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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2002)
1.2002 22 news RETRO & MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNISHINGS AND MORE! P/'f&rceC- --- Ptr-eo*a £-— //r*otKiùi*c f>fì NF S a n rìv Rlvri • SOR 233 1fl9fl • 10-7 Snn-Mnn • 10-9 Wßd PieCoprapif----503.892.2677 —A Change of Heart— concerns were addressed by finding other restrooms she can use.” H ave you lost a loved one? Your job? Your health? Are you hiding your grief o r feeling overw helm ed by it? G rief Release en courages unhurried healing to help bring life back into focus after the blur of pain, confusion and bew ilderm ent caused by loss. Join us in this sm all, confidential support class to help you on the road to restoration. VIRGINIA n one of his first acts as governor Jan. 12, Democrat Mark Warner excluded sexual ori entation from the list of protected groups in a nondiscrimination policy for state employees. Gay and lesbian Virginians played an integral role in his election last year. Chad Johnson, National Stonewall Democ rats executive director, called on Warner to clar ify his intentions: “Assuming that there was not a clerical oversight in drafting it...Executive Order 1 |is] simply unacceptable and contrary to the governor’s campaign promises. While gay and lesbian Virginians were right to work with Warner to defeat a ferociously anti-gay Republi can, we will be disappointed if this action indi cates the direction of this administration.” The Dig Cabin Republicans are taking advan tage of the situation to gloat. They say the guber natorial candidate never made any such pledge. "Warner’s campaign Web site had no men tion of a promise to protect gays, nor does the word ‘gay’ or ‘sexual orientation’ appear any where on his 2001 campaign site or his subse quent transition site,” the queer G O P group said in a press release. “Warner’s campaign site, how ever, did contain a section on ‘Virginia Values.’ ” I W ednesdays, Feb. 21-M arch21 6 : 3 0 - 8 : 3 0pm • Led by Cynthia Butts $31 • To register: 5 0 3 - 7 7 5 - 5 0 2 4 3 8 3 0 SE 6 2 n d St., Portland YOUR POWER TEAM NATIONAL he U.S. Marine Corps issued a stop-loss order Jan. 2, halting some administrative discharges during the conflict in Afghanistan but calling for continued discharges under “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Gimmanders have been instructed to discharge servicemembers because of “involuntary administrative separation or vio lation of the Uniform G xle of Military Justice." The order goes on to state these guidelines only may be waived in “the most exceptional cases." It closely follows language used by the Army, Navy and Air Force earlier in the conflict. “No servicemember should assume they can serve while being openly lesbian, gay or bisexual,” said C. Dixon Osbum, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director. “ ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ remaias in full effect, and gay-related discharges are continuing without interruption.” T Celia Lyon Terri Popejoy 503 495-5774 503 495-5765 celialycm@aol. com tpopejoy&aol. com - - Social Security system our entire lives, yet in retirement we are denied funds to which we are entitled.” NGLTF noted the signifi cant majority support among the public for equal treat ment of same-sex partners. In a 1997 Princeton Survey Research Associates poll, 57 percent of U .S. citizens backed "equal rights for gays in terms of Social Security benefits for gay spouses.” Between 1 and 3 million Virginia Gov. Mark Warner has been accused of breaking a elders nationwide are gay, campaign promise on his first day in office lesbian, hi or trans. Accord ing to current trends, this Continued from Page 21 population will double by 2030. RE/MAX - EQUITY GROUP, INC. REALTORS 2100 NE Broadway Portland, OR 97232 Toll Free 888-934-2345 US, - 3 » r" “‘BuiCcCing (BCociçsfor y o u r fu tu re " he Democratic National Gimmittee is urg ing Congress to fortify Social Security by eliminating the program’s discrimination against same-sex couples and their families. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force hailed the "historic and precedent-setting” resolution, which was passed Jan. 19 during a general mem bership meeting in Washington, D.C. “Currently, our inability to access survivor benefits costs same-sex surviving partners approximately $100 million a year," executive director Lorri L. Jean said. "We pay into the T KENTUCKY he U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Toyota v. Williams, refusing to recognize workplace- related limitations, further erodes the strength of employee protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Duribda Legal Defense and Dlucation Fund said Jan. 9. The 9-0 decision overturns an earlier victory for a Kentucky auto worker who challenged the corporation’s refusal to accommodate her severe carpal tunnel syndrome. The court ruled she did not show the limitations on her ability to perform “manual tasks” substantially limited a major life activity. It defined such a limitation as being severely restricted from doing those things “of cen tral importance to everyday life.” “The drafters of the AD A never contemplat ed that this level of semtiny, complicated by the necessarily subjective task of detennining what is ‘centrally important’ in a person’s life, would precede a determination that someone is cov ered by the act,” noted Catherine A. Hanssens, Lambda AIDS Project director. “Nowhere near this amount of attention gets focused on the employer’s discriminatory conduct in these cases. In fact, more often than not, the merits of the case are never reached.” Application of the court’s reasoning to a per son with HIV could leave many without a viable legal remedy for a wide range of discrim inatory exclusions from work and social activi ties. For example, a newly diagnosed ado lescent whose “cen tral” life activities remain largely unaf fected could face in surmountable diffi culties passing this disability test, partic ularly because the major life activity the court has recognized to date as affected by H IV — r e p r o d u c Catherine A. Hanssens T tion— might not be considered sufficiently “major” for a young per son by conservative justices. “What type of evidence will the court require in order to show that a ‘central life activity’ of an adolescent with HIV has been impaired when the kid is thrown out of a summer camp.7” Hanssens added. “This decision just increases the burden on people with HIV who want to chal lenge discriminatory treatment in court.” LOUISIANA O outhem grocery giant Winn-Dixie plainly v > concedes its sole reason for firing an employ ee of two decades was that off-duty he sometimes cross-dressed as a woman, the American Civil Liberties Union told a federal judge Jan. 23 in papers seeking a ruling without a trial in its sex discrimination lawsuit against the company.
