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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2003)
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William “Pete" Knight, R-Palm- dale, filed suit Sept. 22 in the Superior Court of Sacramento County to block implementa tion of the l Tomes tic ’ Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003. The measure, which Gov. Gray Davis signed into law Sept. 19, grants to all registered domes tic partners, both same- sex and opposite-sex, the overwhelming ma- William “ Pete” Knight jority of state rights, benefits and responsibilities enjoyed by legally mar ried spouses. However, domestic partners will not be permitted to file joint tax returns and will not receive any of the marital privileges granted under federal law, nor will their relationship be recog nized in most other states. Knight is a well-known opponent of equality for queer Californians. He served as the author of 2000’s Proposition 22, which attempted to prohibit the state from recognizing marriages between same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions. “This lawsuit proves th at Pete Knight and his allies do nor support families,” said G eof frey Kors, Equality C alifornia executive direc tor. Assembly Bill 205 “is a law that protects all C alifornia families, no t just narrowly defined families th at m eet with the approval of th e religious right. Family values should m ean that all families are valued. By filing this lawsuit, Knight is arguing that the gov ernm ent should discrim inate against families th a t he does not value.” D uring th e Proposition 22 cam paign, spokesperson Robert Glazer stated M arch 6, 2000, on Fox’s The Edge with Paula Zahn that th e measure “was so narrowly defined, with just 14 words, not just for simplicity’s sake but for the legal impact. It will not affect domes tic partnership rights. It will not affect hospi tal visitation rights or child custody rights or inheritance rights.” K night claim s AB 205 nullifies many aspects of Proposition 22 and goes against the voters’ wishes. However, Californians make a clear distinction between domestic partner ship rights and marriage, according to a recent Field Poll th at found widespread support ior extending specific legal protections and oblig ations to same-sex couples. About 72 percent are OK with legal recognition in areas of fam ily rights, such as hospital visitation and m ed ical power of attorney. About 61 percent sup port granting financial dependence status, including pension benefits, health insurance and family leave. S COLORADO m anagem ent team s & lenders to m eet everyone’s financial needs T ïï aying th at one of th e n atio n ’s largest H M O s may cost a D enver man his life by refusing to cover a kidney transplant because he has HIV, Lambda Legal filed a formal appeal Sept. 22 with Kaiser Perm anente and asked it to reverse its denial in light of a range of scientific data and the m an’s personal h ealth history and experience. “To deny our client the care he needs, Kaiser is ignoring published reports on organ transplants for HIV and not kxiking at its patient’s individual health status,” attorney Hayley Gorenberg said. “In the last seven years since the advent of better treatm ents for people with HIV, the medical community nationwide has learned a great deal about organ trans plants. Kaiser’s decision denying this m an’s transplant is not based on gixxl medicine or sound science, and it may cost him his life.” S John C arl, 53, began experiencing kidney failure in th e fall of 2001 and receives dialysis three times a week. This summer, he request ed coverage for a kidney transplant, but Kaiser denied his request in late July, saying, “kidney tran sp lan tatio n for H IV -positive patients is co n traindicated...due to its exper imental status and nonfavorable outcom es.” G orenberg said Kaiser’s justification is simply untrue. “It’s flat-out wrong that kidney transplants for people with HIV are experi m ental and have unfavorable outcom es. T h ere’s a solid and growing hexly of scientific and medical evidence that clearly shows HIV does not significantly affect th e outcom e of kidney transplantation.” MICHIGAN his bigotry, not gay A m ericans," he said. “Suggesting th at som eone is a bigot because they w ant th e legal right to visit a dying p a rt ner in th e hospital is wrong and, frankly, disgusting.” G illespie said that although a decision hinges on the outcom e of a potential m ar riage ruling in M assachusetts, the R N C seems ready to support a constitutional am endm ent outlaw ing recognition of same-sex relation ships. He noted th at he sees no difference betw een civil unions and same-sex marriages. “T h e last thing the G O P needs to do is to p attern th e 2004 R epublican c o n v en tio n after th e 1992 H ouston co n v en tio n, which started a culture war in A m erica," said Patrick G uerriero, Log C abin Republicans executive director. “Log C ab in ’s message is clear: For our party to be a pro-family party, we must value all A m erican families. We should not marginalize gay families. A nd, to be true to our conservative roots, we should not tinker with the sacred U nited States C o n stitu tio n to score tem porary political points.” Responding to concerns of religious free dom and tolerance and C ath o lic C hurch teach in g s in th e article, G u erriero, a C atholic, added: “T h e last tim e 1 checked, the C atholic C h u rch was opposed to the war in Iraq and the d eath penalty. 1 doubt we will see those planks in our platform ." he Board of Commissioners of Lapeer C ounty last m onth passed a viciously anti-gay resolution that supports an am end m ent to the state constitution defining m ar riage as an institution strictly between one m an and one wom an. W hile two o th e r M ichigan counties, Jackson and O akland, have passed similar resolutions, the Lapeer resolution was especially m ean-spirited as it linked gay and lesbian U.S. citizens with ram pant disease and painted gay parents as a threat to “innocent children.” “T he resolution...is particularly malicious as it plays upon deep-seated prejudices by tw'isting data to the point that it flies in the face o f both expert opinion and research as well as basic com m on sense,” said Seth Kil- j bourn, H um an Rights C am paign national field director. “T he Lapeer C ounty resolution is an assault on gay and lesbian citizens of M ichigan and their loved ones, and it helps fuel anti-gay discrim ination that can lead to hate violence." Jeffrey Montgomery, Triangle Foundation executive director, condem ned the measure. “This resolution has n othing to do w ith c o u n ty governance and everything to do with m ar ginalizing and discrim inating against gay men and lesbians by propagating lies and danger ous slander.” T he Lapeer resolution cited a biblical ref erence as a further reason for denying civil marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. “N o one is trying to alter the religious def inition of marriage," K ilboum said. “T his is about equality under the law. Denying rights and protections to one group of Am ericans based on the religious views of some is blatant Pope John Paul II discrim ination and is contrary to founding principles of this country.” rom inent media coverage o f the C atholic N A T IO N A L C h u rch sexual abuse scandals has re he Republican N ational C om m ittee will inforced inaccurate and misleading stereo move to oppose civil recognition of types r»t gay m en as child abusers, according to a new study. ’ same-sex marriages in its 2004 platform, The Washington T he report, titled Subtle Stereotyping: The Times reported Media, Homosexuality and the Priest Sexual Abuse Sept. 23. C h air Scandal, analyzed the content of 1,326 news man Ed G illes articles reported in the Boston Globe during the pie also referred first year of the scandal. Throughout the cover to gay U.S. citi age, readers were exposed to an average of two zens as intoler articles a week that tied homosexuality to child ant bigots. sexual abuse. “I think when The study’s authors, psychologists Glenda people say, ‘Well, Russell and Nancy Kelly, suggest the Globe’s no, that’s not linkages were not necessarily intentional. How enough that you ever, as Russell adds: “Linkages don’t have to be accept me for intentional to be hannful. T he stereotype of who I am, you gay-man-as-pedophile gets used in many policy have to agree with—and condone—my choice,’ contexts to justify discrimination and violence that to me is religious bigotry and I believe that’s against gay people.” intolerant,” he said. “I think they are the ones who Russell serves as acting executive director of are crossing a line here." the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Dave Noble, N ational Stonew all Democ- b Studies, which released the study Sept. 15. rats executive director, strongly denounced “W hen C atholic C hurch spokespeople began the remarks. “Gillespie is the one displaying to place the blame for the abuse explicitly on T
