Gay Kansas News: Week of 4/11/2010
April 19, 2010, 10:10 pm
Filed under: Allies, Courts, Education, Elections, HIV/AIDS, Legislatures, Marriage, Military, News Summary, Nondiscrimination, Opponents, Pride, Protests, Religion, Sports, Youth | Tags: AIDS, athletes, Augusta Gazette, Avila College, Baker Orange, Baker University, Barb Shelly, Bernie Papin, Beverly Eckert, blood donation, Christian Legal Society, CLS v. Hastings, Community of Christ Church, congress, country music, Courts, DADT, Denise L. Eulert, domestic partner benefits, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Education, Elections, Employment, FDA, first amendment, Forty Under Forty, Fox News, Fred Phelps, free speech, funeral pickets, gay, gay-straight alliance, GSA, health, health care, HIV, hospitals, James Dobson, James Stewart Jr., Jennifer Knapp, Jerry Moran, Jolie Justus, Jonathan Shorman, Jonathan Turley, Kansas, Kansas City Star, Kent Bush, KU, Lauren Bornstein, lesbian, LGBT, Margie Phelps, Marriage, Max Rothman, medicine, Military, Missouri, Missouri legislature, MU, music, National Day of Prayer, National Day of Silence, Nondiscrimination, Pride, Protests, R.L. Barger, Religion, Roll Call, Ryan Thomas Campbell, Sam Brownback, same-sex marriage, Shauna Blackmon, Snyder v. Phelps, Sports, Supreme Court, taxes, The Advocate, Todd Tiahrt, Tony Perkins, Topeka Capital-Journal, UMKC, universities, University Daily Kansan, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Vicki Tiahrt, Westboro Baptist Church, Winfield Daily Courier
Filed under: Allies, Courts, Education, Elections, HIV/AIDS, Legislatures, Marriage, Military, News Summary, Nondiscrimination, Opponents, Pride, Protests, Religion, Sports, Youth | Tags: AIDS, athletes, Augusta Gazette, Avila College, Baker Orange, Baker University, Barb Shelly, Bernie Papin, Beverly Eckert, blood donation, Christian Legal Society, CLS v. Hastings, Community of Christ Church, congress, country music, Courts, DADT, Denise L. Eulert, domestic partner benefits, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Education, Elections, Employment, FDA, first amendment, Forty Under Forty, Fox News, Fred Phelps, free speech, funeral pickets, gay, gay-straight alliance, GSA, health, health care, HIV, hospitals, James Dobson, James Stewart Jr., Jennifer Knapp, Jerry Moran, Jolie Justus, Jonathan Shorman, Jonathan Turley, Kansas, Kansas City Star, Kent Bush, KU, Lauren Bornstein, lesbian, LGBT, Margie Phelps, Marriage, Max Rothman, medicine, Military, Missouri, Missouri legislature, MU, music, National Day of Prayer, National Day of Silence, Nondiscrimination, Pride, Protests, R.L. Barger, Religion, Roll Call, Ryan Thomas Campbell, Sam Brownback, same-sex marriage, Shauna Blackmon, Snyder v. Phelps, Sports, Supreme Court, taxes, The Advocate, Todd Tiahrt, Tony Perkins, Topeka Capital-Journal, UMKC, universities, University Daily Kansan, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Vicki Tiahrt, Westboro Baptist Church, Winfield Daily Courier
- Kansas Senate candidate Todd Tiahrt joined anti-gay national figures Tony Perkins and James Dobson’s wife in opposing a federal judge’s ruling that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional. Tiahrt released a statement on his congressional website, but it’s no longer there. Tiahrt’s wife hasn’t deleted a tweet promoting the association though. In the now-deleted release, Tiahrt said:
Judge Crabb’s ruling was an offense to our constitutional rights and radically seeks to overturn more than two centuries of historic precedent rooted in Judeo-Christian values. Our Founding Fathers understood the absolute need for dependence upon God, and we are no less in need of his assistance today than when our country was founded.
- Kansan and Christian country star Jennifer Knapp comes out as lesbian. Columnist Kent Bush comments in the Augusta Gazette.
- The Kansas City Star notes that the candidates vying for Sam Brownback’s senate seat—Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran—are both extremely conservative, including both opposing same-sex marriage.
- The Winfield Daily Courier republishes a Washington Post editorial taking the side of the Christian Legal Society in the high profile Supreme Court case CLS v. Martinez.
- The University Daily Kansan, KU’s student newspaper, published articles by Lauren Bornstein about DADT, Max Rothman about LGBT athletes, and Jonathan Shorman and Shauna Blackmon about the Phelpses’ protest of KU’s pride week.
- The Baker Orange, Baker University‘s student newspaper, writes about the university GSA’s observance of the National Day of Silence.
- Kansas City Star editorial board member Barb Shelly writes about President Obama’s guarantee of hospital visitation access for LGBT people.
- The Kansas City Star reports that James Stewart, Jr., an Avila College student, is working against the FDA’s ban on blood donation by gay men.
- The Maneater, the University of Missouri-Columbia’s student newspaper, reports that in a University of Missouri-system survey, a majority of UMKC faculty voted in favor of offering domestic partner benefits to LGBT faculty and staff.
- Kansas Citian, Missouri state senator, and out lesbian Jolie Justus made The Advocate’s Forty Under Forty list.
- KTVI 2 St. Louis reports that the Community of Christ conference in Kansas City last week punted on dealing with LGBT issues.
- Kudos to University of Kansas student Ryan Thomas Campbell for winning a prestigious Chancellor’s award for his LGBT activism.
- The Topeka Capital-Journal runs an AP story on Snyder v. Phelps.
- Roll Call published a guest op-ed by George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley on Snyder v. Phelps. Margie Phelps responded in a letter in this morning’s edition (pg. 4).
- The Topeka Capital-journal published letters about the Phelpses from R.L. Barger of Springfield, Ill., Denise L. Eulert of Topeka, and Beverly Eckert of Lee’s Summit, Mo.
- The Kansas City Star published a letter by Bernie Papin of Lenexa criticizing American courts for rulings favoring the Phelpses.
- Fox News notes that the Phelpses avoid taxes by claiming to be a church. (We’re a little miffed Fox News criticized the Phelpses in the context of taxes, but we’ll take what we can get.)
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Kansas LGBT News 3/21/2010
March 21, 2010, 1:29 pm
Filed under: Allies, Courts, Education, Elections, Legislatures, Marriage, News Summary, Nondiscrimination, Opponents, Organizing, Parenting, Protests, Religion, Youth | Tags: abortion, attack ads, Barney Frank, Boulder, campaign finance reform, Carol Beier, Catholic Church, children, Colorado, congress, Courts, divorce, Education, Elections, Emanuel Cleaver, Fire Beier, first amendment, Fred Phelps, free speech, funeral pickets, gay, hate speech, HB 2079, health care, Jefferson City, Joplin, Kansans for Life, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas Equality Coalition, Kansas Supreme Court, KEC, KEC Northeast Chapter, KEC Northwest Chapter, LGBT, lobby day, lobbying, Marriage, Missouri, Missouri legislature, Missouri Southern State University, Nathan Tucker, Nondiscrimination, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma legislature, Organizing, Parenting, PFLAG, PROMO, Protests, Sally Kern, SB 563, schools, slurs, Snyder v. Phelps, Supreme Court, Tea Party, Todd Tiahrt, Topeka, universities, Westboro Baptist Church, Youth
Filed under: Allies, Courts, Education, Elections, Legislatures, Marriage, News Summary, Nondiscrimination, Opponents, Organizing, Parenting, Protests, Religion, Youth | Tags: abortion, attack ads, Barney Frank, Boulder, campaign finance reform, Carol Beier, Catholic Church, children, Colorado, congress, Courts, divorce, Education, Elections, Emanuel Cleaver, Fire Beier, first amendment, Fred Phelps, free speech, funeral pickets, gay, hate speech, HB 2079, health care, Jefferson City, Joplin, Kansans for Life, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas Equality Coalition, Kansas Supreme Court, KEC, KEC Northeast Chapter, KEC Northwest Chapter, LGBT, lobby day, lobbying, Marriage, Missouri, Missouri legislature, Missouri Southern State University, Nathan Tucker, Nondiscrimination, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma legislature, Organizing, Parenting, PFLAG, PROMO, Protests, Sally Kern, SB 563, schools, slurs, Snyder v. Phelps, Supreme Court, Tea Party, Todd Tiahrt, Topeka, universities, Westboro Baptist Church, Youth
Kansas
- 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.
Gay Kansas 