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The preliminary hearing for a 15-year-old charged with murder in the killing of openly gay student Lawrence King has been postponed until July.

The hearing, where the prosecution is required to prove there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial, was to have begun this week, but is now put off until July 8 because Brandon McInerney’s attorney said he needed more time to prepare.
McInerney, who is charged as an adult with murder as a hate crime, has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys had fought unsuccessfully to get the case moved from adult to juvenile court.

If convicted as an adult, he could be sentenced to 51 years to life. If he were convicted in juvenile court, the sentence would be much shorter.

King, 15, often dressed in a feminine manner and told friends that he was gay. He was shot in the head during a morning class at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard in February 2008. More than 20 other students were in the room at the time. McInerney, then 14, was arrested shortly after the shooting.

Rodger McFarlane, a Denver-based advocate for gay rights and HIV-AIDS treatment and education, has died while traveling in New Mexico. He was 54.

The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator confirmed Monday that McFarlane died Friday in Truth or Consequences but didn’t immediately release the cause.
A statement released by Tim Sweeney, president of the Denver-based Gill Foundation, where McFarlane once worked, said McFarlane committed suicide. McFarlane left a note citing back and heart problems that limited his ability to work and travel, the statement said.

“We will eternally be in his debt as a result of his many, lasting contributions,” Sweeney said.

McFarlane was executive director of the Gill Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Founded by software entrepreneur Tim Gill, the foundation funds programs advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights.

Earlier, McFarlane helped found New York’s Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Bailey House, a housing provider for homeless people with HIV, said Fred Saenz, vice president for communication of the Gill Foundation.

McFarlane wrote “The Complete Bedside Companion: A No Nonsense Guide to Caring for the Seriously Ill.” Saenz said that book grew out of McFarlane’s experience of caring for friends.

Rodger McFarlane, a Denver-based advocate for gay rights and HIV-AIDS treatment and education, has died while traveling in New Mexico. He was 54.

The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator confirmed Monday that McFarlane died Friday in Truth or Consequences but didn’t immediately release the cause.
A statement released by Tim Sweeney, president of the Denver-based Gill Foundation, where McFarlane once worked, said McFarlane committed suicide. McFarlane left a note citing back and heart problems that limited his ability to work and travel, the statement said.

“We will eternally be in his debt as a result of his many, lasting contributions,” Sweeney said.

McFarlane was executive director of the Gill Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Founded by software entrepreneur Tim Gill, the foundation funds programs advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights.

Earlier, McFarlane helped found New York’s Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Bailey House, a housing provider for homeless people with HIV, said Fred Saenz, vice president for communication of the Gill Foundation.

McFarlane wrote “The Complete Bedside Companion: A No Nonsense Guide to Caring for the Seriously Ill.” Saenz said that book grew out of McFarlane’s experience of caring for friends.

Patrick Yousse was jailed for a year in his native Cameroon, where he says he was abused, nearly raped and discriminated against daily because he was gay.

The stocky 27-year-old, sporting stylish glasses and a silver stud in his right ear, grew teary-eyed as he told his story at a rally against homophobia held in Montreal.
He was arrested for homosexuality in 2006 in the African country when he was denounced by a former boyfriend. Yousse says he was beaten by police and held in jail for three days before going to trial.

“They thought of me as an extraterrestrial,” he said. “I had a trial and was convicted of homosexuality and sent to prison for a year. That year was horrible. I lived with discrimination, I was almost raped more than once, I was physically abused, my family abandoned me.”

After his release, he still encountered constant harassment and his family denied his existence. Yousse spent a brief time in Tunisia before coming to Canada on a student visa five months ago.

He recently applied for refugee status.

“I’m less scared in Canada, I feel safer,” Yousse said. “But I have dreams where I’m still abused. I hope with time they’ll fade but it won’t happen overnight. It’s a deep wound.”

Yousse’s case is extreme, but members of sexual minorities face discrimination in many countries and within immigrant communities in Canada.

Members of Quebec’s gay and lesbian communities, along with representatives of the ethnic minority communities, are trying to change the face of homosexuality in the province.

On Sunday, they launched an awareness campaign with the support of the Quebec government aimed at making Canadians of all backgrounds more aware of the issues surrounding sexual diversity.

“Our role is to be the bridge,” said Robert Rousseau, an organizer. “Often, these men come to Quebec with a lot of baggage that leads them to developing a poor perception of themselves.

He says gays and lesbians who’ve developed an internalized homophobia are more vulnerable to having risky sex. His organization is reaching out specifically to religious leaders of ethnic communities to get their help in demystifying homosexuality.

Alexis Musanganya, 35, president of gay rights organization African Rainbow, is an activist who himself endured silent discrimination in his native Rwanda. He says he lived in the closet, believing himself to be the only gay man in his country.

“In many countries it’s condemned, it’s criminal to be gay to be lesbian,” he said, noting that many Africans want to believe that homosexuality doesn’t exist within their nations.

“In some countries you face a death sentence. In places like Cameroon, Senegal, you might get six months to five years in jail and fines.”

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday signed legislation granting domestic partners almost all of the state rights of married spouses.

“They will make for stronger families, and when we have stronger families, we have a stronger Washington state,” Gregoire said as she put her pen to the document.
The legislation makes domestic partnerships equal to marriage in areas of community property, guardianship and powers of attorney. It allows partners the right to refuse to testify against partners in court. And it provides the same remedies as married couples to end a relationship, including the division of property.

The legislation expands on previous domestic partnership laws by adding reference to partnerships alongside all remaining areas of state law where currently only married couples are mentioned.

The domestic partner law was enacted after the state Supreme Court in 2006 upheld Washington’s so-called Defense of Marriage Act that limits marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The court cited the argument that marriage was designed for the procreation of children. But the court noted the legislature could overturn the law or amend it to include gay pairs.

Since July 2007 when the original domestic partner law went into effect, more than 5,000 couples have registered as domestic partners.

Under the law, partners must be 18 or order and not already married or in a domestic relationship with someone else. The law also requires that couples share a home and be financially dependent up one another. It also allows opposite-sex couples to register if one partner is at least 62 years old.

But opponents of the law already have started a bid to overturn the measure.

The Washington Values Alliance filed paperwork earlier this month to begin the referendum process. They need to get more than 120,500 voter signatures by July 25 to qualify for the November ballot.