2 6 > M t a n t • (unfi 6. 2003
^lultnemak Village /UitUitcma/i Village /Ualtumali Village /Uultnemak Village
news
Hall of Texas, Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota
and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina. Several
of these members co-sponsored the hill last year.
There is no Senate companion measure.
••8*
he House Committee on Education and
the Workforce defeated May 16 an amend
ment offered by U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave,
R-Colo., that would have prohibited funding for
'contraceptive distribution.
The amendment to House Resolution 1925—
the Runaway, Homeless and Missing Children
Protection Act— was defeated by a vote of 12-29,
with seven Republicans and 22 Denrux:rats
opposed. However, in a separate voice vote, the
committee approved an amendment offered by
Musgrave to prohibit the use of funds from the
bill for needle-exchange programs.
H ie freshman sponsor has a history of am -
gay bias. As a state legislator, Musgrave led
efforts to pass Colorado’s Defense of Marriage
Act, which sought to bar same-sex couples from
marriage rights.
T
U .S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo.,
wanted to prohibit federal funding for
contraceptive distribution
The only museum where you
get to take the treasures home.
c lo th in g , .in t itju e s , ¿v home* J c v o r
7814 SW Capitol Hwy. Portland • 503/246-3631
7 * * 3 . S W O f '>ltol f jw<)
»
fro m M o r o c c o
Sip D’ V in e
...not (four
wine shop...
R = l ax witfi frie n d s while en jo yin g N W wines
b y the ta ste , g la ss , and bottle.
N o v i c e s w e lc o m e .
SJn icju e p icn ic ¿ ’g ift items
—O p e n —
T u e s ~ S u n !2 .-3 p m ~ f r i
9pm
|_ook fo r u s n e xt to the b rid g e in M 's to r ic M ultno m ah V'H age
7447 5W C-’ P'tol liwy. Portland. O K 971'9 * JOV777-WINE. (*+¿5)
..................................... ■■■■■■■■.... .................
Beyond Borden
Fairly Trafal Hamknfr and Organic (off«
7780-B W Capitol Hwy.
In Multnomah Village
50 j. 244.1752
OPttl TUE 5 DAT 5 UH 0 AT
k p J lirtm. tfr <nlh iwrtrtwj tnfm
4 11* twfcw Mfly tanunml. I*.
Ii i MWr tt» Far Mr fr*nM
N A TIO N A L
| he Federal Marriage Amendment was
1 introduced May 21 in the U.S. House of
Representatives. H ie measure seeks to deny
marriage to same-sex couples and to circumvent
state and federal courts from hearing cases on
marital benefit issues.
A 1997 study by the General Accounting
Office listed more than 1,000 federal rights,
benefits, obligations and protections associated
with marriage that gay and lesbian couples have
no access to, including tax benefits, inheritance
rights and even privileges as basic as being able
to make decisions for a partner in the hospital.
A recently released Gallup Poll indicated six
in 10 U.S. citizens support giving same-sex cou
ples the same legal rights as married heterosexu
al couples regarding health care benefits and
Social Security survivor benefits. The poll also
showed that the country is evenly split, 49 per
cent in favor and 49 percent against, on allow
ing gay and lesbian couples to form civil unions,
giving them some of the legal rights of marriage.
A recent study of the 2000 census by the
Urban Institute indicated the average same-sex
couple is, statistically speaking, a mirror image
of the average married couple. For example, the
average same-sex couple with children in Ohio
is raising 1.79 children, while the average het
erosexual couple is raising 1.93 children. Also in
Ohio, 75.1 percent of same-sex couples own
their homes, and 82.2 percent of other couples
own their homes, which have the same median
value of $112,500.
H ie amendment states: “Marriage in the
United States shall consist only of the union of
a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution
nor the constitution of any state, nor state or
federal law, shall he construed to require that
marital status or the legal incidents thereof he
conferred upon unmarried coupled or groups.”
Passing a constitutional amendment is, by
design, a complex process. First it has to he
intrcxluced as a joint resolution in the House
and Senate. The amendment must pass both
houses by a two-thirds majority vote. It then
must be ratified by three-quarters of states.
Last year, during the 107th Congress, a simi
lar resolution was introduced in the House hut
never in the Senate. It did not receive any leg
islative action and subsequently died.
The amendment is sponsored by Republican
U.S. Reps. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, Jo
Ann Davis of Virginia and David Vitter of
Louisiana and Democratic U.S. Reps. Ralph M.
TEXAS
epublican Gov. Rick Perry signed the Texas
Defense of Marriage Act into law May 28.
The hill defines mar
riage as reserved for a
man and a woman
and allows Texas to
deny recognition of
same-sex civil unions
entered into in other
states.
Having passed
the state Senate, the
act overwhelmingly
passed the Texas
House by a 118-9 R jck Perry
vote April 30. The
Senate accepted House amendments May 16.
The bill was authored by Sen. Jeff Went
worth, R-San Antonio, and sponsored by Rep.
Warren Chisum, R-Pampa. Chisum, from the
flexir of the Statehouse, blatantly admitted the
prejudicial nature of the act.
“I’ve never made any statement that this hill
did not discriminate,” he said. “This hill does
discriminate. It allows only for a man and a
woman to be married in this state and he recog
nized in marriage in this state. This hill does dis
criminate against any other kind of marriage."
Randall Ellis, Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of
Texas executive director, added: “From the
onset, the new leadership in Texas has placed
this bill on the fast track, pushing its social agen
da despite a $10 billion deficit, insurance crisis
and school finance crisis. G L B T Texans are
denied hundreds upon hundreds of rights
because they are not allowed to marry the per
son they love. The time for demanding equality
is now. This is not the end of this issue.”
R
A
violent attack on a gay Houston high
school student is breathing new life into
legislation aimed at preventing discrimination
against queer students in Texas.
The student, who has asked to remain anony
mous, is recovering from injuries he sustained
when a teacher’s aide at Westbury High Schtxd
reportedly slammed him to the ground, breaking
his arm in two places. Police say as many as eight
other students witnessed the attack.
The student alleges he was harassed through
out the year by the teacher’s aide, who is also an
assistant coach at the school. But the attack still
took the boy by surprise.
“He pnx:eeded to wrap some plastic anxind his
hand and wrapped it arxxjnd my neck and pulled
me up out of my desk and slammed me to the
floor,” the student said. "I’m terrified of that man."