Center gets $13. 3M to help gay kids
The San Jose Mercury News reports the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center on Oct. 1 won a $13.3 million federal grant to help homeless gay teens.
The center said the grant was the largest federal award ever to an organization serving the LGBT community.
The center plans to use the money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to launch a five-year intervention program to aid gay kids in foster care, juvenile detention or in their family homes, where they may be experiencing rejection.
Number of gay couples on rise
According to Advocate.com new Census Bureau data finds that increases in self-identified gay couples are outpacing population growth.
The research found that the estimated number of same-sex couples who identify as either spouses or unmarried partners grew at three times the rate of population growth between 2008-09. It was estimated that there were 564,743 same-sex couples in 2008, and 581,300 the following year; a 3 percent increase. The nation’s population only grew 1 percent in that time. The study also found that the incomes of gay couples dropped 3 percent from 2008-09.
2 arrested in antigay attack at Stonewall
According to Yahoo News, prosecutors say a man was beaten in an antigay-bias attack Oct. 3 at the Stonewall Inn, a New York City bar where a 1969 riot became a defining moment in the gay-rights movement.
Police arrested two men in the incident at the Stonewall Inn. Matthew Francis, 21, was being held on $10,000 bond after his arraignment Monday on hate-crime assault and other charges. His lawyer contends Francis isn’t violent, and the episode wasn’t a hate crime.
Francis was held on $10,000 bond. His 17-year-old co-defendant was awaiting arraignment.
Manhattan prosecutors say that on Sunday, Francis told the victim he didn’t “like gay people,” used an anti-gay slur, demanded money and punched the victim, then continued to beat him in a restroom at the bar.
A 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn sparked an uprising that helped prompt gays and lesbians to advocate for rights.
— Larry Nichols