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 .
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four out of five queer students report verbal,
sexual or physical harassment in school.
The hoard took action after several
months of study by a broad-based internal task
force. It also approved a recommendation to
expand “sexual orientation” policies to
include "gender identification”— a recogni
tion that trans students and staff face perva
sive abuse in schools.
Mary Kate Cullen o f the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network cited a recently
released poll of U.S. parents showing more
than 80 percent support protections for queer
students as well as teacher trainings on toler
ance. “The N EA has shown tremendous lead
ership, and we look forward to the full imple
mentation of these lifesaving recommenda
tions,” she said.
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