ju » t out ▼ January 7, 1904 ▼ 9
national briefs
C A L IF O R N IA
The Los Angeles City Council has voted to
extend health insurance benefits to the unmarried
domestic partners o f city employees. A 10-3 vote
passed the motion proposed by Councilwoman
Jackie Goldberg, the council’ s first openly les
bian member. Employees must have lived with
an unmarried partner for at least a year before
they and their children can qualify for the medi
cal and dental coverage.
IL L IN O IS
Ana Castillo, a Chicago native who now re
sides in N ew M exico, has received the 1993 Carl
Sandburg Award for Fiction. Castillo, who iden
tifies herself as a bisexual, won the prestigious
literary award for her novel
a
story that spans twenty years in the lives o f a
Chicana mother and her four daughters. This is
her third novel. Castillo has just finished writing
So Far From God,
Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma
(Chicana feminism), which is scheduled for pub
lication in the spring o f 1994.
L O U IS IA N A
Gov. Edwin W . Edwards has signed an execu
tive order barring state agencies from discrimi
nating against individuals based on sexual orien
tation. The order specifically bars discrimination
in providing services or benefits; in any matter
pertaining to employment including, but not lim
ited to, hiring, promotion, tenure, recruitment
and compensation; and in the awarding o f con
tracts or in the practices o f state contractors.
M ASSACH USETTS
Gay and lesbian activists are upset with G ov.
W illiam W e ld ’ s choice o f Edward Kirby as an
appeals judge in the state’ s Department o f Indus
trial Accidents. Kirby, a Republican and former
state senator, fought against the state’ s civil rights
bill, which includes sexual orientation, that passed
in 1989. He has also charged that gay men and
lesbians “ recruit” children and that gay men are
responsible for the spread o f A ID S . W eld, a well-
known Republican advocate for the civil rights o f
lesbians and gay men, feels that K irb y ’ s conser
vative stance is merely, “ a difference o f degree.”
Kirby has claimed that his position has been
distorted. “ I am not a person who detests gays,”
he said, “ I am very tolerant and accepting.”
Boston’ s chapter o f the Log Cabin Republicans
reports that K irby’ s new position would not give
him power over civil rights issues.
NEW YO RK
The W orking Group on Funding Lesbian and
Gay Issues has published
Funders of Lesbian,
Gay and Bisexual Programs: A Directory for
Grantseekers. The directory, the first o f its kind,
provides information on potential funding sources
for organizations and projects working with les
bian, gay and bisexual communities. The publi
cation lists over 100 foundations and corpora
tions from around the country who have sup
ported programs for those communities. The
group plans to update the directory annually. Call
(212) 475-2930.
S O U T H C A R O L IN A
Democrat Senator Ernest “ Fritz” Hollings re
cently criticized African diplomats who traveled
to Switzerland for trade talks that finally con
cluded after years o f negotiations. Speaking in
Washington the Senator remarked, "Everybody
likes to go to Geneva. I used to do it for the Law
o f the Sea conferences and you’ d find these p o
tentates from down in Africa, you know, rather
than eating each other, they’d just come up and
get a good square meal in Geneva.” The remark
brought condemnation from the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement o f Colored People,
and embarrassment from some white Democrats.
TENNESSEE
Shareholders o f the Cracker Barrel chain o f
restaurants recently voted against a proposal for
the company to adopt a non-discriminatory em
ployment policy regarding gay men and lesbians.
Seven ty-seven percent o f the shareholders present
at a closed-door meeting voted against the pro
posal and 14 percent voted in favor o f it. The
policy was proposed by the N ew York City Re
tirement System, a Cracker Barrel shareholder. A
second policy proposal, designed to expand the
board o f directors to “ reflect the varied races,
genders and sexual orientations o f shareholders,”
was also rejected.
Cracker Barrel has been the target o f boycotts
since it adopted a policy in 1991 that prohibited
the hiring o f gay and lesbian employees and
subsequently fired 12 lesbian and gay employees.
Specifically, the policy stated that the company
could no longer employ persons “ whose sexual
preferences fail to demonstrate normal hetero
sexual values.” Although the company has since
rescinded the policy, gay and lesbian activists say
that since the fired gay and lesbian employees
have not been rehired, the policy is still in place.
SEC rules allow for shareholder’ s proposals to be
reconsidered at future meetings if they receive at
least three percent o f the vote. Therefore, the issue
could come up again next year.
W A S H IN G T O N D.C.
Three national gay and lesbian civil rights
groups have designated staff members to focus on
the issues o f lesbian health. Marci Wasserman, a
lobbyist for The Human Rights Campaign Fund is
now spending half o f her time there working on
lesbian health issues. She is concentrating on
meeting with the staffs o f members o f Congress to
educate them about lesbian health issues. The
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has hired
Marj Plumb to work on lesbian health. Plumb is
the former executive director o f Lyon-Marlin
W om en’s Health Services in San Francisco and
joins the staff at N G L T F as its new health policy
director. She will focus on national health care
reform, H IV prevention and lesbian health. Paula
Eltelbrick, newly appointed head o f the New
York office o f the National Center for Lesbian
Rights, will work to stimulate more funding for
lesbian health services and with the women’ s
health community around specific issues.
^ * Wishing You All a
‘\H ap p y New Year...
Deborah Bet run
CRB. OKI
Broker Ow ner
Chris Bonner
Scott Bottaro
Associate Broker
Million Dollar Cluh
Million Dollar Cluh
Marie la ird
Donald Falk
Judy Carnahan Certified
Molly Brady
Jim Bean
New Homes Specialist
Million Dollar Cluh
Rich Filia
Gerry Federico
Hill Calvin
John Terrill, GRI
(»ary Sadleir
Val Thorpe
Million Dollar Producer
Kim Kines
Lucille Lockett
Million Dollar Producer
Kathy Tysinger
Jud W alker
Million Dollar Cluh
Kathleen Ira
Jude Watson, GUI
Greg Washington
Million Dollar Producer
A sm mate Broker
Million Dollar Cluh
•
Million Dollar Cluh
m
*
C)
c «b*
4 J +
Bill Kline
Linda Welch
Karen HiLsing
Anita Trudeau
Million Dollar Cluh
Bridgetown Realty
13630763
”;
to yours. We re pleased to have been part of your dream of being “home for the
holidays.” We also thank you for using our services this past year and are
committed to continuing to offer the same courteous professional service and
attention to detail you have come to expect from Bridgetown Realty.
T
T
T
Susan Hester, the president o f the Mary-Helcn
Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer has
been asked to participate in a meeting o f health
The Long Island-based company A vis Rent-
and policy makers working to develop a plan to
A-Car recently instituted a new policy regarding
deal with breast cancer as a national health emer
the additional driver fee for unmarried couples
gency. Hester will join Secretary o f Health and
who rent a car and both intend to drive. In an
Human Services, Donna Shalala, government
internal memo to its agents nationwide, the com
pany announced that the fee could be waived, i leaders, scientists, breast cancer survivors, and
representatives o f major corporations and organi
The fee has been an industry standard and has
zations that educate and support breast cancer
traditionally been waived only for married couples
patients. Says Hester, “ It is critical that lesbiaas
or employees o f the same company traveling
have this voice at the table so that our government
together. The fees range from between $3 and
can begin to understand that we are a community
$10 per day. Some states currently limit or ban
the charges. A spokesperson for A vis commented j at higher risk for breast cancer and [one] that is
being quietly devastated by this disease.”
on the move, “ A ll we are doing is reacting to
customer demand. When we get enough [re
quests], we bend and change with the times.”
F o r the q u a lity se rv ic e y o u deserve.
▼ ▼ T
Compiled by Lee Norwood
R e d L io n L lo y d C e n te r
B o lt o n P laza
1000 N.E. M u lt n o m a h
2 1 S 7 0 W illam ette D riv e
W est Lin n , O r e g o n 9 7 0 6 8
Portland, O r e g o n 9 7 2 3 2
(503) 287-9370
fflU»
Bridgetown Realty
(503) 655-8015
...and thanking
you for making
1993 so successful.