Dec 09, 2005   | COMMENTS     

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Mayor James E. West was recalled from office Tuesday, Dec. 6, in a special election over allegations he offered jobs and perks to young men he met in a gay Internet chat room. The 54-year-old Republican became the city’s first elected chief executive to be ousted before his term expired. With just over half of the 110,000 mail-in ballots counted, 38,718 (or 65 percent) voted to recall West, while 20,681 (or 35 percent) voted to retain him. West must leave office when the election results are certified Dec. 16. The campaign to recall West began last spring after the Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that West was a closeted gay man who visited Gay.com chat rooms using his city-owned laptop and offered internships and other favors to young men he hoped to have sex with. West was elected mayor in 2003 after serving more than two decades as a Republican in the state legislature, where he voted against gay-friendly bills. The recall petition contended West used his political office for personal benefit by offering a city internship to someone he thought was an 18-year-old man he had met online. In the week before the recall vote, West insisted he no longer has gay sex and has stopped visiting Internet chat rooms. “I wish there was a rewind button,” he said. “Basically, that’s what I’m asking the public for: a second chance.”

Schwarzenegger irks GOP by picking lesbian staff chief
LOS ANGELES — Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week chose a former top Democratic official, who is lesbian and an ardent gay rights advocate, as his new chief of staff. Conservative Republicans decried the move. Susan P. Kennedy, 45, was deputy chief of staff and cabinet secretary to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. Her new role for Schwarzenegger is to direct his staff and carry out his agenda. “She’s willing to put her Democratic philosophy aside and do the job to fulfill my vision,” said Schwarzenegger, who vetoed gay marriage legislation earlier this year. Republicans cried foul. “It’s not acceptable, it’s indefensible,” Dave Gilliard, a conservative and a leader of the effort to recall Davis, told the Times.

Focus on the Family drops Wells Fargo over gay ‘agenda’
MINNEAPOLIS — The anti-gay conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family last week dropped its banker over its alleged pro-gay efforts, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The Colorado Springs, Colo.-based group alleged that Wells Fargo exhibits “ongoing efforts to advance the radical homosexual agenda,” Focus on the Family’s CEO Jim Daly said in a statement. “These efforts are in direct opposition to the underlying principles and purpose of Focus, and thus a decision of conscience had to be made and a stand taken.” The conservative group’s primary objection was that Wells Fargo matched a grant to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The company agreed to match contributions to a GLAAD media campaign, but did not agree for its logo to be used on the GLAAD Web site, Chris Hammond, a bank vice president , told AP.

Gay GOP group wants probe into drag show
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A gay political organization is asking for an investigation of a drag show at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Greater St. Louis, Charles Stadtlander, says he attended the Oct. 14 drag show. He raised concerns that the show mocked heterosexual audience members, that performers wore revealing outfits, used inappropriate language and simulated sex acts. He said university officials should not have allowed the event and raised concerns that tax dollars were involved. University spokesman Bob Samples says taxpayer money was not used to fund the event. Samples said the matter was a First Amendment issue.

Boston College nixes gay dance theme
BOSTON (AP) — Boston College has asked a student group to adopt a “less gay” theme for an AIDS benefit dance, saying the proposed “A Night in Gay Paris” defies the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The school’s GLBT Leadership Council, which organized the event, dropped the original name of the fundraiser at the college’s request, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday. Administrators were meeting with students to come up with a different theme, Boston College spokesperson Jack Dunn said. “Gay students are accepted and welcomed at Boston College, but as a Catholic university we cannot sanction an event that promotes a lifestyle that is in conflict with church teaching and the mission and heritage of Boston College,” Dunn said. The group’s leaders characterized the move as an affront to gay students. “They are being attacked by a university they call home,” said Sasha Westerman, a B.C. senior.