The mother of a 29-year-old lesbian who committed suicide nearly a decade ago told a gathering of gays and their friends and family members yesterday that her daughter died because of the “untruths taught by the church.”

A few of the 75 of so people gathered at Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue wiped away tears as Mary Lou Wallner talked about Anna’s death in 1997, about the guilt she felt and how the circumstances have changed her life.

Wallner, who lives just outside Little Rock, Ark., explained she was raised in a conservative Christian home, and that was how she had raised her daughter. When Anna came out as a lesbian in 1988, Wallner was not prepared to accept it.

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Today’s somewhat daily quote is taken from here.

“Heterosexual men have an annoying habit of overestimating their own attractiveness.” — Joseph Steffan, expelled from the U.S. Naval Academy for admitting he is gay (and eventually commissioned by order of a federal court)

What else ya got for me? This:

*A sculpture celebrating Rochester’s gay community goes up this week in the Neighborhood of the Arts
*Students Tap New Vein of Gay Issue
*After year of domestic partnership, push grows for gay marriage
*Church service held day after fire: Church’s anniversary moved outside after possible hate crime
*New gay-friendly coalition offers faith-based alternative