For the first time, crimes directed against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation are the second most frequent hate crime committed after crimes based on race, according to the 2011 Hate Crimes statistics released yesterday by the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Surpassing crimes committed on the basis on…
(CNN) — The conversion therapy center being sued by gay men who paid the counselors to make them straight vowed it would continue to “assist those with unwanted same-sex attractions.” “The lawsuit is without merit, and is designed to create a chilling effect upon speech and programs that assist people in overcoming unwanted same-sex attractions,”…
NEW YORK – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), and PFLAG National, have released a joint statement denouncing the Dr. Oz Show for airing an episode debating the merits of so-called reparative therapy, and positioning a representative of the discredited National Association for Research and Therapy…
Picture yourself in a room full of people you don’t know. It’s too awkward to stand there alone, so you survey the scene, looking for a group to join. The progression is always the same. Anyone I know? Nope. Anyone who’s like me? Nope. Anyone who looks like they might like people like me? The…
WASHINGTON – John Hall, 27, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas, has pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act stemming from his assault of a fellow inmate he believed to be gay, the Department of Justice announced. Hall assaulted his…
LONDON, Ky. (CNN) – Two cousins have been convicted of kidnapping a gay man in Kentucky, but the Justice Department failed in the same case to win a guilty verdict in the first test of an expanded hate crimes provision covering sexual orientation. The jury verdict against David Jason Jenkins, 37, and Anthony Ray Jenkins,…
(CNN) – Two therapists who try to turn gay people straight, along with a student who says he was successfully converted to heterosexuality, are suing nearly two dozen California state officials, including Gov. Jerry Brown, saying a new state law infringes on their civil rights. The plaintiffs’ legal team will file a motion sometime this…
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Hundreds of University of Notre Dame employees are urging the Roman Catholic school to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination clause. The campus newspaper, the Observer, ran a full-page ad last week that was signed by 366 school employees urging Notre Dame “to make the protection, recognition, and equal treatment” of…
California became the first state in the nation to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth (LGBT) from the dangers of psychological abuse by deceitful mental health professionals, who falsely claim to be able to change their sexual orientation or gender expression. The historic event came yesterday when California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a landmark…
WORCESTER, Mass. (CNN) – A gay married couple is suing a Massachusetts Catholic diocese alleging that the religious group declined to sell the couple a property because of their sexual orientation. The two men were negotiating to buy the Oakhurst Mansion in Worcester County. While trying to purchase the 44-bedroom mansion the “owner of the…
