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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 2003)
22 ju s t out • S e p te m b e r 1 9 .2 0 0 3 FLUI'.1'):’Ml news D a v id W. O w e n s P. C . & ASSOCIATES sm iry; the community imcc 1975 A tto r n e y s a t L Continued from Page 21 aw Serving Oregon, Washington and Colorado 503o224 3100 •> FAMILY LAW ❖ • Domestic Partnerships • Formation & Dissolution • Adoptions WILLS & TRUSTS ❖ SOCIAL SECURITY • Probate & Trusts • Conservatorships & Guardianships • Advance Directives ❖ BUSINESS FORMATION & LITIGATION • Corporations, Partnerships, LLCs & LLPs • Commercial Collections of large accounts • Divorce & Visitation ❖ *> REAL ESTATE • Home Purchase Reviews BANKRUPTCY • Advising Businesses & Individuals ❖ TAX ISSUES & APPEALS w w w o w e n s - la w c o m • 101 SW MAIN, SUITE 700 • Portland, Oregon 97204 • Parking Validated Financing That Floats! "A fter talking with a couple of local lenders, we were very fru strated with the reception we received on our Chapter 13. We’d met Christine at the Pride Festival and decided to give her a call. Unlike the others, sh e w o rk ed w ith us to im p ro v e o u r c re d it file and then came through with financing where others told us it couldn’t be done. hxlav we live in a 1246 sq. ft. ranch with 2 back yards and 3 corgis. We re very thankful to Christine and know tliat sh e is o u r le n d e r for life.’’ - Mike. Bruce & our hot tabbing corgis election to lead one of the largest mental health organizations in the world is so important. As the first openly gay man elected to such a posi tion, I represent a final and total repudiation of : that past.” Pope describes himself as a “poor, gay, Cherokee hoy from rural southeast Missouri." He was one of the petitioners in the landmark Supreme Court decision Gay Lib vs. University of Missouri, which established the right of queer student groups to exist on college campuses across the nation. Call today for a free qualification over the phone First Time Buyers ♦ FHA/VA Loans Self-Employed ♦ Complicated Boirowers Bankiuptcies & Foreclosures Credit Problems ♦ Investment Properties 100% Financing Progroms Christine Hall Suitor I .mm (.on.'ulUml Prer.iiirjil r (.. bib 503 698-5429 - 800 343 9943 503 301-1941 I V , I mail h d lltii cnglcliomeinorlgagr coin Û EAGLE HOME William Findlay & Associates, LLC Insurance and Business Consulting NEW YORK red Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and his daughters and grand children protested Sept. 8 outside Sirius Satellite Radio’s building in New York City. They were demonstrating against Sirius O utQ , the first and only 24/7 national radio station for queers. More than 100 counterprotesters and passers- by Kxied and shouted hack at the 10 homo phobes. Afterward, in the interest of free expres sion, the Phelpses were invited to appear on Sir ius O utQ ’s McMullen & Johnson show, where they condemned Jews, Catholics and queers. “These protesters are the same people who picketed the funerals of Bob Hope and Matthew Shepard,” program director John McMullen said. “We believe that their message is hateful, spiteful, cmel and rabidly homophobic.” GEORGIA t th e conclusion ot a hearing Sept. 11 in Augusta, a state judge granted a R ich m ond C ounty male-to-female trans w om an’s CALIFORNIA request to legally change her nam e to reflect her gender. ollowing intervention hy the American Civil Liberties U nion, parents and students “This is a happy ending to a com m on bar- ; rier that many transgendered people experi- j who sued the N ovato Schixil District over a PHOTO BY CHIHIRO KOGA “People need to ask themselves , What do I want my life to he like 20 years from now ?’ They need to set a goal. They need to determine how to get there. They need to talk to those who can help them get there.” ♦:* riting in the Sept. 8 issue of Navy Times, Michael Rankin, a retired captain and Vietnam combat veteran, calls continued justi fications for the military’s gay ban “insulting to our service men and women.” He was respond ing to an Aug. 4 op-ed in the same paper hy retired Capt. R.A. Bowling, who called on advo cates for lifting the military’s gay ban to pursue such matters through Congress rather than the court system. In his rebuttal, Rankin points to the 1993 Senate hearings on gays in the military, noting that they “were among the most biased in recent memory.” The resulting ban on service hy gay, lesbian and hi U.S. citizens is, he writes, “an injustice that cannot stand forever as a perma- nent stain on our national life and character. We are tixi great a people to he hound hy old myths and prejudices. Sooner or later, whether hy court mling or congressional mandate, this discrimination will end. O n that day, America once again will have lived up to its promise— and we will all he the better for it.” The Supreme C ourt’s July decision overturn ing state stxlomy laws has provided new oppor tunity for challenging the military’s gay ban in court. Rankin writes: "Perhaps...Lawrence vs. Texas, which assured Americans they have the i right to privacy in their most intimate relation ships, will he* the vehicle for allowing homosex uals to serve openly. If so, 1 have no doubt that all branches of the military will adapt to this new challenge as they have adapted to similar challenges in the past.” encc,” said Greg Nev- ins of Lambda Legal, which represents Vick- ee Gatlift. “Now, Vick- ee will he able to write a check, use a credit card and fly tin an air plane— all things the rest of us take for granted— w ithout the ordeal she previously Vickee Gatliff faced because she couldn’t get identification that m atched her gender and her appearance.” W hen Gatliff first requested a name change, a judge denied her application, saying she first needed to undergo complete sex reassignment surgery. Established medical guidelines say that people seeking sex reassignment surgery should live fully as a member of the gender to which they are transitioning. T he law allows people to change their names unless there’s a reason to suspect that the name change is being requested to commit criminal fraud, according to Nevins. “There’s no legal basis for denying name changes like this,” he said. “W hen state judges deny these name changes, transgendered people are put in a double hind—judges say they must have surgery before being granted name changes, and doctors say they have to change names before having surgery.” Last m onth Lambda Legal won a similar bat 1 tle in Syracuse, N.Y., on behalf of a trans woman named Frances Fisher, ending her two-year struggle to obtain accurate identification. — Mill Findlay William S. Findlay CLU, ChFC Insurance »ml Business Consultant Phone: 503.299.9938 w illiam _findlay@ rom ru.H t.net O H U .r n « - n i1 V i7 Unique and expert advice for your insurance and business needs Fred Phelps and his family protest a queer radio station Sept. 8 in New York City
