august 17.2001 » Ju st out :|21
Drive with Pride
A LA S K A
N A TIO N A L
F
or the first time, polls now show a majority of
U.S. citizens in favor of allowing homosexuals
to serve openly in the military. In a new study to
he published this fall hy MIT Press, two sociolo
gists report that 56 percent of the general public
responded affirmatively to a survey asking whether
they thought gay men and lesbians should he
allowed to serve openly in the armed forces.
In a related trend, anti-gay sentiment within
the military has declined during the past decade.
A March 2000 study hy Maj. John W. Bicknell
of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
Calif., found U.S. Navy officers who “feel
uncomfortable in the presence of homosexuals”
decreased from 57.8 percent in 1994 to 36.4 per
cent in 1999.
According to another poll, since 1992 the
percentage of Army men who “strongly oppose”
homosexuals serving in uniform dropped nearly
in half, from 67 percent to 37 percent. The per
centage of Army women “strongly opposed” to
gay troops fell from 32 percent to 16 percent.
P E N N S Y LV A N IA
i
n a setback for social justice and equality
under the law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit has ruled that the law pro
vides protections based on sex but not sexual
orientation.
The decision effectively says gay workers
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T ig a rd ( I H lk O f T W W on G re e n b u rg ) • O p e n 7 D a y s
The Rev. Elder Troy Perry
may not sue under federal sex discrimination
laws if they are harassed or denied promotions
because of their sexual orientation. The court
ruled unanimously that it is up to Congress, not
the courts, to write that protection into
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The case arose when John J. Bihhy filed a
lawsuit against the Philadelphia Coca-Cola
Bottling Co. He contended his rights were
violated hy co-workers who harassed and
physically attacked him after he revealed he
was gay.
Bihhy’s lawyer noted his client is in an
“incongruous situation in which he can sue if he
is the target of sexual advances by a woman or
another gay man but not if he is harassed by
straight male co-workers because of his sexual
orientation.”
The Rev. Elder Troy Perry, Universal Fellow
ship of Metropolitan Community Churches
founder, urged Congress to remedy the situation.
“It is time.. .to close the loophole which allows this
type of legally sanctioned discrimination,” he said.
M IC H IG A N
1 i
ayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan
V V announced Aug. 6 his office is putting a
halt to the selective entrapment and prosecu
tion of gay men.
For years, people have complained of police
stings that resulted in arrests for soliciting sex
from undercover officers when they had done
nothing but flirt or
walk away. Some were
charged with being an
“annoying person,” a
misdemeanor; others
had their vehicles
impounded and had
to pay a $900 fee to
have them returned.
Duggan said his
office no longer would
Mike Duggan
prosecute men who are
approached and propositioned hy undercover
police decoys. He said such tactics appeared to
unfairly target homosexuals.
“I’m not going to charge people criminally
for what they thought was a consensual act
between adults,” Duggan said. “We do not send
female officers into sports bars to come on to
guys to see which ones respond and then arrest
them. We should not he sending undercover
decoys...to do exactly the same thing.”
Lorri L. Jean, National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force executive director, welcomed the new
policy. “Decoys, entrapment, vehicle seizures
and arresting people for private conduct are tac
tics used to harass and intimidate gay men.” JH
Com piled by C opy Editor JlM RADOSTA, who can
be reached at jim @ justout .com.
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I
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I f 111
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WMN
fp o lic e found the body of an openly gay
man July 26 in Ketchikan, a town in the
southeastern part of the state. David Blare,
35, also known as Steve Perry, was an
Alaskan Native from the Organized Village of
Saxman.
Terry L. Simpson Jr., 19, and Joshua A.
Anderson, 20, have been arrested and
charged with second-degree murder, man
slaughter, first-degree robbery and second-
degree theft. They are being held on $50,000
hail.
“My only consolation is that I know David
is with the Lord, no longer in pain and safe
from harm and hate,” said Paul Zellmer,
Blare’s friend and former partner. “ In the 11
years I have lived in Ketchikan, I have seen
and been the recipient of many threats and
actions against myself and others. It is time to
stop denying that anti-gay hate exists here in
Alaska.”
Police arrested Simpson and Anderson in
response to a tip called in to Ketchikan Crime
Stoppers, according to news reports. The caller
said he overheard the two men bragging that
they were planning to “heat up and rob [Blare]
because he is a fag,” District Attorney Stephen
West said.
The Governor’s Commission on Tolerance
was formed May 1 after Anchorage police
released a videotape of white youths shooting
Alaska Natives with paint balls. Its report to
Gov. Tony Knowles is due Nov. 30.
The U.SrCommission on Civil Rights also is
holding hearings later this month to take testi
mony on discrimination against Alaska Natives.
Last year, Knowles introduced a hate crimes
measure including sexual orientation, but the
Legislature has yet to act on it.
Since 1991, Alaska stands out as having one
of the nation’s poorest records on reporting hate
crimes. The state has failed to participate in the
reporting process in three of the past nine years:
1991, 1992 and 1998.
In the other years, only one law enforcement
agency, out of a possible 43, has participated.
Anchorage reported the following number of
hate crimes incidents: 24 in 1993, nine in 1994,
eight in 1995, nine in 1996, 10 in 1997 and five
in 1999, the latest year for which statistics are
available.
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