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Parent wants rural Ga. school to let trans elementary student use boys’ restroom

More than 2,300 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling on the McIntosh County Public School system to allow a seven-year-old transgender child the right to use the boys' restroom.

The petition was created by Tommy Theollyn, a 28-year-old transgender man from Townsend, Ga., after he said he was told by McIntosh County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. William Hunter that his child, D., would not be allowed to use the boy's restroom at Todd Grant Elementary School.

"My child is transgender; put simply this means he looks like and identifies as a boy, but has the body parts assigned to girls," Theollyn states in the petition. "Forcing him to use a bathroom that does not match his presentation effectively discloses his status as a transgender child and thus endangers him."

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Advocacy groups face off over Gwinnett schools filtering LGBT websites

Alliance Defense Fund

The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian organization with the mission of defending “traditional family values,” is taking on the ACLU in its battle to mandate the Gwinnett County School System remove LGBT filters from its computers.

On Aug. 1, the ADF sent a letter via email to Gwinnett Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks urging him and the school system to not allow the ACLU to “bully” the system with its request.

“School districts shouldn’t be bullied into exposing students to sexually explicit materials,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. “This latest scare tactic — under the façade of illegal censorship — is just another act of intimidation designed to forward the ACLU’s radical sexual agenda for children.”

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Emory University receives $26 million to study AIDS vaccine

Emory University shines in new LGBT campus indexEmory University has received a $26 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a vaccine for HIV/AIDS, according to a media release issued today by the university. The Emory Consortium for AIDS Vaccine Research in Nonhuman Primates will focus on preventing the earliest stages of infection in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a disease similar to AIDS found only in primates, in a 5-year study.

Most SIV infections occur via mucous membranes through sexual contact. The study will attempt to develop an effective vaccine to block such infections at mucosal sites, according to the university.

The study will be led by Eric Hunter, PhD, co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research.

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Emory University shines in LGBT Friendly Campus Climate Index

Emory University shines in new LGBT campus indexAtlanta's Emory University has received a 5-star rating in the latest LGBT Friendly Campus Climate Index, according to a media release issued by the university earlier today.

From Emory's Office of LGBT Life: “True to the institution’s commitment to diversity in all its forms, Emory University established a number of policies and procedures that create more access for students of all sexual and gender identities. To better communicate this commitment, President James Wagner was featured in an It Gets Better Project video last spring with a message of strength and hope on behalf of the entire university.”

Emory is also home to some 10 LGBT student and faculty organizations and regularly hosts events specific to the LGBT community.