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New Report On Black GLBTs

NEW YORK - Significant prevalence
of parenting, high levels of political
participation and widespread experi-
ences of racism and homophobia are
among the findings in a study of
black gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender (GLBT) people released
last month by the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). Say It
Loud: I'm Black and I'm Proud is a
collaboration by nine black GLBT
Pride organizations, a team of black
researchers and NGLTF.

According to the survey of
over 2600 respondents, black GLBT
Americans identify HIV/AIDS, hate-
related violence, and marriage /
domestic partnership as the most
important policy issues impacting
their lives. In addition, 40 percent of
black GLBT women, 18 percent of
men. and 15 percent of transgender
people are parents.

Half of those surveyed say
racism is a problem in the white
GLBT community. Two-thirds report
that homophobia is a problem within
the black community. In terms of '
sexual identity, three-quarters identify

as gay or lesbian, ll percent as
0 bisexual, and one percent as trans-
,_~'gender. More than half of respon-

dents say their church/religion views
homosexuality as “wrong and sinful.”

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Down ‘Under ‘ ‘ »

DARWIN, Australia — According to
a report from the Associated Press,
health officials have come up with a
novel idea to encourage safe sex
within isolated Aboriginal communi-
ties: hanging condoms in trees.

An official at the cultural
health service at Fitzroy Crossing
said the town once had the highest
rate of sexually transmitted diseases
in the remote Kimberley mountains
region in the north of Western
Australia state. But, partly thanks to
the condom-tree program,‘ infection
rates are now falling.

Aborigines often congre-
gate under trees outside the town’s
bar or at apopular area a few miles
away to drink and catch up with
friends. The condoms dangle in can-
isters made from plastic piping slung
from wire hooks in the trees.

When the program began
three years ago, virtually no
Aborigines were getting condoms
from the only two outlets in town:
the supermarket and district hospital.
Now the valley’s 3,500 people are
using up to 3,000 condoms a month,
he said.

Anti-Gay Juror Found in
Contempt

NORTHAMPTON, MA — The
Union News of Hampshire and
Franklin countiesreported that a
juror who reportedly wrote a threat-
ening, homophobic statement on his
jury questionnaire was found in con-
tempt of court.

Judge W. Michael Ryan
found Benjamin Love of
Belchertown in contempt after learn-
ing that Love had written.
“Northampton is a town of faggots
and dykes. Kill them all,” on his jury
form.

There was some specula-
tion that the man was mentally ill
and/or had written the statement in an
attempt to be dismissed from the
pool. “There was no hate behind that
thought process,” Love’s lawyer
explained, adding, “There was no
thought behind that thought process.”

Judge Ryan didn’t buy the
excuse and sentenced Benjamin B.
Love to a day in jail.

“New” Military Challenges

SANTA BARBARA, CA — Scholars
and military analysts raised concerns
last week that the Pentagon, White
House and federal courts are under-
mining efforts to ensure equal oppor-
tunity for minorities in the military.
Experts described a strategy of neg-
lect, attrition and non-enforcement
with the cumulative effect of making
military service less open to minori-
ties. Particularly worrisome, they
said, is the Pentagon’s increasing
reliance on a small group of civilian
advisors intent on preserving the mil-
itary as a bulwark of traditional val-
ues.

“What we’re seeing is ajolt
to the right by a Pentagon and an
administration under the sway of
extreme traditionalists,” said
Nathaniel Frank, Director of
Communications ‘at the Center for the
Study of Sexual Minorities in the
Military at the University of
California, Santa Barbara (CSSMM).
“They are using the language of
national security and unit cohesion to
justify politically-motivated attacks
on equal opportunity.”

There has been heavy pres-
sure from conservative groups that '
oppose women in combat to put an
end to Defense Advisory Committee
on Women in the Services and what
they see as its “feminist ideology.” In
response, the Pentagon dismissed 22
of the 34 members, restricted the
committee’s duties to an agenda dic-
tated by top Pentagon officials, and
cut the group’s budget by 20 percent.
The lobby groups include the Center
for Military Readiness (CMR),
Concerned Women for America
(CWA), the Independent Women’s
Forum (IWF) and the Eagle Forum.

In addition to declining
support for women in the military,

the armed forces have seen a surge in

expulsions and harassment of gay
soldiers. Last month, the
Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network (SLDN), a legal aid and
watchdog group that monitors the
policy on gay troops, released its
eighth annual report on “don’t ask,
don’t tell.” According to SLDN, the
Pentagon fired more than 1250 sol-
diers in 2001 for being lesbian, gay
or bisexual. The report also docu-
ments l075 cases of anti-gay harass-
ment last year, up from 871 in 2000.
Reflecting a “worsening epidemic of
anti-gay hostility,” this figure
includes a record 513 instances in the
Army alone, up 145 percent from the
previous year.

Three priests oppose ban on
gay marriage

BOSTON — According to a report in
the Boston Globe three Roman
Catholic priests broke with the
church hierarchy’s support of a gay

marriage ban. The three took a stand
yesterday against the gay marriage
ban, citing Catholic teaching on
socialjustice and calling the amend-
ment discriminatory to children born
to gay parents.

“Especially in light of the
present crisis of abuse, we want to
make sure that all children are pro-
tected and receive equal rights,” the
Rev. Walter F. Cuenin, pastor of Our
Lady Help of Christians Church in
Newton, said in a statement. “This
amendment would certainly deprive
some children of their rights simply
because their parents were not legally
married.”

“This does nothing, nothing
to protect family life,” said the Rev.
Richard Lewandowski, pastor of St.
Camillus parish in F itchburg. “It only
weakens it.” The Rev. Thomas J.
Carrroll, director of the Jesuit Urban
Center in the South End, also spoke
against the ban.

If the legislature decides to
support a constitutional amendment,
it must schedule a constitutional con-
vention by May 8. Fifty state legisla-
tures must approve the question in
conventions this year and in 2003
before the measure faces voters. The
language of the proposed amendment

declares that only heterosexual mar-

riages will be recognized and that no
other relationship will receive “the
benefits or incidents exclusive to
marriage” from the state.

Westchester Board Considers
Gay couples’ Registry

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The mother
of twin l6-year-old-sons -—- one
straight, the other gay —- pleaded last
night for the Westchester County leg-
islature to create a registry that will
allow gay couples to document their
partnerships so that her gay son can
enjoy “the same kind of protections
that his brother will have” when he
marries. The report was quoted from
the Journal News by the Human
Rights Campaign.

“The hopes that I have for
my sons are identical,” Carol Fessler
told the packed chambers of the leg-
islature. “I want them to grow into
adulthood, and I also want them to
enjoy a mutually supportive, loving
relationship. ,

_ “Gregory can enter into
that relationship and enjoy all the
protections and the social and legal
recognitions that a marriage conveys.
Nicholas isn’t going to be that
lucky.” '

. Thirty speakers — including
a Methodist cleric and an Episcopal
pastor, a high school teacher, four
gay couples, a transsexual and the
leaders of a half-dozen local gay
organizations — supported the propos-
al, although many said it should go a
step further by also conveying next-
of-kin rights for couples who register.

As now proposed, the reg-
istry would not give unmarried cou-
ples any of the rights associated with
marriage. It simply provides unmar-
ried couples with a place‘ to declare
their partnership, which would allow
them to claim domestic partner bene-
fits from employers who offer them,
including IBM Corp., the towns of
Eastchester and Greenburgh, and the
county itself. The measure currently
would require gay or lesbian couples

to cohabit for a year before being eli-

gible to register their partnerships.
Five speakers opposed the

proposal at the public hearing.

ExxonMobil Must Vote on
Sexual Orientation Policy

WASHINGTON — Bloomberg News
reports that the Securities and \
Exchange Commission said
ExxonMobil Corp. must allow a
shareholder vote on a resolution call-
ing on the world’s largest publicly
traded oil company to bar discrimina-
tion based on sexual orientation.

SEC lawyer Keir Gumbs
denied Exxon Mobil’s request that it
be allowed to exclude the proposal
from its annual meeting next month.

The proposal is sponsored
by several groups, including the New
York City Employees’ Retirement
System, which says it holds about
$480 million in company shares. At
last year’s annual meeting, 13 percent
of shareholders voted in favor of the
proposal. Exxon Mobil — based in
Irving, Texas — argued in a letter to
the SEC that it be allowed to bar a
vote this year because the company
has already “substantially implement-
ed” anti-discrimination measures.
The company said it has a compre-
hensive policy prohibiting discrimi-
nation and that naming specific
groups automatically excludes those
who aren’t‘named.

“It has always been Exxon
Mobil’s policy not to discriminate on
the basis of sexual orientation or any
other non-work-related characteris-
tic,” the company wrote to the SEC
in January.

“We are unable to concur
in your view that Exxon Mobil may
exclude the New York City
Employees’ Retirement System pro-
posal,” the SEC wrote back, without
elaborating.

“I am gratified that the
SEC has reversed a blatant attempt
by Exxon Mobil to stifle debate on
this important human rights issue,”
New York City Comptroller William
C. Thompson Jr. said in a prepared
statement.

Allentown Protects Rights of
GL'l‘s

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Allentown
City Council voted to amend the
city’s human relations ordinance
Wednesday, adding sexual orientation
and gender identity to the law’s'list
of protected classes.

The Morning Call reports
that in doing so, Allentown became
the 230th municipality in the country
to extend employment, housing and
other protections to people based on
their sexual orientation.

It became the first city in
Pennsylvania to add gender identity
as a protected status in its human
relations law. Gender identity can
refer to transsexuals or cross-
dressers, but also men and women
who simply appear opposite their sex.

Des Moines YMCA‘ Charges
Gay couples More

DES MOINES, Iowa — Officials are
threatening to withhold city money
from the YMCA of Greater Des
Moines because it charges homosex-

ual couples more to join than hetero-
sexual married couples, reports-the
Associated Press.

Des Moines added a sexu-
al-orientation clause to its anti-dis-
crimination ordinance last year. The
ordinance outlaws discrimination
based on sexual orientation in hous-
ing, employment or use of public
accommodations within the city lim-
its.

“Anybody that does busi-
ness with the city must comply with
that policy,” said City Councilwoman
Christine Hensley. “If there’s a loop-
hole, I’ll be sure to close it.”

The president of the local

’ YMCA said it is not discriminating

because its policy is based on lowa’s
definition of marriage. which does
not recognize gay and lesbian unions.
Sexual orientation has nothing to do
with membership, he said.

Legally married couples
who live together may join the
YMCA for $57.50 a month. Gay cou-
ples living together are not eligible
for the family package and must join
at single adult rates which are $38.50
— $13 more for each couple.

carrier corp. Ends support of

Scouts Over Policy

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Carrier Corp. is
ending its support of a major regional
Boy Scouts dinner because of the

- organization’s ban on gay leaders,

according to a story filed by the
Associated Press. ,

Carrier declined to buy or
sell tickets this year for the annual
Boypower Dinner of the Hiawatha
Seaway Council of the Boy Scouts of
America, said a company spokesman.
Last year, the company was responsi-
ble for combined donations and cor-
porate dinner ticket, sales of $42,025.
Former CBS news anchor Walter
Cronkite was this year’s featured
guest. The dinner is a major fund-
raiser, attended by more than 2,000
people and generating hundreds of
thousands of dollars for the Scouts.

Until last year, the event
had been held in the Carrier Dome at
Syracuse University every year but
one since it was started in 1984.

Last year, however, the uni-
versity told the Scouts that it could
no longer use the stadium because
the organization’s ban on gay leaders
was in conflict with the school’s poli-
cy on diversity.

HIV and Hep-C

BOSTON — The Washington Blade
reported last month that a Boston
AIDS activist who is herself HIV-
positive has had to pay for her own
liver transplant. Belynda Dunn’s liver
had been damaged by Hepatitis-C,
but her health maintenance organiza-
tion refused to cover the cost of the
transplant on the grounds that the
procedure was “experimental” for
anyone with HIV.

AIDS Action of
Massachusetts was successful in
another case when it convinced a
state board to order that the cost be
covered by Medicaid. Dunn raised
funds privately to cover the operation
— which usually costs $208,000,
though she said she had negotiated a
lowerprice.V »