j u s t o u t ▼ a p rii 4 . 1 0 9 7 ▼ 7
many of the tracking cities. For instance, in New
York City anti-gay bias crimes have decreased 2
percent since 1993, but violent crime overall de
creased 39 percent during the same period. Anti-
queer violence peaked during the months of May
and June, when most pride celebrations occur.
Federal hate crime statutes do not presently
allow for prosecution of offenses motivated by a
victim’s sexual orientation, but the 1994 Victims
of Crime Act, which secured federal funds for
anti-violence organizations across the country,
permits longer sentences in cases where anti-gay
bias is a factor.
Although crimes against bisexuals and
transgendered people have been included in past
reports, this is the first year the words appear in
the document’s title. In related news, a coalition
of bisexual and transgender activists recently
won the support of several major sexual minority
organizations in its efforts to expand the Hate
Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, which requires the
FBI to track bias-motivated crimes, to include
crimes targeting transgendered and bisexual
people.
Pro-active measure
faces tough audience
Hands Off Washington, an organization dedi
cated to fighting legislation that limits or denies
the civil rights of any citizen of that state, has
begun collecting signatures for Initiative 677, a
measure to ban em
W ashington Citizens tof Fairness
ployment discrimi
nation based on
sexual orientation.
Backers have until
July 3 to gather
179,248 signatures
in support of their
Washington
Tilt- H a n d - Of* .Va-M ;..:t s Prcvcr
proposal, in order to
P.O. Box 4828
get the issue on the
Seattle, WA 98104 November ballot.
Although the
thrust of 1677 is a ban on job discrimination,
according to the Tacoma Morning News Tribune,
the initiative contains a proviso that employers
would not be required to give benefits to the
partners of their employees. Laurie Jinkins, Hands
Off Washington board president, explained, "We
wanted to make it clear that there weren’t any
other issues in here.... It’s not about marriage. It’s
not about benefits. It’s just about employment
discrimination.”
The initiative faces a big challenge, mean
while, to overcome the negativity generated in the
wake of recent successful efforts by conservative
state legislators to ban same-gender marriage.
Gov. Gary Locke vetoed the measure, and the
Senate failed to override the veto. Now the bill’s
chief sponsor. Rep. Bill Thompson (R-Everett) is
lining up votes to bypass the governor and send
the question to voters during a special June 3
election to decide on funding for a new football
stadium.
Rep. Ed Murray (D-Seattle) wants to defeat
the anti-marriage measure and said he believes he
and his colleagues have enough votes to keep it
from reaching the ballot, but he admits that some
of those votes might have been lost since House
Speaker Clyde Ballard (R-East Wenatchee) threw
his weight behind the ban.
HANDS
<MFF
Nature vs. nurture: Round 10
In 1973, researchers at Johns Hopkins Univer
sity published an account of an infant boy whose
penis had accidentally been cut off and who was
subsequently raised as a girl; the child appeared to
have accepted the new identity, and the case has
long been used as evidence of the pliability of
sexual identity and the influence of socialization.
However, on March 14 the New York Times
reported on a follow-up study by doctors at the
University of Hawaii and the Victoria, B.C., Min-
istry of Health showing that far from being satis
fied with his reassignment, the boy renounced his
female identity at the age of 14 and chose to live
as a man, eventually undergoing extensive sur
gery to reconstruct his mutilated genitalia.
Researchers Dr. Milton Diamond and Dr. H.
Keith Sigmundson published their findings in the
Archives o f Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in
order to set the record straight and also to present
an argument for the importance of prenatal events,
like hormone exposure, in building a sexual self.
They are using the case study to call for changes
in the treatment of babies bom with ambiguous
genitalia, a condition caused by chromosomal or
hormonal abnormalities that is found in about one
in 1,000 births.
The subject of the study, identified only as
John, is now in his 30s and married to a woman,
whose children he adopted.
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California legislature
draws Lou Sheldon’s ire
Legislation to prohibit discrimination based
on sexual orientation in California’s public schools,
known as AB101 or the Dignity for All Students
Act, passed the Assembly Higher Education Com
mittee by an 8-6 vote on March 18. Committee
members debated matters relating to armed forces
training units, affirmative action and school facil
ity use, and agreed on amendments clarifying the
measure in regard to these three issues. The bill,
authored by openly lesbian Assembly Speaker
Pro Tern Shelia Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) with the
intent to curb widespread physical and verbal
harassment of gay and lesbian students, will en
counter its next test in the Assembly Education
Committee in April.
Meanwhile, anti-queer activist the Rev. Lou
Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coali
tion, condemned the Assembly’s “pro-gay”
agenda, identifying nine bills which he said pro
mote homosexuality, according to The Associ
ated Press. Among the proposals he opposes are
measures that would require companies seeking
public contracts to provide domestic partner ben
efits; allow unmarried couples to adopt children;
and add sexual orientation to employment and
housing nondiscrimination laws.
Hawaii brings in big guns
The State of Hawaii has hired attorney Charles
J. Cooper of the Washington, D.C., firm Cooper &
Carvin to appeal the December state Supreme
Court ruling that state government offered no
compelling reason to justify sex discrimination in
its marriage laws, reports the Honolulu Star-
Bulletin.
Dan Foley, legal counsel for the three couples
who sued in 1991 for the right to marry, faulted the
state’s selection, citing Cooper’s history of taking
anti-gay positions in
court: In 1986,asU.S.
assistant attorney gen
eral for the Reagan ad
ministration, Cooper
wrote an AIDS policy
memo that allowed
employers to fire HIV
positive employees
based on fears that they
could spread the virus, even if the fears were
irrational; and in 1994 Cooper authored a brief to
the Supreme Court in defense of Colorado’s
Amendment 2.
Cynthia Quinn, special assistant to Hawaii
Attorney General Marjery Bronster, told report
ers the state hired Cooper for his appellate exper
tise in constitutional law and that it does not
believe he has an anti-gay bias. She said the state
would continue to argue the case without dimin
ishing lesbians and gay men.
Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone
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