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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2002)
1 17.2002 news + N o rth S ta r Mortgage LLC family, et al. E v e ry Person who wants to Ow n a Hom e Can & Should C all Russell Leggroan or Roberta Kelly at NorthStar Mortgage W e also offer information on mortgage refinancing and commercial property See our ad under Real Estate Loans W estover H eights C L I N I C Offering general internal medicine and excelling in sexual health care Serving the community for 17 yea n ph: 503-249-0843 ~ f\: 503-249-0846 2330 NW Flanders ‘ Suite 207 4370 ME Halsey 123 - Portland. O k 97213 mvw.northstarmortgageonline.com 503 - 226-6678 ( 503 ) 232-3600 AUTOBODY • • • • Collision Repair Problems Solved Wheel Alignment T ires Oil Changes Service Work State Farm Service First Provider Specializing in Foreign & European Cars Mini-Vans & Sport Utility Vehicles 2454 E. BURNSIDE • PORTLAND, OR 97214 www.fergusonauto.com Family Owned & Operated Since 1952 dedicated listener expert negotiator experienced deal-m aker creative m arketer diligent researcher realtor T im e f o r a n e w h o m e GROUP, INC. jerry parent • sales associate 1220 nw lovejoy, suite 130 Portland • 503 . 680.4335 Dignity/USA president Mary Louise Cervone addresses the media after the St. Patrick’s Cathedral demonstration April 28 in New York City N EW Y O R K ore than 150 people gathered April 28 in front of St. Patricks Cathedral in New York City to respond to the Roman Catholic Church’s recent attacks on gay priests. Several leaders have publicly blamed homo sexuality for the current child sex abuse scandal. Monsignor Eugene Clark, substituting in the pulpit for Cardinal Edward Egan at St. Patrick’s, said, “It is a disorder and, as a disorder, should prevent a person from being ordained a priest.” During a press conference after the demon stration, speakers denounced Catholic Church leaders and expressed outrage that they have scapegoated gay priests. “Threatening to purge the priesthood of gay men is a way for church leaders to deflect atten tion from the real moral crisis in the church— that is, a culture of secrecy, conspiracy and lies by priests, bishops and cardinals that has dis graced the very institution of Catholicism,” said Mary Louise Cervone, president of Dignity/USA, the largest national gay and les bian Catholic organization. “We demand that Cardinal Egan, Cardinal [Anthony] Bevilaqua [archbishop of Philadelphia] and all of their brother bishops stop, once and for all, the spiri tual violence against G LBT people." M ❖ X. 7 ithout debate, the New York Legislature \ V unanimously passed a joint program bill May 6 to help ensure surviving family members, including same-sex partners, of Sept. 11 victims receive the benefits they are owed. The act does a number of technical things, including making federal fund awards exempt from state taxes and clarifying the relationship of federal fund awards and workers’ compensation payments. Significantly for same-sex partners, it includes language specifying the Legislature’s desire that they he eligible for federal fund awards. The language is the result of extensive negoti ations between the attorney general’s and gover nor’s offices and the Empire State Pride Agenda. The civil rights advocacy organization hopes this provision will help give Special Master Kenneth Feinberg an additional basis in law to distribute federal fund awards to surviving same-sex partners. “We commend our elected officials for trying to make New York a model for how victims of Sept. 11 and their surviving families, including same-sex partners, should be treated in the eyes of the law,” said Joe Grabarz, Empire State Pride Agenda executive director. “From the very beginning, they have tried to be supportive of all victim family survivors, regardless of any defin ing characteristic including sexual orientation.” After a long campaign by gay rights organi zations for language explicitly recognizing the eligibility of same-sex partners for the federal compensation fund, the U.S. Justice Depart ment did not do so when it issued its final regu lations March 7. Instead, it let state law where gay survivors live make the determination. Gina Smith and Heidi Norton M ASSACH USETTS r I he Massachusetts trial court ruled May 8 against seven same-sex couples who chal lenged state laws denying them the fundamental right to marry. The case was filed in April 2001 by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders and was argued March 12 before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Connolly. The couples plan to appeal. “T his is just the beginning,” attorney Jen nifer Levi remarked. “We have always known that there will be no final resolution in this case until it is heard by the Supreme Judicial Court. Our objective in this round was pri marily to begin the process of making our case for equal treatment of all families in the comm onwealth.” Reaction from the couples was immediate. “We arc deeply disappointed that the court did not recognize that we seek simply the same legal protections for our family that other committed couples throughout the commonwealth enjoy,” said Hillary Goodridge, who has been in a rela tionship of 14 years with Julie Goodridge. The court based its denial of marriage licens es on a legal conclusion that having and raising children is central to the purpose of marriage, despite acknowledging that four of the seven couples in the case have kids and that state law allows same-sex couples to adopt jointly. G ina Smith, who sought to marry her part ner, Heidi Norton, partially to ensure their sons would grow up in a world where their par ents’ relationship is legally and communally respected, commented: “The decision is partic ularly troubling because Heidi and 1, like many of our gay and lesbian neighbors, have chil dren. We feel strongly that our sons deserve the same level o f protection that other chil dren in the state enjoy.”
