Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
By John Mack Freeman And now for something completely bizarre. Tim Torkildson used to work for the Nomen Global Language Center. However, when Torkildson published a blog post on homophones, the Center’s owner Clarke Woodger fired Torkildson, stating that he was upset that now the school would be associated with homosexuality. For those playing along […]
By John Mack Freeman Florida: In just eight days, two Florida counties had judges strike down that state’s same sex marriage bans. The first was in the Keys followed by Miami-Dade County. Judge Zabel ruled in favor of the plaintiffs Equality Florida and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, stating in one part of the […]
By John Mack Freeman A new development in Boulder has temporarily halted the flow of same sex marriage licenses. The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Hillary Hall, the Boulder County Clerk of Court, is not allowed to hand out marriage licenses to same sex couples after the Circuit Court that Colorado is in found […]
By John Mack Freeman The oldest gay bookshop in the United States may have a second chance at success. Ed Hermance, the previous owner of Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia announced that he was closing the store because it was running a loss of $10,000-$15,000 per year. However, a new buyer for the store has been found. Via […]
By John Mack Freeman The country of Malawi in southeastern Africa has a law that punishes same-sex activity with 14 years in prison and hard labor. However, the government of that country has instructed local police officers to not enforce the law because the country does not have enough money to imprison offenders. Malawi had […]
By John Mack Freeman A study by Vox over the last week shows just how important federal legislation protecting LGBT people from discrimination in the workplace is. They found that while 18 states protect workers on the basis of gender identity and 21 states protected workers based on sexual orientation, 29 protect workers who smoke […]
By John Mack Freeman The National Health Interview Survey was published this week. For the first time, it asked participants to identify their sexual preference (gender identity was not included in the survey). 1.6 percent of adults identified as gay or lesbian with .7 percent identifying as bisexual. Respondents who preferred not to say or […]
By John Mack Freeman There was a bit of movement in the sports world this week on LGBT issues. This week, Major League Baseball recognized Glenn Burke, the first player to ever come out while playing professional baseball. At the news conference, commissioner Burt Selig announced that former MLB-player Billy Bean will be appointed the […]
By TJ Lusher In 1972, Jim Gaylord was terminated from his teaching position at the Tacoma, Washington high school. The reason for his termination – he confirmed his sexual orientation to an administrator. The admission came after Gaylord was presented with a copy of a written letter from a student indicating he thought Gaylord was […]
This week, numerous LGBT rights organizations dropped their support for ENDA: the Employee Non-Discrimination Act. The bill passed the Senate this year in a rare instance of bipartisanship, but it has been stalled in the Republican-led House. However, in the light of last week’s Hobby Lobby ruling from the Supreme Court that showed that there […]