An 18-year-old suburban Milwaukee high school student is accused of blackmailing classmates into gay sex using Facebook. The suspect, Anthony Stancl,  would pose as a girl on Facebook and trick the victims into sending him naked photos, then threaten to post the photos on the Internet if they didn’t have sex with him.

Stancl is charged with multiple counts of child enticement, sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography. He faces a sentence of 300 years in prison if convicted on all charges. SeeTeen accused of blackmailing classmates into gay sex using Facebook
Dallas Voice, TX

The Texas Legislature opened its 81st session this week with a moderate Republican at the helm as speaker of the House, but with the Senate in an uproar as Republicans there try to circumvent filibuster rules.

Randall Terrell, political director for the LGBT advocacy organization Equality Texas, said Wednesday, Jan. 14, that new leadership in the House could be advantageous for LGBT people in the Lone Star State. But it could also bring up new challenges, as well.

“I am a little more hopeful now that [San Antonio Republican Rep. Joe] Straus is speaker of the House, but that cuts both ways,” Terrell said.

The speaker of the House controls the agenda there, determining which bills can come to the floor for a vote. Straus is not expected to push the kind of socially conservative agenda that former Speaker Tom Craddick backed. But Craddick still has supporters in the House, and they are likely to test the new speaker on those issues with anti-gay amendments to other bills, Terrell said.  See Equality Texas fears anti-gay backlash with new speaker
Dallas Voice, TX -