• There’s a new issue of Camp KC.
• The Episcopal Church‘s House of Bishops confirmed its second LGBT bishop, Rev. Mary Glasspool, and released a long-awaited report on how the church should address same-sex relationships at its last meeting. Diocese of Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe is vice president of the group.
• Margie Phelps writes a letter to the Lawrence Journal-World. Locals Judy Northway, Stu Nowlin, Curtis Bennett, Kathy Wismer respond.
• The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the father of the deceased soldier in Snyder v. Phelps to pay the Phelps’ legal costs. Snyder appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America and donations have poured in. Kansas City Star columnists Matthew Schofield and Mary Sanchez comment, as does syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. Unsurprisingly, the Topeka Capital-Journal would rather poll reader opinion than issue one of its own.
• An effort by conservative senators to block same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia failed. Kansas senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback and Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe cosponsored the legislation.
• WBC is protesting in Virginia, West Virginia, Chicago, and Philadelphia. They were countered by wonderful students in California and no-showed in San Antonio.
• Blue Springs, Mo., resident Devon Wilson writes a letter to the Kansas City Star as a Christian in favor of same-sex marriage.
• Topeka resident Rachel Hockenbarger writes a letter to the Topeka Capital-Journal defending WBC.
• Warrensburg, Mo., resident Paul Rizzo writes a letter to the Kansas City Star defending DADT.
• Springfield News-Leader columnist Joe Snider writes about WBC.
• Missouri white supremacist and Senate candidate Glenn Miller is running anti-minority ads in Kansas City.
• The Kansas City Star reports on an AIDS fundraiser at the Unicorn Theater.
• WBC is challenging Nebraska’s flag desecration law.
• Ex-Kansas City Chiefs player Larry Johnson is unrepentant on his missteps in Kansas City, including using gay slurs.
• Queer Sighted briefly notes the states that still have criminal gay sodomy bans (Kansas is one) and worries about the Supreme Court reversing Lawrence v. Texas.
• Estranged son Nate Phelps speaks about his father Fred Phelps.
• The Omaha World-Herald looks at the numbers for the one-year anniversary of Iowa recognizing same-sex marriage. Kansans were among the most represented out-of-staters.

Nearby

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Aisha Sultan writes about the saga of a lesbian student being barred from her high school prom.
• The Columbia Daily Tribune editorializes on state representative Stephen Webber‘s efforts to add sexual orientation to the state’s nondiscrimination law.
• The Tulsa World editorializes for repealing DADT.
• The Tulsa World reports on the recent same-sex marriage panel organized by the Oklahoma chapter of the Interfaith Alliance.
• The Lincoln Star-Journal reports the death of LGBT activist Sally Ann Vanderslice.
• The Springfield News-Leader reports Evangel University student Melinda Nicholson is interning for Family Research Council.
• Nebraskans rally for same-sex marriage.
• Oklahoma LGBT activist Keith Kimmel died days after filing a police brutality claim alleging LGBT bias.

• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC’s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• STICKY: KEC meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10.
• We just got back from HRC Kansas City‘s fourth annual celebration of corporate equality, where HRC president Joe Solmonese spoke. Solmonese highlighted HRC programs besides CEI that address needs of LGBT Americans. Congratulations to the winners and the event’s gold sponsors (Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Tivol). We were saddened not to see any KEC or PROMO members we recognized; is HRC Kansas City stovepiped? We heard talk about post-ceremony discussions on how HRC Kansas City, which is supposed to cover Omaha and Des Moines, might organize more in Omaha. It was also reassuring to see Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan mingling, even if she left the event early.
• Westboro Baptist Church is planning a picket of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Tex., for showing The Laramie Project.
• The Ottawa Herald’s Tommy Felts defends Tea Partiers and discusses a gay libertarian friend.

Nearby

• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that FDA may lift its ban on blood donations from gay men by this summer.
• The Springfield News-Leader notes the death of Rev. Nelson Parnell, an LGBT ally.
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles St. Louis’s gay film festival QFest.
• Webster University’s student newspaper profiles gay student Bobby Myers and reports on the school’s recent drag ball.
• Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued new policies to make dismissals under DADT more difficult. Missouri Democratic congressman Ike Skelton, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, has been a leading opponent of repealing DADT.
• Iowans will celebrate the first anniversary of marriage equality.
• Oklahoman Matthew Marshal writes a letter to the Muskogee Phoenix criticizing state senator Steve Russell‘s attempt to exempt Oklahoma from federal LGBT hate crimes law. Oklahoma state hate crimes law does not cover LGBT people.
• The Tulsa World reports Oklahoman Phillip Nelson, while taking out his trash, was beaten and had his home vandalized because he was gay. KOKI 23 Tulsa has video of the bruised victim. As just mentioned, Oklahoma authorities will not treat the event as a hate crime.
• Conservative newspaper The Tulsa Beacon editorializes against same-sex marriage in D.C.
• Conservative One News Now reports on gay Colorado political donor Tim Gill’s involvement in New York’s same-sex marriage campaign.
• The Washington Times reports that the recession has hit church budgets hard, including Colorado-based Focus on the Family.
• The Colorado Springs Gazette reports pro-gay Citizens Project is paying for billboard ads that promote diversity.
• Colorado Springs’ Focus on the Family continues its rebranding with a new, softer daytime talk show.
• The Family Research Institute, also in Colorado Springs, opposed the new DADT policies by claiming statistics that gays and lesbians account disproportionately for sex offenses in the military.

• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC’s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• STICKY: KEC meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10.
• Kansas Equality Coalition reports that one of its priorities, Senate Substitute for H.B. 2079, stalled in the Kansas Senate yesterday. The bill would close a campaign finance loophole that allows unlimited, anonymous donations to judicial retention elections. In related news, Forward Kansas is calling out Democratic senator and secretary of state-candidate Chris Steineger’s abstention on a vote related to the bill.
• Senator Pat Roberts is cosponsoring an amendment to the health care reform legislation to stop the District of Columbia from recognizing same-sex marriage. This is Roberts’ second attempt at overriding D.C.’s city council. Senator and gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback joined him in the first attempt.
• Actor/comedian Kevin Smith, who is coming to Kansas City this weekend, tweets that his next movie Red State is a go. Smith says the movie is inspired by Fred Phelps. Not surprisingly, we noted last week that Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest Smith’s Kansas City appearance.
• WBC took a break from their Charleston, S.C., protest to protest Mark Sanford’s fidelity in Columbia.

Nearby

• KOMU 8 Columbia reports on PROMO‘s Missouri legislature lobby day. We thank all of the day’s sponsors listed on PROMO’s website.
• Missourian Rita Cromwell writes another anti-gay letter to the Joplin Globe, this time about AARP’s promotion of homosexuality.
• Coloradoan Vi McCoy writes a nasty anti-gay letter to the Durango Herald News.
• Coloradoan Lester Wall writes a letter to the Boulder Daily Camera on the LGBT community’s response to a Catholic school’s decision to bar children of LGBT parents.
• Denver’s Gayzette profiles gay circuit DJ Seth Gold.
• Last but not least, Washington University in St. Louis’s student newspaper writes about anal sex.

• We haven’t seen any coverage on Senate substitute for HB 2079, which the Senate was supposed to take up yesterday. If you know its status, leave a comment.
• STICKY: KEC meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10.
• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC’s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• The Lawrence Journal-World editorializes about last week’s anti-LGBT attack ad against Kansas Supreme Court justice Carol Beier.
• Manhattan residents are organizing to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.
• HRC Kansas City is recognizing local employers that scored well on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.
• The Wichita Eagle and Congressional Quarterly are writing about Snyder v. Phelps.
• Lawrence resident Carl Burkhead writes a letter to the Lawrence Journal-World against LGBT people in response to a syndicated, pro-gay column by Leonard Pitts.
• UPI covers preparations at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Cal., for a Westboro Baptist Church protest.
• WBC protested in Charleston, S.C.
• Showtime will begin the second season of The United States of Tara, the sitcom by Diablo Cody of Juno fame. The show’s characters include a gay teen growing up in Overland Park.

Nearby

• After nine years, the Missouri legislature held a hearing on a bill to add sexual orientation to the state’s nondiscrimination law. Most shocking was testimony by the attorney general’s office that they receive and ignore complaints of LGBT discrimination. The bill is sponsored by Columbia representative Stephen Webber.
• Newsweek and The Pitch report on UMKC professor June Carbone‘s new book, Red Families v. Blue Families, which examines family attitudes on homosexuality, among other cultural flashpoints.
• The Riverfront Times wonders if St. Louis legend Joseph Pulitzer was gay, based on a new biography.
• Oklahoma’s Interfaith Alliance chapter is sponsoring a panel on same-sex marriage.
• Gays and lesbians will protest St. Louis employment discrimination as part of larger protests by the liberal umbrella group People’s Settlement.
• Rinku Sen writes an op-ed in the Columbia Daily-Tribune that LGBT advocates could better reach out to African Americans by not characterizing LGBT issues as a civil rights issue.
• The University of Missouri community is discussing waste and mismanagement of a student fee for campus diversity groups.
• Oklahoma Senate minority leader Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, said senator Steve Russell‘s bill to exempt Oklahoma from federal LGBT hate crimes legislation contains a mistake that would instead exempt racial and religious hate crimes.
• Colorado gubernatorial candidate Benjamin Goss opposes same-sex marriage, or any legal recognition of gays and lesbians for that matter.
• Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission reports on increasing discrimination in Colorado, including against the LGBT community.

• ACTION: Kansas Equality Coalition is asking for calls to state senators supporting Senate substitute for HB 2079 before 2 p.m. Monday. State senators’ phone numbers are published here. The bill, previously SB 563, would close a loophole in judicial election campaign finance rules, helping keep Kansas’s courts nonpartisan and reducing anti-LGBT attack ads like the one we saw last week.
• STICKY: KEC meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10.
• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC’s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• The University Daily Kansan profiles Lawrence’s LGBT bar scene.
• Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Cal., is still preparing for a Westboro Baptist Church picket.

Nearby

• Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and, surprisingly, Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are among cosponsors of S. Res. 409, which asks Uganda’s parliament to reject the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The House equivalent, H. Res. 1064, is consponsored only by gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) among the region’s congressmembers. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings on each this week.
• Seven Republican candidates for Missouri’s 7th congressional district discussed their platforms. Mike Moon and Gary Nodler opposed same-sex marriage. One Democrat, Tim Davis of Branson, has filed to run.
• Oklahoma state senator Steve Russell promises to rewrite a bill many fear would effectively exempt Oklahoma from the Matthew Shepard Act federal hate crimes bill.
• Public News Service reports on PROMO‘s annual state legislature lobby day this week.

• ACTION: Kansas Equality Coalition is asking for calls to state senators supporting Senate substitute for HB 2079 before 2 p.m. Monday. State senators’ phone numbers are published here. The bill, previously SB 563, would close a loophole in judicial election campaign finance rules, helping keep Kansas’s courts nonpartisan and reducing anti-LGBT attack ads like the one we saw earlier this week.
• STICKY: KEC meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10.
• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC’s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• Tea Partiers protesting health care reform at the U.S. Capitol yesterday turned nasty with racist and homophobic slurs and spitting at members of congress. One of the victims was Kansas City’s Emanuel Cleaver, who released a statement about the incident that acknowledges gay representative Barney Frank‘s fight for “equality.” One of the first members of congress to address the protesters was anti-gay Kansas representative Todd Tiahrt.
• Iowa attorney and author Nathan Tucker writes an op-ed on Snyder v. Phelps in the Baltimore Sun.

Nearby

• Missouri’s PROMO will hold its annual state legislature lobby day this week.
• The Associated Press covers Missouri Southern State University‘s decision Friday to examine adding sexual orientation to the school’s nondiscrimination policy.
• Boulder PFLAG‘s president writes an op-ed about the local Catholic school’s decision to bar children of LGBT parents.
• Oklahoma’s Sand Springs Leader condemns zealous state politicians, noting anti-gay representative Sally Kern‘s hypocrisy on marriage policy.

• STICKY: The Kansas Equality Coalition meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10 due to weather.
• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC’s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• Kansas Senate Ethics and Elections Committee approved SB 563, which closes a campaign finance loophole for judicial elections. KEC’s chair Tom Witt testified before the committee in support.
• A U.S. Census Bureau contractor is looking for Topeka gay and lesbian couples to participate in a focus group.
• A letter to the Topeka Capital-Journal supports Kansas Supreme Court justice Carol Beier after this week’s anti-LGBT attack ad.
• The Lawrence Journal-World examines religions’ relationships with sexuality, highlighting a pro-LGBT report by the Religious Institute.
• Westboro Baptist Church no-showed again at a planned protest in Dutchtown, La.
• More coverage of Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Cal., and its preparation for a WBC picket.
• The Wichita Eagle’s blog starts an open thread on Snyder v. Phelps.
• More letters criticizing WBC in regional papers.

Nearby

• Colorado Family Action, a Focus on the Family affiliate, and the Colorado Catholic Conference are sponsoring a state constitutional amendment to prevent government “infringement” on religious views.
• Oklahoma state senator Steve Russell writes a letter to the Tulsa World in defense of his rewrite of SB 1965, which attempts to exempt Oklahoma from the federal Matthew Shepard Act on LGBT hate crimes.
• Missouri Southern State University‘s board set up a committee to consider adding sexual orientation to the school’s nondiscrimination policy yesterday.
• The Denver Post editorializes against the Queer the Census campaign.
• Catholic News Agency reports on the U.S. Postal Service‘s recent about-face on an anti-gay mailer by Colorado Springs-based Family Research Institute.

• STICKY: The Kansas Equality Coalition meeting to organize a northwest Kansas chapter has been rescheduled for Apr. 10 due to weather.
• STICKY: After the loss of local activist Steve Brown, KEC‘s northeast Kansas chapter will reorganize at a meeting on Mar. 27.
• Washburn University’s gay-straight alliance OPEN will screen a documentary chronicling Fagbug, a pro-gay VW Beatle that travels the country.
• The anti-social are turning to social media: FireDogLake blog noticed Westboro Baptist Church set up a Facebook page.
• Newsweek covers Snyder v. Phelps.
• San Mateo, Cal., and Charleston, S.C., prepare for WBC protests.
• Wichita residents respond to Margie Phelps recent letter to the Wichita Eagle.

Westboro Baptist Church Facebook Page

Nearby

• The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing yesterday on DADT. Committee members include Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), and James Inhofe (R-Okla). Sen. Udall wrote an op-ed opposing DADT in the Boulder Daily Camera.
• Missouri Southern State University‘s board will consider adding sexual orientation to the school’s nondiscrimination policy today.
• Gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is tweeting about Lady Gaga.
• Colorado Supreme Court chief justice Mary Mullarkey speaks about the Romer v. Evans gay civil rights case.

• STICKY: Kansas Equality Coalition is organizing a northwest Kansas chapter. Please attend the first meeting Mar. 20 in Hays.
• Lawyer Don Saxton, a board member of ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, discusses Snyder v. Phelps.
• Granby High School students in Norfolk, Va., survived a Westboro Baptist Church picket.

Nearby

• Following up on this week’s Oklahoma same-sex divorce ruling, we note the involvement of national anti-gay lawyers Alliance Defense Fund. Based on our observations, when something’s amiss, look for ADF.
• HRC is sending staff to Nebraska to lobby DADT.
• Missouri Senate Education Committee held a hearing yesterday on SB 946, which would add sexual orientation to Missouri’s school anti-bullying law.
• The Postal Service initially refused and then accepted the Colorado Springs-based Family Research Institute‘s newsletter, which arguably advocates anti-gay military members attack closeted colleagues.
• Colorado’s Longmont Times-Call reports on local anti-bullying efforts.
• Denver Daily News reports on the Housing and Urban Development Department‘s addition of sexual orientation to landlord discrimination testing.
• The Catholic League is complaining about criticism from ABC’s The View, which discussed a Boulder Catholic school’s decision to bar the children of LGBT parents.
• Gay Oklahoman Eric Himan profiles his musical career.

• STICKY: KEC is organizing a northwest Kansas chapter. Please attend the first meeting Mar. 20 in Hays.
• O-Ring Sales & Services, owned by Lenexa resident Doug Johnson, published a full page attack ad in Monday’s Topeka Capital-Journal against Kansas Supreme Court justice Carol Beier. The ad is shamelessly homophobic and transphobic. Johnson has a history of donating to local “family values” candidates Todd Tiahrt and Phill Kline. Beier is the target of an anti-retention campaign led by Kansans for Life.
  
  

  Anti-LGBT Beier Attack Ad

Nearby

• Missouri congressman Roy Blunt is asking the Defense Department to explain why Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins was uninvited to a military event after defending DADT.
• Westboro Baptist Church will picket actor and director Kevin Smith.
• Washington University in St. Louis student Luke Schiel writes against DADT.
• St. Louis will soon host QFest, its annual LGBT film festival
• Nancy Heinze of Florissant, Mo., responds to Colleen Carroll Campbell‘s defense of a Boulder Catholic school’s decision to bar the children of LGBT parents.
• Oklahoma is remembering LGBT activist Paul Thompson.

There are a lot of reasons why the Capital-Journal might remain silent. There are more important things (like healthcare) being discussed. There are those who think feeding the Phelpses any more publicity than they already have is a mistake. And Topekans moved past the Phelpses years ago. Or it could just be the result of a mediocre newsroom not on its A-game.

Yet when the Supreme Court grants the Phelpses, of all people, a national platform, everyone takes note. We’ve read editorials on the case from newspapers all across the country. Why not the home team? The Capital-Journal ought to step up and offer its perspective too.

—GK

STICKY: Kansas Equality Coalition is organizing a northwest Kansas chapter. If you can make it, please attend Mar. 20 in Hays.

• Kansas Equality Coalition: NORTHWEST Chapter Organizing Meeting in HAYS

This summer’s Kansas City pride festival will kick off at the Power & Light district. Well known local blogger Tony notes that this throws the African American community, which deserves our support, under the bus. P&L and its developer Cordish have been plagued with allegations of racism. GK has pondered people of color’s marginalization within the LGBT community before, and this can’t help.

• KSHB 41 Kansas City: KC Pride Comes to P & L District
• Tony’s Kansas City: P&L District Gay Pride

Bad boy John Mayer‘s scheduled Kansas City performance is the next lucky winner of a Westboro Baptist Church protest. GK thinks it’s a great opportunity for the local LGBT community to reach out, leverage Mayer’s publicity, and get a pro-gay statement that would be heard by many. Tweet him @johncmayer.

• Pitch Wayward Blog: Fred Phelps: God Hates John Mayer, Too

Meanwhile, one of the Phelpses from WBC writes a letter to the Wichita Eagle in response to criticism by conservative commentator Cal Thomas. Joining the ranks of ultra-conservatives criticizing WBC is WorldNetDaily.

• Wichita Eagle: Letters to the editor on David Warren, water rate, health care amendment, Phelps, spelling bees
• WorldNetDaily: Kansas crazies’ merciless malediction

The Kansas City Star‘s Stargazing column briefly covers the GLAAD media awards.

• Kansas City Star: Stargazing: South Park tackles Tiger, GLAAD’s media awards

Nearby

University of Missouri student Jordan Stein writes an op-ed lobbying University of Missouri system to offer same-sex domestic partner benefits.

• Maneater: Column: MU should encourage gay rights

An Oklahoma appellate court rejected a divorce request made by lesbians legally married in Canada.

• Tulsa World: Lesbian divorce dismissal upheld on appeal

Coverage we missed on Oklahoma state senator Steve Russell’s attempt to exempt Oklahoma from the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hates Crimes Prevention Act recently signed into law:

• Dallas Voice: Okla. Senate passes amendment to opt out of federal hate crimes protections
• National Center for Transgender Equality: Shame on you, Oklahoma State Senate

In Boulder, the lesbian parents of the child barred from attending a Catholic school granted an interview to Kansas City-based National Catholic Reporter and then issued a statement. Sympathetic parents from the school also spoke out.

• National Catholic Reporter: Children denied Catholic schooling, lesbian couple speaks out
• Boulder Pride: Statement From The Parents
• Boulder Daily Camera: Lesbian couple says Boulder Catholic school rejection won’t change their faith

Gay rights advocates in Fort Collins, Col., are raising awareness on civil union-esque designated beneficiary agreements.

• Fort Collins Coloradoan: Same-sex legal avenues opening up

Colorado news sources are reporting on the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce‘s Queer the Census campaign, which is lobbying the Census Bureau to count LGBT people. We ordered our stickers weeks ago; you can too.

• Denver Post: GLBT community pressing for census question to declare sexual orientation
• Public News Service: GLBT Coloradans Looking to Be Counted by Census
• dscriber: ‘Queer the Census:’ Groups want gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people counted by feds

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs student Stephen Farrell writes an op-ed defending FDA‘s ban on blood donations from gay men.

• Scribe: The argument that shouldn’t be

Given such enlightening commentary, GK was a little surprised (apparently some locals too) that Colorado Springs recently won a prize for diversity.

• Colorado Springs Independent: Springs wins diversity prize… no, really
• KKTV 11 Colorado Springs: Colorado Springs Wins National Diversity Award

In Denver, a Johnson & Wales University student received a racist, anti-gay threat under her dorm room door.

• Denver Daily News: Racist flier causes stir
• KDVR 31 Denver: Rally targets Johnson & Wales response to flier

The Pueblo Chieftain profiles actor Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover on twitter). Glover describes himself as a gay rights supporter. His parents were active in the NAACP, and GK applauds any family whose tradition is fighting for equality.

• Pueblo Chieftain: Glover has passion for acting, activism

STICKY: Kansas Equality Coalition is organizing a northwest Kansas chapter. If you can make it, please attend Mar. 20 in Hays.

• Kansas Equality Coalition: NORTHWEST Chapter Organizing Meeting in HAYS

We forgot to mention it earlier, but the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee is scheduled to vote on the judicial campaign finance reform bill, S.B. 563, next week. The bill, which we covered earlier, is backed by Kansas Equality Coalition.

• Lawrence Journal-World: Senate panel to vote next week on regulations for campaigns to oust, retain sitting judges

Author Honor Moore will read from her latest book The Bishop’s Daughter on Apr. 1 at Washburn University. The book is a memoir of her late father, a civil rights advocate, prominent member of the Episcopal Church, and closeted gay man.

• Washburn University: Author to discuss memoir

Good news from Brookfield, Conn. Westboro Baptist Church no-showed for an anticipated protest of a local theatre’s production of The Laramie Project.

• Danbury News-Times: Counterprotesters say efforts not wasted despite fundamentalist no-show

Charleston, S.C., is gearing up for a Westboro Baptist Church protest of Charleston Air Force Base scheduled Mar. 22. The College of Charleston student government has drafted a resolution condemning WBC.

• Charleston Post & Courier: Protesters coming here
• College of Charleston: Resolution condemning Westboro Baptist Church

Meanwhile, over at the eBaum’s World forums, people should be pranking Westboro Baptist Church sometime later this morning.

• eBaum’s World Forum: Westboro Baptist Church

Kansas “theologian” Matt Glassman writes a column opposing same-sex marriage.

• Examiner: Clear Thinking Needed in Gay Marriage Debate II

Nearby

More commentary on Oklahoma state senator Steve Russell‘s attempt to exempt Oklahoma from the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hates Crimes Prevention Act recently signed into law:

• Tulsa World: Question of fairness
• Foolocracy: Oklahoma Tries To Opt Out Of Hate Crime Legislation Protecting Gays

Openly gay Col. congressman Jared Polis is touting his Student Nondiscrimination Act (SNDA), H.R. 4530, which would prevent schools that receive federal funds from discriminating against LGBT students. Polis claims the bill would have prevented the recent case of a Miss. school cancelling prom rather than letting a lesbian student attend with her date.

• KDVR 31 Denver: Canceled Mississippi prom brings new attention to Polis’s bill

Robyn Carolyn Montague, founder of Transhaven Missouri (@transhaven on twitter), writes from the National Center for Transgender Equality Lobby Day and Conference in D.C.

• Vital Voice: StL @ The National Center for Transgender Equality Lobby Day and Conference 2010

A week with no LGBT news out of Neb. is followed by a trollish column by blogger Sam Eldridge, author of the Road Dog Politics blog.

• McCook Daily Gazette: Trying to Understand Liberal Morality