the rest of our worl

Kiltish Kids

Glasgow — The largest survey of its
kind ever commissioned in Scotland
has discovered that one in five gay
people in Scotland is a parent, and a
further 17 percent would like to have
children in the future, according to a
report from the predominantly lgbtq
Universal Fellowship of the
Metropolitan Community Church
(MCC).

One-third of all gay parents
said their children were living perma-
nently with them. Ruth Henry, man-
ager of Beyond Barriers, said the high
number of gay parents had taken
them by surprise. “We will have to
look at the issue of parenting and the
issues facing the children of lesbian
and gay parents,” she toldthe
Scottish Herald.

The statistics were part of a
national GLBT survey conducted
across Scotland. The biggest issue
facing GLBT people was equal part-
nership rights, according to the sur-
vey. Discrimination and prejudice
were seen as the next most important
issues.

Dutch Assassin Sentenced
Amsterdam —An item on Gay.com
reports that the killer of Dutch gay
populist politician Pim Fortuyn has
been sentenced to 18 years injail.

Volkert van der Graaf, an
animal rights activist, confessed to
shooting Fortuyn at point-blank .
range, only days before elections in
May last year sweptthe politician’s
party to power.

Prosecutors had called for a
life sentence for van der Graaf, with
head prosecutor Koos Ploy saying
that the full term must be evoked in
order to deter any further attempts at
unsettling democracy.

‘ Britta Bohler, his defense
counsel, pleaded for a lesser sentence
as her client had cooperated by con-
fessing and deserved a chance to be
rehabilitated within society.

“He did commit the crime,
but not with a morally reprehensible
intention. He did not view the murder
as an attack on democracy but rather
saw Fortuyn as a danger to‘ democra-
cy,” she argued.

Van der Graff has refused
to apologize to Fortuyn’s family, say-
ing that he “wrestles” with the ques-
tion of whether he acted justly.

Japan OKs First Trans
PoIitician’s Run

Tokyo — In a landmark decision, a
transgender woman will be allowed
to run for office as a female, even
though under Japanese law she is still
considered a male, reports
365Gay.com.

She will be listed on the
ballot for Tokyo’s municipal govern-
ment under her chosen name ofAya
Kamikawa.

When Kamikawa, 35, pre-
sented her candidacy documents last
month to an election administration

committee, she left blank the box for '

sex. Local officials referred the ques-
tion to the federal government, which
ruled she could run as a female, but
all official reports and records ofthe
poll will refer to her as a man.
Kamikawa is waiting to
undergo sex reassignment surgery
later this year. But even after the sur-
gery is complete. she will continue to
be officially recognized as male on

her family register, the official docu-
ment the government uses for all

, identification.

Japan is one of the few
major industrialized nations that does
not have transgender rights. The term
“transgender” is not used. Rather,
transgender people are referred to as
“suffering gender identity disorder.”

Sirius Launched GLBT Radio
channel

New York City — OutQ, the first 24-
hour U.S. satellite radio channel for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
listeners, started broadcasting on
Monday, Sirius Satellite Radio
announced.

The offering, which fea-
tures several talk shows, news and
music programs, is the latest addition
to Sirius’ 104-channel network. The
network allows subscribers, who pay
$12.95 per month, nationwide access
to its digital radio channels.
Subscribers must also purchase spe-
cial equipment, which can be used in
cars or homes.

“I am thrilled that some-
thing like OutQ has finally arrived,”
gay playwright and actor Harvey‘
Fierstein said. “To me, adding OutQ
to the broadcasting world is like
upgrading from black-and-white to
living color.”

OutQ’s lineup of talk show
hosts includes columnist and author
Michelangelo Signorile, former‘
GAYBC Web radio founder John
McMullen, nationally syndicated
radio personality Angelique Perrin
and Derek Hartley, who also writes a
column for PlanetOut.

According to the New York
Times, Sirius had nearly 30,000 sub-
scribers at the end of 2002. Its main
competitor, XM Satellite Radio,
reportedly has'500,000 subscribers.
XM does not currently have a GLBT-
specific channel. '

Sauce for the Gander?
According to a quote from the presi-
dent of the anti-gay Family Research
Council, published in the Washington
Blade, the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force has cut domestic partner
benefits to its own employees.

“Afler badgering businesses
into providing benefits to homosexual
and lesbian partners of employees,
the National Gay & Lesbian Task
Force has cut domestic partner bene-
fits, to its own employees.  The
homosexual advocacy group says
providing such benefits is ‘prohibi-
tively expensive,’ even as it continues
to dismiss similar complaints from
private business as unfounded. It
seems that sauce forthe goose isn’t
necessarily sauce for the gander.”

The mention of domestic
partner benefit cuts came in a March
7»review of Jean’s tenure at the
NGLTF following the announcement
of her resignation. NGLTF pays for
50 percent of domestic partner health
benefits, a decrease from 100 percent.
Jean said the cut was required
because the organization was a half
million dollars in debt and the benefit
was unsustainable under those
conditions.

Gay Man Is Spouse in
Wrongful Death

New York — A gay man in New York
is a legal spouse and able to sue St.
Vincent’s Hospital for medical negli-

gence leading to his longtime part-
ner’s death, a New York court ruled
last month. ‘

“This decision is a tremen-
dous victory that says gay couples
who have a civil union from Vermont
are spouses and should be recognized
as spouses whether they’re in
Vermont or elsewhere,” said Adam
Aronson, the Lambda Legal staff
attorney handling the case.

In the decision, Nassau
County Supreme Court Justice John
P. Dunne noted that “common-law”
spouses from other states are regular-
ly.recognized as spouses in New York
and said, “[I]t is impossible to justify,
under equal protection principles,
withholding the same recognition
from a union which meets all the
requirements of a marriage in New
York but for the sexual orientation of
its partners.” New York law, he noted,
does not define “spouses” as people
of different sexes.

St. Vincent’s Hospital had
asked the state court to block John
Langan from suing for wrongful
death and medical malpractice.
Langan and Conrad Spicehandler
were joined in a civil union in
Vermont in November 2000 and had
several other legal documents reflect-
ing their relationship. The hospital
had treated Langan as Spicehandler’s
spouse throughout the medical ordeal.

Last February, Spicehandler
was struck by a car driven by a New
Jersey man who was on a days-long
hit-and~run spree. When he was taken
to St. Vincent’s, Spicehandler asked
the staff to call Langan, who in turn
called Spicehandler’s other. family
members. By the time Langan arrived
at the hospital, Spicehandler was
being taken into surgery to repair a
broken leg, and had given his brother
a note for Langan that said: “John:
I’m going under. I,haven’t had the
chance to see you. I love you. I’ve
made my life in your heart. —
Conrad”

Following a second leg
operation, Spicehandler unexpectedly
died.

When St. Vincent’s was
unable to satisfactorily explain how
the routine surgery turned fatal,
Langan and Spicehandler’s mother,
Ruth, sued the hospital for wrongful
death and medical malpractice.

Family Pride Coalition Holds
Summer Events ,
Washington, DC — The Family Pride
Coalition has announced the dates for
its 2003 Family Weeks. The fourth
annual Family Week in Saugatuck,
Mich. will take place July 12 through
19. The eighth annual gathering in
Provincetown, Mass. will be August 2
through 9.

The Family Pride Coalition
is a national non-profit organization
dedicated to advancing the well being
of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgen-
der parents and their families through
mutual support, community collabo-
ration and public understanding.

“Gathering families through
our Family Week events serves a crit-
ical need for LGBT parents and their
children by allowing them to meet
and connect with other families like
theirs," said Aimee" Gelnaw, executive
director ofthe Family Pride
Coalition.

Activities include work-
shops for parents, and social and edu-

l

cational programming coordinated by
COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and
Gays Everywhere) for children nine
years old and up. Some of the adven-
tures include whale-watching tours,
sand dune hikes, barbecues, beach
and pool parties, a family parade and
family dances and picnics.

Advance registration for
Family Week is $100. Registration
forms are available online at
www.familypride.org or by calling
the Family Pride Coalition at (202)
331-5015.

Among the sponsors of
Family Week 2003 are Capital One,
IBM, Walt Disney World ® Resort,
and the Straight Spouse Network.

Greeks Demand Change
Athens — According to a press release
from a coalition of Greek gay and les-
bian organizations, conditions for
gays have recently deteriorated.

The immediate incident was
a bar raid by police in Athens in
February, resulting in charges such as
“pandering, solicitation, facilitation of
promiscuity of others — juvenile
pornography, indecent behavior, pos-
session of narcotics for personal use
and provision of space for the use of
narcotic substances, unnatural licen-
tiousness for profit,” and the discov-
ery of“indecent printed matter.”

One patron arrested com-
mitted suicide while in police cus-
tody, the press release said. I

. The coalition charged the
police with breaking the country’s
personal data laws by releasing the
full names, ages and occupations of
those detained. The coalition also
demanded “the immediate repeal of
the racist/homophobic article 347 of
the Criminal Law, which describes
homosexuality in offensive terms.”

The collection ofa dozen '
Greek and international gay, lesbian
and human rights organizations listed
several other demands, and declared
in closing: “The system that generates
oppression and war, like the one in
Iraq, is what is sick and abnormal.
Not us! We will not tolerate discrimi-
nation from the society in which we
live, and we condemn such discrimi-
nation whenever and wherever we
encounter it. We are part of the
Greece to come.”

Ark. Student Wins Right to Be
Out '

Little Rock — In a court conference
held this afternoon, the Pulaski
County, Special School District
agreed with the American Civil
Liberties Union and a federal judge
that students have a Constitutional
right to be openly gay in school.

In talks with ACLU attor-
neys representing 14-year-old
Thomas McLaughlin and counsel for
the school district, U.S. District Judge
G. Thomas Eisele said that under the
First Amendment schools cannot
silence or restrict students’ speech
unless it is disruptive.

The school had required
McLaughlin to not speak about his
sexual orientation or the reasons he
was being disciplined. . -

“Thomas McLaughlin has
been muzzled by his teachers and ~
administrators for far too long, and in
America schools can’t do that,” said
Rita Sklar, Executive Director ofthe
ACLU ofArkansas.

McLaughlin’s lawsuit

against the school is continuing. The
ACLU contends that school officials
violated Thomas McLaughlin’s rights
to free speech, equal protection, and
privacy, and that they violated the
establishment clause of the First
Amendment by preaching to him and
forcing him to read the Bible as pun-
ishment (see the Letters page for
more details).

El Paso Includes
‘II-ansgenders

Houston — The El Paso City Council
voted unanimously on April 9 to
expand its anti-discrimination ordi-
nance to ban discrimination based on
sexual orientation or gender identity.

The city council set out to
amend the ordinance to add “sexual
orientation” when a grant the city was
seeking required certain language
protecting gay and lesbian citizens. A
number of companies require a prohi-
bition against sexual-orientation-
based discrimination before they will
provide grants or donations.

Lisa Turner, a transgender
city council candidate, then asked the
council to include “gender identity.”
The council agreed, and the gender
identity amendment faced no opposi-
tion.

The newly passed ordi-
nance declares it unlawful to “refuse,
deny or withhold from any person,
for any reason directly or indirectly
relating to the race, gender, gender
identity. sexual orientation. Color. reli-
gion, ethnic background or national
origin ofsuch person, any ofthe
accommodations, advantages, facili-

‘ties or services olfered” to the general

public.

Protecting GLBTO Students
San Francisco — In a case brought by
the American Civil Liberties Union
and the National Center for Lesbian
Rights, the Federal Court ofAppeals
for the western states held school
officials liable for failing to protect
students from anti-gay harassment.
The court said that a school must take
steps to eliminate harassment when it
learns that lesbian, gay and bisexual
students are abused at school.

A spokesman for the ACLU
added, “The court made it very clear

' that going through the motions is not

enough.”

The decision comes in a V
lawsuit brought on behalf of five high
school students in Santa Clara’s
Morgan Hill Unified School District
who charged that school officials
refused to protect the students from
ongoing anti-gay harassment. The
students, four girls and one boy, were
repeatedly abused both physically and
verbally. One student was hospital-
ized after a group of male students
shouted “faggot” while hitting and
kicking him at a school bus stop.

When a female student
found a pornographic picture along
with a note attached reading, “Die,
Die, Dyke bitch, Fuck off. We’ll kill
you.” taped to her locker, she sought
help and asked for a new locker. The
principal said. “Yes, sure, sure, later.
Don’t bring me this trash anymore.
This is disgusting."

The case, Flores v. Morgan
Hill Unified School District. will now
retum to the federal district court for
trial. V‘