18-Year-Old Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For His Part In Illinois Gay Bashing, Topeka Kansas Unified School District Considers Adding Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity To Anti-Discrimination Policy, IRS Announces It Will Agree To Court Ruling Overturning Policy Disallowing Tax Deductions For Medical Care Relating To Gender Transition, 70 Companies Including Microsoft And Starbucks File Brief Opposing Defense Of Marriage Act, Brett Ratner Resigns As Producer Of 84th Academy Awards

Bryce Stiff’s life changed forever June 24, reports The Chicago Sun-Times. That was the day four men beat the Oswego, Illinois man, giving him nerve damage in his face and legs, causing the need for reconstructive surgery on his lip, and putting him in counselling three days a week. “I used to be a happy, caring and loving person who would do anything to help anyone,” Stiff, 29, wrote in a victim impact statement read in court Monday. “I was happy about me being gay … but now I’m filled with so much bitterness, hatred and I’m very depressed. I don’t like leaving my home. I don’t like doing things that excite me anymore. I feel like everyone is out to get me.” Stiff said he felt some “relief” Monday when one his attackers, Marquitte West, 18, of Oswego, was sentenced to two years in prison as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty to a hate crime. It is the first time Kendall County has prosecuted a hate crime related to sexual orientation. “It’s a little bit of relief,” Stiff said after the hearing at the Kendall County Courthouse. “I hope this never happens to anyone else. It’s not easy to deal with.” West will serve two years at the same time he serves another 2-year sentence for a theft charge he also plead guilty to. In that case, he was caught on video trying to sell a stolen laptop computer. He was also ordered to pay Stiff $6,527 to cover his medical bills since the attack. The plea agreement says two other men charged in the incident, Robert Franklin and Jabari Tuggles, both of Oswego, could also be responsible for the restitution. Franklin and Tuggles have been charged with mob action. Their cases are pending. Kendall County Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Dore said prosecutors are considering charges against a fourth suspect. In his statement, Stiff said West was the “ring leader” of the attack, offering others $20 to beat Stiff, and calling him derogatory names. “How low can you get?” Stiff wrote. “You are a menace to society.” Stiff said he had been friends with West’s brother, and “knew of” West before the attack.

Stephanie Mott will forever carry the difficult memory of being a woman living in a young man’s body while growing up in rural Douglas County. “I was very closeted about my gender identity, but I was taunted continually because I was effeminate,” the former Steven Mott said of her days at Eudora High School in the early 1970s. “I was not aware of what it meant to be transgender. But I knew the feelings I had, even though we didn’t have the terminology then. I knew that on the inside, I was female. I rode that horse until I was 48 through homelessness and alcoholism.” Today, reports The Topeka Capital-Journal, living her life happily and productively as a woman in Topeka, Mott is encouraged that the Topeka Unified School District 501 Board of Education is considering policy additions that bar discrimination against students and employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity. And while there are arguments that protections already exist in policy language barring discrimination based on age, race, color, creed, religion, gender, disability, age, national origin or ancestry, Mott and others counter that specific policy language including sexual orientation and gender identity is necessary to provide full legal protection. “It not only provides protection, but also sends a clear message that (a school district) will not tolerate discrimination,” said Mott, the Topeka chapter chairwoman of the Kansas Equality Coalition. “When that message is absent, it opens the door for discrimination. I know a number of people who suffer discrimination today in high schools across the city,” she added. “I know teachers who are highly afraid that if their sexual orientation is known, they would be subject to discrimination in the workplace, even termination. This is a common fear among people if they are open about their orientation. One of the barriers, quite frankly, is that when government agencies — school boards or cities — don’t have policies protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people, we feel we can’t be who we are, that we have to live closeted lives with identities that don’t match who we really are. And that’s quite horrible.” The 501 board late last Thursday night unanimously approved the first reading of language additions — specifically, the words “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression” — to district policies dealing with discrimination against students and employees. Cindy Kelly, the 501 district’s attorney, said the policy additions were recommended by the U.S. Department of Education in an advisory noting that bullying and harassment of students due to sexual orientation or gender identity is rising. “This will provide an internal mechanism to help kids understand that they have a way to deal with such harassment,” Kelly said. Board member Peg McCarthy, a clinical psychiatrist, cited surveys showing that 80 percent of gay and lesbian students feel unsafe in their schools, and that more than 60 percent have experienced bullying. She also noted that transgender students are making their sexual identity known at even earlier ages. “This issue will become more prominent,” she said in urging 501 to be known as an all-inclusive district. The Topeka district appears to be among the state’s leaders in addressing the issue — possibly because the state of Kansas hasn’t issued the same kind of advisory submitted by the federal Department of Education. Paul Getto, the policy specialist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said his agency isn’t advising member school boards to add new language on the grounds that protections against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination and harassment already exist in current language required by law. Getto said the KASB had no formal count of districts that have enacted such provisions, though he believed the number to be small. But Julie Ford, formally hired Thursday as 501’s new school superintendent, echoed McCarthy’s concern that protecting the safety and rights of transgender students would be a growing issue. “Truly, it’s more common than you think,” said Ford, who was involved in a previous supervisory capacity in a metropolitan school district where a teacher changed genders. Addressing the transgender question now won’t create immediate facility changes — in rest rooms, locker room assignments, etc. —in 501’s schools, Ford added. “The policy change comes first, then you develop regulations on how you’ll follow the policy,” she said. “But there have been things happening lately — a growing number of suicides, for instance — that have caused people to think beyond what our current boundaries are. It’s good that people are talking about this.”

Last Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service announced its intent to formally agree, termed a "notice of acquiescence," with an historic 2010 decision of the U.S. Tax Court that overturned IRS policy disallowing tax deductions for medical care related to gender transition. The case, O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner, was brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders on behalf of a transgender woman who was denied the ability to utilize a federal income tax deduction for medical care costs because the IRS considered her transition-related care not to be medically necessary. In asserting its position, the IRS had cited 2005 guidance from the IRS's Chief Counsel. The announcement notes that the IRS now agrees with the Tax Court's conclusion and that the IRS rescinds its contrary 2005 guidance. The announcement follows Human Rights Campaign’s formal request as part of HRC’s recommendations to the Obama administration, the Blueprint for Positive Change -- and actively lobbying the IRS Chief Counsel. The decision to formally agree with the O'Donnabhain decision, makes clear to transgender taxpayers that they are equally able to utilize the medical care deduction for medically necessary care, and also helps to ensure that IRS field agents are aware of the law. (pdf)

Last Thursday, Google, Starbucks, and Microsoft were among the 70 companies filing an amicus brief opposing the Defense Of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that bars federal agencies and the military from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples. In their filing in support of a legal challenge to the law, the companies argued that the law forces them to treat their employees differently. “Because marriages are celebrated and recognized under state law, a federal law withholding marital benefits from some lawful marriages, but not others, creates a non-uniform rule. Employers are obliged to treat one employee spouse differently from another, when each is married, and each marriage is equally lawful,” the companies said in their brief. The brief, in its entirety, is here. (pdf)

Director Brett Ratner is out as Oscar producer, as first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The Academy and Ratner have released statements confirming his exit. "I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents," he stated. (The full statement is at the source.) The Academy released a statement also confirming Ratner's exit. "He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself," Sherak said in the statement. "Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent." Ratner had been named as the producer of the 2012 Academy Awards show, but he has been under fire for making a series of ill-judged remarks in recent days, including saying "rehearsal is for fags" and discussing his sex life with Howard Stern. Ratner went on Stern's radio show Monday amid the growing controversy over his first remark made at Hollywood's ArcLight theater Friday night. It is not yet known whether Eddie Murphy, who stars in Ratner's film Tower Heist and was recruited by Ratner to serve as the host of the Oscar show, will remain involved with the production. GLAAD, which was quick to condemn Ratner's "fags" remarks, also issued a press release Tuesday about his Oscar departure, saying that reps had met with Ratner about holding public discussions with industry leaders about "promoting fair and accurate inclusions of LGBT people and stories." The first event is planned for the coming weeks, with additional discussions over the next three years (more details will be released at a later date). “When we sat down with Brett today, he seemed very sincere in his desire to use this experience as a way to begin speaking out against anti-gay language in popular culture,” said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs and communications at GLAAD. “We believe his resignation is just the first step and will be announcing a series of concrete actions with Brett in coming days and weeks.” Acting president Mike Thompson added, “Hollywood has the power and responsibility to grow acceptance of all communities. We look forward to working with Brett and the industry in promoting positive, culture-changing images of our community and sending a message that such slurs, used to belittle gay and lesbian youth and adults every day, have no place in mainstream popular culture or the industry that creates it.”