit civil unions or similar legal recognitions for gay couples. “The legalization of civil unions in Hawaii is long overdue. People have worked long and hard for this…
CALIFORNIA – The legal team challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban has announced that they have asked the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to lift a stay on a district court ruling that found Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Lead attorney Ted Olson said the motion has been filed with the California Supreme Court to schedule oral…
MARYLAND – The chairman of the Maryland Republican Party is targeting Democrats in an effort to kill a gay marriage bill after a key Senate committee had approved the measure and sent it along to the full Senate, which is expected to act on the bill. The Washington Post reported that Alex X. Mooney, a…
ISRAEL – Dori Spivak, an attorney and former Civil Rights Association chairman, has become the first openly gay judge to be appointed in Israel. Spivak, the deputy director of the Tel Aviv University’s law clinics and a longtime gay rights activist, has made no comment on his new job despite his appointment receiving widespread praise…
