NTAC Studies Trans Needs
Washington DC — In an effort to bet-
ter understand the needs of transgen-
der communities nationwide, the
National Transgender Advocacy
Coalition earlier this fall announced a
series of needs assessment studies
around the country. Initiated and run
with the help of NTAC members, the
goal is unbiased, publishable, schol- ‘
arly research that can be used by
local and national organizations for
their lobbying.

“We have too little infor-
mation on who our communities are
and what are their most pressing
needs,” said Julie Maverick, NTAC
vice chair.

Individual groups and
agencies in a community will con-
duct the studies. Researchers will
interview the transgender community
directly. A standardized survey will

' be used, which can be amended to
‘address specific problems in each

region (e.g., language, drug use).

Atta¢:.lx.on. Marriage
Equality in Michigan
Lansing, MI — The most conservative
member of the Michigan Senate,
Alan Cropsey, introduced a measure
last month that, if passed, would ask
Michigan voters to limit civil mar-
riage rightsto heterosexual couples.
According to The Triangle
Foundation, advocates for marriage
equality are calling the Cropsey
Amendment the most devastating
attack on the institution of marriage
in Michigan history. The amendment,
if passed, would not only severely
limit who can have a civil marriage,‘
but would leave thousands of chil-
dren‘ without two legal parents.
Michigan has already banned civil
marriages among same-sex couples
and will not honor such them if they
are performed in other states.

“Senator Cropsey is being
dishonest and disingenuous when he
says he is protecting marriage,” said
Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive ‘
Director for Triangle Foundation. “If
marriage needs protection, it’s from
people like Cropsey.”

Russian chapel Razed
After Gay Marriage
Moscow — The Russian Orthodox
Church has demolished a chapel
where a priest conducted a marriage
ceremony between two men. As
reported in The London Telegraph
last month, The Chapel of the
Vladimir lcongof the Mother of God
was apparently knocked down afier
local churchmen determined it had

been “defiled_.”

Father Vladimir Enert, who
performed the marriage of Denis
Gogolyev and Mikhail Morozev, was
expelled from the church last spring.
The three men secretly entered the
empty chapel one afternoon. The
couple donned gold crowns, an *
Orthodox wedding tradition, and held
hands. Although the priest initially
claimed he was tricked, the men said
they bribed him to ignore the ban on
same-sex marriages. . -

, Local officials reported that
the chapel was due for demolition to
make room for a new, larger church.
However, a spokesman for the local
church said the marriage may have
“sped up the process.”

Lesbians & Heart Disease
Risk

Washington DC — A study of
California lesbians and their straight
sisters, originally meant to focus on
breast cancer, has shown that lesbians

‘may be at higher risk for cardiovas-

cular disease. The study, published in
the July/August‘Women 19 Health
Issues journal and reported in the» ' ’
Washington Blade, surveyed 324 les-
bians age 40 and over, and their bio-
logical sisters. Women were asked to
take body measurements and to
answer questions about age, ethnicity,
employment, menopausal status, eat-

_ ing, exercise and smoking habits.

The research revealed that
lesbians have a higher body mass
index than their straight sisters and
the average waist circumference is
within an inch of the cutoff point
associated with cardiovascular dis-
ease. The findings showed that les-
bians may more frequently have
‘abdominal/visceral adiposity,’ a con-
dition in which fat is deposited on
internal organs.

Dr. Stephanie Roberts, the
lead researcher on the study and a
specialist in the study of obesity
believes that lesbians’ different atti-
tudes about body image and weight
maymean they are not getting the
message about the risks of being
overweight.

Egyptian Crackdown
Continues

New York — A recent roundup in
Cairo of men suspected of having sex

‘with men, and the continued impris-'

onment of men already convicted,
show that Egypt’s crackdown on
homosexuals continues unabated.
Human Rights Watch reported that
sixty-two men were reportedly
rounded up in August by Cairo

police, who used police wagons to *
block a Nile bridge reputed to bela

meeting place for men’ who have sex
with men, then arrested men along _

the bridge.

The men were held for
three days in a central Cairo police
station where, according to a defense
lawyer, they were verbally abused.
They were freed on bail after being

' charged with the “habitual practice of

debauchery,” the provision under
Egypt’s penal code used to legitimize
arrests for homosexual conduct. The
men face up .to three years’ imprison-
ment if found guilty at trial.

Military court Hears
Sodomy case
Washington DC — The military’s
highest court heard arguments early
last month in the case of United
States v. Marcum. Technical Sergeant
Eric Marcum was convicted of con-
sensual sodomy with a fellow airman
of the same sex in the privacy of
Marcum’s home. "Counsel for the
Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network argued’ that the U.S.
Supreme Court’s Lawrence vs. Texas
decision overturning state sodomy
laws also invalidates the military’s
sodomy law, Article 125.

SLDN, the ACLU, and
Lambda Legal submitted an amicus
brief, joined by nine senior retired
military members. Another.amic’us
brief was filed by nine military soci-
ologists, disputing the military’s
assertion that consensual sodomy
undermines unit cohesion or military
effectiveness. ‘

Kaiser Grants a Kidney
Denver ~ Kaiser Permanente has I
reconsidered its initial- rejection of a
kidney transplant for a Denver-area
‘man with HIV and will now cover
the procedure. Lambda Legal had _
filed a formal appeal with Kaiser,
asking the HMO to reverse its denial.

John Carl,_53, has had HIV
for 15 years and began experiencing
kidney failure two years ago. He
receives dialysis three times each
week. He has an undetectable viral
load and no opportunistic infections.
When Carl requested coverage for a
kidney transplant, Kaiser denied his
request, “due to its experimental sta-
tus and non-favorable outcomes.”

A recent study of 45 liver
and kidney transplant recipients with
HIV on anti-retroviral medications
concluded, “There is no ethical justi-
fication forwithholding transplanta-
tion from -this population.”

Carl has been accepted by

the rt of our world

the_ United Network for Organ
Sharing and is awaiting a suitable

_ kidney.

Gay sportwsriter Comes
Out ,

Boston — A Boston Herald sports-
writer carne out in a column early
last month, saying he could no longer -
tolerate the “unabashed homophobia”
in professional sports. “I just got to
the point where I didn’t want to be
silent anymore,” Ed Gray, a 55-year-
old reporter who has worked at the
Herald for about two decades, said in
an interview with the Associated
Press. '

Gray came out in response
to recent, widely published homo-
phobic comments by professional
sports athletes that ‘went unsanctioned
by league authorities.

The column, headlined
“Out and Proud,” was displayed
prominently on the back page of the
tabloid paper. “We support Eddie,
and we just thought it was the right
thing‘ to do to give him the platform
to express his views,” said sports edi-
tor Mark Torpey.

' Fred Phelps’ Hate
-Monument .

Casper, WY — Rev. Fred Phelps plans
to erect a so-called “monument” to
the hate-crime death of Matthew
Shepard in Casper, Wyoming, says a
press release from the Human Rights
Campaign‘ and GLAAD.

According to Phelps’ letter
to the Casper City Council, the mon-
ument would include a bronze plaque
with Shepard’s image and the words
“Matthew Shepard, Entered Hell
October 12, 1998, at age 21 In
Defiance of God’s Warning.”
Because of a l0th Circuit Court rul-
ing last year, the city may have to
display the message or else remove
another statue displaying the Ten
Commandments.

“Matthew was killed by
men who believed that hating people
because they are different is some-
thing to be glorified, the same form
of bigotry and intolerance fueling
Phelps,” said Elizabeth Birch, HRC’s
executive director.

Phelps, a disbarred lawyer,
told The Salt Lake Tribune that he
would buy private property-in the
city to display the monument or sue
the city. .

Queers Advise Het
Couples

New York — During “Marriage
Protection Week” last month,

 

Lambda Legal launched “Queer Eye
for the Straight Couple,” a forum for
heterosexual, married couples to get
relationship advice from lesbian and
gay couples in long-term relation-
ships. '

“Same-sex couples face all '
of the same challenges and joys that
heterosexual couples do — but we're
left navigating through them without
the [legal] protections marriage pro-
vides,” said Michael Adams, Director
of Education at Lambda Legal.

“With ‘Queer Eye for the
Straight Couple,’ we’ve brought
together some fantastic lesbian and
gay couples to lend their relationship
experience to their heterosexual
peers.”

V The lesbian and gay cou-
ples providing advice included,
among others, Col. Margarethe
Cammermeyer and Diane Divelbess,
together 15 years; Brenda and Wanda
Henson, together 19 years and
‘founders of Camp Sister Spirit in
Ovett, Mississippi; and Toby Johnson
and Kip Dollar, together 20 years, the
first gay couple to register as domes-
tic partners in Texas. '

The “Queer Eye Couples”
were joined by a nationally renowned
relationship expert.

Rosie Rivets Crowd With
Pledge ’

Los Angeles — Rosie O’Donnell
pledged $100,000 in support -of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
and encouraged other people of
means to match her gift. At the 14th
Annual NGLTF Leadership Awards
earlier this fall, Matt Foreman,
NGLTF executive director, thanked
the honorees (transgender activist
Calpemia Addams, writer/producer
David Lee, Kelli and Rosie
O’Donnell, and LA City Councilman
Antonio Villaraigosa) for the differ-
ence they’ve made in the lives of
millions of people and told ofthe
threat the LGBT community was fac-
ing from the right wing.

“What does it take to raise

a million dollars? Ten millionaires,
who will never know the money is
missing, to stand up and give
$100,000 tonight in honor of
Calpernia, David and Antonio, I’m
going to give the first $100,000 and
ask if there are nine other people who

_ can, please do it,” Rosie asked. V