Might Morphin’ Power Ranger David Yost Comes Out And Alleges Anti-Gay Hostile Work Environment, Atlanta Police Continue Search For Clues In Shooting Death Of Durand Robinson, New York City Clerks Required By Law To Inform Gay Couples Where They Can Legally Marry, Meth Use And HIV Infections Continue To Rise Among Gay And Bisexual Men

David Yost, who appeared on the show Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, has come out, but the 41 year old actor, reveals that he routinely harassed on the series. “I was called ‘faggot’ one too many times (by the show’s) creators, producers, writers, and directors,” Yost says. In a lengthy interview conducted for the Power Rangers fan community “No Pink Spandex, at the 2010 Anime Festival in Orlando, Florida, Yost reveals that after leaving the show he spent time in a gay reparative therapy program – Pray the Gay Away – in an attempt to cure himself of his sexual orientation. Subsequently, he says, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for five weeks.

Police in Atlanta, Georgia continue investigated the shooting murder of Durand Robinson, the 50 year old co-owner of Traxx, a gay club in DeKalb County and also the organizer of the city’s annual Black Gay Pride festivity. As I posted previously, he was found dead in the middle of Hadlock Street in Atlanta’s southwest at approximately 1:30 am, shot in the chest. According to authorities, a resident on that street called 911 to report that she heard a loud scream, looked, and saw a man lying in the street. Investigators do not know of a motive for the shooting, but do know Robinson argued with someone before shots were fired, but beyond that will not speculate if the murder was motivated by Durand’s sexual orientation. The 13th annual Atlanta Gay Black Pride celebration begins next week. Robinson will be honoured with a candlelight vigil September 1st.

New York City council Wednesday passed a measure that require city clerks to offer information to same sex couple who register as domestic partners as to where they can legally marry. The information will also be available online and at the city’s marriage offices. Openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she hopes that the law – Intro 260 – which was approved by a vote of 47-1 is “a message to the State Senate of how sick and tired we are of waiting for marriage equality.” In the United States, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont are the five states that offer gay marriage.

King County, Washington health agencies and counselling centres have initiated an outreach program aimed at offering counselling and support to crystal meth users in the gay community, where the problem remains persuasive – data collected from Public Health continuing to suggest that on average 10-percent of gay and bisexual men have used meth in a given year, that number doubled for men under the age of 30. A correlation between meth use and HIV infections rates has long been established. According to Arnold Martin, of NEON, a program for gay and bisexual men struggling with meth addiction, “while meth affects everyone because it is so highly addictive, it’s a particular problem for those in the LGBTQ community. The shame of being gay and an outcast, the low self-esteem ... the drug allows you not to feel, to not care; it knocks down the barrier around self-esteem.”