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G
ov. Jesse Ventura quickly came to the
defense of his gay chief of staff after a brush
with the law became public, The Associated
Press reports Nov. 23. Steve Bosacker pleaded
guilty to a misdemeanor for allegedly proposi
tioning a male
police officer, while
nude, in a steam
room.
“There’s people
out there in the
hetero world that
like bondage," Ven
tura told KFAN-
AM, where he
worked as a talk
radio host before Steve Bosacker
mnning for gover
nor. “It’s not my cup of tea, but I’m not going
to sit there and say that it’s right, wrong or what-
ever.
People do not apply the same standard to
straight folks who have sex in public as they do
to gays, Ventura added.
“We can do it, and people just shake their
fingers at us and tell us we’re spirited,” he said.
“Is there any of us talking here that hasn’t
gone out and had sex in a place they’re not
supposed to?”
Ventura did not defend his aide’s actions.
However, he said the situation could have been
handled differently.
“I know in my alpha-male world, and I get in
situations like that, I don’t call the police,” he
said. “This is just me personally. 1 would just
laugh it off if I’m propositioned and I’m not gay,
if I’m a hetero.”
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U
ebraska’s initiative prohibiting legal recog
nition of same-sex marriages or civil
unions will be heading to court before it can join
the state’s constitution, the Lincoln Journal-Star
reports.
“Our board has
been against 416 since
its inception,” said
Tim Butz, Ameri
can Civil Liberties
Unions Nebraska
executive director.
“We’ve
been
against it because
of its constitutional
flaws. It denies gays
and lesbians the
same protection of
the law afforded het
erosexuals.”
The
ACLU
board of directors
voted unanimously
Nov. 18 to challenge the constitutionality of Ini
tiative 416, approved in the Nov. 7 election. Butz
said he realizes the action clearly will not be pop
ular with Nebraskans.
“But the organization has never let populari
ty define what we would do,” he said. “Just
because 70 percent of the people voted for the
amendment doesn’t mean what they voted for is
constitutional. It is wrong to enshrine bigotry in
the state constitution, and we think that is what
has happened.”
At least 33 other states have passed what are
called Defense of Marriage Acts and are similar
to the first sentence in Initiative 416. But none
has adopted language like the second sentence
of the amendment, which says the uniting of
two people of the same sex in a civil union,
domestic partnership or other similar same-sex
relationship shall not be valid or recognized in
Nebraska.
“As far as we know, this language has a
broader sweep than anything else we’ve seen
when it comes to anti-marriage statutes,” said
David Buckel, Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund senior staff attorney. The
New York-based group might assist the
A C LU with the case.
MICHIGAN
heterosexual students
have banded together to form a
club in response to Jackson High
School’s controversial Gay-Straight
Alliance, The Associated Press
reports Nov. 18.
Lifting Our Voices for Excel
lence will offer a message of “a spir
it of love,” according to organizers
Eian Wright, the Rev. Ira Combs
Jr. of the Greater Bible Way Tem
ple and Gary Glenn, American Family Asso
ciation of Michigan president. They say the
alliance shouldn’t be allowed because more
students have been discussing homosexual
acts in school since it was formed in October.
“This is disturbing the education of students,
and that is not bringing a positive image to the
school,” Wright said. Combs, whose son attends
Jackson High, said he doesn’t want homosexual
ity forced on his children.
Junior Tyler Hampton, co-founder of the
alliance, said he is gay but "wouldn’t know how
to promote homosexuality.” He said the club’s
purpose is to “break the silence so students
would know that they’re not alone.”
Hampton said he formed it “for students
who are trying to understand their sexuality
or the sexuality of their friends. We don’t dis
cuss sex acts of any kind or sexual relations in
the group.”
Hampton said gay students sometimes are
called names, bullied or ostracized in school. He
said he has been asked why he hasn’t cut off his
genitals and has been pushed on the stairs and
had a bottle thrown at him.
Principal Jim Graham said that Lifting Our
Voices for Excellence followed procedure for
forming and that the school can’t exclude one
club without excluding them all. Religious and
pro-violence groups are the only ones not
allowed, he added.
ARIZONA
A
homeless shelter said “thanks, hut no
thanks” to a gay congressman who
agreed to be a celebrity waiter during its
annual Thanksgiving dinner, the Tucson Citi
zen reports Nov. 25. Then after receiving tons
of bad press, the Gospel Rescue Mission sud
denly got back in
to the holiday spir
it and offered a
“tearful apology”
to U.S. Rep. Jim
Kolbe, R-Ariz.
“The action we
took did not proper
ly effect our Christ
ian belief that God
loves and desires a
personal relation
ship with every per
son,” a letter from Rep. Jim Kolbe
the board stated.
“We hope that you accept this apology, and we
ask for your forgiveness.”
Quite a change from earlier in the week,
when Kolbe was told not to bother volunteer
ing his time serving meals even though he was
allowed to last year. Gospel Rescue Mission
board member Evelyn H. Haugh scolded him
in a faxed memo for being inconsistent with
her beliefs.
“This decision is based on your publicly
announced sexual orientation that is diamet-