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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2004)
1 g j u s t o u t ' lanuary 9. 2004 rTÎTTTîüm news Vegas-based show Mvstere, managers told him that because he has HIV the company would not continue to employ him. Lambda Legal and community leaders launched a national cam paign against Cirque last year with protests a shows in several cities and a petition drive This month the Equal Employment t.2pportu nines Commission in Nevada is set to conclude its investigation of Cirque in response to Lamb da Legal’s federal discrimination complaint. Tiiat filing, which ignited the current controversy, is unrelated to the current proceedings before the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Following successful protests in November at Cirque du Soleil shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco, community members will protest out side Cirque’s Verckcu show in Orange County once it opens Jan. 16. Protests arc also planned at upcoming performances in Atlanta and New York. 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DOWNTOWN @ 927 SW OAK • 226-8141 CALIFORNIA fomia executive director. “Californians are not interested in taking rights away from families.” Sacramento Superior Court refused Dec. 18 to stand in the way of a new state law that offers same-sex couples legal protections and fter publicly admitting for months that it imposes many responsibilities to each other. fired a top-notch gymnast solely because he Judge Thomas M. Cecil denied requests by has HIV, Cirque du Sole 1 1 told the San Francisco state Sen. Pete Knight and Randy Thomasson o f Human Rights Commission that some positions the Campaign for California Families to issue a preliminary injunction, which would prevent that don’t involve bodily contact are suitable for people with HIV— such as dishwashers, finxl and the state from putting the law into effect. Cecil beverage staff, office assistants, prep cooks, ush ruled that Knight and Thomasson, who have ers and merchandise hawkers. brought legal challenges to the law claiming that it violates Proposition 22, had not shown that it “ Even 20 years ago, Cirque du Soleil’s com was “ reasonably probable" that the challenges ments would be suspect. Today, they are shock ingly ignorant,” said Hayley Gorenberg o f would succeed. The preliminary injunction would have pre Lambda Legal, which represents gymnast vented the state from explaining to Californians Matthew Cusick, who Cirque fired last year because he has HIV. “ If Cirque du Soleil ran the already registered as domestic partners that the new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1,2005, will Lakers in the 1990s, Magic Johnson would have j significantly increase the state law rights and been transferred to wash dishes in the stadium duties that come with registered domestic part restaurant after he disclosed his HIV status.” nerships. The new law is much closer to equali Cirque’s position was made public Dec. 17 in ty tor same-sex couples under California law. a five-page letter the company filed with the "W e are extremely relieved that the court commission, which launched a formal investiga tion in November because Cirque leases public ' did the right thing,” said Johnny Symons and property for its local show. With respect to its William Rogers, one of the 12 couples who show in San Francisco, Cirque said that it con intervened in the lawsuit to defend the new tracts with temporary staffing agencies and that domestic partnership law. “ As parents, we are doing everything in our power to protect our “ there are many employment positions that two young children. But without the protections would be suited to an individual with HIV." in AB 205, our family will never have the same Although Cirque du Soleil’s own doctors security as other families.” cleared Cusick to safely perform for the Las Kay Smith of Riverside, Calif., who is par ticipating in the lawsuit with her partner, added: “This lawsuit puts our family in harm’s way. I’ve been with my partner for more than 20 years, but it this lawsuit succeeds, I’d be seen as a legal stranger to the woman I love in all kinds o f tough situations. The people o f California believe in this legislation and in fairness for everyone, but a small and vocal group of extremists insists on trying to take that away. W e need and deserve to be able to get married, but this law doesn’t give us marriage; it just gives us some basic protections other families take for granted.” Supporters of the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities A ct o f 2005 received more good news Dec. 21: The law is no longer subject to the threat of a referendum. Knight and Assemblymember Ray Haynes filed papers with the secretary of state Oct. 2 indicating they j would collect 373,816 signatures to require voter approval before A B 205 would go into effect— but no petitions were submitted. “ It is getting harder for the right wing to sell Cirque du Soleil fired gymnast Matthew their message o f intolerance and disrespect in California," said Geoffrey Kors, Equality Cali- I Cusick because he has HIV 4 .S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, made disparag ing remarks about the recognition o f same- sex marriages in the Dec. 18 Washington Times. He recently joined six GOP state legislators in a suit seeking to overturn Sioux City Judge Jeffrey Neary’s ruling recognizing the right of an Iowa cou ple to be granted a divorce from their Ver Steve King mont civil union. “This situation paints a clear picture o f why we need to rein in renegade judges legislating from the bench. By granting this homosexual couple a divorce, Judge Neary has pretended their marriage was valid in the state of Iowa. Unless I’m mistaken, it was in Vermont, not Iowa, that Howard ‘the Coward’ Dean slyly signed midnight legislation making same-sex unions legal," King told John McCaslin’s “ Inside the Beltway” column. “ Unicorns, leprechauns, gay ‘marriages’ in Iowa— these are all things you will never find because they just don’t exist.” Dave Noble, National Stonewall Dem o crats executive director, called the comments sophomoric. “ Leprechauns may not exist in Iowa, but obvi ously ignorance does," he said. “According to the most recent census, there are 3,698 married same- sex couples in Iowa who lack legal recognition under the law. A freshman congressman who offers such sophomoric opinions does not seem to understand this basic discrimination. These com ments suggest that neither leprechauns, unicorns nor Rep. King are in touch with reality.” NEW YORK ccording to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a front-page New York Times article published Dec. 21 presents an unbalanced and sensationaiistic report on the results of a Times/CBS News poll about marriage rights and distorts President Bush’s stance on the proposed anti-gay Federal Marriage Am end ment. G L A A D noted several fundamental jour nalistic missteps rare to the Times: • The headline “Strong Support Is Found for Ban on Gay Marriage” blatantly mischaracterizes the polling data it purports to report. Fifty-five per cent support for the anti-gay marriage amendment in this context is neither “strong" nor indicative of the level of support necessary to pass it— an impor tant fact apparently overltxtked in the quest for a sensational headline, G L A A D said. • In a media interview last month, Bush said, “If necessary, 1 will support a constitutional amend ment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman, codify that.” The article inaccurate ly contends that the president, previously “non committal" about the propositi, “voiced support" with his recent comments, overlooking the key
