Combined Gay News Headlines (T5T-1)

The Parents of Murdered 8th Grader Sue EVERYONE For Not Forcing Him to be Less Gay

This time last year, 15-year-old California eighth grader Lawrence "Larry" King was killed in his junior high English class. Two bullets to the head. Classmate Brandon McInerney, now 15, allegedly pulled the trigger after King asked him to be his Valentine. And while McInerney is on trial (as an adult) for first-degree murder and committing [...]

Paul Colichman's Unzipped Paid Sam Adams' Former Lover Beau Breedlove to Get Naked

You first learned Beau Breedlove's name when it came out that Portland's gay mayor Sam Adams had a relationship with the is-he-17-or-18-years-old Breedlove. Now everyone will know the kid's name — because he's signed on to do a nude magazine photoshoot with Unzipped.Read the rest of Paul Colichman's Unzipped Paid Sam Adams' Former Lover Beau [...]

Angry Over All My Children's Lesbian Wedding? Here's Why You Have No Argument

It's usually painful to watch The View, but sometimes having it on in the background isn't so bad. Especially when segments like this pop up, where Whoopi points out the ridiculousness of anyone criticizing All My Children's lesbian wedding — when soap opera plotlines are built on characters getting married and divorced handfuls of times, [...]

Congrats

Queer Fresno has made some awesome changes in their leadership team in the last couple of weeks and we wanted to share them with you.  First of all, Chris Fleming has been promoted to the role of Vice President.  Chris has been a long time blogger and one of QF’s first officers a year ago.  [...]

Brief Programming Interruption

If you’ll direct your eyeballs over to the right side of the page you’ll see a bunch of links. Most of which you’ve likely never clicked before, so perhaps you’ll not notice the difference. Down at the bottom though there are now links to Queer Fresno’s Myspace and Twitter feed as well as Queer Networks [...]

Girls Night Out at Samba!

Breaking: San Diego Firefighters Win Sexual Harassment Judgment

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

A jury found four San Diego firefighters who sued the city were sexually harassed after being ordered to participate in a gay pride parade. They also determined the group must split $34,300 in damages.

Jurors deliberated for about two-and-a-half days before reaching the verdict Tuesday in the case brought by firefighters John Ghiotto, Jason Hewitt, Alex Kane and Chad Allison. The firemen said they were subjected to sexually charged conduct and lewd comments while riding a fire engine in the July 2007 parade.

City attorneys said they will appeal the verdict.

Jurors were required to determine if the firefighters faced pervasive or severe harassment from spectators and participants...

San Diego's News10 adds:

...In a retrial of their civil lawsuit, Capt. John Ghiotto and firefighters Jason Hewitt, Alex Kane and Chad Allison were awarded a combined $34,300. Ghiotto will receive the lion's share -- $14,200 for past and future lost earnings and an extra $5,000 for emotional distress.

The other plaintiffs were each awarded $5,000 for emotional distress -- with Allison given an extra $100 in medical expenses.

"The amounts were a little low," plaintiffs' attorney Charles LiMandri said outside the courtroom...

The Californa Fair Employment and Housing Fact Sheet on Sexual Harassment states this about sexual harassment (emphais added):

Sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to, the following actions:

• Comments, epithets, slurs, or jokes of a sexual nature; graphic statements about an individual's body; suggestive or obscene letters, notes, or invitations

• Leering; making offensive gestures; or displaying offensive or suggestive objects, pictures, cartoons, or posters

• Unwanted physical touching or assault, as well as impeding or blocking movements

• Making unwanted verbal sexual advances or propositions

• Offering certain housing rights or privileges in exchange for sexual favors

• Threatening or taking adverse action (such as eviction) in retaliation for a negative response to sexual advances

IL: pastor resigns over 'sexual impurity'

Willow Creek Community Church's pastor, Rev. Steve Wu, stepped down from his post as spiritual leader of the 20,000-member-strong Chicago evangelical house of worship, admitting to "sexual impurity."

A church elder read a statement to the Willow Chicago congregation on Jan. 25 announcing Wu's resignation, saying the pastor "admitted to sexual impurity and has taken full responsibility for his sin. He has expressed a desire to participate in a restoration process."

The statement also said that Todd Katter has agreed to serve as interim campus pastor while the church searches for Wu's replacement, according to Willow's director of communication Ted Allen Miller.

"We would ask you to pray diligently for Steve in these difficult days," the statement said.

And yes, Wu has already been scrubbed from the church's web site. The news article doesn't give you a sense of what Wu did to bring on the need for a restoration process, so how about a guessing game, Blenders?  What do you think the infraction was?

Hat tip, Cheryl P.

Which search engine do you use?

I’ve recently started using the search engine “The Zengine” and it’s great!  What makes it better than the Google, you ask?  When searchind using the search engine “The Zengine” and it’s great!  What makes it better than the Google, you ask?  When searching on the Zengine, not only do you get results fast, but you get to help out your favorite charities and non-profits each time you click because the Zengine donates 50% of their [...]

Portland Latino Gay Pride Planning Meeting (2/22)

Portland Latino Gay Pride Planning Meeting, Sunday, February 22nd , 11am @ Jupiter Hotel, Dream Box, 800 East Burnside Latino Gay Pride Planning Meeting, Sunday, February 22nd , 11am @ Jupiter Hotel, Dream Box, 800 East Burnside

Papers: The Movie (3/7)

Saturday night, March 7th 7:00 p.m. at the Hollywood Theater in Portland, OR Music and spoken-word performance by Molina Soleil PLUS a sneak-peek at new "Papers" clips Tickets are $10. All ages welcome.