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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2003)
16 J o s t o u t • January 3.2003 news ~ \ Elise Campbell, gri . abr Real Estate Broker, Million Dollar Club It's th a t S im p le ! New L istin g . .. Forest Heights Gem! Sunny open floor plan with views. - $229,900 M a y yo u r hom e Call Today! 503-307-1353 Email: Elise@Realtor.com <7^ ¡bender, Office: 503-233-4363 ¡properties he f ille d ivilh happiness durinq this A h oh de“ c / ,/ i c / i t i t a if season: 'j f Fax: Web: 503-233-4413 www.EliseCampbell.com t£ r D3 90.7 FM Por+(ar)d 91«7 Colombia Gorge K B O 100.7 WÎ((aMç+te t/a((ev O Irxi et> end cnt ¿ í s t e n e r - S ^ o n r o r e l CoMwunítv Radío President Bush slipped anti-gay language into an H IV /A ID S fund regulation N A TIO N A L ctivists expressed disappointment Dec. 12 with an attempt by the White House to give special privileges to anti-gay groups. Failing to win approval hy Congress for his faith-based initiative, President Bush issued a proposed mle, to take effect next month, allowing charities receiving federal funding to discriminate in hir ing practices. “The Bush administration is giving away spe cial privileges to bigoted institutions,” said Chad Johnson, National Stonewall Democrats execu tive director. “This rule opens the dixir for fed erally funded charities to cloak anti-gay preju dice in the form of religious discrimination.” The language of the rule, issued in response to Executive Order 13198, allows for employ ment discrimination on religious grounds, which historically has served as a hack dtx>r for anti-gay bigotry. The directive would allow charities to fire or refuse to hire a person who does not hold to the strictest form of the employers faith. “Institutions can easily argue that employees’ sexual orientation is incompatible with their faith,” Johnson said. “Therefore, a gay Catholic can he fired from a Catholic charity if his or her employer happens to believe that homosexuali ty is inconsistent with Catholicism.” More alarming, the rule pennits bias on the basis of sexual orientation among institutions com peting for HIV/AIDS funding. The propositi specif ically allows charitable groups receiving money from the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program to fire or refuse to hire queers. C A L IF O R N IA federal lawsuit was filed Dec. 17 on behalf of Ashly Massey, an eighth-grader in Banning who was forced to sit in the principals office dur ing physical education class after the gym teacher learned she was a lesbian. Attorneys said the schools actions violated her rights under the U.S. Constitution and the Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, a state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. When the teacher told Massey’s mother that there was a problem with her daughter being in the girl’s locker room, the mother asked whether her daughter had misbehaved. The teacher report ed that Massey had not acted improperly or made any inappropriate comments to other students. The mother asked the teacher to contact her again if any future problems arose. She never received another call. When Massey showed up for physical educa tion the next day, she was told she no longer would be allowed in the class. For a week and a half, she sat in the principal’s office during the time she was supposed to be in gym. A D avid W. O wens P. C. & ASSOCIATES serving the community since'1975 A tto r n e y s a t L aw David W. O w ens Brady M. Ricks *o f counsel Chad E. Schaff Richard A. Crews*t Roger Gray* t licensed Orejpm, W ashington, and C olorado 5 0 3 °2 2 4 °3 1 0 0 ❖ FAMILY LAW ♦ W ILLS & TRUSTS • Domestic Partnerships • Probate & Trusts • Formation & Dissolution • Conservatorships • Adoptions • Divorce & Visitation ❖ REAL ESTATE • Home Purchase Reviews & Guardianships • Advance Directives * BANKRUPTCY • Advising Businesses & Individuals ❖ PERSONAL INJURY • Auto Accidents <0> SOCIAL SECURITY + CRIMINAL ❖ LANDLORD/TENANT LAW • Concentration on Landlord Rights ❖ BUSINESS FORMATION & LITIGATION • Corporations, Partnerships, LLCs & LLPs • Commercial Collections of large accounts ❖ TAX ISSUES & APPEALS w w w owens-lawcom • 101 SW MAIN, SUITE 700 • Portland, Oregon 97204 • Parking Validated “It wasn’t right for the schixil to discriminate against me because of my sexual orientation,” Massey said. “I’m hoping this inspires other peo ple to take a stand when they feel they haven’t been treated right or when they see someone treated unfairly. It’s not right for anybody to have to go through this.” Massey’s complaint, filed in Riverside, asks for damages and for an injunction requiring the school to develop policies, teacher training and other measures to ensure that students do not suffer similar discrimination in the future. M IS S IS S IP P I he Mississippi Commission on Judicial Per formance recommended Dec. 20 that the Mississippi Supreme Court penalize a judge who publicly advocat ed that gay men and lesbians should be institutionalized. Officials said his com ments clearly violated the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct and indicated he would not decide cases involving queers fairly G Nevjns and impartially. The decision marks only the second time a commission in the South has recommended penalizing a judge for anti-gay bias and is the first such ruling in Mississippi. A growing num ber of states explicitly include sexual orientation in their codes of conduct prohibiting judges from demeaning people based on gender, race, religion and other factors. “This is a significant step forward for Missis sippi and for the South," attorney Greg Nevins said. “Judges are duty-bound to give a fair hear ing to everyone, and these kinds of extremely homophobic statements make gays and lesbians, who often face an uphill battle for equality, feel that the justice system is closed off to them." In March, Mississippi Justice Quirt Judge Q m nie Wilkerson wrote in a letter to the editor of the George County Times, “In my opinion, gays and lesbians should be put in some type of mental institute instead of having a [domestic partnership] law like this passed for them.” He was referring to an Asstx:iated Press article about the ability of same-sex survivors to sue for the wrongful death of their partners. “I got sick on my stomach as I read the news story,” he wrote. Wilkerson invoked a biblical passage sug gesting those who break GtxJ’s law “arc worthy of death.” The right-wing American Family Association’s Center for Law and Policy is
