Philip Schooner, a lifelong Republican and World War II veteran, was among those testifying at a hearing regarding Maine’s marriage equality bill earlier this year. Voters will decide the issue on November 3.
Singer Stephen Gateley has died while on vacation in Majorca with his partner Andrew Coles. No further details about his death are available at this time.
Gateley was one fifth of boyband Boyzone, who scored six number one singles and four number one albums in the U.K. between 1994 and 2000. In 1999, he learned that one of his former security guards might be preparing to sell him out to the tabloids. Rather than trying to suppress the story, Gateley beat him to it, dominating the June 16, 1999 issue of The Sun with the headline “Boyzone Stephen: I’m Gay and in Love.” The man he was in love with was Eloy de Jong (b. 1971) of the Dutch boyband Caught in the Act.
Coming out was a very brave move for a young man whose career depended on the support of hordes of star-struck teenaged girls. He’s continued to enjoy success as a solo artist, as well as in musicals on tour and in the West End. In 2008 he joined the re-formed Boyzone for a tour.
In 2006, Gateley entered into a civil partnership with Internet entrepeneur Andrew Cowles. They had first been introduced three years earlier by Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish.
Prominent LGBT activist Phyllis Stevens was arrested last week in Las Vegas, and charged with embezzling nearly 6 million dollars from her employer, insurance compay Aviva USA. The chairperson of the Iowa chapter of Marriage Equality USA, Stevens allegedly used a portion of the stolen proceeds to make contributions to liberal and gay rights causes and candidates. Stevens has denied any wrongdoing.
The scheme allegedly involved diverting payments for commissions on policies issued by Aviva. Stevens’s wife Marla has been named as the defendant in a civil suit file by Aviva to recover money “as a result of the conversion of funds.”
The arrest of Stevens is having political repercussions in Iowa, one of only four states where same-sex marriage is legal. The Iowa Republican newspaper headlined an article attempting to tie the case to Iowa’s leading same-sex marriage advocacy group, “Is an Iowa Gay Marriage Group in the Middle of $5.9 Million Embezzlement Case?“
The Ukranian Minister for Family Affairs has refused a request from Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, who applied to adopt a 14-month-old orphan who is HIV-positive. Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press that adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage. John and Furnish obtained one of the first same-sex unions under UK law in 2005. Pavlenko also noted that John, at age 62, is too old to adopt an infant.
Next Sunday, Cambridge, Massachusetts mayor E. Denise Simmons will marry her long-time partner, Mattie B. Hayes, in a ceremony at the predominantly African American St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. Simmons, who was recently involved in the controversy surrounding the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., notes, “I believe this may be the very first African-American church to hold a same gender wedding, and that’s something that just wouldn’t have happened years ago.”
The Reverend Rich Hendricks has performed more than 20 same-sex marriages since gay marriage became legal in Iowa a few months ago. The pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Davenport has become the Go-To Preacher in Iowa’s Gay Marriage Mecca. Read More
America’s Best Christian, Betty Bowers (Deven Green) is the founder of several Christian ministries, including Bringing Integrity to Christian Homemakers ( B.I.T.C.H.) and Baptists Are Saving Homosexuals (B.A.S.H.)
Ellen DeGeneres, Lance Bass, Melissa Etheridge, Kathy Griffin, and others, have released statements in the wake of California Supreme Court ruling upholding the right of the majority to amend the state constitution to remove the rights of minorities. Read More
Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has announced her engagement to her long-time girlfriend. Read More
The wife of Wanda Sykes, the comedian who hosted the White House Correspondent’s dinner this year, has given birth to fraternal twins. Read More
Queer of the Month | December 2009
Total Voters: 10
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