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_6 | Out in the Mountains‘ |September 2000

World Briefs continued from page three

If Hyman wins, the Justice
Department brief said, “other
employers could claim that being
required to employ individuals of
a particular race, sex, national ori-
gin or religion violates their First
Amendment rights to free exercise
of religion or free association.”

The American Civil Liberties
Union, which is representing gay-
rights groups in the case, applaud-
ed the govemment’s action.

“All federal civil rights laws
would be in danger” if the law
cannot be enforced, said ACLU
attorney Leslie Cooper. “There
can be a religious basis for all
sorts of discrimination.”

A_dogti9n _
discrimination

INDIANAPOLIS — An openly
gay man who sued when he was
rejected as an adoptive parent
because of his sexuality has lost
the support of the Indiana Civil
Liberties Union.

The ICLU dropped the lawsuit
it had filed on behalf of Craig
Peterson’s attempt to adopt a 9-
year-old girl.

Peterson had alleged in a feder-
al lawsuit filed in January that
Bruce Stansberry, director of

Madison County’s Division of
Family and Children, stopped
Peterson from adopting the girl
because of a public outcry against
adoption by homosexuals.

But Sean Lemieux, an ICLU
attorney, said that interviews with
child welfare officials convinced
him that they had followed appro-
priate procedures when Peterson
sought to adopt the girl in 1998.

During pretrial interviews, the
lawyers found that the girl had
been evaluated by two psycholo-
gists who determined she would
be harmed if forced to live with a
gay man, Lemieux said. The child
also appeared to be influenced by
her foster parents, who have said
homosexuality is sinful, he said.

Peterson already has adopted
the girl’s three brothers, who had
been living with a different foster
family. I

The girl’s foster father, who
later adopted her, has been con-
victed of molesting her.

Yes, it's over
FRESNO, Calif. — Anne Heche
and Ellen DeGeneres have split.
The breakup was accompanied
by a bizarre episode in which
Heche was hospitalized after wan-

dering up to a rural home appear-
ing shaken and confused.

That happened hours after her
breakup with DeGeneres, 39,
became public.

Heche, 3], apparently parked
her car along a highway and then
walked about a mile to the house
in Cantua Creek, where she
knocked on the front door and
made strange statements to the
occupants, said Fresno County
sherifi"s Lt. Merrill Wright.

Sheriff’s deputies took her to
University Medical Center,
Wright said. He said there was no
criminal investigation.

Hospital records show Heche
was released after being seen by
doctors for two hours.

Trans asylum

A transgendered Mexican gay
man has won an appeal and been
granted his request for asylum in
the United States.

The 9th US Circuit Court of
Appeals unanimously overturned
an earlier Board of Immigration
Appeals decision that Geovanni
Hemandez-Montiel, 21, should go
home and be more masculine in
order to avoid harassment.

Hemandez-Montiel has twice

Dean continued from page one

fled to the United States to escape
his family’s attempts to change his
sexual orientation, harassment by
school officials, and physical and
sexual assaults by strangers and
police ofiicers.

On his second attempt, in 1995,
an immigration judge ruled that he
believed Hernandez-Montiel had
indeed been persecuted. But
because that persecution was due
to his outward feminine appear-
ance and behaviour, which he
could change, the judge ruled he
should not be granted asylum.

The circuit court’s August 24
decision strongly opposed that
view.

“This case is about sexual iden-
tity, not fashion,” read the ruling
in part. “His female sexual identi-

ty is immutable because it is
inherent in his identity; in any
event, he should not be required to
change it.”

The National Center for

Lesbian Rights, which filed an
amicus brief in the case, called the
decision “groundbreaking.”
“It is the first time a federal court
has affirmed that persecution on
the basis of sexual orientation is a
basis for receiving asylum under
U.S. law. It is the first time that a
federal court has affirmed that
sexual orientation is an immutable
characteristic in an asylum case,”
said NCLR attorney Shannon
Minter. “It is a powerful recogni-
tion of the links between sexual
orientation and gender identity.”

V

with the Democrats, and according to Lippert,
has been told he will receive a seat on the House
Appropriations Committee if the Democrats
win.

“I’ve talked to people here in Palm Springs

from New Hampshire and other states that are

thinking about civil-union legislation,” the legis-
lator reported. “They tell me that if Dean takes a
hit because of civil unions, civil unions won’t
have a life elsewhere in the country. The entire
country is watching what happens in Vermont.”
Lippert vowed to work for the re-election of
Dean and all the lawmakers who voted for pas-
sage of civil unions, including 17 Republicans.
They need all the help they can get, he said,
because conservative Democrats and
Republicans are also targeting their own party

members who helped pass the law.

“During our fight for civil unions in the
Legislature, I asked people from out of state not
to interfere. We knew that was necessary to win,
but there is a time now for them to help by con-
tributing to our non-partisan political action
committee. The same activists who created the
Freedom to Marry Coalition founded
Vermonters for Civil Unions, Inc. Contributions
to the PAC will be used to fund campaigns of
supporters of civil unions.

Peter Cassels, associate editor of Bay
I/Vndows, reported from the National Stonewall
Democratic Federation convention. His work
appears here courtesy of Bay Windows. 7

warm Line continued from page two

men and lesbians. This service will complement
the rape and domestic abuse resources already
available, often referring victims to the same
places another line would send them. The differ-
ence, said Cuddy, is that the victims will know
when they call that they will be speaking to
someone with specialized training who will pro-
vide them with information and “absolute sup-
port, regardless of who you are and who you
love.”

Speaking from personal expereince, Cuddy
said the most important aspect of this effort was
to get the word out. “This would have told me
that I wasn’t alone,” she said. “That’s precious to
any survivor.”

The grant from the Samara Foundation allows

Multiple choices.

the Task Force to hire someone to research other
similar operations and plan the implementation
of the project. The warm line will be Chittenden
County based, but the Samara Foundation also
awarded moneyto the Women’s Crisis Center in
Brattleboro for similar purposes. “We hope this
will lead to a coordinated effort to deal with this
statewide need.”

The warm line will be operational sometime
in 2001. The timeline for the project is expected
to be finalized by the end of this year. In the
meantime, victims of same gender abuse and
violence may still make use of the rape crisis
hotline. V

a. Offset Printing

b. High Volume Copying
c. Mailing Services

 

cl. Desktop Publishing
e. All of the Above

Gill Foundationcontinued from page one

questions: What do we want
and what will it take to get
there?”

Samara has plans to conduct
a thorough needs assessment
of the Vermont community in
the next year. This meeting,
says Samara, will be a good
way to start that process for his
organization.

The Colorado-based foun-
dation’s Outgiving Project has
been collecting data on legal,
philanthropic, anti-violence,
statewide organizing, and com-
munity center or social projects
in the GLBT community
nationwide since early this
year to test a theory of commu-
nity organizing. The Five
Circles Theory postulates that
to be effective a coalition must
be made up of five categories
of people: strategist, lobbyist,
media person, grassroots per-
son, and legislative lawyer.

Georgetown University law
professor, Chai R. Feldblum
developed this theory on leg-
islative campaign structure.
Mickey McIntyre, the first
director of the Outgiving
Project, created a template for
the local and national GLBT
movement based on the Five
Circles.

With assistance from the
University of California at Los
Angeles, Outgiving has col-
lected data -on the functions of
the five categories within the
GLBT community. Donna Red
Wing, current Outgiving direc-
tor, said the information will

help Gill understand the state.

of the GLBT community
nationally. “It will help us as
we plan for the future,” she
said. “It will help answer ques-
tions such as: Why and how de

we, as a movement, give?
What would a fully funded
movement look like? Where
should we invest resources?
How do we compare to our
‘adversaries?’ How do our
organizations reflect our poten-
tial?”

“This project will create and
test a hypothesis of where the
movement could go and will
provide direction on how to, as
well as the impetus to, invest
movement resources,” said
Red Wing.

Researchers are engaged in
all 50 states and US territories.
In five communities, including
Burlington," they will conduct
deep core samplings over the
next few months and hold
meetings to, for the first time,
share the national data. Other
communities selected are
Birmingham, AL; Portland,
OR; Columbus, OH; and
Raleigh-Durham, NC.

The Town Hall Forum in
Vermont will begin at 6:30 pm
and will include a light supper.

Donna Red Wing will pre-
sent “A National Vision of a
Fully Funded GLBT

Movement” and one of the .

UCLA researchers will offer a
look at the data state by state.

A panel of local leaders will
discuss Vermont’s vision for a
fully-funded GLBT move-
ment, and Red Wing will pre-
sent a current snapshot of the
national movement.

The evening will also
include a group discussion of
Vermont’s current situtaion in
the areas of anti-violence pro-
jects, community centers, and

philanthropic, legal and politi-

cal organizations.
V

  §VP.llI7

VALLEY PRINT 8’]WAIL

Call Ellen at 802.482.2995 o Hinesburg, Vermont