Judge Yves de Montigny said Friday the board erred last February when it rejected Bethany Smith’s bid.

Smith says she fled the army instead of going to Afghanistan with her unit because she was harassed and threatened by fellow soldiers over her sexual orientation.

The U.S. military has a policy of discharging openly gay members but Smith says she was denied a discharge because soldiers were needed for the Afghanistan mission.

The judge says the board unfairly dismissed evidence suggesting that gays face harsher treatment in the American military justice system.

Smith says she would fear for her life if she were returned to the army.

The full report by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice won’t be completed until the end of next year. But the authors said that their evidence to date found no data indicating that homosexuality was a predictor of abuse.

“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith of John Jay College, in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now.”

The question has been raised repeatedly within and outside the church because the overwhelming majority of known victims were boys. As part of the church’s response to the crisis, the Vatican ordered a review of all U.S. seminaries that, among other issues, looked for any “evidence of homosexuality” in the schools.

Yet, many experts on sex offenders reject any link between sexual orientation and committing abuse. Karen Terry, a John Jay researcher, said it was important to distinguish between sexual identity and behavior, and to look at who the offender had access to when seeking victims.

The bishops had commissioned the $2 million study as part of widespread reforms they enacted at the height of the abuse crisis. The scandal erupted in 2002 with the case of one predator priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, then spread to every U.S. diocese and beyond.

Nearly 14,000 molestation claims have been filed against Catholic clergy since 1950, according to tallies the bishops have released in recent years. Abuse-related costs have reached at least $2.3 billion in the same period.

At the meeting Tuesday, Bishop Edward Braxton, of the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., asked the researchers whether their study indicated that homosexuality should be considered when evaluating a candidate for the priesthood. In 2005, the Vatican issued a policy statement that men with “deep-seated” attraction to other men should be barred from the priesthood.

Smith said: “If that exclusion were based on the fact that that person would be more probable than any other candidate to abuse, we do not find that at this time.”

The latest findings affirmed previous reports that the rate of clergy abuse has declined steeply since the mid 1980s. Researchers found that the abuse rate peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the claims being made now involve allegations from decades ago.

In separate business Tuesday, the bishops:

- Adopted a pastoral letter affirming the church’s definition of marriage being between one man and one woman, and that sex is meant for procreation. They also issued an educational document on the church’s opposition to reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization.

- Updated their “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.” The new language states that medically assisted nutrition and hydration, while not mandatory in every case, should be provided to all patients who would benefit, including those in a persistent vegetative state. However, the aid should not be provided if it becomes “excessively burdensome” for a patient who is very close to death, the revision states.

- Gave final approval to an English translation of the Roman Missal that has been in development for years. After the Vatican gives its final authorization, the new translation will be adopted by parishes nationwide, possibly next year.

Nineteen-year-old, Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado’s body was found burned, decapitated and dismembered on Nov. 14 in Cayey, a city only a few miles away from his hometown in Caguas.

According to an iReport by Christopher Pagan, “He was a very well known person in the gay community of Puerto Rico, and very loved.”

Pagan said, “Never in the history of Puerto Rico has a murder been classified as a hate crime. Even though we have to follow federal mandates and laws, many of the laws in which are passed in the USA such as Obama’s new bill, do not always directly get practiced in Puerto Rico.”

Pagan also noted the public remarks from a police investigator for the case that ‘people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen’.

Towleroad translated gay activist Pedro Julio Serrano’s response:

“It is inconceivable that the investigating officer suggests that the victim deserved his fate, like a woman deserves rape for wearing a short skirt. We demand condemnation of this investigator and demand that Superintendent Figueroa Sancha replace him with someone capable of investigating this case without prejudice.”

According to Pagan, the story has only made local headlines and deserves international coverage.

The scene in Wednesday’s episode of the hit Fox series “Glee,” which regularly celebrates diversity and the underdog, is yet another uplifting moment – except to those in the entertainment industry with disabilities and their advocates.

For them, the casting of a non-disabled actor to play the paraplegic high school student is another blown chance to hire a performer who truly fits the role.

“I think there’s a fear of litigation, that a person with disabilities might slow a production down, fear that viewers might be uncomfortable,” said Robert David Hall, longtime cast member of CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

All of that is nonsense, said Hall: “I’ve made my living as an actor for 30 years and I walk on two artificial legs.”

Hall, 61, chair of a multi-union committee for performers with disabilities, is part of a small band of such steadily working actors on TV that includes Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, star of Fox’s “Brothers”; teenager RJ Mitte of AMC’s “Breaking Bad”; and ABC’s “Private Practice” newcomer Michael Patrick Thornton.

Veteran actress Geri Jewell, who has cerebral palsy, appeared on HBO’s now-departed “Deadwood.”

Mitchell, 44, whose credits included “Veronica’s Closet” and the film “Galaxy Quest” before he was injured in a motorcycle accident and “Ed” after he began using a wheelchair, is also a producer on the Sunday sitcom that’s in need of higher ratings if it is to survive.

For Mitchell, “Brothers” represents more than just another show: He calls it “a movement” that deserves support from the wider disabled community as well as the industry.

“This is what my life is. This is what I want the world to see,” he said. “I want to hold the networks accountable. If I can come out and do what I’m doing, they can come to the table.”

It’s not just TV that falls short of what Mitchell and others seek, including auditioning those with disabilities for roles that echo their situation and for roles in which it is irrelevant. (Then it’s up to them to prove they deserve the job, Hall said.)

In the theater world, advocacy groups for the disabled recently objected to the casting of Abigail Breslin (”Little Miss Sunshine”) as young Helen Keller in a Broadway revival of “The Miracle Worker,” and a hearing actor’s selection for a deaf role in the off-Broadway “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.”

In films, Daniel Day-Lewis received an Academy Award for his portrayal of a man with severe cerebral palsy in “My Left Foot” and Tom Cruise was nominated for an Oscar for playing a paralyzed Vietnam veteran in “Born on the Fourth of July.”

Television, however, has a unique place in the country’s cultural and social fiber. It deals in volume, is entrenched in most lives as it consumes hours of leisure time and has the daily power to reinforce attitudes or reshape them. Increasingly, it’s been expected to reflect America in whole and not just the so-called mainstream.

That was the intent in assembling the cast of “Glee,” said executive producer Brad Falchuk, along with getting the best performers possible.

“We brought in anyone: white, black, Asian, in a wheelchair,” he said. “It was very hard to find people who could really sing, really act, and have that charisma you need on TV.”

He understands the concern and frustration expressed by the disabled community, he said. But Kevin McHale, 21, who plays Artie, excels as an actor and singer and “it’s hard to say no to someone that talented,” Falchuk said.

“Glee” isn’t alone in using an able-bodied actor for a wheelchair role: “Curb Your Enthusiasm” did it twice in a recent episode.

While TV has grown more inclusive of ethnic and gay characters, those with disabilities represent a sizable minority that hasn’t fared as well – whether with genuine or fake portrayals.

About one-fifth of Americans age 5 to 64 have a physical or mental disability – more than 50 million, according to U.S. Census figures. But fewer than 2 percent of the characters on TV reflect that reality, according to a 2005 study of Screen Actors Guild members conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.

And it’s not a small playing field: There are 600 characters or more on the scripted comedies and dramas airing on the five major networks in a typical season.

More than a third of performers with disabilities reported facing discrimination in the workplace, either being refused an audition or not being cast for a role because of their disability, the study found. Many performers fear being candid about their health or needs to avoid pity or being seen as incapable of doing a job.

There can be added production expenses, said veteran casting director Sheila Manning, such as hiring a translator for a performer who is deaf.

“It costs a little more, but look at the positive reaction they’re (the networks) getting. I think that more than offsets the cost,” Manning said, adding that it’s the morally right thing to do.

And producers simply can’t complain of a shallow pool of choices.

“There are very talented performers with disabilities. … We just don’t know what producers are thinking,” said Gloria Castaneda, program director of the Media Access Office, a California state program that promotes hiring of the disabled in the entertainment industry. It also gives annual awards for positive portrayals.

The cause has union support: A campaign sponsored by three major entertainment guilds and aimed at creating equal employment opportunities for actors, broadcasters and recording artists just marked its first year.

TV’s past, oddly enough, was brighter. In the 1980s, actors with disabilities could be seen regularly in a variety of shows. They included Jewell, who costarred on “Facts of Life,” and James Stacy, who played a love interest for Sharon Gless on “Cagney & Lacey” and appeared in “Wiseguy” after losing limbs in a motorcycle crash.

R.J. Johnson, a writer and filmmaker, documented the golden period in “Breaking Ground.” Among those interviewed in the film was an actress who proclaimed, “We’re never going back. It won’t happen.”

Johnson says that “everything aligned” to encourage producers and directors such as Michael Landon (”Highway to Heaven”) to create characters with disabilities and then hire the right actors to play them.

“Then it kind of faded away,” says casting pro Manning. “It was a cause, and then it wasn’t.”

But she sounded a note of optimism, saying, “It’s in the public consciousness again, so it’s in the production consciousness.”

A friend was on the mind of Vince Gilligan, executive director of “Breaking Bad,” when the role of Walter Jr. was formed. Gilligan said he was thinking of a dear college pal, a man “with an infectious personality,” who died in recent years.

“It must have been I wanted to represent him in such a fashion when I created the character of Walter Jr.,” Gilligan told a recent industry forum on the hiring and portrayal of people with disabilities. “There was no reason for him to have cerebral palsy. It just seemed like, ‘Why Not?’ There’s no better reason than that, I suppose.”

More is at stake than actors’ careers, say advocates.

“When a person with a disability sees a positive image on TV that looks like them, their whole attitude changes. It gives them hope for what they can do in the future,” said Castaneda of the Media Access Office.

It counts for their families as well, said veteran writer Janis Hirsch, who works on Fox’s “Brothers” and “‘Til Death,” and who had polio as an infant.

“I am sick and tired of my son not seeing anyone even remotely like me on TV,” she said. “The first time my son saw someone use forearm crutches was the giraffe puppet in ‘Lion King.’ He was so excited. Where else do you see it? You just don’t see it.”

A new study about the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy questions the assumption that allowing openly gay and lesbian military personnel to serve in the U.S. armed forces could harm military readiness.

The study surveyed military personnel who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and found that having a gay or lesbian colleague in their unit had no significant impact on their unit’s cohesion or readiness. The study, by researchers from the RAND Corporation and the University of Florida, was published online by the journal Armed Forces and Society.

“Service members said the most important factors for unit cohesion and readiness were the quality of their officers, training and equipment,” said Laura Miller, study co-author and a sociologist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Serving with another service member who was gay or lesbian was not a significant factor that affected unit cohesion or readiness to fight.”

Since the law prohibiting open service of gay and lesbian military personnel is based on the premise that open integration would harm cohesion and readiness, the findings suggest that the U.S. military should revisit the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, said Miller and study co-author Bonnie Moradi, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Florida.

The study found that just 40 percent of the military members surveyed expressed support for the policy, while 28 percent opposed it and 33 percent were neutral—less support than seen in previous surveys.

About 20 percent of those polled said they were aware of a gay or lesbian member in their unit, and about half of those said their presence was well known. In addition, three-quarters of those surveyed said they felt comfortable or very comfortable in the presence of gays or lesbians, according to the study.

The study, “Attitudes of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans Toward Gay and Lesbian Service Members,” will appear later in the print edition of Armed Forces and Society. The study was commissioned by the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Although RAND has done other research on this topic, this study was the product of a contract directly with the researchers and not through RAND. It is available online here.

Miller and Moradi examined information from a 2006 voluntary online poll conducted by Zogby International of 545 U.S. service members who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The survey sample was pulled from a national panel composed of more than 1 million members and screened to select service members who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The survey sample included personnel from all service branches and from a mix of ranks and occupations. The majority of respondents were on active duty at the time of the survey, but the sample also included reservists and military veterans.

Researchers found no significant differences regarding attitudes toward gay and lesbian military members among members of the different services. Other findings from the study include:

Compared to previous studies of military members, support for the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban continues to decline. The earliest polls in 1993 showed 75 percent agreed with the ban, 8 percent unsure and 16 percent were against it.

The important factors for cohesion and readiness were officer/non-commissioned officer quality, training quality and equipment quality. Beyond these factors, knowing a gay or lesbian person in the unit was not associated significantly with ratings of unit cohesion or readiness.

The most frequently endorsed arguments in support of integrating gays and lesbians were those that prioritized performance and qualifications over exclusionary practices.

Moradi and Miller noted that further research is needed to explore these and some of the other findings of the study, such as the general pattern that high-grade enlisted personnel and officers were more supportive of the ban than low- and mid-grade enlisted personnel. Those who reported prior training on the prevention of anti-gay harassment also were more favorable of the ban than those who had not had the training.

Attorneys for Robert Van Hook had argued that the lawyers who represented him during the sentencing phase of his trial failed to do an effective job.

In its ruling Monday, the high court reversed a ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Van Hook killed David Self in Self’s apartment in Cincinnati before robbing him and fleeing to Florida, where he was arrested and later confessed.

Van Hook’s lawyer, Keith Yeazel, says another appeal issue is pending before the 6th Circuit.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray says the death sentence is appropriate due to the “horrific nature” of the crime.

http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_11_05/2009_11_05.html

City controller Annise Parker and former city attorney Gene Locke are headed to a runoff to become mayor of America’s fourth-biggest city.

Parker, who would be the first openly gay mayor of Houston, collected nearly 31 percent of the vote Tuesday.

Locke, with 25 percent, topped architect and urban planner Peter Brown, who had nearly 23 percent.

A runoff is needed because no one received 50 percent of the vote. A specific date has not yet been set for the election, but it will be in December.

A victory for Parker would make Houston the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.

Victory Fund candidate Charles Pugh will become the first openly gay member of the Detroit City Council.  But the political newcomer could also become the city council president if he continues to hold on to the top spot among 18 candidates vying for 9 at-large city council seats.

 ”What about a law that says it’s a federal crime to attack somebody because of his religious beliefs?” Robertson said.  “Not a chance!”

The blog Crooks and Liars criticized Robertson’s rationale towards religious persecution.  Writing for the blog, David Neiwert, in analyzing Robertson’s remarks, points out that “Robertson seems completely unaware that in fact religious bias is one of the categories of bias crime covered by hate-crime laws — and it has been from the very start, since these laws were first enacted on the state level in the early 1980s!”

In support of the new law, Mr. Neiwert writes: “Everyone interested in advancing civil rights in America and defending the nation’s minorities from the deprivation of their rights by terroristic thugs…have real cause to celebrate.”

President Obama signed the bill into law last Wednesday.