AUGUST 3. 2007
VA 11
marriage in New Mexico died after
a House committee tabled them in
February.
I
A domestic partnership bill,
which would have provided mar­
riagelike rights to gay couples, passed
the state’s House this year and came
jUStlOUt 19
again!
LIPOATROPHY (SUNKEN CHEEKS)?
one vote short of passing in the
Senate.
A spokesman for New Mexico
Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic
presidential hopeful, said his office
will seek to recognize same-sex
marriages next year, when he rein­
troduces a domestic partnership bill
that failed to win passage this year.
OHIO
Signature Scandal
Implicates Lawmaker
An Ohio Republican state
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., expects the House to
representative from Cincinnati is
vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act next month.
being tied to a petition fraud case
concerning the repeal of the city’s nondiscrimina­
later our neighbor to the east would pass civil
tion ordinance.
unions without a whimper, they would have said,
Tom Brinkman, the lawmaker behind the bid to
repeal Cincinnati’s ordinance, has been accused of
knowing that names used to get the issue on the
ballot in 2006 were fraudulent.
The Republican denies any wrongdoing. He
said he did not touch any address, date, name or
signature.
A seven-month investigation into the matte'r
resulted in charges against day laborers Lois Mingo
and Precilla Ward, who worked for an outside firm
hired to collect the signatures. They were charged
with felony election falsification March 1. Ward
was also charged with two counts of putting false
signatures on election documents. Each count is
punishable by up to a year in prison.
The referendum campaign for the newly enact­
ed ordinance was halted in August after petitions
were found to have fake signatures, including those
of Fidel Castro and Cincinnati Reds owner Bob
Castellini.
Ohio’s Equal Rights Not Special Rights collect­
ed thousands of names on petitions to have a repeal
measure put to voters last November. The group
voluntarily withdrew the measure when many of
the signatures were deemed fake.
The phony signatures were discovered only
during a second check, after a challenge by the gay
rights group Restore Fairness. Prior to that chal­
lenge, the Hamilton County Board of Elections had
validated more than 7,600 signatures.
VERMONT
Vermont to Study Marriage
Lawmakers in Vermont announced July 25 that
a commission has bec*n formed to gauge voters’
opinions about same-sex marriage.
This comes seven years after Vermont became
the first in the nation to legalize civil unions.
House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho,
and Senate President Pro Tern Peter Shumlin,
D-Putney, said the commission will study state laws
and hold hearings throughout Vermont. It will issue
a report to the Legislature in April 2008.
Shumlin reportedly said that much has changed
since the civil unions law was passed and that he
believed his state was ready to tackle the issue. “If
I had told someone back then that just a few years
‘You’re crazy, Shumlin.’ But that is how quickly the
conversation has evolved.’’
Vermont is in gixxl company with two pro-gay
neighbors: New Hampshire, which approved a civ­
il unions law this year, and Massachusetts, which
became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage
in 2004.
According to a poll, 42 percent of Vermont
residents agree that gays and lesbians should have
the right to get married, with 11 percent of voters
“leaning toward that decision.’’ The poll indicated
that 37 percent disagree with same-sex marriage.
Rob Roper, chairman of the Vermont
Republican Party, said the party does not have
a position on same-sex marriage but thought this
issue would be distracting in light of a “tax crisis."
Republican Gov. James Douglas also expressed
concern that the issue would be viewed as “divisive.”
Democrats disagreed.
With the April deadline, lawmakers predict
that same-sex marriage won’t be debated until the
state’s 2008 election.
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WASHINGTON
Domestic Partnership Law Begins
More than 100 gay and lesbian couples
registered as domestic partners July 23 when
Washington’s new law went into effect.
Domestic partnerships in Washington provide
12 rights to same-sex couples including hospital
visitation, the ability to authorize autopsies and
organ donations, and the ability to inherit in the
absence of a will. The law stops grossly short of
protections provided by marriage.
To be eligible for domestic partnership, the
couple must share a home, not he married or in
a domestic relationship with someone else and be
at least 18.
In 2006 the Washington Supreme Court upheld
the state’s 1998 same-sex marriage ban, which
defines marriage as between one man and one
woman.
Heterosexual seniors also receive benefits from
the domestic partnership law. An unmarried hetero
couple is eligible if one partner is at least 62. ©
Compiled by JAYMEE R. CUTI
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