GA Voice’s top stories

[Updated] Ga. state Rep. Rashad Taylor: ‘I am a gay man’

Georgia State Rep. Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta) came out today as a gay man at a press conference after the ex-boyfriend of his current partner sent out emails to legislators alleging he is gay and also accusing him of misusing his office.

“I am a gay man,” Taylor said at the press conference held today at Georgia Equality’s office at the Phillip Rush Center.

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Dr. Noel Chua

Ga. Supreme Court upholds murder conviction of doctor who lured men with drugs for sex

The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and life sentence handed down to a doctor convicted of felony murder for prescribing pain medications to a gay lover who later died of an overdose.

Dr. Noel Chua, who was in his mid-40s, began treating James Bazley Carter III, 19, in Sept. 2005 for debilitating headaches. Chua prescribed Carter such medications as morphine, methadone and oxycodone.

A month later, in October, Carter moved in with Chua in his home in Camden County, nearly 6 hours south of Atlanta near Jacksonville, Fla., while he continued to attend community college.

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ACLU of Georgia to Gwinnett school system: quit filtering LGBT websites to students

The ACLU of Georgia is urging the Gwinnett County Public School System to stop filtering LGBT websites from students or face possible legal action action.

“We have received complaints that Gwinnett County Public Schools has recently activated the ‘LGBT’ filter on software provided by Blue Coat. The ‘LGBT’ filter is designed to discriminate against LGBT viewpoints and does not serve a legitimate pedagogical purpose,” states the May 23 letter to Gwinnett Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks and signed by Chara Fisher Jackson, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia, and Joshua Block, ACLU staff attorney based in New York.

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Transgender woman claims bias in Ga. unemployment benefits

A transgender auto mechanic claims the Georgia Department of Labor is discriminating against her by asking her to repay unemployment benefits she began receiving after she was fired by Credit Nation, a used car dealership targeting customers with credit problems.

Jennifer Chavez claims Credit Nation unfairly fired her for a minor first-time offense after she transitioned from male to female. The Georgia Department of Labor initially agreed and awarded her unemployment benefits, according to recent reports by CBS Atlanta News.

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Atlanta’s Jerusalem House up for $25,000 Home Depot award

Jerusalem House, Atlanta’s oldest and largest provider of housing for homeless and low-income individuals affected by HIV/AIDS, has been selected as a finalist in the Home Depot-sponsored Aprons in Action program.

The Abilities Foundation, based in Seminole, FL, Service International, from St. Louis, MO, and Teen Challenge from Reno, NV are also nominated.

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