July, 1991

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Florida hate-crime law now includes 'sexual orientation'

Tallahassee, Fla-After extensive grassroots lobbying, the Florida Legislature enacted a bill amending its laws to define hate crimes as criminal offenses evidenced by prejudice based on the race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or national origin of the victim.

Florida's law is the strongest in the nation, according to civil rights lawyer Rand Hoch, a member of the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian

Task Force and president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

"The new law not only requires law enforcement agencies to maintain statistics, but also provides for 'enhanced' criminal penalties for persons convicted of hate crimes. For example a person convicted of a first degree misdemeanor would be punished as if it were a third degree felony," Hoch explained. "Under the civil provisions of the law, victims may

Cleveland gay-lesbian youth conference slated for October

For the first time in Cleveland history, a day-long conference dedicated to the needs of lesbian-gay-bisexual youth is to be offered in the fall.

Co-sponsored by the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center and the West Side Mental Health Center, "The Invisible Minority: Addressing the Isolation of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual Youth" will be held Friday, October 11 at the Cleveland Clinic Education Center. The goal of the conference is to make health, mental health and educational professionals aware of the sexual minority youth they need to serve or how they can serve them better. Some of the workshops offered will address institutional homophobia, adolescence and sexual development, street youth, substance abuse and special populations within sexual minority youth (such as Downs syndrome or the hearing-impaired).

Registration fee for the conference will be $25, $15 for students. Continuing education credits will be available for an additional fee.

AIDS hysteria

Continued from page 2

residence in the United States.

Among the many ramifications of this repressive policy is the fact that it may lead to the cancellation of the 8th International Conference on AIDS scheduled to be held in Boston in May 1992. This would be a blow of real consequence to the cause of progress against AIDS, for the conference plays a pivotal role in the advancement of scientific research, patient care and social services in response to AIDS. The conference's sponsoring agency, the Harvard AIDS Institute, is making every effort to reverse the Bush administration policy, and we need your help.

As is so often the case, the administration points to "public opinion" as a partial justification for its brutal actions. Following the publication of a notice stating that HIV would be removed from the list of excludable diseases, the administration claims to have received "a flood of mail," some 30,000 letters, in protest.

It is clear that this "flood" was organized by the same groups that bombard the government with mail on every issue which would benefit people with HIV,

HUGS East

presents Saturday, 8 pm 12 midnight

August 3, 1991 Summer Dance

At the East Shore Unitaran Universalist Church

8181 South Center Rd, Mentor Non-Alcoholic Beverages provided Tickets $5 at the door (more if/less if) For More Info: Mary: 639-1053 Wendy: 951-9837 Dale:974-8628

Two of the highlights of the conference will be the opening keynote by Joyce Hunter, currently the president of the national Lesbian-Gay Health Foundation and co-founder of the Harvey Milk High School for lesbian-gay youth, and a closing panel made up members of Parents and Friends of Lesbian-Gay Youth (PFLAG) and Presence and Respect for Youth in Sexual Minority (PRYSM).

The conference facility is completely wheelchair-accessible and the opening and closing panels will be ASL interpreted for the hearing impaired. Tables of resources and a video display will also be provided.

Support for the conference has been obtained from the Chicago Resource Center and Center general operating funds. A request for additional funds to the County Mental Health Board will be decided shortly.

seek injunctions, recover triple damages, and be reimbursed for their attorney's fees."

Soon after the law was passed, hundreds of North Florida conservatives telephoned the office of Governor Lawton Chiles urging him to veto the bill. However, the governor's office called Hoch to assure him that Chiles would sign the legislation the day it reached his desk.

It took several years for the legislation to reach the governor's desk. When the Florida legislature first considered hate crimes in 1989, sexual orientation was included in the proposed legislation, but gay and lesbian leaders agreed to the deletion of sexual orientation when it became apparent that no hate crime law would be enacted if sexual orientation was included. Once the two words were deleted, a strong hate crimes law was passed and signed into law by Governor Bob Martinez.

While an amendment to include sexual orientation passed four legislative committees in 1990, legislators refused to bring the matter to a vote, since it was an election year.

Following the close of the 1990 legislative session, gay and lesbian activists made their support for candidates contingent upon candidates support for hate crimes reform in 1991.

During last year's election cycle, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council used its hate crime reports in meetings with dozens of political candidates. The council documented eighty-nine incidents in 1990, up from sixty-five in 1989.

Last July, Hoch reviewed the details of

Page 5

more than three dozen recent hate crimes with then-candidate Chiles. Chiles, persuaded by the statistics, told Hoch that, as governor, he would support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Florida's hate crimes laws.

"Statistics are powerful tools. Once we made our legislators aware of the extent of the problem, they had no choice but to pass this legislation," Hoch explained. "I hope activists around the country will use statistics to lobby their legislators to enact stronger laws to deter violence against all minorities."

The Council was joined in its lobbying efforts by both gay and non-gay civil rights groups around the state, including the National Organization for Women in Florida, People for the American Way, the Florida Task Force, the (Tampa) Bay Area Human Rights Council, the Catholic Conference of Bishops, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Dan Bradley Democratic Club, the Dolphin Club, the Dolphin Democratic Club and the Atlantic Coast Democratic Club.

"This is the first time the Florida legislature has passed a law addressing gay and lesbian issues in a positive way," said Hoch. "This is a great victory for our community."

Florida is the 14th state to have enacted hate crimes laws including “sexual orientation," according to Kevin Berrill, director of NGLTF's Anti-Violence Project. The Florida law becomes effective on October 1. ▼

To receive a conference registration Massachusetts activists push to legalize same-sex marriage

form or for information on how to volunteer or support the conference, please call: 522-1999 during business hours. ▼

gays and lesbians, people of color and women. Although it sometimes seems futile to write the U.S. government, we cannot desert the field to the abhorrent forces that oppose us. We must beat them at their postal game first, winning the breathing room needed to pry loose their death-grip on American AIDS policy.

To make your voice heard, write to Charles R. McCance, director, Division of Quarantine, Center for Prevention Services, Centers for Disease Control, Mail Stop E04, Atlanta, GA 30333. You must say that you are responding to Interim Rule 42 CRF Part 34, "Medical Examination of Aliens," and that you strongly oppose including HIV on the list of contagious dis-

eases.

We thought we had won a victory on this issue, but now it may be slipping out of our hands. We cannot let that happen. Instead, if we redouble our efforts, this may be the last time we are forced to write to an address such as "Division of Quarantine" regarding AIDS and HIV. ▼

Julie Rioux is a staff member of the International AIDS Center of the Harvard AIDS Institute; Dana Van Gorder and John Willoughby are staff members of the Harvard AIDS Institute.

AIDS Counseling Education Testing Site

Cleveland: 946-2829 Call: 354-AIDS

•

Tuesdays 2-6 p.m.

Walk-ins or

By Appointment

Free of Charge

Anonymous

Chuis Site

LAKE COUNTY GENERAL HEALTH DISTRICT

105 Main Street Panesville, Ohio 44077

The Massachusetts Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights announced a drive to legalize same-sex marriage in Massachusetts at a rally at the State House on June 11. The Coalition seeks to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to abolish discrimination in marriage laws.

"It's time for the state of Massachusetts to recognize both legally and symbolically the fundamental validity of gay relationships," said Andrew Held, a lobbyist for the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights. "There are tens of thousands of couples in this state who suffer discrimination and uncertainty because of the injustice of the state's marriage laws. This campaign to legalize gay marriage will become the heart of the gay rights movement in the coming years."

The bill that the Coalition is drafting will make marriage between same-sex couples exactly equivalent to heterosexual marriage. The Coalition has already lined up eight legislators who have agreed to support the measure.

At the rally, Abner Mason, an openly

Hey !!

gay candidate for the Boston City Council, stood by his partner of six years, Joseph White, and expressed his commitment to legalizing gay marriages. “In every meaningful sense of the word save one, legal recognition, gay and lesbian marriages already exist," said Mason. "I can assure you from personal experience that marriage works; it's wonderful and it's fulfilling."

The same-sex marriage bill would have national implications as reciprocal agreements between the states necessitate recognition of all other states' marriages.

The same-sex marriage campaign was launched in the aftermath of an unprecedented display of gay electoral strength in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has one of the most organized gay constituencies in the nation. The gay vote was widely credited with electing Governor Bill Weld, a pro-gay Republican, over his homophobic opponent, Democrat Dr. John Silber.

Over the summer the Coalition will draft the bill, increase the number of legislative co-sponsors, and meet with Governor Weld to seek his support. ▼

It's fun stuff!!

AT COVENTRY

Nerdabilia

Funk and Junk

A Place for Kitsch

1827 Coventry Road Cleveland Heights