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Academic Senate unwillingly rescinded the ROTC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.
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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
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