“He’s a dad, a business owner and community activist who’s worked hard to make his home town a welcoming and progressive place to live,” said Chuck Wolfe, Victory Fund president and CEO in a letter endorsing Crow’s campaign. “Terry’s victory would show that LGBT leaders can be leaders for their entire communities, even in the heartland.”

Crow has an extensive and legal background. He currently is a partner in Crow Takacs law firm and owns several Great Clips hair salons in University Place.

“I love University City and the rich diversity it provides,” Crow wrote on his campaign Web site. “In fact, I believe our diversity is our greatest strength. It is because of that diversity that our next mayor must possess the ability to weigh the multitude of differing viewpoints and competing needs within our community to forge a consensus and move us all forward. Our next mayor must be positive and not negative. Together, our community can achieve greatness, even in trying times.”

I’m wiling to bet Missouri State Sen. Gary Nodler stays way from anything that has a hint of the gay, but if he comes to this slice of the internets I have a suggestion. If you are going to support “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”  make sure your argument doesn’t dwell in the town of crazy.

Columnist Tony Messenger mocked Nodler’s position after the senator gave his opinion on the policy. Looks like the Missouri state house has competing resolutions: one pleading with Congress to keep DADT, the other asking for repeal.

“There are real-world implications,” Nodler said. “This is a policy that would directly threaten the lives of soldiers today.”

Messenger paraphrased Nodler’s logic like this: “The Muslim nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, where America is fighting two wars, are opposed to homosexuality. Changing “Don’t ask, don’t tell” would offend the terrorists in such a way that could put soldiers — and America — at risk of further terrorist attacks.”

This was picked up by multiple sites and Nodler was mocked a bit for his rube sounding ways. However, the senator maintains he does not care a whit for the feelings of terrorists.

“I don’t care what the Taliban thinks about it and I don’t care what Al-Qaeda thinks about it,” Nodler said. “I do care what Iraqi-allied commanders think about it with American forces integrated into their units.”

The senator thinks having out gay soldiers and sailors will make it more difficult to earn the trust of our allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“If the U.S. forces become offensive to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, how do we succeed in winning their hearts and minds,” Nodler asked.

Let’s be kind this morning and take Nodler’s concern seriously. I’ll throw the good man a query. Australia and Great Britain allow gay troops to openly serve. Both countries have soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Have you heard of any problems?

The legislation would ban strip clubs and adult video stores within 1,000 feet of homes, schools, churches, libraries, parks and day cares. It also would ban nudity, require semi-nude employees to stay 6 feet from customers and force adult businesses to close by midnight.

Senators gave initial approval to the bill by voice vote after a short debate with scant opposition. A final vote, which would send the bill to the House, is expected early next week.

The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee’s Summit, who testified Tuesday before a federal grand jury in Kansas City that is looking into how his 2005 version died in the House. Bartle has said he believes there is a link between a $35,000 contribution from the adult entertainment industry to a political committee and then-House Speaker Rod Jetton’s decision to send the bill to a committee whose chairman opposed it.

Jetton has denied wrongdoing and said there’s no connection between the money and the legislation’s demise.

Bartle and Senate Majority Leader Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, both said it was mere coincidence that the Senate took up Bartle’s latest anti-pornography legislation the same week as the grand jury investigation. But they acknowledged the publicity could help propel the bill to passage this year.

“I’m not going to deny that the environment right now is opportune,” Bartle said. “I think that it’s highly unlikely under these circumstances … that anybody in the Legislature is going to take some campaign contributions from a porn shop.”

The only audible “no” vote on the legislation Thursday came from Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, who tried unsuccessfully to exempt sexually oriented businesses in Kansas City from the proposed regulations.

Justus said the legislation would force some adult-oriented businesses to close, and Bartle acknowledged that was likely. The adult entertainment industry employs about 3,000 people in Missouri and generates $4.5 million in sales tax revenues, Justus said.

With the economy ailing, “this is not the time to be cutting jobs, this is not the time to be getting rid of a significant amount of sales tax revenue,” Justus said.

Kansas City already has a good 27-page ordinance for such businesses, she said.

Bartle countered that if Kansas City were exempt from the legislation, “the practical effect is going to be to make Kansas City a porn capital of America.”

The bill’s restrictions on the location of sexually oriented businesses would apply only to those opening after its Aug. 28 effective date. But existing businesses may have to remodel. They would have 180 days to comply with provisions requiring semi-nude dancers to remain on a stage at least 18 inches high that is at least 6 feet from customers in a room with at least 600 square feet.

Businesses or individuals that don’t comply with the legislation could face misdemeanor charges punishable by a fine of up to $500 and 90 days in jail for each day a violation exists.

After Bartle’s previous bill passed the Senate on March 29, 2005, Jetton assigned it on April 4 to a House committee led by Rep. Bob Johnson, R-Lee’s Summit, who opposed the bill. In between those dates, a political committee for the adult entertainment industry gave $35,000 to the Committee for Honest Campaigns, which usually helped finance Republican campaigns.

Bartle’s legislation eventually cleared Johnson’s committee in 2005 but never made it to the House floor. Instead, senators amended similar restrictions on adult-oriented businesses to a drunken driving bill sponsored by Jetton. That bill passed and was signed into law. But a court struck down the provisions on sexually oriented businesses because they violated a state constitutional ban on legislators changing a bill’s original purpose.

One of the men attacked, Jacob Piwowarczyk said, “I have a soft tissue bruise on my elbow. I have six stitches in my eye and I have a mild concussion.”

Piwowarczyk recalled there were four attackers. “They came up out of the car and they start calling us faggots.”

He continued, “We kept telling them please leave us alone, we’re fine. From there, the one kid didn’t like what we told them and decided to punch me in the eye and I fell to the ground. And at that time my friend was laying on the ground and they started kicking him in the face.”

Gay rights advocates say existing state and new federal laws on hate crimes could mean harsh penalties for the attackers.

According to the Vital Voice, Missouri was one of the first states to include both sexual orientation and gender identity protections in its 1999 Hate Crimes Law.

Piwowarczyk said, “Health-wise we’re all fine. We’re just lucky to be alive. Could have turned out worse.”

KSDK also reported that the other two victims suffered a broken nose and fractured cheekbone.

The police department is still investigating.

Agent Peter Schaffer said the game check and other lost revenue would amount to about a penalty of about $600,000 for the former two-time Pro Bowl player.

In a three-sentence release, the Chiefs said Johnson would be suspended until Monday, Nov. 9 for conduct detrimental to the team. The Chiefs are on their bye week and will not play again until traveling to Jacksonville on Nov. 8.

The Chiefs had been saying for three days that they were “investigating” the situation. Johnson was told to stay away from the team on Tuesday.

Schaffer said he had consulted with the Players Association about the appeal.

“We will be filing an appeal on behalf of Larry tomorrow,” Schaffer told The Associated Press. “While we respect the Chiefs’ ability to try to discipline a player, we disagree and respectfully disagree that the punishment they propose is warranted by the facts or allowable by the collective bargaining agreement. Hopefully, we will be able to work out a mutual and positive resolution with the Chiefs short of a hearing. If we don’t, then this will go to an arbitrator.”

Schaffer said they would try to expedite the matter and get a resolution before the team’s next game on Nov. 8.

In 2007, Johnson signed a five-year contract extension that guaranteed him about $19 million and could be worth as much as $45 million. But because of these latest problems, his future with the Chiefs beyond Nov. 8 may still be cloudy.

Coach Todd Haley and first-year general manager Scott Pioli have repeatedly said they are trying to build a new culture and a new attitude for a struggling franchise, which has sunk to the bottom of the NFL and that disloyalty will not be tolerated.

Johnson, who needs just 75 yards rushing to break the team’s career record, first used the gay slur on his Twitter account in an exchange with one of his followers on Sunday night. Earlier he had posted comments calling Haley’s qualifications into question.

Then in a whispered remark on Monday after telling reporters in the locker room he was not talking, Johnson repeated the slur, according to the Kansas City Star which has posted audio of the alleged comment.

The three-sentence news release issued Wednesday night by the team said only that Johnson, who turns 30 in a few weeks, was suspended for conduct detrimental to the club. The Chiefs said they would have no further comment on Johnson’s status “at this time.”

Johnson wrote the objectionable material on his Twitter account several hours after the Chiefs (1-6) lost 37-7 to San Diego, one of their most lopsided home losses ever.

Johnson issued an apology on Tuesday, almost exactly 12 months after apologizing to the team and its fans and ownership for two incidents in Kansas City nightspots that led to his pleading guilty to disturbing the peace.

Those problems caused him to be benched for three games in 2008 and suspended by commissioner Roger Goodell for an additional game.

Johnson was one of the best running backs in the NFL in 2005 and ‘06, running for more than 1,700 yards each season and earning Pro Bowl honors. But this season, like the Chiefs, he has struggled.

Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowl running back for the Chiefs, apologized Tuesday to his team, fans and the NFL “for the words I used.”

“I regret my actions. The words were used by me in frustration, and they were not appropriate,” he said. “I did not intend to offend anyone, but that is no excuse for what I said.”

Johnson posted the slur on his Twitter account Sunday in a response to another tweet. On Monday, he said it again in refusing to talk with reporters, according to a recording made by the Kansas City Star.

The Chiefs and the NFL are investigating.

A lawyer representing Apple of His Eye Inc. said Monday that the ministry will resume religious leafleting at St. Louis’ PrideFest on June 27-28, following the judge’s ruling.

Ministry members have said they were threatened with arrest by a ranger when they tried to hand out religious fliers at PrideFest in Tower Grove Park in 2006. Some viewed their actions as disruptive and felt they were violating a city ban on leafleting in public parks.

The group’s lawyer, Rick Nelson, said members of the Messianic Jewish organization believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and were handling out fliers about the Gospel. The literature did not mention homosexuality, he said.

The ministry sued last year, and U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey issued a preliminary order, saying St. Louis can’t totally ban leafleting in public parks.

Autrey made his order permanent last week.

PrideFest organizers did not respond to requests for comment. The two-day festival draws about 80,000 participants and includes a parade, entertainment, food and information booths.

Ashcroft will receive an honorary doctorate and deliver the commencement speech Saturday at Truman State University in the northeast Missouri town of Kirksville. As governor, he signed into law a measure upgrading the school from a regional teacher’s college into a selective, statewide liberal arts campus.

Nearly 300 opponents signed a petition “voicing discontent” with the decision by the Board of Governors of the school, which has close to 6,000 students according to its Web site. A silent protest is planned during Ashcroft’s speech.

Among the issues cited for the protest are Ashcroft’s opposition to gay marriage and his support of expanded interrogation techniques that critics equate with torture while leading the Justice Department after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“He has a history of supporting torture and institutionalized discrimination,” said graduating senior Sally Hertz, a sociology and anthropology major from Nevada, Iowa. “Honorary degrees are supposed to represent the values of our university. I don’t think these are things Truman stands for.”

Ashcroft, who turns 67 on Saturday, was attorney general during President George W. Bush’s first term before resigning for health reasons. He spent eight years as Missouri governor and six years as a U.S. senator. He opened a Washington lobbying firm in 2005.

A spokesman for The Ashcroft Group did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

School officials said they selected Ashcroft for the role he played in boosting the prestige of a school previously known as Northeast Missouri State.

“Ashcroft was chosen for the role he played in our university’s history,” said Heidi Templeton, a school spokeswoman. “We are a public university where all are encouraged to think freely and express their opinion.”

History professor Thomas Zoumaras objects to what he calls Ashcroft’s violation of international law covering acceptable interrogation techniques. He also disputed the former governor’s role in transforming Truman State, saying that the school’s former president Charles McClain, who will also receive an honorary degree on Saturday, deserves more of the credit for the school’s elevated stature.

Zoumaras and Hertz said they don’t want opponents to disrupt the graduation ceremony. Among the tactics endorsed for protesters are not clapping, turning their backs while Ashcroft speaks and holding up copies of the half-page protest ad from the school newspaper.

Former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash while campaigning against Ashcroft in the 2000 Senate race, also will receive an honorary degree Saturday. Carnahan posthumously defeated Ashcroft, with the challenger’s widow, Jean, taking the seat until a special election two years later.

Yantézia Patrick, University of Missouri student leader

Trend stories are always sketchy. Taking a few strands of information and conjuring some large, grand, unifying theme removes the rough edges and ultimately are written to support some political theory. So I want to be careful here, but is there something going on in the Midwest when it comes to gay rights?. There is the Supreme Court in Iowa unanimously coming to the defense of marriage rights, but look at what is going on at the University of Missouri. Students voted this week to have gender identity included in the school’s non discrimination clause.

Between April 6 and 8, the  Missouri Students Association held a  referendum and with  2,780 students voting, the proposal passed rather easily with 82 percent supporting the addition. This overwhelming majority is due to the groundwork of a coalition of students who based their agenda on two principles: making sure there was strong support from straight allies and stressing that gender identity concerns are important for everyone.

“Gender identity and expression includes the whole community.  It’s a big umbrella term that encompasses everyone,” said Yantézia Patrick, a University of Missouri journalism major and president of the university’s Gamma Rho Lambda chapter.

“Everyone has a gender identity,” said Ashley Price, an biology and sociology major and  vice president of Gamma Rho. “That is one of the things we are trying to emphasize to the community. This is not just about trans students. It is about everyone as a whole and a safety issue.”

Word about the proposal was spread in the tried and true college ways: workshops in classes and dorms and petitioning academic departments (Patrick noted departments were an easy sell). The resistance to the inclusion of gender identity was based on a sense of priorities. In short, the student government had other pressing issues and there were other things MU students had to be concerned about.

“This entire discourse exemplifies everything that is wrong with MU,” wrote Marcus Bowen in a March 9 column. “We have spent countless hours and way too much mental energy trying to change our campus into a wonderful peaches-and-cream utopia. We spend way too much time and energy on transgender diversity clauses and way too little time learning how to make money.”

Bowen’s column brought out the knives but he also made clear “no one deserves to be discriminated against.” His stance simply mirrors what the polls all say. Among the young, there is less discomfort with issues surrounding sexuality.

Ahhh, but here is where it gets interesting. Yes Mizzou students have made their vote clear but for the change to be made the Board of Curators, the people who supervise the institution, must vote for it. It took 8 years, between 1995 to 2003, for the Board to include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination clause. Price thinks if the university wants to present itself as an intellectual haven then following the students’ lead is the way to go.

“In order to adversitse ourselves as a forward thinking university in the Midwest we need to have policies that reflect that.”

While registering does not offer any specific rights in the city, it could be used as proof of a relationship for anyone wishing to add a partner to their employee health benefits in companies that offer health insurance to domestic partners.

Under the law, a couple must pay a $25 fee to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, which will maintain the registry.

Couples must attest they have lived together for at least 6 months. Each partner must be at least 18 years old and be mentally competent to form a contract. Partners must not be related by blood any closer than would bar a marriage in Missouri. Nor can they be married to any other person.

The registry had the support of Mayor Darwin Hindman who said it shows “that this is an open, receptive community, tolerant community, of everybody. That’s important, I think for our self-respect and for the quality of life that we want to have in our community.”

The measure also had the support of the Columbia Human Rights Commission and a broad number of citizens who packed the council chamber to make impact statements before the vote.

One of them, a retired United Methodist pastor, received a standing ovation from the public gallery when he made an impassioned plea for passage.

“These, my brothers and sisters, are the last group that has not yet been given what is their right,” Rev. Dick Blount told the council. “That’s all we’re asking for. We’re not trying to make the issue complex.”