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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1999)
^ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------r v > wiiu[\]:ii\mnews A majority of voters surveyed in a recent poll said civil rights laws for gay men and lesbians are meant to secure equal rights rather than special rights. Most of the respondents also expressed sup port for the federal Employment Non-Discrimi nation A ct and Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The survey was conducted for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay and lesbian group based in Washington, D.C. The poll, done in November, surveyed 800 randomly selected adults in the United States who indicated they planned to or had voted in the 1998 congressional elections. The margin of error is 3.5 percent. HRC is touting the findings as consistent with the results of the 1998 elections. “American voters rejected the mean-spirited anti-gay positions that have been expressed throughout the election season and registered their dissatisfaction at the polls,” says Elizabeth Birch, H RC’s executive director. "In most cases where the voters had a choice, they picked the moderate pro-gay candidate.” The bipartisan poll, conducted by the Demo cratic pollsters Lake, Snell, Perry and Associ ates, and the Republican polling firm American Viewpoint, shows the recent negative attacks against gay and lesbian people have not decreased but rather increased support for gay and lesbian issues, says HRC communications director David Smith. H er e ’ s N o t to P ollyana P oll New poll shows hopeful signs that voters are inching toward recognizing the realities of gay and lesbian citizenship by Gip “T hat anti-gay activity backfired,” he explains. “W hat we are seeing is the country moving toward supporting gay and lesbian peo ple. The country is moving in a more tolerant direction.” Nearly two-thirds of the voters polled said the U.S. has become more tolerant of gay men and lesbians over the past decade. Almost 20 percent said there has been no change, while 13 percent described the country as less tolerant. A majority of the voters— 54 percent— said that civil rights laws aimed at protecting gay men and lesbians are meant to bring about equal rights. Fewer than a third said the laws are aimed at creating special rights. In H RC ’s May 1995 study, voters were split on the issue, with 41 percent saying the laws were a matter of equal rights and 38 percent dubbing them special rights. The polling com panies call this change a “significant increase” in the perception that the laws provide equal rights. W hen told that fewer than a dozen states currently have laws that prevent employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch more than 58 percent of those surveyed expressed support the federal Employment Non- Discrimination Act, a law that would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual ori entation. More than a third strongly support the legislation, but a quarter oppose it. Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they Y o u r H ealth T he Clinton administration has virtually ignored gay men and lesbians in putting together the nation’s health blue print for the next decade. The report is Healthy People 2010, which the U .S. Depart ment of Health and Human Services describes as “the basis for monitoring and tracking health status, health risks, and use of prevention services.” According to Fred Fox, policy director of the Gay and Les bian Medical Association, the plan’s goal is to eliminate health care disparities among various populations, notably minority groups. “Gays and lesbians are left out as a minority,” he says, adding he is shocked that gay men and lesbians “have virtually no place at the table.” One GLM A member conducted a keyword search of an electronic version of the 800-page draft document. He found the word “gay" used twice, while “lesbian” and “trartsgender” did not appear at all. Even in the context of HIV and AIDS, gay men “appear as the category of men having sex with men, and the word ‘gay’ is never used," Fox says. “That is an interesting case of where we have a place at the table, but it is a funny one [because] they can’t even speak our name,” he adds. “The feeling that I have from reading the document,” Fox continues, “is that gays and lesbians don’t exist, or if they do, it is in the Trent Lott context of pathologies.” Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, says Healthy People 2010 fails to address homopho bia in the health care and medical research communities. That homophobia, she contends, has blocked the develop ment of solutions to health care problems pertaining to gay men and lesbians. “The good news is that it is a draft,” she says. “The bad news is that {it is from] an administration, and a department in par ticular, that has been so responsive to the gay and lesbian com munity.” She adds, “I was disturbed by the lack of recognition of our unique needs.” Areas of concern include HIV and A ID S, lesbians’ increased health risk for breast and cervical cancer, domestic violence, and the health needs of gay and lesbian youth. An innovative marketer and Buyer's Agent who listens to your needs Plaster thought it was already illegal to fire someone due to sexual orientation. The number of people holding this belief has not changed much over the last few years. “Our poll reveals that only 14 percent of people realize that it is still legal to fire people in 40 states because of their sexual orientation,” Smith says. “We need to work to clarify that misconception.” About 56 percent of voters surveyed favor the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and 40 per cent strongly favor it. More than 60 percent favor the act when told that sexual orientation is not covered under existing hate crimes laws. Support for hate crimes legislation extends across all party groups even more broadly than support for the Employment Non-Discrimina tion Act. The results show 65 percent of Democrats favor the hate crimes law while 51 percent of Republicans favor it. About 48 per cent of independents favor the law. Just over half of those surveyed responded that they disagree with U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott’s statement equating homo sexuality with alcoholism or kleptomania. Thir ty-eight percent, however, agree with the sena tor. Additionally, strong majorities of those sur veyed favor legal recognition of gay and lesbian relationships for the purposes of health care cov erage, hospital visitation and inheritance rights. No more than a third opposed any of those rights. A Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet notes that Healthy People 2010 was written over a period of months by “an alliance of over 600 national membership orga nizations representing professional, voluntary, and business sec tors, and state and territorial public health, mental health, sub stance abuse, and environmental agencies.” Gay and lesbian groups were not included. The draft document was available for public comment from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15. Public meetings were held in Washington, D.C., and five other cities during that time. Still, Ben Schatz, executive director of GLM A , says gay and lesbian health advocates had little notice about the draft’s con tents. He says federal health officials “have an outreach process, and [gay groups] weren’t in it.” Schatz adds, “The burden is on them, it is their responsibil ity to reach out to us.” GLMA will soon hire its second policy person. HRC, meanwhile, has one health policy advocate, who focuses pri marily on HIV. The National Lesbian and Gay Health Association has vir tually collapsed and no longer has paid staff. ■ Reported by B ob ROEHR W illamette M ortgage S ervices , I nc . • Speed 15-20 day closings • Personal service your home or office Associate Broker • Good or bad credit • Jumbo loans avaiatole tel. 320-1271 • Self-employed • 0% down programs Marvin Salles E-mail marvin@sprritone com www johnlscott com/home/marvms/index2 htm • 2(1 \rar\ marketing A negotiating experience • Multi-million dollar producer p n i a t y n t t g • | u * i u u t 13 503 - 722-3969 Cory Graunitz Senior Loan Officer
