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^/ihe Carolinas’ Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 11, Number 9 • September 21, 1996 • FREE Gay marriage, jobs bills shot down in Congress Federal suit Special Coming Out Day horoscopes Page 19 Meet our new Arts Editor Page 20 by Susan Tedder Q-Notes Staff WASHINGTON, DC—The gay and les bian community suffered two major legislative losses on September 10 with the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the narrow defeat of the Employment Non-Dis crimination Act (ENDA). By a vote of 50-49, with one Arkansas Democrat out of town to tend to his son dur ing cancer surgery, and Vice President A1 Gore ready to fly to Washington to break a potential tie, the extension of equal protection in em ployment was denied to gay and lesbian citi zens. Originally intended to be an amendment to the DOMA bill in a strategy to get gay is sues discussed on the Senate floor, last minute posturing by Republican members of the Sen ate led to the separate vote compromise. Though the measure would have faced an up hill battle in the House, activists nationwide felt that ENDA, with its support of 85 percent of Americans, would at least pass the Senate. President Clinton had promised to sign the bill into law when it was presented to him. Debate on the Senate floor had its intense moments. Utah Republican Orrin Hatch said, “Many employers have honest, moral, religious- based objections to hiring homosexuals.” In contrast. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), a co sponsor of the bill, gave a lengthy, intellectual discourse on the true meaning of the bill, the nature of discrimination and its history in our country, as well as a discussion of basic fairness issues brought up by the proposal. “African- Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, native Americans, women, the elderly, the disabled, Jews, Catholics, and many other Americans know what we are talking about here. I remem ber a time when it was said that a Catholic could not be President. I remember ‘Help Wanted’ signs in stores when I was growing up saying ‘No Irish Need Apply.’ Thankfully, we have made a great deal of progress in ending that kind of racial, religious, and ethnic bigotry. The Employment Nondiscrimination Act is the next great step on the American journey to fulfill opportunity and freedom from discrimination for all our citizens, and I urge the Senate to enact it,” Senator Kennedy said in the Con gressional Record. “Although we know the problem [discrimination based on sexual ori entation] exists, there are no rules, regulations, or laws to protect people. That is the sad fact. There are limited laws in limited states to pro tect people, but it is not enough that as an American you are free from discrimination in one jurisdiction, but are going to be subject to discrimination in another. We should free our country from that type of travesty,” he contin ued. For many months activists worked to secure passage of this necessary legislation. The Na tional Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) sent out legislative alerts to its nationwide net work of activists and members urging them to weigh in on the debate. NGLTF also took out i-m n ’"5 veto DOMA and sign ENDA. Various media blitzes and urgent action memos were gener ated nationwide in an attempt to win unde cided votes and show Congress that there was support for ENDA. The Human Rights Cam paign (HRC) also ran a commercial entitled “Fairness” in the Washington, DC market to emphasize the need for the bill (see article on page 18). Though a disappointment, supporters rec ognized the significance of the closeness of the vote. Elizabeth Birch, executive director of HRC, said of the defeat, “We came within a breath of victory today. We’ll hit the ground running in the 105th Congress.” Sen. Edward Kennedy echoed her sentiment, “I’m hopeful this will be one of the first orders of business in the next Congress, and I believe we can pass It. a full-page advertisement in Roll Call, the “newspaper of Capitol Hill,” that urged sena tors to vote no on DOMA and yes on ENDA. The ad stated “No to Discrimination and Yes to Fairness,” and “Fairness, Equality and Justice, Simple concepts with profound mean ing for Americans.” It was endorsed by 10 ma jor, national gay and civil rights groups, includ ing NGLTF; the Human Rights Campaign; People for the American Way; American Civil Liberties Union; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum; Gay and Les bian Victory Fund; Gay and Lesbian Alliance j^inst Defamation; National Advocacy Coa lition on Youth and Sexual Orientation; and National Organization for Women. In addition, NGLTF set up a toll-free hodine for people to send both their senators a tele gram urging them to vote no on DOMA and yes on ENDA and urging President Clinton to Elliot Mincberg, People for the American Way Action Fund Legal Director said, “Unfor tunately, too many Senators were swayed by the distortions of the Religious Right political movement. But getting a floor vote on ENDA in this conservative-controlled Congress is a victory for the civil rights community. And it sets the stage for the ultimate victory in the next Congress.” The Senate passed DOMA by a vote of 85- 14 as expected, with the only question being the size of the margin. DOMA allows states to ^ ignore their constitutional obligation to recog- Q nize matriages of same-sex partners legalized in Q Other states. At the heart of the DOMA legis- S lation is the pending case in Hawaii that is not expected to be resolved for some time. The two women at the heart of the Hawaii marriage case spent the day of the vote outside the Senate building in Washington explaining why DOMA should be defeated. “We are no threat to anyone. We just want to get married and live in peace,” said Ninia Baehr with her partner Genora Dancel. Both are plaintiffs in the landmark trial to end anti-gay discrimina tion in Hawaii’s marriage law. “This federal bill amounts to bigoted, anti-marriage hysteria against lesbians and gay men,” she said before the Senate began debate on DOMA. Dancel said, “This bill does not make child-care easier or secure health insurance, jobs, or decent in comes for people — now those things might defend marriages.” “Ninia and Genora obviously are not a threat to Western civilization or to anyone’s marriage,” said Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund’s executive director. “The See BILLS on page 9 Gay Christians fast for justice on Capitol Hill WASHINGTON, DC—On Sunday, September 1, in churches across America, 250,000 lesbian and gay Christians and their allies in other faith communities were being called to fast and pray for the defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and of the Employment Non-Discrimina tion Act (ENDA). The Senate debate on DOMA began September 5. DOMA denies lesbians and gays more than 175 legal rights associated with het erosexual marriage and ENDA forbids dis crimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation. On Tuesday, Sept. 10, gay Christians wearing black arm bands with pink triangles climbed the east Capitol steps, formed a hu man triangle, knelt and prayed for the defeat of DOMA. “If DOMA is approved by the Senate and sent to the president, we will shift our fast to the White House and continue there, praying that God will give President Clinton the wis dom and the courage to veto this tragic bill,” said Rev. Dr. Mel White, Justice Minister of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Com munity Churches (UFMCC). White said, “The Defense of Marriage Act would result in a great injustice. For the first settled in favor of AIDS home by David Stout Q-Notes Staff CHARLOTTE—^After three years of con flict, the city of Charlotte has finally acquiesced to the US Justice Department’s demands that its regulations governing the allowance of group homes be modified and brought in line with federal mandates. Specifically, this means that construction of a group home for indigent people with AIDS (PWAs) will finally be able to go forward. Lou Lesesne, the attorney who represented the AIDS patients, told The Char lotte Oberver, “There will be at least a few more places where people who are seriously ill with AIDS will be able to go. That’s something we’re seriously lacking right now. It’s very important that those facilities be made available.” time, federal law is being used to make sec ond-class-citizens out of every lesbian and gay in America. We are fasting and pray ing that God will change the minds and hearts of the Senators who have been taken in by the false and inflammatory anti-gay rhetoric of religious extremists like Pat Robertson and James Dobson.” He com pared DOMA to Paragraph 175 of the Prussian Penal Code, the law used by Hitler in his attempts to eliminate German ho mosexuals. Once an evangelical pastor, seminary Rev. White leads the faithful in prayer vigil professor, filmmaker and ghost writer for leading conservative Christians (including Pat Robertson), Mel White battled his own ho mosexuality for 30 years with various “ex-gay” therapies, exorcism and even electric shock. After attempting suicide. White decided to ac cept his sexual orientation “as a gift from God.” For the past four years. White, and his part- See FAST on page 9 ''There will be a few more places where people who are ill with AIDS can go.” In 1993, The Brothers Foundation, an or ganization established to provide housing for PWAs, successfully applied for a US Depart ment of Housing and Urban Development grant to build a multi-tenant residence dubbed Taylor Home. The proposal called for the con struction of a seven-bedroom group home, which would provide housing for six PWAs and a supervisor, on Lansing Drive in the Lansdowne community. After securing the fi nancing, Foundation officials applied for the proper building permits from the Charlotte Zoning Board of Adjustments. When neighborhood residents learned about the proposal, they lobbied stridently against the facility, labelling it a “nursing” home rather than a “group” home. This distinction was critical because zoning regulations allow for the con struction of group homes in single-family resi dential areas, but not nursing homes. City of ficials sided with Lansdowne residents and de nied the requested permits. Representatives o'fThe Brothers Foundation challenged the zoning decision, emphasizing that Taylor Home would not be equipped to house individuals in need of nursing care, but the prohibition was upheld. In 1994 the Clinton Administration sued the city for violating the federal Fair Housing Act and possibly the Americans With Disabili ties Act, seeking $355,000 in damages. Charlotte’s city council voted to oppose the fed eral government and a protracted court fight ensued. In an effort to finally end their long and costly stand-off. City Council members voted to setde with the federal government at a closed session meeting in August. One member who voted against the settlement was conservative Republican Don Reid. He told The Charlotte Observer, “It’s outrageous for us to have to pay $200,000 of taxpayer money to pay off the Jus tice Department.” Under the agreement, the fine will be used to cover legal fees and the costs of construction delays. In addition to the money, the city also pledged to approve the permits for Taylor Home and another facility for the elderly. Lesesne ex pects that Taylor Flome will receive its permits by the end of September. T
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Sept. 21, 1996, edition 1
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