NJ gay-rights group names award ally
NBC Philadelphia reports New Jersey’s largest gay-rights organization is naming a new award after a politician who championed the group’s causes before his death on April 4.
John Adler was a longtime state senator who served one term in Congress before he lost a reelection bid last year. The Democrat was 51 when he died.
Garden State Equality says as chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Adler helped pass laws to ensure the civil rights of gays and lesbians, including a civil-union law to recognize their relationships.
The first person to receive the award in June will be Barbra Casbar Siperstein, an activist who focuses on the rights of transgender people.
Gay-rights group can canvass outside Target
Yahoo News reports a San Diego judge ruled April 7 that a pro-gay-marriage group can continue canvassing outside of Target stores in California.
Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Barton denied a request for a temporary injunction by the Minnesota-based retail giant, saying Target Corp. did not present enough evidence to show Canvass For A Cause volunteers have been harassing its customers.
Target was seeking to stop the volunteers from collecting signatures and donations in support of gay marriage.
In his ruling, Barton said the store entrances are considered a public forum under California law. He also warned the San Diego group to be respectful when it canvasses and to not impede the flow of traffic.
Canvass For A Cause director Tres Watson called the ruling a victory for not only his organization, but for free speech.
Ark. court strikes down law barring gay adoptions
KAIT8 reports the Arkansas Supreme Court on April 7 rejected a voter-approved initiative that barred gay couples and other unmarried people living together from serving as adoptive or foster parents.
Associate Justice Robert L. Brown wrote for the court that the law would encroach on adults’ right to privacy in the bedroom.
“Act 1 directly and substantially burdens the privacy rights of ‘opposite-sex and same-sex individuals’ who engage in private, consensual sexual conduct in the bedroom by foreclosing their eligibility to foster or adopt children,” Brown wrote.
The law effectively banned gay and lesbian couples from adopting or fostering children because they can’t legally marry in Arkansas. It also would have been extended to unmarried heterosexual couples who live together.
Planned Parenthood offers transgender hours
Lebanon Daily News reports Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania plans to offer extended hours for transgender health care at its downtown Pittsburgh clinic.
In a release, the group said the hours begin April 20 for “transgender, FBM, two-spirit, gender-queer, gender nonconforming, butch women and queer and questioning people.”
Kim Evert, the clinic’s president and chief executive officer, said, “Around half of all transgender people who seek medical care are served by uninformed doctors. These same patients are expected, by default, to teach their doctors about proper transgender medical care.”
— Larry Nichols