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January 16, 2009 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 5

newsbriefs

Poison threats sent to eleven Seattle gay bars

Seattle-Eleven gay bars in the city remain open and busy despite each receiving a letter threatening to poison their patrons with ricin.

The letters, sent anonymously to the bars, states that five people will be targeted in each one. A separate letter sent to the Stranger, whose editorial director is sex advice columnist and author Dan Savage, told the alternative weekly newspaper to prepare to publish 55 obituaries for the victims.

Ricin, found in castor beans, is extremely dangerous whether injected, inhaled or ingested.

In solidarity, people have headed out to the bars en masse, including a pub crawl to support all of them.

The Seattle police are investigating the letters, which were received on January 6. They are being assisted by the Washington state crime lab, the FBI and federal postal inspectors.

Savage believes that the person who wrote the letters is a disenchanted member of the LGBT community, noting the missives' lack of Biblical ranting. The writer also quoted from gay poet Mark Doty's piece, "A Display of Mackerel," using the line, "The targets won't care much that they'll be dead and nearly frozen, just as, presumably, they didn't care that they were living."

In the original poem, Doty is examining himself and his own mortality after his partner passed away from AIDS.

Obama names out officials to top posts

Washington, D.C.-After naming seven gay men and lesbians to his transition team, President-elect Barack Obama has selected a number of others for administration posts, although thus far none in his cabinet.

John Berry is Obama's pick to head the Office of Personnel Management, and it would be the highest appointment of an out LGBT person in history.

Brian Bond was selected as the deputy director of the White House Office of the Public Liaison, while Brad Kiley will be the director of the White House Office of Management and Administration. Kiley is currently director of operations for Obama's transition team.

Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor for energy and environment in Los Angeles, was nominated to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

A Democratic activist who spoke to the Washington Blade on condition of anonymity told the paper that three others have been selected as well, including David Medina to be Michelle Obama's deputy chief of staff, former Stonewall Democrats head Dave Noble to be the White House's NASA liaison, and Karine Jean-Pierre to be the White House liaison to the Department of Labor.

Another gay man, Bill White, is in the running to be Secretary of the Navy. He is president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum centered on a former Navy aircraft carrier in New York harbor, and among his supporters are former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Hugh Shelton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York.

Obama also named Fred Hochberg, part of his transition team, to head the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Portland swears in gay mayor

'Portland, Ore.-Portland became the nation's largest city with an openly gay mayor on January 1 as a longtime City Hall insider took the oath of office.

Sam Adams, 45, was sworn into office at 12:01 a.m. New Year's Day at City Hall during a ceremony attended by a crowd of about 40 that included his mother and his partner.

Adams won the job seven months ago in a primary race by capturing 58 percent of the vote and therefore negating the need for a runoff election.

None of Adams' opponents raised his sexuality in the race. Neither did he.

Adams grew up in a working-class household that he said was at times dependent on food stamps and subsidized housing. Just as being a gay man drives much of his political activism, he said, his working-class background influences his ambitions as mayor.

Adams served 11 years as chief of staff to Mayor Vera Katz and was elected in 2004 to the City Council.

The new mayor said he and other city officials have so far requested $880 million in federal funds for dozens of "shovelready" projects to improve parks, roads and the water system in Portland, which has a population of about 575,000.

In two weeks, the city plans to announce a job stimulus package, he said, though he declined to give details.

"What I've found is in each of those recessions is government falls prey to the national frailty," he said. "What's also frustrating is it's happening at the very time when government is needed most."

San Diego, California, over twice the size of Portland, had a lesbian mayor in 2005 after a series of scandal-related resignations put councilor Toni Atkins in the office for five months. Among world cities, Paris and Berlin both have openly gay mayors.

Prop. 8 backers want to hide donors

San Francisco-The forces behind California's marriage ban amendment are asking a judge to let them out of campaign finance and disclosure laws.

Lawyers for ProtectMarriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage California requested a gag order January 9 to keep the names of the groups' supporters secret while the case moves forward. Last week, they sued to have their campaign finance records blocked from public view, saying the disclosure requirements have caused donors to become the target of boycotts, hate mail and threats.

Also on January 9, the two groups, which between them raised the lion's share of the $37 million spent in support of Proposition 8, asked for an emergency exemption from having to file a new round of campaign finance reports due at the end of the month.

James Bopp Jr., an attorney for backers of the gay marriage ban, said there's some urgency since campaign committees face a January 31 deadline for filing their semiannual reports, which include contributions received late in the election cycle.

If the request is granted, it would conceal about 6,600 people who gave less

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than $1,000 to the Proposition 8 campaign between October 19 and December 31, according to lawyers for the groups.

New England states consider marriage

Augusta, Maine-State Sen. Dennis Damon is introducing a bill to end the prohibition on same-sex marriage in Maine. House Republican Josh Tardy, meanwhile, is proposing to bolster the state law restricting marriage to one man and one woman by making it a constitutional amendment.

The dueling proposals ensure that gay marriage will be hotly debated this legislative session.

As it stands, Maine has a domestic partnership registry that's open to samesex couples. But that's not enough for marriage supporters. Damon says it's time to "fully end discrimination in Maine." Full marriage is being considered by other states in the region.

In New Hampshire, a bill's been submitted to replace the term "civil union" with "marriage" in the state's year-old civil union law. Vermont, the first state to recognize same-sex couples with its 2000 civil union law, is now likely to consider a full marriage bill.

Town repeals rights law to avoid vote

Kalamazoo, Mich.-Six weeks after passing a gay civil rights ordinance, the Kalamazoo City Commission has voted to rescind it.

The commission voted December 1 to make it a civil offense in the city of 77,000 to discriminate in housing, public accommodations or employment based on sexual orientation or being transgender.

The American Family Association of Michigan submitted petitions with about 1,600 signatures seeking the law's repeal. If officials found at least 1,273 signatures valid, the commission would have had to rescind the law or put it on the ballot.

The commission voted 7-0 on January 12 to rescind it.

Commissioner Stephanie Minor said the council will consider a revised ordi-

nance.

Toilet-panic TV ads used in ballot fight

Gainesville, Fla.-A blond girl heads from a playground into a women's restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. "Your City Commission Made This Legal" appears on the TV

screen.

The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city's anti-discrimination ordi-

nance.

Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has

divided Gainesville, a generally gayfriendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida.

Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of LGBT individuals in general.

The city commission approved the transgender provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Biblequoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal.

The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as "Keep Men out of Women's Restrooms, and vice versa. Organizations defending transgender rights are mustering their own campaign.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force notes 108 cities and counties nationwide have similar transgender protections, including five in Ohio. An attempt to repeal an ordinance in Montgomery County, Maryland, failed when a court ruled opponents did not collect enough signatures to place it on the ballot.

City Commissioner Craig Lowe, leader of a group called Equality is Gainesville's Business, called the restroom ads a grossly distorted attempt to whip up fears.

Since the ordinance took effect, police have reported no problems in public restrooms stemming from the law.

Diocese ends 'restraint' on gay priests

Denver-The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado is ending its so-called "period of restraint" on ordaining gay and lesbian priests.

Bishop Robert O'Neill ordained Mary Catherine Volland to the priesthood during a ceremony at St. John's Cathedral on January 10.

Volland, a longtime Colorado resident and partnered lesbian, had been a candidate for ordination in the Diocese of Minnesota. She will serve at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver.

The issue of gay priests has splintered the church nationwide. Beckett Stokes, spokeswoman for the 30,000 member Colorado diocese, said O'Neill had suspended gay ordination out of sensitivity for church factions strongly opposed to it. She says O'Neill is now deciding the matter on a case-by-case basis. Several Colorado congregations are served by gay or lesbian priests.

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

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