The device went off at 6.37pm without any apparent warning in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street. It blew out windows, sending glass and debris flying into the street,
Hundreds of people were evacuated and eyewitnesses reported seeing injured bodies lying on the pavement. Many suffered severe injuries and at least two people had limbs blown off.
NEW YORK (AP) April 21, 1999 -- The warning posted on America Online seemed ominous, coming from someone professing to be a member of the "Trench Coat Mafia'' in Littleton, Colo.: "Preparin' for the big april 20!! You'll all be sorry that day!''
But that message and others like it in AOL "member profiles'' apparently were fake, proliferating after news broke that students apparently belonging to a "Trench Coat Mafia'' had shot up a Colorado high school, AOL said Tuesday.
Similarly suspicious was a message posted to a Usenet newsgroup, a kind of Internet bulletin board, claiming that "gay bikers'' had taken revenge against heterosexuals in Colorado and should be applauded.
Anyone with Internet access can perpetrate such hoaxes with ease, and often with anonymity, as free e-mail services and trial accounts on services like AOL have become common.
Helping spread them are Internet gossipmongers like Matt Drudge, who updated his Web site less than three hours after the shooting with the blaring headline: "EXCLUSIVE: 'TRENCHCOAT MAFIA' PLACED WARNING OF COMING SCHOOL MASSACRE ON AOL!''
Asked Tuesday night what he did to confirm that the member profile had in fact been posted before the shootings, Drudge said at first: "Nothing. I just pulled it off AOL with my own eyes."
Later Drudge said he had called AOL's customer-support phone number but the person he was referred to wouldn't give him the identity of the AOL member who posted the purported warnings.
AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said: "We have no knowledge at this point that the people involved in the shootings actually posted any advance warning on AOL. It's something we'll continue to monitor.''
Technology commentator David Schenk said the Internet doesn't inherently encourage people to pull such pranks, but it does act as a powerful microphone.
"There are probably 10- and 12-year-olds who understand that the more sick they are, the more outrageous they are the more likely their voice will be heard,'' Schenk said.
Primrose said it's not uncommon for people to post fake information in their AOL member profiles after a big news event.
In fact, a search for the words "Trench Coat Mafia'' in AOL member profiles turned up 22 hits in early evening, then 29 hits about two hours later.
Not all the new AOL profiles claimed sympathy with the shooters, though. One posted by someone calling him or herself "ArcticVirus'' said: "Death to the Trench Coat Mafia.''
It's going to take some time before the facts are known about the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. However, as broadcast and electronic media applied a full-court press to the story as it broke -- grabbing the nearest informant with credentials unchecked -- a student or two referred to the trenchcoated gunmen as "homosexuals." A posting on an Internet Usenet group picked up on that, applauding the shooters for avenging themselves against homophobic abuse. No less (or more) than Matt Drudge considerably amplified both these purported factoids, even as he questioned them, by citing them in his on-line Drudge Report. Similarly, there were bits about the young men wearing fingernail polish and/or makeup, although apparently in the context of Goth style rather than drag. From what NewsPlanet has seen thus far, no print media -- which have a little more lead time -- have repeated the "gay" remarks.
Given that the truth has not yet been brought in from out there, it's still an interesting phenomenon to consider. It seems to be generally agreed that the group of friends known as the "Trenchcoat Mafia" were outcasts from the mainstream of the Columbine student body. As such, those outside the group were not likely to know them well. They weren't liked outside their own circle, and they were apparently taunted. In almost any U.S. high school, homophobic taunts will almost inevitably be among the verbal abuse thrown at almost any outsider. Almost anywhere, a male wearing fingernail polish will be assumed by some to be gay, style or no. The odds are that the shooters were punished as gays whether in fact they were or not.
Those generalities may speak more to the state of mind of the observers than to the gunmen themselves, but they apparently provided a jumping-off point for Usenet user "Queen Jeff," regardless of whether his/her posting was for real or a hoax. The Usenet posting said, "Greetings, Gay bikers. Today, a bunch of our fellow homosexuals at Columbine HS in Denver Colorado, known as the Trench Coat Mafia, decided that they had taken enough crap from the straight community that had been abusing them and have decided to take matters into their own hands. We should all applaud their bravery and hope that they can hold out as long as possible in their fight for gay people everywhere. We can only hope that they can turn this into the gay alamo and hold out for 13 days of glory. If they can hold out for two days I think gay bikers everywhere should [be] considering riding into Denver as a relief force to fight alongside them. We need to show solidarity!!! Queen Jeff." Of course, the gunmen did not last two days (and there may or may not be some gay biker cavalry ready to ride to the rescue).
It's not at all unreasonable to link homophobic abuse with a school shooting -- and it might not be reported in the press. Michael Carneal was convicted of the December 1997 shooting at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky that left three students dead and five wounded. Carneal said he was not gay, but he told both a prosecution psychiatrist and a defense psychologist that beginning in 1996, he was almost daily called "gay, faggot, nerd, geek" and other epithets, and that because of the perception that he was gay, he was also "spat upon, hit, put in headlocks and threatened with violence." He also said that while he originally intended only to threaten his peers with the gun, he decided to go further when he started "thinking about all the things done to me ... all the names they called me."
Yet these telling findings went almost entirely unreported (Kentucky's gay and lesbian newspaper "The Letter" helped us find them), and they were not a part of mainstream reports of the Carneal verdict. It's still a risky thing to call someone gay in print.
"They were ones you'd make fun of," Mike Smith, 18, a senior and a point guard on the school's state championship basketball team, tells the paper.
Smith says that "he and the other jocks would pick on the mafia members, egging them on with gibes of 'gay,' or 'inbreed'."
Harris and Klebold would respond in German, Smith tells the INQUIRER.
"They'd talk back to us in another language and we'd just laugh."
The tensions between the jocks and the trenchcoats came to a head at the end of the last school year.
For several weeks, Smith tells the paper, the two groups fought almost daily after school.
"It was like, 'OK, we'll meet you here and we'll meet you there and get it all over with.'"
He said school officials knew about the fights but did little to stop them.
At the time in the past, he had shrugged off the disputes.
But Wednesday, he felt guilty, reports the paper's Richard Jones and Gwen Florio in Littleton.
"Sometimes," he added, gesturing at the school over his shoulder, "I think it's because of me."
Jon Vandermark, a 16-year-old sophomore, tells Thursday's DAILY SENTINEL [in Grand Junction, Colo.] that members of the Trenchcoat Mafia said they were bi-sexual.
"Boys would hold hands in the halls sometimes," Vandermark tells the paper.
"They were called freaks, homos and everything in-between."
Junior Nicole Shieve watched as the two, and others in the group, kept getting picked on during school.
Pitt is being sued by Deborah Henson, a former legal writing instructor, for their refusal to extend health insurance to her long-term domestic partner. In 1997 Pittsburgh's Human Relations Commission found that the University's policy "has resulted in disparate treatment [for employees with same-sex partners] in comparison to heterosexual employees." The parties were supposed to have privately settled the case, but instead, on Monday, April 12th, Pittsburgh's Human Relations Commission heard oral arguments regarding Pitt's motion to dismiss based on the idea that Pittsburgh does not have the authority to add "sexual orientation" to its anti-discrimination law because Pennsylvania has no such law. Pitt lawyers also claimed that the Commission does not have the power to equate spouses with domestic partners. ACLU lawyers arguing on Henson's behalf asserted that no such equation is necessary because Pitt chose to distribute health insurance based on the standard of marriage, knowing this excluded gay partners, and also extended benefits without proof of marriage-this amounts discrimination. No decision has been issued.
On April 14th, the hunger strikers' first demand, a meeting with Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, was met. But the hunger strike will not end until the main demand is met-a public forum with Pitt's Board of Trustees that allows citizens to voice their concerns and holds the Board publicly accountable for faulty decisions that promote discrimination. The Chancellor agreed to help set up the forum, although the administration stands firm that no such forum will occur.
The thirteen students and staff who have been participating since the first day have had complaints of headaches, blurred vision, stomach cramps, fatigue, lethargy, and one has fainted, but they vow to continue until their demand is met.
The Faculty Assembly, Graduate and Professional Students Association, and Senate Council have all passed resolutions that oppose the administration's policy and urge Pitt to drop its challenge to the city ordinance. In the past, ERA members participated in a 250-person demonstration on February 18th outside of the Board of Trustees meeting. It was followed by a spontaneous sit-in outside of the Chancellor's office to demand a statement, which was never provided.
Attorneys for Aaron McKinney are seeking evidence of Shepard's lifestyle, including whether he routinely picked up other men in bars, lawyers said during a court hearing Wednesday.
Public defender Dion Custis told Judge Barton Voigt that the defense needs to know how prosecutors concluded that Shepard was taken against his will. "If they're saying he was kidnapped from this bar, any information concerning his background, leaving with other males, getting involved in similar types of situations ... that information is particularly relevant," Custis said.
He also asked for any evidence prosecutor Cal Rerucha may possess that showed "flirtatious conduct" by Shepard at the bar or after leaving.
Police said McKinney and Russell Henderson, both 21, met Shepard at a bar Oct. 6, told him they were gay, lured him into a pickup truck, robbed him, then drove him to a remote area east of Laramie and beat him into a coma.
Shepard, 21, was found tied to a fence about 18 hours after the attack. He died five days later from 18 blows to the head. Police said robbery was the main motive but that he may have been targeted because he was gay.
Henderson pleaded guilty April 5 to felony murder and kidnapping, and received two consecutive life sentences. McKinney, who is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery, is scheduled for trial Aug. 9 and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Shepard's feelings on capital punishment were also an issue at the hearing. "My understanding is that Mr. Shepard was against the death penalty," said Custis. "If they have any information on that, we certainly want that." The subject of letters allegedly written by McKinney and released by Henderson's attorney, Wyatt Skaggs, came up repeatedly.
At one point, Custis told Voigt he had not yet seen one of the letters, prompting Rerucha to bolt from his seat and say that he had witnesses who could attest otherwise. "And we need an apology for a lie," he said.
"Mr. Skaggs got into problems with this individual because he lacks honor and he because he lacks integrity," said Rerucha, who was then cut off Voigt. "I take it you disagree with Mr. Custis," said Voigt. "Hugely," said Rerucha.
Later, the judge interrupted Custis. "From day one, Mr. Rerucha's been making these personal accusations, questioning the integrity of the defense team and me in particular ... , " Custis said.
Voigt stepped in and told the lawyers, "Let's not go down that road. I think I've had enough of that to fill me up to the end of the trial." During the hearing, Custis divulged that McKinney suffered a broken hand in jail but offered no other details.
Sheriff Jim Pond, citing the judge's gag order in the case, declined to comment on the injury.
Custis said he was awaiting information regarding a handwriting analysis of the letters in question and the envelopes the letters were mailed in. He said he was also awaiting a transcription of a detailed statement made recently by Henderson and of a statement made by McKinney's girlfriend, Kristen Price, just prior to Henderson's plea hearing.
Custis said he requested Henderson's records because they were "absolutely essential" to the defense. "He is the only other person who was out there with Mr. McKinney so he's (probably) going to be a material witness," he said.
Voigt, who said he would rule on the requests later, has scheduled three days of hearings beginning May 10 on additional motions Wednesday.
CHICAGO (AP) April 15, 1999 --- Schools, military bases and other publicly funded groups have no business sponsoring Boy Scout troops so long as Scouts are required to take a religious oath, the American Civil Liberties Union says.
In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, the ACLU argues that public funding of Boy Scouts of America troops violates the constitutional requirement of separation of church and state.
"Government agencies simply cannot spend tax dollars on programs that exclude people because of their religious beliefs,'' ACLU attorney Roger Leishman said.
The suit, filed on behalf of five taxpayers, names as defendants the Chicago Public Schools and the United States Transportation Command, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base in southern Illinois.
Leishman said the two defendants represent any local agency in Illinois that receives state funding and all federal agencies.
He did not know how many schools in Illinois sponsor troops. "There is no allegation that any individual student or leader has suffered any kind of discrimination based on religion in connection with any program sponsored by the Chicago Public Schools,'' said Robert Hall, first assistant attorney with the Chicago Public Schools system.
The Boys Scouts of America also said the lawsuit is without merit. "It is regrettable that the ACLU would seek to deny these boys access to the scouting program simply because they promise to do their duty to God,'' national spokesman Gregg Shields said.
The ACLU has been a longtime critic of the Boy Scouts Last year, it sued the city of Chicago over the organization's oath as well as its ban on gay members.
The city, which had sponsored troops, ended its affiliation with the organization.
PONTIAC, Mich.(AP) April 14, 1999-- After three days of grueling questioning, Jenny Jones stepped off the witness stand and in front of cameras to defend her talk show and herself.
Defense attorneys had portrayed her as a liar, Ms. Jones said. "After these three days, I think I've proven I am not,'' she said. Ms. Jones completed nearly 12 hours of testimony Wednesday in the trial of a US$50 million wrongful death lawsuit against "The Jenny Jones Show'' and its producer, Warner Bros.
Ms. Jones, who is not being sued, insisted that she and her show were not responsible for the 1995 shooting death of Scott Amedure, a gay man who had described his crush on fellow guest Jonathan Schmitz during a show taping.
Schmitz, who has said he is heterosexual and was humiliated, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death.
The conviction was overturned because of an error in jury selection, and his retrial is set for Aug. 19.
In their lawsuit, Amedure's family accuses the show of tricking a mentally troubled Schmitz into appearing on the program and leading him to believe his admirer was a woman.
Ms. Jones disagreed, saying "I don't think we exploit people.'' Schmitz, she said, "was an adult. He knew the person with the crush could be a man or a woman.
He was given enough information to make an informed choice.'' The family's attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, asked Ms. Jones, "You knew the show could cause people to have regrets and disappointment, didn't you?'' She responded, "This particular show, it could go either way.''
A motion filed on behalf of Aaron McKinney asks that his lawyers be allowed "to tour and videotape the cell, recreation yard and other areas of access where the defendant would reside ... if he received a death sentence." McKinney, 21, remains at the Albany County jail in Laramie.
He is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the beating death of Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student. Shepard was found Oct. 7, tied to a fence and lying in a pool of blood. He died five days later from 18 blows to the head.
McKinney's co-defendant, Russell Henderson, 21, pleaded guilty Monday to felony murder and kidnapping and received two life sentences.
In addition to the tour, McKinney's lawyers, Dion Custis and Jason Tangeman, requested "out-of-state options available to the state of Wyoming for the confinement of Mr. McKinney" and "a description of the physical confinement setting ... representing the highest level of security within the Department of Corrections for management of inmate violence."
The attorneys wrote that access to the prison is "absolutely necessary for Mr. McKinney's defense.
The information is critical to rebut any evidence of the alleged aggravating circumstance of future dangerousness."
They said the information is "critical" for presenting mitigating evidence in the case, "so the jury will accurately and more completely know the effect of a sentence of life imprisonment."
Senior Assistant Attorney General Lori Gorseth filed an objection on behalf of the Corrections Department, encouraging 8th District Judge Barton Voigt to deny the request.
She wrote that Wyoming's law "makes it clear that discovery requests must be made upon the state," and since the prosecutor is not "within the possession, custody or control" of the prison, the motion is inappropriate. Voigt has scheduled motions hearings April 14 and May 10.
-- McKinney's trial is set to begin Aug. 9.
Detroit, MI- April 9, 1999 --- Attorneys defending talk-show host Jenny Jones and Warner Bros. in a US$50-million wrongful-death lawsuit went on the attack Thursday, trying to get a psychiatrist to back down from his assertion that Jones contributed to the slaying of one of her show's guests.
"There you go again," groaned Warner Bros. attorney James George as Dr. Bernard Carroll told jurors he believed the show's producers deceived Jonathan Schmitz to get him on a show about same-sex crushes. Carroll said the producers led Schmitz to believe a woman had a crush on him, then ambushed him with gay admirer Scott Amedure.
"How do you know what my client's intentions were?" George asked. Amedure's family is suing Jenny Jones, Warner Bros. and Telepictures Inc., saying they contributed to his death by setting up Schmitz, who was emotionally unstable. Amedure was killed three days after the taping.
Schmitz was convicted of murdering Amedure, but the conviction was overturned and a new trial has been ordered. Carroll, a professor emeritus at Duke University and psychiatrist, has been a vehement critic of Jones' show during his two days on the stand.
He reviewed Schmitz's medical records, which show a long history of mental illness, and watched the tape of the show, which never aired. He called Jones' handling of Schmitz a "preplanned, psychological assault and battery on an vulnerable individual."
"It is reasonable to assume Jonathan Schmitz would not have killed Scott Amedure but for the joint appearance on the show." Jones' testimony was moved from last Wednesday to Monday. The trial is before Oakland Circuit Court Judge Gene Schnelz.
L.L. Brasier can be reached at 1-248-858-2262.
"He wants the world to believe that he is a compassionate conservative. We want the world to know that his compassion does not extend to all the citizens of Texas," the Rev. Michael Piazza, senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope, said Wednesday at a rally that drew about 400 people to his church.
"He is ostensibly saying it's OK with him when hate crimes are committed against lesbian and gay people," Piazza said.
Bush declined to comment, but a spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, said his views on both issues have remained consistent. Bush wants children adopted by married men and women, and he opposes special rights based upon sexual orientation, she said.
Piazza said criticism by gay leaders could backfire by driving more conservatives to support Bush. But he said he is trying to educate moderates who could decide the 2000 presidential race.
Ms. Hughes said such political calculations do not influence the governor, whose initial fund-raising for an exploratory presidential campaign now exceeds US$7 million.
"The people of Texas know that Governor Bush bases his decisions on principles, and they will remain the same whether he's in East Texas or West Texas ... or Iowa or New Hampshire," she said.
Last summer, gay leaders lauded Bush after Texas GOP leaders excluded Log Cabin Republicans, a gay political group, from the state party convention in Fort Worth. Bush called for a stop to name-calling and infighting regarding the issue.
Bush started his fund-raising campaign after forming an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run March 4.
So far, he and Vice President Al Gore have been the leaders in the fund-raising race: Gore, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, has raised at least US$7 million this year.
The president also directed the departments of Education and Justice to collect and periodically publish data on hate crimes at colleges, including crime statistics as well as surveys on students' racial attitudes.
Clinton linked his announcement to the crisis currently going on in Kosovo, where hundreds of thousands of people are being killed or forced out by Serb authorities simply because they are ethnic Albanians. He said all Americans should resist such destructive, biased attitudes because they imperil the country's future.
"We have to be, in the United States, absolutely resolute about this,'' Clinton said. "Our diversity is a godsend for us. ... The number one security threat to that is the persistence of old, even primitive hatreds.''
Clinton endorsed a public-private partnership designed to educate middle
school students against intolerance. The partnership will involve AT&T,
Court TV, Cable in the Classroom, the National Middle Schools Association and
the Anti-Defamation League working with the Justice and Education departments
to develop curricula to combat intolerance.
Clinton announced the initiatives today in a Roosevelt Room ceremony with religious, education and law enforcement leaders who said the United States cannot get so caught up in fighting the crisis in Kosovo that it neglects prejudice in this country.
"While we watch what is unfolding in Kosovo with ever increasing horror, we must not let those distant hate crimes distract us from the hate crimes here on our own soil,'' said the Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon, suffragan bishop of Washington.
Clinton issued an appeal for greater acceptance of gay people, saying it is wrong to refuse them a normal life based on attitudes "where you always get to think a little better of yourself because you've got someone you can dehumanize.''
"That's really what this whole issue with gays is today in America,'' Clinton said. "We're talking about whether people have a right, if they show up and work hard and obey the law and are good citizens, to pursue their lives in dignity, free of fear.''
The idea for the middle schools program grew in part from a White House conference on hate crimes that generated a lot of anecdotal information about ethnic and racial insensitivities among school children.
The aim, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity, is to "nip intolerance in the bud'' by educating children about its consequences.
In addition, Clinton directed the Justice and Education departments to require that college campuses provide specific information about hate crimes in the campus crime statistics they provide to law enforcement each year. The information will be used to generate hard data on how violent crimes relate to intolerance on college campuses.
Clinton's hate crimes legislation died in committee last year in the House and Senate. The initiative was reintroduced last month by a bipartisan group of lawmakers that include Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Connie Morella, R-Md.
Under the bill, current law would be expanded so the Justice Department could prosecute crimes based on a person's sex, sexual orientation or disability. Now, the statute only covers crimes based on race, color, religion or national origin.
The bill also would make federal prosecution of hate crimes easier. Current law limits prosecution to situations where the victim is targeted for engaging in certain federally protected activities, such as serving on a jury, voting or attending public school.
More than 40 states have hate crimes laws but only 21 cover sexual orientation, 22 cover gender and 21 cover disability.
Sponsors hope that outrage over recent highly publicized killings will fuel support for the measure this year.
One of two young men charged in the Wyoming slaying of gay college student Matthew Shepard pleaded guilty Monday. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.
Two men have been charged with beating to death a gay textile worker, Billy Jack Gaither, in Alabama earlier this year and burning his body on a pile of tires.
John William King, a white supremacist, was sentenced to death in Texas for chaining a black man, James Byrd Jr., behind a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. Two other men wait trial in the case.
Congress failed to act on similar legislation last year.
Clinton also will direct that colleges be required to report hate crimes annually and announce a public-private partnership designed to educate middle school students against intolerance.
The partnership will involve AT&T, Court TV, Cable in the Classroom and the National Middle Schools Association working with the Justice and Education departments to develop curricula to combat intolerance.
``The president is signing this directive to increase public awareness and information about hate crimes among young people and doing whatever he can in his power to advance this cause while we wait for Congress to act,'' said Bruce Reed, the White House director of public policy.
Clinton was announcing the initiatives with religious, education and law enforcement leaders at a Roosevelt Room ceremony Tuesday, White House officials said.
The idea for the middle schools program grew out of a White House conference on hate crimes that generated a lot of anecdotal information about ethnic and racial insensitivities among school children, officials said.
The aim, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity, is to ``nip intolerance in the bud'' by educating children about its consequences.
In addition, Clinton will direct the Justice and Education departments to require that college campuses provide specific information about hate crimes in the campus crime statistics they provide to law enforcement each year.
The information will be used to generate hard data on how crimes of violence relate to intolerance on college campuses, the official said.
Clinton's hate crimes legislation died in committee in the House and Senate last year. The initiative was reintroduced last month by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Connie Morella, R-Md.
Under the bill, current law would be expanded so the Justice Department could prosecute crimes based on a person's sex, sexual orientation or disability. Now, the statute only covers crimes based on race, color, religion or national origin.
Also, the bill would make federal prosecution of hate crimes easier. Current law limits prosecution to situations where the victim is targeted for engaging in certain federally protected activities, such as serving on a jury, voting or attending public school.
More than 40 states have hate crimes laws but only 21 cover sexual orientation, 22 cover gender and 21 cover disability.
Sponsors are hoping that outrage over recent highly publicized killings will fuel support for the measure this year.
One of two young men charged in the slaying of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.
Two men have been charged with beating to death a gay textile worker, Billy Jack Gaither, in Alabama earlier this year and burning his body on a pile of tires.
John William King, a white supremacist, was sentenced to death in Texas for chaining a black man, James Byrd Jr., behind a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. Two other men wait trial in the case.
http://www.austin360.com/news/
4/3/99, Austin,TX ---- In a witty and often biting speech, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank on Friday urged gays and lesbians to go beyond rallies and marches and work within the political system to fight for equal treatment.
Frank said gays and lesbians must now focus on defending their rights at a time when opponents are attempting to limit them through legislation, such as a Texas proposal to prohibit homosexuals from adopting children.
At a lecture sponsored by the University of Texas School of Law, Frank urged a group of about 300 to get organized, vote and lobby state and national leaders.
Although he derided the attempts of the religious conservatives to "demonize" gays and lesbians, he said they have mastered the art of the political fight.
"If we had the same percentage of people with the same fervor (voting and lobbying), we would win; . . . we would win sooner," he said. "My greatest regret is that I haven't been able to get us to participate politically."
A 10-term congressman from Massachusetts, Frank is a member of the House Judiciary and Banking committees. Frank, 59, is gay and for years has been a leading advocate of gay rights.
Recently he attended rallies in Florida supporting a state senator's bill to give benefits to unmarried partners. During those rallies he cautioned gays and lesbians against using only marches and rallies to promote equal rights.
Politicians "don't care if you're not voters," he said Friday.
"The (National Rifle Association) is the most influential political organization in the country, and I don't remember the last time they had a demonstration or parade," Frank said.
Frank also cautioned gays and lesbians against alienating people by behaving outlandishly. He compared the 1963 march in Washington supporting equal rights for African Americans with the march gays and lesbians held in the same city 30 years later.
"1963 was a tightly disciplined operation," he said. "In 1993, we had a big party; we were very self-indulgent . . . talking about how it would be fun to have sex with Hillary Clinton.
"If Redd Fox would have stood up there (in 1963) and talked about sex with Jackie Kennedy, he would've been strangled on the spot," he said. "When you are trying to appeal to the majority, that you should disregard the feelings of the majority is very dumb."
Frank said the religious right is scrambling to find ways to oppose equal rights for gays and lesbians because overt discrimination is no longer acceptable to the general public.
"The Rev. Jerry Falwell has a particular compulsion to remind the world about once a month that he is a moron," Frank said, referring to commentary attributed to Falwell that suggested the character Tinky-Winky in the children's TV program "Teletubbies" is gay.
He called religious conservatives hypocritical for supporting general-looking measures that are really only designed to thwart gays and lesbians, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed in 1996.
"If they were honest, they would call it the `We Don't Want Two Lesbians to Live Together Act,' " Frank said. "Defense of Marriage? It's like the old V-8 commercial. As if this act didn't pass, heterosexual men all over the country would say, (smack) 'I could've married a guy?!' "
LARAMIE, Wyo., April 5 --- One of two young men charged in the slaying of gay college student Matthew Shepard pleaded guilty Mondayand was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.
AUTHORITIES SAID Henderson and Aaron McKinney, 21, posed as homosexuals and lured the 5-foot-2, 105-pound Shepard out of a bar last October, kidnapped and pistol-whipped him and left him tied to a fence in the cold. The 21-year-old University of Wyoming student died five days later at a hospital. Henderson said he drove the truck and helped tie Shepard to the fence, but blamed McKinney for the beating. He said he tried to stop the beating, but McKinney struck him when he spoke up.
"Matthew looked really bad, so I told (McKinney) to stop, he's had enough," Henderson said.
Henderson then apologized to Shepard's parents, Judy and Dennis: "I'm very sorry for what I did and I'm ready to pay my debt for what I did." Judge Jeffrey A. Donnell dismissed his apology.
"This court does not believe you feel any remorse," Donnell said when he sentenced him. "The pain you have caused here, Mr. Henderson, will never go away. Never."
Henderson had been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the beating death of Shepard.
The crime led to demands for stronger hate-crime laws around the country.
MCKINNEY TO BE TRIED IN AUGUST
McKinney will be tried in August on first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges. He could be sentenced to death. There had been speculation that if Henderson entered a plea, he would end up testifying against his friend and co-defendant.
"If it's a plea bargain, the defense has to give something to the prosecution, such as his testimony against McKinney," said legal analyst Andrew Cohen.
Prosecutor Cal Rerucha opened jury selection by telling the prospective jurors that Shepard was "not the same as you and I" but that every individual should be treated equally under the Constitution. Henderson's attorney, Wyatt Skaggs, said his client merely watched while the other man delivered the fatal blows to Shepard. He also said the slaying was not premeditated.
Henderson's girlfriend is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty Dec. 23 to accessory after the fact to murder. McKinney's girlfriend goes on trial in May on an accessory charge.
ACTIVISTS RALLY AROUND CASE
The case has moved to action activists on both sides of the gay rights issue. Early today, a dozen young people dressed as angels, with white sheets for wings, tried to block from view an anti-gay group demonstrating outside the courthouse.
The angels stood silently, but inside their human wall about a dozen anti-gay demonstrators from Kansas shouted slogans and waved signs, including one that said "God Hates Fags."
"These ... creatures are sending this nation to hell in a handbasket," said the Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church.
Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church also picketed Shepard's funeral in Casper with anti-gay signs.
FROM MSNBC.com The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Russell Henderson, 21, a high school dropout and roofer, pleaded guilty to felony murder, with robbery as the related crime, and kidnapping. He could get two life sentences, one on each count.
Henderson had been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the beating death of Shepard.
Authorities said Henderson and Aaron McKinney, 21, posed as homosexuals and lured the 5-foot-2, 105-pound Shepard out of a bar last October, kidnapped and pistol-whipped him and left him tied to a fence in the cold. The 21-year-old University of Wyoming student died five days later at a hospital.
The crime led to demands for stronger hate-crime laws around the country.
McKinney will be tried in August on first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges. He could be sentenced to death if convicted.
Jury selection in Henderson's trial began March 24 with 71 prospective jurors. The process was halted Friday when 2nd District Judge Jeffrey A. Donnell scheduled the last-minute hearing for today.
Prosecutor Cal Rerucha opened jury selection by telling the prospective jurors that Shepard was ``not the same as you and I'' but that every individual should be treated equally under the Constitution.
But Henderson's attorney, Wyatt Skaggs, said his client merely watched while the other man delivered the fatal blows to Shepard. He also said the slaying was not premeditated.
Henderson's girlfriend is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty Dec. 23 to accessory after the fact to murder. McKinney's girlfriend goes on trial in May on an accessory charge.
The case has moved to action activists on both sides of the gay rights issue.
Early today, a dozen young people dressed as angels, with white sheets for wings, tried to block from view an anti-gay group demonstrating outside the courthouse.
The angels stood silently, but inside their human wall about a dozen anti-gay demonstrators from Kansas shouted slogans and waved signs, including one that said ``God Hates Fags.''
``These ... creatures are sending this nation to hell in a handbasket,'' said the Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church.
Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church also picketed Shepard's funeral in Casper with anti-gay signs.
Representatives voted 50-50, killing the bill that would have removed the law overturned by the Montana Supreme Court in 1997. The sponsor of House Bill 449, Rep. Joan Hurdle, R-Billings, said she probably will ask to have the measure reconsidered Monday.
Hurdle told representatives they should pass the bill to rid the Montana Code of the law, now that it has been struck down by the Supreme Court. The court said the law against sex acts between consenting adults of the same gender violated the constitutional right to privacy.
"The Supreme Court didn't say we had to take this law off the books," Rep. Bob Clark, R-Ryegate, said in urging defeat of Hurdle's bill. "They merely said it was unconstitutional." There is no harm in leaving the law in place, Clark said.
Rep. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, spoke in favor of the bill but emphasized he is not an advocate of gay rights. Shockley said he supports privacy and opposes unnecessary government regulation.
Only a brief debate preceded the House vote.
Later Saturday, representatives defeated Hurdle's effort to resurrect her bill. As the House ended its work for the day, she was examining the 50-50 roll call vote that killed the measure and was considering options for Monday.
The case decided by the Supreme Court was filed after earlier efforts to remove the law against gay sex failed in the Legislature.
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Hurdle's bill this month, opponents said passage would be a stand against families. Supporters said there is no reason to keep an unconstitutional, unenforceable law, regardless of beliefs about homosexuality.
It had been a felony that could've gotten you up to five years in jail. But a state appeals court this week struck down a sodomy law dating back to 1805, known as the "crime against nature" statute.
In a 3-to-nothing ruling, the court says the government has no business intruding on the private lives of consenting adults.
Gay rights activists are happy to hear the news -- saying it's good for heterosexuals, as well.
Louisiana is one of only a dozen states making oral and anal sex a crime. Six others outlaw it only between same-sex partners.
"My heartfelt sympathy goes out to those employees who came to us and asked us to treat them like the majority of other citizens," Mayor Greg Lashutka said Monday.
The ordinace had been unanimously adopted two months earlier with support from Lashutka, a Republican. The council said it would help the city attract employees, including those in homosexual relationships.
Opponents, led by conservative Democratic lawyer Jay Meena, said the public should have had more time for comment. Some contended the ordinance undermined marriage and promoted immorality, and said the cost -- estimated by city officials at US$550,000 to US$700,000 annually -- was too high.
Opponents gathered nearly 8,500 signatures on a petition to put the issue on the ballot May 4.
Councilman Matt Habash, who introduced the ordinance, decided it would be safer to repeal the measure because defeat by the voters would mean the council could not reconsider the issue without another ballot initiative.
The agreement, signed by Circuit Judge Richard T. Rombro, was finalized three months after the court voided a law criminalizing same-gender oral sex in a challenge brought by the ACLU.
Under today's agreement, the state will give up another law which made it a crime for anyone -- gay or straight -- to engage in anal sex, under penalties of up to $1,000 or 10 years in prison. The state also will not appeal the court's ruling on the oral sex law, which targeted only lesbians and gay men. In return, the ACLU agreed to drop its remaining legal claims.
"This is the first time a state has voluntarily given up any part of a sodomy law," said Michael Adams, lead attorney in the case for the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, which together with the ACLU of Maryland brokered the deal. "The Court had already crippled these laws in its earlier ruling and now it has finally put them to out to pasture."
"Today's settlement brings us one step closer to the day when the government will no longer have the right to police anyone's bedrooms anywhere in the United States," he added. "And that day is surely coming."
In battles over civil rights, same-sex marriage, and gay adoption, anti-gay opponents have invoked laws like Maryland's to justify opposition to lesbian and gay rights. Laws criminalizing sexual intimacy have left lesbians and gay men vulnerable to job discrimination and open to unfair attacks in child custody cases.
Attorney Lawrence S. Jacobs of Rockville, one of five plaintiffs in the ACLU case, said conservative groups seized on the sodomy issue three years ago when he led a coalition urging the local school board to add sexual orientation protection to its non-discrimination policy.
"You try to raise a serious issue like discrimination against gay and lesbian students and they come back at you with ‘sodomy is illegal and you're a criminal,'" he said. "But after today, I'm a little more inclined to think that Maryland's motto, ‘the free state,' might actually be true."
Dwight Sullivan, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Maryland said that today's settlement considerably brightens the outlook for gay and lesbian civil rights in the state.
"With a recent favorable court decision on visitation rights for gay parents, and a proposal to expand employment and housing discrimination laws to include sexual orientation, 1999 is shaping up to be a good year for the gay and lesbian people of Maryland," he said.
Sullivan noted that the agreement and court order also represent a privacy victory for heterosexuals, who until today committed a felony if the engaged in anal sex in Maryland.
"While gays and lesbians are most often the targets of government policing of our bedrooms, they are not the only victims of these laws," he said. "We are proud to have made Maryland a safe place for all who engage in intimate sexual activity in private."
Today's action comes less than two months after a high court in Georgia voided that state's 182-year-old sodomy law. The law invalidated by the court in Georgia is the same law that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a famous 1986 case, Bowers v. Hardwick, saying it did not violate the federal right to privacy.
Laws criminalizing sexual intimacy, including sodomy, were once on the books in all 50 states, but many have been repealed or struck down by the courts as unconstitutional. Sodomy and oral sex laws remain on the books today in 18 states and Puerto Rico; 13 of these laws target intimate activities for both gay and heterosexual couples.
The ACLU also challenged the state's solicitation law when it applies to private, consensual sex acts not involving prostitution. The claim was rejected by the court, but the ACLU said it will consider litigation should a case of discriminatory arrest under the law arise.
Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties is a national, non-partisan organization dedicated to preserving and defending the principles set forth in the Bill of Rights. Through its Lesbian & Gay Rights Project and 53 state affiliates, the ACLU works on more lesbian and gay related litigation and legislation than any other organization in the country.
(Note: an updated list of state sodomy statutes can be found on the ACLU's web page at http://www.aclu.org/issues/gay/sodomy.html.)
CHEYENNE, Wyo. Billings Gazette, January 18, 1999 -- At the request of Gov. Jim Geringer, Wyoming's attorney general has authored an amendment to a bill that would create the state's first bias crime law but the bill's sponsor said the measure will likely face strong opposition.
The bill, which does not mention any specific group, is one of at least four that would enhance the penalty for crimes against people because of prejudice or bias.
"I'm not sure any of them have a great chance but this bill by far has the best chance," said Sen. Rich Cathcart, D-Carpenter.
Wyoming is one of nine states with no bias crime statute.
Pressure to enact such a law has increased since University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was beaten to death during a robbery that may have been motivated because Shepard was gay.
"I'd like to see the reaction of other folks -- legislators and other people in Wyoming (to the bill)," said Geringer on Sunday evening. The governor said a law should be enacted "that we believe is right and not yield to the external pressure that could be out there."
Senate File 91 would increase the maximum fine for a felony by up to $5,000 and the maximum prison sentence by up to five years for a bias crime. State Attorney General Gay Woodhouse designed the amendment at the request of Geringer in an effort to remove vagueness from the bill, which she said was modeled after a Texas law.
Cathcart's original language stated that the penalty could be enhanced if the victim was selected "because of the defendant's bias or prejudice against a group."
Woodhouse's language, which Cathcart will sponsor, states that the increased penalty could be imposed if a victim was selected "because of the defendant's bias or prejudice against a group to which the victim belongs or is perceived by the defendant to belong."
The additional wording makes the bill stronger constitutionally, according to Woodhouse.
"We're not saying that it won't be challenged, because it probably will be, but we think that this amendment would assist in having it meet that challenge and be upheld," she said.
"I have to trust Gay on that," said Cathcart. "I'm no attorney. She knows what judges want to hear. I consider it a friendly amendment and I'm sure that it must help the bill."
Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Jayne Mockler, D-Cheyenne, enhances the penalty if a victim was selected "because of the actor's belief or perception regarding the race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry of that person."
Cathcart said such lists exclude many individuals.
"When I was in college on the rodeo team, I remember a group of fellows bragging about taking sheep shears and cutting this hippie's hair off. That was assault and it should have been prosecuted and it was a bias crime."
"I don't see any place on Sen. Mockler's laundry list for hippies or rednecks or any other slang you can identify somebody with," said Cathcart.
Cathcart said the governor did not consult with him about changing the bill, but said he cares little who gets credit.
"I don't have any particular pride of authorship in this bill," he said. "I want the most workable and most acceptable kind of a bill for Wyoming." The Rev. Daniel Monson, director of the Wyoming Church Coalition, agreed that the amendment improves the measure's chances of passage and said he especially likes wording that includes crimes against institutions. "It gives additional protection to our friends in the synagogue and every church in the state is protected by it, every school, every Knights of Columbus building or every American Legion hall," he said. "It broadens the bill, it improves the bill and it should bring more people on board," said Monson. Cathcart said he is not strongly in favor of bias crimes legislation and said lawmakers who oppose any kind of hate crime bill "have a pretty good argument." "The U.S. Constitution gives us the right to hate anyone we want. When we act on that hatred then we commit a crime and we have laws on the books already that make those acts a crime," said Cathcart.
Geringer is also seeking sponsors for a bill which would authorize training of police to identify whether a crime is a bias crime and creation of a task force to see what kind of hate crimes occur in Wyoming and how law enforcement agencies respond, Woodhouse said.
Testimony on bias crime legislation is expected Thursday before the Joint Judiciary Committee at a site that has not yet been announced.
By Tomoko Hosaka, Washington Post Staff Writer.
Washington Post, January 19, 1999 --- Gay health advocates, who have long been rallying to improve medical research and services for lesbians, scored a major victory last week when the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released the first study it has ever done on lesbian health.
The advocates say the study confirms that lesbians face unique challenges from a medical community that is often insensitive and ignorant about lesbian health issues.
"It's really nice to have a powerful organization saying that what you're doing is important as a doctor and as an activist," said Kathy Oriel, president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.
The report, "Lesbian Health, Current Assessment and Directions for the Future," pulls together the top research available on the physical and mental health needs of lesbians and suggests where future research may be useful.
"The primary issues have to do with access and interaction rather than with specific health risks," added Andrea Solarz, the head of the IOM committee. "The fact that a woman is a lesbian doesn't make her physically different. She may just have a different constellation of risks."
Jocelyn White, a physician in Portland, Ore., and a former president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, believes that the study lays out the priorities for the next decade or two.
"People are finally starting to understand what the issues are," she said. "They understand that providers want to take good care of all patients. In order to do that, you have to take care of lesbians, too."
And how is lesbian health any different from women's health generally?
"In some ways, it's not different," said Beverly Saunders Biddle, executive director of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association in Washington. "In lesbians, though, there's an added dimension of homophobia. There's a big risk in coming out. Lesbians have been mistreated and ostracized by health care providers."
A 1994 survey of more than 700 members of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association revealed that two-thirds knew of lesbian, gay or bisexual patients who received substandard care or were denied care because of their sexual orientation. And nearly nine out of 10 of the respondents reported hearing colleagues make rude or degrading remarks about lesbian, gay and bisexual patients.
Lesbian health advocates say that homophobia, intentional or not, can cripple a lesbian's ability to receive quality care. They have been responding with a two-tiered solution – establishing health care facilities that tailor their services to lesbians while at the same time educating mainstream doctors, hospitals and researchers about the concerns and difficulties lesbian patients might have.
After being so focused on the AIDS crisis for nearly two decades, gay and lesbian health organizations are now beginning to reshape their mission. The new goal is simple: Use manpower and knowledge to address the entire scope of health needs in the community and let mainstream America know that gay health isn't just about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"While by no means is HIV over, there's a sense of stability, of confidence in the resources that are out there," said Ellen Kahn, director of the Lesbian Services Program at Washington's Whitman-Walker Clinic. "Now, there's a little breathing room, and we're finding it possible to look at some of the other needs in the community."
Mainstream medicine has begun to acknowledge its own shortcomings in dealing with lesbian health with special outreach programs, research into specific health problems, new curricula in medical schools and even some lesbian health clinics established by major hospitals.
Several previous studies have documented that negative experiences in the doctor's office may lead lesbians to avoid the health care system entirely, meaning they do not receive routine health screenings, such as mammograms and Pap smears. Some end up seeking refuge at gay-friendly practices. Others delay care until they're hit with serious medical problems.
From the moment they step into the gynecologist's office, lesbians are cloaked with the assumption of heterosexuality. Forms ask women whether they are single, married or divorced, without an option to indicate whether they have a homosexual partner. And all too frequently, lesbian health advocates say, physicians make it uncomfortable for lesbians to discuss their sexual orientation.
If a patient does tell her doctor, she may have to endure a physician's uneasiness in treating a lesbian. She may risk the possibility of having her sexual orientation permanently placed on her medical record. Or she may be told that because she doesn't have sex with men, she doesn't need to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or receive a Pap smear – both myths, said Michelle Sperry, coordinator of the Lesbian Health Center at Whitman-Walker.
Biddle of the National Gay and Lesbian Health Association remembers that she was once told by a physician that as a lesbian she wasn't at risk for HIV. "But he never asked me about my behavior," Biddle said. "It's behavior, not identity, that's important. He never asked me if I was an IV drug user, or if I'd ever had sex with a man. It's nice that doctors don't go screaming out of the room when they find out I'm a lesbian. But I need to know how that's going to affect my health care."
The problem, though, is that no one really knows if a lesbian has different risks from other women. Few reliable lesbian health studies exist.
Researchers know that women who have sex with women are generally at low risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, human papillomavirus and HIV. But it is still possible to get these diseases, especially since surveys indicate that most lesbians have had sex with men at some point in their lives.
And bisexual women may become infected from men and pass a disease along to another woman. A 1995 study suggests that a certain type of vaginal infection may easily be transmitted from woman to woman. The study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, found that nearly three out of four lesbians who suffered from bacterial vaginosis had female partners who also carried the infection.
In the first study to measure stress levels among lesbian and bisexual women, a Connecticut psychologist found that the more a lesbian concealed her identity, the more depressed she was. Compared with women living openly as lesbians, women who had not publicly acknowledged it also reported lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of general aches and pains. The study was presented at the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association's national convention in August.
"When you're concealing your identity, you're holding back emotions, feelings and thoughts," said Joanne DiPlacido, an assistant professor of psychology at Central Connecticut State University and author of the study. "You're holding back who you are. That takes a toll on a person, both physically and psychologically."
There has also been considerable speculation about a lesbian's risk of developing breast cancer and heart disease, two of the major health concerns of all women. Research on breast cancer has identified specific risk factors that seem to be more prevalent in lesbians. They are less likely to give birth and tend to have a higher body-fat index. Lesbians have also been shown in some surveys to smoke and drink at higher rates than heterosexual woman, which are seen by some experts as ways of coping with stigma and discrimination.
But so far, there is no large-scale, broad-spectrum research that has found a concrete connection between a woman's sexual orientation and breast cancer or heart disease.
Suzanne Dibble recently conducted a study at Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services in San Francisco that evaluated differences in breast cancer risk factors between heterosexual women and lesbians. She found relatively few differences between the two populations, except in pregnancy rates, and she said that her study should provide a good foundation for future research.
Educating physicians is one of the largest priorities for lesbian groups. Without adequate training, advocates say, health care providers just don't know what questions to ask or how to relate sexual behavior to a person's health.
The first lesson? Don't assume anyone is heterosexual.
"Doctors are just awful about taking sexual histories," said Jeffrey Akman, assistant dean for student educational policies at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. "Some don't feel comfortable with it. But you need to give patients a chance to talk about it."
Many medical schools now devote a portion of their curriculum to gay and lesbian issues, and hospitals too are beginning to respond by holding training for employees, said White of Portland, Ore.
To reach mid-career physicians, groups like the District-based Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer and the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association have developed their own training programs. The Mautner Project recently created an 18-minute video and a discussion guide to train health care practitioners how to best care for lesbian patients. The training program will be piloted at various sites in the Washington area, including the Washington Hospital Center.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tackled lesbian health issues in the past and has helped lead the way for other mainstream medical and research organizations.
In 1994 the CDC helped fund a four-city pilot project to develop strategies to reach lesbian and bisexual women for low-cost Pap smears and mammograms.
A year later researchers from two major national women's studies – the Women's Health Initiative and the Harvard Nurses Health Study – agreed to include questions on sexual orientation in their studies. In 1996 the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report on the health care needs of gay men and lesbians.
New York's Beth Israel Medical Center responded by creating its own primary care clinic for lesbians last June. It was an unprecedented venture for such a major medical facility. Robert Newman, who was Beth Israel's chief executive officer when plans for the Gay Women's Focus were underway, said that the clinic represents the hospital's tradition of serving the underserved.
"There was a clear consensus," he said, "that this was a population that does not feel that they're being responded to with respect and knowledge."
[The report on Lesbian Health is available at: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/leshealth/
When the lesbian couple exchanged vows before an audience of over 1,500 well-wishers in Sacramento's Convention Centre Theatre on Saturday, it wasn't just an unusual ceremony-- it was a direct challenge to their church and a broader act of defiance in a nation where a storm is steadily brewing over same-sex marriages.
Jeanne Barnett, 68, stood before an altar festooned with candles arranged in the triangular symbol of homosexual pride and told her partner of 15 years, "Ellie, I give to you my love."
Through a veil of tears, Ellie Charlton, 63 and a great-grandmother, promised, "I will love you forever."
Led by their United Methodist Church pastor, the Rev. Don Fado, the couple and 96 "co-officiating" ministers enacted a poignant protest against a 1996 Methodist law banning "homosexual unions" in their church.
"I can go into their house and I can bless a car, I can bless a tractor and I can bless their dogs, but I'm not allowed to bless them," Fado said after the ceremony.
Although the Methodist church has celebrated many homosexual unions in the past, a Nebraska minister who officiated at a ceremony one year after the formal ban was put on trial by the church. He was eventually acquitted.
But the law remains in place and Fado still runs the risk of losing his job if somebody files a complaint against him for the Sacramento ceremony.
The public "holy union" of the retired Sacramento couple seemed to take on a life of its own after Fado began organising the ceremony. A woman in Washington, D.C., wrote to tell him she would be ringing a bell in her garden "mightily" at the time of the ceremony, and dozens of gay Methodist couples packed the auditorium in the state capital.
With roughly 60 reporters crowded around the couple afterward, Charlton touched on the larger legal issue that stands as a backdrop to their "wedding."
"People are married only a short time and they get all their rights," she said. "We've been together 15 years and we have none of those legal rights."
Across the street from the ceremony, about 20 followers of a Kansas preacher who has led anti-gay protests around the country held signs proclaiming "Brides of Satan" and "Methodist Fag Church."
None of the 50 U.S. states has enacted laws to allow homosexual marriage, and voters in Hawaii and Alaska in November turned back ballot efforts to open the road to legalisation.
California, following the lead of a number of other states, will place an initiative on the March 2000 ballot that would explicitly ban recognition of any potential same-sex marriages performed out-of-state.
Meanwhile a petition is circulating nationally within the United Methodist Church to force openly gay congregants out of the faith.
Charlton, still choked up from her vows, told reporters afterward: "God created us. God loves us. I wish sometimes the church did."
Rock star Sir Elton John whooped and applauded as Antonio d'Amico made his debut during Men's Fashion Week presenting his first men's and women's lines in a leather-dominated collection modelled by close friends.
"This is all for Gianni. I dedicate this collection to him," d'Amico said.
D'Amico discovered Versace's body after he was shot dead in broad daylight on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion in 1997 by a male prostiute who committed suicide days later.
D'Amico first met Versace in Milan in 1982 and was soon hired by the Italian fashion guru. A year later they became lovers and remained companions until Versace's death.
The Italian, 40, worked in the versace fashion house until last year when he said he became too depressed to continue working for the company.
Sir Elton and other friends suggested he throw his energies into his own fashion label.
Gianni's sister, Donatella, and brother, Santo, who run the Versace empire, did not attend the show despite being invited.
D'Amico has little contact with the Versace family.
Harriet Chiang, Chronicle Legal Affairs Writer.
San Francisco Chronicle, January 12, 1999 ---- The Supreme Court continued to keep its distance from the military's "don't ask, don't tell'' policy, refusing yesterday to hear challenges brought by two former servicemen in California and Washington state.
The high court left intact a decision by a federal appeals court in San Francisco that the policy on homosexuals in the military does not violate the constitutional rights of former Lieutenant Andrew Holmes of the California Army National Guard and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Richard Watson, who served in Bremerton, Wash.
Yesterday's action marked the fifth time since 1996 that the high court has refused to take up an appeal brought by a member of the military ousted because of the policy.
Under the 1993 rule set by the Clinton administration, service members identified as gay who want to avoid discharge must prove that they do not have any intention of engaging in "homosexual activity.'' The policy replaced a ban on gays in the military.
Holmes and Watson argued that the policy violated their First Amendment free speech rights and was discriminatory under the Equal Protection Clause. Holmes, 39, said he was disappointed that the high court decided to "dodge taking on a controversial issue.''
"I, as well as many others, have nicked at the wall, so to speak,'' said Holmes, who is a technical writer in Sacramento. "Eventually it'll come tumbling down. It's just a matter of time and education for the general public.''
His lawyer, Todd Thompson of San Francisco, noted that no federal appeals court has struck down the "don't ask, don't tell'' policy. Until a conflict arises, he said he does not anticipate the Supreme Court tackling the controversial issue.
Watson, 36, agreed that it will take time to bring about changes in the policy. Although it has been a long court battle, he said he has no regrets. "I'm very happy to have spent 17 years serving and defending my country,'' he said.
He said he has moved on to the next phase of his life and plans to work just as hard in his new job as a human resources manager in Seattle.
Watson's lawyer, Christopher Bakes of Palo Alto, said they had hoped the high court would take up this latest challenge because both men were decorated servicemen with spotless records.
After the policy went into effect, both Holmes and Watson informed their commanding officers that they are gay. Holmes, who was a platoon leader, was discharged in 1994 after eight years of military service.
Watson, who enlisted in the Navy in 1981, was working as an assistant professor of naval science at Oregon State University when the military began the discharge process and he was shipped to Washington state. He left the service last September.
U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in Oakland ruled in favor of Holmes in 1996 and ordered his reinstatement. She was only the second federal trial judge to rule against the military policy. A judge in New York also had found that the policy violated the constitutional rights of a member of the military.
In Seattle, U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly ruled against Watson.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco consolidated the two cases. In September 1997, the court ruled 2 to 1 that the military had a legitimate interest in excluding gays from the military because of "homosexual conduct.''
Elaine Herscher, Chronicle Staff Writer.
San Francisco Chronicle, January 12, 1999 --- President Clinton has resubmitted his controversial nomination of San Francisco gay philanthropist James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg.
With no fanfare, Clinton tossed Hormel's name back into the ring last week, defying yearlong Republican opposition that kept the nomination from coming to a vote during the previous Congress.
Hormel, first nominated in October 1997, was targeted by organizations allied with the Christian right that feared he would impose a "gay agenda'' on the tiny grand duchy of 402,000 people.
Although Hormel's appointment sailed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., refused to submit the nomination to the full Senate.
"We think we had substantial majority support in the last Congress,'' White House spokesman Barry Toiv said yesterday. "We anticipate having comparable support this year, and we believe that it's only a matter of time before this nomination gets to the floor and it's approved.''
Several conservative Republicans, including Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said last year they would have voted in favor of Hormel's nomination.
Although Clinton's impeachment trial is likely to dominate the Senate's attention, Toiv said it was unlikely that Hormel's renomination would escape his critics' notice. The San Franciscan has to begin the process all over by appearing before the Foreign Relations Committee.
Clinton still believes that the 66- year-old Hormel is the best person for the job, Toiv said.
Hormel, heir to the Hormel Meat Co. fortune, is a well-known civic leader in San Francisco and a major contributor to the Democratic Party. He is active in the fight against AIDS and breast cancer and is a vocal supporter of gay rights. San Francisco's upper crust as well as its lesbian and gay community were upset over his treatment in Washington.
While his nomination was pending, Christian right groups led by the Traditional Values Coalition attacked Hormel's support of gay causes. He was criticized for donating US$500,000 to start what became the James Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library. The coalition called some of the library materials obscene and attacked Hormel for refusing to denounce their inclusion in the collection.
Hormel, as is customary during a nomination process, declined comment. But in a letter to the Senate, he said he had no control over library materials. Even Hormel's pledge not to bring his domestic partner to Luxembourg held no sway with his critics.
Howard Gantman, spokesman for Senator Dianne Feinstein, D- San Francisco, said Feinstein will continue to be one of Hormel's most vocal supporters.
At issue is who should be punished for bias crimes, and under what circumstances.
One bill's sponsor, Sen. Jayne Mockler, D-Cheyenne, said her bill lists race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin and ancestry has reasons a victim may be the target of a bias crime.
"Without a laundry list, no individual is protected per se," she said.
Mockler sponsored the same bill during the previous session. It is modeled after a Wisconsin law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. House Judiciary Committee chairwoman Pat Nagel, R-Casper, has agreed to sponsor the bill in the House.
Another bill's sponsor, Sen. Rich Cathcart, D-Cheyenne, said his measure simply defines a bias crime as targeting any person or group because of the offender's bias against them.
"I just see too many potential problems with (Mockler's version)," he said. "I can think of hundreds of examples that it wouldn't cover."
A third bill, sponsored by Rep. Phil Nicholas, D-Laramie, would allow judges to impose tougher penalties on offenders whom they feel committed a crime because of bias.
Gov. Jim Geringer is expected to offer a proposal modeled after the state's stalking law, officials said.
The Joint Judiciary Committee plans to hold a public hearing on the bills soon after the Legislature convenes Tuesday.
Several legislators have sponsored similar bills over the past decade but the bills were never debated.
"There's a lot of politics and a lot of emotion involved in it," Mockler said.
Police say one of the motives for the deadly beating of student Matthew Shepard in October was bias against his homosexuality.
Two men charged with his murder, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, both 21, are scheduled for trial on March 22 and Aug. 9, respectively.
Thomas Kalt, 26, shot himself Wednesday with his service revolver in a park near the Liberty Bell just three weeks after receiving his badge and gun -- and one day after resigning from the force.
Some in the gay community fear the suicide could brand homosexual officers as unstable. "This is not about the ability of gay officers to serve, it is about the personal tragedy of one man," said Andrew Park, executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights.
Kalt spoke glowingly of his treatment by colleagues when he graduated from the academy Dec. 15, saying he felt no need to hide his sexual orienta- tion. Police Commissioner John Timoney said Kalt left two suicide notes that indicated the rookie officer was "distressed", but not about his job. "This hurts," recruiter Fred Cofton said. "He was a good kid."
ST. CHARLES, Mo. 9th January,1999 (AP) --- Brian Stewart sat quietly in court, hands crossed before him, as his former girlfriend spoke of the horrors of their son's AIDS.
Later Friday, Stewart remained silent, staring straight ahead, as the judge sentenced him to life in prison for injecting the boy with HIV-tainted blood.
``I believe when God finally calls you, you are going to burn in hell from here to eternity,'' Judge Ellsworth Cundiff told Stewart.
Stewart, 32, of Columbia, Ill., was convicted last month of first-degree assault. Prosecutors said the hospital technician injected the blood in his son so he could avoid paying child support.
Prior to sentencing, the child's mother, identified only as Jennifer to protect the boy's anonymity, sobbed as she read a statement from her son, now 7.
``I feel mad ... Why did he do such a bad thing to me,'' she quoted the boy as saying.
Jennifer said the life sentence was little consolation for what Stewart has forced her and her family to endure.
``Who really has been given a life sentence?'' she asked. ``We are prisoners without cells.''
Stewart declined to make a statement. His attorney, Joseph Murphy, said his client is innocent and that an appeal has been filed.
Stewart and Jennifer dated in the early 1990s. He denied he was the father of the boy, though tests later indicated he was.
In 1992, the child, then 11 months old, was hospitalized in St. Charles County. At the time, Stewart worked at a St. Louis hospital as a phlebotomist -- a person who draws blood.
Prosecutors said Stewart snuck a syringe filled with HIV-tainted blood under a lab coat into the boy's hospital room, then waited until they were alone and injected the blood into the boy.
The child was diagnosed with AIDS in 1996.
Jay Horton, state coordinator of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Alabama, committed suicide after admitting to taking at least US$5,000 from another group, the AIDS Action Coalition of Huntsville, said Sgt. Barry Pendergraft.
Horton had been head of GALAA, which has lobbied the Legislature on issues affecting homosexuals, since August 1997. He was executive director of the AIDS Action Coalition.
"I just feel so bad," David White, acting treasurer of GALAA, said Thursday.
The 37-year-old Guntersville native was found dead Tuesday of a .22-caliber bullet wound in a Morgan County motel room that employees had entered while doing repair work.
Coroner Gene Shelton said Horton left a suicide note, but he would not release the contents.
Pendergraft said David Frederick, chairman of the AIDS Action Coalition Board, told police Monday that Horton had come to him that day and confessed to stealing at least US$5,000 from the agency's bank account over the last six months.
Horton was not seen again, Pendergraft said.
Horton became executive director of the AIDS Action Coalition in May 1997. He began volunteering in 1992 with AIDS Outreach in Lee County, where he worked as an agricultural scientist with Auburn University.
White said there had been no financial problems with GALAA, and Horton did not have access to the group's accounts.
Horton's death was not the first tragedy for his family. His parents, Dr. James and Bettye Horton, were found shot to death in their bed in their Guntersville home in the mid-1980s. The widely publicized case was never solved.
by Lou Chibbaro Jr.
WASHINGTON BLADE, December 24, 1998 --- Bruce A. Lehman, the openly Gay assistant secretary of Commerce and commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, will leave his post December 31, ending his tenure of nearly six years as head of a 5,000-employee government agency. Lehman, an attorney with a specialty in intellectual property rights, said he plans to return to the private sector where he expects to practice law. He first announced his resignation on October 23.
In 1993, Lehman became the second of President Clinton's openly Gay appointees to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. San Francisco attorney Roberta Achtenberg, who served as an assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, preceded Lehman when Clinton named her as his first openly Gay appointee to receive Senate confirmation.
Lehman is credited with putting in place sweeping changes at the Patent and Trademark Office. The office is in charge of processing thousands of U.S. patents and trademarks each year. As a strong advocate for promoting U.S. industry and trade through technological and scientific advances, Lehman changed the role of the Patent and Trademark Office from that of mainly a clearinghouse for patents and trademarks to the government's leading advocate and coordinator of policy for intellectual property, according to observers of the office.
Among other things, Lehman traveled throughout the world negotiating on behalf of the U.S. for international treaties and agreements aimed at protecting the property rights of inventions and technological advances as well as artistic works of U.S. companies and artists. In 1996, Lehman served as head of the U.S. delegation to an international conference in which various nations agreed to two new copyright treaties aimed at protecting copyrighted works such as musical performances and digital sound recordings.
He also placed more than 20 million pages of patent and trademark documents on the Internet, providing unprecedented, free access to such documents by the public. His efforts to speed up the patent approval process were praised by computer and biotechnology firms, who had long complained about the time it took to obtain patent approvals.
Critics said Lehman had a short temper that sometimes led to conflicts with others, including two of his high-level subordinates, who resigned following disputes with Lehman. But according to Legal Times, a publication that monitors patent and trademark issues, most knowledgeable observers give Lehman overall high marks for his leadership at OPT.
"I would like to note that I am not only greatly appreciative of the opportunity you gave me to serve my country," Lehman told President Clinton in a Dec. 1 letter, but also deeply grateful for the opportunity to make history as the first openly Gay man appointed to a sub-cabinet position. My appointment and those of the scores of others that have followed are symbolic of your truly historic support for the cause of Gay and Lesbian rights."
Todd Dickinson, the openly Gay deputy assistant secretary of Commerce and deputy commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, is expected to be named as Lehman's replacement. The Senate confirmed Dickinson for his current post earlier this year.
WASHINGTON BLADE, JANUARY 8, 1999 --- When Tammy Baldwin rounded the corner and strode down the hallway of the Longworth House Office Building toward her new office Tuesday, January 5, she was greeted by a quintessential Washington, D.C., scene: a Capitol Hill media circus.
As the cameras rolled and the flashbulbs popped, Baldwin entered her office for just the second time, dropped a bundle of files on her desk, and announced, "This is our first work."
But on this day before she made history, what the assembled media wanted, more than anything else, were her thoughts.
Her thoughts, it appeared, were focused on her work. As one journalist began to ask Baldwin about the deferential role new members often play, she quickly interjected, "There's no assigned seats on the House floor. I don't have to be a backbencher."
The next day, Baldwin was sworn into the 106th U.S. Congress and became the only open Lesbian ever to serve in the national legislative body, and the only woman ever to represent Wisconsin. She also became the first person to win a seat in Congress as an openly Gay candidate during their first run for office.
After navigating the mini-press conference at her office Tuesday, Baldwin spoke with the Blade and recounted one of her favorite political tales. It's the story of the day she was sworn into the Wisconsin state legislature, six years ago. Then, as now, it was history. She was both the first openly Gay person to serve in the state legislature and the first woman to hold her seat.
"At the end of the day, after all the festivities, I got a call from a young man who lived in the very northern part of the state," she recalled, "and he talked about reading his newspaper that morning and reading about me. He said, 'I feel differently about myself today.' And I was there in this office, this kind of big office like this one, thinking, 'This is - the symbolism is extremely powerful.' -- And I think this is much the same but on a larger scale. It is very important for our leaders, people who have enjoyed career successes who are out, to offer hope and possibility to a younger generation."
Baldwin, 36, joins what observers expect to be one of the more contentious congressional sessions in many decades. After the Jan. 6 swearing-in ceremonies and election of a new Speaker, most House members, including Baldwin, were scheduled to return to their congressional districts for a brief district work period. They are scheduled to return to Washington for the president's Jan. 19 State of the Union address and to begin work.
Baldwin's work will take her to the middle of some of the more high-profile battles early on. Democratic Party leaders assigned her to the Judiciary and Budget committees. Judiciary deals with a range of constitutional matters, the most heralded of which was highlighted last session when the committee was called upon to hold impeachment hearings. The Budget Committee crafts the congressional budget proposal each year. Members on that committee determine the lump sums of money that are to be allocated to the varied federal agencies and programs. (The Appropriations committee then decides how those lump sums will be spent.)
Baldwin will join openly Gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on the Judiciary Committee, where he led much of the Democratic defense against an impeachment of President Clinton this Fall. Frank will also continue to serve on the Banking Committee. The third openly Gay House member of the 106th Congress, Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe (Ariz.), will continue to serve on the Appropriations Committee.
At the beginning of each session, party leaders assign members to committees, largely based on seniority. The committee to which a member is assigned largely determines what role he or she will play in a particular Congress and what issues he or she will be able to take a lead on.
Members campaign for choice assignments, maneuvering for positions that both create influence within the party and Congress and that allow them to work on issues of importance to their congressional districts. Baldwin said she tried for a seat on the Commerce Committee, a particularly sought-after post, because it would have allowed her to work more on health care. But, as she noted, Commerce is a committee assignment that new members are rarely given. Nevertheless, she said she felt it important to indicate to the party leadership where, in future terms, she'd ultimately like to serve.
But both Judiciary and Budget present opportunities to be involved on the front lines of core legislative battles. Judiciary Committee members have not yet been assigned subcommittees; the Budget Committee does not have subcommittees.
One major legislative battle expected to continue this session concerns the future solvency of the Social Security fund. The Budget Committee promises to host one round of that fight. The Republican leadership would like fiscal year 1998's historic budget surplus, the first since 1969, and projected future surplus funds to be used to provide tax cuts. Democrats, led by the White House, would like to see all surplus funds dedicated to the Social Security fund until the program appears stable. Official projections show the Social Security fund will be insolvent within the next 30 years if more money than the current system provides is not somehow funneled into it. This is a discussion Baldwin will be involved in as a member of the Budget Committee.
The Judiciary Committee may present Baldwin an opportunity to deal directly with an issue of strong interest to the Gay civil rights movement. The House version of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act is currently before that committee.
Baldwin said she is not at all squeamish about taking a lead on Gay civil rights. She feels her district, a large portion of which she represented as a state legislator for the last six years, knows that she has been long committed to fighting civil rights battles. She said her commitment goes back to a law practice in which she often handled discrimination cases involving sexual orientation bias.
"I presented myself for who I am when I ran and got elected with a very strong record on civil rights," she said. "It's very much a part of my record that I presented to the voters. I am also very clear about the fact that I won the majority of votes because I was fiercely pursuing an agenda that impacted them on a daily basis - that being health care reform and several education issues and retirement security in protecting Social Security."
Baldwin has hired a chief of staff: Brad Fitch from upstate New York. Fitch said Baldwin will need to approach her desire to lead on Gay civil rights just like any member of Congress approaches his or her desire to lead on an issue of national relevance. To Fitch, it's a balancing of issues specific to a member's district with issues of national importance.
"It's a balance that every legislator has to do who has an interest in national issues," said Fitch, who has worked on Capitol Hill for the last 10 years. Fitch worked as communications director for Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) for the last five years; his previous five years were spent on the House side.
"And you have to be very aware of not only the demands but the opportunities that are available on both sides," said Fitch. "And I think that's the way Congresswoman Baldwin's been looking at it. There's certainly expectations, but there's also going to be opportunities - like on the Judiciary. And I'm sure she's gonna take those opportunities."
But, the nuts and bolts of congressional legislating aside, on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after arriving in D.C., Baldwin still had the symbolism of the moment in her mind.
"Perhaps anybody who has tried to do something for the first time - they've been cautioned that they shouldn't, that they won't succeed," said Baldwin. "And I've experienced that, especially in my public life, on a wide range of counts. When I first ran for office I was 23 years old Š and I was told I was too young. When I first ran for the state legislature, there had never been a woman in the seat I was going to be in and there had never been an openly Gay or Lesbian member. I've heard the naysayers and the cynics all my life. They're either whispering or they're telling me explicitly, 'You'd be great, but you're never gonna win.' And I guess the hopeful message that I bring " is to remind people that we do live in a democracy. " In a democracy, we decide what's possible, not those cynics. We decide. And that means reaching out to other people and bringing them in and getting them involved. And that's exactly what we've set ourselves to doing."
"This ban is not about the welfare of children, it¹s about attacking and demonizing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people," said Kerry Lobel, executive director of the Task Force. "Right-wing extremists are aiming their arsenal at our families more than ever before. We will face similar battles in a number of states this year, and we will do everything in our power to face down these lies, distortions, and myths with the simple truth," added Lobel.
Arkansas would become the third state to ban gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people from adopting and/or becoming foster parents. The New Hampshire legislature passed a law banning both adoption and foster care in late 1980s. Florida passed a law banning adoption in 1977. Also, in Oklahoma, people convicted under the state¹s sodomy law are banned from adopting.
According to the Task Force, similar measures are likely to be introduced this year in at least three other states (IN, TX, MI). Last year, anti-adoption or anti-foster care measures were introduced in five states (AZ, CA, GA, OK, TN). All of them were defeated. Both the New Hampshire and Florida laws are currently being contested. In Florida there is a lawsuit challenging the ban, and yesterday in New Hampshire advocates introduced a bill (HB 90) that would reverse the law.
"Regulations like this are responsible for robbing thousands of needy children from loving, nurturing, supportive homes. It is time to listen to the voices of young people who know that what is important is a good parent, not a parent whose sexual orientation has been run through a government-sanctioned litmus test," said Felicia Park-Rogers, Director of the organization Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere and herself a 27-year old lesbian daughter of a gay man and a lesbian.
The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community and its allies, including the Interfaith Alliance for Equality, are organizing to prevent the ban from being enacted. "There are many serious problems with Arkansas' foster care system. Rather than using time and resources to address them, the state is wasting them on a non-issue," said Judy Matsuoka of the Little Rock-based Women¹s Project, and a coordinator of the efforts to block the ban.
Many organizations, including the Child Welfare League, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, and the American Psychological Association oppose the use of sexual orientation as a criteria in foster care and adoption placement.
Judy Matsuoka of the Women¹s Project is available at (501) 372-5113 for information about local efforts to block the ban. Felicia Park Rogers of COLAGE is available for further comment at (415) 861-5437.
LARAMIE Jan. 5 The Denver Post -- The mother of a murder suspect in the Matthew Shepard slaying was found dead on the shoulder of a remote road outside Laramie early Sunday, authorities said.
The death appears suspicious, and investigators are approaching the case as a homicide, said Lt. Bob Volin of the Albany County Sheriff's Department.
The body of Cindy Dickson, 40, was discovered alongside Rogers Canyon Road about 5 miles north of Laramie on Sunday morning, said Albany County Deputy Coroner Jamey Kirkland.
Dickson, of Laramie, was the mother of Russell Henderson, one of two key suspects awaiting trial on the charges of kidnapping, robbery and first-degree murder in the beating death of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.
The cause of Dickson's death was not known Monday evening, Kirkland said. He was awaiting results of a preliminary autopsy conducted at the Wyoming State Crime Lab in Cheyenne on Monday.
Dickson's body was found on a frozen roadside about one mile beyond a rural subdivision, Volin said.
Though authorities have not ruled out suicide, they are investigating the case as a homicide, he said.
LANSING STATE JOURNAL, December 23, 1998 --- In a landmark decision, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the rights of unmarried couples are protected under the state Civil Rights Act.
Two unmarried couples, Kristal McReady and Keith Kerr and Rose Baiz and Peter Perusse, sued John and Terry Hoffius of Jackson after the Hoffiuses refused to rent apartments to them in 1993.
The Jackson Circuit Court ruled that civil-rights laws didn't extend to unmarried couples. The court also ruled that the Hoffiuses' civil rights would be violated because of their sincerely held belief against unmarried cohabitation.
The state Court of Appeals affirmed that decision, ruling that while Michigan law prohibits discrimination based on marital status, it does not protect people of unmarried status.
The Supreme Court ruled 4-2 Tuesday to reverse that decision. The court argued that marital status is defined either as the presence or absence of marriage and that the Civil Rights Act protects both.
The opinion was written by Chief Justice Conrad Mallet and justices James Brickley, Michael Cavanagh, and Marilyn Kelly. Justices Patricia Boyle and Elizabeth Weaver dissented. Justice Clifford Taylor didn't participate because he previously ruled on the case as a member of the Court of Appeals.
The case marked the first time the court has addressed whether unmarried couples have a civil right to housing.
The terms of the settlement, which were not disclosed at the time it was reached in July, were confirmed by Ed Winskill, Smith's attorney, according to The Oregonian newspaper in Portland.
"I won't comment on the settlement except to point out to you that the judgment is not enforceable against any of his property," he told Thursday's edition of the newspaper.
Smith agreed to the settlement just before a civil trial was to begin in July in which seven men accused Smith of sexually molested them. Most of the men were teen-age employees of his from 1973 and 1981.
The settlement included no apology or admission of wrongdoing from Smith, a bubbly, white-goateed Methodist minister and 59-year-old father of two grown sons.
Insurance companies holding personal liability policies for the Smiths and their parent corporations, The Frugal Gourmet Inc. and Frugal Gourmet Productions Inc., agreed to pay US$4.75 million to halt the trial, according to court documents.
The papers did not detail how the settlement was divided among the plaintiffs.
Also, the court documents show for the first time that Smith agreed to pay an eighth man US$1.5 million in 1991 in exchange for silence about that man's claims of sexual assault. Smith has repeatedly denied that any payments were made.
Smith has not been charged with any crime. The statute of limitations on all the alleged offenses has run out. He has denied all of the accusations.
Smith's dozen cookbooks have sold a reported 12 million copies, and his series, the most popular cooking show in history, once was viewed by an estimated 15 million people a week on 300 public TV stations.
Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 13, 1998 ---- The Las Vegas City Council soon could face a decision that in other cities has pitted gay rights advocates against religious conservatives.
Negotiations are set to begin this week between city officials and union representatives over providing health benefits for domestic partners. That typically means the partners of gay and lesbian employees, but the proposal also would cover nonmarried heterosexual couples.
Proponents say providing the same health benefits to gay partners that married couples enjoy is a matter of fairness and equality. But to others, the policy demeans the institution of marriage and encourages what they see as an immoral lifestyle.
The issue has sparked controversy in other cities. The Philadelphia City Council, for example, approved the benefits in April before a large and raucous crowd, split equally between supporters and opponents.
If the City Employees Association pursues the benefits and Las Vegas officials go along, the matter would come before the City Council to decide, perhaps in January. So far, only Mayor Jan Jones, a friend of the gay community, has said she supports the proposal.
"As you go forward, those benefits that make employees feel good about their jobs are important," Jones said. "There are a significant number of city employees in homosexual relationships, and if it is a benefit they want at a negligible cost to the city, why should anybody have a problem with that?"
Three other City Council members declined to comment, saying they wanted more information before taking a position. The fourth member, Larry Brown, did not return a call for comment.
The City Council would be the first government in Nevada to extend domestic partner benefits. But other state organizations, including the 47,000-member Culinary union, provide them. The union that represents Clark County teachers and support staff will offer the benefits starting Jan. 1.
Las Vegas also would join a growing number of local governments and corporations nationally that provide domestic partnership benefits. Those include New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Seattle and Philadelphia.
According to a 1997 study by the consulting firm KPMG Peat Marwick, 23 percent of companies with 5,000 or more employees provide health care for the household partners of their workers. Among them are Microsoft, IBM, Nike, Capital Cities/ABC, Time Inc., Time Warner Inc., Bank of America, Mobil Corp. and Eastman Kodak.
Some see the burgeoning list as an alarming trend.
"It demeans marriage, period," said Jim Blockey, president of the Southern Nevada chapter of Christian Educators who ran an unsuccessful bid for Congress this fall. "It's saying marriage is ridiculous, it's obsolete and we want to give you the benefit of being married without the commitment.
"To me, it's a moral issue. It's morally wrong, and I do have the right to believe that."
Although city employees have hardly clamored for the benefits, some have expressed interest. Chris Erwin is one.
A female employee in the city Neighborhood Services Department, Erwin lives with another woman. Her partner of 10 years is covered by a Utah organization, making it difficult sometimes for her to find care, Erwin said. "It would be nice to have the option" of enrolling her partner in the city's health plan, Erwin said.
"In my mind it comes down to a question of being equitable," she added. "Because I choose to live one life, does that mean I shouldn't have an option other employees have?"
One argument made against domestic partnership benefits is that health care costs will skyrocket, as employees sign up their partners with AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases. But those who have studied the issue say the expense is actually minimal.
In fact, they say, it is frequently less than the expense of providing health benefits for married spouses. That's because those spouses often receive expensive medical attention for pregnancies and, occasionally, premature babies.
For organizations with between 1,000 and 100,000 employees, not more than 1 percent of the workers will sign up for domestic partnership benefits, and the operating budget for health benefits won't increase by more than 1 percent, said Liz Winfeld, president of Common Ground, a Colorado consulting firm that specializes in sexual orientation issues in the workplace. She is co-author of "Straight Talk about Gays in the Work Place."
Those estimates, she said, are based on years of tracking the health care costs and enrollment experiences "of literally thousands of organizations."
City Human Resources Director Rick Anderson estimated the proposal would not cost the city more than about US$35,000 a year – 1 percent of the US$3.5 million annual health care budget.
Under the city's health plan, which covers approximately 1,800 employees, money is not withheld from workers' paychecks to cover medical premiums. But signing up one's spouse costs an additional US$130 a month – half is paid by the city, half by the employee.
That arrangement could be carried over to domestic partnership coverage if the City Council chooses. Another option would be to require the employee to pay the entire extra cost.
Another concern is fraud, but Winfeld said that isn't a problem because organizations that offer domestic partnership benefits have strict enrollment requirements. For example, partners often must prove that they've been been living together for at least six months, show that they jointly rent or own a home, document a joint banking account or list each other as beneficiaries on life insurance policies or wills.
Employees often are required to sign affidavits swearing to their interdependence and can be fired if caught lying.
"There has never been a single fraudulent claim reported anywhere," Winfeld claimed.
Judge Charles M. Grabau issued a preliminary injunction barring the city from continuing the benefits but stayed the injunction until the case shifts to the Appeals Court, which could happen next week.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which has joined the city to defend the plan, said the group would seek a new court order ensuring continuation of the benefits while the legal challenge moves ahead.
''We are certainly going to do everything we can to make sure'' the benefits are not cut off, said Mary Bonauto litigation director of GLAD. ''These benefits are very, very important to people.''
Gary Sandison, a policy aide to Menino, said yesterday the city believes that, pending the Appeals Court ruling, it can continue providing benefits to the 109 people – a majority of whom are heterosexual partners of city workers – who have signed up. They are available to all couples, gay and straight, who have registered as domestic partners.
Sandison also said the city believes it can continue to sign up more people.
But the lawyer for the conservative religious groups who challenged Menino's action said Grabau's order means the benefits could be cut off by next week. Vincent P. McCarthy, the attorney for the Virginia-based American Center for Law and Justice and the Catholic Action League, said he will ask the judge to hold the city in contempt if it does not stop the benefits.
Menino issued the executive order in August after Governor Paul Cellucci vetoed a home-rule petition passed by the Legislature granting Boston the power to provide the benefits.
In his 14-page decision, Grabau said Menino did not have the authority under the Home Rule Law to override the state law that defines which relatives of municipal employees can receive health-care coverage through local governments. Grabau said state law limits the benefits to spouses and children of municipal employees.
In a telephone interview yesterday, C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League, called Grabau's ruling a ''victory for the families and taxpayers of Boston.''
Both sides said they expect the issue to ultimately be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court.
"This is another step towards a more rational world,'' said Lisa Chickadonz, one of the lesbians who sued the state medical school claiming they were discriminated against in seeking domestic-partner benefits. The Oregon Court of Appeals' ruling Wednesday not only barred job discrimination based on sexual orientation, it also required all government entities – the state, counties, cities, school districts – to offer health benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees.
The court did not require private businesses to extend those benefits, but did extend the discrimination ban to them.
Ten other states also have such a ban, but Oregon's was the first to come from a court decision rather than a legislature.
"This ruling should help us stop anti-gay discrimination in other contexts, from family law to the right to make medical decisions for a partner who is incapacitated,'' said Beatrice Dohrn, legal director for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. She said it is only the latest sign of a growing acceptance of gays.
"The 'Ellen' television show, the debates going on across the country, our struggle to gain access to marriage – these are all things that even five years ago would not have had the serious tone they have had,'' Dohrn said Thursday.
Wednesday's ruling did what activists have been unable to do in the Legislature since 1975.
State Sen. Kate Brown, D-Portland, a champion of gay rights, said she hoped the ruling would symbolically end the bitter fighting over gay rights marked by 1992 and 1994 anti-gay ballot measures pushed by the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA). Both measures were defeated, but the OCA is offering a new version.
The lawsuit was brought by three lesbians who work for Oregon Health Sciences University who had been denied health benefits for their partners. The university has since extended benefits to domestic partners of employees. Carl Kiss, the attorney who represented the women in the lawsuit, said the ruling marked three firsts:
• – The first time an appellate court had given heightened constitutional rights to gays and lesbians.
• – The first time an appellate court has ordered a government body to offer employee benefits to domestic partners.
• – The first time an appellate court has held that an employment statute prohibiting sex discrimination prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, promotion and pay based on sexual orientation.
The state, the cities of Portland, Eugene, Ashland and Corvallis and Benton County already grant those rights, and complaints of violations by employees have been steadily going down in recent years, according to statistics from the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
The number of complaints has gone from 40 in fiscal 1995 to just 14 in fiscal 1998. Halfway through this fiscal year, there are five.
District Judge Jeffrey Donnell gave no reason for his decision Thursday regarding Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney.
Prosecutors wanted a single trial, claiming two people accused of the same crime should be tried together. Defense attorneys opposed a combined trial but would not say why publicly.
Henderson's trial was set for March 22, McKinney's for Aug. 9.
The two are accused of beating and robbing Shepard on Oct. 7 and tying him to a fence outside Laramie. The University of Wyoming student died days later. Investigators said he was targeted in part because he was gay.
The men's girlfriends are charged with helping them dispose of evidence. Their trial dates have not been set.
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) Wed, 9 Dec 1998 -- Two women pleaded innocent Wednesday to helping dispose of bloody clothes belonging to one of two men charged in the beating death of a gay University of Wyoming student.
Kristen LeAnn Price, 19, and Chasity Vera Pasley, 20, are accused of helping Aaron James McKinney and Russell Arthur Henderson dispose of evidence from the Oct. 7 attack
Ms. Pasley reached for a tissue and cried after her arraignment. Ms. Price showed little emotion. Each is being held on $30,000 bail.
Matthew Shepard had been pistol-whipped, robbed, then tied to a fence and beaten, in part because he was gay, investigators said. They said the bloody clothing that the women helped get rid of belonged to Henderson.
McKinney and Henderson, both 21, are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
The women, who at the time of the killing were girlfriends to McKinney and Henderson, are charged with being accessories after the fact to murder. The charge carries a maximum three years in prison.
No trial date has been set and the prosecution has yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the men.
(LOS ANGELES, December 10, 1998) -- Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Thursday that an Oregon appellate court decision ordering that employment benefits be given to both married and same-sex couples is historic, and has great potential to advance a big array of lesbian and gay civil rights in the state.
"The court said that the state discriminates against gay people when it uses marital status to determine which workers are entitled to government- controlled protections and benefits," said Lambda Legal Director Beatrice Dohrn. "This ruling should help us stop anti-gay discrimination in other contexts -- from family law to the right to make medical decisions for a partner who is incapacitated," she said.
"We now have an important new tool to challenge the state any time its use of marital status puts lesbians and gay men at a disadvantage," she said.
On December 9, the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon ruled in Tanner v. Oregon Health Sciences University that extending important employment benefits like health coverage only to married state employees is unfair to lesbian and gay workers who cannot legally marry and violates the Oregon Constitution's "equal privileges and immunities" clause.
The case was brought by Christine Tanner and two other lesbian employees of Oregon Health Sciences University and their domestic partners. Lambda, the nation's oldest and largest gay legal organization, submitted a friend-of-the- court brief on their behalf.
Jennifer C. Pizer, managing attorney of Lambda's Western Regional Office and co-author of the brief, said, "This is an unprecedented victory for gay workers and one step toward addressing the many inequities lesbian and gay families suffer. Oregon's is the first court in the nation to rule that this kind of discrimination is unconstitutional under its state constitution."
In its 29-page opinion, the court ruled that a state law barring employment discrimination on the basis of sex also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The court also found that because lesbians and gay men are a socially recognized group that has been the subject of adverse stereotyping or prejudice, they are members of a "suspect class" and thus entitled to the powerful heightened scrutiny standard under Oregon law when bringing forward claims of discrimination.
"These findings transform Oregon's protections from anti-gay workplace discrimination into some of the strongest in the nation," Pizer said.
Dohrn added, "The Court has recognized the vital protections and benefits denied to lesbian and gay families simply because we still cannot have the legal recognition that non-gay couples automatically get with the two words, 'I do.'"
Lambda's amicus brief was also co-authored by Lynn Nakamoto, an attorney with the Portland firm Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf and a cooperating attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon.
(Tanner v. Oregon Health Sciences University, No. CA A94458)
Clarence Anthony, mayor of South Bay, Fla., was elected president, replacing Philadelphia councilman Brian O'Neill. Wichita Mayor Bob Knight was promoted to first vice president, and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer to second vice president.
Earlier, the group's general membership overwhelmingly approved language condemning the Oct. 7 killing of Matthew Shepard, who was robbed, tied to a fence and beaten to death.
Shepard, a University of Wyoming freshman, was targeted because he was gay, according to testimony at a court hearing last month.
The attack prompted widespread outrage, a condemnation from President Bill Clinton and calls for tougher hate-crime laws.
"The local activists from SAVE Dade did a tremendous job educating the public and the Commissioners and they should be proud of their success.
The fact that this win took place in Anita Bryant country is significant and gay and lesbian Americans throughout the nation are rejoicing in this symbolic victory," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch.
In 1977, orange juice spokesperson and beauty queen Anita Bryant led a successful crusade to overturn a similar law as the one that passed today. Bryant's group "Save Our Children" served as a model for the Religious Right in their opposition of laws supporting lesbian and gay equality. Bryant's organization foreshadowed the notably vitriolic anti-gay campaigns that became commonplace in similar battles in the 1980's and 1990's.
"Just as Bryant's campaign served as a model for the Religious Right in 1977, SAVE Dade's efforts can today serve as a blue-print for advancing gay and lesbian equality. They realized that most people are against discrimination and effectively articulated why protections are needed," said HRC National Field Director Donna Red-Wing.
Activists tried to get the ordinance passed last year but ran into significant opposition from the Christian Coalition. Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson recently reintroduced the measure. Dade County now joins 27 counties and 136 cities with nondiscrimination ordinances nationwide. Other Florida counties and cities with ordinances are: Broward County (Fort Lauderdale), Key West, Miami Beach, Palm Beach County, Tampa, West Palm Beach.
The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest national lesbian and gay political organization with members throughout the country. HRC 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.
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