Kamora Herrington, mentoring program director of True Colors talks to kids during a breaking the silence gathering at True Colors in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) by Kelli Kennedy MIAMI (AP) — Sixto Cancel says his ultra-religious foster family frequently talked about their disdain for his homosexuality at the dinner table, trashed his room and called him homophobic slurs. While he was still a teenager, he says, they kicked him out of their Connecticut home after he had lived there for nearly a decade. "I've had foster homes who completely said you can't live here if you're gay," said Cancel, a 21-year-old student at Virginia Commonwealth University who bounced between half a dozen foster homes while in care. "For a long time I had that self-hatred and uncomfortableness with who I am." Discrimination against gay and lesbian youths in foster care is prevalent enough around the country that federal health officials sent a letter in 2011 encouraging states to develop training for caseworkers and foster parents on the issue. Advocates in a handful of states including Florida, California, Connecticut, Illinois and Massachusetts have increased efforts to train caseworkers, recruit foster parents and assign mentors. Officials don't want to force youths to disclose their sexuality, but must try to create environments where they feel safe to come out when ready. Without such support, the federal government memo says, gay and lesbian youths who leave the foster care system can wind up homeless.
Tracy Martin, second from left, and Sybrina Fulton, left, parents of Trayvon Martin, and their attorney Benjamin Crump, center, stand as the selected jury enters the courtroom during the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Thursday, June 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary Green, Pool) by Kyle Hightower SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — A jury of six women was picked Thursday to decide the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer who says he fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in self-defense. Prosecutors have said Zimmerman, 29, racially profiled the 17-year-old Martin as he walked back from a convenience store on a rainy night in February 2012 wearing a dark hooded shirt. Race and ethnicity have played a prominent role in the case and even clouded jury selection. While the court did not release the racial makeup of the jury, the panel appeared to reporters covering jury selection to be made up of five White women and a sixth who may be Hispanic.
A wellwisher carrying get-well placard arrives at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria,...
Fifth runner-up Miss South Carolina Megan Pickney walks the runway during the introductions of the Miss USA 2013 pageant, June 16, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jeff Bottari) by Hannah Dreier LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 25-year-old contestant from Connecticut won the title of Miss USA in Las Vegas on Sunday night. Erin Brady of South Glastonbury, Conn., won the beauty pageant at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino after strutting in a white sparkly gown and answering a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests. Asked if she agreed with the decision, Brady said she did.
In this Sept. 27, 2012 photo, students walk through the University of Texas at Austin campus in Austin, Texas. This giant flagship campus - once slow to integrate - is now among the most diverse the country. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) by Justin PopeAP Education Writer In post-Great Recession America, which is the bigger barrier to opportunity — race or class? A decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court kept the focus on race as a barrier, upholding the right of colleges to make limited use of racial preferences to ensure a diverse student body. But in a ruling due this month, the court is widely expected to roll back that decision. Such an outcome would shift attention more toward a less constitutionally controversial practice: giving a boost to socio-economically disadvantaged students, regardless of race. If that happens, it would reflect more than just a more conservative makeup of the justices. Over the last decade, clogged social mobility and rising economic inequality have shifted the conversation on campuses and in the country as a whole. As a barrier to opportunity, class is getting more attention, while race is fading.
Danielle Powell, right, and her spouse Michelle Rogers are photographed in Omaha, Neb., June 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) by Margery A. Beck OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Danielle Powell was going through a hard time in the spring of 2011, just months away from graduating from a conservative Christian college in Nebraska. She had fallen in love with another woman, a strictly forbidden relationship at a school where even prolonged hugs were banned.
NELSON MANDELA (AP Photo/File) JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Nelson Mandela's health is improving but the 94-year-old beloved anti-apartheid hero remains in serious condition, South Africa's president said Thursday. Jacob Zuma paid a visit to Mandela in a Pretoria hospital, where the former president has been treated for six days, according to a statement released by the presidency.
In this June 6, 2013, photo, Reem Dahir takes a peek at fiancee Abraham Ismail's laptop as they chat at a Starbucks cafe in Raleigh, N.C. The young couple understands the need for surveillance to prevent terrorist attacks, but they worry the government went too far by gathering secreting gathering phone data from millions of Americans. (AP Photo/Allen Breed) by Adam Geller NEW YORK (AP) — For more than a decade now, Americans have made peace with the uneasy knowledge that someone — government, business or both — might be watching.
This photo taken in April 2009, provided by the Salisbury, Md., Police Department, shows Alonzo Jay King Jr. A narrowly divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that police can collect DNA from people arrested but not convicted of serious crimes, a tool that more than half the states already use to help crack unsolved crimes. (AP photo/Salisbury Police Department via Salisbury Daily Times)WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for police to take a DNA swab from anyone they arrest for a serious crime, endorsing a practice now followed by more than half the states as well as the federal government.
