By Gary Barlow

Special rights
Those pesky kids—always finding ways to turn adults’ worlds upside down!

That’s what’s happened in suburban Waukegan, where students at Waukegan High School, in their annual yearbook poll, voted seniors Lupe Silva and Brandy Johnson, both 17, as the school’s “cutest couple.”

Awww—that’s sweet, right?

Well, it’s not so sweet to Waukegan High officials, who objected because Johnson and Silva happen to be a lesbian couple. The Waukegan News-Sun reported last week that the school decided to change the yearbook and the rules and put Johnson and Silva on a “cute couple” page, along with photos of five other couples, all straight.

The school’s yearbook advisor said it was because one parent objected. Johnson and Silva said they’ve been dating for a year and won the honor because they’re popular.

Oh, well—too bad the adults involved can’t be as mature about gay relationships as the kids. And as for changing the yearbook—well, there’s nothing like sending the message that straight people require special rules and privileges.

Hot rod lesbians
Another parent with a problem—and a strange notion or two—happens to be the prime minister of Cambodia.

Prime Minister Han Sen announced last week that he’s cutting off ties to his daughter because she got married—to another woman. The prime minister said he and his wife are concerned that their daughter and her partner may “one day cause us trouble…and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets.”

Um, OK, whatever. But, wait—as if that isn’t weird and mysterious enough, the prime minister went on to say that his action wasn’t about any kind of bias against gays and lesbians. Cambodians, he said, should demonstrate respect toward gays and lesbians.

“Most of them are good people and are not doing alcohol, drugs or racing vehicles,” he said.

Yep, wasn’t that your mom’s concern when you came out to her—that you’d turn out to be yet another flaming Dale Earnhardt?

Fact check ’08
OK—time for a bit of presidential campaign fact-checking, this time involving GOP hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

It seems America’s Mayor has been running an ad in New Hampshire claiming that he might not be alive if he’d had to depend on British-style “socialized medicine.”

Giuliani, a prostate cancer survivor, claims in the ad that the U.S. has an 82-percent prostate cancer survival rate, while in England the rate is just 44 percent.

But the ad is wrong because it cites stats from a right-wing article that distorted the facts. The truth is that mortality rates from prostate cancer are about the same in the U.S. and Britain, as well as Canada, France and Germany. The U.S. reports more cases, health officials say, because of a greater emphasis by U.S. doctors in recent years on early detection. That in turn produces higher survival rates but not higher death rates. Cases are still detected early enough in Britain, and many other countries with universal healthcare, to keep death rates at about the same level as in the U.S.

In case you’re wondering, though, Rudy still hasn’t run any ads comparing his gay-rights stands in New York mayoral campaigns to his gay-rights stands in South Carolina presidential primary campaigns.

Making a difference
We don’t always have good news to report but here’s some good news about a gay man who’s made an incredible contribution to future generations.

Two of the world’s most famous art galleries, the Tate Collection and the National Gallery, both in England, disclosed last week that the late Simon Sainsbury, a gay man who died last year, left them art valued at almost $210 million.

The 18 works include paintings by Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Rosseau, Freud, Bacon and Gainesborough.

“This is one of the most important gifts in the history of the Tate,” said its director, Nicholas Serota.

Sainsbury was a great-grandson of the founder of Britain’s Sainsbury supermarket chain and, in addition to being a gifted pianist, art collector and philanthropist, was also quite open about being gay.

He left the remainder of his art collection to his partner, Stewart Grimshaw. The couple celebrated their 40th anniversary by getting a civil partnership certificate last year before Sainsbury’s death.

The Sainsbury works donated to the Tate are scheduled to go on exhibit next summer, officials said.