2004

DEC. 6, 2004 IU board makes decision of military recruitment, based on issues of gay lesbian rights Solomon Amendment. According to the Service Members Legal Defense Network

DEC. 3, 2004 IU Panel adds/offers to students 'coming out' aid. The panel discussion, which Shea and Owen Sutkowski started, urged, lesbian and bisexual students to find a support network at IU so they can understand their sexuality and gave advice to students considering coming out at home during the holiday vacation.

DEC. 1, 2004 Hoosier community honors AIDS awareness day day is recognized as World AIDS Day around the globe. Campus and city events, including a ceremony tonight at the Sample Gates, an interfaith memorial and a weeklong outreach campaign, will be commemorating the event throughout the day and into the weekend. In addition to their efforts, Bloomington Hospital's Positive Link -- a free service for those living with HIV/AIDS -- works to increase and encourage testing in the area. The Community AIDS Action Group also receives funding from the state to distribute to organizations and individuals helping to combat the AIDS crisis in Indiana and throughout the world, O'Neill said.

The IU Health Center also provides HIV testing and counseling for students. The HIV antibody testing is available there for a $15 fee.

Ultimately, IU organizations play an integral role in promoting public health initiatives on campus and in the community.

NOV. 18, 2004 Community organizer lectures on gay marriage. From IDS “Grossberg became involved when he was asked to participate in the landmark Massachusetts Supreme Court Case, Goodrich v. Department of Health. The case centered on two Boston women who were in a long-term relationship. They had a child together and changed their family name to "Goodrich." When the couple attempted to get married legally, the clerk refused to grant their request. With the assistance of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the couple sued the Department of Health and the case was eventually brought before the Massachusetts Supreme Court”.Local PFLAG chapter hosts event for public.

NOV. 15, 2004 Openly gay film director speaks at IU. The Academy Award-winning director and writer of the new movie "Kinsey," a biopic about IU professor and human sexuality research pioneer Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey Bill Condon

NOV. 10, 200 From IDS reports

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Office turns 10 this week and plans on celebrating with several high-profile events.


NOV. 10, 2004 Anti-gay and anti-abortion protesters clashed with Bloomington United and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender representatives in front of the IU School of Law Tuesday afternoon. Members of the Old Paths Baptist Church of Indiana came to IU with posters featuring aborted fetuses and anti-gay slogans.

NOV. 3, 2004 Mary Cheney's sexuality made national headlines because of her continued support and involvement in President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's campaign. Mary Cheney is Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter who lives in Denver with her partner. The vice president and his wife, Lynne, have both stated that they love their daughter and support gay rights, but Mary Cheney has received criticism from some sectors of the gay community because of her support of a party that is assumed in general to not support same-sex marriage.

OCT. 27 Signs dealing with the War in Iraq, the proposed gay marriage ban and the economy were displayed by protestors.

OCT. 19, For several years the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services Center has housed specified support groups -- such as those for a particular gender or race -- for students to feel comfortable and make new friends. Outreach to minorities spans globe, throughout the third world.

OCT. 13 Lesbian group plays concert at the Buskirk-Chumley. All 600 seats of the Buskirk-Chumley Theater were full when Amy Ray and Emily Sailers, otherwise known as the Indigo Girls, take the stage. The indie duo will embrace its Bloomington fans with an acoustic show.

SEP. 23 Bloomington Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays hosted an open house in celebration of the new Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning community center Wednesday night. The organizations framework was established when the Bloomington City Council unanimously voted to support and protect the human rights of GLBTQ individuals within the community in 1994, based in part of the outreach efforts of the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Coalition. The BBCC is the only resource center of its kind in Southern Indiana.

SEP. 16 WFHB, Bloomington's community radio station, is celebrating the one year anniversary of "BloomingOUT," Indiana's first and only locally produced Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender-themed radio program Oct. 7. The main broadcaster discovered the GLBT community had possessed no voice since The Bloomington Beacon, a gay-themed newspaper, folded a number of years before. Carrothers said the idea of a GLBT radio show was warmly received by the board and the community.

SEP. 14, Group reaches out to Black GLBT members. The group met again earlier this month and plans to hold another meeting Oct. 2. According to its mission statement, Blacks Like Us is open to any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered black or bi-racial person regardless of where he or she is in the coming-out process.

JUL. 12, 2004 IU student comes in 3rd at Miss Gay Indiana pageant Returning senior Chris Grooms put on his makeup, donned a wig, zipped on a white Elvis-styled jumpsuit covered in gem stones and stepped onto the Talbott Street Theater stage in Indianapolis Friday as his drag persona Miss Bianca Defy at the 26th annual Miss Gay Indiana USA pageant. Grooms placed third and won the Glamour award in what was his first state pageant.

May 5, 2004 State constitutions may offer a more likely route to the establishment of same-sex marriage, although the road is fraught with legal and religious complexities, said Daniel O. Conkle, the Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law at IU Bloomington and an adjunct professor in the Department of Religious Studies. Conkle's research addresses constitutional law and theory, religious liberty and the role of religion in American law, politics and public life.

APR. 13, 2004 Aja Romano strode up to the podium to address the Bloomington City Council Wednesday. Speaking in a clear and measured tone, she asked the council to support same-sex marriage in Bloomington.

MAR. 26 'Laramie Project' opens with threat of anti-gay protestors The IU Department of Theatre and Drama's production of "The Laramie Project," a docudrama, has been reproduced throughout the nation since its New York premiere in 2000. The play was originally produced by members of the Tectonic Theater Project and captured the attention of Pastor Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., an anti-gay group that has picketed many of the performance locations. Phelps and his group recently announced they will be picketing IU's production of "The Laramie Project" April 1 through 3.

MAR. 25, 2004 IU group surveys transgenders on campus. IU GLBTAA was started by Jeff McKinney, Doug Bauder and Cindy Stone in June 1997 after presenting the group for formal recognition. After a voice vote, the organization was approved as an affiliate alumni group of the IUAA. Since the beginning, the organization has been working to make gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students feel comfortable on campuses. The board members of GLBTAA are hoping for feedback to stop transgender issues on all of IU's campuses.

MAR. 10, Doug Bauder has been hard at work
as coordinator of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services for the past 10 years. Bauder spends most of his time doing administrative work, such as planning meetings or conferences and increasing awareness of GLBT students as a part of diversity.

MAR. 4, 2004 BloomingPride speaks at city council meeting to address issue of gay marriage.

February 29 Monroe County GOP official quits over gay marriage issue. A two-time Republican candidate for City Council has resigned as a GOP precinct representative in protest of President Bush's support of banning gay marriages. Mark Brostoff said he decided he could no longer be a Republican after Bush announced his support last week for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Brostoff is openly gay and is a co-host of BloomingOut

FEB. 20, 2004 The Bloomington chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays takes pride in its promise. According to PFLAG's Web site, www.pflag.org, its mission is to provide a safe, supportive place where sexual minorities -- lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders -- and their family members and friends can come together to share experiences, work through problems and educate themselves and their community. Early this year, the Bloomington office and the national office of PFLAG announced the creation of two scholarship programs to provide educational opportunities for sexual minorities, The Bloomington PFLAG plans to offer two scholarships of $150 to Monroe County high-school graduating seniors who plan to continue their education.

JAN. 29, 2004 AIDS quilt debuts at IU Each 6-by-3-foot section of the quilt represents the life of one person killed by AIDS and is made of materials ranging from Legos and love letters to cremation ashes, mink and wedding rings.

The AIDS Memorial quilt was created in November 1985 when San Francisco gay rights activist, Cleve Jones, organized an annual candlelight march commemorating the 1978 assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. 

Over 15,200,000 people have viewed the quilt in places ranging from Spain to South Africa and the National Mall.

JAN. 23, 2004 IU has come a long way in accepting its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population, concluded the participants of yesterday's "Being Gay at IU" panel, held at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.