Morehouse College to take transgender students
CNN reports the country’s only all-male historically black college will begin admitting transgender men next year.
The move marks a major shift for Morehouse College at a time when higher education institutions around the nation are adopting more welcoming policies toward LGBTQ students.
Morehouse College leaders said that its board of trustees approved the policy April 13.
Transgender men will be allowed to enroll in the school for the first time in 2020. Students who identify as women but were born male cannot enroll, however. Should a student transition from a man to a woman, the student would no longer be eligible to enroll at the school.
Morehouse is an iconic college that counts the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., filmmaker Spike Lee and former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson among its alumni.
Clerk apologizes to gay couple for denying marriage license
The Recorder of Amsterdam reports a town clerk in upstate New York has publicly apologized to a gay couple for denying them a marriage license.
Root Town Clerk Sherrie Eriksen read the apology at a board meeting April 10 to settle a lawsuit the couple filed against the town. The settlement also includes a $25,000 payment to Dylan Toften-Hurd and Thomas Hurd-Toften.
Eriksen cited a religious objection after she denied the license in July. The couple married in another town.
The couple said after the meeting they were satisfied with the resolution.
Town attorney Robert Subik says an inquiry by the state Division of Human Rights continues.
In announcing the state inquiry in August, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the license denial “an unconscionable act of discrimination.”
Health club’s appeal over transgender woman fails
The Detroit Free Press reports the Michigan Supreme Court won’t intervene in a lawsuit concerning a transgender woman using the women’s locker room at a Midland health club.
Yvette Cormier said her membership at Planet Fitness was wrongly terminated in 2015 after she complained and warned other women at the club. Planet Fitness told her it allows people to use the locker room that matches their identity.
Cormier says her rights under Michigan’s consumer protection law were violated when the club didn’t disclose an unwritten policy about transgender members.
The state appeals court said Cormier’s case can go to trial. On April 2, the state Supreme Court said that decision will stand.
Arizona governor signs repeal of HIV/AIDS instruction law
Arizona Public Media reports Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has signed a bill to repeal a 1991 state law that barred HIV and AIDS instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle,” ending a lawsuit filed by LGBT groups.
The signing April 11 came less than an hour after the Senate approved the repeal on a 19-10 vote. The day before, the House amended another bill to add to the repeal. That came a day after Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich declined to join in defending the suit filed last month against the state’s Board of Education and schools chief.
The law also prohibited HIV and AIDS instruction that “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle” or “suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”
The lawsuit said the law stigmatizes LGBT students.