* January 2001 * Volume 20 *
In This Newsletter
Minnesota & Michigan to give Benifits
Washtenaw County, Michigan's gay and lesbian employees will receive spousal medical, dental, and optical benefits for their domestic partners beginning March 1, the Associated Press reported. A 9 - 6 vote of the county's Board of Commissioners, with all five Republicans and one Democrat opposing on moral grounds, made Washtenaw Michigan's first county to extend the benefit. About 100 of the county's 1,300 workers are eligible.
Michigan's Triangle Foundation applauded the move, which was initiated by employee requests made eighteen months earlier. Minnesota's Crime Victims Reparations Board withdrew a proposed rule change that would have made domestic partners (regardless of gender) eligible for spousal crime victim benefits, including counseling and small payments, the Associated Press reported. The Minnesota Family Council had become aware of the move and was agitating for public hearings, claiming the rules change represented an attempt to circumvent the state legislature. The proposal would have expanded the term "family member" to include "a person in a relationship with the victim of substantial duration with an exclusive mutual commitment similar to that of marriage and who was residing with the victim at the time of the crime." Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver had suggested holding off on the move until after Governor Jesse Ventura establishes a standard for domestic partners in connection with benefits for state employees.
Ventura reaffirmed in a news release December 15 that he will seek spousal benefits for the domestic partners of the state's gay and lesbian employees in labor contract negotiations in 2001 without going through the legislature, writing that the Attorney General's office advised him the administration "has the authority to negotiate these benefits through the bargaining process without need for additional legislation." Ventura is looking to extend health, dental, and life insurance and sick leave to the partners of gays and lesbians among the state's 53,000 workers. Once he has negotiated union contracts, the legislature can only ratify them or refuse to do so -- it cannot amend them.
Opposition from the legislature is a very real possibility; in 1997, the state Senate voted down a bill that would have allowed city and county governments to extend benefits to their workers' domestic partners.
Vermonts Civil Unions
December 20 marked the first anniversary of the "Baker" ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court that ultimately led to the United States' first "civil unions" on July 1, extending some 300 state-level benefits and responsibilities of legal marriage to gay and lesbian couples (but not the more than one thousand federal benefits of marriage). To date, 1,450 gay and lesbian couples have united in Vermont, although only 341 of them are residents there and able to reap the benefits.
In the state legislature, seven Senators and 29 Representatives who supported the civil unions legislation did not return to office, a number of them losing primarily because they supported the bill. The anti-civil union "Take Back Vermont" movement succeeded in shifting control of the state House from the Democrats to the Republicans, although the Democrats retained control of the Senate and Governor Howard Dean (D) was reelected. One of the most outspoken religious conservative opponents of civil unions, state Representative Nancy Sheltra (R-Derby) has drafted a bill to prohibit anything like them in the future and to void those performed thus far, and she's eager for its enactment.
But the man who's expected to become the new Republican Speaker of the Vermont House, Representative Walter Freed (R-Dorset) said December 15 that he wasn't sure attempting repeal would be a good idea, according to the Associated Press. Although he voted against civil unions and said he would do so again, he viewed it as futile to pass repeal in the House when the Democratic-controlled Senate would kill it. Even if repeal succeeded, he feared it might lead the state Supreme Court to open legal marriage to include gay and lesbian couples instead.
Nonetheless, Freed does intend to ask the House Judiciary Committee to review the law; that committee's makeup will be somewhat different than it was when it drafted the civil unions bill earlier this year. Freed indicated he is not at all moved by a letter sent to all state legislators by Vermont Defense of Marriage Committee president David Stertzbach, pastor of Williston's Trinity Baptist Church, demanding a roll call on total repeal and promising to campaign against any legislator who failed to support it.
EDITORS NOTE: We must support elected officials who "stick out their necks" to help give gays & lesbians equal rights. If we don’t, they will fear not being reelected.
More Domestic Partner Benefits
Two national corporations announced they would be providing same sex benefits to their employees beginning in 2001. The first is American General, a Fortune 500 company (number 162) that deals primarily in life insurance, consumer finance and retirement products. Office branches are in 40 states including California and Texas. American General did issue a statement in which it revealed that medical and dental coverage will be extended to same-sex partners of employees, as well as all eligible dependents in the household.
"Building a stronger company means we must attract and retain a diverse workforce that will keep us connected to our customers," wrote an American General spokesperson in the release. "One way to accomplish this is to offer our employees a wide range of benefit options to meet their needs."
The second announcement came from Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. BellSouth is the last of the seven "Baby Bells" to implement same sex benefits in its policy. BellSouth's new policy will not begin to take effect until July of 2001, but in addition to the health benefits American General will be offering, BellSouth will also life insurance and family leave insurance to assist same-sex couples.
Other "Baby Bells," such as Ameritech, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, Cellular One and SNET already offered similar plans. Fourteen Fortune 500 companies have made similar moves in the past year alone, now with 116 offering same-sex benefits. Seven of these Fortune 500 companies are Texas-based. Three - Enron, Compaq Computer Corp. and Continental Airlines - are located in Houston. Others include Dallas' American Airlines and Texas Instruments, the Dell Computer Corp. in Austin and Electronic Data Systems Corp. in Plano.
As of Sept. 2000, 3,576 Employers are listed that offer Domestic Partner Health Benifits. To see if your company does visit the HRC website at: http://www.hrc.org/worknet/
Defense to use ‘Gay panic’
The defense attorney for one of two men charged with killing Arthur "J.R." Warren, an openly Gay black man from West Virginia, is laying the groundwork to present a "Gay panic" defense at the man’s upcoming trial, a Gay activist said this week. David Parker and Jared Wilson, both 18, have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with beating and kicking Warren, 26, and then running over his body four times with a car July 4 to make it appear that his death resulted from a hit-and-run accident. The murder took place in Grant Town.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday that Parker has blamed Wilson for killing Warren. Parker reportedly told a court-appointed psychologist on Dec. 5 that the victim had sexually abused him since the age of 12 and that they had sex 30 times in the past five years.
"Putting that kind of information out there would fall within the strategy of laying the groundwork for a Gay-panic defense," said Jeff Montgomery, executive director of the Triangle Foundation, Michigan’s statewide Gay civil rights and anti-violence organization.
Court documents indicate that Warren, who was known to be Gay in the town of 650 residents, had been assaulted in the past by other local residents, according to news reports.
Defense lawyers have often employed a "Gay panic" defense to prejudice jurors into acquitting a defendant charged with assaulting or killing a Gay man. The defense attorneys try to persuade juries that assaults against Gay men can be justifiable if the Gay man made sexual overtures toward the accused, claiming that the defendant, because he is heterosexual, panics, becomes enraged, and strikes back.
"What’s going to come out in the trial is going to disappoint a lot of people," he told the Post-Gazette. "The case is a lot more complicated than simply framing issues of anti-gay or anti-race." Montgomery said Gay panic defenses have been increasingly challenged with success. They can be countered, he said, if a prosecutor files a pre-trial motion to prohibit a defense attorney from sharing such allegations in front of any potential jurors.
Parker’s trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 16 in Beckley, W.Va. Wilson is scheduled to go to trial in Wheeling later.
Bunner and the presiding Circuit Judge on the case, Rodney Merrifield, are scheduled to step down from office at the end of December because both lost their re-election bids Nov. 7. A special prosecutor from outside Marion County most likely will be appointed because the prosecutor scheduled to replace Bunner shares an office with a defense attorney involved in the case.
GLBT Friendly Doctor
If you're having trouble finding a Gay-friendly doctor who's knowledgeable about LGBT health issues, you're not alone. In an article that appeared December 11 in the Boulder, Colorado newspaper, The Daily Camera, writer Julie Marshall uncovers a number of cases in which Lesbians and Gays receive an inferior quality of care -- or no care at all.
The article opens with the story of Boulder resident, Liz Forbes, who lied to her male physician about being a Lesbian when he asked her about needing birth control. She was 18 years old at the time. "I was young and didn't feel safe or comfortable coming out," Forbes said. Forbes, now 34, has finally found a doctor with whom she's comfortable -- and who is comfortable and knowledgeable about Lesbian health needs.
The article cites a 1997 Community Foundation Serving Boulder County survey of local LGBT residents, which found that their providers failed to meet their health care needs. In 1992, 200 Boulder Lesbians met to discuss health care. They found that Lesbians, as a group, do not receive care because they are either uncomfortable visiting clinics or they've been told they are not at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
The good news is that there are many Gay-friendly and highly qualified health care providers out there. Here are some tips on how to find them:
Use word-of-mouth. Ask your friends, or friends of friends, to recommend a doctor with whom you'll feel comfortable.
Call and ask questions. It's never good to be shy about matters that affect your health. Before you decide on a physical or mental health professional, call his or her office and ask if the practice or clinic has other LGBT patients. Also inquire if the staff has been trained in LGBT health issues.
Check out the waiting room for any Gay-friendly symbols or literature. Do the forms you fill out use words like "partner" instead of husband or wife?
A Year In Review
Marriage
Despite enormous efforts in many countries, same-sex couples still cannot get married anywhere in the world (although that is about to change in the Netherlands, which will include gays and lesbians in its marriage laws beginning in early 2001).
In the United States setbacks have been at least as numerous as victories. Initiatives officially barring same-sex couples from getting married passed by wide margins in California, Nevada, and Nebraska, bringing the number of states with such bans to 34. Vermont passed a law granting same-sex couples many of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage through an institution called a "civil union." On July 1 some of the state's town clerks' offices opened at midnight to allow the first couples to register their partnerships. And in Texas -- an unlikely place for a gay marriage breakthrough -- two women were allowed to marry because one of them had been born a man. North of the border, Canada inched closer to equal rights, as both houses of the legislature passed a bill giving same-sex couples the same legal standing as unmarried heterosexual couples. In the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec, courts are now looking into the issue of whether same-sex couples must be granted the right to marry under Canadian human rights laws.
Since marriage is not an option for most GLBT folks, an increasing number are turning to the next best thing -- domestic partnership. For some, like the couple who held a commitment ceremony in a PlanetOut chat room, it is simply an acknowledgement of their relationship. Others are able to receive rights or benefits from their cities, states, or employers. In fact, 2000 was a record year for employer-granted domestic partner benefits.
Television
This year has given us a diverse representation of gays and lesbians, with no less than a dozen leading and supporting GLBT characters featured on primetime shows. Will & Grace remains a major hit with both gay and straight audiences, although some have criticized the stereotypical portrayal of Jack and the obvious absence of a boyfriend in Will's life. Fox has Normal, Ohio, starring John Goodman as a gay Los Angelino who moves back to his small town and family, including his ex-wife and an estranged son. Perhaps the most highly visible, openly gay character we saw on TV this past year Richard Hatch who became an unlikely celebrity when he won the million dollar grand prize on CBS's Survivor.
Another name that made the news is Danny Roberts, the gay cast member of The Real World New Orleans who made no secret of having a boyfriend in the military, although his beau's face was obscured onscreen to protect his identity. HBO scored a ratings coup with If These Walls Could Talk 2, an original movie that portrayed lesbian loves and lives over three generations. Big-name talent was in no short supply, with Vanessa Redgrave, Chloë Sevigny, and Sharon Stone leading the cast. Ellen DeGeneres was directed by then-girlfriend Anne Heche in the final segment, in which she played Stone's lover in a story with a happier ending than Ellen and Anne were to find in real life.
The West Wing proved to have its pulse on gay issues, with story lines including a homophobic "Dr. Laura"-like character and a closeted gay Congressman fighting a same-sex marriage bill, inspired by the actor Charley Lang's personal involvement in supporting California's "No on Knight" campaign. In a considerably lighter vein, queer icon Bette Midler brought her big talent (and openly gay cast member James Dreyfus) to the small screen with her eponymous sitcom, Bette. And Xena, in its final season, seems to be playing to its lesbian fans, from Xena and Gabrielle sharing milk baths to declaring their undying love for each other as "soul mates."
But that's just basic cable. If you're looking for flat-out sex, sex, and more sex, look no further than Showtime's Queer As Folk, the U.S. adaptation of the hit British miniseries. The setting may be Pittsburgh instead of Manchester, and the lads may have different monikers, but the producers have promised to maintain the same level of drama, sex, and graphic situations as the original. This should go down, as it were, as a landmark moment in television history.
Golden Globe Awards
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association on December 21 announced the nominees for its 58th annual Golden Globe awards. NBC's gay-themed sitcom Will & Grace was named for Best TV Comedy Series and all four of its regulars were nominated in the acting categories: Eric McCormack (gay "Will") for Best Actor - Comedy, Debra Messing (straight "Grace") for Best Actress - Comedy, Sean Hayes (gay "Jack") for Best Supporting Actor, and Megan Mullally (tipsy "Karen") for Best Supporting Actress. The Best TV Comedy Series competition is familiar too: Ally McBeal, Frasier, Malcolm in the Middle, and Sex in the City. Gay icon Bette Midler also received a nod for Best Actress in a TV Series for her struggling first-year series Bette, while Vanessa Redgrave is shortlisted for Best Supporting Actress for her lesbian role in the lesbian trilogy If These Walls Could Talk II.
The winners will be announced at a widely-watched televised gala on January 21.
Politics
Is it a coincidence or a fact that the year 2000 has brought a political split in everyway possible? A 5-4 Opinion, one more then the minimum, in the U.S. Supreme Court, giving Florida’s 25 Electoral votes to Bush. The electoral vote, 271-267 in favor of Bush, one more then the 270 needed. The popular vote, gore leads by 300,000 of 100 million votes, a margin of 1%. The Florida Supreme court ruled 4-3 in Gore’s favor, again, one more then the minimum. The senate is divided 50-50, the house of representatives is a 5 member Republican majority. The Legislatures is the closest in 50 years, which republicans control both chambers in 17 states, democrats in 16 states with others being split. In 2002, the senate will be at stake with 20 Republican and 14 Democratic seats up for election. The House of Representatives will be affected by the 2000 Census. The next 2 years watch and see how your elected offices do, and if you dont like what they have done for you, vote someone else in that will.
Short Time Topic's
Atlanta has became the first city in Georgia to enact a comprehensive non-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. On Dec. 12, Mayor Bill Campbell signed the measure, which covers private employment, housing and public accommodations.
The new law ensures that all Atlantans will be protected from
discrimination based on religion, race, gender, disability, marital
status, family status, parental status, sexual orientation,
gender identity and age. Prior to its enactment, citizens were
covered by a patchwork of protections that had large gaps,
especially in the areas of sexual orientation and gender identity
- and no one had the right to pursue legal action against
perpetrators of discrimination. Significantly, the new law
expressly includes a private right of action.
Two Jr. High Students in Orange County, California have filed a federal
lawsuit for the right to have biographies of gays and lesbians in their school library. With
the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, the unnamed
students filed suit on December 21 against the Anaheim Union High School District
demanding that the district office return ten books in the series Lives of Notable Gay Men
and Lesbians to their Orangeview Junior High School library. Some of the same books had
been in the library of another junior high in the district, but according to the Orange County
Register they are now "missing." District officials have so far declined public comment.
Orangeview Principal Barbara Smith took the books from the gay and lesbian series home to
review them and then sent them to the district office. Enterline sought the books' return but
was denied. She was told both that the books were beyond the reading capabilities of the
school's students and that students might be harassed by others if they were seen carrying
the books, so they posed a safety hazard. Enterline has worked in the Orangeview library for
five years without ever receiving a complaint regarding other books relating to gays and
lesbians or having the district remove a book.
The California lawsuit follows two other federal suits filed in Wisconsin and Texas to block the banning of
gay-themed books from children's library shelves.
A U.S. District Court judge in Wichita Falls, Tex. last September declared as unconstitutional a move by a
public library to transfer gay-themed children's books to adult library shelves.
Early this year a high school in Barron, Wisc. agreed to allow gay-themed children's books to remain on its
library shelves after a lawsuit was filed in federal court challenging the constitutionality of removing them.
In California, the Boy Scouts Policy entered another arena: judicial ethics. In general, the California Code of Judicial Ethics, known as the judicial canons, prohibits judges from participating in organizations that practice "invidious discrimination," including discrimination based on sexual orientation. But there are two exceptions: one for the military and the other for non-profit youth organizations, as long as a judge's participation in the latter does not demean the judicial office, interfere with the performance of judicial duties or cast reasonable doubt on the judge's ability to act impartially.
On December 21, the California Supreme Court found that there's no need to change that standard since
BSA went to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect its policy against gays; in June, the court found that BSA's
constitutional right to "expressive association" takes precedence over state laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination.
One California judge had already made a personal decision that he had to leave Scouting after 35 years of
involvement. In September, Justice James Lambden of the state's 1st District Court of Appeal left his volunteer position as an assistant scoutmaster to protest BSA's policy. In his letter of resignation to BSA, he wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court case "has made reliance upon the state's exemption personally unacceptable to me and ethically questionable for judges everywhere." The difference the legal case made to him was that BSA "expressly stated, for [the] first time, that discrimination against homosexuals is an official policy fundamental to the purposes of the Boy Scouts.
One of the most anti-gay states, Montana will protect gay and lesbian state workers from
discrimination. At the request of the governor Marc Racicot, a starring Republican attack-dog in the Florida presidential election recount escapade. Montana state employment guidelines now being finalized will add "sexual orientation" as a class protected from discrimination. The guidelines, expected to be final in a few weeks, prohibit discrimination in state hiring, firing and other employment decisions. Those who feel they've experienced job discrimination at the hands of the state will be able to file a grievance, although the state's personnel division administrator does not believe there have been problems with anti-gay discrimination to date. However, the state will not extend spousal benefits to unmarried partners, regardless of gender.
A new contract gives gay and lesbian police officers in Providence, Rhode Island spousal health care
benefits for their domestic partners, a benefit already enjoyed by the city's firefighters,
teachers, and laborers, the Associated Press reported.
However three lesbian police officers seeking the same benefit in
Germantown, Tennessee were turned down, according to the
Memphis Commercial Appeal. City Administrator Patrick Lawton declined to comment
except to point to his memo to city department heads, which listed those dependents the
city's self-funded health plan will cover -- domestic partners not appearing among them -
- and stated that, "because we have a self-funded health plan, we must rely on a 'stop-loss
carrier' to cover some of our more catastrophic claims. The carrier will only cover these
individuals and their dependents as legally defined in our existing health plan." Germantown
aldermen had not given much public comment to the proposal except for one who said he
opposed it, but none had spoken in support. Through December 13, Lawton had received
three phone calls and a few letters, all but one in opposition. The city's Personnel Advisory
Committee may still review the issue in the new year.
Reaction to Bush’s election!!
George W. Bush is the country’s next President. Gay and lesbian community leaders are
hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. More Reactions/story
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Thank you for your patience and HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!
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