just out ▼ d fc tm iM r 1, 1992 ▼ 9
IX J 'W -------------7
between his department and the BS A because the
local chapter refused to allow a gay officer to
remain as an adviser in the department’s Explorer
Scout program. “It breaks my heart to do this,”
Efforts by the District of Columbia Police Burgreen said. “However, this department can
Department to develop a sensitivity training pro not continue to affiliate with an organization that
gram for officers has been ridiculed by commu discriminates against a group of people.”
nity leaders as “poorly conceived, inadequate and
insulting.” The $50,000 training program was
supposed to improve relations between officers Not a military dictatorship
and underrepresented people. Minority groups
In a precedent-setting move, a federal judge
unanimously chose to boycott the program, citing ordered the Navy to reinstate sailor Keith
a complete lack of representation and availability. Meinhold, who had been discharged after he
“We were outraged,” said Marshall Wong, of the acknowledged that he was gay on national televi
Afro-Asian Relations Council. “We had been sion. When Navy officials at first balked at the
told time and again that there would be opportu order, Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. demanded that
nity for meaningful community input.”
they comply, and the Navy backed down. ‘This
Although Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly had prom - is not a military dictatorship,” Hatter said. “It is
ised a “high-profile” program as part of her not the former Soviet Socialist Republic. Here the
“multicultural initiative,” members of the mayor’s ruleoflaw applies to themilitary.” Meinhold was
cabinet representing minority groups were not reinstated to his former position the day after
consulted or even advised about the program Veterans Day.
planning. The company hired to do the training
Meinhold’s lawyer, John Maguire, said, “I
was given a week to prepare it and not informed think it will have broad ramifications on policy
about plans for target group participation until because the Navy has alleged up till now that the
after the contract was issued. Officers from presence of gays is disruptive of good order,
underrepresented groups were expected to speak morale and discipline.” Many gay-rights activists
on discrimination issues, but there are no openly praised Hatter’s ruling but expressed anxiety about
gay officers in the D.C. Police Department. ‘They the legal disposition of the case, which could be
were asking us to accomplish something in 15 overturned on appeal by the conservative Su
minutes that’s impossible to do,” said Tracey preme Court. President-elect Clinton’s promised
Conaty, co-chair of Gay Men and Lesbians Op executive order overturning the military’s ban on
posing Violence. The training program has con homosexual service members could be impeded
tinued without community participation.
by such a turn of events.
D.C. police sensitivity
training falls short
Sentiment fnr Hawaiian
sovereignty growing
A movement is growing among the indig
enous Kanaka Maoli people of Hawaii to seek
some form of sovereignty, or at least recognition,
as the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow
of the Kingdom of Hawaii by U.S. Marines ap
proaches. The Native Hawaiian people are the
only indigenous group not recognized by the
federal government. “We are talking about rec
ognition that an illegal action took place, and the
idea that native Hawaiians have a right to self-
determination,” said Gov. John D. Waihee ID,
who is the first governor of Hawaii who is a
Hawaiian.
“We are talking about issues we dared not
discuss 10 years ago,” Waihee said. Over 40
groups have formed to champion the rights of
Native Hawaiians. Kalahui Hawaii, or Hawaiian
Nation, has 12,000 members and seeks federal
recognition similar to that accorded to mainland
Native American tribes. The movement is a
source of concern for many Hawaiian residents,
most of whom trace their ancestry to the U.S.
mainland or Asia. Some groups have called for
some divestiture of lands, or even outright inde
pendence, although most support less extreme
goals.
Scouts still resist education
Two Washington, D.C., men joined the ever
growing number of former scouts who have filed
discrimination suits against the Boy Scouts of
America for being forced out of the organization
because they are gay. Roland Pool, 31, and
Michael Geller, 30, both Eagle Scouts and mem
bers of the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s highest
rank, had continued active involvement in the
organization until their sexual orientation became
known and their memberships subsequently can
celed. The American Civil Liberties Union and a
local law firm are representing the men in their
joint suit, based on the D.C. Human Rights Law,
which prohibits discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation.
In San Diego, Police Chief Bob Burgreen
announced the end of the 30-year agreement
International gays seek
asylum in United States
Increasing numbers of foreign gays and lesbi
ans have been using grounds of persecution in
their native countries to request asylum in the
United States, thus circumventing the U.S. Immi
gration and Naturalization Service discrimina
tory policies against gays and lesbians. Although
the ban on allowing gays and lesbians to enter the
country was officially lifted in 1990, the new
tactic challenges continuing homophobia by im
migration authorities. “Can someone who has an
inclination to do something that a majority doesn’t
think is right be defined as part of a social group?
I think that would be debatable,” said immigra
tion service spokesman Rich Kenney, exemplify
ing the current agency mindset.
Some of the cases involve citizens from coun
tries with whom the United States has friendly
relations, like Hong Kong, Guatemala, Nicaragua
and Russia, causing some embarrassment for the
government. According to U.S. immigration law,
asylum seekers must prove that they are members
of a persecuted “social group” and that their fears
of returning home are “well founded.” Julie Dorf,
executive director of the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission in San Fran
cisco, noted, “Gays and lesbians are migrating to
the relative safety of the United States to escape
prison, torture and death squads in other coun
tries. This strategy can enable us to establish
legally that such persecution violates our funda
mental human rights.”
In one case, a bisexual man from Hong Kong
said that, although Hong Kong recently softened
its sodomy law, the reabsorption of the port by
China in 1997 could mark the beginning of an
other period of persecution since Chinese authori
ties are known to subject gay men to electroshock,
beatings, and “re-education” camps. In another
case, a gay man from Guatemala has requested
asylum in Seattle, noting that six of his friends in
Guatemala were killed because they were gay,
and he was imprisoned and tortured on several
occasions. In recent years, immigration authori
ties in other countries, including Germany, the
Netherlands, Australia and Canada, have been
granting asylum to gays and lesbians.
Compiled by Jim Hunger
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