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“Sodomy” Erased From NY
Law ' i

Albany, NY — As the legislative ses-
sion drew to a close, the Empire State
Pride Agenda and victims’ rights
groups prevailed upon legislators to
drop the terms “sodomy” and “devi-
ate sexual intercourse” from state

‘ law, reports Gay City News.

A Pride Agenda release
said, “For decades, New York has _
categorized sexual assaults into rape
and sodomy. By definition, the crime
of rape arises out of ‘sexual inter-
course’ and the crime of sodomy aris-

es out of ‘deviate sexual intercourse; ’

defined by statute to include both
oral and anal sex.”

Matt Foreman, director of
NGLTF and a fonner head of the
Pride Agenda, said, “No longer will
any New Yorker read in the papers
that a victim has been ‘sodomized’
with all the misunderstanding and
anti-gay baggage that term comes
with.”

Buenos Aires Okays civil
Unions

Buenos Aires — In July, a law passed
by a 29-l0 vote in Argentina’s capital
city to recognize civil unions for
same-sex couples. Buenos Aires is
the first city in Latin America to offi-
cially recognize such partnerships,
reported the Christian Science
Monitor.

Predictably, the legislation
was strongly opposed by the Catholic
Church.

The civil-unions law
applies to “couples formed by two
people regardless of their sex or1sex-
ual choice.”

According to the report, i
“all couples must meet certain
requirements that include living
together for at least two years within
the city limits. The law extends '- I
health and insurance benefits as well
as hospital visitation rights to the
couples, but does not allow them to
adopt children or establish rights of
inheritance.” -

The Joy of sax '
Washington, DC — Congressman
Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) in
mid-July addressed a question to
seven of his colleagues who circulat-

ed a Dear Colleague letter calling on _

those opposed to gay marriage to
Sign on as cosponsors of a
Constitutional amendment to ban it,

according to a press release from-his .

office. The letter raised the specter of
the pending (and likely gay-marriage
favorable) Massachusetts Supreme

Judicial Court ruling being used to

' impose the ruling on other states

using the full faith and credit clause
of the U.S. Constitution by “support-
ers of same-sax unions.”

“I was disappointed to see.

how vehemently: my colleagues

oppose same-sax unions,” the openly
gay Frank quipped. “I assume they
will be patrolling nightclubs in their
districts to‘ prevent any such duet
from undermining public morality.
My question is whether they are will-
ing to allow clarinet-saxophone
liaisons. We, of course, already know
that Senator Frist would be vehe-
mently opposed to any union consist-
ing of two trumpets and a trombone.”
The email alert from Rep.

Frank’s office was accompanied by a
scanned image of the letter.

‘Lift the Ban’ Campaign
Features ‘Ii-ansactivist
Washington, DC — Servicemembers .
Legal Defense Network (SLDN)
unveiled a national ad campaign as
part of its ongoing effort to repeal the
military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
policy. The campaign, which features
transgender activist Calpemia
Addams, asks constituents to visit
www.lifttheban.org and urge
Congress to repeal the law which
prohibits gay Americans from serving
openly in the armed forces.
“In 1999, PFC Barry

Winchell was brutally murdered by
fellow soldiers who perceived him to
be gay,” the ad says, “because of his

' relationship with Calpemia Addams,

a transgender woman he met while
serving in the Anny. The time-has
come to end discrimination in our
armed forces.” , »

To date, more than 5,000
individuals have signed the online
petition. 1 '

a smear campaign Against

Gay Reporter

0 Washington, DC - Several news

sources have reported that someone
in the White House Press Office

_ attempted to discredit ABC'News

reporter Jeflrey Kofman after he filed
a report on the decline of troop

- morale in Iraq. The reporter, it was
I implied, should not be considered

credible because he’s Canadian, and
not only that, he’s gay.‘ i
The report first appeared on

' Matt Drudge’s online media scandal
‘site, according to syndicated gay‘ '
' - columnist Mubarak Dahir. The White

House has denied that it was the
source for the infomiation.
The National Gay and

Lesbian Journalists Association, of
which Kofman is a member, charac-'
terized the smear campaign as “a
form of dangerous intimidation and a
potential professional libel.”

Dahir, in a recent column,
wrote that the smear campaign was _
“aimed at intimidating journalists of
all kinds. The message is clear: File a
story we don’t like — a story that is
‘unpatriotic’ -— and we’ll go after you
any way we can.” In his column,

-e titled “Shoot the Messenger,” he also

charged that calling attention to irrel-
evant facts about the reporter (such
as his nationality and sexual orienta-
tion) was an attempt to distract
Americans from serious questions
about the Bush Administration’s poli-
cies in Iraq.

NH court to Decide on Gay
Adultery

Concord, NH — The New Hampshire
Supreme Court will decide whether a
lesbian relationship constitutes adul-
tery under a 1791 law, reports the
Valley News. The justices heard argu-
ments in a disputed divorce case, in
which a Family Court judge declared
that a gay relationship w’as_adultery,
and thus grounds for divorce.

David Blanchflower

accused his wife Sian of havingjan

adulterous affair with Robin Mayer.

According to the report, “Both
women have objected to the adultery
charge on the grounds that New
Hampshire law recognizes adultery

3 only as a heterosexual act.” Mayer

appealed the Family Couit’s conclu-
sion that adultery could include
sarne-gender sexual relations.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates
& Defenders filed a brief in the suit
urging the Court to treat all extramar-
ital relationships equally. Mayer
argued that because gays and lesbians
are not treated fairly under other New
Hampshire laws, asking to be treated
equally under the “adultery” provi-
sion of divorce law is a “disservice.”

A ruling is not expected for
several months.

Who Wants A Million for
Marriage

Washington, DC — Not a million dol-
lars, silly, a million signatures of
American voters in favor of federal
recognition of same-sex marriage.
And the answer is the Human Rights
Campaign, which launched a website,
www.millionforrnarriage.org, to
achieve that goal.

Visitors to the site will be

able to sign a petition supporting the
right of every American to marry; to

send e-mails asking friends and fami-
ly to get involved in the campaign;
and to receive a commitment to mar-
riage document that symbolically rec-
ognizes their relationship until gay
and lesbian relationships are lawfully
recognized.

Bi Conference In San Diego
Miami, FL — LLEGO, the National
Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Organization, passed
along a press releaseabout the 2003
North American Conference on
Bisexuality (www.bisexual.org/nacb).

“This Conference will be
the largest gathering of people inter-
ested in Bisexuality in the world this
year,” said NACB Co-chair Richard
Woulfe. The Conference, to be held
at the Radisson San Diego Hotel
August 21-24, 2003, will kick-off
with three Pre-conference Institutes
on Bi Health, Bi People of Color, and
Bi Youth.

Gay Arkansas student Wins
Jacksonville, AR — Thomas
McLaughlin’s suit against his school
for outing him, making him read the
Bible, and silencing him has borne
fruit: the school district has settled
and agreed to all conditions demand-
ed by the American Civil Liberties
Union. « ‘

“I’m really glad that this is
all over and that the ACLU is making
the school treat gay students the way
they should have been treated in the
first place,” said the 14-year-old
McLaughlin, adding, “No more stu-
dents should have to go through what
I did.” '

The Pulaski County Special
School District officials’ actions, the
ACLU lawsuit charged, violated
McLaughlin’s rights to free speech, .
equal protection, and privacy as well
as his religious liberty. -

' The school has agreed to 4.
expunge McLaughlin’s disciplinary
record, as well as enforce fair poli-
cies throughout the district, including
not disclosing any student’s sexual
orientation; not punishing students
for talking about their sexual orienta-
tion; not discriminating against stu-.
dents because of their sexual orienta-
tion; and not preaching to students or
forcing them to read the Bible; 

The district also issued a
formal apology to McLaughlin’ and"

his parents and agreed to pay $25,000 - _ _ V
I and weiare legally married.” V

in damages and attorneys’ fees. , -

Wal-Mart Gets on Board -- _ '
Seattle —— According to a report from
The New York Times, Wal-Mart-

 

Stores, the nation’s largest private
employer, has expanded its antidis-
crimination policy to protect gay and
lesbian employees.
The decision was first dis-
closed by the Pride Foundation, a
Seattle gay rights foundation that had
invested in Wal-Mart and then lob-
bied the company for two years to
change its policy. Wal-Mart officials
confirmed the policy change.
. The Times article quoted
the giant retailer’s spokeswoman as
‘saying, “It’s the right thing to do for
our employees. And it’s the right
‘thing to do for our business.”
As outlined in the letter to
the Pride Foundation, Wal-Mart’s
new policy states, “We affirm our

commitment and pledge our support '

to equal opportunity employment for
all qualified persons, regardless of
race, color, religion, gender, national
origin, age, disability or status as a
veteran or sexual orientation."

The letter indicates that the
policy extends to recruitment, hiring,
training, and promotion and other
personnel actions.

‘tying -the Knot

Toronto — In mid-July, the Rev. Troy
Peny, founder of the predominantly
gay Metropolitan Community
Church, married his partner Phillip
Ray De Blieck. The two were mar-
ried by Rev. Brent Hawkes, the pas-
tor of Toronto’s MCC just east of the
city‘s gay village.

, According to the report by
.365Gay.com, Perry broke down in
tears as‘Hawkes asked the two men
whether they took the other to be -
their “lawfully wedded spouse.” The
couple exchanged wedding bands,
embraced and kissed as Hawkes pro-
nounced them married under the‘
Ontario. Marriage Act.

Since the Ontario Court of

 Appeal struck down the federal: gov-

emment ban on same-sex marriage,
hundreds of Americans have traveled
to Canada to“n_iarry.

r ' Perry is encouraging more
Americans, to look north to tie the
knot toicreate pressure on the US
jurisdictions that currently ban same-

 sex marriage. ‘‘I don’t care what the

U.S. government says,” Peny said at

. ‘aipress conference. “My partner

,Phillip,‘an'd [are legally married

' runder ;Ca_jr_‘iadian law. We’ve put our

natiovn:-_on_ notice: We’re coming home