National/International News Scouts Awarded Citizenship Badges Berkeley, CA - Members of a local cub scout den were awarded citizenship badg- es for petitioning Boy Scout Head- quarters to end its ban on gays in Scout- ing. (The Advocate ) Gay Deputy Sheriff Wins Jury Trial Orlando, FL - In a precedent—setting law- suit, a Florida jury ruled in favor of a deputy sheriff fired because he is gay. Orange County Sheriff Walter Gallagher was charged with violating Deputy Sher- iff Thomas Woodard’s constituitional rights, including his right to privacy un- der the Florida State constitution. The jury rejected the Sheriff’s claim that Woodard resigned voluntarily, and found that he was coerced into resigning fol- lowing an investigation by the Sheriff into Woodard’s sexual orientation and private life. In April 1989, despite Woodard’s ex- emplary performance and consistently high evaluations by supervisors and co- workers, the Sheriff’s office launched an investigation into his off-duty sexual ac- tivity, based on information that he is gay. Although there was never any al- legation bearing on Woodard’s job per- formance, the Sheriff subjected him to a lie decector examination about his private life and adult sexual relationships. Woo- dard was then forced to resign because of the Sheriff’s belief that “homosexuality is unatural, immoral, and inexcusable.” The case is expected to go all the way to the Florida Supreme Court, where it will set the stage for a landmark ruling on the privacy rights of gay men and lesbians. (Lambda Legal Defense Fund ) Weld Creates First Commission on Gay & Lesbian Youth Boston, MA - Governor William Weld signed an executive order on February 10, creating the first in the nation Gov- emor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. The commission was created to advise the Governor and Secretaries of Human Services, Education, and Com- munities and Development about the creation of programs and services to help lesbian and gay youth in Massachusetts. Representatives from over 20 gay and lesbian and groups from around the state, as well as high school and college stu- dents, attended the signing. “There is no greater tragedy than the loss of young life to suicide,” said Weld. “The unfortunate reality is that nearly 30% of youth sui- cides are committed by gay and lesbian youth. More than 25% of young gays and lesbians are forced to leave home be- cause of conflicts over their sexual iden- lity.” (USA Today, Coalition for Lesbian & Gay Civil Rights) Texas Appeals Court Rules Sodomy Law Unconstitutional Austin, TX - A Texas appeals court up- held a lower court ruling that the state’s 1879 statute outlawing sodomy between consenting adults is unconstitutional. Chief Justice Jimmy Carroll, who wrote - the court’s 3-0 opinion said, “The state has not met its burden of showing that a compelling governmental objective jus- tifies the intrusion.” District Judge Paul Davis had ruled in December that the statue was unconstitutional. That de- cision was appealed by Texas Attorney general Dan Morales, who will also ap- peal the Court of Appeals ruling in the Texas Supreme Court. (The New York Times ) Levi Strauss Grants Domestic Partner Benefits San Francisco, CA - Levi Strauss and Co., the world’s largest clothing man- ufacturer will begin offering spousal health benefits July 1 to partners of its gay, lesbian, and unmarried heterosexual employees in the U.S. With 23,00 em- ployees in the U.S., Strauss is the largest company in the country to offer domestic partner benefits to its employees. (The Advocate ) Auburn University Takes Gay & Les- bian Association to Court Birmingham, AL - The Auburn Uni- versity Board of Trustees voted unan- imously to sue both sides in a dispute over chartering the Auburn Gay and Les- bian Association, a student group on campus. Last November the Student Government Association, acting on ad- vice from the Rutherford Institute, a Christian legal defense organization, re- fused to grant a charter to the gay student group. In January, administrators at the University, after a threat of legal action by the ACLU, overruled the student gov- ernment association and granted the char- ter. Students then presented a petition and 21,000 signatures to the board, ask- ing them to rescind the charter. Both houses of the state legislature passed res- olutions also urging the administration to rescind the charter, claiming that state money should not be spent to sanction groups that advocate the violation of state sodomy and sexual misconduct laws. (The New York Times) Conservative Jews Reject Gay Clergy New York, NY - The religious standards committee for the Conservative move- ment rejected a proposal by a California rabbi that would have allowed gays to serve as rabbis. While the committee passed a resolution saying that gays and lesbians were welcome in Conservative congregations “as individual members,” it said rabbis may not perform marriages or commitment ceremonies for gays and lesbians. It left up to individual rabbis whether to hire gays and lesbians as teachers or youth leaders or give them lay leadership positions and religious honors. The same day, the nation’s larg- est gay synagogue, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in Manhattan, voted over- whelmingly to hire a lesbian as its first rabbi. While the synagogue has many Conservative members, it is not affiliated with the Conservative branch and there- fore not subject to the ruling. The Reconstructionist movement, Judia- ism’s most liberal group in the U.S., will begin sanctioning same sex unions. The Federation of Reconstructionist Con- gregations called on February 14 for ‘‘full and complete equality of homosexuals in Jewish life.” (The New York Times, The Advocate) V $5.00 (U.S.$) GOLDEN THREADS a Contact publicaiion for lesbians over 50 and women who love older women. Canada and US. Confidential. warm. reli- able. For free information send self-ad- dressed envelope; (U.S. residents please stamp it). Sample copy mailed discreetly. P.O. Box 3177, Burlington. VT 05401 May 1992 l i . I 7. l