Student Council President Sues Georgia H.S. After He's Removed for Pro-Gay Prom Proposal: VIDEO

Andrew briefly mentioned this yesterday, but I thought I'd post this great interview with Reuben Lack, who was elected student council president at suburban Atlanta's Alpharetta High School this year, but removed from his position by the school because of a proposal he made to help gay students feel more accepted.

Lack has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Fulton County School System, Alpharetta High principal Shannon Kersey, and faculty advisors Emily Reiser and Michelle Werre demanding Lack's reinstatement and damages.

Georgia's 11 Alive reports:

Earlier this year, Lack said he proposed changing the structure of the senior prom -- eliminating the prom king and prom queen for more gender-neutral titles. He said he pitched it to be more accommodating to gay students at Alpharetta High. But he says the student council never debated it because faculty advisers intervened.

"The teacher moderators were visibly agitated," Lack said.  "They were very, very uncomfortable about it. To the point where they were almost angry."

Within a few days, Lack said the school administration removed him from his position as student council president.

Watch an interview with Lack about the situation, AFTER THE JUMP...

NEWS: Danger In The Castro, Lies About Apple, Abortions And Poultry, And The Improbability of Warp Speed

 Gay men being drugged and robbed in the Castro:

It seems there have been too many instances lately in which older gay men are being targeted by (straight) criminals who are coming into gay bars, flirting with men, and then robbing them after they take them home.

 Rosie leaves OWN.

 Upper house of Swiss parliament narrowly votes to allow gay adoption. 

 Producers of This American Life, the world's greatest radio program, are "horrified" that lies about Apple appeared in their show:

A highly popular episode of This American Life in which monologuist Mike Daisey tells of the abuses at factories that make Apple products in China contained "significant fabrications," the show said today.

... The 39-minute piece aired in January and TAL says after 888,000 downloads, it became its most popular podcast. The story is compelling: It tells of the awful working conditions of Chinese workers making shiny Apple products like iPhones and iPads at factories owned by a company called FoxConn, which also manufactures products for other electronics giants.

The piece essentially made Daisey Apple's chief critic and it also inspired a Change.org petition that collected more than 250,000 signatures demanding that Apple better the working conditions at the factories.

 Georgia rep: Stop killing babies, and you'll get chickens.

 New York Times: How Bain Capital supplies the Chinese police state with surveillance technology, and how Mitt Romney stands to profit:

In December, a Bain-run fund ... purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters from centralized command posts.

The Bain-owned company, Uniview Technologies, produces what it calls “infrared antiriot” cameras and software that enable police officials in different jurisdictions to share images in real time through the Internet. Previous projects have included an emergency command center in Tibet that “provides a solid foundation for the maintenance of social stability and the protection of people’s peaceful life,” according to Uniview’s Web site.

Such surveillance systems are often used to combat crime and the manufacturer has no control over whether they are used for other purposes. But human rights advocates say in China they are also used to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents. “There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,” said Loksag, a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province. He said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008.

 Joe Nocera on corporate morality.

 Accused Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk is dead; his life was bookended by horrors. 

 Seinfeld actor Daniel von Bargen shoots himself in the head; survives.

 Barack Obama can't take sole credit for rescuing Detroit. 

 Those neutrinos almost certainly did not travel faster than light. Bummer.

 Watch the evolution of the moon, AFTER THE JUMP ...

Georgia Schoolteacher Warns House Panel That LGBT People are Pedophiles and Predatory Restroom Stalkers: VIDEO

Tanya Ditty, a Georgia schoolteacher and the state director of Georgia's branch of the extremist wingnut group Concerned Women for America, testified against a bill that would ban discrimination against the state’s LGBT employees before a House panel on Tuesday, Project Q Atlanta reports.

Ditty warned that approving the bill would allow gay people, who according to Ditty are pedophiles and necrophiliacs (she has a whole list), to get jobs as teachers or janitors and prey on students. She also tells a personal story about her 'shocking' encounter with a transgender person in the restroom.

Whether her hateful testimony was influential or not, the panel effectively killed the bill by tabling it  in a 3-2 vote.

Watch Ditty's disgusting rant, AFTER THE JUMP...

Federal Court Rules Georgia General Assembly Engaged in Discrimination in Firing of Trans Editor

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday in favor of Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender proofreader at the Georgia General Assembly who was fired after she made her intentions to transition from male to female known to her employer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Glenn was hired at the Office of Legislative Counsel in 2005 when she was a man named Glenn Morrison. That year, she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and her doctors recommended a gender transition for her health and well-being.

Glenn began living outside work as a woman, underwent electrolysis and had surgeries to lift her brow and narrow her jaw line. In October 2007, she told her supervisor she was going to begin coming to work as a woman. Sewell Brumby, who at the time headed the office, then asked Glenn whether she fully intended to become a woman. When Glenn said she did, Brumby fired her.

In Tuesday’s opinion, Judge Rosemary Barkett wrote that a government official engages in sex discrimination when firing a transgender employee because he or she fails to conform to the stereotypes associated with gender.

Glenn has continued to receive her salary but has not been able to return to her job. That may soon change.

Watch Glenn's attorney Greg Nevins of Lambda Legal speaking at a press conference after the arguments but before the decision was handed down as well as Lambda Legal's video on the case, AFTER THE JUMP...

Christian University Forces Employees to Sign 'Personal Lifestyle Statement' Rejecting Homosexuality

The 200 employees at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia have been asked to sign a statement (read it HERE) rejecting homosexuality, among other things, or be fired, the AJC reports:

Don Dowless (pictured), president of the Christian university in Rome, said anyone not signing the statement, which also requires staffers to reject premarital sex and adultery, faces termination.

“I think that anybody who adheres to a lifestyle that is outside of what the biblical mandate is and of what the board has passed, including the president, would not be allowed to continue here,” Dowless told Channel 2 Action News.

The Georgia Voice says gay employees are now in fear of "witch hunts":

"We now will live in fear that someone who doesn't like us personally or someone who has had a bad day will report that we've been drinking or that we are suspected of being gay," said the employee, who declined to reveal his name due to the policy.

Those who sign the policy vow: "I have read and agree with the Personal Lifestyle Statement and will adhere to it in its entirety while employed at Shorter University. I understand that failure to adhere to this statement may result in disciplinary action against me, up to and including immediate termination."

Watch a report on the new policy from WSBTV and interview with Dowless, AFTER THE JUMP...

Georgia State Representative Rashad Taylor: 'I'm Gay'

Georgia State Representative Rashad Taylor, a Democrat, came out as gay yesterday in response to an email written by the former partner of Taylor's current boyfriend that has been circulating around offices of the state capitol.

Said Taylor:

"Although this is not the time or the way that I wanted to come out, I feel actually very lucky, thanks to all the support that I've received from those people who are closest to me...As a black man, it can be a struggle to find acceptance within the community and at times with myself as well. But I'm proud of the man my mother has raised, and I make no apologies for who I am. There may be those who want to paint those in political terms. They'll say that this is a political liability to me. To me it's actually a gift form God.Through his grace and examples of thousands of members of the LGBT community who have come out often to great personal and professional risk, I have been blessed. It's your bravery and example that makes it possible for me to publicly and say to you, 'this is who I am and I have nothing to be ashamed of.'"

The email makes note of that fact that Taylor is gay and accuses him of using his position as a lawmaker to trade sex for state funds and other gifts. Taylor has denied the allegations and the man who wrote the email, Jermaine Callahan, admits he does not have proof to back up his claims.

Watch the press conference of his announcement, which took place at the offices of Georgia Equality, AFTER THE JUMP.