the rt ofour world

Catholics Challenge Portland
DP Ordinance

Portland, ME — The city of Portland
and Catholic Charities Maine are
poised to clash in federal court over
the latest expansion of domestic-part-
ner benefits in Maine’s largest city.
City councilors amended a municipal
ordinance in June to require agencies
receiving certain federal funds _
through the city to offer their employ-
ees’ domestic partners the same bene-
fits that employees’ spouses receive.
Catholic Charities Maine says the
ordinance is inconsistent with its reli-
gious teachings regarding premarital
sex and homosexuality. “It’s what I
call designer discrimination,” said
John Kerry, the agency’s chief execu-
tive officer. “They design a program
that they know the Salvation Army,
the Catholic Church, and maybe some
Orthodox Jewish communities or
maybe even some other Protestant
religious groups would disagree with.”

Portland mayor James

Cloutier said councillors wanted to

.encourage expanded health care bene-

fits while combating discrimination.
“This is, in fact, discrimination,”
Cloutier said. “It’s not the worst case
of discrimination that ever existed,
because it’s subtle and it’s a little bit
indirect, but it’s discrimination
nonetheless.”

'lwo PA Universities Offer DP
Benefits

Philadelphia —Temple and Drexel
Universities have decided to provide
domestic partnership benefits to their
lesbian and gay employees, according
to a press release from the ACLU,
which urged other employers to fol-
low their leadership.

“Thanks to Temple and
Drexel Universities, this [is] truly a
happy Valentine’s Day for many same
sex couples,” said Larry Frankel,
Legislative Director of the ACLU of
Pennsylvania. “The ACLU expects
that business and community leaders
as well as fair-minded legislators and
Governor Rendell will support these
schools for doing the right thing.”

In Pennsylvania, the ACLU
has been extensively involved in
efforts to obtain domestic partnership
benefits for lesbians and gay men. The

V ACLU is also battling the University

of Pittsburgh in an ongoing lawsuit
aimed at securing domestic partner-
ship benefits for that school’s
employees.

More than a hundred col-
leges and universities across the coun-
try recognize that in order to attract
top professors and remain competitive
in the academic world, they must treat
all employees equally, said an ACLU
spokesman.

Cincinnati Passes Hate Crimes
Bill

Cincinatti, OH — The City Council
expanded the city’s hate-crimes law
last month to include crimes based on
gender, age, physical or mental dis-
ability and sexual orientation, despite
a city charter amendment making it
illegal to enact or enforce laws based
on sexual orientation, the Associated
Press reported.

The law had already cov-
ered race, color, religion and national
origin,

The amendment was
approved 7-2. “Citizens for
Community Values” (CCV) has threat-

ened to sue the city, claiming that the
expanded Hate Crimes Ordinance vio-
lates Article 12 of the City Charter,
which was passed by voters as Issue 3
in 1993 and became law in 1998.,
Article 12 prohibits the City Council
from passing any law giving “minori-
ty or protected status” to gay, lesbian,
and bisexual

citizens.

However, a Feb. 4 opinion
by the City Solicitor, J. Rita McNeil,
said the proposed ordinance “would
not violate the Charter as amended by
Article 12.”

Stonewall Cincinnati reports
that-CCV has lost the last four law-
suits the organization filed over simi-
lar issues.

Happy 30th to NGLTF

New York — The National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force is throwing itself
a birthday party as it turns 30 this year
— and you too can attend as long as
you’ve got at least $150 for a ticket.
That’s where general admission prices
start (although current members, stu-
dents and seniors can get in for a mere
$100).

But if you’re a little more
flush, definitely go for the VIP ticket
at $250. For that-you get admission to
a private VIP reception an hour before
the general admission folks arrive for
a party and auction, plus a gift bag.
Ticket price/support options go up
from there, all the way to $5,000
platinum.

The party’s at a club called
“Pressure” upstairs over the Bowlmor
Lanes. .

Happy Birthday NGLTF.
We know'you’ll spread some of that
birthday loot around to help all of our
community. ’

HRC Urges Opposition to Anti-
Gay Nominees -
Washington — The Human Rights
Campaign urged the Senate to oppose
a slate of anti-gay judges, nominated
by the Bush administration, whose
confirmations could place courts out-
side the mainstream and make it
increasingly difficult for gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender Americans to
achieve basic justice and equality
though the federal courts.

“We are alarmed that the
administration has put forth a slew of
unacceptable nominees whose
extreme anti-gay views threaten to
make the federal courts hostile to
basic equality for GLBT Americans,”
said HRC Executive Director
Elizabeth Birch. “We urge the Senate
to oppose these nominees.”

Among those nominees is
Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee
to the IIS. Court of Appeals for the
9th Circuit. Bybee characterized sexu-
al orientation-inclusive civil rights
laws as nothing more than govern-
ment-sponsored “preferences” for
“homosexuals.”

Also opposed is Jeffrey
Sutton to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 6th Circuit. Sutton has been a
leader in the effort to limit congres-
sional authority to enact laws protect-
ing civil and disability rights, includ-
ing hate crimes legislation.

Additionally, HRC opposes
the nomination of Timothy Tymkovich
for Court of Appeals for the 10th
Circuit. As solicitor general, ,
Tymkovich defended Colorado’s
Amendment 2 in a coauthored law

review article,‘ in which he lumped
homosexuality with a litany of
“immoral” and dangerous behaviors,
including sadomasochism, cockfight-
ing, bestiality, suicide, drug use and
prostitution. -

HRC has also opposed the
nomination of Mississippi Judge ,
Charles Pickering to the 5th Circuit
Court of Appeals because his career
has been punctuated by racial divi-
siveness and anti-gay sentiments. Last
year, HRC opposed the nomination of
Michael McConnell to the 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals, McConnell,
who was confirmed by the Senate in
November 2002, contributed to the
anti-gay brief for the Boy Scouts in
the Boy Scouts of America v. Dale.

ConocoPhilIips Reinstates
Anti-Bias Policy

Dallas, TX — ConocoPhillips, the third
largest oil and gas company in the
United States, has reversed an earlier
decision and has now agreed to imple-
ment a written non-discrimination pol-
icy that includes protection for its gay
and lesbian employees.

In early February the
Human Rights Campaign announced
that the 2002 merger between Phillips
Petroleum and Conoco resulted in the
abandonment of Conoco’s written
anti-bias policy.
Protests by the HRC and

other gay civil rights groups, coupled
with the threat of a shareholder chal-

. lenge by gay-friendly stockholders,

apparently convinced the company to‘
reinstate the workplace guarantees.

“ConocoPhillips is and
always has been deeply committed to
fair and nondiscriminatory treatment
for all employees,” said a company
spokesman.

The move leaves Exxon
Mobil Corp. as the only American
company to ever rescind an estab-
lished sexual orientation non-discrimi-
nation policy. ExxonMobil recalled
Mobil’s anti-bias policy in December
1999 when the companies merged and
also closed Mobil’s DP benefits pro-
gram to new employees.

Frank Confronts BU
Chancellor

Boston — Congressman Barney Frank
went public with pointed criticism of
Boston University Chancellor John
Silber and the September closure of
the BU Academy Gay-Straight ’
Alliance, according to an article on
Datalounge.

Congressman Frank pub-
lished two letters challenging the
chancellor’s decision to put financial
pressure on Academy (a BU-spon-
sored high school) officials to close
the school’s gay student support group
and criticizing statements Silber made
in defense of that action.

BU spokesman Kevin
Carleton said Silber felt F rank’s sec-
ond letter did not warrant a response.
In addition to the GSA closing, Frank
was angered by Silber’s assertion that
organizations had a right to discrimi-
nate against sexual orientation and
other innate characteristics. He also
took particular exception to Silber’s
assertion that openly gay people were
“rubbing your nose” in their sexuality.

Frank also condemned
Silber’s contention that gay people
were not naturally attracted to the
same sex but were “first seduced into

_ sex,” by peers or elders in some

implied form of ritual abuse.
Frank said he felt “some

obligation,” as an elected official who I

is gay, “to counteract what I find to be
openly anti-gay rhetoric.”

Colorado Kills civil Union Bill ‘
Denver — A House panel voted deci-
sively on Wednesday to indefinitely
postpone consideration of a long-shot
civil unions bill that would have
brought Vermont-style marriage equal-
ity to the Rocky Mountain state,
reports DataLounge.

As proposed, the same-sex
civil union bill would extend legal
rights and protections to gay and les-
bian families in parenting, insurance,
inheritance and finances.

Frank Accosta, president of
the local chapter of Parents, Friends
and Family of Lesbians and Gays
(PFLAG) declared, “They think if
they keep postponing it, it will go
away. It won’t. It’s not a matter of
marriage or mocking an institution;
it’s a matter of civil justice.”

The panel voted 8-3 against A

the measure, with two Democrats
joining six Republicans in voting
against the bill.

Donations Down for Focus on
Family

Colorado Springs — One of the coun-
try’s most active and politically influ-
ential anti-gay evangelical Christian
organizations — Focus on the Family —

has announced budget cuts and layoffs
in the first such reorganization in its

history.

According to the Gay
Financial Network, the group has cut
$5 million from its budget and laid off
34 employees. As a cost-saving meas-
ure, another 66 vacant positions will
be eliminated from the 1,300-member
workforce, said a spokesman.

Focus on the Family presi-
dent James Dobson is one of the most
outspoken anti-gay activists in the
country. With a $130 million annual
budget, Focus on the Family airs 14
radio and television programs in more
than 100 countries and publishes more
than a dozenevangelical publications.

The economic downturn has
hit the organization’s interests hard.
GFN reports donations, which are the
basis of its operating budget, have
fallen 3 percent since 1999.

Gay Satellite TV to Launch in
April

Aberdeen, WA — GayNewsUSA, a
website and film production company,
announced in a press release that it
will launch a gay satellite television
channel under its new name, Avant-
Garde TV.

Avant-Garde TV will go on
the air April 20, 2003. It will feature 5
channels to start with these general
categories: an all-gay-and-lesbian
news channel; an adult gay station; an
adult European station, available 24
hours, seven days a week, a shopping
channel for the GLBT community;
and gay and straight adult pay-for-
view station which is hooked into
40,000 truck stops in the United
States.
The company’s studios are

in St Paul, Pittsburgh, and at the home
office in Seattle.

CIPA = Bookburning Says
Expert '
San Francisco — The Online Policy

Group (OPG) and software expert
Seth Finkelstein have submitted a
brief to the U.S. Supreme Court sup-
porting a lower court decision that the
Children’s Internet Protection Act
(CIPA) places unconstitutional limita-
tions on free speech of library patrons
by requiring the use of technology
protection measures in libraries
receiving certain federal funding or
discounts.

OPG and Finkelstein’s brief
argues that CIPA’s technology protec-
tion requirement forces libraries to use

. commercial blocking software.

Because blocking software censors
speech that receives full First

‘ Amendment protection and may dis- _

criminate against certain viewpoints,
OPG and Finkelstein argue that CIPA
should be subject to strict scrutiny.

“Especially for ‘controver-
sial’ topics — such as politics, medical
health, child abuse, abortion, sexual
orientation, and gender identity —- the
biases inherent in Internet blocking
software are unacceptable,” OPG
Executive Director Will Doherty said.

“Censorware is not filtering,
it is electronic book-burning,” com-
mented Seth Finkelstein. “It’s a pre-
slipped slope denying any privacy,
since all reading must be monitored.”

The amicus brief from OPG
and Finkelstein accompanies the main
legal argument from the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and
other plaintiffs in the U.S. govern-
ment’s appeal from a decision of a
special three-judge panel striking
down the library portion of CIPA on
May 31, 2002.

AP Diversity Slogan Backfires
New,York — The Washington Blade
reported that an Associated Press staff
morale gimmick backfired by encour-
aging employees to call for domestic
partner benefits for same-gender part-
ners of employees. During negotia-
tions over wages and benefits with the
News Media Guild, the union repre-
senting 1700 journalists at AP, the
company sent out keychains to
employees reading, “AP Diversity:
Many Voices, One Vision.”

Two of the issues being
pushed by the union are AP’s refusal
to offer domestic partner benefits and
to include sexual orientation in its
nondiscrimination policy.

Hundreds of AP staff mem-
bers spontaneously returned the key-
chains. Among the letters of protest
against the company’s hypocritical
sloganeering, accompanying the
returned keychains, the Blade quoted
two. “As long as AP’s policy remains
all chain and no key,” read one from ._
66 staffers in Washington DC and
other AP outlets, “those doors remain
closed.” -

The second letter said that
AP “is losing good people to compet-
ing news organizations that do ofl°er
domestic partnership coverage.” It
was “signed by every AP employee in
the Montpelier, VT, bureau,” said the
Blade ‘s article. According to
Montpelier AP staffer Ross Sneyd, ’
there are eight staffers at the
Montpelier bureau. V