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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2002)
nTiTTTTTTTJn news ALABAM A ambda Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a formal complaint Feb. 20 with the state Judicial Inquiry Commission and called for a full investigation of the Chief Justice Roy Moore looks at the Ten Alabama Supreme Court’s chief justice, say Commandments monument he commissioned ing he is unfit because of his shockingly prej and placed in the rotunda of the Alabama udiced statements against gay people in a Supreme Court building in August 2001 recent opinion. C ALIFO R N IA In awarding custody of three teen-agers to their father over their lesbian mother, Roy Moore ambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, L on behalf of several hepatitis C associations, wrote that her relationship made her an unfit par is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an ent and that homosexuality is “abhorrent, employer’s argument that, under the Americans immoral, detestable...and a violation of the laws of nature.” He assailed gay partners as “inherent with Disabilities Act, it can fire a healthy work ly destructive to the natural order of society,” cit er with signs of liver disease because it considers chemical exposure on the job dangerous to his ing biblical references and “direct revelation future health. Argument was heard Feb. 27 in found in the Holy Scriptures.” the case. “The State carries the power of the sword, Mario Echazabal had worked for a con that is, the power to prohibit conduct with phys tractor in C hevron’s El Segundo oil refinery ical penalties, such as confinement and even exe- for about 20 years. When he applied to work cution,” Moore wrote. “It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this j directly for Chevron, it offered him a job— but withdrew it when his pre-employment lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle.” tests showed elevated liver enzymes even The “statements make it abundantly clear though he had worked with his condition that he is incapable of giving any lesbian or gay without incident for years. person in Alabama tbeir fair day in court,” said “The A D A says that a person with a dis Hector Vargas, Lambda’s Southern Regional ability who is qualified for a job and doesn’t Office director. "Rather than displaying a fair and pose a threat to anybody else has the right to open mind when addressing legal claims regard- work,” said Catherine Hanssens, Lambda less of anyone’s sexual orientation, the judge blindly condemns gav people and explicitly refus A ID S Project director. “Chevron claims they denied Mr. Echazabal work tor his own good, es to mle based on the actual evidence in a case. Moore focused exclusively on sexual orienta but the experts unanimously agreed that any threat of liver disease to Echazabal from chem tion in his 14-page concurring opinion, which icals in the refinery would be a danger to all was attached to an opinion from the full court employees.” that was less than four pages long and that virtu ally ignored the fact that the mother is a lesbian. N EW YO R K Ken Baker, Equality Begins at Home chairman, oted trans activist Sylvia Rivera, a pio demanded his immediate resignation in a letter. neer of the gay liberation movement and “The inflammatory language...is very ir- one of the original Stonewall pro responsible and will incite even more testers, died of liver cancer Feb. 19 violence against gays and lesbians in at St. Vincent’s Manhattan Hospi Alabama,” he wrote. “Feb. 19 marks tal. She was 50. the third anniversary of the brutal A Brooklyn resident, Rivera murder of Billy Jack Gaither in Syla- worked at Metropolitan Communi cauga by two men who believed, as you ty Church, where she coordinated do, that homosexuality is 'an inherent the fixxi pantry. Her partner, Julia evil and shouldn’t be tolerated.’ ” Murray, was with her at her death. Moore has a history of imposing According to Martin Duber- his theocratic opinions on all of man’s Stonewall, Rivera played a piv Alabama’s citizens. He once defied a otal role in the confrontation that is fellow judge’s order to remove a credited with kicking off the mod plaque of the Ten Commandments em sexual minorities movement. from his courtroom, which turned “I’m not missing a minute of this— him into a hero for the religious right it’s the revolution!” she shouted to wing. her partner on the morning of In 1999, Moore received the June 28, 1969, the day Stonewall Family, Faith and Freedom Citation Inn patrons fended off police during presented by the anti-gay Family a raid. J H Research Council. He also appeared on Pat Robertson’s The 700 Club, D. Compiled by News Editor James Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Hour JlM RADOSTA, who can be reached and Jam es Dobson’s Focus on the Sylvia Rivera at jhv@ justout.com . Family. Jfeatuning A quality selection of antiques anil collectibles at country prices Professional E state Liquidation Helens From Portland take Hwy. 30 west for about 20-30 minutes. 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