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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2003)
may 2 . 2003 r7!T7TìT7TìTI news 25 COLDUUCU. B A N K C R □ orientation o f its partners.” New York law, he noted, does not define “spouses” as people of different sexes. While D unnes ruling doesn’t determine whether same-sex couples should he treated as spouses “for all purposes," it will have significant implications. “This is a breakthrough ruling for same-sex couples in New York and elsewhere,” attorney Adam Aronson said. “For more than two years, we’ve been waiting for a Vermont civil union to be treated appropriately in other states, and today we have that court ruling. This is a signif icant building block toward securing full equali ty for same-sex relationships.” St. V incent’s H ospital, in the heart o f M anhattan’s Greenw ich Village, had asked the state court to block John Langan from suing for wrongful death and medical m al practice, claim ing that because he and N eal C onrad Spicehandler were gay, their 15-year relationship should not be recognized legally. In addition to the civil union, the couple had several legal docum ents reflecting their rela tionship, and the hospital treated Langan as Spicehandler’s spouse throughout the m ed ical ordeal. he House State Affairs Committee held a hearing April 22 on House Bill 1911, which would prohibit the placement of children in a foster home with any unmarried individuals. Since Texas does not allow for civil unions or same-sex mar riage, gay and lesbian Texans, in effect, would be banned from Aimee Gelnaw serving as foster parents. “This bill does nothing but harm the children in the Texas foster care sys tem,” said Aimee Gelnaw, Family Pride C oali tion executive director. “These legislators should be working to improve the state’s foster care system rather than systematically wreak ing havoc on previously displaced, abused and neglected children and their foster families.” Another piece of legislation, HB 194, would prevent Texas queers from serving as foster par ents and mandate that all prospective foster par ents be asked if they are homosexual or bisexu al. Similar legislation in Oklahoma, HB 1308, would ban “a homosexual, bisexual or lesbian" from adopting in the state. “Children are best served when life-chang ing foster care decisions are made by child welfare professionals, not politicians,” said Sue Marriott, an Austin mother of two and member of the Family Pride Coalition board. “Supporters of this bill have tried to make this a morality issue. We don’t believe it’s moral to remove a child from the only stable home he or she might have known just because their foster parents are gay or unmarried. And it’s certainly not moral to let hard-to-place chil dren languish in an already overburdened fos ter care system.” TEXAS i i % t’s nothing more than a slap in the face to I the LG BT community of this state.” That’s how Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas execu tive director Randall Ellis described a Senate vote April 16 to bar the recognition of same-sex mar riages or civil unions performed outside the state. On a third and final reading, senators passed the bill on to the floor of the House. State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, authored the bill, which Ellis said is a just variation on a familiar theme in Texas politics. “The passage of [the [Defense of Marriage Act] by the Texas Senate illustrates a fact that gays and lesbians know all too well: Texas dis criminates," he said. "Gays and lesbians are denied literally hundreds upon hundreds of rights and privileges— everything from tax exemptions to hospital visitation rights." Senate Bill 7 originally was filed as Senate Bill 630, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst asked Wentworth to refile it, a strategic move that allowed the legislation to be assigned the lower number, indicating a higher priority. Ellis doubts the bill will hold up to judicial scrutiny in the coming years if it becomes law. “In 1967 the U .S. Supreme Court struck down laws that prohibited interracial marriages because they deprived individuals of the funda mental right to marry. This bill clearly violates the fundamental rights of gays and lesbians." “For Your Palm Springs Place in the Sun” John w. Sutler T MASSACHUSETTS State Sen. Jeff Wentworth authored the Texas Defense of Marriage Act EADIE ADAMS REALTY The act has a companion, House Bill 38 by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa. The House Committee on State Affairs already has heard the legislation and sent its own version to the Calendar Committee, where it will be scheduled for a vote by the full chamber. P olice are investigating the circumstances surrounding the April 9 assault on Concord- Carlisle High School student Caitlin Mueses, who reportedly had been harassed with homo- phobic epithets by her alleged attacker for par ticipating in the Day of Silence Project. The annual activity is aimed at ending vio lence leveled at students who are or are perceived to be queer. It is coordinated by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, whose execu tive director founded the organization while teaching at Concord Academy, where he advised the nation’s first Gay Straight Alliance. “Caitlin was one of more than 200,000 stu dents who courageously took action. ..to contin ue the progress we have made in reducing vio lence and harassment aimed at LG BT students in our schools, a movement which started in her hometown,” Kevin Jennings said. “I am deeply saddened to see Caitlin become a victim of vio lence herself, and we are now more determined than ever to carry forward our work to end harassment and violence in our schools today.” FL ORID A O tate Sen. Anna Cciwin, R-Leesburg, has O blocked progress on a safe schools bill by proposing a series of amendments to the Digni ty for All Students Act including references to obscene phone calls and sex with corpses and animals. “We can only guess at her intentions, because the sheer volume of her amendments have blocked even so much as a hearing on the bill,” said Nadine Smith, Equality Florida exec utive director. “Either she thinks dealing with Bus: (760) 778-5500 Fax: (760) 323-7832 Cell/Pgr: (760) 774-0685 E-mail: ccsvs@aol.com 431 South Palm Canyon Palm Springs, CA 92262 ta i State Sen. Anna Cowin has blocked progress on a Florida safe schools bill school safety is a joke or she’s manipulating the system to block any real debate on a critical school safety issue.” The act would require schools getting public tax dollars to ban harassment and discrimination, provide training to educators to deal with these situations before they escalate to violence and ensure the effectiveness of the training is tracked. It has drawn strong bipartisan support and has more than 22 sponsors in the House and Senate. Similar laws have passed in eight states, and three others are considering such legislation. While most states have passed the laws in response to educators, students, parents and community requests, some have been compelled to act by costly lawsuits. The bill protects all students and provides specific guidelines around harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, marital sta tus, sex or gender, disability or sexual orienta tion. Despite the inclusiveness of the bill, oppo nents have most often targeted “sexual orienta tion" despite research showing that students perceived to be gay or lesbian are the most fre quent targets of the most vicious harassment. ARKANSAS f he American Civil Liberties Union has filed 1 suit in federal court against the Pulaski Ccxin- ty Special School District for its treatment of an openly gay 14-year-old student. The lawsuit con tends that officials violated Thomas McLaughlin’s rights to free speech, equal protection and privacy and that they violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment by preaching to him and forcing him read the Bible as punishment. “We tried to work with the district to reach a settlement that would protect Thom as McLaughlin’s constitutional rights and allow him to be open about his sexual orientation,” said James Esseks, A C LU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project litigation director. “They were offered ample opportunity to do the right thing here, but the district refused to meet our demands so we’re taking them to court to ensure that other lesbian and gay students in the dis trict wouldn’t face similar discrimination.” In papers filed April 8 with the U.S. District G xirt for the Eastern District of Arkansas, the A C LU is seeking an injunction to prevent Jack sonville Junior High School from further restrict ing McLaughlin’s speech with regard to his sexu al orientation or past discipline he’s been subject ed to by officials. “All I want out of this is for me and other gay students to be able to go to sduxil without being preached to and without being expected to lie about who we are,” he said. |T1 egon Camera a Everything Photographic We have a knowledgeable, friendly staff helping you find the rio'ht camera, binoculars, or photographic accessories. 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