GLBT News

Gov. Matt Blunt has signed into law a bill that grants same-sex partners the right of sepulchre, which is the right to choose and control the burial, cremation or other final disposition of a dead human body, according to the official Web site of PROMO.

Usually when a person dies the control of their remains automatically goes to their spouse, but because same-sex unions are not legally recognized in Missouri, those rights were not automatically extended to same-sex couples prior to this legislation.

The St.Louis chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays will be hosting its monthly meeting Saturday, July 19, according to a recent press release.

The group will be meeting at 7 p.m. at the Ethical Society, located at 9001 Clayton Road, between Brentwood Boulevard and McKnight Road. PFLAG will be discussing transgender children and Pride, in addition to watching a video.

All are welcome at the meeting, and there is no need to call ahead.

Legislation has been introduced in the United States Senate that would lift the ban on HIV-positive travelers to America, according an Associated Press article on 365Gay.com.

The U.S. is one of a dozen countries that still prohibit travel and immigration for HIV-positive people, and HIV is the only medical condition specifically mentioned in American immigration law.

The Massachusetts Senate voted yesterday to repeal a law that bans out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts, according to a GLAAD press release.

If the ban is lifted, more than 30,000 out-of-state couples are expected to wed in Massachusetts, which would generate more than $100 million for the state’s economy.

The Advocate is reporting that presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain has denounced adoptions by gays despite being an adoptive parent himself.

The Washington Blade is reporting that a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to hold a hearing on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy July 23. The hearing will be the first since Congress enacted the policy in 1993.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” bars GLBT service members from serving openly in the military, and an estimated 12,600 service members have been discharged from the military as a result of the policy.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the U.S. Census Bureau will not officially count same-sex marriages in 2010, the next year the census will be taken.

The Census Bureau said it will edit the responses of same-sex couples legally married in Massachusetts, California or any other state and record such couples as unmarried partners. The agency followed the same procedure in 2000.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has ranked ABC and FX as first among the broadcast and cable networks for their inclusion of GLBT content in their respective primetime programming, according to a press release from today.

The second annual “GLAAD Network Responsibility Index” evaluated the primetime programming of the five broadcast networks and 10 of the highest-rated cable networks for “quantity, quality and diversity” of images of GLBT people. The report assigned the networks grades of Good, Adequate or Failing.

The Washington Blade is reporting that a commission in Alexandria, Va., has ruled in favor of a gay man who alleges that the company that owns TGI Friday’s restaurant fired him because he is HIV positive.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the legislative body of the United Methodist Church in California has declared its support for same-sex marriage and has commended pastors who agree to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.