Dollywood officials respond to lesbian couple (AP)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Dollywood officials have offered a refund to a lesbian couple after an employee asked one of the women to turn her T-shirt reading "marriage is so gay" inside-out to avoid offending others during a recent visit to the Tennessee theme park complex.

Park officials were going to meet with the couple in person, but it was called off when Jennifer Tipton and Olivier Odom wanted to bring a representative from Campaign for Southern Equality, a gay rights organization.

Dollywood park spokesman Pete Owens told The Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/mSMwyV) that the park didn't want to meet with the representative, who wasn't at the park at the time of the incident, so they sent the couple a letter and gave them a refund.

The couple complained after a park worker at Splash Country last month asked Odom to reverse her shirt.

Owens provided the couple with a statement from Dolly Parton, who said she was sorry for any hurt or embarrassment they felt over the request.

"Everyone knows my personal support of the gay and lesbian community," Parton's statement said. "Dollywood is a family park and all families are welcome."

Odom and Tipton said they were glad to see Parton's supportive statement, but were disappointed that Dollywood officials declined to meet with them and their equality advocate.

"I think it's an opportunity for Dollywood to come out and publicly support their LGBT staff and visitors," Odom said.

"We still want to see policy changed," Tipton said

Owens had previously said the park has a dress code policy to ask people with clothing or tattoos that could be considered offensive to change or cover up, and that the couple was not asked to leave and they complied with the request to turn the shirt inside out.

The couple sent a letter to Dollywood officials asking the park "to implement policies that are inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; conduct staff sensitivity training; and issue a public statement indicating that the park is inclusive of all families."

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com

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Chavez recovers after surgery in Cuba: officials (AFP)

CARACAS (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was recovering satisfactorily Sunday after undergoing surgery in Cuba and was expected to return home "in the coming days," officials from the presidential entourage said.

But Information Minister Andres Izarra, who made the announcement Saturday, did not specify how many days the president would remain at a Cuban hospital where surgeons removed an abscess in his pelvic area early Friday.

Izarra, who said he wanted to "reassure the Venezuelan people," noted that was Chavez was doing well and that the country's citizens would continue receiving updates about his health.

He did not offer specifics.

Chavez has been on an official visit to Cuba since Wednesday. He held talks with President Raul Castro as well as with his brother Fidel, the ailing leader of the Cuban revolution.

According to Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, the abscess was discovered during a medical check-up performed on Chavez "by a trustworthy medical team."

The discovery prompted the president "to decide to immediately undergo a corrective surgical procedure," Maduro said.

The 56-year-old Venezuelan leader was accompanied at the hospital by his aides, doctors and some members of his family, the officials said.

A pelvic abscess is a pus-filled cavity normally caused by an infection. Treatment usually involves a surgical drainage and dead tissue removal, experts said.

Most patients are able to walk within 24 hours after pelvic abscess surgery, however, they often experience some discomfort for several days, the experts noted.

After concluding his talks with Cuban officials Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Chavez was feeling well after the surgery and able "to follow all the issues that the country has to confront" at this moment.

But Ramirez, who admitted he was able to see the president only on Friday, said surgery "always implies a period of rest," adding that Chavez was "in the process of recuperation."

The disclosure of Chavez's new health problem has generated diverse reactions in Venezuela, where people are accustomed to almost daily public appearances by the flamboyant president.

Supporters filled social information networks with messages wishing him a prompt recovery while opponents remained skeptical, describing the announcement as another political maneuver aimed at boosting Chavez's popularity ratings.

"The president should give the National Assembly a report about his health in order to avoid uncertainty," demanded opposition lawmaker Maria Corina Machado in her Twitter message.

Venezuelans noted that in his address to the people, read by Maduro on Friday, Chavez urged Venezuelans to "continue consolidating the Bolivian Revolution" during his recovery.

"I will gladly give up my life at the service of the suffering people," Maduro quoted him as saying.

Last month, Chavez was sidelined by a knee injury that forced him to stay away from public events for nearly a month.

The injury had also forced him the postpone visits to Ecuador, Brazil and Cuba.

Chavez was first elected on December 6, 1998, on a wave of discontent with the two traditional parties which had run the country for 40 years.

He says he began planning his revolution during two years he spent in prison for leading a failed military coup in 1992.

In recent years, Chavez has reduced military ties with the United States and increased arms purchases from alternative sources, such as Russia, Belarus and China.

Born to schoolteacher parents in the southwestern town of Sabaneta on July 28, 1954, Chavez studied at the Military Academy of Venezuela in Caracas. Twice divorced, he has four children.

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