Quick News Round-Up

Just wanted to cover a couple of quick bullet points this morning:

• Washington State's "everything but marriage" law was signed by Gov. Gregoire, giving same-sex couples all the rights of marriage except for the word. It is considered the most sweeping DP law in the country. Per the Governor: “Despite the sameness, the absolute sameness of straight couples and gay and lesbian couples, nonetheless here in the state of Washington we saw discrimination. We saw inequality that had to be addressed.” The law will go into effect in July, though a referendum may occur in November.
• Rochelle Hamilton should win the awesomest teenager of the year. She took on Vallejo City School District over harassment after she came out... and won in a settlement. In the suit, Hamilton states that she was forced to attend a group therapy session that taught kids how not to be LGBT. The settlement includes a requirement for the district to make a more stringent anti-harassment rule, come up with a way to deal with complaints, and provide training for staff and administration. Well done.
• The Assembly of that state Nevada passed a DP law 26-14, will likely pass the Senate, but Gov. Gibbons states he will veto it (unfortunately, we do not have the votes to override). I think I also heard Nevada will be passing a sexual orientation protection bill (no gender), but I can't find the newssource.
• Obama's pick for the head of the CDC, New York's Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Friedan is drawing some heat from AIDS activist. Per Housing Works: "Frieden has simultaneously employed an authoritarian, my-way-or-the-highway approach and an unabashed secretiveness undignified of a public servant. He has excluded AIDS groups wherever possible from having input into life-and-death AIDS funding, testing, and care policymaking decisions."
• More ongoing weirdness in the Florida gay adoption ban: you still can't adopt if you're gay in Florida, but the state must recognize out of state adoptions to same-sex couples.
• And in pop culture, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon plans to marry long-time girlfriend Christine Marinoni; and Fergie comes out as bisexual.

I know, I know, not a lot and it's real quick. Bad, bad homosexual blogger.