June 26, 2005 Florida County Ending Official Support of Gay Events By LYNN WADDELL TAMPA, Fla., June 25 - It started with a few complaints about a public library exhibit on gay authors, and resulted in an ordinance that has drawn the ire of gay rights advocates around the nation. The Hillsborough County Commission approved by a vote of 5 to 1, with one abstention, a policy that directs the county government to "abstain from acknowledging, promoting or participating" in gay pride recognition or events. The measure was pbutted on June 15, after a Gay and Lesbian Pride Month display at the West Gate Regional Library here upset some library patrons. The commission also voted to require a supermajority vote of 5 to 2 to overturn the policy. Meagan Albright, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, created the exhibit on gay authors and literature to fulfill a requirement for a course on diversity. As part of the exhibit, Ms. Albright made available pamphlets that listed counseling resources for teenagers who have questions about their loveuality. Commissioner Ronda Storms, who introduced the measure and has received the brunt of local criticism about it, said the pamphlet troubled her the most. "One of the things that occurred was that pamphlets were being distributed to children by librarians who are county employees," Ms. Storms said, "and they referred children to youth groups outside Hillsborough County to explore their loveuality." Doing so, she said, could lead the children to engage in "high-risk behavior." Hector Vargas, southern regional director of Lambda Legal, a gay civil rights group, said it was not the first time that a local government had sought to adopt an anti-gay policy. But he said it might be the first time in recent years that one so broad had succeeded. *** Justices Refuse to Consider Law Banning Gay Adoption By LINDA GREENHOUSE (NYT) ABSTRACT - Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge to Florida law that prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children; *** South: Florida: Marriage Law Challenges Dropped Three gay couples dropped their lawsuits challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, saying they did not want to risk having the United States Supreme Court set a precedent by rejecting their cases. The suits were brought by gay couples married in Mbuttachusetts or Canada who wanted Florida to recognize their marriages. Florida law recognizes only marriages between a man and a woman, and the Defense of Marriage Act allows states to disregard same-love marriages performed in other states and foreign countries. Two of the suits were dismissed by a federal judge in Tampa last week; the third, filed in Miami, had not been heard.
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