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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2002)
22 i may 3 ,2 0 0 2 Al i l i news TEXAS P O R TLA N D GAY M E N ’S C H O R U S V o ices o f P ride W e d n e s d a y , J u n e 1 2 , 2 0 0 2 @ 7 : 3 0 p .m . K a u l A u d it o r iu m , R e ed C o l l e g e R ainbow Ball Friday, J u n e 14, 2 0 0 2 9 p.m. — 2 n.m. C r y s ta l B a llro o m T h e O f f i c i a l k i c k off to t h e Pride N o rth w e s t W eek en d ! 70 s and 8 0 s Retro Disco In fe rn o ’ Online w w w . pd x g m c .or cj PGWC L NEW YORK 3rd Annual To P urcha se Trckcts Contact: ambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said April 18 it likely will go to the U.S. Supreme Court now that the Texas Court of Criminal Ap peals refused to consider a case involving a Hous ton couple con victed of violat ing the “Homo sexual Conduct” Law by having consensual sex in Houston lawyer Mitchell Katine (center) is helping Tyron G am er (left) and the privacy of one John Lawrence fight the Texas “ Homosexual Conduct” Law man’s home. crashed Nov. 12 off Kennedy Airport, claiming They had petitioned the state’s highest court on criminal cases after their constitutional chal the lives of all on board. Both couples had executed various legal pro lenge was rejected by the intermediate Court of cedures to afford themselves protection. They Appeals. That court said “preserving public had health care proxies and documents desig morality” justified the anti-gay law. With this ruling, there is no other court in nating one another’s partners as insurance, Texas where the men can appeal their convic 4 0 l(k ) and pension beneficiaries. Both couples also were registered as domestic partners with tions. In an earlier case, the Texas Supreme the city of New York. Court ruled that this high criminal court had “Just like married couples, Gene and I were jurisdiction over any challenge to the law. a partnership in every way— emotionally, finan Yet now that court also offers no hearing and no chance at justice on this subject. “It’s shock cially, legally and in our everyday lives," Court ney said. “Gene would want me to seek the pro ing that neither of the supreme courts in Texas will even consider the serious constitutional tections we should have as a married couple because we always believed we were a married problems with this law,” said Ruth E. Harlow, couple. I’m still wearing the ring to prove it.” Lambda legal director. Valentine added: “Joe was my spouse. It Houston attorney Mitchell Katine added: would be an insult .n our relationship and Joe’s “This law greatly harms not just our clients but m< moiy if he were 'ecogntzed as anything less. gay men and lesbians throughout the state. We now are left with no recourse hut the U.S. And that’s why I’m bringing this claim, to honor Supreme Court.” the reality of what Joe and I and our families and The case began Sept. 17, 1998, when sher friends all knew we had.” The two cases are the first brought by same- iff’s deputies, responding to a false report of an sex partners related to either tragedy. Thev are armed intruder, entered a private Houston also the first to be brought by gay or lesbian apartment where they found two men engaging in sex. Both were arrested and jailed overnight. partners seeking coverage undei the stare Workers’ Compensation Law. which gives first A county criminal court convicted and fined priority to surviving spouses to receive benefit John Lawrence and Tyron Gamer. Lambda appealed on their behalf to challenge the con of up to $400 a week for the rest of trieir life or until they retr.am stitutionality of the law 5 0 3 2 2 6 2 5 8 8 or T wo Manhattan residents whose domestic partners died in separate tragedies last year held a news conference April 22 to announce legal action against the insurance companies denying. them spousal benefits. The survivors have filed claims with the New' York State Workers’ Compensation Board to receive spousal bene fits. The insurance companies now are challenging their right Bill Valentine (left) and Joe Lopes to receive benefits, asserting that same-sex domestic part ners do not qualify as spouses. The administrative heanng for one of the survivors, Larry Courtney, cook place April 23 in Manhattan. His partner of 14 years, Gene Clark, died Sept. 11 at the World Trade Center, where he was an administrative assistant at Aon Consulting. The hearing of the other survivor, Bill Valentine, will take place in July. His partner of 2 1 years, Joe Lopes, was a stew ard on American Airlines Larry Courtney (left) and Gene Flight 587 when the plane Clark ess than one week after the New York City Council voted 45-5 to extend civil rights jyo- tection to trans people, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the bill into law April 30. The amendment takes immediate effect. The ceremony made New York City the 42nd and the most populous jurisdiction in the country to provide basic protec tions to trans people in employment, housing, pub lic accommodation and other areas of everyday life. As much as 75 percent of the state’s trans population lives in the Big Apple. The passage of this measure in New York City, with a population of just more than 8 million, dra matically increases at the national level the number of people covered by explicitly trans-inclusive anti-discrimination laws to
