ATLANTA May 31, 1997 (AP) ---- Georgia's attorney general did not break the law when he withdrew a job offer to a lesbian because she was planning to marry another woman, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
``Given the culture and traditions of the nation, considerable doubt exists that plaintiff has a constitutionally protected right to be `married' to another woman,'' the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an 8-4 ruling rejecting Robin Shahar's claim against outgoing Attorney General Mike Bowers.
The case was considered a key homosexual rights case in Georgia because Bowers successfully defended the state's anti-sodomy law before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986.
Because of that case, the appeals court ruled, Bowers was entitled to believe the public might be confused if he hired someone in a same-sex marriage.
Bowers has resigned as attorney general to run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination next year, but he remains in office until midnight Saturday.
Bowers said he wasn't surprised by the ruling, ``but I'm nonetheless very pleased that hopefully this litigation is at the end.''
Bowers offered Ms. Shahar a job after she interned for him in 1990 but reneged after learning that the Emory University law school honors graduate intended to marry another woman in a Jewish ceremony.
He said he considered that an open defiance of Georgia law, which his agency is sworn to uphold.
Last year, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ruled in Ms. Shahar's favor, saying she had a fundamental right of intimate association with her partner and could not be fired for that reason.
But in March, the full court set aside that ruling and decided all 12 judges of the court should hear the case.
In Friday's ruling, the court said it specifically was not ruling on Ms. Shahar's right of association, but instead was deciding whether Bowers had a right to withdraw the job offer.
It said Bowers' interest in promoting the efficiency of the Law Department outweighed Ms. Shahar's personal association interests.
``We do not decide today that the attorney general did or did not do the right thing,'' the court said, adding that was not a decision for it to make. Instead, the court said it found Bowers made a decision which he was entitled to make.
``... We cannot say that he was unreasonable to think that Shahar's acts were likely to cause the public to be confused and to question the Law Department's credibility,'' the court held.
The four dissenting judges argued Bowers was not entitled to withdraw the job offer.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it will decide in the next few weeks whether to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
``A person's job should not hinge on whether the boss approves of his or her personal relationship,'' said Matt Coles of ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
Ms. Shahar did not immediately return telephone calls Friday.
Florida already bans gay marriages but supporters of the measure fear that if Hawaii legalizes such unions, gay couples who live in Florida will get married in Hawaii and then return to Florida and seek legal recognition as a married couple.
``The government needs to keep protecting the traditional definition of marriage,'' said John Dowless, executive director of the Florida Christian Coalition. ``This is good news for us.''
Reflecting his misgivings over the measure, Chiles let it become law without his signature.
He said he does not believe it will discriminate against any Florida citizen.
``I always have been a strong supporter of equal rights -- regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation or religion,'' Chiles said in a written statement. ``My commitment remains as strong today as ever.''
He added: ``I believe that, by and large, most Floridians are tolerant and will one day come to view a broader range of domestic partnerships as an acceptable part of life. But that is not the case today.''
Gay-rights advocates decried the bill.
``This is a hate law,'' said Rosemary Wilder, co-chair of Safeguarding American Values for Everyone, a Miami-based gay rights group. ``It's targeted to prevent a specific group from exercising their legal rights.''
She called the law unconstitutional and said she expected a legal challenge.
Florida becomes the 23rd state to pass a ban on recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere, said David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian activist group based in Washington, D.C. He said similar legislation is pending in 15 other states.
The Hawaiian Supreme Court is expected to legalize same-sex marriages in the coming months.
Washington Blade, May 30, 1997 --- Some AIDS activists say President Clinton made concessions to Republican lawmakers in a controversial balanced budget agreement two weeks ago that subjects nearly all federal AIDS programs to potentially crippling budget cuts.
The balanced budget agreement approved two weeks ago by President Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress omits most AIDS programs, including the budget for the National Institutes for Health, from a special list of domestic programs that the agreement exempts from spending cuts during the next five years.
A White House spokesperson said this week that the five-year budget agreement does not change the president's longstanding commitment to securing "full and adequate" funding for the nation's AIDS programs. But officials with several national AIDS advocacy groups said they are fearful that the budget agreement will result in cuts to key AIDS programs that will have serious repercussions for people with AIDS.
The omission of AIDS programs from the budget agreement's "protected" category prompted one of the nation's leading AIDS treatment and research advocacy groups to accuse President Clinton of abandoning his campaign promise to shield AIDS research and treatment programs from budget cuts.
"While publicly touting a new AIDS vaccine initiative in the media, the president has quietly reached a budget agreement with the Republican leadership in Congress that deprioritizes most of the federal health care programs, including those for people living with HIV/AIDS," said the San Francisco-based Project Inform, in a May 21 statement.
Richard Socarides, a White House special assistant who serves as Clinton's liaison to the Gay community, took strong exception to Project Inform's assessment of the budget agreement. Socarides said top officials at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have assured him that the Clinton administration will continue to secure "substantial increases" in various AIDS programs during the next several years.
"There is just not a grain of truth to the notion that we struck a deal that will abandon these programs as a priority," he said.
Anne Donnelly, Project Inform's public policy director, said she hopes the OMB officials cited by Socarides are right. But Donnelly and Daniel Zingale, executive director of the D.C.-based AIDS Action Council, said the budget agreement calls for sharp reductions in the growth of domestic spending over the next five years and that that will mean dozens of programs will be competing for a shrinking "pool" of funds. The two said Clinton administration officials have yet to show them how funding for AIDS programs can be maintained or increased under the restrictions set by the budget agreement.
"The numbers just don't look good," said Zingale.
The White House and leaders of the Senate and House have hailed the budget agreement as an historic development, saying the agreement will lead to a balanced U.S. budget in the year 2002.
The House approved the agreement on May 21 by a vote of 333 to 99. The Senate approved a slightly different version of the agreement three days later by a vote of 78 to 22. Both chambers are expected to approve a final version of the agreement next week when lawmakers return from the Memorial Day recesses.
Although the bipartisan agreement sets overall spending limits and provides for various tax cuts, it leaves it up to congressional appropriations committees to make the tough choices on which programs should be cut or expanded each year between now and 2002. Both houses of Congress must also approve the budgets each year, but they are now bound by the limits set by the balanced budget agreement.
"Non-defense discretionary [budget] outlays will grow at an average of about one-half percent a year, compared with an average of six percent a year for the past 10 years," states a summary of the budget agreement prepared by the House Budget Committee. "In all, non-defense discretionary spending will be reduced by $64.1 billion over five years compared with projected spending if Congress did nothing."
"What this means is the budgets for most domestic programs will remain flat at best, and some will have to be cut," said Steve Morin, legislative assistant to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Morin, who assists Pelosi on AIDS issues, said Pelosi is concerned that the budget agreement will lead to a shortfall in funds for AIDS drug research programs at a time when such programs have resulted in important scientific breakthroughs.
Morin said Pelosi was especially disappointed that Clinton agreed to demands by Republican budget negotiators that he drop 40 programs from a classification in the budget agreement that the president listed as "protected domestic discretionary priorities." Among the 40 programs that Clinton agreed to remove from this category were the Ryan White AIDS program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS program (HOPWA), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's drug treatment program. The latter program funds AIDS prevention projects aimed at intravenous drug users, considered to be among the population groups most at risk for HIV infection.
Tension between AIDS activists and the White House increased this week when a memorandum released by the office of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), entitled "What the President Did Not Get from This Agreement," began circulating among Gay and AIDS activists. The Gingrich memo prompted the AIDS Action Council to issue a press advisory declaring, "Gingrich gloats about Clinton concessions in five-year balanced budget agreement."
White House official Socarides, who is openly Gay, said he is dismayed that some AIDS activists and others sympathetic to federal AIDS programs appear to be succumbing to the Republican "spin" on the budget agreement.
"Some people seem to be saying that because we couldn't get the Republicans to agree to our priorities that we have abandoned those priorities," said Socarides. "That is a totally incorrect assumption."
According to Socarides, the president proposed a list of 50 "protected domestic discretionary priorities," with the AIDS programs included that list. GOP lawmakers made it clear they would only agree to 10 of the 50 items, Socarides said, a development that forced Clinton to remove 40 programs from the list.
"All this means is we'll deal with the other 40 later," said Socarides.
"I'm dumbfounded that people think the president would reverse course so radically [on AIDS programs] after he has raised AIDS spending for the past five years," he said. "All these programs have received substantial increases. You can be assured that they will continue to receive substantial increases."
Donnelly of Project Inform said the budget agreement's blueprint for curtailing domestic non-military spending over the next five years appears to contradict Socarides's claims.
"I would love to be convinced that these programs will remain priorities," she said. "But I don't know where they will come up with the money. I'm still in the dark on this Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, said HRC is also "greatly concerned" over the omission of the AIDS programs from the budget agreement's "priority" list. Birch said she believes the Clinton administration will fight to keep these programs adequately funded during the budget cycle each year. But she faulted the administration for not clarifying its position on the dropped programs at the time Clinton signed on to the budget agreement.
"They should issue a statement immediately, reiterating that all 50 items, including AIDS programs, are top priorities for them," said Birch. "It will only cause confusion and alarm if they don't do that."
Winnicker, who has directed local and statewide field organizing for campaigns in Michigan, Virginia and Iowa, will serve as the principal liaison between the DNC and the gay and lesbian community.
"Tony's experience as a grassroots organizer will be key to the DNC's efforts to expand the roles of gays and lesbians in the political process and in preparing for the upcoming gubernatorial and congressional races," said Romer.
Said Grossman, "The Democratic Party has always been deeply committed to diversity and recognizes its value. As a national party, we are committed to the inclusion of gays and lesbians in Democratic Party politics."
Winnicker, a native of Lansing, Mich., attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He previously served as campaign director for Citizen Action, where he directed national issue and nonpartisan campaign efforts.
Washington, DC---May 27, 1997---- Have you ever wanted to own a "piece" of some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry? Can you picture Jerry Seinfeld or Martina Navratilova in your bedroom? Would you like to spend time with Oprah Winfrey or David Letterman? How about wearing Rosie O'Donnell's jacket or having dinner with Wilson Cruz?
Don't dream about it, come bid on it at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Capital Pride Auction to be held on June 7, 1997 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., followed by a live auction at 6:00 p.m. at the Dupont Plaza Hotel, 1500 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC. More than 300 items will be available for bidding, including photographs donated by celebrities, tickets to television programs and other items like a Hawaiian cruise on Olivia Cruiselines, a Caribbean cruise from OUTthere Tours and Travel and a sterling silver cheese set from Tiffany & Co.
Other star-studded items include donations from singer kd lang, comedian Kate Clinton, and the stars of television's "X-Files," "Xena: Warrior Princess," and "The Simpsons." Local media stars will shine and guests will have the chance to bid on a behind-the-scenes tour of WJLA-Channel 7 and the opportunity to watch a live news broadcast, as well as a chance to tour the WUSA-Channel 9 WeatherCenter followed by dinner with meteorologist, Doug Hill.
After an afternoon of silence, get ready to make some noise! The event also features a live auction with a chance to get in shape, go to the theater and have a big party. Among the items to be auctioned are 1997-98 season theater passes to Washington's Arena Stage, two one-year memberships to Results The Gym, a fully-catered cocktail party for 100 at Cobalt, and a complete set of the popular and hard to find Billy dolls straight from London.
"We have been overwhelmed by the generous outpouring of donations we have received for this event," said Kerry Lobel, NGLTF Executive Director. "The support that local, national and international businesses have given us and the generous donations from nationally-known and local celebrities really reflects the belief in our work for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality," she added.
Tickets for the event are $6 and can be purchased in advance by calling Box Office Tickets at 301-738-7073. Tickets will also be sold at the door. The first 1000 guests will receive a free one-week pass to any Washington Sports Club gym. For information or to make a donation, contact the NGLTF Special Events office at 202-332-6483, ext. 3219, via email at auction@ngltf.org, or visit us at http://www.ngltf.org/auction.
SALEM, Ore.--May 24 --- State Sen. Marylin Shannon said "defense of marriage" is a bipartisan issue, but the vote Thursday on a bill that would ban same-sex marriages in Oregon suggested otherwise.
The Senate easily passed Senate Bill 577 by a 20-7 vote, ignoring the pleas of minority Democrats who called the bill discriminatory, unnecessary and a black eye for the Legislature.
Conservative Democrat Mae Yih of Albany joined all of the Republicans present in support of the bill, which now faces a much tougher battle in the House and, if need be, with Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Asked at an earlier news conference if he would veto such a bill, Kitzhaber said that "depends on what it looks like when it reaches my desk. "But I don't believe we need a `defense of marriage' bill," he added. "I don't believe the institution of marriage is under assault."
Shannon, the bill's sponsor, noted that both Democrats and Republicans gave overwhelming support to the federal Defense of Marriage Act approved by the U.S. Congress last fall. She said that's consistent with polls showing that 85 percent of Americans support the traditional notion of marriage as being between a man and a woman.
"As of yet, no jurisdiction in the world has legalized same-sex marriages," she told her Senate colleagues. "I make no pretense about my convictions on this issue. I feel strongly that the family -- with traditional marriage as its foundation -- is unique in its design to offer strength and longevity to any society."
Portland Democrat Kate Brown, who is bisexual, responded by recounting how she held a female lover's hand as she died of cancer, and by naming the names of past and current state legislators who are gay .
"Are we not human beings just like you?" she asked. "And aren't we entitled to choose whom to love and to marry, just like you?"
Brown added that the "tried and true" institution of marriage "may be tried but it's not very true," noting that an estimated half of all marriages end in divorce. The test of a good marriage has much more to do with commitment than with gender, she said.
Brown, in tears briefly after the vote was taken, said she expected the bill to pass but was surprised by the margin. She said she expects Kitzhaber "will do the right thing" if the bill should reach his desk.
It requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers to override a veto. That would seem unlikely on this bill, given the Republicans' narrow 31-29 majority in the House.
Thursday's vote was part of a larger debate being played out in state legislatures across the country. Twenty-four states have already passed laws banning same-sex marriages, and Oregon is among another 24 considering such legislation.
The rush has come only since last September, when Congress passed its federal legislation, which gives states the option of refusing to recognize same-sex unions. President Clinton signed the bill into law.
Congress' impetus was a trial judge's ruling in Hawaii in favor of same-sex marriages. The ruling had national implications because the U.S. Constitution requires that a marriage performed in one state be recognized in the others.
Recently, however, the Hawaii state Legislature referred to voters a state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages. If Hawaii voters approve the amendment, as expected, then laws such as Oregon's SB 577 would be moot, Brown said.
Among Lane County legislators, Sen. Susan Castillo, D-Eugene, voted against the bill, and Sen. Bob Kintigh, R-Springfield, voted in favor. Sen. Bill Dwyer, D-Springfield, was excused.
Castillo called the bill's "Defense of Marriage" title a "marketing-strategy" misnomer. "This is just another attack on a group of citizens for being who they are," she said.
One of the more emotional speeches during the hour-long debate came from Democratic Sen. Joan Dukes of Astoria, who told about the depth of grief she witnessed in a man who had just lost his partner -- and learning only later that his partner was also male.
"I could no longer isolate myself in the knowledge that marriage can only happen one way," she said. "I can't expect everyone to be like me."
Democratic Sen. Avel Gordly of Portland, an African-American, called gay rights "the civil rights struggle of our time" and said government has never been successful at legislating morality.
"We all have private feelings on this issue and that's where they should stay," she said.
But Shannon responded that all laws are based on somebody's morality. "We all check our own moral compasses when facing these kinds of issues," she said.
The Justice Department brief came in a case in which an offshore oil rig worker claimed sexual harassment, but lower courts threw out his suit because both the worker and alleged harassers are male.
The brief was filed Tuesday, but not delivered to the Supreme Court press room until later this week.
In it, the Solicitor General's Office says the language of the law, federal guidelines and high court precedent ``all support the conclusion that Title VII (of the 1964 Civil Rights Act) protects all employees from sex discrimination, without regard to the gender of the harasser or the victim.''
The Justice Department urges the Supreme Court to hear argument in the case of Joseph Oncale.
Oncale was hired by the Houma, La., office of Sundowner Offshore Services Inc. to work on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oncale claims that while on the rig, he was physically and verbally sexually harassed and threatened with homosexual rape in the shower by two of his supervisors and a fellow worker.
Oncale quit and filed a suit under Title VII, but a federal judge said the law did not include same-sex harassment. When an appeals court agreed, the oil worker asked the Supreme Court for review.
The justices always have denied review of such cases in the past, but this time unexpectedly asked the Justice Department for advice.
(No. 96-568. Oncale vs. Sundowner Offshore Service Inc. et al)
Health Department Secretary Carmen Feliciano, in a news release made public Thursday, said that she would "annul the contents of Regulation 87," and turn its partner notification proposal into a voluntary program.
The regulations were slated to take effect April 1, but were suspended after the American Civil Liberties Union and other AIDS advocates charged that the regulations would have violated individual privacy while undermining public health goals. The ACLU also threatened to bring a lawsuit.
"These proposals were a disaster for HIV prevention efforts," said Michael Adams, a staff attorney with the ACLU's AIDS Project, who flew to Puerto Rico in March to testify before the health department. "I'm glad the health department has heeded the warnings of community advocates, and backed down from its ill-conceived and dangerous scheme."
The Secretary's announcement essentially adopted the recommendations made by an ad hoc panel created to study the HIV regulations in the wake of intense criticisms that the new regulations were instituted without any community participation, and were bad for public health.
The most controversial provision would have required anyone who tested positive for HIV to send a list of all their sex partners, including their address and telephone numbers, to the health department. Failure to comply was punishable by fines of up to $5000. Another provision would have authorized state officials to force any individual suspected of carrying HIV to submit to a blood test.
The health department is also suspending a mandatory name reporting scheme that would have required hospitals and medical laboratories to send HIV-positive test results to the government. Instead, the department said it will study the issue further.
"This is a victory for public health and privacy," said Adams. "It is also tribute to what can be accomplished when civil libertarians and community organizations work together.
San Diego,CA, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, May 23, 1997 --- The Boy Scouts have the right to discriminate against a gay Explorer leader because the organization is not covered under California's anti-discrimination law, a state appellate court ruled yesterday.
In a decision strongly in favor of the Scouting organization, the 4th District Court of Appeal ordered Superior Court Judge Anthony Joseph to reverse his July 1994 decision prohibiting discrimination against gays in the Boy Scouts.
El Cajon police Agent Chuck Merino sued the Boy Scouts in 1992 after he was ousted as head of an Explorer group affiliated with the Police Department over his public revelation that he is gay. His expulsion prompted the El Cajon and San Diego police departments to sever their ties with the group. Attorney Michael Edwards, representing the Boy Scouts, was jubilant over the ruling.
"Finally, justice is done," he said. "The trial court allowed emotionalism to get involved. The appeal court has corrected that. This is even better than I hoped."
Merino and his lawyer, Everett Bobbitt, said they weren't surprised by the 3-0 decision written by Justice Richard Huffman. In oral arguments before the justices, Bobbitt was questioned intensely while the attorney for the Boy Scouts emerged unscathed.
"I think it's wrong," Merino said. "You're starting to tell people that you can discriminate against who you want. I don't think anyone can do that, particularly a business that works on public property."
Bobbitt vowed to appeal the decision, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
"From an intellectual point of view, (the decision) is poorly written," Bobbitt said. "We waited three years to get an opinion from the court of appeal, and they didn't answer his question. He deserved better than that."
The appeal court's decision was not certified for publication, meaning it cannot be cited as legal precedent in other cases. A similar case has been before the state Supreme Court for almost three years.
That case stems from a 1994 Los Angeles appeals court ruling that the Boy Scouts are not a business, and so are not subject to state anti-discrimination laws and could legally prohibit a gay man from becoming an assistant scoutmaster.
The San Diego appeals court's decision hinged solely on whether the Boy Scouts are a business, which would mean they must comply with state anti-discrimination laws. Judge Joseph concluded the organization was a business, noting that the Scouts have more than 4 million members, conduct many public activities and engage in commercial enterprises such as stores selling Scouting equipment.
The appeals court disagreed, saying size alone doesn't make an organization a business. The justices said the organization made attempts to select leaders who agreed with its beliefs, and that its use of public facilities at Balboa Park and Fiesta Island were for activities that furthered the organization's goals instead of making profits.
Although Huffman wrote the ruling, with Justices Gilbert Nares and Judith Haller concurring, he went further in a separate opinion written on his own. Huffman wrote that even if the Boy Scouts were considered a business, they had the right to exclude gays under their First Amendment right to free association.
"Applying the (state's anti-discrimination) act here would suppress (the Boy Scouts') ideas that an avowed homosexual is not an appropriate role model and moral example within Scouting," Huffman wrote.
Darrell Watkins, director of the Boy Scouts' Desert Pacific Council, which covers San Diego County, said the ruling affirms the values at the heart of Scouting.
"We're pleased that the court has upheld our right as a private organization to establish standards of leadership," Watkins said.
But Karen Marshall, executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center, expressed dismay with the ruling.
"I'm sorry to see that equality is not there and that they're allowed to discriminate," she said. "It puts gay kids in a very bad position because if they want to participate, they have to lie. It's sad."
WASHINGTON, D.C. May 20, 1997 -- President Clinton's goal of creating a new research center devoted to developing an AIDS vaccine within the next 10 years must be backed up with adequate funding and continued dedication to fighting this disease on all fronts, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
"We applaud the president's commitment but stress that this project will require a large infusion of federal money, which must not be siphoned from other programs that support people with HIV and AIDS," said Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's legislative director. "This new research center must be in addition to continued research into life-saving drugs and a cure for those people already infected. And the government cannot neglect the housing, drug assistance and other social service programs dedicated to people living with HIV and AIDS.
"If the federal government can meet all these requirements, this will truly be on a par with President Kennedy's challenge to put an American on the moon."
In light of this announcement, HRC also called on Clinton to support a measure currently moving through Congress calling for an additional $68 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. This is the primary federal program for poor people seeking access to the new drug treatments.
Clinton announced his plan Sunday, in a commencement speech at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He said the research center would be established at the National Institutes of Health and staffed by up to 50 researchers drawn from existing programs. He did not announce that any new money would be devoted to the project.
Clinton also proposed a global AIDS research initiative, to be discussed by the leaders of the eight major industrialized nations at a summit next month in Denver.
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
GLAAD NAMES JOAN M. GARRY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
"Equipped with years of executive-level experience at a major television network, Joan Garry is precisely the person that can take GLAAD to the next level," said David Huebner, co-Chair of the GLAAD Board of Directors. "She brings an exciting mix of media savvy, fresh vision and operational and programming expertise to GLAAD."
Joan M. Garry has been a fixture in the entertainment industry for the past 16 years, 7 of which were spent at Showtime Networks. As Vice President of Business Operations, she managed the network's $300 million pay-per-view business. Previously, Ms. Garry helped launch MTV, and as Director of Business Development for MTV Networks, she developed new channels, helped to create the worldwide annual MTV Video Music Awards and the network's innovative merchandising program. Ms. Garry lives in New Jersey with her partner of 16 years and their three children.
"While the decision to leave Showtime was difficult, there were three extremely compelling reasons to join GLAAD-my three children," said Ms. Garry. "Like every parent, I worry about the kind of world in which our children will grow up and GLAAD offered me the opportunity to help make that world a better place for everyone."
Joan Garry will lead GLAAD in the battle for unbiased and inclusive media representations of lesbians and gay men. Ms. Garry will oversee the completion of the integration of former GLAAD chapters into the national organization. She will also manage a wide array of educational and media-oriented programs in GLAAD's offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Atlanta and Kansas City.
GLAAD is the nation's lesbian and gay news bureau and the only national lesbian and gay media watchdog organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate, and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.
BALTIMORE, MD May 18, 1997 (AP) -- President Clinton challenged American researchers Sunday to find a vaccine in the next decade that will rid the world of AIDS once and for all. ``It cannot come a day too soon,'' he said.
Speaking to graduates at Morgan State University, Clinton said the United States is embarking in the next 50 years on ``the age of biology,'' in which the nation is responsible for ensuring its science is used for the world's common good.
``Let us make an AIDS vaccine its first great triumph,'' Clinton said. ``Today let us commit ourselves to developing an AIDS vaccine within the next decade.''
Clinton said the quest for a vaccine will take place at a new research center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., outside Washington. Thirty to 50 researchers will be drawn from existing NIH programs.
The president said he is confident his goal can be reached ``if America commits to finding an AIDS vaccine, and we enlist others in our cause.''
``It is simply a question of when. And it cannot come a day too soon,'' Clinton said.
He said he plans to appeal to other nations to join the search for a vaccine next month when he meets with leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Denver.
Clinton compared the search for an AIDS vaccine with John F. Kennedy's presidential challenge in the early 1960s to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade.
``He gave us the goal of reaching the moon, and we achieved it ahead of time,'' Clinton said. ``Today, let's ... step up to the challenge of our time.''
NEW YORK May 18, 1997 (AP) --- Parents, friends and lovers who lost loved ones to AIDS were among 35,000 people who joined in the 12th Annual AIDS Walk in New York Sunday to honor the memories of the dead - and raise millions of dollars for the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
``It's such a beautiful day and such an important cause,'' said Eva Friedman, 43, of Queens, who was walking the 6-mile route through Central Park with two teen-age goddaughters.
Asked why she was participating, her sunny face suddenly clouded with sadness and tears welled up in her eyes.
``I lost a very incredible and wonderful friend to AIDS. He was only 29,'' she said, explaining how she and her brothers had scattered her friend's ashes at Orchard Beach in the Bronx two months ago, to honor his memory.
Kazu Kumagai, 20, of Sendai City, Japan, walking by himself with a wistful expression on his face, said he was honoring the memory of friends who contracted AIDS through tainted blood in Japan.
``Last year I walked in Japan's first AIDS Walk. This is my first time in New York's walk,'' he said. ``AIDS is a very big thing in Japan, I guess it's big everywhere.''
Walking with about 50 other Sony employees, George McGlinchey, 64, of Deer Park, said that as he walked through the sunny park he remembered his 41-year-old son, who succumbed to AIDS two years ago.
``If everybody did more, it would be a much better world,'' he said, then jogged ahead to catch up with his colleagues.
But Mark Robinson, executive director of GMHC, said the group had had to work much harder this year to drum up support for the walk than it had in the past.
``It's sad, but it's much harder now to get people interested. Too many celebrities and journalist have declared the crisis over. But it's not over. We're helping 10,000 people with AIDS-related services - and the vast majority of people with AIDS still have no access to treatment.''
Although entertainers Nell Carter, Tony Randall and others rallied the crowd before the walk, many participants noted that there were fewer stars than in previous years.
``A lot of people in our industry have jumped on to other causes and have forgotten this one. I've had a dozen friends die of AIDS. This is about them and a commitment to a real problem in the real world. It's not just another fashionable cause,'' said actress Rosie Perez. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and other city officials also attended, but were barred from speaking in order to focus on AIDS as a social issue rather than a political issue.
Organizers said they hoped to raise up to $5 million through the walk, about what was raised last year.
The money benefits GMHC, the nation's oldest AIDS service organization. The group provides direct services to AIDS patients, operates prevention programs and performs advocacy work
Single-sex marriage has not been legalized, so such benefit offerings are not required by law. Nevertheless, approximately 500 companies, including Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp., Walt Disney Co., Apple Computer and Time-Warner, offer health benefits to domestic partners of their employees. In addition, numerous cities, counties and universities offer similar programs.
The Democratic National Committee said it had decided on the policy because it was sound business sense.
"It's a way to attract and retain a talented staff," said a spokeswoman, Melissa Bonney. "We're following the lead of the business communities that already do this."
Among Fortune 500 companies, about half have policies barring discrimination against homosexuals; among Fortune 1000 companies, half have domestic partnership health benefits similar to the policy the committee is adopting, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington group that lobbies on gay and lesbian issues.
The committee's new benefits policy will cover single-sex partners of its 150 employees and will take effect on July 3. Single-sex couples must have lived together for 12 consecutive months before being eligible for these benefits. How domestic partnership will be verified has not been decided yet.
"This is a way of providing equal compensation for equal work," said David M. Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. "Non-gay people have the ability to marry and have access to these benefits. Because gay people do not have the option of marrying, they do not have access to these benefits."
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee said he was not familiar with the Democratic committee's policy, and therefore could not comment on it.
BOSTON GLOBE May 18, 1997 Stephen Fox said he has been shoved and verbally harassed at school because he is gay. But the brown-haired, jewelry-laden, teenager did not tell school officials for fear the harassment would escalate.
Yesterday, Fox stood in front of the State House and told some 2,000 people about the abuse he faced. The 16-year-old North Quincy High School student said he now realizes he deserves to walk to class without fearing abuse.
``I am completely out now and am trying my best to stop harassment at school,'' Fox said to cheers. ``I think I have made a difference.'' Fox and other teenagers led thousands of adults and youths on the third annual gay/straight youth pride march, said to be the only such march in the nation. With both cheers and jeers from onlookers, the group marched from the State House to the Hatch Shell to mark the milestone of more than 100 gay/straight alliances in the state's schools. Many students then danced and celebrated at a concert on the banks of the Charles River.
``It would have been unthinkable to have a march like this five years ago,'' said David LaFontaine, chair of Governor William F. Weld's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, which sponsors the alliances. ``Before, kids were in the closet.''
LaFontaine said most gay and lesbian students, like Fox, have been harassed in some way. He urged parents to listen to their children and the remaining 200 state high schools to promote alliances for an estimated 10,000 gay and lesbian students who may need support.
Gay/straight alliances are after-school support and discussion groups, sponsored by the state since 1992.
Many speakers praised Weld for his outreach to gay youth. The effort is important, LaFontaine said, because gay, lesbian, and bisexual students are four times more likely to attempt suicide, five times more likely to miss school because of feeling unsafe, and nearly five times more likely to use cocaine, according to a state Department of Education study released yesterday.
The event coincided with a March for Jesus meeting on Boston Common prompting some shouting matches between members of the groups. After the religious meeting, several participants called to the gays: ``Jesus loves you'' and ``... the devil's got you confused.'' Some gays yelled back: ``Jesus loves me, too.''
AUGUSTA, Me. Friday, May 16, 1997 --- Maine today became the 10th state with a gay civil rights law when Governor Angus King signed a measure that adds sexual orientation to existing laws banning discrimination in employment, housing, credit and public accommodations.
The signing was hailed as a historic moment by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been lobbying for the measure for more than 20 years.
"This is a truly exciting day for the state," said Sally Sutton, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union. "This law will finally give lesbians and gay men in Maine the same protection from discrimination that every citizen here deserves."
Last week, the Maine House of Representatives broke through years of legislative impasse and approved the bill 84 to 61, one day after the measure sailed through the state Senate 28 to 5.
A similar bill in New Hampshire is being sent to Governor Jeanne Shaheen, who is expected to sign the bill as early as next week. Like its neighboring state, the New Hampshire legislature avoided another logjam this year when the Senate passed the measure 13 to 9 last Thursday and the House 205 to 125 on March 19.
"We're definitely on a roll," said Matt Coles, director of the national ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "With New Hampshire poised to become the 11th state with a gay rights law, every lesbian and gay man in New England will be protected from discrimination."
"We must now focus on the other 39 states where it continues to be perfectly legal to fire someone simply for being gay," Coles added.
Until today, the only states with gay civil rights law were California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin. No federal protections current exist, although a bill banning workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation will be reintroduced in Congress this year with President Clinton's support.
In Maine, opponents of the civil rights law are looking to mount a referendum campaign to either block the law from taking effect this year, or to overturn the measure in a ballot vote next year. To block the law this year, opponents will need to secure at least 51,000 signatures on a petition before the law takes effect.
"After all our hard work, we're not going sit back and let a bunch of anti-gay extremists take away such an important victory," said Sutton. "But even if they can secure the necessary signatures, I don't believe the fair-minded voters of this state will turn the clock back on civil rights."
MANASSAS, Va. May 16, 1997 (AP) --- A former FBI agent was sentenced today to 23 years in prison for trying to kill his estranged wife whom he accused of deserting him for a lesbian relationship with crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.
Circuit Judge Richard Potter reduced the 61-year sentence recommended by jurors who convicted Eugene Bennett in February. Potter agreed with defense lawyers who said the scheme Bennett concocted was so bizarre that it could not be the work of a completely rational man.
``It is also true that this was meticulously planned and extremely dangerous,'' the judge said.
He said he wanted the sentence to serve as deterrent to other law enforcement officers ``who might forget the line between undercover work and criminal intent.''
The sentence means Bennett will be eligible for release in about 20 years, when he will be 62. His ex-wife, Marguerite Bennett, said she was disappointed with what she called a short prison term. She said she will still fear for her life when Bennett is released.
``I can't run from this man. I have no idea what I'm going to do,'' Ms. Bennett said after the 45-minute sentencing hearing.
Bennett said he is ashamed to have deserted the ideals he held as a military officer and an FBI agent, but even more ashamed to fallen down on his duties as a father. He has two young daughters.
Bennett warned other law enforcement officers to resist the lure of undercover work because it is too damaging psychologically.
``I don't think it stretches the evidence to say I was one of the best. Now, I'm a walking case history and study of the downside of that,'' he said.
During Bennett's trial, prosecutors claimed that Bennett's years of undercover training served him well as he devised the plot against his wife.
Prosecutor Paul Ebert told reporters he was disappointed the sentence wasn't longer and that he shared Ms. Bennett's concerns. Bennett's lawyers did not dispute that he planted bombs and conned an accomplice in an elaborate, months-long plot that culminated with Bennett abducting a suburban minister and cornering his wife in a church. But the lawyers claimed Bennett was innocent because he was mentally ill, and that he never truly intended to kill Mrs. Bennett. The defense argued that Bennett's psyche was warped by his career as an undercover agent.
After play-acting a bad guy for so long, Bennett developed an evil alter ego named Ed that sometimes controlled him, defense attorney Reid Weingarten told jurors. When Ed was in control, the normally mild Bennett turned ugly, Weingarten said.
Another blow to Bennett's fragile mental health came five years ago when his wife took up with Ms. Cornwell while the writer was training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Weingarten said. Mrs. Bennett, also an FBI agent, was an instructor there.
Mrs. Bennett acknowledged during the trial that she had two dalliances with Ms. Cornwell in 1992. Cornwell later confirmed court testimony about their brief affair. In an interview with Vanity Fair published in this month's edition of the magazine, she acknowledged a fleeting fling with Mrs. Bennett in 1991 and 1992.
In November, Mrs. Bennett was granted a divorce and custody of the couple's two children.
CHICAGO, IL May 15, 1997 (AP) ---- Last month, Andrew Cunanan said he was leaving San Diego to take care of some business in Minneapolis. Now, a former lover and three other men are dead in his wake, friends are in hiding and Cunanan seems to be a step ahead in a nationwide hunt.
As police try to piece together evidence in three states, photos and a description of the darkly handsome Cunanan are plastered on the FBI's World Wide Web page and in gay nightspots in New York City.
The pictures suggest a clean-cut, happy 27-year-old, but
authorities say he's a desperate fugitive who killed a cemetery caretaker
in New Jersey on Friday to steal his red pickup truck. They fear he may
be trying to disappear in New York or another big city.
``One of my big concerns is that some guy out on a highway or a city street pulls him over for a traffic violation ... and we end up with some officer killed or badly wounded because this guy's so dangerous,'' said Minneapolis homicide Lt. Dale Barsness.
The cross-country drama began April 29, when police discovered a bludgeoned body rolled in a carpet in the apartment of Minneapolis architect David Madson.
The dead man was Jeffrey Trail, a district manager for a Minneapolis gas company who knew Madson and was a friend of Cunanan before Trail moved last year from California to the Midwest.
Four days after Trail's body was discovered, Madson's body was found on the edge of a lake in Chisago County, north of Minneapolis. He had been shot three times.
Police, relatives and friends of Madson say that Madson and Cunanan were once lovers but that Madson had ended the relationship because he considered Cunanan ``shady.'' Investigators say Cunanan told friends in San Diego several weeks ago that he was going to Minnesota to ``take care of some business'' with Trail and contact Madson.
Minnesota authorities have charged Cunanan with murder in Madson's killing; prosecutor Jim Reuter says authorities believe Madson was killed because he witnessed Trail's murder. Cunanan has not been charged in that crime.
While Minneapolis investigators were dealing with the killings, Barsness heard news reports about the killing of Lee Miglin, a millionaire real estate developer whose stabbed and slashed body was found May 4 in the garage next to his townhouse in Chicago's posh Gold Coast neighborhood.
``I remember thinking to myself, `I'm glad we don't have that one,''' Barsness said.
The next morning, police discovered Madson's red Jeep Cherokee parked near Miglin's home. Miglin's green 1994 Lexus was missing. Chicago police won't discuss details of Miglin's death or say whether they have a suspect, but authorities in Minnesota and California have said Cunanan is under suspicion.
It's unclear whether Cunanan had any connection to Miglin. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Cunanan knew Miglin's son, Duke, but the Miglin family has repeatedly denied any link between the men. Acquaintances of Cunanan describe him as a ``party boy'' known in San Diego's gay community for having lots of money but working only as a part-time drug store clerk.
``I think a lot of people hung around with him just because he had money. ... He had a very distinct, loud laugh, and you definitely knew when he was in a restaurant,'' said a San Diego business owner who knows Cunanan. He spoke on the condition of anonymity; like some other Cunanan acquaintances, he said he now fears for his life.
Police and acquaintances say the sometimes bespectacled Cunanan may have been supported by older, wealthy men. They won't provide details, but the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Cunanan's mother, Mary Ann Cunanan, believes her son was a ``high-class homosexual prostitute.'' However, Cunanan has no criminal record. And it was unclear when he last saw his mother.
Last week, a signal from the cellular phone in Miglin's car was picked up near Philadelphia. On Friday night, the car was discovered at Finn's Point National Cemetery in Pennsville, N.J. Nearby was the body of caretaker William Reese, 45. He had been shot to death.
As the search - and publicity about it - widen, investigators are sifting through reported sightings of Cunanan all over the country, most recently in Scranton, Pa.
Friends and acquaintances of Cunanan on the East and West coasts are worried about where he will show up next, and several have gone into hiding, police said.
Questions about Cunanan's role in the killings and any possible motive aren't likely to be answered until he is captured, Barsness said - ``if we're lucky to get him alive.''
Andrew Phillip Cunanan
If you see this suspect do not attempt to take any action yourself. Notify immediately your local police department or any office of the FBI.
More photos available at the FBI Web Site.
Washington, D.C. The Washington Post, May 14, 1997 --- The Pentagon opened a formal review this week into allegations by gay rights advocates that military investigators are wrongfully conducting aggressive inquiries into the sex lives of gay service members and that commanders have turned a blind eye to harassment.
The review, launched without fanfare Monday, is not aimed at amending a three-year-old policy regulating homosexuals in the ranks, but at ensuring correct enforcement of rules that were painstakingly negotiated with military leaders and Congress during President Clinton's first months in office, defense officials said.
Gay activists welcomed the move as a first step, saying it reflects what they regard as a greater commitment to proper implementation of the rules since former Republican senator William S. Cohen replaced William J. Perry as defense secretary in January.
Under the policy, dubbed "don't ask, don't tell," the military agreed to stop searching out gays, provided they keep their sexual orientation private. Being homosexual is no longer a bar to military service, but admitting it or engaging in homosexual activity can trigger expulsion. The policy was a compromise between Clinton's 1992 campaign pledge to eliminate the mandatory discharge of gays and resistance by the military and Congress to letting homosexuals serve freely.
Since the regulations took effect in early 1994, the number of gays dismissed from military service has climbed 42 percent, reaching 850 last year, a five-year high, according to Defense Department statistics. The discharge rate last year was the highest since 1987, prompting complaints by activists that investigators had stepped up probes of gays in violation of the policy.
Defense officials offered various explanations for the jump. The Air Force attributed much of it to a rise in trainees opting out of service in their first months by proclaiming they are gay. The Navy blamed the spike on the delayed processing of cases temporarily frozen when the policy was introduced.
Based on preliminary analysis, officials said some homosexual cases have been mishandled, but they called the errors little more than minor technical violations and attributed them largely to inadvertence or unfamiliarity with the policy's complexities.
"If you ask me whether I think the policy is being perfectly implemented, the answer to that is no," said Fred Pang, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for force management, whose office heads the review. "It's a very complicated policy."
Asked if any commanders had been disciplined for disobeying the limits on investigations or tolerating anti-gay harassment, Pentagon officials said they knew of no such cases and were hard-pressed to explain the apparent lack of even a wrist slap.
"Commanders made some blunders perhaps, but I don't think they were intentional or pointed at anyone," said Harlan "Gordon" Wilder, a senior Air Force lawyer.
"I really get the sense that if we had a serious problem, my phone would be ringing off the hook, and it's not," said Joseph Lynch, a senior Navy attorney who monitors gay discharge cases.
When the policy on gays was revised three years ago, defense officials predicted an end to the questioning of service members about their sexual orientation and the harassment of homosexuals. But gay activists contend that gays continue to face inappropriate interrogations, abuse by other service members and improper, heavy-handed investigations.
Similar allegations last year prompted promises then of a Pentagon inquiry. But the resulting review was limited to separate legal assessments by each military service, loosely coordinated by the Pentagon general counsel.
Cohen was quick to assert his opposition to the "active pursuit and prosecution" of gays after the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a group that monitors treatment of gays in the military, issued a critical report in February. Cohen also is credited with initiating a memo, issued in March by the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel, reaffirming that service members ought to feel free to report gay harassment and abuse without fearing an investigation of them.
"I give Cohen credit," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a homosexual. "Perry couldn't have cared less. Cohen, having voted for the policy while in the Senate, feels some commitment, I think, to live up to it.
"Secondly, I think we're also seeing the effects of being in the second term of a presidential administration. I think the president was concerned about reopening the issue when he was up for reelection," Frank added.
One reason defense officials give for waiting until now to assess the policy is the absence earlier of sufficient data. Pentagon authorities say they have relied on SLDN's annual reports for problems to come to light. And this year's report, they note, was the most detailed yet.
It alleged a witch hunt for gays at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, where investigators last year entered into a pretrial plea bargain with an airman facing life in prison for an alleged rape of a man and other charges.
The airman's sentence was reduced to 20 months after he named 17 others with whom he had sex, including five Air Force members.
In another case, two female sailors aboard the submarine tender Simon Lake, docked in Italy, alleged that investigators threatened them with prison terms unless they confessed to being lesbian or accused another seaman of being gay.
Pentagon lawyers who have examined both cases concluded that investigators generally kept within legal bounds, although they committed some minor infractions.
SLDN's report also told of airmen at bases in Texas and Maryland being hounded by other unit members. It said women frequently are accused of being lesbian in retaliation for rebuffing sexual advances by men or reporting sexual abuse.
A disproportionately large number of women have been discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Women accounted for 29 percent of gay discharges in fiscal 1996, although they made up 13 percent of the active force. The ratio was most lopsided in the Army, where women accounted for 41 percent of gay discharges, about three times their presence in the service.
Gay rights advocates have reserved some of their harshest criticism for military directives, issued since the new policy was put into effect, authorizing investigators to go after private statements made by service members to family members, close friends, doctors and psychologists.
Defense officials defend such tactics as necessary to determine the veracity of a service member's claim of homosexuality. They have an obligation, they say, to guard against fraud in cases where military personnel whose postgraduate study or other special training was paid for by the government may assert homosexuality to avoid a service obligation.
"There just is not a big problem of straight people claiming to be gay," said Michelle Benecke, an SLDN director. "I don't think people reading a military directive saying it's okay to go out and question a service member's parents would consider that appropriate behavior by investigators."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel News Main Page Copyright 1997, . All rights reserved.
Madison May 14, 1997, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel --- The Assembly voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban same-sex marriages, ignoring legal advice that marriages involving gays and lesbians already are not valid in Wisconsin.
The 78-20 vote came after the most emotional six hours of debate in the 5-month-old legislative session and amid tight security, as police looked on and enforced fire-code rules on how many people could watch the debate. The bill's chief sponsor received police escorts to and from the Assembly chamber because of the volatility of the issue.
The bill was sent to the Senate, where it has less support and might die. To become law, it must pass the Senate by the end of next year.
"I don't see it coming up right away," said Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison), an opponent of the legislation. Senators "made no commitments" to act on the measure, he added.
Lawmakers who pushed the bill said that without it, marriages between gays and lesbians in another state would have to be legally honored in Wisconsin. A judge in Hawaii recently ruled that same-sex marriages are legal there, but the decision is being appealed.
The bill says the only valid marriage in Wisconsin is between a man and a woman, and that any same-sex marriage legal anywhere else must not be recognized in Wisconsin.
"Any society can survive without homosexuality," said Rep. Lorraine Seratti (R-Spread Eagle), the bill's chief sponsor. "But no society can survive without the institution of marriage."
If the bill becomes law, Wisconsin would join more than 20 states that have banned same-sex marriages, Seratti said.
Another sponsor, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), said the bill would declare that "marriage is a heterosexual institution."
Opponents said the legislation was unnecessary and would fuel discrimination and hatred. They tried to rewrite it and cited advice from Attorney General Jim Doyle and legislative staff lawyers that the legislation was not needed.
In a formal opinion Tuesday, Doyle said, "The state of Wisconsin follows the generally held view among states that a valid marriage exists only between persons of the opposite sex."
Doyle said state law did not specifically define a "husband" as a man and a "wife" as a woman, but added that court rulings have the effect of law on that question.
The opposition to the bill was led by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison), the first openly gay member of the Legislature, and most Milwaukee Democrats, who warned that it would reverse decades of progress on civil rights and discrimination issues.
Baldwin said she personally felt threatened by the bill and the anti-homosexual message it sent to the emotionally unstable looking for more reasons to harm gays and lesbians.
"Next, I may lose my right to vote around here," Baldwin said.
Rep. Peter Bock (D-Milwaukee) said: "This legislation is still aimed at those people who have to hide in their own lives from the people around them, who have to live lies because we have not learned to be accepting of them. People like us won't stand up to the hate-mongers. This is not necessary. This is harmful."
And Rep. Barbara Notestein (D-Milwaukee) said: "It's time . . . to stop telling other people how to live their lives. This bill is about hatred, about discrimination. Make no mistake about it."
Grothman, Seratti and Rep. Wayne Wood (D-Janesville) led the push for the bill.
On the final vote -- which drew shouts of "Shame! Shame!" from one onlooker -- 50 Republicans and 28 Democrats voted for it; one Republican and 19 Democrats voted against it.
Dozens of gays and lesbians watched the debate, waving their hands to thank and encourage the bill's opponents. At other times, they were gaveled into silence after clapping and hissing as speakers argued over the bill.
One group pushing the measure, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, agreed with Doyle that current law does not legalize same-sex marriages. But the conference said the bill should still become law.
In a statement, Executive Director John Huebscher said the bill would "affirm that marriage is limited to unions between one woman and one man."
He said: "Such affirmation would be useful in avoiding possible misunderstandings in the future. The union of one man to one woman gives a singly powerful witness to the interdependence . . . of the sexes and the indispensable role of each in human procreation. This witness is not and cannot be duplicated in other relationships."
CINCINNATI, OHIO May 14, 1997 (AP) --- More than 500 people cheered Larry Flynt as the Hustler publisher hawked his magazine in the city where he was prosecuted on obscenity charges 20 years ago.
Flynt, who uses a wheelchair, was surrounded in a downtown square. Police kept a watch on the crowd but made no move against the flamboyant Flynt, who promised in April to return to Cincinnati and sell his sexually explicit magazine.
Some people had money in their hands but Flynt said he gave the copies away.
Flynt, whose life story was told last year in the movie ``The People vs. Larry Flynt,'' was convicted in 1977 of pandering obscenity and engaging in organized crime for trying to sell Hustler in Cincinnati. The conviction was overturned, but stores in Hamilton County stopped selling the magazine when Flynt was prosecuted out of fear that they, too, would be prosecuted.
Some in the crowd snapped photographs and chanted ``Larry, Larry'' during his 45 minutes on Fountain Square downtown. Posters read ``Hustler on sale here.''
``This is nice, man,'' said Otis Miller, 44, a factory worker who held a magazine Flynt had given him. ``I wanted to support the man. ... I hope it (Hustler) comes back here.''
Nearby, one person held a sign that read ``Pornography destroys homes and lives - you're still not welcome!''
The crowd broke up after Flynt disappeared into a hotel.
Police had said they planned to monitor Flynt's appearance. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters called Flynt's mission a publicity stunt. But his office did not specifically rule out prosecuting Flynt again, saying in advance that if a complaint was made, it would be reviewed.
Earlier this week, Flynt said he sees his plan to sell Hustler in Cincinnati as a free-speech issue.
``What I'm looking for is to be arrested and go to trial, and hopefully win this time,'' Flynt said. ``I really see this as unfinished business in Cincinnati. If they don't arrest me, I definitely will open a store.''
The city could act against Flynt on an ordinance that prohibits displays offered for sale or barter on Fountain Square. City officials said Flynt had not requested a waiver.
Flynt, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a shooting in Georgia in 1978, denied he was just seeking publicity. He said he was irked that Hustler hasn't been sold in the city since he was prosecuted.
In 1990, Cincinnati prosecutors pursued an obscenity case against the Contemporary Arts Center and its director, Dennis Barrie, for displaying photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe, some of which showed homosexual acts and children's genitals. A jury acquitted them of misdemeanor obscenity charges.
Washington, DC---May 12, 1997 --- The United States Supreme Court today declined to hear two gay-related cases, allowing lower court rulings to stand. The high court refused an appeal from a lower court upholding a housing discrimination case against a lesbian in Wisconsin. The court also rejected a constitutional challenge to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gays to be discharged from the military.
In the case of Hacklander-Ready vs. Wisconsin, the Justices let stand the state court's ruling that Ann Hacklander-Ready violated Madison's fair housing ordinance when she rescinded Caryl Sprague's invitation to move into the house after she learned Sprague is a lesbian. Sprague sued and a state trial judge ruled Hacklander had violated the ordinance. Later, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Hacklander and another roommate, eventually leading to the case going before the US Supreme Court.
"Our country has a long legacy of court cases on housing discrimination against many communities," said Kerry Lobel, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "The Supreme Court has once again let stand a law banning such discrimination."
Today's other decision marks the second time the high court has refused to get involved in the anti-gay "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the U. S. military. The 1993 policy represents a compromise reached between Congress and the Clinton Administration, which upholds the military's 50-year prohibition on gays serving in the armed forces. The original policy stated that homosexuality was incompatible with military service. It was replaced by "don't ask, don't tell" which was intended to allow servicemembers to serve as long as they did not discuss their sexual orientation. Although the military cannot question members or recruits about their sexual orientation, witch hunts continue and discharges are on the rise.
"By refusing to hear this case, the Court allows the ineffective 'don't ask, don't tell' policy to remain in place," said Lobel. "By requiring servicemembers to remain in the closet, this proves the only thing incompatible with military service is the truth."
SAN DIEGO, CA May 12, 1997 (AP) --- The man being sought for questioning in the slayings of four people in the Midwest and New Jersey supported himself by having sex with other men, his mother said.
Mary Ann Cunanan of Eureka, Ill., said in today's edition of the Chicago Sun-Times that she believes her son Andrew was a ``high-class homosexual prostitute.''
The statement comes amid growing confusion over whether Cunanan was a friend of aspiring actor Duke Miglin, whose wealthy father was slain this month in what authorities say could be a cross-country killing spree. Bruce Kerschner, the owner of a gay bookstore in San Diego and an acquaintance of Cunanan, was quoted in The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune as saying Cunanan and Duke Miglin were friends. Kerschner then called a Sunday night news conference to deny that he knew of any such relationship.
Cunanan, 27, is charged with murder in the shooting of Minneapolis architect David Madson, 33, whose body was found May 3. He also is wanted for questioning in the beating death of Jeffrey Trail, 28, a gas company manager whose body was found in Madson's apartment April 29. Authorities said the three men knew one another and that Cunanan, who had a reputation as a ``party boy'' in San Diego's gay community, had an intimate relationship with Madson.
The body of Chicago developer Lee Miglin, 72, was found May 4 in his garage and Madson's stolen Jeep Cherokee was parked across the street. On Friday, five days later, Miglin's 1994 Lexus was found at a military cemetery in New Jersey, along with the body cemetery caretaker William Reese, 45.
Reese's red Chevrolet pickup was missing.
While the FBI and other authorities continued a nationwide manhunt, The Star Tribune on Sunday quoted Kerschner as saying Cunanan was a ``close friend'' of Duke Miglin, who has a small role in the soon-to-be-released movie ``Air Force One'' starring Harrison Ford.
But Kerschner, owner of the Obelisk Bookstore, said late Sunday that he was only repeating rumors when he talked to the newspaper.
``The reporter from Minneapolis asked if I had heard that Andrew may have known the son of the Chicago developer,'' Kerschner said. ``I told him I had heard over the past few days that they may have known each other somehow, but that I didn't know personally if they actually did.''
Pam Fine, the paper's managing editor, said the reporter ``accurately quoted what Mr. Kerschner said during the interview.''
Mark Jarasek, a spokesman for the Miglins, said the family did not know Cunanan. The Chicago Tribune quoted anonymous police sources who said no link was been established between Cunanan and the Miglin family.
WASHINGTON, D.C. May 12, 1997 (AP) --- A former Navy sailor discharged after disclosing he is gay lost a Supreme Court challenge today to the Clinton administration's ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy on homosexuals in the military.
The court, without comment, turned down former Lt. j.g. Richard Dirk Selland's argument that the policy is based on prejudice and violates gay service members' free-speech rights.
Last October, the high court turned down a similar appeal by former Navy Lt. Paul Thomasson, forced out of the service after writing a letter to his commander that said, ``I am gay.''
Selland, then a supply officer on the nuclear attack submarine Hammerhead, disclosed his homosexuality to his commanding officer on Jan. 21, 1993. President Clinton had been inaugurated a day before and had promised to lift the longstanding ban on gays in the military.
Selland was immediately ordered off the ship and Navy officials began discharge proceedings.
Meanwhile, Congress opposed lifting the ban, and the president accepted a compromise that would let gays serve as long as they kept their sexuality private.
Selland was given on-shore duties while he challenged the new policy in federal court, and he left the Navy last year. He now is a law student in Baltimore.
A federal judge in Baltimore said Selland's argument that the policy violated his right of freedom of speech and due-process rights did not override the military's need to maintain morale and discipline.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Selland's discharge last November, relying on its earlier ruling in Thomasson's case. In the appeal acted on today, Selland's lawyers said that by discharging him merely for saying he is gay, the policy targets people ``not for illegal conduct but simply because of an acknowledgement of sexual orientation.''
The ban on gays serving openly in the military is based on prejudice, Selland's appeal said, adding that sexual orientation has no impact on performance of military duties.
Government lawyers said the policy is justified by ``the need for unit cohesion, privacy concerns and the strong interest in minimizing sexual tensions'' in the military.
The case is Selland vs. Cohen, 96-1238.
WASHINGTON, D. C. May 12, 1997 (AP) ---- A Wisconsin woman penalized because she refused to let a lesbian be her housemate and share the rent on a Madison home lost a Supreme Court appeal today.
The justices, without comment, left intact state court rulings that said Ann Hacklander-Ready violated Madison's fair-housing ordinance. The state courts ordered her to pay Caryl Sprague damages of $300 and lawyer fees that reportedly total more than $10,000.
Hacklander-Ready's appeal challenged the government's power ``to dictate how one may choose with whom to associate as living companions in the anticipated privacy of their own homes.''
Hacklander-Ready was single when she and three friends began renting a four-bedroom, two-bath home in Madison in 1987. When two of the friends got jobs out of town, Hacklander-Ready and her housemate, Maureen Rowe, advertised to find two suitable housemates.
According to Hacklander-Ready's lawyers, they did not want males, women with boyfriends who regularly would stay at the house, women with children, smokers or drug users.
One potential housemate was rejected for being too boring; another for ``seeming to wear her religious beliefs on her sleeve.''
When initially interviewed by Hacklander-Ready and Rowe, Sprague said nothing about being a lesbian. But the subject of her sexual orientation did arise in later discussions.
Sprague was invited to live with Hacklander-Ready and Rowe, but that invitation was withdrawn after both housemates determined they would not be comfortable living with a lesbian.
Sprague eventually sued, and a state trial judge ruled that Hacklander-Ready and Rowe had violated the city's fair-housing ordinance by refusing to rent to someone because of sexual orientation.
A state appeals court upheld that ruling, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Hacklander-Ready and Rowe last December. Rowe chose not to appeal to the nation's highest court.
Hacklander-Ready's appeal said, ``The illegal conduct at issue involves rational and thoughtful decision-making processes concerning the lifestyle compatibility of a potential housemate.''
The appeal said Madison's ordinance should be applied only to ``typical landlords'' and not to those ``who wish to share their homes.'' The case is Hacklander-Ready vs. Wisconsin, 96-1457.
MIAMI HERALD, May 8, 1997 --- City commissioners are sending a resounding message of disapproval to Tallahassee this week, with a resolution condemning the Legislature's recent move to ban recognition of same-sex marriages from other states.
The resolution, approved 6-1, urges Gov. Lawton Chiles to veto the bill, which passed by large margins in the state House of Representatives and Senate.
Rep. Debbie Horan, D-Key West, voted against the bill. Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Homestead, condemned it in a speech, then voted for it.
The city's move came at the urging of the Lambda Democrats, a Keys political club that has led the southernmost insurrection against the bill. ``This legislation is mean-spirited,'' said Tom Runyan, president of the Lambda Democrats. ``Key West has a long history of showing compassion to all members of our community.''
``Same-sex couples presently have no legal status in our society,'' Runyan said. That means longtime partners have no visiting rights at hospitals and no power to make critical decisions for the other in emergencies.
The Rev. Randy Weisberg, president of the Lower Keys Ministerial Association, sent a letter to the commission, condemning the resolution. ``Same-sex marriages are wrong,'' Weisberg wrote.
And one speaker, Frank McPherson, said he objected to changing the terms of marriage after ``6,000 years of Judeo-Christian history.''
McPherson said he had no objection to a domestic-partnership law but that marriage was a sacrament, ``an involvement that is beyond our ability to define.''
``God had no problem understanding the role and role models as far as marriage was concerned,'' McPherson said. ``There was no gender confusion.'' But Key West political leaders said they opposed the ban.
``What someone does with their lives is their lives,'' Mayor Dennis Wardlow said. ``I shudder to think that some churches pass judgment.''
The only vote against the resolution came from Commissioner Harry Bethel, who said he had received many calls from constituents asking him to vote against it.
Bethel said he has many gay friends, but feels the City Commission should stay out of statewide politics.
``This is not anything that the City Commission has any authority over whatsoever,'' he said.
DENVER--May 8 COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE---- A spirited partisan debate over same-sex marriage dominated the last hours of the 1997 legislative session.
The Republican bill passed with a healthy margin on Wednesday in spite of vehement opposition from Democrats.
"Please don't do this; we don't need to do this," begged Senate Minority Leader Mike Feeley as two-thirds of his colleagues voted to ban homosexual marriages in Colorado.
There were no such fireworks Wednesday over items including managed care for Medicaid patients, tracking down uninsured motorists and allowing video lottery games at race tracks -- all of which passed and were sent to the governor.
While welfare reform dominated this year's session, a compromise was reached on Tuesday which freed lawmakers to tackle other bills in the Assembly's final hours.
=======================================
The only real last-day drama was over a bill to ban same-sex marriages. Only a marriage between a man and a woman would be valid under the bill -- and only if it is licensed, solemnized, and registered.
A veto threat early in the legislative session forced the sponsors to change the measure's original language, which condemned homosexual behavior. But Democrats argued the new wording is so ambiguous it might also outlaw common-law marriages, in which men and women living together legally share children and property.
Republican sponsors, half of whom are from El Paso County, said the common-law arguments were a "smokescreen" for lawmakers who opposed the bill from the start.
The mere possibility of a veto angered Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs. "We changed the language mainly to satisfy the governor," he said. "It would be a breach of trust if he didn't reciprocate."
A special legislative session in the summer doesn't look likely.
NEW YORK May 5, 1997 New York Times News Service --- In an atmosphere similar to an old-fashioned political rally, Deborah Glick, an assemblywoman from Greenwich Village, on Sunday became the fifth candidate to officially enter the Democratic primary for Manhattan borough president.
Ms. Glick is widely considered to be one of two leading contenders in the Democratic primary, along with City Councilwoman Virginia Fields, of central Harlem and the Upper West Side. Incumbent Borough President Ruth Messinger is running for mayor.
The others seeking to succeed Ms. Messinger include two members of the City Council - Adam Clayton Powell IV of East Harlem and Antonio Pagan of the Lower East Side - and George Spitz, a retired state auditor with a reputation as a political gadfly.
While her rivals announced their candidacies on the steps of City Hall, Ms. Glick stood on a stage in the ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel, surrounded by a dozen politicians and facing more than 150 cheering supporters holding placards with the assemblywoman's name emblazoned in aqua letters.
``As borough president, I will lead and advocate for the diverse interests of Manhattan communities,'' said Ms. Glick, 46, the first open lesbian to win election to the Assembly. She said that she would ``work to unite people and neighborhoods behind a common agenda: making Manhattan a better place to live and making city government more responsive to our needs.''
The Democratic primary, which is tantamount to election in Manhattan, has already become a crowded, contentious affair with the candidates seeking to portray themselves as capable of winning broad-based support.
Ms. Glick's opponents have taken pains to cast her as a one-issue candidate, suggesting that she is most responsive to issues concerning gay New Yorkers.
At Sunday's announcement, Ms. Glick was clearly attempting to distance herself from that image, with speaker after speaker on the platform praising her record on economic development, mass transit and environmental protection issues.
In her remarks, she cast herself as a champion of Manhattan neighborhoods and residents, rather than developers.
``The people of this borough deserve someone in public office who is on their side,'' she said. ``Someone who has stood up to developers who've gone too far by trying to take another piece of our sky and another stretch of our riverfront.''
Ms. Glick, having amassed nearly $500,000 in contributions so far, has raised more money than any of her opponents, and her political consultant, Hank Morris, said her campaign would likely raise the $1 million that campaigns are limited to under the campaign-finance laws.
How Ms. Glick will do in Manhattan's racial and ethnic political calculus remains to be seen. Ms. Glick, who is white, is expected to do well among liberal white voters as well as among gay Manhattanites. Ms. Fields, who is black, is expected to do well among black voters and is campaigning heavily for liberal white votes.
Powell, whose mother is Puerto Rican and whose father was a black political icon, is expected to draw some support from black voters but more heavily from Hispanics. But he is generally expected to share that Hispanic support with Pagan, who is Puerto Rican and gay .
Last week, Ms. Fields' campaign received two high-profile endorsements, from former Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins. Sunday, Ms. Glick brought out her own political guns with speeches by both Rep. Nydia Velazquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler.
SAN DIEGO (AP) May 9, 1997 --- Andrew Phillip Cunanan was a known quantity in San Diego's gay community, a ``party boy'' who tapped a seemingly endless cash flow that he spent on lavish meals and extravagant gifts.
But no one has seen him since April 24. Police say he left San Diego the next day.
Cunanan remained the target of a nationwide manhunt today because of his suspected role in three Midwest slayings. Now police here were investigating whether he may have been involved in an unsolved homicide. Police in San Diego searched his apartment on Wednesday but would not reveal the results. They issued a statement Thursday saying homicide detectives are ``taking a second look at an old unsolved San Diego murder to see if Cunanan might have been involved.''
No details of that case were released.
Authorities said Cunanan killed his former lover, 33-year-old Minneapolis architect David Madson.
Madson's body was found at an abandoned farmhouse Saturday, four days after the body of another man, Jeffrey Trail, 28, was discovered in Madson's Minneapolis apartment.
Detectives believe Madson was killed because he witnessed Trail's slaying. The motive for Trail's slaying was unclear, detectives said, but apparently all three men knew each other and all were gay. Cunanan was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder in Madson's death.
Police also want to question Cunanan about the slashing and stabbing death of Lee Miglin, 72, a wealthy Chicago developer whose body was discovered Sunday in his luxurious townhouse. Madson's stolen Jeep Cherokee was parked across the street from Miglin's home.
Authorities have been alerted to watch for the 1994 Lexus with Illinois license plates stolen from Miglin. In Philadelphia, police issued an all-points bulletin for Cunanan on Thursday night, because a cellular phone in Miglin's stolen car was used in the city, Philadelphia detective Oscar Jones said.
At the Numbers nightclub in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood, general manager Jay Anderson said Cunanan told friends that his family owned a chain of parking lots and lived in exclusive Rancho Santa Fe.
``He always put on airs that he had lots of money,'' Anderson said Thursday. ``He was very secretive about his money. You got the impression from him not to ask, so we didn't.''
Anderson said Cunanan often would travel for weeks at a time to San Francisco, Paris and New York. For Anderson's 27th birthday, Cunanan gave him a dozen bottles of expensive liquor. The next year, Cunanan presented him with a camera.
``He seemed like the kind of guy that wasn't shy,'' hairstylist David Dwayne said. ``He danced a lot. He danced without his shirt - you know the type. He was the typical party boy.''
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Hill, 5/7/97 --- The next major battle over gay rights in Congress is shaping up in the form of a bill with the prosaic acronym of ENDA -- the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. But this year, it's not Democrats leading the charge. It's moderate Republicans.
Last year's bruising battle over the Defense of Marriage Act allowing states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages left gay rights supporters angry at what they perceived as a betrayal by the Congress that passed the bill and the president who signed it.
But Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-VT) are ready to introduce ENDA, which would outlaw employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Though many conservative Republican likely opponents have not yet begun work on the issue, Brad Alexander, spokesman for Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), said, "We're very interested and will be very involved."
Nevertheless, supporters of ENDA have several reasons to be optimistic. President Clinton once again vowed strong support for the bill after meeting with them last month.
Shays, who has taken the lead this year, has nine Republican co-sponsors, which ENDA supporter Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) has agreed to be an original co-sponsor.
After ENDA failed by one vote in the Senate last year, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said, "I talked to one of the guys who voted against ENDA who promised to reconsider." Shays is hopeful. "I think that ultimately this bill will become law if not in this session, then next," he said.
By the count of the Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP gay rights group, ENDA has the votes to get the measure out of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, which is chaired by Jeffords, the bill's co-sponsor. But the House gives supporters cause for concern. The House leadership's "keep-the-right-wing-happy mode is a problem," said Frank. Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA), who is the sponsor of an alternative workplace anti-discrimination bill, declared, "ENDA is dead on arrival and everybody knows it."
The strength of Clinton's support is also in question. After disappointing gay rights advocates by signing the Defense of Marriage Act in the last Congress, Clinton endorsed ENDA only in a written statement -- not in person -- and his meeting with supporters was not listed on his public schedule.
In addition to the new sponsors, several things have changed since ENDA was introduced in the last Congress. Sponsors have clarified some of the language in order to address concerns voiced during the Senate debate last year.
Furthermore, supporters will not be able to use the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as a vehicle to get the bill to the floor. Gay rights supporters brought up ENDA as an amendment to DOMA when it reached the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) promised to block the move. In response, ENDA sponsor Sen. Ted Kennedy (R-MA) threatened to attach ENDA to every bill that came up in that Congress.
The compromise was that the Senate would vote on ENDA as a free-standing bill after the DOMA vote. DOMA passed 85-14, and ENDA failed 49-50.
Ironically, the passage of DOMA helped gain support for ENDA, said Kevin Ivers, director of public affairs for the Log Cabin Republicans. ENDA proponents effectively argued that senators could vote for both measures and tell their constituents they were not pro-gay (having voted to outlaw same-sex marriage) yet neither were they pro-discrimination (having cast a vote against workplace bias.)
Ivers worried that the DOMA opportunity "may mean that we have maxed out." However, Frank is more upbeat. "People who voted for ENDA will not go back," he said.
Gay rights organizations, like the Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin Republicans, promise to keep plugging away until they have turned the tide for ENDA. Both groups have been meeting with members regularly and encouraging public support. Shays thinks one strategy would work best: "If people who happen to be gay who know members of Congress tell them ... they have been afraid that they would lose their job ... [it would] put a human face on it," he said.
Most of the Republican support in this Congress comes from members of the Tuesday Lunch Bunch, a group of moderate House Republicans. According to Ivers, the Lunch Bunch became a vehicle for support of gay rights issues because of the strong influence on former Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-WI), who publicly declared his homosexuality in 1994.
The Lunch Bunch and a similar group, the Main Street Coalition, continue to keep abreast of ENDA and other gay rights issues. According to one staffer, the Main Street Coalition discussed ENDA about three weeks ago, and it came up at the Tuesday Lunch Bunch more recently. The Bunch discussed how to make sure that ENDA "was not attacked through any type of [preemptive] rider during the appropriations process," he said.
As the Log Cabin Republicans see it, the new challenge for gay rights supporters is to engage Republicans. Since they are in the majority and have not been traditional gay rights supporters, Ivers is encouraged by the fact that "Republicans are opening a right flank on this." The bill's success relies on a very meaty flank.
WASHINGTON, D.C. May 6, 1997-- New Hampshire passed landmark legislation today that would extend basic civil rights to its gay and lesbian citizens, putting it on the brink of becoming the 10th state to offer such protections.
The state Senate voted 13-9 today to amend its existing civil rights law to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. The state House passed the measure March 18 by a vote of 205-125. Both chambers are Republican-controlled. Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is expected to sign the bill.
"New Hampshire is on the brink of joining the nine states that already treat their gay and lesbian citizens equally," said Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director. "But in all the other states, gay people have no legal recourse if they are discriminated against merely because of their sexual orientation."
No federal law protects Americans from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The last state to pass a civil rights bill covering sexual orientation was Rhode Island, in May 1995. The other states that currently include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination laws are: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Two other states are currently considering bills to extend civil rights to their gay and lesbian citizens: Maine is deliberating over a comprehensive bill while Oregon is looking at a measure to outlaw job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Just a week ago, America was riveted by the coming out of actress Ellen DeGeneres and her TV character, Ellen Morgan, Birch noted. During the April 30 episode of "Ellen," HRC broadcast a television commercial in 35 markets, including Manchester, N.H., highlighting the fact that in 41 states, people can lose their jobs merely for being gay or lesbian.
"As a result of these events, Americans learned a great deal in recent weeks about the discrimination faced by gay people in our society," Birch said. "I hope that we have broken a barrier today and that we will see more states and, ultimately, the U.S. Congress, pass laws to grant equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans."
A bipartisan group of U.S. representatives and senators is expected to introduce a federal bill soon that would outlaw job discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which enjoys broad public support, missed passing the Senate last year by one vote.
Button up, Levi Strauss
Just Say No, Lawton and Frank
Fill'er up, Chevron
Sign up with Mothers Against AIDS
Lesbians Take A Back Seat at Chrysler
Coming Out in Alabama
And the "Bad Pennies Always Turn Up Somewhere" Department
Levi Strauss has withdrawn its products from gay shops and stores which contain condoms and other sexually related material. This includes stores like DC's The Leather Rack. They claims such stores are incompatible with the company image. Levi Strauss is based in San Francisco and was one of the first large companies to offer domestic partnership benefits. Their web site will tell you "There is only one rule, be original. Other than that, just be yourself. Hopefully, you're both." Whether you're Levis and leather or denim and lace, get in the loop on this one.
Write: Walter Haas, CEO, Levi Strauss & Co., 1155 Battery Street, SF, CA 94111 Call: 800/872-5384 and ask for the office of Walter Haas.
Visit http://www.levi.com and follow the icons to email where you can stick your comments in their pocket
Indiana's HB 1265 would ban same gender marriages. Governor Frank O'Bannon has the bill on his desk. When calling, ask to speak to the governor or an aide who will advise the him on legislative issues. Callers from outside the state ARE welcome.
Phone: 317-232-4567; Fax: 317-232-3443; e-mail: FOBannon@state.IN.US
Ken Derr, Chairman
Chevron Corporation, 575 Market Street, 40th Floor, San Francisco CA 94105
Email their public affairs department at: chevweb@chevron.com You can also send mail through their web site at: http://www.chevron.com.
Dial 1-800-992-1997; stay on line for second list of options; press 1 for Media/ PR line; press 2 for "Ellen" survey; press 2 to disagree with withdrawing sponsorship.
Dave Thomas, CEO, Wendy's, 4288 W. Dublin Granville Road, Dublin, OH 43017 Customer comment line: (800) 82-WENDY, Corporate headquarters phone: (800) 443- 7266
Birmingham, Alabama's ABC affiliate, WBMA-TV 33/40 was the only local affiliate who refused to air Ellen's closet shedding. They blacked out the episode itself, the follow-up "Prime Time Live" interview with Degeneres, and "Entertainment Tonight." They are currently deciding whether or not to air upcoming "Ellen" episodes. Just because you don't air the episode doesn't mean there aren't a lot of queers in Alabama!
Jerry Heilman, President and General Manager, ABC-33/40-TV P.O. Box 360039, Birmingham, AL 35236 phone 205/403-3340 - press 7 then 1; fax 205/403-3329; email: jerryh@abc3340.com
While you are thanking Disney/ABC for airing "Ellen" and urging them to encourage Birmingham to do the same, remember they also refused to air ads for lesbian cruise company Olivia Cruise Lines. Mixed signals?
Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067 fax: 310/557-7679; e-mail: abcaudr@ccabc.com
Michael Eisner, Chairman
Walt Disney, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521
fax: 818.560.1930; e-mail/WWW: http://www.disney.com/Mail
Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers has resigned his 16 year post as the state's top prosecutor in order to (according to insiders) seek the Governor's office. Bowers is locked in a court battle over his decision to rescind a job offer to a female attorney when he learned she was a lesbian. He is probably closest to your heart if you recall in 1986, Bowers successfully defended a challenge to the state sodomy law, the infamous Bowers vs. Hardwick Supreme Court decision. Keep your eyes and ears open for developments on this front.
May 7, 1997 - A day of anti-gay rhetoric ended in the defeat of AB 1490, a bill by Assembly Member George House (R-Hughson) which would prohibit the "promotion or advocacy of homosexuality" in California's public schools. Also defeated was AB 800, by Assembly Member Bob Margett (R-Arcadia), the second anti-same gender marriage bill in the State Legislature.
In an impassioned hearing on AB 800, Assembly Member Barbara Alby (R-Fair Oaks) asked where the gay and lesbian community drew the line with regard to who should be able to marry and who should not. She further questioned that if LIFE Lobby asserts this is state sanctioned discrimination because gay and lesbian people cannot marry, then "isn't the state also discriminating against fathers who want to marry daughters or 14 year olds who want to marry each other?" Laurie McBride, Executive Director of LIFE Lobby, said later, "this bigotry is so clear - they have no respect for our relationships or for anyone who differs from the 'traditional family model,' the hypocrisy is the absence of dialog about divorce rates, and wife and child abuse in the 'traditional family model.' " In the end, the bill was not able to garner enough votes to pass the committee.
During the hearing on AB 1490, opponents of the bill spoke about high suicide and high school drop out rates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning teens, and the need for intervention programs in schools for youth. "The bill says that schools may not 'promote or advocate homosexuality as a viable lifestyle' - there isn't such a program in California," said Ellen McCormick, LIFE Lobby Legislative Advocate, "there are, however, programs that teach respect and tolerance for all people and programs that teach young people how to deal with homophobia in the face of violence. These are programs that save lives and keep young people from dropping out of school. Though they don't 'advocate or promote,' this bill could have been used to shut them down."
Both AB 800 and AB 1490 were granted reconsideration, but are not likely to pass. Also, Assembly Member Sheila Kuehl's (D-Santa Monica) measure AB 101, passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 101, the Dignity for All Students Act, which will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in California's public schools will go next to the full Assembly floor for a vote. LIFE Lobby encourages all individuals and organizations to write to their Assembly Member and urge them to support this crucial bill.
LIFE: California's Lesbian/Gay and AIDS Lobby has been lobbying on behalf of California's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-affected communities since 1986. LIFE is the oldest and largest institution representing these communities in California's State Capitol and is proud to celebrate a decade of service.
Washington, D.C. May 2, 1997 ---- Religious political extremists continue to be up in arms about the historic April 30 coming out episode of the ABC sitcom "Ellen," in which the show's lead character acknowledged that she is a lesbian.
Anti-gay groups -- who object to any fair and accurate portrayals of lesbian and gay people on television -- are turning up the heat on the show's advertisers. ABC and Disney, which produces "Ellen," have also come under fire for airing the show.
Chrysler, J.C. Penney and Wendy's need to hear your disappointment at their decision to cave in to anti-gay pressure and withdraw their sponsorship from the "Ellen" episode. Voicing your opinion is particularly important as these corporations are deciding whether to resume their advertising on future episodes.
Also, ABC, Disney and the companies who stood up to anti-gay pressure and refused to pull their advertising from the show need to hear your appreciation for their fair-mindedness.
RUTLAND TOWN, VT MAY 5, 1997 --- Steve Howard fixed his eye on the political life during a school field trip to the Vermont State House in eighth grade. His political star has risen steadily since, from chairman of the Future Democrats of Vermont at age 16 to the youngest head of a state political party at age 25.
Howard won his first political office, state representative from his hometown of Rutland Town, while still a senior at Boston College.
Always smiling, always upbeat, the 25-year old seems to exude self-confidence as he spars with challengers and more moderate members of his own party, most recently Governor Howard Dean.
But behind the self-assured exterior, Howard says, was a terrified little boy inside him waiting to unmask him. Yesterday, he decided to "disarm that little boy and take away his best weapon against me, the knowledge that I am gay."
In publicly discussing his homosexuality, Howard becomes the third openly gay politician in Vermont. The late Representative Ronald Squires (D-Guilford) made his announcement in 1992. Edward Flanagan, Vermont auditor of accounts, acknowledged his homosexuality in August 1995.
Howard says Flanagan has been a role model, not just because he went public, but because they both share the same ideals.
Both men represent a more liberal wing of the Democratic Party that has challenged Dean and other party leaders for the past two years.
Howard made the announcement about his sexuality following a series of confrontations with Dean as well as several embarrassing snafus involving campaign financing. ...
Howard said he is not announcing that he is gay to defuse criticism against him. He said he did not believe his current woes suggest that people were discriminating against him because they suspected he was gay.
Rather, he said recent difficulties had increased his belief that he had to be open about his sexuality. In turn, he said the decision to be open had increased his self-confidence.
"There's been something really different about this session," he said. "Before I acted self-confident, but I wasn't really. But knowing that I was coming out, I've been feeling truly confident. I'm asserting myself."
He said his parents, Mary and James M. Howard, who own a local insurance company, and his sister Lisa, with whom he once ran a kiosk in Faneuil Hall [in Boston] selling Vermont products, had been supportive since he told them he was homosexual.
Yet, he said, he initially felt that his acknowledgment goes against his family's three inviolate rules: failure isn't an option; don't make excuses; and satisfaction is not acceptable.
"My success belongs to my mother and father. Growing up with these rules allowed me to say 'I can beat this guy' or 'I can raise this money,'" Howard said. "But the reverse side of those rules for a kid growing up, thinking I'm gay, was that I had to beat that, that I had to struggle against my homosexuality. I couldn't fail at being a straight man.
"The picture of the politician was the man in the suit with the beautiful wife and 2.4 kids. I accepted that was what I had to be, that being satisfied with how God made me was a failure and, in my family, failure was unacceptable.'
In coming out, he said he was saying "Being gay is not a failure. It's a success. This is the first time in my life I've ever been satisfied with myself. And, despite my family's rules, satisfaction is acceptable. In fact, it's wonderful."
Coming out is just the latest in a series of transformations that Howard has undergone in the past two years. About the time he admitted to himself he was gay, he began to exercise regularly and went on a diet, losing about 115 pounds.
"I'm a political animal. Politics consumes the vast majority of my time. But running comes close in terms of passions. I love to run," he said. While attending Boston College, Howard worked as a fund-raiser for candidates from Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, including Michael Dukakis when he ran for president.
Howard, a graduate student in political science at Suffolk University, has statewide and national ambitions. He said rumors that he is considering a bid for Vermont secretary of state "were not unfounded" and that he would consider running for Congress or Senate some day.
Coiming out should not hurt his political future, he said, pointing out that Flanagan had been reelected, that Vemonters kept reelecting US Representative Bernard Sanders, a Socialist, and that former Governor Madeleine M. Kunin, now US ambassador to Switzerland, was very popular in Vermont even though she was liberal, Jewish, female and Swiss-born.
"People in this state can relate to people who don't mind operating outside the system," he said.
BROOKFIELD/Danbury,CT THE NEWS-TIMES, May 2, 1997 --- Safe zones are out. Condom demonstrations are gone. The only thing that survived Wednesday night's meeting was Art Kerley's job as chairman of the Board of Education. The Board of Education made those tough decisions during a tension-filled, nearly four-hour meeting that continued into early yesterday morning.
Residents inched toward the front of their chairs when two 4-3 votes and a 3-3-1 vote were cast on the three items before the school board. More than 150 residents - 46 of whom signed up to speak - gathered at the high school auditorium to either support or denounce the current practices of the school and its board.
The issues have divided the community and the school board. Even First Selectman Bonnie Smith said that, through all the issues the town has struggled with over the years, ``I've never seen the hurt that I am seeing this time.''
But it was just like Kerley proclaimed a day before the meeting: ``At the end of the day, it's still a Board of Education decision.''
And as Wednesday turned to Thursday, the board made the last of its decisions _ to ask for a change to the current safe zones policy at Brookfield High School.
Safe zones currently designate four ``safe'' classrooms, marked with pink triangles, where students can talk about their sexuality with understanding teachers.
Superintendent David Bristol said after the meeting Wednesday that he's unsure what modifications will be made to the safe zones.
Although Jeffrey Reinen abstained from the safe zones vote, the 3-3-1 tally still resulted in the board not supporting the safe zones.
The board members who voted against the safe zones expressed that the zones should represent a safe haven from discrimination for all students, including homosexuals.
``The vote doesn't mean the board is intolerant,'' said Reinen. Kerley, Reinen, William Tinsley, and George Hope voted against the condom demonstration and to keep Kerley as the chairman. ``To impeach him (Kerley) because he made a mistake?,'' Tinsley said. ``I don't think so.''
Kerley's position came into question after he fell into a heated exchange during a meeting last week with members of the Health Education Advisory Committee, which endorsed the reinstatement of condom demonstrations. The demonstrations were placed on hold last September by Superintendent David Bristol pending the health committee's report.
Bristol said last week he would reinstate them unless the school board told him otherwise, which it voted to do Wednesday.
The condom demonstrations consist of a brief presentation in which a health teacher uses a wooden dowel to show students how to apply and remove a condom properly.
Board members Barbara Wolff, Catherine Lasser and Steve DeVaux endorsed the current policies and also voted to drop Kerley as chairman. ``It's just sad that they can get their own personal agendas passed,'' Lasser said of how the verdicts were decided.
High school nurse Angela Haselwood said the board's decision ``sends a real sorry message to the kids.'' Haselwood is the head of the school's peer counseling program, which established the safe zones in 1994.
The school board voted 5-2 in March 1996 to keep the safe zones. But two board members, who supported the zones, since resigned. The two members who replaced them, Hope and Reinen, were in favor of modifying the policy.
Reinen said yesterday that he received a threatening letter during the day Wednesday from a member of the health committee. The committee member has since apologized, he said.
The votes had an impact yesterday on students, who questioned whether the board made the correct decisions.
``We should have the say on what's being taught,'' said sophomore Kelly Backus.
Matt Grimes, president of the senior class, said discussions in school centered more on safe zones than condom demonstrations.
ANDERSON, Indiana. Louisville Courier-Journal, May 4, 1997, Associated Press --- A gay student escorting a boyfriend to the senior prom didn't bother Alexandria High School principal Rodney Watson. But it did bother some other students.
Jacob Eiler, who is openly gay, brought his boyfriend of several weeks as his date Friday night. The local newspaper and area television stations were there to record the occasion as the two arrived hand-in-hand, both wearing black tuxedos, at the Paramount Centre.
Watson said the matter generated more of a fuss than it merited.
"Jacob Eiler claims he is gay and is escorting a boy to the prom," Watson said. "What's the big deal?"
Eiler was a candidate for prom king but wasn't selected. Still, the evening passed without the harassment he had feared. Unlike a day earlier, when all four tires on his car had been slashed.
"There is no doubt in my mind that a student did this," Eiler said of the vandalism. "I think it's a direct result of what I am doing."
Worse yet was a verbal thrashing from a former friend he said he received at school: "A girl came up to me and said, 'You're a disgrace to the town. You're a disgrace to the school.'...She said she was ashamed of me and I should be ashamed of myself," he said.
Eiler, an honor-roll student, said he wasn't trying to make a political statement--he just wanted to go to his prom with the person of his liking. He declined to reveal his date's name.
Eiler says he realized he was gay when he was 13 years old, adding that he told his parents about his sexual orientation when he was 16. He said he no longer lives with his parents and now shares a home with a lesbian friend.
"Neither of my parents likes it that I'm gay," he said. "My mom hates it and my dad has swept it under the rug. I've lost family and friends over this."
Eiler, who is in the school band and choir, said he plans to study nursing next year at Indiana University.
By Mary Adamski, Star-Bulletin
Honolulu, Hawai`i -- HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN April 30, 1997 --- Same-Sex couples and other unmarried employes with domestic partners will recieve spousal benefits under a resolution approved by U.S. Episcopal Church leaders at a Honolulu Conference that ended yesterday.
The decision to seek broader insurance coverage for nation church employees approved by the church's Executive Council is just one human sexuality issue facing church decision makers, said Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies.
Island observers at the four-day meeting of policymakers for the 2.5-million member church couldn't help but make comparisons with the same-sex marriage issue faced by state lawmakers.
The spousal benefits resolution passed, 19-11, and "there was more discussion on it than any other resolution," said Chinnis, who leads the 950-member house, which includes delegates from every diocese in the U.S. church. The church's legislative body also includes the House of Bishops.
A proposal that the church come up with a specific rite to bless homosexual unions is expected to face the two houses when they meet at the General Convention in July in Philadelphia.
Before the convention will be a preliminary step, calling for the church's liturgical commission to develop a format, "being careful to call it something other than marriage," Chinnis said.
The ordination of a gay man in a same-sex relationship raised a controversy that is expected to surface at the July General Convention. A church court dismissed heresy charges made by 10 bishops against New Jersey Bishop Walter Righter, who ordained a gay deacon.
Chinnis said there is no church law agains ordination of homosexuals. "We try to have as few laws against things as possible, it's called the Anglican way of doing things," she said, the intention being "to have very broad parameters, so the church can encompass everybody."
But there will be a resolution making it mandatory for all dioceses to recognize the ordination of women, she said. Ordination was permitted in a 1976 rule change but there are still four bishops who won't recognize women priests. There are now seven women bishops in the United States, she said, and in the House of Deputies, half of the lay members and 13 percent of the clergy are women.
Chinnis of Wahington, D.C., an active lay leader for 25 years, is the first woman elected to head the House of Deputies. she will be a candidate for a third three-year term.
Controversy issues aside, she said the theme of the weekend meetings here was a "celebration of the life and service of the prsiding bishop." Bishop Edmond Browning, who was Honolulu bishop for 10 years before being selected to head the U.S. church, is at the end of his 12-year term.
His successor will be selected at the July convention.
(Editor's Note: Specifically the section of Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood -a neighborhood well known to be crawling with avowed heterosexuals at 4 in the morning.)
Murphy's publicist says the actor was restless, so he got up and drove to his favorite newsstand.
On the way home, Murphy reportedly stopped at a red light and saw ``a beautiful Hawaiian-looking woman'' approach his car.
The publicist said the person asked for a ride home and Murphy obliged.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) May 3, 1997 --- The Air Force suspects the A-10 pilot whose plane crashed into a mountainside committed suicide for fear his homosexual affair with another flier was about to be exposed, the Tucson Citizen reported Friday. An Air Force spokesman called the story ``unsubstantiated.''
The newspaper quoted an unidentified military source close to the investigation who said Capt. Craig Button, 32, may have flown his attack jet into a 13,000-foot Colorado mountain because an estranged lover was about to reveal the affair.
The source said the lover was believed to be another pilot at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson.
``The Air Force really believes that this could be the answer,'' the source told the newspaper.
``That's unsubstantiated,'' said Col. Joe LaMarca, spokesman for the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
LaMarca said the Air Force decided only Wednesday to convene an accident investigation board that will look at all aspects of the case, including Button's personal life.
The newspaper has made ``some very clear assumptions or accusations of a military investigator close to the source,'' LaMarca said. ``I'm here to tell you that the board just convened, and I'm not even sure whether all the investigators are out there yet.''
If Button, who was single, had been found to be homosexual, he could have faced discharge. The Pentagon deems homosexuality incompatible with military service.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which investigates undetermined deaths of Air Force personnel, is conducting its own inquiry.
``We're not discounting anything and dismissing any possibilities at this point,'' said Capt. Steve Murray, an OSI spokesman in Washington.
Button's $8.8 million plane was the last in a three-plane formation heading toward a bombing range in southwestern Arizona on April 2 when it veered off course, eventually crashing near Vail, Colo.
In 1992, the Navy was obliged to apologize for initially saying a suicidal, homosexual sailor was to blame for the 1989 explosion that killed him and 46 shipmates on the USS Iowa. The Navy said its investigation uncovered there was no proof the sailor was to blame, and apologized to his family.
According to the Citizen, the source also said investigators believe Button, a native of New York state, targeted Craig Peak on New York Mountain in the Central Rockies for his crash site. The plane crashed on Gold Dust Peak, directly south of Craig Peak on New York Mountain.
C. Dixon Osburn, Co-Executive Director of SLDN, commented generally, however, "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue' creates tragic results. We know of servicemembers who have attempted or committed suicide because of the gay policy's brutal consequences." Osburn continued, "I hope for the sake of military officials that the rumors about Captain Button are not true. I would hate to live with his death on my conscience."
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network extends its deepest sympathies to the Button family for the death of their son.
Of those in the U.S. who were watching TV when the coming out episode aired, more than one-third were tuned into the show, three times as many as watched either of the other major networks at the same time. ABC estimates that 42 million people tuned in to at least part of the hour-long program; it was the network's highest-rated show of the year except for the Academy Awards, its highest-rated episode in a series since a "Home Improvement" 3 years ago, and it represented about 2-1/2 times what "Ellen" has been averaging this season.
It also helped kick "Prime Time Live" to a season high, as "Ellen" led into the second part of Diane Sawyer's coming out interview with "Ellen" star Ellen DeGeneres (the first part aired April 25 on "20/20," which gained a boost from DeGeneres as well), and "TV Guide" believes it also gave a boost to the hour leading up to "Ellen" ("Drew Carey" and "Coach"). While even this special edition of "Ellen" reached only the average audience level of a top show like "Seinfeld" or "E.R.," it ought to be enough to justify continued network experiments with programming gay and lesbian central characters. Nonetheless, ABC still has not announced whether there will be another season ahead for "Ellen."
Three factors are seen by industry sources as having contributed to the audience-gathering success of the show: the incredible media build-up (some thought Anne Heche's coming out as DeGeneres' lover saved the hype from peaking too soon), the curiosity factor and the lineup of famous names making guest appearances. This season, "Ellen" had been ranked 37th, averaging a 9.6 rating and a 16 share, a sad comedown from its initial success when positioned following the then-hit "Roseanne." "The Puppy Episode" turned out a 23.4 rating (each rating point equal to 560,000 households) and a 35 share (percentage of the audience viewing television during a particular hour).
Prime time TV advertising is usually heavily populated with fast-food, beverage and auto manufacturers. The family-oriented fast-food and beverage vendors were notably absent from "The Puppy Episode;" the only carmaker advertising on the program was Volkswagen, which according to one source is seeking an image as "hip and cool." The overwhelming "Puppy" lineup of movie ads was perhaps less a result of the well-above-average movie-going habits unsystematic surveys have identified among lesbians and gays, than of their distributors' more general interest in reaching a large younger audience. It's also true that the film industry is among the nation's most gay-supportive, and New Line Cinema, which accounted for three of the movie ads, in particular is a leader in gay-themed films. The "Puppy" placement of ads for Listerine, Neosporin, Sudafed, and Trident gum were all the result of buys by the Morris Plains, New Jersey-based Warner-Lambeth marketing firm. Both One-A-Day vitamins and Femstat-3 are products of Morristown, New Jersey-based Bayer.
As for those who dropped out of the "Ellen" advertising lineup, should they wish to return, at least one ad exec believes that a single special episode doesn't affect a company's overall marketing in any significant way. Chrysler's much-publicized withdrawal from "Ellen" advertising, when the hype became too hot for this famously "sensitive" advertiser, forced them to set up a special automated toll-free number to collect opinions on their choice, freeing up their usual customer number for the actual discussion of cars.
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