18-Year-Old Noah Davis-Power Says Newfoundland And Labrador Should Mandate Formations Of Gay-Straight Alliances, Alabama High School Refuses To Allow Gay-Straight Alliances, Dallas Gay Community Calls On Mayor Mike Rawlings To Re-Think His Refusal To Join National Coalition Supporting Same Sex Marriage, Julia Roberts And Jim Parsons Sign To Star In Film Adaption Of The Normal Heart

A man who ran for the New Democratic Party in last fall's provincial election says a plan to make schools in Newfoundland and Labrador more welcoming for gay students doesn't go far enough. Thursday the provincial education department confirmed that this spring it will encourage schools from grade 7 to 12 to set up Gay-Straight Alliances. CBC reports that Friday Noah Davis-Power, a gay 18-year-old, said the province should go further. “I think it needs to be mandated, needs to be there. The resources are there now but if you're too scared to use those resources, it doesn't matter,” he said. Davis-Power was afraid to reveal he is gay when he was in high school. Someone 'outed' him, but he said that what he feared would happen didn’t. “No one cared, they saw me as Noah. People still don't believe I'm gay,” he said. But he did have to deal with some abuse. “I'd hear ‘faggot’ as I walked down the corridor, not to my face, never to my face, just behind my back," said Davis-Power. He survived it but he’s concerned that some people do not. “We've seen in the past year, the past few weeks, even more suicides that are directly linked to homophobic bullying,” said Davis-Power. After he was outed, Noah started a Gay-Straight Alliance group at his school. An idea that was not embraced at first. “Mostly they didn't want parental publicity; we didn't want to look like we were training gays." He said the group was tolerated, but not really accepted. “We need to go from saying 'It's all right to be gay, but you're still over there.' That's what tolerance is, it's the worst word ever. 'You have a problem but you can stay.' You have to work from that to acceptance,” he said.

Jennifer Benitez is the vice president of Siloam Springs, Arkansas Gay-Straight Alliance. Benitez says the group provides a safe place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students to socialize and volunteer and adds the club creates a platform to stop harassment and bullying. "I'd like to see more unity and acceptance within the Northwest Arkansas area, and not just this area, the entire country as a whole," said Benitez. Jennifer believes Siloam Springs GSA should really be the Siloam Springs High School GSA, but school district administration says that is not allowed. "I would because it would make things easier. We could meet during school hours. We could have our name in the yearbook. We could announce it during school and give our fliers and stuff. That way maybe more people would come," said Benitez. According to 4029 TV, the Siloam Springs School District allows two types of clubs: clubs they consider curriculum-related and those they consider non-curriculum-related. "There's a multitude of non-curricular groups wanting to meet and use up the school day for meeting, and therefore it takes up time from academics," said Assistant Superintendent Kent Raymick. "So we've separated that out and operating under this limited open forum, it does allow these groups to be formed, but there is a limit to when and where and how they operate." Benitez said, "Students, teachers, faculty members, alike, I would like for them to come and sit in on the meetings, just to know what we do and what is that we're aiming to do." The GSA is not alone. The Siloam School District considers other student groups non-curriculum-related, including the Chess Club, Key Club, Young Republicans Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “We have checked with other school districts, and some school districts do operate differently. Some districts may take groups that we have here and non-curricular and somehow make them somehow in, we feel what we're doing is good for us and it's just a matter of following our guidelines and procedures and rules and make sure everybody is complying with that," said Raymick. But some of the GSA members feel their non-curriculum status has less to with the curriculum and more to do with the town. “Here it's taboo. If you are, you're discriminated against, and they don't want you in this town. It's definitely hard, and that's the purpose: we're trying to be accepted through this club, to show them that we don't fit the stereotype that goes along with LGBT community," said GSA member Joey Baker. Raymick agrees the town is conservative. "I think overall it's a conservative community and of course here in the school district we're supported by their taxpayer dollars and we try to reflect that as well," said Raymick. The Siloam Springs school district does allow all non-curriculum clubs, including the GSA, to meet at the high school, after school hours.

The gay and lesbian community is calling for Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to reconsider and sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage. In Washington, D.C. Friday, more than 80 other mayors in 25 states had signed the pledge sponsored by the group 'Freedom to Marry,' including the mayors of Houston and Austin. Most of the supportive mayors are Democrats, as is Rawlings, but some are Republicans. WFAA-TV reports that among the mayors backing the pledge to fight for gay marriage was Houston's Annise Parker. She's a lesbian who has raised three children with her partner, and spoke of the difficulties without legal marriage in Texas. "We have had to navigate insurance challenges, custody challenges and the school districts," Parker said. But not among the group was Rawlings, who said he didn't feel he should get involved in such social issues as mayor. "I was asked to pledge my support to 'Mayors for the Freedom to Marry' in an effort to pressure state and federal entities to legalize marriage for same-sex couples," said Rawlings in a statement. "I decided not to sign onto that letter because that is inconsistent with my view of the duties of the office of the mayor." But that's angered Dallas gay and lesbian groups. "These are issues that affect gay and lesbian people here, and as our mayor, he should be willing to put his money where his mouth is and sign the pledge," said spokesman Rafael McDonnell of Resource Center Dallas. Rawlings said he personally supports same sex marriage, but feels putting the weight of his office behind it is inappropriate, especially when he wants to focus on larger issues facing the city. That's not easing the anger. "I think it's causing some people to go, 'That's not what we expected,'" McDonnell said.

Julia Roberts and Alec Baldwin, plus White Collar star Matt Bomer and Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, are joining Mark Ruffalo in the autobiographical drama, The Normal Heart, written by Larry Kramer that details the rise of HIV/AIDS in New York’s gay community in the 1980s. Ryan Murphy, who hit mainstream success with Glee, is directing from a script by Kramer. The play won the Tony for best revival last year, as well as best supporting actor and best supporting actress (for John Benjamin Hickey and Ellen Barkin, respectively). It also garnered nominations for best actor and best directing. It was originally staged Off-Broadway in 1985 and has seen several revivals in London and Los Angeles. Murphy optioned the rights to the play last August and had Ruffalo attached as Ned Weeks, who is one of the first to raise an alarm when what was then known as “gay cancer" surfaces in New York. Roberts will play Emma Brookner, a wheel-chair bound doctor who is one of the only doctors in New York talking the new disease seriously. That role is the one that won Barkin her Tony. Baldwin is playing Weeks’ brother, a lawyer having a hard time dealing with his sibling's sexuality. Bomer’s character is that of Felix Turner, a gay fashion journalist who becomes Week’s boyfriend and tragically contracts the disease. Bomer will be stepping into the shoes that won Hickey his Tony. Parsons, who acted in the Broadway version, will reprise his role, that of a Southererner who is a gay activist and part of a gay men’s health crisis group. Murphy's last film was Eat, Pray, Love, which starred Roberts. With Glee and his FX series American Horror Story, he is one of the few writer/directors who regularly tackle gay themes to both critical and popular success.