On Jan. 4, 2005, the “Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005” was introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation is a revised version of a bill he has introduced in every Congress since 2001.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has published its evaluation of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) process for reviewing referrals alleging illegal political campaign intervention by charities. It describes the process used in detail, and said it found no indications that the random sample of cases it reviewed were handled inappropriately. The IRS requested the review after its audit of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), announced shortly before the election, raised questions about political motivation.

A federal agency’s attempt to remove the words “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” from the title of a talk given at a federally funded suicide prevention conference is drawing ire from scores of mental health experts and the GLBT community. The conference, which will be held on Feb. 28 in Portland, OR, is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). On the agenda was a talk that, until SAMHSA officials stepped in, was titled, “Suicide Prevention among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals.”