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P E N N S Y L V A N IA
A woman whose teen son committed suicide
/""Vafter police in Minersville, Pa., harassed
him and threatened to disclose that he was gay
finally can take her wrongful-death case to trial.
“No mother should lose her child because of
an encounter with a homophobic police officer,”
said Ruth E. Harlow, Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund deputy legal director. “The
Third Circuit has now agreed that police officers
should know that threatening to reveal a teen
ager’s sexual orientation to his family or the
community violates clearly established constitu
tional rights. Its important that there be a trial
and. ..some accountability for what happened to
Marcus Wayman.”
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on
Nov. 6 upheld a district court decision allowing
Madonna Sterlings case to go forward against
the borough of Minersville, its police depart
ment and two officers. The lower court had
rejected the officers’ attempt to win qualified
immunity from suit, ruling instead that their
conduct violated Wayman’s right to privacy as
protected by the Constitution.
The 18-year-old, barely two months before he
would have graduated from high school in 1997,
and another teen had been stopped for trespass
ing in the parking lot of a recently burglarized
store. After his friend removed condoms from his
pocket to prove he was not concealing marijua
na, the officers began questioning them about
their sexual orientation, subjecting them to bib
lical admonitions against homosexuality. Con
fronted with the officers’ ultimatum that he dis
close his sexual orientation to his to his grandfa
ther in the rural town of less than 5,(XX) or they
would do it for him, Wayman committed suicide.
A
Haverford High student was accused of
taping a poster advocating violence against
homosexuals to the wall of the school cafeteria
during a lunch period Oct. 11, the Philadelphia
Inquirer reports.
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participate, he said clubs must submit a petition
signed by at least 25 students in order to be rec
ognized.
"The sign in itself is violent,” school hoard
president Denis Gray said. “1 would be this upset
if the sign were against any group."
KEN TU CK Y
P
atricia Kutteles, mother of slain Pfc. Barry
Winchell, has appealed the Army’s decision
to deny her wrongful death claim. She also has
written Army Secretary Louis Caldera requesting
a meeting with him.
The original claim was filed under the Mili
tary Claims Act,
which allows re
imbursement from
the military for a
soldier’s injury or
death.
In
its
Sept. 27 response,
however,
the
Army maintained
the claim had no
legal basis.
Kutteles
is
seeking monetary
damages from the Army. She also has asked for
changes in policies to help prevent future anti
gay harassment and violence.
Winchell was murdered in July 1999 at Fort
Campbell, Ky., by fellow soldiers who perceived
him to be gay. Details uncovered during the trail
of his killers showed he endured daily anti-gay
harassment.
"By tolerating this kind of behavior, the lead
ers in Barry’s unit fostered a climate in which
anti-gay harassment was acceptable,” Kutteles
said in her letter to Caldera. “As a result, Barry
is dead. I filed a claim for my son’s wrongful
death with the hope that, by forcing the Army
to formally acknowledge responsibility for
Barry’s death, it would lead the Army to take
concrete steps to ensure that all soldiers could
serve their country free of the harassment Barry
experienced.”
The Oct. 31 appeal underscores Caldera’s
authority to settle the case under the Military
Claims Act. It points out that Anny Chief of
Staff Eric Shinseki said during a news confer
ence July 21, “We take full responsibility for
what happened to Pvt. Winchell.”
C. Dixon Osbum, Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network co-executive director, added:
“The Army has a responsibility to protect its sol
diers. Secretary Caldera owes Mrs. Kutteles a
substantive explanation of why Fort Campbell
leaders failed to live up to their responsibilities.”
C O LO R A D O
Ryan Thomas Schlembach, 18, was charged
with disorderly conduct, harassment and mak
ing terroristic threats. He was suspended from
school but since has returned.
According to Superintendent Leonard
Vender, the handmade sign—announcing the
day was designated for heating up on gays— was
posted in response to an announcement made
by the Haverford Gay-Straight Alliance over
the public address system that morning. Oct. 11
was National Coming Out Day.
Vender said the notice “slipped through.
That probably was not an appropriate
announcement to make during morning
announcements.”
Vender said the alliance was formed in May.
Although he did not know how many members
•
ay philanthropist Tim Gill has sold to an
unnamed buyer his remaining 50 percent
interest in Quark Inc. and plans to give away
most of the earnings on
the purchase price.
The
47-year-old
founded the privately
held software company
in 1981 with a $2,000
loan from his parents.
With the success
of his desktop
publishing pro
gram
Quark
XPress, it grew to
a giant with about
$500 million in
annual sales and
700 employees in
Tim Gill and his wares
nine countries.
“All things change,” Gill wrote in an e-mail
to Quark staff Oct. 24. “For me, the passion has
moved on to philanthropy. You can’t take it
with you.
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