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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1999)
rrnrrmnews 14 T he F inal C ountdown Superstore The Hyundai Advantage/America’s Best Warranty 10 Year/100,000 Mile Warranty Millennium fever has folks making lists and tallying superlatives— here's a roster of the year's biggest gay news stories by Rawley Grau ress Pass Q: A Newsletter for the Gay & Lesbian Press Professional recently polled its subscribers about the most important gay-related news stories of 1999. More than 80 people—publish ers, editors and reporters at gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines from across the coun try—offered their insights. Here are their top 10 stories: P 1. M atthew S hepard ’ s M urderers C onvicted early eight months after Matthew Shepard was beaten and left on a fence to die out side Laramie, Wyo., Russell Hen derson, 22, one of the two accused killers, surprised observers by pleading guilty before the start of his trial on April 5 to the kid napping and murder of the 21 -year-old gay college student. Then the trial of Henderson’s accomplice, Aaron McKinney, 22, took place in late October, with McKinney’s attor T/ neys resorting to a “gay panic” defense. They argued that their client had attacked Shep ard in a drug-induced rage after the gay man tried to grope him. The judge rejected this line of rea soning, and on Nov. 3 the jury found McKinney guilty on two counts of felony murder and one count each of second-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery. In a plea bargain, McKinney was spared the death penalty, receiving instead a sentence of two consecutive life terms in exchange for agreeing to waive his right to appeal. Shepard’s parents had asked the prosecutor not to seek McKinney’s execution, calling instead for a time of healing to begin. N I'»»,*-è gp merit badges and rising to the rank of Eagle Scout. The Boy Scouts of America intends to appeal the New Jersey ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court. 3. C anadian S upreme C ourt R edefines ‘S pouse ’ n May 20, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in an 8-1 decision that Ontario’s Family Law Act infringed on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by restricting its definition of spouse to people who are actually married or “either of a man and woman who are not married to each other and have cohabited...continuous ly for a period of not less than three years.” The case, M vs. H, involved a woman who was seeking spousal support from her former partner, another woman. The Supreme Court teii’D« a TO I .'TO i gave Ontario six months to remove the heterosexual definition of spouse from its laws. On Oct. 27, the Par liament of Ontario revised 67 statutes, thus extending to same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities enjoyed by common-law heterosexual couples, including those pertaining to breakups, adoption and hospital vis itation. O F irst n June 4, while Congress was taking a 10-day break for Memorial Day, President Clinton used his recess appointment privilege to name James Hormel as ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, making Hormel the first openly gay U.S. ambassador. The move came in defiance of Senate N ew J ersey C ourt Majority Leader Trent Lott, who, despite the O verturns S couts P olicy nomination having been approved by the For eign Relations Committee, had refused to allow n a unanimous decision Aug. 4, the New Jer it to come to a vote on the Senate floor, where sey Supreme Court upheld a lower court rul it was expected to win confirmation. ing that the Boy Scouts of America had violat Lott and the conservative Republican lead ed the state’s civil rights law when it expelled ership claimed that Hormel, a businessman and Assistant Scoutmaster James Dale in 1990 philanthropist, was unsuitable because he because he is gay. appeared in a gay pride parade with the Sisters It was the first time a state’s high court ruled of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of gay men against the Scouts’ anti-gay policy. The court dressed as nuns. Clinton had first nominated said that because the Boy Scouts of America is Hormel to the post in 1997. nonselective in its membership and receives support from state and local governments, it cannot exempt itself from the state’s civil rights B ritain E nds B an law governing places of public accommodation, and therefore cannot discriminate on the basis on G ays in the M ilitary of sexual orientation. he European Court of Human Rights in Dale, 29, had been involved in scouting for Strasbourg, France, found on Sept. 27 that 12 years before his expulsion, winning many the United Kingdom’s ban on gays and lesbians 2. I Conveniently located out 122nd Way just south of Stark Street 503-257-2420 • 800-460-5275 Rebates and special interest rates assigned to customer. Dealer retains all incentives. All vehicles subject to prior sale. Actual vehicles may differ from those pictured. Vehicles plus tax, tag, license, $35 doc fee & subject to credit approval. See dealer for full details. 4. H ormel B ecomes G ay A mbassador 5.
