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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 2006)
SEPTEMBER 15. 2006 jUSt|OUt 21 not inclined to call a special legisla tive session to address the issue. He leaves office in January before the next term of the Legislature. The board had instituted the ban in March 1999, saying children should be in traditional two-parent homes because’they are more likely to thrive in that environment. Governor Nixes Teaching Measure Equality California director Geoff Kors has little patience with the Governator's latest veto. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Sept. 6 that would have made it illegal for teachers to use textbooks that encourage a negative view of people based on sexual orientation or to promote a curriculum that portrays sexual minori ties in a negative light. He argued that current law already protects against such discrimination. The veto came as no surprise, as Schwarzenegger had already registered his opposition to an earlier version of the bill that would have required texts to include contributions from queers. “This bill attempts to offer vague protection when current law already provides clear protection against discrimination in our schools based on sex ual orientation,” Schwarzenegger said in his veto message. Supporters of the bill—who believe discrimina tion based on sexual orientation should be as explicitly proscribed as that based on race, religion or gender—saw the veto as a cynical political ploy. “The only [forces in] opposition to the bill were the extremist, anti-gay organizations. The only rationale for his veto is to appease right-wing voters,” Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, told The San Francisco Chronicle. “Even if he thinks this new protection wouldn’t add much, why leave one group off an anti-discrimination list that covers every other group.7” MARYLAND DoD University Elects Gay Student President tions in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. Earlier this summer, a West Point graduate received a prestigious academic award for his thesis opposing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” A recent poll by the Annenberg Foundation also found that 50 percent of junior enlisted personnel now favor allowing gays to serve openly. In May, retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, the first woman to achieve the rank of three-star gen eral in the Army, called for repeal of the law, saying it is “a hollow policy that serves no useful purpose.” WISCONSIN Gay Youth Denied Right to Enlist Three young Americans attempted Aug. 30 to enlist in the U.S. Army in Madison, Wis. When military recruiters abruptly terminated their enlistment process, it brought to 18 the number of openly gay men and women who have been denied the right to enlist since May. Earlier in the wed, President Bush authorized an involuntary recall of Marine Corps Individual Ready Reservists to cover a shortage of volunteers. The would-be volunteers are part of the Right to Serve campaign, a national effort in which gay youth attempt to enlist in order to educate the public about the human, financial and security costs of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Two of the men who attempted to enlist Aug. 30 are students at University of Wisconsin. The third, John Alaniz, is a recent graduate with a degree in genetics and immunopathology. Alaniz has experience working with hazardous materials and an interest in counterterrorism. All three men took aptitude tests and scored high enough to be eligible for any job in the military. Madison was the eighth city to join the Right to Serve campaign. Oklahoma City joined Aug. 23 when two brothers, Michael and Robert Cich, attempted to enlist together. Robert, who is hetero sexual, halted his own enlistment process when Michael, who is gay, was denied on the basis of his sexual orientation. The Cich brothers rallied supporters—gay and straight alike—and returned for a sit-in at the recruit ing station where Michael was rejected Sept. 6. Several cities in the campaign have already staged sit-ins, and 11 youth leaders have been arrested at sit-ins thus far. The sit-ins are a peaceful means to bring attention to government- sanctioned discrimination and to begin a national conversa tion about ending the unjust compromise of "don’t ask, don’t tell.” The Right to Serve campaign is sponsored by Soulforce, a national nonvio lent organization dedicated to ending political and religious oppression of queers. © The Uniformed Services University—a Department of Defense military medical, nursing and graduate school in Bethesda, Md.—elected Patrick M. High as its first openly gay student council president Aug. 30. The Ph.D. candidate, who will represent graduate students at the university, previously served nine years in the Illinois Army National Guard. He was elected by a student body that includes uniformed personnel in the armed forces. High says he hopes to "change military students’ perspective that gays can and have served in the military and worked well with their straight coun terparts.” His other objectives include pursuing health insurance for civilian graduate students and keeping the uni The Defense Department's Uniformed versity competitive Services University has an openly gay with other institu- student council president, Patrick M High. Compiled hy M arty SMITH n«t family Realtor Since 199», UW proudly gay s . nce J9Z o W when you buy or sell a home with In Other Words Mercy Corps me, you'll know your dollars art » Our House helyimj support a greater cause. 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