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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1997)
ju s t o u t ▼ fo b r u a r y 2 1 , 1 9 0 7 ▼ 7 national briefs C A L IF O R N IA California State University at Sacramento sur rendered Jan. 31 to the U.S. military, retreating from an order that banned ROTC recruitment on cam pus because the Pentagon discrim inates against gay men and lesbians, reports the Sacra mento Bee. CSUS President Donald R. Gerth, a former Air Force officer, decided in 1994 to expel ROTC because the Defense D epartm ent’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule violates the school’s antidis crimination policy, but reversed the decision after federal officials threatened to cut off $50 million in student aid and research funds. Last fall, Congress approved and President Clinton signed budget restrictions that withhold federal funds from schools with anti-ROTC poli cies. With $37 million in financial aid for some 10,000 CSUS students and $13 million in re search grants at stake, Gerth and members o f the Academic Senate unwillingly rescinded the ROTC ban. IO W A Donald M cCloskey, 54, a University o f Iowa professor of economics and history, left the school to teach for a year in the Netherlands. In January, D eirdre M cC loskey, 54, a highly regarded Harvard-educated econom ist and historian, re turned to Iowa City to resume teaching at the start of the spring semester. T he Des Moines R egister re p o rts that McCloskey had been taking female hormones and living as a woman in the Netherlands since 1995, and then underwent sex-reassignm ent sur gery in Australia in June 1996. “The position the university is taking is this is an extraordinarily fine faculty member and w e’re glad she’s back,” said Ann Rhodes, vice president for university relations. KANSAS The U.S. Supreme Court said Jan. 21 it will not review a state ju d g e ’s decision to set up a protest- buffer zone around a church in Topeka, Kan. The W estboro Baptist Church tried to appeal the deci sion, claiming the buffer zone prevents it from continuing its “God Hates Fags” campaign and that picketing against homosexuality is a reli gious practice. Interestingly, according to a United Press In ternational story, legal counsel for W estboro in sists the word “fag” used in the Topeka campaign is not a slur, but is based on Amos 4:11 and conveys the sense o f “ firebrand.” According to St. David’s Episcopal Church, plaintiff in the case that won the restraining order, W estboro picketers have been involved in at least 20 physical altercations with the public in To peka. The buffer zone prohibits picketers from shout ing or demonstrating within 36 feet o f St. D avid’s property during any religious event, including services, weddings or funerals. M IC H IG A N The state Supreme Court is being asked to decide if a Michigan city must create a handi capped parking space in front o f the home o f an HIV-positive man. Ac cording to United Press International, Richard Biggs says local offi cials in his hometown b - of Jackson are fighting his request and waiting ^ for him to die. He claims the city is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with AIDS or HIV. A circuit judge ruled against Biggs, but the state Court of Appeals overturned that ruling, so the city appealed to the state’s highest court. City attorney Anthony Raduazo contends that the street in question is too narrow and too busy for a safe parking space. Jackson officials had offered Biggs a rental apartment in the city’s public housing for the disabled, but he refused. The high court is expected to announce whether it will hear the case this summer. J U S T POSSIBLY T H E BEST T A S T I N C SUBS, FRESH C H I P S A N D SALADS ON TH E PLANET! PARKING Multnomah Village In John’s Marketplace 3535 S W M u ltn o m ah Blvd., Portland, O R impulse VIDEO Bring in this ad and receive 1 FREE R ENTAL! N A T IO N W ID E Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) introduced a bill Jan. 21 seeking to overturn President Clinton’s policy banning employment discrimination against queer federal workers, according to a story in the Washington Blade. Helms’ so-called Freedom of Speech Act o f 1997 would prevent the president and federal agencies and departments from adopt ing policies to protect any class of individuals not already protected under existing federal law. Al though the bill does not specifically mention sexual orientation, Helms made it clear in his remarks while introducing the bill that he is targeting “spe cial protections for homosexuals.” Hel ms has yet to obtain a cosponsor for any of hi s proposed anti-Clinton legislation, which includes proposals to overturn other administration policies on abortion, affirmative action and the like. Agencies and departments covering about 76 percent of the federal workforce have adopted sexual orientation nondiscrim ination policies during the past four years. N EW M E X IC O Despite use of the terms “bride” and “groom,” and “male” and “female applicant” on the marriage license application form, nothing in New Mexico law specifies that a married couple must be a woman and a man. That may soon change, how ever: According to the Santa Fe New Mexican , state Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson (R-Las Cruces) has announced he will sponsor a bill that, like so many others spawned by the Defense of Marriage Act, would establish a heterosexual union as the only legally valid form of marriage in the state. Meanwhile, a Santa Fe lesbian couple that was denied a marriage license is considering a lawsuit similar to the one currently under appeal with the Hawaii Supreme Court. Beth Saltzman and Patty Levey, as well as Santa Fe County officials, are waiting for an opinion from state Attorney G en eral Tom Udall as to whether they will be issued a marriage license. SO U TH D A K O TA Free Americans Creating Equal Status, South D akota’s first statewide organization for sexual minorities, has made history again by opening the state’s first sexual minority community center, in M A SSA C H U SE T T S dow ntow n Rapid City. The 400-square-foot, Leaders o f one o f the largest AIDS drug studies handicapped-accessible facility includes offices are considering halting the project because some | and a library. volunteers may be faring worse than others, reports j FACES was incorporated and went statewide United Press International. The directors of the ; in 1995 in response to the state Legislature’s first 1,200-patient, $5 million Boston-based study have attem pt to ban sam e-g en d er m arriag e; the ethical concerns about volunteers receiving a two- organization’s primary work is providing safe drug treatment who perhaps should be switched to 1 space for transgendered people, bisexuals, lesbi a more beneficial three-drug regimen. ans and gay men. A decision on the future o f the study is ex- i pected before the end o f February. Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone When you rent another video at regular price p e r c u s n a a M a c m äMnWHMIMHHCIB!Wn8i 10120 t o m e r P e r m o n t h S .W . H a ll (near W ashington Square) w ¡ lw m XlfiliilHiiiinlUr IM P U L S E V I D E O ------------------Y ------------------ 851 1 S.W. 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