Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2003)
26 ju a t o u t ' november 21. 2003 I th\l M .'M l news Mechanics that fix everything.1 Including nce.i PDX Automotive is a certified Eco-Logical Business. ( 5 0 3 ) 2 8 2 -3 3 1 5 53 Mechanics With A Conscience AM ■porovad i*Mlr »hop Ortfon (crlfWd DIQ rvpolr facMh -4 S E CerefUd Medienia Gerard Lillie *5934 N.E. Halley V isualize Y o u r inn^r • • • • • • (HRISTIMfiS Authentic Creations 503 2 8 6 -7 0 0 0 Lowest Guaranteed Prices! blind.i , .,- . _ . 111 E S H T T j HuntefOouglas ask, don’t tell" by stating, “It does not serve this country to discriminate against people who want to serve in our armed forces.” He said he would ask the military tit formulate a new policy and submit it to Congress. Clark caused some confusion recently when he said the policy worked in some cases but did not in others. “1 think the military and the chain of command have to decide” the issue of allowing queers to serve openly, he said on the July 25 episode of C N N ’s Crossfire. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network welcomed the clarification on his position. “Gen. Clark now joins a growing chorus of military leaders who endorse repeal of ‘don’t QtxxJ Gen. Clark Bad Gen. Clark ask, don’t tell,’ ” executive director C. Dixon Osburn said. bylaws and roster that any other budding chapter As part of his larger health care plan, Clark would be required to submit in order to organize, pledged to increase funding for the Ryan White Among those requirements is a list of at least C A R E Act, which provides critical assistance to 25 chapter members. Petrie, a 1989 academy grad- HIV/AIDS prevention efforts as well as those uate who is gay, has worked with fellow graduates living with the disease. He also supports the and the unrecognized Service Academy Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association to contact 29 other Early Treatment for HIV Act, which would allow low-income people better access to treat off icers who have left the Navy and Marine Girps ment, as well as comprehensive and age-appro and are willing to come out to their classmates. “ I see a time coming sixm when things are priate sex education for young people based on going to change for the better for gays and les scientific prevention methods. bians in our nation’s armed forces,” he said. “ I In addition, Clark believes that preventing qualified gay and lesbian people from adopting is believe one of the most helpful actions we can wrong and that decisions should be based on the take for the schixil we still love is to lend our best interest of the child. He also supports the wealth of various experiences to an eventual Naval Academy effort directed toward better Permanent Partners Immigration Act, which would put same-sex couples on par with oppo integrating gay students. The environment at Annapolis has been disapproving and damaging site-sex couples for purposes of immigration law. for high-achieving gays and lesbians for many years. All 30 of us have lived through that." he full U.S. Senate promoted Maj. Gen. V I R G IN I A Robert T. Clark to the rank of lieutenant t a hearing in Virginia state court Oct. 29, general in command of the Fifth U.S. Army, Lambda Legal helped defend a man who is expanding his command responsibilities Nov. 18 despite concerns raised by his record as charged with solicitation of sixlomy despite the commanding officer at Fort Campbell, Ky. lair U.S. Supreme Quirt's landmark ruling last sum ing his tenure, Pfc. Barry Winchell was repeat mer that clearly stmek down sixlomy laws in all 1 3 edly and blatantly harassed in violation of the states that still had them, including Virginia. Army’s strict guidelines and ultimately was Gmsequently, states cannot continue enforcing killed in a brutal, anti-gay attack. those laws or prosecuting people for attempting to In aftermath of the murder, Clark failed to violate them, although states can pass or enforce laws prohibiting truly public sex, as long as those denounce the harassment prevalent at the base laws apply to all people and are enforced equally. and allowed anti-gay graffiti, cadences and rhetoric to continue unabated. Further, accord Joel Singson was charged with solicitation to ing to the Army’s own inspector general’s report, commit sixlomy after a discussion with an under he failed to order any training on the military’s cover police officer in the men’s room of a store in a Virginia Beach mall, which the officer claims led harassment policy. him to believe Singson requested an act of “Clark’s inaction, and resulting abdication of responsibility, should have been con demned, not rewarded with a promo tion," said Ralph G. Neas, People tor the American Way president. "We call on him, and on the Anny leadership, to ensure that anti-gay harassment, hostil ity and violence will not be tolerated at any level of the military.” ■ - \ Personal Image Design Hair & Wig Styling Specializing in Trans-Formation Professional Makeup Exp. with feature film & TV Friendly Private Salon /B u d g eti Continued from Page 25 • free fstimotes • free Installation *90 days some as (ash ^ o p p o sé ciedf Serving Oregon & SIV Washington C a ll N o w l 503-590-4333 Salem 503 - 362-1643 or the first time, a U.S. service academy alumni association will lx* asked to recognize its gay, lesbian and trans graduates by creating a chapter for those civilian alumni who aa* now out to their friends, family and workplace. On Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day, Jeff Petrie and a ci*ntingent of other former naval officers who served with distinc tion presented David Church, career programs directix at the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, a pro posal to establish a gay chapter-—USNA Jeff Petrie wants the U.S. Naval Academy to establish Out. They presented officials with the a gay alumni association chapter sixlomy. The men were each in adjacent bathroom stalls with the doors closed. After Singson exited a stall, he was taken by two officers to the back of the store, questioned and released. He wasn’t charged until several months later. “This sixlomy law is dead, and that means you can’t charge someone for attempting to violate it or talking about violating it; there’s no law left to violate,” attorney Greg Nevins said. “This is a rogue prosecution under a law that no longer exists.” Lambda Legal pointed to a similar case in New York sever al years ago, where the state’s sixlomy law had been stmek down and the state’s highest court later said that, as a result, it was unconsti tutional to prosecute people for loitering for the purpose of soliciting sixlomy. NORTH DAKOTA L nanimously agreeing to allow a lesbian mother to maintain custixly of her two chil dren, the North Dakota Supreme Quirt struck down Nov. 1 3 a 1981 decision that has been used to deny queer parents custixly of their kids solely because of their sexual orientation. By reversing its earlier decision, the court ruled that possible prejudice from others is not a valid reason to take children from gay and lesbian parents. “Words can’t even begin to express how happy we are,” said Valerie Damron, who was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. “It seemed inconceivable to me that my children could be taken away simply because other people might be prejudiced against us. I’m thrilled that the court saw that it was wrong to punish us for other people’s bigotry.” The court reached a far different conclusion 22 years ago in Jacobson vs. Jacobson, when it ruled that having gay or lesbian parents was inher ently hannful to children because they might suf fer “the slings and arrows of a disapproving sixi- ety." The new decision, Damron vs. Damron, leaves only four states—Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia— where courts still deny custixly based on sexual orientation alone. Damron’s two daughters have lived in Minot with their mother and her partner, Ann, for near ly two years. At the time of their divorce in 2001, Damron and her ex-husband agreed that she should have primary custixly of the children and that he would have ample visitation rights. A year later, the ex-husband sued for primary custixly. He argued that because of Damron’s rela tionship with her partner the children might suffer harassment, although he was unable to pnxlucc any evidence of any such problems and offered no witnesses to back up his claims. In January, a trial court relied on Jacobson when it ruled that the 10-year-old and the 4-year-old should be taken from their mother and sent to live with their father. Damron appealed the decision, and it was argued before the North Dakota Supreme Qxirt in September. ALABAMA state ethics committee dismissed Chief Jus tice Roy Mixire from his post Nov. 1 3 for ignoring a federal court order to remove a Ten G>mmandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Q>urt building. In a Febmary 2002 mling, he denied a woman custixly of her three children and went on to say that homosexuality is an “inherent evil, and if a persixi openly engages in such a practice, that fact alone wixild render him or her an unfit parent." He wrote that the state has the power to “prohibit
