Logo of Equality California.

The recently hired executive director of Equality California, the state’s major lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights organization, has resigned and will leave as of Friday, the group said Monday night.

The Marriage Director who Equality California recruited from Equality Massachusetts is also gone.

The news comes amid a deep cut in staff that the organization had not previously announced.

The evening e-mail statement came as opponents of SB48 face a Wednesday deadline to qualify a referendum to repeal that law, approved by Governor Jerry Brown earlier this year. That law mandates the teaching of the historical accomplishments of LGBT people and people with disabilities. Equality California appeared to be ready to defend it, though that is now in question.

In the e-mail, the organization’s Board of Directors said Roland Palencia “will step down as of Friday.” It also stated that the organization would release a “transition plan” by the end of this week.

Reached by phone, Palencia said, “I literally made a personal decision that I wanted to move on. There’s really nothing more to it.” He said he was not forced out by the board.

About the group’s financial situation, he said, “Right now a lot of nonprofits are having problems,” but he maintained that the organization has “a lot of support.”

Cathy Schwamberger, Equality California Institute board chairwoman, said its members were grateful for Palencia’s service “and wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.”

The organization appears to be in turmoil. Its recently laid-off Capitol office manager said staff has been cut drastically.

Matthew Bunch, who was the government affairs manager from January until he was laid off last month, said, “Everybody’s leaving,” adding that the organization has “a vacuum of leadership and a vacuum of staff.”

Rebekah Orr, Director of Communications for Equality California, said staff has shrunk from 18 to 11 this year, though she said more are “transitioning out of the organization.”

Former logo of the closed Equality Mississippi.

Equality Mississippi completely closed its doors in 2008 after eight years of being the only statewide LGBT civil rights organization in Mississippi.

Equality Mississippi’s Board of Directors decided, due to financial hardships, the organization was to be closed.

The “9 to 5,” actress, singer and songwriter who also recorded and wrote a song Whitney Houston would later record again, “I Will Always Love You,” stated: “Everyone knows my personal support of the gay and lesbian community,” Parton’s statement said. “Dollywood is a family park and all families are welcome. We do have a policy about profanity or controversial messages on clothing or signs. It is to protect the individual wearing or carrying them, as well as to keep down fights or problems by those opposed to it at the park. We even offer free shirts in exchange to those who want to remain in the park.”

Dollywood officials have offered a refund the lesbian couple that a Dollywood employee asked one of the women to turn her T-shirt reading “marriage is so gay” inside-out to avoid offending others. Park officials were going to meet with the couple in person, but it was called off when Jennifer Tipton and Olivier Odom wanted to bring a representative from Campaign for Southern Equality, a gay rights organization.

Dollywood park spokesman Pete Owens told The Knoxville News Sentinel that the park didn’t want to meet with the representative, who wasn’t at the park at the time of the incident, so they sent the couple a letter and gave them a refund.

The couple complained after a park worker at Splash Country last month asked Odom to reverse her shirt.

Owens provided the couple with a statement from Dolly Parton, who said she was sorry for any hurt or embarrassment they felt over the request.

Odom and Tipton said they were glad to see Parton’s supportive statement, but were disappointed that Dollywood officials declined to meet with them and their equality advocate.

“I think it’s an opportunity for Dollywood to come out and publicly support their LGBT staff and visitors,” Odom said.

“We still want to see policy changed,” Tipton said.

Owens had previously said the park has a dress code policy to ask people with clothing or tattoos that could be considered offensive to change or cover up, and that the couple was not asked to leave and they complied with the request to turn the shirt inside out.

The couple sent a letter to Dollywood officials asking the park “to implement policies that are inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; conduct staff sensitivity training; and issue a public statement indicating that the park is inclusive of all families.”

Controversial T-Shirt

Wearing a T-shirt “marriage is so gay,” is controversial and contradictory to public service announcements by Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Miley Cyrus, Wanda Sykes, and other celebrities asking people to refrain from saying “that’s so gay,” “queer,” and other offensive language to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgende​r community. The theme for the public service announcements are intended to get people to “think before they speak.”

Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manger for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said there has been a “spike in violence against the LGBT people since the ‘80s, when we had a serial killer who killed 27 gay men.”

In 2009, the body of 19-year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was found decapitated, dismembered, and partially burned by the side of the road near the Puerto Rican town of Cayey. As of 2009, this was called the most horrific hate crime in United States history. (previous story)

Allies and advocates on both the island and the mainland are working to urge the government to do something about the increasing violence against the LGBT community, but with government and religious officials using anti-gay rhetoric, Serrano says it’s hard to get law enforcement to do anything.

“Part of the problem is we have a government that’s been silent on these murders. The president of the Senate has called LGBT people ‘twisted’ and ‘mentally ill’ and that incites violence.” Adding, “also we have religious leaders that have been using language that also incites that violence, and we hold them accountable for these crimes as well.”

Even stars like Ricky Martin, who relatively recently came out as gay, have been asked to “not promote homosexuality.” This request for Martin came from Luis Aponte Martínez, Archbishop Emeritus of San Juan de Puerto Rico.

“Puerto Rico is a place of love, acceptance and inclusion and these few people with hateful rhetoric against LGBT individuals are killing us,” said Serrano. “Even though we are suffering and this is heart wrenching, the love of the families and the people and all the funerals have been filled with hundreds of people—that tells you where PR is, not where the leaders wants us to be.”

Seal of the California Senate.

SACRAMENTO — California’s lawmakers are fighting over legislation that would require public schools to include the historical contributions of LGBT people in their curriculum while the Kentucky Senate proposed teaching Bible lessons [the Kentucky Legislation was defeated].

However, unlike the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the State of California has a full-time legislature.

California Senate Bill 48, introduced by Senator Mark D. Leno (D-San Francisco), would require the state’s new social study and history textbooks to include “a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.”

The bill — also known as the “Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act” — is a revival of similar efforts launched five years ago when state lawmakers approved a similar measure only to have run into serious opposition from then Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Governor Jerry Brown (D) has not taken a position on the proposal. But the push has divided religious leaders, educators and lawmakers and prompted accusations from opponents that those behind the effort seek to impose their values on the state and on students and parents who find same-sex relationships objectionable.

“It is, in fact, legislating morality,” said Craig DeLuz, a parent and Sacramento school board member. “It is requiring taxpayers to foot the bill to promote a lifestyle to which they may or may not be morally opposed.”

California Senator Mark D. Leno (D-San Francisco) wears the Seal of the California Senate while testifying before a Senate Committee.

Jerry Brown was the Attorney General of California from January 9, 2007 – January 3, 2011 and fought the legality of Prop. 8 and fought to allow California’s gay population to marry before the California Supreme Court. Governor Jerry Brown’s father, Pat Brown, the 32nd Governor of California (1959–1967).

Jerry Brown has been Governor of California before (1975–1983), and was responsible for appointing the first openly gay judge in United States when he named Stephen Lachs to serve on the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1979. In 1981, he also appointed the first openly lesbian judge in the United States, Mary C. Morgan of the San Francisco Municipal Court.

Governor Jerry Brown completed his second as Governor having appointed a total of five openly gay judges, including Rand Schrader and Jerold Krieger. During Brown’s first term as Governor however, he appointed no openly gay people to any position, citing the failed 1978 Briggs Initiative, which sought to ban homosexuals from working in California’s public schools, for his increased support of gay rights.

California Senator Leno said the bill addresses “a glaring oversight in educating young people that has led to harassment of gays by their classmates.”

During a recent Senate Education Committee hearing, Leno emotionally invoked the name of Seth Walsh, the13-year-old student from Tehachapi, Calif., who committed suicide last year after enduring years of anti-gay bullying.

“In light of the ongoing and ever-threatening phenomenon of bullying and the tragic result of suicides, it seems to me that better informed students might be more welcoming in their approach to differences among their classmates,” Senator Leno said. “Students would better understand that we are talking about a civil rights movement.”

If passed, SB 48 could have impact beyond California’s borders. Since the state is a major purchaser of educational textbooks, national book publishers often print books tailored for California curriculum that other states utilize.

The legislation would require that social science texts and other instruction include “a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans … to the economic, political and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.”

Republicans are aggressively opposing the measure.  Senator Robert Huff (R-Diamond Bar), said measure would “sexualize the training of our children at an early age.”

The committee approved the measure along party lines by a vote of 6-3 last week.

Gay and lesbian students advocating for the bill are expected to hold a rally Monday at the state Capitol.

Book: Queer Questions Straight Talk: 108 frank & provocative questions it’s OK to ask your lesbian, gay or bi loved one, is based on the idea that there are no stupid questions or “wrong” answers.Straight people may often have questions they’d like ask their lesbian gay or bisexual friends, family members or acquaintances. Many times, lesbian, gay and bisexual people may not know exactly how to answer those questions.

Abby Dees has written a book called Queer Questions Straight Talk, which can assist with both questions and answers. Her book works to bridge the communication gap between those worlds. Abby says, “This book is a permission slip to go ahead and talk to each other — it comes out of my fundamental belief that if you ask from a place of love and respect, there are no stupid questions.”

Abby wrote this book drawing from her own experience as a lesbian and many of the conversations she’s had over the years with straight friends, coworkers and loved ones. In fact, Abby worked closely with her mom on the book, reflecting on much of the dialogue they’ve had around various topics.

“I used to think that my mom didn’t ask about my life as a lesbian because she didn’t want to know,” says Abby, “I finally learned that she just didn’t want to pry. How many more people have that same misunderstanding? This is where QQST can really help.”

Queer Questions Straight Talk is filled with questions that people may want to ask, but don’t know how. The book also gives examples of answers to those questions. Abby understands that much of effective communication starts with the questions and has focused much of the book on those questions.

Abby Dees, a civil rights attorney and autor of Queer Questions Straight Talk

“The point is not to get everyone to agree, but to understand one another a little better,” says Abby.

She currently tours various parts of the country discussing the book on radio, print and television media. She also leads discussion groups at various bookstores where she is able to talk with the public and answer questions about the book.

Abby is working to build bridges and break down communication barriers to help ease the social anxiety that exists around these issues. She is also saddened by the bullying and teen suicides we continue to hear about.

Abby believes that so much of what’s happening starts with adults, and any book that gets adults talking to one another in a civilized manner can be of benefit to society in general.

For more information about Abby Dees or Queer Questions Straight Talk please visit www.queerquestionsstraighttalk.com.

Photo Credit: Greg DeRuiter, The Lansing State Journal

East Lansing, Michigan — Motivated by three picketers from the Westboro Baptist Church, hundreds of students and East Lansing residents gathered to show their support for diversity and tolerance.

Local authorities used a fence and a strong police turnout to keep the peace at what they feared might be a violent confrontation between a handful of Westboro Baptist Church anti-gay protesters outside a high school and a larger group of gay rights advocates. (source)

The Westboro Baptist Church is widely known for picketing military funerals in opposition to what it says is America’s acceptance of homosexuality and has operated sites such as godhatescanada.com, godhatesamerica.com, godhatesspain.com, godhatesgermany.com, godhatesnorway.com, godhatestheuk.com, godhatesthequeen.com [Queen Elizabeth II], and godhatesfags.com with an estimated total of over 100 domains. Some domains are no longer active, or point to other sites.

East Lansing Police Department kept the 3 Westboro supporters apart from about 150 opposing protesters and students at East Lansing High School, where the church’s demonstration came at the end of classes for the day Thursday.

The Lansing State Journal says there was lots of shouting, but police were able to keep the event orderly.

School Principal Paula Steele says she wanted the event to be a teaching opportunity about the need for tolerance and acceptance of differences.

Photo Credit: Greg DeRuiter, The Lansing State Journal

The Rev. Kit Carlson of All Saints Episcopal Church said the counterprotest was a positive way to unite the community. The cold weather did not bring down the festive demeanor of the gathering, she said. “Love is stronger than hate and good is stronger than evil and this proves it to me,” Carlson told the The Lansing State Journal.

Theatre senior Piaget Ventus told the The Lansing State Journal the counterprotest was peaceful, and seeing the community come together was incredible. “Everybody in this city is coming together to just be in support of each other no matter what,” Ventus said. “I think it’s a really beautiful thing.”

The picket and counterprotests were respectful of the guidelines from the East Lansing Police Department, East Lansing police Capt. Kim Johnson said. There were 40 to 45 officers on site.

“We’ve had to give the most credit to the community really because we couldn’t have done it without their help,” Johnson said.

East Lansing is an open and tolerant place, said East Lansing City Councilmember Kevin Beard, who attended the counterprotest at All Saints Episcopal Church.

Slashed Tires

Photo Credit: Cory Young, Tulsa World

Earlier this month, the Westboro Baptist Church protest another military funeral.

Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed. (source)

To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police. AAA was called, and a flatbed truck hauled the van to a Walmart for new tires and repairs.

Financial Problems

Both the State of Kansas and the United States revoked the tax-exempt status for the Westboro Baptist Church.   The decision is being appealed to both the state and federal governments.

The Westboro Baptist Church has approximately 80 members.

Chris Armstrong, the gay University of Michigan Student Body President.

Andrew Shirvell’s rants against a University of Michigan student leader who is openly gay could cost him his law license. (full story)

Deborah Gordon, the attorney for University of Michigan student Chris Armstrong, said Friday she has filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against Shirvell, a Michigan assistant attorney general, on behalf of her client.

The complaint alleges Shirvell harassed and defamed Armstrong during what Gordon describes as a six-month campaign “of lies, dishonesty, heckling, hate speech and even job interference.”

The commission could disbar Shirvell if it investigates.

“I could not stand by and let Mr. Shirvell continue his reckless, bullying behavior,” Armstrong told the Detroit Press Press in a statement.

Shirvell already is fighting a ban from the University of Michigan campus. The Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Division has taken a leave of absence and is now facing disciplinary hearings. (previous story)

An anti-bullying video message from President Barack Obama is “symbolic,” the founder of the “It Gets Better” project said Friday, but the president “has the power to do more.”

“The administration does say all the right things, but we don’t see the action to back up these words,” Dan Savage told CNN’s “American Morning.”

He said Obama should honor the promises he made to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community when he ran for president.

However, many believe Obama’s message is late, including Lt. Dan Choi, a gay soldier discharged from the U.S. Army under “don’t ask, don’t tell,” said he won’t vote for President Obama again due to a recently successful effort by the administration to freeze a repeal of the military protocol.

“You have lost my trust and I am not gonna vote for Barack Obama after what he did yesterday,” Choi said in an interview with CNN.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been in the forefront to expand rights for gay and lesbian government employees on a federal government level. She instituted equal benefits for same-sex partners of State Department employees, a move that encouraged Obama to authorize such benefits for gay men and lesbians throughout the federal government.

The State Department also has made it easier for transgendered people to change their passports and, for the first time, the agency’s “equal opportunity statement” includes gender identity and sexual preference.

Message from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

Message from U.S. President Barack Obama:

Cyndi Lauper

One of the gay and lesbian communities biggest allies has been Cyndi Lauper.  Lauper launched the Give A Damn Campaign with messages from Whoopi Goldberg, Ricky Martin, Sharon Osbourne, and a host of other celebrities which are being aired and paid for by Lauper’s “True Colors Fund” as public service announcements.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has served since 2006.

Although “don’t ask, don’t tell” is back and is once again the law over at the Pentagon, throwing troops out of the US military on the basis of their sexual orientation has become even more difficult on the heels of a new Pentagon policy change.

Under orders from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, now only a small handful of officials, including the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, can decide whether or not to discharge service members under the law that prohibits openly gay service members from being in the military. Any such moves now require their “personal approval.”

NOTE: The U.S. Marines will under the Secretary of the Navy.

In addition, they must further do this “in coordination” with the Pentagon’s chief attorney, Jeh Johnson, and Clifford Stanley, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel.

Throughout the course of the past week, there were reports of gay soldiers who had been removed from the U.S. military under DADT policy returning to recruiting centers to reenlist. It is uncertain what will happen to their cases now, Pentagon officials say. “We are clearly in a legally uncertain environment,” said the official.

Mr. Shirvell, will face a disciplinary hearing when he returns to work, a spokesman for the attorney general said Friday. Mr. Armstrong, 21, has filed for a personal protection order against Mr. Shirvell.

University officials and students have come together to support Mr. Armstrong. The university has banned Mr. Shirvell from campus, and its president, Mary Sue Coleman, called his behavior reprehensible. “As a community, we must not and will not accept displays of intolerance,” Ms. Coleman said in a statement.

Andrew Shirvell, 30, started a blog in April in which he regularly lambasted 21-year-old Christopher Armstrong as a racist with a “radical homosexual agenda.” Shirvell, one of about 250 lawyers in the Michigan Attorney’s General Office, has said that when he’s not at work, he has a right to say whatever he wants.

Chris Armstrong, the gay University of Michigan Student Body President

The blog, which is called Chris Armstrong Watch, has been made private. In Mr. Armstrong’s request for an order of protection, he said that Mr. Shirvell took pictures outside his house at 1:30 a.m.

“Part of the video [taken by Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell] is being outside this young man’s house at 1:30 on a Sunday morning. Clearly, I wouldn’t recommend that to any state employee to be doing,” Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox told the Associated Press.

Chris Armstrong said Andrew Shirvell “has been following me throughout U of M’s campus and Ann Arbor unnecessarily, blogging about me extensively using bias and bigotry and poses a threat to my own personal safety.”

The 21-year-old Michigan Student Assembly president said the 30-year-old assistant attorney general heckled him during a speech, showed up at a late-night party at his off-campus house and called the Washington office of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where Armstrong held an internship. “Shirvell called my internship office twice, once talking to one of the staff and once speaking to my internship coordinator. … Shirvell asked (the coordinator) if he knew I was a racist … when they hired me,” Armstrong wrote.

What is not clear is which of the following reasons is why the Michigan Republican Attorney General suddenly changed his mind:

Andrew Shirvell, a Michigan Assistant Attorney General

1. Governor Jennifer Granholm’s (D) called for his immediate termination, but because they are both constitutional officers, the Governor could not order it herself.

2. David Leyton, the Democratic candidate for Michigan Attorney General, demanded that Mr. Shirvell be fired, so to save face for “Republican Values,” the Michigan Attorney General is backtracking.

3. A possible executive order from the Governor prohibiting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell from representing the state in any manner.

4. The possibility of the Governor ordering the Michigan State Police to arrest and/or open an immediate investigation into the actions of Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell for violating Michigan’s cyber bullying laws, in addition to Michigan’s stalking laws.

5. The Michigan Attorney General fears the Governor will request the Michigan House of Representatives begin impeachment hearings against him for failure to enforce Michigan’s cyber bulling and stalker laws.

6. The Michigan Attorney General was not aware during press time that the University of Michigan had banned Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell from its campus (no trespassing order).

7. The Michigan Attorney General was not aware during press time that a Michigan court has granted an emergency protection order prohibiting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell from being near University of Michigan student body President Chris Armstrong.

CNN’s Interview with Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell