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MARCH 17.2006
Portland Metro
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NATIONAL
Supreme Court: Schools Can't Bar
Military Recruiters
In an 8-0 ruling handed down March 6, the U.S.
Supreme Court held that universities that accept
federal money do not have the right to exclude U.S
military recruiters from campus, even if the mili
tary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell" policy regarding gays and
lesbians conflicts with university policy.
The ruling settled a suit in which a group of law
schools argued that allowing the recruiters on cam
pus violated the schools’ First Amendment rights by
forcing them to participate in “a compelled endorse
ment of messages repugnant to them.” The schools’
policies forbid on-campus recruitment by employers
that discriminate based on sexual orientation.
The court held that permitting the recruiters on
campus did not constitute compelled speech, not
ing that the schools were free to post disclaimers or
evenly open protest rhe recruiters’ presence.
Chief Justice John Roberts also suggested in
arguments that the schools were free to refuse the
federal funding. As a practical matter, few univer
sities are in a position to exercise this option.
"Gay Recovery ' Efforts
Shifting Focus to Teens
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In a report released March 2 in Miami, the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force blasted the
latest trend among evangelically based groups seek
ing to “cure” gays and lesbians: targeting teens seen
as “at risk” of becoming homosexual.
“It is morally repugnant and downright danger
ous the way these extremists demonize young peo
ple and prey on rhe fears of parents through their
so-called ‘ex-gay’ programs,” said Matt Foreman,
executive director of NGLTF. “This report exposes
the extent to which these zealots will go, including
reformulating their ‘ex-gay’ snake oil at the expense
of vulnerable children and young adults.”
The “ex-gay” movement includes groups such as
Exodus International and Focus on the Family that
champion the notion that homosexuality is a dis
ease that can be cured through therapy and prayer.
But with few homosexuals clamoring to be cured of
their sexual orientation, the movement has shifted
its attention to parents, children and adolescents,
the report found.
Through teen programs and traveling confer
ences like Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out,”
the ministries urge parents to commit their chil
dren to treatment of “prehomosexuality,” even if it
is against the child’s wishes. Heterosexual youth are
also being recruited in schools and churches to
spread the message that homosexuality is a treat
able mental illness.
The report calls for increased regulatory over
sight of the treatment programs, many of which are
administered by clergy with no special license to
practice therapy.
CALIFORNIA
Students Press Assembly
for Bias-Free Schools
More than 500 people gathered March 5 on the
California Capitol steps in Sacramento to urge
passage of two bills aimed at reducing bias in
California classrœms.
The Safe Place to Learn Act (Assembly Bill
606) requires schixil districts to enforce the state’s
existing anti-discrimination laws, laying out the
procedures necessary to ensure compliance. The
legislation has passed in the Assembly and awaits
passage in the Senate.
The Bias-Free Curriculum Act (Senate Bill
1437) would prohibit discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation in course materials, school
instruction and school-sponsored activities.
The rally was sponsored by Equality California
and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and
included queer youth, parents, teachers and sup
porters of sexual minority rights.
MARYLAND
GOP Lawmaker Wants Judge
Sacked for Gay Marriage
A Maryland state legislator has called for the
nearly unprecedented impeachment of a Circuit
Court judge who ruled that Maryland’s 33-year-old
definition of marriage was unconstitutional.
The decision, handed down in January by M.
Brooke Murdock of the Baltimore Circuit, was
widely seen as a victory for proponents of same-sex
marriage. Murdock has stayed her decision pending
an appeals court ruling.
The legislator, Delegate Donald H. Dwyer Jr.,
led an effort to place the question of same-sex
marriage on last November’s ballot. Introducing
the impeachment resolution on the state House
floor, he asserted: “The public trust has been violat
ed. It is our duty, our obligation and our responsi
bility to hold the court accountable.”
Observers believe the impeachment resolution
has little chance of success. The Maryland
Legislature has not impeached a sitting jurist since
1861, when Judge Henry Stump of the Baltimore
City Criminal Court was removed for drinking and
falling asleep at the bench.
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Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force blasted teen-targeted "ex-gay"
ministries as "morally repugnant and
downright dangerous."
The election of an out lesbian as homecoming
king of a small Maryland college has campus offi
cials reaching for the rule books.
Jennifer Jones, a 21-year-old senior from
Newark, Del., garnered 64 of 169 votes cast in a
Hix id College student election, beating out three
men.
“h’s cool that Hixxl allows people to be them
selves,” Jones told The Frederick (Md.) News-Post.
“If people didn’t want me to be king, they wouldn’t
have nominated me and voted for me.”
Campus officials say they’ll review all home-
coming events. The homecoming celebration was
only HcxxJ’s second—the school did not became
fully coeducational until 2003.
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