26 ju a t o u t ' november 21. 2003
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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.”
■
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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