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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2003)
September 5.2003 20 ih 'M jn e w s [¡¡(anadian I Pharmaceutical Supply Save up to 85% on US FDA Approved Brand Name and Generic Medication from Canada Get A Price Quote We m ake House Calls Eugene Office: 541-461-Home (4663) 1 - 8 S 8 -D R U G 604 free 1 ( 8 ^-^ 78 - 4604 ) f u ll w w w . myCPSupply.com 5 'p D ’ V>ne 1 ;t ...not y o u r stu ffy wine shop.. R e la x w ith f r ie n d s ALABAMA w h ile e n jo y in g N W w in e s he removal o f the Ten Commandments monument from Alabama’s Judicial Build ing in Montgomery represents a victory against discrimination as well as victory for state/church separation, Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists said Aug. 29. “The monument (Alabama C h ief Justice Roy| Mcxire surreptitiously placed in the court building is a stone idol that celebrates his own personal ambition. It is a graven image that hijacks unthinking religious sentimentality for demagogic purposes,” chairman Christopher Am tzen said. “The monument is a graven image, an ironic affront to the Second Commandment and an assault on the First Amendment.” Treasurer Tom Klein noted: “ Using tax dol lars to promote the Ten Commandments dis criminates against humanists, atheists and peo ple who believe in many minority religious faiths. T h e Establishment Clause o f the United States Constitution provides important protec tions for those (if us who do not wish to he forced to subsidize other people’s religions.” M(x>re has generated controversy with his homophobia as well as his Christian supremacist ideology. During a case involving a lesbian trying to get child custody, he advocated execution for queers and claimed homosexuality is “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature and a violation of the laws of nature” as well as “an inher ent evil against which children must he protected.” “ A ll t(x> often, heterosexist and anti-atheist bigotry come in the same fundamentalist pack age," Klem said. “T h e Sept. 11 attacks should have taught everyone the lunacy o f religious extremism. Unfortunately, some people still don’t get it.” h y th e ta s te , g la s s , a n d b o ttle . N o v ic e s welcome. ( J n ic ju e p ic n ic i v g i f t ite m s -O p e n — T u e s - 5 un 12 -5 p m - L ri iv ^ a t ‘til ?pm L o o k f o r us n e x t t o th e b rid g e in M i s t o r i c M u lt n o m a h V 'lla g e 7**7 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore shows off his Ten Commandments monument in Montgomery . 3 W C L a p ito l M w tj, P o rtla n d , O K ‘V Z I ? 901 / 977 - WINE. ( 9 + 61 ) Mechanics that fix everything.) Including your con T CALIFORNIA PDX Automotive is a certified Eco-Logical Business. (5 0 3 ) 2 8 2 -3 3 1 5 a u t o m o t i v e Mschnnks With A Consdsnc* he state Assembly approved landmark leg islation Sept. 4 that would grant registered domestic partners nearly all o f the rights, benefits and responsibilities cur rently granted only to mar ried spouses. The measure— authored by Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles— passed by a 41 - 32 vote. Gov. Gray Davis already has announced his intent to sign the hill when it reaches his desk. ■We « Onion canflgd D€Q 't o t » M t o y — Cw UMad M w A i i c i Gerard Lillie *5 93 4 N.E. Halsey j r ,im e i * a Gray Dav,s majority of legislators and the governor have now joined a majority of Californians in supporting legal protections for families of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians,” said Geoffrey Kors, Equality Calitomia executive director. “ While A B 205 dties not provide true equality lor same-sex couples since it does nothing to change California’s discriminatory marriage laws, it is an important measure that will provide critical protections for teas of thousands of Californians." Some o f the significant new benefits to he granted same-sex registered domestic partners include custixly and child and spousal support obligations, the right to make funeral arrange ments, community property and mutual respon sibility for debts. About 20,000 same-sex and senior opposite-sex couples have registered with the state during the three years that the domes- tic partner registry has been in place. Two of the nation’s top progressive think tanks recently released a study concluding that A B 205 will have a positive impact on California's budget. Because it will cause the income of a person’s domestic partner to he included when determin- ing eligibility for benefit programs, the state ccxild save between $8.1 million and $10 million a year. T h e Williams Project o f U C L A Schcxd o f Law and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies also found that A B 205 would potentially increase sides tax revenues from tourism and decrease state income tax revenues hut would have only a minor effect on adminis trative costs, state employee benefits and the state court system. They reached results similar to studies done about same-sex civil union legis lation in Vermont and Connecticut. The case alleges that by excluding the couple from its transfer policy, UPS is in violation of state laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, marital status and sex. The lawsuit also includes breach-of-contract charges against UPS, since the company has adopted policies promising its employees protection against sexual orientation discrimination and assuring them that they will he treated with fairness, dignity and respect. NATIONAL wo trans women were murdered and anoth er trans woman was brutally attacked last month in the nation’s capital. T h e incidents come one year after the unsolved murders of Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis, trans teens who were gunned down Aug. 12, 2002, in Southeast Washington, D.C. A n unnamed male-to-female transsexual was found beaten and shot Aug. 21 in a field in Southeast Washington. In Northwest Washing ton, police found another trans woman shot and in serious condition Aug. 20. Police also are investigating the Aug. 16 murder o f Elvys “ Bella Evangelista" Perez, a pop ular drag performer, as a hate-motivated crime. Antoine D. Jacobs, 22, was arrested for the killing in Northwest Washington, which authorities believe occurred after Jacobs paid Perez to have sex and later shot Perez to death upon learning she was biologically male. According to a news release issued by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay and Les bian Liaison Unit, officers “ are working to keep the commu nity informed re garding the recent violence." There is also increased police visibility in areas “ known to he fre quented by members o f the transgender community." “This is beyond sad. It is outrageous,” said Matt Foreman, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director. “ Sadly, however, transgender people are routinely brutal- ized across this coun United Parcel Service employee Daniel Kline (le ft) and his partner o f try, and almost all 27 years, Frank Sories, nearly were forced to live apart because o f a these attacks go unre discriminatory policy favoring straight, married couples ported and unno ticed. The only way that anything g(xxJ can come amhda Legal filed a lawsuit last month out o f these tragedies is if they are used to rally our community, our allies and government to respond against United Parcel Service in California state court on behalf (if Daniel Kline, who has in positive ways— by helping the police appre worked for the company for more than two hend the at-large perpetrators, by strengthening the district’s hate crimes law to explicitly cover decades, and his partner of 27 years, Frank Sories. In January, Sories was transferred from San Fran transgender persons, to get private and govern cisco to Chicago by his employer, United A ir ment support for transgender health and human lines, when its office in San Francisco closed. service programs.” Kline applied for a transfer to UPS’s Chicago branch under the company’s policy that lets employees relocate to avoid having their families he Am erican Bar Association, the na broken apart when their loved ones have job trans tion’s largest legal group, approved a res fers. Just hours after the lawsuit was filed, UPS olution Aug. 12 to support laws and court released a statement saying that it has changed its decisions perm ittin g second-parent adop policy to include domestic partners and that Kline’s tions, a procedure by which both members o f transfer application had been approved. a same-sex or other unmarried couple can “ This policy exists to keep families intact, establish legal parental relationships with and we filed this case to make sure all families their children. T h e vote nx>k place during are included. W e ’re encouraged by U P S ’s public the A B A ’s annual conference, which was statements, and we’re committed to making sure held this year in San Francisco. the company follows through on its promises to “This is a very important step forward for this couple and others like them,” attorney Jon children who deserve legal protection tor their W. Davidson said. “ W e ’re in discussions with familial relationships," said Mark Agrast, chair- U PS now and hope to resolve this s(x>n— hut, man o f the A B A Section o f Individual Rights for now, our lawsuit is moving forward.” and Responsibilities, which sponsored the reso-
