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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2001)
October lfl. 2001 19 rTÍTTTTTm ne t v s . /Idi Clearly, this officer is no gentleman NATIONAL N avy leaders were asked Oct. 12 to con demn and hold accountable military per sonnel aboard the USS Enterprise for anti-gay graffiti scrawled on a bomb used in Afghanistan. T he British newspaper Metro ran a photo of the missile, which had the words “Highjack This Fags” written across the side. “The message is insulting and inappropri ate,” said Sharra E. Greer, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network legal director. “It is also in clear violation of the U nited States military’s stated policies on harassment and morale.” Historically, U.S. servicemembers often write messages on bombs before they are used. For example, some of the first missiles dropped in the offensive against terrorism carried messages of remembrance for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. “T he U nited States Navy would never allow racial epithets or derogatory graffiti based on gender or religion to be scrawled on American property," G reer said. “Messages like the one presented in this photograph only reinforce the ideas of hatred and division that our nation seeks to defend against. We must not emulate the intolerance of our enemies.” Rear Adm. S.R. Pietropaoli called the epi thet “inappropriate” and promised “steps were taken to prevent a recurrence of this unfortu nate incident.” In a letter dated O ct. 17 he wrote, “I sincerely hope this isolated incident will not detract from the hard work and dedica tion of thousands of sailors and Marines serving our nation in this war on terrorism.” The Associated Press released the photo with a generic caption reporting that the soldier was “signing” the bomb but not addressing the slur that had been scrawled on it. Joan M. Garry, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation execu tive director, called this irresponsible journalism. “T he A P decision.. .fails to acknowledge the central elem ent of the image,” she said. “A ny media outlet that reprints this photo should pre sent it in its proper context and report the response to its offensive content.” After several exchanges with GLAAD, the AP pulled the photo. Garry praised the timely response but said the story should not he hidden from view. “By pulling the photo rather than exploring its content and context, the A P sends the mes sage that anti-gay bias should be swept under the rug, not exposed and confronted,” she said. “If a picture’s worth a thousand words, the one word in this picture is certainly worth a story.” he Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairm an of the anti-gay T raditional Values C oalitio n , urged the governm ent and private relief agen cies O ct. 4 to discrim inate against gay victim s of the last m o n th ’s terrorist attacks by denying them disaster aid. He told the Washington Post that relief organi zations "should be first giving priority to those widows who were at home with their babies and those widowers who lost their wives.” He added, “This is just another example of how the gay T agenda is seeking to overturn the one man-one woman relationship from center stage in America.” Lorri L. Jean, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director, said: “Lou Sheldon’s hateful rhetoric has again crossed the line. This is a time when everyone should stand united in support of the terrorism victims. Sept. 11 proved that heroism knows no sexual orientation. It is divisive and inhumane to sug gest that relief workers turn their backs on any victim of this horrible tragedy.” Sheldon’s comments were in response to reports that agencies like the American Red Cross are providing disaster relief to all victims and their families, regardless of sexual orientation. He lashed out at gay rights organizations for working to ensure assistance is dispensed jn a nondiscrimina- tory way and accused them of “taking advantage of this national tragedy to promote their agenda.” “O nce again, Sheldon is out of step with the rest of the country,” Jean continued. “He is tak ing the ‘get back to business’ mantra to the extreme by not skipping a beat in promoting the same narrow and hateful agenda that has been his trademark for years.” -s* ay Coles James, Office of Personnel M an agement director, is considering whether to include same-sex domestic partners in a new ben efit offering long-term health insurance to feder al employees and their families. Opposition is coming from U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., the new chairman of the House Civil Service Subcommittee, which helps oversee the program. “Rather than re defining marriage and family to in clude homosexual, lesbian and cohabi- tating nonm arried couples, I believe we should be taking steps to encourage traditional m ar riages,” he said. “Extending benefits to other types of relation ships only discourages individuals from making a lifelong marriage commitment.” Inclusion of domestic partners has a measure of congressional support. U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., ranking member of the Civil Serv ice Subcommittee, last m onth sent a letter signed by a bipartisan group of several House members to the office requesting same-sex life partners receive long-term care coverage. ( n i i r n s fo r \\ o iiK ii Exploring (Baja b y ¿Foot, ¿Fin $ JCayak Ja n . $ 1 D 26 - 'f 7 e b . 3 I L / Q ^ perperton (land only) Camping, kayaking & more. Call for details. Subject to availability. 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