Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 5, 1998)
rrrrrrm ne ws out » june 5. 1998 Think If you think that Cotton Cloud is just another one of those futon stores - it’s time you stopped by and see what we’re really about. Some of the most beautiful, classic and contemporary home furnishings in the Northwest at prices that still allow room for living. And yes, we do make & sell great futons too. E xecutive O rder S hields F ederal W orkers resident Clinton signed an executive order May 28 to protect gay and lesbian federal workers from job discrimination. “Individuals should not be denied a job on the basis of something that has no relationship to their ability to perform their work,” Clinton said in a statement accompanying the order. Gay and lesbian political activists heralded the move, which adds sexual orientation to the list of categories for which discrimination is ille gal. The others are race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicaps and age. Previously, the Clinton administration had instituted the policy agency by agency. The lat est action ensures a uniform policy for civilian workers throughout the federal government. “Since early in President Clinton’s first term, most Cabinet-level departments and agencies have added sexual orientation to their equal employment policies, but these policies were not uniformly administered,” says Kim I. Mills, education director for the Human Rights Campaign. “This executive order will remedy that situation.” P Portland 335-0758 1916 NE Broadway 10-7:30 Mon-Sat & 12-5 Sun. Beaverton 626-0400 12300 SW Broadway 10-7 Mon-Sat & 12-5 Sun. Delivery available • 90 days same as cash il^TABOR PLORISI Serving Portland and its suburban areas with unsurpassed quality and service 4848 SE Division St. Portland, OR 97206 7819 SE Stark St. Portland, OR 97215 236-4119 256-2920 T he C hildren ’ s H our Nevertheless, the study’s lead author Rob Garofalo stands by his work: “I don’t agree that [the weaknesses) invalidate the study.... I would like to get people to stop talking about statistical risks. My studies and previous studies show issues that have been long suspected by clini cians. We know that these kids are at increased risk.” Peter Muehrer, chief of the Youth Mental Health Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, questions the merits of a study that calls on teens to define themselves and terms that eschew concrete definitions. “If you can’t define what you’re studying and if you can’t show it’s valid, how does it help us?” he asks. The issue of suicide risk among queer teens has a contentious history in the research and activism communities. A conference held four years ago by representatives of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychological Association, the American Association of Suicidology, and gay and lesbian advocacy groups and service providers failed to identify a direct or indirect link between sexual orientation and suicide. A bout F ace : earing their children may be corrupted in some way by their town’s first gay pride N avy P romotes M c V eigh imothy McVeigh, who gained national parade, a group of parents in Lawrence, Mass., is attention when the Navy tried to discharge making plans to get 400 kids out of Dodge for him for his alleged homosexuality after gaining the day. illegal access to information about McVeigh’s account with the Internet service provider America Online, was promoted to master chief petty officer at a recent ceremony in Hawaii. McVeigh’s new rank is the Navy’s highest for enlisted personnel. Upon receiving his promo tion, McVeigh said he felt great. “I have worked extremely hard for 18 years to keep Navy submarines mission-ready and make them a better place for sailors to work,” the 36-year-old officer told The Associated Press. The Navy’s attempt to discharge McVeigh was sparked According to a report in the Lawrence Eagle' by a tip about his sup Tribune, the Lawrence Children’s Club is arrang posedly anonymous ing for 15 buses to take the children to Canobie AOL member profile, Lake Park in New Hampshire—getting them far which stated he was from Lawrence from about 9 a.m. till 7 p.m. on sexually interested in men. McVeigh was parade day, June 14- “We don’t want them to experience what we ordered dismissed in feel is against God’s will and society as a whole,” December, but the says Ramona Alcantara, president of the club dismissal was blocked and mother of a 12-year-old boy who’ll be when a federal judge ruled the Navy had violated the 1986 Electronic spending the day at Canobie Lake. Ingrid Rivera, a march organizer with the Communications Privacy Act when it illegally Gay and Lesbian Community Advocates of confirmed the profile was McVeigh’s by contact Lawrence, counters that the parents are “show ing AOL without a warrant or court order. ing their lack of education and ignorance and perpetuating stereotypes and discrimination.” F PHOTO BY BOB ROE HR 14 just A C ase of S pecial R ights ? .S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein claims he’s giving lighter sentences to two con Q ueer T eens ’ victs because they are gay. According to an S uicide R isk D isputed Associated Press report, Antony Alexander study giving statistics on sexual minority Blarek II, 56, and Frank V. Pellecchia, 49, are teens and suicide that was published being given special consideration in their recently in Pediatrics and was picked up by daily money-laundering convictions because, newspapers has come under fire, reports Weinstein wrote in his decision, “the reality is Universal Press Syndicate. that homosexual defendants may need to be Some researchers are saying the report, removed from the general prison population for which maintains queer teens are more than their own safety.” three times as likely to attempt suicide than He added, “This would amount to a sentence their heterosexual counterparts, is misleading of almost solitary confinement, a penalty more and flawed because it relies on self-reporting of difficult to endure than any incarceration.” suicide attempts and allows respondents to The judge was reportedly also sympathetic to define what constitutes a suicide attempt, as Pellecchia’s HIV-positive status, and his ruling suggested the two men had acted more out of well as terms describing sexuality. U A
