www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com. December 5, 2008
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
Columbus prepares to add gender identity protections
by Eric Resnick
Columbus Ohio's capital city is considering changes to its human rights ordinances to add protection based on gender identity or expression.
The proposed ordinance will be introduced December 8 by councilor Priscilla Tyson, who chairs the administration committee.
Tyson was appointed to city council in 2007 to fill the seat vacated by openly
A second judge nixes Florida adoption ban
by Curt Anderson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miami-For the second time in as many months, a judge has ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gays and lesbians from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled November 25 that the 31-year-old law violates equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents, rejecting the state's arguments that there is "a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children."
She noted that gays are allowed to be foster parents in Florida. "There is no rational basis to prohibit gay parents from adopting," she wrote in a 53-page ruling.
Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption. Arkansas voters last month approved a measure similar to a law in Utah that bans any unmarried straight or gay couples from adopting or fostering children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting.
The ruling means that Martin Gill, 47, and his male partner can adopt two brothers,
ages 4 and 8, whom they have cared for as foster children since December 2004.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, who represent Gill, said the case was the first in the nation in which numerous experts in child psychology, social work and other fields testified that there is no science to justify a gay adoption ban.
The state planned a swift appeal, likely setting up a battle that could reach the Florida Supreme Court.
A judge in gay-friendly Key West also found the law unconstitutional in September, but that ruling has not been appealed and has limited legal reach.
The state presented experts who claimed there was a higher incidence of drug and alcohol abuse among gay couples, that they were more unstable than heterosexual unions and that the children of gay couples suffer a societal stigma.
Lederman rejected all the state's arguments soundly.
"It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent," the judge wrote. “A child in need of love, safety and stability does not first consider the sexual orientation of his parent. The exclusion causes some children to be deprived of a permanent placement with a family that is best suited to their needs."
lesbian Mary Jo Hudson, who resigned to become the Ohio insurance commissioner.
The ordinance updates sections of city code covering employment non-discrimination, fair housing, public accommodations and ethnic intimidation.
The sections are similar, but not uniform in listing who is covered, though commonly, race, religion and sexual orientation are included. Sexual orientation was added to the housing and accommodation code in 1984, and to the others in 1992.
The updates add gender identity or expression and, if the sections don't already have them, sex, ancestry, age, disability and familial status.
According to openly lesbian Columbus Community Relations Commissioner Chris Cozad, the commission recommended the changes.
3
Tyson will chair a December 11 public hearing on the ordinance. If approved, it will go to the full council on December 15, where it is expected to pass.
No Ohio or federal law prohibits discrimination by sexual orientation or gender identity, although a bill to add them is currently in the state legislature. Four other Ohio cities include both in their non-discrimination ordinances: Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton and Oxford.
Besides Columbus, ten more cover sexual orientation. These include Cleveland, which is also preparing to add gender identity, and its suburbs of Lakewood, North Olmsted, East Cleveland, Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights. The others are Canton and the college towns of Oberlin, Athens and Yellow Springs.
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Fired
Continued from page 1 the economic benefits of LGBT-affirming laws.
In her response, Dixon took umbrage at LGBT issues being framed as civil rights, arguing that she was born black and cannot change her race but that gay men and lesbians, through "ex-gay" groups, can "make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle."
"I am genetically and biologically a Black woman and very pleased to be so as my Creator intended," Dixon wrote.
""
"I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are 'civil rights victims,' Dixon's article stated. "I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman."
She also cited "divine order" and talked about the consequences of violating it.
"Ex-gay" groups, and the idea that sexual orientation is a choice that can be willfully changed, have been widely discredited.
Michelle Stecker, then the interim director of Equality Toledo, called the piece
"outrageous and defamatory."
Four days after Stecker sent out an action alert about Dixon's article, the Toledo Free Press published University of Toledo president Lloyd A. Jacobs' response, which repudiated Dixon's statements.
Dixon was giving a chance to speak in her defense on May 5, and was offered a demotion and pay cut, which she declined. Her position as associate vice president of human resources paid $134,383 a year.
Three days later, she was terminated. Her termination letter was given to the Toledo Blade, which posted it online.
"The public position you have taken in the Toledo Free Press is in direct contradiction to University policies and procedures as well as the Core Values of the Strategic Plan which is mission critical," the letter read. "Your position also calls into question your continued ability to lead a critical function within the administration as personnel actions or decisions taken in your capacity as Associate Vice President for Human Resources could be challenged or placed at risk. The result is a loss of confidence in you as an administrator.”
New home
Continued from page 1
"We hope that our commitment will encourage others in our community to contribute to the project so the new Akron Pride Center can open in Firestone Park in early 2009," said Hixson, the board president. "Once complete, Akron will finally have an accessible, visible and vibrant LGBT community center that will offer a diverse array of programming, advocacy and support for our region's citizens, encouraging a richer and more connected community."
The fund, which is overseen by the Akron Community Foundation, gave out its first grants in 2005.
Other grant recipients this year were the Akron Area Pride Collective for Out in Akron, the Akron Art Museum for the exhibit "Marsden Hartley: American Modern," P-FLAG Akron for the Bruce G. Kriete Speakers Series, money for LGBT library materials for the Adolescent Health Center at the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron, the Community AIDS Network, Equality Ohio Education Fund's work in Akron for the Safe Places, Safe Spaces program, First Grace UCC's StandOut Open Door after-school program for LGBT youth, and Kent State University's Fusion magazine.
More information about the fund can be found at www.gaycommunityfund.org. -Anthony Glassman
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