The Nation.POLITICS Savage satire Popular columnist Dan Savage has made a living out of satirizing politicians. But if former GOP presidential hopeful Gary Bauer has his way, the joke may now be on Savage. The openly gay writer has come under a flurry of criticism for an article in the online magazine Salon. In the story he describes infiltrating a Bauer campaign office in Iowa and attempting to infect the antigay candidate with the flu by licking pens and doorknobs in his office--actions he later said were fictional. Savage, a Washington State resident, also wrote that he voted in the caucus after signing an Iowa voter registration card. In a February 8 interview with The Des Moines Register, Savage said Americans had lost their sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" sense of humour, humor, humour . "A good chunk of [the story] was satire," he said. "People over-looked the fact that it was called `The Merry Prankster.'" Prankster or not, Savage could face up to five years in prison if election officials, who found his voter registration card after the Salon story surfaced, decide to charge him with fraud. MILITARY Don't ask, don't harass The Pentagon announced February 1 that it had instituted training programs to do what the military has failed to do for seven years, according to critics: treat gay and lesbian service members fairly under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Defense Secretary William Cohen said he has approved guidelines to investigate harassment and threats that are based on the perceived sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. of the victim. Advocates for gay and lesbian service members have complained that military commanders ignore complaints of antigay harassment and also violate the "don't ask" part of the policy. "These plans make it very clear ... that there is no room for harassment or threats in the military," Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. said in a statement. YOUTH Taking schools to task Gay and lesbian students continue to try to teach school officials a few lessons in court. In the latest case, a former Reno, Nev., student has filed suit against the school district there. Now 19 and living in Atlanta, Derek Henkle says school officials ignored the antigay slurs and attacks that followed him through three Reno high schools. At Galena galena (gəlē`nə) or lead glance, lustrous, blue-gray mineral crystallizing usually in cubes, sometimes in octahedrons. It is the most important ore and the principal source of lead. High, two boys threw a lasso lasso (lăs`ō, lăs  `), light, strong rope, usually with a smooth, hard finish, made of a fine quality of hemp or nylon. around Henkle's neck and threatened to drag him from a pickup truck, according to Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed the suit in U.S. district court on January 28. Later, at Wooster High, school police officers watched as a student repeatedly punched Henkle in the face, the suit says. At Washoe High, Lambda says, the principal warned Henkle against "acting like a fag." Henkle, who eventually resorted to adult-education classes, is seeking monetary damages and a high school diploma A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. . In a similar case in 1996, Ashland, Wis., school officials agreed to pay gay student Jamie Nabozny nearly $1 million. Students in Orange, Calif., were celebrating their own court victory February 4 when a judge ruled that a gay-straight student alliance at El Modena High School El Modena High School, sometimes called El Mo (or "ElMo"), is a traditional 4 year public high school located in the El Modena neighborhood in the eastern portion of the city of Orange in Orange County, California. must be allowed to meet while a court case proceeds. Students are fighting the Orange Unified School District's decision to prevent the group from using school facilities. RELATED ARTICLE: The priesthood's hidden pain That some Catholic priests are closeted clos·et·ed adj. Being In a state of secrecy or cautious privacy. gay men is hardly a surprise. But the toll that the closet has taken on priests is shocking. According to a report in The Kansas City [Mo.] Star, hundreds of priests in the United States have (lied of AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic and hundreds more are HIV-positive. The paper estimates that the AIDS death rate for priests is at least four times--and perhaps as much as eight times--that of the general population. Among those who have (lied of the disease are Bishop Emerson J. Moore of the archdiocese of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and the Rev. Thom Savage, president of Rockhurst College. "Much as we would regret it, it shows that human nature is human nature," Bishop Raymond J. Boland of the diocese of Kansas City--St. Joseph told the Star. "And all of us are heirs to all of the misfortunes that can be foisted upon the human race." RELATED ARTICLE: Back in the swing Muffin Spencer-Devlin's recent arrest at the U.S. Mission at the United Nations had less to do with political activism than with a mood disorder mood disorder n. Any of a group of psychiatric disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder, characterized by a pervasive disturbance of mood that is not caused by an organic abnormality. Also called affective disorder. . The lesbian pro golfer told the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). that she suffers from bipolar disorder and that her January 6 arrest and January 7 admission to a New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. psychiatric ward were a result of her not taking her medication, Spencer-Devlin was taken to Bellevue Hospital after she was found sleeping outside a YMCA YMCA in full Young Men's Christian Association Nonsectarian, nonpolitical Christian lay movement that aims to develop high standards of Christian character among its members. . "We treated her as a mentally disturbed person," one police officer said. Eight days later, Spencer-Devlin, 46, participated in the Ladies Professional Golf Association's Subaru Memorial tournament in Naples, Fla., and is still a regular on the pro golf tour. |
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