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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1997)
19 , 1997 just out T ^ to protest, saying that the laws are often too broad, resulting in registration of many people who were arrested for minor offenses, including gay men convicted of consensual sex. In some cases the arrests had occurred decades in the past. Matt Coles, executive director of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, said he remained concerned by the possibility that states which still have sodomy laws may make private, consensual gay sex a registrable offense. “The federal law requires that you make a felony sexual assault or sexual crimes involving children registrable,” Coles told the Blade, “but it doesn’t say that you can’t make other crimes registrable.... I’m not convinced it’s going to happen, but I’m also not convinced it’s not going to happen.” Clinton’s queer-friendly nominations continue On Nov. 7, President Clinton nominated openly lesbian attorney Elaine D. Kaplan as head of the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that, among other things, investigates allegations of discrimination against federal em ployees. Kaplan, 41, is a resident of the District of Columbia who has served since 1988 as deputy general counsel at the National Treasury Employ ees Union, the Washington Blade reports. The Office of Special Counsel is charged with investigation of prohibited personnel practices (a federal civil service law lists anti-gay discrimina tion among prohibited practices) and enforce ment of the Hatch Act, a controversial law barring all non-politically appointed federal and D.C. government employees from participating in par tisan political activities even during off-duty hours. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is expected to review Kaplan’s nomination early next year. Misplaced paper fuels fuss in Provincetown An already contentious debate over the inclu sion of sexuality in anti-bias curricula in Provincetown, Mass., public schools became even hotter after a teacher’s assistant, Trish Cristina, inadvertently left a copy of Bay Windows, a free gay newspaper that includes some explicit adver tisements, in a kindergartner’s backpack. According to an article in the Cape Cod Times, it is common practice among teachers to use available space in pupils’ backpacks to transport materials back to the school after visits to the local library. Cristina says she picked the paper up to read an article on President Clinton’s hate crimes conference, and simply forgot to retrieve it. Coincidentally, the 5-year-old who unknow ingly carried the newspaper home is the child of Donna Joseph, a member of a parents group that is questioning an anti-bias initiative it fears will introduce sexuality to young students too soon. The Anti-Bias School and Community Project, developed several months ago by Cristina and her life partner, both lesbian mothers, aims to men tion all minorities, including lesbians and gay men, in class lessons. The plan has been adopted Visfyffs îex in theory but administrators are in disagreement over implementation strategies, and some parents have taken issue with the age-appropriateness of introducing the words “gay” and “lesbian” in early grades. At a Nov. 28 meeting called to address the backpack incident and matters related to the anti bias initiative, Superintendent Susan Fleming ac knowledged what she called the seriousness of Cristina’s “error in judgment,” and took the posi tion that a firm reprimand from Cristina’s princi pal would suffice to prevent “further poor judg ments by this employee.” Same-sex harassment taken up by high court The U.S. Supreme Court debated on Dec. 3 whether unlawful sexual harassment at work cov ers employees of the same sex. During arguments, the justices appeared troubled by a U.S. appeals court ruling that a 1964 federal civil rights law barring discrimination based on sex never may be applied to same-sex harassment cases. According to a Reuter report, the justices ques tioned whether the law requires that workers of different sexes be treated differently, and grappled with what constitutes illegal sexual harassment, as opposed to offensive hazing. Deborah Belron CRB. (>R1 Donald Falk, GRI Karen BiLsing Greg W ashington Associate Broker broker President Gerry Federico. GRI Val Thorpe-Galvin. GRI John Terrill. GRI Scott Bottom. GRI Kathleen Ira Associate Broker Jim Bean The case has become one of the most closely watched of the high court’s 1997-98 term and has important implications for workplace discrimina tion, legal experts say. Harassment involving the opposite sex has long been covered by the law, but the number of lawsuits alleging same-sex harassment in the workplace has been increasing nationwide. Nicholas Canaday, a lawyer representing Jo seph Oncale, a male employee who alleges he was sexually harassed by his male supervisors, said the law applies if the sexual conduct had been pervasive, creating a hostile work environment. A gay and lesbian legal group agreed. “The point is, federal law provides a remedy for any employee who is consistently exposed to sexual conduct that is so egregious and pervasive as to create a hostile work environment or who is forced to have sex as a term or condition of employment,” says Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Director Beatrice Dohrn. Dohm authored an amicus brief in the case that was filed by Lambda and 10 other civil rights organizations. “The focus has been, and should remain, on the conduct, not the sex or sexual orientation of the harasser,” she stressed. Houston attorney Harry Reasoner argued in favor of the company that employed Oncale, Sundowner Offshore Services Inc., and took the position that same-sex harassment never would be covered by the law. He told reporters that in adopting the 1964 legislation Congress “sought to level the playing field” for men and women in the workplace, and “was not trying to reach conduct between men.” The Supreme Court took the case under ad visement; a ruling is expected by June. Chris Bonner. GRI (ieorge Marvin Beate Kanter Cathy Martine Jay Bevney Julie Yoho Kathy Tysinger R<»bert Amhes Tina Schafer Associate Broker Kirsten Jenkins Carolyn MacMurray Gary Sadleir Chris liardv Judy Sardella Hilary Nally <9(S>& ObtV Lee McKnight &0 Philip Beausoleil Jaye Kraus Mm f | Bridgetown For Those Who Appreciate Superior Serv ice Lloyd Center Office Clackamas County Office 1000 N.E. Multnomah Portland, OR 97232 21570 Willamette Drive West Linn, OR 97068 503/ 287-9370 503/ 655-8015 e-mail: bridgetownl@solnlogic.com e-mail: bridgetown2@solnlogic.com Visit our Weh site at: http://www.solnlogic.com/hricipetown Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone ▼ 7
