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I II
NATIONAL
CALIFORNIA
ohn Hancock Financial Services is receiving
widespread praise for a new advertisement
Jepicting two women at an airport talking about
adopting a baby from Asia.
The spot, called “Immigration,” is part of a
campaign featuring real-life situations where
the company’s products should be consid­
ered. The other ads focus on a man
who is considering a nursing home
for his father, a recently divorced
heterosexual couple struggling
with personal issues and a single
mother contemplating marriage.
“Immigration” first aired dur­
ing the National Gymnastics
Championships in late July on
NBC. But after test audiences misin­
terpreted the ads message, it was tweaked
in anticipation of the Olympics.
“People focused a great deal of their atten­
tion on what was going on between the adults,”
the company said in a statement. “It was impor­
tant to us to focus them, instead, on the real
message of the spot, which is however a child
comes into a family, that child is entitled to
financial protection, and John Hancock can
help.”
Roy V. Anderson, John Hancock’s general
director of public relations, says that the dia­
logue was changed but that the overall message
of the ad is intact. “It’s edited slightly so the
focus is more on the child and the child’s needs.”
Anderson says the company has received
some negative feedback but “quite a bit of posi­
tive support.” The changed ad will air numerous
times during the Games in Sydney, Australia.
he Gay-Straight Alliance Club will be able
to meet within the Orange Unified School
District, which settled a federal lawsuit by
reversing an earlier decision, The Associated
Press reports Sept. 6.
However, spokeswoman Judy Frutig said the
board’s Sept. 5 settlement first requires a
change in policies. The new rules will
restrict school clubs from discussing
sexual activity and create a system
allowing parents to object to a
child’s participation in any
extracurricular group.
Two El Modena High stu­
dents formed the club to pro­
vide a place where gay students
could discuss intolerance, but the
board unanimously rejected it in
December. The students then filed a federal
lawsuit accusing the board of violating the
Equal Access Act, which prohibits public
schools that take federal money from exclud­
ing particular clubs if they allow others.
In Utah, meanwhile, the Salt Lake City
School District voted Sept. 5 to end its ban on
nonacademic clubs. The policy was imposed in
1996 to thwart a gay-straight alliance, which
board members feared would promote a homo­
sexual lifestyle.
Students now will be able to form academic
clubs, which will be sponsored by the school,
and nonacademic clubs, which cannot partici­
pate in school fund-raisers. After the ruling was
announced, high schoolers immediately started
planning clubs, including ones for meat eaters,
swimmers and skiers.
“I’m so excited. I can barely wait to have
clubs,” senior Bridger Jensen said. “Now we can
have more leadership opportunities.”
office: 503-238-7617 U 3.
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loophole recently allowed a woman and a
transsexual who was bom a man to obtain
a marriage license Sept. 6 in San Antonio, The
Associated Press reports.
Jessica Wicks and Robin Manhart Wicks
took advantage of a state appeals court ruling
that said chromosomes, not genitals, determine
gender. They paid $36 for their license and plan
to marry Sept. 16.
The Houston couple’s attorney, Phyllis Ran­
dolph Frye, said they have advanced the rights
of gays, lesbians and transsexuals across the
country. “We feel that this could open an equal
protection argument from a legal standpoint
because lesbian and gay couples can argue,
‘Well, if this lesbian and gay couple can get mar­
ried, why can’t we get married?’ ”
The appeals court ruling upheld a lower
court’s decision that threw out a wrongful death
lawsuit filed by Christie Lee Cavazos Littleton
after the death of her husband. The court said
that although she had undergone a sex-change
operation, she was actually a man and therefore
was not married.
Frye would not disclose whether Jessica
Wicks actually has had a sex-change operation
if she simply is taking
hormones.
“Why
should transgender
people have to be sub­
mitted to drop-drawer
inspections?”
Jessica Wicks was
delighted after ob­
taining the li­
cense but sad­
dened for Lit­
tleton, whose
case is pend­
ing before
the
U .S .
Supreme
Court.
“I
can’t forget even for a second that
Christie here has gone through hell for me.”
T
Eminem
NEW YORK
he Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation pressured M TV to reair an
anti-hate public service announcement imme­
diately after controversial rapper Eminem’s
live performance during the Video Music
Awards on Sept. 7 at Radio City Music Hall,
EW.com reports.
“I said, ‘I think it would be important for
MTV to make some kind of statement here, and
one way you could do that is to air the PSA after
Eminem performs,’ ’’ says Joan M. Garry,
G LA A D executive director. “We have an issue
with MTV about its promotion of Eminem, but
these are folks who have a really great track
record of public responsibility.”
The 30-second spot, which debuted on the
network last October, targets children and
teens. It was necessary, Garry says, in light of
Eminem’s popularity among kids.
G LA A D also is targeting his label, After-
math/Interscope. A meeting was scheduled soon
after the May release of The Marshall Mathers LP
to address its homophobic references, but exec­
utives canceled 48 hours later and stopped
returning phone calls.
The album features nine songs containing
anti-gay slurs and threats, such as: “My words
are like a dagger with a jagged edge / T hat’ll
stab you in the head whether you’re a fag or
lez / Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-
vest / Pants or dress— hate fags? / The
answer’s ‘yes’ ” (from “Crim inal”) or “You fag-
T