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C A L IF O R N IA
magine coming to work one Monday to dis
cover that over the weekend a conservative
Christian group held a prayer meeting and said
special prayers over the desks of the lesbians.
According to the Feb. 9 San Francisco Exam'
iner, that’s what happened to Assemblywomen
Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica and Carole
Migden of San Francisco, both Democrats and
out lesbians.
Approximately 200 people attended a prayer
meeting held in the California Assembly cham
ber. T he meeting was conducted by a group
called the California State Solemn Assembly.
Reportedly, at least one member of the prayer
group draped a shawl over Kuehl’s and Migden s
desks and prayed for the two legislators.
The minister of the California State Solemn
Assembly, Joe Walsh, personally delivered a
written apology to the two lawmakers from the
woman who said the prayers.
"There was nothing negative about this,
nobody was singled out. We just want to offer a
deep, sincere apology on our part.... I under
stand from their viewpoint that it was improper,
and we would agree.”
Walsh added that the woman who said the
prayers did not know whose desks she was pray
ing over.
Said Kuehl: “It made me feel like someone
had scrawled fag on my desk. It felt like a viola
tion to have any action targeted toward us. It’s
an honor to have a seat in the chamber, and I
really felt like this was a violation.... They knew
whose desks these were.”
Migden reacted to the incident with disgust.
"It’s an insult to the people and to us, and we
just want an end to these persistent attacks,” she
said.
I
IN D IA N A
otre Dame University, that hotbed of foot
ball fanaticism and probably the best-
known Roman Catholic college in the country,
will not include sexual orientation in its anti-
discrimination policy.
The vote by the university’s board of fellows,
the highest authority at the school, was unani
mous. It was based, according to a Feb. 6 Associ
ated Press story, on fear that such a move would
allow the courts to interpret Roman Catholic
doctrine. (Current doctrine states that gay men
N
and lesbians are to be loved like all of God’s crea
tures, but that homosexual sex is a sin.)
T he struggle by gay and lesbian students for
equal rights and protections has been waged at
Notre Dame since 1995. That was the year a gay
and lesbian student group was banned from
meeting on campus.
T he school administration threw the stu
dents a bone in 1997 by issuing a spirit of inclu
sion statement that condemns harassment of
gay and lesbian students and faculty. T he
administration has held firm, however, in its
refusal to include gay men and lesbians in the
anti-discrimination clause.
School spokesman Dennis Brown said: “This
issue has been studied very closely by the admin
istration, and we’ve made what we think is the
best choice institutionally. At the same time, we
have the spirit of inclusion on record to indicate
that discrimination will not be tolerated here.”
M A IN E
t isn’t easy being a biker. People are put off by
the tattoos. They object to all the leather.
And then there’s that rough and tough reputa
tion. It makes it hard to get a table in a really
Í
Or so claims the United Bikers of Maine, a
group that is asking the state Legislature to add
motorcyclists to the state Human Rights Act,
the law that bans discrimination based on gen
der, race and religion.
According to a Feb. 8 Associated Press story,
the proposal is opposed by Gov. Angus King, a
Harley-Davidson rider, and restaurant and hotel
operators, who insist they have the right to be
“discerning” about their clientele.
“Some would say that we want special
rights,” said Michael Behr, president of the
Maine Hells Angels. “It has nothing to do with
special rights. We want the same rights as every
one else.”
Behr went on to say that members of United
Bikers don’t like being turned away from bars,
restaurants and hotels because they wear black
leather jackets or patches representing their
clubs.
Robert Howe, a Maine Innkeepers Associa-
tion member who opposes the proposal, replied,
“People cannot change their skin color or their
religion, but a biker can change his clothes.”
T he proposal is modeled after a bill that was
passed last year in Minnesota. It would prohibit
discrimination against motorcyclists or people
who wear clothing that displays the name of a
motorcycle association or organization. Arizona
rejected a similar law earlier this year.
A spokesman for the governor said the pro
posal disparages arguments for gay and lesbian
rights, civil rights and equality.
“It’s a different argument when you argue I
was bom this way versus I was discriminated
against because I’m wearing a leather jacket,”
said governor’s aide Dennis Bailey.
N A T IO N A L
n a case heard Feb. 24, the U.S. Supreme
Court addressed a question that may define
the availability of workplace protections under
the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Officials of Lambda Legal Defense and Edu
cation Fund— which represents 48 major med
ical, public health, disability and civil rights
organizations as amicus in the case— say the
results are likely to mean the difference between
work and unemployment for many people with
HIV, A ID S and other disabling conditions.
T he U .S. Supreme Court heard arguments in
Carolyn Cleveland vs. Policy M anagement Sys
tems. A t issue in the case is whether a person
who loses her job because of disability-based dis
crimination that would be actionable under the
AD A forfeits the right to try to regain that job
or obtain damages if she later files a claim for
Social Security disability benefits.
“The ADA and federal disability programs
are meant to be complementary, not exclusion
ary, to help people remain employed when pos
sible, regardless of having a disabling condition,”
says Catherine Hanssens, who wrote the Lamb
da friend-of-the-court brief.
Hanssens adds: “It is cruel, twisted logic for
employers to use one vital government program
as an excuse to permanently lock out people
with disabilities from the workplace security
that Congress sought to guarantee when it
passed the AD A .”
Cleveland suffered a stroke in 1994 that left
her with residual medical problems and a speech
impediment. According to Lambda, manage
ment at Cleveland’s employer, Policy Manage
ment Systems, mocked her disability, refused to
consider her request for reasonable workplace
accommodations, then fired her. The company
insisted that she forfeited her right to protection
against discrimination under the ADA when
she filed for Social Security disability benefits.
In its brief, Lambda highlighted the fact that
both the ADA and Social Security benefits
have the same goal of encouraging the employ
ment of people with disabilities. The ADA pro
tects people with disabilities while on the job,
requiring reasonable accommodations to help
i
them keep working. Social Security provides
some income for those unable to work because
of their disabling conditions.
“W ith the accommodations the AD A
requires, many people with HIV, A ID S and
other disabling conditions can continue to
work,” says Beatrice Dohrn, Lambda’s legal
director. “W hen illegally refused such accom
modations and forced out of their jobs, disabled
workers have the right to use the ADA to fight
discrimination, whether or not they have turned
to Social Security for financial help.”
She adds: “As people with HIV live longer,
they increasingly need to rely on both the ADA
and Social Security. Their desire to retain jobs
or return to work should be encouraged, not
penalized.”
Lambda is the nation’s oldest and largest
legal organization serving lesbians, gay men, and
people with HIV and AIDS.
U TA H
1 I 7 hat’s a state to do? In 1995, the Utah Leg-
V ? islature passed a bill declaring that same-
sex marriages performed anywhere in the world
would not be recognized in Utah. It seemed
clear enough at the time.
Unfortunately for those lawmakers, they did
not know about Nicole Cline, formerly Neal
Cline, a male-to-female transsexual who is cur
rently midway through operations to complete
the transition to female.
In January, when
Cline and Marlene S.
Smith applied for a mar
riage license in Salt
Lake County, Cline was
named as the groom on
the marriage license,
reports the Feb. 5 issue
of The Salt Lake Tribune .
Said
Salt
Lake
County C h ief Deputy
Clerk Nick Flores, who granted the license: “We
had him sign an affidavit that he swore under
oath that he was the person he represented him
self to be on the application form. There were
no court papers that said he changed his sex,
only that he changed his name.”
Flores went on to say there was no legal rea
son to deny Cline the license.
T he couple was wed at the Sacred Light of
Christ Metropolitan Community Church in
Salt Lake City.
No one, it seems, has any idea what will hap
pen when Cline completes the surgery, which is
expected to happen within the next year. Utah
marriage laws do not address the issue of gender
transition.
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