5.2003»
colo w e u .
BANKER □
lution. “We are very gratified the A BA has
taken this step to protect children.”
The resolution builds on prior ABA resolu
tions regarding same-sex parent families. In 1995 it
adopted a policy prohibiting the use of sexual ori
entation in making child custody and visitation
decisions, and in 1999 it adopted a policy calling
for laws establishing that sexual orientation should
not used to prohibit a person from adopting.
“Support for second-
parent adoptions is now
official A BA policy,”
said Courtney Joslin, co-
chairwoman of the Sex
ual Orientation and
Gender Identity Com
mittee of the Section of
Individual Rights and
Responsibilities. “This
will send a powerful
message to legislatures
and courts that second- Courtney Joslin
parent adoptions are
sound policy and should he made available to
protect children with same-sex parents.”
Second-parent adoptions are available by
statute or appellate court decision in 10 states
and in specific counties in at least 15 other
states. Courts in only four states have dis
approved second-parent adoptions: Colorado,
Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Î
eichen Lehmkuhl, one of the grand prize
winners in the summer series The Amazing
Race 4, has agreed to appear in a documentary
investigating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy.
The film, set to start prcxluction this fall, will
span the 10-year history of the policy and follow
the building political momentum to overturn it.
“As a former Air Force officer and graduate of the
U.S. Air Force Academy, Reichen is the ideal
personality to be involved with this important
issue and project," director Jonathan Baker said.
The dtxumentary will fix:us on the “don’t ask,
don’t tell” policy and its impact on national securi
ty, taxpayers and individual servicemembers’ lives.
Since 1993, the federal ban on gay, lesbian and hi
military personnel has resulted in more than 9,000
discharges. The Pentagon has also spent more than
$250 million to train replacements for service-
members discharged under the gay ban.
“The Pentagon is firing three people every
day simply because of their sexual orientation,"
Lehmkuhl said. “If the same thing were happen
ing in corporate America, most citizens would
be rightfully outraged. The fact that our nation’s
largest employer discriminates against gay
■W
ET
Americans under the sanction of federal law is
equally appalling."
Lehmkuhl gained popularity this summer
when he appeared on the hit television reality
series The Amazing Race 4 with his spouse, Chip
Amdt. The first openly gay couple to win the
arduous contest, they also achieved nationwide
acceptance and support as viewers tuned in each
week to cheer them to victory.
M IS S O U R I
he Kansas City Council decided Aug. 28 to
allow domestic partner benefits for unmar
ried city employees.
The 11-1 vote establishes a domestic partner
registry for city residents and allows for city
employees to take family and medical leave for
their domestic partners. The council postponed
a vote until the spring on whether to allow
unmarried city employees to cover their domes
tic partners on their health insurance plans.
“The Kansas City Council is to be com
mended for passing these important benefits.
But we also encourage them to pass one of the
most critical benefits of all for same-sex part
ners— and that is the ability to cover a partner’s
health insurance,” said Seth Kilboum, Human
Rights Campaign national field director. “This
benefit has already been granted in 163 cities
and counties across the nation.”
Jim McDonald, a member of a coalition of
local groups headed by the LG BT Community
Center of Kansas City, added: “I’m thrilled. I
think the council did the right thing.”
F1RC and the statewide queer rights organiza
tion Promo are doing a series of town halls across
Missouri to discuss employment equality, fixzusing
on federal and state legislation that would add
sexual orientation to the list of protected cate
gories in employment nondiscrimination law.
The state bill’s definition of sexual orientation
also includes coverage for trans employees.
LO U IS IA N A
n court papers filed Aug. 14, Lambda Legal
joined the city of New Orleans in defending
the city’s policy extending health insurance
benefits to domestic partners of its gay and les
bian workers and protecting the city’s domestic
partner registry.
In 1997 the city of New Orleans, by execu
tive order, extended insurance benefits to same-
sex partners of city employees. The domestic
partner benefits policy and the city’s domestic
partner registry have come under attack by a
right-wing conservative group, the Alliance
Defense Fund, based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“The city of New Orleans tixik it upon itself
to do the right thing by its gay and lesbian
I
T
The Amazing Race 4 winner Reichen Lehmkuhl (left, with Chip Amdt) is using his newfound
celebrity to raise awareness about “ don’t ask, don’t tell’’
employees and their
families by giving them
access to the same health
insurance plans as its
heterosexual employees
and their families. The
city is well within its
rights to do so,” attorney
Brian Chase said.
Lambda represents
Peter Sabi, who has
worked in the city’s
.
Vieux Carre Commis-
020
sion its a senior building inspector for nine years.
His partner of almost nine years, self-employed
writer Philip Centanni, was paying $500 a
month for health insurance before the city
extended benefits to its employees’ same-sex
partners. Now the couple pay $50 a month for
Centanni’s coverage.
Public employers in 11 states, 23 counties and
58 cities nationwide have extended health insur
ance benefits to the domestic partners of gay and
lesbian employees. In four states, 11 counties and
50 cities nationwide, gay and lesbian couples may
sign a domestic partnership registry that may or
may not carry any direct benefit. Private employ
ers often use domestic partner registries as a way
to identify the eligibility of domestic partners of
their gay and lesbian employees for health insur
ance and other benefits.
HAW AII
utlining a long history of discrimination
against trans people, attorneys Aug. 14
urged the Supreme Quirt of Hawaii to mle that
gender identity bias is against state law.
The issue anise when the Hawaii Civil
Rights Commission decided that trans people
are covered by prohibitions against sex discrim
ination in a case involving several complaints of
gender bias against a company that provides
inventory services to retailers. RGIS Inventory
Specialist then challenged the commission’s
decision in court, claiming trans people aren’t
covered by sex discrimination laws. The com
mission lost that case and now is appealing it to
the state supreme court.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a
friend-of-the-court brief in the case outlining the
application of sex discrimination laws to cases
involving gender identity bias. It told the stories
of many trans people who faced egregious dis
crimination at their jobs but prevailed in court:
• A female-to-male transsexual was consid
ered an exemplary employee for eight years until
he began his gender transition. Then his
employer began calling him names and stripping
him of job responsibilities.
• A female-to-male transsexual who had been
hired based on qualifications and experience
began his gender transition and his employer gave
him false, negative performance reviews, re
assigned him to an office that required a much
longer commute, harassed him and later fired him.
• A doctor who was the medical director at
an outpatient treatment facility was told, “G o
back to your previous appearance!” by a supervi
sor after she began transitioning from male to.
female. When she refused, she was eventually
fired, and her patients were told lies that she
probably wasn’t practicing medicine anymore.
• An editorial assistant who was transition
ing from male to female was repeatedly told to
stop “dressing as a woman" and then fired.
• A male-to-female traassexual was grilled by
supervisors who demanded “medical evidence of
her sexuality” and then told her that the driver’s
licease, Social Security card and notary public
card she had showing her female name weren’t
enough. The next day, she was fired. JH
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Compiled by News Editor IIM RADOSTA, who can
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