HRC Appoints Lesbian Lawmaker as ED

The Human Rights Campaign has
appointed Massachusetts State Senator
Cheryl Jacques (pronounced “jakes”)
as its new president and executive director.
In a telephone “meet-the-press” conference
last month, Jacques claimed that both the
recent California domestic partnership legis-
lation and Vermont’s civil unions were HRC
victories.
No one who was available and

deeply involved with the civil union legisla-

-tion in the spring of 2000 and the subsequent

political campaign.was willing to go on the
record to affinn or deny the HRC director’s

‘ claim. The consensus of comments made “on

background” was that HRC’s contribution
was minimal at best and did not involve on-
the-ground assistance‘ with mailings, databas-
es, or campaign help. ,
Jacques introduced herself as some-
one who has “been an activist my entire
life.” She was a prosecutor specializing in

child abuse cases, and campaigned for elec-
tion to the Massachusetts state Senate on
issues concerning victims of crime, senior
citizens, and civil rights. Jacques beat a
solidly entrenched incumbent for her Senate
seat in 1992 at the age of 29 and was a co-
sponsor of the state’s hate crime law in 1996.
‘ The new executive director said,

“Coalition-building has been the secret to my
success.” She looks forward, she added, to
working with Log Cabin Republicans direc-
tor Patrick Guerriero, another former’
Massachusetts political office holder. LCR
issued a press release praising HRC’s selec-
tion of Jacques.

She said her job would be to con-
tinue the work of outgoing director Elizabeth
Birch, but did not embrace Birch’s support
for a parallel legislative track for an ENDA-
type bill that would include gender identity
and expression.

Jacques said she wanted to “contin-

ue the work of educating America” that we“ 5

should not be treating “others dilferently" “ '
because of who they love.” She would, she
said, “meet with everyone I physically can,”
in an efl°ort to move an equality agenda for-
ward. “Civil rights is not a partisan issue,”-
she insisted. “We have Republican allies and
Democratic allies, and they have gay rela-
tives andstaffers, whether theyknow it or A,
not.”
At press time, the Boston Globe

was reporting that Jacques would delay .
resigning from her Senate seat until after

January 1, 2004, suggesting that the‘ delay I i

would increase the senator’s pension and
throw a monkey wrench into the campaign

plans of Democrats seeking to hold onto her 7

seat. The report quoted Jacques responding

that her only concern was to resolve issues in .
her district. Birch leaves her post as director

as of December 31. V -

i Montréal Walks Away

ccording to numerous press releases
Aand reports, negotiations between

Montréal 2006 and the Federation of
Gay Games have failed to resolve a dispute
over the size and financial control of the
planned 2006 Gay Games. The talks broke
off in the early morning hours of November
9 after a 15-hour session.

Montréal 2006 says it will hold
games and cultural events under the name
“Rendez-Vous Montreal 2006’’ without the
sanction and logo of the Federation of Gay
Games. An FGG spokesman said the organi-
zation will go to plan B, which — according
to a previous statement — might include
delaying the games and moving them else-
where, probably to another city in the U.S.
Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles were

unsuccessful bidders of the 2006 games and
will reportedly have a second chance.

An organization of gay nonprofits
called The Purple Star issued a press release
questioning the choice of any citytin the U.S.
for several reasons, including visa issues
(declaration of the trip’s purpose, photo-
graphing and fingerprinting of foreign visi-
tors at the borders, and special registration
for athletes from Arab countries), the U.S.
ban on allowing HIV-positive visitors to
enter the country, and anti-gay sentiment.

“We realizenow that it is time to
break with the past and with an organization
that ultimately represents little more than
itself, with only 21 of the 1000 sports teams
around the world being FGG members,”
according to the Montréal 2006 press release.

From FGG

“Rendez-Vous Montreal 2006 will, however,
move forward as planned.” Mark Tewksbury,
co-president of Montréal 2006, declared,
V “Our event will take place without the F GG.”
According to an FGG statement,
co-president Roberto Mantaci said, “We
deeply regret that Montréal 2006 made the
decision to walk away from these negotia-
tions which were planned with the best inter-
ests of future Gay Games participants in
mind.”
Mantaci continued, “The Federation
made multiple concessions to Montréal 2006,
and we are confident that we tried everything
we could to reach an agreement with them
while remaining true to our stated obligation
towards safeguarding the fiscal responsibility
by Gay Games hosts.”

Montreal 2006 had planned for the, 4

largest games ever, with 24,000 participants

at a cost of $20 million (CAD). At the in'sis-. A

tence of the FGG, it had -presented an alter-

‘ nate proposal for 16,000 participants at a cos "
of»$16 million (CAD). ' ~

The F GG sought a fallback plan for

12,000 participants, because the last four 5' i

Gay Games organizations were faced with 3
financial disaster, at least one flirted with ,
cancellation, and the Games generated sub-
stantial debts.

The Gay Games were conceived by .

Dr. Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete,
and first held in San Francisco in 1982 with
1,350 participants. Subsequent Gay Games
_were held in San Francisco (3,500 partici-
pants), Vancouver (7,300 participants), New
York (12,500 participants), Amsterdam
(15,000 participants), and Sydney (11,000
participants). V’

F