Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2004)
january 23. 2004 » J— t — t |2 1 FTTYTTTTiTl He is one of only six judges that the Human Rights Campaign has opposed out of approxi mately 200 nominated by Bush. “Judge Pickering has advanced a body of jurisprudence that does not reflect Americas highest values, and the individuals within his jurisdiction deserve better,” H RC president Cheryl Jacques said. “A man whose career has been marked by racial divisiveness and anti-gay prejudice cannot be trusted to fairly interpret the laws of our country.” In a speech before the 1984 Mississippi Southern Baptist C onvention, Pickering lumped homosexuality with social problems, according to The Clarion Ledger. “We as Southern Baptists should lead the way in strengthening traditional moral values,” he said, adding that society has been degraded by such things as pornography, homosexuality and divorce. Also troubling is Pickerings handling of a 1994 hate crime incident involving three men who burned an 8-foot cross on the lawn of an interracial family while using racial epithets. When sentencing one of the defendants, he gave what was considered a “lenient” sentence for the cross-burning, in order to “make the punishment commensurate with the drunken prank that I think it was, even though it did have racial overtones.” Kent Greenfield is one of hundreds of law professors challenging the Pentagon’s campus recruiting policy ❖ coalition of law schools, professors and legal organizations is asking the Third Cir cuit Court of Appeals to overturn a 1996 law granting the Defense Department unfettered access to university students. The groups have argued that the law, known as the Solomon Amendment, forces universities to violate nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation. Within the past year, Defense Department officials began more rigor ously enforcing the law. The suit says the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell" ban on queer servicemembers is incom patible with university policies prohibiting campus recruiting by employers who discrimi nate on the basis of sexual orientation. Serv icemembers Legal Defense Network filed a friend-of-the-court brief Jan. 12 supporting those claims. "Our military should play by the same rules as other campus recruiters,” executive director C. Dixon Osbum said. “Universities have every right to expect that their lesbian, gay and bisexu al students will enjoy the same employment opportunities as their heterosexual students. The Solomon Amendment is an unfair attempt to force federally sanctioned discrimination on our A campuses. It violates the very foundation of equal opportunity.” Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law pro fessor leading the suit, told The Associated Press in September that Pentagon leaders are “using this law to reach into the core of our education al philosophy and change it.” The coalition includes prominent law schools as well as the Society of American Law Teachers, which has more than 900 members. The schools have organized under the “Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights” banner to protect their identity, fearing retribution from the Defense Department. NEW JER SEY ew Jersey has become the fifth state to give legal protections to same-sex families and will honor partnerships established in other states. It joins Hawaii, Vermont, California and Massachusetts in moving toward marital recog nition for committed gay couples. Under New Jersey’s new law, domestic part ners and their children gain access to impor tant family protections such as hospital visita tion, making emergency medical decisions, claiming each other as exemptions on state income tax filings and qualifying for exemp tions from the state inheritance tax. The bill also requires the state to provide dependent health coverage to state employees with same- sex partners and allows but does not require private companies to do the same. But the law falls far short of providing the full range of tan gible and intangible protections accorded through marriage itself. Evan Wolfson, executive director of Free dom to Marry, hailed the bill signed Jan. 12 by Gov. James E. McGreevey as “a step in the right direction” but noted that “states like New Jersey would do the country and its fam ilies a favor if they avoided the detour of sep arate and unequal and went right to the clari ty, security and equality that comes only with the freedom to marry. One of the major bene fits of marriage is being able to say to your family, your kids, the community, the govern ment and those you do business with wherev er you are, ‘I am married.’ There is no verb for civil union, and nobody writes songs about domestic partnership.” Electric Corporation RESIDEIÌTM L REW IRM G SPECIALISTS commERCiRi 6 inDUSTRIAL 503 - 233-7551 135 ne 9th Avenue • 97216 uiufui.abcelectiiccorp.net \iBEIV \ LO C A I 4M Seruing Greater Portland Area Since 1955 Licensed • Bonded • Insured • CCB 0 288 N Evan Wolfson calls New Jersey’s domestic partner bill a positive legislative step that still falls short A marriage license confers more than 1,000 federal and state rights and responsibilities, including the right to visit a spouse in the hos pital; make medical decisions for a spouse if he or she is ill; take family and medical leave to care for a sick spouse; file joint tax returns; and inherit property, disability and Social Security in the event of a spouse’s death. “Marriage equality is a matter of equal pro tection under the law,” Furmansky said. “The option to marry— or not to marry— is a funda mental right, and to deny us that right is myopic and anti-family.” OHIO he Franklin County Correction Center is refusing to administer time-sensitive HIV medication to an inmate serving time in the facil ity, ignoring a letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union informing administrators of his condition and need for the medication. “This is very serious,” said Dr. Howard Gross- man, a highly respected HIV expert in New York City. “A lapse in treatment could cause him to become resistant in only a mat ter of days and then the dnigs won’t work.” The inmate, who does not wish to be identified by name MARYLAND to protect his right to confi egislation has been intro dentiality, is serving a 10-day duced in the Maryland jail sentence for driving under General Assembly that would the influence. Prior to report amend the state constitution to ing to the facility to begin his say “only a marriage between a sentence, he contacted the man and a woman is valid in A C L U after he was told not this state.” A section of Mary to bring his medications to land Family Code already con the jail. tains this language. The A C LU sent a letter to Free State Justice, Maryland’s the facility on the day the queer civil rights organization, inmate began his sentence, decried the legislation Jan. 13, Dr. Howard Grossman says Jan. 14, notifying the authori calling it “salt in the wound” for an Ohio correction center’s ties of his condition and outlin countless thousands of commit refusal to administer H IV ing their legal obligations to ted couples— many with chil medication could have provide the necessary medical dren— who already are not con serious health consequences treatment. Attorneys also sidered family in the eyes of the for an inmate called administrators and were government. Sponsored by Dele assured that the inmate would receive his treat gate Charles R. Boutin, R-Cecil & Harford Coun ment in a timely manner. ties, House Bill 16 would require passage by three- “My son is willing to pay for his crime, but fifths of the legislators in both houses of the Gen serving a short jail sentence shouldn’t he life- eral Assembly and ratification by voters on the threatening,” said the Columbus man’s mother. November ballot in order to succeed. “My son is alive today only because he has been “Boutin may feel he is defending marriage, extremely careful in taking his medications. I’m but in actuality, he is tearing down families that the state already discriminates against,” execu really afraid of what this interruption will do to tive director Dan Furmansky said. “Further his health.” J H more, he pri>poses to sully our most sacred state Compiled by News Editor JlM R ados TA, who can document with outright discrimination agaiast be reached at jtm@justout.com. his own constituents.” Automotive Maintenance & Repair A T ITS B E S T ! ALL FOREIGN & DOMESTIC AUTOMOBILES QUALIFIED, HONEST, QUICK & FAIRLY PRICED SATISFIED CUSTOMERS TELL THEIR FRIENDS — THEY ALL COME BACK! (references on file) AUTO-MARINE 4 2 3 0 N E S U M N E R S T. 5 0 3 -2 8 2 -0 1 5 9 T Forgot the Condom? Let’s Talk About It. L A UW research project for guys who have sex with guys. Compensation provided. Call Sex Check Today 1 877 604-6595 www.thesexcheck.org - -
