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—A Change of Heart—
concerns were addressed by finding other
restrooms she can use.”
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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
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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
-
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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.
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“‘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.