National & International News

Gay Ex-Shell Employee Awarded
$5.3 Million in Damages

San Francisco - On June 14, Judge Ja-
queline Taber awarded a San Francisco
man $5.3 million in damages, upholding
his claim that he had been fired “for pri-
vate homosexual conduct occurring '
away from his employment” and not for
reasons related to his job performance.
Jeffery Collins used an office computer
to print invitations to a safe sex party
and accidently left a copy of the in-
vitation in the company duplicating
room where it was found by his sec-
retary the next day. She gave it to the
personnel director who sent it to Shell
headquarters in Houston. Several days
later, Collins’ supervisor fired him, say-
ing that no one would follow his lead-
ership after learning of his off-the-job
activities.

Collins’ attorney said that the verdict is
the largest ever in a wrongful termina-
tion case invloving sexual orientation
and that it sends employers a message
that they cannot fire workers because
they are gay or lesbian. (Burlington
Free Press)

Boston Pride March Bigger Than
Ever

Boston - The 21st Boston Pride March
on June 8th was the biggest ever, es-
timated at 90,000 by Boston police. In
1970, one year after Stonewall, 84 peo-
ple participated in Boston’s first Pride
rally. This year it took marchers two
hours to reach the Common from City
Hall. The Boston Globe covered the
march on the front page on the Sunday
Metro section with a color photo and the
headline “Proud to March”. (Boston
Globe)

Episcopal Church Ordains Lesbian

Washington, D.C. - On June Stli, the
Episcopal Diocese of Washington or-
dained Elizabeth Carl. While Carl is not
the first openly gay person to be or-
dained by the church, she is the first in
the Washington Diocese, and her or-
dination comes at a time when there is
much controversy within the Episcopal
Church and other denominations on the
role of gays and lesbians. Though the
church tried to discourge him from go-
ing foward with the ordination, Bishop
Ronald Haines said that it would re-
move “an overlay of deception that was
painful and causing problems. Before,
there was a tacit approach. There was an
understanding that a [minister] was gay,
but it just wasn’t said. Now we would
rather be truthful from the beginning”.

10

Haines noted that Carl had lived “for a
number of years in a loving and intimate
relationship with another woman”.

The ordination comes one month before
the Episcopal Church General Conven-
tion, where a proposal to prohibit priests
from having sexual relations outside
marriage, thus requiring celibacy of gay
and lesbian priests, is expected to be
voted on. There is a movement to put
forth a counterproposal, leaving the fit-
ness of candidates for ordination up to
local bishops. (Washington Post)

$4,500 Awarded Two Gay Dancers

Chicago, IL - Two men agreed to an out
of court settlement payment of $4,500
in their sexual discrimination case
against a Chicago area nightclub. The
two men were kicked out of the club for
dancing together. The club denied it “vi-
olated anybody’s rights,” but after the
Chicago Commission on Human Rights
ruled there was enough evidence to pro-
ceed with the complaint the club agreed
to the settlement. (Outlines)

University of Alabama Supports Gay
Student Group

Huntsville, AL - University of Alabama
officials are prepared to order the Stu-
dent Government Association (SGA) to
allocate funds to Gays & Friends, a gay
student group officially recognized by
the University in May. The SGA refused
to allocate money the group requested
for brochures, flyers, and office sup-
plies, but has been overruled by the Uni-
versity administration. (Washington
Blade)

Advances in Florida

West Palm Beach, FL - The West Palm
Beach city commission added sexual or-
ientation to the city’s affirmative action
plan and equal opportunity policy. This
makes West Palm Beach the first Flor-
ida city and second public employer in
the state with such a policy. The city
also changed its policies to extend be-
reavement leave to include “domestic
partner” or “person with whom em-
ployee shares a residence within the
context of a committed relationship”.
(Washington Blade)

Tallahassee, FL - Florida became the
fourteenth state to have enacted hate
crimes legislation which includes sexual
orientation. The bill, which Governor
Chiles has promised to sign, is one of
the strongest in the nation, providing for
“enhanced” criminal penalities for per-
sons convicted of hate crimes.

Canadian Broadcast Regulations Un-
der Discussion

Toronto - Federal broadcast regulations
that might ban negative comments about
lesbians and gays are undergoing re-
view. A large number of complaints in
the past year lead to the development of
a proposal to prohibit “abusive com-
ment or abusive pictorial repre-
sentation” on the basis of sexual orienta-
tion. The Canadian Radio-Television
Commission set June 28 as the deadline
for public comment but hasn’t yet set a
date for a final vote. (Advocate)

Same Job Less Pay

Exeter, England - In a new twist on the
equal pay for equal work issue, a disc
jockey who underwent a sex change was
fired from his job and offered it back at
less pay when he had become a woman.
Glenn Richards, who underwent surgery
to become Carolyne Monroe said a new
program director at the radio station “of-
fered me a carrot saying that I could
come back as Carolyne but on less mon-
ey. This is not only an insult to me but
to a all women. Offering Carolyne a job
for a cut in wages is pure sex dis-
criminattion.” (London Independent -
San Francisco Examiner)

Customs Service Seizes Lesbian Book

Boston - Over 1,000 copies of Della
Giace’s new book, Love Bites, were
seized by U.S. Customs at the Boston
port of entry. Customs declared the
book, which was well-received at the
American Booksellers Convention in
New York, “obscene” in letter to the
American distributor, Alyson Publica-
tions. Sasha Alyson has filed a com-
plaint in federal district court, with a
hearing sometime in mid to late July.
(Washington Blade/Gay Community
News)

IGLA Fund-Raiser Attacked by Skin-
heads

Over 30 nazi skinheads attacked party-
goers at a fund-raiser for the Inter-
national Lesbian and Gay Association
(ILGA) in former East Berlin May 25.
Two people were injured in the attack
which also destroyed several cars. The
incident is the latest in a wave of anti-
gay violence throughout eastern and
western Germany in the past year. Ger-
man authorities estimate there are over
15,000 nazi skinheads in the five states
that comprise what was East Germany.
(Frontiers) V