Lesbians

A picture book aimed at pre-reading children has raised the ire of two dozen parents of students at a Utah elementary school who say that its subject matter is decidely adult: the story of a lesbian couple raising children. The book, “In Our Mother's House” by Patricia Polacco, was removed from the library shelves at Windridge Elementary School near Salt Lake City after parents raised objections about the suitability of the book's social message. The book is now kept behind the librarian's counter and can only be checked out once a student presents a permission slip from a parent, said district spokesman Chris Williams.

A North Carolina pastor may have thought he was simply addressing his local flock when he suggested that gays and lesbians be rounded up and held behind electrified fences until they die off. Now, he's finding himself under fire across the country. The sermon, captured on a video camera and posted Monday on YouTube, has gone viral: In the last 24 hours, it's been viewed more than  282,500 times and has been covered in blogs, in newspapers and by TV stations from coast to coast.

A board member of the Ohio River Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America has resigned to protest the ouster of Jennifer Tyrrell, the leader of her son's Tiger Cub pack forced out earlier this month because she is  gay. Board member David J. Sims, a lawyer and longtime Democrat serving on the Ohio County Commission, said he did not know Tyrrell. He learned of her resignation from an email the board circulated last Thursday, did some research and announced his resignation Friday.

The Ohio Cub Scout leader forced to resign earlier this month for being a lesbian not only wants to be reinstated as leader of her son's pack, she's been crisscrossing the country winning support for her cause. “The goal is really just to raise awareness,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, 32, who appeared in Los Angeles last weekend, then New York City. “We're hoping the Boy Scouts will do the right thing and just change the policy.” Officials at the Boy Scouts of America, whose oath calls for members to be "morally straight," maintain that they have the right as a private group to exclude gays from their ranks.

A Los Angeles gay rights organization has protested the decision by Manhattan Beach police to release — and many local media to publish — the names and photos of 18 men arrested in an undercover sex sting at a public restroom. Leaders of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center contended that last week's release of the mug shots, names and birth dates of the men could lead to public humiliation and more severe consequences. The social service agency said one of the arrestees had reported to them that a fellow suspect attempted suicide after the results of the sting were made public.

Backers of California's ban on same-sex marriage urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to reconsider and reject a Feb. 7 ruling against Proposition 8, arguing that California voters did not express disapproval of gay people but simply wanted to preserve marriage. "That the traditional definition of marriage confers a symbolic benefit on committed opposite-sex couples does not 'dishonor' gays and lesbians as a class or express official 'disapproval of them and their relationships,' " contended ProtectMarriage, the sponsors of the 2008 ballot measure that reinstated a marriage ban. "It is simply not true that when the government provides special recognition to one class of individuals, it demeans others.

Amid the photographs of beauty contestants competing in Miss California USA this weekend are those of two young women who are making history. Jenelle Hutcherson, 26, of Long Beach and Mollie Thomas, 19, of West Hollywood are the first openly gay contestants in the 60-year history of the state pageant, whose winner will go on to compete in Miss USA, the national pageant. "That Miss California crown would sure look nice atop the 'hawk," Hutcherson said, referring to her Mohawk hairstyle.

In the new film "Pariah," Adepero Oduye plays Alike, a 17-year-old African American girl in New York struggling to reconcile her identity as a lesbian and an emerging writer with the expectations of her conservative parents and her outspoken best friend. The role required much of the young actress, as Alike experiences plenty of emotional tumult navigating the complex terrain of coming of age. Perhaps the most outwardly remarkable aspect of Oduye's performance, however, is that she's nearly twice as old as the character she plays.

Rick Perry has finally broken through in one respect. His new campaign ad, titled “Strong,” has spawned a virtual cottage industry of parodies, homages and condemnations on the Web. Perry's ad, which conflates gays and lesbians being allowed to serve openly in the military with the celebration of Christmas, has become something of an overnight sensation, but not always in a good way. By Monday, it had generated more than 650,000 “dislikes” on...

  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on world leaders for the first time Tuesday to stop discrimination against gays and lesbians, announcing that the United States would use diplomacy and $3 million in aid to help expand the rights of gay people around the world. In a speech to mark Human Rights Day, which is celebrated Saturday, Clinton declared that protecting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is "now one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time" and compared it to the battles for women's rights, racial equality and religious freedom.