february 20. 2004
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ove Makes a Family held its sixth annual
Freedom to Marry Day Celebration on
Feb. 12 at Portland City Hall. T he event was
one of dozens held nationwide to call atten
tion to the growing movement for marriage
equality.
Among the speakers was attorney Rick Fer
nandez, chairman of the American Friends
Services Committee’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &.
Transgender Issues Program, who recently cele
brated his 18th anniversary with partner Henry
Miller. He had strong words for anti-gay Massa
chusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
“It’s shameful to see the governor of Massa
chusetts— who is a Monnon and who should
know hetter, since his own church was forced to
give up its particular religious beliefs on marriage
as a result of the hostile oppression of the major
ity hack in the 1800s— to see him campaigning
so forcefully in defiance of his own Supreme
Court’s clear decision on marriage,” Fernandez
said. “He, like |Alahama’s] George Wallace
before him, will he remembered in shame as the
governor whit stixxl at the dixirway of the
schixilhouse, denying access to those of his citi
zens who he saw as less equal than others.”
A ll Makes
“The Florida law was passed to punish gay
people, hut the sad, harsh reality is that it
harms the 4,800 children who are languishing
in Florida’s foster care system and waiting to
he adopted into permanent, loving homes,”
said Howard Sim on, A C L U o f Florida execu
tive director. “While Florida claims the law is
justified because children should he with mar
ried mothers and fathers, these children don’t
have any permanent family. For a court to
accept this justification flies in the face of our
Constitution.”
The A C LU brought the lawsuit in 1998 on
behalf of four gay men who wanted to adopt in
Florida hut were preventing from doing so by
the adoption ban. The law was passed 27 years
ago in response to Anita Bryant’s infamous anti
gay campaign. A three-judge panel of the Court
of Appeals for the 11 th Circuit issued a decision
upholding the law Jan. 29.
While the state will not let gay people
adopt, it does rely on gay people to be foster
parents. Am ong the plaintiffs in the case are
Portlanders Steven Lofton and Roger
Croteau, who are raising five children, includ
ing three foster kids from Florida. Although
the Florida children— two 16-year-olds and a
12-year-old— have never known any other
family, the couple cannot adopt them because
of the anti-gay law.
•
A ll M odels
R e c o m m e n d e d B y A ll M a jo r
In s u r a n c e C o m p a n ie s
I n s u r a n c e C la im A s s i s t a n c e
C ourt A sked
to R econsider F lorida
A doption D ecision
ttomeys have asked the U.S. Court of
Appeals in Atlanta to reconsider its recent
ruling upholding a Florida law that excludes gay
people from adopting.
“The appeals court completely mis
understood the Supreme Court’s ruling in
Lawrence vs. Texas, which says that states can
no longer make up reasons to discriminate
against gay people,” said Matt Coles, director of
the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian
and Gay Rights Project. “Sexual orientation has
nothing to do with a person’s ability to parent,
and this law has nothing to do with child wel
fare. For the sake of the thousands of children in
Florida in need of a home, we hope the court
will reconsider.”
In a motion filed Feh. 18, the court was
asked to reconsider the ruling. The three-judge
panel that issued the decision could agree to
reconsider the case, the full court could decide
to do so, or the court could decline to rehear
the case at all.
Y outh M obilize
A gainst HIV/AIDS
ore than 600 people came to Portland
from as far away as Alaska and Puerto
R ico for the 11th annual Ryan W hite
National Youth Conference on HIV and
A ID S.
The gathering, which was held from Feh. 13
to 16 at the Hilton Hotel, consisted of numer
ous institutes, workshops and panels aimed at
developing and supporting youth leadership to
defeat the epidemic. Organizers also set up a col
orful “activism rix>m" where youth could write
letters to Congress, create art and read informa
tion posted on the walls:
• “ 51 percent of all new cases are among
people younger than 25.”
• “Many sexually experienced teens have
not been tested for HIV, so the actual number of
poz youth is considered to he much higher than
the reported number.”
• “D>n’t preach to the choir...chill with
Republicans, schmmzc with frat hoys, drink
with N A SC A R dads.”
The closing keynote speaker was U.S. Sen.
B
ta lK n c È
Rick Fernandez (left) and Bonnie Tinker speak up for marriage equality Feb. 12 at Portland
City Hall