NEWS HIGH GEAR/FEBRUARY 1977

THE CURRENT LEGAL STANDING OF GAYS

By Dan McGuire CLEVELAND During the organizational meeting of OGRE (Ohio Gay Rights Effort) a great deal of time was devoted to "educational" presentation concerning the current legal status of gays and the direction of current gay civil rights efforts.

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The afternoon started with a Jeneral welcome by the resident of the Bowling Green Gay Union, followed by a presentation by 2 law students, who have researched the legal status of gays, both in the courts and the legislature.

As many people know, sodomy has been decriminalized in Ohio, and Ohio is one of 18 states where decriminalization has taken place. It is interesting to note hat

in most cases, decriminalization has been a esult of an "omission" when evising a penal code. In this way, the changes in the law have been done quietly and without much public attention.

A Columbus ordinance regarding solicitation has recently been ruled unconstitutional. (In his instance, the Ohio Supreme Court would not hear the case.) Presently, there is a case in the courts in Cincinnati which may ule the Ohio statute regarding solicitation unconstitutional. This case is now at the Appellate level and will probably take a year to be resolved. (In :he

above paragraph, solicitation is considered only on a "not-for-pay" basis.)

A Columbus ordinance prohibiting cross-dressing has been ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. The court found that cross-dressing involves a great deal of current fashion trends, and found no basis for the law.

Recently, a Cincinnati Gay Organization filed papers for incorporation, and the Secretary of State refused to incorporate the organization. The case was taken to the Ohio Supreme Court, (on the basis of the powers of the Secretary of State), and the Court ruled it is in the Secretary of States' power to

refuse papers of incorporation. This ruling had a strong dissent, stating that any group can incorporate, if its purpose is legal. The Cincinnati group re-filed its papers, and had no problems gaining corporate status. (Usually, incorporation is no problem if the word "Gay" is not in the title.)

In Ohio, there are presently no cases regarding discrimination in private employment that have reached the courts. Unless there is a local ordinance, gays have no recourse in the area of employment discrimination. (Presently, Yellow Springs is the only Ohio community with such an ordinance.) The same situation exists with public employment: Presently, only the City of Cleveland Heights has passed an anti-discrimination law for gays.

Gay parents usually have difficulty in being able to keep their children. However, last summer, a Toledo case was

decided that sexual preference is not an adequate basis to take children from their parents. It is hoped that this case will set a precedent. California is the only state where gays can adopt children but the child must be at least 14 years old and admittedly gay.

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The second major area of presentation was that of legal relationships or marriage. Presently, gays discriminated against in a number of ways, because they do not have the economic advantage and legal protection of a binding relationship. The economic disadvantage comes in the form of higher "single" insurance rates, lack of Blue Cross family rates, etc. The one area where lack of recognized gay relationships is to the advantage of gays is Federal Taxation. (if both partners earn "professional" salaries, a joint tax return is more expensive than filing separately.)

Gays are not afforded any sort of mutual support as are straights, including rights of inheritance. Gay couples can contract for mutual support, but consultation with an attorney is advisable. A contract of this kind must provide interlocking promises to be enforceable. In the area of inheritance, it is advisable to have several wills, each with one small change in them. In this manner, if one will is voided, the one before it becomes enforceable. Presuming the same beneficiary 'is named in each, a line of wills will show the courts the

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deceased stated several times she/he wanted person "X" as his/her beneficiary. Also, it is very advisable to consult a lawyer on all legal matters of this nature.

Gay couples can have joint checking and savings accounts and own property jointly. Both parties can sign a lease and borrow jointly, being equally liable. However, in these ways, the parties are acting individually, and not jointly.

The future of legal rights for gays seems to be fairly bright. At problem in finding out the current status in gay rights is that adverse items are widely reported and positive items are rarely reported. Also, judges and legislators are very unpredictable, and cannot be counted on to be consistent with any positive attitude. However, there is currently a bright spot in the Ohio Supreme Court, because there is a 4-3 majority of Democrats presently serving. In Ohio, changes are expected to originate in the courts.

On the Federal level, the main gay rights bill was introduced by Bella Abzug as HR 5452, and reintroduced as HR 13928. Presently, it usually doesn't get out of committee. In the past, the bill has been gaining support. Hopefully, Congressperson Koch of New York will introduce the bill this year. Co-sponsors in the past have come from diversified areas, such as California, New York and Massachusetts, to name a few. Other important people to watch are Cranston (California)

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and Towers (Texas). Hopefully, one of them will introduce some legislation concerning gay rights.

One of the most important singular persons on the Federal Level is President Carter. Unfortunately, he is very hard to pin down on an issue. He has stated he would not veto a gay rights bill, although he has come out both for and against Civil Rights. One important factor is that his sister is said to have "cured" a gay.

Overall, most legislatures and courts don't want to be connected with gay rights issues. Insignificant areas are usually "slid through," but important areas tend to "bog down". Many times, civil rights issues are left to current "morals" of society.

During the information portion of the meeting, many more .details were considered, involving important legislators, judges, etc. Some ideas were presented concerning the tactics to be used when trying to get gay legislation passed. The two most important items are to do it as quietly as possible, and to involve straights. If straights are backers of your proposal, it gives a wider range of society which wants a piece of legislation passed.

The Bowling Green Gay Union deserves many thanks for the work that was done to prepare the first meeting of OGRE. The program was put together wel and extremely informative to all

Hope to see all of you a Oberlin College, March 5, 12 Noon, for the next OGRE meeting.

"A DEVILISH AROMA"

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