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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2003)
lune 20.2003 news RIVMAX S ig n a t u r e NATIONAL T P r o p e r t ie s ! “T i n a ’s e x p e rtise a llo w e d me to lìn d an in v e stm e n t p ro p e rty e ffic ie n tly and p ro fita b ly . I h ig h ly recom m end T in a to p urcha se a f ir s t , second, o r re n ta l incom e h o m e !" —Ju v p b in t Ciri hi T ina Schafer, Inc.,<;Ri.Ai<n Associate Broker Alttlli-Aiillton Dollar Producer 282-4000 x 122 RIVMAX Signature Properties ^^TTi e-mail: tinas@rem ax.net La *Rog JeweCers Diamonds on ‘B roadway now offers you ^ the biggest selection of commitment rings in Portland. Stop by our downtown store, open 7 days a week. he U.S. Department of Justice has reversed its decision to han its annual Gay Pride ceremony. However, the event will not enjoy the spon sorship of the agency as it has in the past, and as other events do. O th er federal agencies— including the State Department, which is head ed hy Secretary of State Colin Powell—are holding similar Pride events that enjoy full departmental support. Officials at DO] Pride, the agency’s voluntary group of queer employees, were told earlier this month that they would he prohibited from hold ing their annual Pride event at the department. List year’s DOJ Pride event featured a depart ment-sponsored speech hy l\'p u ty Attorney G en eral Ltrry Thompson to roughly 150 employees. Department officials claimed this year’s event would he disallowed because the White House had not issued a proclamation acknowledging Gay Pride Month. There was no proclamation from President Bush prior to last year’s event either. During Attorney General John Ashcroft’s nomination hearing to head the department, he responded to a question hy U.S. Sen. Russ Fein- gold, D-Wis., about whether he planned to dis criminate against gay and lesbian employees or IX3J Pride: “I would not tolerate discrimination against any employee at the IXpartm ent of Jus tice based on sexual preference. I have no intent to ...treat this group differently than any other.” Feingold called on Ashcroft to honor his word in a letter sent June 10: “Congress and the Ameri can people expect the attorney general to ensure equal treatment and equal protection for all Amer icans. I urge you to reverse the department’s deci sion immediately and allow DOJ Pride to use department facilities to hold meetings and events.” After caving to the pressure, the department said the ceremony could he held in the Great Hall of Justice at the agency’s headquarters in Washing ton, D.C., as it has been for several years, hut with out agency sponsorship— which would force DOJ Pride to pay more than $1,000 to use the space, unlike every similar employee group. DOJ Pride rejected this deal, opting to hold the June 20 event at the Russell Senate Office Building instead. “T he board has decided to decline the department's offer of second-class citizenship,” it said in a statement. “We will not pay a toll to access the Great Hall of Justice." Honorees at the event will include Lambda Legal for its historic challenge of the Texas “Homosexual C onduct" Law. T he U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the case June 23. r '\ James Giardino Your Holiday Jeweler with Pride Oregon's Family Business of the Year (503) 223-5051 539 SW Broadway www.Larog.com U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., has reintroduced a bill providing benefits for federal employees’ domestic partners Liw and Justice, which regularly litigates cases against gay rights. In contrast, his Web site dixis not connect visitors to groups that support queer civil rights. Pryor also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Lawrence vs. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the state’s “Homosexual Conduct" Law, likening homosexuality to incest, necrophil ia, pedophilia, prostitution and adultery. He also argued that sodomy is a chosen behavior un worthy of constitutional protection and failed to recognize queers as people worthy of the same rights that other U.S. citizens take for granted. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark believes the time has come to reconsider “don’t ask, don’t tell” % retired N A TO commander and four-star general told NBC’s Meet the Press June 15 that he would “absolutely” lixik at changing the U.S. military’s ban on gay, lesbian and hi serv- icemembers. “I don’t think it works,” Wesley Clark said when asked about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” pol icy. "Essentially, we’ve got a lot of gay people in A I p re sid e n t Bush has nom inated anti-gay 1 Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11 th C ir cuit. He is on record using mean-spirited rhetoric that compares same-sex relationships with incest and pedophilia and perpetuates hurtful myths. Pryor abused his position by utilizing govern m ent resources to directly and indi rectly attack queer U.S. citi zens across the country. He linked the state attorney general’s Web site to vehe m ently anti-gay groups, including the Family R e search C ouncil and the A m eri can C en ter for William Pryor: another “inclusive” Republican the armed forces, we always have had, always will. A nd 1 think th at...w e should welcome people that want to serve.” Clark went on to say that the ban is “an issue that the leaders in the armed forces arc going to have to work with and resolve.” T he United States “should welcome people that want to serve,” he told host Tim Russert. Clark also pointed out that many N A TO allies have abandoned their policies of discrimi nation against queer trixips. Openly gay trixips from allied nations “already are” serving togeth er in joint exercises with the U nited States, he said. "A nd they served together in Kosovo and in Bosnia and so forth." Clark is considered a possible candidate for the 2004 Dem<x:ratic presidential nomination. O f the party’s nine declared candidates, eight have voiced support for repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” A n article published in the summer issue of Parameters, a publication of the U.S. Army, co ncludes that the ban is “based on prejudice, not on military necessity.” T he report examines the experiences of foreign military allies who have lifted their ban on gay servicemembers. It finds no detrimental impact on unit cohe sion, morale or retention of recruiting. In inter views with numerous military officers and schol ars from Britain, Israel, Canada and Australia, the study found that lifting the gay ban was a “non-event" for U.S. allies. he Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations A ct was reintroduced June 11 in the Senate and House. T h e legislation, intro duced hy U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, D-M inn., and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would grant the same benefits, including health insurance coverage, to the domestic partners of federal employees that are currently granted to employ ees’ legal spouses. U nlike married couples, unmarried federal employees currently receive no health insurance coverage for their partners, representing a signif icant form of discrimination against gay and les bian employees. Health care and other benefits account for a considerable portion of an employ ee’s compensation package. T he current lack of coverage, consequently, denies federal employ ees with domestic partners equal compensation for equal work. T he Associated Press began offering domes tic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian employees effective June 1. T he far-reaching decision will cover the same-sex unmarried part ners of the A P’s 3,700 employees working in 242 bureaus around the world. Founded in 1848 and considered the back bone of the world’s information system, the AP T
