October ! 9. 2001
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an order was issued in 1998 prohibiting either
parent from spending time with the children
“during any time where one cohabits with or has
overnight stays with any adult” to whom they are
not married or related. She initially agreed to the
order hut does not believe it should apply to her
relationship with her life partner.
Last year the couple entered into a civil
union in Vermont, and Bums adopted her part
ner’s last name. She took the position that this
should he treated as a marriage and that she
could live with her partner and still visit her
children. Her ex-husband took her to court, and
the trial judge ruled against her.
According to attorney Stephen R. Scarbor
ough, the court should he guided by the best
interests of the children and the reality of each
family rather than rigid formulas when deter
mining custody and visitation. He said no evi
dence indicates the kids are harmed in any way
by Bums’ committed relationship.
“What matters most is getting this family
hack together and making sure that these chil
dren are allowed to maintain a loving and sup
portive relationship with their mother,” Scar
borough said. “These children need their
mother’s guidance and support.”
KANSAS
T
9
1 1 1
he states so-called
“Romeo and Juliet
Law” is unconstitutional
because it gives lesbian
and gay youth much
higher prison sentences
than straight youth who
engage in the same
behavior, the American
Civil Liberties Union
said in an appeal brief
filed Sept. 28.
Matthew Limon is
appealing a 17-year prison
sentence he received
because shortly after he
turned 18, he performed
oral sex on a 14-year-old
male at a residential
school for developmen-
tally disabled youth where
they both lived in Miami
Coles
County. If he instead had performed oral sex on a
14-year-old female, he would have received 12
months in jail under the law, which applies only
to heterosexuals.
“The only difference between a year in jail and
17 years is whether or not you’re gay,” said Matt
Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay
Rights Project, which filed a friend-of-the-court
brief on Limon’s behalf. “Matt Limon will be 36
years old by the time he’s released, having spent
half of his life in prison— while a heterosexual per
son would have been released before turning 19.”
Under the law, consensual oral sex between
two teens is a lesser crime if the younger teen
ager is 14 to 16 years old, if the older teen-ager
is younger than 19, if the age difference is less
than four years, if no third parties are involved
and if the two teen-agers “are members of the
opposite sex.”
The Equal Protection clause of the U.S.
Constitution forbids singling out a group of peo
ple— based on bigotry toward that group— and
punishing them more severely for the same
behavior. “That’s exactly what Kansas is doing,”
Coles said.
The A C LU appeal doesn’t seek to change
age-of-consent laws or reduce sentences for sex
ual contact with minors, he added.
“The question here isn’t whether young
adults should he punished for unlawful sexual
activity,” Coles said. “It’s whether gay people
should he punished more severely than straight
people for committing the same crime. We don’t
think the Constitution allows that, and we hope
this court won’t, either.”
NEBRASKA
E
ven though the state’s highest court said a
judge “shocked the conscience” by award
ing very little money to the mother of Bran
don Teena, the same
judge now has raised
only
slightly
the
amount a county sheriff
must pay for his biased
conduct, Lambda Legal
Defense and Education
Fund said Oct. 5.
“This latest ruling
flaunts the Nebraska
Supreme Court’s clear
directions,” said attor
ney David S. Buckel,
who represents JoAnn
Brandon. “Fortunately,
the Supreme C ourt’s
legal standards govern
in this state, and those
standards tell law en
forcement officials they
will he held account
able if they don’t
respect and protect vic
tims of bias violence.
It’s too had this lower court judge didn’t get
the message.”
The Supreme Court last April rejected Judge
Orville L. Coady’s ruling, which had valued
Brandon’s life at zero in setting damages to be
paid by Richardson County Sheriff Charles Laux
for failing to provide protection after the victim
reported being raped by two men who later mur
dered him in 1993. In a new ruling issued Oct. 3,
he raised that amount to merely $5,000.
In addition, for the emotional distress
caused Brandon by Laux’s abusive interrogation
when he reported the rape— abuse the Supreme
Court said was “extreme and outrageous,
beyond all possible hounds of decency,
and is to he regarded as atrocious and
utterly intolerable in a civilized commu
nity”— Coady now has set damages at
just $7,000. The film Boys Don't Cry
told the story of the victim, who was
raised as a girl named Teena Brandon
and lived briefly as a man in Falls City.
“One big part of our job is to persuade
courts to adopt fair rules, as we did in the
prior appeal of this case, hut another part
of our job is to make sure that those rules
are followed properly in courts below,"
Buckel said. “We will appeal this lower
court decision and fight on for JoAnn
Brandon.
”jn
The tragedy depicted in the film Boys Don’t Cry, starring
Chloe Sevigny (left) and Hilary Swank, Isn’t over yet
Compiled by News Editor JlM R a DOSTA,
C(m be reached at jhn@justout.com.
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