NEWS BRIEFS

Judge still forbids Tyler from seeing mom's partner

Richmond, Va.-Circuit Judge Buford M. Parsons Jr. lengthened visitation for Sharon Bottoms and her 6-year-old son Tyler Doustou on March 4, but continued to ban any contact between him and Bottoms' lover, April Wade.

Parsons gave no explanation for his ruling, which came after an appeals court said it was wrong to deny Wade contact with Tyler solely because of her sexual orientation, and ordered him to reconsider his earlier decision.

A juvenile court awarded custody of Tyler to Bottoms' mother, Kay Bottoms, in 1993. Parsons affirmed the decision, ruling that Sharon Bottoms was an unfit mother because she engaged in oral sex with Wade, a felony in Virginia. The state supreme court ultimately upheld that decision.

Virginia state ACLU director Kent Willis called Parsons' latest ruling “an outright defiance" of the appeals court order.

Muckraker apologizes

Washington, D.C.-Openly gay journalist David Brock, whose 1993 article in the American Spectatormagazine brought the Paula Jones story into the national spotlight, shocked conservatives and surprised Clinton backers by apologizing to the president for digging into his personal life.

"I thought it was unfortunate that a sitting president [was] being deposed about his sex life,"

Brock told the Boston Globe on March 10.

Brock came out as a gay man in 1994. Three years later, he said that his sexual orientation was used by some conservatives to discredit him; a disappointment, he said, since he had hoped "that my conservative friends were not the bigots portrayed by liberal typecasters."

Lutheran pastor appeals ruling

Ames, Iowa-Claiming that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has never clearly defined what it means to be a "practicing homosexual," the openly gay pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ames has appealed the church's decision to revoke his ministry.

A church disciplinary committee voted Feb. 3 to revoke the Rev. Steve Sabin's ministry for violating a church policy that prevents "practicing homosexuals" from being ordained ministers. The Lutherans allow ordination of celibate gay and lesbian ministers.

An appeals committee will have the final say in Sabin's case next fall, and he will keep his ordination until then.

Anti-gay attack victim dies

San Francisco-A man who was in a coma after being knocked down outside a gay bar has died as a result of his injuries.

Brian Wilmes, 45, was attacked the night of March 13 when he and a friend, Tim Carroll, were crossing a street outside the Loading Dock, a leather bar in the Castro District, Lt. Bill Davenport said. Police are treating the case as a hate crime.

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"My friend was slugged in the jaw and he fell down and struck his head. He was out cold," Carroll said. He added that the suspect was intoxicated and yelled anti-gay slurs.

Wilmes died the afternoon of March 14. Earlier in the day, police arrested San Francisco resident Edgar Mora, 25, for the attack. He is expected to be arraigned on murder charges.

Gay mayor wins re-election

Tempe, Arizona-Mayor Neil Giuliani held off a persistent gay-baiting campaign to win re-election March 10.

Several of Giuliani's campaign signs were vandalized over the weekend preceeding the election, some with the word GAY Scrawled in red letters. Giuliani, who has been out as a gay man since 1996, reported the incident to police on the afternoon of March 9.

"It's disappointing, but not surprising," he said. "A lot of it is coming from people with strong right-wing views."

For the first time in the campaign, Giuliani's challenger Jay Mansperger agreed with him.

"I don't tolerate that garbage," Mansperger said of the vandalism. "It's totally wrong and it makes me look bad, too."

City has second mass wedding

San Francisco-A mass gay and lesbian wedding will be celebrated March 25, with city officials presiding.

The civil ceremony will unite 50 couples. Mayor Willie Brown will marry the couples, aided by Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco.

Two years ago, city officials presided over a domestic partners ceremony at which 163 gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows. While the marriages are symbolic, they are as close as the couples can get legally to official recognition of their relationships.

Compiled from wire reports by Doreen Cudnik and Brian DeWitt.

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