Judge Dismisses Anti-Gay Graduate Student Jennifer Keeton’s Lawsuit Against Augusta State University, Activists And Civil Rights Attorneys Fight To Save NYC Gay Bar, Canadian Idol Theo Tams Entertains The Troops, Joe McElderry First Concert Since Coming Out At G-A-Y, Anti-Gay North Carolina Church Steals From Modern Family

Friday, United States District Judge Randal Hall ruled that Augusta State University’s requirement that a graduate student, Jennifer Keeton, read material about and for counselling gays and that she increase her exposure to the gay community after she refused to counsel homosexual clients was “academically legitimate.” The decision enables the Georgia state school to expel Keeton, an avowed Christian, if she does not comply with the remediation plan, designed by her professors to “address issues of multicultural competence and develop understanding and empathy.” Hall underlined that the case is not about “pitting Christianity against homosexuality,” but is in fact about the constitutionality of the school’s requirement. A request was made for Keeton to complete the remediation plan after she stated she objected to homosexuality and would instruct gay or lesbian clients that “their behaviour is morally wrong and then help the client change that behaviour.” Keeton, aided by anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, sued the school in July, arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated, but Judge Hall ruled that she “failed to clearly establish her high burden of persuasion of a ‘substantial likelihood’ of success of the merits of her case.” The school had continually contended that Keeton was not be asked to alter her personal beliefs, but to adopt and adhere to a viewpoint-neutral code of ethics as established by the American Counselling Association. “It was not (Keeton’s) personal beliefs that were their concern,” said Judge Hall, “but rather only her inability to separate her personal beliefs in the judgement-free zone of a professional counselling situation.”

Gay activists and civil rights attorneys will appear in a Manhattan court Thursday attempting to prevent the New York Police Department from closing Chi Chiz, a Christopher Street bar whose clientele is African-American gay and transgendered men. The police contend that on four instances over a six month period, undercover officers witnessed the sale of narcotics; however supporters say the policing of the bar are motivated by homophobia and racism in community increasingly white and concerned about property values. According to Allen Roskoff, an activist, “these are the same people who forced the city to tear down the Women’s House of Detention on Sixth Avenue and Christopher Street.” Chi Chiz’s attorney Tom Shanahan said that the actions of the police are deliberate. “It’s a set-up,” he says. “It’s entrapment. It’ similar to what happened in the 60’s to gay bookstores.”

Openly gay Canadian Idol winner and Albertan native Theo Tams is reinventing himself of sorts, the 25 year old having appeared before over one thousand Canadian troops in Afghanistan this July 1st, saying his experiences in Kandahar will serve as inspiration for new material. “It was shocking and life-changing,” he says. “The courage these men and women have is inspiring. I was thinking 1,200 soldiers weren’t necessarily my demographic. But they welcomed me with open arms. It was an honour to sing the national anthem for them on Canada Day.”

19 year old Joe McElderry, the X-Factor champion who recently came out, will make appear in his first ever show at London’s infamous G-A-Y club October 23rd. McElderry says of the performance “We’ll keep it a surprise but I am going to have to pull something out!” You can use your own imagination.

The aggressively anti-gay Biltmore Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina aggressively appropriates (i.e. steals outright) from ABC’s Modern Family, including the title, minus the inclusiveness, but with dead centre racism.