GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE MARCH 11, 1994

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HRCF fundraiser

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stating he was gay just a few weeks before he was to graduate in the top of his class. Steffan has been pursuing his case through the courts and won a temporary victory last November when a three judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously found in his favor and ordered the Navy to award him his officer's commission. After the Clinton administration challenged part of the ruling, the full court decided in January to throw out the panel's decision and hear the appeal, which is currently scheduled for oral arguments in May.

The influential crowd at the black-tie optional dinner was a good reason for politicians to attend the affair. Cleveland City Councilwoman Helen K. Smith, Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher, U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown, and the two Democratic candidates for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, Cuyahoga County Commissioner Mary Boyle and attorney Joel Hyatt, all made appearances. Regrets were received from Governor George Voinovich, and U.S. Representatives Eric Fingerhut, Louis Stokes, and Thomas Sawyer.

Although final figures, which include amounts donated for auction items, aren't in yet, the Cleveland HRCF organizing committee was enthusiastic about the amount of money raised and the evening's turnout. For this first-time effort, 300 seats were planned with tickets ranging from $100 to $150 each. The strong showing has encouraged the committee to continue the tradition

and make bigger plans for next year.

During an interview prior to the dinner, Steffan stressed that education was his key message. "I've come to the realization that essentially all of the issues we face from military discrimination to housing and employment discrimination really relate to one fundamental problem: the ignorance that we face in our society. My goal...is to help try and educate the American people to the realities of the discrimination we face and how we can overcome that through compassionate education and working toward tangible political change."

Steffan, who graduates from the University of Connecticut Law School in May, remains hopeful about his court case. According to his analysis, only two of the Reagan-Bush appointed judges on the D.C. Court of Appeals need to be swayed for him to win this new hearing. While he waits, he will be clerking for a federal judge in Newark after graduation.

Steffan has matured politically during the six years his case challenging the ban on gays in the military has been in court. And he has evolved from gay neophyte to gay activist. In order to overcome the resistance to sexual minorities in the military, "ultimately," he says, “it has to be a judicial, and legislative and societal issue... it's important to continue the battles on the legislative and judicial front but to focus on what feeds society's progress, and that is inspiring people to come out on an individual level and to gain greater visibility as a community." Steffan's own actions since leaving Annapolis are his best argument.

Florida initiative is off

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that would ban recognition of civil rights or legislate discrimination against gays.

The AFA had argued discrimination was the sole subject of the measure. The Supreme Court disagreed.

"The subject of discrimination in the proposed amendment is an expansive gen-

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erality that encompasses both civil rights and the power of all state and local governmental bodies," Justice Parker Lee McDonald wrote for the court.

The proposed amendment would encroach on the home rule rights of cities and the rule-making authority of both the executive and judicial branches of government, the opinion said.

It also would have an impact on other parts of the state constitution, including one dealing with basic rights.

The measure also fell short of a requirement that the ballot language be "clear and unambiguous," the opinion said.

People reading the ballot summary might believe they were casting votes that would restrict existing laws only and not realize it also banned future laws to protect other groups from discrimination, the justices said.

The high court automatically reviews any citizens' initiatives that get 10 percent of the 429,428 signatures needed to make the ballot.

A handful of Florida cities and counties have passed local ordinances that extend anti-discrimination protection to gays, including Alachua, Hillsborough, Palm Beach and Monroe counties and the cities of Key West, Miami Beach and Tampa.

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