GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Hicks

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Langdon may take a similar course in Cleveland Heights, filing suit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court if Gibbon does not act against the registry..

Langdon did not return several calls to both his office and cell phone, so it is not clear how he believes the ordinance violates Ohio law.

The measure establishes a registry of samesex and opposite sex domestic partners, but gives no legal standing or financial benefits to the couples who register.

Fees paid by the couples cover the entire cost of the registry, with no tax money spent. Although he is trying to stop the registry, Hicks joined the rest of council on January 20 in voting unanimously to set the fees for it. City manager Robert Downey had recommended that the registry cost $50 per couple for city residents and $65 for those from outside of Cleveland Heights.

Hicks drew a distinction between approving the fees and his opposition to the voter-

January 23, 2004

approved registry itself.

"What tonight was about, was the city manager and his staff," Hicks said. "It was based upon what the legislation said we needed to do. The city manager's recommendation talks about fees."

He continued, "If the legislation said that the city manager had to hang up a green, red and blue flag, they would have hung up a blue,

Edwards

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resonates among conservatives.

Political observers have said that a loss in Southern primaries would end Edwards' campaign.

Edwards' web site has little on LGBT issues, and to find that requires an extensive search. The most prominent item is a statement denouncing the anti-gay Rev. Fred Phelps for trying to erect monuments in public places declaring that Matthew Shepard had gone to hell.

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red and green flag. I mean, they just obeyed what the legislation told them to do."

During the council meeting, council member Nancy Dietrich said, "The partner registry will be open for business at 9 am, Monday, January 26 on the second floor of city hall. This is the first legislation I have known since I have been on the council that was the result of a citizen initiative, so this is certainly an

forum sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign.

His HRC legislative score has improved from 71 percent in 2000 to 100 percent in 2002. The lower score resulted from Edwards avoiding cosponsorship of the gay and lesbian Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

As a presidential candidate, Edwards has said he supports laws ending workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and hate crimes. Edwards was the keynote speaker of the Atlanta HRC dinner last May.

"I want to be very clear," he told the audience there. "I will listen to you. I will work with you and I will fight to protect your rights and to end

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example of democracy at work."

"And to me," she continued, "I was thinking this afternoon how fitting this is that we are doing this tonight because I think of it as an expression of the justice and the opportunity for all that we celebrated last night at the Martin Luther King commemoration."

Eric Resnick contributed to this report.

discrimination against gays and lesbians."

Gay.com noted that Edwards' Atlanta appearance was "an improvement over the response he got in Los Angeles last year [2002] ata gay political breakfast" where he was "uninformed and uneducated."

According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Edwards strongly opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes an anti-marriage amendment to the Constitution.

Edwards, however, has no position on the federal "defense of marriage act" and is unclear on whether or not he supports civil unions.

In a response to an NGLTF survey, Edwards said, "I believe gay and lesbian relationships should be treated with respect and should be extended benefits under the law."

Then, Edwards told the Boston Globe that "the issue should be left to individual states." CNN has reported that Edwards favors gay men and women serving openly in the military.

Kerry

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military experience, seeing the discrimination gay soldiers faced on the battlefield and upon returning home, helped raise his consciousness.

Acheson said Kerry thinks "don't ask don't tell" is no better than the outright ban that preceded it.

As a freshman senator, Kerry sponsored the first gay equal rights legislation ever introduced in that body, the Civil Rights Amendments Act of 1985, which would have outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and credit.

Kerry was one of only 14 senators who voted against the 1996 federal "defense of marriage" act, giving him a perfect Human Rights Campaign legislative score since 1995.

Since entering the Senate, Kerry has voted against the LGBT community three times, including an amendment to restrict schools from using materials that "promote homosexuality" early in his career.

Kerry supports the current gay and lesbian Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Local Law Enforcement Act federalizing antigay hate crimes. He is a co-sponsor of the Permanent Partner Act to allow same-sex couples to sponsor their partners for immigration. He supports legislation to include families headed by same-sex partners in family and medical leave, and eliminate the federal taxation on domestic partner health insurance coverage.

Acheson, who worked on judicial nominees for President Clinton, said Kerry “would approach judicial nominations very much like Clinton did, looking for judges who understand fairness and have a commitment to rights of individuals."

Kerry supports civil unions for same-sex couples, but not çivil marriage.

"He doesn't think the country is ready for it, is my guess," said Acheson, "and he doesn't want to cause a negative reaction that would set matters backwards."

Immediately after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision changing the definition of marriage, Kerry issued a statement on the court's “allowing same-sex unions in the state."

Emphasizing his opposition to gay marriage, Kerry said, "I have long believed that gay men and lesbians should be assured equal protection and the same benefits."

Kerry appoints openly gay people to positions in his campaigns and his office. In addition to Acheson, Kerry's campaign includes former U.S. Consul General to Bermuda Bob Farmer as its treasurer, and former Small Business Administration director Fred Hochberg, both Clinton appointees.

Kerry strongly condemns the Bush administration AIDS prevention policies, which favor abstinence-only programs over science, which Kerry calls "zealotry" and "embarassing."