Matthew Shepard's university to dedicate memorial bench

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk

The University of Wyoming will mark the tenth anniversary of the murder of gay student Matthew Shepard later this month.

A Memorial Bench honouring him will be formally dedicated at Saturday 27th September at the east entrance of the UW College of Arts and Sciences Building.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation presented the bench to the university.

The foundation was created by Dennis and Judy Shepard in memory of their 21-year old son, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998.

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One hate crime on campus is too many

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
editorial

The old cliche says that every cloud has a silver lining and last Friday afternoon was no exception. As storms moved into the area, campus prepared for what looked to be a dreary night. But something rather inspiring made the rain an afterthought.

Two weeks ago, a hate crime was committed against a University student walking down Green Street. The assailant screamed a hateful slur before physically assaulting the victim, who had tried to ignore it. The victim ended up in the hospital, and the perpetrator is awaiting trial.

Such an ugly incident is usually followed by fear, anger and sadness, but thanks to the efforts of PRIDE and the Office for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resources, students fought hate with the best weapon in the world: humanity.

Instead of lashing out, friends and members of the LGBT community confronted fellow students Friday with Hershey's kisses, flowers, information about hate crimes and perhaps most important of all, hugs.

There was nothing complicated or extravagant about the event, and perhaps that's the way it should be. After all, grappling with the complex issues surrounding bigotry and homophobia is difficult. In some cases, it's just impossible to understand. Sometimes something as simple as a hug can go a long way to make things better.

Of course, we know that hugs alone won't solve everything. While it is somewhat comforting when University figures remark at how rare an occurrence a hate crime is, it's still safe to assume that acts of hate both large and small occur everywhere, including on this campus.

Whether they are reported or not, one hate crime is one too many.

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Kentucky Bill Would Ban Domestic Partner Benefits

(Frankfort, Kentucky) Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) says he will veto a bill that would bar state funded agencies or colleges from offering domestic partner benefits if the measure arrives on his desk.

The bill passed the state Senate 30 - 5 on Wednesday with five Democrats voting against it. Among them was Sen. Ernesto Scorsone of Lexington, the only openly gay man in the Senate.

"The only thing that drives this measure is a gay-bashing effort," said Scorsone.

The bill was prepared after the University of Louisville decided in July to offer the benefits - making it the first publicly funded college in the state to do so. (story) The University of Kentucky later followed also offering health benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo issued a legal opinion that the university plans would violate the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The attorney general in releasing the opinion said that if the university did not expand the program, and stuck to providing benefits to unmarried couples, he would take the university to court.

Following that the University of Kentucky expanded its benefits plan to include all dependants who reside with university workers. (story)

Throughout the country about 300 universities and colleges provide health and insurance benefits to the domestic partners of their workers. In addition more than half of the Fortune 500 companies, provide benefits.

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Go Ask Alice politely refused to remove "gay content"

Columbia University has a online Q&A site called Go Ask Alice.

I ran across an article there which impressed me. Although it's a bit dated (1999) the message is still very valid.

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1471.html

Florida State Univ lawyer request removal of gay anti discrimination protection

The Florida State University Student Union Board rejected a proposal from FSU’s general counsel, D. Michael Cramer, to remove protection for sexual orientation from the Student Union Board’s anti-discrimination policy.

The big school down the street (University of Florida at Gainesville) has much stronger anti-discriminatory policies. Not noted in the story is that UF also offers its faculty domestic partner health benefits.

State institutions that want to compete outside of Florida (you know… like with other ARL institutions) need to work around painfully backward state laws and policies — and these institutions are often attempting to provide equal rights and benefits in an environment that enables the D. Michael Cramers of the world to feel free to get up in front of students and propose removing protections from a nebbishly little student government policy. Doesn’t spell well for future reforms.