By Ramy Eletreby

Ohio Same-Sex Marriage Ban Conflicts with Domestic Violence Laws

In Ohio, opponents of a 2004 ban on same-sex marriage claim that the amendment conflicts with the state's 25-year-old domestic violence laws, resulting in a series of dismissed domestic violence cases, according to 365gay.com. The marriage ban states that couples that are unmarried have no legal recognition. Since the ban passed, several defendants in opposite-sex domestic violence cases have used their unmarried status as a way to circumvent criminal charges. In recent months, trial courts in Ohio have issued conflicting opinions in such cases. Some have reasoned that domestic violence laws do not discuss legal status so perpetrators are still culpable whether they are married to their victims or not. Others have ruled that the domestic violence laws no longer apply to unmarried perpetrators because doing so would conflict with the amendment's banning of marriage protections to those who are not married.

Both opposite-sex cases and same-sex cases are affected. According to a 1998 domestic violence report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects (NCAVP), at least one in four gay and lesbian partners will experience domestic violence in his or her lifetime. Only Hawaii's domestic violence law explicitly mentions same-sex couples.

AIDS Services in New Orleans Still Suffering from Katrina

Though it's been over seven months since New Orleans was evacuated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the HIV/AIDS service organizations have yet to fully re-establish themselves. Beth Scalco, director of the Louisiana Office of Public Health HIV/AIDS Program, puts the recovery status at only 50 percent, citing severe water damage to the office buildings and hundreds of displaced workers (opting not to come back) as reasons for the slow process, according to columnist Rex Wockner in a story reported on 365gay.com.

Both the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans HIV Outpatient Program and the NO/AIDS Task Force are operating with a dramatically reduced staff and only provide basic services. Patients who need special care are sent up to 90 miles away to Baton Rouge because the centers in New Orleans are no longer able to provide broad services. Noel Twilbeck, executive director of the NO/AIDS Task Force, says that with so many of the demographics turned upside down, there is no way to categorize the clients they are seeing until things start to settle down, reports Wockner. "[The Task Force] is struggling to get all our programs and services back up and going, so we haven't done a lot of gathering data," says Twilbeck.

Equality Riders Arrested Again on National Bus Tour

On March 20, members of the Soulforce Equality Ride, an organization of 33 mostly college age LGBT activists touring Christian universities and military colleges with anti-gay enrollment policies, were arrested for trespassing at Oral Roberts University (ORU) in Tulsa, Ok. ORU prohibits homosexual behavior and students discovered to be gay could face expulsion. "Even a day such as this one is ranked a success," writes rider Rachel Powell in The Advocate. "The media and the locals watching the news see the way the administrations use the law to prevent intellectual discourse."

The Equality Ride tour began on March 5. On the ride's first stop on March 10, members received trespassing charges when they entered Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and some were arrested on March 14 at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. "What I can do is lay my personal autonomy down -- essentially my body and my life -- by accepting handcuffs as evidence of just how serious this brutality is," Haven Herrin, co-director of the Equality Ride, writes in The Advocate. On March 16, the Equality Ride bus was defaced while parked outside of Tennessee's Lee University. The words "Fags-mobile" were painted on the bus in big pink letters.

Colorado Domestic Partnership Bill in Senate

On March 27, the Colorado House of Representatives voted 38-27 to send House Bill 1344 to the Senate, according to the Rocky Mountain News. The Colorado Domestic Partnership Benefits and Responsibilities Act allows same-sex couples the right to register their relationship and gives benefits equal to straight couples, such as hospital visitation, protection of property rights, inheritance without a will, shared employer benefits, and the right to the remains of a deceased partner.

If approved, the bill goes on the November ballot, and therefore would not require the signature of Republican Gov. Bill Owens. Meanwhile Coloradoans for Marriage, a coalition of Christian groups sponsoring an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, needs 68,000 signatures to get their measure on the ballot. The Colorado Marriage Amendment would change the state constitution to say, "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The amendment is receiving support from Focus on the Family, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Two Gay Men Found Murdered in Kentucky

On March 24, the body of 43-year-old Charles Poynter was discovered at 2 a.m. in his burning apartment in Louisville, Ky. According to police, two suspects fatally stabbed Poynter: Dale Moneypenny, 26, and Jennifer Lynn Smith, 23. Smith was subsequently arrested and police say she admitted to being with Moneypenny when he stabbed Poynter and that she gave him the lighter to set the apartment on fire. Moneypenny has still not been apprehended, according to WAVE 3 TV News.

Smith also reportedly confessed to being involved in another murder a few hours later. On March 25, the body of 73-year-old Blaine Thacker Jr. was discovered in Thacker's apartment just a few blocks away from Poynter's apartment. According to police, Moneypenny and Smith walked from Poynter's place to Thacker's and Thacker then invited them to stay the night. Smith reportedly told the police that Moneypenny killed Thacker in his sleep then they both fled after robbing him.

Smith is charged with two counts of murder, robbery, arson and tampering with evidence.

The relationship between Poynter and Thacker and their relationship to Moneypenny and Smith are still unknown, though it is believed that they are acquaintances.

Major Adoption Institute Releases Pro-Gay Adoption Report

The New York-based Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released a report on March 24 encouraging gay and lesbian adoption. The report, Expanding Resources for Children: Is Adoption by Gays and Lesbians Part of the Answer for Boys and Girls Who Need Homes? examines practices and studies relating to gay adoption and parenting over the last several decades. On March 22, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released a survey that found a significant decrease in the past seven years in opposition to gay adoption. According to the Pew findings, 57 percent of Americans opposed allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children in 1999, while 38 percent were in favor. Today, the division is practically even, with 46 percent in favor of gay adoption and 48 percent opposed. "Against a backdrop of increasing public acceptance, social science research concludes that children reared by gay and lesbian parents fare comparably to those of children raised by heterosexuals on a range of measures of social and psychological adjustment," the report states.

Written by Illinois State University adoption expert Jeanne Howard and funded by the Gill Foundation and the Human Rights Campaign, the report further advises agencies to energetically recruit gays and lesbians. "Laws and policies that preclude adoption by gay or lesbian parents disadvantage the tens of thousands of children mired in the foster-care system who need permanent, loving homes," the report states.

Gay Games Tickets on Sale

General tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Chicago 2006 Gay Games went on sale on March 25. Limited-availability premium ticket packages (premium advance tickets to both ceremonies) are also on sale. The opening ceremony takes place on Saturday, July 15, at Soldier Field in Chicago and tickets are $50, $70, $80, $100, $125, and $150. The closing ceremony takes place on Saturday, July 22, at Wrigley Field and tickets are $50, $75, and $90. Tickets to all Gay Games events, including sporting events, concerts, special tours, and parties are available online at tickets.gaygameschicago.org.