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Mt 3 street roots Education * Dialogue * Independence wEW SBKIEFS HUD sets policies to end LGBT discrimination in housing WASHINGTON, D r . - Housing and Urban Development is proposing; changes to housing regulations to deter discrimination against sexual orientation or gender identity. The move comes after state and local studies have snown a bias against people in the LGBT community. Among other safeguards, the initiatives announced Oct. 21 will clarify that the term "family" as used to describe eligible beneficiaries of our public' housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs include otherwise eligible lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or - transgender (LGBT) individuals and couples' in addition to issuance of proposed rule, HUD will commission the first-ever national study of discrimination against members of the LGBT community in the rental and sale of housing. HUD expects to begin the regulatory process immediately. HUD undertook research in 1977,1989 and 2000 to study the impact of housing discriminationon the basis of race and color. It is , believed that LGBT individuals and families may remain silent because in many local jurisdictions, they may have little or no legal recourse. In one such statewide study, Michigan's Fair Housing ¿enters found that nearly 30 percent of ' same-sex couples-were treated differently when attempting to buy or rent a home: ’W w f i Ä l f i w A A w A i £31 , Street Roots strives for accuracy, but we're human. So we also strive to correct errors in our paper whenever possible. Please report any errors to our managing editor, Joanne Zuhl, at 503-228-5657, or write to joanne@streetroots.org. Soldiers accuse Fort Lewis of abuse BY CYDNEY GILLIS on prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Graib prison. The Sixth Amendment, he says, guarantees Seattle, Wash. — the right to an attorney and that, he says, eo Church abandoned his Army post requires confidential communication. twice without permission, but his Branum, who is based in Oklahoma, and lawyer says he had rio choice: When local co-counsel LeGrand Jones first became he got a phone call alerting him that his two awafe of the problems shortly after Church little girls and their mother had become and Bishop arrived at Foil Lewis and Jones horiieless, he dropped everything. went to see them. Jones was denied access Trie 25-year-old private left Fort Hood, and was later told it was because he was on Texas, and went to Arlington, Va., where he a list of anti-war protesters — riot a legal ‘ found the three living in a van and infested reason, Branum says, to keep someorie 6ff a with lice. He brought the girls home with military base. him, but his home was the barracks at Fort When Branum tried to get his clients on Hood. His captain essentially told him to ' the phone — something he says he’s had stow the girls and failed to file paperwork little trouble with at other brigs across the that Church needed to get family housing. nation — it wasn’t easy to arrange. He says So he went AWOL again, taking his 4-year- guards first told him that Bishop, a old and toddler to stay with his mother in conscientious objector who is serving a one- Amarillo, where he worked from dawn until year sentence after refusing to ship out to | well after dusk at any job he could get to Afghanistan, couldn’t speak on the phone support the girls, from making burritos at because he was on a “medical hold.” Taco Bell to clearing brush from the When he finally got Church on the phone, highway. he told Branuiri there was a guard with him Last December, Church was picked up in the room listening. The attorney told ¡and later court martialed for desertion, Church to hand trie phorie to the guard arid receiving an eight-month sentence that he is asked why he was there. The guard told him now serving in the brig at Fort Lewis, Wash. that he couldn’t leaye because trie attorney But the punishment that he and other rooms at the new brig, which opened in soldiers'are receiving there, his lawyer says, August, hadn’t been set up yet — and he •> couldn’t say When they would be. far exceeds the crime — the subject of a Attorney rooms should have glass complaint the attorney plans to file. windows through which a guard can watch Since Church and Sgt. Travis Bishop without listening, Branum says, and include arrived at the brig in September, says their a non-monitored phone line. The Armycan civilian attorney, James Branum, they have listen in to all other phone lines o n a base, been subjected to strip searches with a he says. “It’s on a recorded line,” Branum camera in the room. Female guards have . says. “That’s unconstitutional. You can’t do monitored the searches and watched the men in the restroom and showers. Guards that.” Female guards are not allowed to search at trie brig also have refused an attorney male prisoners, however, and none have, he visit and continue to monitor the two : says, ^om e strip searches m ade by m ale _ SQldjejs^phpneiconyers^laggs.wifri counsgj^ S T R E E T N E W S S E R V IC E ■ guafa sm ay n a v e'p e e n ca p tu re d T w m o tio n - Trie Eighth Amendment, he says, guarantees freedom from cruel and unusual punishment - a category, he argues, that includes the type of sexual humiliation used Sisters Of The Road Please join Sisters in celebrating our 30th Birthday! The party will be Saturday, Nov. 7 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Sisters’ Cafe, 133 NW 6th Ave. sensor cameras located throughout the facility, but, since discovering this, Piek says, the searches are now conducted in areas out of camera range. As for the attorneys not getting to see or speak by phone with their clients, he says the lawyers had not yet filed the proper paperwork identifying themselves as the soldiers’ attorney of record, so no confidentiality was required. “Travis Bishop and Leo Church are being afforded all the privileges of other prisoners,” Piek says,: “including phone calls, access to mail and visitors.” ' Amanda Laughter, Church’s current girlfriend of two years, says she has written five letters to Chürçh, however, and it is dear from Iris letters that he’s never gotten hers — and he’s been at Fort Lewis five weeks. . “In one of his letters, he said it was like Guantanamo Bay, that they’re treating them like criminals,” Laughter says. The court-martial, she says, put the couple through an incredible ordeal. Church was taken away just before Christmas last year, just after the two learned that she was pregnant. She gota room near Fort Hood to be close to him, but with Army officials threatening to put Church away for 15 to 20 years, the couple decided before their son wàs born on June 4 that it would be bèst to give him up for adoption.. Branum says he will start by sending an informal cease-and-desist letter to the brig’s commander. If he does not respond within 15 days, the attorney says he will file a formal complaint under Sëttion 138 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and keep pursuing it up the chain of command. If that doesn’t work, Branum says, he’ll file a lawsuit in federal court. But, “We’re giving F o rt Lewis every possible way to rè s o îw ïS js ,” n e s a y s ; “beforexgoirig r o ^ court” Reprinted from Real Change, Seattle, Wash. & Street News Service: www.streetpapers.org is proud to help preserve the istoric Hung Far Low sign - symbol of the rich cultural heritage in Old Town/Chinatown. PDC assisted the project with a Signage and Lighting improvement Program (SLIP) grant. The program provides property owners and tenants with funds to upgrade signage and awnings, and improve window and facade lighting. This in turn helps create a positive retail and pedestrian environment in our city. PDC urges citizens to help restore Portland's iconic sign by purchasing a commemorative Hung Far Low t-shirt available at Ping, restaurant in Old Town/Chinatown. Come help us commemorate 30 years of history created in an atmosphere of nonviolence and gentle personalism. There will be door prizes, scrap books and birthday cake. All are welcome! www.sistersoftheroad.org 133 NW 6th Ave., Portland,. OR 97209 503-222-5694 Investing in Portland's Future PDC PORTLAND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION www.pdc.us/business
