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Gov't Wins when Queers Many
New York — A Congressional Budget
Office analysis of same-sex marriage
requested by conservatives has found
that the federal government would
actually save about $400-$700 million
per year for the next 10 years.

Federal income tax revenues
would increase because of the so-called
“marriage penalty.” Expenditures
would be much lower, since spending
on Medicaid and Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) would fall. The
net impact would be a federal budget
savings of nearly $1 billion per year.

The reportwas based on the
assumption that there are 600,000 gay
and lesbian couples in the United States
(or 0.6 percent of the population, based
on the number of households in the
2000 census who identified themselves
as ‘‘partners’’), all of whom would
marry in legal ceremonies accepted by
all 50 states.

Nc Refuses Amendment
Washington, DC — An attempt to ‘
amend the North Carolina Constitution
to prohibit marriage between same-sex
couples — as well as civil unions and
domestic partnerships —- failed when the
Legislature adjourned July 18.

“No Constitution should be.’
used to discriminate,” said HRC
President Cheryl Jacques. “Every North
Carolinian deserves to have the same
rights and freedoms under their
Constitution.”

Ian Palmquist, Equality
North Carolina’s executive director of
programs said, “This victory sends a
message that our community can effec-
tively mobilize to stop discriminatory _
state constitutional amendments.”

Family Ties

Cincinnati, OH — Lambda Legal asked
an’ Ohio appeals court last month to
allow a lesbian couple to legally protect
their relationship with the child they

are raising together.

Cheryl and Jennifer
McKetrick were denied a shared cus-
t0dy agreement for their child, “Baby
J,” by 21 Warren County court last year.
Breaking from legal precedent, the
lower court found that because they
might provide some security for “Baby
1” through other documents like pow-
ers of attorney, the court didn’t need to
approve a formal custody agreement.

“The judge made a mistake.
Ohio law clearly favors custody agree-
ments like this one, and we’re going to
ask the appeals court to correct the
l11dge’s error and let this family protect
their child,” Heather Sawyer, supervis-

ing attorney in Lambda Legal’s
Midwest Regional Ofiice who is litigat-
ing the case said.

1|-ans Not In Platforms

Houston, TX — The transgender com-
munity’s efforts to be included in the
Democratic Party’s platform fell short
last month. -

A proposal to amend a plank
supporting workplace non-discrimina-
tion for sexual orientation to extend the
support to include gender identity was
withdrawn in the face of likely defeat.
“We could’ve forced the

issue onto the floor, lost the vote, and
left the first-impression that we are
self—interested — -elections be damned,”
reported NTAC Chair Vanessa Edwards
Foster, who was one of the two dele-
gates from Texas. “Afier weighing the
options,” Foster added, “the platform
inclusion was not a,critical priority.”

Rights Monitored
New York — Human Rights Watch has

’ launched a Lesbian, ‘Gay, Bisexual,’ and

Transgender Rights Project. The group
said in a press release that the program
“can now give permanent institutional
form to our commitment to combating
violations based on sexual orientation
or gender identity.”

Human Rights Watch inves-
tigates abuses, offers policy recommen-

.dations, and generates

pressure to confront human rights
abusers and defend basic freedoms.
Human Rights Watch monitors human
rights protections in over ninety coun-
tries for twenty-five years.
The HRW LGBT Rights

Project released a report in March on
Egypt’s persecution of men suspected
of having sex with men. In A Time of
Torture: The Assault on Justice in
Egypt 3' Crackdown on Homosexual
Conduct detailed the “full scope and
sweep of a massive campaign of
repression.” A copy of the report is
available at:
hrw.org/reports/2004/egypt0304/.

NJ couples Get 5 Rights
Trenton, NJ — According to news
reports fiom New Jersey, same-sex
couples who began registering their
domestic partnerships last month
gained 5 rights out of nearly 900 grant-
ed to sex-discordant marriage partners.
Among those rights are the rights to
make critical health-care decisions for
one another, visit each other in the hos-
pital, file for state income tax deduc-
tions for dependents and for state inher-
itance tax-exemptions.
The law also allows regis-

out in the mountains

tered couples to receive benefits if they
are employed by the state. Domestic
partners also are eligible for benefits
from private employers, and municipal
and county employees also may receive
benefits if the employer chooses to pro-
vide them. The law also allows hetero-
sexual couples ages 62 and older to
become domestic partners.

Some couples did not regis-
ter, pinning their hopes on a marriage
lawsuit working its way through the
state’s courts.

Sodomy Appeals

Virginia Beach, VA — Lambda Legal is
appealing the conviction of a manvwho
was charged with solicitation of
sodomy despite the U.S. Supreme
Court’s Lawrence_ V. Texas ruling.

“This sodomy law is dead,

and that means you can’t convict some-
one for attempting to violate it or talk-
ing about violating it; there’s no law
left to violate,” said Greg Nevins,
Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda

‘ Legal’s’ Southern Regional Office.

Earlier this year, Joel

Singson was convicted of solicitation
to commit sodomy. The incident began
after a discussion with an undercover
police officer in the men’s room of a
store. Singson was taken by two offi-
cers to the back of the store, questioned
and released. He was charged several
months later and spent 8 days in jail. If
Singson loses at the end of the appeal
process, he faces a three-year jail
sentence.

Dem con Had Queer Wee‘ Chair
Washington, DC — Rep. Tammy
Baldwin of Wisconsin was named by
the Democratic National Committee
(DNC) as Convention Vice Chair.
Baldwin wasthe first openly gay Vice
Chair of a national political convention.

Representing the 2nd District
of Wisconsin, Baldwin is the only
openly lesbian member of Congress. In
her third term in the House, she serves
on the House Budget and Judiciary
Committees.

Joining Baldwin was
Convention Chair New Mexico
Governor Bill Richardson. DNC
Chairman Terry -McAulifi‘e said, “We ~
are proud to be the only political Party
that welcomes all Americans, regard-
less of their sexual orientation.”

Ono Sings Pro-Gay Sons

New York — Yoko Ono has joined the
chorus in support of gay marriage by
recording “Every Man Has a Man Who
Loves Him,” a gay-friendly version of
a song she wrote nearly a quarter-cen-

o our war

tury ago, according to an AP report.

The song “Every Man Has a
Woman Who Loves Him,” included on
her last album with John Lennon before
he was killed in 1980, was also
retooled into a lesbian version, “Every
Woman Has a Woman Who Loves
Her.”

Ono, age 71, recently per-

/
formed “Eivery Man i-las a Man Who

Loves Him" at a gay pride rally in New
York and the song is moving up
Billboard magazine’s dance club charts.

Richard Gere'Flghts Alds In
India

Mumbai — Richard Gere and
Parmeshwar Godrej launched the
“Heroes Project” to mobilize societal
leaders and the media industry to fight
HIV/AIDS in India. Healing the Divide
has received a grant of up to $2.4 mil-
lion over three years from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation’s India
AIDS initiative, and will implement the
Heroes Project through the Gere
Foundation India Trust and several
other partners.

Gere said, “India urgently
needs heroes to come forward at this
crucial moment to contain this epidem-
ic which will help create a significant
understanding and compassion as we
concentrate on removing the stigma
attached to the disease and are able to
bring a message of urgency and prom-
ise to the people of India.”

Good News from My Insurance
Co.

New York — The three largest car insur-
ance companies in New York —
Allstate, State Farm, and Geico — will
respect the marriages of same-sex cou-
ples, providing them with the same
rates and coverage as married hetero-
sexual couples, according to Lambda
Legal.

“New York law requires
respect for marriages that were validly
performed elsewhere. As more same-
sex couples get married, it’s critical
that they receive rights and protections
— from the government as well as the ,
private sector,” said Alphonso David,
Lambda Legal Staff Attorney.

Jail for Sexist Insults

Paris — The French cabinet yesterday
gave its backing to a bill authorizing
penalties of up to a year in jail and
hefty fines for anyone found guilty of
making an anti-gay or sexist remark.

“This law puts the fight

against homophobia and sexism on the
same footing, legally speaking, as the
fight against racism and anti-semitism,”

     

said the Justice Minister, Dominique
Perben, quoted in a report in the British
Guardian Weekly online.
Penalities range from a fine

of €45,000 (Euros) and up to 12
months in prison for “defamation or
incitement to discrimination, hatred or
violence on the grounds of a person’s
sex or sexual orientation” to €22,500
and six months in jail for any remark
“of a more general nature tending to
denigrate homosexuals as a whole.”

N. Mexico Rights Law saved
Santa Fe, NM — Opponents of a 2003
New Mexico law protecting lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
individuals from discrimination
announced they had given up trying to
place a referendum on the November
ballot to overturn that law. The group
was required to get 50,000 signatures
on a petition for the vote. A well-organ-
ized statewide campaign by New
Mexico LGBT activists is credited with
defeating the anti-gay attack.

“This is a great day not only
for LGBT people in New Mexico, but
for all of the people of the state,” said
Linda Siegle, Campaign Committee
Member for Basic Rights New Mexico.
“It’s wonderfiil to live in a state where
people simply refused to support taking
away basic protections from a
minority.” ,

Foot Locker Sued

Columbia, SC — Lambda Legal filed a
lawsuit against Foot Locker, Inc., last
month on behalf of a former employee
who was subjected to antigay harass-
ment by coworkers and supervisors,
and ultimately fired.

Lambda Legal Senior Staff
Attorney Greg Nevins said, “Foot
Locker could have addressed this prob-
lem, as it clearly promises employees
in its policies.”

When Kevin Dunbar, 26,
formally complained about the harass-
ment, he was transferred to another
store, where his manager said, “I don’t
want your faggot ass in my store.”

Three customers who wit-
nessed the antigay harassment have
sworn affidavits on Dunbar’s behalf.
One customer gave Dunbar her name
and phone number “because as a
Christian woman I felt this was wrong,
and the Lord told me to help and heal.”

Lambda Legal has also
launched the “Blow the Whistle on
Foot Locker” campaign to use con-
sumer outrage to let the company know
that it has committed a personal
foul. V
Compiled this month by Euan Bean