SD police change policy after outing lesbian
Fox News reports a South Dakota police department has changed its policy for releasing information to the military following its outing of a lesbian Air Force sergeant that led to her discharge.
The Rapid City Police Department will now require its records custodian to review reports before they’re released to military officials. Previously, any officer could release information.
Chief Steve Allender says he still believes his officers acted appropriately in sharing information about Jene Newsome with nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base.
Newsome was discharged from the military in January under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” after officers had seen an Iowa marriage certificate in her home and told Ellsworth officials.
The ACLU filed a complaint claiming the officers violated Newsome’s privacy.
Gay newspaper to be revived in Atlanta
The Savannah Morning News reports the new owner of a longtime weekly gay newspaper in Atlanta said the shuttered publication will reopen.
Southern Voice shut down in November because parent company Window Media LLC in Washington, D.C., filed for bankruptcy. New owner Matt Neumann, publisher of Gaydar Magazine LLC, says he’s going to start publishing the newspaper again on April 14.
Neumann said he plans to print about 10,000 copies with a goal of eventually growing to 20,000. He also plans to distribute copies in Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama.
$2-million fund to help gay students
Advocate.com reports a former student of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University has bequeathed $2 million to the music school to help gay and lesbian students who are marginalized and lack support.
The bequest, one of the largest commitments made to Peabody, will create the Tristan W. Rhodes Scholarship Fund for the benefit of students who are gay or lesbian and have been disenfranchised by their families.
The bequest will take effect after Rhodes, 62, dies. A choir director, pianist and organist, he attended the school but left before he could graduate in 1962. He said the gift was inspired by a friend whose potential literary career suffered after she came out to her family.
The bequest will also permit scholarships to be awarded to gay and lesbian students who need financial help.
— Larry Nichols