Taser teen attacked, DOMA repeal, gay Hip Hop

By Project Q Atlanta | May 15, 2012 | 12:23 PM

Expelled gay teen who fired stun gun beat up at mall, president puts DOMA repeal on priority list, Hip Hop artist Y-Love comes out, Colorado rejects civil unions while Rhode Island accepts gay marriage, Republican marriage evolution, and more LGBT headlines.

• Obama calls directly for repeal of DOMA. While he has said he thinks the federal ban on marriage for gay couples is unconstitutional, the president (top photo) on Monday placed its repeal explicitly on his list of goals for a second term. Obama also told a commencement crowd that gay rights make a more perfect union (watch video) and talked gay again on “The View” (watch video).

• GOP pollster recommends moderate Republican on gay rights. Jan R. van Lohuizen, who advised Bush II, says the party risks falling out of step if it, too, doesn’t evolve its position on LGBT rights and marriage equality.

• Gay stun-gun teen attacked at mall. Darnell “Dynasty” Young (second photo), who fired a taser warning shot as school bullies advanced and was subsequently expelled, was recognized in an Indianapolis food court and attacked by a 34-year-old man. The man is in jail on battery charges.

• Congress member suspends chief of staff for disparaging gay colleague. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) put her head staffer and re-election chair on indefinite leave following a recently discovered e-mail that says a gay staffer was up for a Treasury Department job due to LGBT connections, not qualifications.

• Governor: Rhode Island recognizes out-of-state gay marriages. In an executive order signed to rousing applause (third photo), Gov. Lincoln Chaffee put an end to the back and forth of legislators. Not only can gay couples now move there and have their marriages recognized, residents can get married in neighboring states and be legally married at home. Rhode Island has civil unions.

• Colorado GOP kills civil unions for gay couples. In a special legislative session, the bill didn’t even make it to a vote by the full state House. A committee voted it down 5-4 along party lines.

• Hip Hop artist Y-Love comes out. The artist born Yitz Jordan (bottom photo) has always stood apart from other African-American Hip Hop acts for being a Hassidic Jew and rapping a mix of English, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin lyrics. Now he’s ready to add gay to his public image.

• Gay judicial nominee rejected over political views. In a 33-31 vote with 10 abstentions, Virginia’s House of Delegates put down the nomination for a prosecutor, Tracy Thorne-Begland, after opponents argued his stances for gay marriage and against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” made him unfit.

Young photo by Indianapolis Star; Obama photo from Fox News; Rhode Island photo by Providence Journal; Y-Love photo via Out

Taser teen attacked, DOMA repeal, gay Hip Hop

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