novembei 7 .2QQ3 •
trilli ih rii* news
READY FOR
his tkx:tor disclosed that the 34-year-old is HiV-
positive, the foreign service informed him that
he did not qualify for medical clearance and
wouldn’t he considered for employment.
Smith has been living with HIV for seven
years, never experiencing any long-term illness
es or opportunistic infections. His T-cell count is
on the level that rivals most HIV-negative peo
ple. Smith’s own doctor has said, “He is in excel
lent care and excellent health.”
On Sept. 3, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit in
federal court on behalf Lorenzo Taylor, a federal
government employee who was denied a posi-
tion as a foreign service officer because he has
HIV. The 47-year-old, who holds a foreign serv
ice degree from Georgetown University, easily
passed the tough written and oral exams
required to be a foreign service officer and is flu
ent in three languages.
NEW JER SEY
he American Civil Liberties Union filed a
friend-of-the-court brief Oct. 15 urging the
Stxrial Security Administration to provide sur
vivor benefits to the child of a lesbian mother.
Early in their seven-year relationship togeth
er, Eva Kadrey and Camille Caracappa talked
about having a child. Caracappa was the princi
pal breadwinner in the family, so they decided
Kadrey would carry their child.
In March 1998, Kadrey gave birth to a boy
named Nicolaj. Caracappa continued to work
hill time as a free-lance oncology nurse while
Kadrey stayed at home and helped out part time
keeping the btxiks for Caracappa s business.
Shortly after Nicolaj was bom, Caracappa
made plans to adopt him and even contacted a
lawyer to start the process. She died suddenly of
an undiagnosed brain aneurysm at 38, before the
paperwork for the adoption was completed.
At the urging of Caracappa s mother, Kadrey
filed for Social Security survivorship benefits for
Nicolaj in November 2000. Less than a month
later, the Social Security Administration denied
Nicolaj s claim because the couple weren’t mar
ried and because Caracappa wasn’t the biologi
cal mother.
The case is now up for review by an admin
istrative law judge in Voorhees. If the couple
had been allowed to marry, Nicolaj would be
entitled to Caracappa’s benefits. The adminis
tration even allows the children of stepparents
to receive survivor benefits, the ACLU noted.
“Camille paid into the Social Security sys
tem just like everyone else, and now she’s being
treated like a stranger to her son,” Kadrey said.
“It’s just not right that Nicolaj should lose the
benefits she paid for because our government
ignores same-sex families.”
T
C A L IF O R N IA
U
niversity of California Sch(X)l of Medicine
scientists have added to the htxly of research
supporting the theory
that a person’s sexual
orientation and gen
der identity are genet
ically based.
The study, pub
lished in the October
edition of Molecular
Bram Research, identi
fied 54 genes in mice
that may explain why
male and female
brains kx>k and func
tion differently. Since
Eric Vilain
the 1970s, scientists
have believed that estrogen and testosterone
were wholly responsible for the development of
male and female genders. Recent evidence, how
ever, indicates hormones cannot explain every
thing about the sexual differences between male
and female brains.
“Our research implies that genes accixmt for
some of the differences between male and
female brains,” said Eric Vilain, a genetics pro
fessor at UCLA who was the study’s principle
investigator. “We believe that one’s genes, hor
mones and environment exert a combined
influence on sexual brain development.”
In explaining sexual orientation Vilain
opined: “It’s quite possible that sexual identi
ty and physical attraction is ‘hard-wired’ by
the brain. If we accept this concept, we must
dismiss the myth that homosexuality is a
‘choice’ and examine our civil legal system
accordingly.”
he National Center for Lesbian Rights
announced Oct. 20 that it is opposed to
the nomination
of
California
Supreme Court
Justice Janice
Rogers Brown
to the U.S.
Court of Ap
peals for the
District of Col
umbia Circuit.
According to
public educa
tion
director Janice Rogers Brown
Marta Donayre,
she has a long and extensive history of hostil
ity to civil rights, including affirmative action,
repnxluctive rights and discrimination claims.
In a case decided by the Supreme Court
this year, she was the only dissenting voice in
an opinion affirming the validity of second-
parent adoptions by gay and lesbian parents.
Although thousands of such adoptions have
been granted during the past 20 years,
Brown’s dissent relied on a hypertechnical
reading of California statutes to conclude
that these adoptions are not permissible
under state law.
“The people of this country need and deserve
federal judges who will apply the law in a fair
and evenhanded way to ensure that the rights of
all people are protected,” Donayre said. “Rather
than ensuring justice for all, Justice Brown has
undennined the rights of vulnerable minorities
and made the world a more dangerous place for
women, people of color, immigrants, and les
bians and gay men.”
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L
ambda Legal is urging the Board of Immi
gration Appeals in Washington, D.C., to
grant asylum to a man who faced severe anti-
gay persecution in Tuxpan, Mexico— but was
rejected for asylum by a California immigra
tion judge who said he didn’t seem gay and
could hide his sexual orientation to avoid
persecution.
Jorge Soto Vega faced severe harassment
and violence from the community and his
own family from an early age. He was
detained and beaten severely by police who
threatened to kill him if they saw him again
because they wanted to get rid of gay people.
Earlier this year, a Southern California immi
gration judge ruled that there was credible
evidence that Soto Vega was persecuted in
Mexico because of his sexual orientation, but
rejected his application for asylum in the
United States, saying the 34-year-old didn’t
appear gay to him and could keep his sexual
orientation hidden if he chose to.
“We grant people asylum in America
because their countries have told them they
have to change who they are in order to be
safe,” attorney Jon Davidson said. “The basic
Continued on Page 19
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