Windy City Times: Round-up

According to Queerty.com, an Ohio businessman just gave Kent State University the school's largest LGBT donation. Harry Jackson gave the university $2 million to be used to improve gay rights activism among its students through scholarships, speakers and more.

Florida gay marriage foes launched a 10-city campaign in support of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the state, according to the Sun-Sentinal. Amendment 2, which would define marriage as between a man and a woman, will appear on the November ballot. Conservatives are traveling the Sunshine State, primarily visiting Baptist churches in the hopes of garnering additional support. So far, 27 other states in the U.S. have passed anti-gay marriage amendments.

Over 50,000 schools across the U.S. will participate in the 12th annual National Day of Silence, which will take place April 25. The annual day is meant to highlight the need to change school policies to protect LGBT youth. This year, the GLSEN-supported event will honor the death of junior high school student Lawrence King, who was murdered by a fellow classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression.

Same-sex marriage in Iowa would increase the state budget by over $5 million each year, according a recent study. The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law released research that estimates that permitting same-sex marriage in the Midwestern state would have a positive impact on the state budget—roughly $5.3 million each year due to increases in state income and sales tax, as well as cost savings. Read about the study at www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute .

Chelsea Clinton took part in a gay bar crawl in Philadelphia in advance of the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, MSNBC.com reported. As she went around the Center City neighborhood—and was led by Gov. Ed Rendell—admirers besieged her. Others with Clinton as she visited nightspots such as Woody's, Bump and Sisters included actors Rob Reiner and Robert Gant.
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