Newspapers / Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.) / May 31, 1997, edition 1 / Page 11
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national notes Compiled by Howard Strevel Q-Notes Staff Partnership ordinance survives CHICAGO—Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the City of Chicago suc cessfully fought oflF an attempt to block imple mentation of a new city ordinance providing health and other employment benefits to the domestic partners of municipal workers. The case, Crawford, et al v. City of Chicago, was brought by a local minister and others seek ing to stop the health benefits ordinance. The opponents argued that the city did not have power under Illinois law to provide benefits to employees’ domestic parmers or in anyway rec ognize unmarried couples. Rev. Hiram Crawford vigorously opposed the domestic partner ordinance on religious grounds. Supporters said the ordinance would widen Chicago’s safety net for its workers while offer ing gay employees compensation packages more like those offered to non-gay workers. Race for Life NEW YORK—Get Challenged and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) announced a cooperative effort to inspire people with HIV/AIDS and to challenge public attitudes about the disease. The two groups will sponsor an all-HIV/ AIDS crew in the grueling Transpacific sailing race from Los Angeles to Honolulu commenc ing July 2. The 2,200-mile, ten-day journey will be the first in a series of events aimed at dem onstrating that people with HIV/AIDS can meet the new challenges of life. AmFAR will assist Get Challenged in some marketing and fundraising aspects of this first project. A portion of all funds raised from the race, and future Get Challenged “challenges,” \vill go to AIDS research supported by AmFAR. Mothers speak out LOS ANGELES—Children with HIV are dying despite advances in treatment for adults, reported several mothers of HfV-infected chil dren at the 4th National Conference on Women and HIV. New treatments for HIV are offering hope for thousands. However, of the eleven drugs available to adults, only five have been FDA-approved for use in children. Ultimately, in the battle against AIDS, children are being denied access to the essential tools used to com bat the virus. The current standard of adult care, known as combination therapy, is not the standard for children. The lack of research and dosing in formation makes physicians leery of adminis tering potent drug combinations to infants and children — despite current evidence showing that these “dtug cocktails” may save lives. With out access to drug regimens formulated specifi cally for pediatric usage, the HIV oudook for children remains bleak. Atlanta’s Hght for domestic partnership benefits NEW YORK—Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund was joined by a host of Geor gia civil rights groups in defending Adanta’s effort to extend benefits to dependent domes tic partners of city workers. Lambda and its allies filed a joint friend-of- the-court brief with the Georgia Supreme Court in City Of Atlanta v. Morgan, the case stemming from the Atlanta City Council’s passage of a limited domestic partnership benefits ordi Q-Notes T May 31,1997 T PAGE 11 nance. The case was brought by Lamar Morgan, a city resident who contends that Adanta did not have the power to enact such an ordinance. Lambda is supporting Adanta’s appeal of a lower court ruling which agreed with Morgan’s view that the ordinance is identical to a 1993 ben efits law which was also struck down {McKinney V. City of Atlanta). Lambda’s brief argues that the current ordi nance focuses on the dependents of city em ployees and differs gready from the McKinney law. Atlanta’s new domestic partnership bill of fers health benefits to partners of city employ ees when the couple has registered as a partner ship and the panner is dependent upon the city employee for financial support. Under the pro gram, same- or opposite-sex couples can take advantage of the insurance, although they must pay 25 percent, and in some instances 100 per cent, of the premiums to the city. Not guilty in MA transexual death CAMBRIDGE, MA—^Activists are out raged at the lesser-charge conviction of a Mas sachusetts man tried for the death of transsexual Chanelle Pickett, despite evidence that she had been strangled for eight minutes. After two days of deliberation, the jury ruled that William Palmer was guilty of assault and battery and not guilty of voluntary manslaugh ter, second degree murder or first degree mur der in the November 1995 death of male-to- female pre-operative transsexual Roman “Chanelle” Pickett. Palmer will be sentenced to not more than two and one-half years in prison. Death sentence for cop shooting CAMDEN, NJ—A transsexual was sen tenced to death for killing a police officer who had responded to the shooting of two other law enforcement officers in the defendant’s house. The jury said Leslie Ann Nelson deserved to die for fatally shooting Haddon Heights Pa trolman John Norcross when he responded to the shootings in April 1995. The sentence makes Nelson the only woman on New Jersey’s death row. The jury spared Nelson from a second death sentence in the killing of prosecutor’s investi gator John McLaughlin, who had gone to her home with a warrant to search for weapons. In that death. Nelson faces life in prison with pa role eligibility after 30 years. A third officer. Detective Richard Norcross, the slain patrolman’s older brother, was wounded five times in the attack. Nelson, 39, was not in court when the ver dict was announced, but pleaded for her life, saying she was prepared to spend the rest of See NATIONAL on page 23 JEFFREY GRANT KOENIG ATTORNEY-AT-LAW SUITE 760 THE ADDISON 831 E. MOREHEAD ST. CHARLOTTE, NC 28202-2725 (704) 335-5471 Ull (J )••• Mpi St. Jk 'jL^.
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