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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1997)
8 ▼ d e c o m b e r 5, 1097 ▼ ju s t o u t PEARL COI JRT APARTMENTS N o w Leasing. Brand-new. S tudios, 1 & 2 b e d ro o m s. Expansive courtyard, free bicycle storage, library, conference room. Residential lounge & great room. Access-controlled building Income restrictions apply. 9 2 0 N o rth w e s t 222-1999 national news Habits of highly effective wafflers Justices to hear HIV bias case Author Stephen Covey appeared at an anti gay marriage fund-raiser in Hawaii on Nov. 20 and pledged his support to the cause just hours after his spokesman told the Human Rights Cam paign that Covey would remain neutral in the fight. Covey, who conducts self-help seminars throughout the country and is the author of The Seven Habits o f Highly Effective People, told The nation’s highest court will use a dispute over a dentist who refused to treat an HIV-in fected woman at his office to clarify protections against bias for people with HIV. According to The Associated Press, the U.S. Supreme Court said Nov. 26 it will hear an appeal by Maine dentist Randon Bragdon, who a lower court said violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act when he told patient Sidney Abbott he would only fill her cavity at a hospital. The 140,000-member American Dental Asso ciation supported Bragdon’s appeal in a friend- of-the-court brief that urged the justices to clarify dentists’ legal obligations in such circumstances. The Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defend ers, which is representing Abbott, said in a state ment, “Without strong legal protections against discrimination, the nearly 1 million Americans in this country who are living with HIV will become second-class citizens.” Lower courts have split on whether people who are infected with HIV, but do not yet suffer from symptoms of AIDS, are considered disabled under the 1992 anti-bias law. The act bans discrimination against disabled people in employment, government services, pub lic accommodations, transportation and telecom munications. Under the law, someone is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that sub stantially limits “one or more major life activi ties.” Bragdon’s appeal also argues that courts should defer to his professional judgment on whether to provide treatment such as filling a cavity in his dental office or at a hospital. Abbott visited Bragdon’s office in Bangor, Maine, for an appointment in September 1994. On her patient information form, she indicated that she was HIV-positive but had no AIDS symptoms. According to the AP, Bragdon examined Abbott and discovered she had a cavity near the gum line on a back lower tooth. He told her that, under his infectious-disease policy, he would not fill her cavity in his office. Bragdon told Abbott he would treat her in a hospital setting, and she would have to bear the additional costs imposed by the hospital. Two months later, Abbott sued. She sought, among other things, monetary damages. A federal judge ruled that Bragdon had vio lated federal law, and the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. Bragdon then chose to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court. ROSENBAUM & ASSOCIATES A u to B ro k e rs B u y o r L e a s e a ll V e h ic le s a t F le e t P ric e s New & Used No Hassle, Personal Service All Rebates & Warranties Apply Trades & Factory Orders Welcome Jean Rosenbaum Ed McMahon 503-297-5250 Licensed & Bonded Motor Vehicle Dealer When an ordinary Realtor sim ply won't do... guests at the fund-raiser: “1 believe it takes a mother and a father to produce a child and there’s never been an exception.... To me, that is kind of a natural principle for a natural law. And that’s why I’m behind this kind of a movement.” “We are angry that Mr. Covey has decided to inject himself into this fight over the Hawaii Constitution,” says David M. Smith, HRC’s se nior strategist. “Just hours before this event, a spokesman for Mr. Covey, Greg Link, assured me that he would not take sides in this battle. In fact, he said repeatedly that Mr. Covey’s organization does not attempt to define family so that Covey’s principles can be applied by all people.” Covey spoke to the $ 100-a-person fund-raiser, called Save Traditional Marriage ’98, which drew about 275 attendees, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The sponsoring organization is a political action committee dedicated to passing an anti-gay state constitutional amendment in 1998 giving legislators the right to restrict legal marriage to opposite-sex couples. The Hawaii Supreme Court is expected to rule at any time in a case expected to find that same- sex marriage is legal under the state Constitution. Vatican accidentally endorses queer rights A computer virus or the Forces of Evil are being blamed for an article in the Nov. 13 edition of Osservatore Romano, the voice of the Vatican, which extensively misquoted theologian Father Wilson jabs queers.. .again Alternative: Straying from what is considered normal: different; the choice between two mutually exclusive possibilities. To say, "I am alternative," is to say, "I am leading a different lifestyle from mainstream society: honoring diversity, building community and creating a lifestyle that promotes the health and well-being of our planet." Portland’s Alternative Realtors represent an appealing alternative for those individuals who prefer not to work with a conventional salesperson. We support our local community, organic agriculture, all recycling efforts, and networking to create a healthier environment. It is our mission to bring integrity and trust into the real estate profession while creating tremendously satisfying and fulfilling lifelong relationships with the people in our community. W« M i Porildi+Wi fltU*4*tLv€ d u t iw . Gino Concetti, making it appear that he supports the rights of gay people to have children and live as couples. Both C oncetti and fellow Franciscan Gianfranco Grieco, the paper’s editor, blamed a computer glitch for mysteriously deleting the negatives from the Concetti-attributed statement: “Homosexuals do have the right to be considered to be different, to practice their homosexuality, to live together, to make up a couple and to have children. They do have the right to adopt children and even to demand social rights.” Agence-France Presse reports that Concetti, 71, is a staunch moralist who has spent 30 years as the Osservatore's resident theologian explaining and upholding anti-gay dogma. By a one-vote margin, the University of Cali fornia Board of Regents approved a plan Nov. 21 to offer health benefits to domestic partners of its gay and lesbian employees. According to The Associated Press, the plan was approved by a 13-12 vote, with one absten tion, after Gov. Pete Wilson made two 1 lth-hour appointments to the board, provoking charges he was trying to stack the deck. Both appointees voted against the plan. “I was very relieved, ecstatic,” said Jonathan Winters, a UC Berkeley employee and member of the UC Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Asso ciation. The vote came 16 years after a gay UC em ployee first asked the university to provide health coverage for his partner. He was turned down. Under the plan, domestic partners must, among other requirements, be at least 18, have lived together for at least a year, be in a “long-term relationship of infinite duration,” and provide documents showing mutual home ownership or lease, common bank accounts or investments.
