Randolph Forde’s teaching career in Clayton County ended Tuesday, three months after he was arrested for allegedly putting a hit on a student he thought was gay. The nine-member school board upheld the earlier recommendation of a tribunal to dump Forde, who was a teacher at Mundy’s Mill High School, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We ratified the tribunal’s decision,” Chairwoman Alieka Anderson said. The student’s attorney, Terrence Madden, said the school didn’t do enough early enough to address the situation between his client and Forde. “My client is having a hard time. He’s under psychological care. He had to change schools, and ...

U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) is sticking his nose in the recently passed gay marriage measure in the District of Columbia. He and other GOP lawmakers want to put the matter to voters. Shortly before Christmas, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signed the measure to allow same-sex marriages in the District. The City Council approved the ordinance 11-2 in mid-December. But all DC legislation must be approved by the U.S. Congress. If no action is taken either way, the measure that allows gay marriage goes into effect on March 1. That’s where Gingrey (photo) and his ilk come in. The Georgia congressman has ...

It’s been almost two years since HGTV tried out “Designed to Sell” in Atlanta with the swoon-worthy gay designer John Gidding (photo). Now the host has relocated here for a “Curb Appeal” spin-off. “Curb Appeal: The Block” premiered on New Year’s Day, and we can drool over the 32-year-old Gidding in a new episode shot in an Atlanta-area neighborhood each Saturday at 9:30 p.m. The first episode took place in Buckhead, but keep an eye out for a gay homeowner or two on this always-inclusive channel. The show expands the original series concept by beautifying not just one home, but by throwing ...

The election is over—finally—and at high noon today, gay-friendly Mayor-elect Kasim Reed (bottom photo) takes office along with the Atlanta City Council’s newest gay member, Alex Wan (top photo). That’s right—it’s Inauguration Day. And you thought that only the prez gets one of those. But thankfully, since it’s likely to still be below freezing when Reed, Wan and other elected city officials swear on a Bible today, the ceremonies are held inside the Civic Center. And there’s no parade, either, though Reed will travel on MARTA to City Hall after the swearing in. In an interview published Sunday, Reed promised action ...

It’s that time of year when journalists are stuck without actual stories to write, so they focus on rehashing their work and slapping a “Best of the Year” label on it. At least the Sunday Paper’s list includes a gay guy we know. The paper assembled its “People of the Year,” calling it “an honor roll of courage and perseverence” for people who made the year what it was. Among the four honorees and five honorable mentions is Kyle Keyser, the gay guy who launched a grassroots anti-crime group and then ran for mayor to further shake up the city establishment. ...

If you’re a teacher, putting a hit on a student–allegedly–that you suspect is gay isn’t the path to upward mobility in Clayton County education circles. Randolph Forde, a special education teacher at Clayton’s Mundy’s Mill High School, is already facing prosecution for threatening a 16-year-old student he suspected of being gay and then offering another student $50 to put a hit on him. On Tuesday, school board lawyers asked a three-judge panel to fire Forde during an administrative hearing. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Randolph Forde, a 33-year-old special education teacher at Clayton’s Mundy’s Mill High School is facing prosecution for making terroristic ...

Think the city’s new mayor-elect doesn’t have work to do with the mostly gay white chunk of the LGBT electorate in District 6? Kasim Reed got thumped there, even while managing to win the race. See for yourself in a fascinating look at the results of the mayor’s runoff compiled graphically by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a district-by-district map of the city. Reed took the overall race by little more than 700 votes, though Mary Norwood has asked for a recount. She won areas north of Interstate 20, while Reed dominated south of the interstate. In District 6, where the race focused ...

Think the city’s new mayor-elect doesn’t have work to do with the mostly gay white chunk of the LGBT electorate in District 6? Kasim Reed got thumped there, even while manageing to win the race. See for yourself in a fascinating look at the results of the mayor’s runoff compiled graphically by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a district-by-district map of the city. Reed took the overall race by little more than 700 votes, though Mary Norwood has asked for a recount. She won areas north of Interstate 20, while Reed dominated south of the interstate. In District 6, where the race focused ...

As if almost on cue, a party-goer at a Midtown club was shot overnight as Chief Richard Pennington (photo) tries to convince us that we’re better off after his seven-year tenure at the Atlanta Police Department. The storyline might make sense if it weren’t for, well, crime. The dude that go shot early Saturday at Primal—the former WETBar and Blu that once cantered to the gays—was just the latest. There was, of course, the ill-fated raid in September at the Eagle, a dramatic jump in Midtown auto break-ins and still-unsolved murder and stabbing at Piedmont Park. But that’s not stopping ...

Anne Fauver represents the district Mary Norwood might just need to put her in the mayor’s office. And it appears the lesbian city council member is letting it be known who she supports in the Dec. 1 runoff. Fauver, a two-term backbencher like Norwood, is stepping down, a decision not to seek a third term that led to a scramble among six people to replace her. Two—Alex Wan and Liz Coyle—face one another in a runoff Tuesday. But Fauver offered this backdoor endorsement of Norwood to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “She does her homework, and she knows what she is talking about,” said ...

Source: Gay City News, Washington City Paper, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal Constitution, New York Times, Miami Herald  Media professionals and LGBT activists were shocked Monday morning by news that the major gay publications in four cities, including the nation’s oldest gay newspaper, had shut down after the companies that published the papers, Window Media and Unite Media, were forced to close by the Small Business Administration—the federal agency that oversaw the companies in bankruptcy proceedings. LGBTQ news site Project Q Atlanta vows to fill the void left by the loss ...

The company that publishes Washington Blade in DC, Southern Voice in Atlanta, and several other local gay newspapers and magazines has shut down, Queerty reports. The company’s flagship newspaper, Washington Blade, announced at 8:19 PST on its Twitter feed: Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your support. (Keep following us for developments.) In Atlanta, a note on the office door was the first word given to employees of Southern Voice that they’d lost their jobs, Atlanta Journal Constitution reports: Employees arrived at the newspaper's offices off of Briarcliff Road ...

The number of LGBT candidates on the ballot now stands at 15, though as Johnny Sinclair seeks to reclaim his Marietta post he does so with personal financial problems playing out publicly as he campaigns. Sinclair, a Realtor who left the council in 2005 after two terms, qualified for the ballot Sept. 1 with little fanfare among LGBT residents in metro Atlanta. And since, he has not reached out to LGBT voters and media outlets in the same manner as most other gay candidates. In a recent profile in the Marietta Daily Journal, Sinclair labels himself a consensus builder who is ...

Dwight Eubanks does everything over-the-top. Whether it’s as the gay sidekick on “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” in his wardrobe, or at his eclectic home, he goes big or not at all. Six turkeys at Thanksgiving? Check. Eubanks and his stunning home get the star treatment in “Celebrity Splurge,” an Atlanta Journal-Constitution feature that takes us on a photographic tour of the how the other half lives. Even better, they drop in nuggets from the homeowner that provide additional insight—or in the case of Eubanks, proof that he’s one queen who isn’t afraid to put it all out there. “When I moved into ...

At least Anne Fauver is doing something in the waning months of her political career. But it’s what she is doing that’s troubling. First, it’s taxis and now it’s cameras in Piedmont Park. You might expect the Atlanta City Council’s lone gay rep to take the lead in speaking out about the police department’s Sept. 10 raid at the Eagle. Or speaking publicly about it at all. Nope, she can’t be bothered. You might have expected her to play a central role in negotiating the return of the Atlanta Pride Festival to the park. Nah, that was Lisa Borders. Instead, she’s spending ...

Eric Stirgus The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 9:33 p.m. Sunday, September 27, 2009   Within hours of an Atlanta police raid of a popular gay Midtown bar this month, the news releases came in rapid-fire succession. All four leading mayoral candidates — Lisa Borders, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed and Jesse Spikes — sent ... ...

UPDATED | 10:55 a.m. The eight men arrested in the Atlanta Police Department’s Sept. 10 raid at the Eagle were told Tuesday to return to court again next month if the cases against them aren’t resolved. Municipal Court Judge Crystal Gaines told four of the eight men, who were in court Tuesday morning, to return Nov. 3 to enter a plea if the prosecutor and attorneys do not resolve the cases. The raid resulted in eight arrests, two protests, calls from elected officials and political candidates for an investigation into police tactics and a public flap over grand marshals for the ...

(images southern voice)Between 60 and 100 people showed up in the pouring rain Saturday at Atlanta City Hall to protest a September 10th police raid on the Atlanta Eagle gay bar in which 62 patrons were forced to lie on the floor by two dozen police officers for two hours, illegally searched, and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse.The Southern Voice reports: "With a makeshift cover of a large tarp for speakers to stand under as the rain poured down for nearly an hour, citizens demanded answers from the police department, elected officials as well as Mayor ...