Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1998)
15 MILGARD The mother of the African American boy, identified as “Mary Doe,” has filed suit against the Outreach Community Center, alleging race discrimination and that sharing test results with the other mother was illegal. United Press International reported July 30 that she also says she was threatened with loss of day-care privi leges if she didn’t agree to the tests. Roger Leishman, the A m erican C ivil Liberties Union attorney representing Mary Doe insists: “If [Mary Doe’s son] was a white kid, we wouldn’t be talking about this today. Twenty years into the HIV epidemic, everyone knows you can’t get A ID S from a snorkel, but when you’re talking about a black kid, everyone is willing to forget what they know.” M ASSACHUSETTS A minor fued has erupted between Boston Mayor Thom as Menino and acting Gov. Paul Cellucci, reports the Boston Globe. In late July, Cellucci vetoed legislation that would have extended health care benefits to Boston city employees’ domestic partners. On Aug. 4, Menino circumvented that veto and issued an executive order to grant the ben efits. In vetoing the legislation, Cellucci com plained that extending benefits to unmarried partners “undermines strong marriages and leads to our children growing up without fathers.” He also said he would have signed the legis lation if it extended benefits only to same-sex domestic partners. NATIONAL A n Aug. 4 article in the Boston Globe reports Dr. Robert Garofalo, a pediatrician at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, is taking issue with the recent high-profile ex-gay ad campaign funded by the religious right wing. Garofalo’s research on queer teen-agers is cited in the ads, which assert that substance abuse and similar self-destructive behavior is the “visible response to a broken heart”— the impli cation being that homosexuality causes such problems. Garofalo says the claims made in the ads come “to the complete opposite conclusion" of what his research illustrates: that higher rates of substance abuse among sexual minority teens is most likely a result of the alienation they feel in an unaccepting culture. he Human Rights C am paign has announced the lineup for its gala national dinner Sept. 19. The scheduled feature speaker is Vice President A1 Gore. Poet Maya Angelou is also scheduled to speak. This will be the first time H R C awards the National Family Civil Rights Award. This year’s recipients will be musician Melissa Etheridge and her partner, producer Julie Cypher. T SOUTH DAKOTA I Now it’s easy to change your old windows to high energy vinyl windows from Milgard. They'll make your home quieter, more secure and their energy efficient design with low E2 glass will save you money on heating and cooling bills. Milgard Windows are manufactured locally and guaranteed for as long as you own your home. All installation is done by our own experienced installers. K eith Elston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the Dakotas, says using undercover officers to catch men having sex in public places in Sioux Falls is acceptable. “There’s a difference between a trap and entrapment,” Elston told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader July 24. Elston says as long as the police are respond ing to complaints and not their own possible prejudices, they’re doing their jobs. Sioux Falls police recently responded to complaints of men having sex in park bath rooms by deploying undercover officers. Tire Leader paraphrased Elston, who is gay, as saying that as long as officers are enticing people to commit crimes they intend to commit any way, the officers aren’t doing anything wrong. WISCONSIN he University of Wisconsin-Madison can not use an individual student’s mandatory activity fees to finance political groups the stu dent opposes, an appeals court ruled Aug. 10. According to The Associated Press, the 7th U .S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled UW-Madison’s use of required student activity fees to fund activist groups on campus even if students do not want their money to go to them violates the students’ First Amendment right to “freedom of belief.” T The court sided with three Christian stu dents who sued UW for using mandatory stu dent fees to fund groups to which they objected, such as the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Campus Center. The funding of private groups that engage in political and ideological activities is not ger mane to a university’s educational mission, the three-judge panel said. The court’s ruling upholds most of a November 1996 decision by U .S. District Judge John Shabaz in Madison. UW students pay about $330 in fees annual ly. Less than 10 percent is used to support stu dent groups and services. NORTH CAROLINA n a July 30 ruling, the N orth Carolina Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s deci R eplacement W indows sion to take Henderson resident Fred Smith’s children from him and awarded custody to his ex-wife. According to Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the court’s 5-1 ruling was large ly based on the relationship Smith shared with Tim Tipton, who lives with Smith and had been helping raise Sm ith’s two sons. “We conclude the trial court could and did order a change in custody based in part on prop er findings of fact to the effect that defendant- father was regularly engaging in sexual acts with Mr. Tipton in the home while the children were present,” read the court’s statement. Lambda confirms Smith and Tipton did have sexual relations— behind a closed, locked door— when the children were in the house. Lambda adds the court also took issue with Smith and Tipton kissing each other in the children’s presence and allowing the children into their room when they were in bed together. ■ Com piled by W ill O ’B ryan and I nga S orensen \1iln.iril Window * WWW Guaranteed for lift S u m m e r S p e c ia l Save 10% on five or m ore windows installed 283-9481 INSULATED WINDOW CORPORATION Garland H orner Owner CCB#19095 8124 N. Denver