April 6, 2001 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

newsbriefs

Harassment law doesn't cover gays, appeals court rules

San Francisco-Anti-gay harassment in. the workplace is not against federal harassment laws, according to a March 29 ruling of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel. According to the judges on the panel, Medina Rene's claim that he was harassed because of his sexual orientation does not fall under the coverage of the federal law preventing harassment based on sex.

Both the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit appellate court have, in the past, ruled that certain types of anti-gay behavior may be deemed as sexual harassment. These include harassment motivated by sexual desire or hostility, where the harasser shows differential treatment between men and women, or if it is based on a person failing to conform to sexual stereotypes. The court said that Rene's case did not fall under these circumstances.

Rene claimed that when he was working as a butler in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, his co-workers and supervisors harassed him on a daily basis from 1994 to 1996. According to Rene, they showed him pictures of gay sex, grabbed his genitals, blew kisses at him, made wolf-whistles, and called him "sweetheart." Rene said that he had complained to his superiors, but they did nothing to stop the harassment.

Rene sued in 1997 under part of the Civil Rights Act allowing damages up to $300,000 for sexual discrimination in employment.

Richard Segerblom, Rene's attorney, will ask for a hearing before the entire appeals court. The panel ruled 2-1 against his client. AIDS Quilt moves HQ to Atlanta

San Francisco-The AIDS Memorial Quilt is leaving San Francisco, nearly 15 years after the first of its 40,000 panels were stitched together.

The Names Project, keeper of the quilt, is relocating the 54-tón memorial for 80,000 AIDS victims to Atlanta, where it will be housed in a climate-controlled warehouse. The last section of quilt was folded up March 29, the eve of the quilt's last day in town.

Cleve Jones, the San Francisco native who came up with the idea for the quilt, says the impact of the disease has shifted.

"The epidemic has really changed and grown to African American and Hispanic communities," Jones said. The power of the quilt should follow that shift despite the memorial's long history in San Francisco, he added.

GAIN founder dies

Wayland, Mass-The transgender community lost a crusading educator with the March 12 death of Penni Ashe Matz, managing editor and founder of GAIN, the Gender Advocacy Internet News.

She succumbed at the age of 52 to cancer. Matz was honored posthumously at the

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International Foundation for Gender Education's 2001 conference with a Trinity Award, presented to people who, according to IFGE, "performed extraordinary acts of courage and love." Accepting on her behalf was Kim Carver, assistant editor of GAIN.

She was also a founder of It's Time, Mas-

peatedly called gays "lower than pigs and dogs." He is joined by Kenya's Daniel arap Moi, calling gays a "scourge," and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, who said last year that "I have told the [police] to look for homosexuals, lock them up and charge them."

sachusetts, a transgender lobbying and eduBelgium looks at same-sex marriage

cation group. In addition, Matz was on the board of Verizon's LGBT staff organization, a Vietnam veteran, and a member of Men of Color Against AIDS.

Brussels, Belgium-The Belgian government is looking into joining their Netherlander neighbors in legalizing gay marriages.

It is not clear yet whether the measure

Namibian police told to purge gays being looked into by the country's ruling

Windhoek, Namibia-President Sam Nujoma indicated March 21 that police were ordered to purge gay men and lesbians from the country.

Speaking before students at the University of Namibia, Nujoma said that he had told police to arrest, deport and imprison gays.

The outburst seemed to have been incited by data indicating a sharp increase in the HIV infection rate in the country.

Gay activists, led by members of the Rainbow Project Coalition, challenged the president to show which laws would allow him to enact his pronouncement, indicating that nothing in the country's laws or consti-

center-left coalition would grant full marriage to gay and lesbian couples or create a lesser "domestic partner" status.

Magda Alvoet, the health minister and a member of the small Green Agalev party, the smallest in the coalition, said that the move was imperative to eliminate discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

The office of the prime minister said that the proposal could be introduced to cabinet as early as this month, and believed that agreement on the matter among the cabinet was probable.

If Belgium's government passes the measure, it could take effect in early 2002.

tution outlaws homosexuality. According Evan Wolfson leaves Lambda Legal

to Ian Swartz of the RPC, the constitution guarantees protection from discrimination based on individual differences, with no exclusion of homosexuality.

Other African leaders have made similar anti-gay declarations, most famously Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, who has re-

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New York City-Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund announced March 22 that Evan Wolfson, one of their foremost lawyers and activists, will be leaving the organization after 12 years.

Wolfson, perhaps best known for representing James Dale in his suit against the

r

Boy Scouts of America, will spend some time planning his next steps in promoting the freedom to marry movement in America. Wolfson now heads Lambda's Marriage Project.

Wolfson also provided support to the team working on Baker v. Vermont, the case before the state's Supreme Court that resulting in Vermont's historic civil union legislation.

Wolfson joined Lambda's staff in 1989, having worked for a number of years as a cooperating attorney, giving support to Lambda in cases.

Wolfson's last day with Lambda will be April 30.

Civil union effort waits till next year

Hartford, Conn.—After raising the issue and sparking legislative debate, gay activists in the state are delaying efforts to enact a civil union law until next year.

According to sources within the promarriage lobbying group Love Makes a Family, there is not enough support in the legislature this year to make the effort worthwhile.

The state senate's judiciary committee held public hearings on the issue last month, but no bill was introduced.

By initiating the debate on the subject, legislators have been educated on the need for a civil union law, Love Makes a Family's president Ann Stanback told the Connecticut Post.

Compiled from wire reports by Brian DeWitt, Anthony Glassman and Patti Harris.

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