OIJ__;T_iN THE: MOUNTAINS-« — JANUARY 01998 — 7-

HOUSTON — John Geddes
Lawrence, 55, and Tyrone
Garner, 31, have been fined $125
apiece for having sex together.

Now they’re leading the fight
in Texas to overturn that state’s
anti-sodomy law that applies
only to gays.

After they pleaded no contest
to breaking the law, their attor-
neys posted an appeal bond of
$332.50 each, which keeps the
case alive and moves it to the
next higher courtroom venue -
state district court.

From there, the case is expect-
ed to make its way to the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals, and
possibly to the US Supreme
Court.

I sex in Georgia

ATLANTA — Anyone’s free to
have sex in Georgia now.

The state Supreme Court ruled
that the l56—year—o1d anti-
sodomy law was unconstitution-
al, even though some politicians
talked about trying to reinstate it
after the ruling.

It was surprising that the state
Supreme Court threw out the law,
because in 1986, the US Supreme
Court upheld the ban on hetero-
sexual and homosexual anal and
oral sex.

In a 6-1 ruling, the court said
the law violated the state consti-
tution’s provision that citizens
are entitled to privacy.

“We cannot think of any other
activity that reasonable persons
would rank as more private and
more deserving of protection
from_ governmental interference
than consensual, private, adult
sexual activity,” ‘Chief Justice
Robert Benham wrote.

The ruling came .in a pretty
sordid case. It overturned the
sodomy conviction of Anthony
Powell, found guilty of sodomiz-
ing his 17-year-old niecein 1996.

-ltemiemllranoo
and eelolirauon

SAN FRANCISCO — A remem-
brance and celebration of the lives
of Harvey Milk and George
Moscone was held last month.
The two men were gunned
down in San Francisco City Hall
20 years ago. Milk was a city
supervisor, the first openly gay
politician elected to a major office
in the country, and Moscone was
the mayor known for reaching out
to minorities, gays, and lesbians.
Part of the celebration in San
Francisco involved Moscone’s
son, Jonathan, who was 14 when
his father died. He revealed at the
memorial service that he is gay.
“People should know he
would have loved me more,
knowing I had the courage to
come out and be honest,”
Jonathan Moscone said.

I lesbian Teacher

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal
court says a woman’s rights were
violated when she was fired as a
coach for disclosing her sexual
orientation. I

Wendy Weaver said Nebo
School District officials not only
fired her but violated her rights
by ordering her not to talk with
students or staff about her sexual
orientation, even outside of
Spanish Fork High School.

US District Judge Bruce
Jenkins agreed that her rights of
free speech, equal protection and
due process were violated. He
ordered the school district to
offer Weaver the coaching posi-
tion, lift the gag order and give
her $1,500 in damages.

“Although the Constitution
cannot control prejudices, neither
this court nor any other court
should, directly or indirectly,
legitimize them,” Jenkins wrote.

Weaver has remained as a
teacher at the district since she
was fired as the volleyball coach.
The firing came after a prospec-
tive team member asked her if
she were gay and she said yes.

I Gall SBIIIIIS

WASHINGTON — The US
Supreme Court has refused to
wade into the Boy Scouts’ ban on
gay leaders, at least for now.

The court let stand a state
court_ ruling that said Charles
Merino’s suspension as leader of
a law enforcement Explorer Post
violated no state law.

Merino is an El Cajon police _

officer who helped organize and
lead a Boy Scout Explorer post.

Exploring is the coed young-
adult program of the Boy Scouts
for ages 14 to 20, and is spon-
sored by I community organiza-
tions. "

- Finallv. nigms  

MIAMI — Finally, gay rights are
to be protected in South Florida._

Commissioners voted 7-6 to
add sexual orientation to the list
of classes against whom discrim-

. ination is prohibited.

The vote by the Miami-Dade
County commissioners came 21
years after the crusade by former
beauty queen Anita Bryant over-
turned a previous gay rights ordi-
nance.

Before Bryant’s crusade, the
county was one of the first
municipalities to pass legislation
protecting gay rights in the coun-
try. It also was one of the first
counties where such a measure
was repealed.

I I'IlIl'liIl!IIlIII outed

NEW YORK — Michael
Huffington, the fonner congress-
man and multi-millionaire US

Senate candidate, has been outed. '

By himself.

“I know now that my sexuali-
ty is part of who I am,”
Huffington, 51, said in the
January issue of Esquire. “I’ve
been through a long process of
finding out the truth about me.”

The oil and banking heir and
former congressman disclosed
his homosexuality during 20
hours of interviews with the arti-
cle’s author, David ‘Brock, last
spring.

Huffington is best known for
the vast sums he spent on politi-
cal campaigns in California.

In a $5.4 million campaign,
Huffington unseated a veteran
Republican congressman from
Califomiavin 1992. Two years
later, he spent $28 million to run
and lose a race for the seat held
by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-
Calif.

I MaHlI8W'S
TOI‘Ill8IlIOI‘S

LARAMIE, Wyo. — A judge has
ruled that the two men who are
accused of killing gay University
of Wyoming college student
Matthew Shepard will be tried
separately. .

Lawyers for Russell Arthur
Henderson, 21, and Aaron James
McKinney, 21, both of Laramie,
wanted the men tried separately
on charges of first-degree mur-
der, kidnapping and aggravated
robbery and are awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said they should face
trial together.

Henderson’s trial has been set
for March 22, McKinney’s for
Aug. 9. _

. Chasity Vera Pasley, 20, and
Kristen LeAnn Price, 19, both of
Laramie are accused of helping to
dispose of bloody clothing that
police say was worn by Pasley’s
boyfriend, Henderson. Both
women pleaded not guilty origi-
nally, but Pasley recently
changed her, plea to guilty.

in Ilreaon flights  

.: SALEM, Ore. —— An appeals
court has ordered gay rights in
Oregon.

. The ruling involved a lawsuit
by three lesbian employees at
Oregon Health ' Sciences
University who claimed their
domestic partners were entitled
to benefits. Though the school
began offering such benefits last
Jun_e, the court nailed down the
university’s obligations.

The “denial of insurance ben-
efits to the unmarried partners of

its homosexual employees” vio-_ ‘
lated the equal protection provi- —

sions of the Oregon Constitution,
said a unanimous three-judge
decision.

“This tells Oregonians that.

discrimination based on sexual
orientation in employment, pub-

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he and private, is illegal,” said
Deputy Attorney General David
Schuman.

DENVER — The idea of repara-
tive therapy has been rejected by
a group that should know what
it’s talking about: psychiatrists.

The American Psychiatric
Association’s board voted unani-
mously to reject therapy aimed
solely at turning gays into hetero-
sexuals.

The board says that kind of
therapy can ‘ cause depression,
anxiety, and self-destructive
behavior.

“All the evidence would indi-
cate this is the way people are
born. We treat disease, not the
way people are,” said Dr. Nada
Stotland, head of the associa-
tion’s joint committee on public
affairs.

“The very existence_of ther-
apy that is supposed to change
people’s sexuality, even for
people who don’t take it, is
harmful because it implies that
they have a disease,” said
Stotland, of Rush Medical
College in Chicago. “There is
evidence that the belief itself
can trigger depression and anx-
iety.”

The American Psychological
Association made a similar
decision last year.

Some fundamentalist Christ-
ian religious groups attempt to
persuade homosexuals to under-
go treatment, sometimes called
“reparative therapy,” to convert
to heterosexuality.

I Gall Bank

PENSACOLA, Fla. — A Florida

businessman is planning a bank ‘

primarily for gays and lesbians.

And they’ll be able to access it
via the Internet.

Steve Dunlap got the idea
when his loan applications for a
gay and lesbian resort were
rejected by traditional banks.

G&L Bank will provide walk-
in banking at a Pensacola office
and offer services nationwide via
the Internet.

G&L Bank — the initials
stand for gay and lesbian — is
expected to open in the spring
pending final approval from fed-
eral regulators. Dunlap, who bills
his new institution “banking for
any lifestyle,” envisions gays and
lesbians as an entry market — not
the bank’s sole customer base.

The bank’s website is www.g-
lbank.comV

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