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It: ’_’ the 
E05 ANGELES, CA
Actors Urge
Others to Help
End Black AIDS
Epldemlc ,
‘Actors and humanitarians Danny
' ‘lover and Harrygflelefonte,
speaking durlngfthe 2006 BET

.waEds Cerem'dmsalled for Af- ,
rican‘American5 and specifically
celebrities to join the national
Mass Black Mobilization Move-
ment to end the AIDS epidemic
in Black America.

Glover, a longtime AIDS
activist and humanitarian. made
his comments while helping to
present Belafontfe withthe BET-
Humanitarian Award during the...
‘show held at the~histc’ri_c Los
Angeles Shrine‘Audit_orium~. ‘

, "Following thé'example of '
the; man we are honoring this“
“vening, let us remember that _
are in the 25,thyear of the ‘

  

   

  

 
 

  
  
 

   

   
 

previous BET Humanitarian and
oneof BET’s 25 Heroes in the .
Struggle Against AIDS. "Please
join with BET‘s Rap;-lt~Up and the
Black AIDS Institute to create a
mass mobilization where we all
do our part to end this pan-

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demic. -

  

  

  

   
    

fpsssooicso, pies  
I Hsame-sex coupies havernarrled

‘ under the U.K.'s Civil Partnership

_ ber, in newsweekly reported.
* in England and Wales: 4,311 to

' marriages in Scotland, 220 to 123.

. eral Duncan Macniven.

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I~ll,\llAlD$ epademiscnsasd Glover, . T‘ P If 
l~ The American ljtiberties

. Unionlannounceda $625,000 ‘

. in the country to specifically ad- ~

« gay, bisexual, and transgender
. youth in juvenile facilities, the

, ment ends an ACLLl,federal civil —

A gay and anti-transgender abuse

1 ‘ _staff and their peeirszzf

  

   
 
  

Agar early Jury, lhésfly iooo.

  

Act, which took effect in Decem-

    
 

, ‘Male couplesloutnumbered
female couples by a wide margin

    
   

2,205, the news report said. Male
couples also led the number of

     
   
 
   
 

 

The new law provides 
same-sex coup_les~’with the same —- 
marriage rights of-heterosexual
couples, in newsweekly said.

"Local registrars have been
exemplary in introducing this

' new legislation, helping same-
, sex partners to have a relaxed

and happy experience on their _
important day/'~'the news report
quoted ‘Scottish Registrar Gen-

 
   

 
     
        
    

dollar settlement inthe first case:

     
 

dress the treatment of lesbian,

    
    

ACLU, reported. The June settle-

 
 
   

rights lawsuit on'be:;h_alf~:of~three — T
young people 'wfio‘l7a“ced anti- ‘

 
   
   
 

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N EWS

Cloudsand Silver Linings

News on the Marriage and Family Fronts

BY BETH ROBINSON

Wm some, lose some - these
are the ebbs and flows of a civil
rights movement. We've ‘taken
some hits recently, no question
about it. But the news isn’t all
bad. We have every reason to be
angry - and optimistic.

On July 6, in a 4-2 decision,
New York's highest couxt rejected
a constitutional challenge to the
exclusion of same-sex couples
from civil marriage. The court
concluded that since heterosexu-
al couples can conceive children
in casual relationships (an un-

likely scenario for gay couples), ‘

the State has a special incentive
to give heterosexual couples an
inducement to maintain stability
(i.e. marriage, and the accompa-
nying social, economic, and le-
gal protections). Plus, though it
acknowledged that there is not
any actual evidence that children
raised by same-sex parents are
worse off, the court expressed
its “intuition” that children are
better off with a father and a
mother. —

Chief Judge Judith Kaye dis-
sented strongly, expressing con-
fidence that “future generations
will look back on (the) decision
as an unfortunate misstep.” Re-
jecting the suggestion that the

' ability to procreate is a prereq-

uisite to the right to marry, she

. noted that elderly couples who

cannot procreate can marry, a.nd
many same-sex couples do have
children. And Judge Kaye rec-
ognized that “the exclusion of
sa.me-sex couples from the legal
protections incident to marriage
exposes their children to the pre-
cise risks that the State argues
the marriage laws are designed
to secure against.”

Ironically — and this is good
news - the New York court issued
its decision the very same week
that the American Academy of
Pediatrics (hardly a bastion of
liberal activism) affirmed once
again, in a thorough assessment
of 25 years of research, that
“there is ample evidence to show
that children raised by sa.me—gen-
der parents fare as well as those
raised by heterosexual parents."

On the basis of such evidence,
on June 29th of this year, the Ar-
kansas Supreme Court struck

down a 1999 regulation that

' a place for peo-

excluded gay people and het-
erosexuals with gay household
members from serving as foster
parents. In its unanimous deci-
sion, the Arkansas high court, in
contrast to New York’s, actually
considered the evidence, con-
cluding, “the facts demonstrate
that there is no correlation be-
tween the health, welfare, and
safety of foster children and the

 

blanket exclusion of any individ-
ual who is a homosexual or who
resides in a household with a ho-
mosexual.” The State’s argument
to the contrary, the court said,
“flies in the face of the evidence.”
The Court found that the exclu-
sion was based not on children’s
welfare but rather on “views of

CONTINUED ON R19 9

NEWS/ LOCAL

StoryCorps Comes to Town

BY LYNN MCNICOL

BURLINGTON — .
StoryCorps is a
national project 
to instruct and

inspire people
to record each
others‘ stories

in sound. The
shiny airstream '
StoryCorps bus, .
which provides

ple to record ,
their life stories,
will be taking

up residence in A rendering of the StoryCorps mobile booth.

   

BUIHHSTOR, fT0m counnasv or STORYCORPS.NET

August 3rd to the

27th.

A project of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National
Public Radio, StoryCorps started out with stationary StoryBooths in
New York City in 2003, and last year launched two MobileBooths, one
touring the Westem United States, and the other the East.

The mobile booths are equipped with recording equipment and
space for three people: two participants, normally an interviewer who
is usually a friend or relative of the person being interviewed, and a

facilitator.

While the MobileBooth East is parked in Burlington, anyone in the

area is invited to participate. StoryCorps provides assistance with in-
terviewing, including a list of suggested questions to ask in the inter-

view. The 40-minute format results in a CD that the participants can
take home for a suggested donation of $10.
The project works directly with the local NPR station which will

broadcast several of the locally recorded stories. StoryCorps has re-
corded thousands of stories, many of them already broadcast on NPR,

and has garnered wide praise.

“StoryCorps is history in the richest sense of the word,” Studs Ter-

kel was quoted by the project. “It is a bottom-up history, history that

will make people feel like they count. Nobodies become somebodjes.

In this world today, people feel helpless. They feel like robots. But
once they speak of their lives, they realize that they count!”

All of the recorded stories will also be kept on file at the American
Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.V

For more infonnation about StoryCorps, see wvvw.storycorps.net or
contact StoryCorps at 646-723-7020.