Vancouver Music Teacher Claims Catholic School Fired Her For Being Lesbian, Chief Justice Vaughn Walker Sets June 16th For Closing Arguments In Proposition 8 Trial, Bolivian President Apologizes For Equating Eating Chicken With Homosexuality

Lisa Reimer, a music teacher at the Little Flower Academy Catholic School in Vancouver, claims she was fired by the private school after asking for a parental leave in December, explaining that she and her partner recently had a child, alerting the school to the fact that she is a lesbian. The school denied her request in January, and instead dismissed her. According to the Steve LeBel, a member of the Pride Education Network, who released a statement, she “was told she was dismissed because many parents had complained since they had become aware of the fact that she has recently become a parent and that her spouse was a woman,” adding that the “families were worried that ‘the girls might follow Ms. Reimer’s lead’” LeBel also said that the “Catholic school has knowingly employed her as a lesbian during the current school year, but suddenly dismissed without warning.” No one from either the school or the school board has yet to comment.

American Chief Justice Vaughn Walker Wednesday has tentatively scheduled June 16th as the date for closing arguments in long-delayed trial challenging the constitutional validity of the California gay marriage ban. Walker has heard weeks of testimony in January, but asked for time to review all the evidence prior to both the plaintiffs and defendants making their closing arguments. According to reports, however, the June 16th date may be an arbitrary one, Protect Marriage, a coalition of religious and social conservatives that qualified the gay marriage ban on the November, 2008 ballot – Proposition 8 – and is defending the amendment in court, has requested that Walker strike some of the e-mails and internal communications authored by Proposition 8 proponents from the record already introduced as evidence. The defendants claim that permitting the documents to remain on record would violate the First Amendment freedom of association rights. Walker has requested a full briefing on the issue by May 10th.

Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, has authored a letter apologizing for comments he made last week that linked that female hormones contained in chicken fed a genetically modified diet and homosexuality, after the Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals, and Bisexuals, the Spanish gay rights group, sent a letter expressing disappointment in Morales. FLGTB accused Morales of engaging in state-sanctioned homophobia. According to presidential spokesperson Ivan Canelas, “under no way did it ever cross the mind of President Morales to the rights of homosexuals,” adding “we respect their sexual freedom and ratify our respect for what is established in the Bolivian Constitution.”